John Pilger reports in The Guardian, what applies to the British, applies to Washington DC in spades. Amazingly On Topic, maybe backdoorishly.

Kafka has a rival. Today, the Foreign Office lectures us on human rights

Such an open day beggars belief. At this PR gala you will find no stall for the victims of rapacious British power

Today, a surreal event will take place in London. The Foreign Office is holding an open day “to highlight the importance of human rights in our work as part of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”. There will be various “stalls” and “panel discussions”, and foreign secretary David Miliband will present a human rights prize. Is this a spoof? No. The Foreign Office wants to raise our “human rights awareness”. Kafka and Heller have many counterfeits.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comm…..man-rights

“I’d like to be a person who has the right to gag….”

dropped you a note below about a cookbook

Every American High School Senior and College Student should be required to read “The Shock Doctrine”, by Naomi Klein, in order to get a diploma. Any profession requiring a license (Doctors, Lawyers, Accountants, Psychologists, etc, etc.) should be required to read it as well. Human Rights are of Paramount Importance.

Cool, thanks, I will check out Nigella Lawson’s book, sounds yummy…..

It should be the standard to comprehend to exercise the vote, along with Robert Fisk’s “The Great War for Civilization” and Tom Hanahoe’s “America Rules”.

Thanks so much, I will read those as well. It seems there are so many books and so little time….I swear I read at least two books per month, but I still don’t have the time to read all I need. However, The Shock Doctrine is so important to let people know how complicit in ugliness the United States Government has been.

Forgot one other: Peter Charleton’s “Lies in a Mirror”

ersatz edit: standard to comprehend standard of competence

Not that the others you mentioned are not important…I have written them down for my own must reading list.

The last two books are some I found in the local bookstore in Ireland, they would not have had great play there but should. If Amazon.com does not have them then Amazon.co.uk will probably, and I think a credit card will still work at the British version.

I really appreciate people who have read great books making their recommendations to me and others. Thank you for your curiosity and committment to spreading knowledge.

Brutality is part of the Shock Doctrine, Shock and Awe, destroying a people to make them over in “their” image. It sickens and disgusts me. Worst of all, it does not work. The only thing that “works” is a transfer of wealth from the “poorest” people to the “wealthiest” people. They seriously believe in “survival of the fittest”, or Machiavelli, how sadly mistaken they are about what “success” is….. I for one am not willing to sacrifice my planet, my home, for a few measly billions of dollars.

not to mention my “soul”…..

However, we must resist any effort to precondition the right to vote.

We must get civics (and literacy) back into the schools. Thanks for additions to my reading list.

OT, possibly not, BBC reported on the weekend (may explain Bab’s boy)

Autism link to male sex hormones

Autism may be linked to hormone levels circulating in the developing foetus, research suggests.
A team from Cambridge University found babies who produce high levels of the male hormone testosterone in the womb are more likely to show symptoms.

The finding suggests the condition may be genetic – and raises the possibility of a screening test.

It also lends weight to the theory that autism is basically an extreme form of the way men think and behave.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3638551.stm

that is if Bab flushed the foetus and kept George the Turd

You are so right about education.

However, we must resist any effort to precondition the right to vote.

This may be a disastrous POV as far as survival of the Republic is concerned. Only those who have an interest in the public business would have a rightful claim on the license to vote, the belief in fairy tales and superstition are not qualifiers, that franchise must be curtailed for the public good. Just a considered opinion. In a democracy, the answer would be different.

Wonkette reported in the first days of the W administration all copies of The Prince were sold out in DC. It was in great demand and backordered.

In our democracy even those who believe in “fairytales” are allowed to vote, that is one of the things that makes it so special, since no one has the right to decide exactly what constitutes a “fairytale”.

Does not surprise me yet makes me queasy….

But seriously, those bastards!

Personally, I prefer Marcus Aurelius to Machiavilli….

The precedents on curtailing the right to vote stink. Property owners, men, whites, etc. There is no one I’d trust to set new standards. No one. Citizenship and age. That’s it for me.

OTOH, I’d have no difficulty with major changes to the mandatory education system. It evolved in different times when we were primarily an agrarian/mfg society and there was an adult present in the home during the day. Children needed more time to help at home.

Seems to me school should be a year round proposition and days should be longer. The crap associated with no child left behind may have set appropriate reforms way back.

“I’d like to be a president (known) as somebody who liberated 50 million people and helped achieve peace”

i,d liek to b nown as the person who ulwayzs spelz corecktyl

Amen.

Education is the key and it is the key the conservatives don’t want us to have.

Makes one wonder…

We’ve already gotten a taste of what happens when conviction of a felony affects the franchise.

It makes finding people to convict of felonies a benefit to their franchise.

I am so going to be on some bad wing=nut list. I have a vested interest in Progressive Politics!

Good morning, pups. It’s [sigh] Kristol, Cohen and Krugman today. That horse’s ass Wrong Way Billy thinks he can tell us about “Jihad’s True Face.” He squawks that if terror groups are to be defeated, in countries like India and the United States, governments will have to call on the patriotism of citizens. (Billy seems to have forgotten that the “terror groups” in the United States tend to be wild-eyed right wing lunatics who consider themselves “patriots.”) How much longer does his contract have to run? Mr. Cohen says “Try Tough Love, Hillary.” He believes U.S. policy toward Israel has been ineffective. It’s time to think again. Or just think at all, for that matter. Prof. Krugman discusses “Deficits and the Future.” He says conomists worry that large budget deficits will burden future generations. But strong fiscal expansion would actually enhance the economy’s long-run prospects.

http://mgpaquin.wordpress.com/

The coffee, tea and hot chocolate are ready, and the biscuits are out of the oven. That was the shortest 4-day weekend on record. I feel like it only lasted about 36 hours, and I’m NOT wanting to head back to the office today… Have as great a Monday as you can. 50 days to go.

Downright odd Palin fans seem undisturbed that her children are high school dropouts. Don’t think she ever alleged they were home schooled.

Good Morning! During Sarah’s interview with Matt Lauer, Piper mentioned that she was behing in school. It seems that the RNC can spend 150,000 on clothes and not a cent on a tutor. Sarah is campaigning in GA today.

I have to say that conservatives are downright scary and screwy when it comes to education. Home schooled by morons is a bad thing….

George Bush was the ‘president of peace’? Bah hahahahahahaha! Oh that’s funny!!!! Bah hahahahahahahaha!

Once a delusional man born to Satan…still a delusional man born to Satan (Babs).

whoops behind not behing

Have a good day Marion. I surely appreciate your morning reports and your blog.

we public schooled morons knew the difference ;-)

Excellent point.

*grin*

I can’t wait to watch Laura Bush helping Afghan women and girls in her retirement. I wonder how many times she’ll fly to Afghanistan on a commercial flight with less protection she had as First Lady to put herself out there like Princess Diana….to save the Afghan women? Should be interesting. Something tells me she’ll stay in Texas and “fight” for these women through others.

When she runs for Pres in a few years we will hear stories of her dodging bullets at the airport.

Tanta at Calculated Risk has passed away.

http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/

A lot of my comments on the economy were informed by her.

Speaking of conservatives, TPM has a post up this morning referring to an article on the true conservative genes by Neil Gabler in the LAT. Basic point: it is inherited from McCarthy through Nixon. Actually goes back farther than that to the anti-Red stuff during the First World War, and beyond that to the anti-IWW stuff. But the basic point is right. The wingnuts Iknow would have been perfectly content to see tailgunner Joe run the country. They thought he was doing a pretty good job when he did.

According to NPR, today is Cyber Monday – online merchants will be pushing their holiday wares.

Off to crankup the spam filters. Y’all have a great day.

That is very bad news.

She was funny she made the subject interesting she was on top of this economic disaster before almost anyone.

I followed your link, I am so sorry to hear that one so young has left us. My prayers go out to her family and friends in this time of sorrow. Thank you for connecting us with her as short a time as it was….May her thoughts and beliefs journey on….

Thanks so much! Off to the salt mines…

Her thoughts will live on in everyone who writes about the Greenspan/Bush housing bubble even historians will cite her she owned that topic with humor and she explained stuff so good that not only did I understand…but I felt comfortable trying to explain it to others.
The Blogs have lost one of our best today.

May you have comfort in the knowledge that her wisdom will continue on in those who love and respect her as you so obviously do as do many others who benefited from her wisdom.

Thanks:)

Glad someone else noticed that even before she answers the Feds, the Legislature, and the Personnel board, Candidate Palin should face the Truancy officers. After all, as we learned from AGAG (in Jane and EW’s immortal paraphrase), everything Republicans do is for the children.

On the other hand, perhaps the less said about Palin the better.

I thought the kids were home schooled or is that just the older ones? Is there anyone who tests home schooled kids to see if they are keeping up? A No Child Left Behind test or do only public school kids face that?
Does anyone know if Obama is going to get rid of No Child Left behind?

Public education is one of the great gifts of a civilized nation. Anyone who disputes this should be tested and I would bet would be shown as a liar and an idiot. Every child deserves the best education that “we” can possibly give them. The “we” is all of us, always.

Agreed its funny though how many of us Elite types went to public schools and how many morons like Bush went to Private school.

take out the first would and maybe you have an excellent public education…?

I think they interbreed, very bad…

Another “expert” on cspan spewing garbage, this time about the polictics of medical care. He avers that the voters determine what congress passes (in the context that those who do not have insurance don’t vote) instead of insurance corps and big pharma. He also calls Tom Daschle a great leader who can get things done in the senate. Bwahahahaha. He couldn’t even get himself reelected when he was majority leader.

No, I think bushes will be spoken about in the future as a cancer that infected the fabric of our country.
Weather we survive or not is yet to be determined. Pappy in the CIA was bad karma for the US.

Bad karma is just the beginning of what it should be called…..

I think we still need to put incredible pressure on Daschle to get universal healthcare passed. I will devote my every breathing minute to this end.