For no reason other than interesting!


Strange Maps

Gravity

Help! My face has fallen and won't get up.

Human Rights Watch's annual "World Report" --Despots Masquerading as Democrats

Report Says Democracies Enable Despots By WILLIAM C. MANN Associated Press Writer

This AP report is surfacing all over and will be probably be the one that makes it in most of tomorrow's newspapers.

Too bad -- fluff as usual.

Here's a little more of what this report says from The Interpress Service
RIGHTS: West Gives False "Democracies" A Pass By Jim Lobe

and the Guardian Unlimited
Human rights group condemns western hypocrisy by Peter Walker



WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (IPS) - Western governments, eager to pursue their political or economic interests, too often reward self-proclaimed and flawed "democracies" that clearly abuse the political and civil rights of their citizens, according to the latest edition of Human Rights Watch's annual "World Report" released here Thursday.

The mere holding of elections does not make a state democratic, according to the report. Yet both the United States and the European Union (EU) have used such exercises to justify aid and closer ties to friendly or potentially useful governments, according to the report.

"It seems Washington and European governments will accept even the most dubious election so long as the 'victor' is a strategic or commercial ally," said HRW director Kenneth Roth, author of the report's introduction.

In doing so, they undermine the causes of both democracy and human rights, according to the 569-report.

"(I)f dictators can get away with calling themselves 'democrats,' they will have acquired a powerful tool for deflecting pressure to uphold human rights," Roth wrote. "It is time to stop selling democracy on the cheap and to start substituting a broader and more meaningful vision of the concept that incorporates all human rights."

One of the most dramatic examples in 2007 was U.S. President George W. Bush's endorsement of Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf as "somebody who believes in democracy" and his government as having put the country "on the road to democracy", even after the former army chief declared "emergency rule", fired the supreme court, and arrested thousands of opposition activists.

"(I)f, unlike human rights law, 'the road to democracy' permits locking up political opponents, dismissing independent judges, and silencing the independent press, it is easy to see why tyrants the world over are tempted to believe that they, too, might be eligible," according to Roth.



Both articles above give a "bit" more to the findings than the AP story.

Bombs Away

Who Cares?

According to this piece by Tom Engelhardt, the US dropped 45,000 kilograms or so of explosives in a small area south of Baghdad, Arab Jabour, a small Sunni farming community. This barely made the news. The Germans reportedly dropped 45,000 kilograms of explosives on on Guernica on April 27, 1937. It was seen as a tragedy. Engelhardt investigates US air power today and how it's reported. What would once have been deemed barbaric hardly merits a sentence in the news.

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

My pissy mood continues because we don't have much of a choice come super Tuesday. A couple of states and the media decided for the vast vast vast majority of Americans who we get to vote for. So fuck it.

Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property ("PRO IP") Act of 2007 -- Speaks VOLUMES to our current "Intellectual State"

PRO IP Bill Slammed By Bloggers

This is a great summary byDavid Utter:

Though the report on the House Judiciary Committee website noted how the PRO IP Act helps labor unions and industry groups, there isn't any mention of how this legislation benefits anyone who isn't dumping campaign contributions on the bipartisan supporters of the bill.

"This legislation is an important and necessary step in the fight to maintain our competitive edge in a global marketplace," Chairman John Conyers said in the statement.

With all due respect, Chairman Conyers, and distinguished members of the Committee, it is not. Adding layers to US laws and bureaucracy matters not one whit to the counterfeiters who ply their trade in China, Russia, and a host of other countries.

It doesn't benefit the rights of any American with regards to fair use of intellectual property. The Act certainly does a hell of a job criminalizing alleged copyright and trademark infringement. Jeremy Toeman commented best on this, on his heavily linked open letter to House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi:

Instead of protecting the wants and needs of the many by forcing big media firms to evolve and adapt to the new technologies, the laws sprung up to protect these companies and allow them to live in the older world. PRO IP is yet another example of such laws.
It is bad enough that we have so few major media companies. It is bad enough that they can exert financial pressure to dominate the movie theaters and the airwaves. It is bad enough that they control the enormous quantities of media we as Americans consume....individual creativity combined with the distribution power of the Internet is finally allowing people to slowly retake control of the media they consume.

Historically it is this effort, individual creativity, that our government has helped protect and thrive. Not the demands of the rich and famous. It is in fact ironic that the major media companies of today were built on the shoulders of enabling laws, not crippling laws


Read Jeremy Toeman's entire letter and please copy and send this to your congress critter per Mr. Toeman
(you know, just in case sanity doesn't prevail with our elected "American Intellectual Mouth Pieces" we call our Congress)

Here's CHAIRMAN Conyers on the subject
"This legislation is an important and necessary step in the fight to maintain our competitive edge in a global marketplace," Chairman Conyers said. "By providing additional resources for enforcement of intellectual property, we ensure that innovation and creativity will continue to prosper in our society."


Jeremy Toeman really makes the point here:

Historically, Congress never used to side with major media companies. Throughout the 20th century, our leaders addressed new issues based on the wants and needs of the American people. Lawsuits have emerged over virtually every technology innovation as it pertained to media and content, from vinyl through compact disk. In virtually every case, Congress always put the pressure on the traditional companies to learn how to grow and change based on new technologies. That is, however, until the emergence of the broadband Internet and the MP3 music compression format.

For some reason, still not clear to me, these two technologies together caused the government to effectively switch teams. Instead of protecting the wants and needs of the many by forcing big media firms to evolve and adapt to the new technologies, the laws sprung up to protect these companies and allow them to live in the older world. PRO IP is yet another example of such laws.

(and just because I can't keep my 500lb. Hi-Fi; the $$spent on Vinyl through the years, then the 8-tracks, then the cassetts, then the CDs, now the ipod-tune library -- I HAVE NO PROBLEMO "sharing" a tune that I've bought 10 times already!!!-- gotta wonder how much of that money I spent went to the artist - and I gotta wonder what Apple's gonna do with their $15 billion cash hoard)


Here are some links to a few sites that have been covering this "Act" since December:

House Committee hears the Cons of the PRO-IP Act:

The House today held a hearing on the new PRO-IP Act that beefs up intellectual property enforcement. Rick Cotton, a top NBC lawyer and representative for the Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy (CACP), called counterfeiting and piracy "a global pandemic" and "a dagger into the heart of America's future economic security." What the US needs, he said, is a "declaration of war." But not even the Department of Justice is convinced that PRO-IP, in its current form, is that sort of declaration.


Here's how Congress Proposes to Enhance IP Enforcement and Penalties:

the bill would establish an "Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative" in the White House. This office would coordinate IP enforcement activities through a number of government and international agencies. This office would also be charged with developing a "Joint Strategic Plan" to identify, disrupt, and/or eliminate persons and businesses involved in trafficking of counterfeit and pirated goods and sharing information among relevant agencies. The plan would also work with other countries to strengthen IP enforcement and reduce the number of countries that fail to enforce anti-counterfeit and piracy laws.

The bill would also create an Intellectual Property Enforcement Division within the Justice Department and would appoint IP attachés to work with foreign governments on anti-piracy efforts.


The Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property (PRO IP... groan) Act of 2007
has the backing of many of the most powerful politicians on the House Judiciary Committee, including John Conyers (D-MI), Lamar Smith (R-TX), and "Hollywood" Howard Berman (D-CA).

Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, said in a statement, "seizing expensive manufacturing equipment used for large-scale infringement from a commercial pirate may be appropriate. Seizing a family's general-purpose computer in a download case, as this bill would allow, is not appropriate."




Yesterday from ars technica:

Copy a CD, owe $1.5 million under "gluttonous" PRO-IP Act
By Nate Anderson

Both Patry and Sohn attended a Copyright Office roundtable on statutory damages a few days ago, and Public Knowledge's staff attorney Sherwin Siy has posted a fascinating writeup of the closed-door session: Roundtable on Copyright Damages: "What are we doing here?"

William Patry is Google's top copyright lawyer (and the man who wrote a seven-volume treatise on the subject of copyright law), called the bill the most "outrageously gluttonous IP bill ever introduced in the US."


AND FINALLY we hear from Attorney Patry (his own blog - nothing to do with google -- I even had to dig in a few pages to get an "update" on the PRO-IP happenings) -- I'll keep click click clicking away on your link Mr. Patry -- maybe you'll move up to page one on the google search by the end of the day!!



WELL SAID MR PATRY:
(Skip the first paragraph and the title of his post if you're sick of Reagan already)


The purpose of the amendment is not to clarify Congress's intent because Congress's intent is already clear; the purpose of the amendment is not to correct the courts, because the courts have done a pretty good job in interpreting the statute; the purpose of the amendment is not to provide needed flexibility in the award of damages because the current law already has tremendous flexibility; rather the purpose of the amendment is to hand a windfall to those who have too much already and who will never be satisfied with more.

Florida Fallout

Yes, I'll use the term Fallout, as if the Florida primary were a nuclear weapon whose glowing and hot to the touch debris and by-products rain down on any hapless target downwind from the site of the explosion.

As to the type of weapon, Florida was a neutron bomb, or enhanced radiation weapon. An ERW doesn't cause much physical damage; it just kills people.

But since we're talking elections, the Florida ERW killed campaigns.

The first victim of the radiation was (as you might expect) the oldest and weakest. Rudy Giuliani put all his chips on Florida with the idea of ignoring or bypassing the little contests and reaping a big crop of delegates. However, waiting for Godot in this fashion enabled a lot of people to finally sit back and critically examine the sordid past, fetid Mayoral administration, and strange shenanigans of the Rudy.

With perhaps predictable results. Poor Rudy.

He never won a single contest, in some cases actually losing to Ron Paul.

And today it's widely expected that Giuliani, corneas opaque, skin laced with suppurating lesions and losing what little hair he still has, will shamble up to a microphone and give up what many thought last year was a free ride straight into the White HOuse.

The second victim of the fine rain of fallout, descending as it does like fog, on little cat feet, was John Edwards. Edwards was the former Democratic #2 nominee back in 2004; he'd been in the fight before all the way to the end, which would give him some experience. He was a populist, having a deep empathy for the working poor and those who never saw any benefit from Bush's tax cuts and the rest of his imbecilic economic policies.

But I think that his message was blocked; first by Clinton's greater street cred, bigger reputation and campaign machinery; and by Obama's ability to reach out and touch a chord with people that made them want to join with him to make this country a better place.

As a result he never did better than second, if I recall aright. Even at the debates it was hard for him to get a word in over the two top candidates.

Sad, John.

And now it's being reported that Edwards, his once-mocked hair falling out haphazardly in scattered patches and pus dripping from his still-smiling lips, will go to New Orleans and give up his campaign. But being younger than Rudy, Edwards will revive himself and rally his strength by participating in Habitat for Humanity, helping to rebuild a neighborhood in New Orleans.

Who's next?

Ron Paul's a doctor, so his campaign might cling to life, buttressed by infusions of exotic and powerful drugs;

Alan Keyes - well, he's a walking corpse; he hasn't realized yet that the fallout has killed his chances.

What do you think?

Today's Readings

(and add your own in the comments)

How about this from Greg Palast's One Bush Left Behind?

Here’s your question, class:

In his State of the Union, the President asked Congress for $300 million for poor kids in the inner city. As there are, officially, 15 million children in America living in poverty, how much is that per child? Correct! $20.

Here’s your second question. The President also demanded that Congress extend his tax cuts. The cost: $4.3 trillion over ten years. The big recipients are millionaires. And the number of millionaires happens, not coincidentally, to equal the number of poor kids, roughly 15 million of them. OK class: what is the cost of the tax cut per millionaire? That’s right, Richie, $287,000 apiece.

Mr. Bush said, “In neighborhoods across our country, there are boys and girls with dreams. And a decent education is their only hope of achieving them.”

So how much educational dreaming will $20 buy?

The Palast investigative team went to urban America to see what they could score for $20. Indeed they found something. A "rock" of cocaine which would fill a kid's dream for about 15 minutes.

Paul Craig Roberts in "Your Papers, Please!" The End of American Liberty

Bush can do whatever he wants, because Congress has taken its only remaining power--impeachment--off the table.

The Democratic Party leadership thinks that the only problem is Bush, who will be gone in one year. Besides, the Israel Lobby doesn't want Israel's champion impeached, and neither do the corporate owners of the US media.

The Democrats are not adverse to inheriting the powers in Bush's precedents. The Democrats, of course, will use the elevated powers for good rather than for evil.

Instead of having a bad dictator, we'll have a good one.

Not so sure that any dictator is good.

This piece at the Onion, We Must All Do Our Part To Preserve This Climate Of Fear
reminds us

Fear has always made America strong. Were we ever more determined than during the Yellow Scare? When every Christian gentleman lived in mortal terror of his daughter being doped up on opium and raped by pagan, mustachioed Chinamen? What about the Red Scare, when citizens from all walks of life showed their pride by turning in their friends and associates to rabid anticommunists? Has America ever been more resolute?

Not so very long ago, we winced every time we saw someone with facial hair or a backpack. Average people were terrified of opening their mail for fear of getting a face full of anthrax. Those were perhaps our country's greatest days. Yet that once-phobic spirit that defined our times is drastically changing.

Naomi Klein explains Why the Right Loves a Disaster

More than a decade ago, economist Dani Rodrik, then at Columbia University, studied the circumstances in which governments adopted free-trade policies. His findings were striking: “No significant case of trade reform in a developing country in the 1980s took place outside the context of a serious economic crisis.” The 1990s proved him right in dramatic fashion. In Russia, an economic meltdown set the stage for fire-sale privatizations. Next, the Asian crisis in 1997-98 cracked open the “Asian tigers” to a frenzy of foreign takeovers, a process the New York Times dubbed “the world’s biggest going-out-of-business sale.”

To be sure, desperate countries will generally do what it takes to get a bailout. An atmosphere of panic also frees the hands of politicians to quickly push through radical changes that would otherwise be too unpopular, such as privatization of essential services, weakening of worker protections and free-trade deals. In a crisis, debate and democratic process can be handily dismissed as unaffordable luxuries.

Oh and it doesn't matter to the ideologues whether or not disaster capitalism actually fixes the crisis.

An open thread on the Republicans:

Romney is the champion flip-flopper.

Huckabee wants an inquisition society.

McCain pretends moderation.

The media doesn’t like McCain.

The media thinks McCain/Huckabee will be the ticket.

The media thinks McCain/Huckabee will beat Hillary or Obama.

On MSNBC, Timmy is looking for a Kleenex when he talks about McCain.

All of a sudden, it’s in vogue for the Republicans to be “moderate.”

All of a sudden the Republicans want fiscal responsibility.

Thoughts?

The Evolution of Mathematics:

(Subtitle): Oh God! Not another "remember when" post!

1. Teaching Math In 1950s:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?

2. Teaching Math In 1960s:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

3. Teaching Math In 1970s:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit?

4. Teaching Math In 1980s:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

5. Teaching Math In 1990s:
A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong answers, and if you feel like crying, it's ok.)

Florida Primary Day - Verbum Sap. Time

Here are a few eminently quotable quotes from that fount of ancient wisdom (har har), Lazarus Long (with a nod to his creator, the noted SF author Robert A. Heinlein):

Certainly the game is rigged. Don't let that stop you; if you don't bet, you can't win.

If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for...but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong. If this is too blind for your taste, consult some well-meaning fool (there is always one around) and ask his advice. Then vote the other way. This enables you to be a good citizen (if such is your wish) without spending the enormous amount of time on it that truly intelligent exercise of franchise requires.



And my personal favorite:

Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of---but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.

Odd Science Corner

From Yahoo! News comes this amazing article about one of the ugliest creatures on our planet (in my opinion).

"As vulnerable as naked mole rats seem, researchers now find the hairless, bucktoothed rodents are invulnerable to the pain of acid and the sting of chili peppers.
A better understanding of pain resistance in these sausage-like creatures could lead to new drugs for people with chronic pain, scientists added.
Naked mole rats live in cramped, oxygen-starved burrows some six feet underground in central East Africa. Unusually, they are cold-blooded — which, as far as anyone knows, is unique among mammals.

-snip-

Scientists knew the mole rats were quite sensitive to touch — perhaps to help replace their almost useless eyes. After probing their skin, Park and his colleagues unexpectedly discovered the rodents lacked the chemical Substance P, which causes the feeling of burning pain in mammals."


Neat stuff, eh?

The Masquerade... the masquerade

When ever some unappetizing political event takes place, Blondesense Liz asks me to write a report on it. I guess I have a better stomach to deal with it. Well, scotch on the rocks really helps.

I watched the State of The Union (the last one) of the "incompetent in chief". It was, as always, predictable. I read this guy. Whenever there is a major political or national decision to make, he will take the opposite action of what the people of this country demand or desire. It's so easy, to figure it out.

All members of the Congress sat at opposite sides of the isle. Occasionally, the pod-people (the body snatchers) sitting on the right side would robotically jump up from their seats, with open mouths and point their index fingers to the other side of the isle, shrieking their usual sounds at the non-pod-people, while the pod-father in chief sitting behind the speaker, never blinking, with his lips white like a morgue patient, approving of the cut-tax-fest, "fuck the poor" calls of the speaker.

Well, Mr Bush, this is all about your legacy, the legacy of the pod-people taking over this earth.
You should go into the sunset with your platitudes, incompetency, class warfare, enriching your friends, leader of the world.

History will judge you properly and I will sleep better that there was no new "axis of evil" in your speech. I will hold my breath while you expire and be forgotten.

Other than that there is nothing to report. If you missed it, you missed nothing.

Days of Future Past

This appeared on my screen last night. It’s from my great-great granddaughter. It was delivered by HoloTyme, a service she started in 2076. After researching (quaint notion, this reading thing, she says) through some remaining historical works on the early days of the Internets, (most literature was destroyed in the Religious Wars of the early 21^st Century) she found Peter’s post on something called “Blondesense” about the good old days of the mid 20^th Century. Finding such barbarism hard to believe, she thought I might find it interesting what the kids of today (late 21^st Century) heard from their grandparents remembered about the beginnings of the 21^st Century so she Tymed© this piece to me from 2092. She wasn’t sure how much was true.

Remember when: 2008

How many of you remember back at the turn of the century? Remember when:

There were still occasional blue skies and clouds were white.

There were birds everywhere.

Rivers used to have living things called fish in them.

There were hundreds of species of animals that lived in the wilds instead of zoos

You could jog (an archaic form of exercise by running along roads or in parks) for long periods of time without having to take an Oxygen pill.

They had drinking fountains in parks.

You ONLY needed SPF 150 to block the Sun’s UV Rays.

There were large containers of water that people cooled off in and lounged around while getting what they called a “tan” from the sun. (Why?)

Some people spent time in the outdoors; days at a time - and survived!

You could see stars at night from almost anywhere when you were outside.

Antarctica was frozen over all year.

There were Icebergs in the oceans.

You could live in Miami and New Orleans and other coastal cities before they were flooded.

People owned their own homes and other property.

Most of America wore heavy coats from November to March.

People watched 2 dimensional videos on things called Flat Screen TVs.

You listened to music through small speakers that went in or over your ears.

Movies were on 12 cm discs that only held 4 hours of video.

You could walk for miles in our remaining forest without seeing a logger or oil derrick.

You could travel from state to state without permission.

People read printed words on paper pages in objects called “books.”

It took hours to fly across the country.

Roads had things called “potholes” in them.

People used things called “Cell Phones” to communicate.

Electricity was provided by overhead wires on poles attached to your house.

Almost everyone had a lawn and there were small machines called Lawn Mowers for cutting its grass.

You went to a building called a school to learn things.

An education only cost a hundred thousand dollars.

Computers were external devices.

People worked as much as 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. (Must have been slave labor!)

They were paid “money” (some kind of paper) to work for others.

You could buy a decent vehicle for less than 30,000 pieces of that "money"(?)

Vehicles used fossil fuels and polluted the air.

They actually used fossil fuel for cooking and heating.

Most food came from the flesh of animals.

There were things called hospitals and doctors.

George W. Bush really did live and was a president of the U.S.

She said there was more but it was pretty hard to believe…and pretty sad.

HoloTyme Inc. rules prohibit her from telling me anything about the future but she did say the period from 2009 to 2048 would be very interesting, but thanks for everything we tried to do anyway!

(Thanx FLS)

Better than fiction.

The UK Sunday Times performs investigative journalism, Tip-off thwarted nuclear spy ring probe, the kind that you will never see in the US media (because they are all in on it or asleep at the wheel or scared or all of the above) and reports that Sibel Edmonds,(the Farsi translator hired by the FBI after 9/11, then fired and stifled,) knew that senior State Department official, Marc Grossman outed Valerie Plame's cover, Brewster Jennings, to Turkish agents working with Israelis by planting moles in "military and academic institutions to acquire nuclear secrets." The State Department vehemently denies this. Natch.

See these related stories in the Times
For sale: West’s deadly nuclear secrets
FBI denies file exposing nuclear secrets theft

I'm thinking that this makes for one whopper of a spy novel and gigantic conspiracy theory, the likes of which we haven't seen since the Cold War. Not only that, if this story broke in the US, I think it could bring down the government, its agencies, the administration, the judiciary and the House (that is of course, if the same government in question wasn't doing the investigating.)

Now check out this story from the Guardian yesterday: A Criminal Idea

27/01/08 "The Guardian" -- -- Five former Nato generals, including the former chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, John Shalikashvili, have written a "radical manifesto" which states that "the West must be ready to resort to a pre-emptive nuclear attack to try to halt the 'imminent' spread of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction."

In other words, the generals argue that "the west" - meaning the nuclear powers including the United States, France and Britain - should prepare to use nuclear weapons, not to deter a nuclear attack, not to retaliate following such an attack, and not even to pre-empt an imminent nuclear attack. Rather, they should use them to prevent the acquisition of nuclear weapons by a non-nuclear state. And not only that, they should use them to prevent the acquisition of biological or chemical weapons by such a state.

It's a world gone mad. Completely mad.

What's it take to get people to vote?

It must take a long time for many Americans to understand the basic goings on in life. Most of us knew in 2000 that George Bush would be bad for America. We knew he already was a liar, conniver, deceitful thing that should have been flushed with the condom his daddy should have used.

Incidents over the next 3 years added to the remarkably epidemic apathy of more and more Americans. Our cost of living sky rocketed while our standard of living plummeted. We were told that shortages and price increases were to be expected because of terrorism or rather what terrorism MIGHT do in the future.

In 2004 people everywhere were upset with the direction this country was headed. But not that upset because we were told happy bedtime stories again by our ethnic grandfather. He would always finish with, “And they lived happily after ever… and you will too as long as you listen to me and do what I say because no matter how bad you think it is, it could always be worse. That’s why you must sacrifice. But remember, I’m always here to protect you from things that might happen.” Then we’d shut off the TV and stop listening to those crazy left wingers and turn off the light and go to sleep secure in the knowledge that Grandpa W was protecting us from the Boogeyman; or his Boogeyman.

So we gave old Grandpa a vote of confidence and let him tuck us in for 4 more years – by staying home election day. I guess it was easier to stay home and watch TV than go out and vote. No sense in changing things when they’re going so well or rather when things aren’t really affecting most of us; so the TV says. And things are getting better with the war, the economy is doing real well, jobs are up; why change; why vote for someone else; why vote at all?

But deep down inside we knew he wasn’t telling everything to us yet we thought that if things were really bad the newspapers and people on TV News surely would let us know the truth.

By 2006, many more of us became aware that things weren’t as swell as Bush said they were. Sure there would be some changes in Congress and those new people would help out by correcting things we didn’t know about or care about. Still, no reason to get out and vote. Lots of others will vote in the right people; someone else will take care of it; just sit on the couch and watch TV. Hey, American Idol is on!

Its 2008: When did things get so bad? Why are prices so high? How come my town is losing jobs and what’s with the rising LOCAL taxes? Just how long has this been going on and why hasn’t anyone told us about this? I heard that Miss Julie died because she couldn't afford health care. What's up with that? Maybe we better get out there and vote these guys out of office. We need change and we need it now.

Who’s running against the jerk responsible for this? I guess it’s time we all voted. Probably should have voted last time!

Anybody know what (this guy) stands for?

Yay for progress!

I don't have much to comment on the SC primary yesterday. Just read all the headlines and some of the stories over at Hinessight.com to get the full picture of what the corporate media wants you to think about it. I think I am really disappointed with the Clintons for playing the race card, however, it could be that the media is playing the race card in their name for I cannot trust what I read. Personally, I was happy to see young people and minority people engaged in the political process. This is indeed progress. I hope it serves as inspiration for the rest of the states even though most of the rest of us won't meet any candidates.

I'm also really happy that Rudy is tanking in Florida. For a while there, I was concerned that Americans were lapping up his nonsensical spew. Oh god, you didn't want NY's former mayor to be your president. Talk about a police state. He would have made bush look compassionate.

I've been thinking about these Tuesday primaries coming up and it disturbs me that they take place on days when most people have to work or go to school. If the country and the states really cared about a government by and for the people, wouldn't election days be state holidays? Think about it. Don't accept it. Write some letters. Kick some ass.

What's it like to live in Geezerville?

"Hey Dad," one of my kids asked the other day, " What was your favorite fast food when you were growing up?"
"We didn't have fast food when I was growing up," I informed him. "All the food was slow."
"C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?"
"It was a place called at home," I explained. "Grandma cooked every day and when Grandpa got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it."
By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table. But here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his system could have handled it:

Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore Levis, set foot on a golf course, traveled out of the country or had a credit card. In their later years they had something called a revolving charge card. The card was good only at Sears Roebuck. Or maybe it was Sears AND Roebuck. Either way, there is no Roebuck anymore. Maybe he died.
My parents never drove me to soccer practice. This was mostly because we never had heard of soccer. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow). We didn't have a television in our house until I was 11, but my grandparents had one before that. It was, of course, black and white, but they bought a piece of colored plastic to cover the screen. The top third was blue, like the sky, and the bottom third was green, like grass. The middle third was red. It was perfect for programs that had scenes of fire trucks riding across someone's lawn on a sunny day. Some people had a lens taped to the front of the TV to make the picture look larger.
I was 13 before I tasted my first pizza, it was called "pizza pie." When I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid off, swung down, plastered itself against my chin and burned that, too. It's still the best pizza I ever had.
We didn't have a car until I was 15. Before that, the only car in our family was my grandfather's Ford. He called it a "machine."
I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone in the house was in the living room and it was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know weren't already using the line.
Pizzas were not delivered to our home. But milk was.
All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers. I delivered a newspaper, six days a week. It cost 7 cents a paper, of which I got to keep 2 cents. I had to get up at 4 AM every morning. On Saturday, I had to collect the 42 cents from my customers. My favorite customers were the ones who gave me 50 cents and told me to keep the change. My least favorite customers were the ones who seemed to never be home on collection day.
Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the movies. Touching someone else's tongue with yours was called French kissing and they didn't do that in movies. I don't know what they did in French movies. French movies were dirty and we weren't allowed to see them.

If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want to share some of these memories with your children or grandchildren. Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing.

Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it?

More memories from a friend:
My Dad is cleaning out my grandmother's house (she died in December) and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top was a stopper with a bunch of holes in it. I knew immediately what it was, but my daughter had no idea. She thought they had tried to make it a salt shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat on the end of the ironing board to "sprinkle" clothes with because we didn't have steam irons. Man, I am old.

How many do you remember?
Head lights dimmer switches on the floor.
Ignition switches on the dashboard.
Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall.
Real ice boxes.
Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards.
Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner.
Using hand signals for cars without turn signals.

Older Than Dirt Quiz: Count all the ones that you remember not the ones you were told about. Ratings at the bottom.

1. Blackjack chewing gum
2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water
3. Candy cigarettes
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles
5. Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes
6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
7. Party lines
8. Newsreels before the movie
9. P.F. Flyers
10. Butch wax
11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (YOrk 4931)
12. Peashooters
13. Howdy Doody
14. 45 RPM records
15. S&H Green Stamps
16. Hi-fi's
17. Metal ice trays with lever
18. Mimeograph paper
19. Blue flashbulbs
20. Packards
21. Roller skate keys
22. Cork popguns
23. Drive-ins
24. Studebakers
25. Wash tub wringers

If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young
If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older
If you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age,
If you remembered 16-25 = You're older than dirt!

I might be older than dirt but those memories are the best part of my life.

Senility Prayer: "God grant me...
The senility to forget the people I never liked
The good fortune to run into the ones that I do
And the eyesight to tell the difference."

Creative Capitalism - Bill Gates - Speech delivered at the World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland, January 24, 2008

St Gates
Well, thank you for that kind introduction and for the privilege of speaking to this forum.

Continue reading at Candide's Notebooks

(I haven't read much of it yet. I'm still trying to plow through the Gandhi headlines. Indigo posted
this piece that Pierre posted on his website):



“Gandhi vs. Terrorism,” by Mark Juergensmeyer
(A MUST READ and very timely considering the post below)

Arun Gandhi - President and co-founder of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence......

(actually the post should read: PAST President)....
resigned from the peace institute he co-founded after condemnation of his comments that Israel and the Jews are the biggest players in a culture of violence that "is eventually going to destroy humanity."


Here is the full commentary from earlier this month that got him in hot water.

and

here's the story I picked to tell us about the backlash(from Indian Muslim News and Information - Arun Gandhi's resignation from non-violence institute accepted)

I best throw in WaPo's headline too (Gandhi's Grandson Quits Nonviolence Center)

JerseyCynic Comment to Arun Gandhi: I couldn't have said it better myself.

Danken sie Gott fur heimatsicherheitleiter!!!*

Barcelona plot fuels U.S. security concerns


*Thank God for our Homeland Security Chief

At Davos, Mothra versus Godzilla

by Terence Corcoran, Financial Post:
It must be tough being a leader, but surely the power players who populate the Davos event, an annual monument to self-aggrandizing business leaders, can do better than this report yesterday from Reuters: "Business leaders appeal for crisis leadership." Isn't that great: Just as the going gets rough, with markets falling and economic prospects looking grim, business leaders head for the exits and call on others to clean up the mess.



The Agenda:
Rich, Powerful Gather in Davos, Switzerland for World Economic Forum

CNN news on Davos:
Bill Gates calls for 'creative capitalism'

Here's the chinaview report "we don't know - we have to wait to see"

The Brits see no problems - business is holding up

take your pick of news stories - 6,500 to choose from and rising -
World Economic Forum - Davos

Here's some "funny" ha, ha, commentary from 2 delusional CEO's about their trip to "The Forum"
The Secret of Davos

and

The Working Night Cap


Here's what George Soros says:
The worst market crisis in 60 years

Hey.....

anybody want to move to Italy with me?

John Gibson: Lowering the level of public discourse in America

I read in the paper this morning that John Gibson HAD to apologize for his nasty comments about Heath Ledger that he made on his radio show which you can see here at Think Progress. His comments sparked outrage and he apologized on his Fox News TV show.

I don't get why the heck he had to pick on poor Keith Ledger. The young man had family and friends who loved him and don't deserve to have their loved one dragged through the mud. How rude to kick him on public airwaves with jokes about a character he played in the movies and ridicule a whole group of people who don't hurt civilization at large (homosexuals, depressed people, etc). I watched Brokeback Mountain two times and I saw something which I know must have freaked a lot of men out because it revealed something that they didn't want me to know about. It sure must have unnerved old John Gibson. Tough titties. Now I know.

And yes, I believe in the first amendment. But you know, this is the kind of spew one would expect from a shock jock and not from someone who anchors a news show on television. It only proves that television news guys have no integrity anymore and that they will stoop to any depth to get a laugh out of a frat boy. How can you trust hearing the news from the likes of this clown? Could you imagine Walter Cronkite spewing such garbage? Newspeople with integrity ought to speak out against Gibson because he is making the industry a laughing stock.

Furthermore, just because someone enjoys politics and economics to the right of center doesn't mean that they are hateful towards women, homosexuals, Mexicans, and whatever group the neocon's place the blame for everything on du jour. You most certainly don't have to be a pig to be a capitalist.

I can't believe I am going to defend conservatives, but they are not all like John Gibson nor do they even know who he is. In fact I think Gibson is pandering to redneck wannabees. Traditional conservatives ought to wake up and take their label back. The world would be a better place without allowing such jerks represent your position.

If I were a conservative I wouldn't tolerate what passes for talk radio and news in my political and economic world view. I'd take on on the neocons for dragging conservatives down into the depths of crudeness and incivility. I grew up with conservatives and I never witnessed or heard such prejudice. Ever. Sure, they were mostly oblivious people and never said what they what they were actually thinking (if they were actually thinking about anything other than their portfolio and golf handicap), but they weren't deliberately mean nor would they condone such comments by the likes of those neocon shills on Fox News or "conservative" talk radio... or any shock jocks.

Bank On California

California governor wants more Californians to open bank accounts
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced on Thursday that California will be the first state in the United States to launch an effort to help working Californians without bank accounts open starter accounts.

ok. nice I guess, if you have a buck left after paying your bills.

"Through 'Bank on California' we will help working families save money by accessing basic financial services others may take for granted -- putting them in the financial mainstream," said Schwarzenegger. "This simple, innovative idea won't cost taxpayers a dime, helps working families get ahead and grows our economy at the same time."

uh huh. Seems the working people aren't growing our economy enough.

Americans each year spend 8 billion U.S. dollars for basic financial services through alternative financial institutions such as check cashing outlets, payday lenders and pawnshops, according to a new Brookings Institution report.

This translates into 40,000 dollars over the course of a career for the average full-time worker. In addition, families without bank accounts may not have a safe place to keep their money and can become a magnet for crime.

Oh!! I get it now. Get the poor people to save the banks. Silly me.




I like how this story is in the Chinese news.

Friday Sex Post

English Russia blog: A visit to a condom factory somewhere in eastern Europe or Russia or Poland or somewhere depending on which commenter is correct. Condom manufacturing is not too sterile and the blogger wonders what must happen in condom factories in Asia "they might do even more not-so-sterile things with this gentle products…" Read the comments too.

Here we go again with Obama's religion

According to Horses Mouth Blog at TPM, Newsmax.com, the winger news site Newsmax.com had a breaking headline yesterday, OBAMA: I am not a Muslim. When you think about it, this IS going to be news for a lot of people. The AP story Democrat Barack Obama Steps Up Effort To Correct Misconception That He's A Muslim reports that emails are circulating around SC that Obama is a Muslim terrorist and this story is circulating around the Internets. If he becomes the nominee, can you just imagine what he will be up against?

What is happening is that Obama has to go on record explaining just how Christian he is, which seems oddly quaint . There was flap a while back when Faux News made a big deal about how his first name rhymes with Osama, what his middle name is and that he went to a Muslim school for a while when he was a boy, but it was laid to rest after a broohaha.

Fareed Zakaria, editor Newsweek International was on Real Time with Bill Maher January 18th and they were talking about politics and Pakistan when Zakaria mentioned that maybe an Obama presidency would be good for foreign policy. He said it would be hard for a Pakistani jihadi to wage jihad against a man named Barrak Hussein Obama. Bill Maher said that he'd see the name Hussein and go "Hey!" (thumbs up)

Zakaria told Maher that some Pakistani businessmen remarked that they loved the fact that someone with the middle name, Hussein, can run for president in America and Zakaria told them that's because no one in America knows that's his middle name. The laughter ensued.

This should be interesting to watch.

RIAA Declares Using Brain to Remember Songs is Criminal Copyright Infringement

NOTE: "This is a satire report on the RIAA. That means it's written as fictional humor. It does not yet represent the actual position of the RIAA, although from the way things are going, the association may soon adopt it. Permission is granted to make copies of this story, redistribute it, post it and e-mail it (please provide proper credit and URL) as long as you do not actually remember it because copying to your brain is now strictly prohibited. Any attempts to circumvent the memory-based copyright restrictions on this article will result in your brain imploding, causing such an extreme loss of cognitive function that your only hope for any future career will be running for public office."

by MIKE ADAMS


On the heels of the RIAA's recent decision to criminalize consumers who rip songs from albums they've purchased to their computers (or iPods), the association has now gone one step further and declared that "remembering songs" using your brain is criminal copyright infringement. "The brain is a recording device," explained RIAA president Cary Sherman. "The act of listening is an unauthorized act of copying music to that recording device, and the act of recalling or remembering a song is unauthorized playback."

The RIAA also said it would...(continue)

Mike Adams YOU ROCK MAN!!

Study: False statements preceded war

From : "Study: False statements preceded war"
The study is at the Center for Public Integrity.

The study counted 935 false statements in the two-year period. It found that in speeches, briefings, interviews and other venues, Bush and administration officials stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them or had links to al-Qaida or both.

The center said the study was based on a database created with public statements over the two years beginning on Sept. 11, 2001, and information from more than 25 government reports, books, articles, speeches and interviews.

"The cumulative effect of these false statements — amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts — was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war," the study concluded.

"Some journalists — indeed, even some entire news organizations — have since acknowledged that their coverage during those prewar months was far too deferential and uncritical. These mea culpas notwithstanding, much of the wall-to-wall media coverage provided additional, 'independent' validation of the Bush administration's false statements about Iraq," it said.

Well you already knew that he was lying and evil piece of excrement, but like me, you probably lost count of all the lies. It wasn't like anyone was paying me to spend time keeping meticulous records although I started back in 2002. So many people I knew and loved believed the lies. I wanted to be wrong actually. I don't like being the harbinger of doom and gloom at all. I was mad that I could see through the lies like most of you were. You start to think you're crazy after a while and doubt yourself when the media was lying too. If you're lucky you managed to help a few people see the light and could feel less alone. The corporate media never questioned the lies. The corporate media just changed the reasons for the invasion and occupation of Iraq as the administration instructed them to do.

Impeach

There's a sucker born every minute

This is an excerpt of an excerpt printed at alternet.org from Sarah Posner's new book, God's Profits: Faith, Fraud, and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters. There is a lot more at the link. Quite shocking too.

Like Bush's 2000 campaign slogan, Compassionate Conservatism, Word of Faith preachers often give lip service to their church's community service projects yet worship at the altar of hyperindividualism and unregulated capitalism. Many of these televangelists spend millions of dollars of church funds on luxury jets, take huge salaries out of church coffers to build themselves mansions, and treat themselves to other luxuries like clothes, vacations, and high-end dinners. They use the free advertising of their churches and television shows to sell countless books, tapes, and DVDs of their sermons, raking in millions that go into for-profit church-related enterprises that line their own pockets. All of this activity is rationalized as obeying Jesus' command to spread the Gospel throughout the world. Yet it is all possible precisely because there is virtually no oversight of the preachers' activities. Tax-exempt churches do not file tax returns and are under no obligation to divulge their finances to donors or the public. Where profit-driven church meets the cornerstone of conservative economic ideology, televangelists have been enriching themselves in an unregulated marketplace trading on God, the cult of personality, and American dreams of riches and success.

Although some observers of the 2006 election have pronounced the conservative Christian movement dead, Parsley's preaching in the service reveals exactly why the Word of Faith movement will play a big role in keeping it alive through the 2008 elections and beyond. While Parsley's audience is under his spell, the mayhem is suddenly suspended when Parsley yells, "Stop! I just heard the Holy Ghost." The audience falls silent, hoping for a direct line from God. Instead, Parsley delivers a political speech.

While I was optimistically hoping that "christian" "conservatives" were losing ground, it appears that their leaders are still being hosted in the White House. These hucksters are capable of transforming tens or hundreds of thousands of suckers (probably mostly oppressed and undereducated) Americans into supporting their lavish lifestyles as well as supporting the GOP. This is what is so dangerous about evangelicals today. If they want to make charlatans rich, that is nothing new, but now more and more brainwashed masses are doing the bidding of the fascist, cruel-corporatist pigs.

It's time to call for a repeal of the tax exempt status of churches in the United States. The best way to deal with them is to hit them where they hurt. Watch how fast the honest ministries stand up and begin to rip out the weeds.

China Calls for Stepped-Up Propaganda

By Christopher Bodeen, AP Writer

BEIJING — Chinese President Hu Jintao has told officials to breathe new life into propaganda efforts, putting renewed emphasis on a key pillar of Communist rule ahead of this summer's Beijing Olympic Games.

Hu's remarks at a major party gathering reflected the government's traditional focus on controlling information and guiding public opinion, yet also indicated concern that those efforts were losing their edge in the face of the Internet and other independent sources of information and entertainment.

Officials should "perform well the task of outward propaganda, further exhibit and raise up the nation's good image," Hu said.

Reports on his remarks Tuesday to party leaders and propaganda officials dominated the front page of the party's flagship People's Daily and other official newspapers Wednesday.

The reports did not indicate any direct mention of the Olympics by Hu. However, they said he called for boosting China's "cultural soft power," a reference to influence in culture, sports and other spheres outside traditional military might and hard-nosed diplomacy.

China has only lately embraced the concept of "soft power," although propaganda has been a central tenet of Communist rule even before the party seized control in a 1949 revolution.

Directing those efforts is the Propaganda Department, which sits under the direct control of the party's powerful Central Committee. The body outranks all government ministries and the Cabinet's State Council Information Office, which is chiefly responsible for propaganda directed at foreign audiences.

As the voice of party rule, the department is headed by a party hard-liner and exercises broad control over print media, film, television and the Internet.

In an apparent attempt to appear more progressive, the department's English name was changed a decade ago to the Publicity Department, although its name in Chinese remains unchanged.

The department has wide-ranging powers to punish outlets, writers, filmmakers and journalists that defy its guidelines, both written and implied, although the process of censorship is highly opaque.

Organizers of the Beijing Olympics inaugurated a media center early on and hired international public relations firm Hill & Knowlton to advise on publicity and media relations for the Games, which get under way in August.

Those efforts are especially important given human rights groups' attempts to use the games to publicize their criticisms of Chinese policies on everything from religious freedoms to the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.

In the reports on his remarks, Hu also emphasized the importance of propaganda in maintaining stability in a society increasingly riven by disparities between rich and poor, ethnic divisions, and challenges to the party's once unquestioned authority.

Officials, he said, must "advance the building of the body of socialist core value and further boost unity and harmony between all ethnic groups."

and in other news

Blondesense reader, Dirruk, our European correspondent, who lives in the Netherlands and writes awesome limericks, sent along this story for your amusement. Well I was amused. This guy is cute AND a hero.

Hero pilot likes crew girls licking chocolate off his naked body

Twice-married Capt Burkhill was hailed a hero by the Prime Minister for averting disaster when flight BA038 lost power on its descent. The captain oversaw proceedings as his co-pilot John Coward landed the jet on grass. Later Capt Burkhill said: "We are trained to deal with emergency situations."

The Heathrow hero is awesomely cute too. Oh my. Check out the pictures at the story which go along with the following:

Stewardesses attended to his every need—which bizarrely even meant putting liqourice up his bottom—as they hovered over his landing stripes.

But when the girls smothered him in chocolate and licked it all off, Peter—then a 28-year-old First Officer—was left feeling rather joysticky...and needed to ditch in a bubble bath with the beauties.

Our snaps were taken when the 44-year-old British Airways captain worked for Caledonian Airways. Ex-air steward Gary May—who was at the party on a US stopover said: "It was a total sex-fest. Birds were always all over him.

"He was so good looking they called him Perfect Peter.

"After licking the chocolate off and soaping him down they also played an airline game with him, putting liquorice up his bottom."

They then laid strings of it on his buttocks and ate them.

You have GOT to love the Brits.

Saudi Arabia to move out of the 12th Century?

Saudi Arabia to lift ban on women drivers

Don't hold your breath.

Excerpts:
Government officials have confirmed the landmark decision and plan to issue a decree by the end of the year.
[...]
If the ban on women driving is lifted, it could be years before the full impact is seen. Practical hurdles stopping women obtaining licences and insurance must be overcome.
[...]
Critics believe allowing women to drive would be the first step towards a gradual erosion of the kingdom's modesty laws. A woman would have to remove the traditional abaya robe to get a clear view behind the wheel.

But seriously, I think the trouble with Saudi men is Saudi men. Obviously they cannot even fathom the idea of self control.

Cookie Wars. Hydrox lost.

This story was on the front page of the WJS on Saturday.
The Hydrox Cookie Is Dead, and Fans Won't Get Over It

I was surprised to not be reading about the impending doom of my nest egg over breakfast but rather reading about the doom of the Hydrox cookie. There is an internet campaign to bring it back, but Kelloggs won't hear of it. There is an online forum to discuss the cookie at WSJ too.

I think I preferred Hydrox over Oreos, but mom bought whatever was on sale and so did I when my son was younger and I had to buy cookies. I can have neither in the house today as it would be like having booze in the cupboard if I were an alcoholic. The bag of cookies would be calling me in the night, "Oh Lizzy... yoohoo. I'm crunchy and delicious and I love you so much and I know that you love me. Eat me. Eat me."

A simple fix for what ails us?

While I am trying not to freak out over the economy today, I am reading about other things

David Sirota's piece, "Digging In the Right Place" discusses how we shouldn't really expect the feds to come up with health care solutions but rather look to state legislatures and he gives 2 examples: Washington and Wisconsin. Three paragraphs that really stuck out and drove his points (which you will read in the short article) home:

Think about it: The White House can only be won by raising truckloads of cash from moneyed interests looking to preserve the status quo. Likewise, the U.S. Senate's filibuster rules allow 41 lawmakers, representing just 11 percent of the population, to stop anything. These are institutions designed to prevent change, not embrace it.

You absolutely cannot argue with that. In fact you already knew that and that's why you probably read this blog. And this which sums up the PTB nicely when faced with a logical money saving plan that would even benefit them:

The Royalist Right is distraught about the plan. When an initial draft passed the Wisconsin Senate last year, the Wall Street Journal's editorial board attacked it on the grounds that it "reduces out-of-pocket copayments" and "increases the number of mandated medical services covered" for patients. Wow. Sounds just awful.

The paper then criticized it as a tax increase and labeled it "government-run" -- as if patients are better served by paying even bigger premium increases to corporate CEOs whose paychecks grow with each coverage denial.

Know what the sad thing is? I know "wannabees" who would agree with the WSJ's editorial board just so that they could be perceived as "have mores."

One day I will have to do a write up on my experiences here on Long Island with the Republicans and Conservatives I know from where I lived before I got married (have mores) vs where I live now (wannabees) and that it's mostly the wannabees who delight in sticking it to the hard working class (of which they happen to belong. not you, PB)

Levite be Gone: Releasing the Samaritan Within. By Jason Miller

[30] In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. [31] A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. [32] So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. [33] But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. [34] He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. [35] The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

[36] “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

[37] The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

—Luke 10:25-37

Nice summation of the times we live in Mr. Miller. Great commentary and a gentle (not) reminder for the PTB.

(I had to look up a few words before I started reading):

LEVITE:As being wholly consecrated to the service of the Lord, they had no territorial possessions. Jehovah was their inheritance and for their support it was ordained that they should receive from the other tribes the tithes of the produce of the land. (In particular, theLevite Tithe)

Also, be sure to check out the comments that follow -- "shadowdancer" in particular:

Perhaps your a Nation of mostly Religious Political Pharisees? I use the word, Mostly, meaning, not all.
Way back when before all the Tribes were rounded up and put on their Reservations a man of European Heritage visited some Tribes and said, They live like the Bible says to live and they don’t even have the book.

South Carolina Democratic Debate

Tonight I watched in disbelief a REAL DEBATE. I mean, talking to each other, sparks flying, accusing, defending and re-accusing each other, attacking even the people who were not on the podium. (Bill Clinton)
There was an annoying audience who applauded even when Obama sneezed.
It was a serious, substantive debate - one - you never see on the republican tax-cut-fest or fear-mongering monologue.
As most of the "fist-fight" went on between Hillary and Obama, I think Edwards was a clear winner (for what it's worth)
Obama was debating for South Carolina delegates, while Hillary had her eyes on the national picture.
A few times Hillary and Edwards ganged up on Obama, when their policies agreed, and not for "kiss ass" reason.
It was most interesting watching all three candidates, taking their gloves off.
Here are my impressions (feel free to disagree with me):

Obama, often stumbling on words, pausing and sometimes stuttering, looked green, inexperienced, almost boyish. I actually noticed being angry at times. Very idealistic, talking a great deal about future, unity, ideas, projecting great accomplishments for the country and the people, without ever stating how he's going to do it.

Edwards, talks a great populist deal; thoughtful, emotional when it comes to people's suffering, having a great plan, bordering Utopia, of turning this country upside down. I am sorry, but his populist message does not ring true to me. Doable ? Perhaps, but it will require an armed uprising, shedding blood on the streets to radically change this country as he sees it.

Clinton, spoke eloquently, itemized and detailed, how she's going to make change happen. And she spoke with passion, as she believes. She came across as a doer, someone who will "walk the walk".

As for me, all I expect that the next president help swing the pendulum back to center, where it belongs. Hillary will do just that.

But that is just my opinion.

Wait a minute...

From the Huffington Post:

"You know, this has become a habit," he said. "And one of the things that I think we're going to have to do is to directly confront Bill Clinton when he's not making statements that are factually accurate." - Obama

Obama did praise Republicans, but he criticized them in the same comment: "I think it's fair to say the Republicans were the party of ideas for a pretty long chunk of time there over the last 10, 15 years, in the sense that they were challenging conventional wisdom. Now, you've heard it all before. You look at the economic policies when they're being debated among the presidential candidates and it's all tax cuts. Well, you know, we've done that, we tried it. That's not really going to solve our energy problems, for example. So, some of it's the times."

Is it just me or is anyone else somewhat put off by a “Democrat” invoking Ronnie for whatever reason without criticism then making a statement that the Republicans were the party of ideas?

But what really makes me question this guy’s thoughts and possibly his real intentions is that he questions Clinton’s behavior. Wait! Nothing to do with Clinton’s past. Now he thinks we ought to directly confront the defacto leader of the Democratic Party…when HE (Clinton) isn’t making factual statements!

Can anyone tell me when BHO EVER publicly confronted George W. Bush…or for that matter, ANY Republican; or when he ever OFFERED to confront any Republican about their lies? There must be SOME meaningful confrontation he attempted.

Anyone?

SUBPRIME NATION by Patrick J. Buchanan

Since it began to give credit ratings to nations in 1917, Moody’s has rated the United States triple-A. U.S. Treasury bonds have been seen as the most secure investment on earth. When crises erupt, nervous money seeks out the world’s great safe harbor, the United States. That reputation is now in peril.

Meanwhile, Washington drifts mindlessly toward the maelstrom. With the dollar sinking, oil surging to $100 a barrel, the Dow having its worst January in memory, foreclosures mounting, credit card debt going rotten, and consumers and businesses unable or unwilling to borrow, we appear headed into recession

To stave off recession, the Fed appears anxious to slash interest rates another half-point, if not more. That will further weaken the dollar and raise the costs of the imports to which we have become addicted. While all this is bad news for the Republicans, it is worse news for the republic. As we save nothing, we must borrow both to pay for the imported oil and foreign manufactures upon which we have become dependent.

We are thus in the position of having to borrow from Europe to defend Europe, of having to borrow from China and Japan to defend Chinese and Japanese access to Gulf oil, and of having to borrow from Arab emirs, sultans and monarchs to make Iraq safe for democracy.

We borrow from the nations we defend so that we may continue to defend them. To question this is an unpardonable heresy called “isolationism.”

We sat still as Japan protected her markets and dumped high quality goods into ours and China undervalued its currency to suck jobs, technology and factories out of the United States. Now, China and Japan have $2 trillion in cash reserves. The Arabs have an equal amount of petrodollars. Both are headed here to spend their depreciating dollars snapping up U.S. assets – banks, ports, highways, defense contractors.

America, to pay her bills, has begun to sell herself to the world.

Continue reading

RIP Suzanne Pleshette

Suzanne Pleshette was one celebrity that I admired and I have nothing but fond memories of her. She was way too young to die.

I first saw her in The Birds and the love affair grew stronger when she played Emily in the Bob Newhart Show which I watched on Saturday nights during my teen years (when I was babysitting). I'll never forget her reprisal of Emily on the series finale of Newhart. I made a point of watching anything that appeared in.

I shared my birthday with the savvy New York City lady. I'll miss that.

Sunday Roundup

Well, it's Sunday, traditionally a day of rest. So let's stop a moment for a breather and see what's been going on, shall we?

Looks like John McCain won in South Carolina, while Hillary got the booby prize in Nevada (by winning the caucus, but getting one fewer delegates than Obama), and Romney won the GOP side in Nevada. Fred Thompson came on the telly after posting a poor third in South Carolina and made a pointless 30-second speech about sacrifice. Oh, and a nobody named Duncan Hunter dropped out of the GOP race.

***

The Dear Leader and both Houses of Congress agree that something has to be done to nip the recession in the bud, so Dear Leader proposed a $145 billion package that would give a lot of people checks. He did the same thing in 2001, and after 9/11 told us all to shop. The problem is that the flaws in the economy apparently run deeper than just handing out money to us.

For example, where's that money coming from, and how will the government pay for it? And does the Upper One Percent really give two shits about us proles?

***

A man named Milton Wolff died last Monday in Berkeley, California at the age of 92. The name didn't mean anything to me until I read the rest of his obituary. Wolff was born in 1915 and, at age 21 and an active Communist, he went off to Spain. By age 22 he was the ninth (and last) American commander of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, a unit made of American expatriates who had gone off to fight for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. While there he met the novelist Ernest Hemingway, and Wolff later said that Hemingway served him his first Scotch.

About 40 members of the Lincoln Brigade are still alive. They were idealists, fighting for a cause they thought was right. Unfortunately, they lost when, after their withdrawal in late 1939, Madrid fell to General Franco and the Fascists.

***

The war in Iraq drags on, with no end in sight. The insurgents are elusive and the weapons seem to be getting a bit more powerful. Meanwhile, more American troops die while our elected representatives - our employees - sit on their hands.

***

Governor-Reverend Michael "Elect Me Ayatollah!" Huckabee continues to frighten the shit out of the GOP mainstream and, truth be told, out of a lot of clear-thinking people like myself. His stated positions are such that he really should be an Iranian mullah, and only reinforces my belief that no ordained minister, of whatever religion, should ever be allowed to run for public office.

Take a look at what Huckabee espouses: Quarantining gays in camps, outlawing gay marriage, outlawing abortion, amending the US Constitution to reflect "God's Law" (and nevermind that his interpretation of that might differ from others' views), and so on. He is in favor of allowing the old treasonous Confederate battle flag to stay prominently posted on state flags, and by his coded language on states' rights is making sure that Southern whites can still feel comfortable in Jim Crow racism.

What does a McCain win actually mean to the GOP?

According to this morning's Wash Post, the GOP was afraid of a McCain win just as they were in 2000. He is a liberal. Did you know that? Who would have thought?

GOP attack dogs Limbaugh and Delay worked feverishly to derail McCain and Huckabee from being nominated. They lost. Maybe some people just don't trust their "opinions" after 8 years of hell.

Limbaugh led the way with a verbal blitz, not just against McCain but against his closest rival in South Carolina, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.

"I'm here to tell you, if either of these two guys get the nomination, it's going to destroy the Republican Party. It's going to change it forever, be the end of it," Limbaugh fumed on his radio show Tuesday. It was a line of argument that he kept up all week long.

DeLay resurfaced on Fox News Friday to excoriate McCain for working with "the most liberal Democrats in the Senate," for passing an overhaul of campaign finance laws that "completely neutered the Republican Party," and single-handedly thwarted oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

"McCain has done more to hurt the Republican Party than any elected official I know of," said DeLay, the former House majority leader, who was personally damaged by McCain's Senate probe of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a probe that implicated numerous DeLay associates.

The whole story is actually quite funny.

A related story at the Boston Globe shows how Lush's opinion influences listeners (but not S. Carolinians, obviously.) Lush was pushing for Mitt Romney.

Welcome to the Third Race at the HONEYMOON IS OVER DOWNS

They're at the gate....


and they're off!(direct quick/real/whatever player link)

An oldie but goodie that still cracks me up every time I hear it!

Microsoft seeks patent for office 'spy' software

TOM???...you have GOT to be kidding me. This is a spoof - right? I know I'm up early again but...this can't be real.(Tom left the link to the story below following my comment and link in Liz's REALITY CHECK post below)


Woof! Woof, Woof, Woof, WOOOOOOOOOF!!
Microsoft is developing Big Brother-style software capable of remotely monitoring a worker’s productivity, physical wellbeing and competence.

The Times has seen a patent application filed by the company for a computer system that links workers to their computers via wireless sensors that measure their metabolism. The system would allow managers to monitor employees’ performance by measuring their heart rate, body temperature, movement, facial expression and blood pressure


Well, let me tell you.....

if this is true, it appears that I have quit my job just in time!
I began having mouse issues a few weeks ago when I started working at the cube with the touch pad thing instead of a mouse. I wonder how Management would have responded to my frustrations that day -- it wasn't pretty.

THEN, the other day, they decided to hook into that instant messenger IM screen thing to "communicate" more efficiently with each other. Saves a lot of time instead of poking your head up over your cube to make human contact to ask your co-worker a question (where's happy hour tonight?). They didn't like my idea of assigning different "bung" tones to each cube. I was leading a pretty good version of Mr. Sandman just to pick things up one morning...bung, bung, bung, bung, bung, bung, bung, bung, bung, bung, bung, bung,

if we had one more person, we could have done it!!

Oh boy I got out just in time. I know there are millions of benefits to technology and I probably should have conformed a long time ago because it's pretty hard finding an office with a typewriter these days. I was so frustrated one day trying to "snail mail" and item. I can't believe how long it took me to produce a label for an envelope compared to rolling it into my old IBM Selectric. This office didn't even have stationary. I had to start my own roladex. Nobody knew what a tickler file was. I was happy to learn word processing years ago though. We could have stopped there with the technology as far as I'm concerned.

Oh well, it's time for a career change. The office just ain't what it used to be.

Here's a few good computer technology reads from timesonline:
White bread for young minds, says university professor

Google is “white bread for the mind”, and the internet is producing a generation of students who survive on a diet of unreliable information, a professor of media studies will claim this week.

Doris Lessing, the digital divide, and cat videos
As digital technology – and fears about its effects – increasingly define us, it’s hard to separate the virtues from the vices.


I think I'll just fine tune my Guitar skills in the meantime!
Watch Conan annoy his writing staff while they’re playing Rock Band, then sings The Beastie Boys’ “Sabatoge”, as Edith Bunker.
(the kids pooled their money last year and got Guitar Hero - it's quite addicting)

The Horse Race

As the republicans battling it out in South Carolina still searching for a viable candidate, I'd like to pay homage to their effort:

"Ten little Indian boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were Nine.
Nine little Indian boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were Eight.
Eight little Indian boys traveling in Devon; One said he'd stay there and then there were Seven.
Seven little Indian boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in halves and then there were Six.
Six little Indian boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were Five.
Five little Indian boys going in for law; One got into Chancery and then there were Four.
Four little Indian boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were Three.
Three little Indian boys walking in the Zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were Two.
Two Little Indian boys playing with a gun; One shot the other and then there was one.
One little Indian boy left all alone; He went out and hanged himself and then there were none."

Reality Check

Today's reading is Good Times, Bad Times 3: The USA and the Hysteroidal Cycle

Oh my yes, the US is an hysterical nation and this essay by Henry See puts it all in perspective.

excerpt: Łobaczewski suggested that, compared with Europe, the US was behind the curve of the hysteroidal cycle. He suggests that the US is now in the period of the cycle that compares with the period between the two wars in Europe. The first half of this century saw two world wars and the rise of fascist and communist authoritarian regimes. Today in the United States, we see the rise of a 21st century fascism with a distinctly American face. Obviously it doesn't look exactly like Hitler's Germany or Mussolini's Italy. Unfortunately, Mussolini's description of fascism as the merger of the corporations and the state is certainly a very accurate description of the situation in the US today. Not only does the US government follow the dictates of the corporate donors to their election funds and the lobbyists on Capital Hill, the government itself is being privatized and given away to those corporations. Look at the role of mercenaries in the Iraq war or in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. In the few short years of the Bush regime, an entire industry of security specialists under the guise of 'Homeland Security' has arisen to feed at the teat of public funding. The Constitution has been thrown aside. According to the president, it is only a piece of paper.

The one right and responsibility left to the American people is the right to shop, although even that is becoming more of a responsibility. You must go into debt to defend America.

This takes the cake

This was all over the news yesterday and I am so ashamed for this country of ours.

Foreign Affairs suspects U.S. tortures prisoners
Mike Blanchfield, Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, January 17, 2008
OTTAWA - A Foreign Affairs document has identified the United States and Israel as countries it suspects of practising torture.
The document also defines such U.S. interrogation techniques as blindfolding and forced nudity as torture.
The emergence of the document - a PowerPoint presentation meant to instruct Canadian diplomats on how to recognize torture cases abroad - is bound to strain relations with the two countries that Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper has sought to strengthen during his two years in power. (continued at the Vancouver Sun.)

Well can you blame a country that warns its diplomats about such things would put the US on the list? After all, we hassle the hell out of ordinary citizens at airports and put statesmen on no-fly lists. Our relationships with decent countries SHOULD be strained. Otherwise those countries that accept the behavior of the US are just as bad.

I don't know about you, but I couldn't be more fed up and yet more cynical about the state of the country at this point in history and to hear anyone, ANYONE, even suggest that our president did a good job at ANYTHING makes my blood boil.


and speaking of torture, how about that great "christian" preacher Huckabee who mingles with white supremacist groups, suggesting that anyone who complains about South Carolina's respect for the Confederate flag can shove it up their asses? Well, he didn't say that exactly to be fair, he only said, "In fact, if somebody came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we'd tell them what to do with the pole, that's what we'd do." What's on the Arkie flag anyway? Anything that would suggest that they are bigots?
Last night on Real Time with Bill Maher, DL Hughely explained that the confederate flag is code for "We hate n***ers." I have no reason to doubt his assertion.

Entertainment Tonight!

Some people simply defy existence. We all know there are fanatic right wing sites that spew mindlessness without providing facts for reasons known to themselves. This site is particularly mind-numbing; and a perfect example of the lies pushed by the rusted nuts.

What's up with that

This guy is certifiable!

OH.MY. GAWD!

THIS. is funny

Bush Coins

Courtesy of Blimptv.net
and Keith O.

"There is reason to be hopeful when the president recognizes there is a problem in the country," ~~said Nancy Pelosi on 1/17/08

Bush, the Fed and Congress Urge Immediate Rebates and Tax Breaks to Give Economy a Swift Jolt


The idea is that if people spend more, it will pump up the economy...

But Bush's advisers and Capitol Hill Republicans are skeptical of new spending initiatives like extended jobless benefits and higher food stamp payments; or accelerating highway, bridge and other public infrastructure projects to address rising unemployment among construction workers

The mantra among Democrats and many economists is that any stimulus bill should be timely, temporary and targeted toward people most likely to funnel the money right back into the economy. As such, some Democrats are suggesting limiting tax rebates to lower-income and middle-class families and people with children.

Liberal economists say boosting food stamps is one of the most efficient ways of pumping money into the economy, an idea embraced by GOP economist Martin Feldstein at a Brookings Institution forum on Thursday. --

(see -- even those libs realize you need food for energy so you can get yourself to the mall and pump that money back into the economy)

The sudden scramble to take action came as fears mounted that a severe housing slump and a painful credit crisis could cause people to clamp down on their spending and businesses to put a lid on hiring.

(RESIST the urge to clamp down folks -- we need to SAVE THE ECONOMY first!! -- ONE FOR ALL and ALL FOR ONE!!)

President Bush told congressional leaders privately he favors income tax rebates for people and tax breaks for businesses, officials said. Bush spoke with congressional leaders as House aides worked behind the scenes on an emergency package that could also include more money for food stamp recipients and the unemployed.

does anything get done behind the scenes anymore?

I sure hope so, cause these retards "running" our country (right into the ground) don't seem to have a clue. What a shameful, moronic, consumer driven society our country has become. Most of us here at blondesense have come to realize that attachment to materialistic values and possessions are not the road to happiness. Are the majority of people really this stupid? Will no one reading these articles realize that nowhere is there any mention of the budget for the war machine. Not one word. Oh stupid me.... I forgot how w got everyone to come together as a nation following 9/11 and our last CASH TO THE RESCUE stimulus: "GO SHOPPING" was the administration's message. We obeyed.

Heads Up Folks. We may be getting another stimulus soon.

Inspired by Tom's comment of Sheryl Crow, and due to the fact that it's OFSP or OSPF, how about this:

Ladies:
What's your list of the 5 best looking or intelligent or savory or whatever guys (from the front or back)?

Gents:
See if you can limit your choices to 5 of the finest kind of females you'd choose (top or bottom).

A reason for the selection would be nice, but I'm sure we'll understand if you just provide the drool.

I thought about a top ten list but that would be too easy. This way, you gotta think about them.

Hmmmm?
For mine, I was thinking of maybe Moms Mabley, Margaret Thatcher...wait! That's another list!

check it out

End death by stoning, Iran urged
Amnesty International has urged Iran to drop from its penal code the punishment of death by stoning, a fate awaiting 11 convicted criminals, the group says.

I wonder if Mike Huckabee would agree with Amnesty International since the Bible condones stoning.

Sex post

Adult Club's Sign Bothers Pinellas Park Residents

I really enjoyed the very observant comments like "I don't have the energy for this. I'm still busy being offended by Janet Jackson's nipple," and "that extremely hot girl is right in there, right in that little dump of a building, waiting for you.... Trust me."

bin Laden for peace

Osama bin Laden's 26 year old son Omar is a peacenik. He and his British wife are planning a 3,000 mile horserace across northern Africa to prove to Westerners that not all Muslims and bin Laden's are terrorists. Seems like a waste of time since most, if not all Westerners already know that. Read all about it.

Friday Sex Post

Australian rugby player says "Thank you" after raping woman.

Swingers club owners say that they're serious about "providing quality adult entertainment within clearly-defined parameters."

Word to the Wise?

Don't jump to conclusions
About others' illusions;
You may find
An axe to grind
If you look at your own delusions.

For blackdog (and others!)

An apology? From Tweety?

Rachel Maddow (airamericaradio.com) just had John Amato (Crooks and Liars) on the radio. She played Tweety's (sort of) apology for being a misogynist. John has it on Crooks and Liars.

Something that struck me is that the blogosphere has had some influence on the media (at last.) I have written more than a few letters to NBC. More examples of Chris Matthews' anti-female bias is covered at Mediamatters.org

This may not be funny...

But it is strange! Maybe the first of the new plagues the evangelicals prayed for!


Morgellons

Or residuals from alien abductions?

On the other hand...vengeance from the
Flying Spaghetti Monster?

Leer-ickle Hoomer

Since someone (I won't mention any names,Liz) wondered that Peter and I might be somewhat unpopular with our better halfs because of our "wit and humor" and maybe an occasional disjointed lyric to a song, I figure, what's another one? So, without any further a-doo...


"Deteriorata" - National Lampoon

You are a fluke of the universe. You have no right to be here.
Deteriorata. Deteriorata.

Go placidly amid the noise and waste,
And remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.

Avoid quiet and passive persons, unless you are in need of sleep.
Rotate your tires.

Speak glowingly of those greater than yourself,
And heed well their advice, even though they be turkeys.
Know what to kiss, and _when_.

Consider that two wrongs never make a right, but that three do.

Wherever possible, put people on hold.

Be comforted that in the face of all aridity and disillusionment,
and despite the changing fortunes of time,
There is always a big future in computer maintenance.

Remember The Pueblo.
Strive at all times to bend, fold, spindle, and mutilate.
Know yourself. If you need help, call the FBI.

Exercise caution in your daily affairs,
Especially with those persons closest to you -
That lemon on your left, for instance.

Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most souls
Would scarcely get your feet wet.

Fall not in love therefore. It will stick to your face.
Gracefully surrender the things of youth: birds,
Clean air, tuna, Taiwan.
And let not the sands of time get in your lunch.

Hire people with hooks.
For a good time, call 606-4311. Ask for Candy.

Take heart in the deepening gloom
That your dog is finally getting enough cheese.

And reflect that whatever fortune may be your lot,
It could only be worse in Milwaukee.

You are a fluke of the universe.
You have no right to be here.
And whether you can hear it or not,
The universe is laughing behind your back.

Therefore, make peace with your god,
Whatever you perceive him to be - hairy thunderer, or cosmic muffin.

With all its hopes, dreams, promises, and urban renewal,
The world continues to deteriorate.

Give up!

politics shmolitics

I can barely pay attention to politics lately without getting ill. The corporate media has taken it upon themselves to decide which candidates are viable and I take issue with that. For instance, Dennis Kuchinich couldn't participate in the Democratic Debate in Nevada because the Nevada Supreme Court sided with MSNBC. So what good is a debate with 3 candidates who stand for the same thing? Three 'not all that democratic' candidates? The media turns every comment by a candidate or campaign worker's comment into a racist or a sexist slur, while the pundits who comment on the comments make it even worse. I don't know what to believe about candidates. Honestly. I can't take every bit of negative news about a candidate seriously because it is subject to enormous spin, extreme bias on the part of the interviewers and debate moderators.

Surely this is no longer a democratic country. Even though Dennis Kucinich doesn't stand a chance of being elected, what he has to say ought to be something for Americans to think about and demand comment by the corporately chosen front runners. Furthermore, I couldn't expect to find out about candidates from their ads, first, because there are no ads on television in New York (whew) and secondly because there are no truth in advertising standards for political candidates.

Yesterday it was reported that George W. Bush, when confronted with his low poll numbers commented, "So what am I supposed to do? Go in the fetal position because of your polls?" ABC news (in a perfect world) should have said, "Yes. Go into the fetal position and think about how you let down your country, you imbecile. You go on and on about how great democracy is and yet you spit on it at every chance you get. You work for the people in a democracy, you moron, who obviously never paid attention in school."

What is so ironic is that journalists don't have any problem asking point blank questions to Bill Clinton about his private activities in his personal life, things that mean nothing to the future of America, but no one can ask a follow up question to Bush about his constant fuck ups concerning the welfare of the country and the countries he's invaded and destroyed. Are they afraid he'll get mad? So the hell what. I think it's high time to watch him get all flustered and throw a hissy fit in front of the world. Maybe then we can get him and his maladministration impeached.

In the meantime, we ought to start stocking up on non-perishables and seeds.

On a brighter note, Rudy doesn't stand a chance at being the next president. Thank gawd for little things.

"Love is Free" - my new favorite song AND video from Sheryl Crow

(youtube link so you can enlarge to full screen)


A review from the Mixtapemaestro:

From the count-off intro to the bulbous horn accents towards the end, the sing-along tune sparkles from the speakers with it's charming acoustic aesthetic and Crow's innate grasp of undeniable melodies. Appreciating the Big Easy community's resilience in the face of a spirit-snatching natural disaster, Crow latches onto the wondrously stoic qualities they now hold. Yeah, some might have lost their faith and thieves are scandalous enough to take what little you have in the dark of the night, but life must go on despite it all ("With the voodoo/ What do you do/ When the radio just plays on anyway?").

With a hippie-happy chorus that shrugs off the seemingly unwavering clouds of depression hanging over them ("Oh everybody/ Devil take your money/ Money got no hold on me/ Oh oh everybody's making love/ Cause love is free"), "Love Is Free" celebrates a "shit happens" attitude that'll have you embarrassed for being pissed off at your local barista for putting 2% milk in your skinny, double-tall, half-decaf latte.

What will you do...

When the dark age arrives (probably 6 or 7 A.B. - after Bush) and you find yourself not having those things you can’t live without, what are you going to miss the most? What 10 items would you consider a must have? By 10, I mean ten families of items that you would already have in stock. It would be exceedingly difficult, if not terminal, for most Americans to do without 90% of their everyday items, in essence becoming a resident of a third or fourth world country overnight.

I’m not talking in this scenarios right now about stocking food or water, heat or a place to sleep, or electricity or sewerage for this initial experiment; those are a given that we all need or would like to have, but in this, you only have them in limited, basic amounts. You can have only enough to barely get you through each day; minimal food, water, heat, electricity and sewerage with no indication of how long the disaster, recession or depression will last. For now, presume you will have at least those very limited necessities – for a while. Here are some suggestions for items and extras in some categories most Americans don’t want to or can’t live without.

…Toilet Paper; a whole lot of toilet paper!

…Soap and detergent: to try to stay somewhat respectable if you venture into the outside world, especially around others when you push your grocery cart home from the market; and detergent to clean your clothes.

…About a year’s selection of basic clothing including underwear and especially socks and decent shoes, an absolute necessity.

…A portable radio with weather and tv; and rechargeable batteries with a solar trickle recharger; copious flashlights and especially replacement bulbs; extra rechargeable batteries.

…A medical box with medical paraphernalia: band-aids, peroxide, disinfectants, some generic antibiotics, anti-diarrheal tabs, ant-acids, aspirin, eye wash, etc.; an extra pair of glasses if you use them.

…A bicycle for emergency transportation with extra baskets for extra carrying capabilities.

…Books; some form of low energy-use music player such as a portable mp3 player; some games and a deck of cards.

…Lots of writing material; many, many pens and pencils.

…A laptop with WiFi and extra solar rechargeable batteries; probably a cell phone.

…Some method of getting rid of garbage that is produced.

The above items may be considered minimal expectations of middle class essentials. Of course, in the event of a real problem, you may not have the luxury of housing, water, food shelter, power, and a means to eliminate your waste, including human. Deciding what you might need to maintain a modicum of existence you can live with is highly personal. Needless to say, life will change more drastically for those used to an even higher middle class life style.

So put yourself into this situation. First, presume an inconvenient scenario requiring the “luxurious” types of items listed above and how your life would be affected. Next, decide what you would LIKE to have when the Bushian World kicks in. Finally, list the items you feel you will absolutely need and want for your new life. Remember, you may not have a lot of time to acquire those things if you wait too long.

To prepare for such an eventuality requires a lot of forethought. Do you prepare optimistically for minimal duration or should you get ready for a “Mad Maxian World?”

What would you stash away for that inevitable time?

"Come with me to zee Casbah"

hat tip to think progress for the photos.

So bushie was on tour in the middle east to talk about freedom and democracy. He stopped by King Abdullah's ranch in Saudi Arabia, that bastion of freedom in the Middle East, to make out with the king (and probably tell him not to take anything he said in other countries about freedom and democracy personally or literally for that matter.)

MORE ON THE PREZ IN THE MIDDLE EAST
President Bush told Nightline co-anchor Terry Moran, "I'm sure people view me as a war monger and I view myself as peacemaker. They view me as so pro-Israeli I can't be open-minded about Palestinian peace, and yet I'm the only president ever to have articulated a two-state solution. And you just have to fight through stereotypes by actions."

US fears Europe-based terrorism

That's the headline at BBC News and I wish that Michael Chertoff would speak for himself. I don't know anyone who fears Europe based terrorism. It is the last year that this administration is in power and they are going to great lengths to incite new rifts between countries and to freak out ordinary citizens into complete submission. Perhaps if this administration was impeached and sent to Gitmo, this country wouldn't be the target of any "evil-doers" other than the ones who took over 8 years ago.

US fears Europe-based terrorism
One of the biggest threats to US security may now come from within Europe, US Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff has told the BBC.
He said militant attacks and plots in Europe over recent years had made the US aware of the "real risk that Europe will become a platform for terrorists". (continued at link)

How the Pentagon planted a false story

WASHINGTON - Senior Pentagon officials, evidently reflecting a broader administration policy decision, used an off-the-record Pentagon briefing to turn the January 6 US-Iranian incident in the Strait of Hormuz into a sensational story demonstrating Iran's military aggressiveness, a reconstruction of the events following the incident shows.

The initial press stories on the incident, all of which can be traced to a briefing by deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs in charge of media operations, Bryan Whitman, contained similar information that has since been repudiated by the navy itself.

Then the navy disseminated a short video into which was spliced the audio of a phone call warning that US warships would "explode" in "a few seconds". Although it was ostensibly a navy production, Inter Press Service (IPS) has learned that the ultimate decision on its content was made by top officials of the Defense Department. (continued)

Women are from Venus and Men are dumb

Oh did I say that?
Just kidding. Men are from planet hubris.

I just read this article, Men think they're cleverer, claims psychologist
which discusses the "male hubris, female humility" effect. I didn't know about that effect, but it turns out that my female intuition was correct-a-mundo. I rarely expressed these thoughts in public, but what the hell: Women generally allow men to think that they are smarter. Perhaps the human race would have died out if women hadn't played dumb so that they could have sex and reproduce.

"...studies show women tend to give significantly lower estimates than men of their own intelligence - about five IQ points - while men tend to overestimate their brain power.

"Whether men are brighter is another matter," Prof Furnham said.

Men appear to be more confident, not brighter, he says, which ''can have beneficial effects in the interview and even the examination room".

In comparisons of how people estimate their own intelligence there is a bias in those - called outliers - who get it badly wrong.

For men, it tends to be those average-to-dim males who overestimate their intelligence, while often very bright women who fail to rank their own IQ tend to underestimate the difference.

It is interesting that while men and women have about the same average IQ's, there are more very dim men and a corresponding amount of very bright men to compensate. So men are at the top and at the bottom but not so much in the middle.

Now I have to figure out how Hillary Clinton plays into all of this.

Tuesday afternoon.....BOSSA BEATS...."Desafinado" featuring George Michael & Astrud Gilberto

(set to a cool video background of scenes from Blade Runner)

Desafinado: "Slightly out of Tune" "Off Key"

lyrics

Forgiveness and good health?

You probably know the type of person who doesn't seem to be "happy" unless they are miserable. It appears that they live to find fault with things. How about people who seem to be always angry at someone or something or those who harbor grudges for every little thing ever done to them? Oh and what about people who cannot be happy unless everyone else is made happy first and the people they are trying to please fall into the first 2 categories I mentioned above? People have two choices. Either they can be happy or they can be miserable despite what the universe hands them on a plate. As far as I am concerned, things can always be worse, so I feel sometimes that it's my duty either to smack someone or myself back to reality or just walk away and not bother my brain with trying to make sense of other people's living hell (but not until I have made my own life a living hell trying to solve their problems). We humans are so fragile.

This morning I read an interesting piece in the Newsday about Forgiveness. Studies show forgiveness can boost your health A survey showed that this can happen to people over 45 years of age and not so much for younger people.

It's not all that simple to forgive though. You can't force anyone to forgive either especially in cases of incest and child abuse. The best you can do sometimes is help victims get to a place of acceptance, it is suggested. Forgiving yourself is a very hard thing to do, but studies show that your overall health will improve when you can do it. Self forgiving people don't suffer from depression as much. They sleep better. There is also a genetic factor at play.

There's a lot to absorb from the article and it has to do a lot with ones overall happiness I suspect.

****** RED ALERT ****** RED ALERT ****** RED ALERT ***** The American Marketing Association Releases New Definition for Marketing

FYI

The American Marketing Association today unveiled the new definition of marketing, which will be used as the official definition in books, by marketing professionals and taught in university lecture halls nationwide.

The new definition includes the role marketing plays within society at large, and defines marketing as a science, educational process and a philosophy -- not just a management system. It also expands the previous scope of the term to incorporate the concept that one can market something to "do good."







The new definition reads:

"Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large."

The previous definition stated:

"Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders."

The Next Sexual Revolution

Is happening now, it appears, and I think I know why.

In this nice article on "edgy" sex play on MSNBC's website, the correspondent is talking with a domme about sex and why the number and amount of extreme sexual proclivities (fire play, blood play, etc.) seem to be increasing:

"A new era of sexual experimentation had clearly taken hold, she said, and not just by the usual suspects of free-love hippies and dissolute hipsters with too much money, but everybody from all walks of life were starting to show up at the Wet Spot seeking information about sex that heretofore had been considered edgy and rare. She wasn’t exactly sure why this was happening now — we talked about the Internet and pop culture but these didn’t seem completely satisfying — just that over the past five years or so, her clientele had boomed. The Wet Spot now had eight thousand members in the Seattle area, the eldest 81 years old. All of them had redefined “normal” for themselves."

Well, here's a thought.

Just as humor is a reaction against inflexible and authoritarian behavior, so a certain sexual looseness can be a reaction against puritannical and hypermoralistic behavior. We've seen a surge in people who want to impress upon us values that were familiar to our parents and grandparents, but may be completely alien to us (remember that values have been in flux since the 1960s, and that flux seems to be accelerating almost as fast as our society is changing).

So, is the New Revolution at hand?

Liz asked what happiness is. I guess it's different things to different people. Certainly my definition of happiness isn't even close to that of Dick Cheney or George Bush or even Bill Gates.

Here are some suggestions. Maybe you have others.

Happiness?

Happiness is knowing where your next meal is coming from.
Happiness is a full stomach.
Happiness is knowing you have a warm, dry place to at least sleep.
Happiness is knowing you don't need medical help.
Happiness is knowing your parents or children are ok and don’t need anything.
Happiness is having a friend that you can turn to just to talk with.
Happiness is being at peace with your emotions.
Happiness is knowing there’ll be enough money for you and your spouse to live when you’re older.
Happiness is knowing your spouse will live on comfortably after you’re gone.
Happiness is having your bills paid and some money in your pocket.
Happiness is having someone accept you as you are and understanding that.
Happiness is not bothering anyone and not having anyone bother you.
Happiness is helping someone and not thinking you did it just to feel good.
Happiness is watching a movie or reading a book for just for the enjoyment.
Happiness is a bright, sunny day you can simply enjoy.
Happiness is enjoying nature…while we still can.
Happiness is knowing when enough is enough.

Happiness is knowing the fools in power will eventually die just like the rest of us.

Tragic Consequences of War- when combat veterans commit murder back home

Across America, Deadly Echoes of Foreign Battles

Late one night in the summer of 2005, Matthew Sepi, a 20-year-old Iraq combat veteran, headed out to a 7-Eleven in the seedy Las Vegas neighborhood where he had settled after leaving the Army.

This particular 7-Eleven sits in the shadow of the Stratosphere casino-hotel in a section of town called the Naked City. By day, the area, littered with malt liquor cans, looks depressed but not menacing. By night, it becomes, in the words of a local homicide detective, “like Falluja.”

Mr. Sepi did not like to venture outside too late. But, plagued by nightmares about an Iraqi civilian killed by his unit, he often needed alcohol to fall asleep. And so it was that night, when, seized by a gut feeling of lurking danger, he slid a trench coat over his slight frame — and tucked an assault rifle inside it.

“Matthew knew he shouldn’t be taking his AK-47 to the 7-Eleven,” Detective Laura Andersen said, “but he was scared to death in that neighborhood, he was military trained and, in his mind, he needed the weapon to protect himself.”

Head bowed, Mr. Sepi scurried down an alley, ignoring shouts about trespassing on gang turf. A battle-weary grenadier who was still legally under-age, he paid a stranger to buy him two tall cans of beer, his self-prescribed treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

As Mr. Sepi started home, two gang members, both large and both armed, stepped out of the darkness. Mr. Sepi said in an interview that he spied the butt of a gun, heard a boom, saw a flash and “just snapped.”

In the end, one gang member lay dead, bleeding onto the pavement. The other was wounded. And Mr. Sepi fled, “breaking contact” with the enemy, as he later described it. With his rifle raised, he crept home, loaded 180 rounds of ammunition into his car and drove until police lights flashed behind him.

“Who did I take fire from?” he asked urgently. Wearing his Army camouflage pants, the diminutive young man said he had been ambushed and then instinctively “engaged the targets.” He shook. He also cried.

“I felt very bad for him,” Detective Andersen said.

Nonetheless, Mr. Sepi was booked, and a local newspaper soon reported: “Iraq veteran arrested in killing.” (continued)

It's a long article but thought provoking. As a mom, it rips my heart out. When we read about returning combat veterans, we read of of suicides, homelessness, addictions, psychological trauma and homicides. They are so young. Why do we send our children to fight in wars? Honestly, we should send the full grown men in suits who come up with the reasons for war in the first place. enough is enough.

Gunga Galunga.... US Pacific Commander in China for Talks

The top U.S. Military Commander in the Asia-Pacific region met with Chinese officials Monday on his first visit since China refused permission for an American aircraft carrier to make a holiday port call in Hong Kong.

Adm. Timothy Keating, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, arrived on his second visit to Beijing since he took up his post in March.

He conferred with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in a closed meeting early Monday. U.S. and Chinese officials did not immediately disclose details of the meeting. He was set to meet with top military officials later Monday before going to Shanghai on Tuesday and then southern Guangdong province.

The visit comes after the Chinese turned away the USS Kitty Hawk and five ships accompanying it for a Hong Kong port call in November. During the same week two U.S. Navy minesweepers were also turned away after seeking shelter during a storm.

China had hinted that its actions were triggered by the U.S. Congress' honoring of the Dalai Lama and U.S. arms sales to Chinese rival Taiwan. China views the Dalai Lama as a "splittist" intent on separating Tibet from China, and views self-governing Taiwan as a breakaway province that it hopes to reclaim.



Tibet is today part of the People's Republic of China (PRC) (with a small part, depending on definitions, controlled by India). As an exclusive mandate, Tibet is also officially claimed by the Republic of China (Taiwan). In the Tibetan sovereignty debate, the government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of Tibet in Exile disagree over when Tibet became a part of China, and whether this incorporation into China is legitimate according to international law. Several academic organizations consider Tibet to be part of "South Asia",[1] while UNESCO and Encyclopædia Britannica[2] consider it to be part of "Central Asia".

Keating was to meet Monday with Gen. Chen Bingde, the new chief of general staff in charge of day-to-day operations for the 2.3 million-member People's Liberation Army, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission General Guo Boxiong, and Lt. Gen. Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of the general staff for foreign affairs.

Their discussions were expected to center on China-US military ties, Taiwan and international and regional issues, the official China Daily newspaper said.

"China has a positive attitude toward developing military relations with the U.S. and hopes Keating's visit could further enhance understanding, expand consensus and boost cooperation, so as to promote the steady growth of military ties in the new year," the newspaper said, quoting a statement from China's defense ministry.

Gunga Galunga...Gunga, Gunga-Galunga

China is not our Master - Australia
(that was easy....)

Gunga Galunga...Gunga, Gunga-Galunga


Issues Facing Tibet

WHoa! Well HELLO Dalai!! Check out what he said on his website:

Dalai Lama Says Successor Could Be A Woman


In the summer, they demanded that all reincarnations of lamas had to win prior approval from the government's religious affairs bureau before being reborn. This is in line with the principle that all religions must operate within a framework controlled by the Communist Party.

Gunga Galunga...Gunga, Gunga-Galunga

Today's Top Story

Here we go again, Bush says US, allies must confront Iran

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - President Bush said Sunday that Iran is threatening the security of the world, and that the United States and Arab allies must join together to confront the danger "before it's too late."

I am not an Iranian sympathizer, but I just feel like Iran should reply with, "I know you are, but what am I, Bushie?" or the rest of the world should ask him, "Are you looking in the mirror when you say things like that, Bushie?" and his cronies are all thinking, "Wow, we could get even richer and more powerful if we take over Iran."

Thankfully, most of the world views Bush as a corporatist puppet and imbecile, so I don't think we have a whole lot to fear at this juncture, but I could be wrong.

Finding Bliss

A couple of book reports here and here on Eric Wiener's book, "The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World," indicate that this grumpy guy discovered that you don't have to live in a tropical paradise to be happy. In fact, in the top 10 happiest places in the world except for the Bahamas and Brunei, it's cold and dark for long periods each year. Wiener found that Iceland, Bhutan and Switzerland are happy places while Moldova is truly a miserable place. (The first chapter of the book is online at the NYTimes.)

While I was searching for happiness on the internets, I came across lots of information that could help me understand what I am supposed to be looking for and what doesn't contribute to happiness. It's really easy to find what doesn't make us happy even though it seems Americans particularly cling on to those things. Watching commercials on the tube makes people the least happy, having lots of clutter around is not conducive to happiness, a government that looks out for businesses before people doesn't put people in a happy place, having a boyfriend or girlfriend definitely isn't the solution for unhappiness (how about that divorce rate?), being beautiful or rich has nothing to do with it (just look at the celebrity news)... happiness really has a lot to do with community and lack of fear. (BBC News has a series of stories and videos on the subject of happiness as well as ABC News.)

You might want to poke around http://www.happyplanetindex.org/ to see how they measure happy places on earth. It takes into account 3 separate factors: ecological footprint, life-satisfaction and life expectancy. What really makes the US plummet to 150th place on their charts and maps is our enormous carbon footprint, because we really aren't all that emotionally unhappy and our life expectancy isn't all that bad either. The happiest places on their charts may not have such high life expectancies, but they aren't damaging the planet either. It seems like a silly thing to incorporate into the happiness factor, but after watching the video the story of stuff (scroll down), it begins to make sense. Having too much stuff takes away from our overall happiness, so a country that is hell bent on consumption rather than social interactions can never make it to the top of the list no matter how lovely the climate is or how long you may live.

If we Americans want to be happier, should we invade move to other countries that rate high on the happiness index or can we work to change our country? Are you like me and believe that the Green movement that is gaining steam will make us happier overall? (It helps if you watched the story of stuff .)

Tomorrow, we'll discuss the myths of beauty, financial independence and finding the right significant other as the keys to happiness.

The Great Dane .... ! , " .

2truthy, thanks for the memories! (con't from Liz's post below)

Now you know where I probably get my "issue" with Phonetic Punctuation! LOL!! My Dad still occassionally jestures (with cig still in hand) like Victor; and.... my keyboard is now very wet!!!!! too funny...

Ahhh....simple fun. Yep, Denmark has the right idea. Hell, after 25% of our income goes to taxes, most of the remaining income will be used towards health insurance and our kid's college educations -- probably will come to more than 70%. But that is changing VERY quickly. We have stopped buying STUFF


"In fact the Danish government subsidizes social clubs and gatherings"

Imagine the party we could throw on the government's dime!!!!

Excerpt from How we learned to stop having fun

It may be that in abandoning their traditional festivities, people lost a potentially effective cure for it. Burton suggested many cures for melancholy - study and exercise, for example - but he returned again and again to the same prescription: "Let them use hunting, sports, plays, jests, merry company ... a cup of good drink now and then, hear musick, and have such companions with whom they are especially delighted; merry tales or toys, drinking, singing, dancing, and whatsoever else may procure mirth." He acknowledged the ongoing attack on "Dancing, Singing, Masking, Mumming, Stage-plays" by "some severe Gatos," referring to the Calvinists, but heartily endorsed the traditional forms of festivity: "Let them freely feast, sing and dance, have their Puppet-plays, Hobby-horses, Tabers, Crowds, Bagpipes, &c, play at Ball, and Barley-breaks, and what sports and recreations they like best." In his ideal world, "none shall be over-tired, but have their set times of recreations and holidays, to indulge their humour, feasts and merry meetings ..." His views accorded with treatments of melancholy already in use in the 16th century. While the disruptively "mad" were confined and cruelly treated, melancholics were, at least in theory, to be "refreshed & comforted" and "gladded with instruments of musick".


Dancing In the Street - Jagger & Bowie



We really should start taking it to the streets -- doesn't cost anything......

For all you patriots out there...

Hopefully this will come out ok. Me and Comcast have been at war the last 6 days. Temporary truce has been signed but all is decidedly not quiet on the Western Front! Enjoy!

Let's all move to the happiest place on earth

Yesterday we saw that mass consumption doesn't equal happiness in my post below. (We already knew that though) Today, the universe pointed me towards this story about Denmark being the happiest place on earth. The Danes pay enormous taxes, so that would be an immediate turn off to our Republican bretheren in America who expect to be happy for free, but there is so much more to finding happiness than most Americans could ever imagine.

The happiest people in the world pay some of the highest taxes in the world -- between 50 percent and 70 percent of their incomes. In exchange, the government covers all health care and education, and spends more on children and the elderly than any country in the world per capita. With just 5.5 million people, the system is efficient, and people feel "tryghed" -- the Danish word for "tucked in" -- like a snug child.

Those high taxes have another effect. Since a banker can end up taking home as much money as an artist, people don't chose careers based on income or status. "They have this thing called 'Jante-lov,' which essentially says, 'You're no better then anybody else,'" said Buettner. "A garbage man can live in a middle-class neighborhood and hold his head high."

(We had that where I grew up in the late 50's, early 60's.) Happiness also relies on social interactions. In fact the Danish government subsidizes social clubs and gatherings. Apparently what you buy doesn't influence your happiness.

"...Denmark is what is called a "post consumerist" society. People have nice things, but shopping and consuming is not a top priority. Even the advertising is often understated. Along with less emphasis on "stuff," and a strong social fabric, Danes also display an amazing level of trust in each other, and their government. A University of Cambridge happiness study found that both kinds of trust were higher in happier places."

I would bet that they don't have people willing to die for their right to bear arms either.

Another story to check out is Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness because research shows that we can indeed influence how happy we are regardless of our baseline genetic happiness. Even in America where we have just about everything going against our pursuit of happiness unless we are very wealthy and connected. There is a lot of food for thought in this article.

Unfortunately, it's stories like this "New ID rules may complicate air travel" in the news that show our government is hell bent on destroying any bit of happiness we may try to enjoy in the name of Homeland Insecurity.

Unrelated, but interesting 9 People Who Died Laughing

Consumption = Unhappiness

This 20 minute video The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard is something everyone should see before they take another ride to the big box store. It's amazing what the true cost is for our cheap consumables, but the striking thing is how unhappy it makes us. In fact, when planned obsolescence was invented after WWII, personal happiness had peaked and it's been going down ever since. Makes you think about how amassing more stuff doesn't come close to replacing our loss of community. This was all planned out. And we participate in it!

We work, then in our leisure time, we watch tv and the ads tell us we suck, so we spend our precious leisure time shopping to buy more stuff to make us more unhappy and then we go to bed and wake up and then go to work to make money so we can buy more stuff or a bigger house to hold all our stuff and so on and so on.

How much of today's depressive illness could be linked to stuff?


Gosh, watching the video, The Story of Stuff almost made me more unhappy except for the fact that I have been been busy reusing and recycling consumer products into wearable art. This video motivated me to keep it up and get the business started earlier this year than I had expected.

Friday Sex Post

A fellow in Poland, married for 14 years, decides to work off his frustrations by stopping by his neighborhood bordello. And that's where the fun begins.

Speaking of fun, it looks like North Koreans won't be able to have any fun any longer.

And just for fun - have you considered getting a tattoo for that triangular area just above the buttocks? The Australians have a term for that now.

No Shit, Sherlock

ABC NEWS
U.S.: Voices on Recording May Not Have Been From Iranian Speedboats
Chilling Threat Could Have Come From the Shore or Another Ship, Navy Says

Just two days after the U.S. Navy released the eerie video of Iranian speedboats swarming around American warships, which featured a chilling threat in English, the Navy is saying that the voice on the tape could have come from the shore or from another ship.

The near-clash occurred over the weekend in the Strait of Hormuz. On the U.S.-released recording, a voice can be heard saying to the Americans, "I am coming to you. You will explode after a few minutes."

The Navy never said specifically where the voices came from, but many were left with the impression they had come from the speedboats because of the way the Navy footage was edited.

Today, the spokesperson for the U.S. admiral in charge of the Fifth Fleet clarified to ABC News that the threat may have come from the Iranian boats, or it may have come from somewhere else. CONTINUED

It's interesting that this morning I had read this post over at Huffpo: It's a Fake
where the author, Hooman Majd had this to say about the so called threatening audio:

Any Iranian can immediately identify Persian-accented English, particularly if the speaker has had little contact with the West, as is the case with Revolutionary Guardsmen and sailors. Iranians, you see, have difficulty with two consonants such as "p" and "l" next to each other; even Iranians who have lived in America for years will often pronounce "please" as "peh-leeze", or in this case, "explode" as "exp-eh-lode". On the tape, "explode" is pronounced perfectly, albeit as if the speaker was a villain addressing a superhero.

An(other) Office for the Dead

Nine US soldiers killed in Iraq in two days, six wounded.

We cannot honor their sacrifice enough.

"Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them. A hymn becometh thee, O God, in Zion, and unto thee a vow shall be repaid in Jerusalem. Hear my prayer; unto thee all flesh shall come. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them.

Lord, have mercy on us.

Forgive, O Lord, the souls of all the faithful departed from all the chains of their sins and may they deserve to avoid the judgment of revenge by your fostering grace, and enjoy the everlasting blessedness of light.

O Lord, we offer you sacrifices and prayers in praise; accept them on behalf of the souls whom we remember today. make them pass over from death to life, as you promised Abraham and his seed.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, grant them rest in eternity.

May everlasting light shine upon them, O Lord, with thy saints in eternity, for thou art merciful. Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and may everlasting light shine upon them.

Rest in peace."

***

The US death toll (as reported): 3,920.

How long, O Lord? HOW FUCKING LONG?

Cooking With Gas

CS gas (its military designation; its real name is orthochlorobenzalmalononitrile, which is a mouthful) is a fine particulate, dispersed in a fluid vehicle and propelled to its target in any number of ways. The effect of the chemical agent is mainly respiratory; you feel as if you're choking, your nose and mouth start running and you may even vomit. Also your eyes will slam shut, because CS is also an irritant on moist flesh, so if you're sweating you will feel it.

I speak from experience on this. Trust me.

The US Army does not use CS (sometimes misnamed tear gas) or any other chemical riot control agent in Iraq due to severe restrictions on its use in international treaties and rules of engagement.

But in 2005, it seems that a group of American soldiers at a Green Zone checkpoint in Baghdad were exposed to CS.

Guess who?

Two words: Blackwater Worldwide.

In an article in the New York Times, it was revealed today that Blackwater apparently dropped canisters of CS from a hovering helicopter as well as tossed canisters from a ground vehicle. Nothing was going wrong at the time, so it is possible that the mercs were just trying to either claer the intersection or screw with the Iraqis below. The US troops were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, it would appear.

Unfortunately, Blackwater operates under its own rules - that is to say, no rules at all - and it's protected by the ukase decreed by our second Viceroy of Iraq, L. Paul Bremer. This shit happened two years ago, and we're only now finding out about it.

It's time to see the end of this company and its involvement in Iraq before their actions get our soldiers killed and not just suffering runny noses and watery eyes.

Good Press, Bad Press, Just Spell My Name Right.

It is being reported that Bill Richardson is withdrawing from the presidential bid. Not that anyone has to actually be qualified to be president of the United States in order to run for the office or be elected, Bill Richardson actually had practical experience in what is expected from those who hold office- foreign relations.

But alas, the media has spoken and it is the media who decides which candidates get coverage whether it be good press or bad press. It warmed the cockles of my heart to see that the media got their predictions all wrong for the NH primaries. The people have spoken and I guess that a lot of them only have cell phones and can't be polled before hand. Oh dear God, I can't tell you how happy it makes me that the media is losing control.

Speaking of bad press, I am pretty sure that I am going to support Hillary Clinton for president, regardless of her ties to unseemly characters and war mongers, simply because she is a woman. Yep. You didn't even know that I was a militant feminist. Neither did I. I doubt that we could find anyone who actually wants that job of POTUS to be of sound mind and good character through and through. I'm fed up with the rampant sexism by the media concerning her candidacy. As long as misogyny is alive and well in America, electing Mrs. Clinton is a good starting point for bringing our country into the 21st Century. I know, I know, Obama is the feel good candidate, but he really doesn't make me feel all that good, yet I don't feel bad about him either. Just kind of neutral. However if he becomes the candidate, I will support him for POTUS.

And speaking of women, another woman who needs to be heard is Sibel Edmonds. Naturally, she gets only negative press, if any press at all in this country. Her message is absolutely frightening... to the powers that be. Tough shit. Read 9-11 Cover-Up, Treason and The Bomb at the Baltimore Chronicle, The Bomb in the Shadows: Proliferation, Corruption and the Way of the World by Chris Floyd, and of course, the story that everyone is talking about, except the US media For sale: West’s deadly nuclear secrets in the Times Online. I googled the articles at our blog about Ms Edmonds over the past 4 years and I still contend that she holds the keys to understanding the myth that this is the land of the free and home of the brave.

Recession in the US 'has arrived' -- AND -- Citigroup, Merrill in Talks for Foreign Capital -WSJ

I'm catching up on my e-mails this morning.

Peter sent me that first headline from the BBC on Tuesday: Recession in the US 'has arrived' -- The feared recession in the US economy has already arrived, according to a report from Merrill Lynch:

But NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) president Martin Feldstein denied Merrill's claims.

"I think we're not in a recession now," he told CNBC.
(and I'm not NOT licking toads!! said martin...)

"But I think there is a serious risk that it could get worse and we could see an actual downturn," he added.

Merrill said that the current consensus view on Wall Street that there is a good chance of avoiding a recession is "in denial".

It also objected to the use of euphemistic terms for the state of the economy.

"To say that the backdrop is 'recession like' is akin to an obstetrician telling a woman that she is 'sort of pregnant'," the report said.

**************
I just read the second headline when I got up:


Citigroup, Merrill in Talks for Foreign Capital -WSJ


Both are in discussions to receive more capital from investors, primarily foreign governments, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Citigroup could get as much as $10 billion, likely all from foreign governments, while Merrill is expected to get $3 billion to $4 billion, much of it from a Middle Eastern government investment fund, the report said.

*************

So Peter -- what do you think? I think we've got our warning here -- watch the mutual fund activity today in the "foreign investment vehicles". I haven't paid attention to anything for a while now, maybe all the activity is over by now -- probably -- you know how that works.

Well, socialist that I am, I think now it's safe to say:

SOCIALISM IS THE ONLY WAY HUMANKIND WILL LIVE:

"Capitalism’s contradictory impulses have begun bumping into each other. It’s happening in the ongoing national debate on immigration and it happened in the recent Dubai Ports World controversy. Profits remain the system’s lifeblood so the ruling class craves an immigrant guest worker program and the United Arab Emirates’ petrodollars but the rabid anti-immigrant and anti-Arab sentiment coursing through U.S. society blocked that path to greater riches. The situation is worsening though. No matter the potential backlash now, desperate crumbling financial pillars of the system like Citicorp and Morgan Stanley are happily accepting the sovereign wealth funds of Abu Dhabi, Singapore and China."

OK MAYBE NOT SOCIALISM COMPLETELY,

I agree with this comment on the article:

"I’m not enamored of an all embracing socialism. Business is essentially racketeering and small business should continue to have a right to steal. The best thing about socialisms is it cuts the supply line to the biggest crooks. You’ll never get rid of the little ones."


I do find my beliefs are very much in line with Naomi Klein's:

Lost Worlds: Is Another World Possible?


and Nicole over at C&L:FRIEDMAN. POLICIES. DO. NOT. WORK. PERIOD. His version of ‘free market economics’ STIFLES democracy. They create an oligarchy that is the opposite of democracy.


Oh SOMEbody STOP me!!

I really need to learn how to stay on track and focus on one idea at a time here. They all seem related though. Oh Peter, I gotta get ready for work -- BIG DAY TODAY!! The new girl starts -- Yeah! I'm back to Temping!!

I was intending to start another post addressed to our very own, private "MASTER OF ECONOMICS" DARK WRAITH, before his semester gets going. I really need one more FINAL lesson on Socialism vs. Capitalism.

Well anyway - - I don't know about y'all, but I have no problem taking care of my own garbage if ya know what I mean.

TTFN

And the survey says....

"U.S. adults who don't go to church, even on holidays, finds 72% say "God, a higher or supreme being, actually exists." But just as many (72%) also say the church is "full of hypocrites."

Indeed, 44% agree with the statement "Christians get on my nerves."

LifeWay Research, the research arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, based in Nashville, conducted the survey of 1,402 "unchurched" adults last spring and summer. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

The survey defines "unchurched" as people who had not attended a religious service in a church, synagogue or mosque at any time in the past six months." From USA Today

You can pipe in on the survey at the link. I take issue with one of the questions at their survey though. It's this one:

"There exists only one God, the God described in the Bible."

I would have to ask in return, "Which God of the Bible?" or vote against the question. While I tend to think that perhaps there is one creator, force, god or whatever you want to call it, the descriptions in the Bible are incomplete, inaccurate and unbelievable. I tend to think that the gods of the Bible are mostly ancient men's reaction to the weather, biology, physics and geological events and not an actual description of a godlike being unless he's a space alien. Jesus gives a more descriptive account of a God and God's essence in the gospels. So just saying the "God of the Bible" in a survey is an irresponsible question. You have to be more specific or the survey proves nothing. But what the hell do I know?

A Cloud Over The French Soul - by GREGORY RODRIGUEZ

On January 1st, France instituted a nationwide ban on smoking in bars and restaurants

Mr. Rodriguez delivers a wonderful commentary on this latest development.

In summary:

...."But when France begins to over-legislate adult personal behavior aux Americans, it might be denying its own brand of wisdom: We all need to be a little bad once in a while. The smoking ban in France suggests that the French have forgotten the sage words of one of its greatest smokers: "If I satiate my desires, I sin but I deliver myself from them," wrote Jean-Paul Sartre. "If I refuse to satisfy them, they infect the whole soul."

Delay: Thinkers are not good for the Party.

Not that I actually care what Tom Delay has to say about anything, but I think it's quite telling that with Christ Matthews last night, he was rather disappointed that moderate McCain won and not a real conservative like Huckabee or Romney. He said that moderates had their day in the northeast and won't fare so well in the south and midwest. He predicts that the party will focus on conservatives like Fred Thomspson, Huckabee and Romney outside of the northeast. What is wrong with moderates in the northeast, you wonder? They think.

MATTHEWS: Well you say the word moderate with a rather unpleasant look on your face. What is a moderate in the Republican Party as you describe that term?

DELAY: Well that’s a person who likes to think a lot.

MATTHEWS: [Laughter] Is that bad news in your party? Too much thought?

Delay went on to say that moderates are not as strong on "culture issues, the size... of limited government, on defense issues as they ought to be."

Oh Lordy, Lordy.

Hillary and McCain in NH

Interesting how the polls showed that Obama was going to beat Hillary.
I am not surprised about John McCain.

What did I miss?

So who's going to win? I was busy with funeral stuff today and missed a lot of the reporting.

I heard on the radio before that they are running out of Democratic ballots in New Hampshire. How very conveeeeeenient. Someone run to the Kinkos STAT. I'm happy to hear that massive numbers of people are voting for change. Good. Very good. I'm just sorry that the only candidates with actual foreign policy experience don't stand a chance.
--------------

Too bad teh US has no intelligence.
Or we would know what exactly happened out there in the Strait of Hormuz with those teeny tiny Iranian boats supposedly provoking the US to war.
I've been on this earth too long to believe any of it. Bush is doing his war talk again. Someone give him a pretzel.

I can afford to drive to the grocery store, but....

Bloomberg:
"Oil $200 Options Rise 10-Fold in Bet on Higher Crude"
(begins): "The fastest-growing bet in the oil market these days is that the price of crude will double to $200 a barrel by the end of the year.

"Options to buy oil for $200 on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 10-fold in the past two months to 5,533 contracts, a record increase for any similar period. The contracts, the cheapest way to speculate in energy markets, appreciated 36 percent since early December as crude futures reached a record $100.09 on Jan. 3."

"Guess Who Time" If you hang around at the same sites I do...

...then you probably know who this is. Actually it might not be that difficult to figure out since it's a 1973 photo. What really might stump everybody, including me, is trying to figure out what the fuck that thing is on his head.

Pope decries world with luxury for few and poverty for many

"One cannot say that globalization is synonymous with world order —it's the opposite," Benedict said in his homily in St. Peter's Basilica to mark the Catholic feast day of the Epiphany.

"The conflicts for economic supremacy, and the scramble for energy and water resources and raw materials render difficult the work of all those who strive to construct a more just and united world," Benedict said.

"We need a greater hope, which allows us to prefer the common good of all to the luxury of few and the poverty of many," the pontiff said.

"If true hope is lacking, you search for happiness in intoxication, in the superfluous, in excess, and you ruin yourself and the world," he said. "Moderation is not only an ascetic rule, but also a way of salvation for humanity."

"By now it is obvious that only by adopting a sober lifestyle, accompanied by a serious commitment to a fair distribution of wealth, will it be possible to install a just and sustainable model of development," Benedict said.

On the Epiphany, the Church marks the visit of the Three Magi, or Wise Men, to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem, and Benedict praised their courage for undertaking a long journey guided only by the light of a star.

"We all need this courage, anchored to solid hope," the pope said.

Benedict's remarks reflected the 80-year-old German pontiff's worry for the environment, a developing theme of his papacy.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi elaborated on the pope's concerns in an interview with Vatican Radio.

"Until a little while ago, environmental issues seemed the concern of the rich rather than of the poor, of developed countries rather than of more backward ones for which economic development was instead the priority," Lombardi said.

"Now, frequent disasters due to environmental imbalances hit hard those who have few resources to defend themselves," the spokesman said. "Today, humanity fears for its future ecological balance, and to this observation, the pope links a strong moral call to solidarity," Lombardi said.

Link to story

Too bad these words aren't coming out of the mouths of politicians around the world.

Well said, regardless.

The Catholic Answers Forum has responded to the question: Is the Pope/Vatican rich?

Related Headlines:

"US regulators set to approve cloned meat, milk: report"

"Dairy Consumption Increases Parkinson's Risk in Men"

"FDA blows dead bears"

Maybe I made up one of those headlines. You figure it out.

Update on the AirCar

The Air Car

How Stuff Works

Free Energy News

I love the negative comments about the car:

What if you get hit by a truck; it's only good for around town; the big crunch is the electricity.

These are the same Laura Bush emulators who think that we shouldn't do something because it won't affect 60 billion people right away! Asses! So what if a few decide to use them? That's more for all you other greedy soulless, illegal offspring. Meantime, we'll sav emoney and you can pay $6.00 a gallon and I'll laugh all the way to the bank.

As far as the bull about having to use more electricity...garsch Mickey, wonder what a station could use a wind or water generator for? Eyuck! Eyuck! No, it won't happen overnight but let's keep on polluting until the magic genie gives us the answer.

Yes sir! If it won't help everybody., let's not do it. Hmmm? I think I heard that reasoning before...let's talk about a coprehensive healthcare system for everyone for, say, the next twenty years, then maybe we can impliment one. Don't worry if some can benefit now.

You got to be kidding...

Remember those foam bricks you could buy back in the 70s to throw at the TV and in particular, Howard Cosell? Well you may want to get on e out after reading this!



A New Type of Car


I think there will be a god awful fight to see who gets to quash this.

Hmm ...

Anyone up for a fait accompli?

One more year until digital broadcasting comes

In a little over a year, your TV set may not work when the transition is made to all digital broadcasting unless you have a newer set or subscribe to cable or satellite television. This year we will be inundated by an advertising campaign to inform the masses that unless they have pay tv or a newish television, they will have to get a converter box. I see great room for a panic and a misinformation campaign by television manufacturers.

About 13% of the population has no access to cable or satellite and fewer than 1/3 of them know about the transition next February according to this story in the Boston Globe. There is a big hoopla being made about this for which I see no reason to make a big hoopla about it now. Sell these converter boxes in Walmart and Home Depot and people will find out about it soon enough.

Congress put aside $1.5 billion for consumers to sign up for coupons for $40 off the cost of a $50-$70 digital converter box. You can get 2 of the coupons but you have to sign up for them at www.dtv2009.gov if you have internet access or call 1-888-DTV-2009 if you have a phone access. I still think that the converter boxes are too expensive for poor people. Those cell phone companies who will buy up the broadcast frequencies being freed up next year (that will be auctioned off by the FCC later this month) should be obliged to give coupons towards converter boxes as well since they will benefit financially from greater bandwidth.

Ok. So now we know.

An Office for the Dead

Eleven dead at Iraqi Army Day celebration. Two of the soldiers threw themselves onto the suicide bomber before he exploded, sacrificing themselves for their fellow soldiers and civilians. They, not the man with the explosive belt, deserve the rightful title of shaheed, or martyr. "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." And these are offered by me. Bismillah al-Rahman al Raheem:


In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful:

Glory to Thee, O Allah, and Thine is the praise, and blessed is Thy name, and exalted is Thy majesty, and there is none to be served besides Thee.

"Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, the Beneficent, the Merciful, Master of the day of Requital. Thee do we serve and Thee do we beseech for help. Guide us on the right path, the path of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed favours, not those upon whom wrath is brought down, nor those who go astray."

God is great.

O Allah! Exalt Muhammad and the true followers of Muhammad, as Thou didst exalt Abraham and the true followers of Abraham, for surely, Thou art Praised, Magnified. O Allah! bless Muhammad and the true followers of Muhammad as Thou didst bless Abraham and the true followers of Abraham, for surely Thou art Praised, Magnified.

God is great.

O Allah! Grant protection to our living and to our dead and to those of us who are present and those who are absent, and to our young and to our old folk and to our males and to our females. O Allah! Whosoever Thou grantest to live among us, cause him to live in Islam (submission) and whosoever of us Thou causest to die, make him die in faith. O Allah! Do not deprive us of this reward and do not make us fall into a trial after him. God is great.

"Peace be on you and the mercy of Allah."

New variation on an old (Big Brother) theme:

From an article at "American Thinker" entitled Who Will Control Your Thermostat?:

"...the temperature of your home will no longer be yours to control. Your desires and needs can and will be overridden by the state of California through its public and private utility organizations. All this is for the common good, of course."

And of course with cameras installed in your house, they'll be able to see if you're using a wood-burning fireplace.

(Side note to market-minded investment types): Might be a good time to put some money into companies that make things like mittens, woolen clothing, etc.

OK, Let's try this again:

New Sexually Transmitted Disease Warning

Worse than SARS and Bird Flu combined, The Center for Disease Control has issued a warning about a new virulent strain of Sexually Transmitted Disease. The disease is contracted through dangerous and high-risk behavior. The disease is called Gonorrhea Lectim and pronounced "gonna re-elect him." Many victims contracted it in 2004, after having been screwed for the past four years. Cognitive characteristics of individuals infected include: anti-social personality disorders, delusions of grandeur with messianic overtones, extreme cognitive dissonance, inability to incorporate new information, pronounced xenophobia and paranoia, inability to accept responsibility for own actions, cowardice masked by misplaced bravado, uncontrolled facial smirking, ignorance of geography and history, tendencies towards evangelical theocracy, categorical all-or-nothing behavior. Naturalists and epidemiologists are amazed at how this destructive disease originated only a few years ago from a bush found in Texas.

How the Bush Administration Changes a Light Bulb

How many members of the Bush administration does it take to change a light bulb?

1. One to deny that a light bulb needs to be changed;

2. One to attack the patriotism of anyone who says the light bulb needs to be changed;

3. One to blame Clinton for burning out the light bulb;

4. One to arrange the invasion of a country rumored to have a secret stockpile of light bulbs;

5. One to give a billion dollar no-bid contract to Halliburton for the new light bulb;

6. One to arrange a photograph of Bush, dressed as a janitor, standing on a step ladder under the banner: Light Bulb Change Accomplished;

7. One administration insider to resign and write a book documenting in detail how Bush was literally in the dark;

8. One to viciously smear #7;

9. One surrogate to campaign on TV and at rallies on how George Bush has had a strong light-bulb-changing policy all along;

10. And finally one to confuse Americans about the difference between screwing a light bulb and screwing the country.

Addendumb:

Q: How many Bush Administration officials does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: None. There is nothing wrong with the light bulb; it's conditions are improving every day. Any reports of its lack of incandescence are delusional spin from the liberal media. That light bulb has served honorably, and anything you say undermines the lighting effect. Why do you hate freedom?

I figure after the post from Amy Goodman, we could use a laugh.

"Favorite" Quotes of the Week

Mike Huckabee commended the bloggers who support him by saying,

“You’re doing the Lord’s work,”

after he urged them to clog the wireless internets so that the free press couldn't report any 'bad' stories about him. How come the Lord doesn't tell me what to do?

The president of Concerned Women for American, Wendy Wright (is that her porn name or her eral name) had this to say on Faux News about those who would like to see comprehensive sex education in the schools as opposed to abstinence only education,

“they benefit when kids end up having sexually transmitted diseases, unintended pregnancies and then they lead them into having abortions.”

No one challenged her. Yes. That is why I am pro-comprehensive sex education. I will get enormous financial kickbacks. Ms Wright is obviously projecting.

Mitt loves Bush:

“We’re a nation united that stands behind our fighting men and women. We honor them and respect them. We love what they’ve done for us, and we also love a president who has kept us safe these last six years.”

We do?

God spoke to Pat Robertson again. “

He [God] told me some things about the election, but I’m not going to say, because some old man on “60 Minutes” would make fun of me, so I’m not going to tell you who the winner’s going to be."

Then he went on Insanity and Colmes implying a democrat would win,

"... I’m a little shaky on it and I didn’t want to say anything about it publicly. I’m not sure I heard from the Lord. And if I did, I hope I heard wrong."

Novakula has a lovely backhanded compliment for Barack Obama:

"I think the only potential Achilles heel is in a general election, if there is some racist prejudice. I’m not sure there is. He’s, as poor Joe Biden said, he’s clean. He isn’t a stereotype African-American. And I think he’s a very strong candidate."

Oh good god, help me.

Same shit. Different party.

Today's reading or listening is the Amy Goodman show from January 3rd. Atrocity-Linked U.S. Officials Advising Democratic, GOP Presidential Frontrunners

This episode is about the presidential candidates and their foreign policy advisers. It appears that there is no concern for civilian deaths around the world regardless of your party. I don't see a plan for peace or concern for the lives of innocents. I was left feeling sad, defeated and terribly ashamed. I want to move.

Just a couple of excerpts from Goodman's interview about the advisers to candidates:

ALLAN NAIRN: Well, I think one thing you could say about the advisers for all the candidates who have a chance is that the presence of these advisers makes it clear that these candidates aren’t serious about enforcing the murder laws and that they’re willing to kill civilians, foreign civilians, en masse in order to advance US policy. And they’re not serious about law and order. They’re soft on crime.

And start with Clinton. Madeleine Albright, she was the main force behind the Iraq sanctions that killed more than 400,000 Iraqi civilians.

General Wesley Clark, he was the one who ran the bombing of Serbia in the former Yugoslavia, came out and publicly said that he was going after civilian targets, like electrical plants, like the TV station there.

Richard Holbrooke, in the Carter administration he was the one who oversaw the shipment of weapons to the Indonesian military as they were invading—illegally invading East Timor and killing a third of the population there, and he was the one who kept the UN Security Council from enforcing its resolution against that invasion.

Strobe Talbott, he was the one who, during the Clinton administration, oversaw Russia policy, a backing of Yeltsin, which resulted in turning over the national wealth to the oligarchs and a drop in life expectancy in much of Russia of about fifteen years—massive, massive death.

And you have various backers of the Iraq invasion and occupation and the recent escalation, people like General Jack Keane, Michael O’Hanlon and others. That’s just Clinton.

Well that's not surprising. How about Obama?

ALLAN NAIRN: Well, Obama’s top adviser is Zbigniew Brzezinski. Brzezinski gave an interview to the French press a number of years ago where he boasted about the fact that it was he who created the whole Afghan jihadi movement, the movement that produced Osama bin Laden. And he was asked by the interviewer, “Well, don’t you think this might have had some bad consequences?” And Brzezinski replied, “Absolutely not. It was definitely worth it, because we were going after the Soviets. We were getting the Soviets.” Another top Obama person—


AMY GOODMAN: I think his comment actually was, “What’s a few riled-up Muslims?” And this, that whole idea of blowback, the idea of arming, financing, training the Mujahideen in Afghanistan to fight the Soviets, including Osama bin Laden, and then when they’re done with the Soviets, they set their sights, well, on the United States.


ALLAN NAIRN: Right. And later, during Bill Clinton’s administration, during the Bosnia killing, the US actually flew some of the Afghan Mujahideen, the early al-Qaeda people—the US actually arranged for them to be flown from there to Bosnia to fight on the Muslim/NATO side.

Oh there's more at the link. Feeling like you want to vomit? Me too.

Edwards' advisers are military lobbyists. But he says he wants to go after lobbyists. hmm

AMY GOODMAN: Are you saying that there’s no difference between these candidates?


ALLAN NAIRN: Well, fundamentally, there’s no difference on the basic principle of, are you against the killing of civilians and are you willing to enforce the murder laws. If we were willing to enforce the murder laws, the headquarters of each of these candidates could be raided, and various advisers and many candidates could be hauled away by the cops, because they have backed various actions that, under established principles like the Nuremberg Principles, like the principles set up in the Rwanda tribunals, the Bosnia tribunals, things that are unacceptable, like aggressive war, like the killing of civilians for political purposes. So, in a basic sense, there is no choice.

Rudy? Bush doctrine on steroids.

KELLEY BEAUCAR VLAHOS: [...] He has familiar neoconservatives on his team, like you said: Norman Podhoretz, also Daniel Pipes, who—and I don’t remember if you had mentioned, but—has been leading the charge against “Islamofascism” on college campuses, has put out his Campus Watch, in terms of going after professors that he deems are not pro-Israel enough. [...]
[...] He is fully on board—he always has been—with the Bush Doctrine.

ALLAN NAIRN: Giuliani, as was mentioned, his big adviser is Norman Podhoretz. Podhoretz’s new book is World War IV, which he seems to like. Podhoretz says, bomb the Iranians. And he’s not just talking about pinpoint Iranian nuclear installations; he’s saying bomb the Iranians. And he says he prays that this will happen. [...]

OMG. How about McCain? He must not be against the killing of civilians? Wrong.

ALLAN NAIRN: [...]McCain has General Alexander Haig, who oversaw the US policy of mass terror killings of civilians in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras, when American nuns and religious workers were abducted, raped and murdered by the Salvadoran National Guard. General Haig said those nuns died in an exchange of gunfire, the pistol-packing nuns.

He has a younger—McCain has a younger adviser, Max Boot, who now points to El Salvador, where 70,000 civilians were killed by American-backed death squads, as a model counterinsurgency, a model for what the US should be doing today.

Henry Kissinger advises McCain, as he advises many others. And Kissinger, of course, was responsible for mass death in Cambodia, Vietnam, Chile, countless other places. Bud McFarlane from the Reagan administration, who was a key backer of the Contras.

Brent Scowcroft, who these days is popular with some liberals because he opposes—he opposed the Iraq invasion, who is a leader of the realist school—the realist school basically says, yes, kill civilians, but make sure you win the war, as opposed to the Bush-Cheney school, which has been killing civilians but losing the war, as the US has been doing until recently in Iraq and is now starting to do in Afghanistan—Scowcroft was the one who, during the Bush 1 administration, went to China right after the Tiananmen Square massacre and reassured the Chinese leadership, “Don’t worry about it, we’re still behind you.”

Good lord. Huckabee. The "Christian"

ALLAN NAIRN: Huckabee, who you mentioned, it’s not clear who his advisers are. Huckabee recently was attacked by Romney for being soft on crime. So Huckabee responded, “Soft on crime? I executed sixteen people in Arkansas. How many people did you execute in Massachusetts?” [...]

Nairn goes on to explain that if Huckabee was strong on crime, he would have extradited Bill Clinton and charged him with the murders of civilians in Iraq due to his sanctions in the 90's. Well that's a bit extreme because it would open a can of worms so big that we'd have to prosecute everyone, which isn't a bad idea, but pretty unfeasible considering that just about everyone is somehow involved in something horrendous.

If more people were aware of the foreign policy advisers and challenged the candidates to fire them and take a more humanistic stance and uphold murder laws no matter who you work for, perhaps, maybe perhaps, there is a slight chance that the US wouldn't be responsible for so many deaths of innocent people worldwide. But I wouldn't hold my breath. I put this all out there for your consideration and perhaps we can talk about it and bring it up in conversations with our friends and colleagues... maybe open some eyes and some mouths...

Hat tip to our friend Patriot.

From my collection of Political Stuff

Thinkers Anonymous

It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then -- to loosen up. Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker. I began to think alone -- "to relax," I told myself -- but I knew it wasn't true.

Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time. That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother's.

I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don't mix, but I couldn't stop myself. I began to avoid friends at lunch time so I could read Thoreau and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What is it exactly we are doing here?"

One day the boss called me in. He said, "Listen, I like you, and it \hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job."

This gave me a lot to think about.

I came home early after my conversation with the boss. "Honey," I confessed, "I've been thinking ..." "I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!"

"But Honey, surely it's not that serious."

"It is serious," she said, lower lip aquiver. "You think as much as college professors, and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we won't have any money!"

"That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently. She exploded in tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with the emotional drama.

"I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped out the door. I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche. I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors... They didn't open. The library was closed. To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night.

As I sank to the ground, clawing at the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye. "Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?" it asked. You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinker's Anonymous poster. Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker. I never miss a TA meeting.

At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was "Porky's." Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting. I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home.

Life just seemed ... easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking. I think the road to recovery is nearly complete for me. Today, I registered to vote Republican.

Tax cuts. Now?

From Chicago Sun Times: The Bush administration, faced with a deteriorating economy and a big jump in unemployment, said Friday it was considering an economic stimulus package that might include tax cuts to ward off a recession.
[...]
Bush in his first term included a tax refund of up to $300 per person to combat the effect of the 2001 recession. Private economists said another round would be the best approach to get money to people who would spend it. Some suggested a one-year tax rebate of $500 might suffice. They stressed that the proposal would have to be passed quickly. ''The critical time is the first part of this year,'' said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York.

Is the Chicago Sun Times a fascist rag or am I missing something? Would someone please explain just how cutting taxes right now would help the economy? It makes absolutely no sense to me at this juncture. I am not good at economics, but something is wrong here.

Is this just something that will leave a bigger mess to the Democrats to clean up in a year when they have to roll back all the tax cuts since 1980 and then the Republicans can go on television and complain about the taxes? I have an idea to jumpstart the economy. How about the government raises taxes on people and corporations who can afford to pay them and then create some public works projects and put people back to work making good salaries and then they will spend more money and so on and so on? Or is that commie?

Meanwhile ...

It seems while a lot of people in America were distracted about the Presidential candidates sniping at each other, the so-called "War on Christmas," and Britney Spears' apparent mental and physical collapse, a few things were going in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The day after Christmas, two US soldiers were killed and three injured (along with an interpreter) when, during a patrol, an Iraqi soldier started shooting at the US troops. The fun bit is that the US Army at first tried to cover up the shootings, using the catch-all phrase "hostile fire." If someone's shooting at you, chances are there's at least some hostility. Anyway, the reason the shooter did his deed is being investigated, since he's still alive to talk.

According to MSNBC, 46,000 more Iraqi exiles have filtered back into the country from Syria. While some extol the improved security situation, others (Iraqi Red Crescent, the equivalent of the Red Cross) cite financial trouble and expired visas. And the troubles won't end there. A lot of the reason that the neighborhoods in Baghdad are no longer so violent is because they're no longer mixed on religious lines - a neighborhood that may have been 40% Sunni is now 100% Shiite because the Shiites have driven them out and put new people in those vacant homes. Talk about a bad situation going worse.

Which leads me back to the only righteous war Bush ever started (and is in danger of losing - seriously, everything this man touches turns to shit), to Afghanistan. Worsening security, smuggling and a reduction of imports from Pakistan are raising the spectre of a wheat shortage in that country, with its attendant civil unrest that will play into the hands of the Taliban. But not to worry; there's going to be a record opium poppy crop this year. Also, there are other troubles plaguing the Afghans, like the fact that about 30 children have died there of the measles.

2008 will be an interesting year.

just consume less, for crying out loud!

I try to check in over at the Organic Consumers Association on a weekly basis to see what is new and relevant in the world of 'earth-friendly'.

The full article at the Guardian is here, if you're interested.

Using biofuels made from corn, sugar cane and soy could have a greater environmental impact than burning fossil fuels, according to experts. Although the fuels themselves emit fewer greenhouse gases, they all have higher costs in terms of biodiversity loss and destruction of farmland.

The problems of climate change and the rising cost of oil have led to a race to develop environmentally-friendly biofuels, such as palm oil or ethanol derived from corn and sugar cane. The EU has proposed that 10% of all fuel used in transport should come from biofuels by 2020 and the emerging global market is expected to be worth billions of dollars a year.

But the new fuels have attracted controversy. "Regardless of how effective sugar cane is for producing ethanol, its benefits quickly diminish if carbon-rich tropical forests are being razed to make the sugar cane fields, thereby causing vast greenhouse-gas emission increases," Jörn Scharlemann and William Laurance, of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, write in Science today.

"Such comparisons become even more lopsided if the full environmental benefits of tropical forests - for example, for biodiversity conservation, hydrological functioning, and soil protection - are included."

Efforts to work out which crops are most environmentally friendly have, until now, focused only on the amount of greenhouse gases a fuel emits when it is burned. Scharlemann and Laurance highlighted a more comprehensive method, developed by Rainer Zah of the Empa Research Institute in Switzerland, that can take total environmental impacts - such as loss of forests and farmland and effects on biodiversity - into account.

Okay, here is what kills me.

If we didn't have such a huge demand for fuels, this would not be the issue it is.

In all of this push for biofuels, which is now industry-driven, because who wants to be the petroleum guy who gets pushed out when you can diversify and exploit other natural resources, no one seems to be addressing the issue of overconsumption. Push for conservation and you'll get the auto makers bitching about profits; apparently the automotive ecosystem of profits is more important than conservation.

Look at the hybrid cars for some perspective. "The Prius gets ____ miles per gallon! Woot!" does absolutely nothing to address the problem that we continue to drive too fucking much, and that our culture needs to take some steps to reduce reliance on cars. Somewhere along the line, the ethos of consuming *less* in order to preserve what we have, needs to get shoved back up our collective ass, and it needs to stay there.

Apparently overconsumption is the American Way, in uppercase.

In a study of 26 biofuels the Swiss method showed that 21 fuels reduced greenhouse-gas emissions by more than 30% compared with gasoline when burned. But almost half of the biofuels, a total of 12, had greater total environmental impacts than fossil fuels. These included economically-significant fuels such as US corn ethanol, Brazilian sugar cane ethanol and soy diesel, and Malaysian palm-oil diesel. Biofuels that fared best were those produced from waste products such as recycled cooking oil, as well as ethanol from grass or wood.

Scharlemann and Laurance also pointed to "perverse" government initiatives that had resulted in unintended environmental impacts. In the US, for example, farmers have been offered incentives to shift from growing soy to growing corn for biofuels. "This is helping to drive up global soy prices, which in turn amplifies economic incentives to destroy Amazonian forests and Brazilian tropical savannas for soy production."

So.... we need to grow corn in order to produce biofuels! On the double! Never mind that corn is an inferior feedstock for biodiesel, compared to say, rapeseed. Secondarily, never mind that the corn being grown in the US is likely Frankenstein corn care of Spanky & the Gang-, I mean Monsanto.

Happy New Year!

America is Better Than This

It will take as little as a minute to get the word out that we are better than this. Please go to ACLU:Close Guantamo and get all the facts.

Write about it on your blogs. Sign a petition. Wear orange on 1/11. Write to your paper. Simply tell your friends and neighbors or send an email to several friends. Everything you need and all the tools, including sample letters and fliers are at the website.

GUANTÁNAMO IS UN-AMERICAN.
Arbitrary indefinite detention, secret evidence, and coercive interrogation are the very things this country was founded to prevent.

GUANTÁNAMO UNDERMINES THE CONSTITUTION AND THE RULE OF LAW.
The Military Commissions Act (MCA) unconstitutionally eliminated the right of habeas corpus—the bedrock right to have a court decide if a person is imprisoned legally or illegally—for detainees at Guantanamo Bay. It allows our government to continue to hold hundreds of prisoners for more than five years without charges and with no end in sight.

GUANTÁNAMO MAKES THE PRESIDENT BOTH JUDGE AND JURY.
The system in place at Guantánamo lets any president declare—on his or her own—who is an enemy combatant, decide who should be held indefinitelywithout being charged with a crime, and define what is—and what is not—torture and abuse.

GUANTÁNAMO REJECTS CORE AMERICAN VALUES.
Habeas corpus is an important part of what separates America from many other countries. To do away with this American value makes us more like those we are fighting against. It is time to restore due process, defend constitutional rights, and protect what makes us Americans.

AMERICA IS BETTER THAN THIS.
As a symbol of freedom and democracy throughout the world, the United States must hold itself to our own high standards. When we resort to the use of torture, abuse, and indefinite detention we lower ourselves to the level of our enemies and defy the basic values that we hold dear.

Passenger jets get anti-missile devices

WASHINGTON — Tens of thousands of airline passengers will soon be flying on jets outfitted with anti-missile systems as part of a new government test aimed at thwarting terrorists armed with shoulder-fired projectiles.


Jets will fly with the jammer device mounted on the belly of the plane, between the wheels. The device works with sensors, also mounted on the plane, that detect a heat-seeking missile and shoot a laser at it to send the missile veering harmlessly off course.

Officials emphasize that no missiles will be test-fired at the planes,

The purpose of the tests is to determine how well the laser-jamming technology works on routine flights, how the devices affect fuel consumption and how much maintenance they require, according to Keirstead.

$29 million on the tests????

and the kicker:

Although there has not been an attempt to take down a jet on U.S. soil with a shoulder-fired missile, Homeland Security has warned about the possibility because the portable, lightweight weapons can be bought on the black market for as little as a few hundred dollars.

Well then, ......

maybe they're thinking it's a good precaution??

yeah - that must be it
Veteran American newsman Pierre Salinger said today he has a government document saying that Navy gunners accidentally shot down TWA Flight 800 while conducting missile tests, killing all 230 people aboard.


wait, wait....

let's look at BAE Systems - the developer of this anti-missile device. "It's the ultimate consumer use of the equipment" they say.

(FOX News is at the top of google today with the most stories on this contract awarded to BAE Systems)

I wonder if BAE Systems has been in the news (that we never hear or read about) recently.....



BAE, Europe's biggest arms company, claims there is 'no evidence' that it has engaged in massive corruption to sell arms overseas.

Anti-corruption campaigners today won permission to bring a High Court challenge over the decision to end investigations into alleged corruption by BAE Systems in arms deals with Saudi Arabia.


and LOTS and LOTS more here at The Guardian's BAE FILES
BAE, Europe's biggest arms company, claims there is 'no evidence' that it has engaged in massive corruption to sell arms overseas.

David Leigh and Rob Evans have published the evidence and documents gathered round the world in support of those allegations. Readers can judge for themselves.



you decide.....

crossposted atBigBrassBlog

Goddess on the mountain top

Burning like a silver flame - The summit of beauty and love - And Venus was her name.

She's got it - Yeah, baby, she's got it

I'm your Venus, I'm your fire - At your desire

Got what no-one else had - Wa!



WHAT A MORNING!!
I MUST get a telescope! Liz - maybe I could come for a visit and look through yours - get some pointers, advice, etc.... Maybe the 30th? I hear Mars might be hit by an asteroid on January 30: There is a 1 in 25 odds chance that a rogue mini-world — asteroid 2007 WD5 — will smack into Mars on January 30th, 2008.
(save the date!)

So, I'm finally able to venture outside to the deck this morning.

It was a balmy 20 degrees around 4:30 am on the east coast, but you could feel THE TEMPETURE RISING - yeah - FINALLYThank you goodess above -- I never would have stayed out there, but I caught a glimpse of venus and mars and the coolest crescent moon I have ever seen.

What a site to behold.....

Venus - our sister (and hotter) world was amazing!

From the perspective of planet earth, Venus appears to rise before the Sun as morning star; actually its orbital position at that time is behind the Sun. This, too, is a metaphor; things are not as they appear to be.

The planet is associated with the ideas of attraction, gravity and magnetism. It represents the energy we might call “cosmic glue;” it is the force that causes cohesion of particles, or persons, into a solid mass. It creates the manifestation of gross matter, planets, minerals, and metals. It is the bio-psychological force that draws animals and humans together in herds and villages. It is the basic force for the foundation of civilization and culture.

Imagine the planet Venus at its greatest distance from the Sun (48 degrees), at its highest declination (26 or more degrees north), rising before dawn, near the summer solstice. It would look as though Venus was heading toward the pole star (‘the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north’), elevating itself far above its Lord. Hence, it became a metaphor for great pride or hubris (the only sin a human could commit in the eyes of the Greek gods in later times). Pride, ego as the sense of having a separate existence apart from the Source and equal if not superior to it, is, according to Christian mythology, the thing that got Lucifer in trouble with God and caused the “war in heaven.” Lucifer became associated with the idea of Satan (Saturn), the force of darkness, ignorance, Maya (illusion/delusion), which turns us away from the true light of spirit and toward identification with the material plane. Satan (Saturn) is exalted in Lucifer’s (Venus’) sign, Libra. And the Biblical Satan was originally “the adversary,” the defense attorney, as it were, pleading the case for earthly life and the value of the five senses, in opposition to the divine call to return to spirit.

Maybe this'll work better for the Republican Candidates...

Go Wyoming!

I learned something new. Wyoming will have caucuses this Saturday and the candidates don't even care. Well I do.

Iowa Aftermath

Democratic Party side first:

Barack Obama won, with John Edwards and Hillary Clinton in the #2 and #3 spots. Dodd and Biden have withdrawn from the race, according to TASS - er, CNN. Before people starting getting their knickers in a twist about these results, it was pointed out to me that Iowa only correctly predicts the eventual winner only 25% of the time over the past few decades.

However, I had a vision while taking a shower this morning (it seems the place to have visions, thank you very much) of the eventual Prez and Veep nominees on the Democratic side. Who, you may ask? Barack Obama (Prez) and Bill Richardson (Veep). How's that for a combo that'll make the wingnuts go completely mental (well, more mental than usual)?

Republican Party side second:

Mike Huckabee won, with Romney and Thompson at #2 and #3. Romney put the best face on it, saying that Reagan lost Iowa but was the eventual nominee. But Mittens forgot one thing.

When Reagan was running, he had the support of the American Taliban as well as the GOP Establishment. Since the Whackos were never expected to actually front their own candidate, but to only slavishly vote for whomever they were told to vote, the state of affairs that has led to the Governor-Reverend's victory is causing people some serious, major-league angst.

Thompson came in third, so he's still in the race, such as he is. The Dessicated Corpse's aides had hinted that he'd withdraw before New Hampshire if he came in 4th or worse in Iowa, forcing Freddy to go on telly and squall that he wasn't dropping out.

Giuliani hit right about where Ron Paul ended up - sixth, but then Don Rudolfo had already written off the smaller states in favor of trying to catch up by winning in the bigger primary honeypots like Florida. Unfortunately, ceding the smaller states entails a heavy risk - an opponent's momentum going into a big state may overcome Rudy's overbearing presence.

Overbearing was used deliberately. Have you SEEN his Florida ads? I nearly sprained my thumb over the holidays hitting the Mute switch on my remote.

Still, it's on to New Hampshire, and we'll see how the weirdos up in the Granite State swing.

Man, Can I Have a Smoke?

I am not looking for sympathy. My father died today at noon, and I couldn't do anything to stop that. I know, I know, it is the normal way of life. Some people die, some people are born. It is not the issue if he was a good or bad father...he was my father, and now he's gone.
He's been suffering for two months, and visiting him twice a day in the hospital, I died a bit everyday with him.
I am in peace now; I knew he will die, but it's just hard to part from a loved one.
The only guilt a have, I couldn't have him smoke a cigarette.
He's been asking me for weeks to allow him smoke a cigarette and as much I wanted to, the hospital policy would not allow me to satisfy his last wish.
My heart is aching for denying his last wish. Three days ago, when he was conscious, he told me that time is running out and he wants a cigarette; and he's not going to smoke the whole thing, just have a few puffs, then he'll put it out for later use.
If you're sentenced to death, your last wish is respected to the full extent of our humanity, yet if you're dying in a hospital you can't have your last wish fulfilled if you wish to smoke.
He quit smoking 25 years ago, and his last wish is a testimony of how addictive smoking is.
I am desolate, forgive me!

For someone special:

This is your brain on bush

Below is a map of surveillance societies around the world.
The black ones are the worst offenders.
*** For those who can't find the US on a map, that would be our country on the left under the big yellow country which is Canada, such as. We share this dubious distinction with those big black blobs on the right which include, such as, Russia and China. Oh and I see England, such as, on there too. I think they are worse than the US in some respects. Could that be Greece in green? Wow. Green is good. Such as, that is where I shall vacation this year.



Hey we are right up there with the worst of them! Why not read all about this map?

Now for your reading enjoyment, this article by Tom Engelhardt, "How Bush Took Us to the Dark Side" should sum it all up. In defense of our leader, he didn't invent this stuff- he and his cronies just made it "business as usual" and dare I say it? Legal?

I'll start you off with the opening paragraphs from Engelhardt's piece. And oh goodie. It takes place right here in good old NY (that bastion of liberal free thinking and secular cultural scum or whatever their codewords are for Jews and homosexuals are these days):

"If you don't mind thinking about the Bush legacy a year early, there are worse places to begin than with the case of Erla Ósk Arnardóttir Lilliendahl. Admittedly, she isn't an ideal "tempest-tost" candidate for Emma Lazarus' famous lines engraved on a bronze plaque inside the Statue of Liberty. After all, she flew to New York City with her girlfriends, first class, from her native Iceland, to partake of "the Christmas spirit." She was drinking white wine en route and, as she put it, "look[ing] forward to go shopping, eat good food, and enjoy life." On an earlier vacation trip, back in 1995, she had overstayed her visa by three weeks, a modest enough infraction, and had even returned the following year without incident.

This time -- with the President's Global War on Terror in full swing -- she was pulled aside at passport control at JFK Airport, questioned about those extra three weeks 12 years ago, and soon found herself, as she put it, "handcuffed and chained, denied the chance to sleep… without food and drink and… confined to a place without anyone knowing my whereabouts, imprisoned." It was "the greatest humiliation to which I have ever been subjected."

By her account, she was photographed, fingerprinted, asked rude questions -- "by men anxious to demonstrate their power. Small kings with megalomania" -- confined to a tiny room for hours, then chained, marched through the airport, and driven to a jail in New Jersey where, for another nine hours, she found herself "in a small, dirty cell." On being prepared for the return trip to JFK and deportation, approximately 24 hours after first debarking, she was, despite her pleas, despite her tears, again handcuffed and put in leg chains, all, as she put it, "because I had taken a longer vacation than allowed under the law."

I don't think she was exaggerating unfortunately. Oh lordy. Read it all.

Dots Dots Dots

From the Blondesense Post "Connect the Dots"...

The image is becoming clear.

A Minha Menina

A South American Classic "A Minha Menina (My Girl)"

Sung by Os Mutantes - and performed here by Mike

On top of Jackson Square in downtown Hamilton, Ontario, there is some scaffolding. I wonder what it's doing there. Mike Long thinks its for dancing on:




Here's the direct youtube link if you want to ENLARGE Mike!




and courtesy of sleephousenotes
here are some lyrics and background about the song.

Ela é minha menina - Shes my girl
Eu sou o menino dela - And I'm her boy
Ela é o meu amor - She's my love
E eu sou o amor todinho dela - I'm all her love
A lua prateada se escondeu - The silvery moon has hidden
E o sol dourado apareceu - And The Golden Sun has appeared
Amanheceu um lindo dia - A beautiful day has come
Cheirando a alegria - Smelling happiness
Pois eu sonhei - 'Cause I dreamt
E acordei pensando nela - And woke up thinking of her

A roseira já deu rosas - The rose has blossomed
E a rosa que eu ganhei foi ela - And she is my blossom
Por ela eu ponho o meu coração - For her I put my heart
Na frente da razão - In front of reason
E vou dizer - And I'll tell everybody
Pra todo mundo - Everybody
Como eu gosto dela - How I love her
Pois ela é minha menina - 'Cause she's my girl
E eu sou o menino dela - And I'm her boy
Ela é o meu amor - She's my love
E eu sou o amor todinho dela - And I'm hers...

What a b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l song.

Here's another cover of this song done by THE BEES --have a listen at hypem

Ahhh.....

now I'm off to work in a fine frame of mind. It's gonna be hard to pass up that scaffolding that's up in the new construction area next to my office!!!

A Rant

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

These are the first words George W. Bush swore to us that fateful day in January, 2001.

Of all the lies Bush and his bootlicking sycophants shamelessly spewed that we’ve endured since that ignominious day, this initial adulteration of the most solemn pledge a president-elect can promise to those who entrusted him, is the most insufferably egregious, most violated, most (administration) transgressed bit of flagrant bullshit that has ever been uttered by such a truly deceptive, psychotically pathological piece of begrimed fecal matter that tries pathetically to pass itself off as a human being. This cranial maggot infested, spineless diarrhetic – thing - elected to our highest office, has all the morals of the most despicable dregs of American Society over the last two hundred thirty two years. But to elevate him to the lowest forms of refuse from our society or for that matter, any other that can shamefully offer is a direct affront to the scum of the earth.

That any now should believe even one apothegm this perennial liar pronounces shows the degree of disunity his hallucinatory doctrine has foisted on us. We shouldn’t be surprised by the folly of those that grovel at his feet. Mind-numbing stupidity has become epidemic in America. But to be so incredibly stupid to allow this representative Republican seven year rotted carrion another chance to continue to treat us to NeoCon insipience is inexcusable even for the insensible masses.

Yet, we ignore his lies to give him a second or third or twentieth chance to belittle what passes for our intelligence. We have a pompously specious Fourth Estate owned by the very same scum that support this pretender to the presidential privy, happily, blindly strumpeting their master’s choice of future putrefied leadership rather than expose him for the charlatan he is.

That he has no morals should be evident to anyone who can tie his own shoes or walk upright or even cast a vote, but sadly, isn’t. And they are the ones who this febrile mind appeals to for reasons known only to God, Allah, Brahma or the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

“…and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

It doesn’t say that it is his duty to interpret, re-interpret, augment, obviate, ignore or even suggest changes to the Constitution; it says he is to PRESERVE, PROTECT and DEFEND it. None of which he has done or even attempted, nor will he or the fawning poltroons that crave his gratuitous acceptance.

If, indeed he is incapable of carrying out this first and most important obligation of the position he believes he divinely deserves, then he most assuredly is nothing less than a traitor to the American People, Nation and the very same Constitution that allowed him to appropriate and despoil what was the most prestigious, important and honored position in the world.

Villainous despots of the past deserve more respect than George W. Bush. While they envisioned world domination, none had the psychopathic desire and complete ability to destroy all that man has ever created. This demon has no remorse for any but his own. Indeed, he fancies himself godlike if not a god himself. If an omnipotent, forgiving God existed, even HE would denounce this sub-human and condemn him to eternal torment. Yet this soulless fiend from the Underworld is allowed to exist.

George W. Bush is a liar. Worse, he is a traitor, an insane treasonist; to those he pretends to represent; to the country he despoils and to the planet he despises. It is certainly time for any god to “call him home.”

Michael Moore

Possibly some of these observations will give you an insight into three of the Democratic Candidates. Why Democratic only? Because the Republican alternative is continually destructive is a given.

From Michael Moore:

(snip)

And yet, I am sad to say, nothing has disappointed me more than the disastrous, premeditated vote by Senator Hillary Clinton to send us to war in Iraq. I'm not only talking about her first vote that gave Mr. Bush his "authorization" to invade -- I'm talking about every single OTHER vote she then cast for the next four years, backing and funding Bush's illegal war, and doing so with verve. She never met a request from the White House for war authorization that she didn't like. Unlike the Kerrys and the Bidens who initially voted for authorization but later came to realize the folly of their decision, Mrs. Clinton continued to cast numerous votes for the war until last March -- four long years of pro-war votes, even after 70% of the American public had turned against the war. She has steadfastly refused to say that she was wrong about any of this, and she will not apologize for her culpability in America's worst-ever foreign policy disaster. All she can bring herself to say is that she was "misled" by "faulty intelligence."

(snip)

Barack Obama is a good and inspiring man. What a breath of fresh air! There's no doubting his sincerity or his commitment to trying to straighten things out in this country. But who is he? I mean, other than a guy who gives a great speech? How much do any of us really know about him? I know he was against the war. How do I know that? He gave a speech before the war started. But since he joined the senate, he has voted for the funds for the war, while at the same time saying we should get out. He says he's for the little guy, but then he votes for a corporate-backed bill to make it harder for the little guy to file a class action suit when his kid swallows lead paint from a Chinese-made toy. In fact, Obama doesn't think Wall Street is a bad place. He wants the insurance companies to help us develop a new health care plan -- the same companies who have created the mess in the first place. He's such a feel-good kinda guy, I get the sense that, if elected, the Republicans will eat him for breakfast. He won't even have time to make a good speech about it.

(snip)

And then there's John Edwards.

It's hard to get past the hair, isn't it? But once you do -- and recently I have chosen to try -- you find a man who is out to take on the wealthy and powerful who have made life so miserable for so many. A candidate who says things like this: "I absolutely believe to my soul that this corporate greed and corporate power has an ironclad hold on our democracy." Whoa. We haven't heard anyone talk like that in a while, at least not anyone who is near the top of the polls. I suspect this is why Edwards is doing so well in Iowa, even though he has nowhere near the stash of cash the other two have. He won't take the big checks from the corporate PACs, and he is alone among the top three candidates in agreeing to limit his spending and be publicly funded. He has said, point-blank, that he's going after the drug companies and the oil companies and anyone else who is messing with the American worker. The media clearly find him to be a threat, probably because he will go after their monopolistic power, too. This is Roosevelt/Truman kind of talk. That's why it's resonating with people in Iowa, even though he doesn't get the attention Obama and Hillary get -- and that lack of coverage may cost him the first place spot tomorrow night. After all, he is one of those white guys who's been running things for far too long.

One thing we can all do is to seriously look at the list of Representatives and Senators running in 2008. Not much attention is being paid to them yet the real power behind this country can be in the hands of these Congress People rather than only one man. Quite a number of Republicans have announced they are not running. That may be the reason the MSM is ignoring the situation; to deflect attention.

61 plus, more informed, more people oriented (true Democratic) Senators; perhaps 40 more true Democratic Representatives will do more good than necessarily a Pseudo Democrat in the Oval Office.

Who is the most dangerous candidate?

I say Rudy.

I'll tell you why later.

Dots anyone?

I have a funny feeling that these things are all related.
Has anyone connected the dots?

Bhutto's statement to David Frost on Nov 2nd that OBL was murdered
No mention of it on MSM, no reaction by David Frost.
Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Taliban, al Qaeda
Bush saying way back that he didn't give much thought to OBL.
Omar Sheikh (Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh)
Daniel Pearl
Shaykh Sai'id (aka, Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad)
Lt. General Mahmoud Ahmad, head of ISI on 9/11/01
Mohammed Atta
Bhutto's murder.
Musharaff
9/11 money trail
Porter Goss, Sen Bob Graham, Rumsfeld,

There is something very suspicious about these things. I'll keep reading.

A Gift

Don't Tase Me, Bro.
Hey Lookie! A little old lady was arrested at Huckbee's headquarters in Iowa for wearing a banner that read, Stop Iraq War Funding.



Good Thing God's On His (the barber's) Side

You know something, fellow travelers? Sometimes I don't have to do any fancy photoshopping to make something more surreal than it already is. Today I didn't even HAVE to try. Unretouched pictures themselves scream thousands of words- words I cannot even pronounce or spell, words that aren't even invented yet. This morning's photos of Mike Huckabee were simply a gift. There were so many photos, I was swamped in gift.


Wow. He is connected!
To what, I don't know. He is positively nukular.

Happy New Year. This ought to be a doozy.

Happy New Year Y'all!

Why not start the year off Right!