No Joke here... Live video feed of suicide bomber who has taken hostages in Hillary Clinton Campaign office in New Hampshire

FRIDAY F U N

• Keep the red square from getting hit
• The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities - There's some really good stuff here.
• Do not, I repeat... Do Not Click the Red Button
• Honoring Pez
• Take a Purr break (be sure to turn up volume)
  
• Fast Clapper and Pen Spinning
  
• Looking to snag an MP3 player for yourself or as a gift? Review Centre has the scoop
• PCMag's top gadget picks for the holidays
• How to work unnoticed for years inside a very popular monument
• Fly an online paper airplane

And finally, here's how Disney might celebrate Christmas:

Disney's 12 Pains of Christmas | Funny Jokes at JibJab

Bits and Pieces for the Week of November 25 - December 1

Biden says to impeach Bush if he bombs Iran. Yeah, because Bush's complete destruction of Iraq wasn't good enough for impeachment. (Mike)

Absentee ballot voting might have profound effects on election results and, in some cases, may favor Republicans.

Eriposte calls out John Edwards as a hypocrite with respect to his call for all candidates to not accept PAC money. (Mike)

Yes, even an illegal immigrant can be a hero. I wonder what Lou "broken record" Dobbs thinks of this story? (7 of 6)

Somehow, Mark Morford connects Black Friday to the rape of Canada. (Mike)

Here's an example of how Mitt Romney flip-flops, lies and manifests his racism. (Mike)

Hey, here's some GOOD news: Check out the news video on this web page (Mike)

"Soldiers strained by six years at war are deserting their posts at the highest rate since 1980..." (7 of 6)

Enter your zip code and see all the houses in foreclosure in your neighborhood (Mike)

Scientific American has an eye-opening series of articles on climate change. (Mike)

Stealing and Mortgaging our Future.... It's much more than the sub-prime loan market collapse. (Mike)

Someone is actually stunned by the apathy of Americans? Where have they been these past seven years? (Mike)

Uh-oh, the Pistachio Wars are heating up again... (h/t Left i) (Mike)

All they want is a tree planted to commemorate their son! "Pfc. Ryan D. Christensen died at a South Carolina hospital on Thanksgiving Day in 2005, a victim of a bacterial infection contracted while working as a communications specialist with the 3rd Infantry Division. But since it was an illness — rather than an improvised explosive device or suicide bomber — that claimed his life, the Army has declined to plant a tree in his honor along what is known as Warriors' Walk at Fort Stewart." (7 of 6)

The most comprehensive list of bu$h scandals I have found on the internet. Compliments of "Hugh Makes a List". (7 of 6)

As an avid watcher of Rocketboom (I have my TiVo download it daily) and listener of Pandora Radio, I found this interview of Pandora Radio founder Tim Westergren very interesting. Note the visionary use of attributes and musician support which puts P.R. heads and shoulders above all other internet radio:


The use of 400 attributes to categorize each song (and then make recommendations for you) is one of the most unique factors. Most web sites that make recommendations (i.e. Netflix, Amazon, etc.) use maybe a few dozen.

This warning from Windows Secrets seems pretty important:

Disable QuickTime until Apple releases a patch A problem was recently discovered in Apple QuickTime that could let Web sites silently install malware on your computers. Malicious banner ads with images that infected visitors' PCs have previously run on such well-known sites as Monster.com, NHL.com, and MLB.com, according to Windows IT Pro articles published on Aug. 23 and Nov. 15 (free registration required). This means that even a "trusted site" could possibly expose your system to harm. Because working exploits are already circulating, and the risk is so severe, I'm recommending that you completely uninstall Quicktime until Apple releases a fixed version. Individual users can do this using the Add/Remove Programs control panel.

For all of you 9/11 conspiracy theorists out there:

The Hollywood elite support the WGA strike:


Check out all the other excellent strike videos here.

John Steinbeck

"Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of a man (and woman). Nothing was ever created by two men. There are no good collaborations, whether in music, in art, in poetry, in mathematics, in philosophy. Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the group can build and extend it, but the group never invents anything. The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of a man. And now the forces marshaled around the concept of the group have declared a war of extermination on that preciousness, the mind of man. By disparagement, by starvation, by repressions, forced direction, and the stunning hammerblows of conditioning, the free, roving mind is being pursued, roped, blunted, drugged. It is a sad suicidal course our species seems to have taken. And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual This is what I am and what I am about. I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind, for that is the one thing which can by inspection destroy such a system. Surely I can understand this, and I hate it and I will fight against it to preserve the one thing that separates us from the uncreative beasts. If the glory can be killed, we are lost." - John Steinbeck, East of Eden

Compliments of Jamie Lee Curtis, "Thanksgiving '07: Happy Birthday to Me" at the Huffington Post.

THANKSGIVING WEEK F U N

• What if the TV show "24" didn't have broadband and cell phones
• Procrastination flow chart
  
• Is your last name one of the 5,000 most common surnames in the U.S.?
• Human Statue of Liberty
• View from inside a shoe
  
• Odd, yet interesting, style of photography (12 images)
  
• Musical roads
• So you think online catalogs are boring??
• Paper Art
  
• If the world could elect the next U.S. President, it looks like they would choose Ron Paul
  
• Nice online chess
  
• Try the IQ test found on this IQ info page (about halfway down). I scored 119, so beat that!

Happy Thanksgiving from 7 of 6, Mike and all the staff at LEFT is RIGHT!

Inspired by 7of6's post below about the Saudi minister's warning, I found this brief explanation of the coming collapse of the dollar:

Why will the dollar be the first of today’s fiat currencies to collapse? For the past few decades, the U.S. has enjoyed an historically unique position. As the most powerful nation in an increasingly globalized world, its currency, the dollar, is in demand as a store of value. That is, investors and central banks in other countries want to hold dollars as alternatives to their own, presumably less stable currencies. This insatiable demand for dollars has handed U.S. consumers and governments a virtually unlimited credit card. And we’ve spent the past two decades maxing it out. The U.S. is now the world’s biggest debtor nation, and our current economic expansion is only possible because Japan, China, and Europe are willing to finance our trade deficit by, in effect, lending us $500 billion a year. They do this by taking the dollars we pay for their Toyotas, French wine and Chinese electronics, and using them to buy U.S. bonds and other financial assets. Add it all up, and U.S. debt now comes to about $40 trillion, or $600,000 per family of four, a clearly unsustainable burden. When our trading partners figure out that we’re no longer solvent, they’ll stop lending us money (that is, they’ll use their dollars to buy euros or yen or gold rather than U.S. bonds), and the value of the dollar will plunge. The process has already begun, with decreasing demand for dollars sending the value of the dollar down by about a third in the past three years. But this is just the beginning. What happens when the dollar collapses? Many things, most of them bad. When foreign investors and central banks stop demanding dollars, U.S. bond prices will fall, which is another way of saying that U.S. interest rates will rise. Mortgage and credit card rates will soar, bursting the housing bubble. Home prices in hot markets like California and New York will fall by 50% or more in a matter of months, bankrupting millions of over-extended homeowners. The U.S. government will respond by opening the monetary floodgates, printing as many paper dollars as necessary to keep the economy from collapsing. This surge in supply will send the value of the dollar through the floor. Prices for most things will skyrocket, and people whose life savings are in cash, bank CDs or dollar-denominated bonds, will be wiped out. Most U.S. consumer finance companies will be ruined, along with their stockholders. THEN the Dollar Disease will go global. The only reason Japan or Europe have been able to generate their current meager rates of growth is the willingness of U.S. consumers to buy their Hondas and BMWs. As the dollar plunges, Asian and European goods, priced in suddenly-appreciating currencies, will become prohibitively expensive for U.S. consumers, who will respond by buying U.S.-made alternatives or nothing at all. Correctly interpreting this change in buying patterns as a threat to their vital export sectors, European and Asian leaders will respond with the only weapon they have left: monetary inflation. They’ll cut interest rates and buy dollars with their currencies, flooding the world with euros and yen the way the U.S. now floods the world with dollars. The result of these “competitive devaluations” will be a death spiral for all major fiat currencies, in which European and Japanese bonds will, eventually, fare as badly as their U.S. cousins.

Bits and Pieces for Thanksgiving Week

One of my favorite daily reads, Josh Marshall at TPM, just won GQ's Man of the Year (Mike)

Across the pond, a security disaster affecting all families is unfolding (Mike)

Iraqi women are facing new, deadly, extremist-backed violence since Bush's 2003 invasion of Iraq. (Mike)

What??! (Mike)

Potentially major breakthrough in stem cell research (Mike)

The collapse of the U.S. credit industry is spreading to Europe. (Mike)

This is amazing: Kindle: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device (Mike)

New Progressive Coalition gives you a unique way of effectively contributing to progressive causes. (Mike)

Time to Politicize the U.S. Army! Just like everything else in the bu$h administration. Does anyone else see the danger in this unprecedented act? (7 of 6)

Last week, No Quarter, had one of the best post I've read in a long time. "Although my roots are in Iraq, my branches are in this country... The feeling I have sometimes is that my roots are being destroyed by my branches’." (7 of 6)

Veteran's vs Profits: The bu$h Nominee for Head of the Veteran's Administration

By Mark Benjamin at Salon, (my highlights):

President Bush late last month nominated retired Lt. Gen. James Peake to be the next secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. It is not an inconsequential wartime post: The department is the second-largest government agency after the Defense Department. And the VA faces the awesome responsibility of caring for several generations of veterans, including the crush of American service members back from Iraq and Afghanistan. On paper, Peake seems qualified. Wounded twice in Vietnam, he retired in 2004 from his post as Army surgeon general, the Army's top medical officer, with 40 years of experience in the field of military medicine. But Bush plucked Peake directly from a private company that has raked in hundreds of millions of dollars from contracts with the VA -- and Peake himself helped develop proposals for the company to contract with the VA. That has raised questions about conflict of interest, potentially pitting veterans' care against corporate profits. Moreover, if he is confirmed, Peake will be the second head of the VA under the Bush administration to come from that same private contractor, QTC Management Inc. Observers say QTC Management has performed high-quality work, and its former president, who also headed the VA under Bush, withstood past scrutiny by congressional investigators. But ever since Dick Cheney left Halliburton to become vice president, Bush administration critics have sounded the alarm about war profiteering seeping into the heart of the U.S. government. The changing leadership at the VA represents a little-known turn of the revolving door between contractors and the Bush administration. Veterans' advocates also worry that Peake's nomination suggests the White House may be interested in privatizing veterans' healthcare to an unhealthy degree. The Veterans Affairs Department runs more than a thousand hospitals and outpatient clinics to care for veterans, including the influx of hundreds of thousands of veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and are now out of the military and want to see a VA doctor. Those veterans also seek disability checks as remuneration for their service-related ills. Every year the VA hands out over $40 billion in checks to veterans as compensation for everything from missing limbs to post-traumatic stress disorder. When a veteran first applies for that compensation, a doctor conducts a physical to help determine how much money he or she deserves. Historically, VA doctors do most of those examinations. But increasingly they are being performed by QTC Management, the for-profit contractor that employed Peake as its chief operating officer from 2006 until now. The company has a virtual lock on the expanding business of performing the physicals on veterans, which help determine how much they should get in disability checks from the VA. The company first started conducting the examinations in the late 1990s, part of a smaller effort to help the department alleviate a backlog of veterans awaiting benefits. This year the VA will farm out 100,000 to 150,000 of these examinations to QTC Management, according to the company's chairman. A 2005 report from the VA's inspector general says the company charges around $590 for each exam, making the contracts worth at least $88 million this year alone. The first VA chief selected by Bush to come directly from QTC Management was Anthony Principi, then president of the company, who served as VA secretary from 2001 until 2005. During those years, the company reportedly hauled in hundreds of millions of dollars conducting examinations for the VA. And now Principi is back at QTC Management again, serving as chairman of the board. (Before returning to QTC Management after serving at the VA, Principi did a stint at pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and was a commissioner on a panel studying the closure of military bases.) That the revolving door has come full circle in Principi's case deepens suspicions among veterans' advocates. "It is a little bit troublesome that a company may be a farm team for the VA," said Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "I want to know why [Peake] and Principi both came from there," Rieckoff said. "I want to know how directly they are involved in VA contracts." Rieckoff also wondered: "If you are bringing people from the private sector, is that because you feel they are going to bring a greater level of efficiency -- or is it because you want to move toward privatizing care?" When a veteran walks in the door to see a doctor, the focus should be on the veteran and not the bottom line, said Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, who until March 2006 was a project manager at the VA in charge of data on returning veterans. "The veteran absolutely must come first, and with QTC, profits come first and that is wrong," said Sullivan. "We do not want a Blackwater getting anywhere near our veterans," he said, referring to the notorious private security firm that operated with no clear accountability in Iraq. In a telephone interview with Salon, Principi, the former VA secretary and current QTC chairman, argued that the company is not providing healthcare, since the medical examinations conducted by his company help determine how much each veteran should get in disability payments. "I am personally and philosophically opposed to the privatization of VA healthcare," he told Salon. "QTC does no treatment," he said. "We do a medical disability evaluation. I distinguish that from the treatment and the care that VA provides." And Principi said he has gone to great lengths to minimize any perception of a conflict of interest in going from the company to the VA and then back again. He said he recused himself from any issues involving QTC Management while he was in charge of the VA. And although government ethics rules say he is allowed to contact the VA on business one year after leaving the government, Principi said he continues to steer clear. "I try to avoid an appearance of a conflict of interest. I have not stepped foot inside the VA on business-related matters since I was secretary," he said. "I have not engaged in any lobbying phone calls. I have not directly or indirectly tried to be involved in that." Principi said Peake, the former Army surgeon general, also did not engage in direct lobbying of the government to bring in cash for the company. However, Peake did help the company develop proposals to do work for the VA, Principi acknowledged. "Jim would have the team work on the proposal and make sure it was a good proposal and make sure all the i's were dotted and the t's were crossed, and that the technical proposal looked good, and it read well, and the pricing was good," Principi explained. "He didn't go lobby the VA or anything." (QTC Management may have had that ground covered without Peake: Disclosure records show QTC Management paid Jefferson Consulting Group, a lobbying firm, $20,000 in 2003.) Principi's behavior has been above board, according to a 2006 congressional investigation. In April 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported that the company collected $246 million from the VA while Principi was secretary, and that the company's contracts with the VA could eventually be worth $1 billion. The House Committee on Government Reform subsequently launched an investigation. California Rep. Henry Waxman, then the committee's ranking member, wrote the VA on June 9, 2006, that he was "satisfied that Secretary Principi's actions were proper and ethical." And QTC Management has performed well, according to Joseph Violante, national legislative director of Disabled American Veterans. "According to our service officers out in the field, they feel that QTC does a much better job than VA," he said. "They do more thorough exams and they do them properly." But the cross-pollination between the company and the VA still creates the perception of a conflict of interest and raises questions about proper government oversight, said Dina Rasor, author of "Betraying Our Troops: The Destructive Results of Privatizing War." Rasor said veterans worried about privatizing VA healthcare probably do have something to fear, since all of the Blackwater contractors careening around Baghdad in SUVs are a testament to the Bush administration's zeal for privatization, even while oversight and accountability are lacking. "This administration, besides the cronyism, they have this ideologue thing that government is bad and privatization is good," she explained. "They take it to the absurd." Rieckhoff, the veterans' advocate, said Congress needs to take a very close look at the Peake nomination. Congress should make sure the contracting issues are kosher and that privatization of veterans' healthcare is not looming on the horizon. "Those are all legitimate questions," he said. "This is the part of his record that I think really needs to be explored during these Senate confirmation hearings."

"Saudi Minister Warns of Dollar Collapse"

The dollar could collapse if Opec officially admits considering changing the pricing of oil into alternative currencies such as the euro, the Saudi Arabian foreign minister has warned. Prince Saud Al-Faisal was overheard ruling out a proposal from Iran and Venezuela to discuss pricing crude in a private meeting at the oil cartel's conference. In an embarrassing blunder at the meeting in Riyadh, ministers' microphones were not cut off during a key closed meeting, and Prince Al-Faisal was heard saying: "My feeling is that the mere mention that the Opec countries are studying the issue of the dollar is itself going to have an impact that endangers the interests of the countries. "There will be journalists who will seize on this point and we don't want the dollar to collapse instead of doing something good for Opec." After around 40 minutes press officials cut off the feed, which had been accidentally broadcast to the press room.

Who Believes in Global Warming?

An example of appallingly bad analysis:

"....Since no one takes analysis seriously, it's hardly surprising that no one takes the possibility of a nuclear Iran too seriously either. There is no enthusiasm for sanctions, though they will probably be tried and will probably fail: Why would anyone ditch a lucrative trading partner because of some missiles they don't believe in? As for the "military option," the surest way to sell newspapers in Europe, at the moment, is to print an article hinting that the United States is about to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities. The very suggestion causes outrage, not because of rampant pacifism -- "Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from Venus" -- but because most commentators (and, off the record, most diplomats) believe it would fail. Either it would " fortify Iran's nuclear hawks," or it would kill thousands of civilians while leaving the Iranian nuclear program largely intact, or Iran would strike back in Iraq-- or all of the above. Should the Bush administration try it anyway ("one last display of fireworks," as a British friend of mine put it) international support would be minimal, fury maximal, diplomatic consequences appalling. Even European politicians who wanted to show support would be cowed by the antipathy of their voters. Thanks to Iraq. "What, then, are we left with? Fingers crossed, that those who say Iran's nuclear bomb is years away are right. Fingers crossed, that maybe Iran really does just want a civilian nuclear program. Fingers crossed, that if Iran gets nukes, its government will behave responsibly. Fingers crossed, that all of the other crises whose resolution has been hampered or damaged by Iraq -- Pakistan, Afghanistan, the broader Middle East -- will somehow solve themselves, too. Fingers crossed, that it will all come out right in the end, after a decade or two. Just like Iraq.

"The very suggestion causes outrage, not because of rampant pacifism..." - European pacifism is tritely dismissed (even though it is the predominant ideology on that continent!).

"Thanks to Iraq." - Because the million-plus civilians killed so far by the U.S. in Iraq has created the apathy of Europeans against the U.S. (well, duh!), it would be more difficult for the U.S to garner support for bombing the shit out of Iran.

Jesus, what a mind-numbing warped analysis by a respected journalist. Would someone please stop the deliveries of the Neocon Kool-Aid to Washington D.C.? Please?

My Christmas Wish:

Poster coming to a college campus near you:


[click for larger image]

A 5-year-old explains the writers' strike:

FRIDAY F U N

• Amazing card tricks revealed
  
• At the Karma Kitchen Restaurant, customers pay what they want. Same at One World Cafe
• 10 cool, clip-on gadgets
• I'm sure you'll recognize some of the faces in this painting
  
• Perform online Hip Replacement Surgery or Hip Resurfacing Surgery
• Why buy software for your computer when you can do just about everything for free with online software applications
  
• Remember waaaay back when the '#' and '*' buttons on the phone were the new thing?
• Instead of wasting your hard-earned wages on an etch-a-sketch, just do it online
• Well, it figures. Send the Japanese to the Moon and they'll have the best camera.
  
• Are you a disgruntled or future iPod user? The Zune just got a whole lot better, so check it out
• Sounds of Saturn. Here's one, for example:
  

Ty Ziegal Had to Fight For His Veteran Benefits!

In Ziegel's case, he spent nearly two years recovering at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas. Once he got out of the hospital, he was unable to hold a job. He anticipated receiving a monthly VA disability check sufficient to cover his small-town lifestyle in Washington, Illinois. Instead, he got a check for far less than expected. After pressing for answers, Ziegel finally received a letter from the VA that rated his injuries: 80 percent for facial disfigurement, 60 percent for left arm amputation, a mere 10 percent for head trauma and nothing for his left lobe brain injury, right eye blindness and jaw fracture... Ziegel eventually won his battle. Still he feels for so many others he believes are getting cheated by the system. "We're feeding the war machine, but you never think of the war machine that comes home and needs, you know, feeding back home," he said. His family hopes they don't have to fight the VA again. In August, Ty Ziegel's brother, 22-year-old Zach Ziegel, was deployed to Iraq. "I want to make the VA system better because if he has to go through anything I went through, that's really going to upset me. That'll make my fuse real short and hot," Ty Ziegel said.

Bits and Pieces for the Week of November 11 - 17

Fox News has a new porn site. (Mike)

Innovative online parenting help via The Science of Raising Happy Kids founded by UC Berkeley (Mike)

Did you ever wonder how online hackers keep stealing personal security info? Maybe this is one way. (Mike)

If you're interested in following the water shortage crisis in Georgia, try the Atlanta Water Shortage blog (Mike)

I really wish GORE WOULD ANNOUNCE A RUN FOR PRESIDENT! Yes, he is doing great for the climate crisis but I cannot think of a higher calling than to rescue our ONCE GREAT NATION! (7 of 6)

Wow! What a powerful story! "Back, but not at home". "Battered returning vets struggle with transition." I know it might get old to some, but it's our National disgrace in full view. (7 of 6)

Senator Diane Feinstein is just the latest Bush enabler. (Mike)

Economy is going south. Best bet: buy foreign currency. (Mike)

Last week's spill of bunker fuel in San Francisco Bay brought to more light the deadly nature of bunker fuel. You can do something about it here. (Mike)

This headline literally made me ill! (no pun intended) "Health insurer tied bonuses to dropping sick policyholders". *sigh* That's corporate America for you, the almighty dollar before the lives of people. (7 of 6)

Uh oh.... So. Cal. may be in for another period of serious brush fire danger next week:

ALTHOUGH MODELS ARE NOT IN WONDERFUL AGREEMENT BEYOND MONDAY...ALL SUGGEST THE POTENTIAL FOR A MAJOR AND POSSIBLY DAMAGING HIGH WIND EVENT FOR PORTIONS OF THE REGION MON NIGHT OR TUE INTO AT LEAST WED NIGHT. AS STRONG SHORT WAVE ENERGY DIGS INTO THE GREAT BASIN MON NIGHT AND TUE...WINDS ALOFT INCREASE DRAMATICALLY ACROSS THE AREA...AND A GOOD AREA OF STRONG SUBSIDENCE SPREADS ACROSS THE REGION. WITH GOOD THERMAL PACKING AND COLD AIR ADVECTION...EXPECT WIDESPREAD STRONG NORTHERLY WINDS TO DEVELOP MON NIGHT...AND TRANSITION TO A MORE NELY DIRECTION TUE AND WED. WHILE THE EXACT DETAILS OF THE TIMING OF THE STRONGEST WINDS ARE STILL IN QUESTION...GIVEN THE PROXIMITY OF THIS POTENTIAL WIND EVENT TO ONE OF THE BUSIEST TRAVEL DAYS OF THE YEAR AND THE THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY...IT SHOULD BE MONITORED EXTRA CAREFULLY BY INTERESTS IN SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA. ALTHOUGH IT APPEARS AS THOUGH IT WILL BE A COOL EVENT...WINDS AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITIES WILL LIKELY CREATE MUCH HEIGHTENED FIRE DANGER.

Po' Girl

Last night I had the pleasure of attending an intimate concert by Canadian eclectic band Po' Girl. With a mesmerizing blend of folk, country, jazz and blues, they allowed me to forget everything else in life and immerse my consciousness in their original, lyrical and melodic charm. They originate in Vancouver, B.C. but spend much of their time on the road, which they characterize in their music. As far as self-enrichment, my time was well spent.

The collapse of the housing market is now starting to affect California's finances. You'll be seeing a whole lot more of this type of stuff for the next ?? years:

November 14, 2007 Tax receipts down, deficit up Tax revenues for the current fiscal year continue to sag, as California is $1.1 billion below projected revenues only four months into the fiscal year, according to the latest figures released by the Department of Finance. The state had projected to bring in $29.2 billion so far. In October, the most recent month for which data is available, the state collected $324 million less in taxes than forecast. For the month, revenues were down in every category, with the biggest hits coming from lower-than-expected income taxes and sales taxes, both $159 million below forecast for the month. Corporate taxes, as well as insurance, estate, alcoholic beverage, and tobacco taxes, were off marginally. The Department writes, "The ongoing housing slowdown continues to hamper the California economy." That's all adding up to a $10 billion projected deficit in the next fiscal year, according to a new Legislative Analyst's Office report released today. See the full finance bulletin here. Posted by Shane Goldmacher on November 14, 2007 09:59 AM

Economy on the edge: Are things stabilizing, or are we just seeing the tip of the iceberg (snippet):

".... Oil has exploded to nearly $100 a barrel, gold is near an all-time high, and the cost of food is soaring. It seems like high prices are breaking out all over, right? Yet the core rate of inflation is less than 2% a year, according to one widely followed measure. Confusion reigns right on up to the Federal Reserve, whose interest ratesetters are openly disagreeing about whether more cuts are needed. Step back a little, though, and the situation becomes clearer. What we're observing, in all its bizarreness, is the ancient paradox of what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object. The irresistible force in this case is the U.S. economy, which has managed to expand through all kinds of adversity for more than 15 years, aside from one brief recession in 2001. The immovable object is a wall of debt that accumulated during several years of profligate lending and now can't be paid back. The risk has increased for a generalized credit crunch that puts both borrowers and lenders in dire straits. So, either the U.S. economy will overcome the debt crisis and keep growing, or it won't. It's that simple—and that important, with millions of indebted homeowners struggling to stay above water, the stock market seesawing uncertainly, and just a year to go before the next President is elected....

I know I've posted a lot about the economy lately, but, next to global warming, the upcoming economic depression will have the greatest effect on all of us non-wealthy Americans, more than another Republican in the White House, more than the continuation of the Iraq War. They are all bad things, and some are morally worse than others, but for the next several years, we are going to experience a strong recession if not outright depression. Oh, and you can legitimately blame most of it on Bush/Cheney foreign and domestic policies which have been advantageous strictly for the wealthy and the corporations.

Fasten your seatbelt. Everything is spinning out of control. LEFT is RIGHT.

Veteran's Day

"Caring for a dead veteran is easy...bring a wreath, say a few
words and walk away. Caring for a living veteran requires
time, money and a life-long commitment. Every Veterans
Day our politicians show they don't know the difference
as they visit a cemetery instead of a VA hospital."

Top of the page at VA Watchdog dot Org

"The Romans brought on their own demise, but it took them centuries. Bush has finished America in a mere 7 years." - - - Paul Craig Roberts

George Carlin explains who really owns us all (warning, strong language):


I think this can be expanded to include the entire planet.

Watching the start of another season of Lakers basketball, one thought keeps popping into my head: Man, I really miss Chick Hearn.

His legend will forever be in the refrigerator.

FRIDAY F U N

• Only in America: Wedgie-proof underwear for kids
• World's tallest dog meets the smallest
  
• If there was no Moon
• 10 punny groaners that will make your eyes roll
• An unusually droll pre-flight announcement
  
• An almost impossible rock-and-roll quiz
• Mental math shortcuts
• A free, highly-rated, PhotoShop-quality image and photo editing software: Paint.net
  
• Writing and drawing in jail
  
• How to become puffy, constipated and tall, and see the world from afar

And finally, in what I guess is becoming a tradition for Friday Fun, here's another fine music selection for your enjoyment:

Bits and Pieces for the Week of November 4 - 10

If you're a big fan of really, really bad news, then don't miss this devastatingly depressing review of our economy's future. Oh, and there's this, too. And this. Cheers! (Mike)

You just know that a blog supporting the WGA strike and written by Hollywood writers is going to be a more entertaining read than usual. (Mike)

"More than 25 percent of the homeless population in the United States are war veterans, although they represent only 11 percent of the civilian adult population..." That's your legacy bu$h! W.orst P.resident E.ver!! (7 of 6)

Kucinich starts the drumbeat for impeachment (Mike)

A primer on the foreclosure wave sweeping across America (Mike)

I certainly don't know where I've been for the last 7 months but I just found this fascinating article on the suicide of Colonel Ted Westhusing in Iraq. "At the time, he was the highest-ranking American soldier to die in Iraq." (7 of 6)

In the 60's and 70's it was University Students who led the protest charge against war. With a new generation of college kids doing nothing, it seems it has to resort to heavily recruited High School students to start the protests! Way to go kids! (7 of 6)

Are U.S. "schoolchildren dying from infections with drug-resistant bacteria" because of "antibacterial products containing triclosan"? (7 of 6)

According to The Jerusalem Post, the United States Air Force carried out the Sept. 6th attack on a nuclear site in Syria. The Post's information came from an "Al-Jazeera Web site" that "quoted Israeli and Arab sources". (7 of 6)

I think Brave New Films has gone a bit overboard on this subject:


I mean, come on. This degree of exploitation is in most programming you see on TV these days (okay, maybe not on C-Span). If you're gonna pick on Fox News, then focus on the cornucopia of false information they spew every minute of every day.

President Bush said this yesterday:

"You can't be the President and the head of the military at the same time."

Am I the only one who noticed that this was said by our President AND Commander-in-Chief of our military?

Excerpt from an article by economist Michael A. Nystrom

....When history is written on the waning days of the American Empire, it might very well say that the final decades witnessed a series of increasingly intense temporary booms, driven by steady increases in debt - consumer debt, corporate debt, and government debt. Eventually, the debts simply became unsustainable. The Federal Reserve's trusty old trick of lowering interest rates stopped working. Markets stopped responding. Everything went into reverse. What the Fed failed to grasp is that printed money eventually reverts to its intrinsic value of zero, and that there is a difference between a lack of liquidity and just plain old-fashioned insolvency. More interest rate cuts and money printing won't help.... and they won't help the housing sector to recover. The Fed's credibility is all but lost. The endgame is upon us.

Special Comment by Keith Olbermann: On waterboarding and torture
[click image]
(Note: Keith starts after 30-second commercial)

From USA Today:

....Bush reached an unwelcome record. By 64%-31%, Americans disapprove of the job he is doing. For the first time in the history of the Gallup Poll, 50% say they "strongly disapprove" of the president. Richard Nixon had reached the previous high, 48%, just before an impeachment inquiry was launched in 1974.

And yet the goddamn Democrats in Congress will continue to bend over backwards to give Bush/Cheney every single atom of every single piece of legislation and dollar they request, public be damned. Folks, it's not even slightly funny anymore, the finding of new expressions to say "spineless", or "no backbone", etc. It's sad, devastatingly serious, and probably the final downfall of my country. And ironically, it's the fault of the Democrats. Imagine that!

All you Hillary supporters out there: You really need to take a step back and look at the whole package. She is corporate-backed and a corporate supporter. If you still don't know this by now, she was once on the B. of D. of Wal-Mart, the most ruthless major retailer in history with respect to employees' rights and wages, and moral corporate competitiveness, making the Mafia look like the YMCA. She is a strong supporter of using military action in place of diplomacy, as supported by her voting record. She will make Golda Meir seem like Mother Theresa. Hillary talks the talk but will never walk the walk. She is a rabid wolf in sheep's clothing, and we will all pay the price for electing her, come January, 2009.

I think Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich, John Edwards and Al Gore are the only electable Democrats who would make peace between the world and the USA. But I don't see any of them with more than a whisper of a chance of getting the nomination.

[Your god's name here] help us all!

The rise (of private) and fall (of government) disaster relief:

The Posies - King Midas in Reverse

This is the best version I could find of this wonderfully, approriate song for our times. I tried to find a video of The Hollies or Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young performing this song but could not. Amazing how this song fits almost 40 years later.

King Midas in Reverse

The Hollies - written by Allan Clarke/Tony Hicks/Graham Nash

If you could only see me
I know exactly where I am
You wouldn't want to be me
Oh, I can assure you of that

I'm not the guy to run with
'cause I'll throw you off the line
I'll break you and destroy you
Given time

He's King Midas with a curse
He's King Midas in reverse
He's King Midas with a curse
He's King Midas in reverse

It's plain to see it's hopeless
Going on the way we are
So even though I'd lose you
You'd be better off by far

He's not the man to hold your trust
Everything he touches turns to dust
In his hands
Nothing he can do is right
He'd even like to sleep at night
But he can't

All he touches turns to dust

All he touches turns to dust

All he touches turns to dust

All he touches turns to dust

I wish someone would find me
And help me gain control
Before I lose my reason
And my soul

He's King Midas with a curse
He's King Midas in reverse
He's King Midas with a curse
He's King Midas in reverse

Do you use, or know someone else who uses, Microsoft Excel? If so, then you can download the ebook version of a great new Excel book, Learn Excel 97-2007, by going here:

http://www.mrexcel.com/preview9097.html

and then downloading it for free. The author is giving away this online version in hopes that a percent of the readers will buy the hardcopy version. I use this book and highly recommend it.

And it's free. Really.

Just don't be shocked or surprised if this should come to pass:

Provisional Constitution Instituted, Leader Expected to Address Nation Saturday The Washington Post Saturday, February 13, 2008; 2:11 PM President George W. Bush declared emergency rule Saturday, suspending the constitution and removing the Supreme Court chief justice from office. "The chief of army staff has proclaimed a state of emergency and issued a provisional constitutional order," a newscaster on state television said in announcing the decree, which referred to President George W. Bush as Commander in Chief of the Military and did not mention his dual role as president. The declaration referred to a "visible ascendancy in the activities of extremists and incidents of terrorist attacks . . . and the banding together of some militant groups." It also cited "an unprecedented level" of violence that poses "a grave threat to the life and property of the citizens of The United States." No specific mention was made of the terrorist bombings of Los Angeles and Chicago last week. President George W. Bush was expected to address the nation later Saturday. While other television news stations in The United States were blacked out Saturday evening, only Fox News ran segments in which pro-government analysts criticized political opponents and the independent media for not backing President George W. Bush at a time of crisis. Political analysts said that by suspending the constitution and removing Supreme Court justices, President George W. Bush had essentially declared martial law, even if he was not calling it that. One columnist, who asked his name be withheld stated: "He's pretty much carrying out a second coup," "For all practical purposes, it is direct military rule. And he becomes the supreme ruler of The United States. There's no constitutional limit on him because he's set aside the constitution. The first coup was bloodless, and no one prevented the signing statements and defiance of law that was the hallmark of his first seven years in office. "What is ironic is that he is using the constitution to eliminate the constitution. President George W. Bush's stated reasons for declaring an emergency were misleading. "It has nothing to do with the insurgency," he said. "It has to do with President George W. Bush's political survival." Secretary of Defense Gates, who had been a close adviser to President Bush, until his resignation yesterday, said the steps amounted to "de facto martial law." He said he had repeatedly tried to persuade the president against the measures in recent days but was outvoted within President George W. Bush's inner circle. Gates predicted that the moves would be disastrous for President George W. Bush and for the country. "The way forward has to be democratic and constitutional. Any other course is a recipe for disaster. More importantly, it will not be accepted by the people of The United States and it will not work," he said. According to Gates, President George W. Bush convened a meeting of his top advisers and cabinet members on Wednesday to discuss their options and that 20 of 25 were in favor of emergency rule. The key voice for declaring the state of emergency came from Attorney General Mukasey, who forcefully articulated the exact words that he had spoken during his confirmation hearing. "No law supersedes the obligation of the president to defend the country. This abrogation of the constitution is implicit in the words of this document when he is acting for the good of the country." he went on to state, "The fact of my confirmation shows approval of this principle and validates the action of the President." Senators, Dianne Feinstein of California and Charles E. Schumer of New York, the two Democrats who allowed Mr. Mukasey to gain office have not been available for comment. President Bush appointed as the new chief justice, Associate Justice Atonin Scalia, to take the place of John Roberts, whose whereabouts remained unknown Saturday night. In addition to the other dissenting judges were also removed Saturday. The four remaining judges signed new oaths and have been sworn in to a new panel. Hundreds of police and army rangers set up multiple checkpoints in and around Pennsylvania Avenue, the wide, leafy boulevard where the president's house, the Congress building and the Supreme Court all are situated. Agents from Blackwater International have been identified as manning some key intersections. At one of the checkpoints, dozens of President George W. Bush opponents began to gather in an apparently spontaneous display of anger at the emergency declaration, shouting " President George W. Bush must go!" It is unknown how long the Washington Post will continue to publish, as a new edict to require prior approval is being drafted that must be signed by all media outlets. It is doubtful that this paper will accede to this requirement.

As you start blaming people, remember to start with yourself since you never bothered to speak out.

Bits and Pieces for the Week of October 28 - November 3

I do hope that this likely veto override becomes habit-forming for Congress (Mike)

More Republican dirty tricks in California: deceptive gatherers of petition signatures (video) (Mike)

Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman describes how she is coping with her current bout of Bell's Palsey. What a trooper. (Mike)

I'm seeing paper batteries in your future... (Mike)

"Preliminary Department of Veterans research obtained by The Associated Press reveals for the first time that there were at least 283 suicides among veterans who left the military between the start of the war in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, through 2005." Yeah, lets just weed out the weak, "right you spartan's bu$h/cheney" and just think you won't have to pay them Veteran's benefits! (7 of 6)

Remember the kid who said,“Don’t Tase me, bro,” at a Kerry appearance at the University of Florida. Well, charges were dropped down to a pair of misdemeanors, a plea deal has been reached, 18 months probation and he has donate $150.00 to the American Cancer Society. I think the cops should just go back to using "billy clubs"! (7 of 6)

Sibel Edmonds is willing to tell all, even face charges, if one of the main, MSM outlets let her do it live or unedited. We need to tell Waxman again that Edmonds has important information for the American public, DC:(202)225-3976 / LA:(323)651-1040 / Capitol switchboard: 800-828-0498 (7 of 6)

The U.S. is getting the B-2 bombers ready for an attack on Iran (Mike)

A catastrophist's view of the impending economic collapse. (Mike)

And the Obama campaign continues to unravel; apparently the Senator is getting bad campaign advice. (Mike)

"...United States military command accused the Iranian Quds Force.. of providing the armor-piercing EFPs... that were killing US troops, it knew that Iraqi machine shops had been producing their own EFPs for years... US command had considerable evidence that the Mahdi Army of Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr had received the technology and the training on how to use it from Hezbollah, rather than Iran." (7 of 6)

Congratulations to the Boston Red Sox, 2007 World Series Champions. The team with the second highest payroll in baseball, next to the Yankees. For as much as I wanted the Rockies to win: the long 8 day layoff, playoff inexperience, bats that never awoke during the series, was surely their demise. No doubt, the Red Sox were the better team this year. But thanks anyway Rockies, that was an incredible run at the end of the year. (7 of 6)

FRIDAY F U N

• With Free Rice you can feed the world's hungry while learning new words.
• Stay up-to-date on the latest strange and intriguing products
  
• 10 way cool gadgets unavailable in the U.S.
• 15 famously manipulated photos
• Test your reaction time (my best: 0.17 sec)
  
• This online clock give you a lot more info than just the time
  
• Eye test for men
  
• Make your own goofy face
• It really does pay to think twice about important decisions, such as web site names
  
• For the economy-minded family, here's a 10-seater Toyota Prius
• The fine art of sharpening pencils
• Need to take a nap at your desk? Set this online alarm clock and snooze away.
  
• Entertaining epitaphs

And finally, piggybacking on last week's Matthew Gair selection, here's another cut from the same album:

"We Owe Our Veterans Health Care"

Created by eric_at_rockridge (Rockridge Institute staff member) on Wednesday, October 31, 2007 02:38 PM Subjecting veterans to the profit-maximizing health insurance industry leaves our moral debt unpaid. Last April, President Bush told members of American Legion Post 177 that "we owe the families and the soldiers the best health care possible." That debt is still unpaid. According to a new report by Harvard Medical School researchers, published yesterday in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Public Health, millions of veterans and their family members have not been getting the medical care they need. People assume that veterans automatically get health care from Veterans Affairs (VA). They don't. Despite their military service, the Bush Administration requires most veterans to pay additional money for insurance in order to get care. But many veterans don't earn enough money to be able to buy health insurance. At the same time, they aren't poor enough under Bush Administration guidelines to get VA care or to qualify for Medicaid. Abandoned, these veterans struggle alone to find health care. In the insurance marketplace, our veterans remain in harms way—their service, and our debt, forgotten. Why haven't we made good on our obligation? Our moral debt to our veterans, based on mutual need and shared responsibility, goes unpaid in the current health insurance system because it is based upon corporate self-interest. An insurance company's responsibility is to maximize profit, even when that means denying care to veterans. Clearly, our national moral responsibility is not the same as an insurance company's corporate fiduciary duty to maximize profits. (This concept is discussed further in our Rockridge Institute paper, The Logic of the Health Care Debate). In fact, as the veterans' predicament demonstrates, these obligations can be quite contradictory. A vet is a national hero. Soldiers risk their lives. Many will be injured. Some will die. In return, we promise to support our troops in whatever way possible—both on the battlefield and when (or if) they return as veterans. Certainly, our support includes medical care. There is no price that can be put on the risks a soldier takes. Nor is there a way to estimate the care a veteran will need during their lifetime. Our mutual obligations are easily understood, but impossible to quantify. But a health insurance company's duty is to its shareholders. Its legal and contractual obligation is to maximize profits. Health insurance companies do that by quantifying likely health costs, and selling the policies for more than they will pay out in benefits. If you cannot afford their policies, then they will not sell you one. Simply put, a veteran is just another potential customer. The national failure to meet our shared obligations to veterans – who risked life and limb on our behalf – is a disgrace. It betrays the moral vacuum at the center of our current health care system. Let's simplify to make this ugly circumstance as clear as we can. Imagine a town. Inside the town live health insurance executives and the politicians who serve their interests. Soldiers risk life and limb to protect the town. Later, a soldier gets sick. "Sorry, you don't earn enough to afford our insurance policies. Try the next town," say the insurance executives. Except, in America, there is no "next town." One way that we could meet our national obligation to support our troops is for the government to provide or guarantee medical care for all veterans. A version of this idea occurred through the Veterans' Health Care Eligibility Reform Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-262). The Act opened VA care to all veterans, with copays for those veterans considered to be "non-poor" (generally those making $30,000 and higher). In January 2003, however, the Bush Administration ordered a halt to the enrollment of "non-poor" veterans. The VA facilities were "full." To date, it's no better. As a result, according to the Harvard Medical School study, millions of vets and their family members cannot afford health insurance and go everyday without needed medical care. That is tragic. Something must change. The authors elegantly summarize the central role that veterans and health care play in our national community: "The disturbing scene of returning soldiers left without care is a stark reminder that America is a nation bound by mutual obligations and shared responsibility. We owe veterans care not because they can pay for it nor because they are heroes but—as their sacrifices remind us—because members of a society are obligated to serve and protect each other." In America, we don't have a health care system; we have an insurance marketplace. Until we understand the difference, no reform will work. To our low-income veterans, that is a daily hardship. We should make their hardship our problem too. One we solve together. Now. We owe that to our veterans.

I received this disgusting email in my inbox this morning:

From: Sgt. Robert Cox Important Message My name is Sgt. Robert Cox, I am an American soldier, I am serving in the military of the 1st Armored Division in Iraq, as you know we are being attacked by insurgents everyday and car bombs. We managed to move funds belonging to Saddam Hussein?s family. The total amount is US$25 Million dollars in cash, mostly 100 dollar bills. We want to move this money to you, so that you may invest it for us and keep our share for banking.You can go to this web link to read about events that took place there: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm We will take 75%, my partner and I. You take the other 25%. No strings attached, just help us move it out of Iraq, Iraq is a war zone. We plan on using diplomatic courier and shipping the money out in one large silver box, using diplomatic mmunity.If you are interested I will send you the full details, my job is to find a good partner that we can trust and that will assist us. Can I trust you? When you receive this letter, kindly send me an e-mail signifying your interest including your most confidential telephone/fax numbers for quick communication also your contact details. This business is risk free. The box can be shipped out in 48hrs. Respectfully, Sgt. Robert Cox.

This is taking the Nigerian scam emails one giant leap further, and may actually fool quite a few Bush supporters who still support the war and anything/anyone else that promotes it.