LEFT is RIGHT (blogging against The Bush-war) |
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| Weapon was taken from Iraqi leader when he was captured Updated: 10:30 p.m. ET May 30, 2004 WASHINGTON - A handgun that Saddam Hussein was clutching when U.S. forces captured him in a hole in Iraq last December is now kept by President Bush at the White House, Time magazine reported Sunday. Military officials had the pistol mounted after it was seized from Saddam near his hometown of Tikrit last year, and soldiers involved in the capture gave it to Bush in a private meeting, Time said. The magazine quoted a visitor who had been shown the gun, which is kept in a small study off the Oval Office where Bush displays memorabilia. It is the same room where former President Clinton had some of his encounters with former intern Monica Lewinsky. Bush shows Saddam's gun to select visitors, telling them it is unloaded, both now and when Saddam was captured, Time reported. "He really liked showing it off," Time quoted a visitor who had seen the gun as saying. "He was really proud of it." A White House spokesman was not immediately available for comment. |
You captured Saddam, you even got his pistol and, thus, his "manhood", right Mr. President? So, Mr. President, go home and enjoy your new toy and leave us the hell alone now.
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May 29, 2004
After reading Michael Miller's post of a Charles Cutter article, one can't help but think the following: Now that Bush has lost any credibility with Americans due to repeated, unsubstantiated warnings of elevated terrorist threats (the bogus one by Ashcroft earlier this week being the most recent), aren't we in even more danger now? When the next legitimate warning is announced, no one is going to pay heed, and the consequences could be disastrous.
Left I On The News found this simple yet intriguing question by Harry Browne:
We all know one group of powerful, ultra right-wing politicians currently living in a government complex in Washington, D.C., who place the value of their lives far, far above that of all others. We must show them the errors of their ways this November and beyond. Go out and vote!
Crying Wolf
After reading Michael Miller's post of a Charles Cutter article, one can't help but think the following: Now that Bush has lost any credibility with Americans due to repeated, unsubstantiated warnings of elevated terrorist threats (the bogus one by Ashcroft earlier this week being the most recent), aren't we in even more danger now? When the next legitimate warning is announced, no one is going to pay heed, and the consequences could be disastrous.
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The Price of Someone Else's Life
Left I On The News found this simple yet intriguing question by Harry Browne:
| ....How many human lives are a proper price to pay for the removal of Saddam Hussein? Would you say removing Hussein would be worth it if a million people — Americans and Iraqis — had to die to achieve it? If the answer is no, let's try a lower price. How about 100,000? If that's too many, how about 10,000 lives being snuffed out to remove one man from power? ....Let's make is simpler. Rather than throwing numbers around, let's ask just one question: Would removing Hussein be worth it if the cost were just one human life — but that life was yours? Would you be willing to die to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq? If the answer is no, then anything you have to say about the world being a better place now — about collateral damage — about the glory of soldiers sacrificing their lives for their country — is meaningless. You're not willing to pay the price. You're like so many people who believe various government programs are wonderful — provided someone else pays for them. Everyone who has died so far in Iraq had a life that meant as much to him as your life means to you. But now that life is gone, done, finished, nevermore. By supporting the war in Iraq, you have supported the idea that it's okay to kill people — other people. But until you're willing to volunteer to be one of those killed, your words don't carry any weight. |
We all know one group of powerful, ultra right-wing politicians currently living in a government complex in Washington, D.C., who place the value of their lives far, far above that of all others. We must show them the errors of their ways this November and beyond. Go out and vote!
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May 28, 2004
Reduced Posting on LEFT is RIGHT
Note to readers: Job duties will take up most waking hours over the next couple of weeks, so posting will be sparse. Please continue to use all the resources on this page (sidebar) and in the "Pages of Links".
Colin's Crazy Carrera (game)
Duckomenta (click the "raum"s)
Flash Games (choose from more than 500)
Flow3 (interactive art) and Other Art Machines
Found
The Little Engine That Couldn't (short video)
Museum of Bad Art
Photoshop Contest
Singing Bird
Skateboarding Dog (video)
Well, u-- um, can we come up and have a look?
What Monty Python Character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
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FRIDAY FUN
Colin's Crazy Carrera (game)
Duckomenta (click the "raum"s)
Flash Games (choose from more than 500)
Flow3 (interactive art) and Other Art Machines
Found
The Little Engine That Couldn't (short video)
Museum of Bad Art
Photoshop Contest
Singing Bird
Skateboarding Dog (video)
Well, u-- um, can we come up and have a look?
What Monty Python Character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
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May 27, 2004
From ArnoldWatch:
Yep, Groperzenegger has definitely been taking secret lessons from Bush/Cheney.
From TNR (emphasis added):
Someone please explain this to me.
From Newsday.com (emphasis added):
Good review of the 2004 Toyota Prius at Autoweb (excerpt):
Ethics? Shmethics.
From ArnoldWatch:
| http://ArnoldWatch.org Weblog May 27, 2004 4:25 pm If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Terminate ‘Em by Carmen Balber and Jamie Court The San Francisco Chronicle reported today that buried in Governor Schwarzenegger’s budget proposal is a $1 million reduction in the budget of the state political ethics board, the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC). That $1 mil cut would eliminate 15% of the agency’s overall budget, and 45% of the discretionary funding it received last year. That means less enforcement of the laws that try to keep politicians honest....including Arnold himself. In January, the FPPC ruled that the Governor had broken the law by loaning his campaign $4.5 million with the intention of fundraising to pay back the money, and he would have to cover the contribution himself. In February, our group filed a complaint with the FPPC because Arnold’s complex of campaign committees allowed him to hide the true source of funding for his bond & budget measures on the March ballot, 57 & 58, by funneling money between committees. Read the complaint: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/corporate/fs/fs004008.php3 Just last week we received a call from the FPPC that made it clear that the Commission is still investigating. Instead of sweeping Sacramento clean, the governor is cutting the janitorial staff. Arnold’s “If you can’t beat ‘em, terminate ‘em” philosophy also seems to apply to the high price of gasoline. He’s set to cut critical posts at the California Energy Commission, rather than assign it to deal with the oil industry practices leading to the high price of gasoline. Read the letter we sent to Arnold today: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/utilities/fs/fs004307.php3 Cleaning up government doesn’t mean throwing it out. |
Yep, Groperzenegger has definitely been taking secret lessons from Bush/Cheney.
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Asian-Americans for Bush?
From TNR (emphasis added):
| FROM THE NEW ZOGBY POLL: Bush's job approval is down to 42 percent. His approval on Iraq is down to 36 percent. Kerry is up by five points in the horserace (47-42). Right track/wrong track is at 54/40. The percentage who say it's "time for someone new" is at 53 percent. Kerry favorability is at 55 percent. Bush favorability is at 52 percent. Bush and Kerry are tied in the red states (45-45). Kerry leads in the Blue states (49-38), the East (53-36), the West (45-44), the central Great Lakes (47-41), and among progressives, (81-12), liberals (79-12), moderates (55-30), Hispanics (59-39), African-Americans (85-6), Democrats (84-9), and Independents (46-37). Bush leads in the South (47-43) and among conservatives (71-19), Whites (46-42), Asians (63-37), Republicans (81-8), and Libertarians (80-0). |
Someone please explain this to me.
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Damn Liberal Media..... Oh, Wait
From Newsday.com (emphasis added):
| Despite a perception that National Public Radio is politically liberal, the majority of its sources are actually Republicans and conservatives, according to a survey released today by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, a left-leaning media watchdog. "Republicans not only had a substantial partisan edge," according to a report accompanying the survey, "individual Republicans were NPR's most popular sources overall, taking the top seven spots in frequency of appearance." In addition, representatives of right-of-center think tanks outnumbered their leftist counterparts by more than four to one, FAIR reported. Citing comments dating to the Nixon administration in the 1970s, the report said, "That NPR harbors a liberal bias is an article of faith among many conservatives." However, it added, "Despite the commonness of such claims, little evidence has ever been presented for a left bias at NPR." The study counted 2,334 sources used in 804 stories aired last June for four programs: "All Things Considered," "Morning Edition," "Weekend Edition Saturday" and "Weekend Edition Sunday." For the analysis of think tanks, FAIR used the months of May through August 2003. Overall, Republicans outnumbered Democrats by 61 percent to 38 percent, a figure only slightly higher now, when the GOP controls the White House and both houses of Congress, than during a previous survey in 1993, during the Clinton administration. "Some people may think is too left of center because they are contrasting it to the louder, black-and-white sloganeering of talk radio," said FAIR's Steve Rendall, a co-author of the report. "It could be that, just by contrast, the more dulcet [tone] and slower pace and lower volume of NPR makes many people think it must be the opposite of talk radio." NPR spokeswoman Jenny Lawhorn responded, "This is America - any group has the right to criticize our coverage. That said, there are obviously a lot of intelligent people out there who listen to NPR day after day and think we're fair and in-depth in our approach." |
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Autoweb Reviews Prius
Good review of the 2004 Toyota Prius at Autoweb (excerpt):
| ....All this is combined with a 1.5-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine, and as one powerplant the Prius produces 76 horsepower and 82 lb.-ft. of torque -- compared to 70 hp and 82 lb.-ft. for the previous model. Improving the previous Prius' performance was a major issue for Toyota engineers, and they improved acceleration, 0-60 times and fuel efficiency. Overall, the performance of the Prius is not unlike a typical 4-cylinder vehicle, though you can feel the weight difference a little. It's not fast off the line, but gets out quickly enough -- it's 0-60 is improved to 10 seconds, a full 2 ticks less than the 2003 Prius. Fuel mileage did improve by about 7 miles-per-gallon, though your personal driving habits will influence this number. Where the Prius shines most, however, is in driveability. The thing is easy to drive, smooth and effortless on acceleration and turning -- thanks in part to Toyota's throttle-by-wire technology, which replaces the traditional gearshift lever and allows shifting using a small joystick mounted on the dash. Once at cruising speeds, the Prius slices through road; on trips with multiple errands, it is an incredibly easy vehicle to start, stop, park and maneuver.... |
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May 26, 2004
From MoveOn:
UPDATE: Here is the entire speech, courtesy C-SPAN.
HOLY COW (real player version)
Gore Calls for Resignations of Rumsfeld, Rice, Wolfowitz, Tenet, and Others
From MoveOn:
| ....It is therefore essential that even as we focus on the fateful choice, the voters must make this November that we simultaneously search for ways to sharply reduce the extraordinary danger that we face with the current leadership team in place. It is for that reason that I am calling today for Republicans as well as Democrats to join me in asking for the immediate resignations of those immediately below George Bush and Dick Cheney who are most responsible for creating the catastrophe that we are facing in Iraq. We desperately need a national security team with at least minimal competence because the current team is making things worse with each passing day. They are endangering the lives of our soldiers, and sharply increasing the danger faced by American citizens everywhere in the world, including here at home. They are enraging hundreds of millions of people and embittering an entire generation of anti-Americans whose rage is already near the boiling point. We simply cannot afford to further increase the risk to our country with more blunders by this team. Donald Rumsfeld, as the chief architect of the war plan, should resign today. His deputies Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith and his intelligence chief Stephen Cambone should also resign. The nation is especially at risk every single day that Rumsfeld remains as Secretary of Defense. Condoleeza Rice, who has badly mishandled the coordination of national security policy, should also resign immediately. George Tenet should also resign. I want to offer a special word about George Tenet, because he is a personal friend and I know him to be a good and decent man. It is especially painful to call for his resignation, but I have regretfully concluded that it is extremely important that our country have new leadership at the CIA immediately..... |
UPDATE: Here is the entire speech, courtesy C-SPAN.
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HOLY COW (real player version)
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| "If the human mind was simple enough to understand, we'd be too simple to understand it." ----Emerson Pugh |
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May 25, 2004
From Reuters:
With respect to Bush's claim yesterday, Kevin Drum states the obvious very well:
I expect Bush's polling numbers to shoot up in July after the "handover" of power to the "independent" iraqi government. That will give Kerry about three months to convince voters that they are just looking at the same thing with a new face; I don't know if Kerry and his bumbling Dems can handle this... we'll have to hold our breath and see.
Bush's agenda looks kinda like Earl Scheib putting a new coat of paint on a crash-test car and calling it fixed and ready for another test.
From CAP:
So there you have it, if you're tired of hard work and low pay, then become a CEO!
New Mervin Field Poll: Californians strongly dislike Bush's job performance and policies:
Final survey about this on November 2, 2004.
Your Doctor Wearing a Tie? Look Out!
From Reuters:
| Physicians' Neckties Often Contaminated With Pathogenic Bacteria NEW YORK (Reuters Health) May 24 - A change in fashion may decrease nosocomial spread of infections, according to a presentation at the 104th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. That's because neckties worn by clinicians were found to be eight times more likely to harbor pathogens than were those of hospital workers not normally in contact with patients. While doing a clinical rotation at New York Hospital at Queens, lead author Steven Nurkin, a medical student at the American-Technion Program at the Bruce Rappaport Facility of Medicine in Haifa, Israel, noticed that physicians' neckties often come into contact with patients or their bedding. After examining a patient or conducting procedure, he told Reuters Health, "they would wash their hands, and then adjust their tie," perhaps recontaminating their hands. So he and colleagues swabbed 42 neckties worn by clinicians and 10 by security personnel, and dabbed the swabs onto blood agar plates and identified the isolates that grew. Twenty of the clinicians' neckties carried pathogens, including Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Aspergillus. In contrast, the tie of only one security guard carried a single pathogen, S. aureus. Nurkin pointed out that neckties are encouraged because they are believed to project an aura of professionalism and increase patients' confidence, but they may not be cleaned as often as other articles of clothing. Options to reduce the risk of disease transmission, he suggested, include switching to bow-ties or using tie tacks that hold ties to physicians' shirts, decontaminating ties with a "high quality detergent spray that wouldn't ruin the tie," or even using a "necktie condom." Another option would be to abandon neckties altogether. He and his associates are considering further studies with larger sample sizes to confirm their findings. The ASM conference is being held this week in New Orleans. |
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Bush: "Get Me Earl Scheib"
With respect to Bush's claim yesterday, Kevin Drum states the obvious very well:
| ...after June 30, the Iraqis will have "full sovereignty." This is obviously nonsense since we intend to keep 150,000 troops on their soil and maintain full control of the Iraqi security forces as well. .... It's true that Iraqis won't be fooled by this, but for that reason they aren't going to be disappointed either. Americans, however, are going to be fooled by it, and that's all Bush cares about. A hundred million people are going to hear that we're handing over "full sovereignty," and maybe 1% of them will read or hear an explanation of why that's not true. So it's a win for Bush. The real danger is that it sets up Americans for disappointment, not Iraqis. The Iraqis will shrug their shoulders and continue to agitate for American withdrawl, and Americans will be left wondering why the Iraqis continue to be so ungrateful even though we've turned over full sovereignty to them just like we said we would. Of such things is American self-delusion born. |
I expect Bush's polling numbers to shoot up in July after the "handover" of power to the "independent" iraqi government. That will give Kerry about three months to convince voters that they are just looking at the same thing with a new face; I don't know if Kerry and his bumbling Dems can handle this... we'll have to hold our breath and see.
Bush's agenda looks kinda like Earl Scheib putting a new coat of paint on a crash-test car and calling it fixed and ready for another test.
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Hey Average Workers: Tired of Low Pay? Become a CEO!
From CAP:
| According to a recent study, "the gap in pay between average workers and large company CEOs surpassed 300-1 in 2003." While the average worker earned $517 per week in 2003, the average CEO for a large company earned $155,769 a week. In other words, the average CEO makes more in ten minutes than an average worker makes all week. And the situation is getting worse: in the last two decades the gap has expanded rapidly – in 1982, the ratio between the average worker and CEOs was 42-1. In the last 13 years, CEO pay rose an astounding 313%. Meanwhile, pay increases for the average worker over that period (49%) were almost entirely offset by inflation (41%). |
So there you have it, if you're tired of hard work and low pay, then become a CEO!
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Wanted: More Members of Californians for Bush
New Mervin Field Poll: Californians strongly dislike Bush's job performance and policies:
| ....By a two to one margin (63% to 31%) Californians do not believe the war in Iraq is worth the toll it is taking in American lives and other costs. This represents a complete reversal from opinions that state residents held thirteen months ago, at the start of the war. Six in ten of this state’s adults and its registered voters also say they disapprove of the President’s handling of the Iraqi war, and a majority disapprove of the President’s job performance overall. The proportion of Californians who feel the direction of the country is seriously off on the wrong track is larger now than at any time since 1992. .... By a two to one margin (63% to 31%), Californians now believe the Iraqi war is not worth the toll it has taken on American lives and other costs. Support for the war is now at its lowest level since it began in early 2003. Attitudes against the war now include majorities of all demographic subgroups of the state’s population, except registered Republicans and conservatives. .... By a nearly two to one margin (60% to 33%) Californians disapprove of the job President Bush is doing in handling the war in Iraq. This rating is the most critical assessment of the President’s war performance since poll measurements on this began over a year ago. .... A majority (54%) of adults now disapprove of the job the President is doing overall, while 39% approve. Registered voters are slightly less critical, but still rate the President’s performance negatively. .... There are wide differences of opinion about Bush’s job performance across different subgroups of the state’s population. While 80% of Republicans approve of President, a comparable proportion of Democrats (78%) disapproves. Conservatives give the Bush positive ratings by a greater than two to one margin, but liberals rate him negatively by an even larger four to one margin. Moderates have a more negative than positive view of Bush’s performance (58% to 34%). Residents of the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area are more negative in their assessments of the President than residents living in other parts of the state. Women hold a more critical view of the President than men, disapproving of the President 57% to 36%. Men rate him negatively but by a narrower 52% to 43% margin. White non-Hispanics disapprove of Bush by a 52% to 43% margin. Latinos are somewhat more negative (55% to 39%), while other minorities disapprove by a greater than two to one margin. While more registered voters hold a negative (52%) than positive (43%) view of the President’s performance in office, those adults who are not registered to vote rate him by a nearly negatively two to one margin (58% to 34%). .... The proportion of Californians who believe the U.S. is seriously off on the wrong track is now higher than at any time since 1982. A majority of state residents (57%) now feel the state is on the wrong track, while 33% feel it is heading in the right direction. .... A majority of Californians (54%) give the President negative marks on his handling of the nation’s economy, while 37% approve. This represents a slight worsening in Californians’ views of Bush on the economy from earlier this year.... |
Final survey about this on November 2, 2004.
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May 24, 2004
From UC Berkeley News:
From Bush's commencement address at LSU last Friday:
I'm thinking that 95% of the people in this world are still waiting for their almighty "gift".
----- President Bush's March 8, 2003 radio address to the nation
The High Cost of Low (aka WalMart-like) Wages
From UC Berkeley News:
| UC Berkeley study documents taxpayer costs to help working poor | By Kathleen Maclay, Media Relations | 20 May 2004 BERKELEY – Two million California families in which one or more family members works rely on publicly funded safety net programs - at a cost to taxpayers of $10 billion a year, according to a University of California, Berkeley, study being released today (Thursday, May 20). "Low-wage workers are relying on public assistance to make ends meet. Low-wage employers are essentially shifting their labor costs onto the public," said report lead author Carol Zabin, research director of the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education. "California's 'new economy' has produced an hourglass pattern of job distribution, fostering growth of high- and low-wage jobs, but little in between," she said. The researchers report that small improvements in wages could move many families off public programs. If all workers in the state earned a minimum of $8 an hour, assistance program costs would be reduced by $2.7 billion, the report concludes. And an increase to $14 per hour would reduce expenditures by $5.6 billion. Likewise, Zabin said, if jobs included health benefits, even at current wage levels, $2.1 billion in expenditures could be put to other uses. The report, "The Hidden Public Costs of Low-Wage Jobs in California," was written by Zabin and fellow center researchers Arindrajit Dube and Ken Jacobs for the Oakland-based National Economic Development & Law Center (NEDLC). They analyzed the participation in 2002 of working families in the 10 largest statewide safety net programs, including Medi-Cal, CalWorks, the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, food stamps and housing vouchers. The report found: * Half of all public assistance dollars dispersed based on recipient income qualifications are going to families who are working. In 2002, almost half - $10.1 billion - of public assistance dollars in the state went to families in which at least one person worked at least 45 weeks per year. * Most workers on public assistance earn close to the minimum wage, and more than $5 billion in support goes to families of workers earning below $8 an hour. * More than 75 percent of the benefits to working families went to households in which all earners worked full-time. * More than one of four workers in working families that receive assistance works for a business with 1,000 or more employees. * Public assistance to working families is distributed disproportionately to those working in a few industry sectors. Workers in the retail industry received about $2 billion in public assistance, more than twice the amount received by workers in any other jobs sector. Other top sectors included business services and construction. * Seventy-one percent of workers receiving public assistance are employed in sectors of the economy that do not face significant international or out-of-state competition, including retail, transportation, business services such as janitorial and security work, and construction. * More than half of the working family members receiving assistance-1.1 million-live in the greater Los Angeles area. "When wages are kept low, taxpayers make up the difference," said Art Pulaski, secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation. "We need better paying jobs with benefits. It's good for our families, our communities and taxpayers." "We need a long-term vision for our state, not just short-term cuts and Band-Aids," said State Sen. Richard Alarcón (D-Los Angeles). "The answer is to expand the middle class by creating good jobs and investing in training," added Alarcón, author of Senate Bill 1639. That bill would expand access to higher education for low-income people, including those on public assistance. "California doesn't have a lot of extra money right now, so we need to invest our public dollars with an eye to the future," said report sponsor Tse Ming Tam of the National Economic Development & Law Center. "The stability of our economy requires that we help low-wage workers move toward higher skills and earnings, and not just use public subsidies to perpetuate a low-wage economy." The report was commissioned by NEDLC with support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. It is the second in a series of white papers informing policy solutions to working poverty in California. The report did not include data on local programs such as general assistance or county children's health programs because necessary data was not available, researchers said. "Thus, our estimates of taxpayer costs from inadequate wages and employer benefits are lower than their true magnitude," the researchers write in the report. "Our estimate of the subsidies that currently support working families in California is ... quite conservative." |
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Today's Quote
From Bush's commencement address at LSU last Friday:
| "And the world can be certain we will never abandon our belief that freedom is the gift from the Almighty to every man and woman in this world." |
I'm thinking that 95% of the people in this world are still waiting for their almighty "gift".
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Blast From The Past
| Good morning. This has been an important week on two fronts of our war against terror. First, American and Pakistani authorities captured the mastermind of the September the 11th attacks against our country, Khalid Sheik Mohammed. This is a landmark achievement in disrupting the al Qaeda network, and we believe it will help us prevent future acts of terror. We are currently working with over 90 countries and have dealt with over 3,000 terrorists, who have been detained, arrested, or otherwise will not be a problem for the United States. Second, the Chief United Nations Weapons Inspector reported yesterday to the Security Council on his efforts to verify Saddam Hussein's compliance with Resolution 1441. This resolution requires Iraq to fully and unconditionally disarm itself of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons materials, as well as the prohibited missiles that could be used to deliver them. Unfortunately, it is clear that Saddam Hussein is still violating the demands of the United Nations by refusing to disarm. Iraqi's dictator has made a public show of producing and destroying a few prohibited missiles. Yet, our intelligence shows that even as he is destroying these few missiles, he has ordered the continued production of the very same type of missiles. Iraqi operatives continue to play a shell game with inspectors, moving suspected prohibited materials to different locations every 12 to 24 hours. And Iraqi weapons scientists continue to be threatened with harm should they cooperate in interviews with U.N. inspectors. These are not the actions of a regime that is disarming. These are the actions of a regime engaged in a willful charade. If the Iraqi regime were disarming, we would know it -- because we would see it; Iraq's weapons would be presented to inspectors and destroyed. Inspection teams do not need more time, or more personnel -- all they need is what they have never received, the full cooperation of the Iraqi regime. The only acceptable outcome is the outcome already demanded by a unanimous vote of the Security Council: total disarmament. Saddam Hussein has a long history of reckless aggression and terrible crimes. He possesses weapons of terror. He provides funding and training and safe haven to terrorists who would willingly deliver weapons of mass destruction against America and other peace-loving countries. The attacks of September the 11, 2001 showed what the enemies of America did with four airplanes. We will not wait to see what terrorists or terror states could do with weapons of mass destruction. We are determined to confront threats wherever they arise. And, as a last resort, we must be willing to use military force. We are doing everything we can to avoid war in Iraq. But if Saddam Hussein does not disarm peacefully, he will be disarmed by force. Across the world, and in every part of America, people of goodwill are hoping and praying for peace. Our goal is peace -- for our own nation, for our friends, for our allies and for all the peoples of the Middle East. People of goodwill must also recognize that allowing a dangerous dictator to defy the world and build an arsenal for conquest and mass murder is not peace at all; it is pretense. The cause of peace will be advanced only when the terrorists lose a wealthy patron and protector, and when the dictator is fully and finally disarmed. Thank you for listening. |
----- President Bush's March 8, 2003 radio address to the nation
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Order your free MoveOn "DEFEAT BUSH IN '04" bumper sticker HERE.
We are SO glad to see that Dem progressives are strongly supportive of eliminating the DLC. It's time for Democrats to unify around party leadership that addresses the true needs of Americans and has the balls to confront the neoconservativitis that is spreading like an oil slick across the planet. Remember, the DLC was instrumental in upending the progressive and promising Dean campaign. Support the NDN!
ALERT! STOP THE PRESSES! BUSH ADMINISTRATION ACTUALLY DOES SOMETHING GOOD!
"Safehouse for foreign fighters"
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New Democrat Network
We are SO glad to see that Dem progressives are strongly supportive of eliminating the DLC. It's time for Democrats to unify around party leadership that addresses the true needs of Americans and has the balls to confront the neoconservativitis that is spreading like an oil slick across the planet. Remember, the DLC was instrumental in upending the progressive and promising Dean campaign. Support the NDN!
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Must Be An Election Year
ALERT! STOP THE PRESSES! BUSH ADMINISTRATION ACTUALLY DOES SOMETHING GOOD!
| Landmark controls on diesel emissions, finalized Tuesday by the U.S. EPA, are expected to prevent 12,000 premature deaths and 15,000 heart attacks each year. And these were no warmed-over regs from the Clinton era, passed off as the Bushies' own, as was the case with the Highway Diesel Rule, a tough new standard that will dramatically reduce diesel pollution from trucks and buses starting in 2007. The Bush EPA can claim all the credit for this initiative, which regulates "non-road" diesel-powered equipment such as bulldozers, forklifts, tractors, and generators -- sources responsible for a surprising 60 percent of all diesel particulate matter, which is suspected of causing cancer. The regulations require manufacturers to build 90 percent cleaner diesel engines for these non-road machines, and call for a whopping 99 percent reduction of the sulfur content in the diesel fuel that will power the updated engines. Enviros far and wide have sounded positively starry-eyed in their accolades: "The EPA staff have been phenomenal on this issue," said Richard Kassel, a Natural Resources Defense Council senior attorney who helped the agency draft the regulations. "They went out of their way to give us as much of a voice in this regulatory process as they did industry. Nobody can deny that this will be remembered as a historic victory for clean air." |
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Liberation?
"Safehouse for foreign fighters"
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May 23, 2004
How the Punk vote might affect the election. (broadband video)(modem video)
Punk: Not Bush
How the Punk vote might affect the election. (broadband video)(modem video)
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May 22, 2004
From Reuters:
I KNEW it. I KNEW there was something else going on!
Andrew Anthony had a brief interview with Michael Moore at the Cannes Film Festival and came to this conclusion:
Read his entire article HERE.
Women Contemplate Next Shoe Purchase During Sex
From Reuters:
| BERLIN (Reuters) - Women watching erotic films are stimulated in a part of the brain associated with planning and emotion, research from scientists in Germany said Friday. When scientists from Essen University put volunteers in a brain scanning tube and showed them pornography they found both men and women showed activity in the temporal lobes linked to memory and perception, but only women used their frontal lobes. Unfortunately the researchers were not able to determine if their findings meant that while men lost themselves in the moment the busy modern professional woman was also planning her wardrobe, scheduling the vacation and juggling her tax receipts. "We don't know why these differences between men and women exist. They just do," said institute director Michael Forsting. |
I KNEW it. I KNEW there was something else going on!
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Moore, or Less?
Andrew Anthony had a brief interview with Michael Moore at the Cannes Film Festival and came to this conclusion:
| .....What I think, after my short time in his company, is that Moore is a man you would not want as an opponent, but also one you'd think twice about calling a friend. Though a talented film-maker and a clever showman, a populist who knows how to play the maverick, he is too often both big-headed and small-minded. In his desire to be seen as the decent man telling truth to power, he is too ready to blame those less powerful than himself for his shortcomings. He was justly revered in the Palais, but out on the street no one had a kind word to say about him. At Cannes, Moore may have been the star but he was not, it seems, the man of the people. |
Read his entire article HERE.
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May 21, 2004
Here's an inspiring excerpt of a commencement address by Thomas Friedman, NYT columnist, given at Washington University in St. Louis:
Now, wait a minute. An armor-plated Prius? What's the point?
(This post is dedicated to Michael J. Miller at PDP, who is patiently waiting for delivery of his Prius.)
[insert profanity here] Me
....
If the above isn't enought to drain your sanity, then go read THIS.
Oh, and Happy Friday!
Pessimist, writing on LeftCoaster, makes a novel plea to John McCain (excerpt):
I don't know about this. Putting so much power into the hands of a handful of rogue Senators seems a bit irresponsible. Haven't we learned YET to question the motives of Republicans, no matter what their actions appear, on the surface, to be?
As noted on TPM, this is from a commencement speech at LSU by Bush:
Just another example of someone not following their own advice.
Being a close friend of a California elementary schoolteacher, I can attest that the cases cited below are only the tip of the iceberg. (Emphasis added)
This article fails to point out that teachers who significantly raise their students' scores receive bonuses and recognition from the state (via their school districts), giving them even greater motivation to cheat.
(Update: This post referenced on Skippy TBK.)
And, using that rationale: being prejudiced, insensitive, and a bigot is a condition, not a state of mind.
"Owners of hybrid cars are finding that how you drive is just as important as what you drive, at least when it comes to gas mileage."
Jesse at Optimism From the Hills has a few items on which he would like to spend the $300 Billion projected for the Iraq War by the end of next year:
Mark Morford tries to resolve the "Is Bush Stupid?" conundrum (snippet):
America in Photos, 1 Mile at a Time
Best-Selling Albums of All Time
Beware the Cicada
Why You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks (video)
Flying Heritage Collection (vintage aircraft)
Panoramic Historical Photos from NARA (interactive)
Space Art
Wiley Coyote vs. ACME Co. (lawsuit)
World Wide Panorama (interactive photos)
Waking Up with the Friedmans
Here's an inspiring excerpt of a commencement address by Thomas Friedman, NYT columnist, given at Washington University in St. Louis:
| My wife said, 'Imagine if President Bush decided to offer a real alternative to the Kyoto Treaty to reduce global warming. I'd like to wake up and see that in the morning.' "'Yeah, and I would like to wake up to read that Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia invited Ariel Sharon to his home in Riyadh to personally hand him the Abdullah peace plan, and Mr. Sharon responded by freezing all Israeli settlements.' "And then Ann said, 'I want to wake up and read that General Motors will no longer make gas-guzzling Hummers and President Bush has decided to replace his limousine with an armor-plated Toyota Prius, a hybrid car that gets over 40 miles to the gallon.' "Then I said, 'I want to wake up and read that Dick Cheney has apologized to the U.N. and all of our allies for being wrong about W.M.D. in Iraq, and then appeal to our allies to join the U.S. in an even more important project — to help the Iraqis build some decent kind of democratic framework.' "'I want to wake up and read that Congress has decided to call for a tax-hike on the rich in order to save Social Security and Medicare for the next generation and to finance all our under-funded education programs.' "And finally I said, 'I want to wake up and read that John Kerry has asked a Republican to be his vice-president because if Mr. Kerry wins, he's not going to spend four years avoiding America's hardest problems — health care, deficits, energy, education — but to tackle them and that can only be done with a bipartisan spirit and bipartisan team.'" |
Now, wait a minute. An armor-plated Prius? What's the point?
(This post is dedicated to Michael J. Miller at PDP, who is patiently waiting for delivery of his Prius.)
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'US soldiers started to shoot us, one by one'
[insert profanity here] Me
....
If the above isn't enought to drain your sanity, then go read THIS.
Oh, and Happy Friday!
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Note to Jeffords: Someone May Soon Be Knocking At Your Door
Pessimist, writing on LeftCoaster, makes a novel plea to John McCain (excerpt):
| ....Personal to John McCain: You've been the good soldier, loyal to the party you once belonged to. That party, as you are beginning to see, is long gone from the American political scene. You've been the good soldier, honorably serving in your country's service as was traditional in your familiy's history. It's time for you to be the good American, and help end the tyranny of the Bush (mis)Administration. Take an example from your fellow Senator, Jim Jeffords. Place traditional American principles above partisan politics and cease pretending you're still a Republican. You aren't. As this interview with Speaker Hastert shows, your party has left you. No one will ask you to become a Democrat - Jeffords didn't - so you won't have to feel like you are compromising your personal integrity. But to keep this integrity, you need to act - NOW. Once these evil bastards feel you have been neutralized, how long will Snowe and Collins and Chaffey be able to stand up to the assault? Not long, I expect. It's time for the four of you - yourself, Snowe, Collins, and Chaffey - to act as American Patriots and end your associations with that entity that calls itself the Republican Party and to form your own with Senator Jeffords. As a separate political bloc, you would hold the balance of power. You could still support the GOP when you felt it deserved it, but you could also do something about the predations against the American people - that you are now powerless against - by joining the Democrats in opposition. What have you to lose? Nothing you aren't going to lose anyway. The Republican Party has to be looking for someone to run against you in the next primary. You can expect little economic assistance from them should you need it. Any committee chairmanships you are seeking will go to someone else. You will never be the presidential nominee of the Republican Party. Similar plots against the others have to be underway as well - they aren't considered any more trustworthy by the BFEE/PNAC party leaders than you are. You put country before self once before - it's time to do it again. For the good of your personal integrity, and the health and welfare of the nation you swore an oath to protect and defend, become an Independent and lead the others away from a power-hungry elite that has demonstrated they are not responsible in their actions. |
I don't know about this. Putting so much power into the hands of a handful of rogue Senators seems a bit irresponsible. Haven't we learned YET to question the motives of Republicans, no matter what their actions appear, on the surface, to be?
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As noted on TPM, this is from a commencement speech at LSU by Bush:
| "On the job, and elsewhere in life, choose your friends carefully. The company you keep has a way of rubbing off on you. And that can be a good thing or a bad thing." |
Just another example of someone not following their own advice.
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No Child Left Behind Thanks to Combination of Federal Pressure and Cheating Teachers
Being a close friend of a California elementary schoolteacher, I can attest that the cases cited below are only the tip of the iceberg. (Emphasis added)
| Los Angeles (AP) 5.21.04, 9:15a -- More than 200 California teachers have been investigated for helping students cheat on standardized tests since a statewide exam program began five years ago, according to a newspaper report. At least 75 of the teachers investigated were found to have helped students cheat on the tests, according to documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times through a Public Records Act request. In some cases, the teachers were allowed to stay; others were fired or resigned, the paper reported. Some educators say it's no surprised teachers are helping children get the right answers because, under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, schools with consistently low test scores can lose federal funding or have teachers reassigned. So far the state has intervened at 56 schools with poor scores, shaking up staffs. The federal government has warned 11 California campuses that they could lose funding or face other sanctions. "Some people feel that they need to boost test scores by hook or by crook," said Larry Ward of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, a watchdog group that has criticized many standardized tests. "The more pressure, the more some people take the unethical option." State education officials contend the numbers of proven cases are small in a state with more than 200,000 teachers. According to state documents, incidents in the last five years include teachers who gave hints to answers by drawing on the blackboard or leaving posters on the wall; coached children or hinted that their answers were wrong; told students the right answers; and changed the students' responses themselves. In the Inland Empire, a Rialto Unified School District third-grade teacher admitted telling students: "You missed a few answers; you need to go back and find the ones you missed." In the Ontario-Montclair School District, a student told investigators that a teacher read 10 math answers. Near Salinas, a Hollister School District teacher admitted changing about 15 answers. California allows districts to determine punishments, and most districts, citing privacy, do not disclose those decisions. State officials say they don't spend too much time checking up on districts. "We don't go out and do our own investigations; we don't have a staff to do that," said Les Axelrod of the state Education Department. "If we had a proctor in class, we would need another 200,000 people. Who is going to pay for that?" Beverly Tucker, California Teachers Association chief counsel, said before statewide testing started she saw one or two cases of cheating teachers a year. Since 1999, she said, the union has defended more than 100. "It's serious," Tucker said. "And I can understand there might be cases where dismissal is warranted because of a blatant violation." Association president Barbara Kerr said that the union didn't excuse cheating but felt bad for teachers who broke rules under "horrendous" pressure. "We have gone to such extremes -- where your whole life and existence is measured by one test -- that the pressure is on the kids, the pressure is on the teachers, the publicity is so overblown," she said. |
This article fails to point out that teachers who significantly raise their students' scores receive bonuses and recognition from the state (via their school districts), giving them even greater motivation to cheat.
(Update: This post referenced on Skippy TBK.)
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| "Being poor is a state of mind, not a condition." ----HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson |
And, using that rationale: being prejudiced, insensitive, and a bigot is a condition, not a state of mind.
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| "Military justice is to justice what military music is to music." ----Groucho Marx |
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Hybrids Shun Leadfoots
"Owners of hybrid cars are finding that how you drive is just as important as what you drive, at least when it comes to gas mileage."
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I'll See Your 300 Billion and Raise You One Better Planet
Jesse at Optimism From the Hills has a few items on which he would like to spend the $300 Billion projected for the Iraq War by the end of next year:
| I wonder what $300 billion would have done to [the] alternative energy industry in this country. Could Detroit possibly have figured out a way to restructure its plants to begin producing large quantities of hybrids? Could scientists have worked on greater efficiency of solar cells and wind turbines? I know virtually nothing on economics, but $300 billion sounds like a huge amount of money. We probably could have demined the entire world, cured cancer and AIDS, fed and housed the entire world with that figure. Instead, we have Saddam, somewhere, and an Iraqi populace that can't wait to kick us out. |
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Smirking for Profit
Mark Morford tries to resolve the "Is Bush Stupid?" conundrum (snippet):
| ....So then. You gotta admit, maybe Bush isn't all that stupid after all. Maybe he's not the smirking aww-shucks born-again simpleton he constantly appears to be, the one who sits back and lets his henchmen do all the dirty work and all the complex thinking while he lets Condi Rice massage his ego and fill him in at the ranch while taking more vacation time than any other president in history. Or, rather, maybe Dubya really is that stupid, just not in the ways anyone really imagined. Maybe Bush is stupid in a way that is far worse, and far more dangerous for the health of this planet, than mere inarticulate, nonintellectual, semiliterate Texas cow-pie bumbling. It is, in short, the stupidity of the indignant and the self-righteous, of the morally arrogant, of someone whose power base is threatened and yet who is still blindly forcing America down this nightmare path, even when all signs and all leaders and all U.N. councils and all weapons investigators and all flagrant U.S.-sanctioned rapes and tortures are veritably screaming in his face that it is a mistake of increasingly epic, treacherous proportions. And so maybe, ultimately, it all comes back to us. Maybe it is the majority of people in this flag-wavin', happily deluded, fear-drenched country who can't believe it could happen, who simply, you know "misunderestimated" just how poisonous Bush's savage brand of stupidity really is. |
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FRIDAY FUN
America in Photos, 1 Mile at a Time
Best-Selling Albums of All Time
Beware the Cicada
Why You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks (video)
Flying Heritage Collection (vintage aircraft)
Panoramic Historical Photos from NARA (interactive)
Space Art
Wiley Coyote vs. ACME Co. (lawsuit)
World Wide Panorama (interactive photos)
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May 20, 2004
Hal Crowther on a shameles Bush (snippet):
Well, duh.
From ZDNet: Group of tech execs rallies 'round Bush (emphasis added):
And here I thought technology leadership represented one of the more intelligent sectors of our society. This group apparently has no morals either, only the same rampant greed that permeates our corporate society.
MoveOn is raising $ for a new ad asking for Rumsfeld's dismissal. Go Here to Contribute.
Jason Stabile reveals how politicians in L.A. are targeting "piercing", a form of sidewalk art, for a slow extinction (snippet):
Josh Marshall explains how lack of Character is the downfall of America, as sponsored by the Bush Administration.
Character is the one necessity for office Bush failed to bring to his new job on inauguration day.
Michael Tomasky discusses the oxymoron "conservative morality" and how it is fueling the downfall of the Bush Adminstration (snippet):
Be sure to read the entire article - it's one of the best I've seen on the subject.
"Delivered into the hands of liars, thugs, bullies, fanatics and thieves"
Hal Crowther on a shameles Bush (snippet):
| ....Where does it go from here? The nightmare misadventure in Iraq is over, beyond the reach of any reasonable argument, though many more body bags will be filled. In Washington, chicken hawks will still be squawking about "digging in" and winning, but Vietnam proved conclusively that no modern war of occupation would ever be won. Every occupation is doomed. The only way you "win" a war of occupation is the old-fashioned way, the way Rome finally defeated the Carthaginians: kill all the fighters, enslave everyone else, raze the cities and sow the fields with salt. Otherwise the occupied people will fight you to the last peasant, and why shouldn't they? If our presidential election fails to dislodge the crazy bastards who annexed Baghdad, many of us in this country would welcome regime change by any intervention, human or divine. But if, say, the Chinese came in to rescue us--Operation American Freedom--how long would any of us, left-wing or right, put up with an occupying army teaching us Chinese-style democracy? A guerrilla who opposes an invading army on his own soil is not a terrorist, he's a resistance fighter. In Iraq we're not fighting enemies but making enemies. As Richard Clarke and others have observed, every dollar, bullet and American life that we spend in Iraq is one that's not being spent in the war on terrorism. Every Iraqi, every Muslim we kill or torture or humiliate is a precious shot of adrenaline for Osama and al Qaeda. The irreducible truth is that the invasion of Iraq was the worst blunder, the most staggering miscarriage of judgment, the most fateful, egregious, deceitful abuse of power in the history of American foreign policy. If you don't believe it yet, just keep watching. Apologists strain to dismiss parallels with Vietnam, but the similarities are stunning. In every action our soldiers kill innocent civilians, and in every other action apparent innocents kill our soldiers--and there's never any way to sort them out. And now these acts of subhuman sadism, these little My Lais. Since the defining moment of the Bush presidency, the preposterous flight-suit, Fox News-produced photo-op on the Abraham Lincoln in front of the banner that read "Mission Accomplished," the shaming truth is that everything has gone wrong. Just as it was bound to go wrong, as many of us predicted it would go wrong--if anything more hopelessly wrong than any of us would have dared to prophesy. Iraq is an epic train wreck, and there's not a single American citizen who's going to walk away unscathed. The shame of this truth, of such a failure and so much deceit exposed, would have brought on mass resignations or votes of no confidence in any free country in the world. In Japan not long ago, there would have been ritual suicides, shamed officials disemboweling themselves with samurai swords. Yet up to this point--at least to the point where we see grinning soldiers taking pictures of each other over piles of naked Iraqis--neither the president, the vice president nor any of the individuals who urged and designed this debacle have resigned or been terminated--or even apologized. They have betrayed no familiarity with the concept of shame. Thousands of young Americans are dead, maimed or mutilated, 100 billion has been wasted and all we've gained is a billion new enemies and a mouthful of dust--of sand. Chaos reigns, but in the midst of it we have this presidential election. George Bush has defined himself as a war president, and it's fitting that he should die by the sword--in fact fall on it, and quick. But even now the damned polls don't guarantee, or even indicate, his demise.... |
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Pelosi: "Bush is an incompetent leader."
| SAN FRANCISCO (AP) 5.20.04, 8:30a -- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called President Bush "incompetent" and said he is responsible for hundreds of deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. "Bush is an incompetent leader. In fact, he's not a leader," Pelosi told the San Francisco Chronicle in a 45-minute interview Wednesday in her Capitol office. "He's a person who has no judgment, no experience and no knowledge of the subjects that he has to decide upon." Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat, is a frequent critic of the president and led the effort against the war in 2003. But this was her strongest criticism of Bush to date. "He has on his shoulders the deaths of many more troops, because he would not heed the advice of his own State Department of what to expect after May 1 when he ... declared that major combat is over," Pelosi said. "The shallowness that he has brought to the office has not changed since he got there." The White House dismissed Pelosi's comments as partisan politics. "It's clear that the election season is drawing near, and there are those who will pursue politics over policy," White House spokesman Ken Lisaius told the newspaper. "That doesn't change the fact that the president is focused on winning the war on terror, protecting our homeland security and strengthening our improving economy." Pelosi also said the only way to get allies to commit more troops to Iraq is to have a new president. "Not to get personal about it, but the president's capacity to lead has never been there," Pelosi said. "In order to lead, you have to have judgment. In order to have judgment, you have to have knowledge and experience. He has none." |
Well, duh.
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Tech for Bush
From ZDNet: Group of tech execs rallies 'round Bush (emphasis added):
| By Declan McCullagh - CNET News.com - May 18, 2004, 8:37 AM PT URL: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-5214944.html A star-studded list of technology executives on Wednesday plan to endorse President Bush for another term, saying they believe that the Republican candidate's positions are a better choice for the high-technology industry. The endorsement at a Seattle event by the group of executives, including Dell Chairman Michael Dell, Teledesic Chairman Craig McCaw and former Microsoft Executive Vice President Bob Herbold, represents the latest round of jockeying between Republicans and Democrats over which presidential candidate can claim the most tech-friendly stance. The event coincides with the release of a short Web video clip titled "Innovators" that features tech leaders touting Bush. The video clip also includes eBay CEO Meg Whitman, Barksdale Management CEO Jim Barksdale and Autodesk Chairman Carol Bartz. "After several tough years, tech is bouncing back," Bartz says in the video. "This is due in no small measure to this administration's pro-growth policies." Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers adds that Bush "understands the key high-tech issues," such as how best to deploy broadband connections. In general, Silicon Valley executives appear to prefer Democrats on social issues and Republicans on business ones. Internet and computer companies that operate their own political action committees (PACs) have given an average of 60 percent of their money to Republicans over the last four elections--and only 40 percent to Democrats. The Republican-leaning PACs include ones run by eBay, EDS, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, Intuit, Texas Instruments, VeriSign and Yahoo. Telecommunications and electronics PACs tend to be even more aggressively Republican. Like Bush, Democratic candidate John Kerry has made outreach attempts in Silicon Valley, which have included landing Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs as an informal adviser. But Kerry's views run the risk of alienating some technology executives. He has told the AFL-CIO that he is critical of "excessive" executive compensation and added that "I also support expensing stock options." Bush, on the other hand, has in the past said he supports the current mechanism of not expensing them. Kerry has also inveighed against "Benedict Arnold CEOs," who move jobs to foreign countries--a stance that has riled some Silicon Valley executives who operate overseas research labs. The Bush campaign has been more guarded about its views on offshoring, although a top presidential adviser made headlines in February after suggesting that offshoring is just the latest example of free trade, which is good for America. |
And here I thought technology leadership represented one of the more intelligent sectors of our society. This group apparently has no morals either, only the same rampant greed that permeates our corporate society.
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MoveOn is raising $ for a new ad asking for Rumsfeld's dismissal. Go Here to Contribute.
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Piercing Barriers to Art
Jason Stabile reveals how politicians in L.A. are targeting "piercing", a form of sidewalk art, for a slow extinction (snippet):
| ....Venice Beach, South Central and Echo Park all at one time offered space where aerosol painters, also known as graffiti artists, could legally create and display their works of art without fear of being stopped by the police. Such displays were not the kind of “scribble” people are used to seeing tagged on billboards or bus-stop benches. They were, and still are, highly detailed murals, featuring pictures and cartoony characters. But now these artists have fewer places to legally paint. As politicians in recent years have been targeting graffiti in an attempt to crack down on urban blight, aerosol paintings have been grouped into the category of graffiti, which is often associated with gang culture. To combat any kind of spay painting, some cities, such as North Hollywood and Pomona, have passed ordinances against erecting murals, while in other cities the police have the ability to censor the paintings they find distasteful. An artist who goes by the moniker “Sparks” explained the difference between the aerosol paintings and graffiti, also known as tagging. “First of all, we refer to (aerosol painting) as ‘piecing,’” he said. “Tagging is about competition with your friends and others to see who can write their names on more walls. Piecing is about being artistic.” It is the association with gang culture and the concept of blight that caused the closing of one popular graffiti spot. The area known as The Pit, a space filled with cement benches and lined with retaining walls along the boardwalk in Venice Beach, has been fenced off for several years. In the past, graffiti covered almost every square inch of its surface and artists were somewhat free to paint whenever they wanted. But when local business owners wanted to make the boardwalk a popular tourist attraction again, the place was cleaned up and closed off. Last year, the organization SPARC, Social and Public Art Resource Center, tried to temporarily reopen The Pit. Members from the group received permission from the Los Angeles City Council to put up new murals along open walls. The paintings however, were later recovered when the Venice Police Department found some of the images to be too controversial.... |
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"How'd We Get Into This?"
Josh Marshall explains how lack of Character is the downfall of America, as sponsored by the Bush Administration.
| ....How'd we get into this? After 50 years of pretty consistently prudential foreign policy, managed mostly on a consensus of bipartisan agreement (yes, there are exceptions, but by and large, true), they decided to bet the national ranch on an idea. Actually it was a series of ideas, wrapped together in an odd tangle that could look like an odd jumble when viewed from outside. The key, however, was betting the national ranch on steep odds. Only, they weren't confident the country would get behind such a riverboat gamble. So they lied about what they were doing. They didn't trust the people -- which might be an epitaph we should return to. Now, what do we expect of people who make reckless gambles with other people's money? Of people who can't discipline themselves enough to distinguish between their hopes and reality? What do you expect of that ne'er-do-well relative who's always hitting you up for a loan because he's come up with a sure thing? Do you expect those sorts of folks to take responsibility when things go bad? Or do you expect them to blame others? Character, alas, really does count. |
Character is the one necessity for office Bush failed to bring to his new job on inauguration day.
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Conservative Morality
Michael Tomasky discusses the oxymoron "conservative morality" and how it is fueling the downfall of the Bush Adminstration (snippet):
| ....Indeed, liberals have watched this administration in a state of perpetual disbelief about the number of stories that should have blown up into scandals but never did. From Harken Energy to Thomas White and Enron to the Tom Scully-Richard Foster-Medicare story to the more general rancid politicization of every agency of government, the potential scandals have been nonstop. And liberals, who care about public integrity and process, can't comprehend that these things haven't become full-fledged scandals. There are particular reasons they haven't -- no smoking gun was found on Harken, for instance. But the big historical reason they haven't is that we live in an age in which conservative morality is dominant. Public morality and adherence to democratic process just aren't as important. In the 1960s and ’70s, when we lived in an era of liberal morality, those two qualities were more important, and the kinds of scandals we had then? Watergate, most obviously, but smaller-fry dustups like the Bert Lance affair reflected the privileged position of those concerns. Liberals didn't care so much about personal morality, and while they cared about positive results, they were less likely to bend rules to achieve them. (It's worth remembering, too, that as far as public service in this country was concerned, liberals wrote most of the rules.) But beginning in the 1980s, conservatives successfully discredited liberal morality and substituted their own. Now, personal morality was pre-eminent -- Ronald Reagan as the stand-up man's man, contrasted with Bill Clinton, or at least with the image of Clinton that the right successfully peddled, as a licentious and corner-cutting and self-indulgent baby boomer. That Clinton was nearly brought down in the web of a personal-morality scandal was a reflection not only of his own weaknesses of the flesh but also of the fact that this was the sort of thing conservatives cared most about and sought most fiercely to expose. To them, Clinton’s personal failings disqualified him from capable public service, and they got the mainstream media to agree with them (though, fortunately, not the majority of the country). The packaging of George W. Bush in 1999 and 2000 was nothing less than a conservative morality play. He was a "good man"; he'd gotten himself off the sauce and found Jesus; he didn't, as far as anyone knew, play around on his wife. Meanwhile, as governor of Texas, he'd squelched an investigation into a funeral-home chain run by a friend; he'd stacked the board of the University of Texas Investment Management Company, a huge deal that no major national media ever took a close, sustained look at; he kept starting failing businesses, losing money, and somehow getting richer and richer. But none of these issues, all having directly to do with public morality, mattered. He was a good, strong man who "got results" for Texas and would do the same for America.... |
Be sure to read the entire article - it's one of the best I've seen on the subject.
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May 19, 2004
Read Jon Stewart's 2004 commencement address at William & Mary (snippet):
Coffee, Caffeine Consumption Associated With Reduced Liver Disease
I'll drink and pee to that.
As an employee covered under Blue Cross of California and Wellpoint Pharmacy, I found this revelation particularly galling:
Governor Groperzenegger has definitely been getting inserviced by Bush's team.
Here's a link to a website concerned with the rapture and armageddon. I'm posting it here mostly for myself to review when I have some time, but I put it here just in case you're interested in pursuing it... Referenced by Michael Miller on Public Domain Progress. Thanks, Michael.
From the Sierra Club:
Look at how things have changed in three years. If this had come out three or more years ago the press would have been all over it and heads would be rolling in the streets. Now, because we are so mummified by the incessantly illegal and secretive actions of the Bush Administration, we hardly bat an eye when finding out about these horrible deals. The most obvious solution is to overhaul campaign finance laws to prevent any significant influence by business in elections. I think lobbying is fine, if regulated, but the outright buying of politicians via campaign contributions has got to stop if we ever want a return to a government that works for the people rather than for only corporations and the wealthy class. Of course there will always be some corruption in politics, it's the nature of the animal and that's why we make laws to control it as much as humanly possible. But what's happened now is an outright, in-your-face kidnapping of our federal (and to a lesser extent state and local) government by a band of humanoid thugs who have made it a rule to crush any attempt at returning fairness and justice to our social, political and economic systems. The 1990's may well turn out to be our golden age, considering we have now entered the black hole of our history with no escape visible (no, Kerry is not our savior; he'll be our perpetuator of the status quo).
I mean, come on. You could not come up with any actions more hideous than those carried out by the current Administration, other than blatant public executions and massacres by our army within our own borders (which we witnessed throughout the 20th century in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America - come to think of it, pretty much everywhere except here and Antarctica). And yet, there has been ZERO accountability; except for those few who quit because they had a conscience, all the same crooks and rapture-worshipping zealots Bush hired on day one are still in place, figuring out new ways to screw us all. And we all pretty much continue to complain softly while we pull our pants down, bend over and take it up the a**.
Jon Stewart: Fake News, Fake PhD, Real Person
Read Jon Stewart's 2004 commencement address at William & Mary (snippet):
| ....But today isn’t about how my presence here devalues this fine institution. It is about you, the graduates. I’m honored to be here to congratulate you today. Today is the day you enter into the real world, and I should give you a few pointers on what it is. It’s actually not that different from the environment here. The biggest difference is you will now be paying for things, and the real world is not surrounded by three-foot brick wall. And the real world is not a restoration. If you see people in the real world making bricks out of straw and water, those people are not colonial re-enactors—they are poor. Help them. And in the real world, there is not as much candle lighting. I don’t really know what it is about this campus and candle lighting, but I wish it would stop. We only have so much wax, people. Lets talk about the real world for a moment. We had been discussing it earlier, and I…I wanted to bring this up to you earlier about the real world, and this is I guess as good a time as any. I don’t really know to put this, so I’ll be blunt. We broke it. Please don’t be mad. I know we were supposed to bequeath to the next generation a world better than the one we were handed. So, sorry. I don’t know if you’ve been following the news lately, but it just kinda got away from us. Somewhere between the gold rush of easy internet profits and an arrogant sense of endless empire, we heard kind of a pinging noise, and uh, then the damn thing just died on us. So I apologize. But here’s the good news. You fix this thing, you’re the next greatest generation, people. You do this—and I believe you can—you win this war on terror, and Tom Brokaw’s kissing your ass from here to Tikrit, let me tell ya. And even if you don’t, you’re not gonna have much trouble surpassing my generation. If you end up getting your picture taken next to a naked guy pile of enemy prisoners and don’t give the thumbs up you’ve outdid us.... |
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More Good News for Coffee Drinkers
Coffee, Caffeine Consumption Associated With Reduced Liver Disease
| Medscape Medical News 2004. © 2004 Medscape - by Karla Harby May 18, 2004 (New Orleans) — A U.S. population study of 5,944 adults conducted by researchers at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) has found a strong association between coffee drinking and caffeine consumption and a lower risk of liver injury in persons at high risk for liver disease. The researchers defined the high-risk population as those who reported being heavy drinkers of alcohol, or who had hepatitis B or C, iron overload, were obese, or had impaired glucose metabolism. Liver injury was defined as a serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity level in excess of 43 U/L. The researchers reported that overall, the greater the coffee consumption, the greater the association with liver protection (P = .034 for the trend). The highest consumption noted was more than two cups of coffee per day. Consumers of more than two cups of coffee per day had an odds ratio (OR) for elevated ALT of 0.56 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.31 - 1.0); those who drank one to two cups had an OR of 0.83 (95% CI, 0.49 - 1.4). Those who drank less than one cup had an odds ratio of 1.4 (95% CI, 0.84 - 2.4), with zero cups being assigned an OR of 1.0. Because caffeine consumption is so highly associated with coffee drinking in the U.S., it is difficult to untangle the two statistically, explained James E. Everhart, MD, MPH, from the NIDDK, who spoke with reporters here during Digestive Disease Week. Nonetheless, the researchers reviewed consumption of tea and soft drinks containing caffeine, and found a positive association (P < .001 for the trend), with less than 49 mg per day being the lowest threshold. They found an OR of 0.78 (95% CI. 0.49 - 1.3) for caffeine intake of 49 to 142 mg per day; 0.72 (95% CI, 0.41 - 1.2) for 142 to 200 mg per day; and 0.62 (95% CI, 0.35 - 1.1) for 200 to 373 mg per day. For those who consumed more than 373 mg per day of caffeine, the highest subgroup reported, the OR was 0.31 (95% CI, 0.16 - 0.61). The mechanisms of action, if any, for coffee and caffeine are completely unknown, Dr. Everhart said. Although coffee has many known effects on the body and has been studied extensively, its specific effects on the liver have been largely unexplored, he added.... |
I'll drink and pee to that.
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Schaeffer to Make $335M, Invite Groperzenegger for Sleepover
As an employee covered under Blue Cross of California and Wellpoint Pharmacy, I found this revelation particularly galling:
| Arnold Watch has noted the unequal access of average people with real problems to this Governor. Now Schwarzenegger's Department of Managed Health Care is breaking with a tradition that goes back to the Wilson Administration of holding public hearings for every major HMO merger and acquisition. The deal at issue is Anthem's $15 billion acquisition of Wellpoint Health Networks, parent company of Blue Cross of California, which serves 7 million Californians. Blue Cross and its executives have given the Governor?s various committees $92,400. The execs that control those PAC contributions stand to make hundreds of millions of dollars if the acquisition is approved without wrinkles. Wellpoint CEO Leonard Schaeffer will make up to $335 million in cash and stock options. Wellpoint is also a corporate client of the investment firm Dimensional Fund Advisors, which the Gov reports owning at least a $1 million share of on his economic interest statement . The sunshine governor should keep with the tradition of HMO regulators over the last decade and give patients, doctors, nurses, businesses and pharmacists the opportunity to comment at public hearings on the potential problems of Indiana-based Anthem, which is being sued by Connecticut doctors for outrageous billing abuses, taking over care for millions of California patients. Pete Wilson's regulator even made material modifications to other HMO mergers based on public hearing comments..... |
Governor Groperzenegger has definitely been getting inserviced by Bush's team.
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Brother Terrell
Here's a link to a website concerned with the rapture and armageddon. I'm posting it here mostly for myself to review when I have some time, but I put it here just in case you're interested in pursuing it... Referenced by Michael Miller on Public Domain Progress. Thanks, Michael.
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New Documents Show How Bush Administration Gave Meat Industry Control Over Factory Farm Air Pollution Policy
From the Sierra Club:
| May 17 , 2004 Special Access Granted to Major Polluters, Deal Borrowed Heavily from Industry's Proposals Washington, D.C. New documents revealed the extent of meat industry control over the Bush administration's proposed amnesty deal for animal factory polluters. The evidence, exposed by the Chicago Tribune on Sunday , shows that the deal borrowed heavily from industry proposals and that polluters had extraordinary access to the Bush administration officials writing the agreement. "This is a deal of the polluters, by the polluters, and for the polluters," said Michele Merkel of the Environmental Integrity Project. "These new documents show how much the Bush administration caters to polluting industries, while rural Americans pay the price." Industry groups approached Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2002 asking the agency to shield them from Clean Air Act violations, the documents reveal. Bush administration officials then corresponded in secret with industry lobbyists to craft a deal that would exempt factory farms from air pollution requirements. Internal emails even show that industry lobbyists prepared power-point presentations on the proposed deal for Bush administration officials to deliver. Additionally, the new documents reveal the extent of contact between industry groups and the administration, with monthly meetings taking place over a year-long period. One email exchange documents an EPA official admitting that it was a "no-no" for them to request that the National Pork Producers association pay for EPA's travel to a confidential meeting. "This is another example of the Bush administration striking deals behind closed doors," said Barclay Rogers of the Sierra Club. "Whether it's Vice President Cheney's Secret Energy Task Force, power companies being allowed to draft rules on toxic mercury, or the meat industry writing their own 'get-out-of-jail-free' card, it's clear that this administration is putting polluters before the public." The American Public Health Association and the National Academy of Sciences have stated that pollution from massive animal factories jeopardizes public health in rural communities across the nation. Bearing no resemblance to the traditional family farm, these facilities pack thousands of animals into small spaces, produce as much waste as a small city, and spew toxic gases and other pollutants into the air. Livestock production is the single largest contributor of ammonia gas release in the United States, and giant animal factories also emit hydrogen sulfide and fine dust particles-both of which are linked to respiratory illness-in dangerous quantities. Industry groups who were revealed as being given special access to the administration include: Smithfield Foods, ConAgra foods, Seaboard Farms, Tyson Foods, Kraft Foods, Cargill, IBP, and Premium Standard Farms. Additionally, the National Chicken Council, National Turkey Federation, United Egg Producers, National Pork Producers Council, National Milk Producers Federation, and the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association were also members of the industry coalition involved in the backroom deal. Supporting documents are available on the Sierra Club website at: http://www.sierraclub.org/pressroom/cafo_papers/ |
Look at how things have changed in three years. If this had come out three or more years ago the press would have been all over it and heads would be rolling in the streets. Now, because we are so mummified by the incessantly illegal and secretive actions of the Bush Administration, we hardly bat an eye when finding out about these horrible deals. The most obvious solution is to overhaul campaign finance laws to prevent any significant influence by business in elections. I think lobbying is fine, if regulated, but the outright buying of politicians via campaign contributions has got to stop if we ever want a return to a government that works for the people rather than for only corporations and the wealthy class. Of course there will always be some corruption in politics, it's the nature of the animal and that's why we make laws to control it as much as humanly possible. But what's happened now is an outright, in-your-face kidnapping of our federal (and to a lesser extent state and local) government by a band of humanoid thugs who have made it a rule to crush any attempt at returning fairness and justice to our social, political and economic systems. The 1990's may well turn out to be our golden age, considering we have now entered the black hole of our history with no escape visible (no, Kerry is not our savior; he'll be our perpetuator of the status quo).
I mean, come on. You could not come up with any actions more hideous than those carried out by the current Administration, other than blatant public executions and massacres by our army within our own borders (which we witnessed throughout the 20th century in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America - come to think of it, pretty much everywhere except here and Antarctica). And yet, there has been ZERO accountability; except for those few who quit because they had a conscience, all the same crooks and rapture-worshipping zealots Bush hired on day one are still in place, figuring out new ways to screw us all. And we all pretty much continue to complain softly while we pull our pants down, bend over and take it up the a**.
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May 18, 2004
Rick Perlstein of the Village Voice reveals how the "National Security Council's top Middle East aide consults with apocalyptic Christians eager to ensure American policy on Israel conforms with their sectarian doomsday scenarios", and how the Bush Administration adjusts its Middle East policy based on the demands of fundagelicals. Here's a tiny excerpt, but the entire article is a must-read.
Here's a link to the Apostolic Congress website. Check it out, it's fascinating. Remember, these are the type of religious radicals who will probably get Bush re-elected.
Fred Kaplan, in analyzing Seymour Hersh's expose on the Iraq torture scandal, delineates the responsible chain-of-command (emphasis added):
The fallout from this scandal could be the WMD that literally topples the Bush Monarchy (were it not for the support of the people mentioned in the next post above).
Absolutely riveting interview of a career Marine, Jimmy Massey, who served in Iraq from before the invasion until last December, by reporter Paul Rockwell. I strongly suggest that you read the entire article. Snippet:
This whole thing is just so fucked. When I read these things I am totally ashamed of being an American. If I don't stop typing right now and go get plastered, I feel like I'm going to go insane. Goodbye.
Justice is Duck Blind (Cheney-Scalia cartoon).
Jesus in the News....
Rick Perlstein of the Village Voice reveals how the "National Security Council's top Middle East aide consults with apocalyptic Christians eager to ensure American policy on Israel conforms with their sectarian doomsday scenarios", and how the Bush Administration adjusts its Middle East policy based on the demands of fundagelicals. Here's a tiny excerpt, but the entire article is a must-read.
| ....Affiliated with the United Pentecostal Church, the Apostolic Congress is part of an important and disciplined political constituency courted by recent Republican administrations. As a subset of the broader Christian Zionist movement, it has a lengthy history of opposition to any proposal that will not result in what it calls a "one-state solution" in Israel. ....The Apostolic Congress dates its origins to 1981, when, according to its website, "Brother Stan Wachtstetter was able to open the door to Apostolic Christians into the White House." Apostolics, a sect of Pentecostals, claim legitimacy as the heirs of the original church because they, as the 12 apostles supposedly did, baptize converts in the name of Jesus, not in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Ronald Reagan bore theological affinities with such Christians because of his belief that the world would end in a fiery Armageddon. Reagan himself referenced this belief explicitly a half-dozen times during his presidency. While the language of apocalyptic Christianity is absent from George W. Bush's speeches, he has proven eager to work with apocalyptics—a point of pride for Upton. "We're in constant contact with the White House," he boasts. "I'm briefed at least once a week via telephone briefings. . . . I was there about two weeks ago . . . At that time we met with the president." Last spring, after President Bush announced his Road Map plan for peace in the Middle East, the Apostolic Congress co-sponsored an effort with the Jewish group Americans for a Safe Israel that placed billboards in 23 cities with a quotation from Genesis ("Unto thy offspring will I give this land") and the message, "Pray that President Bush Honors God's Covenant with Israel. Call the White House with this message." It then provided the White House phone number and the Apostolic Congress's Web address. In the interview with the Voice, Pastor Upton claimed personal responsibility for directing 50,000 postcards to the White House opposing the Road Map, which aims to create a Palestinian state. "I'm in total disagreement with any form of Palestinian state," Upton said. "Within a two-week period, getting 50,000 postcards saying the exact same thing from places all over the country, that resonated with the White House. That really caused [President Bush] to backpedal on the Road Map." |
Here's a link to the Apostolic Congress website. Check it out, it's fascinating. Remember, these are the type of religious radicals who will probably get Bush re-elected.
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Pressure Cooker Ready to Blow?
Fred Kaplan, in analyzing Seymour Hersh's expose on the Iraq torture scandal, delineates the responsible chain-of-command (emphasis added):
| ....Bush knew about it. Rumsfeld ordered it. His undersecretary of defense for intelligence, Steven Cambone, administered it. Cambone's deputy, Lt. Gen. William Boykin, instructed Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, who had been executing the program involving al-Qaida suspects at Guantanamo, to go do the same at Abu Ghraib. Miller told Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who was in charge of the 800th Military Brigade, that the prison would now be dedicated to gathering intelligence. Douglas Feith, the undersecretary of defense for policy, also seems to have had a hand in this sequence, as did William Haynes, the Pentagon's general counsel. Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, learned about the improper interrogations—from the International Committee of the Red Cross, if not from anyone else—but said or did nothing about it for two months, until it was clear that photographs were coming out. Meanwhile, those involved in the interrogations included officers from military intelligence, the CIA, and private contractors, as well as the mysterious figures from the Pentagon's secret operation. That's a lot more people than the seven low-grade soldiers and reservists currently facing courts-martial.... |
The fallout from this scandal could be the WMD that literally topples the Bush Monarchy (were it not for the support of the people mentioned in the next post above).
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Absolutely riveting interview of a career Marine, Jimmy Massey, who served in Iraq from before the invasion until last December, by reporter Paul Rockwell. I strongly suggest that you read the entire article. Snippet:
| For nearly 12 years, Staff Sgt. Jimmy Massey was a hard-core, some say gung-ho, Marine. For three years he trained fellow Marines in one of the most grueling indoctrination rituals in military life - Marine boot camp. The Iraq war changed Massey. The brutality, the sheer carnage of the U.S. invasion, touched his conscience and transformed him forever. He was honorably discharged with full severance last Dec. 31 and is now back in his hometown, Waynsville, N.C. When I talked with Massey last week, he expressed his remorse at the civilian loss of life in incidents in which he himself was involved. ....Q: I would like to go back to the first incident, when the survivor asked why did you kill his brother. Was that the incident that pushed you over the edge, as you put it? A: Oh, yeah. Later on I found out that was a typical day. I talked with my commanding officer after the incident. He came up to me and says: "Are you OK?" I said: "No, today is not a good day. We killed a bunch of civilians." He goes: "No, today was a good day." And when he said that, I said "Oh, my goodness, what the hell am I into?" Q: Your feelings changed during the invasion. What was your state of mind before the invasion? A: I was like every other troop. My president told me they got weapons of mass destruction, that Saddam threatened the free world, that he had all this might and could reach us anywhere. I just bought into the whole thing. Q: What changed you? A: The civilian casualties taking place. That was what made the difference. That was when I changed. Q: Did the revelations that the government fabricated the evidence for war affect the troops? A: Yes. I killed innocent people for our government. For what? What did I do? Where is the good coming out of it? I feel like I've had a hand in some sort of evil lie at the hands of our government. I just feel embarrassed, ashamed about it. |
This whole thing is just so fucked. When I read these things I am totally ashamed of being an American. If I don't stop typing right now and go get plastered, I feel like I'm going to go insane. Goodbye.
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Justice is Duck Blind (Cheney-Scalia cartoon).
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May 17, 2004
Ford set to introduce the first U.S.-made hybrid vehicle (excerpt):
MPG isn't that great, but does blow away current SUV numbers.
If you live in Southern California, have a few $ laying around, and want to contribute to a highly-successful youth outreach program, please consider giving a tax-free donation to ART SHARE LOS ANGELES:
They do incredible work there, rescuing teens from a potential life of violence, crime and prison, by helping them develop lifeskills and providing education support, in a nurturing and challenging environment. Their success stories are truly inspiring. Bush Administration tax breaks for the wealthy have forced government funding for this program to dramatically drop, and they need financial help more than ever. You can't go wrong by helping an organization like this (many karma points are guaranteed).
Time/CNN Poll conducted by Harris Interactive. May 12-13, 2004. N=1,001 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.1 (total sample).
Escape High Fuel Prices
Ford set to introduce the first U.S.-made hybrid vehicle (excerpt):
| ....Based on the regular Escape SUV, the Escape Hybrid has the looks and capabilities of a normal car, thus allowing Ford to sidestep the science-project styling that cut sales of Honda Motor's Insight hybrid coupe in half last year. The Insight was one of the first hybrids sold in the U.S., but Americans are buying newer, more conventionally styled hybrids in much larger numbers. Improving the regular Escape's city fuel economy by 75 percent seems more impressive, and more relevant to the average American customer, than putting out a new, standalone hybrid commuter car that gets 55 mpg. Ford estimates that the Escape Hybrid will get 35/30 city/highway mpg (the city figure is higher than the highway figure, which is unusual, because the engine cuts out during deceleration and at a stop). Toyota Motor, which currently is the only manufacturer beside Honda to sell hybrids in America, is about to release a hybrid SUV of its own, a hybrid treatment of the Lexus RX 330 called the RX 400h. With 92,366 unit sales in the U.S. last year, the regular RX is the backbone of Lexus. It's a hot vehicle whose sales continue to increase, and its hybrid derivative is going to be a huge hit, for which other automakers need to prepare competition.... |
MPG isn't that great, but does blow away current SUV numbers.
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| "If you want to save the age, betray it. Expose its conceits, foibles and phony moral certitudes." ----Irish poet Brendan Keneally |
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Art Share L.A.
If you live in Southern California, have a few $ laying around, and want to contribute to a highly-successful youth outreach program, please consider giving a tax-free donation to ART SHARE LOS ANGELES:
| Art Share Los Angeles is a community arts incubator whose mission is to shape lives through art, education and community action. ASLA brings workshops to the Los Angeles inner-city community and its children and families. We develop emerging professional visual and theater artists by providing living / work space, subsidized monthly exhibits and performance opportunities. Art Share nurtures the arts in all media from our 30,000 sq./ft. complex in the heart of downtown arts district. We take great pride in our successful approaches addressing the many social needs our community through the arts. |
They do incredible work there, rescuing teens from a potential life of violence, crime and prison, by helping them develop lifeskills and providing education support, in a nurturing and challenging environment. Their success stories are truly inspiring. Bush Administration tax breaks for the wealthy have forced government funding for this program to dramatically drop, and they need financial help more than ever. You can't go wrong by helping an organization like this (many karma points are guaranteed).
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OOPS
Time/CNN Poll conducted by Harris Interactive. May 12-13, 2004. N=1,001 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.1 (total sample).
| "Do you think President Bush is doing a good job or a poor job handling the situation in Iraq?" ...............Good... Poor... Not Sure ................ %....... %........ % 5/12-13/04 ..39 .......55 .......6 2/5-6/04 ......52 .......44 .......4 12/30/03 & 1/1/04 ........56 .......39 .......5 7/16-17/03 ..55 .......40 .......5 5/21-22/03 ..69 .......27 .......4 |
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Was Berg's beheading fake?
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May 14, 2004
Stephen Gowans explains why America's imperial agenda under Bush will not change under Kerry (excerpt):
Solution? Elect DENNIS KUCINICH.
---- Donald Rumsfeld, speaking to American Troops in Iraq, May 13, 2004
An analysis of today's situation in Iraq?
Nope.
This is excerpted from the Republican Party Platform at the 2000 convention
It is the #1 contender for the newest example of "irony".
Today's Quote:
If you still haven't signed up to receive the daily Progress Report by email from Center for American Progress, go do it now, HERE. When you receive your first issue, you will realize what you've been missing.
The Iraq War’s cost to California taxpayers:
Current population of California: approx. 36,500,000.
Cost, per Californian, for $400B U.S. military budget: $1,333
Extra cost, per Caifornian, for Iraq: $534.
Cost of my time spent blogging about this deadly, needless war: priceless.
Mark Morford, SF Gate columnist, explains why he doesn't, and we shouldn't, spend every waking moment absorbing all the bad news around us. Snippets:
100 Scariest Movies
Infinite Cat
Museum of Culinary Disasters
Speeding Ticket Defense
Stupid Student Test Answers (they're real)
Turtle Art (paintings by Koopa, the turtle)
"You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred." ---- Woody Allen
Kerry vs. Bush? Iraq won't care...
Stephen Gowans explains why America's imperial agenda under Bush will not change under Kerry (excerpt):
| ....Starting from the Revolutionary War, the US has engaged in warlike activity somewhere in the world in three of every four years of its existence. And the prizes, for that part of the population that owns and controls the economy, have been rich indeed: land, mines, plantations, oil and energy rights, export markets, low-wage labor, and military bases -- hundreds of them in scores of countries, outposts to guarantee that more and more of the world is open to US exports and investment, whether the indigenous population likes it or not. And how many aggressions has the US been involved in since 1999, a mere half-decade? Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iraq again. US militarism hardly looks like a policy of a group of people in power. It looks more like something that is built in -- systemic and hoary and bound to carry on in the usual fashion no matter whose name plate sits on the desk in the Oval Office. Which says that getting rid of the group now in power, and replacing it with another group -- as has been done time and time again in US history -- isn't going to change what makes the US go to war, or outrage the sovereignty of others. That's all the more true, given that the presumptive Democrat contender to the White House, John Kerry, looks more like Bush on steroids than Bush-lite when it comes to foreign policy questions. Kerry says his military will be bigger than Bush's, and that he too will use force preventively and unilaterally. And recently he pledged that, unlike Bush, he'd get the job done in Cuba. Castro, and all his intolerable baggage -- full-employment, free health care, and free education -- would be swept away, to be replaced by the phony freedom and democracy Iraqis are so grateful the US is ramming down their throats. Sadly, the Left will line up behind this right-wing, pro-imperialist anyway -- stupidly, desperately, unsure what do to, but to toss the dice once again, in a fixed game. And if that's not as absurd as the US staying in Iraq over the objections of a vast majority of Iraqis, for democracy, what is? |
Solution? Elect DENNIS KUCINICH.
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| "It's a fact. I'm a survivor." |
---- Donald Rumsfeld, speaking to American Troops in Iraq, May 13, 2004
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| "The current administration has casually sent American armed forces on dozens of missions without clear goals, realizable objectives, favorable rules of engagement, or defined exit strategies. Over the past seven years, a shrunken American military has been run ragged by a deployment tempo that has eroded its military readiness. Many units have seen their operational requirements increased four-fold, wearing out both people and equipment." |
An analysis of today's situation in Iraq?
Nope.
This is excerpted from the Republican Party Platform at the 2000 convention
It is the #1 contender for the newest example of "irony".
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Today's Quote:
| "My son died for the sins of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld. This administration did this." ----Michael Berg, father if beheaded Nick Berg |
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Progress Report
If you still haven't signed up to receive the daily Progress Report by email from Center for American Progress, go do it now, HERE. When you receive your first issue, you will realize what you've been missing.
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Coulda Bought a Nice Gift for My Wife With Those $
The Iraq War’s cost to California taxpayers:
| Passed Congress, April 2003 $7.1 billion Passed Congress, November 2003 $9.2 billion Pending Request, May 2004 $3.2 billion Total $19.5 billion .... How much is $19.5 billion? By comparison, California will receive from federal aid $9.2 billion for the No Child Left Behind Act, $728.0 million for Environmental Protection Agency programs, and $1.7 billion in Community Development Block Grant programs over the same three-year period. |
Current population of California: approx. 36,500,000.
Cost, per Californian, for $400B U.S. military budget: $1,333
Extra cost, per Caifornian, for Iraq: $534.
Cost of my time spent blogging about this deadly, needless war: priceless.
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Take a Break for Your Sanity
Mark Morford, SF Gate columnist, explains why he doesn't, and we shouldn't, spend every waking moment absorbing all the bad news around us. Snippets:
| ....Not only is there is more to life than politics and murder and mayhem and BushCo running around like he's the whiniest king of the sandbox, it's also that those other elements, those seemingly insignificant, fluffy, pointless divine things like sex and design and books and the color of your lover's eyes actually, if you pay full attention, turn out to be far more vital to the planet and to your spiritual health than any toxic abuse BushCo could ever smirk out to the world. Sure columns like this one don't get me as many clicks as the pointed outraged double-barreled criticisms. Sure they don't inspire as much hate mail and love mail and wonderful supportive replies and offers to come on slightly snide conservative radio shows to debate angry talking heads on the finer points of whether Bush is a corrupt malevolent demon or just a hollow sad imbecile. No matter. For better or worse, I refuse to wallow. My job is to offer perspective. Your job is to take that perspective and balance it with your own and read your ass off and get as informed as possible and filter and digest as best you can. The world's tragedies absolutely deserve our immediate attention. And our hope. And our divine raw funky sexed-up intellectual perspective. This is not a question. But what it needs even more is the counter-energy. For us all to remember to shut it all off and get the hell away from the computer and go have a glass of wine and a deep tongue kiss and a romp and a an intense book and a hot sweaty yoga class and a soft swoon to an incredible blues singer. This fuels the resistance. Rekindles meaning. Steals life back from those who would deign to devour it with pitchforks and judiciary committees and heavy artillery. After all, real life is not in the dour headlines. You know this. Real life is not in BushCo's blank confused smirk. Real life is where you launch forth, right now, just after this period coming up, this one right here. |
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FRIDAY FUN
100 Scariest Movies
Infinite Cat
Museum of Culinary Disasters
Speeding Ticket Defense
Stupid Student Test Answers (they're real)
Turtle Art (paintings by Koopa, the turtle)
"You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred." ---- Woody Allen
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Fishing for a Miracle Pays Off
| "That's the cruelest loss I've ever been involved with. But given a choice, if something bad is going to happen to you, that's better than being in Iraq." ----Coach Gregg Popovich following the loss of his San Antonio Spurs last night |
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May 13, 2004
Found this image floating around the blogiverse:
