I like Puerto Rico. I've only visited there once, but I was pretty impressed. Like most Caribbean countries, there's a lot of natural beauty. I stayed out on the west coast in a little town called Rincon and had a fabulous time. The beaches were beautiful, and the whales migrate right off the coast during March. A lot of Surfer Eddies from Florida head down there during the winter months because the waves are good. There's also not so much of the grinding poverty one sees in many Caribbean countries (e.g., Jamaica, USVI, Haiti). And speaking of beauty, Puerto Ricans as a population have to be the most beautiful people I've ever seen, men and women both. Gorgeous! And very friendly.
So, I am curious about this whole Puerto Rico primary on Sunday. Why, exactly, does Puerto Rico get a say in who the Democratic presidential nominee will be? I'm not being snarky here; I really don't know the answer to the question. Puerto Rico doesn't get to vote in the presidential contest, so it's curious to me that they should vote for the nominee. (Guam too for that matter.) And why do Puerto Rico and Guam get to vote, but not the US Virgin Islands?
Also, why does Puerto Rico get 55 Democratic delegates, while poor South Dakota, which actually does award electoral college votes in the presidential election, gets only 15 delegates? I assume the number of delegates is based on population (Puerto Rico has more than South Dakota), but don't know for certain. If I were South Dakota or Montana (which only has 16 delegates), I would feel seriously dissed.
Anyone know historically how it came to be that Guam and Puerto Rico get to vote in the primaries? Also, and I ask this with all due respect, why is it that we care who their preference is, when they don't have a vote in the "real" election?
Oral is Normal. Our kids are performing oral and it's more basic than vaginal.
"The raw numbers indicate that 50 percent of teenagers aged 15 to 19 have had vaginal sex. Fifty-five percent have had heterosexual oral sex. Are kids substituting oral for vaginal? Nope. Among technical virgins—teens who have never had vaginal sex—23 percent have had oral sex. That number sounds high until you notice that among nonvirgins, the oral-sex figure is 87 percent. If your teenager has had "basic" sex without somebody's mouth being involved, congratulations. You're probably the only such household on your block.
"The data on timing underscore this connection. Among teens whose first vaginal sex happened less than six months before the survey, 82 percent admit to oral sex. That figure barely increases for teens who began vaginal sex three years before the survey. In other words, teens lost their oral virginity at around the same time they lost their vaginal virginity. If you think your daughter is going to learn the basics now and the advanced stuff later, you've got another thing coming.
Hmmm. Sounds to me like things have changed since I was a teenager in an all girls Catholic HS before birth control was readily available and abortions were illegal. I don't see why this is so shocking to the writer though. Kids figure this stuff out even without the internet and news about the president. We did. We were taught that if we had intercourse that we'd have babies out of wedlock or be forced to marry the boy and then go straight to hell when we died. Necessity is the mother of invention. I just hope all these kids are practicing safe sex and using birth control.
From the story at Yahoo News: The Vatican issued its most explicit decree so far against the ordination of women priests on Thursday, punishing them and the bishops who try to ordain them with automatic excommunication.
"The decree was written by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and published in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, giving it immediate effect.
"A Vatican spokesman said the decree made the Church's existing ban on women priests more explicit by clarifying that excommunication would follow all such ordinations. [...]
"The Church says it cannot change the rules banning women from the priesthood because Christ chose only men as his apostles. Church law states that only a baptized male can be made a priest."
Two thousand years ago in Palestine, women were not allowed to be seen gallivanting with a group of men, but there is Gospel proof that women were indeed devoted to Jesus and so much so that while the men were behaving like babies after Jesus' crucifixion, the women went out to investigate. Surely they must have been devoted disciples themselves to brave being caught hanging around Jesus' tomb on Sunday morning. And let us not forget the bum rap Mary of Magdala took for centuries- labeled a whore for hanging around with Jesus... and the early church fathers were so anti-women that they had to make Jesus' mother a virgin despite evidence to the contrary.
According to the Gospels, after Jesus was crucified and died, the male apostles went and hid. For they were not brave. (Throughout the Gospel's Jesus has to admonish their chickenheartedness, but that's another post.) The four Gospels differ, but there were definitely women who went to Jesus' grave. John's Gospel has one, Matthew's has two, Mark's has three and Luke's has 5 or more. They arrived on Sunday morning around the break of dawn.
John 20:1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
Matthew 28:1 As it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
Mark 16:1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.
Luke 24:1, 10 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. ... It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles.
So basically, if it wasn't for the WOMEN, no one would have known that Jesus was risen from the dead, let alone the "devoted" apostles.
Which one of ya' did it? 'Fess up now or you're gonna get us ALL in trouble 'cause sure as hell it's gonna be labelled a leftist, liberal plot. Fox News worker sues over bedbugs in NY office (Article begins): "NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Fox News employee who says she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after being bitten by bedbugs at work filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the owner of the Manhattan office tower where she worked. "Jane Clark, 37, a 12-year veteran of Fox News, a unit of News Corp, said she complained to human resources after being bitten three times between October 2007 and April 2008. She said she was ridiculed and the office was not treated for months."
It's a letter to the media who today are busy trying to defend themselves against McClellan's claim that they were complicit in the lead up to the war. It's a list of all the stories by the MSM to prove that they were negligent in their duties.
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If you get a chance to turn on the 24 hour news channels today, it's fun to watch the WH defenders slam old Scotty. -------
Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) has called on Scotty to testify under oath before the House Judiciary Committee because of the statements in his book.
NY Will Recognize Gay Marriages Performed Elsewhere
It's a start. I was wondering earlier if NY would do something about legalizing gay marriage in order to keep many businesses from relocating to California since gay marriage would be legal there. This is one way to do it until it becomes legal here too.
The appellate judges determined that there is no legal impediment in New York to the recognition of a same-sex marriage. The state Legislature "may decide to prohibit the recognition of same-sex marriages solemnized abroad," the ruling said. "Until it does so, however, such marriages are entitled to recognition in New York."
Massachusetts is currently the only U.S. state that recognizes same-sex marriage, but its residency requirements would bar New Yorkers from marrying there.
New York residents could instead flock to California, where gay couples will be able to wed beginning June 17 — unless that state's Supreme Court decides to stay its own ruling. Upon their return home, in the eyes of the state, their unions would be no different from those of their heterosexual neighbors.
Gay couples could also travel outside the country to marry in Canada, for example.
How does the FBI and CIA know that al Qaida is going to release another terrorist tape calling for use of WMD's on the west before the fact? Why do these tapes always come out around election times or times of great controversy? Why don't they make them in English so that blondes can understand them? Gee, I'm almost convinced that there is some kind of conspiracy between the powers that be and al Qaida because they seem to support the GOP. Weird, huh?
And while we're on the topic of the government knowing about things before they happen, how come the WH is so shocked about McClellan's book? They called him a traitor. I'm quite surprised that no one knew what would be in the book. They are so supposedly angry and outraged that it almost seems staged.
That's a silly question to ask around this place, where the answer clearly is: yes!
I sleep better every single night knowing that the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is on the job. Snort. What job? Well, mostly making sure those dirty stinkin' hippies who attend vegan potlucks are not a threat to John McCain during the Republican convention in Minneapolis.
Apparently, they tried to recruit the wrong guy, and he blabbed:
"She told me that I had the perfect ‘look,’” recalls Carroll. “And that I had the perfect personality—they kept saying I was friendly and personable—for what they were looking for.” What they were looking for, Carroll says, was an informant—someone to show up at “vegan potlucks” throughout the Twin Cities and rub shoulders with RNC protestors, schmoozing his way into their inner circles, then reporting back to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, a partnership between multiple federal agencies and state and local law enforcement. The effort’s primary mission, according to the Minneapolis division’s website, is to “investigate terrorist acts carried out by groups or organizations which fall within the definition of terrorist groups as set forth in the current United States Attorney General Guidelines.”
Read the story. You might find it interesting how the FBI has infiltrated other anti-war groups.
"Carroll’s story echoes a familiar theme. During the lead-up the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City, the NYPD’s Intelligence Division infiltrated and spied on protest groups across the country, as well as in Canada and Europe. The program’s scope extended to explicitly nonviolent groups, including street theater troupes and church organizations." (Y'all might remember that Blondie blogged extensively about this around that time.)
Yeah, you gotta watch those street theater and religious groups. They have shifty eyes and dodgy looks. And it's well know that we anti-war types are highly likely to be terrorists.
Michelle Malkin stoops to new (propaganda) lows in the latest "Keffiyeh Kerfuffle". She's nothing but a MOUTH-piece for Dunkin' Donuts.
This is Rachael Ray's latest on-line ad for D&D that was just pulled.
Watch out for "Islamic jihad and its apologists" - oh my!
Does Dunkin' Donuts really think its customers could mistake Rachael Ray for a terrorist sympathizer? The Canton-based company has abruptly canceled an ad in which the domestic diva wears a scarf that looks like a keffiyeh, a traditional headdress worn by Arab men. Some observers, including ultra-conservative Fox News commentator Michelle Malkin, were so incensed by the ad that there was even talk of a Dunkin' Donuts boycott. "The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad," Malkin yowls in her syndicated column. "Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant and not-so-ignorant fashion designers, celebrities, and left-wing icons."
It appears that Malkin has been a mouth piece for D&D for a while now - She continually praises Dunkin’ Donuts for volunteering to participate in a government database program to verify that workers are here legally:
Lots of other consumers are coming to the same conclusion. Starbucks’ profits are down 28 percent. So this weekend, I quit cold turkey. I’m done. I’ve always liked Dunkin’ Donuts coffee better, anyway. And as unapologetic supporters of immigration enforcement, they deserve your business and mine so much more. Dunkin’: Tastes good, cheaper, and good for national security. Drink up! Why I gave up Starbucks (5/5/08)
You gotta wonder how much the Carlyle Group and all the other Dunkin' Friends pay that little bitch.
"I don't recall your name, but your Fez is familiar"
The next time you think you’ve got it bad, here’s a reality check for what’s going on in the lives of the women in Myanmar and how you can help them.
Burmese superstition holds that contact with women's panties can sap a man's power right out from under their John Thomas Myanmars, and activists claim the fear is shared by the leaders of the country's military regime.
That’s why a Canadian organization called Panties for Peace is requesting that you go to your drawers, take out some panties, and write a little message on them, like
No booty for Burmese junta or
Than Shwe is ucked-fay or
Burmese babes’ bums are best or
Bwhahaha, Sap THIS! or
Moms of Myanmar rock! or
Come closer, I can’t SAP you! or
How about a Burma shave? or
Women whacking Burmese junta baloney! or
Myanmar Military sucks!
"If you don't believe me, you can bring this to the Yangon airport - you will be shot dead," said activist Thet Thet Tun as she clutched a pair of white undies. "So we use this against them."
Tun, who fled the country seven years ago, described a society suffocating under state control and widespread misogyny.
Spearheaded by a pro-democracy group based in Thailand, the campaign was launched in the fall to draw attention to human rights abuses against women in the country. At the time, the junta was violently suppressing a pro-democracy uprising by the country's Buddhist monks.
Please donate generously to Panties for Peace and if you don’t have any because you’re a man and you haven’t “had any” because you’ve been shit out of luck for a while, don’t worry. Just sew up the seam of your boxers or briefs, write a little ditty and send them to Panties forPeace and help all women of the world SAP those sick, backwards, murderous bastards from power once and for all!
Next month, Representative John Larson, a Connecticut Democrat, plans to go even further, proposing legislation that would essentially ban over-the-counter trading of energy futures by traders who don't plan to take physical delivery of the commodity. While Nymex trading would be largely unaffected, billions of other trades could potentially be brought to a halt.
The idea for the bill, Larson says, came from local suppliers of heating oil, gasoline and diesel in Connecticut, who say the price spike can't be explained by simple supply and demand. While advocates defend the futures market as a way of hedging against higher prices, Larson doesn't buy it. "We see this as nothing short of greed on the part of speculators," he says.
He acknowledges that other legislators are likely to think his bill "is a little too bold or goes too far."
"But there is a widespread feeling amongst the leadership in Congress and the rank and file that something has got to be done in this area," he says. "And this situation requires bold action."
While Larson's bill is unlikely to pass, much less be signed into law, it's notable that even legislators who consider it a bit drastic say they would consider voting for it.
While Larson's bill is unlikely to pass, much less be signed into law, it's notable that even legislators who consider it a bit drastic say they would consider voting for it.
unlikely to pass......????????????
it's notable that they would consider it???????????????????????
WTF?????
LET'S SWAMP OUR CONGRESS CRITTERS WITH LETTERS FOLKS!!
“People shouldn’t be allowed to speculate purely with paper, fluctuating and driving the cost of oil, especially when we have adequate supply,” Larson said during a news conference in the Capitol complex. “And demand, in fact, has gone down because of the crunch that everyone finds themselves in.”
Gene Guilford, executive director of the Independent Connecticut Petroleum Association, said most Americans don’t realize that the daily setting of prices for oil, natural gas, electricity, gasoline and diesel fuel contracts takes place on worldwide commodities exchanges, led by the New York Mercantile Exchange.
He said over the last five or six years investment banks, hedge funds and pension funds have forced up demand in the contracts above and beyond the basic rules of supply and demand.
“It’s the financial-services industry in this country that over the last few years has started telling the American people and the Congress of the United States that supply and demand no longer matter,” Guilford said. “When supply and demand no longer matters, then the marketplace no longer works the way it was supposed to work.“
It should read Undesired Floating Objects. There is major crises on the International Space Station. The toilet system is broken. Some problem with the suction plumbing. Does that mean, the toilets are backed up? Does that mean we have to send the Shuttle? Or send a rescue mission for the astronauts?
I remember the days of the cesspool in my house having occasional "back-ups" That term sounds so innocent, but it must be seen to assess the seriousness of that crisis. (Slimy liquid floating in the basement, up to one's ankle, with brownish colored objects floating randomly)
I can imagine how that back-up behaves in micro-gravity! One almost needs a windshield wiper.
I know, I know... it's not Friday, but a good laugh always brightens our day.
Bit of geek humor here... "it was time, after sequencing four males, to balance the genders a bit”. He smiles: “And after Watson we also felt that it was okay to do Kriek”.
I probably shouldn't have watched "Recount" an HBO movie with Kevin Spacey that recounts the dreaded days following the 2000 election. It just re-infuriates me. But it is a very good movie that everyone in America who votes should watch (if you have access to HBO.)
Most people don't know what really happened in Florida that year and think that Gore and the Democrats were just whining because they lost. It was much more than that when you look at the facts and for those of us who looked at the facts 8 years ago know that Al Gore didn't get a fair recount in Florida in 2000 and learned why politicians need particular judges. This movie is important for those who really didn't follow the story originally. They need to get the facts because once again, we're having an election and it's clear that our votes really don't count when it comes to extreme politics.
Check out this piece with Charlie Rose discussing "Recount" It's shorter than the movie and gives you a pretty good picture of what happened in 2000.
An unsuspecting passenger who flew to Tokyo is carrying one million yen's worth of cannabis compliments of customs authorities after a bungled exercise involving sniffer dogs.
An officer at Narita International Airport yesterday stuffed 142 grams of the drug into the side pocket of a randomly-selected black suitcase coming off an overseas flight so that the animal could detect it.
"The dog couldn't find it and the officer also forgot which bag he put it in," a customs office spokeswoman said.
"If by some chance passengers find it in their suitcase, we're asking them to return it."
The 38-year-old officer was quoted by the spokeswoman as saying: "I knew that using passengers' bags (for sniffer dog training) is prohibited, but I did it because I wanted to improve the sniffer dog's ability."
He was reprimanded by the head of customs at Narita airport.
"This case was extremely regrettable. I would like to deeply apologise," said the airport's customs chief Manpei Tanaka.
The cannabis, which has a street value of one million yen ($A10,100), was in a metal box wrapped with newspapers.
Japan strictly prohibits both hard and soft drugs, with people imprisoned for possession of even small amounts of cannabis.
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What really floors me is the appeal by the customs officials: "If you find it, please send it back. Or at least don't bogart it."
Elites Rule: America’s Have/Have-Not Society, Driving to a Town Near You
Progressive writer and author of the new book World Made by HandJames HowardKuntsler, who recently appeared on The Colbert Report is an advocate of the choo-choo train. He has written an essay today that explains the need for a transition from our current car culture to riding the rails during this era of peak oil and skyrocketing fuel costs. Everyone I talk to agrees that this would be a great solution to help improve air quality, fuel efficiency and expediency –providing one lives on a rail line and/or has easy access to one. To borrow from my favorite comedian, Stephen Colbert, let’s first define a key word, below.
And the Word is: ACCESS.
That’s the ticket! It’s all about access. Before we can talk about access to transportation, let’s take a closer look under the hood of what America’s corporate culture of globalization has really bought us by selling off our white collar jobs to the third world and exactly what we are subliminally being asked when the inventors of new technologies and their hip political enablers ask the rest of us to “sacrifice” on this elitist ruled race to the bottom.
I am as much an advocate of promoting an expansive rail culture over our congested freeway car culture as anyone and could not agree with JHK more on this, as is the case with most, in fact all of the issues he writes about. It is not his analysis of peak oil or the need to wean off a car culture per se that I disagree with; it is rather the curious omission of facts or “connecting the dots” about the pitch for making a massive switch to riding the rails and foregoing semi-affordable land/air transportation that implies that the plebes and not the elites of this country are being asked to “sacrifice” these modes of transportation.
One cannot separate the legally orchestrated annihilation of white collar jobs from the discussion of mass transportation without first understanding why and for whom the train whistle blows. In addition to pal Citizen Carrie’s site Carrie’s Nation, one of the best sites to visit for a regular dose of how our government is legally ridding us of our right to employment and its consequent fallout is Robert Oak’sThe Economic Populist that comprehensively debunks themyth of a “skilled labor shortage” by consistently imploring readers to push public awareness of this problem by demanding that lawmakers pass bills in the national interest.
What does economic populism have to do with transportation? Plenty. At no other time in our history have so many people sat idly by as jobs, (increasingly white collar) continue to disappear (and not come back) while prices of goods and services continue to skyrocket. Forget about the subprime mortgage crisis and lack of healthcare or lead tainted and poisonous products…among other things, if you are denied access to employment because a few greedy corporate and beltway elites get to profit by exploiting cheap third world labor at your expense, cars and trains and airplanes become a moot point.
“Curiously” during this election season, I have read several essays that highlight the personal attributes of successful politicians who can essentially sway the masses into believing that what’s good for the golden goose is good for the gander. (Obama, anyone?)
Access to power is the most crucial access of all. Once the golden ropes are opened to power, fuel, food, housing, medical care, and Prada, everything else is a piece of cake. One would think that for the millions of college educated citizens of this country, this would be a “no brainer.” In lieu of access to the power elite, government ought to be able to step up to the plate with protections that include labor, infrastructures, heath, food and safety. But every time I read the otherwise progressive, insightful, spot-on, invigorating observations on peak-oil and the world’s post peak-oil future by writer James Howard Kunstler, I find slight omissions that make his otherwise noteworthy assertions appear to be lacking that leave me questioning his affiliations into the rarified club of elites or want thereof, where the golden rule of admission is to never bite the hand that feeds you or discreetly knowing what not to talk or write about.
By Kuntsler’s own admission,
“It's not about running out of oil. It's about the instabilities that will shake the complex systems of daily life as soon as the global demand for oil exceeds the global supply.”
He is absolutely right. But what kind of “instabilites” is he referring to and more important, who will they affect? I would welcome further dissertation on what JHK believes this entails. For example, why doesn’t he just come out and say “there is no way that the world’s supply of dwindling resources can sustain global overpopulation” and that wars will always result over control of resources and that the citizens of the United States are considered to have “too much” already and this is the reason that greedy corporate executives are getting our crooked politicians to sell off our jobs, our highways, and our houses and our health to global elites from India, the Middle East and China? I believe that while our jobs continue to disappear, our transportation woes will not be solved by more trains until we stop the bogus claims of skilled worker shortages and stop H1-B legislation that hands our jobs over to those from third-world countries. Let us first be able to afford the goddamn transporation in the place. Horse before cart!
Kuntsler continues:
“And that's the worst part of our quandary: the American public's narrow focus on keeping all our cars running at any cost. Even the environmental community is hung up on this. The Rocky Mountain Institute has been pushing for the development of a "Hypercar" for years -- inadvertently promoting the idea that we really don't need to change.”
The Hypercar idea is fine, and it WILL work. Just not for most of us, because as long as the plebes are down with letting these corporate frat boys sell out the nation’s jobs, nobody outside the inner circle will be able to pay for one. The Rocky Mountain Institute is an organization by and for elites who are not speaking to the rest of us. Only elites will have access to these cars, and access to the jobs it takes to pay for them, maintain and operate them. Again, why doesn’t JHK just come out with it?
“The idea that we can become "energy independent" and maintain our current lifestyle is absurd.”
Again, Kuntsler is right, however, we CAN and ARE inventing clean energy alternatives, some with longer roadmaps than others. Although some, like ethanol, are unsustainable, the promise for viable alternative solutions can not be underscored. The question is how viable are these new solutions in the quasi-near term when it comes to sustaining a world population of 6-9 billion people globally? Some will lose. Who will those be?
“The pie-in-the-sky plan to turn grain into fuel came to grief, too, when we saw its disruptive effect on global grain prices and the food shortages around the world, even in the United States. In recent weeks, the rice and cooking-oil shelves in my upstate New York supermarket have been stripped clean.”
Shortages are only the beginning, and again, are only for the plebes. Shortages will not be a problem for connected elites who have decided to sell out the American people in favor of fellow global elites who can move into our foreclosed homes after our politicians have sold off our jobs to them.
Perhaps the only thing the trains will be good for is for the exploding homeless population to ride and live on. And we might even want to rethink pulling vehicles off the production lines since we might need a few more ambulances to carry off all of those millions of American losers who have no access to health insurance to closing hospitals in the next town over since the local hospitals have been shut down and looted by the HMO’s and insurance companies. Now, THAT’s a plan worth writing about!
“We cannot afford to remain befuddled and demoralized. But we must understand that hope is not something applied externally. Real hope resides within us. We generate it -- by proving that we are competent, earnest individuals who can discern between wishing and doing, who don't figure on getting something for nothing and who can be honest about the way the universe really works.”
Well James, “hope” is for free, and who cares whether it resides in us or not? The Republicans, BTW, have got to be laughting their asses off about all of this hope going ‘round. And nooooo, we are NOT “befuddled and demoralized.” This is not some fucking tea party and Kuntsler’s comment smacks of the Obama brand “bitter lite.”
We are “pissed off” that we are being hijacked by a few elites who are handing over our white collar jobs to third world workers who they want to pay a fraction of our wages to so that all they can afford is to ride the choo choo trains. These good old boy elites then can stuff the profits into the bursting seams of their drastically, gastrically bypassed greedy pockets so that they can shove even MORE exotic sushi into their surgically altered faces. Again, I do not disagree with Kuntsler’s premise about the need for more trains. It is just that it would be great if he would first acknowledge the economic populism black out in future essays and lectures because right now, it sounds like he is parroting the slick, subliminal message of the pols and tech energy elites (Gore, Khosla, Pelosi, Tesla Motors execs etc. Obama and their sycophants) who stand to profit from lucrative investments in alternative energy solutions that will in fact compromise living standards as we know them for the plebes (icky screw light bulbs, one of many examples however admittedly minor) while the “connected” shiny, happy people known as “elites” bask in the warm glow of their mega-powered soft lighting at their expense.
Maybe JHK is merely sucking up what’s left of that rarified air in the company of all of these Old King Coles who are muttering the ominous refrain “we must sacrifice” on this race to the bottom. Good for him, nice job if you can get it.
But a few questions still remain, like who exactly gets access to what’s left of the coveted cars, what’s left of the commercial carriers and private jets while the rest of the plebes ride on the smelly trains and busses with dwindling access to jobs, housing and healthcare? What good is transportation of any sort when the big problem that none of the politicians or journalists or writers dare talk about on the talk show circuit is ACCESS to jobs, healthcare and housing? Has one writer landed a talk show guest seat and dared broach the taboo subject of selling out America’s middle/upper class to the third world? How many college graduates in their twenties are now living at home while their college educated parents who are lucky enough to even find suitable employment are working to support them all under one roof? Is this what is meant by “sacrifice”?
Who exactly in the U.S. must “sacrifice” while other connected people go on talk shows praising well connected politicians and executives known for advocating an increase in H-1b visas to sell out what is left of our white collar jobs, only to get book deals that pave the way for more college lecture circuit stints?
I must agree that JHK is indeed onto something, and this kind of access may be the only ticket left in town.
"PASADENA, Calif. – NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is in fine health after its unprecedented landing in the Martian arctic Sunday as mission scientists turn their attention to the craft's main goal: to explore the layers of water ice under the frozen soil. Phoenix set down on the flat, cracked terrain of Mars' northern polar region after a harrowing, but successful, plunge through the planet's atmosphere. "I know it looks like a parking lot, but it's a safe place to land," said Phoenix principal investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, where the mission will be controlled for the majority of its primary 90-day run. "This is a scientist's dream right here on this landing site." Mission scientists received the probe's first call home here at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at about 7:53 p.m. EDT (2353 GMT) on Sunday, though it takes signals about 15 minutes to traverse the 171 million miles (275 million km) between Mars and back on Earth..."
Now, if they find water under the permafrost, can we send Bush and Cheney to start terraforming? Perhaps they can take John McMutant the Same with them.
Blonde's Eye View: Random Thoughts on Memorial Day
There had to be thousands of enlisted men and women at the air show I attended at Jones Beach on Saturday... and thousands and thousands of veterans there as well. And what a recruiting orgy it was. See that picture above? There was this blow up suit that someone was wearing and it was of a female, African-American Air Force officer. The character walked along the boardwalk enticing youngsters who were just blown away by the coolness of all the war toys they saw doing maneuvers in the sky. I asked a number of people if there were any African-American female pilots and they said yes there were but no one could give me a number. One good thing about being on recruiting duty is that you probably have never seen combat and you haven't been out in the world after serving yet, so you can only tell people what you've been told to tell. "Join us! See the world! Hang out at air shows! Go to college! Get great jobs!"
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Would engineers have had the chance to invent such awesome flying machines if not for war. What else could they be used for? Rich people's folly? Transport planes, of course are quite useful for world citizens, but they don't do tricks and blow up stuff. It was mind boggling to think of all the fantastic technology that comes out of the need to kill people in other lands. Couldn't the brain power of such great minds be put to good use in the world? Sure, but the toys wouldn't be so cool.
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Could human beings be hardwired to actually want conflict and allow things to progress in such a way that war would be inevitable? Sometimes it seems that way and maybe I'm the weird one who finds it abhorrent.
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I do think of all the soldiers that died defending this country. I do honor their memory. Goddess bless them. I think of all those who are still living and served in wars. I honor them too. Maybe the whole war was in vain that they may have fought in, but I'm sure that they died bravely and valiantly and perhaps died saving someone else's life. Even if the war was fucked up, they did what they believed was the right thing to do. Those who will fry in hell for war crimes are those who started the wars and commanded them. (I hope)
I'd like to take time to remember all those vets who are still alive and suffering from PTSD and other battle scars. Their lives have been hell on earth. May they find peace.
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I wouldn't be so against war and the military industrial complex if they raised the enlistment age to 25.
The Nation -- "Ralph Nader is making every effort to be the most serious candidate for president this year, and he is succeeding despite the dismissals of the political class and the media that sustains it." In the meantime, does anyone still seriously believe that the three newworld order stooges, McClob, are standing up for you, dear reader?
On Mothers Day, I attended a Nader/Gonzales 2008 fundraiser in San Francisco where once again, yours truly had the privilege of meeting with the candidate along with vice presidential running mate, Matt Gonzales, to hear them and discuss with them the issues facing the majority in this country. For those of you outside of the SF Bay area, the awesome Matt Gonzales narrowly lost the 2003 mayoral race to the insufferable corporate welfare king Gavin Newsom, a blown-dry, connected Democrat who had a considerably larger budget and the outspoken support of other high profile corporate welfare whores Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi.
Nader and Gonzales gave compelling speeches that addressed REAL issues (see above chart) and concerns for the people of this country as opposed to the media black-out corporate elites and their media and “new media” whores who continue to silence the candidate. The only thing separating yours truly from the rest of my Lefty pals on the issue of my voting for a third party candidate is the perpetuated myth of a wasted vote and yet, no matter what third-party critics claim, the fact is that 9 million registered Democrats did not in fact vote for Al Gore in 2000. More telling is that over 200,000 registered Democrats did not vote for Al Gore in Florida alone. What's more, another 600,000 registered Democrats in Florida did not even vote at all! On top of it, this is the United State of Fucking America and how dare some asshole tell anyone they can not run for office…. Like Nader says, if the Democrats can’t win against these dirt bag Repubs, then they don’t deserve to win anything.
Many people continue to ask “why is Nader running?” The answer is that he actually raises issues that no other candidates would touch. Nader talks about issues on the campaign trail that affect people. For example, have you heard McClob talk about the shortsighted Pennsylvania Turnpike fire sale lease to Spanish firm Abertis Infraestructuras, of Barcelona? No. But Nader did. BTW, the PA Turnpike lease means
that if the lease agreement went into effect today, the cost of traveling the turnpike from Ohio to New Jersey — excluding the Northeast Extension — could increase from $19.75 for a vehicle with two axles, which includes most cars and light trucks, to $173.80 in 2083, an increase of 880 percent.
Wouldn’t you think that this is an issue for ALL candidates who might actually want to represent the people, like Nader, and not the corporate pols and elites who are profiting from this back room deal?
Whatsmore, Nader is not presenting another bogus plan to have the insurance companies run healthcare (into the ground) and the only way important issues like these get discussed are when he runs and he gets other candidates to respond.
Ralph Nader, the only intelligent, truly intellectual candidate running, is the only one that is standing up to the corporate welfare machine by speaking out for the American people. Unlike the three corporate shills, McClob, Nader is not taking money from special interest groups and PACs. Nader has the conviction to steer this country in the right direction, by ending the illegal war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, troop withdrawal and slashing the military budget, impeaching Bush and Cheney for high crimes and misdemeanors, ending the number one tyranny against the American public brought on by the Insurance Lobby by instituting a Single Payer-Medicare For All, ending corporate welfare and abuse, raising the minimum wage to a livable wage, ending corporate personhood, repealing the Patriot Act, ending GATT and NAFTA, and improving workers rights and labor conditions by slowing down the exodus of our white collar jobs via H-1b.
Ralph Nader recognizes that by ending the two party duopoly and including third party candidates who represents the majority of Americans who demand real change and not some insulting and empty rhetoric of “believing in the promise of hope” from the likes of Obama, Clinton and Mccain, we can begin to take back this country from the hands of the true "evil doers" -- the corporate elite of Dems and Repubs who are increasingly merging into one Big Money Party.
We want and need to hear more from Ralph Nader, and we want him on ballots all across the country and to be included in all national debates, talk show circuits and radio.
Is there anything nicer in Spring than listening to the birds sing? Here in The Old Dominion, we get a fair variety of birds. A couple of seasons ago, I started putting seed out in a feeder. It was nice to see and listen to the little feathered things. Mockingbirds, sparrows, wrens and mourning doves. One of my particular favorites is the white-breasted nuthatch. He eats off the tree upside down. I'm not doing too well attracting finches yet, but I did put them up a special feeder this Spring, so we'll see what happens. They usually wait until the Black-eyed Susans bloom in July before they show up en masse. Alas, I have never been able to attract hummingbirds. A new type of bird showed up yesterday: he's all dark black on his body, with a kinda bronze colored head. He has a very high pitched warble. I haven't identified him yet. Any thoughts?
Anywho, I started putting out different kinds of foods in different types of feeders to see if I could attract a broader variety, a little cylander with peanuts for the Blue Jays, some saffron and sunflowers seeds for the cardinals. Last summer, I put out a couple of suet baskets and was delighted to welcome two couples of Downy woodpeckers, like this handsome fellow, and also a couple of hairy woodpeckers. Yes, all of you with your filthy minds, that's really what they're called -- hairy woodpeckers. Like most of the bird world, the males feel the need to have all the colorful plummage.
My kids laugh at me and tell me I'm obsessed with my little bird friends, but I don't care, they'll probably lock me up in the nuthouse one day anyway, the little brats.
The woodpeckers are now my problem. See, they don't feed on the ground, unlike, say, cardinals, who mostly eat on the ground. The woodpeckers only like the suet. Well, guess what, there's another species of bird that really, really likes suet. These little mofos right here:
The dreaded Grackle. I hate these birds with every fiber of my being. They are pesky, scavenger birds. They are ugly to look at. What's worse is, they don't sing; their caw is only slightly less annoying than a crow's. And they love the suet. I wouldn't mind if one or two occasionally stopped by, but these bastards travel in packs. Whenever I fill the suet baskets, they descend upon the backyard like locusts. First one shows up, then he lets all his freaking relatives know, and the next thing you know, there are six or seven here at once. They wolf down the suet, and my poor little woodpeckers show up to find the baskets empty. Now this bums me out to no end.
Any ideas? How do I get rid of the pest birds without also getting rid of all the ones I love so much? Is it like life, where you have to take the good and the bad?
I'll never forget that show, with Gary Owens in his Big Voice opening the week's episode with the credits and finishing up with "And Morgo the Friendly Grelb, as Morgo, the Friendly Grelb."
Richard Nixon saying, "Sock it to ME?!"
John Wayne doing Henry Gibson's poetry corner: "The sky is blue / The grass is green / Get off your butt / And join the Marines."
With my Captain Midnight decoder ring and camera, I've managed to get a picture of the rock that Blackdog reportedly crawls under to avoid them twisters! While I can't confirm it (the optical interferometer coupon is in the box of Kix and I ain't done with it yet), I'm pretty sure from intelligence reports that this is the real McCoy or McCain or McClinton or MC Hammer in Arkieville!
(Tours available in advance. Price is 2 Snausages!)
So what do you do when you're a part time employee who makes about $10/hour and it takes you a gallon or so of gas to get to work and another gallon or so to get home and they ask you to come in on Saturday morning for a couple of hours and the gas price is up to $4.15 for regular at the cheap gas station?
It's happening to a a lot of folks. Happened to my son this morning. We figure he netted about $9 or $10 for 2 hours work, not to mention the commute which took about an hour for both ways. Why even bother? He will use that $9 for gas to get to work the next time he has to be there. What's going to happen to companies when employees can't even afford to go to work?
I need to remember to check the OCA website more often for catchy headlines.
Activist wants Bush arrested on arrival Minneapolis activist will ask that President Bush be tried for war crimes. Ed Felien wants Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman to convene a grand jury.
By ROCHELLE OLSON, Star Tribune Last update: May 22, 2008 - 11:30 PM
Longtime Minneapolis peace activist and sometime-gadfly Ed Felien asked a Hennepin County District judge on Thursday to compel the county attorney to arrest President Bush when his plane lands for the GOP convention in September.
Felien, a former Minneapolis City Council member, said Bush should be investigated and prosecuted for murder because of troop deaths in Iraq, conspiracy to fix oil prices and conspiracy to distribute drugs by controlling the opium trade in Afghanistan.
A LONG SHOT: He acknowledged that his request was unusual, but also said, "The purpose of the prosecuting attorney is not to achieve convictions, but to seek justice."
At the end of a 30-minute hearing, Judge Gary Larson said he would rule in the normal course of business, but he did not provide a time frame. Felien's request certainly had the feel of a very long shot.
Deputy Hennepin County Attorney Patrick Diamond said the notion that the president could be taken into custody and prosecuted is "highly doubtful."
SOLE DISCRETION: Diamond emphasized that the county attorney bears the sole discretion of when to prosecute crimes. "Not everything a county attorney can do is something a county attorney should do," he said.
He argued, too, that Felien's request raises serious separation of powers issues. A totalitarian state exists when a "judge is deciding not just the outcome but who should be investigated and prosecuted," Diamond said.
PRESENTING HIS CASE: During Felien's nearly 20 minutes of wide-ranging argument, Larson advised him several times to slow down so the court reporter could capture his words.
Felien touched on Bush family history, claiming that the family has influential ties to "Saudi princes" as well as Afghanistan drug lords and the Mafia. He introduced numerous news articles to the judge regarding the Bush family and oil prices.
In his filings, Felien wrote that the president "has fraudulently represented a war against Iraq as essential for our national interests when in reality the war only benefits his private interests. With his Saudi friends he has cornered the supply of oil and raised prices. And through his longtime family contacts with the CIA and the Mafia he has arranged for the transporting of heroin into Hennepin County."...
Throughout centuries nations fought conventional wars. Wars based on honor and submission of the losing parties. There were rules they all abided by and armies lined up face to face on opposite sides of the field.
Winning or losing depended on strategies and tactics to bring the confrontation to a successful end. That meant, allowing the enemy to collect their dead and wounded after the battle, or respect POW's by treating them humanely etc. By the end of the 20th century, those rules started to break down. There were abuses outside the conventional war rules.
In the 21st century, rules almost disappeared, thus bringing the end of conventional wars on all sides. That means, IED's, suicide bombers, horrific executions of POW's, torture interrogations and civilian exterminations.
Election campaigns are fought just like wars. They all have a basic strategy to win, then they apply tactics to achieve the main objective. The solders are lined up at opposite sides of the field and fight the war, conventionally and sometimes unconventionally. To attack the enemy is not necessarily a bad thing if you want to win a war. Whether, it's a fair or an unfair attack is always due to interpretation. One side may interpret it as fair, the other may qualify it unfair. Who'll be the judge? The public, who may be siding with one or the other, watching the fight intensely . The same public, will decide who won the war, by voting.
Perhaps the rules of Election campaigns are breaking down just like the rules of war. We saw that in the most recent presidential elections: Willy Horton ads, Swift-boat veterans for truth etc
To whine that being attacked is unfair, is childish and self serving. How can you win a war if you don't attack? Or, if you win this battle by whining, how you expect to win the next battle, when you're going to be attacked with hard ammo?
That is just my two cents, on this day we celebrate, or mourn all those who fought and died in past wars. I'd like to hear your opinion on this subject!
"If you believe artist and inventor Paul St George then his "Telectroscope" connects New York and London via a (very) long tunnel running through the earth's crust, with the images bouncing back and forth using mirrors.
The other explanation is that it is all done by optical fibres - take your pick.
One end of the "tunnel" emerges next to Tower Bridge on the banks of the Thames in London - the other is next to Brooklyn Bridge on the banks of New York's East River.
It looks like something HG Wells might have imagined.
Each end has a giant telescope-like construction which appears to punch its way out of the earth.
There are dials, and levers, and thermometer gauges on the side of the 20m long brass and wood construction.
Peer into it and you can see people on the other side of the Atlantic. Wave at them, they wave back at you.
Write on the whiteboard, and ask a question, and they will write back."
I think I'll have to take a ride to Brooklyn this weekend to see this thang. But first I'm off to the air show.
Stop loss is an insult to our troops! 58,000 soldiers have been stop lossed in the past 6 years.
Wait a minute. This is just making the news NOW? N O W ? Haven't we been reading about the stop-loss issue for years now? Didn't John Kerry bring it up in '04? Why yes he did. Oh but wait, he was unAmerican. feh.
I watched a movie earlier that I thought I was so going to hate. Surprise. I didn't hate it. In fact it should be mandatory viewing for young people- Knocked Up. Hated the title. Stellar performances by the cast particularly Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogan whom I was sure I would hate, but was pleasantly surprised.
The gist of the story is that a gorgeous young woman with great potential and a loserish guy with no job or money get drunk in a bar, do it and part ways. Girl finds out she's pregnant, gets in touch with the guy and during the pregnancy get to know each other and fall in love. It wasn't mushy at all though. That's why I liked it.
All this took place against the backdrop of Hollywood- Tinsel Town and the vapid club culture of "look at me, I'm so beautiful, you have to love me, blah blah blah, if you don't love me, I'll do something drastic, yadda yadda yadda." That all made it interesting and liked how the characters didn't crumble (too much) when they discovered that they were too old or too un-beautiful for the scene.
Another reason I liked the movie was because she was beautiful and smart and he was a bottom feeder, yet she took the time to get to know him and in time, he got to know himself better and be a pretty ok guy. She did the same although she never seemed stuck up for someone so attractive, which is what you'd come to expect in Hollywood movies. I liked how vulnerable the characters were and how they seemed to just manage even though at times it didn't seem like they would. It's kind of like life... how sometimes you just survive a huge event you weren't planning on, sweat all through it and somehow come out alright just because you kept plugging along trying to take one day at a time and do the best you can under the circumstances, if you get what I mean.
My favorite part of the movie? When the 2 lead male actors eat mushrooms and attend Cirque du Soleil in Vegas. Can you imagine? Have to put that on my things to do before I die list. (Yes, I have led a poopy sheltered life in the first half century. Time time to rev it up a bit)
It's on HBO this month. Try to catch it if you can.
"God says in Jeremiah 16: 'Behold, I will bring them the Jewish people again unto their land that I gave to their fathers. ... Behold, I will send for many fishers, and after will I send for many hunters. And they the hunters shall hunt them.' That would be the Jews. ... Then God sent a hunter. A hunter is someone who comes with a gun and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter," Hagee said, according to a transcript of his sermon.
After seeking Hagee's endorsement, John McCain had to pull the plug on his relationship with the "Pastor" of 20,000 and television minister to millions because of his comments about Jews and Hitler. Apparently that was the last straw. The nasty stuff he said about Catholics, gays and Muslims didn't quite get his goat though. He just repudiated that part but not the whole ministry... until now.
Obviously Senator McCain did NOT do his homework and the fact that Hagee is a "Christian Zionist" does not mean that he is pro-Israel in a way that would be good for Jews. (See also premillennial dispensationalism.) In fact CZ's see Jews suffering the most during end times. Hagee and his contributors are trying to raise money to get all the Jews of the world back to Israel so that Armageddon can happen, all the Jews will be punished by God and all teh devout 'christians' can go straight to heaven. Basically he wants all Jews to be blown up. This does not fare well for McCain who is looking for Jewish votes. Oh wouldn't it just be lovely if politicians weren't politicians?
Of course Hagee says that all his comments were taken out of context. (In fact, Hagee takes the whole freaking bible out of context, if you ask me, thank you for asking.)
So McCain said, "Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them. I did not know of them before Rev. Hagee's endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well."
Sorry, but that's no excuse because all McCain or his "people" had to do was read the blogs or perform a simple google search to find out what all teh hooha was about when Hagee first endorsed McCain. Could it be that McCain was trying to court Jewish voters in Florida when he had this awakening?
Sooooo Hagee said, "I am tired of these baseless attacks and fear that they have become a distraction in what should be a national debate about important issues. I have therefore decided to withdraw my endorsement of Sen. McCain for president effective today, and to remove myself from any active role in the 2008 campaign."
Well hallelujah and pass the salsa.
Before anyone brings up Rev Wright, let's not forget that there's a difference in these 2 stories. Rev. Wright did not endorse Barack Obama and Rev Wright holds no political sway. Hagee does have political sway and has millions of followers via his tv ministry. McCain who once wisely renounced fundamentalists actively sought these crack pots for political gain. Now it bit him in the arse. You would think that by his age, he would know better and stick with his original gut feelings.
UPDATE Speaking of Jews, Obama has his own Jewish problems going back to his apparent "appeasement" of those who hope to wipe Israel off the planet and also wary of his relationship with Reverend Wright. Alan Dershowitz is on CNN now talking about how email campaigns are going around among Jewish communities warning voters that Obama may be a Muslim. Dershowitz rejects those claims and also believes that Obama is pro-Israel in a good way, not the way John Hagee is.
(Hello! Fat Lady Sings here. Liz has kindly invited me to contribute to this fabulous blog. I may not be blond – but this redhead’s on fire!)
Update:I received an email from someone claiming to be Michael Wolff pointing out that I use 'Richard' several times in this essay. Ooops! He got me! Chalk it up to a bad pain day. Most of you know I'm usually vigilant when it comes to details like this - but sometimes, when the pain gets really bad, the back of my brain takes over. I was thinking about the TV pundit Richard Wolff (the Wolff I know best). It just came out - and for that I am sorry. If I'm eviscerating the man - I should at the very least get his name right!
So thank you MICHAEL Wolff for the correction. That took courage.
A few weeks ago I read an article in Vanity Fair that really scorched my shorts. I was so pissed off, I had to think about it a while – let it simmer, so to speak – see if the pot came to full boil. Well it did. I’d say I’m well and truly ‘boiled’ now. In fact – the more I think about it the ‘prime-ier’ I get. Why this particular diatribe? Out of the encyclopedia of ‘I Hate Hillary’s’ littered like smashed walnuts on the side of the road – why did this pop my kettle? The complete and utter denigration and dismissal of women in general. Call it the final straw – the last nail in the coffin – one insult too far. You see - Michael Wolff has declared us over 50 types unfuckable – and you know what that means: invisibility to the point of shunning (he even uses that word!).
Guess we can all go home now girls - at least those of us in what the opposite gender sees as peri-(pathetic) menopause. We are now officially invisible – except for Hillary, of course. She’s still out there - plugging away – but it’s only a matter of time. She’s fading – shrinking towards germ status (with any male handy the prescribed antibiotic). The estimable and oh so quip worthy Mr. Wolff has pronounced her persona non grata, so – behold the unfuckable woman!
It’s all about the sex, you see:
Sex (sex, not gender) in politics is as significant a subtext as race.
Isn't that special? Michael, honey – you do make a girl swoon! Oh. Sorry. I’m unfuckable – unfuckable women don’t (or can’t – I’m not sure which) swoon. 'Old' women only support Hillary because she's as ‘unfuckable’ as they themselves are. Such a prince, this guy! Such insight!
But wait - there’s more! The candidate most likely to win will do so because fuckable women can imagine him (it has to be a ‘him’, you see) ‘doing it’. Gee – I guess that leaves McCain out.
….in real life everybody is constantly and openly speculating on the sexual nature and needs and eccentricities of every rising and demanding political personality.
It’s a point of identification and differentiation. We vote for or against sex lives.
I don’t care whether you’re for Hillary or against her – its no longer possible to pretend that gender hasn’t entered this election. You know - a couple years back, the UN studied the plight of women in this wide world. Know what they said?:
….women will have to wait until the 25th century, 2490 to be precise, before they can achieve parity with men.
So drop the scales from your eyes, my friends. Wake up and smell the misogyny. Michael Wolff does. Smell things, that is. And what he smells is the aroma of unfuckableness. Hillary obviously isn’t getting any from Bill (did she ever?) – so why vote for her? (Serial adulterers become that way because the women in their lives aren’t fuckable, after all. Everyone knows that!). We want stained sheets in the White House – not brilliant minds. And EVERYONE thinks that way (only secretly, of course):
Although it’s not discussed in reputable commentary, it’s discussed by everyone else: so what exactly is the thing with Hillary and sex, with the consensus being that she simply must not have it (at least not with her husband; there are, on the other hand, the various conspiracy scenarios of whom else she might have had it with).
Except for us dried up old prunes (or as Wolff categorizes us – the ‘sexually desperate’). We want Hillary because her vagina is as dusty and useless as our own. No KY Jelly for you! (Not even the warming kind). Wolff kindly enlightens us on this subject as well – at least where it touches on Hillary and the unfuckables:
She’s the special-interest candidate of older women—the post-sexual set. She’s resisted by others (including older women who don’t see themselves as part of the post-sexual set) who see her as either frigid or sexually shunned
I won’t even get into how he labels and denigrates Cindy McCain and Jeri Thompson Kehn (pole dancing, anyone?). Oh – he backs it all up with quotes from other middle-aged white men (Joe Scarborough for one) – but that’s what middle-aged white men do – flock together and compare their diminishing sexuality. It’s ageing roués anonymous – or as my best friend Amy puts it – the dick club (no tits allowed). Of course, the only thing hardening in these guys lately is their arteries – but who cares! They have penises! And we don’t. I can just see those testosterone molecules dashing about – brandishing little swords – making sure not a drop of estrogen remains standing. Of course – no estrogen in the brain means forgetting that tab ‘A’ fits into receptor ‘B’ – but like I said - who cares? It’s possessing the penis that counts – not the ability to use it.
And that’s not even the worst of it. Wolff goes on to say that women are part of a ‘prosecutorial matriarchy’. He sexually fetishisizes middle-aged politicians (a la Elliot Spitzer, whom Wolff at once criticizes and admires) holding them up as the great American arbiter: they act as we all do (or would like to); the ‘we’ being card carrying members of the dick club, I guess. Wolff really feels for fellow middle-aged philanderer Spitzer. He’s pissed off Spitzer didn’t fight getting caught:
Spitzer should have, reasonably, blamed the Bush Justice Department, the Patriot Act, the entire culture of investigation (again, mea culpa, mea culpa), instead of giving in to his own shame. He should have stood up for higher principles.
You have to be particularly shameless, of course, to stand such ground. But shamelessness is what we pay politicians for.
As for the unfuckables? We females who put up with the Elliot Spitzer’s in our lives?:
The result is a consensus on sexual politics that is driven by women, striking in its asperity and lack of generosity.
And Hillary? Well – she’s just Bills ‘beleaguered’ and eminently unfuckable wife. That’s what it all comes back to, you know: Bill – Bill and sex in the Oval Office i.e.: the ever-present and always terrifying ‘Clenis’. Wolff calls Bill Clinton the ‘Amos ‘N Andy of sexual need’. Imagine if he’d used that very same analogy on Barack Obama - Moyers would do a documentary! And Hillary – poor Hillary! That’s what everyone’s saying these days – ‘Poor Hillary’. It’s become almost as ubiquitous as ‘pass the potatoes’. Washington Post writer Libby Copeland calls it “death by condescension”. I say it’s a chuck under the chin complete with lollipop (make mine cherry, please). There just aren’t enough votes to be class president. Tracy Flick will never morph into Elle Woods – too organized, too strident, too needy – not enough flair in all the ‘right’ places. Hillary just doesn’t register on the bimbo meter. No – the only jiggle affecting men when regarding la Clinton is the tweak she gives their blood lust. They don’t just want her gone – they want her dead. Julia Keller of the Chicago Tribune labels it:
….the appalling preponderance of violent, death-infused imagery in conversations about Clinton, smuggled into otherwise ordinary political discourse like a knife taped on the bottom of a cake plate: On CNN, pundit Alex Castellanos said democrats must realize that "it's time to take the family dog to the vet." Matthews' MSNBC colleague Keith Olbermann expressed the hope that "somebody will take her into a room—and only he comes out." CNN's Jack Cafferty gleefully floated the specter of Clinton being run over by a flatbed truck. A recent Tribune editorial compared Clinton to a euthanized Kentucky Derby contender.
So bring out your dead, my friends (especially if that dead is blond and wears a pantsuit)! And all women over 50 please line up for mandatory shunning. Get your unfuckable stamp here – big, red letters (Helvetica, of course – it has to be universally readable). All snark aside – I find everything Michael Wolff said absolutely appalling. And I am shocked beyond words that a so-called ‘woman’s magazine’ actually published such tripe. Oh I know – many will read what Wolff said and label it some form of comedy: ‘he didn’t really mean it’. He was pointing out what OTHERS believe, or have said, or silently think in the long, dark tea-time of their souls. Right. Well I don’t buy that bullshit – not one stinking stone of it. It’s like the guy who says he doesn’t hate Hillary because she’s a woman – he hates her because she’s a bitch. Its bumfuzzel; a distraction – misogyny slipped under the door like so much pornography. Even the brown paper it’s wrapped in carries a stink. And before you dismiss this as the opinion of just one man – have a gander at the links I’ve provided. From Marie Cocco over at The Washington Post to Nina Burleigh of the Huffington Post – note has been taken of what is being said (and what is being ignored) - on all sides. It’s open season on women, my friends. This isn’t just about Hillary; though she’s the current locus. And it really isn’t about politics per se. Obama’s quest for the presidency has unleashed many racist elements in our country – something I predicted, by the way – more than a year ago (An Open Letter to Barack Obama). That certain elements have set these dual hatreds against one another is shameful – but not unexpected. The adage of divide and conquer is as old as civilization – even though as a modern society we should eschew such crap. The politics of exclusion should belong to our historical past. But they don’t – and here we are. No – no matter how you slice it – Wolff and the host of other’s battering Clinton’s gender posses twelfth century beliefs: a woman is only as useful as her vagina. When that dries up – when we become ‘unfuckable’ - we become useless. Discardable. Invisible. Hell - even Match.com has issues!
Well I say hooray The Unfuckables! Bully for us! Michael Wolff doesn’t want us? To hell with him and the old-boy network he rode in on. We unfuckables don’t need your stinkin’ imperator. We do alright on our own, thank you very much. Hey – we oughta band together – don’t you think? Get a website - maybe our own reality show. Loreena Bobbit (bless her sharp little heart!) can be our patron saint. Imagine - hoards of unfuckabe women roaming the countryside like maenads - looking for the men who done them wrong.
Since it had to come down to the 2 David's, at least the cooler one won the contest. I would have had to barf if the boring balladeer had won, but that's just my opinion (and apparently millions of others as well.) At least I can reclaim my weeknights once again.
Dr Susan Orr (not an MD) has stepped down as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services. She's the one who called contraceptives part of the "Culture of Death." You see, it isn't all about being anti-abortion for many people, it's about forcing couples who have sex to have children whether they want them or not. How simple life would be if women didn't get pregnant in the first place (unless they wanted to, of course) , but with the ridiculous "Abstinence only education" failing miserably in the south and so many pregnant teenagers running around, this could be nothing but a good thing for Dr Orr to resign.
Orr was against government health insurance plans covering contraception. She advocated against birth control and planned parenthood. She was the principal and adjunct professor at Regent University, was affiliated with Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council. With her gone perhaps those who are against abortion will have to understand that family planning is essential when it comes to lowering the abortion rate in this country. No matter what, you can't make people not have sex, not even conservatives.
As someone who grew up Catholic in the days of no birth control allowed, I can attest that Catholic families had way too many children back in the day. Families struggled immensely and many of the kids didn't get the attention they needed. Here in suburbia where I grew up, it's not like you needed 8 kids to work the family farm, you just added to the congestion and traffic in a once lovely island and overcrowded the schools.
We had 50-60 kids in each class and just about one kid from every family in every grade in the school. Back in the day, most dad's could be the sole bread winner and have a job for life. If mom needed to work she took in more laundry or babysitting so she could keep an eye on the brood. In today's economy and job insecurity, how can someone in their right mind advocate for the way things were in the 1950's and 60's? You simply cannot sanely support corporations who treat employees like transients and cheat the hard working people out of a good living wage while expecting families to flourish. Let's get real here. Too many children go to bed hungry every night and that is NOT family values.
After watching his speech at the RNC a few years ago, I hated his guts, but Gov Schwarzenegger isn't quite as conservative as I thought and certainly not the Nazi many of our own homegrown conservatives are. So I take back what I said about him.
He said on Tuesday:
"You know, I’m wishing everyone good luck with their marriages and I hope that California’s economy is booming because everyone is going to come here and get married."
Know what? I'm glad that there are bastions of sanity on each coast where gay people can live in peace and harmony and get the rights they deserve. I'm surprised it hasn't happened in NY yet, but if gay couples start moving away in droves, perhaps there will be a change of heart.
US Skips Talks on Banning Cluster Bombs. Surprise. Surprise.
While representatives of 100 governments gather in Dublin for talks about a global treaty to ban the use of cluster bombs, teh US, the king of cluster bombs worldwide, along with Russia, China, Israel, India and Pakistan stayed away from the talks. Read teh interview at Democracy Now while I puke.
I hope no one tells me that there isn't some sort of conspiracy that millions of Americans are talking about the next American Idol and what a twerp David Archuletta is (but it would be fitting if he won because we Americans certainly are the uninformed weenies of the world) while we have been overtaken by the most UNAMERICAN government in our history. For gawd's sake we're like the freaking antichrist of governments. We're sending uranium to Saudi Arabia for uh nuclear reactors, that's right, nuclear reactors, that's the ticket.
Teh US has 27,000 in secret prisons and teh legal process is rigged
Next, read or listen to this episode where Amy Goodman interviews Clive Stafford Smith, an attorney for over 50 detainees at Guantanamo Bay and feel that sinking feeling in your gut... know that this is utter and complete bullshit and that even with the US holding 27,000 prisoners in secret prisons overseas and transporting prisoners to Iraqi prisons in order to avoid scrutiny by the press, terrorists keep being born and acts of terrorism aren't ending. Just who are these people and are they really terrorists? Who the hell are these "terrorists?" It appears that they are not the war criminal types the US prosecuted in Nuremberg. No, they are people like the guy who was supposedly OBL's driver and maybe one of the hundreds of 20th hijackers. oy vay.
Mr Smith went on to explain how Col. Morris Davis the chief prosecutor in Gitmo testified to how the process is rigged.... and we're still torturing prisoners, BTW. Big time.
"He said that he been told by a senior Bush administration official that there would be and there could be no acquittals in Guantanamo. In other words, everyone has to be convicted.
"...Colonel Davis said we really ought to ban the use of evidence that’s been extracted through abuse and torture, such as waterboarding, from Guantanamo trials, because it’s still being used down there. And then, indeed, one of my clients, Benyam Mohammed, it’s all they have got on him, is evidence that they extracted from him after taking him to Morocco and torturing him with a razor blade to his genitals. So this is just a—it’s a farce."
Despite all the evidence that shows that torture does not produce accurate testimony, teh US continues teh charade.
While catching up on news at DemocracyNow.org website, quite a few things jumped out at me... stuff that isn't being broadcast on US news thus keeping most Americans in the dark about what is being done in our name:
For instancedid you know that the Bush administration pledged that it would supply uranium to Saudi Arabia for nuclear reactors? Interesting that it comes at a time when the US is threatening to invade Iran over its nuclear program... but that's not all, the WH says that the deal "will pave the way for Saudi Arabia’s access to safe, reliable fuel sources for energy reactors and demonstrate Saudi leadership as a positive non-proliferation model for the region.”
Guest Harvey Wasserman on the show, editor of nukefree.org, points out what is most astonishing is that the US assumes that the same government will always be in power in Saudi Arabia so it's perfectly ok for them to have nuclear reactors. What people are forgetting though is that "We have to remember that when the Shah was in power in Iran so many years ago, he was in the process of buying thirty-six reactors, and had those reactors been completed before he fell to the Ayatollah, Iran would now have thirty-six reactors." Indeed. So in 30 years will the same "lovely" Saudi government still be in place?
Furthermore, the price of enriched uranium will go up for nuclear reactors in the US and that if the Saudi's do build a commercial reactor it will come from Japan or France and NOT the US.
Here’s a little something to set your hearts all a twitter.It isn’t bad enough that those in charge of Security for the Fatherland have decided that American Sheep don’t have the appropriate fear of Gawd in them, now they intend to show how a single person with a shoulder fired weapon can bring down a commercial passenger plane.
For those of you with your heads up your own or someone else’s ass since the Russians invaded Afghanistan, these weapons, called Stingers are rather available to a lot of “organizations.”We (Ronnie and Donny) gave the Muhajadeen, oh, at least two or three of these convenient anti-aircraft modified paintball weapons.Problem is, we can’t account for the ONE that’s missing!(That’s sarcasm for our NeoCon lurkers).
So now, in order to “train our Fatherland” protectors, we’re going to show via the media, just how easy it is to bring down a passenger jet by allowing one room temperature IQ’d moron to roughly aim and pull a trigger.
Of course, this is just an exercise in training by people who will never have access to Stingers (for some reason the military insists that only they use them).But now we need to have the media provide coverage of how some nut can bring down a plane.
I can’t wait for the sequel:
I.E.D.’s along Our Highways
Watch as Fox Noise shows you how your children’s school bus could become a target for attack rabbits!
(The event is scheduled for June 6th and 7th.Hmmm?Doesn’t that date ring a bell?)
By A.J. Panian TRIBUNE REVIEW Saturday, May 17, 2008
ArnoldPalmerRegionalAirport in Unity will be the site of an emergency response training exercise.
"Operation Terminal Stinger" is scheduled for June 6 and 7 at the facility near Latrobe. The exercise is required by the Federal Aviation Administration and will feature a scenario in which a terrorist cell will down an aircraft with a shoulder-fired missile.
The drill will involve various equipment and about 150 volunteers from more than 40 local, county, state and federal aviation, emergency response and law enforcement agencies. It is being coordinated by the Westmoreland County Department of Public Safety and the Region 13 Task Force.
"Due to the high visibility of the training exercise, we are asking that the public be informed and aware that any activities or events they may witness on or around the airport on those dates are purely stated dramatizations, not real emergencies," said Dwayne Pickels, Westmoreland County Airport Authority spokesman.
Pickels also stressed that the airport will remain open and all terminal and flight operations will continue throughout the exercise.
The exercise will begin with a media event to be held at 4 p.m. June 6. Drill exercises will begin at 7:30 a.m. June 7.
The event is funded through the Region 13 Task Force with U.S. Department of Homeland Security training grant money and fully complies with the requirements of the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program.
A big day for Obama! Who do you like better? Ron Paul or Barack Obama.
I have a feeling that the majority of our readers are probably not Ron Paul supporters. I did quite a few "HURRAY RON PAUL!" posts when he first surfaced as a candidate. I understood the backlash completely. He's a republican candidate (well, not really) and "no more republicans - no exceptions". I really hate that it has to be this way. NOT FAIR! But I still like him the best, so here's my last hurrah (maybe) for Ron Paul. I just don't understand why he is still running. Is it because he IS #1 with the majority of people? Will his name still be on the ballot? Could he possibly get the most votes? Do those votes count?
You do know that the media continually suppresses Ron Paul.
PEASE WATCH THIS VIDEO about google trends - WOW!
There are a few "honorable mentions" from some of the talking heads:
NPR had a wonderful segment on Talk of the Nation this past weekend. Have a listen to Ron Paul's 'Revolution' Yes there is a plug for his book 'The Revolution: A Manifesto' - for good reasons......
I was reading Wonkette yesterday (yeah, I was bored), and I ran across the following questions in the comments (hat tip to Zeeb for shifting my brain into Drive). I've copied Zeeb's rather thought-provoking questions below verbatim, and they're italicized; my responses to those questions follow.
Questions for the coming phase in the World Order: - What will it mean to fight for your country when that is inseparable from fighting for global or regional financial systems?
Since nationalism is merely a means of replacing God with the State, it stands to reason that fervor for “defending the State” can still be whipped up among an uninformed electorate. That uninformed electorate is key, because if the citizenry are kept in the dark about the motives for war, or are misled about those motives, it is easier for the State to go to war for the greater aggrandizement of those members of the government who stand to gain the most by the acquisition of new resources. We are currently seeing that in the Iraq military operation.
Eisenhower’s military-industrial complex speech was prescient, but as resources become harder to obtain we can expect to see a far more intimate relationship between the defense forces and the industrial establishment. Use of mercenary troops such as Blackwater will continue to expand, disregarding Machiavelli’s warnings regarding their inherent faithlessness and loyalty only to the highest paymaster.
- When the United States hands off the reigns of global supremacy to a multilateral world, how will it establish Rawlsian institutions to protect its own future interests under the banner of fairness?
The United States, by virtue of its nuclear stockpile, will be a major voice in the new global power arrangement for many decades to come. Whether it will still wield the economic might it enjoyed over the past 50 years remains to be seen, as the axis of economic power has been shifting east since the 1980s. China, India and the Arab Gulf States are becoming the principle foci in terms of production, consumption and investment of resources.
John Rawls in A Theory of Justice states that “the national interest of a just state is defined by the principles of justice that have already been acknowledged. Therefore such a nation will aim above all to maintain and to preserve its just institutions and the conditions that make them possible “ (Rawls, Belknap Press 1999, p. 333). The United States has been proud of its institutions, and heretofore has managed to deal equitably with other nations because of its essential fairness. But decades of favoritism toward one state or another, coupled with the increasing politicization of such institutions as the courts and the Foreign Service have served to lower the prestige of these institutions and diminished the USA’s moral standing in the world.
Part of that diminution of moral standing may be due to our still-thriving senses of exceptionalism and moral crusade. The perception that Americans are a special creation simply because they are Americans grates on many nations, particularly when our moral pronouncements of the ideal are completely at odds with our actions in the real world, while the idea of spreading democratic forms and ideals at the point of a bayonet is deeply insulting to many. Since no State is inherently moral in a world guided by Realpolitik or raison d’etat, it stands to reason that any nation purporting to act from moral purity will be automatically suspected of ulterior motives.
- What is the role and possible transformation of cultural forms of life that resist education? (As George Orwell observed, there are two choices for historical change -- revolution and education.)
There are at present several cultural institutions that resist education and therefore will not progress without a violent upheaval of some sort – religion (particularly fundamentalist sects and long-established churches) and government (which is inherently conservative). Of the two, religion is the hardest to change without the creation of new sects, leaving the orthodox sect to ossify and eventually wither.
That is not to say, however, that religion is dead. Human beings are, despite all of their advancements over the past six thousand years very superstitious and are bound to that “sense” of Authority (my personal theory is that this is tied to our biology; in this regard, some sort of religious feeling is unavoidable regardless of the protestations of atheists). As history has shown us, religion must be evolutionary – it must adapt or be rendered irrelevant. The recent declaration by the Vatican regarding life on other planets is an example of this need to stay relevant while remaining true to its doctrine.
Government, on the other hand, would be far more adaptable were it not for its inherent conservatism and its tendency to fling up bureaucratic ramparts to defend itself. Jefferson wrote that it is good that governments should be afraid of its constituents, because when it no longer is afraid of being replaced by election or by violence, it will tend to become the master rather than the servant.
In regard to the first question, government will be faced with a few choices in the coming years. Can it adapt to new power realities in terms of political and military power? Can it adapt and stay relevant in an age of increasing scarcity of resources, and the growth in power of multinational corporations? Finally, can it stay responsive to the needs of all of its population and deal fairly with them?
I've asked about Senator McCain's facial flaws time and time again and was usually met with silence or some speech on why I am a shallow bitch with too much time on my hands. But I never gave a shit about his face until he became a viable candidate for president. It looks like a tumor is growing on his face and it appears to be getting larger. Is this something that will kill him while he's in office? And if so, who he picks for his veep is something very important for Americans to consider, is it not?
You have probably also heard McCain has malignant melanoma. Our research shows that if elected, he would not be the first president to have cancer. Grover Cleveland had cancer in his jaw. Reagan had both colon cancer and skin cancer, a less serious basal cell carcinoma, on his nose. From what we have gathered, McCain has Stage IIA melanoma, which carries an average 10-year survival rate of 66 percent. Dermatologists say McCain’s odds are better because the odds improve the longer you go without a recurrence.
If you see the pictures of his face, you will no doubt see a scar running down the left side and persistent puffiness of his left cheek. This is from the aggressive operation he had to remove the cancer as well as the lymph nodes in the area, as well as part of his parotid gland. When we show those pictures to independent doctors, some have told us an operation of that magnitude would’ve been done only for a much more serious and aggressive cancer than IIA melanoma. Other doctors disagree, saying McCain’s aggressive operation may have been done out of an abundance of caution, where doctors removed more lymph nodes and other tissue than is normally done, because he is, well, John McCain.
Well ok then. He is very lucky to have had such great medical benefits and to be alive today. Most of us regular people would have been dead... even those of us with medical benefits like mine that suck. Senator McCain's healthcare plan sucks so this post menopausal lady with fears of the future won't be considering a vote for him, not to mention his "bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran" song which wasn't funny at all.
But Dr Gupta asks the all important questions, "How important is the health of McCain or any of the candidates for that matter? Should the medical records be more forthcoming?"
Absofuckinglutely.
Not that anyone cares what I or you, dear readers, think, it makes for great discussions on the "what if this president dies and his/her veep takes over." Since Mike Huckleberry is jonesing for the veep slot, I find it rather hilarious to think that he could be the president and what a truly interesting battle would go on between the House and the Executive Branch considering that Huck is a preacher man in a secular country.
As I recall 8 years ago, CNN devoted an awful lot of time to Cheney's heart or lack thereof and he was only going to be the VP. I say, "bring it on" about McCain's face. It would be interesting to note that anecdotes about his grumpiness pervade the Senate and it's not clear whether he was always grumpy or if this is a new thing which could indicate that his health is on the decline.
And while we're at it, what is the health status of Hillary and Barry?
Thirty years ago, the city of Shenzhen didn't exist. Back in those days, it was a string of small fishing villages and collectively run rice paddies, a place of rutted dirt roads and traditional temples. That was before the Communist Party chose it — thanks to its location close to Hong Kong's port — to be China's first "special economic zone," one of only four areas where capitalism would be permitted on a trial basis. The theory behind the experiment was that the "real" China would keep its socialist soul intact while profiting from the private-sector jobs and industrial development created in Shenzhen. The result was a city of pure commerce, undiluted by history or rooted culture — the crack cocaine of capitalism.
American commentators like CNN's Jack Cafferty dismiss the Chinese as "the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the last 50 years." But nobody told the people of Shenzhen, who are busily putting on a 24-hour-a-day show called "America" — a pirated version of the original, only with flashier design, higher profits and less complaining. This has not happened by accident. China today, epitomized by Shenzhen's transition from mud to megacity in 30 years, represents a new way to organize society. Sometimes called "market Stalinism," it is a potent hybrid of the most powerful political tools of authoritarian communism — central planning, merciless repression, constant surveillance — harnessed to advance the goals of global capitalism.
Remember how we've always been told that free markets and free people go hand in hand? That was a lie. It turns out that the most efficient delivery system for capitalism is actually a communist-style police state, fortressed with American "homeland security" technologies, pumped up with "war on terror" rhetoric. And the global corporations currently earning superprofits from this social experiment are unlikely to be content if the lucrative new market remains confined to cities such as Shenzhen. Like everything else assembled in China with American parts, Police State 2.0 is ready for export to a neighborhood near you.
No sooner did California overturn the ban on homosexual marriage when Pope Benedict came out stating that marriage is only moral if between and man and a woman. Catholics worldwide are probably snickering. I am. So much for morality then.
What if one of the parties in a so called "moral" marriage is a closeted homosexual living a lie and makes both parties miserable? I imagine that there are thousands or millions of "holy" marriages like that. Perhaps allowing homosexuals to marry each other will eliminate such unholy alliances.
I can empathize with those married women and mothers whose husbands are outed for having homosexual relationships on the side and perhaps there are thousands more which don't make the news whose lives and families are devastated when it turns out that one of the parents is living a lie and reduced to sneaking out for nookie or even true love on the side with someone of the same sex. I often wonder how many closeted gay parents beat the crap out of or disinherit their openly gay offspring. I doubt that truly heterosexual parents would banish a child from the family for just being gay. You have to really hate yourself to hate your child.
With the millions, if not zillions of dysfunctional and immoral families out there in the world, anyone who speaks of heterosexual families as being so great ought to take their blinders off at once.
"A giant study, which surveyed more than 13,000 children, found that using the handsets just two or three times a day was enough to raise the risk of their babies developing hyperactivity and difficulties with conduct, emotions and relationships by the time they reached school age. And it adds that the likelihood is even greater if the children themselves used the phones before the age of seven."
Am now commencing a study to discover if the massive use of cellphones and the watching of TV is the main reason why we're a nation of 'tards. (Sidenote to Liz and da goils): Are there more factors to be considered than just the hair color when one is studying the immunity of blondes in this case?
One of the things about religion that really gets to me is that we are expected to suspend belief in that which makes sense and that which is rational in modern times in order to accept antiquated notions written by antiquated people in ancient times. Not everyone in the olden days was all that fucking bright... not even those who wrote the bible. They were quite superstitious. Today, people read the bible as if it were teh fucking bible and since they are given license to suspend belief in rational notions, they add to it.
May 17th was International Day Against Homophobia. It sounds like a nice thing to do... to educate people so that they won't hate themselves or others. It sounds like something Jesus would have exhorted his followers to celebrate, but no. Not the Catholics. In Poland someone in the church got the idea to cure homosexuals of their "affliction" instead. Talk about going against nature. And if there is a God, she certainly knew what she was doing when she created people, didn't she? If not, then she wasn't all that bright either.
"The Catholic Church has created rehabilitation centers in Poland to rehabilitate gay people and "get them back on the right path."
"The Odwaga Center uses therapy, prayer and chastity to teach its patients to resist their homosexual impulses. Men at the center are taught to play football and women are taught to cook."
Hey, that's gender bending. How sexist is it to teach men to play football and women to cook? How insane are the insinuations that football is manly and cooking is feminine? Thinking about American football and all those men jumping all over each other certainly wouldn't teach a gay guy not to crave other guys.
Not only that, the Catholic Church hierarchy of all people should know that you can't make men who don't dig chicks, dig them. Sure you can guilt people into not having sex for a while, but it certainly won't cure them of their sexual orientation. Even I know that and I'm not even gay. What the Catholic Church is trying to do is keep homosexuals from having sex, period. They ought to start with themselves, the hypocrites. Quite frankly the Catholic Church would probably like it a lot if no one ever had sex. Misery loves company.
The article goes on to declare that this sort of "therapy" makes people depressed... even suicidal. Well it's certainly no wonder. If someone told me back in my heyday when I was totally boy crazy that it was a sin and they tried to take my mind off my natural hormonal urges through prayer and guilt and cooking, I'd probably have lost my mind. Hell, I'd have signed up for the football just so I could jump on the boys.
Many had been alerted to the no-firearms edict, so few arrived packing. "I got a gun in the car," said Deborah Phelps of Fredonia, Ky. The alert, however, said nothing about pocketknives, which seemingly everybody here was carrying. Hundreds of conventiongoers finally reached the detectors only to be told they could not be admitted with an implement they had never even considered to be a weapon. Yet another long line formed at a glassed-in kiosk where a pair of Expo Center security guards agreed to watch over the knives.
The Huckster was also there. This guy really is a piece of work.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Republican presidential contender Mike Huckabee, interrupted on Friday by a loud crash as he spoke to the National Rifle Association, joked that the noise was Democratic candidate Barack Obama falling off a chair as he dodged a gun aimed at him.
"That was Barack Obama. He just tripped off a chair. He was getting ready to speak and somebody aimed a gun at him, and he dove for the floor," Huckabee told the NRA convention in Louisville, Kentucky, in comments that aired on CNN.
That headline over at Yahoo News really caught my attention. It says that bush is talking to leaders in the mideast. Of course those leaders are already his friends, somewhat.
He visited with Mubarek and since Egypt was the first Arab nation to make nice with Israel, perhaps according to this article, "The Egyptian leader, nearly three decades in power, could be an unlikely partner for Bush's push to spread freedom in the Middle East." The problem with that sentence however is that we don't know which definition of 'spreading freedom' the author meant- the bushista definition which means "to bomb the living shit out of a nation, to bring them to their knees and destroy their infrastructure so that American corporations can "rebuild" it OR to open talks with perceived enemies or perceived allies and negotiate (which is also known as appeasement by this administration.)
Gosh it's hard to read an article these days and know how to understand ordinary phrases. Should we take it as a sane interpretation or the bushista interpretation which seems to always spell some sort of militaristic destructive tendency?
According to the article, things in Egypt aren't all that peachy (god forbid you criticize Mubarek there), but nevertheless, the US will still send $1.3 billion in aid to Egypt. It appears that if you make nice with Israel, you will be rewarded.
Bush didn't visit Palestine and said nothing about it while in Israel except that the Palestinians would have a state by 2068. When Bush visited his buddies in Saudi Arabia, comments from "Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal about Bush's speech suggested that the Arabs think that Bush is still tilting far too much towards Israel"
"We are all aware of the special U.S.-Israeli relation and its political dimensions," he said. "It is, however, important also to affirm the legitimate and political rights of the Palestinian people."
He also sharply criticized Israel for the "humanistic suffering weighed upon the West Bank and Gaza Strip population" of Palestinians. He said Israel's "continued policy of expanding settlements on Palestinian territories" undermines the peace process.
There is no comment from bush. There was no negotiating and no progress concerning Palestine. Bush took swipes at Obama from Israel and that was about all the "toughness" he displayed. BFD
"Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007" (S. 1959) and its companion piece in the house "The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007" (H.R. 1955)
"Under cover of studying "violent radicalization," both bills would broaden the already-fluid definition of "terrorism" to encompass political activity and protest by dissident groups, effectively criminalizing civil disobedience and non-violent direct action by developing policies for "prevention, disruption and mitigation." [..] By targeting the Internet, House and Senate thought police claim that "the Internet has aided in facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process in the United States by providing access to broad and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda to United States citizens."
Q: Why would you negotiate with your enemies? ....A: Who else would I negotiate with?
Who said that? I thought somebody like Yitzhak Rabin responded in this way. I'm not sure -- I couldn't find the answer. Not much on Yitzhak either, other than he was a peacemaker and was assasinated.
Anywho....
I can't FUCKING believe that this intellectually retarded leader of ours actually said this:
Bush said this morning,“Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement."
and
An exasperated Biden skewered Bush over that in a conference call with reporters, calling the comments “pure politics,” “blatant,” “beneath the presidency,” “truly disgraceful,” “outrageous,” “disturbing,” “ridiculous hypocrisy” and “long-distance Swiftboating.” He even said Bush “oughta get a life.” “For this president to go on the attack against Barack Obama,” Biden said. “It cannot go unanswered.” [Possible veep audition?]
Here are older stories about the 3 presidential candidates and their positions on negotiating
"Sen. Obama does not agree with President Carter's decision to go forward with this meeting because he does not support negotiations with Hamas until they renounce terrorism, recognize Israel's right to exist, and abide by past agreements," a spokesman for the Obama campaign said. "As president, Obama will negotiate directly with the head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas."(politico.com)
So, answer me this......
Negotiate or Nuke 'em?
I'm sorry to be so blunt here, but how do you think that the majority of americans feel (really really deep down) about that question?
How do you think the sheeple would answer this question? A lot of people I know have said out loud (in a laughingly way of course) - "oh we should just nuke 'em all".
I really want to shake people.
"I wish the Gaza Strip would simply drop into the sea and disappear" ~ Yitzhak Rabin
I sent a version of this a few years ago to a site. A few days later a similar version was published by another poster instead. Anyway, enjoy...if you can. Nation for Sale Used: approximately 200 years old; occupied by squatters previously, most have since been relocated; Condition: Possible fixer-upper; In poor shape; Extreme deterioration last 15 or so years; Used to be owned and run by a concerned population; Current owners: Slumlords, aka Large Corporations; Current Landlord: Half-wit slumlord that has run the nation into the ground the last 7 years; Population: Approx 300 million; 98% of which apathetically support the extravagant expenditures of Corporate vultures and the current slumlord; Low maintenance: Virtually no upkeep; resident’s income has been invested in other nations; junkets for current owners; etc. Current Expenses: Relatively low; wages on the decline; outsourcing less than grossly profitable jobs to foreign nations; minimal outlay for small armed force in third world country; huge returns on military investments expected; Government: Unresponsive to will of majority of the tenants; current plans to convert to zoned Christian only church area; vast majority of Congress lives in secluded, taxpayer protected areas and enjoys extremely affluent, if somewhat amoral, but forgivable lifestyles; Religious opportunities: Proposed Multi Denominational Christian; some minority religious cults such as Catholicism and Judaism, but the government is trying to discourage non-Fundie Beliefs with implementation of archaic laws which should expected to be in effect in a few years; Employment: Not exceptionally dependable for good wage jobs; however new residents could commute from other nations currently doing well from our exported jobs (we’ll provide transportation, for a small fee); minority and disadvantaged youth encouraged to join the service for non-existent career advancement opportunities; Taxes: variable; depending on income; Higher incomes pay little or no taxes as incentive to invest in slumlord operations; Middle incomes not currently aware of burgeoning future tax problems paying a high % of national tax; Lower incomes currently pay most of upkeep on the nation. And if more poor are provided, think of the additional income they would generate! Education; Good schools in higher income areas with graduating white students melding into slumlord operations at extraordinary salaries; The rest of the school system is in a shambles; Current slumlord’s “leave no student behind” has successfully lowered expectations among middle and lower class providing further cheap labor for corporations resulting in middle and low income students that DO graduate and actually learn something being rewarded with entry level jobs requiring little skill or thought at minimum wage and extended work hours with no benefits resulting in substantially increasing profits for slumlords, credit companies and politicians; Colleges and universities are changing to mandatory religious curricula to prepare students for further divinity training; Health Care: Some of the finest in the world for higher incomes provided for by taxpayer educated immigrants; virtually non-existent for middle and lower middle class and poor resulting in fantastic profit potential for business investors; currently, healthcare is being revised for those citizens who are involved in foreign affairs; our corporate bottom line can’t be expected to provide unlimited healthcare for short-sighted individuals who merely wanted an excuse for free education and medical benefits; these citizens are simply doing the jobs expected of them by the slumlord and shouldn’t receive any compensations other than that already generously given them; that expense should be ignored by serious applicants; Housing: sub standard for the most part for middle and low incomes with increasingly high taxes to local governments and school boards because slumlord expenses eat up most federal taxes; inner cities teeming with outdated housing; high rental rates with no slumlord upkeep; pest control could be a problem; Homelessness increasing at alarming rate with no immediate solution in sight, but should resolve itself within a generation at no additional corporate expense; Foreclosures fast becoming the “80s, greed is good “ credo; tremendous potential to reclaim land once occupied by housing for future business use, or country clubs; Federal bailouts of institutions who intentionally defrauded consumers by U.S. taxpayers and their descendents but no money to those terrible scum citizens who may have tried to take advantage of the system; Transportation: outdated 70 year old interstate highway system poorly maintained; traffic in and around cities exceptionally heavy due to constant repair and pre-planned obsolescence, although relief is expected for the upper income travelers due to ever increasing gas prices (it’s thought that if the prices go high enough low and middle income residents won’t be able to travel as much thereby relieving the highway congestion for the more affluent); potential for hiring locals at minimum wages to provide simple repairs seems a good prospect; Recreation: national areas dwindling due to business interests in parks and recreation facilities; most of these businesses are for extraction of oil, coal, minerals, and such to help keep the slumlord’s business profits as high as possible; of course the environment suffers because of the avarice of the slumlords but the people are happy to have menial employment even if it means destruction of wildlife and recreation areas; Entertainment; extremely varied; however, laws are currently on the table to change existing movie, music, gaming and reading capabilities due to violence, sexually oriented material and objectionable literature and a return to more traditional Christian values is expected regardless of foolish objections such as free speech and whatnot; Radio and Television; for about 80 years it was free of intervention, now there is a trend toward governmental regulation, again toward Christian values; some reports say that 85% of the residents have cable but that may be rather high; currently there are 4 major national networks that broadcast news and information provided by the government although there is really only one sanctioned government station, FOX; expect some radical changes to broadcast entertainment in the near future, as more and more religious and slumlord programming is made mandatory for middle and low income classes; Crime: Actual statistics show increasing crime at all levels; however, government stats are “adjusted” to give an impression of lowered crime levels to calm residents in certain areas; Police and Fire: Both departments are closing in record numbers because of the redistribution of and lack of funds and potential for land reclamation; Wastelands: Millions of acres of toxic landfills, polluted lakes, streams, rivers, and decaying forests resulting from industry pollution deregulation forced by the current slumlord to help increase corporate wealth; incredible potential to import toxic waste from other countries at handsome profits; potential to hire lower class workers at low wages and no benefits to deliver the toxic waste; Excellent potential in military investments; investors need not worry about regulations; meaningless regulations can be deferred for years to come with virtually no penalties and huge returns are the norm; Included with the sale of the Nation is a box of old documents said to be worth something for their nostalgic values; most notably a declaration of some sort defining ludicrous ideas of equality; a multi-page document of obsolete laws that attempted to show people how to govern the nation; vast libraries of books, periodicals, tapes and discs banned in recent years as unpatriotic; Since most of the value of the nation is held by less than 2% of the residents and much of that is owned by foreign investors, the asking price may seem a bit high; however the current slumlord is willing to help potential owners finance this nation by borrowing money from the taxpayers at ridiculously high rates over a very long period of time. Prospective owners can feel comfortable knowing that interest will accrue quite nicely over the entire length of the loan resulting in money in their pockets and in that of their children and their children’s children;
All in all, good potential for minimal investment. We give it a 5 star rating! Interested parties should contact:
George W. Bush 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington, D.C.
or
Bin Laden/Bush Family Investments Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Kennebunkport, Crawford
For more information and a prospectus on “The Prospects for Unlimited Wealth Through Government Reorganization” please contact: Dick Cheney c/o Halliburton
This is an equal opportunity investment brought to you by Karl Rove Holdings Backdoor down the Stairs 1600 Pa. Ave. Wash, D.C.
Serious inquiries only: guided tours and junkets available free.
From the "I thought he was dead and/or irrelevant" files
OBL's new message: Bin Laden says the fight for the Palestinian cause is the most important factor driving al-Qaida's war with the West and fueled the Sept. 11 attacks.
Now just wait there a minute. I thought that he said that 9/11 was for the US having troops stationed in Saudi Arabia. This reminds me of the US bombing the shit out of Iraq for having weapons of mass destruction but then the story changing to "Saddam was a bad man and had to be taken out," so rather than sending in special forces to take him out, we'll just blow up as much of the country as possible."
What irks me about OBL's statement, if it really is his statement and if there actually is an organized al Qaida, is that while the Arab countries are furious with what is happening to the Palestinians, they don't do squat for them. Palestine's shooting missiles into Israel isn't furthering their cause at all and it's making it worse for innocent Palestinians.
Shortly after the House vote, the Senate Appropriations Committee granted Bush's full request for war funding. But it also included non-binding language seeking to change the mission of U.S. troops in Iraq, by June 2009, from combat to counter-terrorism and training Iraqi forces.
The Senate panel's bill also would spend about $9 billion more than Bush requested for a variety of programs, which could draw a White House veto. And it inserted other thorny provisions, such as providing $5 million to open a U.S. consulate in Lhasa, Tibet, where China has been accused of human rights abuses.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, told reporters he expects the Senate to restore the war funding and give House Republicans another chance to approve it, before existing war funds are depleted by next month or so.
Freaking politicians are playing games with the war and it's despicable. Excuse me while I vomit.
California's top court legalizes gay marriage SAN FRANCISCO - California's Supreme Court declared that gay couples in the nation's biggest state can marry — a monumental but perhaps short-lived victory for the gay rights movement Thursday that was greeted with tears, hugs, kisses and at least one instant proposal of matrimony.
Same-sex couples could tie the knot in as little as a month. But the window could close soon after — religious and social conservatives are pressing to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot in November that would undo the Supreme Court ruling and ban gay marriage.
The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joe Biden, D-Delaware, called President Bush’s comments accusing Sen. Barack Obama and other Democrats of wanting to appease terrorists "bulls**t” and said if the president disagrees so strongly with the idea of talking to Iran then he needs to fire his secretaries of State and Defense, both of whom Biden said have pushed to sit down with the Iranians. [...]
“He’s the guy who’s weakened us. He’s the guy that’s increased the number of terrorists in the world. His policies have produced this vulnerability the United States has. His intelligence community pointed that out not me. The NIE has pointed that out and what are you talking about, is he going to fire Condi Rice? Condi Rice has talked about the need to sit down. So his first two appeasers are Rice and Gates. I hope he comes home and does something.”
There have been many science fiction films regarding ants menacing human beings and human society - movies like Them! (starring James Whitmore and a bona fide classic), Empire of the Ants and Phase IV.
These little critters have come to our shores like so many immigrants, by - what else? - sea, and are apparently something new. On the upside, they eat Argentine fire ants; on the downside, they bite people, eat beneficial things, and - bad news drum roll here - they foul computers and electrical boxes.
Scientists don't know why ants seem to be attracted to electronics. It might be the electromagnetic impulses, or the fact that it's a warm, safe environment. Or maybe it's all part of a vast plot by a myrmidine global conspiracy to destroy our cyberinfrastructure!
It's Ant Terrorism! These new ants are sort of hairy, which means that they could be tiny bears; Steven Colbert has warned us about bears, after all.
This blonde is exhausted. No I haven't been golfing with the vacuum when I should be cleaning.
Let's talk about something different. Did you watch American Idol? Boston Legal? Any good movies out there? Good videos? Any good articles worth reading? Sometimes I just feel like going out dancing or staying in and dancing to the stereo turned on full blast while singing at the top of my lungs. What do you to do relieve stress? What do you wanna talk about?
UPDATE: speaking of "something different" Minstrel Boy over at Harp and Sword has turned his blog into an illustrated cookbook. Gotta love it.
They swiped the registered advertising slogan of Effexor XR, an antidepressant, "The Change You Deserve™" for the GOP's new slogan. Between the fact that they 1) stole a registered slogan from a company, 2) that it happened to be an antidepressant (where the side effects describe the GOP more than the positive aspects of the drug) and 3) that the GOP already f*cked us collectively so that it's completely laughable that anyone would trust the GOP to determine anything for anyone, ever.... wait, it gets better
"And when the Food And Drug Administration reviewed the ad copy that included the tagline, "The change you deserve," it took issue with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, which manufactures Effexor, saying that the company made "unsubstantiated superiority claims." Sounds like the GOP have picked an ironically accurate tagline for their efforts!"
Amy Goodman of Democracy Now interviewed Adrienne Kinne, a f0rmer Army sergeant in military intelligence, about the anniversary of the US shelling of the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad and more about Shock and Awe. To be honest with you, I'm a bit shocked and awed after listening to the show and then reading the transcript at Democracy Now! This IS information we should know about. Oh and they're listening to journalists. Fat chance you'll ever get real news from anyone in Iraq.
Here are a couple of parts of the interview, but I think you ought to read the whole thing. I don't like being outraged alone you know.
AMY GOODMAN: The Pentagon has defended the attack on the Palestine Hotel, calling the killings accidental. The soldiers involved claim they were targeting insurgents who had fired rocket-propelled grenades.
But several holes have emerged in the US account. The Palestine Hotel was a well-known place for journalists covering the Iraq war. The US tanks were at too far a distance to be hit by rocket-propelled grenades from the hotel. Witnesses reported hearing almost no gunfire from the area around the hotel in the hours leading up to the US attack. And earlier that day, two other media outlets had also been hit by US strikes: the Abu Dhabi television network, and the satellite network Al Jazeera, killing correspondent Tareq Ayoub.
In a few moments, I’ll be joined by an Iraq war veteran who says she has new information that could point to a deliberate US attack on the Palestine Hotel.
[...]
ADRIENNE KINNE: ... I never talked about my experiences with my friends or family. But there were certain things that happened over the course of our mobilization that struck me as being very wrong, and I remember them very specifically. One of the instances was the fact that we were listening to journalists who were staying in the Palestine Hotel. And I remember that, specifically because during the buildup to Shock and Awe, which people in my unit were really disturbingly excited about, we were given a list of potential targets in Baghdad, and the Palestine Hotel was listed as a potential target...
[...]
ADRIENNE KINNE: ...During that one conversation between a British aid worker and the American aid worker that I was talking about previously, the British aid worker basically told the American, “Be careful what you say, because the Americans are listening to us.” And they weren’t talking about anything that would have warranted their concern. There was—it was just kind of mundane office goings-on. And so, the American actually responded and said, “They can’t listen to me. I’m an American citizen. I’m protected by USSID 18.” And USSID 18 is basically a directive which is given out to military intelligence which bars the collection on American citizens, to include allies of other countries who we’ve signed binding agreements with. And when I heard that transmission and that conversation, I—kind of it caused me to raise my eyebrow, because here we were, we were listening to Americans, and we were collecting on them.
[...]
ADRIENNE KINNE: ... During the course of our mobilization—I think it might have been right after Shock and Awe—we received a fax. It was a multi-page fax, which, as we began to translate it, we realized that it basically laid out the location of all of the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq... I started thinking about the source of the fax and realizing that just because something is transmitted on a piece of paper does not mean it’s true. And when I basically shared my concern to our officer in charge, again I was told that “your job is to collect, you are not an analyst,” that other people will analyze the information. “You just collect and pass on, collect and pass on.” And that was always the guidance we were given.
Shortly after I was demobilized, I was reading a news magazine, and I saw a little blurb where it is said that the—we newly discovered that the Iraqi National Congress was actually feeding us misinformation. And I immediately, when I read that, thought to that fax and that critic report and really wondered to what level that intercept had been used to further justify the invasion of Iraq. And doing research about the Iraqi National Congress since then, I found out that senior military advisers and analysts were actually trying to make the case since December of 2002, or previously, that the Iraqi National Congress was not reliable and was not a reliable source of information.
"He Ain't Heavy......he's my extraterrestrial brother!!" -- Vatican's chief astronomer says there could be other forms of life outside Earth....
The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, says that the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.
"How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?" Funes said. "Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would still be part of creation."
In the interview by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes said that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's creative freedom, he said.
The interview, headlined "The extraterrestrial is my brother," covered a variety of topics including the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and science, and the theological implications of the existence of alien life.
The road is long With many a winding turn That leads us to who knows where.........
"Some of us oppose creating a new entitlement program in an emergency spending bill, whether it's butchers, bakers or candlestick makers."
-Rep. John Tanner (D-TN), one of the members of the Blue Dog Coalition of Democrats who is opposed to paying for the GI Bill which would cover the cost of college for returning vets from Iraq and Afghanistan quoting Mother Goose to make a point.
"I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," he said. "I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."
Jenna Bush Wedding in Crawford, TX: WTF, Is the White House Too Good for 'em?
- Lovely First Family Posing for Shoot Before Hitting the Near Beer-
-Jenna and Hank taking vows under the Ginormous Paper Mache Cross-
Chain of Fools (Special thanks to the All-Stars & Joe Cocker)
Crawford, TX The deed is done! One-half of First Daughter, Jenna Bush, got hitched to Hank Hager over Mothers Day weekend on the family’s faux ranch in Crawford Texas without ever getting hit by a twister! Our local spys reveal that President Dubya phoned in special orders to Cheney’s Halliburton ops to put out a hit on any inclement weather patterns within a forty mile radius of the sprawling, near two-thousand acre property and a ginormous cross made out of paper mache or something was erected just in case all hell broke loose. And a good timewas had by all! (The Crawford locals click AP clip of course, didn't get invited and aren't so happy with the recession, soaring food and energy costs, the Iraq war, everybody getting locked up in prison, no jobs and stuff.)
Grandpa Bush stood out like a dandy, holding court in a seersucker suit and there was even a black preacher, the groom's proud father who danced with his loving wife, and the Bush family cook who sang “Ava Maria” and “On the Wings of a Snow White Dove” and a mariachi band played during the service. Toasting his daughter Jenna and the groom right at the reception, President Bush began by confessing, “I am an emotional wreck.”Why would he say something like that if it weren't true, one wonders. Anyway, the father of the bride and his daughter then danced to Joe Cocker’s “You Are So Beautiful to Me,” a heartfelt, tearful moment although possibly a little creepy when you think about it -- but then again, this is TEXAS!
All weddings should be so lovely. So, given this first dance, yours truly offers a this incredible Joe Cocker rendition of “Chain of Fools” performed with the fabulous All-Stars. Oooohhh Aretha, eat your heart out…
NY TImes: Young Saudis, Vexed and Entranced by Love’s Rules
I read with great interest this piece in the NY Times about two Saudi young men and their quest for romance. With all the taboos and laws in place that make it almost impossible for love to flourish except in an arranged marriage, it's almost romantic how these cousins approach the idea of romance in what westerners would view a most stifling society. Yet both are religious police in a country where I'd never want to live or visit, where women are treated like belongings.
NH: "...Absolutely. I was a fool. When you grow up on a farm in Georgia, your first girlfriend is a mule."
AC: "I'm not so sure that that is so."
NH: "You didn't grow up on a farm in Georgia, did you?"
AC: "Are you suggesting that everybody who grows up on a farm in Georgia has a mule as a girlfriend?"
NH: It has historically been the case. You people are so far removed from the reality... Welcome to domestic life on the farm..."
ACK! Imagine if a world view of American romance was based on this quackeroo? But I digress. I read the comments with great interest especially those by Saudi's who felt that while it was true, the article painted a less than flattering view of Saudi lifestyle which is based on Islam. I'd probably agree with that, however it WAS written by a westerner and that's how he saw it.
A few things that struck me though:
Blatant disregard for women while believing that they have the highest regard
“One of the most important Arab traditions is honor,” Enad said. “If my sister goes in the street and someone assaults her, she won’t be able to protect herself. The nature of men is that men are more rational. Women are not rational. With one or two or three words, a man can get what he wants from a woman. If I call someone and a girl answers, I have to apologize. It’s a huge deal. It is a violation of the house.”
While they are forbidden from seeing a single woman's face in S.A. it's no wonder that
If there is one accessory that allows a bit of self-expression for Saudi men, it is their cellphones. Nader’s is filled with pictures of pretty women taken from the Internet, tight face shots of singers and actresses. His ring tone is a love song in Arabic (one of the most popular ring tones among his cousins is the theme song to “Titanic”).
But this hypocrisy just pissed me off and I don't know if this is the norm or not...
A woman had entered the restaurant, alone. She was completely draped in a black abaya, her face covered by a black veil, her hair and ears covered by a black cloth pulled tight.
“Look at the batman,” Nader said derisively, snickering.
Enad pretended to toss his burning cigarette at the woman, who by now had been seated at a table. The glaring young men unnerved her, as though her parents had caught her doing something wrong.
“She is alone, without a man,” Enad said, explaining why they were disgusted, not just with her, but with her male relatives, too, wherever they were.
When a man joined her at the table — someone they assumed was her husband — she removed her face veil, which fueled Enad and Nader’s hostility. They continued to make mocking hand gestures and comments until the couple changed tables. Even then, the woman was so flustered she held the cloth self-consciously over her face throughout her meal.
“Thank God our women are at home,” Enad said.
I think the article is worth a full read though. I imagine that love there flourishes once a couple is married and not before that. Before marriage any romance is purely imaginary and projected. One of the young men who was engaged to his cousin selected her based on his remembering her as a pretty little girl. The other young man suggested that you check out the brothers in order to tell if his future wife was pretty. Is this romantic? I'm not sure. It very well could be... the intrigue, the mystery and all that. The Saudi culture though must be a boon for homely young people who may not stand a chance for love in western culture. What was really romantic in the story is how some young couples attempt to communicate with their betrothed via text messaging or cell phone conversations and how if they happen to meet unconventionally in a very sex segregated society what they have to connive in order to convince their parents that they never met before an arranged meeting.
What are your views after reading the article. Could you write a romance novel about it?
TOKYO (Reuters) - Cigarette vending machines in Japan may soon start counting wrinkles, crow's feet and skin sags to see if the customer is old enough to smoke.
The legal age for smoking in Japan is 20 and as the country's 570,000 tobacco vending machines prepare for a July regulation requiring them to ensure buyers are not underage, a company has developed a system to identify age by studying facial features.
By having the customer look into a digital camera attached to the machine, Fujitaka Co's system will compare facial characteristics, such as wrinkles surrounding the eyes, bone structure and skin sags, to the facial data of over 100,000 people, Hajime Yamamoto, a company spokesman said. continued
If you're wrinkly enough, the machine will take your money. I guess the machine would just drop its inventory if I tried to buy a pack a smokes in Japan. But doesn't this remind you of a scary futuristic dystopian novel?
Sir Paul McCartney, the man I was supposed to marry in 1964 after I first laid eyes on him, listened to him sing and wag his moppy head, but I was too young for him, is now available once again. Paul, if you're reading this, I'm older now... and better. I never loved you for your money. I loved you for being you. And get this... I'm a singer/songwriter now which I wasn't in 1964. We are both so much wiser and I really need to get off this island. Call me. L
Over in Pakistan, there was a brief bright glimmer of hope last year as President/General Pervez "My 'Stache is Bigger" Musharraf called for new Parliamentary elections. Those elections were held, with the only real speed bump being the murder of Benazir Bhutto. A four-paryt coalition was formed, and it was hoped that Pakistan could find its way to a measure of stability.
The Muslim world's only nuclear power is again looking at political turmoil as Nawaz Sharif, leader of the second-largest member of the coalition, withdrew his party from the unity government. The issue was the reinstatement of the 60 judges dismissed by Musharraf last year, a move that saw lawyers rioting in the streets (and you know it's bad when the lawyers riot).
So, while we wait for the dust to settle and for new power realities to assert themselves in Karachi and Islamabad, let's review.
Pakistan has nuclear weapons, and recently tested a missile capable of hurling Da Bomb about 1200 miles.
Pakistan is currently politically unstable.
Pakistan's northwestern provinces are strongholds of the Taliban and al Qaeda, and are off-limits to American incursions, so bin Laden's boys have the safety and sanctuary they need to retool, revamp and come out swinging again.
Not since 1973 have so many Americans agreed that our country is off on the wrong track.
82% of Americans have awakened according to a new ABC News/Washington Post Poll. (I hope it wasn't too rude an awakening, but then again, many of us have been waiting around for this to happen.)
The president's low approval rating has remained steady for the second year. Not only is the approval rating around 31 percent, 52 percent of Americans strongly dissaprove of the president and only 15 percent strongly approve. (Those who strongly approve must be war profiteers or completely idiotic.) Oh wait. They are Republicans. 69% of Republicans think the prez is doing a heck of a job.
Consumer confidence is at its lowest since 1985. For the second year in a row nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that the War on Iraq was not worth fighting for.
Republican type friends of mine who may read this, do not have to apologize to me for being douchebags for the past 5 years. I feel Jesus in my heart today and you are already forgiven. I'm just happy that the great wake up has begun.
Rupert Murdoch has withdrawn his bid to buy my local paper, Newsday. It appears that Cablevision is set to buy the paper. I don't know how good a deal that is, but at least we won't have to get our news from an organization so closely associated with fascist propaganda and faux news. whew.
Julia Ward Howe's Mother's Day Proclamaition of 1870
Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, Whether your baptism be that of water or of tears Say firmly:
"We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies, Our husbands shall not come to us reeking of carnage, For caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
"We women of one country Will be too tender of those of another country To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with Our own. It says, "Disarm, Disarm!" The sword of murder is not the balance of justice! Blood does not wipe out dishonor Nor violence indicate possession. As men have of ten forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war.
Let women now leave all that may be left of home For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means Whereby the great human family can live in peace, Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, But of God.
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask That a general congress of women without limit of nationality May be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient And at the earliest period consistent with its objects To promote the alliance of the different nationalities, The amicable settlement of international questions. The great and general interests of peace
Writing on the Weekly Standard’s blog yesterday, Michael Goldfarb said that he doesn’t “care” if President Bush’s policies have been a “recruiting tool for terrorists“:
"As to whether Bush is a recruiting tool for terrorists–who cares? Al Qaeda was recruiting before Bush was in office and they will continue to do so after he’s gone. The important thing is that we keep killing those recruits. Eventually, one side will give up."
Fill in the blank: With that kind of logic, _______________________.
It was already shaping up to be a difficult year for congressional Republicans. Now, on the cusp of Mother's Day, comes this: A majority of the House GOP has voted against motherhood.
On Wednesday afternoon, the House had just voted, 412 to 0, to pass H. Res. 1113, "Celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother's Day," when Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), rose in protest.
"Mr. Speaker, I move to reconsider the vote," he announced.
Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who has two young daughters, moved to table Tiahrt's request, setting up a revote. This time, 178 Republicans cast their votes against mothers.
It has long been the custom to compare a popular piece of legislation to motherhood and apple pie. Evidently, that is no longer the standard. Worse, Republicans are now confronted with a John Kerry-esque predicament: They actually voted for motherhood before they voted against it.
Republicans, unhappy with the Democratic majority, have been using such procedural tactics as this all week to bring the House to a standstill, but the assault on mothers may have gone too far. House Minority Leader John Boehner, asked yesterday to explain why he and 177 of his colleagues switched their votes, answered: "Oh, we just wanted to make sure that everyone was on record in support of Mother's Day."
By voting against it?
If Boehner's explanation doesn't make much sense, he's been under a great deal of stress lately. continued
The Rethuglicans have been using these sorts of tactics to make the Democratic majority look bad since the get go. Why do they get away with it though?
But don’t worry, all you mixed-up, muffled up, carefree lushes, because now your car can get plastered for you!
E-Fuel says is the "world's first home ethanol product." It's a personal refinery system that hooks up to a water source, a power source, and a waste water disposal outlet, just like a washing machine! Hear that, Moms?
Just in time for Mothers Day, make her the toast of the town by ordering an E-Fuel 100MicroFueler today! It only costs $9,995, but remember, there may be carbon tax credits on the state and federal level to subsidize the price. Yay!
Want one? Not so fast. First, you will need a federal license to produce alcohol (of which ethanol fuel is a form) which implies you either need to actually grow your own corn or are going to have to make several trips to Iowa in your pick-up truck to raid the local fields because, as demand soars, WHOLE FOODS will be rationing their ears of corn on a onesy-twosey basis. So how many stalks of corn does it take to produce an average, Volvo-sized tank of fuel? You guessed it: A SHITLOAD.
The good news is that apparently, the government isn't picky about handing out federal licenses to any Joe Sixpack and the approval process takes only “a matter of weeks.” Only a matter of weeks? I guess the Bush Administration, really, really does want to see everybody spend those tax rebate checks quickly. Well, if making moonshine for people got the masses through the Great Depression, what’s so wrong about wanting to help a few hundred million cars “take the edge off” this tanking economy on the race to the bottom while a few billion people are projected to starve?
In honor of my dad who would have been 89 today, who told me when I was whining about the first Gulf War, "Elizabeth, you don't understand war!" It took 15 years to slowly kill my next door neighbor while the VA looked on stupefied. Daddy, I understand it now. Quite clearly actually.
Now here's a movie you can sink your teeth in- War Inc, John Cusak's new film. Raw Story interviewed Cusak and there's a short description posted. Here's a tidbit:
War, Inc. is not subtle as far as satire goes, but it is precisely the sledgehammer hit -- the "shock" of the totally outlandish and suffocating all-over-the-place bombing of the viewer's senses -- that makes the film a truly onomatopoeic visual to the audacious crimes it is ridiculing on screen.
The plot revolves around a corporate hit-man, Brand Hauser (Cusack), who is hired by a corrupt US defense contractor called Tamerlane to assassinate the oil minister of the fictional Middle Eastern country of Turaqistan, which has been invaded by the United States. Tamerlane's CEO is a former United States Vice President, played brilliantly by Dan Aykroyd and obviously based on the current real life Vice President and former Halliburton CEO, Dick Cheney.
Asked what Cusack would say to Vice President Dick Cheney if he had the opportunity, Cusack wisecracks, "You have the right to remain silent."
Indeed.
From the get go of the war, it was clear to this blonde that something was awfully fishy. In fact, if the US wanted Saddam dead, why not hire a hitman to take him out? Why bomb the shit out of the country? If journalists were able to interview Saddam before the war, it would have been possible for al CIAda to send in a journo-hitman. I do not condone hitmen, by the way... I just hope that someday another country doesn't feel it's necessary to bomb the hell out of our country to get at our leaders... you know how things tend to turn around and bite you in the ass.
UN halts aid to Myanmar after junta seizes supplies YANGON, Myanmar - A U.N. official says the World Food Program is suspending cyclone aid to Myanmar because its government seized supplies flown into the country. He says the WFP has no choice but to suspend the shipments until the matter is resolved. continued
Sources say over 200,000 people have died or are dying. The figure could rise to 500,00 through disease and hunger if their government continues to block aid to the country. from The Sun
Do you think that a Democrat has a chance in hell of winning the election come November? It seems to me sometimes that we ought to just write them off and expect four more wars, no jobs, an economic collapse and food shortages, not mention more deregulation and less democracy.
Does anyone believe that Obama can beat McCain? I do, but from what I've seen on television and read in the news, it looks bleak and I suspect that the sheeple are not so sure that Obama stands a chance. Now Hillary has come out saying that she has the support of white people and will continue to fight for the nomination. Way to turn this into a fight. I'm weary of it all.
I'm not sure when we will reach the bottom of the well of Florida "Teh Stoopid Burns" stories, but here is yet another one.
This man was fired from being a substitute teacher in Land o' Lakes, Florida because he performed a sleight of hand trick and made a toothpick disappear. Whereupon, he was called into the principal's office and fired for being a "wizard".
Maybe he's Harry Potter all grown up?
I don't particularly like picking on Florida. I spent most of my Wonder Bread years there, and remember it fondly. During my time there, I don't recall the place being the frank embarassment it since has become. I promise to stop doing Stoopid Florida posts when, well, Florida stops doing stuff worthy of Stoopid Florida posts.
Although the Lorain, Ohio mom is not a virgin, Jesus was discovered in her womb via ultrasound. The mom believes she saw Jesus on a cross in her womb, however he appears to be clothed with his arms outstretched.
But where's the baby? Is that the little blob on the left?
Cherchez la femme:"look for the woman" -- said humorously to suggest that a woman may be the cause of a problem or puzzle
The literal translation from the French is "look for the woman". It is used when a man behaves unusually or gets into a quarrel or other difficulty and the reason for it is sought.
Origin
'Look for the woman' express the idea that behind a problem in question there is a woman. That isn't to say that the woman herself was necessarily the direct cause of the problem, as in Shakespeare's Macbeth for instance, but that a man has behaved stupidly or out of character in order to impress a woman or gain her favour.
The expression was coined by Alexandre Dumas (père) in Le Monte-Cristo, 1857:
"Vous connaissez sa maxime, lorsqu'il veut découvrir un secret quelconque: cherchez la femme; dans ce cas la femme n'a pas été difficile à trouver."
(You know his maxim, when he wants to discover an unspecified secrecy: seek the woman; in this case the woman was not difficult to find.)
The phrase was adopted into English use and crossed the Atlantic by 1909. It was well enough known there by that date for O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) to use it as the title of a story - Cherchez La Femme, which includes this line:
"Ah! yes, I know most time when those men lose money you say 'Cherchez la femme' - there is somewhere the woman."
A few somethings to help the world go away...at least for a little while.
Kick out the grand kids; lock the door; light the candles; grab two chilled glasses of wine; turn down the lights; the two of you get comfy on the couch;and pretend it's long ago.
When You Wish Upon a Star - Cliff Edwards
To the Aisle/In the Still of the Night - Five Satins
Democratic senators called this “unacceptable” and argued “states and local communitiesshouldn’t have to bear the expense of cleansing their drinking water or the risk of not doing so.” Perchlorate interferes with thyroid function and poses developmental health risks, particularly to fetuses. In addition, the toxic chemical has also been found in lettuce and other foods. It is reported that 81 percent of perchlorate intake by infants comes from baby foods and dairy foods.
At a Senator hearing yesterday, Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., Chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, “chided” Benjamin Grumbles, Assistant Administrator for Water at the Environmental Protection Agency, saying
“EPA is trying to shunt the scientists to the back, put the DOD contractors to the front.”
Grumbles told Boxer that “instead of a regulation, the EPA would issue a public health advisory.” Splendid! And what kind of “advisory” would that be? “Drink Contaminated Drinking Water at Your Own Risk”? Thanks a lot, EPA…
The good news is that Senator Boxer has introduced legislation that she plans to bring to a committee vote in June that would require the EPA to set a drinking water standard. Committee Republicans said Congress should stand back and let the EPA finish its work.
“We want to see action by the scientists. We want to see a standard set.”
Grumbles’ maintained that after years of study, the EPA has yet to determine whether actually regulating perchlorate in drinking water “would do much good.” In other words, the EPA can “regulate” contaminated water until the cows come home, which, unfortunately, does not address the real problem: the need to clean it up and prevent further contamination.
Clean up the water at what cost? All the more reason to get out of Iraq and route military spending back home. Or how about scotching plans for buying all of those flat screen tee-vees and instead pooling those tax rebate checks to the collective tune of Bush’s $170billioneconomic stimulus package?
Maybe this wouldn’t quite be the nation’s leading Retailer’s wet dream, but at least we could all rest a little easier knowing that when, as Tom Lehrer sings, “we turn on our tap,” we don’t get “hot and cold running crud.”
ICE raided Berkeley High School yesterday (maybe today?)
And they picked up a couple teens who work for the org I work for, last night from their home. Pissy neighbor tattled on the family, it looks like. The kids were released *this morning*.
Apparently, the teachers caught wind and told the students to leave if they're undocumented, to avoid being picked up. And students left and went directly home.
Everyone on Don Perata's list-serv got an email this morning:
I find yesterday's Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence at our schools reprehensible. The Bush Administration espouses the virtues of No Child Left Behind and yet they provide no funding. If the President wants to help our nation's children he should send funding - not federal agents to our schools.
It is clear that ICE raids jeopardize the stability of our communities and families. There should be an immediate freeze on ICE raids directed at school children while legislation aiming to fix immigration is considered.
Apparently this started yesterday when kids were pulled out of an elementary school in Oakland.
We're still trying to get details on the whole thing.
Okay, updates. I found the following link dealing w/ raids yesterday in this region. My source is holding fast that the agents went on the campus of the high school, so I'll keep looking.
We had this happen last year over in San Rafael. Entire neighborhoods shut down, because the agents were out there literally waiting to play gotcha. Geez.
"... Kyi Minn is health adviser for World Vision in Burma and he says that on top of the 22,000 the military regime has admitted have died, there are another 60,000 missing - presumed dead.
"ABC correspondent Peter Lloyd reports there are also indications that the massive aid effort is being hampered by a lack of organisation and infrastructure in Burma to distribute the urgently needed supplies. The storm happened at the weekend, but the military junta's slowness to let international aid agencies in has meant that many devastated areas have still seen no help."
"... It looks like the end of the world here," he shouted into the telephone when he finally got a call through to Singapore on Tuesday morning and could talk about the situation in Rangoon after Cyclone Nargis wreaked havoc on the city. "Everything is destroyed, we have no drinking water and nothing to eat. Tens of thousands must be dead. Hundreds of thousands are homeless."
"And what is the government doing in response?
"They're clearing the streets in the rich neighborhoods," the dissident said. Then the line went dead..."
"... The Burmese junta last night threw a roadblock in the path of the biggest regional rescue operation since the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, as the toll from Cyclone Nargis rose to 22,500 dead with a further 41,000 people missing.
The scale of the disaster in the military-ruled Southeast Asian nation had drawn a rare acceptance of outside help from the diplomatically isolated generals, who spurned such approaches after the 2004 tsunami that killed 220,000 people in the region.
But last night, Social Welfare Minister Maung Maung Swe said foreign aid teams wanting to enter the country to help with the relief effort would have to negotiate with the regime to be granted access. "For expert teams from overseas to come here, they have to negotiate with the Foreign Ministry and our senior authorities," he said in Rangoon... "
Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White - Perez Prado Orchestra-
We are swimming in floral beauty here on the east coast today. Heaven is here on earth for sure! ( My sincerest sympathy goes out to all of you allergy sufferers. I have a kid who's a walking zombie right about now.)
Better cut some big batches of lilacs before the rain comes.
get your rollerskates on Father Tyme (and Peter) .........here's another Perez Prado!!
TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when werode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking. As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank koolade made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because , WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were backwhen the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day.
And we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound, CD'sor Ipods, no cell phones!, no personal computers , no Internet or chat rooms....... WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned
HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
If YOU are one of them . . .CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.
And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!
Sometime in my life, I thought I had a handle on the meaning of the word "service." "It's the act of doing things for other people." Then I heard these terms which reference the word SERVICE:
Internal Revenue Service
Postal Service
Telephone Service
Civil Service
City & County Public Service
Customer Service
Service Stations
Then I became confused about the word "service." This is not what I thought "service" meant.
So today, I overheard two farmers talking, and one of them said he had hired a bull to "service" a few of his cows. BAM! It all came into perspective.
Now I understand what all those "service" agencies are doing to us. I hope you now are as enlightened as I am.
David Axelrod, Obama's top strategist, told reporters that he attributed Clinton's two point lead in Indiana to Rush Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos," where the conservative talk show host urged Republican listeners to vote for Clinton to prolong the Democratic nomination fight.
Indiana exit polls showed that four in ten Democrats who said they would vote for McCain over Clinton in a general election nonetheless voted for Clinton on Tuesday; however, just twelve percent who would vote for McCain over Obama voted for the Illinois senator.
Meanwhile Russert says we know who the Democratic nominee is now:
NBC’s Tim Russert, analyzing the results of Tuesday’s primaries, says that Sen. Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee in the 2008 run for the White House.
With networks calling North Carolina early for Obama and the Illinois senator keeping the Indiana race very close, Countdown’s Keith Olbermann asked Russert, “Did [the Democratic race] just end tonight?”
Russert replied, “We now know who the Democratic nominee is gonna be, and no one’s gonna dispute it,” before listing reasons why it would behoove Clinton to reconsider going forward with her campaign “hoping against all hope.”
What do you all think?
I was thinking that it is high time that most states actually had a say in who would be the nominee. Normally by the time we got to NY, the nomination was more or less secured by Iowa and New Hampshire voters. Now it would seem prudent to have similar primary standards in all states. For instance, where I live, you can only vote in the primary of your party. I had to switch to Democrat in order to vote this year. It is a hassle. In other states, you can cross over and attempt to sabotage the process if you listen to wacky radio hosts. It seems to me that it should be one way or the other.
Perhaps it's time to make fair the presidential election process. no?
Multinationals make billions in profit out of growing global food crisis
Speculators blamed for driving up price of basic foods as 100 million face severe hunger
Giant agribusinesses are enjoying soaring earnings and profits out of the world food crisis which is driving millions of people towards starvation, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. And speculation is helping to drive the prices of basic foodstuffs out of the reach of the hungry.
The prices of wheat, corn and rice have soared over the past year driving the world's poor – who already spend about 80 per cent of their income on food – into hunger and destitution.
The World Bank says that 100 million more people are facing severe hunger. Yet some of the world's richest food companies are making record profits. Monsanto last month reported that its net income for the three months up to the end of February this year had more than doubled over the same period in 2007, from $543m (£275m) to $1.12bn. Its profits increased from $1.44bn to $2.22bn.
Cargill's net earnings soared by 86 per cent from $553m to $1.030bn over the same three months. And Archer Daniels Midland, one of the world's largest agricultural processors of soy, corn and wheat, increased its net earnings by 42 per cent in the first three months of this year from $363m to $517m. The operating profit of its grains merchandising and handling operations jumped 16-fold from $21m to $341m.
Similarly, the Mosaic Company, one of the world's largest fertiliser companies, saw its income for the three months ending 29 February rise more than 12-fold, from $42.2m to $520.8m, on the back of a shortage of fertiliser. The prices of some kinds of fertiliser have more than tripled over the past year as demand has outstripped supply. As a result, plans to increase harvests in developing countries have been hit hard.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation reports that 37 developing countries are in urgent need of food. And food riots are breaking out across the globe from Bangladesh to Burkina Faso, from China to Cameroon, and from Uzbekistan to the United Arab Emirates.
Benedict Southworth, director of the World Development Movement, called the escalating earnings and profits "immoral" late last week. He said that the benefits of the food price increases were being kept by the big companies, and were not finding their way down to farmers in the developing world.
It was only 40 years ago that it was illegal in my state, Virginia, for a white man and a black woman to marry. In 1958, Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving drove north from their small Virginia town to marry in the District of Columbia. She was 17; he was 23. When they returned to Virginia, they were charged with miscegeny and run out of town on a rail. The ACLU took up their cause and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court. In 1967, a unanimous Supreme Court struck down anti-miscegeny laws nationwide.
Mildred Jeter Loving died yesterday in Virginia, never thinking she had accomplished much other than being able to marry the man she loved. How beautiful that their last name stands through history against hate.
According to SeattlePi.com, "The gas tax holiday proposed by Sens. John McCain and Hillary Clinton would save the typical Washington driver $28 this year but cost the state about $126 million in lost highway money and more than 4,300 highway-related jobs, according to a recent report."
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is chairwoman of the Senate Transportation Appropriations subcommittee and has endorsed Clinton. She doesn't support a federal gas tax suspension.
"She has a firsthand look at what's going on with our transportation systems, our roads and our bridges, and from her perspective, this is bad idea," said her spokeswoman, Alex Glass.
There's no guarantee that the plan would result in lower gas prices, but it would deteriorate highway funding, Glass said.
"The gas tax funds the Highway Trust Fund, and there are a number of critical infrastructure needs -- roads and bridges across the country -- that need to be maintained and repaired," she said. "We just can't afford to have crumbling infrastructure."
Indeed. Saving the average driver $28 this year, is not sound economics. Save me $2,800 or forget about the crappy Republican economics. We've seen many times what happens with our crumbling infrastructure when they try to cut corners on everything except what really matters. feh.
I think by this point most everyone's heard about plastics being a poor packaging choice for foods and beverages because of issues to do with polymer and plasticizer and chemical residue migration into the stuff we store.
Well, the feds have known for years anecdotally that the plasticizers in particular behave like endocrine disruptors. There's a whole class of chemicals, the phthalates, that are used in this capacity, and that migrate terribly and become stored in our tissues. And they tend to occur in personal care products that are fragranced, such as shampoos, liquid soaps, conditioners, lotions, mass-market perfumes... Diethyl phthalate in particular (DEP) is actually a carrier for aromatics. This is something I learned back when I was stirring pots of soap by hand, and scenting with synthetic fragrances (and wondering why I was getting headaches for the scent, but that's another topic). Long stupid story, but I accidentally ingested a trace amount of fragrance, looked up the MSDS in a panic, and found a shitload of articles about endocrine disruption.
Anyway, over in the EU, they know better. Sort of. They still allow the presence of DEP in personal care products and kind of disregard the science that points to them being problematic. But they quit using phthalates as plasticizers in children's toys awhile back. Like that PVC toy is innocuous without the added endocrine disruptor dreck (Jesus wept).
The one that's finally making the news here in a fashionably late to the party sorta way is bisphenol A.
We've been manufacturing food and beverage packaging with this dreck for ages. It's in baby bottles, the linings of cans, polycarbonate plastic water bottles. You know, yet another in our bevy of wonder plastics!
And it's toxic. And because our gov't turns the other way on this kind of thing, they're still in denial and really hoping that people will shut up about it, like they'd really love for us to shut the hell up about mercury in canned tuna so that BumbleBee and Starkist and whoever the hell can continue to make piles of money.
I've heard this is directed by Robert Altman but can't seem to find any info on that on the internets...can anyone confirm?
UPDATE: Bob Orlowsky of the Scopitone Archive has the scoop (of course): "Hey Spike, I saw your question about Altman and Bittersweet Samba. If you do a Google search for Altman Color-Sonics Fortier, you'll find a PDF file from a college film seminar on Altman, which has an interview with Altman that includes a brief reference to a film that is clearly Bittersweet Samba:
"Q: While you were waiting for your break into features, you made some comic short films, three of which you’ve occasionally allowed people to see: The Kathryn Reed Story, a birthday present for your wife; The Party, with Robert Fortier as a hapless guest at a very 1960s party, one of a projected series of juke-box movies called ColorSonics; and Pot au feu, a parody of a TV cookery programme explaining the recipe for a perfect marijuana joint.
A: I did those just for myself. They were unfinanced, just bringing together a few friends, borrowing a camera, and so on. But because of one of those films I got hired to do M*A*S*H: Ingo Preminger looked at Pot au feu and loved it, so it served its purpose."
I always find it interesting to read aljazeera.com
From Will Iran become Bush's next target?: With John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, gaining popularity as a result of the ongoing conflict between Senators Barack Obama and Hillary R. Clinton, the Bush administration is finding itself in a more comfortable position for waging war against Iran, for it no longer has to worry about an electoral backlash in November or a future administration that would be unwilling to continue in its footsteps.
Iran's recent announcement of the addition of 6000 new centrifuges to its current capacity, and such stage-setting statements as those recently made by the U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and General David Petraeus, the supreme U.S. commander in Iraq, in which Iran has been more seriously implicated in the ongoing violence in Iraq, must also be taken into consideration when assessing the probability of potential U.S. strikes against Iran.
Having said that, it is worth taking into account that the mere thought of a Democratic presidential victory in November would perhaps provide the Bush administration with even more of an incentive to wage a "pre-emptive" war against Iran while the opportunity still exists, so as to deprive the Islamic Republic of the chance to strike a "grand bargain" with the next administration, [comment: sound familiar?] which, according to Bush and the neoconservative circle around him, would compromise Israeli and U.S. interests in the region.
Every week on Thursday, the Washington Post has an Extras insert for the various suburban areas. Mine is the Arlington-Alexandria Weekly. (I don't get the WaPo in print anymore, but I do read it on-line.) The Weekly section catches you up on the doings like local home sales, acts playing at the Birchmere, community services events, and (my fav) Animal Watch from the local animal shelters.
Last week, I found this little gem:
A Case of Mistaken Identity
EISENHOWER AVENUE, 4100 block, April 2. A couple brought a stray puppy to the shelter that they had been caring for that day. They said it was friendly and somewhat reserved. When the shelter staff saw the animal, they knew it was a young red fox, not a canine. The couple were surprised that they had found a wild animal. The fox was sent to a wildlife rehabilitator.
From Global Famine, by Michael Chossudovsky: Famine is the result of a process of "free market" restructuring of the global economy which has its roots in the debt crisis of the early 1980s. It is not a recent phenomenon as suggested by several Western media reports. The latter narrowly focus on short-term supply and demand for agricultural staples, while obfuscating the broader structural causes of global famine.
Poverty and chronic undernourishment is a pre-existing condition. The recent hikes in food prices have contributed to exacerbating and aggravating the food crisis. The price hikes are hitting an impoverished population, which has barely the means to survive.
...
With large sectors of the World population already well below the poverty line, the short-term hike in the prices of food staples is devastating. Millions of people around the World are unable to purchase food for their survival
These hikes are contributing in a very real sense to "eliminating the poor" through "starvation deaths". In the words of Henry Kissinger: "Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control the people."
In this regard, Kissinger had intimated in the context of the 1974 National Security Study Memorandum 200: Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests" that the recurrence of famines could constitute a de facto instrument of population control.
According to the FAO, the price of grain staples has increased by 88% since March 2007. The price of wheat has increased by 181% over a three year period. The price of rice has increased by 50% over the last three months
I can't believe I am even writing a post about world famine at the same time I feel like a stuffed pig. I attended a wedding for a very under-deprived young couple last night- Mr and Mrs 'Have.' It was one of those quarter of a million dollar weddings that featured exquisite food and set on a beach with a tropical tiki theme. Every morsel was so delicious that it was rather hard to know when to stop and give your stomach a rest before the next course. The food spread out for 400 people last night could have fed a small country. Seriously. $200/plate to boot. I need to lose weight. I shouldn't have been there.
Speculative Surge in Grain Prices
The media has casually misled public opinion on the causes of these price hikes, focusing almost exclusively on issues of costs of production, climate and other factors which result in reduced supply and which might contribute to boosting the price of food staples. While these factors may come into play, they are of limited relevance in explaining the impressive and dramatic surge in commodity prices.
Spiraling food prices are in large part the result of market manipulation. They are largely attributable to speculative trade on the commodity markets. Grain prices are boosted artificially by large scale speculative operations on the New York and Chicago mercantile exchanges. It is worth noting that in 2007, the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), merged with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), forming the largest Worldwide entity dealing in commodity trade including a wide range of speculative instruments (options, options on futures, index funds, etc).
Speculative trade in wheat, rice or corn, can occur without the occurrence of real commodity transactions. The institutions speculating in the grain market are not necessarily involved in the actual selling or delivery of grain.
The transactions may use commodity index funds which are bets on the general upward or downward movement of commodity prices. A "put option" is a bet that the price will go down, a "call option" is a bet that the price will go up. Through concerted manipulation, institutional traders and financial institutions make the price go up and then place their bets on an upward movement in the price of a particular commodity.
Speculation generates market volatility. In turn, the resulting instability encourages further speculative activity.
Profits are made when the price goes up. Conversely, if the speculator is short-selling the market, money will be made when the price collapses.
This recent speculative surge in food prices has been conducive to a Worldwide process of famine formation on an unprecedented scale.
The Absence of Regulatory Measures Triggers Famine
These speculative operations do not purposely trigger famine.
What triggers famine is the absence of regulatory procedures pertaining to speculative trade (options, options on futures, commodity index funds). In the present context, a freeze of speculative trade in food staples, taken as a political decision, would immediately contribute to lower food prices.
Nothing prevents these transactions from being neutralized and defused through a set of carefully devised regulatory measures.
It's become quite clear that deregulation in just about every area of existence has created havoc somewhere else. This "every man for himself" attitude cannot work for much longer... except if you're filthy rich. This era would be another sad chapter in world history except for the fact that even the media is deregulated and makes you wonder what will even make it to the history books.
