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| Wal-Mart Pharmacies Dear Wal-Mart Pharmacies, All over the country I have noticed a disturbing trend of pharmacies refusing to fill women�s prescriptions for birth control. When a woman and her doctor decide that a prescription for contraception is in the woman�s best interest, a third party has no right to override that decision. Pharmacies must ensure that patients get their doctor-prescribed medication without delay or inconvenience. I ask that your company assure me and your other customers that no woman seeking prescription contraception will be turned away by your company�s pharmacies. No doubt a majority of your customers take for granted that women should be able to receive their birth control despite the personal beliefs of the individual pharmacist. Timely access to contraception is central to women�s health, autonomy, and equality. We must trust women and their doctors to make their own reproductive health decisions. I thank you, in advance, for protecting your customer�s health by ensuring your pharmacy will guarantee women have unhindered access to their prescribed medications. Thank you for your attention and support. Sincerely, Mike |
I received the following reply (emphasis added):
| Dear Valued Customer, Thank you for contacting us at Walmart.com regarding women?s prescriptions for birth control. Your comments and concerns are very important to us as we strive to meet your needs. Wal-Mart does not carry emergency contraceptives. Our pharmacists may decline to fill a prescription based on personal convictions. However, they must find another pharmacist, either at Wal-Mart or another pharmacy, who can assist you by filling your prescription. Again, we thank you for your comments regarding this issue. Sincerely, Customer Service at Walmart.com |
Interesting how I am a valued customer, since I haven't bought a single item from the store chain in at least 15 years.
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March 30, 2005
This is a very crude web site. I'm embarrassed to say, it made me laugh. I'm sure that if Terri still had a sense of humor, she'd be laughing too.
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March 29, 2005
In an ongoing poll of medical professionals (esp. nurses and physicians), when asked if they favor or oppose removing the feeding tube in the Schiavo case, 71% favored removal. More specifically, 76% of nurses favored, and 68% of doctors favored, the removal. This is in the general ballpark of results of recent public opinion polls regarding this issue.
It is intersting to note the slightly more conservative results of physicians compared to nurses. I would have guessed similar results too since nurses spend a lot more time than physicians interacting with members of the families of patients on life support and thus are more prone to a compassionate reaction. Plus, it is more financially beneficial for physicians to keep a patient on life support and continue charging consultation fees. That may sound a bit crude, but hey, that's the real world.
MICHAEL SCHIAVO
| "If the Republicans insist on making the �culture of life� a federal issue, the Democrats should, by all means, let them. But they need to make sure that the national debate doesn�t center on tragic anomalies like the Schiavo case but on the thousands of people whose lives are cut short because they lack access to decent health care or on the prolonged suffering of the millions of children living in poverty. Instead of allowing themselves to be cowed by the fear of looking like they�re coming down on the immoral side of the moral values debate, Democrats should snap out of it and demand that the president interrupt his next vacation and that Bill Frist hold another midnight session of Congress to address the moral disgrace of 45 million people with no health insurance and 36 million people living in poverty. This is the only way to reclaim the moral high ground." - - - Arianna Huffington |
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Physicians, Nurses and Feeding Tubes
In an ongoing poll of medical professionals (esp. nurses and physicians), when asked if they favor or oppose removing the feeding tube in the Schiavo case, 71% favored removal. More specifically, 76% of nurses favored, and 68% of doctors favored, the removal. This is in the general ballpark of results of recent public opinion polls regarding this issue.
It is intersting to note the slightly more conservative results of physicians compared to nurses. I would have guessed similar results too since nurses spend a lot more time than physicians interacting with members of the families of patients on life support and thus are more prone to a compassionate reaction. Plus, it is more financially beneficial for physicians to keep a patient on life support and continue charging consultation fees. That may sound a bit crude, but hey, that's the real world.
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Left is Right's MAN OF THE YEAR
MICHAEL SCHIAVO
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March 28, 2005
Here's a sobering prediction of life after the start of the oil shortage ("The Long Emergency") predicted to begin as soon as this year (excerpt):
So, right now is as good as it's going to get? Shit.
I just HAD to reprint this great post by LeftCoaster (and not because he mentions my name):
From Scotsman News (snippet, emphasis added):
Except maybe for high birthweight, most of these are under the control of parents. Society needs a program to educate parents about these risks of obesity for their kids. I'm SURE the Bush-war Administration will get right on this and set aside some money in the budget to fund this necessary health program.
"The Long Emergency"
Here's a sobering prediction of life after the start of the oil shortage ("The Long Emergency") predicted to begin as soon as this year (excerpt):
| ....we are entering a historical period of potentially great instability, turbulence and hardship. Obviously, geopolitical maneuvering around the world's richest energy regions has already led to war and promises more international military conflict. Since the Middle East contains two-thirds of the world's remaining oil supplies, the U.S. has attempted desperately to stabilize the region by, in effect, opening a big police station in Iraq. The intent was not just to secure Iraq's oil but to modify and influence the behavior of neighboring states around the Persian Gulf, especially Iran and Saudi Arabia. The results have been far from entirely positive, and our future prospects in that part of the world are not something we can feel altogether confident about. And then there is the issue of China, which, in 2004, became the world's second-greatest consumer of oil, surpassing Japan. China's surging industrial growth has made it increasingly dependent on the imports we are counting on. If China wanted to, it could easily walk into some of these places -- the Middle East, former Soviet republics in central Asia -- and extend its hegemony by force. Is America prepared to contest for this oil in an Asian land war with the Chinese army? I doubt it. Nor can the U.S. military occupy regions of the Eastern Hemisphere indefinitely, or hope to secure either the terrain or the oil infrastructure of one distant, unfriendly country after another. A likely scenario is that the U.S. could exhaust and bankrupt itself trying to do this, and be forced to withdraw back into our own hemisphere, having lost access to most of the world's remaining oil in the process. We know that our national leaders are hardly uninformed about this predicament. President George W. Bush has been briefed on the dangers of the oil-peak situation as long ago as before the 2000 election and repeatedly since then. In March, the Department of Energy released a report that officially acknowledges for the first time that peak oil is for real and states plainly that "the world has never faced a problem like this. Without massive mitigation more than a decade before the fact, the problem will be pervasive and will not be temporary." Most of all, the Long Emergency will require us to make other arrangements for the way we live in the United States. America is in a special predicament due to a set of unfortunate choices we made as a society in the twentieth century. Perhaps the worst was to let our towns and cities rot away and to replace them with suburbia, which had the additional side effect of trashing a lot of the best farmland in America. Suburbia will come to be regarded as the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world. It has a tragic destiny. The psychology of previous investment suggests that we will defend our drive-in utopia long after it has become a terrible liability. Before long, the suburbs will fail us in practical terms. We made the ongoing development of housing subdivisions, highway strips, fried-food shacks and shopping malls the basis of our economy, and when we have to stop making more of those things, the bottom will fall out. The circumstances of the Long Emergency will require us to downscale and re-scale virtually everything we do and how we do it, from the kind of communities we physically inhabit to the way we grow our food to the way we work and trade the products of our work. Our lives will become profoundly and intensely local. Daily life will be far less about mobility and much more about staying where you are. Anything organized on the large scale, whether it is government or a corporate business enterprise such as Wal-Mart, will wither as the cheap energy props that support bigness fall away. The turbulence of the Long Emergency will produce a lot of economic losers, and many of these will be members of an angry and aggrieved former middle class.... |
So, right now is as good as it's going to get? Shit.
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Corporate America
I just HAD to reprint this great post by LeftCoaster (and not because he mentions my name):
| The Corporations had their way with us during the Cold War, with little questioning by a grateful public, protected by our mighty M-I-C. Life was good then, Ma Bell ran the phones, what was good for GM was good for the country. Flush with cash and relatively undamaged from WWII, excess capacity went into rebuilding the rest of the war and cementing our victories. That was then. During the Cold War we had that Enemy intent on our destruction and enslavement to, gasp, collectivism, Borgism, Communism, or worse, Socialism (shrieks of horror rend the air, hands clutch futilely at chests) to worry about, and defend ourselves from. If the Army wanted a fancy new gun, the Air Force a shiny new plane, well, hey presto, the Corporations were there for us. They spun the Vietnam War that way, damn commies; they ran McCarthyism that way, casting doubt and shame and destruction on those who questioned the American Way, the American Methods. But towards the end of the Nixon Vietnam years, their way had a bit of a setback. Kind of. Sure, they could get a little payback from exploding Pinto's and poisoned Love Canals, but things were a bit tougher, we had one of those malaises, remember. And then, the Wall came down, the Mask was removed, and it took more ingenuity and resources to bring back the good ole days. But bring them back they have. Now they�ve got a two pronged assault to bring America back under seamless and unquestioned control. Corporations and their unwitting stooges, Fundamentalists. There�s the Corporations conducting operations directly, and there�s the Corporate Welfare funding them. Take the Farm Bill passed by Congress last year. Please. Take the budget bill passed this year. Look at all of the reconstruction work in Iraq. They're just kiddies in the candy store. My favorite company, wal mart, works to pass laws directly advantageous to them, there�s giveaways like this for building a road for easier access to the Corp HQ, at taxpayers expense, or the ever present wal mart drain on local government services. Not only do the Corporations get to suckle at the Government teat the republicans loudly decry against, the very process sucks the government of resources, piles on debt to unmanageable levels, until the pressure forces government to take measures that guarantee Corporations that longed for free hand. Is that the Invisible Hand of the market forces? Oh, sorry, just somebody picking through my wallet, no problem, help yourself! Then there's the Fundies. Little Green Fruitcakes. They�re shock troops attacking governance in a whole different manner. Not new, but not corporations (although corporations are building their own military type forces) either. As seen on teevee, their brownshirt tactics are meant to delegitimize government decisions, agencies, branches, in order to build support for their own rapturous, un-Constitutional views. Of course, the corporations don�t mind using them to further weaken the government, but hey, it�s just business Mike, nothing personal. Life must be protected, they wail, with much gnashing of teeth. Their hypocrisy and raging inconsistencies don�t matter, are, in fact, irrelevant. Their accuracy only matters if, taken out of context, they sound reasonable or possible. It is, after all, possible that they really do care about life. Especially white American life. And women, the fundies love women, in their proper places, of course. That said, if they sound half way reasonable, it furthers their assault on, in this case, judges. If the judges can�t be trusted, then their judgments can�t be trusted. And if you can�t trust the government, who can you trust? Why, wal mart of course. halliburton, natch. mbna, undoubtedly. |
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| "The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot." - - - Mark Twain |
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Factors That Contribute to Childhood Obesity
From Scotsman News (snippet, emphasis added):
| Twelve steps on a baby's road to obesity EDDIE BARNES - POLITICAL EDITOR ....Researchers have unearthed the dozen key factors in the early stages of a baby�s life which trigger obesity, including more than four hours a week of television, too long spent in the family car, and not enough time in bed. The warning follows growing concern that one child in 10 is now clinically obese on entering primary school in Scotland, and one in five is obese by Primary 7. The research was conducted at the University of Glasgow and involved tracking 7,000 children across the UK from 12 weeks before they were born until the age of seven. More than 20 different aspects of each infant�s life were measured and then studied to see whether they were a direct cause of obesity. Researchers eventually found a dozen factors, independent of the child�s social status, that trigger obesity. Some were obvious. Toddlers fed �junk� food in pre-school years and whose parents were themselves overweight were likely to be obese in later childhood life. But other results were startling. A mere four hours of television a week for an average toddler was found to be a definite factor in future obesity, the researchers concluded. Pre-school children who watched more than 11 hours of television a week were found to stand double the risk of becoming obese by the age of seven than those who didn�t watch television at all. Meanwhile, spending too much time in the car was also judged a major risk factor. Nearly one in four toddlers who were strapped into their baby seat for more than two hours a week turned out to be obese in later life. A lack of sleep was also identified. Babies who slept fewer than eight hours a night were found to be three times more at risk of obesity than those who slept for more than 12 hours. Researchers even found that being a lone child increased the risk of obesity. They had no explanation for this, other than that such children might be more likely to be spoiled. The other factors identified as being a risk for future obesity were mothers smoking during pregnancy, formula feeding, early weaning on to solid food, high birthweight, high weight in infancy, excessive weight gain in infancy and premature weight �rebound� - or when a child regains the weight it loses after birth at a quicker rate than usual.... |
Except maybe for high birthweight, most of these are under the control of parents. Society needs a program to educate parents about these risks of obesity for their kids. I'm SURE the Bush-war Administration will get right on this and set aside some money in the budget to fund this necessary health program.
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March 27, 2005
I've uploaded some photos I took of the anti-war march in Los Angeles March 19, 2005, sponsored by A.N.S.W.E.R. GO HERE to view them (if you choose "slideshow" you won't be able to see the captions).
March for Peace - Hollywood, March 19, 2005
I've uploaded some photos I took of the anti-war march in Los Angeles March 19, 2005, sponsored by A.N.S.W.E.R. GO HERE to view them (if you choose "slideshow" you won't be able to see the captions).
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Here is your EASTER CARTOON.
Mark Morford always playfully pokes at the amoral and unethical fringes of our society and politics and usually suggests that they resolve their problems with some good, wholesome, stress-relieving sex, drugs and rock-and-roll (or today's equivalent). Not so, this time:
There is something freakily scary going on right now, and the Schiavo debacle has surprisingly brought it into focus. The Schiavo case is nothing new. I've witnessed, over the years, unpopular court decisions about cases similar or identical to this right-to-life/right-to-die spectacle currently playing out in Florida. Inevitably, the fringe backlash would die out as sensibilities took control.
We seem to be at a crossroads right now. The mainstream reinsert-the-tube media is already in the pockets of the corporate christian elite, and yet 80 percent of the public reject Congress's and Bush-war's intrusion into this feeding tube folly. Lethal violence is on the verge of surfacing in Florida, depending entirely on whether or not Jeb Bush maintains any semblance of sanity. Just as Bush-One promised the Kurds his support in Gulf War I and then turned his back, now Bush-War shows he supports the christian fundagelical extremists who are ready and willing to violently "save" brain-dead Terri Schiavo. Once this fringe group realizes that they have no "real" support from the Neocons in Congress and the White House, all hell may break loose within the ranks of the Republican Party, and all the rest of us are going to be caught in the crossfire. When those with all the power start shooting at each other (I'm being figurative here) we're going to see a breakdown of the civil fabric holding our society together. Say goodbye to civility and get ready to rumble.
Is it a planned diversion by the corporate-sponsored neocons to keep our focus off the illegal Iraqi war and occupation, the unethical and illegal hijacking of Congress and the courts by the religious right, the new federal policies of internment and torture, the razing of our environment, the destruction of our healthcare and education systems, the annihilation of our middle class economy, and the complete subjugation of our media and freedom of speech? You bet. Is it the beginning of the end? You tell me.
For the first time in my life I'm seriously considering the purchase of a gun for protection of my family and home. I never remember being this scared of my own country.
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The Seriously Pessimistic Mark Morford
Mark Morford always playfully pokes at the amoral and unethical fringes of our society and politics and usually suggests that they resolve their problems with some good, wholesome, stress-relieving sex, drugs and rock-and-roll (or today's equivalent). Not so, this time:
| ....We are in dark times. Five years of economic bloodshed and three of brutal warmongering and the worst environmental president in American history and you simply cannot deny that as the ruthless American agenda goes, so goes the populace, so goes the collective attitude, the shared vibration, the health of the planet and the feeling that this particular karmic sinkhole has no known bottom. In other words, it is all connected. It is all of a piece. There is a direct correlation between the violent and heartless tone and attitude of our country and the mental and spiritual health of its people and by way of comparison just look at the Clinton era, which brought eight years of unprecedented prosperity and peace and a nearly balanced budget and high economic flush. It's true. There was, we forget, a decided lack of sexual anxiety and uptight moral rigidity in the nation, minimal pseudo-religious puling from the uptight Right and much moderate lawmaking and I don't care a whit for what you say about the man's personal moral compass -- under Clinton, America had deeply supportive allies, intelligent foreign policy, more genuine concern for the planet and the health of our forests and oceans and air, and we had a president who was incredibly articulate and deeply intelligent and greatly beloved the world over and the nation enjoyed one of its most prosperous and nondivisive and peaceful periods in its history. And now, the exact opposite. Everywhere you look, the culture is fractured and divisive and mean. Everywhere you look it's war and pollution and more toxins, red versus blue, good versus evil, more garbage and less concern where to shove it, fewer restrictions on industrial polluters and fewer controls on corporate abuse and an administration that has so shamelessly leveraged the worst tragedy in American history to further its brutal and hawkish right-wing agenda it would embarrass Mussolini. The sad fact is, there are a great many among us who believe we have entered into a new Dark Age, that it will be a long and brutal slog indeed and BushCo is merely the precursor, the devil's handmaiden, and that we have a long way to go into the bleak and the bloody and the environmentally devastating before the pendulum begins its slow swing back toward the light. Just look around. No one anywhere, not priests, not nuns, not healers or mystics, not Christians, not pagans, not Repubs or Demos or Libertarians, no one anywhere in this country is saying, hey, doesn't it feel like we're entering into a new era of health and healing and positivism and spiritual rebirth? Aren't our schools just teeming anew with eager students who seem to be getting smarter and more articulate? Isn't the air getting cleaner and aren't we proud of our government for protecting the health of future generations by pushing for more natural foods and signing on to the Kyoto Treaty and advocating antitoxin regulations and by protecting our forests and improving school textbooks and revolutionizing the hideous national health care system? Doesn't that tone of enthusiasm and hope sound just completely silly, wrong, out of place, like so much Prozac-grade bulls--? Damn right it does. There's a reason for that. We are not headed for light. Not yet, anyway. The coming years are not going to be about friendship and repaired foreign relations and a sense of our shared humanity, about equality and sexual freedom and a renewed sense of human rights. To believe this is to believe in fairy tales almost as insidious and hopeless as evangelical Christians who are right now stuffing themselves with Cheez-Its and pink wine and praying for Armageddon. |
There is something freakily scary going on right now, and the Schiavo debacle has surprisingly brought it into focus. The Schiavo case is nothing new. I've witnessed, over the years, unpopular court decisions about cases similar or identical to this right-to-life/right-to-die spectacle currently playing out in Florida. Inevitably, the fringe backlash would die out as sensibilities took control.
We seem to be at a crossroads right now. The mainstream reinsert-the-tube media is already in the pockets of the corporate christian elite, and yet 80 percent of the public reject Congress's and Bush-war's intrusion into this feeding tube folly. Lethal violence is on the verge of surfacing in Florida, depending entirely on whether or not Jeb Bush maintains any semblance of sanity. Just as Bush-One promised the Kurds his support in Gulf War I and then turned his back, now Bush-War shows he supports the christian fundagelical extremists who are ready and willing to violently "save" brain-dead Terri Schiavo. Once this fringe group realizes that they have no "real" support from the Neocons in Congress and the White House, all hell may break loose within the ranks of the Republican Party, and all the rest of us are going to be caught in the crossfire. When those with all the power start shooting at each other (I'm being figurative here) we're going to see a breakdown of the civil fabric holding our society together. Say goodbye to civility and get ready to rumble.
Is it a planned diversion by the corporate-sponsored neocons to keep our focus off the illegal Iraqi war and occupation, the unethical and illegal hijacking of Congress and the courts by the religious right, the new federal policies of internment and torture, the razing of our environment, the destruction of our healthcare and education systems, the annihilation of our middle class economy, and the complete subjugation of our media and freedom of speech? You bet. Is it the beginning of the end? You tell me.
For the first time in my life I'm seriously considering the purchase of a gun for protection of my family and home. I never remember being this scared of my own country.
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March 26, 2005
From Chris Floyd:
Bush-war's Valuation of Life
From Chris Floyd:
| ....Bush doesn't care if Schiavo lives or dies. Her body -- like the bodies of the 100,000 Iraqis he has killed, like the bodies of the American soldiers being chewed up every day in his Babylonian conquest, like the bodies of the poor and working people whom he is methodically and remorselessly cutting off from medical care, financial protection against catastrophic illness, and legal redress against corporate predators -- is just a means to an end, the only end Bush cares about: increasing the power and wealth of his own rapacious circle of privileged elites. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, he will not do to serve this end. He'll wage war on false pretenses, he'll pervert the democratic process, he'll spit on the Constitution -- and he'll exploit the private suffering of families facing hideous dilemmas of life and death. There is no honor, no morality, no values in his "culture." |
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March 25, 2005
| �Herein lies a riddle: How can a people so gifted by God become so seduced by naked power, so greedy for money, so addicted to violence, so slavish before mediocre and treacherous leadership, so paranoid, deluded, lunatic?� - - - Philip Berrigan |
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Senator Bill Frist, newly self-annointed Neurologist, has apparently broken many provisions of the American Academy of Neurology's Code of Professional Conduct.
Copyright (C) 2005 by John Chuckman
Humor from Craigslist (intro):
Be sure to read the rest...
Apparently "Priests for Life" thinks we should use civil disobedience (which can lead to deaths) to save Terri Schiavo's body (emphasis added):
Wow, and here I always thought we progressives would be the spark for the revolution.
Terrisfight.org is the "official" website for supporting the fight to "save" brain-dead Terri Schiavo. As you'd expect, numerous right-wing christian fundamentalist activists have taken advantage of this whole debacle and set up "donation" sites in the name of saving Mrs. Schiavo's body. Some of these despicable sites include Voice for Terri, RightMarch and ACLJ.
The ethics-and-morals-starved leaders of the Christian Right should be ashamed for stealing money from people who think they're contributing to a good cause just because they are "saving" something, in this case a human who lost consciousness 15 years ago as a result of cardiac complications stemming from (what I understand was) an eating disorder. It is truly sad to see poor and old and naive people being duped by souless right-wing extremists.
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Copyright (C) 2005 by John Chuckman
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FOR SALE/BARTER: My body in Persistent Vegetative State... - $2
Humor from Craigslist (intro):
| Dear loved-ones, I make the following statement in a sound state of mind and of my own volition: If I am rendered comatose and determined to be in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) for a period longer than one month and if no imminent cure is forthcoming, I do not wish to be kept alive by artificial means including but not limited to nourishment, hydration, etc. However.... If, due to the absurd political state of affairs in this country, my persistent vegetative state and impending unplugging can be parlayed into some sort of political leverage, I wholly endorse using my predicament in whatever way possible for the purposes of passing legislation favorable to my general political and ethical outlook. Here is a list of top-tier causes I support and will continue to support, both while in my PVS and after my eventual death. Debt Relief to Impoverished Nations: I will agree to stay in a PVS for an indeterminate amount of time if the United States aggressively pursues a policy of debt relief and debt forgiveness to developing and impoverished nations. Nuclear Disarmament and De-escalation: I will agree to stay in a PVS for a open-ended period of time if the United States aggressively pursues a policy of nuclear disarmament and de-escalation. By this I mean desisting from developing new bellicose nuclear technologies and providing significant non-military incentives for nations to avoid nuclear armament. Humanitarian Foreign Policy: I will demure to the pro-Life contingent's desire that I be kept in a PVS in perpetuum if the United States aggressively pursues a humane foreign policy. This policy should be guided by the idea that this country must use its economic prowess and leverage to bring education, health care, basic services, and opportunity to the millions of disenfranchised, impoverished and oppressed peoples of the world. For example, instead of providing Bradley Fighting Vehicles or F16s to the Israeli army, the United States would open a free, state-of-the-art, health clinics in every West Bank refugee camp. Environmentally Sensitive Policy: I agree to be kept "plugged-in" and in a PVS until I expire of other natural causes if the United States aggressively pursues a policy of environmental sensitivity. This policy should include an economic emphasis on renewable energy sources, preserving open spaces, protecting environmentally sensitive areas (such as the Biosphere Reserves, ANWAR, Amazon Basin, etc.) and using economic and political leverage to encourage other nations to behave in like manner.... |
Be sure to read the rest...
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| "One other point: what happens if [Florida Governor]Jeb [Bush] kidnaps Terri Schiavo and has the feeding tube reinserted. Does he plan to pay for her care ad infinitum? He couldn't expect Medicaid to pay against the husband's wishes? Where will he keep her? In his mansion? How many guards will he keep around her? How long will he prevent Michael Schiavo from seeing his wife? All the radical rightists screaming for Jeb to seize her, are they willing to deal with the consequences and the massive legal judgement Michael Schiavo would win against the state of Florida? After all, Jeb would be acting illegally, and in the end, as Jeb is cooling his heels in state prison, not just being impeached, since he has no legal standing to take Schiavo anywhere, depsite the rantings of wingnuts, are they going to pay as well? Or do they just want Jeb to set up the Christian Republic of Florida." - - - Steve Gilliard |
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Schiavo case ferments possible civil disobedience?
Apparently "Priests for Life" thinks we should use civil disobedience (which can lead to deaths) to save Terri Schiavo's body (emphasis added):
| To: National desk, Religion reporter Contact: Jerry Horn of Priests for Life, 540-785-4733 WASHINGTON, March 25 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In response to the latest denial of the Federal courts to save the life of Terri Schiavo, Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, issued the following statement: "No court, either in the United States or anywhere else, has the authority to authorize the starvation of a human being. Exactly ten years ago today, Pope John Paul II issued the following words in his document "The Gospel of Life": 'Laws which authorize and promote ... euthanasia are ... completely lacking in authentic juridical validity. ...A civil law authorizing -- euthanasia ceases by that very fact to be a true, morally binding civil law' (no.72). "The Terri Schiavo case has demonstrated that we are being governed by un-elected judges, and that the legislative and executive branches of government lack the will to stand up to them when they authorize acts of violence. The matter, therefore, now rests with the people. When government fails to protect life, the people must do so directly. Today must mark the beginning of a new era of civil disobedience and conscientious objection, with simultaneous, determined efforts to curb the authority of the courts and restore government to the people through their elected representatives." |
Wow, and here I always thought we progressives would be the spark for the revolution.
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Leeching off the brain-dead
Terrisfight.org is the "official" website for supporting the fight to "save" brain-dead Terri Schiavo. As you'd expect, numerous right-wing christian fundamentalist activists have taken advantage of this whole debacle and set up "donation" sites in the name of saving Mrs. Schiavo's body. Some of these despicable sites include Voice for Terri, RightMarch and ACLJ.
The ethics-and-morals-starved leaders of the Christian Right should be ashamed for stealing money from people who think they're contributing to a good cause just because they are "saving" something, in this case a human who lost consciousness 15 years ago as a result of cardiac complications stemming from (what I understand was) an eating disorder. It is truly sad to see poor and old and naive people being duped by souless right-wing extremists.
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ATTENTION CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS !!
| ******ACTION ALERT!!!!! ******** TELL YOUR ASSEMBLYMEMBER (ASSEMBLY.CA.GOV) AND SPEAKER NUNEZ  (916-319-2046) TO VOTE NO ON BRUCE MCPHERSON FOR SECRETARY OF STATE (VOTE IS TUESDAY A.M. MARCH 29!!!) Dear Democrats, Urgent words -- ACTION ALERT --for a quiet weekend of religious observance for many in CA and all over the world. Many California Democratic Assemblymembers offices are short-staffed or closed. "We'll be back Tuesday morning" say their voicemails. THE FLOOR VOTE BY THE ASSEMBLY TO CONFIRM BRUCE MCPHERSON AS CALIFORNIA'S NEW SECRETARY OF STATE WILL TAKE PLACE TUESDAY MORNING MARCH 29 Read below the article sent to me this morning from Marcy Winograd, Chair, Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles Steering Committee, from the Sacramento Bee, March 18. A week ago, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez says Democratic members have "uneasiness" with Secretary of State Nominee Bruce McPherson. Because McPherson's transition team includes Adan Ortega, Jr. "an employee" of a firm (GCG Rose & Kindel) that represents Diebold Election Systems. It also includes Steve Merskamer, a Sacramento attorney whose firm represents Citizens to Save California, raising money to put Schwartznegger's initiatives on the ballot, including that which will redistrict California to benefit the GOP. As of March 18, Bruce McPherson's nomination hadn't passed Rules Committee. But last week, it did. SURELY THE GOP KNOWS MANY CA DEMOCRATIC VOTERS ARE DISTRACTED BY RELIGIOUS AND/OR FAMILY DUTIES THIS WEEKEND, AND THEREFORE NOT PAYING ATTENTION THIS VOTE THAT AFFECTS OUR VOTE! IT'S TIME TO SCREAM! SPEAKER NUNEZ' NUMBER IS ABOVE. HIS OFFICE IS STILL OPEN TODAY, THURSDAY, MARCH 24. THEY ARE RECORDING OPPOSITION CALLS ON THIS VOTE AND SAY THEY ARE BEGINNING TO COME IN. ADD YOUR VOICE. THEN GO TO www.assembly.ca.gov. AND FIND YOUR ASSEMBLYMEMBER AND CALL, FAX OR E-MAIL YOUR OPPOSITION TO BRUCE MCPHERSON, HIS TRANSITION TEAM AND ITS ASSOCIATES' AGENDA. Kenneth Blackwell, GOP Secretary of State in Ohio, had connections to Diebold and was a GOP fundraiser. He oversaw havoc. Lawsuits are still wending through the courts. We do not need such a Secretary of State for California, and McPherson, whom Assembly Democrats are prepared to vote "yes" on because of his personal integrity, has a transition team whose ties are reason enough to question the agenda intended for the office of Secretary of State Office under his direction. TELL THE ASSEMBLY DEMOCRATS IT'S OK TO OPPOSE THIS APPOINTMENT. In fact, it's the only honorable position.The Assembly Democrats are the last stand - a Thin Blue Line - between, at best, suspicious elections in California -- and honest political contests where our votes really reflect our choices. Assemblymember Lloyd Levine's asst. Zak Meyer was one of the few people I could reach this weekend. He was responsive. He was concerned. But he said the Democrats in the Assembly are prepared to give McPherson the benefit of the doubt and vote for him, because otherwise they'll be smeared in the press and by the GOP without political cover. This suggests an Assembly more focused on their own legislative votes than our citizen votes. It's shortsighted strategy and risks great Democratic losses in future elections. The GOP's stated goal of making the Democrats a permanent minority party, redistricting California, combined with the lawsuits in Ohio, the redistricting of Texas, and the historic suspicion that attaches forever to Florida 2000, is enough reason to justify California representatives' saying NO even to nice Bruce McPherson as Secretary of State - because of his problematic ties. Tell your Assembly member to vote no on McPherson. This is not about Bruce McPherson and what a nice guy he is. This is about the voters of California. Make your voice heard. Protect your vote. Tell the Democratic majority in the California Assembly to stand up for us against the GOP, not to allow slick Republican operatives to take over the SOS's office. We must protect California from those who would follow in the steps of Ohio's Secretary of State Kenneth J. Blackwell. For honest elections, Mimi Kennedy National Board Chair, Progressive Democrats of America |
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Iraqi Lullaby - The song that Neocons play every night before bedtime. (video)
Dr. Elias Akleh claims that Iraq's conversion of its reserves in 2000 to the Euro is the real reason Bush-war invaded, and that the same general reason (selling oil for Euros) would be the true reason for attacking Iran later this year (snippet):
Interesting. Should I be investing in the Euro too?
Wow, I didn't even know this guy was still alive!
The Art of Papercutting
Live view of Earth showing sunlit and dark areas
DEA Agent Teaches Gun Safety (video - it gets better (worse?) as it goes along)
Paint (high-quality interactive site - create your own painting!)
Mini Golf (game; warning: the last couple of holes are tough)
New Star Wars Trailer with geek subtitles (video)
Peeps Visit the Library
Rat Lab (science at home)
The Secret of Bananas (short video)
Expresso Stories (novels in 25 words or less)
Pet Pillows (make a pillow out of your dead pet's fur)
Wicked RGB (click "Download demoreel" - It's a five-minute video of incredible work by graphic artists - It's 60 MB, so broadband is essential)
Quiltmaking in America
Movie-a Minute
Collage Gallery
Deadpan Humor (a lot of readers think these articles are serious)
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Euro War
Dr. Elias Akleh claims that Iraq's conversion of its reserves in 2000 to the Euro is the real reason Bush-war invaded, and that the same general reason (selling oil for Euros) would be the true reason for attacking Iran later this year (snippet):
| ....In its economical war Iran is treading the same path Saddam Hussein had started when he, in 2000, converted all his reserve from the Dollar to the Euro, and demanded payments in Euro for Iraqi oil. Many economists then mocked Saddam because he had lost a lot of money in this conversion. Yet they were very surprised when he recuperated his losses within less than a year period due to the valuation of the Euro. The American administration became aware of the threat when central banks of many countries started keeping Euros along side of Dollars as their monetary reserve and as an exchange fund for oil (Russian and Chinese central banks in 2003). To avoid economical collapse the Bush administration hastened to invade and to destroy Iraq under false excuses to make it an example to any country who may contemplate dropping the Dollar, and to manipulate OPEC�s decisions by controlling the second largest oil resource. Iraqi oil sale was reverted back to the petrodollar standard. There is only one technical obstacle concerning the use of a euro-based oil exchange system, which is the lack of a euro-denominated oil pricing standard, or oil �marker� as it is referred to in the industry. The three current oil markers are U.S. dollar denominated, which include the West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI), Norway Brent crude, and the UAE Dubai crude. Yet this did not stop Iran from requiring payments in the euro currency for its European and Asian oil exports since spring 2003. Iran�s determination in using the petroeuro is inviting in other countries such as Russia and Latin American countries, and even some Saudi investors especially after the Saudi/American relations have weakened lately. This determination had also invited an aggressive American political campaign using the same excuses used against Iraq: WMD in the form of nuclear bomb, support to "terrorist" Lebanese Hezbollah organization, and threat to the peace process in the Middle East. The question now is what would the American administration do? Would it invade Iran as it did Iraq? The American troops are knee-deep in the Iraqi swamp. The global community � except for Britain and Italy- is not offering any military relief to the US. Thus an American strike against Iran is very unlikely. Iran is not Iraq; it has a more robust military power. Iran has anti-ship missiles based in "Abu Mousa" island that controls the strait of Hermuz at the entrance of the Persian Gulf. Iran could easily close the strait thus blocking all naval traffic carrying gulf oil to the rest of the world causing a global oil crisis. The price of an oil barrel could reach up to $100. The US could not topple the regime by spreading chaos the same way it did to Mussadaq�s regime in 1953 since Iranians are aware of such a trick. Besides Iranians have a patriotic pride of what they call "their bomb". America has resorted to instigate and encourage its military bastard, Israel, to strike Iranian nuclear reactors the way it did to Iraq. Leaked reports had revealed that Israeli forces are training for such an attack expected to take place next June. Israel is afraid of an Iranian bomb. Such an "Islamic" bomb would threaten Israel�s military hegemony in the Middle East. The bomb would extract some Israeli concessions and would create an arm race that would gobble a lot of Israeli defense expenditure. Further more the bomb would force the US to enter into negotiations with nuclear Iran that may limit Israeli expanding ambitions. Iran had invested a lot of money and effort to obtain nuclear technology and would never abandon it as evident in its political rhetoric. Unlike Iraq Iran would not keep quiet of Israel strikes its nuclear facilities. Iran would retaliate aggressively which may lead to the destabilization of the whole region including Israel, Gulf States, Iraq, and even Afghanistan. |
Interesting. Should I be investing in the Euro too?
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You can't fly with only a left wing or a right wing
Wow, I didn't even know this guy was still alive!
| ....Old-fashioned American liberals such as I are accused not only of being weak on defense but also weak on marriage and the family, the work ethic and reverence for religious faith. I resent such groundless political slurs. After all, I hold the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I have been happily married to the same woman for sixty-one years and am the father of five children and ten grandchildren�all of whom I love dearly, including dear, deceased Terry. As the son of a Wesleyan Methodist clergyman, I dare say that my life has always been enriched and guided by the Judeo-Christian ethic. Nothing has influenced my philosophy more than the Hebrew prophets and the Sermon on the Mount. Beyond this, I have worked hard at useful tasks throughout my life and thank God I still have the health and motivation to continue that work schedule at the age of 82. Of course, I share one of my father�s oft-quoted biblical lines: �All of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God.� So many challenges face us at home and abroad that we should not waste time, tolerance and good will debating which politician loves America most ardently, which one is most devoted to marriage and the family and which one is closest to the Almighty. I�ve never known a political leader in either party who was disloyal to America, or who scoffed at marriage and the family, or who disrespected God and religious faith. Republicans and Democrats alike are pro-American, pro-freedom, pro-life, pro-family and pro�God Almighty. When we are sworn into public office, we all place our left hand on the Bible while raising our right hand and swearing to uphold the Constitution. It is worth noting that this sacred ceremony requires each of us to use both arms�a left wing and right wing!.... George McGovern |
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FRIDAY FUN
The Art of Papercutting
Live view of Earth showing sunlit and dark areas
DEA Agent Teaches Gun Safety (video - it gets better (worse?) as it goes along)
Paint (high-quality interactive site - create your own painting!)
Mini Golf (game; warning: the last couple of holes are tough)
New Star Wars Trailer with geek subtitles (video)
Peeps Visit the Library
Rat Lab (science at home)
The Secret of Bananas (short video)
Expresso Stories (novels in 25 words or less)
Pet Pillows (make a pillow out of your dead pet's fur)
Wicked RGB (click "Download demoreel" - It's a five-minute video of incredible work by graphic artists - It's 60 MB, so broadband is essential)
Quiltmaking in America
Movie-a Minute
Collage Gallery
Deadpan Humor (a lot of readers think these articles are serious)
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March 24, 2005
Thepoorman's analysis of the Neocon faction of the Republican Party (snippet):
Yeah, the "non-supporting" stuff... I think that's a good idea, you goddam Democratic Senators and Representatives who keep voting in support of Republican bills, not a single one of which has ever been supportive of the average American. You traitors to our Party: If you're going to vote with the Republicans then please do the rest of us a favor and admit that you're Republicans; do something honest for once in your lives.
Steve Gilliard on the consequences of Republican politicians giving their support to the fundagelicals who are actively campaigning for Terri Schiavo's parents:
I keep finding myself mentally crossing my fingers.
Thepoorman's analysis of the Neocon faction of the Republican Party (snippet):
| ....Yes, the Republican Party is primarily concerned with A) diminishing the government�s power over large corporations and the very rich, and B) pandering to a sizeable constituency who want to increase the government�s power over every other facet of American life, and over the rest of the world, in accordance with God�s Holy Bible, a book they have not read. Here is the platform of the Texas Republican Party, the party of Bush and DeLay, a platform which proposes to �dispel the �myth� of the separation of church and state�, oh, and eliminate the IRS, the ATF, the EPA, the DoE, HUD, HHS, Education, Commerce, Labor, and the Surgeon General, evict the UN, and teach Creationism in science classes, praise Jesus. That�s the Republican position - or at least the position of those Republicans currently in charge of the party - and it will remain the position of the party, like it or not, until such time as it stops winning elections. Until such time, in other words, as y�all stop acting surprised every time they do what they say they want to do, and stop supporting them. |
Yeah, the "non-supporting" stuff... I think that's a good idea, you goddam Democratic Senators and Representatives who keep voting in support of Republican bills, not a single one of which has ever been supportive of the average American. You traitors to our Party: If you're going to vote with the Republicans then please do the rest of us a favor and admit that you're Republicans; do something honest for once in your lives.
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Getting close to the deep end?
Steve Gilliard on the consequences of Republican politicians giving their support to the fundagelicals who are actively campaigning for Terri Schiavo's parents:
| ....I said soon after the election that Bush would regret making a deal with the devil and that day seems to be fast approaching. The wingnuts expect to have their way, as they have in the past. They vilify Michael Schiavo with a vile ease. They seem to be getting nuttier by the day and Jeb may find that he cannot meet their demands. The parents are taking cash from the right with glee and working the room, but the danger of playing with ultras is their refusal to accept reality. The backlash could hit Jeb square in the face. The further he goes with this, the more he and DeLay invest in this circus, the more they have to lose. If Jeb intervenes illegally, he'll be hammered by the courts. If he doesn't, the Ultras may get even crazier. The more emotional this gets, the more liklihood there is of violence. What's to stop someone from shooting their way into the hospice in a misguided attempt to rescue Terri Schiavo? The radical right has created an [environment] where violence could explode at any moment. People so reckless that they will let their kids get arrested. Even the GOP is [n]ervous about how this plays out and they should be. The rage of the ultras may be turned against the GOP pols in a violent way. By raising expectations of some kind of relief against any legal reality, they are creating this fantasy world. And by siding with the Schindlers against the husband, there is the expectation that Jeb can perform some miracle which he cannot. |
I keep finding myself mentally crossing my fingers.
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What I don't understand is this: Pulling Schiavo's feeding tube will most certainly lead to her death. If she is conscious, as the Right claims, then she will be suffering miserably, and increasingly so, up to her death. So why doesn't the Right demand that she be euthanized immediately, to relieve the suffering, assuming all significant judicial appeal attempts have failed? What's up with this slow death by starvation?
Leftcoaster on the political fallout currently besieging the Bush-war Administration and Congress due to the Schiavo fiasco (snippet):
Yes, Democratic Pary "leadership", exactly when and where are you going to pull your spines and balls out of the freezer and start using them?
The latest victims of U.S. occupation of Iraq? Barbers. Yes, BARBERS! Excerpt:
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Scratches in the Teflon
Leftcoaster on the political fallout currently besieging the Bush-war Administration and Congress due to the Schiavo fiasco (snippet):
| ....For years, those of us on the center-left have been wondering why it is that Bush retains his Teflon when there has been (seemingly to us) a string of outrage-inducing events perpetrated by this cabal. We have wondered why the cult has continually rewarded Bush with their love and blind Stepford-like support while they were being pandered to on their pet moral issues and saw their economic prospects diminish. Now along comes an issue out of the blue that no one but the most politically craven right-wingers and Rove saw coming, and it is grossly misplayed into an event that even appalls the GOP and their evangelical base. What kind of political justice would it be if it was something like this that led to the first crack in the wall? And when do Democrats take advantage of this misstep, not on the moral issue involved, but on the more defensible issue of congressional and presidential priorities? I suspect that it would be a powerful argument in next year's midterms for Democrats to remind voters what can happen when one party control leads both Congress and the White House to spend time inserting itself on issues like this while ignoring more important issues to the nation. |
Yes, Democratic Pary "leadership", exactly when and where are you going to pull your spines and balls out of the freezer and start using them?
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So where do I go now for a decent haircut?
The latest victims of U.S. occupation of Iraq? Barbers. Yes, BARBERS! Excerpt:
| BAGHDAD, 24 Mar 2005 (IRIN) - Muhammad Hussein, a 34-year-old barber, always opens his hairdressing salon in the Iraqi capital Baghdad early in the morning. His daily routine is to clean the floor, wash equipment and then take a few moments to enjoy a cup of tea with his partner and colleagues at work. But now this routine could change after he received a threat from an unknown source, warning that he could be killed if he doesn't stop some of the services on offer in his shop. Hussein is a father of three and depends on his work to feed the family. The threat received through a note left on the door of his salon, has forbidden him to shave men's beards, carry out beauty treatments, facial massages, modern haircuts, as well as colouring and doing "al-Haff", the Iraqi practice in which barbers use thread to pull out small hairs on the face to give a closer shave. "Sometimes you don't have to offer but our clients are the ones who ask for different styles. I'm just doing my job and I have a family to look after. The country is a democratic country and I believe that anyone has the right to choose their way of appearance," Hussein told IRIN. Nearly 15 barbers have been killed in the capital, according to local police, due to the services they offer in their salons. Maj. Col. Abbas Dilemi, senior officer at the investigation department of the capital, told IRIN that three areas in the city had shown an increase in such violence, especially with barbers. Dora, Allawi and Bataween districts have been the most affected, he said. "We have investigated some cases and have found that most of the killers are professionals paid by unknown sources to have their victims killed. These kinds of investigations require money and unfortunately we don't have investment for these issues so far," Dilemi added. Dilemi also complained that the police had also become a target and in this case they were searching for their killers. He said that in some cases they have found that the hitmen have been paid around US $150 dollars per death. "My son was killed by them and justice should be done to judge the people who did that, as well as protect the other barbers who have become targets of the horrible insurgents," Mariam Kubaissy, 56, a mother of a murdered barber, told IRIN. Despite the threats, many barbers are continuing their work. "I won't stop doing my job because by doing that you are just increasing the space for insurgents in the country. I don't believe that if a man wants to look more beautiful and elegant it should be forbidden," Abdul Rahman Yehia, a hairdresser in the Mansour district of the capital, told IRIN. During Saddam Hussein's regime barbers say they operated freely, but have faced problems since the fall of his regime. Women are also now not allowed to visit their shops on religious grounds, some barbers told IRIN.... |
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This web site has probably everything you'd possibly want to know about the Terri Schiavo case.
Here's what the NIH thinks about pot:
I agree that you shouldn't drive (or carry a loaded weapon), but I thought the only other concern was becoming overwhelmed with the munchies? And god forbid if something makes us feel good...
Scott Ritter explains why the U.S. "cooked" the Iraqi election results in January, and the probable consequences (excerpt):
Well, with all their experience in fixing the vote counting in Florida (2000) and Ohio (2004), the Bush-war Administration just couldn't resist exporting their election services.
Got any teenage boys? Are you poor or middle class? Chances are your sons will be visiting Iraq within the next ten years. Oh? You don't think a draft is in their future? Ha ha ha ha ha ha !!!
About That Number - From the NY Times (reg. required) (emphasis added)
Let's just remove the salary cap, lower the payroll tax rate for everyone, and be done once and for all with this.
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Government warning: Don't catch balls when stoned
Here's what the NIH thinks about pot:
| ...Imagine this: You're in a ball game, playing out in left field. An easy fly ball comes your way, and you're psyched. When that ball lands in your glove your team will win, and you'll be a hero. But, you're a little off. The ball grazes your glove and hits dirt. So much for your dreams of glory. Such loss of coordination can be caused by smoking marijuana. And that's just one of the many negative side effects. Under the influence of marijuana, you could forget your best friend's phone number, watch your grade point average drop like a stone, or get into a car accident. Even worse, high doses of marijuana use can cause anxiety and panic attacks. Before we look at the damage marijuana can do, let's back up for a second and discuss a tricky truth. For some people, smoking marijuana makes them feel good. Within minutes of inhaling, a user begins to feel "high," or filled with pleasant sensations. A chemical in marijuana, THC, triggers brain cells to release the chemical dopamine. Dopamine creates good feelings�for a short time. Addiction - Here's the thing: Once dopamine starts flowing, a user feels the urge to smoke marijuana again, and then again, and then again. Repeated use could lead to addiction, and addiction is a brain disease. |
I agree that you shouldn't drive (or carry a loaded weapon), but I thought the only other concern was becoming overwhelmed with the munchies? And god forbid if something makes us feel good...
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True Democracy in Iraq? Not likely.
Scott Ritter explains why the U.S. "cooked" the Iraqi election results in January, and the probable consequences (excerpt):
| ...The interim Iraqi constitution was dead on arrival. The Bush administration just hasn't accepted this fact. It had no chance of survival had the Shi'a won an outright majority of the vote in the Iraqi election. 'If it [i.e., the percentage of Shi'a votes] had been higher, the [Shi'a] slate would be seen with a lot more trepidation,' a senior U.S. State Department official said, once the official Iraqi election results were announced on Feb. 14. The problem is, there is good reason to believe that the percentage of votes for the Shi'a was higher � much higher. Well-placed sources in Iraq who were in a position to know have told me that the actual Shi'a vote was 56 percent. American intervention, in the form of a 'secret vote count' conducted behind closed doors and away from public scrutiny, produced the Feb. 14 result. The lowering of the Shi'a vote re-engineered the post-election political landscape in Iraq dramatically. The goal of the U.S., in doing this, is either to guarantee the adoption of the U.S.-drafted interim constitution, or make sure that there are not enough votes to adopt any Shi'a re-write. If the U.S.-drafted Iraqi constitution prevails, the Bush administration would be comfortable with the secular nature of any Iraqi government it produces. If it fails, then the Bush administration would much rather continue to occupy Iraq under the current U.S.-written laws, than allow for the creation of a pro-Iranian theocracy. In any event, the Shi'a stand to lose. Whether this re-engineering will succeed in the long run has yet to be seen. What is clear, however, is that many senior Shi'a know the real results that occurred on Jan. 30, and will not walk away from what they believe is their rightful destiny when it comes to governing of Iraq: a Shi'a controlled state, operating in accordance with Shar'ia law. The post-election 'cooking' of the results in Iraq all but guarantees that the Shi'a of Iraq will rally together to secure that which they believe is rightfully theirs. This journey of 'historical self-realization' may very well ignite the kind of violent backlash among the Shi'a majority in Iraq that the U.S. has avoided to date. It could also complicate whatever strategies the Bush administration may be trying to implement regarding Iraq's neighbor to the east, Iran. But in any case, the American 'cooking' of the Iraqi election is, in the end, a defeat for democracy and the potential of democracy to effect real and meaningful change in the Middle East. The sad fact is that it is not so much that the people of the Middle East are incapable of democracy, but rather the United States is incapable of allowing genuine democracy to exist in the Middle East. |
Well, with all their experience in fixing the vote counting in Florida (2000) and Ohio (2004), the Bush-war Administration just couldn't resist exporting their election services.
Got any teenage boys? Are you poor or middle class? Chances are your sons will be visiting Iraq within the next ten years. Oh? You don't think a draft is in their future? Ha ha ha ha ha ha !!!
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Be wary of number distorters
About That Number - From the NY Times (reg. required) (emphasis added)
| March 24, 2005 - EDITORIAL The Social Security trustees issued their annual report yesterday and said that by one measure, the shortfall in Social Security's finances jumped from $10.4 trillion last year to about $11 trillion this year. Eleven trillion dollars! The trustees, in service to President Bush's alarmist warnings about the need to do something drastic about Social Security, are dishing up some misleading numbers. It's bad enough that the trustees began some of their calculations with that $10.4 trillion figure. It's arrived at by projecting the system's shortfall over infinity, rather than the usual 75-year time frame - as if the system's finances 10,000 years from now are a legitimate policy concern. Moreover, no less an authority than the American Academy of Actuaries is already on record debunking infinite projections as conveying "little if any useful information about the program's long-range finances" and "likely to mislead anyone lacking technical expertise ... into believing that the program is in far worse financial condition than is actually indicated." Compounding the subterfuge is that the difference between this year's $11 trillion eyepopper and last year's number - $600 billion - is being used as evidence of a scary deterioration in Social Security's finances. That's just wrong. The two monster numbers are actually the same quantity - different ways of expressing an unchanging level of debt at two different points in time. If you owe someone $1,000 in 10 years, for instance, you could retire the debt now with $500, or next year with $530. Your level of debt doesn't change, just the time point. Some people who interpret the numbers as a deterioration appear to be confused. But others, like President Bush, are being deliberately alarmist. Mr. Bush's persistent misstatements on Social Security leave little doubt that he wants Americans to believe that the system is irretrievably broken so that they will buy into his unnecessary privatization plan. Fortunately, the unpoliticized numbers in yesterday's report are not overly dire. Using a 75-year time horizon, the trustees project that the system will be able to pay full benefits until 2041, at which time it will be able to pay 74 percent of the promised benefits, falling to 68 percent by 2079. That works out to a gap of $4 trillion, which could be bridged with modest tax increases and benefit cuts, phased in over the next few decades. If people try to tell you different, they need to be set straight. |
Let's just remove the salary cap, lower the payroll tax rate for everyone, and be done once and for all with this.
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March 23, 2005
Gore Vidal explains the end of political parties in the U.S. (snippet):
Just another way of stating the obvious: Most politicians in government are bought and owned by corporations. We the sheeple have NO power and NO influence, in spite of what the DNC, DLC, PDA, Greens, or any progressive fringe group, or even your mama or papa, might say. We are fucked, folks. Unless you are willing to take to the streets and revolt, you may as well suck it up and stop complaining because those with the power ain't listening.
Wake up, sheeple. The lunies have escaped the asylum and are running YOUR country!
And Yet the Bush-war party continues to get away with murder. Figuratively and literally.
I like the sound of this (emphasis added):
Source: REPUBLICAN PARTY 2000 PLATFORM!!!
How about the 2004 platform?
"We want more people to own and control their health care."
"The Republican Party reaffirms its commitment to putting patients and doctors ahead of trial lawyers."
You can get more quotes by Bush-war and his policies on health care HERE.
.......................
Wake up, sheeple. The Bush-war Administration is not interested in yor welfare.
Tristero hammers the nail's head when he asks: Now that we have a fascist government in Washington, what do we liberals do? (snippet):
I don't know... Our Constitution is about as useful as a mall directory right now. Those with the gold are doing everything possible to gather more. The economy, in case you haven't been paying attention, is on the verge of tanking. How much longer before we'll no longer be able to even write stuff like this on the internet? How many times have you fondly looked back on the 1990's, realizing now that it may never be that good again?
I disagree with Tristero about revolution. I'm a sane American and I don't think it's madness to consider overthrowing madness. The only way we can overcome our current demise is through revolution. And I mean in the friggin streets.
Or move away.
Vidal Interests
Gore Vidal explains the end of political parties in the U.S. (snippet):
| "....We have not had a political party since that, really, of the New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt, who was a member of the highest class, an aristocrat who had made common cause with the people, who were in the midst of depression, not to mention the Dust Bowl, which had taken so many farms in the '30s. We were a country in deep trouble, and he represented those in deep trouble. He got together great majorities and was elected four times to the presidency. And launched us on empire--somewhat consciously, too. He saw to it that the European colonial empires would break up, and that we would inherit bits and pieces, which we have done. If we don't have class interests officially, then therefore we have no political parties. What is the Republican Party? Well, it used to be the party of the small-town businessman, generally in the Middle West, generally sort of out of the mainstream. Very conservative. It now represents nothing but the gas and oil business. They own it. And the people who go to Congress are simply bought. They are lawyers who are paid to represent Halliburton, big oil, big banking. So the very rich corporate America has a party for itself, the Republican Party. The Democrats don't have much of anything but a kind of wistful style. They just want everyone to be happy, and politically correct at all times. Do not hurt other people's feelings. They spend so much time on political correctness that they haven't thought of what to do politically about anything. Like say "no" to these preemptive wars, which are against not only the whole world's take on war and peace, but against United States history. This is something new under the sun--that a president, just because he feels like it, can declare war on anybody. And Congress will go along with him, and the courts will support him. The founding fathers would be mortified if they saw what had happened to their handiwork, which wasn't very great to begin with but is now done for. When you have preemptive wars, and you have ambitious companies like Bechtel who will build up what, let us say, General Electric has helped to destroy with its weaponry--these interests are well-represented. There is no people's party, and you can't even use the word. "Liberal" has been demonized. A liberal is a commie who's also a pedophile. Being a communist and a pedophile, he's so busy that he hasn't got time to win an election and is odious to boot. So there is no Democratic Party. We hope that something might happen with the governor of Vermont, and maybe something will or maybe it won't. But we are totally censored, and the press just follows this. It observes what those in power want it to observe, and turns the other way when things get dark. Then, when it's too late sometimes, you get some very good reporting. But by then, somebody's playing taps...." |
Just another way of stating the obvious: Most politicians in government are bought and owned by corporations. We the sheeple have NO power and NO influence, in spite of what the DNC, DLC, PDA, Greens, or any progressive fringe group, or even your mama or papa, might say. We are fucked, folks. Unless you are willing to take to the streets and revolt, you may as well suck it up and stop complaining because those with the power ain't listening.
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| "....Don�t, you know, the one way they stopped churches from getting into politics was Lyndon Johnson, who passed a law that said you couldn�t get in politics or you�re going to lose your tax exempt status because they were all opposed to him when he was running for president. That law we�re trying to repeal; it�s very difficult to do that. But the point is, is when they can knock out a leader then no other leader will step forward for awhile because they don�t want to go through the same thing. When, if they go after and get a pastor then other pastors shrink from what they should be doing. It forces Christians back into the church and that�s what�s going on in America: �The world is too bad. I�m going to go get inside this building and I�m not going to play in the world.� Uh, that�s not what Christ asked us to do. And, and so this, they understand that it is a political maneuver, and, and they are, uh, going to try to destroy the conservative movement and we have to fight back...." - - - Tom DeLay�s speech to the Family Research Council on 3/18/05 |
Wake up, sheeple. The lunies have escaped the asylum and are running YOUR country!
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| "My party is demonstrating that they are for states' rights unless they don't like what states are doing. This couldn't be a more classic case of a state responsibility. This Republican Party of Lincoln has become a party of theocracy. There are going to be repercussions from this vote. There are a number of people who feel that the government is getting involved in their personal lives in a way that scares them." - - - Representative Christopher Shays of Connecticut, one of five House Republicans who voted against the Schiavo bill |
And Yet the Bush-war party continues to get away with murder. Figuratively and literally.
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Regarding Schiavo
I like the sound of this (emphasis added):
| The traditional patient-doctor relationship must be preserved. Medical decision-making should be in the hands of physicians and their patients. In cases when a health plan denies treatment, a rapid appeals process geared toward ensuring that patients receive the right treatment without delays that might threaten a patient�s health � as opposed to a lengthy trial � must be readily accessible to everyone in all health plans. We believe a quick and fair resolution to treatment disputes without going to court is the best result. However, as a last resort, we also support a patient�s right to adjudicate claims in court to receive necessary medical care. In the interest of fairness to the thousands of businesses that purchase health benefits for their employees and for physicians who care for patients, employers and physicians should not be liable for the actions of the health plan and should be shielded from frivolous and unnecessary lawsuits. Our overall philosophy is to trust state and local government to know what best suits the needs of their people. We believe the federal government should respect the states� traditional authority to regulate health insurance, health care professionals, and health practice guidelines through their medical boards. |
Source: REPUBLICAN PARTY 2000 PLATFORM!!!
How about the 2004 platform?
"We want more people to own and control their health care."
"The Republican Party reaffirms its commitment to putting patients and doctors ahead of trial lawyers."
You can get more quotes by Bush-war and his policies on health care HERE.
.......................
Wake up, sheeple. The Bush-war Administration is not interested in yor welfare.
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The new F word: Fascism
Tristero hammers the nail's head when he asks: Now that we have a fascist government in Washington, what do we liberals do? (snippet):
| ....Should we move to another country and watch safely from afar as the nation we grew up in and love so much disintegrates before our eyes, as it surely will from the behavior of such extremists? I'm sure it will tempt many, but few will actually do it, for logistical, personal, and/or political reasons. Should we work within the Democratic Party? Oh, please. Did you read Lieberman and Biden in the New Yorker, on the meaning of Dean as chair? Said with a sneer: "It never made a damn bit of difference who was Democratic chairman." Ok, maybe Dean can knock heads together enough to make a difference someday. But we're confronting real, genuine, fascism -the ugly kind- today. The incompetent clods who are still in charge of the Democrats not only let a genuine war hero and exemplary patriot get tarred as a lying traitor. They also permitted a drunken, stupid, ignornant and amoral WAR DESERTER be portrayed as a man of courage, stern conviction, and military mien. They should have raised holy hell. But they didn't. Nah, the Democrats got a long, long way to go until anyone could even pretend with a straight face they're a nationally important party again. Revolution and radical struggle? A second Civil War? The very notion sickens me. First, I'm a liberal. Political extremism and absolutism, of all sorts, revolts me. It is anti-liberal, ie anti-freedom. Furthermore, no sane American who truly thought about the consequences of the revolutionary overthrow of an American government, even a fascist one, could support such madness. The human consequences would make the first Civil War look like a collegiate wrestling tournament in comparison. And guess who would win? Hint: Ken Lay's on their side. No. When you talk about destruction, you can count me out. (Where have I heard that before?) So. Now what? |
I don't know... Our Constitution is about as useful as a mall directory right now. Those with the gold are doing everything possible to gather more. The economy, in case you haven't been paying attention, is on the verge of tanking. How much longer before we'll no longer be able to even write stuff like this on the internet? How many times have you fondly looked back on the 1990's, realizing now that it may never be that good again?
I disagree with Tristero about revolution. I'm a sane American and I don't think it's madness to consider overthrowing madness. The only way we can overcome our current demise is through revolution. And I mean in the friggin streets.
Or move away.
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March 22, 2005
Here is a terrific interview with Journalist Dahr Jamail. He frequently visits and reports "unembedded" from Iraq.
A recent episode of Democracy Now! covered Greg Palast's investigative report on how the Bush Administration and Big Oil had different plans for Iraq's oil, even before the invasion in 2003. Also, be sure to watch the segment starting at 39:40 where the parents of Marine Corporal Jeffrey Lucey spoke last Saturday at an anti-war rally. Jeffrey commited suicide 3 weeks after returning from serving 6 months in Iraq in 2003; it's very sobering.
Listen to this slightly corny radio commercial about social security.
Juan Cole shows how Congress and Bush-war, by acting on the Schaivo case, "have taken us one step closer to theocracy on the Muslim Brotherhood model." Excerpts:
Schiavo then...
Schiavo now...
I'm sure that this homeless man (whom I pass regularly on my way to work) is just overwhelmed with joy that Congress spent hundreds of thousands of dollars calling an emergency session (along with Bush flying back to D.C. from Texas) just to pass a bill for saving a brain-dead woman, Terri Schaivo. I'm sure God is pleased that the Republican Party and some idiotic Democratic comgressmen to boot care so deeply about a permanently comatose human, since apparently it is just too hard for them to try to help CONSCIOUS Americans.
(I did not take this photo. I recognized the sign as I was googling for an image to post. And yes, I always hand off a buck each time I pass him --- okay, right-wing trolls, let's hear your humane comments about that statement!)
My youngest son is anticipating THIS more than life itself.
Videos
Here is a terrific interview with Journalist Dahr Jamail. He frequently visits and reports "unembedded" from Iraq.
A recent episode of Democracy Now! covered Greg Palast's investigative report on how the Bush Administration and Big Oil had different plans for Iraq's oil, even before the invasion in 2003. Also, be sure to watch the segment starting at 39:40 where the parents of Marine Corporal Jeffrey Lucey spoke last Saturday at an anti-war rally. Jeffrey commited suicide 3 weeks after returning from serving 6 months in Iraq in 2003; it's very sobering.
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| "Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It is also owed to justice and to humanity. Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong" - - - James Bryce |
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Listen to this slightly corny radio commercial about social security.
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Juan Cole shows how Congress and Bush-war, by acting on the Schaivo case, "have taken us one step closer to theocracy on the Muslim Brotherhood model." Excerpts:
| ....The cynical use by the US Republican Party of the Terri Schiavo case repeats, whether deliberately or accidentally, the tactics of Muslim fundamentalists and theocrats in places like Egypt and Pakistan. These tactics involve a disturbing tendency to make private, intimate decisions matters of public interest and then to bring the courts and the legislature to bear on them. President George W. Bush and Republican congressional leaders like Tom Delay have taken us one step closer to theocracy on the Muslim Brotherhood model. ....Terri Schiavo's husband is her legal guardian. Her parents have not succeeded in challenging this status of his. As long as he is the guardian, the decision on removing the feeding tubes is between him and their physicians. Her parents have not succeeded in having this responsibility moved from him to them. Even under legislation George W. Bush signed in 1999 while governor of Texas, the spouse and the physician can make this decision. (The bill Bush signed in Texas actually made ability to pay a consideration in the decision!) In passing a special law to allow the case to be kicked to a Federal judge after the state courts had all ruled in favor of the husband, Congress probably shot itself in the foot once again. The law is not a respecter of persons, so the Federal judge will likely rule as the state ones did. But the most frightening thing about the entire affair is that public figures like congressmen inserted themselves into the case in order to uphold religious strictures. The lawyer arguing against the husband let the cat out of the bag, as reported by the NYT: ' The lawyer, David Gibbs, also said Ms. Schiavo's religious beliefs as a Roman Catholic were being infringed because Pope John Paul II has deemed it unacceptable for Catholics to refuse food and water. "We are now in a position where a court has ordered her to disobey her church and even jeopardize her eternal soul," Mr. Gibbs said. ' In other words, the United States Congress acted in part on behalf of the Roman Catholic church. Both of these public bodies interfered in the private affairs of the Schiavos.... |
Schiavo then...
Schiavo now...
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I'm sure that this homeless man (whom I pass regularly on my way to work) is just overwhelmed with joy that Congress spent hundreds of thousands of dollars calling an emergency session (along with Bush flying back to D.C. from Texas) just to pass a bill for saving a brain-dead woman, Terri Schaivo. I'm sure God is pleased that the Republican Party and some idiotic Democratic comgressmen to boot care so deeply about a permanently comatose human, since apparently it is just too hard for them to try to help CONSCIOUS Americans.
(I did not take this photo. I recognized the sign as I was googling for an image to post. And yes, I always hand off a buck each time I pass him --- okay, right-wing trolls, let's hear your humane comments about that statement!)
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May 19,2005
My youngest son is anticipating THIS more than life itself.
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March 21, 2005
Hunter, at Daily Kos, rages about Congress's actions regarding Terri Schaivo (snippet):
Hell hath no fury like the raging lunacy currently rampant in the halls of Congress and the White House.
On Republicans calling Schiavo to testify before Congress
Hunter, at Daily Kos, rages about Congress's actions regarding Terri Schaivo (snippet):
| ...You know what? Subpoena her. You called it, DeLay, Frist -- unless you're the biggest fucking cowards on Capital Hill (a pretty safe bet, ain't it?) I want you to haul that soulless body that used to be Terri Schaivo up to Washington, prop her the hell up in front of a microphone, tape a goddamn American Flag to her forehead and ask her your fucking, shit-headed questions. She won't answer. Guess Why? Because She. Has. No. Brain. Left. She is brain-dead. She is worse than brain-dead, because her brain died so long ago that there's nothing but fluid-filled holes in much of it. Yeah, you can still dress her up in pretty clothes and coo, if you're a sick fucking bastard. I think you're a fucking necrophile, but that seems to be a central tenet of modern Republicanism, so what the hell? So subpoena her. Bring. It. The. Fuck. On. You. Goddamn. Constitution-Fucking. Cowards. If she is even remotely still alive inside there, if she does have the consciousness that every doctor and every court that examined her say there's no fucking way she could have with a hollowed-out brain, then she has been essentially buried alive, all these years, unable to talk or even move, her very skin her own coffin, rotting in a hospital bed while nurses tend to her like a potted plant. So I'm sure she won't mind staying that way a little while longer while you drag her out of that bed and prop her up in front of the whole world on national television. Her pain is your gain. Never the fuck mind that she said that she didn't want to live like that. Never the fuck mind that every damn court that has heard the case has upheld her husband as her guardian, and confirmed her wishes. So screw basic human decency, screw the sanctity of marriage, you get to act compassionate to a brain-dead woman who, best case scenario, you insist on torturing like a stray kitten. Screw the basic principles of the constitution that say you can't make a law tailored to fuck with the rights of one particular person -- her husband, trying to carry out her wishes -- and no-one else. Anyone taking bets on whether Tom "I-Like-Illegal-Extortion" DeLay has ever actually read the Constitution? Screw the black infant who had the plug pulled on him against his own mother's wishes, because he was going to die anyway and hospital care is expensive, ka-fucking-ching. Yeah, you were falling all over your pasty-white selves trying to bring that kid and his mother up to Washington, weren't you? Screw all the soldiers who now can't get decent treatment for their own freedom-induced massive head injuries because you zeroed the damn budget for it. What-the-hell-ever. Being a Republican means you tool up to Capital Hill on a moment's notice, and you can make any fucking law you want, against any goddamn person you want, and the President will even fly the hell up from his craphole of a fake ranch, designer boots still a-jingling, in order to get in on the photo op while you take a giant, Republican-sized dump on whatever paragraph of the Constitution you think looked at ya funny this week.... |
Hell hath no fury like the raging lunacy currently rampant in the halls of Congress and the White House.
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| "If America actually started focusing on things that mattered, we would quickly notice that we are fucking just about everything up right now, and that this whole 200 year experiment in democracy is going to shit. Thus, don't expect anything but trivial, sensationalist, emotion-laden, irrational bullshit like this to come from our Republican "leaders" until such time as they are voted out of office or the[y] actually manage to destroy the country. The last thing Republicans want is a focus on issues that actually matter: they would get their ass handed to them on every one." - - - Timothy Klein commenting on the Terri Schiavo bill just passed by Congress |
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| "When the President starts lying he begins to need evidence to back up his lies because in this democracy he is questioned on his statements. It then percolates down through the bureaucracy that you are helping the Boss if you come up with evidence that is supportive of our public position and you are distinctly unhelpful if you commit to paper statements that might leak to the wrong people. The effect of that is to poison the flow of information to the President himself and to create a situation where a President can be almost, to use a metaphor, psychotically divorced from the realities in which he is acting...." - - - Daniel Ellsburg to the US Senate on Foreign Relations, May 13, 1970 |
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| "The Democrats' mistake this past election was in thinking that a disastrous war, national bankruptcy, erosion of liberties, corporate takeover of government, environmental destruction, squandering our economic and moral leadership in the world, and systematic lying by an administration would be of concern to the electorate. The Republicans correctly saw that the chief concern of the electorate was to keep gay couples from having an abortion." - - - L. Highland |
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Blogger Woes
Blogger has been god-awful these past few weeks. The largest frustration is writing a post, publishing it, and then finding that it never actually gets processed by Blogger. I've learned, of course, to copy and paste the post into Notepad or something similar, just before clicking "Publish Post". The other problem is getting into the edit pages. Sometimes it takes all day just to post one article. Blogger is owned by Google now, and you'd think that Google would have better, faster and more reliable servers. And yet, the Blogger service is worse than ever. I have the right to complain because I pay an annual subscription to use Blogger. If you are considering blogging, be sure to shop around for a reliable service and definitely read independent reviews of blogger services before choosing.
I never thought I'd see a story like this (snippet)...
Yep, a plane owned by Boston Red Sox owner was used to transport prisoners aound the world for torture. Wake up, sheeple. The Bush-war Administration is making a mockery of our America.
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I never thought I'd see a story like this (snippet)...
| Jet's travels cloaked in mystery - Red Sox partner's plane hits spots U.S. sent terror suspects By John Crewdson and Tom Hundley Tribune correspondents - Published March 20, 2005 Last June, the Boston Red Sox chartered an executive jet to help their manager make a quick visit home in the midst of the team's championship season. But what was the very same Gulfstream--owned by one of the Red Sox's partners, but presumably without the team's logo on its fuselage--doing in Cairo on Feb. 18, 2003? Perhaps by coincidence, Feb. 18, 2003, was the day an Islamic preacher known as Abu Omar, who had been abducted in Italy the previous day and forced aboard a small plane, also arrived at the Cairo airport. Omar, whose given name is Osama Nasr Mostafa Hassan, was imprisoned by the Egyptians and, he claims, brutally tortured. The public prosecutor in Milan, Armando Spataro, who is investigating Omar's apparent kidnapping, expects to file charges within a few days, according to an Italian official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Spataro made headlines last month when, attempting to identify the plane that transported Omar from Italy to Egypt, he served a warrant on the Italian commander of the air base at Aviano, Italy, which is home to the U.S. Air Force's 31st Fighter Wing. Spataro declines to say whether the Gulfstream that landed in Cairo, which bore the tail number N85VM, departed from Aviano around the time of Omar's disappearance. But Federal Aviation Administration records obtained by the Tribune show that Gulfstream N85VM has been many places around the world that the Red Sox have almost certainly never gone. Between June 2002 and January of this year, the Gulfstream made 51 visits to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, site of the U.S. naval base where more than 500 terrorism suspects are behind bars. During the same period, the plane recorded 82 visits to Washington's Dulles International Airport as well as landings at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., outside the capital and the U.S. air bases at Ramstein and Rhein-Main in Germany. The plane's flight log also shows visits to Afghanistan, Morocco, Dubai, Jordan, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic. Egypt, Afghanistan, Jordan and Morocco are among the countries to which the U.S. is known to have "rendered" terrorism suspects. Under the increasingly controversial practice of "rendition," terrorism suspects arrested abroad have been forcibly returned to their native countries for interrogation, sometimes with methods that are barred by U.S. law. The New York Times reported last month that, days after Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush authorized the CIA to transfer suspects to third countries without obtaining separate presidential approval in each instance. Reacting to media disclosures of some renditions in which the suspects later were found to have no terrorist connections, the House of Representatives last week voted 420-2 to prohibit the use of federal money for sending detainees to countries that practice torture.... |
Yep, a plane owned by Boston Red Sox owner was used to transport prisoners aound the world for torture. Wake up, sheeple. The Bush-war Administration is making a mockery of our America.
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| "One of the things that we need to help America understand is that there is a big difference between the way the two parties perceive the role of government in its citizens personal lives. Democrats want the government to collect money from all its citizens in order to deliver services to the people. The Republicans want the government to collect money from working people in order to dictate individual citizen's personal decisions. You tell me which is the bigger intrusion into the average American's liberty?" - - - Digby |
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Stolen from kos:
Molly Wood, senior editor at CNET.com, wonders if the cell phone industry is starting to mimic the tobacco industry by keeping lifesaving information from us (snippet):
I keep my phone turned off most of the time, even when I'm carrying it (sure cuts down on the interruptions, I tell you...). Plus, I'm not a big chatter, so my calls last probably less than 1 minute most of the time. Oh, and I don't smoke. so I'm guessing I'll still be alive long enough to draw $ from my privatized social security account. Yippee.
Ten years ago Time magazine wouldn't have had the gall to print this trash (snippet):
Virtually nothing in the article is true. This type of faux journalism is just one reasons why I cancelled my 20-year subscription 5 years ago.
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Double whammy: smoking while on your cell phone
Molly Wood, senior editor at CNET.com, wonders if the cell phone industry is starting to mimic the tobacco industry by keeping lifesaving information from us (snippet):
| So, there's this incredibly popular product that has widespread consumer use and a massive marketing presence. Nearly everyone uses it, and it has very high social acceptance, even though some people find it annoying when it's used in public. It's highly habit-forming; people who use the product on a regular basis find it almost impossible to live without. Unfortunately, studies start to appear showing that the product might be harmful to its users--even cancer-causing. The product's manufacturers deny the presence of any danger and even spend millions of dollars trying to discredit the research that points to problems. Then, an insider emerges, seemingly with proof that the product could be dangerous. The industry agrees to publish warning data about the product, but continues to maintain that the product itself is safe for use. Lawsuits against the product's manufacturers are filed, but all are dismissed. Industry analysts know that any case that does succeed could start a domino effect of future lawsuits, which keeps the industry determined to maintain that the product is harmless, despite increasing evidence to the contrary. Well, put down your lighter, I'm talking about cell phones. I've already maintained that I don't like the cell phone industry's iron-clad control over phone releases and pricing, its ever-lengthening contracts, and the annoying habit it has of crippling Bluetooth phones so that I can't use them the way I want to. But it takes only a few minutes of looking into the cell phone radiation quagmire before I start to think, man, these guys have Big Tobacco 2.0 written all over them. Actually, I'm not the first to think of it, but a recent article in the University of Washington alumni magazine indicates that the behaviors aren't going away, even as the potentially damning research continues to mount.... |
I keep my phone turned off most of the time, even when I'm carrying it (sure cuts down on the interruptions, I tell you...). Plus, I'm not a big chatter, so my calls last probably less than 1 minute most of the time. Oh, and I don't smoke. so I'm guessing I'll still be alive long enough to draw $ from my privatized social security account. Yippee.
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The "Right" Time
Ten years ago Time magazine wouldn't have had the gall to print this trash (snippet):
| ....History has begun to speak. Elections in Afghanistan, a historic first. Elections in Iraq, a historic first. Free Palestinian elections producing a moderate leadership, two historic firsts. Municipal elections in Saudi Arabia, men only, but still a first. In Egypt, demonstrations for democracy--unheard of in decades--prompting the dictator to announce free contested presidential elections, a historic first. And now, of course, the most romantic flowering of the spirit America went into the region to foster: the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon, in which unarmed civilians, Christian and Muslim alike, brought down the puppet government installed by Syria. There is even the beginning of a breeze in Damascus. More than 140 Syrian intellectuals have signed a public statement defying their government by opposing its occupation of Lebanon. To what do we attribute this Arab spring? While American (and European) liberal and "realist" critics are seeking some explanation, those a bit closer to the scene don't flinch from the obvious. "It is strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq," Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt explained to David Ignatius of the Washington Post. "I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world. The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it." .... |
Virtually nothing in the article is true. This type of faux journalism is just one reasons why I cancelled my 20-year subscription 5 years ago.
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March 20, 2005
No Stopping Global Warming, Studies Predict
Extreme predictions are often unintentionally beyond belief for most people. Take Iraq, for example... Most people, in February, 2003, couldn't believe that it would end up like it did today. So, don't blow off extreme predictions too quickly or they may come back to bite you in the behind (or turn your front lawn into a tidepool).
Honey, go outside and catch some fish and crabs for dinner...
No Stopping Global Warming, Studies Predict
| Reuters Mar. 17, 2005 - Even if people stopped pumping out carbon dioxide and other pollutants tomorrow, global warming would still get worse, two teams of researchers reported on Thursday. Sea levels will rise more than they have already risen, worsening the damage caused by extreme high tides and storm surges, and droughts, heat waves and storms will become more severe, the climate experts predicted. That makes immediate action to slow global warming even more vital, the teams at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado report in the journal Science. "Even if we stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations, the climate will continue to warm, and there will be proportionately even more sea level rise," said the NCAR's Gerald Meehl, who led one of the two studies. "The longer we wait, the more climate change we are committed to in the future." Virtually no one disagrees human activity is fueling global warming, and a global treaty signed in Kyoto, Japan, aims to reduce polluting emissions. But the world's biggest polluter, the United States, has withdrawn from the 1997 treaty, saying its provisions would hurt the U.S. economy. Meehl's team ran two computer simulations of climate change -- complex programs, he said, that took months to run on supercomputers. Those models included as many variables as the researchers could think of, such as human carbon emissions, other pollution, current temperatures and their rate of change, emissions from volcanoes, changes in solar radiation and shifts in the ozone layer. "Then we ran for the 21st century three different scenarios," Meehl said in a telephone interview. One scenario assumed human production of carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gases stabilized in 2000 and ran the model to the year 2100. "We found that just based on the ingredients that have already been put into the atmosphere in the 20th century, we already are committed to another half a degree (0.5 degree C or 0.9 degree F) of global warming," Meehl said. "That's about what we saw in the 20th century. We are already committed to as much climate change in the 21st century as we saw in the 20th century." That would mean more extreme weather and a rise in sea levels, not even accounting for melting ice, Meehl said. Experts say sea levels have risen 4 inches already over the past century and could rise between 4 and 40 inches More in the next century. If completely melted, the Greenland ice sheet would add 25 feet to overall sea level and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet would raise it by 16 feet -- enough to swamp most of Florida, Bangladesh and New York City's Manhattan island. In a second study in Science, the NCAR's Tom Wigley said he used a much simpler climate model to make a similar prediction. He found it may not be possible to reduce emissions enough to stop the sea from rising. Even if all emissions stopped now, he calculated, changes were under way that would lead to a rise in sea levels of 4 inches per century. Copyright 2005 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed [except on this blog]. Copyright � 2005 ABC News Internet Ventures |
Extreme predictions are often unintentionally beyond belief for most people. Take Iraq, for example... Most people, in February, 2003, couldn't believe that it would end up like it did today. So, don't blow off extreme predictions too quickly or they may come back to bite you in the behind (or turn your front lawn into a tidepool).
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| "We need to remind ourselves of the function journalists are supposed to serve. We are the surrogates of the people. The people cannot be in the chambers of the judiciary, the halls of Congress, or the offices of the executive branch -- all those people won't fit and they couldn't be in all three simultaneously. Though not elected by you at the polls -- yet chosen by you when you buy a paper or tune in a program -- we are supposed to be your eyes and ears. You're too busy living your lives and can't be watching what the politicians are doing. We're supposed to do that for you. Many people don't seem to understand this. They believe freedom of the press is some freedom enjoyed only by the press. No, it's actually the people's freedom to get the news from whomever and wherever they want." - - - Bob Edwards, a host for XM Satellite Radio and former host of NPR's Morning Edition. |
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March 19, 2005
Senator Boxer has some possibly valuable information for those with relatively low incomes:
Here's some info on the Anti-war march in L.A. this Saturday:
See you there?!
Tax Help
Senator Boxer has some possibly valuable information for those with relatively low incomes:
| Dear Friend: Many low-income people earn a tax credit but don�t take it. The Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC, is designed to help qualifying individuals and families with low incomes by reducing the amount they pay in income tax to the federal government. The EITC can amount to as much as $4,300 depending on family size and income amount. But the EITC often goes unclaimed because the rules and qualifications for claiming the credit can be somewhat confusing. To help determine whether you or someone you know may be eligible for the EITC please visit the Internal Revenue Service�s website at www.irs.gov. Here you will find a useful tool called the �EITC Assistant,� which can help determine your eligibility for the EITC and how much you might earn. It is available in English and Spanish, and it is easy to use. Some examples of who might qualify for the credit include individuals who earned $11,490 or less and individuals who head a household with one child and earned less than $30,338. Because there are several qualifying rules for ETIC, it is best to visit the IRS site to see if you might qualify. I encourage everyone who might be eligible to check. I hope this information is helpful to you. Sincerely, Barbara Boxer United States Senator |
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Info on Saturday's Massive Anti-war March in L.A.
Here's some info on the Anti-war march in L.A. this Saturday:
| The March 19 demonstration is fully permitted and legal. People are coming from all over LA to take part. There will be carpools, buses and peace trains from Arizona, Nevada, Riverside, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Long Beach, South LA, the San Gabriel Valley, Bakersfield, San Diego and more. Here�s some info on how to get to the protest: Public Transportation: Subway: Take the Red Line to Hollywood & Vine (click for map). The protest will culminate in a mass rally at Hollywood & Highland, another subway stop. Hollywood & Argyle (one block east of Vine) is a major public bus stop. Getting or Giving a Ride: If you provide transportation to the protest or if you need a ride, see below. Driving Directions to Hollywood & Vine: If traveling north on the 101 freeway, exit Gower, take a left, and then turn right on Hollywood�the first major street you�ll cross. Travel 1 block to Argyle. If traveling south on the 101, turn right at the freeway exit, then use the above directions. Parking: There is plenty of parking at the corner of Hollywood & Argyle. Parking is also available on nearby streets, by Borders at Sunset & Vine or across the street at the ArcLight theater on the south side of Sunset near Vine. Volunteers Needed On March 19 � Call Us & Visit The ANSWER Table We need volunteers to make the demonstration a success: security monitors, banner holders, people gather names, hand out placards, and leaflet for upcoming actions and much more. Call us anytime before March 19 or check in at the ANSWER volunteer table at 10:30 am or whenever you get to the protest. The volunteer table will be near the Metro stop on the south side of Hollywood Blvd, between Vine and Argyle. Youth & Student Contingent: March 14-18 is the Campus and High School Week of Resistance. After a successful week, youth and students will join the March 19 protest in force. Join the Youth & Student contingent on March 19 at the northwest corner of Hollywood & Argyle at 11:30 am. March in a strong, militant contingent demanding "Money for Education, Not for War & Occupation!" Labor Contingent: On March 19, unionists will march together in a contingent organized by the Los Angeles chapter of US Labor Against the War. Meet under the LA-USLAW banner at the corner Hollywood & Argyle at 11:30 am. Bring your union banners, wear your union shirts! Create your own labor-related slogans! Download the labor contingent flyer. |
See you there?!
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GUILT
| GUILT "The burden of my guilt before the law weighs light upon my shoulders; to plot and to conspire was my duty to the people; I would have been a criminal had I not. I am guilty, though not the way you think, I should have done my duty sooner, I was wrong, I should have called evil more clearly by its name I hesitated to condemn it for far too long. I now accuse myself within my heart: I have betrayed my conscience far too long I have deceived myself and fellow man. I knew the course of evil from the start My warning was not loud nor clear enough! Today I know what I was guilty of�" - - - written by Albrecht Hanshofer, as he awaited execution for refusing and resisting the government of Nazi Germany |
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March 18, 2005
Don't you neocon supporters EVER get embarrassed?
Since I don't have a cat, here's someone else's:
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
BOOM! (video)
Do You Remember
Free Screen Cleaner
Extreme Shredding
Imagination (interactive - just move mouse around and also click in center)
Panda Golf (game)
Frog Sounds
Place the State (educational game)
Museum of Bad Album Covers
Senses Challenge (interactive)
Forklift Safety (video - in German, but you'll "get it")
Floating Logos
Compare the Cost of Living Between Two Cities
The Versus Page
Batman vs. The Joker in Legos (video: slow-loading and long, but well worth it)
Liberated Games (resource for free games)
Discovering Music (learn about classical music)
The Conservative's Intelligent Quote of the Week
| "The Alaska National Wildlife Refuge is being portrayed as this beautiful, pristine place on the planet that we cannot disturb because it will terribly upset the balance of nature and all this other garbage. It's just like they opposed the Alaska pipeline. They said, "If we put in the Alaska pipeline, we will destroy the caribou herd up there." Well, they put in the Alaska pipeline. And, you know what happened? The caribou herd quadrupled. And you know why? Because the pipeline produces heat. And the caribou, even though they're wintertime beasts, enjoy a little warmth now and then. Particularly during, uh -- uh -- uh -- shall we say, "procreation." And the whackos are wrong. If you put together a video of ANWR, you would see nothing but snow and rock. It is no place anybody's ever going to go. The wildlife that lives there wishes it didn't, but it's too stupid to figure out how to move anywhere. They don't have moving vans sent to their places like people in Philadelphia do when they want to get out of someplace. This is absolutely absurd." - - - From the March 16 edition of The Rush Limbaugh Show |
Don't you neocon supporters EVER get embarrassed?
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Friday Cat Blogging
Since I don't have a cat, here's someone else's:
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Ann Bomb
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
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FRIDAY FUN
BOOM! (video)
Do You Remember
Free Screen Cleaner
Extreme Shredding
Imagination (interactive - just move mouse around and also click in center)
Panda Golf (game)
Frog Sounds
Place the State (educational game)
Museum of Bad Album Covers
Senses Challenge (interactive)
Forklift Safety (video - in German, but you'll "get it")
Floating Logos
Compare the Cost of Living Between Two Cities
The Versus Page
Batman vs. The Joker in Legos (video: slow-loading and long, but well worth it)
Liberated Games (resource for free games)
Discovering Music (learn about classical music)
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March 17, 2005
Here is a great video of "Special Interest" (according to the Governor) Californians attempting to garner a few minutes of Groperzenegger's time at a $22,300-per-plate fundraiser for Arnold last night at the Century Plaza hotel. The group included a small group of firefighters, nurses, teachers and consumer advocates. They were unceremoniously removed.
From the L.A. Times (reg. req.):
Trust me, ladies, this is something men have always known.
Grag Palast, working for BBC's Newsnight, reports how "The Bush administration made plans for war and for Iraq's oil before the 9/11 attacks, sparking a policy battle between neo-cons and Big Oil..."
The article continues with how the oil companies balked at the privatization scheme, citing the chaos in Russia, resulting from the same attempt there, as a potent example.
And you, my faithful reader, STILL don't think the Bush Administration knew about the 9/11 plans and and then stepped aside to let it happen?!
American Friends Service Committee has released a short video, WAGE PEACE, which emphasizes the loss of American and Iraqi lives. It's not terribly sophisticated content-wise, which makes it perfect to pass around to family and friends. Check it out and pass it on. AFSC also has a Wage Peace Bracelet for sale (see image above). Finally, you can sign their Iraq Peace Petition which they will be delivering to Congress and President Bush-war this Saturday (the second anniversary of our illegal invasion of Iraq).
Bob Edwards on the Press
| "We need to remind ourselves of the function journalists are supposed to serve. We are the surrogates of the people. The people cannot be in the chambers of the judiciary, the halls of Congress, or the offices of the executive branch -- all those people won't fit and they couldn't be in all three simultaneously. Though not elected by you at the polls -- yet chosen by you when you buy a paper or tune in a program -- we are supposed to be your eyes and ears. You're too busy living your lives and can't be watching what the politicians are doing. We're supposed to do that for you. Many people don't seem to understand this. They believe freedom of the press is some freedom enjoyed only by the press. No, it's actually the people's freedom to get the news from whomever and wherever they want." - - - Bob Edwards, a host for XM Satellite Radio and former host of NPR's Morning Edition. |
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You Kalifornians Krack Me Up!
Here is a great video of "Special Interest" (according to the Governor) Californians attempting to garner a few minutes of Groperzenegger's time at a $22,300-per-plate fundraiser for Arnold last night at the Century Plaza hotel. The group included a small group of firefighters, nurses, teachers and consumer advocates. They were unceremoniously removed.
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Women Are Very Much Not Alike
From the L.A. Times (reg. req.):
| By Robert Lee Hotz, Times Staff Writer Scientists have found genetic evidence for what some men have long suspected: It is dangerous to make assumptions about women. The key is the X chromosome, the feminine sex chromosome that all men and women have in common. In a study published today in the journal Nature, scientists said they had found an unexpectedly large genetic variation on the X chromosome among women. The findings were published in conjunction with the first comprehensive decoding of the chromosome, which appeared in the same journal. Females can differ from each other almost as much as they do from males in the behavior of many genes at the heart of sexual identity, researchers said. "Literally every one of the females we looked at had a different genetic story," said Duke University genetics expert Huntington Willard, who co-wrote the study. "It is not just a little bit of variation." The analysis also found that the obsessively debated differences between men and women were, at least on the genetic level, even greater than previously thought.... |
Trust me, ladies, this is something men have always known.
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Reid on Blogs
| "I personally believe that much of what goes on in America today is governed by wealth and power. That if you look at what's happened with the newspapers over the years, during the days of the founding fathers, they used to post newspapers in public squares and people who read had the papers read to them. The Federalist Papers were a way of communicating; people read and learned. Well, when the radio came along, it changed it a little bit, but you still had the Fairness Doctrine so you didn't have to worry. Really, the beginning came in the early 1950s; I think it was '52 or '53 when the networks decided to go to half-hour news programs. Then people stopped reading the newspapers even more. But on television you had the Fairness Doctrine. What has happened in recent years, the Fairness Doctrine has been taken away, that is, equal time for pros and cons on an issue. And they also allowed the concentration of media power, so one station, one owner can own 1,200 radio stations. What this means is that wealth and power control most everything in this country. But one thing they do not control-wealth and power does not control the Internet. Through the Internet, regular ordinary people have a voice. That’s why I go out of my way to communicate any way that I can on the Internet and I think the blogs are a tremendously important way for the American public to find out what's really going on." - - - Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid |
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Another "Privatization" scheme
Grag Palast, working for BBC's Newsnight, reports how "The Bush administration made plans for war and for Iraq's oil before the 9/11 attacks, sparking a policy battle between neo-cons and Big Oil..."
| Two years ago today - when President George Bush announced US, British and Allied forces would begin to bomb Baghdad - protesters claimed the US had a secret plan for Iraq's oil once Saddam had been conquered. In fact there were two conflicting plans, setting off a hidden policy war between neo-conservatives at the Pentagon, on one side, versus a combination of "Big Oil" executives and US State Department "pragmatists." "Big Oil" appears to have won. The latest plan, obtained by Newsnight from the US State Department was, we learned, drafted with the help of American oil industry consultants. Insiders told Newsnight that planning began "within weeks" of Bush's first taking office in 2001, long before the September 11th attack on the US. "We saw an increase in the bombing of oil facilities and pipelines [in Iraq] built on the premise that privatisation is coming." - Mr Falah Aljibury An Iraqi-born oil industry consultant, Falah Aljibury, says he took part in the secret meetings in California, Washington and the Middle East. He described a State Department plan for a forced coup d'etat. Mr Aljibury himself told Newsnight that he interviewed potential successors to Saddam Hussein on behalf of the Bush administration. The industry-favoured plan was pushed aside by a secret plan, drafted just before the invasion in 2003, which called for the sell-off of all of Iraq's oil fields. The new plan was crafted by neo-conservatives intent on using Iraq's oil to destroy the Opec cartel through massive increases in production above Opec quotas. Former Shell Oil USA chief stalled plans to privatise Iraq's oil industry The sell-off was given the green light in a secret meeting in London headed by Ahmed Chalabi shortly after the US entered Baghdad, according to Robert Ebel. Mr Ebel, a former Energy and CIA oil analyst, now a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told Newsnight he flew to the London meeting at the request of the State Department. Mr Aljibury, once Ronald Reagan's "back-channel" to Saddam, claims that plans to sell off Iraq's oil, pushed by the US-installed Governing Council in 2003, helped instigate the insurgency and attacks on US and British occupying forces. "Insurgents used this, saying, 'Look, you're losing your country, you're losing your resources to a bunch of wealthy billionaires who want to take you over and make your life miserable," said Mr Aljibury from his home near San Francisco. "We saw an increase in the bombing of oil facilities, pipelines, built on the premise that privatisation is coming." .... |
The article continues with how the oil companies balked at the privatization scheme, citing the chaos in Russia, resulting from the same attempt there, as a potent example.
And you, my faithful reader, STILL don't think the Bush Administration knew about the 9/11 plans and and then stepped aside to let it happen?!
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Peace
American Friends Service Committee has released a short video, WAGE PEACE, which emphasizes the loss of American and Iraqi lives. It's not terribly sophisticated content-wise, which makes it perfect to pass around to family and friends. Check it out and pass it on. AFSC also has a Wage Peace Bracelet for sale (see image above). Finally, you can sign their Iraq Peace Petition which they will be delivering to Congress and President Bush-war this Saturday (the second anniversary of our illegal invasion of Iraq).
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March 16, 2005
Sounds like we're getting very close to peak oil production (snippet):
Combine skyrocketing oil prices with the falling U.S. dollar and it looks like the next "recession" will make the Depression of the 1930's look like a walk in the park. Let's hope the Rapturists residing in the White House come to their senses soon.
Union of Concerned Scientists uses a baby smoking a cigarette to qualify the inaccuracies of a new ad released by Auto Alliance. Check it out.
| "Those liberals who continue to inhale the intoxicant of bipartisanship had best sober up because Guantanamo beckons." - - - Carolyn Kay, Make Them Accountable |
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Slipping into the next recession
Sounds like we're getting very close to peak oil production (snippet):
| ...."We have to face facts. The International Energy Agency has raised demand estimates to 84.3 million barrels per day and that exactly equals worldwide daily consumption," said analyst Phil Flynn in a newsletter. "We're at total equilibrium." "OPEC has reached its production limits," Algerian Oil Minister Chakib Khelil said over the weekend. "If it came to a crunch, it has capacity for 1 million barrels." The Energy Information Administration, the statistics arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, said Tuesday that OPEC's spare capacity fell to 1 million to 1.5 million barrels a day in February, not enough to cover a loss of Iraqi output. The EIA and the International Energy Agency, which monitors oil market conditions for the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, both raised their forecasts for 2005 oil demand last week, drawing the picture of a market in which consumption will continue to strain supply. After weeks of oil at above $50 a barrel, Washington is calling on producers to take steps to lower the price. The White House complained Tuesday that rising energy costs were a drag on the U.S. economy. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the administration was telling oil producers "about the importance of acting in ways that support our growing global economy and our growing U.S. economy." |
Combine skyrocketing oil prices with the falling U.S. dollar and it looks like the next "recession" will make the Depression of the 1930's look like a walk in the park. Let's hope the Rapturists residing in the White House come to their senses soon.
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Baby Smokes
Union of Concerned Scientists uses a baby smoking a cigarette to qualify the inaccuracies of a new ad released by Auto Alliance. Check it out.
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March 15, 2005
This is what happens to the sons of the Iraqi men who were slaughtered by our soldiers in Iraq. These kids would be in school right now, learning their A-B-C's and flirting with the girls if Bush-war hadn't previously snorted cocaine and drank himself silly only to wake up thinking that God wanted him to demolish the Middle East. Shame on us for allowing such a mentally deranged anti-homo sapien to purloin the highest political office on Earth.
At least one seat of the Supreme Court will likely be up for grabs during the next four years. CampusProgress is following the details for you and will keep you well-informed:
Tim at Democratic Left Infoasis found a nice article by Stan Cox who explains why Bill Moyers' rationale for blaming Christian Fundamentalists, who are currently in power, for our planet's woes just doesn't go far enough; we also need to consider the the concepts of capitalism and growth (snippet):
Are we going to overrun the planet's resources and wipe ourselves out in the process? I'm not sure... Bush-war appears to have his population/growth-control solutions: killing us off with un(der) regulated environmental protection laws, continuous war/mass murder, pricing us out of health care, inadequate financial support for treating world health epidemics (e.g. AIDS), support of murderous regimes, depleted uranium, and support of global terrorism through a faux war on its instigators. That's right, President George W. Bush-war, saviour of our species.
| "The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." - - - James Madison. Federalist 47 |
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Boys shouldn't be men
This is what happens to the sons of the Iraqi men who were slaughtered by our soldiers in Iraq. These kids would be in school right now, learning their A-B-C's and flirting with the girls if Bush-war hadn't previously snorted cocaine and drank himself silly only to wake up thinking that God wanted him to demolish the Middle East. Shame on us for allowing such a mentally deranged anti-homo sapien to purloin the highest political office on Earth.
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Message to Our Youngest Voters
At least one seat of the Supreme Court will likely be up for grabs during the next four years. CampusProgress is following the details for you and will keep you well-informed:
| ...Judicial nominations have been a contentious issue over the past several years of the Bush administration and continue to heat up with an impending Supreme Court vacancy looming. The courts belong to all Americans, not just the party in power, which is why we care about judicial nominations. New appointees will help decide, among many other things, whether Americans have a constitutional right to privacy, whether the federal government will be allowed to protect our air and water, and whether Americans can count on the enforcement of our civil rights laws. Federal judges are appointed to their positions for life, which means that unlike the President, who will leave office in four years, the judges appointed today will have an impact on YOU for the next forty years. Filibuster opponents are now trying to destroy Senate traditions. Some Senate Republicans are now threatening to use a procedural maneuver to get rid of the filibuster with regard to judicial nominations. This plan has been dubbed the �nuclear option� because it would have disastrous consequences for the U.S. Senate and our democracy. The filibuster � or the right to engage in �extended debate� � is one of the defining characteristics of the Senate. In order to end debate on a piece of legislation or a nominee, at least 60 senators need to agree to move forward to a vote. Without 60 votes to end debate, the legislation or the nominee is �filibustered.� The filibuster serves as an important element of the checks and balances system. It prevents a partisan majority from ignoring the views of the minority party, promoting bipartisan compromise and moderation. President Bush is promoting confrontation, not consultation, on judicial nominees. President Bush jettisoned the past practice of consulting with the opposing party in the Senate on judicial nominations. In a transparent effort to pack the federal courts with judges he hopes will advance his political agenda, the President instead went the confrontational route during his first term. He has continued along that route this term. On February 14, pursuing what some editorialists have called a �scorched earth tactic,� he renominated a slate of controversial, out-of-the-mainstream appeals court nominees, including seven who the Senate filibustered last session. Here are some of the nominees: Former Interior Department Solicitor William Myers III has a lengthy record of weakening environmental protections and disregarding American Indian tribal rights in favor of the grazing and mining industries, and has compared federal law protecting the environment to the �tyranny� of King George III over the colonies. Terrence Boyle, currently a North Carolina Federal District Court Judge, has a record of hostility toward civil rights and disability rights. The Fourth Circuit has reversed him more than 150 times � at twice the rate of the average trial judge in the circuit � for ignoring laws protecting individual rights and subverting basic procedural rules. Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen anchors the anti-choice and pro-business wing of the ultra-conservative Texas Supreme Court. She took campaign money from Enron and Halliburton and then voted in their favor when cases involving them came before her. William H. Pryor Jr., Alabama�s former Attorney General, described Roe v. Wade as the �worst abomination of constitutional law in our history.� He also has a virulently anti-gay, anti-environment, and anti-individual rights record. As Attorney General, he sought to eliminate parts of the Clean Water Act, the Violence Against Women Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family Medical Leave Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Janice Rogers Brown, a California Supreme Court Justice nominated to the DC Circuit, has suggested that the Social Security system is unconstitutional and accused senior citizens of �blithely cannibaliz[ing] their grandchildren.� Department of Defense General Counsel William Haynes II was one of the chief architects of the Bush administration�s policies on detainees, which narrowed the legal definition of torture and authorized holding American civilians and others as enemy combatants without access to counsel or civilian courts. A Defense Department investigation concluded that these policies led to the prison abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere. |
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Human Growth Factor
Tim at Democratic Left Infoasis found a nice article by Stan Cox who explains why Bill Moyers' rationale for blaming Christian Fundamentalists, who are currently in power, for our planet's woes just doesn't go far enough; we also need to consider the the concepts of capitalism and growth (snippet):
| ....But, of course, we do have a problem. We have no infinite piles of the stuff (even the renewable stuff) that's needed to turn money into more money. There's a rule that no species can increase its resource exploitation infinitely, and Homo sapiens has not been granted a waiver . Fossil fuels, soil, salmon, and healthy ecosystems are real, and the rules that apply to money -- which is no more real than 'Monopoly' money -- don't apply on planet Earth.... |
Are we going to overrun the planet's resources and wipe ourselves out in the process? I'm not sure... Bush-war appears to have his population/growth-control solutions: killing us off with un(der) regulated environmental protection laws, continuous war/mass murder, pricing us out of health care, inadequate financial support for treating world health epidemics (e.g. AIDS), support of murderous regimes, depleted uranium, and support of global terrorism through a faux war on its instigators. That's right, President George W. Bush-war, saviour of our species.
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March 14, 2005
Jonathan Chait has a very nice explanation about the SCSSC (so-called social security crisis) and how reality just doesn't add up to Bush-war's rhetoric.
Juan Cole, using the British government as just one example, explains why the U.S.-imposed requirement for a 2/3 majority in order to form a government is actually anti-democratic and counter to the will of the Iraqis, and might likely lead to a downward spiral towards civil war (snippet):
The Rant
Thanks, Larry C., for the lead.
In anticipation of next weekend's anti-war marches across the United States, today I'm posting STATEMENTS OF CONSCIENCE AGAINST WAR AND REPRESSION
I'm marching in L.A. this Saturday. On Sunday our local Democratic Club is holding a peaceful demonstration at the busiest corner of a major shopping center. We (a group of about a dozen local citizens) will be holding signs (which we made this past weekend) and passing out leaflets. We'll probably be seen by several thousand mall shoppers and will probably get flipped off a lot (it's a relatively conservative area of Los Angeles) but I think we'll touch a lot of nerves and hopefully make some people in this sleepy bedroom community wake up to the horrific actions of the Bush-war administration.
Jonathan Chait has a very nice explanation about the SCSSC (so-called social security crisis) and how reality just doesn't add up to Bush-war's rhetoric.
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Extreme Democracy
Juan Cole, using the British government as just one example, explains why the U.S.-imposed requirement for a 2/3 majority in order to form a government is actually anti-democratic and counter to the will of the Iraqis, and might likely lead to a downward spiral towards civil war (snippet):
| ....Do you note how if a party has 51% in this parliamentary system, it automatically gets to form a government? So why is the United Iraqi Alliance, the coalition of Shiite parties that can count on about 53% of the members of the Iraqi parliament to vote for it in the wake of the Jan. 30 elections, not able to form a government? If it were the Labor Party in the UK, which is the parliament described above, Ibrahim Jaafari would already be Prime Minister. The US spiked the Iraqi parliamentary process by putting in a provision that a government has to be formed with a 2/3s majority. This provision is a neo-colonial imposition on Iraq. The Iraqi public was never asked about it. And, it is predictably producing gridlock, as the UIA is forced to try to accommodate a party that should be in the opposition in the British system, the Kurdistan Alliance. Likewise, in France, a simple majority of the National Assembly can dismiss the cabinet. Likewise in India. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the 2/3s super-majority is characteristic of only one nation on earth, i.e. American Iraq. I fear it is functioning in an anti-democratic manner to thwart the will of the majority of Iraqis, who braved great danger to come out and vote. It is all to the good if the Shiites and Kurds are forced to come to a set of hard compromises. But not everything can be decided at the beginning of the process. Some issues (Kirkuk is a good example) must be decided by a long-term negotiation. I perceive this latest Kurdish demarche to consist in a power play where they grab all sorts of concessions on a short-term basis, just because they are needed to form a government, even though no national consensus has emerged on these issues. I think there is also a real chance that Iraqis will turn against the idea of democracy if it only produces insecurity, violence, and gridlock. |
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That America is Gone
The Rant
| American Hitler - By DOUG THOMPSON - Mar 8, 2005, 07:18 A cancer infects this country, spreading like wildfire, devouring the flesh of our society and threatening to turn what was once the greatest nation on Earth into a rotting corpse of political corruption, greed and abuse of power. This cancer has a name: George W. Bush. Yeah, yeah. Call me a Bush-basher if you want. I don�t give a damn. If you still support this madman check yourself into the nearest psychiatric hospital for shock therapy. Somebody has to stand up against this American Hitler, this destroyer of freedom, this Devil with a drawl. I�ve watched a lot of dangerous men pass through the portals of politics in my lifetime: Demagogues like Senator Joseph W. McCarthy, Racists like Alabama Governor (and Presidential candidate) George Wallace and Former Klu Klux Klan leader David Duke (another Presidential candidate) as well as tail-chasing, vendetta-driven despots like Bill Clinton. But none, repeat none, compare to the fear mongering, hatred, homophobia and anti-American actions of Dubya and his klavern of fanatics who are hell-bent to destroy the Constitution, personal freedoms, civil liberties and just about anything else that provide the foundation of this place called America. No President has done more to destroy freedom in America. His first Heinrich Himmler, the bible-thumping, tight-assed John Ashcroft, threw Americans in jail without cause and denied them due process while ignoring the Constitution with the rights-robbing USA Patriot Act. Bush�s new Himmler, new attorney general Albertto Gonzales, promises to take jack-booted thuggery to new highs, prosecuting citizens for watching dirty movies and pushing for more spying on American citizens while calling the Constitution an �outdated document.� Meanwhile, the brain-fried Republican lemmings who lick Dubya�s ass and boots and proclaim his mythical greatness apparently relish the destruction of America while wrapping themselves in faux-patriotism and claiming that anyone who doesn�t follow their madness in absolute lockstep is un-American and un-patriotic. Horseshit. These people are the real traitors to America and should be treated as such. They have sold out their country in the name of political power and greed, willing to sacrifice what�s best for the nation in order to maintain control and push their narrow-minded, Puritanical agenda on a numb populace. Bush and his fellow Republicans are also traitors to their party, one founded on the principle of less government, responsible spending and states� rights. Together, the Bush White House and his Republican-controlled Congress have created the largest federal bureaucracy in history, pushed the deficit to all-time highs and forced an ever-increasing glut of federal regulations on state governments. They�ve lied to the American people, cheated on the principles established by our forefathers and brought disgrace to this nation on the world stage. International respect for America is at all all-time low, thanks to an Iraq war based on lies and arrogance without limits. Like Hitler, Bush may well go down in history as a mass-murderer. Nobody knows for sure how many innocent Iraqis have died at American hands because the Pentagon hides those figures but the number grows every day. Hell, an Italian hostage negotiator can�t even try to bring back someone from their country without getting gunned down by American troops in Iraq. Thanks to George W. Bush and those who follow him, America is no longer the home of the brave or the land of the free. That America is gone. Maybe, must maybe, it can be reclaimed when the goons, crooks, thieves and traitors who control our country are driven from office. Or maybe it�s too late. Maybe we�ve sat on our collective asses too long while traitors took over our country. Maybe we've been silent too long while American citizens with Arabic last names are rounded up like cattle and sent to concentration camps at Guantanimo Bay. Maybe we should remember these words: because I was not a communist; Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a socialist; Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me-- and there was no one left to speak out for me. The Rev. Martin Niemoller wrote those words in Germany in 1945. An early supporter of Adolph Hitler, he realized, too late, his terrible error. |
Thanks, Larry C., for the lead.
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Not In Our Name
In anticipation of next weekend's anti-war marches across the United States, today I'm posting STATEMENTS OF CONSCIENCE AGAINST WAR AND REPRESSION
| Not In Our Name As George W. Bush is inaugurated for a second term, let it not be said that people in the United States silently acquiesced in the face of this shameful coronation of war, greed, and intolerance. He does not speak for us. He does not represent us. He does not act in our name. No election, whether fair or fraudulent, can legitimize criminal wars on foreign countries, torture, the wholesale violation of human rights, and the end of science and reason. In our name, the Bush government justifies the invasion and occupation of Iraq on false pretenses, raining down destruction, horror, and misery, bringing death to more than 100,000 Iraqis. It sends our youth to destroy entire cities for the sake of so-called democratic elections, while intimidating and disenfranchising thousands of African American and other voters at home. In our name, the Bush government holds in contempt international law and world opinion. It carries out torture and detentions without trial around the world and proposes new assaults on our rights of privacy, speech and assembly at home. It strips the rights of Arabs, Muslims and South Asians in the U.S., denies them legal counsel, stigmatizes and holds them without cause. Thousands have been deported. As new trial balloons are floated about invasions of Syria, or Iran, or North Korea, about leaving the United Nations, about new �lifetime detention� policies, we say not in our name will we allow further crimes to be committed against nations or individuals deemed to stand in the way of the goal of unquestioned world supremacy. Could we have imagined a few years ago that core principles such as the separation of church and state, due process, presumption of innocence, freedom of speech, and habeas corpus would be discarded so easily? Now, anyone can be declared an �enemy combatant� without meaningful redress or independent review by a President who is concentrating power in the executive branch. His choice for Attorney General is the legal architect of the torture that has been carried out in Guant�namo, Afghanistan, and Abu Ghraib. The Bush government seeks to impose a narrow, intolerant, and political form of Christian fundamentalism as government policy. No longer on the margins of power, this extremist movement aims to strip women of their reproductive rights, to stoke hatred of gays and lesbians, and to drive a wedge between spiritual experience and scientific truth. We will not surrender to extremists our right to think. AIDS is not a punishment from God. Global warming is a real danger. Evolution happened. All people must be free to find meaning and sustenance in whatever form of religious or spiritual belief they choose. But religion can never be compulsory. These extremists may claim to make their own reality, but we will not allow them to make ours. Millions of us worked, talked, marched, poll watched, contributed, voted, and did everything we could to defeat the Bush regime in the last election. This unprecedented effort brought forth new energy, organization, and commitment to struggle for justice. It would be a terrible mistake to let our failure to stop Bush in these ways lead to despair and inaction. On the contrary, this broad mobilization of people committed to a fairer, freer, more peaceful world must move forward. We cannot, we will not, wait until 2008. The fight against the second Bush regime has to start now. The movement against the war in Vietnam never won a presidential election. But it blocked troop trains, closed induction centers, marched, spoke to people door to door -- and it helped to stop a war. The Civil Rights Movement never tied its star to a presidential candidate; it sat in, freedom rode, fought legal battles, filled jailhouses -- and changed the face of a nation. We must change the political reality of this country by mobilizing the tens of millions who know in their heads and hearts that the Bush regime�s �reality� is nothing but a nightmare for humanity. This will require creativity, mass actions and individual moments of courage. We must come together whenever we can, and we must act alone whenever we have to. We draw inspiration from the soldiers who have refused to fight in this immoral war. We applaud the librarians who have refused to turn over lists of our reading, the high school students who have demanded to be taught evolution, those who brought to light torture by the U.S. military, and the massive protests that voiced international opposition to the war on Iraq. We affirm ordinary people undertaking extraordinary acts. We pledge to create community to back courageous acts of resistance. We stand with the people throughout the world who fight every day for the right to create their own future. It is our responsibility to stop the Bush regime from carrying out this disastrous course. We believe history will judge us sharply should we fail to act decisively. |
I'm marching in L.A. this Saturday. On Sunday our local Democratic Club is holding a peaceful demonstration at the busiest corner of a major shopping center. We (a group of about a dozen local citizens) will be holding signs (which we made this past weekend) and passing out leaflets. We'll probably be seen by several thousand mall shoppers and will probably get flipped off a lot (it's a relatively conservative area of Los Angeles) but I think we'll touch a lot of nerves and hopefully make some people in this sleepy bedroom community wake up to the horrific actions of the Bush-war administration.
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March 11, 2005
Here is the new list of the world's richest people. Note all the Waltons (owners of Wal-mart) crowded around #'s 10-14.
These are the Democratic/Independent Senators who voted for passage of the Bankruptcy bill yesterday:
Joe Biden (D-Delaware) Commander-in-Chief
Tom Carper (D-Delaware) Captain
Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska)
Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota)
Max Baucus (D-Montana)
Evan Bayh (D-Indiana)
Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico)
Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia)
Kent "the Kernel" Conrad (D-North Dakota)
Dan Inouye (D-Hawaii)
Jim Jeffords (I-Vermont)
Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin)
Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana)
Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas)
Bill Nelson (D-Florida)
Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas)
Harry Reid (D-Nevada) [minority leader]
Ken Salazar (D-Colorado)
Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan)
These people are traitors to the Democratic Party.
So, let's see:
- Democratic Leadership owned by corporate special interests (see above)
- Neverending $100B/year war in Iraq
- Reduced civil liberties via Patriot Act
- Bankruptcy laws stiffened for working people, relaxed for corporations
- Federal deficit fueling impending collapse of the dollar
- American citizens no longer respected around the world
- Oil/gasoline prices on verge of spiraling up permanently
- Tort reform laws reduce citizens' recourse for legal compensation
- FCC continues support of reduction in independent media
- Regulations controlling environmental polluters relaxed
- Public Education simultaneously becoming costlier and of lower quality
- U.S. transportation infrastructure crumbling
- U.S. military sucking up funds for social programs
- Tax rates increasing for lower/middle class, decreasing for upper class
- I could go on all day, but you get the picture...
What happened to my country?? It must be time to look for another.
In a (carefully choreographed as ususal) townhall meeting yesterday in Montgomery, Alabama, the Bush-war was talking to a funeral home owner about the benefits of a thrift savings-type retirement account (emphasis added):
Hey, Republicans! Wake up, your next-to-god leader, who does no wrong, just admitted that his deficits are making U.S. government bonds unstable! This really isn't a big deal unless you realize that in a not-even-worst-case scenario it (continued deficits) could lead to world-wide financial market collapse and massive depressions. (Tip to dKos for the lead.)
I never imagined this (snippet):
The good news is that PDA might pick up the carelessly dropped ball:
I donated a significant amount of $ to MoveOn leading up to the 2004 election. Since then they have fallen comparatively silent, apparently having gotten to big for their britches? Sayonara, MoveOn.
It's stuff LIKE THIS (video) that gives landmines a bad name. But as long as Bush-war and his gang continue the inhuman conviction that darker-skinned people are less valuable than his lily-white racist crowd, nothing will get done to remove these weapons of terror. HERE'S the main web site. (Tip to James at Left End of the Dial.)
The Anti-Christ List
Here is the new list of the world's richest people. Note all the Waltons (owners of Wal-mart) crowded around #'s 10-14.
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Time to update my resume and passport and surf foreign consulates
These are the Democratic/Independent Senators who voted for passage of the Bankruptcy bill yesterday:
Joe Biden (D-Delaware) Commander-in-Chief
Tom Carper (D-Delaware) Captain
Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska)
Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota)
Max Baucus (D-Montana)
Evan Bayh (D-Indiana)
Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico)
Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia)
Kent "the Kernel" Conrad (D-North Dakota)
Dan Inouye (D-Hawaii)
Jim Jeffords (I-Vermont)
Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin)
Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana)
Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas)
Bill Nelson (D-Florida)
Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas)
Harry Reid (D-Nevada) [minority leader]
Ken Salazar (D-Colorado)
Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan)
These people are traitors to the Democratic Party.
So, let's see:
- Democratic Leadership owned by corporate special interests (see above)
- Neverending $100B/year war in Iraq
- Reduced civil liberties via Patriot Act
- Bankruptcy laws stiffened for working people, relaxed for corporations
- Federal deficit fueling impending collapse of the dollar
- American citizens no longer respected around the world
- Oil/gasoline prices on verge of spiraling up permanently
- Tort reform laws reduce citizens' recourse for legal compensation
- FCC continues support of reduction in independent media
- Regulations controlling environmental polluters relaxed
- Public Education simultaneously becoming costlier and of lower quality
- U.S. transportation infrastructure crumbling
- U.S. military sucking up funds for social programs
- Tax rates increasing for lower/middle class, decreasing for upper class
- I could go on all day, but you get the picture...
What happened to my country?? It must be time to look for another.
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What budget deficit? Oh... THAT budget deficit.
In a (carefully choreographed as ususal) townhall meeting yesterday in Montgomery, Alabama, the Bush-war was talking to a funeral home owner about the benefits of a thrift savings-type retirement account (emphasis added):
| ....THE PRESIDENT: Let me ask you something about the Thrift Savings Plan. This is a Thrift Savings Plan that has a mix of stocks and bonds? MS. WEBSTER: Yes, sir. THE PRESIDENT: Now, how hard was that to learn how to do that? MS. WEBSTER: And I chose the safe plan, government bonds. (Laughter.) THE PRESIDENT: That's all right. Well, not so safe, unless we fix the deficit. But other than that -- (laughter). We're fixing the deficit. (Applause.).... |
Hey, Republicans! Wake up, your next-to-god leader, who does no wrong, just admitted that his deficits are making U.S. government bonds unstable! This really isn't a big deal unless you realize that in a not-even-worst-case scenario it (continued deficits) could lead to world-wide financial market collapse and massive depressions. (Tip to dKos for the lead.)
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| "Can anyone name even one thing the Bush administration has done this year � or is proposing to do � that would benefit ordinary workers? Do they even pretend to care any more?" - - - Kevin Drum |
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Time to Move On from MoveOn?
I never imagined this (snippet):
| ....With a network of more than 3 million "online activists," the MoveOn leadership has decided against opposing the American occupation of Iraq. During the recent bloody months, none of MoveOn's action alerts have addressed what Americans can do to help get the U.S. military out of that country. Likewise, the MoveOn.org website has continued to bypass the issue -- even after Rep. Lynn Woolsey and two dozen cosponsors in the House of Representatives introduced a resolution in late January calling for swift removal of all U.S. troops from Iraq. That resolution would seem to be a natural peg for the kind of kinetic activism that established MoveOn's reputation. A movement serious about ending U.S. military activities in Iraq could use the resolution as a way to cut through political tap dances and pressure members of Congress to take a stand. Down the road, generating grassroots support for a get-out-of-Iraq resolution has potential to clear a congressional pathway for measures cutting off funds for the war. But, tragically, MoveOn's leadership is having none of it. Over a period of recent weeks, the word "Iraq" appeared on the MoveOn.org home page only in a plug for a documentary released last year. Inches away, a blurb has been telling the website's visitors: "Support Our Troops: Contribute your frequent-flyer miles so that American troops can get home." (But not stay home.) Many soldiers are returning to the killing grounds of Iraq, while a growing number are vocally opposed to this war. Why won't MoveOn "support our troops" by supporting a pullout of our troops from Iraq? "We believe that there are no good options in Iraq," MoveOn.org's executive director, Eli Pariser, told me. "We're seeing a broad difference of opinion among our members on how quickly the U.S. should get out of Iraq. As a grassroots-directed organization, we won't be taking any position which a large portion of our members disagree with." .... |
The good news is that PDA might pick up the carelessly dropped ball:
| ...When a large progressive organization takes the easy way and makes peace with war, the abdication of responsibility creates a vacuum. Ironically, a group that became an Internet phenom by recognizing and filling a void is now creating one. And other groups are bound to emerge to fill it. Among the emerging organizations is Progressive Democrats of America (www.pdamerica.org), a fledgling national group with an activist focus on the Iraq war that is laudably straightforward. "We're organizing a new campaign in every Congressional District we can to call for the end of funding for war and occupation, and for the transfer of reconstruction assistance to Iraqis themselves," says Tim Carpenter of PDA. He contends that "public pressure can awaken Congress to an opposition role." War in Iraq requires continual funding, of course, so President Bush's new supplemental boost of $80 billion in war appropriations has been moving through Congress in recent days. Tacitly accepting the war's continuation, MoveOn declined to take a stand against the essence of congressional backing for the war -- the money that keeps paying for it. Meanwhile, PDA launched an effort against the $80 billion; the organizing included a National Call-In Day aimed at members of Congress on March 10.... |
I donated a significant amount of $ to MoveOn leading up to the 2004 election. Since then they have fallen comparatively silent, apparently having gotten to big for their britches? Sayonara, MoveOn.
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Something for soccer moms to ponder before voting for Republicans
It's stuff LIKE THIS (video) that gives landmines a bad name. But as long as Bush-war and his gang continue the inhuman conviction that darker-skinned people are less valuable than his lily-white racist crowd, nothing will get done to remove these weapons of terror. HERE'S the main web site. (Tip to James at Left End of the Dial.)
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WTF?
Why you shouldn't carelessly crash into a car filled with old ladies (audio)
B.S.-o-Matic (interactive)
One reason for using protection (video)
Human Clock
History of Garbage
Copper Clapper Caper (video of skit with Jack Webb on the Tonight Show)
Personality Disorder Test
Milkshake (video)
Weather Paintings
Numa Numa pixelated (video)
Shoot some hoops (game)
Robot Dinosaurs (video)
Philosophers for Dummies
The 10 greatest rock'n'roll myths
Their Circular Life (interactive)
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FRIDAY FUN
Why you shouldn't carelessly crash into a car filled with old ladies (audio)
B.S.-o-Matic (interactive)
One reason for using protection (video)
Human Clock
History of Garbage
Copper Clapper Caper (video of skit with Jack Webb on the Tonight Show)
Personality Disorder Test
Milkshake (video)
Weather Paintings
Numa Numa pixelated (video)
Shoot some hoops (game)
Robot Dinosaurs (video)
Philosophers for Dummies
The 10 greatest rock'n'roll myths
Their Circular Life (interactive)
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March 10, 2005
Manuel Valenzuela has written a long and intense essay on the takeover of America ("Murka") by the Christian Fundamentalists. It is a bit long (it had to be split into two parts) but it is a well-written, stylish, pertinent, scary, and oh-so-true account of our nation's current spiral into the darkness of an Evil Empire. Set aside about 20 minutes one day soon and read this masterpiece. (Republicans: You'll probably need about 2 hours.)
Part I is here and part II is here.
About your Savior:
That's about as sensible as any other "real" description I've ever seen.
The United States of Murka
Manuel Valenzuela has written a long and intense essay on the takeover of America ("Murka") by the Christian Fundamentalists. It is a bit long (it had to be split into two parts) but it is a well-written, stylish, pertinent, scary, and oh-so-true account of our nation's current spiral into the darkness of an Evil Empire. Set aside about 20 minutes one day soon and read this masterpiece. (Republicans: You'll probably need about 2 hours.)
Part I is here and part II is here.
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God
About your Savior:
| God is love, and watches over each and every human being on Earth to make sure he or she has a happy, successful life. Unfortunately, God's Earth shattering powers of supreme might are easily thwarted by people not believing in Him, so He cannot make some people happy. God has been known to use his Earth shattering powers of supreme might in the past, in huge demonstrations of how much He loves each and every person. Some examples are documented carefully in the Bible. Examples include: Flooding the world, burning cities to the ground, and causing plagues, famine, and swarms of locusts to attack people. God, although one single entity, is actually three different things at the same time. God is comprised of The Father (Daddy), The Holy Ghost (Mommy), and The Son, Jesus (Dennis the Menace). God was not always comprised of Jesus, He was comprised of matter in various unknowable states. He, however, one day decided to throw Jesus in on a whim. Jesus adds flavour. God likes people to worship and sing to Him. The best way to worship God is to pray for stuff you want, although karaoke also works. Asking for a new car, a new house, or for your ex-boyfriend to die are completely acceptable things to pray for. God hears all prayers and does His best to fulfill all of them. If you don't believe in God, then you must believe in Satan. Satan is an angel created by God to do stuff for Him because God is lazy. Though Satan did a bad job and was fired, so now lives in Hell, where he makes a wicked goat cheese and basil panini. Because God is pure love, anybody, even good people, who don't believe in Him are forced into eternal suffering in Hell. However, evil selfish people can believe in God and get into Heaven because God loves them. God loves everybody equally, He even loves the people He has condemned to burn forever. If you have any questions about God, you can consult the Bible because the Bible was written by God directly and given to humans. God even translated the Bible for everybody in later years, though the bible industry saw this as anti-competitive, and proceeded to file a class action lawsuit against God. |
That's about as sensible as any other "real" description I've ever seen.
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March 9, 2005
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Arianna H. really says it so much better than I can:
The final vote will most likely be pretty much along party lines: Republicans: "Oh, yeah, that was great!" Democrats: "Oh, shit, this is never going to end!"
What can one say, except: we Americans apaprently really do like to get reamed in the ass! And the Republican Leadership really enjoys doing the reaming. It's a match made in Heaven!
Lookie here! A Democratic Congressperson has woken up for a brief spell.
Theodore E. Lang's view of loyalty and patriotism and the tyrants currently occupying the White House (snippet):
There's much more to this abrasive but thought-provoking rant against our totalitarian government. I recommend the entire article.
Brian Cloughley analyzes how Americans value the lives of non-Americans in light of the recent cold-blooded murder by American troops in Iraq of an Italian intelligence officer who had helped in the release of an Italian hostage (snippet):
The twisting of American minds begins in school and is perpetuated by the corporate/government-run U.S. media. Most times it is subtle but nevertheless it is omnipresent. I know, I am also a victim of it, and only by exposing myself to the rest of the world through travel and untarnished media have I learned to appreciate the equal value of all lives. The fact that our country undervalues the worth of foreign lives makes us less valuable to the rest of the world.
Sean Bomb
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
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Thanks, Congress. NOT.
Arianna H. really says it so much better than I can:
| THE SENATE OPENS FIRE ON U.S. CONSUMERS By Arianna Huffington U.S. consumers and freed Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena found themselves in the same position this week: under fire from those put in place to protect them. For Sgrena, the bloody barrage came from jittery U.S. soldiers. For consumers, it was jaded U.S. senators who pulled the trigger, about to pass a bankruptcy bill so hostile to ordinary American families that it could only have come about in a place as corrupt, cynical and unmoored from reality as Washington, D.C. In a normal world, those elected to represent the interests of the people would have fought for bankruptcy legislation that would, well, represent the interests of the people. But not in Beltway Bizarroland. Instead of cracking down on predatory lending practices, closing loopholes that favor the wealthy, and strengthening the safety net for working people, single mothers and elderly Americans struggling to recover from a financial setback, the Senate put together a nasty little bill that reads like a credit industry wish list. Rubbing salt in the wound, Sen. Charles Grassley, the bill's chief sponsor, labeled it the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005--even though it does nothing to prevent bankruptcy abuse or protect consumers. So what does the bill do? It makes it harder for average people to file for bankruptcy protection; it makes it easier for landlords to evict a bankrupt tenant; it endangers child support payments by giving a wider array of creditors a shot at post-bankruptcy income; it allows millionaires to shield an unlimited amount of value in homes and asset protection trusts; it makes it more difficult for small businesses to reorganize, while opening new loopholes for the Enrons of the world; it allows creditors to provide misleading information; and it does nothing to reign in lending abuses that frequently turn manageable debt into unmanageable crises. Even in failure, ordinary Americans do not get a level playing field. Credit card companies have been feverishly lobbying for this legislation for nearly a decade--and it looks like the $34 million the finance and credit industries have contributed to political campaigns since 1996 is finally about to pay off. On Tuesday, the cloture vote on the bill was 69 to 31. The House passed similar legislation last year and GOP leaders are hoping to bypass the conference committee deadlocks that have derailed similar measures in the past and have the bill on President Bush's desk in short order. The president, well aware that credit card giant MBNA is one of the Republican Party's largest donors, has promised to sign the bill as soon as someone hands him a pen. Make no mistake, the inequitable nature of the bill--bending over backwards to help the credit card industry while sticking it to American working people who fall on hard times--is no accident. Time and again over the last week, the Senate shot down amendments that would have made the bill a bit less mean-spirited. They denied proposals that would have made it easier for military veterans, the sick and the elderly to qualify for bankruptcy protection. They even rejected an amendment that would have put a 30 percent ceiling on the interest rates credit card companies can charge. Thirty percent--that's more than Paulie Walnuts charges. But 74 U.S. senators--including John Kerry, Harry Reid, Barack Obama and Dick Durbin--clearly thought that wasn't high enough. Quick, somebody send those guys a Bible bookmarked to Deuteronomy 23:19: "Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother." For years, credit-card companies have been claiming that tougher laws are needed to reign in high-flying customers using bankruptcy to game the system. But the truth is that the vast majority of people who file for bankruptcy are middle-class folks who can't pay their bills because they've lost their jobs or been hit with high medical bills or gone through a divorce. Indeed, a recent study by Harvard University found that half of last year's 1.6 million bankruptcies were the result of crushing medical bills. Put another way: Every 30 seconds, someone in this country files for bankruptcy in the wake of a serious illness. How's that for a shocking stat? Here's another: Three-quarters of the so-called medically bankrupt had health insurance. It just wasn't enough to cover the dramatic rise in health-care costs. But instead of adapting to this harsh new reality, where hardworking, college-educated, middle-class folks can be financially destroyed by a sudden illness, the Senate is about to approve a one-size-fits-all law that treats a family man who has sunk into debt because of a heart attack the same as a con artist who maxes out his MasterCard, then refuses to pay up. Worst of all, the bill does absolutely nothing to protect consumers from the aggressive tactics credit-card companies have devised in recent years--tactics that have proven hugely profitable. Along with sending out over 5 billion solicitations a year, they are constantly developing new ways to stick it to the people they've already lured into the tent. For instance, companies now routinely jack up a cardholder's interest rate when their payment is late--and, presto, a "fixed" 7 percent APR is suddenly transformed into a cash-gobbling 30 percent loan. There has also been an explosion in the fees that credit card companies charge: late fees, balance transfer fees, cash-advance fees, over-the-limit fees. Such fees bring in billions and are partly responsible for the fact that, even as personal bankruptcies in America have steadily increased, so have the profits of credit card companies--which reached a whopping $30 billion last year. So tell me again: Just who is gaming the system? It's one thing for credit card companies to exact their pound of flesh even as their profits soar. But shouldn't we hold our elected officials to a higher standard? The bankruptcy bill is morally bankrupt. And so is any senator who votes for it. |
The final vote will most likely be pretty much along party lines: Republicans: "Oh, yeah, that was great!" Democrats: "Oh, shit, this is never going to end!"
What can one say, except: we Americans apaprently really do like to get reamed in the ass! And the Republican Leadership really enjoys doing the reaming. It's a match made in Heaven!
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Those are fightin' words, Ma'am
Lookie here! A Democratic Congressperson has woken up for a brief spell.
| Dear Michael, Yesterday, Congresswoman Slaughter and I released a report, "Broken Promises: The Death of Deliberative Democracy," meticulously documenting the alarming assault on our democracy as framed in the Constitution. The report is a 47-page indictment of the unprecedented lengths to which the Republicans have abused their power and manipulated the rules in efforts to squelch dissent, to protect their Members from voting on popular measures that their special interests opposed, and to shut down any and all input from the minority side representing half of this great country. Democrats are not second-class citizens, and we will not stand by quietly as Republicans manipulate our very democracy to cram through Congress a partisan agenda that only rewards their campaign donors. Yesterday we exposed them to the world, but in order to bring it all to a screeching halt, we must have the majority. Congress was intended to be the primary check on the Executive Branch, a responsibility that the Republicans have not only abdicated themselves, but have done everything in their power to prevent us from fulfilling either. For Republicans, democracy and the Constitution are valuable only to the extent they can be used to ensure Republican power, and are to be shunted aside the moment they might get in the way. This is the single most important reason we need to have a Democratic majority in the House - to set the agenda, and restore a government where President Bush and Tom DeLay are not free to run rampant without fear of repercussions. As we show in our report, in 10 short years House Republicans have become the most arrogant, unethical and corrupt majority in modern Congressional history. Stifling deliberation and quashing dissent in the House of Representatives has become the standard operating procedure. Democrats MUST attain the majority in House to bring all of this to an abrupt end. No longer will Republicans be able to marginalize dissent, cover up President Bush's scandals and their own ethical abuses, or manipulate the process to kill legislation that the American people desperately want. Please make a secure contribution today so that we can continue our efforts to recruit candidates, hold the Republicans accountable for their records, and establish the conditions to restore a Democratic majority in America. https://secure.dccc.org/default.aspx?id=democracy Sincerely, Nancy Pelosi House Democratic Leader |
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"No one wants to be an outsider"
Theodore E. Lang's view of loyalty and patriotism and the tyrants currently occupying the White House (snippet):
| ....Americans would never think that badly of our government in order to confront it and remove it as both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution provide. And we will again wrongfully attack, kill and maim the people of two more nations in �self-defense,� just like Hitler! And we�ll do it not only by being repeatedly lied to by our own government as always, but we will invade with that very same �friendly ally� that has continually spied on US. We�ll do it with Israel, a nation that attacked, killed and maimed US military personal, re-sold secrets we gave them gratis for cash profits to a nation now purportedly our greatest future enemy, and with an ally that obtained its nuclear armaments and capability by stealing them from US. But pointing this out makes you a Jew-hater! Pointing out that our politicians are war mongers and criminals, and seen as such by the whole world, including members of our own press and individuals at high levels within our own government, brands you as a traitor. It demonstrates that you do not support our troops! You are disloyal to those risking their lives for you. But is that what they are really doing? Or are they merely dutifully serving the people of our nation by risking their lives and limbs for the worst form of life in God�s universe; namely, the worst of totalitarian socialist society that has risen to the pinnacle of political leadership? Aren�t they dutifully and professionally just following orders, especially those orders involving the mass carpet bombing of innocent civilian targets, torturing citizens, and machine-gun murdering whole families? This is guts and glory? I�m sorry, but I�ve asked you to think. Please forgive my crassness in being disloyal to my �country,� the handful of criminals, traitors and mass murderers who rule the ground beneath US. I can see how this rant can not only be misconstrued as being unpatriotic and unwarranted, but also very disconcerting and distracting as well. Please, do not allow me to take up any more of your time. Go on with what you were doing � wave those cute little flags and paste those ribbons on the butt of your SUV. Just don�t spend too much money buying those commercially available badges of loyalty and patriotism.... |
There's much more to this abrasive but thought-provoking rant against our totalitarian government. I recommend the entire article.
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The value of life
Brian Cloughley analyzes how Americans value the lives of non-Americans in light of the recent cold-blooded murder by American troops in Iraq of an Italian intelligence officer who had helped in the release of an Italian hostage (snippet):
| ....Iraqi lives do not matter. Just as in Hitler's Germany the Nazis referred to various sections of the population (Jews, gypsies and other 'antisocial elements') as the "untermenschen" -- the sub-humans -- so do US troops and the crazed bigots who bay for blood refer to Iraqis as "ragheads" -- the sub-humans. The Nazi regime was founded and fostered by people who thought along the lines of "Too bad the US troops didn't shoot her in the head and been done with trouble making people like her . . .". If people are trouble-makers, well, don't try to live with them ; don't try to understand them ; don't try to treat them as human beings: just shoot them. Or torture them. Or both. What the hell? The reasoning is that they are different to the superior people and therefore they should not be allowed to exist. The attitude of millions of Americans is exactly that of the German supporters of fascism in the 1930s and early 1940s. They were encouraged to think of themselves as the Master Race and there were whole nations whose populations could be treated as inferiors, and they took pride in doing just that. The present wave of hysterical intolerance in the US makes the McCarthy years of persecution look benign, because the idea has been planted by Bush and his people that US citizens are superior in every possible way. There can be no admission of frailty, and no acceptance of equality. International law and treaties are ignored or treated with contempt, and human dignity has become irrelevant. Hysterical ultra-nationalism is thriving and gathering pace. The director of the slippery slope to totalitarianism has beckoned his citizens, and they are responding with enthusiasm to his encouragement. War crimes are being committed by US troops and spooks on an extraordinary scale all round the world, but the biggest war crime is taking place in Washington: it is the twisting of the minds of the American people. |
The twisting of American minds begins in school and is perpetuated by the corporate/government-run U.S. media. Most times it is subtle but nevertheless it is omnipresent. I know, I am also a victim of it, and only by exposing myself to the rest of the world through travel and untarnished media have I learned to appreciate the equal value of all lives. The fact that our country undervalues the worth of foreign lives makes us less valuable to the rest of the world.
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March 8, 2005
Normally I would post this in my weekly FRIDAY FUN, but this is just about the funniest thing I've heard in ages. Some guy runs a red light, crashes into a car filled with old ladies and pays the consequences. Another driver, who is on his cell phone leaving voice mail, describes the scene. (mp3 format)
Bill Moyers has written an article which is based on a lecture he gave upon receiving the Global Environmental Citizen Award from the Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment. It will appear in the paperback edition of his collection Moyers on America, to be published by Anchor Books in June. Here's a tiny excerpt:
I think I'll be able to stand the swarms of locusts better than I can stand the wrath of today's Neocon steamroller.
From the Niagra Falls Reporter:
Running into old ladies
Normally I would post this in my weekly FRIDAY FUN, but this is just about the funniest thing I've heard in ages. Some guy runs a red light, crashes into a car filled with old ladies and pays the consequences. Another driver, who is on his cell phone leaving voice mail, describes the scene. (mp3 format)
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"Welcome to Doomsday"
Bill Moyers has written an article which is based on a lecture he gave upon receiving the Global Environmental Citizen Award from the Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment. It will appear in the paperback edition of his collection Moyers on America, to be published by Anchor Books in June. Here's a tiny excerpt:
| ....Welcome to the Rapture! There are millions of Christians who believe the Bible is literally true, word for word. Some of them�we'll come back to the question of how many� subscribe to a fantastical theology concocted in the nineteenth century by two immigrant preachers who took disparate passages from the Bible and wove them with their own hallucinations into a narrative foretelling the return of Jesus and the end of the world. Google the "Rapture Index" and you will see just how the notion has seized the imagination of many a good and sincere believer (you will also see just where we stand right now in the ticking of the clock toward the culmination of history in the apocalypse). It is the inspiration for the best-selling books in America today�the twelve novels in the Left Behind series by Christian fundamentalist and religious- right warrior Tim LaHaye, a co- founder with Jerry Falwell of the Moral Majority. The plot of the Rapture�the word never appears in the Bible although some fantasists insist it is the hidden code to the Book of Revelation�is rather simple, if bizarre. (The British writer George Monbiot recently did a brilliant dissection of it and I am indebted to him for refreshing my own insights.) Once Israel has occupied the rest of its "biblical lands," legions of the Antichrist will attack it, triggering a final showdown in the valley of Armageddon. As the Jews who have not been converted are burned the Messiah will return for the Rapture. True believers will be transported to heaven where, seated at the right hand of God, they will watch their political and religious opponents writhe in the misery of plagues�boils, sores, locusts, and frogs�during the several years of tribulation that follow. I'm not making this up. Like Monbiot, I read the literature, including The Rapture Exposed, a recent book by Barbara Rossing, who teaches the New Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and America Right or Wrong, by Anatol Lieven, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. On my weekly broadcast for PBS, we reported on these true believers, following some of them from Texas to the West Bank. They are sincere, serious, and polite as they tell you they feel called to help bring the Rapture on as fulfillment of biblical prophecy. To this end they have declared solidarity with Israel and the Jewish settlements and backed up their support with money and volunteers. For them the invasion of Iraq was a warm-up act, predicted in the Book of Revelation, where four angels "bound in the great river Euphrates" will be released "to slay the third part of man." A war with Islam in the Middle East is not something to be feared but welcomed�an essential conflagration on the road to redemption. The last time I Googled it, the Rapture Index stood at 144�approaching the critical threshold when the prophesy is fulfilled, the whole thing blows, the Son of God returns, and the righteous enter paradise while sinners will be condemned to eternal hellfire. What does this mean for public policy and the environment? Listen to John Hagee, pastor of the 17,000- member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, who is quoted in Rossing's book as saying: "Mark it down, take it to heart, and comfort one another with these words. Doomsday is coming for the earth, for the nations, and for individuals, but those who have trusted in Jesus will not be present on earth to witness the dire time of tribulation." Rossing sums up the message in five words that she says are basic Rapture credo: "The world cannot be saved." It leads to "appalling ethics," she reasons, because the faithful are relieved of concern for the environment, violence, and everything else except their personal salvation. The earth suffers the same fate as the unsaved. All are destroyed. How many true believers are there? It's impossible to pin down. But there is a constituency for the End Times. A Newsweek poll found that 36 percent of respondents held the Book of Revelation to be "true prophesy." (A Time/ CNN poll reported that one quarter think the Bible predicted the 9/11 attacks.) Drive across the country with your radio tuned to some of the 1,600 Christian radio stations or turn to some of the 250 Christian TV stations and you can hear the Gospel of the Apocalypse in sermon and song. Or go, as The Toronto Star's Tom Harpur did, to the Florida Panhandle where he came across an all-day conference "at one of the largest Protestant churches I have ever been in," the Village Baptist Church in Destin. The theme of the day was "Left Behind: A Conference on Biblical Prophecy about End Times" and among the speakers were none other than Tim LaHaye and two other leading voices in the religious right today, Gary Frazier and Ed Hindson. Here is what Harpur wrote for his newspaper: I have never heard so much venom and dangerous ignorance spouted before an utterly unquestioning, otherwise normal-looking crowd in my life.... There were stunning statements about humans having been only 6,000 years on Earth and other denials of contemporary geology and biology. And we learned that the Rapture, which could happen any second now, but certainly within the next 40 years, will instantly sweep all the "saved" Americans (perhaps one-half the population) to heaven.... But these fantasies were harmless compared with the hatred against Islam that followed.... |
I think I'll be able to stand the swarms of locusts better than I can stand the wrath of today's Neocon steamroller.
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"Iraq - A Quarterly Report"
From the Niagra Falls Reporter:
| 03/08/05 - - Are you one of the millions of delusional Americans who believe things are "getting better" in Iraq? You can hardly be blamed. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and your own president, George W. Bush, tell you nearly every day that it's so. Our forces captured Saddam Hussein, killed his evil sons, turned the government over to the Iraqi people and oversaw successful elections, right? Things couldn't be going more swimmingly. Unless, of course, you happen to be a U.S. soldier on the ground over there. |