LEFT is RIGHT (blogging against The Bush-war) |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
###
Iraq War Cost
 
 
 Buy it Here for $12.95      
 ::::: MY PROFILE ::::: VIDEO: When the Good Guys Do NOTHING Welcome to the New World Order Truth, War & Consequences In the Name of Freedom Oreo Calculator Army of One Remind Us One Year THANKS ESSAY/SITE: Bush's 40/IRAQ/SOTU/OTHER Lies A Declaration of Progressive Principles A Declaration of Impeachment World's Leading Terrorist Why Bush Invaded Iraq Coalition Deaths in Iraq Altruism is Out of Focus Official Bush Lie Outlet The Devil's Handbook Third World Traveler Paying for Wal-mart Those Elusive WMDs Ongoing Scandals The Bush Record Bush Scorecard Who Served Halliburton AWOL Evil
 I reserve the right to publish your e-mail.
Archives  
My Ecosystem Details Who's Linking to Left is Right Who links to me? Who's on Left is Right right now # Visits by day of month Most Recent Visitors Recent Visitors by Location United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights Humanist Manifesto III         The Brand New Bag Books about the Iraq War 
|  Front Pages / 10 x 10 / Open Secrets / VillageVoice / The New Standard / The Hill / Washington Note
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "This is the world of the Republican Party, split open like a rotting pumpkin. Crime after crime after crime being investigated, all revolving around the Republican money machine. Every seed connected by the strands of money they share between them. Barely-laundered campaign money passed in the palm of every flabby handshake. Every player in boldface, underlined print in the Rolodex of every other. And still, this same bottom-tier world of flag-waving supporters still obsessed over an extramarital sex act, but offended to the point of sad, blustering threats at the notion that crimes by gilded and worshipped Republicans are really still crimes. Your party has set aflame the entire political landscape, and now, once burned, you warn sternly from the branches of a burnt-out tree about "playing with fire". You used the ashes of one of the great liberal cities of America, New York City, as war paint for your own sick, racist dreams. You shudder at a burning flag, yet are willing to snip-and-cut basic tenets of the Constitution as needed or convenient. And now, you're outraged, not by any of the rest of it, not by anything that has come before, but because a few prominent Republican faces have -- shock of shocks -- been indicted in probes that have spanned years of investigation, and interrogation, and deposition. That, you say, represents the underpinnings of a civil war. You poor, hollow, blood-painted clowns. Cheering the trials and failures of your country with the same pennants and giant foam hands that you wave at your favorite sports teams. Willing to accept the most outrageous of lies, if they are spoken from your favorite talking heads, and soothe your own notions of America for you, and only for you. And as for the audacity of Democrats speaking up during this process... the redfaced, flatulent fury with which you declare Republicans off-limits to that which you so gleefully hurl yourself... Welcome to the world of the politics of personal destruction, you tubthumping, chin-jutting, Bush humping gits. Welcome to the nasty and partisan world that Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Hugh Hewitt, Grover Norquist, Newt Gingrich, Tom DeLay, and a legion of insignificant lowest-rung toadies like yourselves nurtured into fruition daily with eager, grubby hands, and now look upon with dull-faced faux horror. I know you hate me, and anyone else to dares disturb the thin strands of alternate reality in which George W. Bush is an intellectual giant, Saddam really was responsible for 9/11, the economy is getting better by the minute, and we capture the most very important members of al Qaeda on a weekly basis. But here's some advice. You'd better start hating me more. This is the world you forged and, unfortunately for you, I'm beginning to take a fancy for it. Welcome to the politics of your own party, finally sprouting from the ground on which you planted the seeds and shat upon them. .....So don't give me chest-thumping crap about civil wars, if your politicians are indicted. Don't give me visions of a lake of fire, if all those who find you loathsome refuse to suck at your teats of scientific ignorance in the name of religion, racism in the name of freedom, and corruption in the name of the New World Order. Get used to the world you have created, and the stench your worshipped heroes have unleashed." - - - Hunter, in response to a threat of civil war from Mark Noonan (Republican apologist) |
Damn I wish I could write like that.
[Go to Top] [HOME]
We need more innovation like this
[click image]
[Go to Top] [HOME]
| "They keep telling us all is equal. I’d tell them that instead of giving tax breaks to the rich, financing corporate mergers and leading us into unnecessary wars and under-table dealings with Enron and Halliburton, maybe they can work on making society more peaceful. Instead, they take more and more money out of inner city schools, give up on the idea of rehabilitation and build more prisons for poor people. With unemployment continuing to rise like a deficit, it's no wonder why so many think that crime pays." - - - Etan Thomas |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Fibber of the Week
| "Now let[s] be very, very clear: I have done nothing wrong. I have violated no law, no regulation, no rule of the House. I have done nothing unlawful, unethical or, I might add, unprecedented..." - - - TOM DeLAY, House majority leader, responding to his indictment |
And THIS GUY is the runner-up.
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Demoneyocracy
From Kos:
Holy crap; we are doomed. That's really all I can say.
| "In one of my trips to DC I got a tour of the new DNC headquarters. One of the stops was the fundraising center for congressional Democrats. It was a cubicle farm, about a third occupied by members huddled over the phone begging for money, aides in hand with open three-ring binders full of names. They weren't doing America's business. They weren't working for their constituents. They weren't governing. They were begging for money. The shock of seeing those congressmen and women in such humiliating position severely shook my faith in American democracy. That's not democracy. The need to raise millions for their races means candidates spend 8 hours or more on the phone dialing for dollars, rather than working on behalf of their constituents or meeting with them. This system cannot continue." |
Holy crap; we are doomed. That's really all I can say.
[Go to Top] [HOME]
September 28, 2005
[click image for story]
Next up: Bill Frist.
Let's see what the corruption-filled Democratic Party leadership has to say:
Hypocrits. They're corrupt too, just not as much.
Of course corruption is the sister of politics. Always was, always will be. However, the blatant, unchecked and cornucopian amounts rampant in the Republican Party's leadership cannot survive in a republic, nor can a republic survive such an onslaught that we've witnessed since November, 2000. One has to give in to the other, and either our republic will survive as the Neocon cartel goes down in flames, or it will dissolve into fond memories as the Conservative Christian Fundamentalist Petroleum Military Media Coalition finally locks us down and throws away the key.
In spite of today's events, I'm afraid that the cell door is still closing. Revolution, anyone?
Doing a great many things is not the same as doing many great things.
[click image for story]
Next up: Bill Frist.
Let's see what the corruption-filled Democratic Party leadership has to say:
| Today's news that House Republican Leader Tom DeLay has been indicted by a Texas grand jury for alleged participation in a criminal conspiracy to violate state laws banning corporate political contributions has predictably been greeted with righteous glee among Democrats and lurid accusations of a conspiracy among Republicans -- or at least those Republicans who are not already distancing themselves from the powerful and vengeful ex-exterminator from Sugarland. It's now obvious why Democrats and even some Republicans fought DeLay's failed effort earlier this year to change Republican caucus rules to delete a longstanding requirement that its leaders step aside temporarily if indicted for serious crimes. But tempting as it is to dwell on the possibility that this self-appointed moral arbiter of the nation could soon be strolling the halls not of Congress but of a Texas correctional facility, we urge Democrats to keep focused on a much bigger issue: the systemic pattern of corruption, cronyism, influence-peddling, and partisan intimidation in Washington. DeLay is clearly a major ink-spot in that pattern; even if he evades imprisonment on the Texas charges, let's remember that the object of the fundraising effort in question was The Hammer's obsessive campaign to launch a re-redistricting of U.S. House seats to buttress his power in the Capitol. And that broader determination to ruthlessly hold and use power by the GOP is what has given us a vast array of ethical lapses and bad policies, from Jack Abramoff's enormous roulette wheel of shakedowns and wirepullings, to a long series of fiscally ruinous special-interest raids on the U.S. Treasury, and even down to the staffing of FEMA with Republican campaign operatives. |
Hypocrits. They're corrupt too, just not as much.
Of course corruption is the sister of politics. Always was, always will be. However, the blatant, unchecked and cornucopian amounts rampant in the Republican Party's leadership cannot survive in a republic, nor can a republic survive such an onslaught that we've witnessed since November, 2000. One has to give in to the other, and either our republic will survive as the Neocon cartel goes down in flames, or it will dissolve into fond memories as the Conservative Christian Fundamentalist Petroleum Military Media Coalition finally locks us down and throws away the key.
In spite of today's events, I'm afraid that the cell door is still closing. Revolution, anyone?
[Go to Top] [HOME]
| "The worst is yet to come. Bush has enacted so many abuses on the planet, so many rollbacks and cutbacks and flip-flops and eased so many pollution controls and regulations ... well, the global recoils, the widespread illnesses, the cancer rates, the superstorms and heat waves and irreversible ecosystem deaths, these events are merely taking a number, lining up like fatal dominos." - - - Mark Morford |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Here are some pics taken at the peace march in L.A. last Saturday, by a friend of a friend. You can see all of them HERE.
. 
. 
. 
. 
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Groperzenegger for Sale
| Governor put on auction block STATE NURSES UNION PULLS GAG ON EBAY -- FIRM YANKS POSTING By Kate Folmar - Mercury News Sacramento Bureau SACRAMENTO - Arnold Schwarzenegger has famously asserted that he cannot be bought by donors. On Tuesday, his critics begged to differ: They briefly put the governor up for sale on auction giant eBay. The gag, one slightly tarnished Schwarzenegger, was placed up for bid by the California Nurses Association, a labor union that has been battling and belittling the Republican governor for months, at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. By 4:19 p.m., eBay shut down the sale. "GENUINE CORRUPT CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER NOT AN IMITATION!!!!!!**********," read the listing, which included a sepia-toned photograph of Schwarzenegger with dollar signs replacing his eyes. The reference -- subtle, yes -- was to Schwarzenegger's prodigious fundraising. Critics believe the governor's quest for cash results in policies that favor big-business donors over average folks -- a charge his aides dismiss outright. Bidding started at $12 and peaked at more than $3.6 million before eBay yanked the posting. It violated company policies barring the sale of people, trying to sell something you do not own and posting joke listings. "You can't sell the governor on eBay," said company spokesman Hani Durzy. Team Arnold was unfazed. After all, Republicans in 2002 created egray.com, a Web site making similar allegations about then-Gov. Gray Davis. "It's an old gag," said Schwarzenegger campaign strategist Rob Stutzman. "They've got to be original." |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Oil be getting that second mortgage to pay off my Chevron card
In case you were wondering (snippets):
Who profits the most when gas prices rise
No matter how you look at it, no matter how the "analysts" justify price fluctuations, the bottom line tells all: oil company profits are obscene and there's virtually nothing, short of decreasing our personal gas consumption, that we can do about it without a government willing to regulate the industry.
| By Justin Blum - The Washington Post WASHINGTON — When the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline peaked at $3.07 recently, it was partly because the nation's refineries were receiving an estimated 99 cents on each gallon sold. That was more than three times the amount they earned a year ago when regular unleaded was selling for $1.87. Companies that pump oil from the ground swept in an additional 47 cents on each gallon, a 46 percent jump over the same period. If motorists are the big losers in the spectacular run-up in gas prices, the companies that produce the oil and turn it into gasoline are the clear winners. By contrast, truckers who transport gasoline, companies that operate pipelines and gas-station owners have profited far less. The spikes caused by Hurricane Katrina — which heavily damaged oil production and refining in the Gulf region — accentuated gains the refiners and producers already were enjoying over the past year. Exxon Mobil, the Irving, Texas, behemoth that produces and refines oil, reported in July that its second-quarter profit was up 32 percent, to $7.64 billion. Analysts expect Exxon's profit to soar again this quarter. The rapid run-up in prices at the pump when Katrina hit — and their slow decline — has infuriated drivers, many of whom complain that oil companies used the storm as a pretext for boosting prices and profits. Politicians, including Washington state Gov. Christine Gregoire, echoed that sentiment and are calling for investigations of the oil industry. But interviews with analysts, consumer advocates and participants in the oil markets indicate that typical market forces were at work in the price run-up. ....For a company such as Exxon, producing a barrel of oil from an existing well costs about $20, according to analysts. When the selling price exceeds that, the increase is almost all profit, they said. After Katrina bore down on the Gulf Coast, the price of oil set a record, approaching $70. Refiners processing the oil into gasoline faced lucrative market conditions. They may have had to pay producers more for the oil, but they were able to sell gasoline for higher prices as a result of the short supply and the spike on the mercantile exchange. In their view, the increases were justified because the market dictated that their final product — gasoline — had risen in value. Refiners, particularly those with most of their facilities outside the path of Katrina, cashed in. Analysts predicted a windfall for companies such as Philadelphia-based Sunoco, which continued operating normally during the hurricane. ....Station owners complain that credit-card companies are benefiting from higher pump prices. Many of those companies charge a percentage fee to the stations based on the customer's total charge. So as customers' bills rise, so do the credit-card companies' fees. ....When prices rise quickly, as they did after Katrina, refineries make a larger share of the profit because they immediately pass along price increases to buyers. But gasoline suppliers and station owners typically move more slowly in passing along price increases, limiting their profit. Conversely, as more gasoline supplies came on the market after Katrina, prices charged by refiners for their gasoline dropped rapidly. But gas suppliers and station owners did not pass those reduced prices along as quickly, a typical pricing pattern that allows them to make up for reduced profit margins when prices were rising, analysts said. "On the way up, one guy is making money," said Michael Burdette, an analyst with the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration. "On the way down, the other guy is." |
No matter how you look at it, no matter how the "analysts" justify price fluctuations, the bottom line tells all: oil company profits are obscene and there's virtually nothing, short of decreasing our personal gas consumption, that we can do about it without a government willing to regulate the industry.
[Go to Top] [HOME]
September 27, 2005
What a horrible waste. Soldiers and innocent people will get killed. If we know it's going to happen, then the "insurgents" know and will prepare accordingly. When will this madness end? When will we rid our government of this Mad Cowboy Disease?
| "Bush's twin masters are the neocons and the right-wing Christians. The United States' uncritical support for Israel, and the installation of a US- and Israel-friendly regime in Iraq, is not motivated by love for the Jewish people. Rather, this support is critical to the right-wing Christian agenda. In order to fulfill the Scripture's promise, the right-wing Christians want to transfer the temple mount in Jerusalem from Muslim to Jewish hands, to facilitate the rebuilding of the temple so Jesus can return. US assistance to Israel maintains that country as an America-friendly presence in the midst of countries that are exploited by and resent the policies of both the United States and Israel. Instead of fighting terror - as Bush likes to proclaim - his war on Iraq has drawn foreign terrorists into Iraq to fight against the Western infidels. Its success in removing Saddam's regime made way for the United States to construct 14 US military bases in Iraq. All of these bases are instrumental to Washington's strategy to maintain hegemony in the Middle East. Kellogg Brown & Root, which built the infamous tiger cages in Vietnam and Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo, got the no-bid contract for reconstruction in Iraq, and in New Orleans as well. Our government's atrocious neglect of the poor and marginalized people of the Gulf Coast before and after Hurricane Katrina has come into full focus. And Bush's opposition to the Kyoto Protocol - which would require US corporations to sacrifice some of their profits to combat global warming - has come home to roost in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Nearly half the National Guard and many high-water vehicles were in Iraq when they should've been in New Orleans. The Bush administration has spent more than $200 billion on an illegal and unjustified war of conquest in Iraq and continues to send $3 billion of aid per year to Israel to fund its brutal military occupation of the Palestinian people. It is time for the US to get out of the business of funding killing and occupation, and into the business of funding healthcare, jobs, education and housing." - - - Marjorie Cohn |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Another failed operation-in-the-making in Samara, Iraq
| SALAH AL DIN/BAGHDAD, 27 September (IRIN) - Hundreds of families have started to flee the Iraqi city of Samara, some 120km north of the capital, Baghdad, following a recent Ministry of Defense announcement that preparations had started for an offensive by Coalition forces against insurgents holed up there, officials said. Hamad al-Kashty, governor of Salah al-Din province, said on Monday that nearly 500 families had so far fled the city. Many were presently in the outskirts, particularly around al-Dur, al-Salam, Baghdad and within empty schools and government buildings near the city of Tikrit. ....A spokesperson at the Iraqi Ministry of Interior said such operations would continue to rid the country of insurgents. ....However, the Iraq Red Crescent Society (IRCS) urged the Iraq government not to proceed with their operation, saying the last offensive against insurgents in Talafar had forced nearly 5,000 families to flee the city.... |
What a horrible waste. Soldiers and innocent people will get killed. If we know it's going to happen, then the "insurgents" know and will prepare accordingly. When will this madness end? When will we rid our government of this Mad Cowboy Disease?
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Free Opera
The full, ad-free version of OPERA browser is now free. You can download it HERE. It's a good deal, and good deals are exceedingly rare these days.
[Go to Top] [HOME]
September 26, 2005
Early Week Snips
An inside look at how Corporate America has swallowed the federal government
FEMA can't seem to flush Brown from its staff. (see 9:05 p.m. story)
Evacuees discover limits of Colorado Springs' generosity (sent by Phil L.)
President Calls for Less Driving. That must really be pissing off his buddies at Exxon-Mobil, Shell and Chevron-Texaco.
Piggybacking onto my previous post HERE concerning the abuse of donations to the Red Cross, The L.A. Times has this revealing look at the "charitable" organization's use of Katrina donations.
Well, isn't this comforting: U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman says the United States has "lost control" of its budget deficit
As goes the number of troops killed in Iraq, so goes the value of Halliburton stock.
Abortion on the SCOTUS docket (sent by Phil L.)
Hazy Deaths: Scientists have found what appears to be a significant association between the daily health-related death rate... and the amount of haze in the air...
The caretaker of the most highly read progressive political blog interviews one of the most highly respected analysts of Middle Eastern policy on a new online broadcasting site, EvolveTV.
FEMA can't seem to flush Brown from its staff. (see 9:05 p.m. story)
Evacuees discover limits of Colorado Springs' generosity (sent by Phil L.)
President Calls for Less Driving. That must really be pissing off his buddies at Exxon-Mobil, Shell and Chevron-Texaco.
Piggybacking onto my previous post HERE concerning the abuse of donations to the Red Cross, The L.A. Times has this revealing look at the "charitable" organization's use of Katrina donations.
Well, isn't this comforting: U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman says the United States has "lost control" of its budget deficit
As goes the number of troops killed in Iraq, so goes the value of Halliburton stock.
Abortion on the SCOTUS docket (sent by Phil L.)
Hazy Deaths: Scientists have found what appears to be a significant association between the daily health-related death rate... and the amount of haze in the air...
The caretaker of the most highly read progressive political blog interviews one of the most highly respected analysts of Middle Eastern policy on a new online broadcasting site, EvolveTV.
[Go to Top] [HOME]
This sent in by Larry C.:
Opposition Party Could Be Black Hole, Experts Says With President George W. Bush's approval ratings plummeting in recent weeks, the inability on the part of Democrats to capitalize on the president's waning fortunes has caused some leading scientists to postulate that the Democratic Party may not exist at all. Dr. Marisa Drazin, a leading scientist who for years has been questioning the existence of Democrats, said today that what many have thought to be the Democratic Party may in fact be nothing more than a black hole. "When the president loses ten or twelve approval points, one would normally expect those approval points to go to the opposition party," Dr. Drazin said. "But instead, those points have vanished into thin air, leading one to conclude that the so-called Democratic Party does not exist." Theories about the nonexistence of the Democratic Party are nothing new, said Dr. Drazin, who pointed out that scientists first developed them during the 1988 presidential campaign of then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. While the silence of the Democratic Party in recent weeks seems to bolster theories of the party's nonexistence, she said, there are still some nagging pieces of evidence to the contrary, such as the perpetually outspoken DNC chairman, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. "I've discussed the Howard Dean phenomenon with my colleagues," Dr. Drazin said. "And it's the consensus of the scientific community that there is no logical explanation for Howard Dean." |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
I just took the latest politics test. Here's my rating:
| You are a Social Liberal (71% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (18% permissive) You are best described as a:
Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Pimp my hybrid
I haven't posted anything about hybrid cars recently, mainly because it's no longer a novel item and they now sell themselves. However, here's a NYT aricle that describes ways in which some serious owners are pimping their Priuses both cosmetically and electronically.
By the way, my Prius has over 57,000 miles logged and I figure that, compared to a typical SUV, I've saved around $6,000 in gas so far. The only expenses I've had are new tires and new windshield wipers. Add to that the tax credit upon purchase, the miniscule amount of exhaust pollutants, and the new carpool lane stickers I slapped on last week (only $8 from the California DMV), the benefits just keep rolling in every day, every mile.
By the way, my Prius has over 57,000 miles logged and I figure that, compared to a typical SUV, I've saved around $6,000 in gas so far. The only expenses I've had are new tires and new windshield wipers. Add to that the tax credit upon purchase, the miniscule amount of exhaust pollutants, and the new carpool lane stickers I slapped on last week (only $8 from the California DMV), the benefits just keep rolling in every day, every mile.
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Cindy Sheehan arrested in front of White House
Story HERE, link to video available right now on THIS page (thanks to Phil for catching earlier link error)
UPDATE: After her long silence, Cindy Sheehan reveals in the press for the first time the who, what, where, when, why, and how about her frightful and shocking arrest ......yesterday. Was she tortured? Raped? Humiliated? Brutalized? Find out the gruesome details HERE. Will her act of defiance bring the troops home? Only time will tell.
UPDATE: After her long silence, Cindy Sheehan reveals in the press for the first time the who, what, where, when, why, and how about her frightful and shocking arrest ......yesterday. Was she tortured? Raped? Humiliated? Brutalized? Find out the gruesome details HERE. Will her act of defiance bring the troops home? Only time will tell.
[Go to Top] [HOME]
It's the elections, not the figurehead
| "The left needs to realize that they are no longer fighting George Bush. He won reelection and the only thing he has left to win is how he is remembered - his legacy. You create that narrative not by making up ads against Bush or participating in ineffectual protests that have no clue why they exist. It’s up to the politicians and the pundit class to make it clear that the malaise rolling across America is the result of con ideology gone mainstream. The idea that the federal government can’t properly respond to a natural disaster because an unqualified crony pal of the president is in charge is what happens when you put these cons into office. When we have high gas prices and the White House makes no effort to stave them off, that’s what happens when you have a con-run government. When terrorists kill us and we remain unable to find and visit vengeance upon them, that’s a side effect of having a con in charge - it’s what they do, how they do it. That good service men and women are stuck in a foreign land dying for a cause nobody can really articulate for God knows how long, is what you get when you elect these cons into office. From top to bottom, from local to national office, the con movement is bad for America and is making life harder, less profitable and less safe for its citizens. George Bush is just the figurehead here, you aren’t running and advocating against him anymore - but against the perverted movement he stands for." - - - Oliver Willis |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
September 25, 2005
| "Human rights? Are you out of your mind? The man has been an absolute disaster for human rights. The only question I want to ask him is when will he do the right thing and hand himself in to the International Criminal Court." - - - Bianca Jagger on George Bush |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
September 23, 2005
Yesterday I noted an article sent by Phil Loper regarding the loss of scientific research data in the wake of Katrina. Here's another article regarding this same subject, with additional information. It's from a (no-cost subscription) medical info website, MedScape, so maybe it's finally time for you to subscribe and keep up with the latest news in the field of medicine...
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Weekend Snips
Highly respected Middle East expert Juan Cole justifies why the U.S. must pull its troops out of Iraq now.
The Chicken Little Evacuation (Scribble cartoon)
Avian Flu epidemic gears up
The Chicken Little Evacuation (Scribble cartoon)
Avian Flu epidemic gears up
[Go to Top] [HOME]
FRIDAY FUN
A**hole (anti-bush video; not for the weak-minded, a.k.a. the Democratic leadership) (sent by Phil L.)
And you thought ping-pong was boring! (video)
If you're going to steal a cell phone, don't put it HERE.
Edgar Allan Poe actin figure
Jelly Bean Factory (interactive)
The art of science
Puckgame
Visual Effects in Films
CuBees
And you thought ping-pong was boring! (video)
If you're going to steal a cell phone, don't put it HERE.
Edgar Allan Poe actin figure
Jelly Bean Factory (interactive)
The art of science
Puckgame
Visual Effects in Films
CuBees
[Go to Top] [HOME]
September 22, 2005
I post this quote for the leadership of the Democratic Party, who insist on kowtowing to the despicably evil, corrupt and dispassionate Republican neocon Bush Administration, no matter how vocal and persistent the objections of the Democratic voters are.
It's not just the Bushies that are killing us, but those fuckwads in the Senate and House who insist that they still represent the Center and Left of the Democratic Party, while simultaneously bending over and spreading so that the Rove-run gang can continue to ream them with ever-increasing vigor.
It's time to stop focusing on the Republicans (they are now ripping themselves apart, thank you Katrina) and start demanding real Democratic leadership TODAY.
So, dear LEFT is RIGHT reader, you'd better get off YOUR fucking butt this weekend and go to the nearest anti-war march and back up your words with real action. You no longer have any excuse in the world (unless you're crippled, blind and in a coma) to stay home and watch the rest of us do your dirty work. I'll be looking for you, so you'd better have your lazy ass at the front of the line of marchers!
| "Mourn not the dead that in the cool earth lie, but rather mourn the apathetic throng, the coward and the meek who see the world's great anguish and its wrong, and dare not speak." - - - Ralph Chaplin |
I post this quote for the leadership of the Democratic Party, who insist on kowtowing to the despicably evil, corrupt and dispassionate Republican neocon Bush Administration, no matter how vocal and persistent the objections of the Democratic voters are.
It's not just the Bushies that are killing us, but those fuckwads in the Senate and House who insist that they still represent the Center and Left of the Democratic Party, while simultaneously bending over and spreading so that the Rove-run gang can continue to ream them with ever-increasing vigor.
It's time to stop focusing on the Republicans (they are now ripping themselves apart, thank you Katrina) and start demanding real Democratic leadership TODAY.
So, dear LEFT is RIGHT reader, you'd better get off YOUR fucking butt this weekend and go to the nearest anti-war march and back up your words with real action. You no longer have any excuse in the world (unless you're crippled, blind and in a coma) to stay home and watch the rest of us do your dirty work. I'll be looking for you, so you'd better have your lazy ass at the front of the line of marchers!
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Message to Democratic Senators voting in favor of Robert's confirmation
| "A vote for roberts tell us that he’s okay. And if he’s okay, then bush is okay, because bush nominated him. And if bush is okay, then the next one he proposes will be okay. Even if it were Charles Manson. Because bush nominated him. We have the guy, through his own cronyism and incompetence, on the ropes, and what do you do? Throw him an anvil? No, you throw him your towel, a bottle of Red Bull, some chocolates, and maybe an energy bar to boot." - - - Duckman |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Midweek Bits
If you still aren't convinced that the continued U.S. occupation of Iraq is only going to continuously worsen the conditions there, then I invite you to read this article by Michael Schwartz. (You can still read it even if you are convinced. I won't tell.)
"... same hurricane, second time around" interview with a Katrina victim now in Houston (video in four short parts)
World's longest traffic jam (look for and click the link to the video: "Watch Texas residents heed evacuation warnings -- 2:07")
Here is a great visible satellite loop of Rita. You know, just a slight turn to the right and it will end up on top of Louisiana.
Houston starting to feel effects of Rita
Passengers on crippled passenger jet watch their own fate on on-board TV. How creepy is that?!
Katrina wipes out years of scientific research (sent by Phil Loper)
U.S. Army is now looking for a few good high school dropouts. Eventually, they'll be setting up recruiting tables at the Special Olympics.
New Warnings about the Avian Flu Pandemic
Last week we noted how Greg Palast rips George Galloway a new one. Well, today George Galloway Responds!
Ice Capades
"... same hurricane, second time around" interview with a Katrina victim now in Houston (video in four short parts)
World's longest traffic jam (look for and click the link to the video: "Watch Texas residents heed evacuation warnings -- 2:07")
Here is a great visible satellite loop of Rita. You know, just a slight turn to the right and it will end up on top of Louisiana.
Houston starting to feel effects of Rita
Passengers on crippled passenger jet watch their own fate on on-board TV. How creepy is that?!
Katrina wipes out years of scientific research (sent by Phil Loper)
U.S. Army is now looking for a few good high school dropouts. Eventually, they'll be setting up recruiting tables at the Special Olympics.
New Warnings about the Avian Flu Pandemic
Last week we noted how Greg Palast rips George Galloway a new one. Well, today George Galloway Responds!
Ice Capades
[Go to Top] [HOME]
September 21, 2005
This is becoming surreal. Here is the latest Accuweather forecast for Hurricane Rita (excerpts, emphasis added):
| Today's Discussion Posted: September 22, 2005 2:09 a.m. Rita is an historic category 5 hurricane now packing sustained winds of 175 mph with gusts to near a mind boggling 215 mph. This is the season's second catastrophic hurricane. As of 2:00 AM EDT, Rita was centered near 24.8 north and 87.6 west. This places Rita 645 miles east-southeast of Corpus Christi, or 540 miles east-southeast of Galveston, Texas. The minimum central pressure was reported by hurricane hunter aircraft at 898 millibars (26.52 inches of mercury). This is the 3rd most intense Atlantic basin hurricane ever recorded. Rita was moving to the west-northwest at 9 mph. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 70 miles, and tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 185 miles from the center of circulation. Given that Rita will continue to intensify the wind field will probably expand further over the next 24 hours.... ....Rita will continue to track westward through the southern Gulf of Mexico early Thursday morning with some further strengthening expected as it crosses the same warm waters that helped Katrina strengthen into a Category 5 hurricane. So, it is no surprise that this hurricane has become a catastrophic hurricane. Rita will generally track to the west as an upper-level high pressure ridge over Texas expands eastward across the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The track that Rita takes will depend on how this high moves, weakens and strengthens. We currently expect this upper ridge of high pressure to remain strong and steer Rita on a general westerly course across the southeastern Gulf of Mexico through Wednesday night into Thursday. Then we expect the high to either split or move eastward causing Rita to move west-northwest early Friday then more northwestward Friday night and Saturday. We are estimating landfall between Galveston and Port O'connor sometime between 6 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Saturday. Ocean water analysis shows some cooler water in place about 300 miles off the Texas coast, then warmer water again right near the Texas coast in our primary projected landfall area, so the intensity forecast at landfall will be a real challenge. After Rita makes landfall, it will head northwest between Austin and Houston then track between Dallas and Tyler Sunday. We expect hurricane force winds to spread over a large area of eastern Texas after landfall. In fact, high-rise buildings in the Houston area could experience wind gusts to over 100 mph. This could cause some windows to shatter. In addition to possible damaging hurricane-force winds, tornadoes might be spawned by the cyclonic rotation from Rita mainly east and northeast of the center of circulation. Storm surge of as high as 20-25 feet is possible along the coast near and to the right of landfall. |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
| "Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." - - - Texas Governor George W. Bush, April 9, 1999, on the US intervention in Kosovo |
| "There's no stopping this juggernaut. Washington's ruling-elite are hell-bent to continue; flailing away at every obstacle in their murderous path. This week it's Iraq, next week it's Syria; what possible difference could it make? America won't be digging out after this orgy of terror anyway. Bush has led us to the brink. The economy is teetering, our alliances are crumbling, and the nation is ambling towards disaster. All the while, the Dear Leader has fixed his vision on the deepest part of the quicksand and trudges onward. America won't dodge the Reaper this time." - - - Mike Whitney |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
September 20, 2005
Here - comes - Rita!
Damn if it doesn't look like it's headed straight toward Crawford, TX. Also, how can something so deadly be so incredibly beautiful?
"Gutless, unprincipled political coward"
Houston, We Have A Problem...
Here - comes - Rita!
Damn if it doesn't look like it's headed straight toward Crawford, TX. Also, how can something so deadly be so incredibly beautiful?
[Go to Top] [HOME]
"Gutless, unprincipled political coward"
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Slow Suicide
| "Of the qualities that George W. Bush embodies - inattention, inability to communiciate clearly, impatience, violence, arrogance - his utter shortsightedness in regard to the health of the world and its people is the most damning. Oil and coal, shrinking in supply, polluting our air and water, is quite clearly not the best way forward. To continue to inject taxpayers' money into this obese, overpowering industry is to speed the demise of this precarious global economy. It's government assisted suicide, and the oil-soaked politicians on both sides of the aisle are to blame. Withholding government subsidy from those who engage in fossil fuel production while offering it to alternatives will help move industries in the direction of a healthier future for we Earthlings. Democrats have bellowed for weeks now over Bush's fiddling as NOLA sank, yet we stand in the midst of a much greater global crisis doing nothing. Market forces will help drive the economy towards increased efficiency and alternative fuels, but the progress will be slowed by the massive suckle offered by our government. It's madness." - - - Screwy Hoolie |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Early Week Bits
Tons of British aid donated to help Hurricane Katrina victims to be BURNED by Americans (Golly gee, isn't Bush a hoot?)
Here we go again: Republicans revive Social Security deform
Is EPA stonewalling on the release of important Katrina contamination data, as they did following 9/11?
Call me picky, but I honestly think that the Leader of the Free World should know how to button his own shirt. Maybe my standards are too high.
A "noble" reason to purchase a "Girls Gone Wild" video.
GRAPH: Iraqi Coalition deaths versus the "Last Throes" of the insurgency.
Recent polls show that the American voters are READY TO HAND OVER THE CONGRESS TO THE DEMOCRATS. When will the leadership of the Democratic Party stop shooting itself in the foot and start representing its own constituency?
Here is a new, non-partisan resource for information about potential flu pandemics, the FLU WIKI, its purpose being to "help local communities prepare for and perhaps cope with a possible influenza pandemic."
Here we go again: Republicans revive Social Security deform
Is EPA stonewalling on the release of important Katrina contamination data, as they did following 9/11?
Call me picky, but I honestly think that the Leader of the Free World should know how to button his own shirt. Maybe my standards are too high.
A "noble" reason to purchase a "Girls Gone Wild" video.
GRAPH: Iraqi Coalition deaths versus the "Last Throes" of the insurgency.
Recent polls show that the American voters are READY TO HAND OVER THE CONGRESS TO THE DEMOCRATS. When will the leadership of the Democratic Party stop shooting itself in the foot and start representing its own constituency?
Here is a new, non-partisan resource for information about potential flu pandemics, the FLU WIKI, its purpose being to "help local communities prepare for and perhaps cope with a possible influenza pandemic."
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Oral History of Katrina
There's a fascinating new web site, Alive in Truth, that is documenting the oral histories of Katrina victims. Here's an excerpt:
| ".... I was in the process of buying a home. And everything is just destroyed. What do I do? I don’t know … and now I’m at the point where I have to laugh to keep from crying. It hurts, it hurts. And then, just to know that our lives are in other people’s hands. Because I know that when Florida had those hurricanes, the help was there before the hurricanes hit. And we had to wait – the governor had to wait twenty-four hours before she could make a decision … It just made me feel like, you were waiting, you were gonna let all those unfortunate people just die. The place was just expecting us to be wiped out. I mean, not all people are unfortunate in New Orleans, but a lot of those were left behind, most of them were. They were saying, come back on-- the ones that left out were the ones that were more fortunate. You know a lot of people were left behind because it was like the first of the month, you know, bills were due, you know, you need money to evacuate. ...." Tami J., Algiers district of New Orleans |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
September 19, 2005
| "With politics, the Bush administration has shown remarkable discipline -- squelching leaks and keeping Cabinet members on message, reaching down into the bureaucracy to bend analyses in directions that supports what it wants to do, imposing its will on congressional leaders and even making a political imprint on state legislatures. No recent president has got re-elected with controlling majorities in both houses of Congress, or been as successful in repositioning the national debate around his ideological view of the world. With governing, it's been almost criminally incompetent -- failing to act on clear predictions of a terrorist attack like 9/11 or a natural disaster like Katrina, botching intelligence over Saddam Hussein's supposed weapons of mass destruction, failing to secure order after invading Iraq, allowing prisoners of war to be tortured, losing complete control over the federal budget, creating a bizarre Medicare drug benefit from which the elderly are now fleeing, barely responding to the wave of corporate lootings and running the Federal Emergency Management Agency into the ground. Not since the hapless administration of Warren G. Harding has there been one as stunningly inept as this one." - - - Robert B. Reich |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Proposition 75A: Send the Governor back to Hollywood
Here in California one of many right-wing-spawned propositions to appear on the November Special Election ballot is Proposition 75 which, as BuyBlue summarizes, " .... is aimed at weakening the political clout of public employee unions." The editor of an award-winning Democratic Club newsletter opines:
After assuring California voters that, unlike the previous Davis Administration, his would actually support and represent the wants and needs of Californians, Arnold Groperzenegger has instead bought into the neo-conservative agenda lock, stock and barrel, and especially barrel due to the extremely offensive posture he's taking towards the working class and unions in this state.
I actually enjoyed watching Arnold in his many forays into acting during his film career, including such reality-suspending entertainment gems like the Terminator series. He's one of many actors (e.g. The Rock, Steven Segal, John Wayne) whose highly limited acting skills have been placated by superior casting.
The California Republican Party cast Arnold as the right person for the role of Governor, and the public bought the tickets (votes) to see his state-saving show. But he's now standing on the stage's trap door of political cronyism and concessions to corporate special interest groups, and the Califonia voter is impatiently waiting to pull the lever.
BY Larry Caballero, Newsletter Editor, Hubert Humphrey Democratic Club Earlier this year, California teachers spoke out when the governor broke his promise to repay the two billion dollars he borrowed from the education budget. California nurses took the governor to court when he tried to roll back the hospital staffing law that protects patients. California’s firefighters and police officers attacked the governor's plan to eliminate survivor benefits for family members when an officer or firefighter is killed in the line of duty. Now the Alliance for a Better California, a coalition of teachers, firefighters and nurses, kicked off the campaign to defeat Proposition 75 by unveiling its first TV ad. The 30-second spot began airing statewide on September 8 and explains to California voters that Prop. 75 has a hidden agenda to silence the voices of teachers, nurses, firefighters and police who spoke out against cuts to education, health care and public safety earlier this year. "Like previous California initiatives, Prop. 75 has a hidden agenda. Its real agenda is to make it easier for the governor and his big business pals to cut school funding, health care and public safety," said CTA President Barbara Kerr. The top seven donors to Prop. 75 are major contributors to the governor, and a coalition of business and anti-tax groups was formed to promote Prop. 75 by gathering petition signatures earlier this year. If Proposition 75 passes, who will protect the workers in education, health care and public safety? It's a sure bet it won't be the governor who favors big business. Prop. 75 will place restrictions on only public employees and would not impact any other organization that makes political contributions, including corporations. Yet according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, corporations already outspend unions by a 24-1 margin nationally. Voters are fair and do not appreciate being lied to. It is apparent that Prop. 75 wants to thwart the efforts of workers and their organizations to reach out to the public, and voters won't be fooled. If this measure is so good for the public, then it should impact corporations and big business as well. Otherwise, it comes across to the voters as mean-spirited. Just say NO to 75. |
After assuring California voters that, unlike the previous Davis Administration, his would actually support and represent the wants and needs of Californians, Arnold Groperzenegger has instead bought into the neo-conservative agenda lock, stock and barrel, and especially barrel due to the extremely offensive posture he's taking towards the working class and unions in this state.
I actually enjoyed watching Arnold in his many forays into acting during his film career, including such reality-suspending entertainment gems like the Terminator series. He's one of many actors (e.g. The Rock, Steven Segal, John Wayne) whose highly limited acting skills have been placated by superior casting.
The California Republican Party cast Arnold as the right person for the role of Governor, and the public bought the tickets (votes) to see his state-saving show. But he's now standing on the stage's trap door of political cronyism and concessions to corporate special interest groups, and the Califonia voter is impatiently waiting to pull the lever.
[Go to Top] [HOME]
[Go to Top] [HOME]
September 18, 2005
The nuts among us
Joe Bageant won't let us forget that millions of us are still waiting for the Rapture, reality be damned (snippets):
| "For liberals to examine the current fundamentalist phenomenon in America is accept some hard truths. For starters, we libs are even more embattled than most of us choose to believe. Any significant liberal and progressive support is limited to a few urban pockets on each coast and along the upper edge of the Midwestern tier states. Most of the rest of the nation, the much vaunted heartland, is the dominion of the conservative and charismatic Christian. Turf-wise, it's pretty much their country, which is to say it presently belongs to George W. Bush for some valid reasons. Remember: He did not have to steal the entire election, just a little piece of it in Florida. Evangelical born-again Christians of one stripe or another were then, and are now, 40% of the electorate, and they support Bush 3-1. And as long as their clergy and their worst instincts tell them to, they will keep on voting for him, or someone like him, regardless of what we view as his arrogant folly and sub-intelligence. Forget about changing their minds. These Christians do not read the same books we do, they do not get their information from anything remotely resembling reasonably balanced sources, and in fact, consider even CBS and NBC super-liberal networks of porn and the Devil's lies. Given how fundamentalists see the modern world, they may as well be living in Iraq or Syria, with whom they share approximately the same Bronze Age religious tenets. They believe in God, Rumsfeld's Holy War and their absolute duty as God's chosen nation to kick Muslim ass up one side and down the other. In other words, just because millions of Christians appear to be dangerously nuts does not mean they are marginal. ..... If we are lucky as a nation, this period in American history will be remembered as just another very dark time we managed to get through. Otherwise, one shudders to think of the logical outcome. No wonder the left is depressed. Meanwhile, our best thinkers on the left ask us to consider our perpetual U.S. imperial war as a fascist, military/corporate war, and indeed it is that too. But tens of millions of hardworking, earnest American Christians see it as far more than that. They see a war against all that is un-Biblical, the goal of which is complete world conquest, or put in Christian terminology, "dominion." They will have no less than the "inevitable victory God has promised his new chosen people," according to the Recon masters of the covert kingdom. Screw the Jews, they blew their chance. If perpetual war is what it will take, then let it be perpetual. After all, perpetual war is exactly what the Bible promised. Like it or not, this is the reality (or prevailing unreality) with which we are faced. The 2004 elections, regardless of outcome, will not change that. Nor will it necessarily bring ever-tolerant liberals to openly acknowledge what is truly happening in this country, the thing that has been building for a long, long time---a holy war, a covert Christian jihad for control of America and the entire world. Millions of Americans are under the spell of an extraordinarily dangerous mass psychosis." |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
"URGENT FROM BOGALUSA...PEOPLE ARE F**KING DYING"
A desperate plea from a blogger who highlights a lack of attention by the government for areas outside New Orleans but in Katrina's path (snippet):
| ....I went to check on my little 80 year old ladies today and stopped at another house with TWO TREES still through it and the couple living there...14 days AFTER the hurricane hit, they put a sign out on their lawn that said "this is how the government treats you"...FEMA went there the next day, gave them a $2k check and wished them good luck. These people sent their kids to Texas and want to go there...it's a town south of Houston, the name escapes me now. These people have NOT seen the RC and scavange for food/water. She drove for an hour and waited in line for 9 hours to fill out the paperwork for getting RED CROSS vouchers and then was given a NUMBER and told to come back on MONDAY. Now you might think, well they must be in the middle of no where...WRONG, these people are on the ROAD THAT ALL THE GOVERNMENT agencies take to the main control center at least 10 times daily. FEMA never even got people to remove the trees off their roof, they had FRIENDS show up finally. At my little 80 year old ladies home, I find out they haven't seen the RED CROSS for 2 days and they were out of food and water and needed medical attention and meds. I got them all of that. While there, their young neighbor talked with the photo journalists who requested I talk to him and I find out that the RED CROSS REFUSED to talk to him, much less help him. This is a 36 year old man who has a wife with POLIO and they are living in a church with NOTHING. FEMA won't talk to them, they have no phone, etc.... |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
September 16, 2005
Weekend Bits
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s speech last weekend regarding Bush Administration's environmental policies
Chavez Reams Bush a New One
Another Katrina Timeline
"Human influenza is coming, we know that, and no government, no leaders can afford to be caught off-guard."
WHY ISN'T THE MEDIA ALL OVER THIS??? WHY AREN"T DEMOCRATIC LEADERS FROTHING AT THE MOUTH AND RAISING AN UPROAR??? WHERE THE HELL IS EVERYBODY?? (Oh, that's right, they're all at the Annual Spines-Are-For-Sissies Convention.)
Chavez Reams Bush a New One
Another Katrina Timeline
"Human influenza is coming, we know that, and no government, no leaders can afford to be caught off-guard."
[Go to Top] [HOME]
| "Bush's America is gone with the wind. It lasted just short of four years, from Sept. 11, 2001, to Aug. 29, 2005. The devastation of New Orleans was the watery equivalent of a dirty bomb, but Hurricane Katrina approached the homeland with advance warnings, scientific anticipation and a personal briefing of the president by the director of the National Hurricane Center, alerting him about a possible breaching of the levees. It was as predictable as though Osama bin Laden had phoned in every detail to the television networks. No future terrorist attack would or could be as completely foreseen as Katrina." - - - Sidney Blumenthal |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Please Say It Ain't So
| Republicans said Karl Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff and Mr. Bush's chief political adviser, was in charge of the reconstruction effort, which reaches across many agencies of government and includes the direct involvement of Alphonso R. Jackson, secretary of housing and urban development. - - - NY Times |
WHY ISN'T THE MEDIA ALL OVER THIS??? WHY AREN"T DEMOCRATIC LEADERS FROTHING AT THE MOUTH AND RAISING AN UPROAR??? WHERE THE HELL IS EVERYBODY?? (Oh, that's right, they're all at the Annual Spines-Are-For-Sissies Convention.)
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Marshall Law? Is the Pope Catholic?
| "I am duty-bound to report the talk of the New Orleans warehouse district last night: there was rejoicing (well, there would have been without the curfew, but the few people I saw on the streets were excited) when the power came back on for blocks on end. Kevin Tibbles was positively jubilant on the live update edition of Nightly News that we fed to the West Coast. The mini-mart, long ago cleaned out by looters, was nonetheless bathed in light, including the empty, roped-off gas pumps. The motorcade route through the district was partially lit no more than 30 minutes before POTUS drove through. And yet last night, no more than an hour after the President departed, the lights went out. The entire area was plunged into total darkness again, to audible groans. It's enough to make some of the folks here who witnessed it... jump to certain conclusions. It is impossible to over-emphasize the extent to which this area is under government occupation, and portions of it under government-enforced lockdown. Police cars rule the streets. They (along with Humvees, ambulances, fire apparatus, FEMA trucks and all official-looking SUVs) are generally not stopped at checkpoints and roadblocks. All other vehicles are subject to long lines and snap judgments and must PROVE they have vital business inside the vast roped-off regions here. If we did not have the services of an off-duty law enforcement officer, we could not do our jobs in the course of a work day and get back in time to put together the broadcast and get on the air. As we are about to do." - - - Brian Williams |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
| "Pre-Inquisition Conservatives are proudly hawking the notion that dinosaurs and blue-eyed white guys were holding bake sales together 5,000 years ago. Because it's not enough to merely believe God created the universe -- he also specifically planted an entire false history of the universe to screw with you, you sodomy-loving, DNA-believing-in, post-Newtonian bastards. You just wait, we're only a few months away from digging up an authentic handcrafted dinosaur saddle that will prove that at least one prehistoric Big 5 Sporting Goods Store survived the Biblical flood. Presuming you're among the Pre-Inquisition Conservatives who acknowledge the existence of dinosaurs at all, mind you -- and if you are, the rest of the non-believing-in-dinosaurs movement hereby condemns you for falling for another of God's devious nature-based soul mousetraps: yep, you're going to Hell." - - - HUNTER |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
FRIDAY FUN
The Rocky Horror Picture Show in 30 seconds, re-enacted by bunnies.
Ripley's I.Q. Game
Get rid of that stuck-in-your-head tune
Tornado Chasers
I can't afford my gasoline (animated video)
Unusual Roller Coasters
View of Earth from spacecraft Messenger (taken August 2-3, 2005)
FEMA Rap
Ear Alarm
Ripley's I.Q. Game
Get rid of that stuck-in-your-head tune
Tornado Chasers
I can't afford my gasoline (animated video)
Unusual Roller Coasters
View of Earth from spacecraft Messenger (taken August 2-3, 2005)
FEMA Rap
Ear Alarm
[Go to Top] [HOME]
September 15, 2005
Midweek Bits
U.S nukes attempts by U.N. to restrict spread of nuclear arms
"WHITES ONLY" alive and well in Alabama
"Insurgents in Iraq have been launching almost hourly attacks on Iraqi and US military targets as well as civilians in a relentless wave of violence."
EPA's Katrina Response Site (news and resources) (sent by Phil Loper)
Yuck
Wal-Mart Beaten Back in One Arizona Community (sent by Phil Loper)
118 Countries Have Offered Hurricane Relief
Michael Moore has set up a relief operation in the Gulf and needs your help.
Federal judge declares Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional
HHS faces the largest public health crisis in this country in nearly a hundred years
Greg Palast rips George Galloway a new one.
Damn you, Mother Nature
Conservatives turn to penguins for spiritual inspiration.
[click map for interactive page]
"WHITES ONLY" alive and well in Alabama
"Insurgents in Iraq have been launching almost hourly attacks on Iraqi and US military targets as well as civilians in a relentless wave of violence."
EPA's Katrina Response Site (news and resources) (sent by Phil Loper)
Yuck
Wal-Mart Beaten Back in One Arizona Community (sent by Phil Loper)
118 Countries Have Offered Hurricane Relief
Michael Moore has set up a relief operation in the Gulf and needs your help.
Federal judge declares Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional
HHS faces the largest public health crisis in this country in nearly a hundred years
Greg Palast rips George Galloway a new one.
Damn you, Mother Nature
Conservatives turn to penguins for spiritual inspiration.
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Location of hometowns of US Soldiers killed in Iraq/Afghanistan
[click map for interactive page]
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Questions John Roberts Refuses to Answer:
"Do you then believe that this implied right of privacy applies to the beginning of life and the end of life?"
"[The Supreme Court] said, "a woman's interest in having an abortion is a form of liberty protected by the Due Process Clause. Do you agree with that?"
"[D]o you believe ... that the federal courts should become involved in end-of-life decisions?"
"[Does Congress] have the power to terminate war?"
"Do you disagree with Justice Thomas' interpretation of the right to privacy in any decided case?"
"Do you have any concern about the constitutionality of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that outlawed racial discrimination in public accommodation, employment and other areas?"
"[President Kennedy] said, 'I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.' My question is, do you?"
"Do you then believe that this implied right of privacy applies to the beginning of life and the end of life?"
"[The Supreme Court] said, "a woman's interest in having an abortion is a form of liberty protected by the Due Process Clause. Do you agree with that?"
"[D]o you believe ... that the federal courts should become involved in end-of-life decisions?"
"[Does Congress] have the power to terminate war?"
"Do you disagree with Justice Thomas' interpretation of the right to privacy in any decided case?"
"Do you have any concern about the constitutionality of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that outlawed racial discrimination in public accommodation, employment and other areas?"
"[President Kennedy] said, 'I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.' My question is, do you?"
[Go to Top] [HOME]
| "All too often, conservative ideologues who now honeycomb the halls of our great public buildings in Washington have promoted the idea that government is an alien institution that illegitimately confiscates and redistributes resources to no great purpose other than sustaining our armed forces at the absolute minimum of effectiveness. These ideologues have viewed government, even the federal government they control from top to bottom, as a necessary evil to be tolerated, an obstacle to be overcome and undermined, a "beast:" to be starved. And worse yet, when their plans to dismantle government are thwarted, they tend, not surprisingly, to view federal agencies as little more than a vast patronage opportunity for fellow-partisans who don't much believe in the missions they are supposedly pledged to perform." - - - Gov. Tom Vilsack |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Marshall on More Wasted Taxpayers' $$:
Masters of Waste
| "Maybe you want to spend $200 billion on rebuilding the Delta region too. Fine. Something like that will probably be necessary. But don't fool yourself into thinking that what's coming is just a matter of a different chef making the same meal. This will be Iraq all over again, with the same fetid mix of graft, zeal and hubris. Cronyism like you wouldn't believe. Money blown on ideological fantasies and half-baked test-cases. You could come up with a hundred reasons why that's true. But at root intentions drive all. You'll never separate this operation or its results from the fact that the people in charge see it as a political operation. The use of this money for political purposes, for what amounts to a political campaign, tells you everything you need to know about what's coming." - - - Josh Marshall |
Masters of Waste
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Exxon-Mobil Admits Peak Oil is Five to Ten Years Away
From Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (excerpts):
| Without any press conferences, grand announcements, or hyperbolic advertising campaigns, the Exxon Mobil Corporation, one of the world's largest publicly owned petroleum companies, has quietly joined the ranks of those who are predicting an impending plateau in non-OPEC oil production. Their report, The Outlook for Energy: A 2030 View, forecasts a peak in just five years. In the past, many who expressed such concerns were dismissed as eager catastrophists, peddling the latest Malthusian prophecy of the impending collapse of fossil-fueled civilization. Their reliance on private oil-reserve data that is unverifiable by other analysts, and their use of models that ignore political and economic factors, have led to frequent erroneous pronouncements. They were countered by the extreme optimists, who believed that we would never need to think about such problems and that the markets would take care of everything. Up to now, those who worried about limited petroleum supplies have been at best ignored, and at worst openly ridiculed. ..... All the more reason that the public should heed the silent alarm sounded by the ExxonMobil report, which is more credible than other predictions for several reasons. First and foremost is that the source is ExxonMobil. No oil company, much less one with so much managerial, scientific, and engineering talent, has ever discussed peak oil production before. Given the profound implications of this forecast, it must have been published only after a thorough review. Second, the majority of non-OPEC producers such as the United States, Britain, Norway, and Mexico, who satisfy 60 percent of world oil demand, are already in a production plateau or decline. (All of ExxonMobil's crude oil production comes from non-OPEC fields.) Third, the production peak cited by the report is quite close at hand. If it were twenty-five years instead of five years in the future, one might be more skeptical, since new technologies or new discoveries could change the outlook during that longer period. But five years is too short a time frame for any new developments to have an impact on this result. ..... What all this means is that the petroleum industry is approaching a turning point. Conventional petroleum production will soon--perhaps in five years, ten at best--no longer be able to satisfy demand. For their part, American consumers would do well to take a cue from their Western European counterparts, who enjoy a comfortable lifestyle despite a per capita use of petroleum that is half of that in the United States. The sooner the United States begins this transition away from oil, the easier it will be. That's a far more attractive option than trying to squeeze oil from stone. |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
September 14, 2005
Another Refugee Problem Caused by Bush-war
In case you forgot, we've invaded and are brutally occupying the nation of Iraq. For the past week or so, the U.S. military has been bombing the shit out of Talafar, resulting in thousands of refugees (snippet):
| BAGHDAD, 14 Sep 2005 (IRIN) - The immediate needs of thousands of people displaced by military operations against insurgents in a northern Iraqi city of are not being met, the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) said. “We need urgent support from international humanitarian organisations especially because we are the only NGO helping those families,” Ferdous al-Abadi, spokeswoman for the IRCS in Baghdad, said on Wednesday. Around US $250,000 is needed immediately to cover costs and buy emergency supplies for those displaced, the IRCS said. Other items urgently required include 50,000 bottles of drinking water, 40,000 jerry cans, 20,000 kitchen sets, 150 first aid kits, 50 first aid bags, 250 portable beds, three ambulances, 50 tents and food for 10,000 families for two weeks. Nearly 4,000 families are believed to have fled from the city, which has a population of some 200,000, according to aid agencies. There is still, however, also a large number of families staying in their homes despite the fighting. There is no access to the city except for the military, but permission is given to leave under military supervision. The eventual duration of the fighting, which started on 10 September, is unknown at present as US-forces say it will continue until insurgents have been killed or have left Talafar. Residents who fled the city are now spread in about 11 camps established by the IRCS and are receiving some assistance from them in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF. The number of the families heading to the IRCS camp is increasing gradually, officials say, as volunteers continue to provide three hot meals a day. “We are again victims of political differences inside Iraq,” said Mustafa Karami, a Talafar resident who fled the city with eight members of his family. “We don’t have a house or food and we now depend on the good heart of the IRCS to help us and we are sure that nothing will be left when we return to our land.” Hundreds of displaced people can be seen in the improvised camps and children are suffering from the hot weather and the lack of access to clean and potable water.... |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Regarding Wednesday's horrific bombings in Baghdad, Juan Cole had this to say:
[click for source]
| If you don't control your capital, you control nothing. If the events of Black Wednesday were not so very tragic (those poor Shiite laborers! and their families), the situation would be absurd in a surrealist sense. The US military off in a small desert town with nothing to do but play fight club amongst themselves, while hundreds of innocent Iraqi Shiites in Kadhimiyah are massacred at will. And the guerrillas' ability at this late date to mount such a shatteringly effective operation in the capital itself is why the pitiful and arrogant Project for a New American Century fantasy of just crushing the Sunni Arabs of Iraq is a K Street wet dream generated by intellectual adolescents, not a realistic policy. (And of course the same thing could be say of virtually everything the PNAC has ever said). |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Hypocritical Speech of the Week
| "When this great institution's member states choose notorious abusers of human rights to sit on the U.N. Human Rights Commission, they discredit a noble effort and undermine the credibility of the whole organization. If member nations want the United Nations to be respected and effective, they should begin by making sure it is worthy of respect." - - - George W. Bush, today |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
[click for source]
[Go to Top] [HOME]
| "Did God have anything to do with Katrina?," people ask. My answer is, he allowed it and perhaps he allowed it to get our attention so that we don't delude ourselves into thinking that all we have to do is put things back the way they were and life will be normal again. - - - Christian radio commentator Charles Colson |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
September 13, 2005
| "War is God's way of teaching Americans geography." - Ambrose Bierce, writer (1842-1914) |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
The Medical Side of Katrina
Besides the obvious loss and damage of property, the most important consequence of Hurricane Katrina is the dramatically increased health risks. WebMDHealth has up-to-the-minute information for both the public and health professionals, including info on potential disease outbreaks in the Gulf region. Also check out the videos about the medical conditions.
Here is a blog set up by nursing professionals with stories about helping Katrina survivors. The stories are quite moving.
Here is a blog set up by nursing professionals with stories about helping Katrina survivors. The stories are quite moving.
[Go to Top] [HOME]
I came across this mind-boggling map which shows the location of each pumping station and oil platform in and around Louisiana. Now I understand why this region is so critical to our nation's oil supply.
Click image for larger picture (and source page)
BUSH: "It's hard work, son. Hard, hard work."
BOY: "Maybe he'll get bored and go away. Jeez he smells funky."
MOM: "Are you for real? And what's that lump under your shirt and that thing in your ear?"
Create your own captions in the comments.
Click image for larger picture (and source page)
[Go to Top] [HOME]
BUSH: "It's hard work, son. Hard, hard work."
BOY: "Maybe he'll get bored and go away. Jeez he smells funky."
MOM: "Are you for real? And what's that lump under your shirt and that thing in your ear?"
Create your own captions in the comments.
[Go to Top] [HOME]
| "I refuse to believe that anyone I met at the dome has lesser value than anybody in my family that I go home to. I don't believe that about this country. I don't want that to be the lesson in this. I was angry. People were going without and dying in the wealthiest country the world has ever known." - - - Brian Williams, NBC News |
[Go to Top] [HOME]
September 12, 2005
Early Week Bits
Memo: Let's Get Ready to Run
For anyone who forgot, here's an interview from last year, when Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana showed that at least one Democratic Senator, besides Barbara Boxer, had balls.
Climatologists debunk global warming as reason for increased hurricane activity
"We Had To Kill Our Patients"
Bush's "Sense of Relaxation"
Mercenaries guard homes of the rich in New Orleans
In the shadow of New Orleans
Deadly Muck
For anyone who forgot, here's an interview from last year, when Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana showed that at least one Democratic Senator, besides Barbara Boxer, had balls.
Climatologists debunk global warming as reason for increased hurricane activity
"We Had To Kill Our Patients"
Bush's "Sense of Relaxation"
Mercenaries guard homes of the rich in New Orleans
In the shadow of New Orleans
Deadly Muck
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Red Cross: Charity or Scam?
It truly pains me to see such a sincere outpouring of donations to the Red Cross in response to the devastation from Hurricane Katrina.
In response to 9/11 the American public sent $543 Million to the Red Cross to directly help the victims. Of that total, the Red Cross used $147 million, or 27%. That's right, nearly 3/4 of people's hard-earned donations went directly into the coffers of the Red Cross for use, among other things, in "preparing for future terrorist attacks".
So far, of the over $735 million collected for Katrina victims, $578 million has gone to the Red Cross. Nearly everyone I know has sent money to the Red Cross this month for this cause. Employees at my place of work have collected and sent thousands of dollars to the Red Cross. Practically every store I enter these days has Red Cross Katrina donation receptacles conveniently set up at entrances or check-out counters. Nearly every public service announcement about victims of Katrina that I see in the media recommends sending money to the Red Cross. Of the many hundreds of millions of $ that has already been confiscated from the public through this scam, just how much of it is going to end up in the hands of Katrina's victims through direct cash grants, or food or shelter or other desperately needed services? I guarantee you, not much.
Of course the Red Cross does provide some relief to disaster victims. But if I send them $200 in donations, thinking that it will all be put to the best use, and only $50 actually is used for direct aid, how am I supposed to feel? How am I supposed to feel when I discover that 30-40 percent of all donations to the Red Cross routinely ends up paying for plush office furniture, or all-expense-paid junkets around the world, or lavish facilities redecorating, or athletic club memberships, or luxury vehicles, or other non-relief expenses, all for Red Cross administrators and their staff?
When will Americans stop being duped by these types of scams? Do your research before sending your hard-earned wages to popular charities like the Red Cross or United Way. Learn what they do with your donations, how much they use for expenses that DON'T directly help disaster victims. Then decide if you really intended for your money to be spent this way.
I believe that at least 90% of public donations to charities should be spent on services and suppies that directly help disaster victims, not squirreled away for a rainy day or misused for unnecessary home (i.e. "company") improvements or company perks.
If there is a disaster in your local community and you see, on the local news, the Red Cross on the site in their generally very visible appearance, before you rush to the phone with your credit card, consider the probability that if you hop into your car, drive down to the area and give your donation directly to a victim (who's probably been evacuated from their home), that person will know exactly what they need and will probably get a much better use of that cash.
Or you could continue to blindly throw away your money to the most popular charities. A lot or readers will get mad at me for suggesting that they have been wasting their money. Fine. Get mad, but also do some research and start realizing that you are getting mad at the wrong people.
In response to 9/11 the American public sent $543 Million to the Red Cross to directly help the victims. Of that total, the Red Cross used $147 million, or 27%. That's right, nearly 3/4 of people's hard-earned donations went directly into the coffers of the Red Cross for use, among other things, in "preparing for future terrorist attacks".
So far, of the over $735 million collected for Katrina victims, $578 million has gone to the Red Cross. Nearly everyone I know has sent money to the Red Cross this month for this cause. Employees at my place of work have collected and sent thousands of dollars to the Red Cross. Practically every store I enter these days has Red Cross Katrina donation receptacles conveniently set up at entrances or check-out counters. Nearly every public service announcement about victims of Katrina that I see in the media recommends sending money to the Red Cross. Of the many hundreds of millions of $ that has already been confiscated from the public through this scam, just how much of it is going to end up in the hands of Katrina's victims through direct cash grants, or food or shelter or other desperately needed services? I guarantee you, not much.
Of course the Red Cross does provide some relief to disaster victims. But if I send them $200 in donations, thinking that it will all be put to the best use, and only $50 actually is used for direct aid, how am I supposed to feel? How am I supposed to feel when I discover that 30-40 percent of all donations to the Red Cross routinely ends up paying for plush office furniture, or all-expense-paid junkets around the world, or lavish facilities redecorating, or athletic club memberships, or luxury vehicles, or other non-relief expenses, all for Red Cross administrators and their staff?
When will Americans stop being duped by these types of scams? Do your research before sending your hard-earned wages to popular charities like the Red Cross or United Way. Learn what they do with your donations, how much they use for expenses that DON'T directly help disaster victims. Then decide if you really intended for your money to be spent this way.
I believe that at least 90% of public donations to charities should be spent on services and suppies that directly help disaster victims, not squirreled away for a rainy day or misused for unnecessary home (i.e. "company") improvements or company perks.
If there is a disaster in your local community and you see, on the local news, the Red Cross on the site in their generally very visible appearance, before you rush to the phone with your credit card, consider the probability that if you hop into your car, drive down to the area and give your donation directly to a victim (who's probably been evacuated from their home), that person will know exactly what they need and will probably get a much better use of that cash.
Or you could continue to blindly throw away your money to the most popular charities. A lot or readers will get mad at me for suggesting that they have been wasting their money. Fine. Get mad, but also do some research and start realizing that you are getting mad at the wrong people.
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Juan Cole reviewed Bush-war's success against Al Qaeda and then summarized the Administration's overall progress during the past four years:
Not to mention American schools, Medicare, the environment, foreign relations, nuclear disarmament...
| "...Bush has given us the worst of all possible worlds-- a half-finished job against al-Qaeda, an Iraqi imbroglio that could still explode into civil or even regional war-- and which serves as an al-Qaeda recruiting tool--, a government starved for funds, an enormous windfall for the rich at the expense of the middle class (which saw average wages actually fall recently), and an inability to respond effectively to a major urban catastrophe. Four years after September 11, al-Qaeda's leadership should have been behind bars or dead. Four years after September 11, Afghanistan should have been stabilized. Four years after September 11, the government should have been ready to save lives in an urban disaster. Bush recently started likening his poorly conceived and misnamed "war on terror" to World War II. What his handlers have forgotten is how long World War II lasted for the United States. Four years. In four years, Roosevelt and allies defeated Nazi Germany and imperial Japan. In four years, Bush hasn't managed even to corner Bin Laden and a few hundred scruffy terrorists; or to extract himself from the deserts of Iraq; or to put the government's finances in good order so that it can deal with crises like Katrina. Four years. I think about the victims of 9/11, and now 7/7. We have let you down." |
Not to mention American schools, Medicare, the environment, foreign relations, nuclear disarmament...
[Go to Top] [HOME]
September 9, 2005
Destination: Hell
Liberals and Progressives have been saying for years, and until they turned blue in the face, that Bush is an incompetent, unqualified, money-hungry, compassionless, racist, uncompromising, unskilled and undereducated drug addict.
The horror of this now is that, irrespective of the near total destruction of Iraq, it has taken the elimination of an entire section of our nation and its residents to prove it to the rest of our ignorant country (the rest of the world already knew, years ago).
God forbid that we must endure another three and a half years of his Administration before anything can be changed. Are we going to sit around and keep our fingers crossed, hoping (incorrectly) that we've seen the worst, or are we going to FINALLY get off our fat, lazy butts and realize that we must begin turning this nation around now, because Bush and his band of thugs (in EVERY sense of the word) are not going to sit back and be satisfied with the destruction they have already wrought?
They are going to keep the neocon steamroller fueled and in overdrive until the final hour of his presidency. They are going to stay the course in Iraq, wasting thousands more young American (and Iraqi) lives. They are going to continue the relentless dismantling of our social and security programs/agencies. They are going to continue increasing taxes on the poor and middle classes in order to reduce the same for the wealthy and the corporations. They are going to spread marshall law throughout the nation (New Orleans is only the start, folks).
They are going to persist in ramming through new legislation that benefit petroleum/energy companies, allowing them to continue increasing their unbelievably obscene profits (and thus power). They are going to continue forcing our education system down the toilet by pushing increasingly unreachable standards onto the public school system. They are going to remain incessant in their ruthless attack on the air we breathe and the ground on which we live and from which we grow our food.
And finally, they are going to accelerate the dismantling of the independent judicial system such that laws and rulings support only conservative ideology and christian evangelical theology.
We are becoming a nazi state before our very own eyes. What's worse, we are all allowing it. We are the masters of our destiny, yet somehow we have decided, as a nation, that our destiny is Hell.
The horror of this now is that, irrespective of the near total destruction of Iraq, it has taken the elimination of an entire section of our nation and its residents to prove it to the rest of our ignorant country (the rest of the world already knew, years ago).
God forbid that we must endure another three and a half years of his Administration before anything can be changed. Are we going to sit around and keep our fingers crossed, hoping (incorrectly) that we've seen the worst, or are we going to FINALLY get off our fat, lazy butts and realize that we must begin turning this nation around now, because Bush and his band of thugs (in EVERY sense of the word) are not going to sit back and be satisfied with the destruction they have already wrought?
They are going to keep the neocon steamroller fueled and in overdrive until the final hour of his presidency. They are going to stay the course in Iraq, wasting thousands more young American (and Iraqi) lives. They are going to continue the relentless dismantling of our social and security programs/agencies. They are going to continue increasing taxes on the poor and middle classes in order to reduce the same for the wealthy and the corporations. They are going to spread marshall law throughout the nation (New Orleans is only the start, folks).
They are going to persist in ramming through new legislation that benefit petroleum/energy companies, allowing them to continue increasing their unbelievably obscene profits (and thus power). They are going to continue forcing our education system down the toilet by pushing increasingly unreachable standards onto the public school system. They are going to remain incessant in their ruthless attack on the air we breathe and the ground on which we live and from which we grow our food.
And finally, they are going to accelerate the dismantling of the independent judicial system such that laws and rulings support only conservative ideology and christian evangelical theology.
We are becoming a nazi state before our very own eyes. What's worse, we are all allowing it. We are the masters of our destiny, yet somehow we have decided, as a nation, that our destiny is Hell.
[Go to Top] [HOME]
Weekend Bits
The lasting economic damage from Katrina may be felt most keenly by the U.S. auto industry.
Cover-up: toxic waters 'will make New Orleans unsafe for a decade' (from Phil Loper)
Oil storage tanks ruptured by Hurricane Katrina may have dumped as much as 3.7m gallons of crude oil into the lower Mississippi river and surrounding wetlands.
Cri du coeur: A volunteer psychologist's account of evacuee conditions
Along with the destruction of homes, neighborhoods and lives, Hurricane Katrina decimated the legal system of the New Orleans region
25 of the stupidest things said about Hurricane Katrina and the destruction it caused
Cover-up: toxic waters 'will make New Orleans unsafe for a decade' (from Phil Loper)
Oil storage tanks ruptured by Hurricane Katrina may have dumped as much as 3.7m gallons of crude oil into the lower Mississippi river and surrounding wetlands.
Cri du coeur: A volunteer psychologist's account of evacuee conditions
Along with the destruction of homes, neighborhoods and lives, Hurricane Katrina decimated the legal system of the New Orleans region
25 of the stupidest things said about Hurricane Katrina and the destruction it caused