For my final post today, Halloween, I give you a video about a professional pumpkin carver:

The most recent international report on climate change may tragically underestimate the consequences of global warming:

This video had me ROTFLMAO!

First the sub-prime home loan market crashed; is the credit card industry next in line? Excerpt:

....The doomsday scenario would play out something like this: Just like CDOs and other asset-backed securities, credit card debt is sliced, diced, and sold off again as packages of securities. Rising delinquencies would hurt not only the banks involved but the securities backed by the credit card receivables. Those securities would decline in value as consumers defaulted, leading to bank losses as well as portfolio losses in the hedge funds, institutions, and pensions that own the securities. If the damage is widespread enough, it could wreak havoc on the economy much as the subprime crisis has done....

Part of Edward's Speech

It's time to tell the truth. And the truth is the system in Washington is corrupt. It is rigged by the powerful special interests to benefit they very few at the expense of the many. And as a result, the American people have lost faith in our broken system in Washington, and believe it no longer works for ordinary Americans. They're right. As I look across the political landscape of both parties today -- what I see are politicians too afraid to tell the truth -- good people caught in a bad system that overwhelms their good intentions and requires them to chase millions of dollars in campaign contributions in order to perpetuate their careers and continue their climb to higher office. This presidential campaign is a perfect example of how our politics is awash with money. I have raised more money up to this point than any Democratic candidate raised last time in the presidential campaign -- $30 million. And, I did it without taking a dime from any Washington lobbyist or any special interest PAC. I saw the chase for campaign money at any cost by the frontrunner in this race -- and I did not join it -- because the cost to our nation and our children is not worth the hollow victory of any candidate. Being called president while powerful interests really run things is not the same as being free to lead this nation as president of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

More of the Same Bullshit from bu$h

Larry Scott, at VA Watchdog dot Org, tells it like it is on recently nominated Veteran Administration Secretary, Dr. James Peake.

GOOD OL' BOY NETWORK IN FULL PLAY AS DR. JAMES PEAKE IS NOMINATED AS VA SECRETARY -- Peake is now chief medical director and chief operating officer of QTC Management Inc., which provides VA C&P examination services. Former VA Secretary Anthony Principi is Chairman of the QTC board. This is exactly what veterans DON'T need! A few minutes after this posting...President Bush will nominate Dr. James Peake as VA Secretary. Peake ran the Army's failed healthcare system. Now, he is an executive with QTC, the company headed by former VA Secretary Anthony Principi. QTC, after Principi resigned, received a VA contract for C&P exams that will be worth over a billion dollars. For more about QTC, use the VA Watchdog search engine... click here... Peake has been part of the problem at the highest levels while serving as Surgeon General of the Army. This is just another "pat on the ass" for another good ol' boy. Veterans lose all the way around with this nomination. We have a brief AP news story and a press release from Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), Member of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Following that is Peake's bio provided by QTC. Story here...

How do I feel? Yes, I'm pissed off! Not only for me, who relies on the VA system of healthcare but for all the returning Veterans who will desperately need the best care. The truth indeed hurts... it's more of the same bullshit from the bu$h administration! Another penny pinching, crony appointed... veteran's get the shaft... what's new! I'm sure we can expect this screwball to try and privatize the V.A. even more.
It was a bit much to expect different!

"October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February." - - - Mark Twain

Check out these cool pumpkin carvings. Here's an example:

The Arctic Melting

Time elapsed from NASA, from Andrew Sullivan.

Here are directions and details about the march/rally in Los Angeles.

This is one of those well-written pieces that fall under "required reading" (excerpt):

"....Congress passes laws forbidding torture; Bush and Cheney ignore them. Congress issues subpoenas and demands documents for its corruption probes; Bush and Cheney ignore them. Bush's "signing statements" explicitly state that he will follow only those parts of the law that suit him. Congress could vote tomorrow that Iran cannot be attacked without a formal declaration of war, and Bush would attack whenever he chooses anyway, calling it an extension of the congressionally authorized action in Iraq, a "defensive" action to protect the troops. Congress can pass any law it wants, but if you have an executive branch that considers itself above the law -- as this one demonstrably does -- then it doesn't matter. As long as Bush and Cheney remain in power, their criminal enterprise will go on. "Thus impeachment is not a "distraction" from efforts to end the war in Iraq, or stop a new war with Iran, or quell the vast and sickening corruption of the regime. It is their prerequisite. And even if impeachment is "politically impossible in the present circumstances," as Bush enablers like the pusillanimous Nancy Pelosi likes to tell us, it should be shoved to the forefront of national debate nonetheless. Let us have a "constitutional crisis;" let us bring our festering sickness to a boil. Let's lay it all out, and let people declare once and for all where they stand. Are you for the republic, or do you hold with tyranny, torture and mass murder? Let's draw the line at last, and be done with all pretense...."

FRIDAY F U N

• Halloween Hangman (game found by 7 of 6)
  
• Proof that pigs can get excited
• The internet has crashed and all data is lost (video)
• If you're a Pablo Picasso fan, here's the "official" website that looks like it was HTML-coded by him.
  
• Poorly placed ads
  
• A nice, full-throttled, evil laugh for Halloween (a little slow-loading)
  
• Is it Christmas yet?
• Some very creative alarm clocks (scroll down)
• Dozens of games that test your general knowledge
  
• 50 Greatest One-hit wonders
• The best and worst logo remakes of the century

And now, for your listening pleasure, here's a cut from Matthew Gair's newest, "And She Whispered I Told You So":

Bits and Pieces for the Week of October 21 - 27

Faux foe: FEMA holds a press conference (on the Calif. Fires) with itself! (Mike)

Advice for blacks: Just don't buy a home in a disaster-prone area. (Mike)

Hey, it's National Magic Week! (Mike)

The defecation has hit the rotating device on the Turkish and Northern (Kurdish area) Iraqi border. (7 of 6)

Ecuador demands fair play: If U.S. wants to keep its military base in Ecuador, then Ecuador wants a base in Florida. (Mike)

Hillary says something to which I would like to hear every candidate for U.S. President agree. (Mike)

"A new report by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reveals that student loan defaults are a far larger problem for some groups—particularly students of color and those who leave college with a lot of debt." (Mike)

Before moving to AZ, I lived in CO for 14 years. Following the Colorado Rockies since they became an expansion team has made me a huge Rockies fan. I dislike huge salaries paid to win championship after championship and to compete against the Yankees. So in this World Series between the Rockies and Red Sox I'll be rooting for my team, the 2 - 1 underdog Colorado Rockies. Winners of 21 of their last 22 games, and 2 of 3 in Boston this year. (7 of 6)

Iraqi leaders may ask U.N. to restrict U.S. military. It's pretty f*cking bad when the inept Iraqi government has to try and do the job that the Democrats will not do! (7 of 6)

"The truth is, I never thought I'd be running for President on a platform of restoring the Constitution and America's standing in the world or something as elementary as honoring the oath of office we take." - - - Senator Chris Dodd (Mike)

Knowledge News has a great background summary of the developing and dangerous Kurdish/Turkish situation in Northern Iraq. (Mike)

Here's a special Google Map that shows locations and summaries of current brush fires in So. Cal. (Mike)

How cool! New 3-D petri dishes for tissue growth in science research. (7 of 6)

When I lived in Colorado I always heard of State employees getting the best ballgame tickets and hunting tags. Now I realize how this could happen. "Super-fast computers normally used only during emergencies were to be staffed Monday so state employees could buy Rockies World Series tickets online." Get in line like everyone else, boneheads! (7 of 6)

Sometimes is seems like only Code Pink is bothering to do anything about drawing attention to our government's evil ways:

"So I think America should never be for torture. America should be against torture. It violates the Geneva Convention. Certainly when we’re dealing with armed combatants, we shouldn’t get near anything like that. There is a distinction, sometimes, when you’re dealing with terrorists. You may have to use means that are a little tougher. And I see, when the Democrats are talking about torture, they’re not just talking about even this definition of waterboarding, which again, if you look at the liberal media and you look at the way they describe it, you could say it was torture and you shouldn’t do it. But they talk about sleep deprivation. I mean, on that theory, I’m getting tortured running for president of the United States. That’s plain silly. That’s silly." - - - Rudolph W. Giuliani

When I start complaining about some of the Democratic candidates for '08, I should get in the habit of reminding myself just how warped and immoral the field of Republican candidates can be.

Here's something that you can do, that only takes a couple of minutes:

Dear Friend, I just signed this letter asking Harry Reid to oppose immunity for companies that break the law. The ACLU, Moveon.org, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Working Assets Wireless, and many prominant bloggers have signed this letter. Enough is enough. The law is the law, for big companies and for individuals alike. Join us. Read the letter and sign up here: http://www.noretroactiveimmunity.com Thanks!

More from Riverbend

Here's a small excerpt from Riverbend's latest post at Baghdad Burning:

...I had resigned myself to the fact that we were refugees. I read about refugees on the Internet daily… in the newspapers… hear about them on TV. I hear about the estimated 1.5 million plus Iraqi refugees in Syria and shake my head, never really considering myself or my family as one of them. After all, refugees are people who sleep in tents and have no potable water or plumbing, right? Refugees carry their belongings in bags instead of suitcases and they don’t have cell phones or Internet access, right? Grasping my passport in my hand like my life depended on it, with two extra months in Syria stamped inside, it hit me how wrong I was. We were all refugees. I was suddenly a number. No matter how wealthy or educated or comfortable, a refugee is a refugee. A refugee is someone who isn’t really welcome in any country- including their own... especially their own... I cried that night because for the first time in a long time, so far away from home, I felt the unity that had been stolen from us in 2003.

A message from Robert Greenwald regarding this weekend's war protests:

Dear activists, colleagues and friends, It has been over 4 and a half years since the invasion of Iraq. 3,835 U.S. soldiers and over 1 million Iraqi citizens have lost their lives. U.S. taxpayers have spent over $600 billion on this war with no end in sight. This Saturday, October 27th, you can take a stand. United for Peace and Justice is coordinating over 150 peace groups across the country for demonstrations in 11 cities. Boston, Chicago, Jonesborough Tennessee, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and Seattle. There are also events in Fairbanks, Tucson, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Denver, Kapaa Hawaii, Des Moines, Smithfield NC, and Oklahoma City. We made a video to help get the word out. Watch it here and recruit your friends to come: bravenewfilms.org Please come! Four years ago this month we documented the lies that led us into this war in "Uncovered: The War on Iraq," and last year we took on the mercenaries, cost-plus contracts, Blackwater and Halliburton in "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers." Both of these stories are now widely known in the broader media thanks to your efforts in screening the films and organizing with them. This new video is about getting people into the streets and DOING SOMETHING. See you on Saturday! Robert Greenwald, Jim Miller, and the Brave New Foundation team P.S. Click that forward button!

SDCA vs NOLA

Why San Diego and New Orleans differ:

"Actually, just look at what Osam -- Barack Obama -- said just yesterday. Barack Obama, calling on radicals, jihadists of all different types, to come together in Iraq. That is the battlefield... It's almost as if the Democratic contenders for president are living in fantasyland. Their idea for jihad is to retreat, and their idea for the economy is to also retreat. And in my view, both efforts are wrongheaded." - - - Mitt Romney

I would never hesitate voting for this stellar Senator:

In response to Bush's bold reference last week to Iran and World War III, Scott Ritter wrote an excellent analysis of the Administration's current and dangerous state of mind (excerpt):

....With the Department of State and the Pentagon now considered unfriendly ground by the remaining hard-core neoconservative thinkers still in power, policy formulation is more and more concentrated in the person of Vice President Cheney and the constitutionally nebulous “Office of the Vice President.” Cheney and his cohorts have constructed a never-never land of oversight deniability, claiming immunity from both executive and legislative checks and balances. With an unchallenged ability to classify anything and everything as secret, and then claim that there is no authority inherent in government to oversee that which has been thus classified, the Office of the Vice President has transformed itself into a free republic’s worst nightmare, assuming Caesar-like dictatorial authority over almost every aspect of American national security policy at home and abroad. From torture to illegal wiretapping, to arms control (or lack of it) to Iran, Dick Cheney is the undisputed center of policy power in America today. While there are some who will claim that in this time of post-9/11 crisis such a process of bureaucratic streamlining is essential for the common good, the reality is far different. It is said that absolute power corrupts absolutely, and this has never been truer than in the case of Cheney. What Cheney is doing behind his shield of secrecy can be simply defined: planning and implementing a preemptive war of aggression. During the Nuremberg tribunal in the aftermath of World War II, the chief American prosecutor, Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, stated, “To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.” Today, we have a vice president who articulates publicly about global conflict, and who speaks in not-so-veiled language about a looming Armageddon. If there is such a future for America and the world, let one thing be certain; World War III, as postulated by Dick Cheney, would be an elective war, and not a conflict of tragic necessity. This makes the crime even greater. Sadly, Judge Jackson’s words are but an empty shell. The global community lacks a legally binding definition of what constitutes a war of aggression, or even an act of aggression. But that isn’t the point. America should never find itself in a position where it is being judged by the global community regarding the legality of its actions. Judge Jackson established a precedent of jurisprudence concerning aggression based upon American principles and values, something the international community endorsed. The fact that current American indifference to the rule of law prevents the international community from certifying a definition of criminality when it comes to aggression, whether it be parsed as “war” or simply an “act,” does not change the fact that the Bush administration, in the person of Dick Cheney, is actively engaged in the committing of the “supreme [war] crime,” which makes Cheney the supreme war criminal. If the world is not empowered to judge him as such, then let the mantle of judgment fall to the American people. Through their elected representatives in Congress, they should not only bring this reign of unrestrained abuse of power to an end, but ensure that such abuse never again is attempted by an American official by holding to account, to the full extent of the law, those who have trampled on the Constitution of the United States and the ideals and principles it enshrines....

Please take a few minutes and read the entire piece.

Chris Floyd summarizes the success utter failure of the Democrats in D.C. since the 2006 election (excerpt):

"....So this is where we've come to, one year after the people spoke at the ballot box, fighting through government propaganda, media distortions, pundit scorn, terrorist scares -- and the Karl Rove vote-skewing, vote-suppressing, vote-stealing machine -- to deliver a strong call for a new direction, for an end to war and torture and tyranny and corruption and lies. They believed -- perhaps for the last time -- that their vote might make a difference, that the "consent of the governed" might still retain some meaning. "So they turned to the only serious alternative the system provided: the Democrats. And this is what they got: more war, more torture, more tyranny, more corruption, more lies. "What should the people believe now? What should they hope for from the system now? And what new nightmares await them in the second year of this perverse union between a power-drunk president and a cowardly, corrupted, complicit "opposition"?

A Victory for Sanity

Well it seems that a little sanity has returned to Maricopa County.

I wrote about it in Bits and Pieces: A police state in the county I live in! "The leaders of an alternative newspaper chain were arrested after running a story about grand jury subpoenas they received seeking reporters' notes and information on who visits their Phoenix weekly's Web site." More at DKos by artmartin, Breathtaking Abuse of the Constitution in Arizona. Lucky for me my next door neighbor is a Deputy who works for Sheriff Joe... or maybe not?

What a sordid tale of local politics that made national headlines, had everyone in Maricopa County livid and was blasted all over the blogs. Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and their friend, special prosecutor Dennis Wilenchik will think twice now when it comes to violating people's rights.
Everyone knows about "Sheriff Joe" and his claim of being the toughest Sheriff in America. But what they don't know is that he rules with an iron fist, bullies investigating reporters, intimidates everyone who stands in his way and thinks he is above the law.
What does "Sheriff Joe" say about all this, "I'm the victim".
If it sounds familiar, it is, he's a Republi-con.

County Attorney Andrew Thomas announced that all charges against the 'New Times' were to be dropped and that the case had been seriously mishandled.

A criminal case against Phoenix New Times fell apart Friday amid a crush of public outrage and admissions that a special county prosecutor made serious mistakes. Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas dismissed all charges against the free weekly newspaper less than 24 hours after two New Times owners were arrested for publishing details of a grand-jury subpoena that demanded the Internet records of any person who had visited the newspaper's Web site since 2004. Thomas' announcement came just hours after the State Bar Association confirmed that it had received multiple complaints and had launched an internal investigation into Thomas and special prosecutor Dennis Wilenchik for their actions in the New Times case and an unrelated one. Thomas, who looked contrite and atypically uncomfortable as he faced cameras in a news conference, said he had no prior knowledge of the arrests or the demands set forth in the subpoena that his office sought. "It has become clear to me that this investigation has gone in a direction that I would not have authorized," Thomas said, adding that he holds the First Amendment in great esteem and that it needs to be upheld. "There have been serious missteps in this matter," he said. "I am announcing that Mr. Wilenchik will no longer serve as special prosecutor." The mea culpa was a gigantic victory for New Times, which for three years has battled the County Attorney's Office over charges that reporters and editors broke the law when they published online the home address of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. "This really is a win for the Constitution," said Michael Lacey, executive editor of Village Voice Media, which owns Phoenix New Times and several other papers across the country. He also said it was a victory for readers, who won "the right to read whatever they want without government interference." On Thursday night, Lacey and New Times owner Jim Larkin were arrested on charges that they broke the law by publishing details of the subpoena in Thursday's paper. Lacey and Larkin acknowledged in their cover story that they risked prosecution but said the issues were too important to keep from the public. The two said the subpoena was part of an investigation orchestrated to get back at reporters and the critical stories they wrote about Arpaio, Thomas' political ally. Public backlash over the arrests and the subpoena was immediate and overwhelming Friday, with conservatives and liberals saying Thomas had made an assault on free speech. "There is only one place for friends of freedom to stand at this moment: shoulder to shoulder with the New Times," the conservative Goldwater Institute wrote in defense of the alternative newspaper. The case, which has cost taxpayers undisclosed thousands of dollars, dragged on for years. It started when New Times launched an investigation of Arpaio's real-estate holdings in 2004. The story alleged the sheriff abused a law that allows peace officers to keep their addresses from being made public. It said Arpaio used the law to hide nearly $1 million in cash real-estate transactions while leaving his actual home address on public rolls. Thomas said Friday that he still believes New Times committed a crime by publishing Arpaio's home address. "It was inappropriate. It was wrong. It was arguably illegal," Thomas said. After Thomas dropped the case, Arpaio simply said, "I'm the victim." He declined further comment. Sheriff's spokesman Capt. Paul Chagolla said, "From the beginning, the behavior and activity that the New Times engaged in victimized the sheriff and his spouse. To this day, they're still victims and still being victimized." Because of Thomas' contentious relationship with New Times, which has repeatedly criticized his office, Thomas turned the case over to the Pinal County Attorney's Office for prosecution in 2004. The case was returned after two years of inaction. To avoid a conflict of interest, Thomas selected Wilenchik to act as a special prosecutor and continue the investigation. Wilenchik is a private Phoenix attorney for whom Thomas worked before taking office in 2004. Since then, Thomas has often hired Wilenchik as a contract attorney for the county and appointed him as Arpaio's exclusive attorney. Maricopa County has paid Wilenchik's firm $1.9 million since May 2005, county records show. Thomas said Friday that because of Wilenchik's "missteps" in the New Times case, he will no longer be used for criminal prosecutions. Those missteps include the decision to make arrests and the subpoena, which demanded years of reporter and editor notes on several stories and records involving the Internet habits of every visitor to the New Times Web site in three years. Thomas, however, defended Wilenchik as a good attorney. He said Wilenchik could still be used in civil cases and his firm will remain on a list of outside attorneys used by the county. But Wilenchik and Thomas are now the subjects of legal and ethical complaints with the State Bar of Arizona. The Bar, which has oversight of Arizona attorneys, can revoke a lawyer's license to practice law if it finds evidence of wrongdoing. Arizona State Bar President Daniel McAuliffe confirmed Friday that his office has received multiple complaints against the two. The Bar has also launched its own internal investigation into a campaign that Thomas and Wilenchik launched against Maricopa Superior Court judges, which led to an unprecedented request that all 93 judges in Maricopa County be replaced by judges from other counties. Wilenchik and Thomas contend judges are mishandling cases involving illegal immigrants and accused the court's assistant presiding criminal judge, Timothy Ryan, of bias. Thomas' motions to dismiss Ryan and other judges were denied. Bar complaints have also been filed against Wilenchik in the New Times case, alleging that he violated ethical rules by enlisting a political operative to broker a private and inappropriate meeting with Superior Court presiding Judge Anna Baca, who has oversight of the grand jury. At his news conference Friday, Thomas denied any ethical violations and accused the state Bar of engaging in rumor-mill behavior that he called disgraceful. "What they have done is they have attempted to smear me and this office for speaking out and criticizing judges who have been issuing rulings that, in my honest opinion as a prosecutor, endanger public safety," Thomas said. But Thomas hasn't been scoring a lot of points with the public. Newspaper Web sites experienced a crush of e-mails, message board postings and blogs ranting against his office's actions in the New Times case. The Attorney's Office was also vilified by civil-rights and journalism organizations, which described the arrests and the subpoena as an abuse of power. "This is the type of action that should bring everyone, Democrats, Republicans, conservatives and liberals together," Arizona Republic reader and Thomas supporter Bob Haran wrote on the The Republic Web site. "This attack on freedom of the press must end immediately, if not every freedom- loving American in Maricopa County must help fight to preserve a free press by organizing a recall of Thomas and Arpaio for abuse of power and malicious prosecution."

Go here for more, local TV interviews.

Amid all the Sheriff Joe intimidation and his cozy relationship with Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, there exists the relationship between Thomas and Special Prosecutor Dennis Wilenchik.
Thomas couldn't pursue the case against the 'New Times' editors without there being "a conflict of interest". So he appoints a Special Prosecutor in the case, Dennis Wilenchik, his former boss. Then he fires him?

Thomas went from trying his best not to make this look political in appearance to doing the exact opposite.

And I only thought the bu$h administration could screw something like this up.
This is the trickle down effect when the leaders of our country act in a lawless manner.

Judi Villa of The Arizona Republic does a great job in her article.

Thomas said he brought in Dennis Wilenchik as a special prosecutor to head up the New Times investigation given that the alternative weekly paper has "not been, let's say, a fan of mine." He also said he thought "there could be an appearance of conflict of interest" for his office to prosecute the paper. The New Times and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio have a contentious relationship that worsened after the paper published the sheriff's home address in 2004. The criminal investigation initially was handed off to the Pinal County Attorney's Office. Thomas said Pinal County prosecutors did not act on the case for two years, so he took it back and turned it over to Wilenchik. Wilenchik is Thomas' former boss, and his firm has reaped $1.9 million since May 2005 for work done on behalf of the County Attorney's Office... ...Rick Romley, who served as Maricopa County Attorney before Thomas, said that "arguably, he (Thomas) shouldn't know" about details of the special prosecutor's work. "If it's a conflict of interest, that's how it should work," Romley said. "He should not know." Still, Romley said, it doesn't make sense that Thomas could fire Wilenchik if he was an independent prosecutor. "This was either one of the worst handled matters in years that I've seen, or there was something purposeful about it. I don't know which one," Romley said. "Nothing makes sense to me in this matter. "If Andrew Thomas said he had a conflict of interest, he should not have been able to fire him. If it was not a conflict of interest, shame on him for not keeping a better handle on things."

Bits and Pieces for the Week of October 14 - 20

Some sorely needed amendments to the U.S. Constitution (Mike)

A police state in the county I live in! "The leaders of an alternative newspaper chain were arrested after running a story about grand jury subpoenas they received seeking reporters' notes and information on who visits their Phoenix weekly's Web site." More at DKos by artmartin, Breathtaking Abuse of the Constitution in Arizona. Lucky for me my next door neighbor is a Deputy who works for Sheriff Joe... or maybe not? (7 of 6)

154 Republican congressmen hate the children whom they represent. (Mike)

California tries shaming income tax scofflaws into paying up by publicly listing them on the web. (Mike)

Turkey wants to start a "new front in the Iraq War". The Turks have had a long hatred of the Kurds. The Kurds are an ancient culture and have never (peacefully) had their own state. The Turks would like nothing better than to keep 25 million Kurds oppressed, with no autonomy. The Turks have 10 million Kurds living in Turkey. Do the Turks really think that pursuing Kurdish rebels in Iraq will stop them from wanting what they have never had? Time for the Turks to lay off! (7 of 6)

MSNBC presents: Vital Signs of a Warming World. My 11 year old showed it to me. I see his response and feel hope for the future. (7 of 6)

Let's check in and see, after five years, how well Bush/Cheney have improved conditions in Southern Iraq. (Mike)

This makes you yearn for the simpler, immoral days of Terri Schiavo: Michelle Malkin couldn't successfully attack a 12-year-old, so she's changed her target to a two-year-old. It's amazing how the right wing cave-dwellers keep redefining "how low can we go". Next thing you know, they'll be attacking gays, atheists and Muslims. Oh wait.... (Mike)

How many times can you vote in Texas? (7 of 6)

Stephen Colbert thinks he can write a NY Times op/ed column. (Mike)

A while back I predicted that Kobe Bryant would be traded to the Chicago Bulls. Today I reaffirm that prediction. (Mike)

Chumly at DKos, does a great job on those GOP pundits who hate the fact "that Al Gore winning a Nobel Prize puts him in the deserved company of rogues, creeps, and ne'er-do-wells of the highest order." You know, the same "creeps" in history like: Albert Schweitzer, Martin Luther King Jr., Elie Wiesel, Mother Teresa, Desmond Tutu, Shimon Peres, Lech Walesa, Nelson Mandela, the 14th Dalai Lama, and the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. (7 of 6)

Another sign of a declining U.S. economy: increased borrowing from 401K accounts. (Mike)

Another journalist murdered in Iraq (7 of 6)

Here is an excerpt from Al Gore’s Inaugural Address: January 20, 2009:

"....I have stood by in recent decades watching the unraveling of something beautiful, destroyed by the worst amongst us, acting for the basest of motives. America was never a perfect country, but we were a global model for many of our achievements, and we should have been, for we had truly achieved much. It was therefore with surprise and grief that I watched as we turned our forward motion into a backward regression, and one which went further than imaginable. At first I thought that the effort, awful as that was, was only to unravel the last decades of our national history, destroying the social safety net, the civil rights, women’s rights, environmental consciousness and labor peace we had built at such great cost and struggle. But then I saw that it went further, and there has also been a destruction of the principles of good governance we adopted a hundred years ago, returning our country to the cronyism and incompetence and government-for-hire of the nineteenth century. As time went on it was clear that the regression went even further back still, deeply assaulting the very notions of constitutional government, democracy and separation of church and state, and thus casting us back into the Dark Ages of monarchy, superstition and religious wars which our Founders so bravely fought to replace with something so much better. But even a regression of centuries does not do justice to the damage that has been done. As elemental foundations of Western Civilization such as the right to habeas corpus and limited governmental power have been unceremoniously shredded these last years, I have watched as we have stepped even further back in time, into the gray mists of eleventh century feudal England. Astonishingly, we have traveled backwards as a society this last generation, not just years or decades, and not even centuries, but rather a full millennium. "So many people have given so much - often including their lives - so that these liberties and achievements of a thousand years could be realized for the benefit of all of us. It is shameful enough that we have not sacrificed of ourselves to add to this exalted list. But it is infinitely worse still that we have unraveled the gifts given to us as such expense, foolishly neglecting their value. Let there be no mistake: An America with eleventh century values will not last long in the twenty-first century. History has been passing this great nation rapidly by these last decades, not least because of the speed at which we’ve been traveling in the other direction. I have many interests and passions as a person and as a president, but I can assure you that national suicide is not one of them. If there was a way that I could, I would say thank you today to every person who has ever sacrificed to make the lives of today’s generation safer, easier, happier and better. I cannot, but what I can do instead is to honor those contributions by leading this country in their preservation and their enhancement, adding our share to these great works for the benefit of those who come after us. The least we can do to preserve our great fortune as the inheritors of Magna Carta, the Constitution, the New Deal and more is to keep them intact. If we’re better than just that, we will also seek to deserve that good fortune as well, by adding our own contributions, borne of our own sacrifices...."

FRIDAY F U N

• If only we could be kids again.
  
• Turn yourself into a cartoon
• This site has lists of keyboard shortcuts for hundreds of programs, including Microsoft apps
• You too can give iPhone the finger
  
• Is the dancer turning clockwise or counter-clockwise?
• Accidents really do happen
• USB computer toys your boss would rather you not have
  
• Say hello to Futalognkosaurus dukei, our newest dinosaur.
  
• Verify that someone's email account actually exists (this is for real)
  
• Find rotten neighbors
• Tun3r is an online radio with a unique twist of the radio dial
• Not feeling paranoid enough? Here's 24 things which indicate that you might be really sick
  
• And finally, one of the most talented musicians of this generation:

Music Video:MOCKINGBIRD (by Eminem)

Music Video Code provided by VideoCodeZone.Com

When I (Mike) was just an early pubescent teen resigned to dreaming about and listening to the likes of Petula Clark and Dean Martin, I accidentally hit, while turning the radio dial, a station playing newly-released Whole Lotta Love. I had never heard anything even remotely as energetic and driving as this song and went through the single most significant personal transformation in my life. Mark Morford expands on the uniqueness of Led Zeppelin and the pros/cons of their upcoming reunion concert 11/26/07 at the O2 Arena in London. Apparently the web site selling tickets received over one billion hits.

"A Wife's Battle"

This is a similar story to the struggles I faced when I was trying to get my Veteran's Benefits. Only I was recently divorced, did not have the wait, was not trying to compete with thousands of other returning Veterans and there was a full cadre of Veteran Administration professionals waiting on me.

It seems as if the U.S. government still cannot get it right for our returning Disabled Veterans. Please read the whole article. I tried but could not shorten it.

These aren't the people that GOP hacks want to use as props for their political grandstanding. Everyone knows you have to have healthy soldiers for photo ops and parades. Just tools for political gain as far as politicians are concerned.

Unfortunately, these brave young men and women can't be treated as humans in need first! These are the people who have endured the worst treatment by a commander in chief in American history.
Mission first right? But wait, let's get some snapshot smiles so we can have a competive election. Sick!!

Michelle Turner's husband sits in the recliner with the shades drawn. He washes down his Zoloft with Mountain Dew. On the phone in the other room, Michelle is pleading with the utility company to keep their power on. "Can't you tell them I'm a veteran?" asks her husband, Troy, who served as an Army scout in Baghdad and came back with post-traumatic stress disorder. "Troy, they don't care," Michelle says, her patience stretched. The government's sweeping list of promises to make wounded Iraq war veterans whole, at least financially, has not reached this small house in the hills of rural West Virginia, where one vehicle has already been repossessed and the answering machine screens for bill collectors. The Turners have not been making it on an $860-a-month disability check from the Department of Veterans Affairs. After revelations about the poor treatment of outpatient soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center earlier this year, President Bush appointed a commission to study the care of the nation's war-wounded. The panel returned with bold recommendations, including the creation of a national cadre of caseworkers and a complete overhaul of the military's disability system that compensates wounded soldiers. But so far, little has been done to sort out the mess of bureaucracy or put more money in the hands of newly disabled soldiers who are fending off evictions and foreclosures. In the Turner house, that leaves an exhausted wife with chipped nail polish to hold up the family's collapsing world. "Stand Together," a banner at a local cafe reminds Michelle. But since Troy came back from Iraq in 2003, the burden of war is now hers. Michelle has spent hundreds of hours at the library researching complicated VA policies and disability regulations. "You need two college degrees to understand any of it," she says, lacking both. She scavenges information where she can find it. A psychotic Vietnam vet she met in a VA hospital was the one who told her that Troy might be eligible for Social Security benefits. Meanwhile, there are clothes to wash, meals to cook, kids to get ready for school and a husband who is placidly medicated or randomly explosive. Besides PTSD, Michelle suspects that Troy may have a brain injury, which could explain how a 38-year-old man who used to hunt and fish can lose himself in a three-day "Scooby-Doo" marathon on the Cartoon Network. "He can't deal with everyday stresses of living," Michelle says. "He can't make decisions. He is a worrywart. Fearful. It's like they took Troy and put him in a different person." As thousands of war-wounded lug their discharge papers and pill bottles home, more than a quarter are returning with PTSD and brain trauma. Compensation for these invisible injuries is more difficult and the social isolation more profound, especially in rural communities where pastures outnumber mental health providers. Troy's one-year war has become his wife's endless one. His Illness, Her Full-Time Job The Turners live in a small rental house in the northern tip of West Virginia, surrounded by enormous blue sky and the dark spine of South Branch Mountain. There is a VFW tavern in town, but Troy doesn't bother. After one of his distraught soldier buddies from Iraq got so drunk he wrapped his motorcycle around a tree, Troy stays away from alcohol. Still, the techniques he learned to calm his PTSD in Army and VA treatment programs -- tai chi meditation and classical music -- seem like distant remedies in this county of farm equipment and Ford pickups. Michelle thinks Troy's anxiety and depression are worsening, and she tells anyone who will listen -- her pastor, doctors and counselors at VA. His speech is sometimes soupy from mood stabilizers. The meds give him tremors. He used to cut the grass and bring home a paycheck, but now he stays inside like a perpetual patient. His memory is shot, and he relies on Michelle for everything. "What is the name of the doctor who looks at knees?" he asks one day. Michelle takes a breath. "Orthopedic," she says. "Troy, please try." At 31, her eyes are hollowed by worry and her brown hair is turning gray. The Turners live 80 miles from the Martinsburg VA Medical Center, where Troy receives his care, and sometimes they go once a week. The all-day journey requires a babysitter for the kids -- ages 10 and 11, both from previous marriages -- and burns $25 worth of precious gas. "This is the part you don't see on TV," Michelle says. One hot morning, they set out for Martinsburg yet again. Troy recently screened positive for possible traumatic brain injury -- he was exposed to multiple blasts in Iraq -- and the hospital wants him back for more comprehensive testing. Troy and Michelle are quiet on the ride into Martinsburg. A Bible rests on the back seat. The cornfields and emerald hills spread out from the two-lane highway. Troy's pill box is between them, along with the silence. Finally Troy says he thinks his new medication is making him less aggressive. Michelle is skeptical. "You don't have an 'off' button anymore," she says. Troy, in the passenger seat, keeps his eyes on the road. "They broke it off when I was over there." He served with the 3rd Infantry Division during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Before that, he spent a decade with the National Guard, pulling a tour in Bosnia. A laconic country boy with a plug of tobacco in his cheek, Troy was a cavalry scout with the 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment that pressed into Baghdad. His platoon sergeant was decapitated by a rocket-propelled grenade, and others he knew were obliterated. Troy's problems started after his tour. While he was on home leave from Fort Stewart one weekend, Michelle found him sitting on the bed with a bottle of pills. He said he couldn't go back. Michelle drove him to the Martinsburg VA hospital, which shipped him to Walter Reed for three weeks of psychiatric care. He was sent back to Fort Stewart and returned to duty, a reality he could not cope with. Twice he tried to commit suicide and was hospitalized at Winn Army Community Hospital before being medically discharged for PTSD in 2004. After 13 years in uniform, Troy got nearly the lowest disability rating possible, a $11,349 severance check and no benefits. Michelle was dating Troy at the time. She had visited him at Walter Reed. When he asked if she wanted out of the relationship, she said she would stick by him as long as he continued to treat her well. They were married on Valentine's Day in 2005. For 18 months Troy worked as a truck driver until his symptoms began to worsen. He imagined he saw Army vehicles on the interstate, causing him to shake and panic. His family needed the $2,600-a-month salary, so Troy kept driving and Michelle rode in the truck with him. Finally VA doctors increased Troy's medication, and he became too zonked to drive. VA rated Troy's disability level at 50 percent, resulting in $860 a month in compensation. Like many wounded soldiers, he was clobbered by a fine-print government regulation known as "concurrent receipt," which prevents double compensation. That meant before he could receive his VA disability check, Troy had to pay back the $11,349 he received when he left the Army. For 13 months, VA withheld his check until the Army amount was reimbursed. The Turners' foothold in working-class America completely slid away when Michelle -- who has worked as a teacher's aide and an inventory-control specialist at Wal-Mart -- developed health problems and was forced to quit her job. Now her full-time job is Troy. His illness has eroded their marriage, but on the morning they arrive at the Martinsburg VA hospital, she leads the charge on his behalf. The concrete behemoth serves 129,000 vets from West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania. It is at once efficient and numbingly bureaucratic. Michelle and Troy move down the hallways, passing a room near the PTSD residence where a group of young vets, some tattooed and still muscled from the desert, are playing a game of ring toss. The cafeteria smells of bleach and canned peaches. In the small lobby of the neuropsychological department, Troy leans over the sign-in clipboard, pen in hand, staring at the sheet. Michelle tells him what day it is. They sit together on the hard chairs until Troy's name is called. With two hours to kill, Michelle wanders into the hallway and runs into a Vietnam vet she has befriended. A former Marine with ramrod posture, the vet has PTSD and an encyclopedic knowledge of VA procedures. "Don't take no for an answer," he tells Michelle. "Huntington [a VA regional office] says you are his fiduciary, right?" "They say they need to come out and do a home study," Michelle says. The vet shakes his head angrily. "Don't let these people get over on you!" She returns to the waiting room. A flier on the bulletin board catches her eye: "Coming Soon, Help for Veterans and Families." A door opens, and one of Troy's doctors asks her to step into his office. When Michelle emerges 15 minutes later, she stands alone in the waiting room, twisting the handle of her purse. The doctor said Troy is getting worse. Not knowing where else to go, Michelle heads upstairs to the PTSD offices. Troy has already done one 45-day stint in the residential program, and Michelle has been trying to get him in again. She knocks on the door of a counselor, a big, bald, friendly man who does not wave off the intrusion. "You think he's violent at this point?" the counselor asks. Michelle dodges the question. "He's not getting any counseling," she says, leaning against the door. The counselor explains that all 50 beds in the program are full and the waiting list is 25 deep. "I apologize for not being able to get him in right away," he says. Michelle's voice breaks. "I know you are doing the best you can," she says. "Anymore, he's just ashamed. I wish I had a video camera set up to show the people at the VA: This is what an average day looks like." She goes back for Troy, who has finished his tests. He is yawning and tired. He tells Michelle how hard he tried, and she smiles and touches his arm. They go upstairs to make an appointment with Troy's psychiatrist. The clerk tells Michelle that unfortunately the doctor is on leave for the next month. The first available slot is five weeks out, at 8:30 a.m. "Is there anything later than 8:30?" Michelle asks, politely. "We have a three-hour drive." Nine o'clock is the best they can do. The appointment is for 20 minutes. The last stop of the afternoon is the travel reimbursement office on the first floor. The government has promised to care for its wounded, but the proof is often in cramped places such as this, where disabled veterans stand in line to get their mileage reimbursed. The VA mileage rate has not changed since 1977. While a federal worker gets 48.5 cents per mile, a disabled veteran is still paid 11 cents a mile. Michelle steps to one window and gets a receipt for $14.52. At the next window, $6 in government "deductibles" are taken out, bringing the grand total to $8.52. On the way home, Michelle pulls into a Flying J truck stop, pumping gas in the hot breeze, watching the numbers spin higher. 'Ain't a Scratch on Me' Money became so desperate this spring that Michelle contacted Operation Homefront, a national organization that gives emergency assistance to deployed service members and the returning wounded. In a sign of the deepening financial crisis faced by many back from war, Operation Homefront has provided $2 million in bailout funds to 4,300 families so far in 2007, double last year's caseload. The Turners received $4,500 to cover three months of late car payments, rent and various other bills, and a grocery card for food. Troy was angry and embarrassed, but Michelle told him they had no other choice. The $860 VA disability check barely covers expenses. Michelle has been pushing to have VA reevaluate Troy in hopes of getting his disability rating raised and his compensation increased. He can't drive, he can't work, he can barely function without her. A Black Hawk model set is next to his recliner, a therapeutic hobby made impossible by the shaking in his left arm. The house is small, and the blare of Nickelodeon from the TV chokes the day. "I am at the end of my rope," Michelle says. But at least now she has the help of an assistant officer with the West Virginia Division of Veterans Affairs in a little office in Moorefield, about 30 miles from Romney. The officer submits the right paperwork to have Troy reevaluated. Doctors find that his condition has worsened and that his PTSD is "chronic and severe." Michelle gets copies of the medical records and sits down with them on her living room floor. Wearing an Army T-shirt that says "Got Freedom?" she begins reading. The documents are a gold mine of information that validate what she has said all along. But instead of feeling exonerated, she feels sickened. He has nightmares frequently, two to three times a week, in which he sees himself back in Iraq . . . and Baghdad. He sees himself fighting, sees dead bodies, parts of bodies, blood rushing from bodies. In the dreams he smells blood and burnt flesh and he hears bullets passing over his head. He is fearful and scared and wakes up in cold sweats. Flashbacks are also frequent, 2 or 3 times a week, triggered by helicopters passing over, burn flesh smell, barbecue, current Iraq news and sometimes seeing military vehicles brings flashbacks. Michelle goes page by page. Troy is in his recliner holding the remote control. From time to time she looks up at him, then her eyes go back to the records. He has a lot of guilt feelings that he could not save his sergeant. She comes to a page that lists Troy's problems. Hearing loss. Tremors. Obesity. PTSD. Depressive disorder. Michelle calls out to Troy. "They are saying your memory is extremely low," she says. "And here's another thing. 'Hearing loss. Exposure to artillery and machine gun fire.' " VA concludes that Troy's worsening condition merits an increase of his disability rating to 70 percent, raising his monthly check to $1,352 a month. According to VA, he doesn't meet the criteria for 100 percent because his impairment is not "persistent," with "persistent delusions" or a "persistent danger of hurting himself or others." He is still able to perform his own hygiene. From Michelle's point of view, Troy can hold a toothbrush, but he can't hold a job. "Even at 70 percent, you can't raise a family," she says. She has a year to appeal the rating. But there is good news: The VA hospital in Martinsburg finds a bed for Troy in the PTSD residential rehab program. Michelle is relieved. Troy will get help and she will get a respite. Troy packs his small suitcase with resignation. He doesn't want to go. During the intake session in Martinsburg, he is withdrawn and sullen. When the doctor asks if he has been having suicidal thoughts, he says yes. The news punches Michelle in the gut. Troy is allowed to come home on weekends, so Michelle makes the four-hour round trip to pick him up on the first Friday night. On Sunday, he refuses to go back. He says he has been through it before. Michelle pleads with him to get in the truck but he won't, and he loses his spot in the program. Troy returns to his recliner. VA tells Michelle that a contract counselor who visits rural counties will be in touch to schedule time with Troy. Two weeks later, Troy has his first appointment. Whatever is discussed in the 60-minute session causes him to cry the next day. The Turners decide to pack up and leave their $475-a-month rental house for a $450-a-month mobile home in Moorefield to save money and be near Troy's mother for help. They are strained beyond belief. Still, there are moments of gallows humor. "I have PTSD, what's your excuse?" Troy kids Michelle. "I have a husband with PTSD," she says. Before they leave, someone from Hampshire County's Heritage Days parade calls to see if Troy wants to ride on the veterans float. Troy declines. It's not just the crowds. "Other people got wounded, and all I got was a mental thing," he says. Michelle raises an eyebrow. "It's still an injury." "I think about that doctor down there," Troy says, referring to a psychologist at Fort Stewart who suggested he was faking it. "Plus, the fact that guys are missing arms and have bullet holes and everything else. Ain't a scratch on me." To remember who Troy used to be, Michelle keeps a photo of him hidden in her camera case. In the picture he is smiling and eager, ruggedly at home in his Army fatigues. Now she looks at the man in the recliner. "It's people like you that made our country," Michelle says. She goes back to filling out forms, and Troy goes back to Nickelodeon

UPDATE by Mike: Be sure to read the comments to the original post. There are some people out there who are silently suffering along with many lives ruined due to the borderline immoral levels of help that the V.A. is providing.

Hold your hats, you're not going to believe this. Here's the video to which 7 of 6 referred in the Bits and Pieces this week:

glumbert - How many times can you vote in Texas?

I'll bet this is something Tom DeLay taught the Texas legislature.

"There is one way we might be able to succeed in Iraq. To continue an operation of this intensity and duration, we would have to abandon our volunteer military for compulsory service. Short of that, our best option is to leave Iraq immediately. A scaled withdrawal will not prevent a civil war, and it will spend more blood and treasure on a losing proposition." - - - 12 former Army captains: Jason Blindauer served in Babil and Baghdad in 2003 and 2005. Elizabeth Bostwick served in Salah Ad Din and An Najaf in 2004. Jeffrey Bouldin served in Al Anbar, Baghdad and Ninevah in 2006. Jason Bugajski served in Diyala in 2004. Anton Kemps served in Babil and Baghdad in 2003 and 2005. Kristy (Luken) McCormick served in Ninevah in 2003. Luis Carlos Montalván served in Anbar, Baghdad and Nineveh in 2003 and 2005. William Murphy served in Babil and Baghdad in 2003 and 2005. Josh Rizzo served in Baghdad in 2006. William "Jamie" Ruehl served in Nineveh in 2004. Gregg Tharp served in Babil and Baghdad in 2003 and 2005. Gary Williams served in Baghdad in 2003.

The drumbeat to attack Iran continues...

It doesn't really get much funnier than this:

BITS & PIECES for October 7 - 13*

• Chalk one up for the good guys: Bolivia will stop using WHINSEC (Mike)
• Eww. Just plain eww. (Mike)
  
• Marines: Move us from Iraq to Afghanistan (Mike)
  
• Ever the conspiracy theorist, I think there is much more to the story about an Air Force plane flying last month to Texas while carrying six fully functional nuclear bombs. However, this article raises questions about the breakdown in the chain of command that "lost" the bombs for 10 hours. (Mike)
• Man faces up to 30 years in prison for stealing one donut (Mike)
• Target sells 2 boxes of rocks to girl for birthday (Mike)
  
• What I find most disturbing about all the stories of recalled meat during the past couple of years is the fact that no mention is ever made about the hundreds of thousands of cows that were slaughtered for what turns out to be nothing. It's a great example of the totally immoral disjoint between our "advanced" species and others. (Mike)
  

(*Reminder: Mike is once again this week substituting for 7 of 6.)

...He was only 3 when his mother, Lucy Ramberg, a member of a group of artists known as the Bohemians, was sent to the Dachau concentration camp in Germany as a political prisoner for pamphleteering against Nazism and Fascism. Anticipating the arrest, Ramberg, who never married Capecchi's father, an officer in the Italian air force, sold her possessions, giving the money to a peasant family that she asked to care for her son. But the money ran out in a year. "They didn't have the resources to keep me and maintain their own family," the scientist said in a telephone interview Monday. "So I went on the streets." Capecchi moved from town to town, hungry most of the time and occasionally living in orphanages or traveling with gangs of other homeless children who stole food from carts while other members of the group distracted the vendors. "Just surviving from day to day pretty much occupies your mind," he said in a 1997 interview with the Salt Lake Tribune. He spent years on the streets but nearly died of malnutrition in a hospital near Bologna where he lay naked and feverish on a bed, existing on a daily bowl of chicory coffee and a small crust of bread. His mother, who was liberated from Dachau by U.S. soldiers in 1945, found him at the hospital after searching for more than a year. She showed up on his 9th birthday, carrying a Tyrolean outfit for him, complete with a small cap with a feather. She took him to Rome, where he had his first bath in six years. "I still have the hat," he said in a 1996 lecture in Japan. In 1946, Capecchi's uncle Edward Ramberg, a physicist living in a commune in Bucks County, Pa., sent money so that his sister and nephew could come live with his family in the United States. After attending Quaker schools through high school, Capecchi earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry and physics from Antioch College in Ohio in 1961 and a doctorate in biophysics from Harvard University in 1967. At Harvard, he worked in the lab of molecular biologist James Watson, one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA. Capecchi and the other researchers were honored for work they did in the 1980s investigating how mice genes can be manipulated to better understand and model serious illnesses in humans such as cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. Working largely independently, Capecchi and Smithies developed a method known as "gene targeting" that allowed them to inactivate or modify genes in mice. Meanwhile, Evans discovered that stem cells could be extracted from mice embryos and cultivated to grow into any cell. Applying the new method to Evans' cells, the scientists were able to introduce specific gene modifications in mouse embryos, creating animals with human diseases such as cystic fibrosis. Such mice, now commonly used in laboratory experiments, could help researchers better understand the origins of disease, and find treatments and medicine. "If you want to make a model of a specific human disease, you can," Smithies said Monday in a telephone interview. He added: "You can make a mouse to make it have that disease, and then you have something which you can try to help cure or at least alleviate it." The groundbreaking work is considered to have laid the scientific foundation for efforts to eradicate some diseases in humans by manipulating genes.

This is the amazing story of one of today's recipients of the Nobel Prize for Medicine, Mario Capecchi.

Digby summarizes the feelings of most normal people who are revolted by Republicans who continue to mercilessly smear a handicapped boy and his family:

"This is so loathesome I am literally sick to my stomach. These kids were hurt in a car accident. Their parents could not afford health insurance --- and sure as hell couldn't get it now with a severely handicapped daughter. And these shrieking wingnut jackasses are harassing their family for publicly supporting the program that allowed the kids to get health care. A program, by the way, which a large number of these Republicans support as well. "They went after Michael J. Fox. They went after a wounded Iraq war veteran. Now they are going after handicapped kids. There is obviously no limit to how low these people will go. "They'd better pray that they stay rich and healthy and live forever because if there is a hell these people are going to be on the express train to the 9th circle the minute they shuffle off their useless mortal coils."

Parents of young daughters: Seriously consider this PSA's message:

FRIDAY F U N

• Draw a figure and then watch it dance to music
• Honest Abe is getting a makeover
  
• Check out the winners of a science visualization contest. I especially recommend the short video that illustrates the development of nicotine addiction.
• Pretty bridges
• Bored? Go blabberize your favorite photo
  
• This independent-minded 4 y/o knows how to get help
  
• Not your typical grandma's porcelain figurines
• Online dating service for the wealthy.
• How is this possible?

And finally, an amazing combination of two-colored jackets, pants, shirts and coordination:

An update on the war we should have finished 5 years ago:

BITS & PIECES.... for the week of September 30 - October 6*

Wow, apparently the West Virginia state government has never heard of identity theft. (Mike)

When Iraq (Saddam Hussein) only threatened to do what Iran has just done, Bush invaded. Draw your own conclusion. (Mike)

Divided Iraq is united against dividing Iraq (Mike)

I'm looking forward to this movie release (Mike)

It's six years later and there's still no official explanation of the collapse of WTC-7. I'll stick with the most reasonable theory that I can find for now.... (Mike)

Shifting Targets: Seymour M. Hersh discusses an increasingly inevitable Cheney-orchestrated attack on Iran. Also, see Hunter's snarky response to Hersh (Mike)

(*Mike is substituting this week for vacationing 7 of 6.)

Tidbits

A few brief tidbits to jot down before I take off on vacation.

I'd like to apologize to our 25 readers that my posting has been almost nil lately. A computer memory dump, ill parents, a kid needing homework help, prepping the vehicle, last minute running around for vacation and political burnout can make you scarce.

The family and I leave tomorrow for our annual trip to Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco), Mexico. We all look forward to my son's Fall Break. October weather there is the finest. I will make sure I have a few beers, eat some fresh cooked shrimp, watch beautiful sunsets, dip those toes in the surf on really long relaxing walks and chill poolside for everyone.

Who can resist a chance to get away from the insanity of the bu$h administration? 10 days of fun in the sun is just what the Doctor ordered. Hopefully, we will not be at war with Iran by the time I get back.

Thanks to Nancy Hanks at The Hankster for blogrolling us. A grass roots Independent blogsite.

At Larry Johnson's, No Quarter, a what would you ask Valerie Plame thread is up.

Ru$h Limbaugh is the ultimate merchant of hate, and as a disabled Veteran I'd love for him to talk shit to my face. That boy needs to be taken out to the woodshed by some Veterans for a good old ass kicking. Not that I condone that kind of behavior. *wink*

That veto of SCHIP by bu$h is turning out to be a boon for the Democratic Vote next year. Gotta love that "Compassionate Conservatism" those repbuli-cons practice!

eRiposte responds to Parodox in the comment thread at The Left Coaster about weak Democrats:

Paradox, I have to be frank here. There are numerous Democrats in Congress who have and continue to oppose Bush's criminality. I don't appreciate your clubbing all Democrats together as if they act and vote in the same way. This feeds the nonsensical narrative that Democrats are no different than Republicans, when in fact the difference between them is often (but not always) night and day. Are there Democrats who are spineless and who prevent us from holding Bush accountable? Sure. But there are also many Democrats in Congress who are trying their best to shine a light on this administration's criminality, who are opposing Bush's actions as strongly as possible. Unlike Republicans -- who are overwhelmingly voting to enable Bush's continued crimes against this country. The issue is we need better Democrats to replace the weak or poor ones in Congress. You are certainly free to be an Independent and vote as you wish, but I'm tired of unqualified attacks on "Democrats" as if they are all the same. You criticize the party leadership (which is fair) but then your response to their actions is that you "enable failure and misery every time [you] vote for a Democrat". Maybe the specific Democrats you have voted for are in lockstep with the party leadership, but there are plenty of Democrats who are not and who don't deserve to be painted as enablers of the party leadership. Change doesn't come from painting good people as being enablers of criminals when they are not. Change will come by supporting good people and finding ways to elect more good people. - eRiposte

Yes eRiposte, with time we can turn this sham of a government around.
Let's remain focused on the true enemy of America: fear mongering republi-cons and their corrupt agenda.

Finally, with regards to Blackwater: My brother in law worked for them in Iraq. He was a trainer on the firing range. Never going outside the Green Zone, he came home injured in May after a rocket attack on his living quarters. Four Philipino contractors hiding in a bunker next to his location were killed. Like many others, he took the job for great financial rewards. My wife's sister and he have huge medical debts for their autistic son. Another case to weigh for health insurance for this country. Sell your soul to the devil or remain in debt for life? If I had the same skills (sniper) as he does would I have done different? Knowing what I know now, yes. But if I was still blinded by (FAUX) patriotic duty and my family was in need? Who knows?

My brother in law has recovered from his injuries and is back to work at his old job: prison guard at the Federal Penitentiary in Florence Colorado, Super Max.

Take care everyone. Signing off until Monday October 15th.

SoS

Now that Bush has vetoed SCHIPS, it looks like the Democrats in Congress are going to try new political strategies. Golly gee, how considerate of our vertebral-column-challenged legislators! I only wonder why they didn't propose these types of strategies when Bush vetoed Iraq War Appropriations tied to withdrawal dates earlier this year. What a bunch of embarrassing, overpaid, uncaring and oblivious officeholders we elected last November. Is, "It's time that I finally re-register, but as an Independent voter" starting to sound familiar these days?