This is what a bad liar looks like

He is definately a piece of work!

again due to work. damn it!

Everybody

:-)

... to be threatening World War 3

~-~-

That's easy. God told him to.

'nuff said.

And Oregon is in a bad way also. Hope Cat Sea, Chubby, WFC and MAT are okay!

☺♥☺♥☺
One election at a time...

Fernando, your link worked wonderful.

☺♥☺♥☺
One election at a time...

Ohio last night. Many were without power.
wind chill 17F

☺♥☺♥☺
One election at a time...

wish I could have taken part.

Mat closed down her blog. She has 2 jobs and it was just too much for her.

She had a good little blog going, but work is first and a blog is demanding.

You are getting the weather we had. Did you get the ice storm with it?

wrote you on the last blog - right before you switched to this one. Please read

Cuban Coffee right now. YUM

Sam and Marc agreed to each take 5 rules from these 48 laws of power, to apply them to their daily lives, and report back next week.

I'll tell ya what...Bush and his neo-scum minions have this doctrine down pat.
Marc called it Machiavellian.

I wanted Sam to ask him, if he had ever heard of the Humanist Manifesto, but that question didn't make the cut.

The 48 Laws of Power
by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers

Law 1
Never Outshine the Master

Purdue -48 Laws of Power

AT&T DSL network had been down since yesterday early evening.

So I watched TV this morning and saw
the "illustrious leader" press conference.
Sickening shit. One "reporter" in the press
corps actually asked him about the Saudi rape case.
His phony response was disheartening.
He basically evaded the question all together.

Would someone please just shoot that fucker!

(note to NSA agent reading this: That is not a direct threat on my part. It is only wishful thinking and therefore covered by the first amendment protection of free speech.)

Feeling the same really. This back pain won't go away and my right knee is double the size. The weather affects my knee. Thanks for the good wishes.

Jeff Gannon was at the Rove thing? Hmmmm! Interesting!

I looked those up yesterday during the mini test run they had. Amazing correlary of what is going on now.

I'd rather see him behind bars. This way the evangelicals can't make a marter out of him.

I hope you and yours are safe. The ground surface here is frozen and just a sparse dusting of snow. Weatherman said the snow will be on it's way later tonight or tomorrow.

You'd laugh to see me right now. I have a blanket around me as a cape..I hate it when my shoulders get cold. I dislike winter immensely.
Old age...it happens.

☺♥☺♥☺
One election at a time...

NEW YORK: The financial crisis that began late last summer, then took a brief vacation in September and October, is back with a vengeance.

How bad is it? Well, I've never seen financial insiders this spooked - not even during the Asian crisis of 1997-98, when economic dominoes seemed to be falling all around the world.

This time, market players seem truly horrified - because they've suddenly realized that they don't understand the complex financial system they created.

Before I get to that, however, let's talk about what's happening right now.

Credit - lending between market players - is to the financial markets what motor oil is to car engines. The ability to raise cash on short notice, which is what people mean when they talk about "liquidity," is an essential lubricant for the markets, and for the economy as a whole.

But liquidity has been drying up. Some credit markets have effectively closed up shop. Interest rates in other markets - like the London market, in which banks lend to each other - have risen even as interest rates on U.S. government debt, which is still considered safe, have plunged.

"What we are witnessing," says Bill Gross of the bond manager Pimco, "is essentially the breakdown of our modern-day banking system, a complex of leveraged lending so hard to understand that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke required a face-to-face refresher course from hedge fund managers in mid-August."

The freezing up of the financial markets will, if it goes on much longer, lead to a severe reduction in overall lending, causing business investment to go the way of home construction - and that will mean a recession, possibly a nasty one.

Behind the disappearance of liquidity lies a collapse of trust: Market players don't want to lend to each other because they're not sure they will be repaid.

In a direct sense, this collapse of trust has been caused by the bursting of the housing bubble. The run-up of home prices made even less sense than the dot-com bubble - I mean, there wasn't even a glamorous new technology to justify claims that old rules no longer applied - but somehow financial markets accepted crazy home prices as the new normal. And when the bubble burst, a lot of investments that were labeled AAA turned out to be junk.

Thus, "super-senior" claims against subprime mortgages - that is, investments that have first dibs on whatever mortgage payments borrowers make, and were therefore supposed to pay off in full even if a sizable fraction of these borrowers defaulted on their debts - have lost a third of their market value since July.

http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=8569486

You'd laugh to see me right now. I have a blanket around me as a cape..I hate it when my shoulders get cold. I dislike winter immensely.
Old age...it happens.

☺♥☺♥☺

That has been me the past few days. Blanket like a shawl around me. The other night I wore my Fleece pants and top to sleep in.

We are expecting snow starting this afternoon until tomorrow afternoon. I don't mind the snow as much as the ice, however, I could do without both at this stage in my life.

I need to borrow your mind. You are so much smarter than I and you can understand nuance so well, I'm sure you know the answer. What's a nukular bomb? I kept hearing that very important looking dude on the tv talking about Iran learning how to make a nukular bomb. That scares me because I don't even know what a nukular bomb is.

Should I be scared or delighted? I've had a Yager bomb. Those are delicious!

Exclusive: State Dept. Officials in Charge of Blackwater Get Bonuses
An internal cable reveals that State is rewarding two Diplomatic Security officials who oversee private-security contractors guarding U.S. diplomats in Iraq and Afghanistan. The optional bonuses are given for "outstanding performance."

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004823.php

I wonder if anyone would like to step up and suggest that we should trust Iran? Would anyone like to stop funding The Surge? Does anyone think Kucinich or his Impeachment bill have any life in them?

It's tough times for the 3%. Even the 3%er Hugo got a swift kick in the ass. IF you are a 3%er, ya gotta be frustrated!

Can't wait for the vodcast.
I hope it's up soon.

Toni, I know, I just get a sick feeling
anytime the dictator is on TV with these
"reporters" giving him a psychological
rim job. God-damn Hacks!
They are as damaging to Democracy as Bush.

Except for Helen Thomas, the only real
reporter in the press corps.

it was so good and - i could not believe it - no technical problems, just the sound briefly cutting off when marc was gesticulating too wildly but very little interruption and did not interfere at all with the flow of the conversation - also marc appeared to be in better mood than last time - presumably he got a good night's sleep - even though he did need to take a coffee break at one point and go get it from the kitchen and so we got to see his shorts, but nothing sexy

Alaska corruption scares off energy company
western news
By WESLEY LOY
Anchorage Daily News
Tuesday, December 04, 2007

A major Midwest energy company cites Alaska's political corruption scandal for its unexpected decision not to submit a natural gas pipeline application.

In a recent letter to Gov. Sarah Palin, the chief executive of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. suggests that criminal investigations, performance lapses by one major North Slope oil producer and other factors stand in the way of a gas line.

"As you are painfully aware the ongoing corruption investigations coupled with previous indictments, guilty pleas and convictions draw into question virtually every major Alaskan project participant and governmental levels from State to Federal," says the letter from MidAmerican CEO David Sokol. "Obviously your administration had no involvement in these previous shenanigans nor did we; however, you and we alone cannot develop the pipeline project through AGIA's expected process."

MidAmerican was expected to be among the companies applying by Friday's deadline for a package of financial and other pipeline incentives under Palin's Alaska Gasline Inducement Act.

Palin is the latest in a string of governors to try to spur construction of a multibillion-dollar gas line.

Such a project would be a tax and jobs boon to Alaska, but the cost and risk of laying pipe as far as Chicago have for decades sidelined the project. Three oil companies, BP, Conoco Phillips and Exxon Mobil, hold the rights to most of the Slope's enormous gas reserves.

http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/28755

Hey tonid
Submitted by Fernando on Tue, 12/04/2007 - 1:06pm.
I need to borrow your mind. You are so much smarter than I and you can understand nuance so well, I'm sure you know the answer. What's a nukular bomb? I kept hearing that very important looking dude on the tv talking about Iran learning how to make a nukular bomb. That scares me because I don't even know what a nukular bomb is.

Should I be scared or delighted? I've had a Yager bomb. Those are delicious!

You have to have a sharp mind like the chimp!

The only gender I have heard pronounce nuclear as nucular are men. Seems they have a problem with that word.

real reporter - i get so angry when i hear them others fakes disrespect her - dana perino is particularly offensive - what she said to her the other day - it's up on crooks and liars i believe - was awful

for me too toniD. Usually, they are holding a shot gun or a drink simultaneously attempting to pronounce the name of a weapon they will never understand. I just had a conversation with one of those bones for brains idiots.

NPR

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16843353

That is an NPR link for the terrified.

I wonder if anyone would like to step up and suggest that we should trust Iran?

Should we trust the NIE from our own gov't intelligence agencies?

I mean, they really fucked it up on Iraq, didn't they! Cherry-pickin' administration aside. They got it toally wrong.

So, tell you what. YOU admit that we went into Iraq on completely false pretenses first and then we'll get back to you on Iran, okay?

life goes on!

all that snow just about gone, even the slush is fading in the rain.

high winds last night on the way home blowing the truck around.

back healing up pretty good,got some hours in yesterdiddy.

blog has been a delight to read, but i'm so tired at night i zonk out early.

...Currently, I'm Fully Baked.

For those who have doubts about miracles, a double one occurred Monday. An honest National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran’s nuclear program has been issued and its "key judgments" were made public. With redraft after redraft, it was what the Germans call "eine schwere Geburt"—a difficult birth, ten months in gestation.

I do not know how often Vice President Dick Cheney visited CIA Headquarters during the gestation period, but I am told he voiced his displeasure as soon as he saw the first sonogram/draft very early this year, and is so displeased with what issued that he has refused to be the godfather.

This time Cheney and his neo-con colleagues were unable to abort the process. And after delivery to the press, this child is going to be very hard to explain—the more so since it is legitimate.

The main points of the NIE:

"We judge that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program..."

"We assess with moderate confidence Tehran has not restarted its nuclear weapons program as of mid-2007."

"We do not have sufficient intelligence to judge confidently whether Tehran is willing to maintain the halt of its nuclear weapons program indefinitely..."

"We judge with moderate confidence Iran probably would be technically capable of producing enough highly enriched uranium sometime during the 2010-2015 time frame."

"We judge with high confidence that Iran will not be technically capable of producing and reprocessing enough plutonium for a weapon before about 2015."

Having reached these conclusions, it is not surprising that the NIE’s authors make a point of saying up front (in bold type), "This NIE does not (italics in original) assume that Iran intends to acquire nuclear weapons."

So, should we trust our own govt's NIE or not, 97?

Giuliani Advisor Podhoretz: It's a CIA Plot to Protect Iran

Yep, Rudy's Mideast Advisor Norman Podhoretz says the CIA is fibbing about the Iranian nuclear program to protect the Iranians from an attack by Bush or Rudy.

I entertain an even darker suspicion. It is that the intelligence community, which has for some years now been leaking material calculated to undermine George W. Bush, is doing it again. This time the purpose is to head off the possibility that the President may order air strikes on the Iranian nuclear installations. As the intelligence community must know, if he were to do so, it would be as a last resort, only after it had become undeniable that neither negotiations nor sanctions could prevent Iran from getting the bomb, and only after being convinced that it was very close to succeeding. How better, then, to stop Bush in his tracks than by telling him and the world that such pressures have already been effective and that keeping them up could well bring about “a halt to Iran’s entire nuclear weapons program”—especially if the negotiations and sanctions were combined with a goodly dose of appeasement or, in the NIE’s own euphemistic formulation, “with opportunities for Iran to achieve its security, prestige, and goals for regional influence in other ways.”

--Josh Marshall

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/podhoretz/1474

Two Critical Senate Votes This Week

The Senate will vote this week (as early as Tuesday) on two critical measures: The Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act and the Peru Free Trade Agreement. Already passed in the House, both bills will be taken up in the Senate this week and both issues need your attention. Read more below and use the links to take action!

STOP the Police State Bill

Send a message to your Senators demanding they protect your first amendment right and uphold their oath to protect the Constitution by voting NO on S. 1959, The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007.

http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/issues/alert/?alertid=10616211

leaked video of the Bush team deciding to go out and declare Iran is still a threat.

Maybe not a psycho,
but that's the only esteemed reference for the resume.

-------

He wasn't a superhero, even though he read books.
Apparently, reading is no longer a natural human trait.

Us dopes got a minimum raise wage. ($3.35/hr raised to $5.15/hr)

'Spose we should igore Yugoslavia, a doubled victimless crime prison population, (pot bad, crack bad, coke ok),...
& welfare reform.

Remember Dukakis vs. Bunnypants Sr.?
(Both wanted to escalate the war on drugs.)

Carter proposed to legalize marijuana
when he ran for office in 1980.

But, alas we were introduced
to Bunnypants Sr's "October Surprise."

Maybe we should have Lee Hamilton look into it.

"Infinite love is the only truth, everything else is illusion." (D.I.)

Kucinich/Paul '08

any more myself. I used to when I was a kid...but now I could take it or leave it.
My sister lives in Scottsdale, AZ. and she loves it out there.
I think I would miss the change of the seasons though. Im not sure if I would want to live in a state that is warm all of the time.
I guess I would give it a try if the opportunity came up.

Helen Thomas - - BLESS HER HEART.
She is the only journalist who asks the tough questions.

I have been trying to trap this tom cat (Mystery Kitty we call him) and he is elusive to no end. Plus I've been trying to get momma cat (Scruffy) \same as Mystery Kitty
ELUSIVE to no end!!

Hey Sunshine Jim,,,, how are ya today? Any new photos of the cars your working on??
Im having a hell of a time with my sexy IMac. I can't get the copy & paste to high light. Or I should say it is not highlighted and so I can't copy & paste.
Hope things are well with you and yours.

http://firedoglake.com/

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/BF3CBFE3-0348-4941-A62D-1BD8D1986...

a useful guide if the lying decider starts bombing

*Get used to me saying that. It’s the way Southern women use a common two-word put down containing a familiar expletive.

--bluegal

John Amato: Yea, and it was the blogs that spent millions of dollars trying to impeach and indict President Clinton for years and years and of course, we accused him of murdering Vince Foster. Didn’t we? Or maybe it was Richard Mellon Scaife. Isn’t he a blogger too?

David Gregory Plays "Blame the Blogs"

illuuusion

Problem-Reaction-Solution ??

George Ciccariello, a Venezuela watcher with the University of California at Berkeley in the US, told Al Jazeera there had been "a great deal of disinformation" about Chavez's campaign prior to the vote.

"There were rumours, there was pamphleteering, there was printing false copies of the reform proposal.

Missing supporters

"That said though, Chavez really took a hit on this in terms of his moderate supporters not turning up to vote."

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FCEED535-1550-4151-A696-AE6364AC7...

Afghan army, U.S. officers ask Gates for money, arms

KABUL, Dec. 4 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's army chief on Tuesday asked the United States for more security trainers and equipment to fight an insurgency led by Taliban militants, saying the aid given so far was generous but inadequate. [...]

I feel like I am the salesman around the world for Afghanistan," he said, noting he had also asked China and Japan for help in the war during a recent visit to those countries.

"In the meantime, we will continue to do all we can," Gates said.

RISING VIOLENCE

Gates was on his third trip to Afghanistan since replacing Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon in December 2006.

His current trip to Afghanistan is to assess foreign military commanders' needs following two years of rising violence by a Taliban that has been able to regroup and regain territory.

Attacks have climbed 30 percent in some areas and suicide bombings are up from a year ago in Afghanistan, a war often overshadowed in the United States by combat in Iraq.

Representative Nancy Boyda, first-term Kansas Democrat.

By CARL HULSE
Published: December 4, 2007

MANHATTAN, Kan. — Nancy Boyda, a Democrat who ran for Congress in this district last year, owed her upset victory partly to the popularity of the Democratic woman at the top of the ticket: Kathleen Sebelius, who won the governor’s seat. Now, with a tough re-election race at hand in 2008, Ms. Boyda faces the prospect that her electoral fate could be tied to another woman: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Mrs. Clinton is a long way from winning the Democratic presidential nomination, and over the last few weeks has struggled to hang on to the air of inevitability that she has been cultivating all year. But the possibility that she will be the nominee is already generating concern among some Democrats in Republican-leaning states and Congressional districts, who fear that sharing the ticket with her could subject them to attack as too liberal and out of step with the values of their constituents.

And few incumbent Democrats face a greater challenge next year than Ms. Boyda, whose district delivered almost 60 percent of its votes to President Bush in 2004.

*********************

In the Senate, Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana faces a similar challenge, and in an indication of what she and other Democrats, including Senators Max Baucus of Montana and Mark Pryor of Arkansas, could face, Republicans unveiled a Web commercial on Monday linking Ms. Landrieu directly to Mrs. Clinton. In the advertisement, Mrs. Clinton’s face morphs into Ms. Landrieu’s, and they are described as “two peas in a pod.”

Advisers to Mrs. Clinton, who has long sought to parry concerns within her party that she is too polarizing, dispute the idea that she could hinder Democratic candidates in Republican districts. They note that New York Democrats gained a net of four House seats in her two Senate elections and that she campaigned actively for House contenders in both.

Con't @ NYT
**************************
More Nonsense about Clinton being "Too Liberal"
When in fact she is too Conservative,
just ask an actual Liberal.

best to ya too!

currently refining the shape on the left quarter panel. i have to do many 'color sandings' to get rid of 'waves'. basically taking out lows and highs of about the thickness of a playing card over the length of the door and quarter panel, about 12 feet of surface area by 3 feet of depth and multiple contours.

i posted some recent pix at my site for you yesterday and just now!

http://www3.telus.net/Art-Adventures/65PontiacParissenne/

Israeli officials reject U.S. findings on Iran

Defense Minister Ehud Barak directly challenged the new assessment in an interview with Israel's Army Radio, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the new finding wouldn't deter Israel or the United States from pressing its campaign to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapons capability.

"It seems Iran in 2003 halted for a certain period of time its military nuclear program, but as far as we know, it has probably since revived it," Barak said.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/22534.html

"Middle class and out of a home"
The home mortgage meltdown isn't just gutting the poorer parts of town, it's beginning to slam Chicago's wealthy & middle- class neighborhoods.
"End of the line for Jays factory"
Chip company closing plant on 99th St., cutting about 220 union jobs.
"God took them away"
Fire kills young brothers. Officials say home was like a rooming house

Daily Herald
"Now you can party outside @ Sears Centre"
Hoffman Estates OKs outdoor events, tailgating @ arena
"Sheriff applies to help deport"
Lake County enters immigration debate
"Hawks Hockey 101"
"Roll 'em again"
How quickly can 10th casino license pay off?
"Short term memory? 5 year old chimps can beat you."

The festival of the light begins tonight. It's early this year.

like that Pontiac is going to be one SWEET ride.
Who's the other good looking guy with you?

Looks like you have a little helper with you to. What's his/her name?
How many pups do you have?

Nuclear MeltdownWe're not going to bomb Iran.

By Fred Kaplan
Posted Monday, Dec. 3, 2007, at 5:31 PM ET

If there was ever a possibility that President George W. Bush would drop bombs on Iran, the chances have now shrunk to nearly zero.

In one of the most dramatic National Intelligence Estimates ever, the 16 agencies of the U.S. intelligence community concluded today "with high confidence" that Iran "halted its nuclear weapons" four years ago, in the fall of 2003.

The NIE, which was released this afternoon, also judges "with moderate confidence" that Iran won't be "technically capable" of producing enough materials for an atom bomb—much less the bomb itself—until 2010-15 or possibly later.

The report also concedes that Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear-weapons program "suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005."

It was in 2005 that the intelligence agencies released their first, more alarming NIE, which concluded that Iran was determined to develop nuclear weapons despite international pressure.

The new report—which incorporates intelligence information as recent as Oct. 31, 2007—now finds evidence to the contrary.

President Bush and the administration's hawkish faction, led by Vice President Dick Cheney, can take some solace from the new intelligence estimate. For instance, the NIE states, again "with high confidence," that until the fall of 2003, the Iranians were developing nuclear weapons. It also notes that they are continuing civilian work "related to uranium conversion and enrichment." Most significant, perhaps, it concludes that the Iranians halted their weapons program "primarily in response to increasing international scrutiny and pressure resulting from exposure of Iran's previously undeclared nuclear work."

But one implication of this last assessment is that Iran's leaders are not so hermetic—that, as the NIE puts it, "Iran may be more vulnerable to influence on the issues than we judged previously." The Bush administration's campaign of pressure—the smart sanctions that it imposed and rallied other nations to join—appears to have had an effect. By the same token, inducements might spur further progress.

The NIE is strikingly explicit on this point:

Our assessment that Iran halted the program in 2003 primarily in response to international pressure indicates Tehran's decisions are guided by a cost-benefit approach rather than a rush to a weapon irrespective of the political, economic, and military costs. This, in turn, suggests that some combination of threats of intensified international scrutiny and pressure, along with opportunities for Iran to achieve its security, prestige, and goals for regional influence in other ways, might—if perceived by Iran's leaders as credible—prompt Tehran to extend the current halt to its nuclear weapons program.

http://www.slate.com/id/2179084/

I agree with you on that ( H. Clinton)
She is way to conservative for my liking. Only if she wins the primary will I vote for her.
Anybody but a republican slime ball!

that saying makes me want to puke. Biden is the only one that has nailed Bush on that NIE on Iran ... the top 3 bicker on what so and so said.

Free Democracy

I e-mailed you some info. Did you get it yet?? Its about the library cats.

how are you today??
I miss that little dude running around on fire.

what is the subject or the first few letters of the email address so I can look for it in the spam folders?

"Who's the other good looking guy with you?"

Thats Derek, shop owner with his brother, excellent audio tech and fabricator. I'll see if i can get some pix of what they're up to today.

Looks like you have a little helper with you to. What's his/her name?

that's Jax, J Jaxxor Slinkytoes, he had a bad day yesterday, poor guy had the runs, he was barking at the sander noise too, usually does'nt phase him.

How many pups do you have?

i have two Jack Russel terriers, Ruzzalyn, queen of the North and Jax.

Fine .. how are you?

look for smcgee43 or Feral Cats

in that article they got it exactly reversed - clinton-like comparisons for mary landrieu are not going to damage her with the conservative republicans but with the liberal dems which is exactly the folks she needs to rally behind her - the redstaters are not going to vote for landrieu no matter what now that she has a republican contender

if i understand the jist of the article correctly - i had to speed-read and scan through it because that picture of that woman bothered me - something ugly and unpleasant about her, not unlike the disturbing postings of our anonymous bullshiter

Credit card companies are gouging American consumers everyday.

-----

This morning, I chaired another hearing of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on unfair credit card practices that are victimizing hard working Americans who play by the rules. We are determined to find out why credit card companies increase interest rates on cardholders who pay their bills on time.

The companies revealed that they routinely increase interest rates - even retroactively - for reasons that have nothing to do with a cardholder's payment history. In some cases, our investigation has already caused credit card companies to reconsider increases and reduce rates.

But I don't think it should take a personal phone call from a Senate investigator in order for consumers to be treated fairly.

That's why I've introduced the Stop Unfair Practices in Credit Cards Act, legislation that will take away credit card companies' ability to institute unfair interest rate hikes and end the practice of retroactively applying higher interest rates to consumers' existing debt.

Click here to show your support for my legislation to end unfair credit card practices that are gouging consumers, and to read more details about our investigation.

Janet undoubtedly joins thousands of other responsible cardholders across the country who are feeling the squeeze of hiked interest rates this holiday season. Our hearing today showed that it's past time to put an end to these unfair credit card practices.

Sincerely,

Carl Levin

Kevin...same old shit - -different day. I can't complain.
I guess I can about the very cold weather here in Chicago. But it won't do any good to complain.
You would think after 40 some yrs. I would be used to it by now.

I'm not seeing it...remember it's alice IS not Alice IN :)
...back to work...

time to roll,

love ya all!

companies have been gouging consumers for about well.....a long time, I really don't know how long but I'll say 40 yrs.????
They, just like a lot of companies are money hungry. Once they get that in "their" blood its hard to not want more.
We had a story here in the paper about Exxon Mobile putting in Air Pumps @ the local rest stops that you go for gas and what not
and Exxon Mobile charging .75 for air when it wasn't in the contract. Air has always been free @ an oasis. Exxon Mobile put them in
of course without saying anything to anybody & finally someone caught on and now they are saying that in the fine print that you can go inside and have the attendant
turn it on so as you do not have to pay for the air. What a fucking crock of hot shit. Jeez like those muther fuckers don't have enough money - they'll stiff you for air.
The point being is Money is the root of ALL evil.

Sorry about that goofy pic, mire.
looks like she just did a hot-rail when it was taken.

;p

much better than - not even close - to what the ridiculous televised charades have been like

and yet even here i find the interviewers, particularly the female one - didn't catch her name - somewhat irritating - why is it that even here this has to happen

I forwarded the original letter i sent to you to me. If that makes any sense at all. Then I just forwarded it back to you. I did have in instead if is.
Thanks for the heads up.
Have a good one.

Biden: Bush either not truthful or incompetent on Iran

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hpfYt7vRHuY

Worldwide one of a kind, the Vegetable Orchestra performs on instruments made of fresh vegetables. The utilization of various ever refined vegetable instruments creates a musically and aesthetically unique sound universe.

----- december 4th, 2007:
wow, were are really amazed about the flood of comments in the last hours. so thank you all for your kind and unkind comments. we really appreciated that! sorry that we can not answer all... it's just too much!

just one word to all the people who are concerned about people dying of starvation:
we are concerned too. but not doing this project does change nothing. it doesn't make the world a better place.
if you are really concerned about the distribution of wealth then do something about it! read books about the real cause of hunger. talk with your friends and family about it. change your own life and try to change politics. buy and support the right things. it is not people using vegetables differently than usual that make the world a bad place. it's all of us wanting too much. our own car, a new cellphone, a bigger house with air condition, more money...
sending the vegetables to africa does not help. on the contrary it destroys the markets there, so people can not sell their own produce, because the imported one is too cheap.

and by the way: people have used vegetables for music for centuries. also in africa.

enough already - that's what's getting on my nerves - i can now put my finger on it - it's like china this is all the problems in the world we're having right now - these reporter questioners piss me off when they focus obsessively and narrowly on some issue

I have 3 BIG dogs. Newfi/Golden retriever mixes 2 females and the male is a Tibetan Mastiff.
Lakota - Indio & Buddy Bear or Boo-Boo Bear
Then I have 5 cats inside & outside I take care of about 7 or 8 feral cats that live in my garage. (Ally, Frankie, Huney Buney, Noodles, Mee-Moo- Rusty, Peaches, Reno, Shy-Boy, Scruffy, Mystery Kitty, & Daddy
1 Box Turtle (Monroe)
1 Cockatiel Bird (Mick)
& finally 1 G. Pig (piggy)
Looking for a large house in decent shape with some land. Ha-Ha-Ha :)

you have taken the words right out of my mouth.
Ditto on that!!
Get to the real fucking problems - like IMPEACHMENT what about that. Or other pressing issues.

If I were asking Bush a question at a press conference I'd say to him, "Sir, how do you feel about people speaking your name and Hitler in the same breath?"

The 'debate' is only on three topics in two hours and China was one of them along with Iran and now, immigration.

over-covered and imo relatively unimportant issue: immigration; i think i'll change the channel

were stated at the outset. Actually nice to have some depth for a change. The Short Attention Span Theater debates will resume soon enough.

Important! About flattening low rent AND Section 8 housing! TODAY and other Times!
They want to divide the black voting.
Rethugs want the COAST...

A stranded motorist sits on his car in Olympia, Washington, as floodwaters fill the streets Monday.

Floodwaters cross a road Monday after a flash flood swept down a creek near Olympia, Washington.

Two men walk from a boat after being rescued from their flooded home in Centralia, Washington, on Tuesday.

thanks...I had NO idea about the flooding in those areas. Thanks again:)

An Interview with Gilbert Achcar

By Cihan Aksan & Jon Bailes

"Tehran doesn’t need nuclear weapons to start exerting effective deterrence because they already have a powerful deterrent that is “conventional”, aside from the fact that they have a network of allies in the area which they could also incite against the US and its own allies."

The following interview was conducted with SoN editors, Cihan Aksan & Jon Bailes, at SOAS in November 2007.

State of Nature: Although 2007 proved to be the deadliest year for US in Iraq, the Bush administration is putting on an optimistic front with talk of casualty rates declining, al-Qaeda being routed from Baghdad, Sunni tribal leaders in Anbar and Diyala provinces cooperating with the US forces and so on, all primarily tied to the surge in troops. How do you assess the recent developments in Iraq?

Gilbert Achcar: Well, there’s no point denying each and every statement that comes out from Washington. So yes, on the face of it, there has been a relative, but only relative, decline in casualties, at least in recorded casualties. Security controls in Baghdad seem to be working to a certain extent, but that’s also because the so-called “surge” was concentrated in the capital and the “Mehdi Army” of Muqtada al-Sadr decided early on to withdraw from any points of possible confrontation with the US army, and so did Sunni insurgent groups. I tend to believe, therefore, that all this has had some effect, but it is purely temporary. There is no structural change, but only a result of the ongoing “surge”, which cannot last forever. As with all such operations, people get used to them after a while and the relative decline in the number of casualties can quickly be reversed if the political conditions remain the same.

As for collaboration with the US occupation, there has been increasing friction between some of the tribal configurations in Arab Sunni areas of Iraq, on the one hand, and al-Qaeda, on the other. Coalitions were set up in some instances opposing or trying to get rid of al Qaeda from their area, as part of collaboration between some tribal chiefs and occupation authorities or the Iraqi government. Tribalism has always been a tool of last resort for various proponents of modernisation in Iraq, who ended up making use of this most backward and traditionalist feature of Iraqi society. For example, although Saddam Hussein’s regime displayed, on the face of it, a modernist nationalist ideology, Saddam very much exploited tribalism, especially in the last dozen years of his rule after the first US onslaught on Iraq. Before that, of course, colonialism also made quite extensive use of tribalism despite its “civilising” pretentions, and so did various republican leaders after the 1958 overthrow of the monarchy. And now, it is the US occupation that has been resorting to this same mechanism of buying tribal leaders with big amounts of money and other privileges...
http://www.stateofnature.org/gilbertAchcar2.html

Gilbert Achcar is Professor of Development Studies and International Relations at SOAS, London. His books include Perilous Power with Noam Chomsky (2007), The 33-Day War (2007), The Israeli Dilemma (2006), The Clash of Barbarisms (2nd edn, 2006) and Eastern Cauldron (2004).

to render a lot of his constituents homeless ;þ

Oil Prices Fall Ahead of OPEC Meeting
Oil Prices Dip Below $88 a Barrel Amid Uncertainty About OPEC Production, US Report on Iran
By JACKIE FARWELL
AP Business Writer
Dec. 4, 2007—

Oil prices slipped below $88 a barrel Tuesday as traders reacted to mixed signals on whether OPEC would decide to increase production during its meeting this week.

A new U.S. intelligence report concluding that Iran halted its nuclear weapons development program in 2003 also weighed on prices.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery fell $1.33 to $87.98 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It traded as high as $89.98 and as low as $87.34 earlier in the session.

In London, January Brent crude futures dropped 30 cents to $89.50 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Prices rose and fell throughout the day as differing statements were reported from delegates of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries arriving in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, for Wednesday's meeting.

"The focus will remain on OPEC in coming days, but the (U.S. intelligence) report on Iran ... should provide for a redefinition of the geopolitical premium in coming months," Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix in Switzerland said in a report. "The fear of a unilateral strike on Iran has been an important component of the risk premium in crude oil."

President Bush said Tuesday the international community should continue to pressure Iran on its nuclear programs, and said Tehran remains dangerous despite the new intelligence report.

"I view this report as a warning signal that they had the program, they halted the program," Bush said. "The reason why it's a warning signal is they could restart it."

Oil prices have dropped about $10 in one week on the belief that OPEC has all but decided to boost production. But the price drop itself has raised questions about whether oil ministers will follow through.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/MarketTalk/story?id=3952219&page=1

December 4, 2007

As Chávez Falters

Raising the Stakes for the South American Left

By NIKOLAS KOZLOFF

In the wake of President Hugo Chávez's stinging defeat in Sunday's constitutional referendum, it's incumbent on the South American left to take stock of events in Venezuela and learn from the Chavistas' mistakes. It's the first time that Chávez has lost an electoral contest, and the Venezuelan President no longer looks as invulnerable as he has in the past. Foreign policy hawks in Washington will surely feel emboldened by yesterday's electoral debacle in Venezuela; they may see it as an opportunity to go on the offensive and to turn back many of the progressive accomplishments of the Bolivarian Revolution. It's a dangerous time for the South American left, which must guard against U.S. machinations as well as its own domestic right opposition while simultaneously avoiding the pitfalls of demagogic populism.

Having recently won reelection to a six year term by a wide margin, Chávez had the opportunity to deepen the process of social and economic change occurring throughout the country. But his constitutional referendum confused voters with a host of contradictory measures. The opposition did not increase its voter share, but was able to squeek out a tiny margin of victory when some of the Chávez faithful grew disenchanted and failed to turn out to vote. True, the U.S. Agency for International Development funded vocal anti-Chávez students who campaigned against the referendum and the CIA could have played a role in helping to strengthen the opposition. But no matter how much the Venezuelan President railed against the United States and outside interference, ultimately the Chavistas lost because of their own tactical missteps. What went wrong?

Though Chávez and his followers had already enacted a new constitution in 1999, the President claimed that the document was in need of an overhaul so as to pave the way for a new socialist state. Chávez sought to reduce the workweek from 44 to 36 hours; to provide social security to informal sector workers such as housewives, street vendors and maids; to shift political power to grassroots communal councils; to bar discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or health; to extend formal recognition to Afro-Venezuelan people; to require gender parity for all public offices; to formalize the right to adequate housing and a free public education; to protect the full rights of prisoners, and to create new types of property managed by cooperatives and communities. The progressive provisions, certainly glossed over in the mainstream American media, would have done much to challenge entrenched interests in Venezuela and encourage the growth of a more egalitarian and democratic society based on social, gender, racial, and economic equality.
http://www.counterpunch.org/kozloff12042007.html

toniD, bibi, everyone else.

I went to see Naomi Wolf speak last night and am now convinced that the Fascist state is upon us, if that bill passes in the Senate then there is no doubt, in honor of Ms. Wolf and are new Fascist overlords I have a ditty for everyone...

"two by two

lord we'll take em two by two

we'll lead 'em to the bedroom floor

we'll lead 'em in the dead of morning

two by two

lord we'll take 'em two by two

we'll lead 'em through the pouring rain

we'll lead 'em to the gas chamber....

Prime real estate. Public housing sits on prime real estate. It is important that we support this effort to preserve and extend public housing there. And look at your own hometown, too. Similar things probably going on there, too, although not as dramatic.

"but not me

i'm gonna crawl

i'm gonna crawl

i'm gonna crawl

back to the sea

judge us now

lord won't you judge us now

we know exactly who we are

we know exactly what we do....

Wind Breaking ....

A social club in Devon has banned a 77-year-old man from breaking wind while indoors.

Maurice Fox received a letter from Kirkham Street Sports and Social Club in Paignton asking him to consider his actions, which "disgusted" members.

Mr Fox, a club regular for 20 years, said: "I am happy to oblige them, there is no problem. I do get a bit windy - I am an old fart now."

He said he had to leave the club about three times a night.

In its letter to the retired bus driver, the club said: "After several complaints regarding your continual breaking of wind (farting) while in the club, would you please consider that your actions are considered disgusting to fellow members and visitors.

"You sit close to the front door, so would you please go outside when required. So please take heed of this request."

Mr Fox, who lives in nearby Princess Street, said the letter was a surprise because he had been given no verbal warning.

"I think someone has complained about the noise. I am a loud farter, but there is no smell.

"I do not think it [the letter] is unreasonable, you get ladies in there."

Mr Fox also spends two days a week at the nearby Palace Place club, but said he had no complaints about flatulence there.

The club said there was no one available for comment.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/7126973.stm

http://www.hopoi.org/index.html

"judge us now

lord won't you judge us now

everybody stand on two legs

everybody kneel on two knees

but i'm turning around

and i'm gonna crawl

i'm gonna crawl

i'm gonna crawl

back to the ocean i know

back to the ocean i need

back to the sea....

The aftermath of two weekend storms is heading inland.

In Columbia County, National Guard members are using small boats in a house-to-house search for anyone who needs to be rescued from rising waters. Nearly 300 people in Vernonia have been plucked from their homes.

In Washington, Interstate 5 -- the main Portland-Seattle connector -- is shut after the Chehalis River swept over the roadway. It is the first time in more than a decade that the interstate has been closed. Washington officials say it could remain impassible in to Wednesday.

Farther west, much of Oregon's northern coast remains cut off at the end of flooded or tree-blocked roads.

On Monday, Gov. Ted Kulongoski declared a state of emergency after back-to-back storms blasted rain and triple-digit winds into the state's coastline, dropping trees and power lines, sending mudslides across major roads and leaving coastal communities almost completely isolated.

In Tillamook County, authorities today confirmed that two people died during the storm that pounded the central coast.

Doris Hart, 90, died Sunday night or early Monday morning, apparently from a heart attack, said Tillamook County medical examiner Dr. Paul Betlinski.

Whenever a storm hit the area and the power went out, Hart would pack a bag and her heart medications, and then wait for a friend to collect her. Hart was found Monday morning in front of her home in Southeast Tillamook. A small suitcase, her medications and her purse were found nearby.

It was unclear whether she was waiting for a ride but the friend never showed up.

County Sheriff Todd Anderson said another woman is presumed dead after her pickup was swept away by waters from the flooded Nehalem River near Shiffman Road on Monday.

Virtually all major roads from Portland to the coast remain blocked.

To the north, flooding closed Interstate 5 from exit 88 near Grand Mound to exit 68, about 11 miles south of Chehalis. The freeway is expected to remain closed for today and possibly longer.

Washington transportation officials suggest that motorists avoid travel between Seattle and Portland until the waters recede.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/12/high_waters_close_i5_coa...

"and all i need to do is walk

is to believe

so i'm gonna crawl

i'm gonna crawl

i'm gonna crawl

back to the sea"

Gov. Ted Kulongoski declared a state of emergency Monday after back-to-back storms blasted rain and triple-digit winds into the state's coastline, dropping trees and power lines, sending mudslides across major roads and leaving coastal communities almost completely isolated.

At least two people died, including a 90-year old woman who suffered what Tillamook County medical examiner Dr. Paul Betlinski called "a weather-related heart attack" as she evacuated her home. The driver of a truck swept away by floodwaters in the same area also was reported dead.

Communications to many parts of the northern Oregon coast were still spotty late Monday, so the full extent of the damage wasn't immediately clear.

Virtually all major roads from Portland to the coast remained cut off Monday night. To the north, a 20-mile stretch of Interstate 5 near Chehalis, Wash., also was blocked by floodwaters for a time.

More than 40,000 Pacific Power customers, most on the northern coast, lost power after a main transmission line toppled Sunday. Damage to the electrical grid was so severe that officials remain unsure when electricity will be restored in some cases.

Phone lines also went down across the region, cutting off 9-1-1 service to more than 20,000 coastal residents and scattering outages elsewhere that affected thousands more. In Clatsop county, the Sunset Empire Amateur Radio Operators Club used ham radios to relay messages for emergency managers.

Even the U.S. Coast Guard station in Astoria lost its communications system. The service launched a C-130 airplane from Sacramento to listen for distress calls.

Tillamook County was so cut off that the National Weather Service in Portland had trouble reaching emergency officials there to find out how badly the area had been damaged by floodwaters.

"I want to assure everyone that I am monitoring the conditions and will make sure all resources we have available will be offered to the communities that are being severely affected by this storm," Kulongoski said in a statement.

Time for the Next Step

Peace Movement Paralyzed

By JOHN V. WALSH

The war on Iraq has dragged on for almost five years now. The American people have learned a great deal about their government in the process. Perhaps everything that could be said about the war has been said--not once but many times. There is in fact little room left for analysis--but enormous room for action.

The greatest lesson, which is understood and voiced even by segments of the mainstream media, is that the Democratic Party is every bit as thoroughly and completely a party of war and empire as is the Republican Party--and perhaps even more so. From the senatorial vote for the war in October, 2002, when the Democrats were in control, to the prowar campaign of John Kerry in 2004 endorsed by Dennis Kucinich, to the election of a Democratic Congress in 2006 which promised peace but has continued to fund the war, the Democrats have been complicit every step of the way. And they now promise troops in Iraq until 2013--at least. Lobbying the Democrats or electing more of them has come to naught.

Whatever we may think of tactics to move the antiwar project forward, it would clearly be immoral and unethical to elect a Democrat in 2008. To do so would make us complicit in the Democrats' complicity in this war.

The second most important lesson is that the strategy of endless street demonstrations, vigils, lobbying has been played out and has now run into a brick wall. By themselves these cannot do the job, and with that recognition they have declined in size and spirit. But more of the same is all that United For Peace and Justice, thoroughly in the clutches of the Democrats, and ANSWER can offer.

That means that the only route to end war and empire is through electoral activity outside the structure of the war parties. But there is as yet precious little activity in this direction, even though time is running out. Instead the antiwar movement seems to be wandering in a fog, incapable of taking this step.

It is time for this to end. And not in some abstract call for "independent" electoral action but in the real world. So what does the real world offer?

http://www.counterpunch.org/walsh12042007.html

the Woodinville Fire department pull their boat through a flooded intersection. They were trying to reach employees in a store who they thought were trapped but found out later they were OK and able to reach land by foot.

Sorry I repost'd 3x's but I did not want this to be "lost" amongst other things. I just think WE THE PEOPLE CANNOT DESERT NOLA AGAIN ... This tragedy should have been dealt with YEARS AGO and WAY BEFORE NOW!
"By The Rethugs' and Sen Vitter's Actions .................."

center is the scene of a waterfall caused by the overflow of the Little Bear Creek at the intersection of Little Bear Creek Parkway/ NE 177th PL and 131st Ave NE which had severe flooding.

my tax dollors funding the opposition.

November 14, 2007

Venezuelan Democracy, the Presidency of Hugo Chavez and the Great Majority of Popular Classes Face a Mortal Threat
Venezuela Between Ballots and Bullets
By JAMES PETRAS

Venezuela's democratically elected Present Chavez faces the most serious threat since the April 11, 2002 military coup.

Violent street demonstrations by privileged middle and upper middle class university students have led to major street battles in and around the center of Caracas. More seriously, the former Minister of Defense, General Raul Isaias Baduel, who resigned in July, has made explicit calls for a military coup in a November 5 press conference which he convoked exclusively for the right and far-right mass media and political parties, while striking a posture as an 'individual' dissident.

The entire international and local private mass media has played up Baduel's speeches, press conferences along with fabricated accounts of the oppositionist student ramp