JANE!!

Jane!

Hmmm, Count Zero is my name.

Good morning Christy — I am so glad you got a little lie-in. Good for you. And your rest will only mean more groovy posts for us.

Fitz! I’m reading the sorrow thread.

I’m watching highlights of last night’s Mets game.

Shallow, but fun. They won.

I am in and out right now, cleaning the refrigerator so that it is nice and clean when my wife and son get back this evening.

I deserve an “attaboy!”

attaboy immanentize!

Catching up on 10 days of TIVO’ed Daily Shows and Colbert Reports. Dang, those dudes crack me up. Shaping up to be too hot to be outside today – the weeds get a reprieve.

I’m not reading, but making some ‘cue (recipe to follow in “Chair” thread) and installing new rain barrels.

I have fallen back on Agatha Christie. They’re my palate cleansers. She has such a way of accurately portraying characters in a few deft, short strokes. It’s uncanny.

‘Nother attaboy for imm! Bet you’re a happy li’l housekeeper this morning, huh, with your loves headed home?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/24/us/24nuke.html
I found the NYTimes article about the construction of a new uranium-separation plant troublesome … at least, it’s energy efficient: it only uses 5% of the electricity consumed by comparable existing US plants … I also found it most peculiar that the US was still using WW2 technology of gaseous-diffusion isotope separation … this new plant uses centrifuges like everybody else in the civilized world uses (or attempts to use)

If you can’t sleep some night, stop by this link and watch the money roll by; maybe think of what good could have been done with it, not to mention the lives lost. But then these are just numbers, not real money or lives. Makes sense when none of the decision-makers has any real skin in the game.

http://nationalpriorities.org/…..Itemid=182

It’s 45 minutes until Germany plays in the World Cup, and the Kid is still sleeping. But when he wakes up, he’ll come looking for that game. That brings a smile, all right . . .

Attaboy, Imm!!!

–reading about the same old GOP BS– trying to spin that global warming report, trying to spin Santorum’s WMD claims, trying to spin the SWIFT bank account spying story. All this spinning, I’m getting dizzy.

Imm, or should I say Count, here’s your phantom zero post for all to marvel at!
http://www.wolfblog.net/images/CountZero.jpg

He’s up now – “When is the soccer on, Daddy?”

awwwwh . . .

*ilson46201 says
June 24th, 2006 at 7:15 am

But…but…but that would mean cutting dividends to the shareholders and we might have to cut executive pay and that’s just so unAmerican, y’know? [/snark]

Yeah, our nuke technology is way out of date. Our powerplants are based on submarine reactors and we can’t get around to using some of the more recent designs that don’t necessarily need enriched uranium, or so I heard, back in the 70s (CANDU design).

I’ve just watched “The Dark Side” again, to get the parts I was dozing off on the other night. Plan to read all those interviews at some point this weekend.

This morning I’m trying to catch up on the three posts that popped up here since I last logged onto a computer.

I’m trying to pry myself away from the computer more and make my way outside in the overheated humid air here in DC to take bike rides. (But there is not such thing as Global Warming).

from thinkProgress -

There will be a screening of the movie “The War Tapes” in San Francisco at the Castro Theatre on June 26th at 7:30 pm. “he War Tapes,” winner of the prize for best documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival, offers a soldier’s-eye view of the Iraq war. The film is based on footage recorded by three members of the New Hampshire Army National Guard who were deployed to Iraq in early 2004. If you’re interested, sign up HERE. Feel free to pass it along to family or friends.

twolf1 — WOW!!!

Yes, Lotus, very happy. It gets quiet without them which is good at first, but then gets lonesome.

Tommy Yum. What kind of rainbarrels? Wood or plastic? I was just searching for some for my house here in Massachusetts.

immanentize –

“Count Zero” hmm? I had considered that one in lieu of the klugde; also on the list was ‘Flatliner’.

(referencing William Gibson cyberpunk characters, here fyi)
10101010

have to get this in — ‘digital’ info that spooks me:

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06…..ust_.shtml
…”"People either love it or think it’s a sign of the coming apocalypse,” said Amer Hawatmeh, owner of the new convenience store at 110 E Bearss Ave. who signed up a few hundred customers for Pay By Touch. “But to me, it’s the wave of the future.”

Pay By Touch is one of several speedier payment technologies racing to build enough retailer acceptance to ace out rivals and overcome consumers’ rising concerns over identity theft.

It’s all on the road to payment gurus’ vision of a cashier-free future, in which customers just walk out the door while their transaction is automatically processed.

The big credit card companies, for instance, are deploying a card reader developed by MasterCard International that picks up a radio signal to record a transaction when a card is merely tapped on or waved around a reader at the checkout stand. Other wireless systems in use in other countries use built-in payment system prompts broadcast to and from a cell phone to activate vending machines.

Pay By Touch is a closely held San Francisco startup that uses finger-scan technology to authenticate payment account holders. Backed by $130-million in venture capital money, Pay By Touch recently paid $82-million to acquire BioPay LLC, its biggest finger-scan competitor that has won a following in Europe big enough to authenticate $7-billion worth of transactions to date.

Pay By Touch now has tests under way with several convenience stores, gas stations and supermarket chains around the United States, including Harris Teeter in the Carolinas, Farm Fresh in Virginia and Jewel Osco in Chicago.

“Finger scanning is new, so we want to get people used to it by building acceptance at high-frequency, high-traffic retail locations such as gas stations and grocery stores,” said Leslie Connelly, spokeswoman for Pay By Touch. “We’re also going into places where people who don’t have a banking relationship cash paychecks.”

The company is a bit puzzled by customer privacy fears. After all, they say, how can using a unique fingerprint for identification be riskier to theft than a plastic card, key chain token or account number that’s tapped into a computer or spoken over the phone?

The company pledges not to sell or rent personal information, or access to it. The fingerprint image recorded is not the same as those collected by the federal government or law enforcement.”…
——
sigh…

h/t boingboing.net

I just read a bit of yesterday’s Starazagora exchange.

There’s a diary on Kos by Steven D that goes over all the legalese in Jerome’s SEC case – for those who are interested.

It’s a bit dry, but it clarifies the swift boating of Markos by TNR and the attempt to spread the non-story to other blogs like FDL.

I’m still amazed at the way Yearly Kos threatened the turf of so many people. Who knew a little get together of a group of people with shared interests would cause such a stir? Like I said – amazing.

it’s 6:22pm in Baghdad and the temperature is up to 110ºF but it’s dry heat, unlike Viet-Nam !

…currently awaiting moderation

I was actually just reading an article on canine hierarchy prompted by *ilson’s situation with his pups and adult males…

Otherwise, re-reading The Kite Runner…

Did the same as lotus last night, watching the Dark Side.

Then needed some cleansing escapism, so I rented and have been watching Serenity (for the second time). Let the NRO stiffs have their Star Trek party; this is the real shit.

Reading over at AlterNet:

Are the Dems Committing Vote Fraud?
Posted by Joshua Holland at 12:00 AM on June 24, 2006.

http://alternet.org/blogs/themix/38043/

Discusson in the comments: When should voting for an electable Dem trump voting for the candidate whose progressive principles I agree with?

Grazing at HuffPo – found this amusing, disturbing – ?

“There’s another force that wants to keep us from going to Washington, D.C.,” Jacob said. “It’s the devil is what it is. I don’t want you to print that, but it feels like that’s what it is.”
   Jacob said Thursday that since he decided to run for Congress against Rep. Chris Cannon, Satan has bollixed his business deals, preventing him from putting as much money into the race as he had hoped.

Also this -

A London hospital that holds the copyright to “Peter Pan” has questioned the appropriateness of a series of books that portrays the character Wendy exploring her sexuality.

Also read the previous thread and watched a few Strongbad cartoons – all good Saturday morning laughs,

Leafing through my recipes, waiting for Imm. to come clean my refrigerator (attaboy!), trying very hard to stay away from the computer for a while, as I have guests coming this evening and my house, well, let’s just say I’ve been a naughty little housekeeper this week. My towering stacks of books yet to read are making it difficult to maneuver.

Finishing Lapdogs if I get the chance before tomorrow. Fresh outrage on each page. Also on tap: The Bear’s Toothache by David McPhail (it’s apropos today) and some Harry Potter with the boy. Sending love and light to Jane and her sister. And to you.

WASHINGTON (AP) – A Republican gubernatorial candidate’s call for creation of a forced labor camp for illegal immigrants drew rebukes Friday from two GOP lawmakers, who labeled it a low point in the immigration debate.

Don Goldwater, nephew of the late Sen. Barry Goldwater, caused an international stir this week when EFE, a national news agency of Spain, quoted him as saying he wanted to hold undocumented immigrants in camps to use them “as labor in the construction of a wall and to clean the areas of the Arizona desert that they’re polluting.”

The article described Goldwater’s plan as a “concentration camp” for migrants…
_________

ARBITEN.MACHT.FRIE!!

immanentize:

I’ve settled on plastic. The wood ones look good, but weigh about 100 pounds, and can burst in the winter. Although you also have to empty the plastic ones (and turn them upside down) when temperatures get below freezing, at least this can be accomplished without injury!

Gardener’s Supply is a great place to shop online, and their customer service is phenomenal:

http://www.gardeners.com/on/de…..rch2-Start

I’m reading about the continued insanity of Jason Zengerle over at TNR. It is unbelievable.

And Christy, you’re the best good egg ever.

Here’s something that REALLY pisses me off and was talked about in a thread yesterday.

http://agonist.org/sean_paul_k…..oat_murtha

Can we swiftboat Chimpy?

What mary jane said, by acclamation!

UPDATE

2,516

It’s a number. Just a number. U.S. troop deaths to date in Iraq.

0

It’s a number. Just a number. U.S. troop deaths to date in Iraq caused by Saddam’s WMD.

FYI, Mr. Snow.

Morning Christy. You rock.

Just was reading last night’s wage vs. wealth post, and wondering if anyone anywhere is writing reasonably on the obvious potential for social revolution and/or economic depression, or both?

Probably am thinking this way because my “real” reading of the moment is all civil rights stuff — the Taylor Branch trilogy, John Lewis’ autobiography, Halberstam’s _The Children_, anything I can find by or about James Lawson. And so on…

Fascinating that the Voting Rights Act reauthorization has come up just now when my head is full of the Freedom Rides and mass marches that paid for the voting protections in the first place.

Fascinating that Rove’s new “Voter ID” project is such a throwback to the bad old days.

Just saying.

Enjoy the java.

-J

Just read an article in the new print edition of American Conservative. why is it that the best anti-war writing is in a conservative magazine? The account by an American lieutenant who served in Iraq for two years is highly recommended. It has the ring of truth that no amount of armchair commentary can. The article’s conclusion: the US never intended to train a proper Iraqi army. We were willing to dispense millions of dollars in bribes, but the main effort was only for show. our real purpose was and is to create a crippled state in which our own bases could control the flow of all Middle East oil.

am eating cookie dough because I don’t have that chocolatine (I’m up in Qubec and ‘pain au chocolate’ is not the term used for such sumptuous things) recipe mentioned in earlier comments (yesterday?)

unfortunately I have been reading the apple.com support site because I have been trying to set up an older powerbook … to no avail. I come to FDL for a little reprieve!

Awww, thanks Mary Jane at 23 — it truly has been a grace being able to take care of things here so that Jane would be able to spend all the time she needed with her mom and family. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. :)

Okay, I’m thinking about how the congress just gave itself a 2% pay raise while voting down a raise in the minimum wage (which hasn’t gone up in 10 years), and how the House passed an estate tax repeal provision (let’s hope it dies in the Senate). Can’t believe how brazen and corrupt Congress has become.

And I’m thinking about the disclosure of the government’s snooping into bank records, which is another assault on our civil liberties. Why can’t the Democrats harp on how we’re supposedly fighting for freedom halfway around the world while losing it here at home?

But I’d also like to pass on something Bernie Ward of KGO radio in San Francisco just came up with. He recommends that Democrats who voted for the war say this – ‘I voted for the war, but the war’s over, and we won. Now we’re in an occupation and THAT’S what I’m against. We need to leave.”….. Hussein’s been toppled, no WMDs, let the Iraqis take back Iraq.

I have begun to fear that we’re not going to get the House back in November. There’s so much jockeying for ‘08 on the part of prominent Dems that their message is muddled. Only their ambition comes through clearly. I really hope I’m wrong.

bobw 38 -

Has a certain ring of truth, ‘eh? Moreover, according to Greg Palast, the oil was to be “controlled” be keeping most of it in the ground, to the benefit of many Bush crony parties.

I see several people have been watching “The Dark Side”. Me too. And it reminds me of something that crosses my mind every now and then: It seems to me that the US invasion of Afghanistan is pretty much universally embraced by anyone who has any kind of soapbox.

I am the only one who thinks the invasion was just because the US had to attack somebody after 9/11, whether it made any sense or not?

Christy, You’re a peach too!

Enjoying some strong coffee, scanning online versions of papers and trying to figure out why a group called HillaryNow has decided to protest at an Al Gore book singing. I think the Dems have lost their minds.

The wood ones look good, but weigh about 100 pounds, and can burst in the winter.

Can I just say how much I love the word “burst”?

Saw CNN’s coverage of the “terror plot” in Miami. I believe this has the potential of becoming a race issue due to the compelling interview given by the sister of one of the suspects out of Atlanta. Many have said they believe these people should have just been jailed rather than accused of terrorist activities. The black community could potentially get extremely agitated over these allegations.

I saw on HuffPo that Deadeye’s upset with the LAT and NYT, so maybe Murray Waas has some professional company, after all.

Mostly, I caught up on the Late Nite comments thread, where TRex had fired some snarkon torpedoes at The Corner.

And then I tried commenting before I was awake and screwed up. I’m still not awake, so I hope this one’s OK. I better sneak out to the neighborhood coffee emporium, or I’ll never be able to key in a recipe.

I’ve spent 300 bucks on books over the last two weeks(my birthday money).

I think it was Pach who recommended 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Fight The Right.So I’m reading it now,should be able to finish it today,it’s a nifty little book.

That leaves me a pile of about a dozen books to plow through.All kinds of stuff there,from Derrick Jensen to Willie Nelson,lol.Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth is in that pile too.

I have a serious book addiction.I may need professional help.

I’m thinking I may go to the Farmer’s Market today.My gardens are cooking in the heat.Something ate all my green bean plants and my bell peppers.That leaves me tomatoes,corn,a banana pepper plant,some cukes and some cantalopes and watermelon.My carrots never did come up.I want to can stuff this year,the market may have to pick up my slack.The weather this year is not the norm.It shouldn’t be hitting the high 90’s this early for sustained periods.I’ve worked on this plot of land for a decade,I pay attention to the weather,and something isn’t right.

Had to cut loose my last remaining girl friend this past week.I just couldn’t take it anymore.She’s a firm believer that other women are her competition,and I don’t play that game well.We were friends for over 20 yrs.She also let it “slip”that she had sex with my ex husband while we were engaged,and the night before our wedding.Nice huh?(the ex hubby didn’t last long anyway.Me and the present hubby celebrate our 13th anniversary in August) It’s going to be hard to find other women friends here,I’m not the typical soccer/security mom that seems so prevalent in these parts.(((sigh)))I’m rather ticked off about that.

I’ll try to get back here later and bring my apple cake recipe.Sending more love and hugs to Jane(((huggles)))….

Tommy Yum — thanks — the wet weight of wood is enough to make me go plastic. Thanks very much for the link! Last shelf and two drawers to go….

Morning. Glad I’m not the only one to sleep in today. Sometimes your body needs sleep more than anything else. Even FDL and recipes! *g*

I started reading the Senate Indian Affairs Report yesterday. Yes, I downloaded the 373 page pdf. You know what? It’s not a dry government report. It’s actually a fairly quick read. The style reminds me of the 911 Commission Report. And there’s a ton of footnotes, so I got thru the first 50 pages easily.

It’s fascinating to read the details of how all these scams began. With quotes from testimony from the hearings, and the emails (these guys made it soooo easy to nail them) and a few details filled in by investigators, it’s a great read.

If you’re interested here’s a link: SCIA
scroll down to “In re Tribal Lobbying Matters Report and Recommendations” and click on report.

Christy at 41 –

As my favorite radical nun always says:

Grace and blessings go at least two ways!

Reading my local biweekly newspaper. It’s the only dead tree I have delivered, everything else is digital.

Big news here, a favorite cafe is being shut down over the lease dispute; the number if fishing licenses issued continues to decline; the high school graduation pictures, zoning board has finally come to it’s senses and our Democratic Club has decided that real change comes from locals, not from DC.

That’s all the news from our little valley.

I picked up a copy of Philip Caputo’s An Act of Faith.

Going to dig into that this week. The copy I have, has really small type, I’m going to need a magnifying glass and take it in small doses.

Has anyone read it ?

tommy yum and immanentize, my family in Ireland had rain barrells. I think they were metal but that was a long time ago. We used the water for bathing, hair washing, and the garden. Hair and skin never felt so soft.

“I am the only one who thinks the invasion was just because the US had to attack somebody after 9/11, whether it made any sense or not? “

Dave:

No Dave you’re not, ….Tom Friedman wrote the exact same hting an published it in the NYT…

I’m looking at an Alan Wolfe article over at the Washington Monthly.

Why Conservatives Can’t Govern It’s an interesting piece that argues that Conservatives can’t govern because their own beliefs make it impossible for them.

Asking a Conservative to run the government is like going to a doctor who doesn’t believe in the germ theory of disease, or a plumber who doesn’t believe in pipes or indoor plumbing. They’re great on theory, but disasters at practice – and it’s inherent to their ideology.

Dave @ 42–

You are not alone, Dave. I found this statememt by Deadeye the other day particularly telling…

>>>>>>>>>
If we were to do that it would be devastating from the standpoint of the global war on terror. It would affect what happens in Afghanistan. It would make it difficult for us to persuade the Iranians to give up their aspirations for nuclear weapons. It would threaten the stability of regimes like Musharraf in Pakistan and the Saudis in Saudi Arabia. It is absolutely the worst possible thing we could do at this point. It would be to validate and encourage the terrorists by doing exactly what they want us to do, which is to –

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITI…..ey.access/

>>>>>>>>>>>>
Now the Taliban originated in Pakistan and where did most of the 9/11 crowd come from???
Where did the funding come from?

Why did we bomb poor war-torn Afghanistan?

Here’s the Miami Herald on the ninjas’ bust, and if you click on the logo, some sidebars on the home page.

Trying to decide who’s sillier, Abu or Asscroft.

Maybe I’m under-the-influence of the NRO/Star Trek thread — but I keep re-reading an item from yesterday’s Scripps Howard News Service, (specifically that Cheney said Thursday that he may have to testify at Libby’s trial about his/Cheney’s “state of mind”) … and I picture Spock having to do one of those Vulcan mind meld things. The horror! The horror!

I read about Don Goldwater, the nephew of Barry and candidate for govenor in AZ, saying he wants to build concentration camps for illegal immigrants, force them to build the wall and clean up the desert.

Of course his statements were taken out of context according to Dan.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s…..TE=DEFAULT

AngryOldBroad

Left you a message in the bar a couple threads back . . .

I’m reading the latest Elizabeth Peters book, while watching C-span – Oversight & Investigation Subcommittee Hearings on Pretexting. Both are unbelievable…

Trying to decide who’s sillier, Abu or Asscroft…
is a tough proposition, but after reviewing Abu’s press conference on C-SPAN this morning I can say that he is a very silly man. It was so bad I had to wash it down with Fitzgerald’s introduction from October.

Meant to be up earlier, but woke to find it was 9:30! Sometimes you just have to let your body decide when it’s time to get up…

The more I read about the Miami “terror plot,” the more “sound and fury signifying nothing” it seems to become. We can’t seem to convict anyone who really planned or was involved in Terror plots (well, the Clinton administration could), but we can capture a bunch of wanna-bes. How that all was worthy of a Gonzales presser is beyond me (well, not entirely…”look, look – over here! Pay no attention to that banking transactions thing!”)

Reading lots about our idiot governor – Ehrlich – I won’t get started, because I will never stop. If there is a God, Ehrlich will be taking his bat and his ball and going home at the end of his term (which pretty much describes his not-so-nature attitude toward governing), and good riddance!

Recipes at the ready!

Peterr at #62,thank you.I am the Black Sheep,always have been.I know why,but it’s a very long tale,lol.

Glad to help, imm.

TRex, now use the word “burst” in a sentence!

For a different perspective, try this from the Times of London . . .

Darwin’s tortoise, Harriet, dies at 176 (free registration req’d)

I was looking at – I won’t say reading – e-mail forwarded by one of my more conservative relatives. One of it was a “thank you, Bill Clinton” piece. I wrote back to them that he hasn’t been president for more than five years, so why are they fussing about him (or words to that effect)? I’d put it up but it’s not something I want to look at more than I have to.

Earlier this week I read a report that du linked to at Gorilla’s Guides… It’s damning and upsetting, but worth reading the entire article, imho. Dahr Jamail has done incredible work informing the world of the real situation in Iraq.

>>>>>>>>>>

This report supports the conclusion of many observers that the war and occupation — and sanctions prior to that — are primarily to blame for the appalling state of healthcare in Iraq today. Up to 1990, Iraq had one of the best healthcare systems in the Middle East. This was the result of a deep commitment by the Iraqi health professionals to serve their patients well; a long-term, quality-oriented planning by successive Iraqi governments since the 1930s; and well-functioning and disciplined — albeit sometimes heavy-handed — government structures.

Since a few months, an autonomous government is claimed in Iraq, although both its legitimacy and its autonomy are highly questionable. It can easily be argued, based on international law, that the existence of this government doesn’t change the US’s status as an occupying power. In any case, the US was the occupying power in Iraq for the period covered by this report. As such, the US was responsible for conforming with all international law, especially humanitarian law and human rights law, regarding the situation of healthcare in Iraq.

The Fourth Geneva Convention contains specific provisions pertaining to the delivery of healthcare services:

Article 55
To the fullest extent of the means available to it the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population; it should, in particular, bring in the necessary foodstuffs, medical stores and other articles if the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate. (…)

Article 56
To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring and maintaining, with the cooperation of national and local authorities, the medical and hospital establishments and services, public health and hygiene in the occupied territory, with particular reference to the adoption and application of the prophylactic and preventive measures necessary to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics. Medical personnel of all categories shall be allowed to carry out their duties. (…)

This report clearly illustrates the abject failure of the US to carry out even minimal humanitarian duties as occupying power. More importantly, it paints a picture of a healthcare system that has deteriorated since the start of the war, and of a failure to fundamentally reverse this decline. From a public health point of view, an end to occupation, with a scheduled withdrawal of all foreign troops, appears to be a major requirement.

http://www.brusselstribunal.org/DahrReport.htm

imm, you have inspired me. I shall now clean out the ‘fridge as an example to my wife as “love in action.”

I’m poking around the net, mulling over what to do with Late Nite tonight.

As the muffins rise in the oven, the blueberries will burst and sweeten from the heat.

Apparently, Cheney is “offended” that the NYT and other newspapers revealed to the public the Administration’s latest spying scheme on financial transactions.

Cheney and Bush offend me.

Repeal of the Estate Tax

THAT PISSES ME OFF

HOW STUPID OR FEEBLE ARE WE?

Hi Redd!
I share with you the need to get some java in the system before being able to think straight. Words cannot express my gratitude to you for your efforts here at FDL, so I won’t even try. Just know I think you’re the best!

Ok, enough mushiness. Now onto what’s got a burr in my saddle today.

It seems to me the evidence on so many fronts is now in- no WMD’s and an ongoing horror show in Iraq ,fixed elections in Florida and here in Ohio, (the head of Diebold promising to deliver the state to Bush, RFK Jr’s Rolling Stone article with over 70 footnotes, etc.) rampant corruption and cronyism in this administration, blah blah blah-that all of this isn’t simply a result of incompetence but of old fashioned greed.

I feel like Bruce Willis did in “Die Hard” when
he confronted “Hans” in the vault of the Nakamichi bldg and called them all common criminals when he realized their requests to release political prisoners was just a smoke screen to get to the bearer bonds in the vault.

Similarly, all this “government too big, war on terror” talk is just a diversion to steal money. If it aligns with neocon talking points, so much the better.

And so therefore with 2500 lives lost and counting, not to mention over 300 billion dollars spent and counting, shouldn’t other people see the 800 pound gorilla sipping the latte over in the corner with the “War Crimes”
t-shirt on?

Or is it just me?

Enjoying Rantings of a Sand Monkey at sandmonkey.org (great still of Borat in a…a…well, go look for yourself. Scroll down).

I am not a regular contributor but am a fanatic FDL reader. I was amazed at the sorrow I felt at the news of Jane’s sorrow even tho we have never met. Having lost my parents and husband I understand her grief.

What is bugging me this morning is trying to remember a phrase the Bushies used about WMD’s for a short time. It was something like…. ‘producing capabilities”. They didn’t use it long because it was too long and stupid plus Bush couldn’t get through it. The way the DOJ is describing the Miami “terror” group sounds strangely familiar and bogus. They had no guns, no bombs, no money but according to DOJ they may have had the intent and capability to do harm. A right-leaning lawyer on CNN said people just can’t go around expressing the intent to do bodily harm. I guess it makes a difference who is making the threat as Ann Coulter has made a practice of wishing Murtha, Supreme ct justices, Cleland, the NYTimes employees and Kerry dead.

Incidentally, I so appreciate all the work this blog does to get the back story about events. I was asked by a Repub. friend last night how biased the blogs that I faithfully read are and I replied that the content of these blogs is intelligent, well reasoned and in most cases are linked to actual documents or articles as opposed to right leaning blogs being mostly “opinions”.

Grandmatoo at 63:

How do you like Elizabeth Peters? I’m a historical fiction freak and always looking for new authors.

Pull Up a Chair is done and up…so pull up a chair…

I’m trying to figure out how this article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..74_pf.html

can say that Jon Stewart is causing more young people not to vote yet since the show premiered in 1996 the number of people voting in the 18-24 age group has increased.

Firefights in downtown Baghdad; a curfew from 2 PM to 6 AM; 15 more of our troops dead this week;
hundreds of Iraqis killed this month; what brand of nicad drills are being used on knees—DeWalt or Makita—and does Halliburton have the dealership for them?

If I send Jenna and Barbara some camos for when they’re barhopping, would they wear them?

Jamie — because Morin can’t do math, even though he’s the WaPo pollster? (which says so much, doesn’t it?)

The repeal of the Estate Tax pissses me off too.

The last thing America needs is the ultra-wealthy to get extra-ultra-wealthier.

When will the 98% wake up and realize that the Estate Tax would never (I REPEAT NEVER) have any bearing on their accumulated wealth.

The PR campaign is paid for by the ULTRA-WEALTHY and is apparently quite effective. Why everyone of the 98% doesn’t call their Congresscritters and voice up is ridiculous.

If you aren’t Ultra-Wealthy to start, your odds of becoming that way are very slim, and if you do, isn’t it the American way to support American and pay your due taxes??

I am not wealthy or even comfortable, but I have to pay my share to the Govt. Why not them too??

Wake up America, do you want your kids (and their grandkids, and so on) to pay for the sham that is Government right now? Please November, get here soon!

Hey, thanks Trex! I’ve always felt a little guilty/odd picking up an old favorite to just relax with, no matter how many times I’ve read it before. Calling it a palate cleanser makes perfect sense; guilt-free semi-mindless entertainment, I like it.

Although I’m reading Tim Flannery’s The Weathermakers, various work-related tomes, and Dorothy Sayers for cleaning-between-the-ears, most of what I read these days is FDL – no, that’s not shameless shilling, my non-work time is seriously limited at the moment and the breadth of ideas, information, and just plain humaness here is huge, pleasurable, and grounding.

Clowns of Peace gave me a laugh and some hope.

attaboy tommy yum!

On the subject of nuclear energy – every month an article by one of the Masters is printed in Share International magazine. They are always broad in scope and timely.

June 2006

Invisible peril

by the Master —, through Benjamin Creme

If men were to see the state of the world as We, the Masters, see, they would be amazed, dumfounded and afraid, all at the same time. So far from the reality is man’s view of conditions on Earth, and so lacking in judgement is he about future possibilities, that, without help, man would watch his planetary home languish and die.
As it is, planet Earth is in a sad and perilous condition while each day brings it nearer to the critical. Many voices have sounded warnings on global warming, and many views have been expressed, but even the most dire prophecy falls short of the calamity facing the world today. Few there are who see the immediacy of the threat and the urgency of the steps needed to counter it.
Great as is the peril posed by global warming, this, unfortunately, is not the greatest, or most hazardous, faced by man today. Did he but know it, man is engaged in a slow but steadily increasing intoxification of the race and of the lower kingdoms. Toxicity, pollutions, of all kinds, and in all fields, is now the greatest danger to men, animals and the Earth itself. All are poisoned and sick in their own way.

Sorry tale

Unknown to men but evident to Us, the greatest harm sustained by men and planet in this sorry tale is caused by nuclear radiation. Men have gone far astray in the development of this most dangerous energetic source. Led astray by greed, and the false hope of vast profits, they have concentrated their experiments in ‘taming’ the most dangerous source of energy ever discovered by man, neglecting, meanwhile, a perfectly safe alternative use of the energy of the atom. Atomic fusion, cold and harmless, could be theirs from a simple isotope of water, everywhere available in the oceans, seas and rivers, and in every shower of rain.
Man must cease his ‘toying with death’. Atomic fission is the result of the atomic bombs which destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki; which erupted in Chernobyl and causes, subtly, death and sickness today. It is “that which stands where it ought not” and which must be renounced by man if he would prosper further.

Confident

Earth scientists are confident that they have, indeed, tamed the monster, and can keep it under control. They do not realize that their instruments are crude indeed, that they measure only the lower aspects of nuclear radiation, that stretching above these dense-physical levels are levels finer and more dangerous to the health and well-being of all. But for the tireless efforts of our Extra-planetary Brothers in assuaging this invisible peril in so far as the karmic law allows, our plight would be perilous indeed. Wake up, mankind!

Lina at 72: I know I’ve been EPU’d but will respond, hoping you see the response.

I love Elizabeth Peters. Her books are a fun read, plus give insight into egyptology, history of the region–pre – post WWI, and with sprinkles of snark throughout.

The congress critters for the most part and certainly the repuke ones c are not what benefits people, but what benefits them and the corporate paymasters.

If we had a “real” democracy where an informed electorate could vote on the legislation.. like the props in CA.. none of these bills, like bankrupcy and the estate tax repeal would pass. A fair amount of these congress critters are rich enough to benefit by the legislation they vote on… like the estate tax repeal.

We need:

term limits
public finance of elections
abolition of lobbying by corporations
congress critters must author their own bills
a constitutional convention – ours is out of date and no longer followed
separation of church and state
REAL accountability
downsizing by factor 10 the military
break up of MSM and telcoms especially
break up of all monopolies
close tax loop holes which allow offshoring
levy taxes on companies which outsource off shore
and the list goes on

What I’m not reading this morning is a coordinated talking points attack on the Frontline documentary The Dark Side. Or even something along the lines of the ciriticisms of Moore’s movie. When things take this long I imagine its because the response is coming from a high level and takes awhile to get the appropriate vetting.

You people have to get this into your head.

America is NOW about wealth, the creation of, and protection of it for those that have it.

There is nothing democratic about this because the wealthy have won the class war far. They have all the marbles and are now consolidating as some sort of hedge when the dollar collapses as it inevitably will.

“We” lose constantly because we believe in democracy and law and equity and justice and people and that is so 18th century. Now it is about money and power. We are fighting battles that we already lost… it seems.

The View from the Center of the Cosmos: Discovering our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos by Joel R Primack and Nancy Ellen Abrams.

Primark and Abrams begin by pointing out that for almost 400 years, we have become cosmic orphans due to the prevalence of a universal delusion that we are insignificant specks in a vast meaningless emptiness, an image which as resulted in a widespread cultural indifference to the nature of the universe itself. The authors aim to help us understand the universe scientifically by providing imaginal tools which can make this reality accessible to all of us.

“In their hearts, most people are still living in an imagined universe, where space is simply emptiness, stars are scattered randomly, and common sense is a reliable guide. In this imagined universe, we humans have no special place and often feel insignificant. But today’s golden age of astronomy is revealing that this lonely understanding of the universe is misguided. Our universe is rich, fascinating, and meaningful, and in it we humans occupy an extraordinary place.”

I have found it fascinating and good to read right after you see “An Inconvenient Truth.”

The Miami 7 were just a bunch of kooks with a made-up religion before the FBI’s man got them thinking in a more useful direction. Now they’re a “terrorist cell.”

I bet you five dollars the first one to mention the Sears Tower was the FBI informer/instigator/coach. But it’ll be six months from now before the defense attorneys get the discovery documents from the prosecutors, and the November elections will be over.

I wonder how many more little “terror cells” the government has sown and watered, waiting for the right time to harvest.

Millineryman #62 – Just like the Dixie Chicks, I am ashamed that idiot is running for AZ Gov, what an asshat. Of course, he is the 6th stringer the Repugs tried to push over the cliff and can’t beat our Gov Janet race.

BobbyG – Just a number…. It chokes me up everytime. That number is someones mommy or daddy or son or daughter…. Ya, that is a line on T-shirts.

Trying to read Glenn Greenwalds “How would a Patriot Act” but get so pissed and upset that I can only take it in small portions.

And like mommybrain going through my recipes, would it be old family ones or from my time living in Greece or learning to cook for my adopted Korean children or …. ahaaa the one thing I cook for others that they ask for the recipe because it is soooooo good…

Catching up on all the posts after being gone all week onsite with a client. Thank God the AC was fixed!

Christy:

I’m reading a science fiction book “Altered Carbon” by Richard K. Morgan. Reality is too grim….

Off topic I want to address something that happened yesterday on this site. There was a guy, ’starazagora’, who started a discourse that quickly turned into a bar brawl. Since I grew up in Bulgaria, I wanted to confront his terrible behavior, but my posts were not accepted.

I hope that this was just a technical glitch.

For the record, many Bulgarians are Republican because of Reagan and his fight against the Soviet Union. There are also people like me who are not. We believe in American democracy and with OPEN eyes. We’re liberal, smart and accomplished. We think, we don’t follow.

My questions to this guy was: Where does he stand on torture as used by our army? Does he not think that it’s a tragic betrayal of American morals and ideals? What does he think about NSA spying? Does it not mirror what the communists were doing in Bulgaria?

I can add many more.

I think it was good that you answered him because you have nothing to hide. It’s important to tolerate different points of view as long as they’re not offensive.

AS I said before you and Jane are role models for progressives. Keep up the good work!

Someone is reading Count Zero? Cool. Nothing beats a little voodooesque scifi. Gibson rocks, just ask the Wachovski brothers. ;)

Anyways…Im reading blogs as usual. This morning I find myself fuming over a certain wannabe swiftboater called Amanda P Doss ~ many thanks to the Agonist for turning over the rock where it dwells.

http://agonist.org/sean_paul_k…..oat_murtha

Kalina at 98 — it wasn’t that the posts weren’t “unacceptable” — they just got caught in the moderation filter for one reason or another. When stuff gets caught there, we have to read through it, figure out why our SPAM filter software snagged it, and then free each comment individually by hand. Because Jane has been out all week, all of our volunteer moderators have been working overtime — and we are all exhausted and probably taking a bit more time than usual to free things up. A little patience for all of us would go a long way this weekend — and I wanted to make sure everyone knew that we are working as quickly as we can to free things up, but we only have so many pairs of hands…

LA Times editorials blast Bush admin for privacy re: NSA and AT&T. Good breakfast reading for a change.
Scientific American has an interesting article on stem cells and cancer.
I picked up Greg Palast’s Armed Madhouse at Costco the other day. It’s fun and disturbing.
My seven year-old is into book three of Tamora Pierce’s Protector of the Small series, “Squire”; I get to read it aloud morning and night.

marksb — Tamora Pierce is a fantastic person. And her YA fiction is just as wonderful. SO glad your seven year old likes it. :)

77 are you referring to egyptian sandmonkey?

http://egyptiansandmonkey.blogspot.com/

He freaking rules! That is a man with some big cojones… I spent many a year visiting that region and I visit his site every so often, and often come away feeling a little nostalgic and, I must say…a little verklempt…hehe. How’s that for coffee talk.

Jamie & Christie (#81 & #83). I posted a link to that riduculous Morin piece yesterday. It really pissed me off reading it. I hope someone does a counter piece to debunk all the bullshit in that column. Grrrrrrrrr! I’m so tired of those people twisting facts to mirror their view of the world.

KraftySue Says 78

The whole policy of “premption” seems to be strike first… and then make the evidence up to justify the hit.

Now in Iraq since all the case for the attack has fallen apart, it doesn’t even matter.. we have to “stay the course” and “win”. This logic is laughable, but it is costing us hundreds of billions and tens of thousands of human lives and a country destroyed.

The DOJ is using the same approach in Miami and many of their other “terrorist” cases. Arrest, charge and then avoid a real trial… They did it with Padilla and they will probably do it with this lot. Time is on their side and we the people are naive and uninformed… and largely powerless to fight these facsists who have taken over america.

Even with their stacked deck we have to try to fight back… and as in 2000 and 2004, we learn that we can’t win because they play very dirty.

Will enough people shout loud enough to crash the gates? Let’s see what happens in 06. If they “win” again… I think nothing but economic collapse or rising up and rebelling will rid the people of the fascism tha is here in all but name.

Well, this fine (drizzly and cool, blessed cool!) morning, I’ve got a stove-top espresso with evaporated milk and have been listening to CNN, and trying not to let my head explode at what they consider important news. Also working on a necklace (peach/red aventurine, pearl disks, and gold links) for my Great-Aunt Marge’s 80th birthday(will also make matching bracelet and 2 pairs of earrings)

MarksB-if ever you get a chance to meet Tamora Pierce, do, she’s an absolute peach. Just lovely to be around.

Berlin Niebuhr’s been writing about the Kos/TNR situation over the last couple of days at Good Nonsense.

It’s a devil’s advocate position to be sure…would love to hear what you guys think about it…

—

The stuff about Kos paying people, blackmailing, whatever. If it’s not true, he does need to sue. It would be called for. But he better win and he better outdo the Pravda on the other side. If he was worried about giving oxygen to this story, that would do it. And it would encourage even more digging. (”Was he really even in the Army? There’s a guy who served in his unit at the same time who swears he never saw him.”)

…

But, as someone more outside than inside, I just want to warn people that the case that seems so apparent to all the insiders, the Yearly Kossers, is not clear at all. Right now, if anyone is paying attention at all, it comes off as he said/he said, and everybody looks like people we should change the channel on. Gilliard says he never sent the incriminating memo and Greenwald backs him? So f******g what? Zengerle says he did. Are we going to claim that bloggers aren’t journalists so shouldn’t protect sources? Really want to go down the “outing sources” road? It happens that I believe my side on this, but that’s because I respect Greenwald from his blog. The people who don’t know him from their school board member just hear “blah, blah, blah.”

The fact is that this is primarily just a flame war, but it’s setting some precedents and showing some predilections that I am very concerned about. There are two questions here that, if either is answered “yes,” the progressive blogs are making a big mistake in their approach:

1. Did Armstrong accept a settlement that punishes him in his civil suit with the SEC?

2. Did Kos try to organize a blog effort to keep that very relevant point about an A-lister’s credibility from the rest of the community?

i’m reading’s Michael Scheuer’s Imperial Hubris. As time goes on, it’s becoming increasingly inconceivable to imagine that the Cheney administration isn’t somehow involved in all the “terrorist” shenanigan’s that give credance to their Global War on Terror—-always with such transparently conveeeenient timing; you know, synchronized with the election cycles and as handy distractions from their innumerable disasters.

Recall al-Zarqawi’s beheading of Berg during the height of the Abu Ghraib scandal. Or, remember bin Laden’s video days before the 2004 residential election? And now there’s that Fla. caper where we learn that the “al Qaeda–linked ‘terrorists’” wanted uniforms(?).(See Josh Marsh’s tpm)

It’s gotten to the point where i’m starting to wonder if the US had anything to do with the bombing of the UN building early on in Iraq.

From Scheuer’s book: “As a result, I think it is fair to conclude that the United States of America remains bin Laden’s only indisputable ally.”(xv)

I wonder how we can counter the Rove approach. I kind of like the attacks on his fat ass recently, but it’s pretty clear that all these Tall Stories being cranked out (WMDs Found! Terrorist Cell Busted! Bush has a big Unit!) are scare tactics, saved up as if to celebrate the return of Bush’s brain from the River Fitz. These guys have traded in fear for far too long. Like many sociopaths, they will tell you something that sounds like the truth but at the same time let you know( wink wink) that they know it’s a lie ; they want you to respond to help clear up their confusion and play their games too. Pathetic.

This particular bunch of sociopaths are also basically fat closeted nerds. Unlike them, we cannot vanquish our foes with super monster Xray vision. They think they can shape reality, rewrite history, revise the myths. Many Progressives don’t have the time to play this game — we live in a real world where we deal with reality every day. Poverty is real. Disability is real. Death is real. Pain is real. Social welfare has always had a residualist orientation, picking up the pieces broken in this wonderful Capitalist society.

I ran into a fascist carrying a petition for repealing the ‘Death Tax’ in our state yesterday. I told him I would not sign something that was obvious neoconservative BS and that he should be ashamed of shilling in an ad campaign devisesd by people who are basically tearing the country apart.

Time to start calling bullshit what it is, folks.

oops that should be ‘devised.’

I just listened to Gov. Dean’s radio address and read the transcript. I think I missed the news last week that the Democrats are united in a plan of phased redeployment from Iraq. According to Traditional AND Evil Media, Democrats have no plan. Yet, here’s the plan at democrats.org. HD doesn’t just break out a policy; he works with Pelosi and Reid first. So I figure that – how do I put this – the Democrats have a plan for leaving Iraq.

The Boy at 105 — lordy, I am so tired of this topic this week on top of everything else that Jane and I have been dealing with, but here goes:

(1) I have no idea what the answer is to this question. My understanding (and, admittedly it is a sketchy one at best, because I don’t know Jerome very well and wasn’t around the blogosphere when this all happened, so YMMV…) is that the SEC issue is still ongoing and has not yet been settled. So, with that in mind, there isn’t an answer to that question as yet until settlement is reached an concluded if, indeed, the case is still ongoing. Because we have been dealing with Jane’s mom being in the hospital this week, and then her passing on Thursday, I honestly have had neither the time nor the energy to deal with any of this — and, frankly, I was never an SEC specialist in my legal practice, so it would take me forever to get up to speed on the legal issues involved in this and I just have not had time to even begin to think about that this week. It’s been all I could do to keep the blog going in Jane’s absence, and that is the honest truth of the matter.

(2) Markos did what I like to call “state his opinion.” FWIW, in the week preceding this, when Jane and I were both a lot more active in discussions on the Townhouse list (we’ve both been understandably preoccupied this week, and I’m just pissed we got dragged into this entire mess by name when Jane was coping with her mother’s serious illness…), Jane, Markos, me and a number of other folks were all in a huge pissing match about something else that was going on. Kos has definite opinions — as do most of the other people who blog on both the left and the right, which anyone with a brain would realize if they bothered to READ the blogs. Markos states an opinion, I state an opinion, Stoller states an opinion, Glenn states an opinion…you know, like we do in the comments here — and then people think about it, argue about it, talk about why it’s the stupidist thing anyone ever heard…it’s a conversation. There was no arm twisting, no threats, no nothing like that — Zengerle got his facts wrong on that, and now TNR is digging its heels in like a bunch of crazed loons, trying to smear the entire blogosphere to protect Zengerle’s ass by throwing stink bombs to do CYA, while not admitting they were wrong. (Sound like an Administration we know?) This would all be amusing if it weren’t for the fact that I’ve spent the week being worried about Jane and scrambling to fill the blog…this is the WORST possible week for this sort of bullshit, and yet, here I am, answering more questions about it because people do not seem to comprehend that JANE”S MOTHER JUST PASSED AWAY and neither of us could give a crap about TNR, Markos, Jerome or anything else dealing with this because we’re all grieving for Jane and her family.

Does that answer your questions adequately? Because, if so, I’d like to move on to the community potluck thread, where we are all sharing together in our grief. Thanks.

These guys have traded in fear for far too long. Like many sociopaths, they will tell you something that sounds like the truth but at the same time let you know( wink wink) that they know its a lie

i interpret that phenomena as one of exposing their sadistic, or sado-masochistic—if you will—tendencies. i believe it reveals the nature of a tyrant. if you allow it to continue after you get the heads-up, they act as though you accept their arbitrary sadism. Think Democrats in Congress.

I was reading the “Pull Up a Chair Thread” just now. I’m sure Greta will be pleased…

What is concerning me is the “cut and run” charge the Repubs are charging against the Dems.

I was reading yesterday about a London Times article that indicated the Iraqi Government is on the same page as the Democrats as far as a timed withdrawal of US troops. And, a majority of Iraqis want a timetable as well. Does that mean the Iraqis are cutting and running from themselves? And why isn’t anybody in the Democratic leadership talking about this?

Christy,

Trust me, the wife and I are rifling through our cookbook to see what to add to the list…

Minneapolis Star Trib 6/22/06 “Some rich Minnesotans want to pay more taxes:
More than 200 wealthy Minnesotans signed a full-page ad asking the state to raise $2 billion for ed opportunities, affordable health care & transportation needs. Their proposal would make those making more than $275,000 pay state an additional 2 cents in taxes for every $1 earned.
The full page ad began: WE CAN AFFORD TO PAY MORE TAXES AND WE CAN’T AFFORD NOT TO.
Gov (it’s not a tax, it’s a fee) Pawlenty said friday he would pose with them for a commemorative photo of appreciation if they sent their checks to state Finance Dept. Exe director Joel Kramer of Growth & Justice responded for himself: if the gov extended early education & affordable health care to every child in Minn, he would allow the gov to pose for a picture with him.
Kramer said 90 additional people signed on to the tax-increase initiative after thursday’s ad.
What a novel, far out idea! Wealthy people actually concerned about the state of their state that has been good to them and believing they should pay their share to uphold MN values. Somehow, I have a feeling there aren’t going to be any wealthy red staters copying this concept.

The Boy at 113 — Can’t wait to see what you pick out… :)

First coffee and then two hours of weeding and tending flower beds. All in all a lovely morning marred only by a brief encounter with a Repugnican neighbor. My husband had allowed him to put up a campaign sign next to my beautiful day lilies. I took it down while weeding, and Mr. Neighbor drives by and stops wanting to know why his sign is down. I tell him I’m a registered Democrat and I’d prefer not to be helping the other side. Upon which he tells me that he doesn’t mind I’m Democrat as he hopes some of them at least have a head on their shoulders. I ignored the remark, and he asked me how tough I was. (?!) I asked him why, did he want to fight? Hoo boy, that embarrassed him good and he slinked off down the street. The sign is still down. If he doesn’t come get it later, it will be in the garbage.

The flowers are looking so nice and the birds are hanging out here too: black-headed grosbeaks, house finches, scrub jays, quail, doves, sweet little chickadees, a new warbler, and of course, the robins, all at the same time.

Just now I’m reading an oldie but a goodie, “The Monkey Wrench Gang” by the late great Edward Abbey, friend of the environment and Utah wilderness.

Marty Kaplan takes on Richard Morin, on HuffPo, with links to the original study, something Morin did not provide:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..23653.html

it’s pretty clear that all these Tall Stories being cranked out (WMDs Found! Terrorist Cell Busted! Bush has a big Unit!) are scare tactics

Just like the pre-election terror alerts that ceased completely on Nov 3rd…What we need are Democrats to call the administration on this fraidy-cat stuff.

Now it is about money and power. We are fighting battles that we already lost%u2026 it seems.

I take some comfort in thinking that we’re looking at an anomalous perfect storm, an unrepeatable confluence of power and depraved indifference to the commonwealth. Call me Pollyanna, but it isn’t likely that any future administration will be this bold, or effective, in perverting the systems of governance to their own purposes. It requires a kind of skill and ruthlessness that few people possess. If Dick Cheney hadn’t made himself VP the last 5 years would have been much less malignant. I think he’s the lynchpin here, as his CIA nickname – Bergen – suggests. He found his Charlie McCarthy, but it took him 25 years (after the Nixon days).

Patsy Ramsey has died of ovarian cancer. I feel bad and yet glad that her suffering is over…..
Losing a young child…….what it must do to the mind and soul. Together again…….. R.I.P.

I am reading Iraq- The Logic of Withdrawal, written by Anthony Arnove, who lays out the reasons why the United States illegally invaded Iraq, describes the abuses and atrocities that have been happening in Iraq and persuasively gives the reasons why the United States should begin an immediate and rapid withdrawal of troops from that region. This should be must reading for every free thinking American and is, as far as I can tell, the only book out there which is currently making the argument that the U.S. should leave Iraq post haste.

Tomorrow, my wife and I will be seeing a film which is very relevant to our times, the documentary Sir! No Sir!, which describes an underground movement which took place during the Vietnam War aimed at military personnel who searched their souls and realized that they had serious moral objections to fighting that illegal war in Vietnam. Many were arrested and jailed for their beliefs. The hope is that this documentary will be able to provide inspiration and courage to the military personnel who are or will be deployed to the Middle East and resist the call to engage in fighting in Iraq. They can also seek inspiration and hope from Lt. Watada, who has refused orders to deploy with his unit to Iraq, recognizing that this war has been based upon lies and blatant falsehoods, served up by those who did their best to deceive the American people.

I caught last part of panel discussion of Morin piece on Hardball last night. Ron Reagan, another sensible guy & moron Terry Jeffrey. It was quite fun…2 sane people & only l nutjob for a change. Ron & the other guy had some fun with Terrytunes.

This morning in addition to the usual, I checked in with Thomas P.M. Barnett’s blog:

Barnett blog

He’s the author of The Pentagon’s New Map: War and Peace in the 21st Century which I admit I haven’t gotten through yet. He continues to challenge my worldview.

Nan

Thanks folks, my almost-eighteen year-old started us all on Tamora Pierce back when she was ten or so—Alanna has become an “industry standard” around our house. She’s used Alanna as a model as she fought her way through the cultural challenge of high school so she could head *ilson’s way to Indinana for college (in just four weeks! Argh!) Now the next daughter is learning Pierce’s lessons of moral integrity and standing up for what’s right.

Reading Hitler:The Path to Power.
Found some stuff that is interesting (as history only, of course; these kinds of things don’t happen nowadays).
“Gentlemen! Anyone who doesn’t now understand that there is a lot of hard work to be done here or whose conscience bothers him had better get out. It is a lot better to kill a few innocent people than to let one guilty person escape….You know how to handle it….Shoot them and report that they attacked you or tried to escape.”

Munich, May4, 1919

And this gem:
“Large segments of the German population were demonstrating that a totally inaccurate perception, believed and acted upon by enough people, can carry as much weight as if it were true.”
None of this has any relevance today, of course. Just interesting trivia for history buffs.

op99 @ 8:

Those are the two shows I tivo also! I’ve also got about 2 weeks backlogged. I ended up deleting those that didn’t have the guest listed on the info, and wiki-researching whether the other guests were worth it, just to cull the episodes. I just love those shows.

I’ve been reading The Assassin’s Gate, and The Next Attack, but they were a bit heavy. This past year has been a separation/divorce year, and one of my best friends just told me I best read something “lighter and yet empowering.” She handed me a bag full of Nora Roberts novels, and I’ve started on The Villa. I’ve always mainly read history, science, and anthropological texts for fun and distraction, but I think maybe my friend was right. I’m going to grab The Villa and slip out to the patio while my 3 year old is still napping.

[I know dang well she’ll wake before I finish the first page!!]

As for what I’m thinking about. I’m thinking about emerging from the quiet, numb, happy stupor of not being screamed at every day for years, and just re-engaging with actual life and actual humans. The nice ones.

I finally started The Company by Robert Littell. It’s a thinly veiled fictional accounting of the beginnings of the CIA during the cold war. It runs 896 pages, so I’m glad it’s starting out real good.

Christy:
I posted something on Fitz, who misled the 9/11 commission. It was “moderated out.” This is not conspiracy theory stuff. It’s in the record. Why is anyone surprised that Fitz is doing what he’s doing. The MSM did a snow job on who Fitz is. He told the 9/11 commission less than the truth. Or was it what Bush wanted them to hear. Either way, it was a put up job from the beginning. Sorry if the truth hurts, but that’s the stuff I read.

Christy:
One more question….re 9/11 what is the clasic question people in your profession ask when there is an orgy of evidence? Or it is obvious that evidence has been quickly and quietly destroyed?

Isn’t it…..who benefits?

Method….pretty obvious (see scientific report)
Motive (pretty obvious)
Opportunity…..well…..there’s stuff about that too…..can’t prove it but who benefits is still a very powerful question in light of what has happened.

I’m curious to understand how you felt he misled them. I watched his testimony before the commission, and it made sense, without causing me to buy into the Bush Administration’s lies.

Let’s see…..What am I reading? Hmmmm…..how about the story of former Ambassador Leo Wanta? Interested? Check it out here, and please let me know what my cut of the 27 trillion might be.

http://www.rense.com/general70/wanta.htm

The NYTimes has an article saying that the military, ie the Bush administration, plans to cut and run in 2007!

Funny, weren’t they pillorying the Democrats for this a few days ago?

Not reading so much as surfing/watching. Looking for work (which sucks), interspersed with watching “The West Wing” DVDs and fantasizing for the length of each episode about what having a halfway decent administration would be like.

However, watching WW gets me thinking, and one topic I keep coming back to is which areas are the most basic– which reforms/changes need to be made in order to more effectively influence/change other areas. I keep coming back to two: campaign finance reform and verified voting/honest elections. I worry a lot about the two because with Diebold, et al, it seems like the fix is in. Polling, Republican sound bites, etc show there’s hand-wringing, worrying, etc., but part of me wonders if that’s because there truly is time/opportunity left before the inexorable move towards electronic voting/manipulation becomes irreversible, or if it’s all a dog-and-pony show, and the fix is permanently in? Maybe I’m being too pessimistic…

As for campaign finance reform, I keep coming back to the (obvious) conclusion (my own opinion, naturally) that to provide the best possible array of candidates and attract more people to the idea of running for office, there needs to be total reform of the system as it is. It’s not good for our system to have an extremely small pool of potential candidates, predetermined by their independent financial backing (read: rich) or by the dependent financial backing of others (read: sellout to moneyed interests). Then once in office, the vicious cycle perpetuates itself: the perpetual campaign, whereas our officeholders sell themselves to the highest bidder, thus insuring that the rest of us are never really heard, because we don’t come for an office visit with our checkbooks.

I keep thinking all of the other issues we want to change/fight on would be easier to negotiate/win/discuss if these two issues were fixed. Maybe I’m oversimplifying things here, or being too pessimistic (and I’m definitely re-stating the obvious– these problems have been around for a while now!), but does anyone have concrete suggestions for how to turn the tide? I guess where I’m coming from is that it’s great to fight battles (win some, lose some) on issues as diverse as Iraq, the environment, economics, health care, etc., but feeling that maybe there’s a need to first tackle some of the root causes of governmental corrutpion/dysfunction, so that we have gummint officials *willing* and able to listen, instead of hijacked by people who don’t give a damn. This way maybe we’ll win the war, because in the long run, that’s what counts– and it IS a war– a war for the heart and soul of this nation and its people.

Anyway, off of the soapbox– enjoy the weekend, all!

If you are reading here and haven’t yet gotten to Howie Klein’s politics post, hope you will jump in and help us make our $1200 goal for his recommended candidate, Larry Kissell in NC.

Thanks!!

Joyb at 130:
Here is part of the article and a link to it. I’m not trying to start anything, and I am not a conspiracy theorist, but this is very disturbing. In that Fitz was a Justice Department Attorney, who did exactly what he was told to do, instead of resigning.

http://911readingroom.org/bib/…..cle_id=423

Sergeant Ali Mohamed and U.S. Intelligence Links to the Al Qaeda Leadership

The Report describes Ali Mohamed as “a former Egyptian army officer who had moved to the United States in the mid-1980s, enlisted in the U.S. Army, and become an instructor at Fort Bragg,” as well as helping to plan the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kenya (68). In fact Ali Mohamed was an important al Qaeda agent who, as the 9/11 Commission was told, “trained most of al Qaeda’s top leadership,” including “persons who would later carry out the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.”[25] But the person telling the 9/11 Commission this, U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald, misrepresented Ali Mohamed’s FBI relationship. He told the Commission that, “From 1994 until his arrest in 1998, [Mohamed] lived as an American citizen in California, applying for jobs as an FBI translator and working as a security guard for a defense contractor.”[26]

Ali Mohamed was not just an FBI job applicant. Unquestionably he was an FBI informant, from at least 1993 and maybe 1989.[27] And almost certainly he was something more. A veteran of the CIA-trained bodyguards of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, he was able, despite being on a State Department Watch List, to come to America around 1984, on what an FBI consultant has called “a visa program controlled by the CIA”, and obtain a job, first as a security officer, then with U.S. Special Forces.[28] In 1988 he took a lengthy leave of absence from the U.S. Army and went to fight in Afghanistan, where he met with Ayman al-Zawahiri (later bin Laden’s chief deputy in al Qaeda) and the “Arab Afghan” leadership.[29] Despite this, he was able to receive an Honorable Discharge one year later, at which point he established close contact with bin Laden in Afghanistan.

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Thanks TeddySanFran @117 and IronRanger @ 121 for the additional info on the Morin (Moron) piece. I wish someone would debunk Moron’s conclusion that Republicans are “principled” and that Dems are “racist”.

Maybe Mr. “Moron” should write his next column about all of those “principled” Republicans who are connected to Abramoff or maybe he could write about all of those “principled” Republicans who look the other way while the President walks all over the Constitution. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

It’s long past morning but what’s saliet to me today are news tidbits that, one way or another, BushCo will get most troops out of Iraq…maybe at the faux request by Iraqi government. Altho a good thing, for sure, it means the Republicans have pre-empted the Democrats because the Dems couldn’t get their act together and take a bold, united stand on anything..particularly Iraq.

angie 58 Why did we bomb poor war-torn Afghanistan?

(1) To complete the oil pipeline

(2) To thwart Taliban suppression of poppy farming, so that Bush family drug running could resume.

egregious is right @ 139. According Suskind, Cheney and Rumsfeld apparently thought that bombing the rubble in Afghanistan to stone age was a major distraction so they wasted little time to redeploy in Iraq to exploit 9/11 before the 2004 elections loomed.

James Atkinson @ 38 re wage vs wealth debate sparking economic depression or social revolution: the French and American revolutions in the last quarter of the 18th century were both sparked by perceived grievances of the governed by the ruling elites’ unjust economic policies. France recently showed that a large underclass of the dispossessed is not conducive to social harmony. Keynes’ “General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money” was penned because he feared that large scale pauperisation and hardship caused by the 1930s depression needs to be an urgent policy issue for governments to avert violent social upheavel as Germany saw in the rise of Nazism. I also referred to the Naxalite rebellion in the early 1970s in the Indian state of West Bengal in a comment @ 120 under Ian Welsh’s “The Long Suck”.

nancy jane @ 88 re the nuclear issue – I want no part in the nuclear brigade. I said as much in a comment @ 123 under Ian Wesh’s post “The Long Suck” and in “The Nuclear Debate” at http://dreamtime.bravehost.com/nucleardebate.html.

A lot of times I feel like I am whistling in the wind but then again who doesn’t?

To Ironranger at114, That is a surprize that the wealthy would give up 2cents on the dollar. I think the cig. fee discrimates against smokers who are by far keeping the state in the black. Not only that our dear governor blocked us northerners from going into Canada to buy cigs. aand booze by this new requirement of having to spend 48 hours in Canada before coming back with your purchase.