Tunin' In, Turnin' On, Droppin' Out

From Geneva we hear of the death of Dr. Albert Hofmann, who was 102 years old.

Why do I bring this up, and what connection has it to the title? Dr. Hofmann was researching a grain fungus when he extracted a compound known nowadays as lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD. He had the first scientifically documented LSD drug trip when a tiny drop absorbed into his fingertip.

Potent stuff.

LSD was at first offered as a tool in psychiatric health care, but was quickly corrupted when counterculture youth and others got hold of it.

And the rest, they say, is history.

What's that? Me, you say?

Pardon me; I was laughing. I've never tried it, or any other drug other than ethanol.

I'm crazy enough normally - IMAGINE me on drugs.

Dropping the Ball

This comes as no surprise whatever:

"Al-Qaida has rebuilt some of its pre-Sept. 11 capabilities from remote hiding places in Pakistan, leading to a jump in attacks last year in that country and neighboring Afghanistan, the Bush administration said Wednesday."

Doesn't surprise me a damned bit. We invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and had Osama and the main leadership of The Base treed up in the Tora Bora mountains, and then came the order.

Let him go. We're going after Saddam in Iraq instead.

So we let bin Laden and al-Zawahiri go, let them escape into the wilds of the Pakistani tribal areas where they could find shelter and a safe haven in which to rebuild their shattered infrastructure and be able to come back one bright day as Son of The Base, twice as powerful, three times as vindictive, and steam coming out of its ears.

I saw this coming, as did a lot of other people who like me were branded as "unpatriotic" and "liberal" and "fucking traitors."

So here we are - up to our necks in Iraq, possibly going to shove oil up over $200 a barrel if we attack Iran, mired in Afghanistan against a resurgent Taliban (The Students also took advantage of the priceless opportunity the Bush Regime gave them), and now faced with The Base, rearming itself and getting ready to commit more deviltry.

The President has done this to us. Another mass-casualty terrorist strike would put more blood on his hands.

But he could say, as Richard III did, "But I am in so far in blood, that sin will pluck on sin. Tear-falling pity dwells not in this eye."

Appropriate words.

Man The Guns

New Ship a 'Reminder' to Iran: Gates

(newser) – A second US aircraft carrier steamed into the Persian Gulf yesterday, which Robert Gates says Iran should see as a "reminder." The defense secretary denied that the deployment of another ship in the Gulf amounted to an escalation of American forces in the area, Reuters reports, but hoped to get Tehran's attention with the extra vessel's presence.

The defense secretary told reporters in Mexico City that the US will only have two carriers in the Gulf for a short time, "so I don't see it as an escalation." Nevertheless the deployment comes at a tense moment in the standoff between the US and Iran. US ships have had confrontations with several small boats in the region in recent days, including some that the Pentagon has described as Iranian. SOURCE Reuters

For Obama Supporters

Does the Rev. Wright factor change your opinion about Obama or is this all politics as usual?

we knew this all along, right?

Hmmm. It's hard to ignore a headline like this:

‘Neglect of Farming Led to Rice Crisis’

BANGKOK - The headlines screaming about a global food shortage have not aroused surprise in a leading non-governmental organisation (NGO) working with farming communities across Asia. To its members, warnings of hunger on a biblical scale are hardly news.

After all, the Asia-Pacific arm of the Pesticide Action Network (PAN), a global environmental lobby, has been raising the alarm about an impending rice shortage for years. Among its more recent campaigns was one launched to coincide with ‘’The International Year of Rice,” which was marked globally in 2004...

...PAN’s primary concern was the push towards rice cultivation on an industrial scale that promoted monoculture, where a few high-yield rice varieties that needed large doses of chemicals were held up as the answer to growing demand. Marginalised, consequently, were the small farmers, who came from rural communities that had used local knowledge over centuries to generate new varieties of paddy seeds that blended with the local environment.

‘’The high-yielding seeds prompted in the monoculture style of farming are not as hardy as local varieties produced through the ecological style of farming,” adds Westwood. ‘’This hybrid rice can only perform well under certain circumstances and they need a lot of fertiliser and pesticides and they are water intensive. These are their inherent weaknesses.”

A recent report by a regional U.N. body lends weight to PAN’s view about the high cost Asian governments are currently paying for neglecting the agricultural sector, where a bulk of the poor in Asia and the Pacific — some 641 million people — live.

‘’The rural poor account for 70 percent of the poor in the Asia-Pacific region, and agriculture is their main livelihood,” states a survey published by the Bangkok-based Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)...

And then it's hard to ignore the folks at CBS towing the party line on Monsanto's GMO work in their intro to an article on Monsanto stomping the snot out of small farmers who are unfortunate enough to have Monsanto's poison pollen get blown into their fields by the wind. I bolded some text in the following for emphasis.

American farmers have been growing genetically modified crops for years, from seeds engineered to resist pests and chemicals. These patented seeds produced bigger crops and profits for farmers who bought them from companies like DuPont and Monsanto, but for other farmers the seeds have created a host of problems.

Anyone else remember reading the revelation last week that Monsanto's GMO soy underperforms compared to conventional or organic?

I continue to wonder how journalists can live with themselves. "Hey, Monsanto's under fire for pushing shit underperforming product on vulnerable farmers. Let's trot out some old hat about how some farmers have problems with Monsanto suing them when the pollen blows into their fields. And for God's sake, don't investigate the monoculture problem and how Monsanto is in effect lessening the food supply, and how this has been predicted for years..."

Medicare "drifting towards disaster"

REUTERS: "(U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt) said the next administration will have to act to stop rising costs and get control of the $400 billion federal health insurance plan for the elderly, which now covers 44 million people."

And boygeorge and his pals breathed a collective sigh of relief at the mention of the words "the next administration."

Maybe voting for mcCAIN ain't such a bad idea? You know, that way it'd be keeping the hideous decayed rotten shitmess within the same political party and not having to listen rethuglicans blame it all on the Democrats?

McCain: Flip Flop

From Think Progress: Three years before Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was arguing for a 100 year presence in Iraq, he told MSNBC, “I would hope that we could bring them all home.” “I think one of our big problems has been the fact that many Iraqis resent American military presence,” McCain said. “[A]s soon as we can reduce our visibility as much as possible, the better I think it is going to be.”

Meanwhile April has been the deadliest month since last September in Iraq.

The Myth of Voter Fraud

Voter ID Laws: A "Solution" in Search of a Problem
By Marty Lederman
Slate
I'm just beginning to read through the opinions in today's decision upholding the facial validity of Indiana's Voter ID law. Along with many others, I have argued that the law is unconstitutional because it imposes burdens on voting without advancing any governmental interest. Thus, to my mind the most noteworthy paragraph in Justice Stevens's lead opinion is the one in which he tries to adduce evidence of an actual problem that this law would address:

• The only kind of voter fraud that SEA 483 addresses is in-person voter impersonation at polling places. The record contains no evidence of any such fraud actually occurring in Indiana at any time in its history. Moreover, petitioners argue that provisions of the Indiana Criminal Code punishing such conduct as a felony provide adequate protection against the risk that such conduct will occur in the future...

For the first proposition, what does the opinion cite? Only this: An anecdote about in-person voter impersonation allegedly orchestrated by Boss Tweed in 1868. And for the second -- occasional "recent" examples? Justice Stevens tips his hat to the Brennan Center's showing that "much of" the evidence of such fraud "was actually absentee ballot fraud or voter registration fraud." Nevertheless, he states that "there remain scattered instances of in-person voter fraud." The evidence for this? That in the 2004 Washington gubernatorial election, a partial investigation confirmed that one voter committed in-person voting fraud. and so on

You have to read the comments after reading the story to see what an ill informed public we have in America today. I mean, they just read the story (I assume they did) and they still view voter fraud as a blight on America, as if Democrats are out to steal elections, as if Democrats are capable of orchestrating such a thing.

I chuckle because I live on an island with more population than 19 states and we don't have to succumb to such nanny-state tactics when we vote. We are issued voter ID cards which no one asks for at polling places unless you're not on the list, we are mailed a card before every election with exact instructions on where to go at what time and on what date and when we get to the polls, our signature is on file. The number of voting booths for each district depends on how many registered voters there are for the area. It's pretty much a no brainer to vote. If you're not on the list, you get a provisional ballot. duh.

This voter fraud is such a non issue it makes me wonder who is trying to cover up what.

Skycaps and waiters find a legal champion

oddjob sent this piece of good news along this morning.

Boston Globe: Days after a federal jury ordered American Airlines to pay a group of nine local skycaps more than $325,000 in lost tips, the plaintiffs and their legal team celebrated with a boisterous dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House at Boston's Old City Hall.

[snip]

Since 2001, Liss-Riordan, a partner in a modest-size law firm in downtown Boston, has brought at least 40 lawsuits on behalf of waiters, bartenders, and other service workers in Massachusetts who say their employers cheated them out of tips.

She took an obscure 1952 state law that protects tip-dependent workers, who can legally be paid less than minimum wage, and has used it to reap millions of dollars in awards and settlements. Lawyers outside Massachusetts have adopted her strategy, including the lawyers who recently won a $100 million award for baristas at Starbucks cafes in California. continued

This is an issue that should see the light of day even if we don't work in a tip industry. Why? because when I leave a generous tip, I want the money to go to those who served my party, not the mgmt. If I wanted to tip the management, I would.

Impeachable Offense?

Australian politician admits sniffing woman's chair

The Jeremiah Wright Factor...

At the beginning of the primary season, I really considered Barack Obama for President. Those were the days when I heard audio that I could not differentiate Obama from a white person.
I really liked his message. Along the way however, I decided to support Hillary Clinton. We have an old saying: "It is bad with bad, but it's a lot worse without the bad". The problem I had was that I did not know Obama, and I still don't.

Through the campaign, I realized, Obama is a genuine person, a real human being, yet he is not defined. To day, I have serious doubts about him. Perhaps we're used to knowing candidates for President way before their campaign. Still, he has shown me no emotion. I don't doubt his sincerity; he really seems to mean what he says, but does not connect with me. You're allowed to differ.

Now comes is Jeremiah Wright, like a loose cannon, destroying everything this man (Obama) is standing for. From the beginning of his campaign, he tried very hard to avoid the racial issue, yet Wright brings it all back into the limelight. As I said from the beginning, I don't support Obama, because I don't trust the American people, to be able to overcome the racial issue. And I don't want the Democrats lose in November. We can't afford it.

Jeremiah Wright's demeanor, taps into the darkest emotions of the African-American audience: slavery. That is how he built his flock from 70 people to 6000 in 40 years. His sermons constituted one great affront to everything this nation stands for.
He speaks some truths that may resonate with some of us, but basically his sermons are a justification, supported by lines from the Bible of a black uprising. Once you differentiate your race from others, you're a racist.

When he cites the Government as an evil entity, he means all governments from Washington to G.W Bush. This is an anti-authority rhetoric, fueling people's darkest feelings and emotions about society. The unfortunate twist to all this is that his present rhetoric he taps into the darkest emotions of the white people in this country which Barack tried to avoid so hard for so long. This is what we were not looking for.

After watching Jeremiah Wright on television these past few days, I believe he is a self centered, narcissistic, ego maniac, with an ego bigger than the Sun.

Is It Just Me?

Or is this whole Iraq War thing sounding more and more like Viet Nam every day?

This morning the news was all about the body count: 38 insurgents killed in the fighting around Baghdad. Ooooooeeee, we're just kicking their asses, right? Nary a word about US casualties.

Well, then the afternoon's headlines: 4 U.S. soldiers killed in Baghdad attack.

Dammit, I hate the way the "news" from this war is being massaged and managed.

Thanks to Konagod for the idea:

From a couple of years ago, done by the ACLU.
Click each to enlarge.

Wrigley's Sells Poisonous Aspartame Factories for 23BILLION -- fyi: ASPARTAME IS DEADLY - RUMFELD'S PLAGUE IS UPON US - THROW AWAY YOUR GUM

and diet sodas and the thousands of other food items that contain this harmful ingredient.

Did you know that Doublemint Gum (NOT A "SUGER FREE GUM") contains aspartame? I just found this out a few weeks ago. I've been screaming at my kids for years to stop chewing all the new "cool" looking packs of gum that come out cause they all have aspartame in them and it's bad for you and the FDA should never have approved it for consumption and if you only knew who was responsibe for getting it to market -- yeah that's right, yours truly. They aren't quite old enough to understand, or pay attention -- pretty soon. I did show them this video though -Super Size My Aspartame by trillion. It was very effective! This video was pretty extreme but got my point across also. I told them that if they still wanted to chew gum, they could have some of mine. I am, and always have been, a Doublemint Junkie. I always have a bonus pack in my possession and I will be glad to give them a stick. Then my youngest (she reads everything she can get her hands on) tells me that my Doublemint gum also has aspartame in it. "No sir" - "Yes sir" - "Does not" - "DOES TOO - see for yourself!"

I can't tell you how angry I was when I found out. I really felt duped. I've gone out of my way all my life to avoid anything sugar free because I will usually get a headache. It made me wonder if that was the reason I started getting migraines a few years ago. I always attributed them to the stress of moving back and forth to New Jersey. Made me wonder cause all those moves occurred in 2003 - the same time Wrigley added aspartame to my Doublemint. It just makes me wonder. AND it really pisses me off.

So.....after 4 generations, the Wrigley Family is out of the gum business. 23 BILLION - take the money and run boys! Go on believing that no harm is being done to the peeps - don't worry - you're covered --

Rummy took care of everything with the FDA years ago.



For those of you that are unaware of "Rumsfeld's Disease" and "The Rumsfeld Plague" --

pick your poison here


This discussion over at the skeptic forum is also chock full of links and all the dirty dealings that took place in bringing aspartame to the market. There is also testimony to its safety (I don't buy it though).


I particularly liked this comment:

A quarter of a century later Aspartame propaganda is tired and worn out. All shenanigans are a matter of public record. Everybody's sick of the denials after a quarter century of controversy, sickness, ruination and death. The world has had enough. The aspartame industry doesn't have to worry about economics. All they have to do is change the label to read rat poison. The world already knows it's a killer. What regulatory agency will finally have the courage to tell the truth. The Trocho Study in l998 shows not only does the formaldehyde converted from the free methyl alcohol embalm living tissue but damages DNA. When you damage DNA you can destroy humanity.

Dr. Betty

This is probably the best explanation given on the truth about aspartame. It is a video done by Dr. Russell Blaylock. You can also read his facts here in the Report on aspartame and children



David Oliver Rietz' site - DORway to Discovery has some very informative links

This one's hard to read - lots of chemical names (I flunked chemistry)


I'll stop now, and leave you with the Aspartame (NutraSweet) Toxicity Info Center

Am I Going Crazy?

An Unwelcome Realization.

antiwar mom speaks out

That would be moi.

A 19 year old Marine from Long Island was killed in Iraq. I didn't know him but he could have been any boy from Long Island or anywhere for that matter. He was so young. He had so much of life ahead of him. He's somebody's baby. Why the hell did this have to happen? Why did he enlist? Did his family only watch Faux News?

War is hell.
War sucks.
Illegal invasions suck even more.
Don't let your kids enlist.

As far as I am concerned, 18 is the new 14.
Raise the enlistment age to at least 21 so that informed decisions can be made by our young people about their future.

Just my little old opinion

Hamas has endorsed Barack Obama.

John McCain promises to be Hamas' worst nightmare.

This is something that makes me really not want McCain to be president.


Hat tip TPM

See also SOTT for an interesting opinion piece about Obama and Israel. While I don't agree with all the sentiments in the article, the rabid Zionism of many politicians is quite disturbing.

KKKarl Rove's Advice to Obama

Mr Rove wrote a letter to Obama in the Newsweek advising him on how to connect with the regular people. Of course while no one is as 'elite' as any of the Bush's, Rove explains to Barack how to overcome the "elitist" label. It only makes half sense.

"Even liberal commentators who adore you warn you can't win with a McGovern coalition of college students and white-wine sippers from the party's left wing. Saying small-town voters cling to guns, faith and xenophobia because of economic bitterness hurt you; it reinforced the growing sense you don't share Middle America's values. So did asking about the price of arugula in Iowa, dismissing the "true" patriotism of people who wear a flag lapel pin, being "friendly" (as your chief strategist, David Axelrod, put it) with a violent, unrepentant '60s radical and having a close relationship with an angry pastor who expressed anti-American sentiments."

All of the above were blown out of proportion by the so called "liberal media." Furthermore, Rove is implying that American's can't take the truth. I say that they can take the truth, but they are not getting it because the pundits are creating a class war and pretending that they know how regular Americans feel, when in fact they don't have a clue.

"You argue the son of a single working mom can't be an elitist. But it's not where you start in life; it's where you end up. After a prestigious prep school, Columbia and Harvard, you've ended up with the values of Cambridge, San Francisco and Hyde Park. So you're doing badly in Scranton, Youngstown and Erie, where ordinary Americans live."

Again. Hogwash. Ordinary Americans voted for Bush. If in fact they voted for him because they felt he was a reverse elitist, then America is more fucked up than anyone could ever have imagined. The 800 pound gorilla in the room is that Barack is black and racism is still alive and well in America today.

What really happened in the last 2 elections aside from the vote tampering, is that the so called "liberal media" or "government media" as I see it, actually brainwashed, through repetition, regular Americans into voting for a dufus. It was a gigantic slap in the face to most Americans who didn't even have a clue that the bushistas were making fun of them. Voting for an alcoholic you'd like to have a beer with was pure politics and had no bearing on what real Americans want. In actuality, if the pundits ranted that Americans wanted to vote for someone who was smarter than they are, Bush would have lost the elections by a landslide.

Go ahead and read Rove's Six points of advice to Barack Obama. I'll wait here.
He has a couple of good points which I disagree with anyway. And don't forget that "elitists" read Newsweek. "Regular" Americans read Time. I don't understand why Rove thinks his opinion would get anywhere in Newsweek.

Yes RIOTS

I became aware of this story from All Spin Zone's Richard Blair

"Riots in Denver, the Democrat (sic) Convention would see to it that we don't elect Democrats," Limbaugh said during Wednesday's radio broadcast. He then went on to say that's the best thing that could happen to the country.

[...]

Limbaugh said with massive riots in Denver, which he called part of "Operation Chaos," the people on the far left would look bad.

"There won't be riots at our convention," Limbaugh said of the Republican National Convention. "We don't riot. We don't burn our cars. We don't burn down our houses. We don't kill our children. We don't do half the things the American left does."

He believes electing Democrats will hurt America's security and economy and appeared to call on his listeners to make sure that doesn't happen.

"We do, hopefully, the right thing for the sake of this country. We're the only one in charge of our affairs. We don't farm out our defense if we elect Democrats ... and riots in Denver, at the Democratic Convention will see to it we don't elect Democrats. And that's the best damn thing that can happen to this country, as far as I can think," Limbaugh said. From TheDenverChannel

Pretty radical words from the right... and considering he's talking about the "left" being the radicals, he sounds like he is inciting a riot at the DNC. Of course I first thought he meant the US military when he spoke of killing children and burning houses and cars.

As far as I know, there are no riots planned for Democrats for me to attend in Denver and I'm a pretty vocal anti-Republican. Operation Chaos? Who is behind this thing? I suspect that someone is trying to get the Democratic voters all worked up into a frenzy (probably Barack Obama supporters). I can't imagine Limbaugh's listeners, with their sedentary, fat, white asses going to Denver to pretend to be Democrats and risk being arrested for rioting. If he has any skinhead listeners, as I suspect he does, then perhaps there is something to be concerned about.
Radical fascists could incite a riot at a protest outside the convention. It's happened before. think 1968. Since it didn't happen in NYC at the RNC in 2004, I suspect Limbaugh is blowing wishful thinking out his big fat ass.

Regardless, Rush Limbaugh ought to be investigated by the Colorado AG and the Dept of Homeland Security to find out what "Operation Chaos" is. But surely he won't be given all the passes he's gotten for his illegal activities. Inciting a riot is only something to be investigated if a black person, a Muslim or a liberal does it. If a liberal radio host said the same thing, he or she'd be in jail by now.

Any protesting that ought to be done ought to take place outside his radio studio.

Sharpton vows to "close this city"

Massive civil disobedience is being planned after the 3 cops were acquitted of killing Sean Bell. meanwhile, Feds are considering a criminal case:

A federal lawsuit against the city and the five cops involved in the shooting that took the life of Sean Bell will be on hold until the Department of Justice decides whether it will bring a separate criminal case, according to attorneys for Bell's family.

The lawsuit, filed in July 2007 in federal court in Brooklyn, had already been held in abeyance awaiting Friday's verdict in the criminal case against three of the cops involved in the Nov. 25, 2006, shooting.

[...]
Saturday, attorneys Sanford Rubenstein and Michael Hardy, who are representing the plaintiffs, said that the federal civil rights lawsuit won't proceed until federal prosecutors in Brooklyn decide whether a criminal case will be filed under the civil rights law.

The lawsuit names as defendants the city, the NYPD and Cooper, Oliver and Isnora, as well as officers Paul Headley and Michael Cary. Though no specific damage amount was claimed when the case was filed, an earlier notice of claim given to the city specified $50 million.

Detectives in Sean Bell killing acquitted by judge

The three cops who riddled an unarmed Sean Bell with bullets on his wedding day were acquitted by a Queens judge yesterday. The streets are eerily quiet, but then again, who can blame people for not taking to the streets with trigger happy NYPD out there. Al Sharpton to the rescue.

If I Were A Terrorist

From The Hillbilly Report

Second Headline From The Top

Right now at the Washington Post:

Joint Chiefs Chairman Says U.S. Preparing Military Options Against Iran

These people are clinically (and criminally) insane.

Satire becomes reality

Yet another way for American culture to "win" hearts and minds throughout the world and especially in war torn Baghdad. Build them an amusement park. Good lord. After what we've done to them, we're gonna build them an amusement park?
There are so many creepy things in the article from the Times UK below that I can't even begin to list them all.
I'll let you..

'Disneyland' comes to Baghdad
with multi-million pound entertainment park

Llewellyn Werner admits he is facing obstacles most amusement park developers never have to deal with – insurgent attacks and looting.

When you are building an amusement park in downtown Baghdad, those risks come with the territory.

Mr Werner, chairman of C3, a Los Angeles-based holding company for private equity firms, is pouring millions of dollars into developing the Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience, a massive American-style amusement park that will feature a skateboard park, rides, a concert theatre and a museum. It is being designed by the firm that developed Disneyland. “The people need this kind of positive influence. It’s going to have a huge psychological impact,” Mr Werner said.

The 50-acre (20 hectare) swath of land sits adjacent to the Green Zone and encompasses Baghdad’s existing zoo, which was looted, left without power and abandoned after the American-led invasion in 2003. Only 35 of 700 animals survived – some starved, some were stolen and some were killed by Iraqis fearing food shortages.

In the years that followed, the zoo and the surrounding al-Zawra park became an occasional target for insurgent attacks. But in recent months, families have begun to return cautiously for weekend picnics. Renovations have already begun on the zoo, with cages being repainted and new animals arriving, including ostriches, bears and a lion.

Mr Werner, who has been sold a 50-year lease on the site by the Mayor of Baghdad for an undisclosed sum, says that the time is ripe for the amusement park. “I think people will embrace it. They’ll see it as an opportunity for their children regardless if they’re Shia or Sunni. They’ll say their kids deserve a place to play and they’ll leave it alone.”

Ali al-Dabbagh, a spokesman for the Government, is equally optimistic: “There is a shortage of entertainment in the city. Cinemas can’t open. Playgrounds can’t open. The fun park is badly needed for Baghdad. Children don’t have any opportunities to enjoy their childhood.” Mr al-Dabbagh added that entry to the park would be strictly controlled.

The project will cost $500 million (£250 million) and will be managed by Iraqis. Under the terms of the lease, Mr Werner will retain exclusive rights to housing and hotel developments, which he says will be both culturally sensitive and enormously profitable. “I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t making money,” he said. “I also have this wonderful sense that we’re doing the right thing – we’re going to employ thousands of Iraqis. But mostly everything here is for profit.”

A $1 million skateboard park, the first phase of the development, will open in July. Parts for 200,000 skateboards and materials to build ramps will be shipped from America to Iraq for assembly at state-owned factories and distributed free to Iraqi children along with helmets and knee pads.

The larger entertainment park, designed by Ride and Show Engineering Inc, will follow in phases, part of a strategy launched two years ago by the Iraqi Government and the US to attract private investment into the country’s 192 state-owned factories.

The factories were closed in 2003 by Paul Bremer, then the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, who believed that private enterprise would take their place. Instead, industries withered and half a million skilled workers were left jobless.

A task force headed by Paul Brinkley, Deputy Under Secretary of Defence for Business Transformation, is now attempting to revive Iraq’s factories – a task undermined by persistent violence.

But Mr Werner, whose company manages several hundred million dollars of equity, sees Iraq as a great opportunity. “Iraq to me is an open field. I have never in my life seen an opportunity with the potential that Iraq has with its skilled workforce and oil reserves.” He has begun partnerships with several Iraqi factories in the last year, investing tens of millions of dollars in joint ventures. But the Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience could prove the most ambitious. General David Petraeus, head of US forces, is said to be a “big supporter” of the project, according to Mr Brinkley.

“There are all sorts of investment opportunities all over Iraq. But it’s not just hydrocarbons. Half the Iraqi population is under the age of 15. These kids really need something to do,” Mr Brinkley said.

City break

— Before the invasion there were two amusement parks in Baghdad, one in Rusafaa and one in Karf. They now only open on public holidays

— Al-Zawra park and its zoo, (the site of the new park), are among the city’s most popular attractions. There are fountains, sculptures, coffee shops and children’s playgrounds

— The Cross Swords park, a favourite meeting place before the invasion, is now locked inside the green zone

— On warm evenings, Iraqis flock to the city’s three lakes, al-Habanya, al-Therthar and al-Razaza

A Special Place in Hell for Scalia? I hope so.

One reason I'm not a rabid atheist, but rather a reluctant atheist, is because my human nature wants there to be a HELL for people like this:


Think Progress: This Sunday, CBS’s 60 Minutes will air an interview with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who discards his usual disdain for the press to hawks his new book, “Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges.” When reporter Leslie Stahl asks about the infamous Bush v. Gore decision, Scalia lashes out, “Get over it. It’s so old by now.” Watch it

Scalia has said in the past, “I and my court owe no apology whatever for Bush versus Gore. We did the right thing. So there.”

Ruh-Roh, Scooby

Conspiracy Alert!!!

Got an email from a good friend who is heavily involved in politics here in Pa. He says he heard from a couple of lobbyists;

If John McCain wins the presidency, look for him to step down within the first 2 years to allow his vice-presidential pick to become president. And this has been the plan of the RNC for a while.

What do you think?

It's dusk in the Age of Aquarius

From Huffington Post:

Costco and Sam's Club Rationing Rice

Peter of Lone Tree posted an item quite a while ago about food rationing and hoarding because of probable world shortages. There were some here who laughed it off as a conspiracy theory. No more laughter.

The bullshit that has been foisted on American and the world about biofuels may be the real conspiracy. A conspiracy by government(s) in cooperation with oil companies.

The U.S. used to be the breadbasket of the world. Once big corporations started taking over the farming and drove the smaller farms out, prices started to rise and profits for the big corporations rose accordingly. But that wasn’t enough for them. To insure increased profit, big farming had Congress allow laws to be passed to pay most farmers NOT to grow certain food (that would increase the supply and lower their profits). I lived on a farm owned by a radical Republican farmer who was paid $40,000 a year NOT to grow any food crops. The going rate at the time was $100 per acre and he had 400 acres. However, he was allowed to grow alfalfa to sell to a nearby mushroom farm to be used as fertilizer. For these bales, he received $125.00 each and provided over 300 each planting cycle and he could plant and harvest twice in one summer. So he made$75,000 more than for planting and selling corn. This was in the 80s. He made out very well from the government by taking advantage of the system. And all the time he ridiculed those who were on welfare and received food stamps for being freeloaders!

Over the last few years, we’ve been told through a wonderfully arranged propaganda stint that we need biofuels, especially all the corn we can convert so we can keep running our 10 mpg SUVs a block to the store to pick up those necessary items we all just can’t live without. (Feel free to fill in the necessary item of YOUR choice YOU can’t live without). And we bought into it lock, stock and $120 barrel.

Now the farmers are getting paid more money to sell their corn to big oil for conversion to SUV food than to sell it for human consumption. The result was predictable yet many ignored it because they really, really needed to waste gas getting that quart of Häagen-Dazs at 10:30 at night.

And who is making out by creating a food shortage? I don’t have to say, do I? In addition to them, add the gun manufacturers (because we’ll all need guns to keep our starving neighbors from looting our food!).

I can envision things becoming so desperate that armed guards will patrol cattle ranches and farms with orders to shoot to kill anyone they think might poach or steal. Can you say Blackwater?

We need to stop the non-growing farm subsidies. We need to stop the ethanol conversion and work toward other renewables that DON”T starve the world. But we won’t because the Republicans want business to prosper even at the expense of lives of expendable people. The Democrats have been spayed and neutered and will act accordingly. And we will continue to ignore people as conspiracy theorists who predict things we don’t like. And because we don’t like them, we all know they won’t happen!

It’s becoming increasingly evident that more drastic action needs to be taken. People like Denny Hastert could feed a family of 4 for a couple of months; Cheney, maybe 2 months. Others could provide soup bones.

Heinlein’s Valentine Michael Smith may have had the right idea.

The Global Food Crisis -- (excuse me while I put my tinfoil hat on for a moment.....)

....I’m hoping it will stop my head from spinning. I really don’t know how much more of this I can take. I got caught up in a few articles this morning:

The End Is Nigh and The Biofuels Scam, Food Shortages and the Coming Collapse of the Human Population


After reading these, am I the only one who is thinking about going out to the grocery store and buying up as much food as I can afford, you know....“just in case”? Probably not. I really hope people don’t start going too crazy like last time with the duct tape and plastic wrap. But can you imagine when people start over reacting to these stories? I'm glad I happened upon Colbert’s Global Food Shortage episode before I went on to read more -he just does. me. in!!

I am a bit concerned though. When you start reading up on biofuels, biodiesel, corn, ethanol, BIG TIME SUBSIDIES to farmers to grow corn, etc., etc., etc., you really begin to wonder. I do at least.

Of course, the first question I have is who started this? I’ve read it’s those liberals and I’ve read it’s the bush administration. I also wonder, like Stephen does, why this isn’t huge news?
(excuse me while I tighten my hat) but this sure seems like some really fucked up nonsense going on here. What’s wrong with subsidizing our farmers to grow food for it’s citizens so we can BUY LOCAL and not be dependent upon anybody for anything -- WTF AM I MISSING HERE??

Who’s zooming who?

Even Yahoo has an open question on this:
Why are people calling this a food shortage?


Here is more related commentary --

Up to 10% of biofuel exports from the US to Europe are believed to be part of the rogue scheme reaping big profits for agricultural trading firms.

The "splash and dash" scam involves shipping biodiesel from Europe to the US where a dash of fuel is added, allowing traders to claim 11p a litre of US subsidy for the entire cargo. It is then shipped back and sold below domestic prices, undercutting Europe's biofuel industry.

The trade is not illegal, but flouts the spirit of producing green fuel by transporting it needlessly across the Atlantic at a time when campaigners are voicing concern about emissions from global shipping.

The Hidden Agenda behind the Bush Administration's Bio-Fuel Plan

Twenty In Ten: Strengthening America's Energy Security

Ethanol And Hunger
(Iowa farmers and the politicians who love them (for the record, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama support the biofuels subsidies while John McCain opposes them) will tell you that it's not just ethanol driving up the price of corn.)

Obama and Lugar introduce 'American Fuels Act' (2006) READ THE COMMENTS - you may think differently about Obama afterwards.




So, FUBAR or what???? THIS IS INSANE
That’s what sparked an investigation last year by the European Biodiesel Board into a practice that was an open secret among biofuel firms. The EBB has been making noises since late last year about taking the dispute to the World Trade Organization, and wants the European Union to retaliate with import duties on U.S. biofuel.


US dumping of biofuels will ruin us, says UK firm




Blame on both the US and EU from e-citizen
Some More Mud Pancakes? --Who’s to blame? - The US and the EU who insanely subsidise their agricultural exports which has progressively destroyed little farm exploitations in poor countries as they could no longer face this unfair price competition…

Our little tiny western farmer population is hence doing rather good while the vast majority of farmers in the rest of the world…well…is eating mud pancakes



WHO IS ZOOMING WHO?

THEY ARE ALL ZOOMING US - The politics of biofuels



The Ethanol Scam



The Carlyle Group and Riverstone Holdings, to Fund Development of the First World-Scale Bioethanol Plant in the U.K.



Bush's Biofuel Scam


oh......

don't forget about the water thing -

Why politics, not science, is driving the biofuels bo