Myla's Top Four Favorite Ballet clips on YouTube for 2007

suspense is building

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

yay - i love the smell of a new thread!

Just found a box of very old photos. Remember the Great Gatsby? Well this photo of my mother is from that era...

http://www.alipac.us/ftopic-96247-0-days0-orderasc-.html&sid=ca80bbbe8a0...

HOW IS THIS FAIR?

For those of you who do not have to pay college tuition for your children, please don't feel obligated to respond to this.

For me, though, this TOTALLY hacks me off.

So someone decided that if a child is from any other state than Kansas, they have to pay a higher rate, but if they're from Mexico, they don't?

What???

Can't wait to see what the Supreme Court has to say about this. My state legislature is totally fucked in da head.

for a few days. Moving the computer to the new house tonite

but ISP won't follow for a week. Have a safe night tonite

and keep in mind that it IS amateur night on the roads.

See you all in about a week.

Don't work too hard!!

Hope your New Year in your New Home is the best!

RIAA:
In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.

The industry's lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings.

"I couldn't believe it when I read that," says Ray Beckerman, a New York lawyer who represents six clients who have been sued by the RIAA. "The basic principle in the law is that you have to distribute actual physical copies to be guilty of violating copyright. But recently, the industry has been going around saying that even a personal copy on your computer is a violation."
[...]
WAPO

Have a good one :)

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

'Asses of Evil' buttons top seller at Iowa Dem campaign stops

Just as legions of pollsters, campaign consultants and student volunteers are building their political careers in the cold Iowa snow, a smaller group of entrepreneurs is cashing in on this weeks caucuses.

The Hill newspaper tells of one such creative soul, 35-year-old Jeremy Beggun, who sells buttons and T-shirts outside of campaign events of both candidates' parties over the last several months as candidates have spent substantial time in the crucial early voting state.

Among the most popular items at Democratic rallies are buttons bidding President Bush "good riddance," and a button branding Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld the "Asses of Evil." Hill reporter Jim Snyder is much more modest, describing the button as simply bearing an "off-color paraphrase of the famous 'Axis of Evil' line."

“We’re not offering ‘A---- for Evil T-shirts. They’d sell, though,” Beggun says, according to the Capitol Hill newspaper.

Along with the anti-Bush gear, Beggun sells more traditional buttons and T-shirts bearing the candidates' pictures and slogans. Although they don't see any of the money potential supporters spend on the souvenirs, the candidates seem to welcome Beggun because he is essentially providing free advertising.

Beggun drives 300 to 500 miles across Iowa every day, regardless of lousy weather, and he told the paper he's on a first name basis with several candidates. Elizabeth Edwards is a favorite among the political candidates and spouses Beggun trails, he tells Snyder.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Asses_of_Evil_buttons_top_seller_1231.html

now THAT is crazy.

Hospital lawyer: Pakistani police stopped doctors from conducting Bhutto autopsy

The police chief of the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi prevented doctors from performing an autopsy on the corpse of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, according to a lawyer on the hospital's board.

The dramatic new revelation emerged as new videotape showed a gunman in close proximity to Bhutto in the moments before her assassination, and a surgeon said he'd felt pressure to conform to the government's official story on Bhutto's killing.

Pakistan's interior minister had previously said that Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, had requested the autopsy not be performed.

"Even if the family of a murder victim refuses to allow the autopsy, no investigation can be completed if doctors do not perform the autopsy and conclusively find the cause of death," Athar Minallah, a top lawyer and a member of Rawalpindi General Hospital where Bhutto was taken after the attack said in an article by Times of India. "The doctors were worried that their initial report, which did not determine the definite cause of death, is being politically twisted."

The decision was taken despite the fact a post-mortem examination is required under Pakistani law in the cases of murder.

Doctors performed an "external" post mortem and distributed cropped images of Bhutto's skull to reporters. Under the official story, Bhutto was killed by the sunroof of her armored LandCruiser after a bomb went off when she was standing up to wave to a crowd.

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

Brett has a Open Mic for Old Pictures called "Treasure from the Attic".
I've put some of my Dad in WWII..Annette has put up some pic's too.
And,ofcourse Brett has put up some of his Granfather and,Dad..

Pretty cool pictures !
Here's the link if you want to check it out.. :)

http://samsedershow.com/node/2024

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

Looking at America
There are too many moments these days when we cannot recognize our country. Sunday was one of them, as we read the account in The Times of how men in some of the most trusted posts in the nation plotted to cover up the torture of prisoners by Central Intelligence Agency interrogators by destroying videotapes of their sickening behavior. It was impossible to see the founding principles of the greatest democracy in the contempt these men and their bosses showed for the Constitution, the rule of law and human decency.

It was not the first time in recent years we’ve felt this horror, this sorrowful sense of estrangement, not nearly. This sort of lawless behavior has become standard practice since Sept. 11, 2001.

The country and much of the world was rightly and profoundly frightened by the single-minded hatred and ingenuity displayed by this new enemy. But there is no excuse for how President Bush and his advisers panicked — how they forgot that it is their responsibility to protect American lives and American ideals, that there really is no safety for Americans or their country when those ideals are sacrificed.

Out of panic and ideology, President Bush squandered America’s position of moral and political leadership, swept aside international institutions and treaties, sullied America’s global image, and trampled on the constitutional pillars that have supported our democracy through the most terrifying and challenging times. These policies have fed the world’s anger and alienation and have not made any of us safer.

In the years since 9/11, we have seen American soldiers abuse, sexually humiliate, torment and murder prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq. A few have been punished, but their leaders have never been called to account. We have seen mercenaries gun down Iraqi civilians with no fear of prosecution. We have seen the president, sworn to defend the Constitution, turn his powers on his own citizens, authorizing the intelligence agencies to spy on Americans, wiretapping phones and intercepting international e-mail messages without a warrant.

We have read accounts of how the government’s top lawyers huddled in secret after the attacks in New York and Washington and plotted ways to circumvent the Geneva Conventions — and both American and international law — to hold anyone the president chose indefinitely without charges or judicial review.

Those same lawyers then twisted other laws beyond recognition to allow Mr. Bush to turn intelligence agents into torturers, to force doctors to abdicate their professional oaths and responsibilities to prepare prisoners for abuse, and then to monitor the torment to make sure it didn’t go just a bit too far and actually kill them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/opinion/31mon1.html?ei=5087&em=&en=ff5...

Submitted by Annette on Mon, 12/31/2007 - 1:49pm.
So someone decided that if a child is from any other state than Kansas, they have to pay a higher rate, but if they're from Mexico, they don't?
==
An example how easy it is to be manipulated. 243 students is not a problem.
And of the 243 how many are full time? I don't know but I would guess most of them maybe take one class at a time.

The bigger question for me is why is tuition at state schools so expensive? An answer could be to limit access. [Don't get me started on the predatory lending institution of student loans.]

I've got a new saying to add; Don't read the headlines... Just something I've become more aware of lately. Headline writing used to be an art. Now that art has been perverted into a sales tool and headlines may have nothing to do with the truth of a story.
(In this case the word some could have been replaced with 243.
[I didn't read the whole article...]

: )

==

In-state tuition fight may head to high court
Controversial state law allows lower rate for some illegal immigrants

The law allows some illegal immigrants to pay the same lower tuition rates as legal Kansans at state universities, community colleges and vocational schools. The student must have lived in Kansas at least three years, graduated from a Kansas high school, and seek or promise to seek legal status.

In Kansas, 243 students are receiving the in-state tuition under the law, according to the Kansas Board of Regents. Most of those — 193 — are attending community colleges; 46 are at state universities, including 11 at Kansas University; three are at technical schools, and one is at a technical college.

.=.=.=.=.=
Jamesbennett

17 Dec 2007 // Washington, DC – Today, in light of another year rife with corruption, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) released a new report on the Top Ten Ethics Scandals of 2007. It is available in its entirety at www.citizensforethics.org.

There is no ranking of these egregious activities, rather the following list outlines CREW’s new annual study on the past year’s on-going scandals:

No new enforcement mechanisms for congressional ethics;

Ted Stevens still sitting on Senate Appropriations;

Senate Ethics Committee looking into Sen. Craig, but not Sen. Vitter;

Millions of missing White House emails still unaccounted for;

Rep. Murtha’s abuse of the earmarking process remains unchecked;

Lurita Doan remains chief of GSA despite illegal conduct;

White House covering up its role in the firings of the U.S. Attorneys;

No Child Left Behind funds directed to Bush fundraisers who provide inadequate reading materials for kids;

Court decision regarding search of Jefferson’s office limits ability of DOJ to investigate other corrupt lawmakers; and

FEMA knowingly let Katrina victims live in hazardous trailers

Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, said today, “This past year was filled with unethical, illegal and just plain outrageous behavior by public officials. We hope by calling attention to these scandals, government officials will take responsibility -- or at least, be held accountable -- for their conduct.”
***
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a non-profit legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their actions
http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/30603

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

these bozos are going to kill the golden goose. at some point, people will simply stop buying their product.

I don't know if they still do it but record labels used to supply radio stations with promo copies of hit albums. this way deejays could use them as promotional giveaways. Labels knew that to GIVE AWAY music was a way to CREATE INTEREST and SELL MORE COPIES. they wonder why they aren't SELLING enough music anymore? This is why. They're killing the ways people find out about music. It's disgusting.

I read that at 3Am this Am and thought .."Whelp! I have officially bought my last CD. Who needs that kind of liability!"

There are some interesting comments at HuffPo on this article .. alot of really funny ones!

My question now is .. rhetorical of course so no one needs to address it .. what about downloaded tunes from legit sites like iTunes and so forth? They able to start these insane lawsuits on that as well?

All and all .. it is just par for the course in the era of the New Republic...we are all PNAC'ered now!

Drink irresponsibly now and avoid the rush.

A gallon-size Ziploc makes a handy regurgitation receptacle, and it's resealable.

When a sip of midnight champagne bubbles in your nose, you were too drunk to have a sip of midnight champagne.

If you have your face pressed against a wall but you don't hear a police officer speaking, it's the floor.

The official New Year's Eve onomatopoeia is barf.

If you can say onomatopoeia, you can drive.

The Kennedys - Gypsy Rose [4:15] - songs of the OPEN ROAD

A very pretty song..Never heard of them before.
The girl has a great voice ! :)

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

But, above all, avoid getting so hammered you're tempted to succumb to BiPartisanship:

http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/blgopseal.htm

http://www.oobject.com/giant-airship-hangars/indoor-beach-in-german-airs...

It's a giant Zeppelin Hangar converted into a Tropical Island Resort! Near Berlin!

;)

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

Submitted by jbenet on Mon, 12/31/2007 - 2:28pm.
...I've got a new saying to add; Don't read the headlines... Just something I've become more aware of lately. Headline writing used to be an art. Now that art has been perverted into a sales tool and headlines may have nothing to do with the truth of a story...
----------
Fake headlines are among the most useful tools in my joke bag. (If the subject is Paris or Britney or Larry Craig, they don't even have to be fake.)

It kinda looks like those ones in Japan I've seen pic's of..
What are you doing in Germany ?

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

Legal Fictions

By Dahlia Lithwick

This time last year, I offered up a top 10 list of the most appalling civil-liberties violations by the Bush administration in 2006. The grim truth is, not much has changed. The Bush administration continues to limit our basic freedoms, conceal its own worst behavior, and insist that it does all this in order to make us more free. In that spirit, it seemed an opportune moment to commemorate the administration's worst legal justifications and arguments of the year. And so I humbly offer this new year's roundup: The Bush Administration's Top 10 Stupidest Legal Arguments of 2007.

10. The NSA's eavesdropping was limited in scope.

Not at all. Recent revelations suggest the program was launched earlier than we'd been led to believe, scooped up more information than we were led to believe, and was not at all narrowly tailored, as we'd been led to believe. Surprised? Me neither.

Con't-Slate

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

will the kitten population around the White House decrease? I hear she wears the blood of dead kittens on her lips.

*shudder*

Scores dead in Kenya poll clashes - 2 hr ago
Violence after Kenya's disputed presidential election leaves nearly 100 people dead across the country.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/africa/7165602.stm

We went last summer for fun; my wife had an 8 week sabbatical to use.

This last Summer we went to Berlin again, (but unfortunately not to the Tropical Island Resort) as she had a printing convention to attend.

We're home, now. Just got back from Vegas. Sara just did Philly and Finland before that.

Her and her big Sis are going on a Rock Cruise from Miami at the end of next month; and her Sis is renting a room at the Hilton just to hold their stuff!

So I'm thinking I may have to fly down to 'room-sit' for a week.

So yes. We do love to travel. (If only the $$ were stronger...)

We woulda made a killing if we'd just sunk all the dough we blew on that 2 month trip straight into Euros. Helluva return for only a year.

"The most advanced piece of technology you'll ever pee on."

Item: Clear Blue Easy Pregnancy Test

Heard that one on TV this morning as I was brushing my teeth. I had to clean it off the mirror...

history would be different if only they were sitting on top of oil reserves...

This morning there was fog so thick you could cut it with a knife and now it is snowing. And it is still a little foggy.

Current conditions as of 2:52 pm CDT

Light Snow
Feels Like: 27°
Barometer: 29.77 in and falling
Humidity: 89%
Visibility: 0.75 mi
Dewpoint: 30°

Wicker named as Lott’s Senate replacement. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour named Rep. Roger Wicker (R-MS) as Trent Lott’s replacement in the Senate, who resigned recently and is expected to become a lobbyist. “Wicker’s appointment is only temporary — he will have to run for reelection in November 2008,” but Barbour’s plan to hold the election in November 2008 may violate Mississippi election law, which requires a special election within 90 days of Lott’s retirement.

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/12/31/wicker-named-as-lotts-senate-replace...

John Edwards rakes in online campaign cash today following morning show appearances.

http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/12/source_edwards_appearance_on_morni...

Obama and Edwards Vie to be the Non-Hillary
With three days to go before the Iowa caucus and the race a dead heat, Obama and Edwards turn their fire on each other.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/12/31/obama-slugs-back-at-tria_n_7892...

Wednesday, December 03, 2003

I'm a fighting liberal

You know, I've studied history, I've read about America and you know something, if it weren't for liberals, we'd be living in a dark, evil country, far worse than anything Bush could conjure up. A world where children were told to piss on the side of the road because they weren't fit to pee in a white outhouse, where women had to get back alley abortions and where rape was a joke, unless the alleged criminal was black, whereupon he was hung from a tree and castrated.

What has conservatism given America? A stable social order? A peaceful homelife? Respect for law and order? No. Hell, no. It hasn't given us anything we didn't have and it wants to take away our freedoms.

The Founding Fathers, as flawed as they were, slaveowners and pornographers, smugglers and terrorists, understood one thing, a man's path to God needed no help from the state. Is the religion of these conservatives so fragile that they need the state to prop it up, to tell us how to pray and think? Is that what they stand for? Is that their America?

Conservatism plays on fear and thrives on lies and dishonesty. I grew up with honest, decent conservatives and those people have been replaced by the party of greed. It is one thing to want less government interference and smaller, fiscally responsible government. It is another thing entirely to be a corporate whore, selling out to the highest bidder because the CEO fattens your campaign chest. They are building an America which cannot be sustained. One based on the benefit of the few at the cost of the many. The indifferent boss who hires too few people and works them to death or until they break down sick. Cheap labor capitalism has replaced common sense. "Globalism" which is really guise for exploitation, replaced fair trade, which is nothing like fair for the trapped semi-slaves of the maquliadoras. In the Texas border towns, hundreds of these women have been used as sex slaves and then apparently killed,the FBI powerless to do anything as the criminals sit in Mexico untouched by law.

For the better part of a decade, the conservatives made liberal a dirty word. Well, it isn't. It represents the best and most noble nature of what America stands for: equitable government services, old age pensions, health care, education, fair trials and humane imprisonment. It is the heart and soul of what made American different and better than other countries. Not only an escape from oppression, but the opportunity to thrive in land free of tradition and the repression that can bring. We offered a democracy which didn't enshrine the rich and made them feel they had an obligation to their workers.

Bush and the people around him disdain that. They think, by accident of birth and circumstance, they were meant to rule the world and those who did not agree would suffer.

Liberal does not and has not meant weak until the conservatives said it did. Was Martin Luther King weak? Bobby Kennedy? Gene McCarthy? It was the liberals who remade this country and ended legal segregation and legal sexism. Not the conservatives, who wanted to hold on to the old ways.

It's time to regain the sprit of FDR and Truman and the people around them. People who believed in the public good over private gain. It is time to stop apologizing for being a liberal and be proud to fight for your beliefs. No more shying away or being defined by other people. Liberals believe in a strong defense and punishment for crime. But not preemption and pointless jail sentences. We believe no American should be turned away from a hospital because they are too poor or lack a proper legal defense. We believe that people should make enough from one job to live on, to spend time on raising their family. We believe that individuals and not the state should dictate who gets married and why. The best way to defend marriage is to expand, not restrict it.

It was the liberals who opposed the Nazis while the conservatives were plotting to get their brown shirts or fund Hitler. It was the liberals who warned about Spain and fought there, who joined the RAF to fight the Germans, who brought democracy to Germany and Japan. Let us not forget it was the conservatives who opposed defending America until the Germans sank our ships. They would have done nothing as Britain came under Nazi control. It was they who supported Joe McCarthy and his baseless, drink fueled claims.

Without liberals, there would be no modern America, just a Nazi sattlelite state. Liberals weak on defense? Liberals created America's defense. The conservatives only need vets at election time.

It is time to stop looking for an accomodation with the right. They want none for us. They want to win, at any price. So, you have a choice: be a fighting liberal or sit quietly. I know what I am, what are you?

posted by Steve @ 2:30:00 AM--
http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/2003/12/im-fighting-liberal-you-know-i...

Steve Gilliard (November 13, 1964 – June 2, 2007) was a freelance journalist and left-wing political blogger who ran the website The News Blog. An outspoken and at times controversial figure, he was an influential voice in the leftwing political blogosphere

Front Door...
Rebel's Requiem: Legacy of Joe Strummer 5 Years On
http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=14616&sectionID=105

Memo To Bloomberg And Company: The Way To Reduce "Partisan Gridlock" Is To Further Weaken The GOP.
December 31, 2007 -- 10:17 AM EST // //
Updated below.

By now, you've probably heard that Michael Bloomberg and a bunch of retired politicians are going to hold a summit at the University of Oklahoma this week to talk about how desperately the nation needs a nonpartisan and independent leader like, you know, him to come in and lead the nation out of partisan gridlock.

This story, fittingly, was first leaked to The Washington Post's David Broder, a St. Paul-like figure who has long preached the virtues of the Beltway Gospel of Bipartisanship high and low across the land. Predictably, this planned gathering is already garnering the sort of awed and respectful coverage that greeted the formation of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group nearly two years ago.

So here's the question: When these bearded elders descend on Oklahoma later this week, will anyone ask them what policies they stand for, beyond "breaking partisan gridlock"? Will anyone ask them where they stand on the issues? Will anyone ask why we're supposed to believe that their actual stances have any chance of creating "bipartisan unity" at all?

These questions are kind of relevant. Partisan gridlock happens because people -- and by extension, political parties -- disagree about stuff. One party wants to do one thing on a particular issue. Another party says No. The first party offers a few concessions. The second party still says No. That's where "partisan gridlock" comes from -- underlying disagreement on issues -- and in our current case, the fault for our "partisan gridlock" isn't equally distributed between the two parties. Rather, it's almost exclusively the fault of the Republicans.

You aren't allowed to say this, but it's true. If you don't believe me, ask the bipartisan Iraq Study Group. They proposed a bunch of solutions to Iraq. The Democrats largely embraced these solutions. The Republicans, by contrast, didn't. As a result, the ISG's proposals didn't happen -- even though they had been authored by a distinguished bipartisan panel. The Republicans have been the near-exclusive cause of gridlock on multiple other issues, too -- issues upon which there is already majority agreement on how to proceed. In reality, the best way to end partisan gridlock is to further weaken the Republican Party, which is tying government in knots and preventing it from carrying out the will of the majority on a host of fronts.

Holding out the promise of bipartisan unity without saying why it is that your stances on issues will do anything at all to create that unity -- as Bloomberg and friends are doing here -- is just a sucker's game designed to get these folks the sort of fawning attention that they're already getting. One hopes that the press will start asking these worthies some tough questions about where they stand on stuff and why we should be listening to them.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/horsesmouth/2007/12/bipartisanship.php

Update: Glenn Greenwald has the definitive take-down.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/12/31/bloomberg/index.html

Update II: Speaking of David Broder, The Washington Post has released some new info that suggests that Dan Froomkin's aggressive anti-Bush polemics are far more popular with readers than is Broder's mushy centrism.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/horsesmouth/2007/12/dan_froomkins_a.php

A Long December, Counting Crows

Can't stick around, back after the holiday.

Many blessings!

We're trapped in the belly of this horrible machine
And the machine is bleeding to death

Blow Out Sale!!

Everything is 97% off while supplies last!!

Hurry, shop now and save! We must reduce inventory...

for the 2008 bankruptcy sale.

The other four deaths at Guantanamo, which currently holds about 290 prisoners, were the result of apparent suicides, according to the US military.

Sami al-Hajj, the Al Jazeera cameraman being held at Guantanamo, has been on hunger strike since January 7, 2007, and is believed to be in deteriorating health.
Sami al-Hajj
Sami was arrested in Pakistan in December 2001 whilst travelling with a legitimate visa to work in Afghanistan as a cameraman for Al Jazeera.
Since then he has been held as an "enemy combatant".
Ould Sidi Mohammed, a Mauritanian inmate recently released from the jail, said al-Hajj has an infection and has not been getting adequate medical treatment.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/54F2B343-CE8C-4D5A-A972-EA2F50783...

GLOBAL MARKETS-Oil, gold near record highs to cap turbulent yr

Sujata Rao
Reuters North American News Service

Dec 31, 2007 05:12 EST

LONDON, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Oil and gold prices stayed close to record highs on Monday, while global stock indices slipped as political instability mounted in nuclear-armed Pakistan and trading volume stayed thin on the last day of 2007.

Markets in Japan, South Korea, China, Germany and Italy were closed while London and Paris have a shortened trading day but shares in Pakistan slid almost 5 percent to a three-week low in their first reaction to the killing of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, whose death last week plunged the country into crisis.

The index is not allowed to move more than 5 percent in a session. The Pakistani rupee fell to a six-year low against the dollar. Bhutto was killed on Thursday ahead of Jan. 8 elections, throwing into doubt a smooth transition to civilian-led democracy after almost a decade of military rule.

The turmoil has helped trigger a flight to safer assets like bonds precious metals while the yen is benefiting from investors' reluectance to hold risky positions over the holiday.

In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was marginally weaker while Britain's FTSE 100 and the French CAC 40 eased about 0.3 percent.

The pan-European index looks set to end the year with gains of about 1.5 percent versus 16 percent in 2006 -- its worst annual performance since 2002.

Japan's Nikkei.

"The outlook for 2008 is uncertain, as it has been for some time... We haven't yet bid farewell to the credit issues."

The year has been a rollercoaster one marked by fears of a U.S. recession on back of a housing slump and a credit crunch caused by banks' exposure to subprime mortgage securities.

But emerging equities have outperformed, the benchmark MSCI index ending 7 percent off the intra-year record high but having risen over 40 percent for the year. This compares with gains of 9 percent for its global peer.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2007/12/global_marketsoil_gold_near_re...

Dow ends day -101

Waiting for Cicero/the Bastard Dane!!

Wish you the best in the New Year!!

John Dean

Best Scandal – General Interest
President George W. Bush – While the nomination is for his “general politicization” of the federal government, one must read the subtext of that term. Bush’s politics have done for good government what war does for peace, what famine does for hunger, what Alzheimer’s does for memory, what Lee Harvey Oswald did for Dallas – you get the idea. This president has done more to damage our system of government, and weaken us around the world, than any of his predecessors. Bush is America’s worst president ever, only equaled by the abetting of his partner, Dick Cheney.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/062268.php

Video: Huckabee Says He Won't Run Ad Attacking Romney -- But Screens It For National Press Corps!
By Greg Sargent - December 31, 2007, 4:06PM
By now you've probably heard that Mike Huckabee held a very bizarre press conference today in which he announced that his campaign had decided not to run an Iowa ad attacking Mitt Romney -- but played the very same ad in front of a roomful of national reporters, anyway.

Here's some video of the presser that was taken by an operative on the scene, so you can watch for yourself the explanations Huck offers to reporters who grilled him about his rather odd play here. It's quite a scene.

http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/12/video_huckabee_says_he_wont_run_ad...

Submitted by Exhausted Blogger on Mon, 12/31/2007 - 4:23pm.
...Everything is 97% off while supplies last!!...
---------
If this isn't an inside joke, it should be.

97%!!

97% off. His rocker?

You're right Crank. Inside joke

NAUDERO, Pakistan — The day she was assassinated last Thursday, Benazir Bhutto had planned to reveal new evidence alleging the involvement of Pakistan's intelligence agencies in rigging the country's upcoming elections, an aide said Monday.

Bhutto had been due to meet U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., to hand over a report charging that the military Inter-Services Intelligence agency was planning to fix the polls in the favor of President Pervez Musharraf.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/

Subprime lenders spread lobbyists, cash, tickets around government
Nick Juliano

Rolling Stones tix among gifts spread to lawmakers
As state governments around the country were trying to regulate subprime lending practices that critics say were responsible for this year's mortgage meltdown, the subprime industry was spreading cash and gifts to lawmakers in a dozen states.

The Wall Street Journal's Glenn Simpson details the case of Ameriquest Mortgage Co., reporting the company worked with a married pair of DC lobbyists to spread more than $20 million in political donations in states considering subprime regulations. Ameriquest also handed out stacks of Rolling Stones tickets to lawmakers in eight states as well as to the campaign of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"Home loans made by Ameriquest and other subprime lenders are defaulting now in large numbers, roiling global credit markets and sparking debate about whether regulators and lawmakers should have anticipated the mess and taken action," Simpson reports. "A close look at Ameriquest's lobbying and political donations shows how the subprime industry maneuvered to defeat legislation that might have contained some of the damage."

The industry lobbying focused on state governments since at least 2001. At the federal level, members of the until-recently GOP Congress -- who had received $645,00 in donations from subprime lenders -- didn't seem too interested in enacting new oversight of the industry.

"What seemed to be developing in the states was that there was going to be a wave of legislation," lobbyist Wright Andrews, who coordinated the industry's lobbying operation with hiw wife, Lisa, told Simpson.

Although Andrews didn't directly lobby for Ameriquest, according to Simpson, he "ran three different subprime-industry trade groups: the National Home Equity Mortgage Association, of which Ameriquest was a member; the Coalition for Fair and Affordable Lending, which spent $6.3 million lobbying against state laws before it dissolved earlier this year, according to federal filings; and the Responsible Mortgage Lending Coalition." Lisa Andrews was a senior vice president in Ameriquest's lobbying division from 2003 to 2005.

MOre here:

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

So like, when people say shit like

"You bet your ass Clinton's never going to be president" people can take that literally! You REALLY CAN bet your ass!!! On everything from 'we're going into a recession' to 'airstrike in Iran' to 'who will be president'.

OMG! Oh my freaking God!!! http://www.intrade.com/

So like, what are the odds (shudder) that someone is doing this shit on a fucking BET?

I'm sorry, this shit is mind-blowing. Betting on the misfortune of others? Betting on war? And this is allowed? Holy cow...

The Times December 31, 2007

Top economist says America could plunge into recession

Suzy Jagger in New York

Losses arising from America’s housing recession could triple over the next few years and they represent the greatest threat to growth in the United States, one of the world’s leading economists has told The Times.

Robert Shiller, Professor of Economics at Yale University, predicted that there was a very real possibility that the US would be plunged into a Japan-style slump, with house prices declining for years.

Professor Shiller, co-founder of the respected S&P Case/Shiller house-price index, said: “American real estate values have already lost around $1 trillion [£503 billion]. That could easily increase threefold over the next few years. This is a much bigger issue than sub-prime. We are talking trillions of dollars’ worth of losses.”

He said that US futures markets had priced in further declines in house prices in the short term, with contracts on the S&P Shiller index pointing to decreases of up to 14 per cent.

“Over the next five years, the futures contracts are pointing to losses of around 35 per cent in some areas, such as Florida, California and Las Vegas. There is a good chance that this housing recession will go on for years,” he said.

Professor Shiller, author of Irrational Exuberance, a phrase later used by Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, said: “This is a classic bubble scenario. A few years ago house prices got very high, pushed up because of investor expectations. Americans have fuelled the myth that prices would never fall, that values could only go up. People believed the story. Now there is a very real chance of a big recession.”

He pointed out that signs at the beginning of 2007 that had indicated that some states were beginning to experience a recovery in house prices had proved to be false: “States such as Massachusetts had seen some increases at the beginning of the year. Denver also looked like it had a different path. Now all states are falling.”

Until two years ago, each of America’s 50 states had experienced a prolonged housing boom, with properties in some – such as Florida, California, Arizona and Nevada – doubling in price, fuelled by cheap credit and lax lending practices to borrowers who ordinarily would not have been able to secure a mortgage. Two years ago, the northeastern states of America became the first to slide into a recession after 17 successive interest-rate rises between June 2004 and August 2006 hit the property market.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article3111659....

...you've obviously never come across COLI (Company Owned Life Insurance) = heh, the company buys insurance on it's peon employees, and if they die, guess who gets the benefits? Yep!

More here:

http://www.itjungle.com/tfh/tfh010305-story04.html

and here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate-owned_life_insurance

Aren't you glad to know this?

Didn't WalMart used to pull that crap until it got it's hand slapped?

Too Far Off To Be Retrieved

Submitted by Crank Bait on Mon, 12/31/2007 - 4:43pm.
----------------------------------------------------

All rocker sales are final.

No returns or complaints.

(our repair shop is on vacation in Hawaii)

"...Americans have fuelled the myth that prices would never fall, that values could only go up. People believed the story. Now there is a very real chance of a big recession.”

--------------
Most Americans also believe in God, who is supposed to be an angry landlord.

The assassination of Bhutto appears to have been anticipated. There were even reports of “chatter” among US officials about the possible assassinations of either Pervez Musharraf or Benazir Bhutto, well before the actual attempts took place.

As succinctly summarized in Jeremy Page’s article, "Who Killed Benazir Bhutto? The Main Suspects", the primary suspects are 1) “Pakistani and foreign Islamist militants who saw her as a heretic and an American stooge," and 2) the Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, a virtual branch of the CIA. Bhutto’s husband Asif Ali Zardari directly accused the ISI of being involved in the October attack.

The assassination of Bhutto has predictably been blamed on “Al-Qaeda,” without mention of fact that Al-Qaeda itself is an Anglo-American military-intelligence operation.

Page’s piece was one of the first to name the man who has now been tagged as the main suspect: Baitullah Mehsud, a purported Taliban militant fighting the Pakistani army out of Waziristan. Conflicting reports link Mehsud to “Al-Qaeda,” the Afghan Taliban, and Mullah Omar (also see here). Other analysis links him to the terrorist A.Q. Khan.

Mehsud’s profile, and the reporting of it, echoes the propaganda treatment of all post-9/11 “terrorists." This in turn raises familiar questions about Anglo-American intelligence agency propaganda involvement. Is Mehsud connected to the ISI or the CIA?
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_2789.shtml

read todays new york times editorial and not start impeachment proceedings wednesday morning?

special note to the dccc:

nancy, and rahm, and whatever other name you use when sending out campaign contributions requests. you won't get anything until you put impeachment back on the table and hold these monsters accountable for what they have done to america.

I posted part of it earlier. You're right! How can they not impeach?

December 31, 2007

Cui Bono in Pakistan

Who Killed Bhutto?

By ROBERT FISK

Weird, isn't it, how swiftly the narrative is laid down for us. Benazir Bhutto, the courageous leader of the Pakistan People's Party, is assassinated in Rawalpindi--attached to the very capital of Islamabad wherein ex-General Pervez Musharraf lives--and we are told by George Bush that her murderers were "extremists" and "terrorists". Well, you can't dispute that.

But the implication of the Bush comment was that Islamists were behind the assassination. It was the Taliban madmen again, the al-Qa'ida spider who struck at this lone and brave woman who had dared to call for democracy in her country.

Of course, given the childish coverage of this appalling tragedy--and however corrupt Ms Bhutto may have been, let us be under no illusions that this brave lady is indeed a true martyr--it's not surprising that the "good-versus-evil" donkey can be trotted out to explain the carnage in Rawalpindi.

Who would have imagined, watching the BBC or CNN on Thursday, that her two brothers, Murtaza and Shahnawaz, hijacked a Pakistani airliner in 1981 and flew it to Kabul where Murtaza demanded the release of political prisoners in Pakistan. Here, a military officer on the plane was murdered. There were Americans aboard the flight--which is probably why the prisoners were indeed released.

Only a few days ago--in one of the most remarkable (but typically unrecognised) scoops of the year--Tariq Ali published a brilliant dissection of Pakistan (and Bhutto) corruption in the London Review of Books, focusing on Benazir and headlined: "Daughter of the West". In fact, the article was on my desk to photocopy as its subject was being murdered in Rawalpindi...
http://www.counterpunch.org/fisk12312007.html

this whole corporate narrative of the assassination smells completely rotten:

Along with Osama bin Laden, intelligence sources say a number of other infamous names emerged from the 1980s ISI-CIA collaboration in Afghanistan. These included Mir Aimal Kansi, who assassinated two CIA officers outside their office in Langley, Virginia, in 1993, Ramzi Yousef and his accomplices involved in the New York World Trade Center bombing five years later as well as a host of powerful international narcotics smugglers.

Opium cultivation and heroin production in Pakistan’s northern tribal belt and neighbouring Afghanistan was also a vital offshoot of the ISI-CIA co-operation. It succeeded not only in turning Soviet troops into addicts, but also in boosting heroin sales in Europe and the US through an elaborate web of well-documented deceptions, transport networks, couriers and payoffs. This, in turn, offset the cost of the decade-long anti-Soviet ‘unholy war’ in Afghanistan.

http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/misc/janes0110...

"The heroin dollars contributed largely to bolstering the Pakistani economy, its nuclear programme and enabled the ISI to sponsor its covert operations in Afghanistan and northern India's disputed Kashmir state," according to an Indian intelligence officer. In the 1970s, the ISI had established a division to procure military nuclear and missile technology from abroad, particularly from China and North Korea. They also smuggled in critical nuclear components and know-how from Europe – activities known to the US but ones it chose to turn a blind eye to as Washington’s objective of ‘humiliating’ the Soviet bear remained incomplete.

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_ti...

to go through the tubes looking for ballet clips. Well done, Seder.

USER NAV

Stop Smoking Medicine work for you ?
I got a perscription for it..

Also,I was listening to Art Bell last night..
He has been taking it to stop smoking too..
He said the only side effect was alot of weird dreams..
Did you ever get weird dreams ??
Thanks.. :)

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

Huzzah!!!
http://talkingpointsmemo.comB9i4E/archives/062327.php

A Seder Reader in the email box. Now that is surprising.

USER NAV

December 31, 2007

The Dark Night is Far From Over

Pakistan: the Aftermath

By TARIQ ALI

Arranged marriages can be a messy business. Designed principally as a means of accumulating wealth, circumventing undesirable flirtations or transcending clandestine love affairs, they often don't work. Where both parties are known to loathe each other, only a rash parent, desensitised by the thought of short-term gain, will continue with the process knowing full well that it will end in misery and possibly violence. That this is equally true in political life became clear in the recent attempt by Washington to tie Benazir Bhutto to Pervez Musharraf. The single, strong parent in this case was a desperate state department - with John Negroponte as the ghoulish go-between and Gordon Brown as the blushing bridesmaid - fearful that if it did not push this through both parties might soon be too old for recycling."

I wrote this opening paragraph in a lengthy essay for the London Review of Books earlier this month. That the violence would come so soon afterwards took me aback. The first shock of Benazir Bhutto's killing is now receding and it's necessary to evaluate the likely outcome dispassionately, avoiding the piety that occupies so much space in the global media. Virtually everything being written or shown on television screens is specious and designed to avoid discussing the real issues at stake.

Why were Bush, Negroponte and their British acolytes so determined to fix the crisis in Pakistan in this fashion? What did they think it would achieve? What brave new world did they envisage?

Virtually all their assumptions are based on facts that are systematically and selectively pruned, distorted or overstated. The aim is to avoid all Western responsibility for the present crisis. Since all this is endlessly repeated with minor variations by the global media networks, it is worth treating each major theme in turn.

Pakistan is a nuclear state, the only Muslim country to test and possess nuclear weapons. There is a danger that if the jihadisal-Qaeda were to gain control of these weapons they could unleash a nuclear holocaust. Musharraf has to be supported because he is staunchly opposed to this possibility...
http://www.counterpunch.org/tariq12312007.html

How d'ya know Myla didn't just find those clips herself?

Happy New Year!

KSE index has gone from a low of 2,357 in 2003to 14,788 per share in 2007. What did Clinton say about no more blank checks to Pakistan?

USER NAV

I have weird dreams normally, and don't need medicine for that. It made me a little bit nauseous after about a month and a half but it kept me from smoking long enough to kick the habit. My B/P has been much more predictable since. It made a tremendous impact on my life MMR. I highly recommend it. Stop supporting tobacco companies.

USER NAV

Myla is like 3 years old. Hopefully Sam doesn't let her roam the internet un-supervised.

USER NAV

After running an unconventional, surprisingly strong and sometimes strange race to the top tier of the Republican presidential campaign, the former Arkansas governor topped himself Monday with a campaign stunt that smacked of hypocrisy.

...When Huckabee arrived, he announced that he had just changed his mind. The ad wouldn't run. It was too negative.

"I believe the people of Iowa deserve better, and we are going to try and give them better ...," he said.

But he didn't. Instead, Huckabee showed off the spot to the journalists, knowing full well his negative message would seep out of the room. He told the media to pay close attention.

"You're not going to get a copy of it," he warned, "so this is your chance to see it, then after that you'll never see it again."

The media laughed.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071231/ap_po/huckabee_the_parodox

Submitted by Exhausted Blogger on Mon, 12/31/2007 - 5:15pm.
Most Americans also believe in God, who is supposed to be an angry landlord.
----------
God: "You kids stay off my lawn!"

Submitted by Harold on Mon, 12/31/2007 - 6:32pm.
How d'ya know Myla didn't just find those clips herself?
----------
...after she set the DVD clock that had been blinking 12:00 for three years.

Damn you, Alice, and your "Pump It Up" mp3 link. Now I can't get Elvis out of my head. [Danke! ; ) ]

*

Holiday Hints And Facts

Submitted by Crank Bait on Mon, 12/31/2007 - 2:56pm.
Drink irresponsibly now and avoid the rush.

...If you have your face pressed against a wall but you don't hear a police officer speaking, it's the floor.

*

Variation on a theme:

You know you've oversmoked [/drank] when you try to brush something off your shoulder...

...and it's the floor!

[h/t to inimitable Chris Rush]

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

You guys be careful out there. As has been pointed out, it IS Amateur Night.

The United States has more inmates and a higher incarceration rate than any other nation: more than Russia, South Africa, Mexico, Iran, India, Australia, Brazil and Canada combined. Nearly 1 in every 136 US residents is in jail or prison. That's 2.2 million people, an amount that quadrupled from 1980 to 2005. (There were only 340,000 people incarcerated in 1972.) Adding in figures for those on probation or parole, the number reaches 7.1 million.

http://www.alternet.org/story/72031/

If we are taking anything back in '08, my hope is that we take back allies that have worked on Warming, Civil Rights, Proliferation, and Famine issues. My hope for 2008 is for better freaking diplomats and a Justice Department that works.

I'm gonna start a fire.

USER NAV

Top Ten for 2007

..when is someone going to fix human behavior?

Technology grows by leaps and bounds but we humans keep acting like jerks to each other.

...now where did I put that damn 3G iPhone w/ turbo-oscillating-dual-flangewavers?!?!?

___
brr

Diary by Rep. Wexler on Cheney Hearings
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/12/31/111617/85/837/428339

*

is that the House will decide to impeach both Cheney and Bush for War Crimes and crimes against the US

MMRules on Mon, 12/31/2007 - 6:10pm.
new
Submitted by Fernando on Mon, 12/31/2007 - 6:38pm.
*******
Now I just have to do it ! :/

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

The Kennedy's (Pete and Maura) have been around for about 10 years. Mostly stick to the east coast. They do 2- 3 hour shows on Sirius every Sat. and Sun. playing all the kinds of music I like. BRR is roughly molded musically on their format.

They played a house concert here about a year a go and I got to talk to them.

And yep, Maura does have one of those distinctively clear voices. You'd be interested to note that the only job Pete has had his entire working life is playing guitar. He's done extensive studio and performance work.

They're just good peeps all around.

___
brr

Sweet Baby James

Just because it's a pretty song and I wanted to do something nice for the great service you provide here.

Thanks!

( I just heard it on the radio and thought it would be nice to share. Can't believe he's sounding this good still today.)

___
brr

___
brr

One of my grandson's name is James.

That was nice.

Were you around when I posted my great nephew's site last night?

Here it is:

http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=Au2O4CBg5Z9QoVnBN3xAVWLsXHwV/SIG=115gfif1f/...

You can preview the songs by clicking on the green arrow.

A mission spearheaded by Hugo Chávez and Oliver Stone to free three hostages held by Marxist guerrillas in the Colombian jungle was on a knife-edge last night after the rebels failed to deliver on the promised handover.
A group of 10 international observers from Latin America, France and Switzerland included the unlikely late addition of Stone, a Hollywood director, who was invited to join the rescue mission only a week ago when he met Chávez in Caracas. Chávez quipped that Stone was George Bush's emissary to the operation; Stone in return called Mr Chávez a "great man". The two flew together to Colombia at the weekend on the presidential jet.

In an interview from Villavicencio with Associated Press, Stone said he had no illusions about Farc, "but it looks like they are a peasant army fighting for a decent living. And here, if you fight, you fight to win."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/venezuela/story/0,,2233859,00.html

He's the kind of guitarist I'd like to take back in the alley and step on his fingers!

Only because I'm jealous of course.

You have every reason to be proud!

___
brr

He also does the lighting for several rock groups and some main stars like Oliva Newton John. He's travelled alot doing that job.

Don't know what he'll do now, he recently was married.

... can't stand to see anyone be happy.

~8^)

Just kidding. I love that one-liner.
___
brr

Anne Tyrell, a spokeswoman for the private U.S. security company Blackwater Worldwide, known for its operations in Iraq, said her company had been approached about possibly providing protection for Bhutto, ``but unfortunately, an agreement was never reached.''

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7188816,00.html

...thought I read today where she asked to hire BW but "Moosheriff" refused to let 'em in.

I'm sorry, but given the U.S. govt's bad habit of backing dictators I'm prone to think it was the W.H. who put the nix on security for Benazir.

Call me jaded. I don't mind.

___
brr

I treated myself for New Year and ordered Chinese.

This restaurant give you so much food, it will last me several days!!

I'm going to freeze some of it.

don't order so much :)

whats good? we're just pickin at appetizers, things like wings and shrimp and crab cakes. the party my daughter was going to washed out, the host was sick so i have a bunch of 16 year old girls playing guitar hero on the lower level. my better half and mother in law are watching tv. i guess dupree you and me is on. its hard to watch with mother in law because she keeps commenting on how the guys never grew up. its a rock and rolling new years eve.

the cynical possiblites are endless. The BW contact caught my attention, however. And, of course, their use of a tragedy for advertising is typically pathethic. The Gaurdian article, however, is actually about WH efforts to supposedly warn Bhutto of danger (Yea, right.)

had some rock bands on tonight from the SNL special

Submitted by toniD on Mon, 12/31/2007 - 8:51pm.
I treated myself for New Year and ordered Chinese...I'm going to freeze some of it.
--------
Front porch or back?

what a silly question. everyone knows you use the back porch during the winter.

With mashed cauliflower. Ever had mashed cauliflower? It's a delicious zero carb alternative to mashed potato. You steam the begeebuzz out of it for about 50 min. Drain, pat dry, then put ti in a bowl and pretend it's Dick Cheney's brains. Put a mixer on it with a dollop of sour cream and pepper. Salt if you need it. Brown peppercorn gravy :)

Then it's time to kill all this bubbly!

USER NAV

toniD,
If your heart flutters, not to worry. It's just the monosodium glutamate talkin'.

Submitted by Fernando on Mon, 12/31/2007 - 9:21pm.
...Drain, pat dry...
-----
Thanks for the idea. I'm changin' my name to Pat Dry.

Hi everyone. I have been out of the loop as far as the blogging goes. I have not been feeling well & had to go to the hospital on Christmas Day.
Of course the Dr still doesn't know what's wrong with me and still going thru tests. Have a Dr.'s appointment again on Wed.
I hope everyone had a wonderful "whatever you celebrate" day. The New Year is upon us & I can only hope that it is a better year than this last.
I know 1 thing.....385 days till that asshole & his entourage are OUT of office.
I just wanted to say HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of the very cool Sederites. Looking forward to blogging with you all in the New Year.
Stay Safe tonight!!
;)

""

I forgot to mention.. how much I have missed the information & humor on this blog.

toniD those photos are great.
Tanks for the great articles on B. Bhutto

Happy 2008 to all the great liberals on this blog

2008 is the year

Peace and good health to everybody.

I'm going out to get a bit trashed.

Peaches