Open

i hope good republicans and Libertarians remember not to accept any government assistance in the aftermath of the devastating fires in SoCal. They might be labelled hypocrites. Now this would mean no city assistance no county assistance no state assistance and no federal assistance in any way shape or form, since they rail against anyone receiving any aid from the government.
come Repugs and Libertarians show your steele
ya hypocrites!

back in 11/2005 Orange County Cal.Republicans defeated a measure which would have increased fire protection.....i guess it came back to bite them in their collective butts

Charlie Rose tonight, Thursday, 10/25/07:

A panel discussion on Iraq with:
Deborah Amos (NPR)
Richard Engel (NBC)
Ali Fadhil (NYU Dept. of Journalism and various)
Mike Hoyt (Columbia Journalism Review)

A conversation with:
Hans Blix (former head of United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission)

Notice how they squeezed the Family Research Council in the Top Ten...? That makes it fair and balanced.

ciao~

Worst Wardrobe Choice When Hunting With Cheney

about the hit piece on Iran that PBS ran? Can you spell PROPAGANDA? ( double-clutched the "A's" again.) It assumed somehow that the US invasion and occupation of Iraq was not extraordinary, for one. Israel's massive bombardment of Lebanon was justified because the Iranian-backed Hezbollah attack Israel. (Why do they attack Israel, Litani and Shebaaa? Answer me.)

What's wrong with dressing in pilgrim clergy garb when hunting with Cheney. You are already prepared to say prayers over the wounded, among other benefits.

A.N.S.W.E.R. LA.
www.answerla.org/

The full moon tonight will appear to be much larger than usual.

It's no illusion. Tonight's moon will be the largest full moon of 2007.

That's because the moon will be closer to earth this time around than on any other orbit this year.

http://www.sun-herald.com/breakingnews.cfm?id=3728

Free Democracy

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?pid=243324
Laura Flanders

That wasn't a hit on Iran ... I thought it showed how the US has blown it and caused the problems with Iran. By Ingoring that letter by the reformers and after Iran helped the US with the Taliban .... Bush went and called them the axis of evil.

I didn't see it your way at all.

Free Democracy

telling the truth.
http://www.counterpunch.org/sheehan10252007.html

How about it, Stark. Tell us how you were bullied by Pelosi's goons to cop a plea.

That wasn't a hit on Iran ... I thought it showed how the US has blown it and caused the problems with Iran. By Ingoring that letter by the reformers and after Iran helped the US with the Taliban .... Bush went and called them the axis of evil.

Yeah, it did that. But that was only a part of it. The piece assumed that the US had a "right" to invade and attack. It did not go into any depth of US activities prior to 9/11. Why did Iran take hostages in 1979. What did the US do to enable Iraq to attack Iran? There's more. But what do you expect. If PBS told the truth, the funding would getcut so fast that they'd be in the memory hole the next day.

Submitted by Nicky Rose on Thu, 10/25/2007 - 7:21pm.
What's wrong with dressing in pilgrim clergy garb when hunting with Cheney...
---------
A barrister is the closest iconic image for an attorney that I could muster. A guy chasing an ambulance would have muddled the joke.

A barrister is the closest iconic image for an attorney that I could muster. A guy chasing an ambulance would have muddled the joke.

A barrister, huh. Ok. I thought it was some sort of colonial pilgrim. Maybe a QUAKER! And would a Quaker go hunting? Let alone with Cheney? I just don't know.

so tonight guys, your testicles will hang lower than they do any other night of the year.

Submitted by Regnad Kcin on Thu, 10/25/2007 - 7:37pm.
so tonight guys, your testicles will hang lower than they do any other night of the year.
----------
...scrotum if you got 'em.

This is what it was about .... What is happening today.

FRONTLINE presents
SHOWDOWN WITH IRAN
Tuesday, October 23, 2007, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS

www.pbs.org/frontline/showdown

As the United States and Iran are locked in a battle for power and influence across the Middle East -- with the fear of an Iranian nuclear weapon looming in the background -- FRONTLINE gains unprecedented access to the Iranian hard-liners shaping government policy. In Showdown with Iran, airing Tuesday, October 23, 2007, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings), FRONTLINE examines how U.S. efforts to install democracy in Iraq have served to strengthen Iran's position as an emerging power in the Middle East.

"You will not find a single instance in which a country has inflicted harm on us and we have left it without a response," deputy head of Iran's National Security Council Mohammad Jafari tells FRONTLINE in his first television interview. "So if the United States makes such a mistake, they should know that we will definitely respond. And we don't make threats."

There are increasing signs that the Bush administration is seriously considering military action before it leaves office if Tehran continues to defy U.N. demands that it cease enriching uranium for its nuclear program -- a program the Iranians insist is for peaceful purposes. "The president has said repeatedly that it is unacceptable for Iran to have nuclear weapons," former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton tells FRONTLINE. "If action is not taken in terms of regime change or, if need be, the use of military force, the question of when Iran achieves nuclear weapons is entirely in Iran's own hands. And that is extraordinarily undesirable."

But Richard Armitage, President Bush's former deputy secretary of state, warns, "It would be the worst of worlds for an outgoing administration to start a conflict."

After 9/11, the Bush administration hoped to drive a wedge between Iran's people and their Islamic rulers by installing democracies on two of Iran's borders. "If things had gone better in Iraq," says Hillary Mann, the Iran expert on the National Security Council during the run-up to the war, "then yeah, I think Iran was next."

"I think Iran is more secure now, courtesy of the United States," Bolton says. "We have removed the Taliban regime from Afghanistan, which they viewed as a mortal threat. We have removed Saddam Hussein in Iraq, which they viewed as a mortal threat."

Before invading Iraq, the Bush administration rebuffed a series of overtures from Iran's reformist government -- among them offers to help the U.S. stabilize Iraq after the invasion -- which culminated in a secret proposal for a grand bargain resolving all outstanding issues between the U.S. and Iran, including Iran's support for terrorism and its nuclear program. The U.S., which had branded Iran part of the "axis of evil," decided on a confrontational approach.

Vali Nasr, author of The Shia Revival, believes the Bush administration's confrontational approach discredited Iran's reformists and inadvertently helped bring the new hard-line government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power. "The wars of 2001 and 2003 have fundamentally changed the Middle East to Iran's advantage," he says. "The dam that was containing Iran has been broken."......

want to attack Iran? They say because they don't want Iran to develop a nuclear weapons capability. And, given the threat that Iran poses to Israel and other US allies, this is a legitimate reason to oppose Iran on this. The special indicated that intelligence sources, like the MEK, keeps the US informed of Iran's progress. So, the US has a case for bombing Iran.

Are there other reasons as to why Iran wants the capability to build nuclear weapons? If you go outside the US, where we are heavily propagandized, someone might tell you that Iran needs a deterrence from US bullying.

Why don't you respond to the questions I posed, instead of pasting the synopsis?
Anyway...
"The wars of 2001 and 2003 have fundamentally changed the Middle East to Iran's advantage," he says. "The dam that was containing Iran has been broken."......
Why do we need to contain Iran? Who did they attack? I am more concerned with the need to contain the country that considers other nations' resources "our" resources, and uses military force to enforce their consideration.

simple you started out saying it was a hit piece on Iran.

Then after I showed you that it wasn't . you drifted off into 1979 history.

January 8th...1979

Vietnamese troops overtook Khmer Rouge and occupy Phnom Penh

I didn't see it like that. I saw the Neocons thinking they had that right.

Feb 1st, 1979

Patricia Hearst is released from a San Francisco prison for bank robbery

"YMCA" by Village People peaks at #2 on pop singles chart

One of the very worst years of my life. I

cudda done without the shit that went down in

my life that year.

Please post links of explicit photos of erotica on the main thread rather than the photos.

It prevents the blog from being blocked (because of the downloaded explicit pictures).

Thank you kindly in advance.

There are currently 1 user and 23 guests online.
Online users
Peter Dragon

Then after I showed you that it wasn't . you drifted off into 1979 history.

Bullshit! Get off that smug high horse. It was a hit piece because it poses that Iran is a threat to our interests and must be contained somehow. No background history on this. It did show how those who want to attack refuse to do other options. But both sides of the aisle maintain that Iran needs to be contained. For one, because they refuse to obey US orders. So something must be done. I can hear the democrats now: "Bad option by the neocons. But we now must get behind our president and our military at this time of peril."

I listened to the Iran piece on the radio, and watched some of it on TV. I will view it carefully and write something on it. My feelings are that it was shallow. The neocon option may not be the best option, but Iran does pose a threat. It did not teach us a thing on how the US was able to manuever into this. No history. And I don't need any patronizing comments from the gallery.

that Bush rolled up his sleeves before he got on the

helicoptor to look at the fires. I for one, was very

impressed. Sleeve rolling up is certainly impressive.

will remain silenced as preferred

The gallery
new
Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 10/25/2007 - 8:50pm.
will remain silenced as preferred

I was joking. Fire away!

*

I've looked for that Picture on Boing Boing,and I just can't look no more..
Sorry..
I'll try tomorrow,or never again. ;)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Just home from work.

Webb: Lieberman and Kyl bring ‘Cheney element’ to Senate. On MSNBC’s Hardball today, Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) said that his colleagues, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), who introduced a hawkish Iran resolution in the Senate, are “carrying water for the administration, for the hawks inside the administration” by amping up rhetoric in the Senate against Iran. “I don’t think there’s any doubt about that,” said Webb. He then added, “the Cheney element of the administration is well represented in the Senate.” Watch it:

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/25/webb-lieberman-and-kyl-bring-cheney-...

UPDATE: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) offered a non-binding resolution today “affirming that any offensive military action taken against Iran must be explicitly approved by Congress before such action may be initiated.”

http://irannuclearwatch.blogspot.com/2007/10/senator-durbin-introduces-i...

I saw the pic you posted.

You mean we shouldn't go hunting w/Cheney if we're dressed like vampires?

the guy is a vampire, right?

your testicles will hang lower than they do any other night of the year,tonight.

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

House passes revised SCHIP bill. The House just voted 265-142 to approve revised SCHIP expansion legislation, but fell short of the two-thirds needed to uphold a veto by President Bush. Twenty-seven members didn’t vote. The bill would “add $35 billion to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program” and “addressed critics’ concerns about participation by adults, illegal immigrants and families able to afford health insurance.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/25/house-passes-revised-schip-bill/

Roll call HERE.

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll1009.xml

Hagel: New Unilateral Iran Sanctions ‘Escalate The Danger Of A Military Confrontation’
Today, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson accused the Quds division of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps of proliferating weapons of mass destruction and sponsoring terrorism. They announecd new unilateral sanctions, the “broadest set of punitive measures imposed on Tehran since 1979.”

In his weekly news conference today, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sharply criticized the administration’s move, warning that it brings the United States one step closer to war:

“Unilateral sanctions rarely, ever work,” Hagel said by phone during his weekly news conference. “I just don’t think the unilateral approach and giving war speeches helps the situation. It will just drive the Iranians closer together.” […]

“It escalates the danger of a military confrontation,” Hagel said.

“I certainly think engagement is critical … direct engagement,” said Hagel. “That’s what great powers do.”

In the press conference today, Rice insisted that the United States continues to pursue the “path of cooperation” with Iran. But the administration’s announcement comes just a day after CQ reported on the administration’s $88-million request to equip B-2 “stealth” bombers with a new 30,000-pound bunker buster — a weapon “meant for the kind of hardened targets found chiefly in Iran.”

On Sunday, Vice President Cheney issued “his sternest warning to date on Iran,” promising that there will be “serious consequences” if Iran continues “on its present course.” President Bush also last week publicly warned for the first time of the risk of “World War III” if Iran gets nuclear weapons.

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/25/hagel-rice-iran/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7062415.stm

Neanderthals 'were flame-haired'
By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, Murcia, Spain

Some Neanderthals were probably redheads, a DNA study has shown.

Writing in Science journal, a team of researchers extracted DNA from remains of two Neanderthals and retrieved part of an important gene called MC1R.

In modern people, a change - or mutation - in this gene causes red hair, but, until now, no one knew what hair colour our extinct relatives had.

By analysing a version of the gene in Neanderthals, scientists found that they also have sported fiery locks.

"We found a variant of MC1R in Neanderthals which is not present in modern humans, but which causes an effect on the hair similar to that seen in modern redheads," said lead author Carles Lalueza-Fox, assistant professor in genetics at the University of Barcelona.

Though once thought to have been our ancestors, the Neanderthals are now considered by many to be an evolutionary dead end.

They appear in the fossil record about 400,000 years ago and, at their peak, these squat, physically powerful hunters dominated a wide range spanning Britain and Iberia in the west, Israel in the south and Siberia in the east.

Our own species, Homo sapiens, evolved in Africa, and displaced the Neanderthals after entering Europe about 40,000 years ago. The last known evidence of Neanderthals comes from Gibraltar and is dated to between 28,000 and 24,000 years ago.

"In Neanderthals, there was probably the whole range of hair colour we see today in modern European populations, from dark to blond right through to red "

Dr Carles Lalueza-Fox

Request Regarding Explicit Erotica Photos
Submitted by Star Vox on Thu, 10/25/2007 - 8:24pm.
-----------
Star Vox,
I apologize for posting the barrister. It wasn't funny enough for the byte price. I don't have any self control when it comes to Cheney-blasting-an-attorney-in-the-face jokes.
----------------------------------------
MMRules,
Thanks for looking. The photo seems familiar but I might be fabricating the memory. I can search for a photo using words but I don't know how to search for words using a photo.

That's US!
http://www.opctj.org/articles/eric-ruder-05-18-2006-222733.html

that was a Barister!

I get it now...

...I figgered itwas a vampire

Did you see my response to your question about pic on last thread??

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

don't dress like that when they make lattes.

it must be a Missourri thing?

Submitted by Chubby Bubba on Thu, 10/25/2007 - 9:13pm.
that was a Barister!
I get it now...
--------------
When have you ever seen a vampire in a powdered wig?

Wait. Don't answer that. I don't want to know.

http://extremewigs.com/cwig.htm?gclid=CIKc9Yiyq48CFQSOFQodFitqSA

the library. I will watch that Iran frontline piece tomorrow. I dol concede that it may help awaken the public to Bush's plans. And we can avert an attackt--for now.
It is be up to grassroots organizers to work towards changing the "stalemate" with Iran. That will take much democratization. And then we will be able to see a frontline special on Iran that tells "the rest of the story". 1979 and all.

New Bargain Barrister:
Sells for $29.95.

Short curly top and braids in the back.

Anybody seen this pic before?
I think I got it off Boing Boing months ago but, not sure..
I think it was from a flick but,again not sure..

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

we all know how THAT turned out!

reminds me of the time Crank Bait got himself that new `satellite TV'...

Rarely for the poor and,working class..
Sorry that happened to ya Chubs!

I might just be finding out I'm dyslectic..
Or,I just can't type worth crap!Gezz!

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Top Dems: Mukasey Nod Hinges on Waterboarding
"It's fair to say my vote would depend on him answering that question," Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy tells reporters.

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004564.php

Rudy: Waterboarding OK, "Depends on Who Does It"

http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/10/rudy_wont_say_whether_waterboardin...

I had a `bargain barrister' myself...
Submitted by Chubby Bubba on Thu, 10/25/2007 - 9:24pm.
we all know how THAT turned out!
--------
I decided against using a rotten attorney joke the other night. It's funnier when you do it, anyway.

"How do you plead?"

"Screwed!"

I originally posted it saying,"Ono coming out of a 2 day YouTube binge !"
Something like that..

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

I guess you are sitting higher than me.

Here's the transcript maybe you can point to me where Frontline was driving the conclusion you have come up with.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/showdown/etc/script.html

I saw reasons they pointed out why we shouldn't invade Iran.

Have you ever been up before me before?

and I sez: that depends, yere honor...what time do you ussually git up?

I can see that.

Glad you are out. 8-)

"I see you're here fer drinkin'."

to which I sez,"We'll have to use your bottle, they done took mine!"

Some the stupidest vids I have ever seen in my life !

Fun at first then got abit weird..

He's seen more video's I bet,than a human has the right,or need to ! ;)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

out!

Rajah,
Have you had the opportunity to speak officially recently with any of the various authorities who were involved many months ago? If so, has any of them commented on the unseemly demise of your former nemesis?

What I'm trying to ask is, has anyone said, "Boy, it has become evident that you got screwed by a dirtball."

how DARE you speak so of an officer of the court!

:)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

at the correctional facility went to high school with my (for lack of better word) victim?

is that the spin-off of `touched by an angel"?

quote Chris Rock, "there's always a reason to hit a woman...just don't do it....sh*t, there's a reason to kick an old man down the stairs...just don't do it"

--Request Regarding Explicit Erotica Photos
Submitted by Star Vox on Thu, 10/25/2007 - 8:24pm.

Please post links of explicit photos of erotica on the main thread rather than the photos.

It prevents the blog from being blocked (because of the downloaded explicit pictures).

Thank you kindly in advance.--

So are you saying when there is a photograph on the blog which contains...(what? I don't know...is it something in the url of the pic or the content of the photo?) that you are unable to load the blog?

Alice: different places have filters that censor shit. Like, for instance, when I took my laptop to my kid's volleyball game? They have free wi-fi, but it's a church. So, like, yeah, I was going into your open mic, and I got this huge gray screen with huge red letters that said PORNOGRAPHY, CANNOT ENTER THIS SITE!!!

San Bernardino Forest Chief Blames DC; Was Told to Shred Earlier Report on Fire Threat

In what seems to be an oft repeated theme, the Bush Administration again put politics over policy. And that has had an effect on the forests of Southern California.

San Bernardino National Forest Supervisor Gene Zimmerman has harsh words for D.C. regarding preparations for large-scale forest fires, and was told to shred his report on forest renewal during the drought in 2002:

Before the string of blazes that lay siege this week to nearly all of Southern California, even before the historic firestorms of 2003, then-San Bernardino National Forest Supervisor Gene Zimmerman told his bosses in Washington about the problem before him.

The most populous national forest faced a mounting threat of catastrophic fire, and reducing it would cost a lot of money, he said.

On Wednesday, Agriculture Department Undersecretary Mark Rey, the nation's top fire official, said funds meant to restore forests to health have reached record levels in recent years -- and that the San Bernardino National Forest has received proportionately more money than any of the country's 155 national forests.

Yet Zimmerman, along with experts and lawmakers, points to a series of obstacles they believe have hampered more progress:

Funding for the Healthy Forest Restoration Act, unveiled by President Bush in 2003 with much fanfare, remain hundreds of millions of dollars beneath levels authorized in the legislation -- an assertion Rey disputes.
A boost in federal money for tree thinning in the San Bernardino National Forest after the 2003 fires dissipated as more resources were dedicated to the war in Iraq and Katrina relief efforts.

And back in 2002:

He said it would take a lot of money and a lot of time to return the forest to health -- $300 million at $30 million a year for 10 years, to adequately reduce the fire danger facing the tens of thousands of residents in Lake Arrowhead, Big Bear, Idyllwild and other forest communities.

In the months before the October 2003 fires, Zimmerman was told during a conference call to shred the document, he said during an interview this week.

More here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-anderson/san-bernardino-forest-chi_b...

Everybody around me must have saw it.

But they were probably already thinking I was a bitch for surfin' at a volleyball game, so what the hell.

for starting fires in CA per CNN

is quite nosy too.. Though I've never seen that particular message....

Also, if Star Vox's filter disallowed him (or her) to see the blog with those particular photos I posted today and thinks those two were "explicit pictures"..there's a problem...because neither one had any vagina, breasts, or penis in them...one was a tango..one was a woman covering herself...no nudity...

else in my mind...not what I post...

OK, But Just a Peek
White House offers Leahy and Specter access to secret surveillance docs already released to Senate intel committee.

--David Kurtz

http://public.cq.com/docs/cqm/cqmidday110-000002613272.html

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c68_1193347304&p=1

:)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Me too...

bodies of shredded people

caused by pychopathic chickenhawks

safely remote and isolated in splendid comfort from the blood?

Death, grief, sorrow and murder? Sure!! Load em up...

Naked people? Oh boooo - that's PORN!

*gak*

Oct 25, 9:24 PM EDT

As Calif. Fires Burned, Copters Grounded

By AARON C. DAVIS and MICHAEL R. BLOOD
Associated Press Writers

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- As wildfires were charging across Southern California, nearly two dozen water-dropping helicopters and two massive cargo planes sat idly by, grounded by government rules and bureaucracy.

How much the aircraft would have helped will never be known, but their inability to provide quick assistance raises troubling questions about California's preparations for a fire season that was widely expected to be among the worst on record.

It took as long as a day for Navy, Marine and California National Guard helicopters to get clearance early this week, in part because state rules require all firefighting choppers to be accompanied by state forestry "fire spotters" who coordinate water or retardant drops. By the time those spotters arrived, the powerful Santa Ana winds stoking the fires had made it too dangerous to fly.

The National Guard's C-130 cargo planes, among the most powerful aerial firefighting weapons, never were slated to help. The reason: They've yet to be outfitted with tanks needed to carry thousands of gallons of fire retardant, though that was promised four years ago.

"The weight of bureaucracy kept these planes from flying, not the heavy winds," Republican U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher told The Associated Press. "When you look at what's happened, it's disgusting, inexcusable foot-dragging that's put tens of thousands of people in danger."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WILDFIRES_GROUNDED_AIRCRAFT?SITE=...

.

I assume you mean me...
Submitted by Alice on Thu, 10/25/2007 - 10:00pm.

----

Request Regarding Explicit Erotica Photos
Submitted by Star Vox on Thu, 10/25/2007 - 8:24pm.

Please post links of explicit photos of erotica on the main thread rather than the photos.

It prevents the blog from being blocked (because of the downloaded explicit pictures).

Thank you kindly in advance.--

---------

So are you saying when there is a photograph on the blog which contains...(what? I don't know...is it something in the url of the pic or the content of the photo?) that you are unable to load the blog?

--------

Aw, man, there went the porn...
Submitted by Annette on Thu, 10/25/2007 - 10:03pm.
Alice: different places have filters that censor shit. Like, for instance, when I took my laptop to my kid's volleyball game? They have free wi-fi, but it's a church. So, like, yeah, I was going into your open mic, and I got this huge gray screen with huge red letters that said PORNOGRAPHY, CANNOT ENTER THIS SITE!!!

____________

In fairness to Star Vox, twere a request 'bout "erotic" pitchers, not "porn".

In fairness to Alice ('n ever'body), I find it very hard to b'lieve that this blog is a-gonna be an agent of change.

Don't reckon much (if anything) is lost by not allowin' folks what'd voluntarily ('n indiscriminately) filter out "PORN!" to not visit this site.

Prolly a blessing -- for both camps -- by my lights.

The response just sounded better at the time. Now alot of the bad stuff about the fire is coming out.

I hope this changes the minds of some of the repubs so they realize what is really going on.

More from that article by the AP:

Rohrabacher and other members of California's congressional delegation are demanding answers about aircraft deployment. And some fire officials have grumbled that a quicker deployment of aircraft could have helped corral many of the wildfires that quickly flared out of control and have so far burned 500,000 acres from Malibu to the Mexican border.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other state officials have defended the state's response, saying the intense winds prevented a more timely air attack.

"Anyone that is complaining about the planes just wants to complain," Schwarzenegger replied angrily to a question Wednesday. "The fact is that we could have all the planes in the world here - we have 90 aircraft here and six that we got especially from the federal government - and they can't fly because of the wind."

Indeed, winds reaching 100 mph helped drive the flames and made it exceedingly dangerous to fly. Still, four state helicopters and two from the Navy were able to take off Monday while nearly two dozen others stayed grounded.

Thomas Eversole, executive director of the American Helicopter Services & Aerial Firefighting Association, a Virginia-based nonprofit that serves as a liaison between helicopter contractors and federal agencies, said valuable time was lost.

****

Let's see what is stirred up next.

US Embassy offers just $12,500 for boy slain by BlackwaterJason Rhyne
Published: Thursday October 25, 2007

For the families of Iraqi civilians killed by the US security firm Blackwater last month, it may be difficult to place a monetary value on the loss of their loved ones -- but they agree it has to more than the few thousand dollars currently being offered up by the US Embassy.

The embassy made a rare move on Wednesday to compensate surviving victims and the families of fatalities related to a Sept. 16 shooting incident involving Blackwater's private security guards, according to a report in the Washington Post by Sudarsan Raghavan.

But the money being offered -- just 12,500 in one case involving the death of a 10-year old boy named Ali -- is being greeted with disgust by many.

Ali's father, Mohammad Hafud Abdul Razaq, turned the embassy's offer down cold, telling the US Embassy's deputy chief of mission Patracia Butenis the amount was "far too little." What he wanted, according to the Post, was an admission of guilt from Blackwater itself.

"The manager of Blackwater didn't apologize, and he didn't admit the crime," Razaq told the paper. "He didn't apologize for his crime...I told the ambassador 'You are fighting terrorist groups who are offering $100,000 for people who blow themselves up.'"

That sentiment is common among many of the families interviewed by the Post.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/US_Embassy_12500_compensation_for_boys_102...

Reading the erotic thing back stream. I have not seen porn here except when an occasional jerk tries to slip something in like last week and someone cleanses.

Alice posts beautiful pix off to the side. If the tango pix were a problem, have someone tune into Dancing w/ the Stars next week. I don't think this blog needs to live by the xto-fascist rules.

Dammit, I miss all the good shit :-(..

But seriously, I enjoy what Alice posts. Like I said earlier, I wanna sign up for the entire library. ;-)

what was my other choice? Should I start taking Spanish lessons or do they habla ingles?

I heard that story earlier today on NPR - they say the families were so ashamed at the low amount, they refused to take the money.

For $12.5k per life gratitude, maybe they should have invaded Cuba.

http://www.samsedershow.com/node/1575#comment-87781

or this

http://www.samsedershow.com/node/1575#comment-87789

or this?

http://www.samsedershow.com/node/1575#comment-87788

making the reccomendation for the reasons stated.

Voxxer is good peeps and not a prude.

the reccomendation was made

with the best concerns

of all in mind.

so bear that in mind.

October 25, 2007, 4:51 pm
Fox Orders Halt to McCain Ad
By Jim Rutenberg

Fox News Channel confirms that it has ordered the campaign of Senator John McCain to cancel its new ad featuring a clip of him at last Sunday’s debate, which was sponsored by Fox News. The news network prohibits candidates from using debate clips in their political advertisements.
The spot uses a debate clip liberally, highlighting Mr. McCain’s dig at Senator Hillary Clinton for pushing a $1 million earmark for a museum commemorating Woodstock and his quip that he was “tied up” during the concert – that is, tied in up North Vietnam as a prisoner of war.
And the spot prominently features the Fox News logo in the corner of the screen. Of course, campaigns use debate clips from time to time to the anger of the networks, and they do not tend to mind the extra publicity these clips bring to their ads. But Fox News officials say they are taking this matter seriously.

The advertisement is in full rotation as of today, and lawyers for Mr. McCain say they are within their “fair use” rights to use the clip of their candidate talking for 19 seconds of a 90-minute debate. Fox’s lawyers say “fair use” does not apply to commercial use and that Mr. McCain’s campaign has no substantive legal defense.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/25/fox-orders-halt-to-mccain-...

I have no issue with Star Vox..my issue is with Star Vox's filter...neither of those photos were naked ones...and so that's why I asked him if it's the URL or the content of the photo that the filter is seeing...

Submitted by Sunshine Jim on Thu, 10/25/2007 - 10:51pm.
------
Don't mess with me or I'll have my husband the cop come online and beat you up.

I'm not sure where the Rev. Ron Barker of St. Joseph's School in Wakefield, MA has been for the last ten years (in his study?), but apparently he became aware--last month--of the character Harry Potter, and the seven books in which he was the title character. The following report is from Fox News [link is dead now], so read it at your own discretion:

"A Catholic pastor at a Massachusetts parochial school has made all the Harry Potter books there disappear, saying they are spiritually dangerous for children and could encourage them to engage in witchcraft. The Rev. Ron Barker of St. Joseph's School in Wakefield, Mass., said he stripped the library there of the fantasy series by British author J.K. Rowling in the last month after discovering the novels were among the 10,000 volumes on the shelves.

"This is a parochial school and I have the moral authority to do this," he said in an interview with FOXNews.com. "For some people, reading those books is a vehicle to become involved in the occult. ... My basic premise is for the spiritual protection of the children."

Two former body armor company execs indicted for insider trading, fraud
By FRANK ELTMAN
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) - Two former top executives of the leading supplier of body armor to the U.S. military were indicted today on charges of insider trading, fraud and tax evasion in a scheme that netted them nearly $200 million, federal prosecutors said.

David H. Brooks, 53, the former CEO of DHB Industries Inc., and Sandra Hatfield, 54, the former chief operating officer, were charged in a superseding indictment with manipulating DHB's financial records to increase earnings and profit margins, thereby inflating the price of DHB's stock.

"Corporate executives who line their own pockets at the expense of their shareholders flaunt the responsibilities they owe their companies and the investing public," U.S. Attorney Benton J. Campbell said in a statement.

The former DHB executives are accused of falsely inflating the value of the inventory of DHB's top product, the Interceptor vest, to help meet profit margin projections. The vest, designed to withstand rifle fire and shrapnel, was made for the Marine Corps and other branches of the military.

From the Trentonian.com

His electrons are registered as lethal weapons.

good south american countries.

the US nazi boys losing their grip in S amer.

mainly cuz the chickenhawks are their main front boys and they're punks.

the original nazi boys had their share of punks too.

read up on the period, very interesting stuff.

gives a lot of insight into 'now'.

all based on insane psycho's

huge ego's and abberant

social behaviour.

Someone, we're not exactly sure whom, didn't want their child walking by and seeing the collaborative window exhibit "Playing Doctor" at the York University Bookstore. The exhibit was an attempt to facilitate awareness about the importance of being checked for testicular and breast cancer.

Here's the story from Excalibur, the campus paper of York University in Toronto.

Filtering Libraries

The San Jose Mercury News Says Filtering was a bad idea a decade ago, and still is. Responding to a minor nuisance at the downtown library by dampening the rights of inquiry and speech of all patrons at every city library is an unacceptable trade-off.

Mu Fi!

Oh, year. Salvia doesn't mean spit.

on the "Two former body armor" post

you can go to tinyurl.com to shrink it

ORANGE COUNTY, California (CNN) -- One of the larger fires in Southern California was deliberately started by someone with apparent knowledge of arson, a fire official said Thursday.

The Santiago Fire in Orange County was started in two places along a little-traveled road, according to Chief Chip Prather of the county's fire authority.

The fire, which has burned more than 25,000 acres, was started in brush just off Santiago Canyon Road, not close to homes. It spread rapidly, indicating the arsonist had some knowledge of winds and other factors.

"It is a confirmed arson. There was evidence found at the scene. That is the purpose of our early declaration of it being an arson-caused fire," Prather said. He would not describe the evidence.

Prather said officials originally thought the fire had three points of origin instead of two.

The Santiago Fire's points of origin are considered crime scenes, said Jim Amornino, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

The reward for information leading to an arrest has increased to $150,000 -- $50,000 each from the governor's office, the U.S. agency of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the FBI, Prather said.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/25/fire.arson/index.html

That's who it was...der...I knew I didn't like that pic for some reason..besides it's obvious blandness...

Volunteering builds networks. Talking to Mom, we have friends in Costa Rica, too.

And great news, today she finally heard back from our friends in Burma!!! They're keeping their heads low. Such sweet people, they were frequent visitors in our home as I was growing up, and they have sent many interesting gifts over the years.

I thought of that but I'm just too tired to put the effort into it. The link is on Raw Story also. I guess I could have done a little html on that also.

Pain in my back started again so I'm about to take some meds and try to sleep.

Submitted by toniD on Thu, 10/25/2007 - 4:50pm.

US troops only pretending
to be on patrol

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Iraq war veterans now stationed at a base here in upstate New York say that morale among US soldiers in the country is so poor, many are simply parking their Humvees and pretending to be on patrol, a practice dubbed "search and avoid" missions.

http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IJ26Ak07.html

______________________

corrolary kabuki:

----------

BOMBS AWAY

USA Today reports that airstrikes are way up in Iraq this year:

The U.S. military has increased airstrikes in Iraq four-fold this year, reflecting a steep escalation in combat operations aimed at al-Qaeda and other militants.

... More precise targeting and smaller bombs have made it easier for the Air Force to support ground troops in counterinsurgencies, such as those in Afghanistan and Iraq. "We're hitting within 15 feet of where we're aiming," [Air Force Brig. Gen. Stephen] Mueller said.

Really? Over at Slate, Fred Kaplan takes a closer look at the numbers and reports that although airstrikes have been on the upswing all year, they only really started to skyrocket this past June. Did U.S. bombs really get 10x more precise in the span of a single month?

Probably not. The more likely explanation, Kaplan thinks, is that airstrikes are being used to keep U.S. casualties down —- despite the fact that standard counterinsurgency doctrine recommends against operations that result in large number of civilian casualties:

Since the surge began and Gen. Petraeus shifted the strategy to counterinsurgency, the number of U.S. airstrikes has soared ... More telling still, the number of airstrikes soared most dramatically at about the same time that U.S. troop fatalities declined.

... However, air support has its limits ... The old adage about warfare —- that it's easy to kill people, hard to kill a particular person —- is doubly true of aerial warfare. And in counterinsurgency warfare, the consequences are counterproductive.

Submitted by zeek on Thu, 10/25/2007 - 11:01pm.
Why do some links seem to shorten themselves of an I just imagining things?
--------
Despite the Rajah's claim to the contrary, you cannot randomly substitute any two letter word for any other two letter word. On in I just imagining things?

When I heard the fuppers saying that there were less deaths in Iraq lately.

I knew something was up.

Three percent.

A lady I know (who is a young mom) advised me to look up this drug:

Salvia Divinorum (Salvia) or Salvinorin A, street names Salvia, Divine Sage and Magic Mint is a legal, powerful natural hallucinogen marketed to and easily accessed by teens on the web and at times, health and spirituality stores. Health care and law enforcement officials described Salvia as an organic hallucinogen as potent as LSD. Users dispute the comparing of Salvia to LSD and insist that it is a mild, harmless perception and spirituality enhancer...

http://www.couplescompany.com/Features/Alerts/Salvia.htm

--------------
Is this another knee-jerk reaction to "the next big drug scare" or is it truly a hot item? Anyone know?

or is one death too much?

How deoxy of you Crank...

NEWSLETTER - Friday, October 26, 2007

“For the first time in American history, a sitting Administration,
takes the position the that President has the right to break the law."
- Fritz Schwarz

“Great leaders have sometimes taken it upon themselves to say,
'Well, this isn't the law but it must happen.'"
- Charles Fried

This week on BILL MOYERS JOURNAL (check local listings)

How far can a President go to defend the nation? BILL MOYERS JOURNAL examines the unprecedented Presidential power that some say is being amassed by our current Administration and kept secret in the name of national security. Moyers gets perspective from Charles Fried, who teaches Constitutional law at Harvard Law School and served as solicitor general in the Reagan Administration, and Fritz Schwarz, who served as chief counsel to the Senate Select Committee, which led by Frank Church of Idaho uncovered decades of abuse by the CIA and other intelligence agencies.

--Is this another knee-jerk reaction to "the next big drug scare" or is it truly a hot item? Anyone know?--

To me it's seemed like legal, stronger, pot...I only know online people who have tried it though..no one I know, and I myself haven't tried it...so I don't know...I do know of a website that might tell you more though...brb with it..

I wonder if the bombs they's droppin' is named?

You know, like Robert Mitchum's fingers was tattooed in "Night of the Hunter"?

Mebbe there's a bomb callt "Free Speech!"

Or "Self-determination!"

Or even "The Nuclear Option!"

entitled "Scholastic Encyclopedia of the Presidents and their Times"

Re: George Walker Bush - born July 6, 1946 in New Haven CT (I thought he was from Texas?) Nickname Dubya - first president to have fathered twins.

I only typed out here what Brittanica records that he did in his first 9 months of office...... 9 fucking months.

"In January 2001, George W. Bush became president of a deeply divided America. His controversial victory in the 2000 election had been the closest in history, and even after his inauguration, many Americans still believed that Al Gore had won. As a result, Bush took office amid doubt and mistrust, yet he was unfazed. As a candidate, he had often described himself as a "compassionate conservative" who could "bring people together." Now he had the chance to do just that. At first, his words matched his promise. He vowed to lift the country above partisan politics and establish a new era of civility in government.

But his actions undercut his message and brought about an even deeper split in the nation. Rather than uniting the country, he instead united Republicans and Democrats against one another. From the start of his term, Bush governed with a sense of righteousness that pleased Americans who shared his deep religious faith but alienated others who did not. Aligning his policies with the goals of powerful Christian political groups, he limited the federal funding of stem cell research; ended US aid to international family planning agencies; offered federal money to faith-based social programs; and appointed highly controversial, socially conservative judges to the federal bench."

"The Bush team also angered liberals at home and allies abroad when it reversed decades of multilateralism in US foreign policy. In March, 2001, Bush pulled the United States out of the 1997 Kyoto treaty on global warming because, he said, compliance would hurt the US economy. In May 2002, he also withdrew from the 2000 treaty establishing the International Criminal Court."

"An equally dramatic reversal came in the nation's tax policy. Under President Clinton, Congress had shifted the tax burden significantly from the bottom 80 percent to the top 1 percent of the population. In February 2001, however, President bush proposed "spending" the large budget surplus he had inherited on a ten year, $1.6 trillion tax cut. the money belonged to American taxpayers, he said, and they should get to keep it. Congress later reduced the amount to $1.35 trillion, but 43 percent of the tax cut still went to the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans."

"Then 9/11 happened." And as we know now, it only went downhill from there...

Dear Friend,

I just signed this letter asking Harry Reid to oppose immunity for companies that break the law. The ACLU, Moveon.org, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Working Assets Wireless, and many prominent bloggers have signed this letter.

Enough is enough. The law is the law, for big companies and for individuals alike. Join us.

Read the letter and sign up here:

http://www.noretroactiveimmunity.com

Thanks!

Goodnight, neighbors! Sleep tight...

http://www.markfiore.com/

http://spiritplants.org

coveniently skips over the supremo's handing "W" the election.

Crapola Encyclopedia

Extremist" Air America Backs Off?

Posted by Matthew Felling| 5

(CBS/AP)It wasn’t what was said about Air America Radio, so much as who said it. (So many critical comments have been directed toward the network.) And then, given that information, my response was a hearty “Oh, no he di’nt!.”

According to St. Petersburg Times media writer and New Edition aficionado Eric Deggans, the following observation was made of the liberal-leaning radio network:
I do think the liberal programming that has occurred here has been far too extremist… It's not our job to get a Democrat elected to Congress. We need to be funny, we need to be enjoyable, and I don't think that existed at this company three years ago.

The person who said it? Air America VP of Programming David Bernstein, in a conversation about the new direction the network is heading in.

What’s going on?

I spoke with Michael Harrison of Talkers Magazine -- the self-described “Bible of Talk Radio” – about the radio network’s new approach. What is someone to make of the fact that a VP is being so critical of the network’s early days?

His response? “I think Bernstein was smart to say it. As a broadcasting company, it was a total failure. It was an interesting item in the news, but as a broadcasting company it went bankrupt. So these other people buy it at a bargain price and realize that it has negative brand identification,” Harrison noted. “Saying Air America Radio doesn’t get you anywhere – it actually hurts you. So it’s smart of Bernstein to say what he’s saying, that they’re going to run an entertaining and progressive programming schedule that fits in more with the mainstream audience.

“It was far too politically motivated and not motivated to gather an audience and generate revenue. It just wasn’t a good business plan. They ran it like a campaign, rather than a broadcasting company.”

I mentioned an article I wrote a few years ago talking about unlocking the secrets of successful talk radio, and he nodded ... or as least as close as someone can get to nodding over the phone.

“It’s not about party politics or electoral politics,” Harrison agreed. “It’s about entertainment. It’s about being a compelling speaker and attracting people to listen. Some political content, sure. And some story telling. Along with charisma. It’s an elusive mix of traits that makes for good radio.”

I asked Harrison if there was a fatal flaw he could put his finger on in the previous formula, and he responded.

“The biggest problem that the original Air America had was that it was trying to knock off conservative talk show hosts, when they should have presented their own vision of America.

That would be like watching HBO’s “Inside the NFL” and seeing them talked about what’s wrong with baseball, or why you shouldn’t watch baseball.”

As far as this writer is concerned, the new direction at Air America is a good call, if for no other reason than business sense. The old way clearly didn't work.

The people who call themselves ‘liberal’ or ‘progressive’ are not one audience block. Just as there are many shades of red in conservative America, liberals are a diverse group of people whose world view leads them to identify with the blue staters.

The audience that Air America originally catered to – as far as this writer could tell from occasional listens — were predominantly engaged (enraged?) and activist liberals. In other words, the true believers, the pamphlet-pushers. By focusing their content on this audience, Air America ended up turning off other liberals searching for left-oriented content, sure, but also entertaining material .. not the strident stuff they got with the original regime.

Strident? That’s what blogs are for – and many of them on both sides are darn good at it. But when it comes to something you want to tune into in the car on the way to or from work, many want something a little less vitriolic.

So the left now has different media gradations. Like the right, they have their Red Bull energized media options like “Democracy Now” and countless blogs – or they can have the decaffeinated version. Air America Radio is shifting to a lower gear.

Later!

the owners flipped the off switch.

once it got out of the hands of the original owners it was rigged for safety.

shelly had a pretty good idea.

One can only tolerate losing so much money in one sitting.

and a business can only do so well while being blacklisted by 100 of America's biggest corporations...

is where its at

http://mediamatters.org/items/200610310008

An internal ABC Radio Networks memo obtained by Media Matters for America, originally from a listener to The Peter B. Collins Show, indicates that nearly 100 ABC advertisers insist that their commercials be blacked out on Air America Radio affiliates. According to the memo, the advertisers insist that "NONE of their commercials air during AIR AMERICA programming." Among the advertisers listed are Bank of America, Exxon Mobil, Federal Express, General Electric, McDonald's, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, and the U.S. Navy.

Why do you think the biggest do not want their name associated with Air America?

I do think the liberal programming that has occurred here has been far too extremist… It's not our job to get a Democrat elected to Congress. We need to be funny, we need to be enjoyable, and I don't think that existed at this company three years ago.

This is the guy running it now?

Run, Sammy, Run!

that you would go there and listen to someone read a book to you?

Would there be pictures?

milk and cookies?

maybe a naptime afterward?

F.U.B.A.R.: America's Right-Wing Nightmare (Hardcover)
(by Sam Seder) ?

http://www.amazon.com/F-U-B-R-Americas-Right-Wing-Nightmare/dp/006084671...

I think adult books have pictures..mostly the non fiction ones though I would guess...but like kids story times..there could be themed story times because we know adult have more preferences than kids who will sit there...so we could have a mystery reader story time, or a particlar author....or even say..a crazy person metaphysical adult story time.. ;)

What I'm saying is, should I propose this idea at work?

?

I found they have a special row of computers just for teenagers to use!

it's on a different floor than the rest of the computers!

I thought that was a good idea...

bother. Who will play Condi?

only if there was milk and cookies...or beer and nachos!

it really depends on how big your community is.

the filtering is the same, but adults can opt to have their filter turned off..the children aren't allowed to have theirs turned off BY LAW...

there are so many other things for adults to do

Lurking while I read. Hope it's going OK Raj!

to go to a book burning than a book reading...

slow but steady.

the adults could compete, depending on the book theme...of the popular book things in my library I would say that (obviously) fiction would do better than non fiction...that mysteries would be second in turn out to mysteries...and sad but true..if there were a metaphysical story time, it would be me and four other people :)

it is one cold night out there.

cloudless w/a great big full moon

Ann Coulter book burning.

maybe even burn Ann herself?

while I lap danced and poured drinks...huh? Maybe? :)

yes. that should work!

pretty much the same way you blog?

if it gets shot down, then whatever..

that I know of...

probably will get more orange as it goes over tho...

It's a good night to bask...

call it a night.

pretty tired.

how long are you going to be here...think of something for us to do...

I'll do my blogs, then read, then sleep...

Goodnight, Chubbs...nice to have you back anyway...

xo

"Is this another knee-jerk reaction to "the next big drug scare" or is it truly a hot item? Anyone know?" -Crank Bait

On the psychedelic scale, salvia is stronger than pot, and weaker than mushrooms. So in other words, it's like strong pot.

I would say it's not a very hot item. There are all kinds of psychedelics of varying strength that never really catch on in a big way, for one reason or another. But each one has it's own little loyal following. Sometimes one will be more popular for a while. It is interesting.

I never really got into it, but I knew someone who would swear by it, their drug of choice.

Did have an interesting experience with it at a friends fathers funeral, but that's another story, for another time.

So there's your answer, Crank. You're lucky you have an expert to come to with these kinds of questions. That's the wonders of blogging for you.

The Headwaters of a River of Words

The words flash out and then fade, like something from the cut-up prose of William S. Burroughs or the disjointed Americana of John Ashbery-

“You just have to react.”

“You won’t be asked to leave, but you will want to leave.”

“I steal it from her every chance I get.”

Sometimes they unite vaguely and ominously:

“Five-year-old girl’s finger.”

“One shot.”

“Two of his lawyers.”

“Fifteen years in prison.”

At other times they seem sentient, asking the right questions (and maybe watching television):

“Tony Soprano?”

“And where’s all the blood?”

Suzanne Treister, Alchemy 2007
Drawing series
Dimensions: A4 and A3
Rotring ink on paper

A series of works which transcribe front pages of international daily newspapers into alchemical drawings. These works redeploy the languages and intentions of alchemy: the transformation of materials and essences and the revealed understanding of the world as a text, as a realm of powers and correspondences which, if properly understood, will allow man to take on transformative power.

http://ensemble.va.com.au/Treister/ALCHEMY/ALCHEMY.html

The moon is as close to Earth tonight as it gets....
Submitted by Regnad Kcin on Thu, 10/25/2007 - 7:37pm.

so tonight guys, your testicles will hang lower than they do any other night of the year
*******
;)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

is much more powerful than most folks reckon.
G'night, sweethearts.

What has become of the emblem in the modern world? It's sometimes terrifying to consider. Propaganda, spin doctoring, advertising, television. Everywhere you go there's an onslaught of images trying to persuade you of something--to buy something, to vote for somebody. Whatever it is, they're all after your value and they don't want to give you anything back for it. We live in a 'hell' realm of emblems, where all the emblems are turned against us and are designed to steal our productive labor and taking away our money and our control over our own lives... It's one which passes almost invisibly or without comment except to people like us who are interested in art and the relationship between image and consciousness.

We at least might be able to understand something about what's going on here. And do what? At least we could save ourselves from the hell realm of the negative imagination. Maybe through art history or art criticism or art itself we could... Share our plight with others to the extent where we might hope to wake them up. We might hope to engage in a mutual waking up away from the chains of the imagination and image magic(k?) and into the ability to make our own magic to have a response to this world of commercial media and negative archetypes that arises from our own hearts, our own souls, our own imaginations, and is a kind of magical projection and protection at the same time... Perhaps we can even learn to speak in hieroglyphics and project that magic onto the world in a revolutionary way. That would be the goal of the modern hermetic artists. That was certainly Josef Beuys' goal. It's a utopian ideal which is not yet moribund and decayed. - Peter Lamborn Wilson

Ephemera is much more powerful than most folks reckon.

Submitted by Cat Chew on Fri, 10/26/2007 - 2:45am.

(work in progress)

G'nite, catchew.

Bill Clinton and Bill Maher: battling conspiracy morons daily

HOUSTON (AP) — BP PLC is taking a multimillion dollar broom to sweep away a slew of federal charges linked to energy price fixing, a deadly refinery blast and pipeline leaks and focus on its energy business.

The more than $373 million in settlements announced Thursday are part of the company's attempt to get rid of the problems left over from the stewardship of former chief executive John Browne and move ahead with the recently announced restructuring of Europe's second-largest oil company.

On top of the fines and restitution, four former BP employees were indicted by a federal grand jury in Chicago on 20 counts of mail and wire fraud connected to a scheme to manipulate energy markets.

The bulk of the fines — $303.5 million — aim to punish BP for conspiring to fix propane prices in 2003 and 2004.

London-based BP also agreed to pay a $50 million fine and plead guilty to a felony for its role in a 2005 explosion at its Texas City refinery that killed 15 employees and injured more than 170 others.

Additionally, it will pay $20 million in criminal fines and restitution to Alaska and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for pipeline leaks and spills at Alaska's Prudhoe Bay, the nation's largest oil field.

The settlements were made public at U.S. Justice Department news conferences in Washington and Houston.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jIbWL76OB7cMmi18PjxD8UVTx7jQ

by digby

According to this site, a General Counsel of a large communications corporation makes around $300,000 a year, before bonuses, stock options and the rest. One assumes that he or she also has many Ivy league trained attorneys on staff and retains at least one outside law firm, probably more, which bills the company at top rates. All of these people are undoubtedly among the highest quality corporate lawyers in the world.

And yet the Bush administration wants the people of this country to grant their employers immunity from lawsuits brought by ordinary Americans because their lawyers took the word of the Bush administration that they weren't breaking the law by eavesdropping on their customers without a warrant. We are supposed to believe that the best lawyers in the world -- who specialize in the field of communications -- didn't know nothin' bout no fourth amendment.

Con't

Link to Petition-Please Sign !-Thanks !
"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Pete Stark !

by Kevin Gosztola

It's a bit belated but here are the "mugshots" if you will of the Democrats who had the gall to join Republicans in condemning Pete Stark's right to freedom of speech when he stood up to President Bush. These Democrats do not deserve re-election. If I was of age, I would be running for the House just to get this good-for-nothing Democrat Joe Donnelly out of office. The rest are just as bad so if you are of age, consider running and working to beat an incumbent in the not-so-distant future.

Here they are:
Con't

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Liberal Group Warns of War With Iran

Monday, October 22, 2007 5:39 PM

By: Susan Jones, CNSNews.com Senior Editor Article Font Size

The "reckless" Bush administration plans to attack Iran any day now, according to a liberal advocacy group, which plans to run ads exposing "the danger of a new war with Iran."

In a message to supporters on Wednesday, MoveOn.org's political action committee called it an "unfortunate truth" that "plans for an aerial attack" on Iran "have been drawn up" by the Bush administration. The group points to an Oct. 8 New Yorker article by Seymour Hersh as the basis for its claim.

"There's nothing stopping Bush from launching that attack any day," MoveOn.org said in its message. The group said it plans to launch a $200,000 campaign, including ads, polls, and speakers, to spread the word that war with Iran would be a disaster -- and that such a war is a "real possibility."

"[I]t's never a good idea to underestimate this president's capacity for recklessness," MoveOn.org Political Action said. The group said it's latest anti-war campaign will "pressure Congress not to roll over on Iran."

The campaign will include political ads; a speaking tour of "top retired generals and military experts" who are willing to argue against attacking Iran; polls showing politicians that the public does not want war with Iran; and a grassroots campaign to pressure members of Congress.

Valerie Plame Wilson.

Posted October 25, 2007.

Con't

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Submitted by davidswanson on Fri, 2007-10-26 00:19. Congress

House Majority "Leader" Steny Hoyer has announced these 10 months into his tenure that "It is long past time for effective Congressional oversight and Judicial review of this Administration’s actions." Ya think? And given that they ignore subpoenas, leaving you only impeachment, what would you propose?

Link-Only a few Comments but,Worth The Click

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

;)

Hope your doing fine ! :)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

How are you doing? Good mawnin!

Wash your hands, you all! MRSA is everywhere...

Annette

I believe, as a result of recent research, that the real reason Bush is trying to give the telecoms immunity is because they are giving us all brain cancer. I've read several disturbing research studies lately. All the researchers are surprised by the lack of prior recognition of their results, and there is alot of dissension and cover-up that seems to be happening in the press.

Reminds me of the tobacco companies. There is a huge law firm in town, huge because they defended against alot of those tobacco suits.

Just my opinion.

I gotta run. Have a good day you all!

WWRL in New York City has cancelled the Sam Greenfield and Armstrong Williams show and starting Monday, October 29, Mark Riley, along with Richard Bey, will be hosting a new morning show.

jamie say it aint so? not fond of richard bey but mark riley is cool cannot stand the 2 sell outs that are on now...where did you hear this?

I saw reasons they pointed out why we shouldn't invade Iran.
(I saw some too.)I'll do that View the show. Perhaps my critique is subtle, or a wish that the filmmakers had been more direct on various issues. . And I don't want to feud with you over any differences we may have on this. Anyway, I fear we are being driven into war with Iran, and there is no real opposition. Just this morning, I heard Morning Edition running stories on how Iran is supplying support to Shiites in order to disrup the US.

WWRL in New York City has cancelled the Sam Greenfield and Armstrong Williams show and starting Monday, October 29, Mark Riley, along with Richard Bey, will be hosting a new morning show.

I like Riley.

Thank you.

SAM SEDER---oh how i wish---

Working Assets Puts Harry Reid on Notice
by: Matt Stoller
Thu Oct 25, 2007 at 20:25:17 PM EDT
Can I just say how much I love Working Assets? They are one of those organizations that just puts out consistent amazing work for progressive causes, whether it's funding for nonprofits or action items around core constitutional issues. Today, Working Assets Wireless sent 16,000 faxes to Harry Reid's office over the amnesty bill. 16,000! Working Assets Wireless Co-founder Michael Kieschnick and CEO Laura Scher blogged on this today, and both are worth reading. Here's Scher.

It's been all over the news that in 2007, executives at Verizon and AT&T donated over $42,000 to Senator John D. Rockefeller, IV, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Prior to 2007, Rockefeller wasn't getting any significant contributions from telecomm executives. But of course, prior to 2007, Rockefeller wasn't pushing his committee to grant retroactive immunity to phone companies that helped the NSA with its secret, warrantless surveillance on America's telephone calls.
There are so many reasons to be enraged by this.

As CEO of Working Assets, the socially responsible mobile and long distance company, I have watched for 15 years while big telecomm "bought" monopoly power from Congress, from the White House and from the FCC. This is how they do business. Instead of building the best phone company, they buy politicians.

Harry Reid has definitely been put on notice. And Dodd is on Meet the Press this Sunday. I imagine that the Senate Democrats aren't very happy with Chris Dodd right now. But then, the American people aren't very happy with the Senate.

I should note that I was a fellow at Working Assets about a year and a half ago, and I learned more from Michael and Becky about progressive politics than I have from any two people I know.

http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2007-09/14peters.cfm

Great news here this AM.

Happy about Mark Riley and happier that Armstrong Williams is gone!

And I get emails from Working Assets.

Good that Hoyer is getting bombarded with faxes and emails. We need to impeach and they, Senate and House need to make a stand!

they will be serving him papers soon (hopefully) against torture (michael ratner)

for further info on rumsfeld---they needed him present on the territory so they can file against him

Former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN) said he doesn’t share Dick Cheney’s views of executive power. “No, I think the constitution in times of war, especially, is very definitive about that,” he said. “[I]t’s divided power in the constitution. Our founding fathers divided that up. … So no one branch of the government can misuse power.”

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2007/10/fred-thompson-a.html

Initially I caught a blurb on C-SPAN this morning, then I went on the internet and the NY Daily News a short article on this subject. Also, this morning, on my ride into work, WWRL was running ads for Mark Riley and Richard Bey's new show. It's weird how WWRL went about this. Sammy G. and Army were on yesterday, and as far as I know (granted, I didn't listen to the whole show), they made no mention of being cancelled. This morning, they had Ellis Hennican (of Fox) filling in for them.

Now, if only Lionel could suffer the same fate and have Sam Seder suddenly back occupying his old timeslot, that would be pure bliss.

According to new U.N. report on climate change, “the human population is now so large that the amount of resources needed to sustain it exceeds what is available at current consumption patterns.” The speed at which mankind has used the Earth’s resources over the past 20 years has put “humanity’s very survival,” the study concluded.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/25/europe/environ.php

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2739926.ece

You're welcome, Fernando.

i refuse to listen to them in the morning, i only turn on at noon!

“House Democratic leaders” are “privately surveying their members” to determine “support for a criminal contempt resolution against White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers for shunning congressional subpoenas in the U.S. attorney investigation,” which could happen “as ealy as next week.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1007/6562.html

Why was Sam's ratings so low??? on the 9-12 slot

They would have kept him if there were allot of progressive listeners

Anonymous, you're misinformed. The ratings for Sam's Monday to Friday show actually went UP when he took over the 9 - 12 spot. When Lionel took over, ratings headed south.

DONALD RUMSFELD CHARGED WITH TORTURE DURING TRIP TO FRANCE

Complaint Filed Against Former Defense Secretary for Torture, Abuse at Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib

CONTACT: Jen Nessel, 917.442.0112, jnessel@ccr-ny.org

October 26, 2007, Paris, France – Today, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) along with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), and the French League for Human Rights filed a complaint with the Paris Prosecutor before the “Court of First Instance” (Tribunal de Grande Instance) charging former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld with ordering and authorizing torture. Rumsfeld was in Paris for a talk sponsored by Foreign Policy magazine, and left through a door connecting to the U.S. embassy to avoid journalists and human rights attorneys outside.

http://www.ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/donald-rumsfeld-charge...

Link to stupid CBS AAR piece

Interesting that here you get two idiots who swallow the RW talking points to 'state' as truth that AAR programming in the beginning caused the 'failure' of the network when in fact the management was responsible and not the format.

I thought much of the early programming was funny and entertaining and not wall to wall politics. It started to get messed up when entertainment business 'guru' Danny Gold**** took over and began to dismantle much of what made AAR 1.0 great. Interesting that some of the enduring successes from AAR, the early years, are Randi and Malloy, the most strident of the original lineup while the comedians like Franken, Janeane, Maron et al and Winnstead are gone and SEDER hangs by a thread. Funny how the article does not dredge up that oft used attack that AAR was started by a bunch of comics. Probably because it might refute one of the key premises of the piece.

Even though it includes a picture of Al I cannot see his name mentioned anywhere. I guess they just needed to get his mug somewhere close to "extremist Air America".

THE NEW RIGHT-WING SMEAR MACHINE....The left may own the blogosphere, but the right owns chain email. Chris Hayes explains the pedigree of the "smear forward" in this week's Nation cover story:

The smear forward has its roots in two distinct forms of Internet-age communication. First, there's the electronically disseminated urban legend ("Help find this missing child!"; "Bill Gates is going to pay people for every e-mail they send!"), which has been a staple of the Internet since the mid- '90s. Then there's the surreal genre of right-wing e-mail forwards. These range from creepy rage-filled quasi-fascist invocations ("The next time you see an adult talking...during the playing of the National Anthem--kick their ass") to treacly aphorisms of patriotic/religious uplift ("remember only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ...and the American Soldier").

....From the beginning, the vast majority of these Internet-disseminated rumors have come from the right. (Snopes lists about fifty e-mails about George W. Bush, split evenly between adulatory accounts of him saluting wounded soldiers or witnessing to a wayward teenager, and accounts of real and invented malapropisms. In contrast, every single one of the twenty-two e-mails about John Kerry is negative.) For conservatives, these e-mails neatly reinforce preconceptions, bending the facts of the world in line with their ideological framework: liberals, immigrants, hippies and celebrities are always the enemy; soldiers and conservatives, the besieged heroes. The stories of the former's perfidy and the latter's heroism are, of course, never told by the liberal media. So it's left to the conservative underground to get the truth out. And since the general story and the roles stay the same, often the actual characters are interchangeable.

"A lot of the chain letters that were accusing Al Gore of things in 2000 were recycled in 2004 and changed to Kerry," says John Ratliff, who runs a site called BreakTheChain.org, which, like Snopes, devotes itself to debunking chain e-mails. One e-mail falsely described a Senate committee hearing in the 1980s where Oliver North offered an impassioned Cassandra-like warning about the threat of Osama bin Laden, only to be dismissed by a condescending Democratic senator. Originally it was Al Gore who played the role of the senator, but by 2004 it had changed to John Kerry. "You just plug in your political front-runner du jour," Ratliff says.

Read the whole thing to learn the genesis of this year's biggest smear forward (so far): the Obama-is-a-Muslim smear. Turns out it involves "people in London."

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2007_10/012357.php

Damn, Ahnuld. What happened to the chest I knew and loved?

But Lionel sell ads. Income!

I do see a certain resemblance

img src="http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j211/mira2gusto/starbucksbarista.jpg">

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j211/mira2gusto/starbucksbarista.jpg

Dollar sinks to new low,

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071026/dollar.html?.v=3

While gold is at a new high – highest it’s been in 28 years.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071026/bs_afp/commoditiesmetalsforexgoldpr...

DA says schools must report all children under 14 having sex.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=143117&ac=PHnws

Speaking to 9/11 conspiracy theory protestors...

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c68_1193347304&p=1

Horowitz says Princeton University is participating in "Islamofascism Awareness Week", University and the campus college Repubs say that's news to them. " Asked in an interview this week with The Daily Princetonian why Princeton was listed as participating in Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, Horowitz said he thought he was invited to speak at the University as part of the program. He added that he thought College Republicans scheduled the event last week, rather than during the official Islamo-Fascism Awareness week, so that it wouldn't conflict with midterm exams."

The banking industry will never learn
by Chris in Paris · 10/26/2007 05:19:00 AM ET
Discuss this post here: Comments (28) · digg it · reddit · FARK · · Link

Leave it to the slimey financial industry to create new problems for tomorrow. It only proves yet again that the industry needs heavy-handed regulation from Washington. If they are incapable of regulating themselves - and it's obvious that this is the case - then they're going to have to learn to live with whatever government regulators dish out.
Dick McLane of Seattle discovered last week that a Citibank credit card had been opened in his name when his credit-monitoring service notified him of activity on his account. When he pulled his credit report, a new Citibank credit card account was listed.

Citigroup Inc., which bought Macy's credit card accounts in 2005, sent letters to about 3.5 million account holders in early August telling them that their inactive Macy's department store cards would be switched to a general-purpose MasterCard.

Customers had to opt out in order to decline the offer. Those who didn't opt out got a special MasterCard that could be used anywhere, not just at Macy's department stores.

"It's bordering on fraud when they do an opt-out and say, 'You opt out or we'll open an account in your name,' " said McLane, a retiree who worried about how it would affect his credit score. "I'm appalled that somebody, a legitimate company, would do that."

He continued: "If I got the letter, I must have treated it as junk mail and thrown it away."

McLane said he hasn't received his MasterCard in the mail and can't cancel it because he doesn't know the account number.

http://www.americablog.com/2007/10/banking-industry-will-never-learn.htm...

RogueGovernment.com, Lee Rogers, 10/25/07

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed HR 1955 titled the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007. This bill is one of the most blatant attacks against the Constitution yet and actually defines thought crimes as homegrown terrorism. If passed into law, it will also establish a commission and a Center of Excellence to study and defeat so called thought criminals. Unlike previous anti-terror legislation, this bill specifically targets the civilian population of the United States and uses vague language to define homegrown terrorism. Amazingly, 404 of our elected representatives from both the Democrat and Republican parties voted in favor of this bill. There is little doubt that this bill is specifically targeting the growing patriot community that is demanding the restoration of the Constitution.

Particularly alarming is that the bill mentions the Internet as a main source for terrorist propaganda. The bill even mentions streams in obvious reference to many of the patriot and pro-constitution Internet radio networks that have been formed.

The Constitution does not allow the government to arrest people for thought crimes, so any promises not to violate the constitutional rights of citizens are already broken by their own definitions.

Section 899E of the bill discusses how the government is going to defeat violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism through international cooperation.

This bill is completely insane. It literally allows the government to define any and all crimes including thought crime as violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism. Obviously, this legislation is unconstitutional on a number of levels and it is clear that all 404 representatives who voted in favor of this bill are traitors and should be removed from office immediately. The treason spans both political parties and it shows us all that there is no difference between them. The bill will go on to the Senate and will likely be passed and signed into the law by George W. Bush....This is more proof that our country has been completely sold out by a group of traitors at all levels of government.
...

Oil closes at record high on Thursday
by Chris in Paris · 10/26/2007 04:57:00 AM ET

Just when I was starting to think $86 per barrel was a bargain, this happens. In Friday trading, prices bounced above $92 in Asia, though have since retreated.

http://www.americablog.com/2007/10/oil-closes-at-record-high-on-thursday...

http://mnweekly.ru:80/columnists/20071025/55285029.html

Looks like you missed something

<

just guessing

Two former top executives of DBH Industries, the leading supplier of body armor to the U.S. military, falsely inflated the value of the inventory of DHB's top product, the Interceptor vest, according to charges brought yesterday. The two were also indicted on charges of insider trading and tax evasion in a scheme that earned them almost $200 million and could earn them up to 70 years in prison. (CBS)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/25/national/main3410298.shtml?sou...

Why The Dreams Of The Rulers Are Humanity's Worst Nightmare

It's not like he was ever actually elected president. He can still run twice.

http://blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=4598

http://blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=4580

Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) recently introduced a bill that would restore the Constitution's system of checks and balances, as envisioned by our Founding Fathers. Titled the American Freedom Agenda Act of 2007 (H.R. 3835)

Iran nuclear crisis heats up with new US sanctions
Fri Oct 26, 1:51 AM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Undaunted by three decades of failed sanctions on Iran, the United States is taking new measures to punish the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions and alleged sponsorship of terrorism.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071026/pl_afp/usirannuclearmilitarysanctio...

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0710/S00362.htm

*

Kucinich Asks: What About Housing, Education And Health?

Dennis responds to a Conressional Budget Office report showing the Iraq war could total $1.9 trillion through 2017.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich announced he will go before the U.S. House of Representatives on a point of personal privilege to move the impeachment of Dick Cheney. Mr. Kucinich stated he will bring the impeachment forward before Thanksgiving. As soon as we learn more details we will post them immediately. NOW's the time to put pressure on all representatives, to impeach Cheney.

There are toll-free phone numbers you can use to call congressional offices in DC: 866.340.9281 — 866.338.1015 — 877.851.6437 — 800.828.0498 — 800.459.1887 — 800.614.2803 — jam the capitol switchboard with our demand to restore justice and reclaim democracy.
...

http://www.WhackaMurdoch.com

run straight back into his mothers pussy for all i care!

Dem Congressman McNulty Retiring
By Eric Kleefeld - October 26, 2007, 9:16AM
Congressman Michael McNulty (D-NY) will reportedly announce his retirement from the House at the end of this term. McNulty was first elected from his solidly Democratic district in 1988, and it is not expected to be a swing seat next year.

On possibility for the retirement, according to the Associated Press, is that McNulty survived childhood polio and has been suffering from apparent mobility problems in recent years.

McNulty becomes the first Congressional Democrat this cycle to retire, compared to the much higher number of Republicans who are stepping down. The other two open Democratic House seats are those of Mark Udall (CO) and Tom Allen (ME), who are running for the Senate. Those seats are also expected to remain safely in the Dem column.

http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/10/dem_congressman_mcnulty_retiring.p...

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102407B.shtml

John H. Richardson, reporting for Esquire, writes: "Two former high-ranking policy experts from the Bush Administration say the US has been gearing up for a war with Iran for years, despite claiming otherwise. It'll be Iraq all over again."

In the race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, little has changed. Clinton attracts 46% support and continues to enjoy a commanding lead over Barack Obama, who earns the vote from 18%. John Edwards attracts 14%. Bill Richards is at the 4% mark and no other candidate attracts more than 3% support from Likely Democratic Primary

for peace

A peace rally protesting the U.S. invasion of Iraq was held by Sacramento State's Campus Progressive Alliance and M.E.C.H.A. today in Serna Plaza.

Mary Riordan, one of the organizers of the rally, hoped the rally had a positive effect on those who attended.

"I hope it helps get rid of the apathy on campus, and inspires people to want to pay more attention and want to be involved," Riordan said. "I hope it sends a message of inspiration, that you can do something."
...
Military Families Speak Out, Zapatista Coalition and The Peace and Freedom Party, were only a few of the groups in attendance.

In all those Cut & Pastes stories, odd we haven't seen you post THIS one from a few weeks back?!?!?!----Gare

Fri Oct 19, 7:57 PM ET

CARACAS (AFP) - Roman Catholic church leaders and rights groups in Venezuela on Friday denounced sweeping constitutional reforms pushed by President Hugo Chavez as a threat to civil liberties that hand too much power to the state.

The country's bishops said the proposed changes to the constitution "limit the liberty of Venezuelans, excessively increase the power of the state, eliminate decentralization and allow the government to regulate a large degree of a citizen's life."

The parliament has already approved changes to 33 articles in the 1999 constitution, and lawmakers are now considering amendments to an additional 25 articles.

Monsignor Diego Padron, archbishop of Cumana, 300 kilometers (185 miles) east of Caracas, read from a statement from the Venezuelan bishops' conference that said the changes "emphasize the concentration of power in the hands of the president" and "favor authoritarianism."

One pro-government party, Podemos, has broken ranks with Chavez and denounced the reforms as "unconstitutional," objecting to a provision that would suspend due process and the right to information during a state of emergency.

Padron said the proposed declaration of a "socialist state" contradicted the democratic principles of the constitution.

Such an amendment "implies the end of pluralism and political freedom," he said.

Rights activists also criticized the reforms, particularly the proposal to suspend legal due process.

That provision violates the international American Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits the suspension of such judicial guarantees, said Hector Fagundez, director of the Center for Human Rights Studies at Central University.

Several other rights groups offered similar criticism and abroad, New York-based Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders in Paris also have expressed concern at the reforms.

Chavez's proposed amendments include removing presidential term limits; lowering the voting age to 16; boosting the state role in the economy; and allowing private property while also defining a new concept of social property.

The changes would also extend the presidential term to seven years -- after it was expanded from five to six years in the 1999 constitution that Chavez pushed through during his first term.

The reforms would end autonomy for the country's central bank and put its international reserves under the president's control, and tighten presidential control over regional governments.

Asia Times

The barely reported highlight of Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Tehran for the Caspian Sea summit last week was a key face-to-face meeting with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A high-level diplomatic source in Tehran tells Asia Times Online that essentially Putin and the Supreme Leader have agreed on a plan to nullify the George W Bush administration's relentless drive towards launching a preemptive attack, perhaps a tactical nuclear strike, against Iran. An American attack on Iran will be viewed by Moscow as an attack on Russia.

But then, as if this were not enough of a political bombshell, came the abrupt resignation of Ali Larijani as top Iranian nuclear negotiator. Early this week in Rome, Larijani told the IRNA news agency that "Iran's nuclear policies are stable and will not change with the replacement of the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council [SNSC]." Larijani will keep attending SNSC meetings, now as a representative of the Supreme Leader. He even took time to remind the West that in the Islamic Republic all key decisions regarding the civilian nuclear program are made by the Supreme Leader. Larijani actually went to Rome to meet with the European Union's Javier Solana alongside Iran's new negotiator, Saeed Jalili, a former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), just like President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.

In itself, the Putin-Khamenei meeting was extraordinary, because the Supreme Leader rarely receives foreign statesmen for closed talks, even one as crucial as Putin. The Russian president, according to the diplomatic source, told the Supreme Leader he may hold the ultimate solution regarding the endlessly controversial Iranian nuclear dossier. According to IRNA, the Supreme Leader, after stressing that the Iranian civilian nuclear program will continue unabated, said. "We will ponder your words and proposal."........

Free Democracy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJt86UqHtX8

Pentagon chief calls planning
for Iran strike 'routine'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday characterized U.S. military planning for a strike on Iran as "routine." "I would characterize it as routine," Gates told reporters on a flight en route to Washington, when asked about any U.S. planning for military action against Iran.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071025/pl_nm/usa_iran_military_dc;_ylt=Asxx...

been up for a while.

starting a new project today,

a 65 pontiac 'Parisian' convertable(canadian version)

Heads up: Sen. Chris Dodd is set to give a speech on FISA and civil liberties on the floor of the Senate around 10 am ET. And I’m told it will be a scorcher. You might want to turn on C-Span2…

including the student demonstrations...

*Smack*

That crazy democratic wing of the democratic party says not so.

Hillary's a distant sixth place...

http://www.DemocracyforAmerica.com/PulsePoll

The funny thing is, I've been getting a shitload of anti-Hillary stuff in my junk email box lately. Anybody else?

One was a picture of a beautiful stream and waterfall, words then appeared about the serenity of the place, the clearness of the water - then it changed and said that way you could see the face of the person's who's head you were holding underwater... a refelction of Hillary's face slowly came into focus.

I don't know who's sending me this - ends up in my junk box anyway, but there's a lot of it out there.

It's Friday, ya Bastards! :D

......

Submitted by Alice on Fri, 10/26/2007 - 12:21am.

Do you think if your library offered "Story time for Adults" that you would go there and listen to someone read a book to you?

-----------

Submitted by Alice on Fri, 10/26/2007 - 12:40am.

Oh so you think if I read a book while I lap-danced and poured drinks...huh? Maybe? :)

_____________________

The enticements to yer adult book-readin' ideer is certainly undeniable, but usin' my ultra-far-seein' I-spy visionary goggles, I can see a point in the not-too-distant future when the book-readin'-part will prolly be considered superfluous.

(Nerd that I am, I will prolly still opt for the all-inclusive book-readin' pkg. -- w/alla the appurtenances, a-course -- but I'ma old-school adult book-readin' like that.)

---------

fwiw, I very much likes the adult book-readin' ideer, but I'ma skeptical 'bout whether you can gets adults to go for it. Young story-time-age kids is unself-conscious inna way adults ain't. It's hard to innerest adults in sumpin' that, done apart from kids, they prolly think is "childish" (as 'pposed to the vastly differnt child-like), and even if you do overcome that obstacle, how can a body hope to compete w/watchin' Desperate Housewives 'n Sex & The City re-runs?

(Flyer: "Adult book-readin', 9 bells. Group orgy to follow immediately thereafter.")

What I notices 'bout book-readin' for adults, fwiw:

If a body takes it upon her- or himself to read aloud to/for adults you knows in yer sphere (poems, stories, metaphysical musings/wanderings, political body-slams, whatever), it is been my experience that adults (sensitive open souls, anyways) really, really likes bein' read to. Specially when the book-readin's done w/verve 'n sensitivity 'n humor 'n characterization 'n w/an eye toward dramatic timing. Likes it so much it s'prises 'em how much they atavistically enjoys it. But next to no one thinks to do it and most is too self-conscious (and completely outta practice) to really go for it inna out-loud readin', worryin' 'bout fuckin' up as peoples do, so it don't happen much.

(Lotta peoples got horrid mem'ries a bein' forced to read aloud in class as kids, 'n like bein' stung by hornets, the memory lingers.)

Inna way, the readin' aloud ("Readin' aloud is readin' allowed!") is a live-entertainment intermediary betwixt what usedtawas: bards/poets recitin'/performin' epic tales, funny stories, whatever, from mem'ry. Course, we is all but lost that perticklar vocation, tho' one sees remnants in places (up here we is got two differnt from-pre-dusk-into-dark summertime campfire gatherings -- for kids 'n adults till dusk, for adults ['n kids, if parents chooses] once good dark is settled in -- one on the Lake Mich. beach on Leelanau's Sleeping Bear Bay (how's that for lovely?) 'n another atta place up near Torch Lake callt Stone Circle, where from-mem'ry poems is recited 'n stories is tolt 'n songs is sung).

Personally, I enjoys readin' aloud, but wishes I knowed somebody what enjoyed it, too, so I wouldn't haveta allus be the reader, cuz I likes to listen, too. Usedta read to Rose quite a bit; she loved hearin' her some poems (Lorca, Neruda, Rilke, Whitman, Song of Songs, Quasimodo, Blake, Rossetti's Goblin Mkt., Poe) 'n The Little Prince 'n Flaubert from In Search of Lost Time (got mid-way into Guermantes Way) 'n, of all things, The Nibelunglied, where I'd make up funny voices for characters 'n mock alla their windy oaths 'n asseverations of knightly honor in smart-ass asides.

Usedta read to my Gramps, too (he enjoyed Louis L'Amour, which I found hackneyed and campy, so, unable to openly mock it w/o hurting his feelings, I animated the story best I could 'n found that even tho' I didn't much care for the story, I did quite enjoy the pleasure he got outta hearin' it). Readin' aloud to give pleasure can be its own reward, tho' it's a far-better two-fer when the reader gets to enjoy what they's a-readin', too.

I is read aloud to my nieces for years, too, a-course, and to friends' kids, and for one friend who is an elementary school teacher, I usedta recite Jabberwocky 'round this time-a year (when I's in town). Turn off alla lights 'n torch us up a coupla candles 'n create us a nuther world for a while. Alice in Wonderland were another staple, a-course. The Little Prince allus goes over big w/kids.

I wishes you well on the proposal, Alice. Readin' aloud is sumpin' that'sa simple pleasure but allus been kinda near-'n-dear for me.

Outta curiosity: Is you the one proposin' to doin' the readin'? Or is it your ideer and you wanna see if folks'll go for it so's you can be read to, too? Tain't no substitute for a talented reader, course. As enjoyable as bein' read to can be, it's a terrible excruciating grating disappointment to suffer thru a halting or unimaginative reader.

If it's you that's a-gonna be the reader, I'd suggest givin' the folks you's proposin' the ideer to a sample a yer wares as part of the proposal. If it ain't you that's gonna be doin' the readin', but a body you is got in mind, bring that body with 'n have 'em read.

Folks often lacks 'magination for these kinda things till you leads 'em by the nose to 'memberin' just how enjoyable listenin' to a talented reader can be.

fwiw

Now, I is put off transformin' my hunnerd-'n-two year-old casa into a state-a-the-art non-congested attic/roofin' structure for too long, tho' I thanks you for the welcome diversion down mem'ry lane.

Readin' aloud should be readin' allowed, but it's time to move on to a 'nuther kinda venting.

on c-span 2 right now there's classical music and a sign saying waiting for a member to come to the floor to speak

That's the wonderful thing about the innernet ;-)

I can pretend I'm not flat as a board. heh heh...

Good points, dr - I think to entice adults, you should offer internet stream of the story readin' for those of us adults whose noses are permanently attached to our monitors. Take the cam!

global warming - i must have missed senator Dodd

DSCC Howler

Times of London

Vladimir Putin at the EU-Russia Summit at Mafra Palace, near Lisbon, today

Jack Malvern and agencies Tensions between Russia and the West over sanctions against Iran will be laid bare today as President Vladimir Putin attends a summit with EU leaders in Portugal.

The Russian leader described supporters of tough policies as "mad people wielding razor blades" after the US imposed economic sanctions on the Islamic republic yesterday in an attempt to curb its nuclear programme.

Mr Putin, who is at the summit to discuss disputed trade issues with the EU, is expected to make further comments on Iran this afternoon after a senior American diplomat suggested that Russia was "aiding and abetting" the Iranian military.

Nicholas Burns, US Assistant Secretary of State, said that Russia should stop selling weapons to Iran, and China should stop investing in the Middle Eastern state. "They're now the number one trade partner with Iran," he told the BBC. "It's very difficult for countries to say we're striking out on our own when they've got their own policies on the military side, aiding and abetting the Iraninan government in strengthening its own military."

Western powers suspect that Iran is trying to build up a secret nuclear weapons capability. Iran insists that its nuclear programme is aimed only at producing energy and Russia is helping Tehran to build a reactor.

Mr Putin will also address a bid for independence by Kosovo, the autonomous province in southern Serbia that became a battleground in 1999, when Nato jets bombed Serbian forces in the region after the collapse of peace talks. The Russian President has previously blocked moves to allow Kosovo to secede.

The EU-Russia summit, which marks 10 years since Brussels and Moscow signed a partnership agreement, is being held in the former Portuguese royal residence of Mafra, 25 miles outside Lisbon.

The last summit near the Russian city of Samara earlier this year was marred by bitter disputes between Putin and EU leaders over the state of democracy in Russia and EU officials had been hoping to improve relations.

Jose Socrates, the Portuguese Prime Minister whose country holds the EU presidency, will host today’s talks alongside the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.

Economic relations between Brussels and Moscow have boomed despite frequent rows, with trade turnover going up 3.5 times to an annual $300 billion (209 billion euros) since Mr Putin became president in 2000, officials said.

But political negotiations to formulate a new EU-Russia partnership agreement remain stalled because of a Polish veto imposed after Russia banned the import of meat from Poland in 2005 over food safety concerns.

A new partnership accord is seen as particularly important for the European Union because it is intended to regulate also energy ties as Europe increases its reliance on Russian oil and gas imports.

Hopes of a breakthrough in the dispute were raised by the victory on Sunday in Poland’s parliamentary elections of a pro-European party that has also vowed to improve relations with Moscow.

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU’s External Relations Commissioner, said that partnership talks were more likely to start at the next summit in 2008, which will also come after parliamentary and presidential elections in Russia. “We want this summit to be business-like,” Ferrero-Waldner said on Friday.

She said that she expected Russia to commit to partial financing for regional cooperation projects with the European Union and said the EU would raise the quota for Russian steel imports.

Referring to energy, she said:“We’re going to tell them that it’s very, very important to liberalise the markets in that sector. We want more reciprocity, more transparency, more openness."

The European Union has called on Russia to free up its gas market for EU companies, while Russia has in turn accused Europe of blocking access to EU markets for state-controlled gas giant Gazprom.

Officials are also due to confirm an earlier agreement on a new system to warn European countries ahead of time about possible cuts in energy supply from Russia.

trolls. You would think we would be full of shame. We should repent.

A dog owner who doesn't teach his dog to behave is guilty of neglect. Let's start with who has to walk the mangy beast in public.

Alice, good job of rolling up the paper for that swat.

i had to have missed it too...it said 10AM--

Senate passes Internet tax moratorium Thu Oct 25, 11:11 PM ET

WASHINGTON - The Senate on Thursday night approved a seven-year extension of a moratorium on state and local taxes on Internet access.

The Senate voice vote came a little over a week after the House passed a bill calling for a four-year moratorium. The tax ban, first approved in 1998, is set to expire Nov. 1.

Attempts in both the House and Senate to make the ban permanent in recent weeks were unsuccessful despite strong support for the idea.

Sens. Tom Carper, D-Del., and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., in a joint statement called the agreement "a commonsense victory both for Internet users and for state and local governments."

The two chambers will have to reach a compromise on the length of the ban and other differences before the bill can be sent to the White House for President Bush's signature.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071026/ap_on_go_co/internet_tax_1

House records sought in Doolittle case
By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer
Fri Oct 26, 12:22 AM ET

WASHINGTON - A federal grand jury investigating California GOP Rep. John Doolittle's ties to jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff has subpoenaed the House official responsible for maintaining lawmakers' old e-mails and other records.

The subpoena from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia went to the House's chief administrative officer, Daniel P. Beard. He disclosed it in a notice read on the House floor Thursday evening, in accordance with House rules.

The notice that was read to lawmakers said only that Beard had been subpoenaed for unspecified documents and would determine his response consistent with House rules.

An official with knowledge of the situation said the subpoena pertained to the Doolittle investigation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

Doolittle's attorney did not respond to a call for comment Thursday night, and a Justice Department spokesman did not reply to an e-mail.

The subpoena is the latest sign of activity by the grand jury investigating Doolittle's involvement with Abramoff, whom Doolittle considered a good friend. Doolittle helped Abramoff's clients, and Abramoff donated campaign money to the nine-term conservative and employed his wife.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071026/ap_on_go_co/doolittle_abramoff_2

trying to make his case against global warming. Another ugly little weasel!

Cafferty File viewers: Let's start another revolution

CNN commentator Jack Cafferty speculated on Wednesday about how George W. Bush's unilateral grab for presidential power might be reversed.

"The president of the United States didn't have the power to spy on Americans ... operate secret prisons ... suspend due process ... torture ... hide the conduct of the government from the public," Cafferty stated. "It's not like anybody gave President Bush any of these powers -- he took them, as a brain-dead Congress just stood there and watched."

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Cafferty_File_King_George_Queen_Hillary_10...

anybody want to read it?

fairly long post but interesting.

A year later, White House continues to withold 'torture' documents

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy is urging the White House to turn its slow drip of information on CIA interrogation policies into a freely flowing faucet to wash away a lingering veneer of secrecy.

The Vermont Democrat on Friday reiterated his demands for all of the Bush administration's documents outlining extreme interrogation policies -- critics call it torture -- justified by the president since the beginning of the "Global War on Terror."

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Leahy_reiterates_yearold_demand_for_White_...

sharing is caring---

I also got this vision of people not knowing where to look while listening...Crazy how we get when we "grow up"...

I'm going to re-read your post while I decide if this could work or not... thank you for putting your time in to thinking about that idea with me..

You were wrong, Alice did post about that.
But more importantly, you should use this mistake as a chance to examine your biases. You are too quick to make assumptions, which in this case turned out to be false. Not everyone is so easily categorized into your cynical little mental framework.

Gare you should apologize. Just a simple "I'm sorry" would be sufficient. Though I'm not sure you are capable of a genuine apology. You'll probably use an apology as a platform for making the same wrong point again.

it was the blogger, wanda who first *smacked* someone on the Blog, and I just remember how much it made me laugh... :) It was probably War Dog she did it to...

Where Does the Right-Wing End and the Media Begin?

By Rory O'Connor, AlterNet. Posted October 26, 2007.

Economist Paul Krugman on how the right-wing media machine is destroying social progress.

I had the opportunity to sit down this week with one of America's top economists, Paul Krugman, who of course doubles as an influential op-ed columnist for the New York Times. It's more than a bit surprising when the guy from the New York Times sounds more radical than anyone else in the room, but Krugman and his twice-weekly column have been more consistently surprising and radically different than anything else allowed to appear in the Times (or indeed anywhere else in the so-called "mainstream media") for so long that even Krugman himself no longer seems surprised by the force of his own outrage.

He certainly pulled no punches during our conversation, stating in a forthright manner his opinions on such controversial topics as truth and lies in the newsroom ("The Big Lies are all on the right"), media bias ("A large part of it is in fact right-wing bias, because they are effectively part of the right wing") and corporate pressure ("It's very clear that when the parent companies of the major news sources have issues at stake before the federal government ... this definitely influences the coverage.) Perhaps the fact that he's a tenured professor at Princeton -- and not a professional journalist still on the make -- has freed Krugman to speak truth to naked emperors and Times readers on a biweekly basis.

We spoke at the beginning of a national publicity tour for Krugman's latest book, The Conscience of a Liberal, which ranges over the history of the past century to explain what went wrong in America -- and then attempts to point the way to a "new New Deal." Part of what went wrong with America, of course, was the role played in our democracy by the mass media, as Krugman recognized and parsed in one chapter in his book entitled "Weapons of Mass Distraction."

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/65870/

Dear family and friends,

We live up here at about 2000 feet in elevation, give or take 400 feet depending on where you live in our 100 square mile area. There are three major roads in and out of our community that serve pretty well and then there are a couple of 4-wheel drive back roads that you can take if you have the vehicle to do it. It's a semi-rural area where there are five egg farms, one dairy, numerous horse ranches, and lots of citrus and avocado groves. We have the beautiful Palomar Mountain Range to look at, the Anza-Borrego desert within an hour's drive, and the Pacific Ocean a half hour away. Wonderful diversity and yet with cosmopolitan areas close by.

San Diego County is the most temperate climate that I can think of in the United States for the most part. I mean we have our hot weather in July and August like everyone else (no one gets away from the summer's heat), but we have the Pacific Ocean to cool us off at night. October is the only month we dread around here. The end of October when our Santa Ana winds blow are not a good time for anyone here in Southern California. We always face the risk of fire at this time. And the danger does not always come from some unbalanced person out to do harm. It can come from an old power line and a particularly strong 50 mph wind or a tractor hitting a rock and throwing a spark when the conditions are just right to fan that spark into flame.

The most active fire around us is on the Palomar Mountain Range which, as the crow flies, is 10 miles away. Before the Pamoocha Fire (that's what our fire is called) got started we were doing pretty well. We had the Guejito fire to the South, the Gopher Canyon Fire to the West, the Rice Canyon Fire to the Northwest, and the Witch Creek Fire to East, but they were miles away from us and we felt out of harms way. Then sometime Monday when the wind was blowing hard it blew down a power line that caught a house on fire on the La Jolla Indian Reservation and started our Pamoocha Fire to the North. The wind blew it towards Valley Center and it came as close as a mile from our house. At the same time the other fires closed in and hit Valley Center from the South and the East. That's when we had to evacuate.

Fire does not care who it harms. It burns where the wind blows it and when the winds calm it lies there smoldering, waiting until the wind wakes it up again to rise and swirl and move with whatever speed the wind gives it. It's an awesome force and a devastating adversary.

We ended up on the football field of our local high school about two miles away where we stayed for about a day and a half. When we knew the immediate fire danger had passed I went home to check up on things and see how safe it was to go home. Real smoky, ash everywhere, but home sure looks good when you've been afraid if you have a home to go home to. We decided to stay and keep our guard up. Our two dogs and our cat are happy to be home.

They closed all our roads up here to Valley Center until yesterday afternoon. You could leave, but they would not let you back in. The National Guard is up here on Quads making rounds because we have had looting of homes that have been burned, damaged, or the owners evacuated out of our area. How they got in here when proven residents could not get in leads me to believe that these are locals that decided to stay for profit. Bad apples in every barrel.

I always have water and dry or canned goods enough for a couple weeks on hand so we were self-sufficient. Our local fruit stand made every effort to be open (except for Tuesday) so fresh fruits and vegetables were available. Our feed store was only closed for one day, too. A bunch of bartering went on back and forth on Thursday morning when we were told the roads would not open until Monday. Neighbors and friends were passing on extra supplies that they had on hand. I got two flats of eggs that a friend gave me and after saving some for ourselves I passed the rest on to others. Someone gave me avocados. I passed on some toilet paper that I had. It's a great feeling to have enough and pass on the rest. A blessing to help each other.

We had good air yesterday afternoon and I decided to open windows last night. What was I thinking! This is not the first fire storm that I have experienced. I woke up at 11 PM choking from the smoke because the wind and fire had changed. We had put in a new air and heating system this year and I found out last night that it is a great filtering product. It took a couple hours to get rid of the smoke.

Wayne and I are doing good, but please pray for our Aunt Evelyn who is staying with us since the fire roared through her community of Rancho Bernardo last Monday. We fear her house is gone because we saw her street on the news when President Bush toured through what they said was the worst street hit by the fire. Yes, it was her street! We could not quite see to where her house was on the newscast and it does not show up on any list that we could find on the internet, but that street was said to be completely devastated. Wayne and Aunt Evelyn are going to try to see if it is still there. Pray for her strength. She is a very young 83, but this is a difficult time, and she left with only the clothes on her back, her car, and her birds ( 2 parakeets and 2 cockatiels).

Also, Aunt Enid was displaced by the fire. We found Evelyn after the fire, but we could not find Enid after the fire until we heard from her niece, Rita, who had found her. We are pretty sure her dwelling is OK. It was up after the storm passed through, but she is dealing with not being able to get back there after evacuating, the ensuing mess from refrigerator and freezer being off for days, no electricity, and very little with her. She is with Sandra and George now if you want to get in touch. These two women are tough cookies, but they need extraordinary strength to get through these times ahead.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers that sustain us.

Annie

amazing

I like the one you're working on too..I just saw some ripped paper art yesterday and my friend was telling me how it used to be so popular at one time...I should take a photo of this Beatles art I found that is the whole band in ripped paper...it's framed and signed from some girl in the 60's...

Man, the work gods conspire against me when I wanna be doin' other shit. But I shouldn't be complainin'. Well, not that much. Been doin' stuff for some local campaigns. It's amazin' how LI when I first moved here in '80 was so deep, DEEP red & now can be characterized as mostly purple & w/ areas shadin' toward blue. All that Sisyphus-esque work for blues in the '80's & early '90's has started to bear some real movement. *smiles*

Anyhoozle, what little I had for today is done. Made me a strong mug o' Earl Grey & checked out the view from the deck. I'm plopped down here in front of my newly-rebuilt public box & now I'm gonna spend the rest of the day (till Friday Attitude Adjustment Hour, anyway) doin' what I enjoy most: readin' & bloggin'.

--------------------

Alice: The pics you post hereabouts are artistic, eclectic & beautiful...just like you. Don't stop, EVER! Just because some dimwit has a filter on their server that labels it otherwise, doesn't make it so.

If one doesn't wanna look, then go elsewhere.

If one really wants to get here & they're being blocked by the server they're on, then, again, go elsewhere & use an ISP/server whose ops don't have a fucking stick up their asses.

Now, about that adult reading group & your pole-dancing whilst doing so: May I suggest the first book be that Girls of Vivaldi story you teased us with? ; )

*

And with that kids, I'm off...

FYI: Brunch With Bernie (Sanders) is on w/ Hartman now.

saddens me---

Thank goodness your family is okay! Sorry about your one aunt but at least she is safe and taken care of.

Your sister's letter was well written and very descriptive. It's good to know what is really going on.

it's good to see how the people are taking care of and not turning on each other...that's hopeful..

I wish my weekend were starting now...work work work...bleh..

Thanks for the compliments... :) I'm a bit intimidated to upset Star Vox and it's no sweat putting pics on an Open Mic instead...

--Girls of Vivaldi story you teased us with? ; )--

I LOVE this idea! We WILL have to have the dr-sponsored-post-reading-orgy after this book!

Enjoy your fun day now! I'll be thinking of you while I'm doing my TPS reports... ;)

isn't Bush usually on the other end of the sheep?

I'll check back in an hour or so from now?

lot of the help was grassroots.

really beautiful place that high chapparal.

like parts of italy.

I'm wondering, do Bill Clinton and Bill Maher ever address the more important issue of how the events of 9/11 have been taken advantage of? I haven't seen the videos, are they using the issue for a chance to focus on what we know for sure, the results of 9/11? Somehow I'm afraid it's just foolish grandstanding.

Getting caught up in arguing about "what really happened" is dumb. Unless they elevate themselves above the pointless debate, Clinton and Maher have become equal to the people they are arguing against. Whatever happened, the results of 9/11 are something we can all agree on. I think anyone who can fight about the events of 9/11 could direct that energy down more effective channels.

The 9/11 hijackers were being tailed by the US intelligence apparatus. The failure of US intelligence is a much more serious, and concrete issue than fighting over "what really happened."

It's this sort of petty infighting, and inability to focus on the relevant issues that keeps the left divided. Shame on both sides of the 9/11 truth debate. The truth we know for sure, that 9/11 was used to get us into years of war, and the pitiful failure of intelligence, are lost in the spectacle.

HA!

BBC

Russian President Vladimir Putin says US plans for a missile shield could precipitate a situation similar to the Cuban missile crisis of the 1960s.

The Cuba crisis saw the Soviet Union and US go to the brink of nuclear war.

Rumsfeld hit with torture lawsuit while visiting Paris
Jason Rhyne

Former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's jaunt to France was interrupted today by an unscheduled itinerary item -- he was slapped with a criminal complaint charging him torture.

Rumsfeld, in Paris for a discussion sponsored by the magazine Foreign Policy, was by tracked down by representatives of a coalition of international human rights groups, who informed the architect of the US invasion of Iraq that they had submitted an official torture complaint against him in French court.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Rumsfeld_hit_with_torture_complaint_while_...

Looks like Inhofe is doing his own fillibuster on not believing in global warming!

about salvia
Submitted by dada on Fri, 10/26/2007 - 1:53am
----
Thanks for your comments. I strolled (as opposed to searched) around the Innernets looking at various salvia commentary. My current opinion is that salvia is merely another in a long list of botanical happenstances that periodically sprouts to the surface of adolescent (if not adult) awareness.

The young mother who advised me to "look up salvia" probably began and ended her salvia education at a knee-jerk, ohmygod, our-children-are-all-gonna-die-on-skid-row parental website. When she told me that salvia is available in stores and is more powerful than LSD, I had two unspoken thoughts: I doubt that it is more powerful than LSD and, if it is, it won't be the next teenagers' drug craze. (A friend of a friend who is not me and who bears no resemblance to me whatsoever once told me that casual, public, social, daily use of LSD isn't easy to sustain. It's not like sipping schnapps or sharing tokes with friends while hidden behind the Vo-Tech building between classes.)

For now, I'm placing salvia in the same societal-emergency category as the Harry Potter books inducing kids to become slaves to satanic witchcraft. (Though I suspect that Pentecostal offspring are at the greatest risk in both cases.)

Congressman: 'We don't have the military capability to play chicken with Iran'

Harsh US sanctions announced yesterday against Iran could help to lay the groundwork for an armed conflict that America's military simply isn't prepared for, Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) told MSNBC host Tucker Carlson.

Asked by Carlson why Democrats had issues with the sanctions, Moran said there was a "sense of deja vu."

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Congressman_We_dont_have_military_capabili...

HA!

How Bad Will the Next Recession Be?
By Scott Thill, AlterNet
If our government really is a corporation and Bush is its CEO, we're all likely to be self-employed contractors out of a job. Read more ?

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=e4DcJqJAsFcS7kT%2...

Sen. Chris Dodd gave a great statement on the floor of the Senate this morning. You can watch video here on his Senate website. I asked for a written copy of the remarks, because there wasn’t a transcript available, and am reprinting them here with permission because I’ve had several e-mails asking for this. Here you go:

Mr. President, for six years, this President has demonstrated time and time again that he doesn’t respect the role of Congress nor does he respect the rule of law.

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/10/26/patriots-stand-up/

have been wondering that too----hope i dont wonder to far and get lost!!!

Dodd---

He spoke about 1 1/2 hours ago he said he will block the FISA bill from moving out of committee and if unsuccessful at that will filibuster it before the full Senate.

Is that what your waiting for?

http://dodd.senate.gov/index.php?q=node/4106

Dirty Deeds, mp3

currently 3 users and 26 guests online.
Online users

* Lucille
* Annette
* Alice

Wow dr...you have given me a lot to think about...
Submitted by Alice on Fri, 10/26/2007 - 11:44am.
...thank you for putting your time in to thinking about that idea with me..
-----------
No need to thank him. dr is rehabbing soffits. His mind is wandering off to everywhere but underneath bat shit infested overhangs.

I guess I missed it somehow.

Glad for the video.

Here I was enduring Inhofe, waiting for Dodd. Got rid of that bugger fast!

That letter from SJ's sister - wow. There's good in every bad thing that happens, isn't there?

I still say, I love that part of the country. I love those people. I'm crossing my fingers that the insurance companies don't screw them.

Dear VoteVets.org Supporter,

Yesterday, the AP reported that the Bush-Cheney Administration has instituted "sweeping new sanctions against Iran Thursday -- the harshest since the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in 1979 -- charging anew that Tehran supports terrorism in the Middle East, exports missiles and is engaging in a nuclear build up."

There are 3 choices in dealing with Iran. You can engage them. You can isolate them. Or you can attack them.

These sanctions could be part of any of the 3 strategies. The sanctions themselves can only be evaluated within the context of the overall policy. Currently, the administration has chosen a path of isolation with the threat of an attack.

This is the wrong strategy. The Bush-Cheney Administration's failure to use diplomacy in conjunction with these sanctions is unlikely to change Iran's behavior.

Please join VoteVets.org and me. Send a message to President Bush to use diplomacy to deal with Iran. War is not the answer.

http://StopIranWar.com

The AP reported that Condoleezza Rice says Washington remains committed to "a diplomatic solution" and open to negotiations with Iran. Yet the Bush Administration refuses to speak with Iran unless the Iranians pre-emptively surrender their interests. This is not likely to happen, and the Administration will be left with two options: a nuclear Iran or war.

Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) stated yesterday:

"Unilateral sanctions rarely, ever work...I just don't think the unilateral approach and giving war speeches helps the situation. It will just drive the Iranians closer together...It escalates the danger of a military confrontation."

Diplomacy is about carrots and sticks. Unfortunately, the Administration seems to believe it only has sticks. They have continued their saber-rattling, and without diplomacy, the announced sanctions only serve to escalate the tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

Tell President Bush it is time to begin direct dialogue without conditions. War with Iran is not the answer.

Send a letter to President Bush. If we want to avoid a military showdown with Iran, we must engage them diplomatically.

http://StopIranWar.com

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Wes Clark

reverse travel day

Finally got his day in court! He's going to be let go!!!!!

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Georgia_court_overturns_ruling_that_jailed...

Who's the scariest Republican?

http://www.dscc.org/scariest