Steve Gilliard Audio is up from Sept. 13, 2006 interview

Downloading and will post accordingly.

: )

http://www.mediamax.com/rancholaluna/Hosted/Sam%20Seder/Gilliard-part1.m...

http://www.mediamax.com/rancholaluna/Hosted/Sam%20Seder/Gilliard-part2.m...

Here's embed code if you want it.

<embed src="http://www.mediamax.com/rancholaluna/Hosted/Sam%20Seder/Gilliard-part1.mp3" autostart="false" width="143" height="28" border="4"></embed>

Change the 1 to 2 for the piece you want to play.

"NEWS CONSUMER" said...

Man Shot, Killed in Brooklyn, Police Say

http://www.nysun.com/article/56241

Perhaps downloading and uploading audio files might be best accomplished using ones PC rather than ones tiny tiny tiny Mac Book!

Just a thought!

As soon as possible .. I will link to the audio links if anyone wants to book mark them.

"NEWS CONSUMER" said...

Woman followed & attacked in Brooklyn

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=5380573

I'm using servers at MediaMax wil. The 25Gb free space is very nice. I keep a premium account that I barely use. It's worth it thou just to not have to carry extra USB jump drives.

Do you know of any other decent servers?

3 Users, 38 guests. hmmmmmm.

Here is the link to the blog I put it on ...

Ersatz Blogger's "A Voice in the Wilderness"

They are both up. Listening to the first audio post now .. so - Miracle of Miracles .. the techno twit actually did something right!

I'll also place a sign post to the posts at the main blog so folks don't need to remember the long name .. just go to Ersatz Blogger

is a perfect set up for Jundullah and MEK and Bush funding the insurgents.

ROTFLMAO. Lowery doesn't know the difference between an F16 and an M16

Amazingly wrong
Another Duke Player Indicted
As former prosecutor Wendy Murphy said last night, if they were so convinced they were innocent, why are they not moving for a speedy trial.

Nifong has more than we know, because he's under a ton of pressure to make this go away and instead he indicts a 3rd player. That's no small thing.

This piece will appear on the Huffington Post later today

The Woeful Gonzales Record
By Anthony D. Romero

An Open Letter to Members of the Senate:

As you move towards the debate and no-confidence vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales I hope you will carefully review his woeful record and its recurring theme: Alberto Gonzales as George W. Bush’s Number One “Yes” Man.

From the beginning, Gonzales has sought to shape the law according to the president's wishes. Through his legal maneuvering, he has authorized criminal behavior as White House counsel and refused to prosecute that same criminal behavior as attorney general. He created and navigated legal avenues for the president and his administration to use torture and indefinite detention. And now, as attorney general, he has refused to investigate those programs.

As the ACLU details in a newly updated report on the Attorney General’s civil liberties record, he has abdicated his responsibility to protect the rights of Americans, and exercises a cynical view of what he seems to consider petty matters like the rule of law and the Constitution. Calls for Congressional oversight yield only uncooperative and misleading testimony.

But the testimony of others has been far more revealing. Take the riveting words of former Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who described how, like in a scene out of a bad novel, then-White House counsel Gonzales and then-White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card paid a March 2004 nighttime visit on a gravely ill and heavily sedated Ashcroft, lying in his intensive care unit hospital bed. Gonzales and Card tried unsuccessfully to persuade Ashcroft to reauthorize President Bush’s domestic surveillance program, which the Justice Department had just determined was illegal. Is browbeating a gravely ill man in pursuit of a lawless policy the action of a responsible and upright office holder? Of course not -- although it does yield the startling nugget that, for a brief shining moment, Attorney General John Ashcroft was actually on the ACLU’s side of an issue.

And consider how Gonzales has repeatedly stood up in favor of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a facility where the denial of habeas corpus and harsh, indefinite detention has shamed the U.S. internationally. Look too at “yes” man counsel Gonzales, writing a 2002 memorandum that referred to some Geneva Convention restrictions as “quaint” and the portion on questioning enemy prisoners “obsolete.” That’s exactly the sort of attitude that led him -- in both the White House and at Justice -- to subordinate and twist the law that permitted actual torture and abuse on America’s watch, while allowing high-level government officials to get off scot-free.

There’s much more. Under Gonzales, the Justice Department has failed to pursue violations of civil rights and voting rights laws. He has failed to investigate and prosecute criminal acts committed by civilians in the torture or abuse of detainees, failed to investigate and prosecute criminal acts and violations of the law resulting from the warrantless spying program, and championed renewal of the Patriot Act despite widespread bipartisan civil liberties concerns. His department’s own inspector general discovered that the FBI underreported, misused and otherwise abused the Patriot Act’s National Security Letter provisions.

The attorney general failed to investigate possible perjury by a top general about abusive interrogation techniques, his department reversed the findings of its panel of experts that a Georgia voter identification law would discriminate against minorities, and further failed to uphold his duties as attorney general by forcing out experienced career attorneys in Justice’s Civil Rights Division and replacing them with less experienced, political loyalists.

This didn’t just start in Washington, of course. Back home in Texas, Gonzales drafted the infamous clemency memos for Governor Bush, which failed to mention key factors in each case including evidence of innocence that supported clemency for death row inmates.

The president and the attorney general are a tight-knit crew. The attorney general provides tailor-made legal support for the president; the president reciprocates with unwavering political support. It’s a cozy relationship for those two, but disastrous for our nation and its rule of law. “No confidence” doesn’t even begin to cover it.

With Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at the helm, the United States Justice Department has become a contradiction in terms. Under his leadership the Constitution and the rights of Americans have been consistently undermined. Ask your friends to sign the petition to Restore Our Constitutional Rights to send a loud and clear message to Congress: it's time to restore the Constitution and respect for the rule of law.

On June 26th, we'll be delivering our petitions in person during our Day of Action. We've already collected nearly 70,000 signatures -- help us reach our goal of 100,000 signatures. Ask your friends to sign the petition today.

http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=r0gKdAIG1h4rFSgprMBQYg..

http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=r0gKdAIG1h4rFSgprMBQYg..

I gotta admit .. I don't know a whole hell of alot about the "internets"!!!

All I know is I get 10 GB per month for free with my Typepad account ... but right now as they have no way of charging for overages (as they can't figure out yet how to bill it out when you do go over your limit). I also look at it like I have used less than .00002% of my bandwidth (per month) in the (slightly shy of) one year I have had the damn thing. So .. they can just bloody well deal! ;)

Besides, the Amex on that account hasn't expired yet .. they know where to charge me if they feel they must! :)

...

Pages

Gay Press Ads Growing Three Times Faster Than Consumer Magazines

nice. nice. very nice.

Browsing radio and TV this morning and into the afternoon and it is clear: the major news events of the past 24-48 hours are:
- The Sopranos final episode and the debate as to whether Tony is dead or alive...
- Paris Hilton has discovered God...
- Joe Lieberman has called for bombing Iran...

..and they seem to be in that order of importance.

Well, it's Monday and what else would America be interested in? Will Libby get a pardon? Will Bush back Gonzales?

I often feel that when the news is this important, it often means that something else is being hidden or covered up That's frightening!

Under The LobsterScope

it was so wrong of me...:)

*

Cool huh Dan..I haven't been on there in moons..I'm trying to find this other one that's similar to newsmap too..but no luck yet & lunch time is near over..

Anon. Wouldn't you have given a prosecutor the benefit of the doubt at that time too? I think many should have been prepared for Katrina and another terrorist strike on the WTC.

Generally, I don't think anyone really believed the tentacles of justice with ulterior motivations was as common as we now know it is. Even thou, we have been sensitized to the ways a prosecutor can create charges for political reasons, today there is still disinformation and mixed messages.

The no confidence vote isn't expected to pass today and it's quite well understood how wrong Gonzales has been for that job. What messages does that send?

I think what you posted is more about Nancy than anyone.

Lying Down with Hyenas
Alec Dubro
June 11, 2007

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/06/11/lying_down_with_hyenas.php

Ralph Nader opened the Taming The Corporation conference with a somewhat gloomy and rueful assessment. He and his people had held a similar conference 35 years ago, and nothing much has changed in the interim.

Much of the rest of the conference outlined, in more or less convincing detail, what most people in the U.S. already know: Corporations run the place. In fact, only 40 percent of Americans think corporations make a positive contribution to the public good. And as for public trust, as the McKinsey Quarterly told The New York Times, large global corporations are at “the bottom of the list — beneath nongovernmental organizations, small regional companies, the United Nations, labor unions and the media.”

And, as the conferees pointed out, the corporations earned this distrust. According to:

• James Brock, professor of economics at University of Miami Ohio, the antitrust law is a story of taxidermy. In short, it’s dead.
• Kathryn Mulvey of Corporate Accountability International, corporations are succeeding in their drive to make water a commodity rather than a public right.
• Andrew Kimbrell of the International Center for Technology Assessment and Center for Food Safety, by marketing genetically modified seeds that withstand certain chemicals, Monsanto has been able sell 120 million more tons of herbicides around the world.
• Ralph Nader, corporations have 38,000 full-time lobbyists in Washington who effectively control the government.

While the evidence of corporate misrule appeared overwhelming, the picture of America that emerged was, at the very least, incomplete, if not misleading. Speakers disagreed whether the U.S. was approaching fascism, or already had it. They did agree that rule by private interests was ascendant, and they enforced that rule by law and arms. If you didn’t actually walk out the door, you could imagine that the United States resembled Italy under Mussolini.

But one block away there’s a prosperous shopping street where there was an GLBT fund-raising barbecue in front of Whole Foods, across the street, people sat in open-air cafes, and pedestrians hauled bags of organic produce to both the richer and poorer sides of 14th Street. It’s not exactly the look of a dispirited population.

It’s true that the U.S. may be a police state – as anyone who protests against the WTO will find in out in short, ugly order – but it is not, for most people, a totalitarian state. People tolerate, or actively embrace, corporate rule not primarily because they’re cowed by the police, but because they aspire to the promised gifts of the program.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/06/11/lying_down_with_hyenas.php

Lying Down with Hyenas
Alec Dubro
June 11, 2007

Ralph Nader opened the Taming The Corporation conference with a somewhat gloomy and rueful assessment. He and his people had held a similar conference 35 years ago, and nothing much has changed in the interim.

Much of the rest of the conference outlined, in more or less convincing detail, what most people in the U.S. already know: Corporations run the place. In fact, only 40 percent of Americans think corporations make a positive contribution to the public good. And as for public trust, as the McKinsey Quarterly told The New York Times, large global corporations are at “the bottom of the list — beneath nongovernmental organizations, small regional companies, the United Nations, labor unions and the media.”

And, as the conferees pointed out, the corporations earned this distrust. According to:

• James Brock, professor of economics at University of Miami Ohio, the antitrust law is a story of taxidermy. In short, it’s dead.
• Kathryn Mulvey of Corporate Accountability International, corporations are succeeding in their drive to make water a commodity rather than a public right.
• Andrew Kimbrell of the International Center for Technology Assessment and Center for Food Safety, by marketing genetically modified seeds that withstand certain chemicals, Monsanto has been able sell 120 million more tons of herbicides around the world.
• Ralph Nader, corporations have 38,000 full-time lobbyists in Washington who effectively control the government.

While the evidence of corporate misrule appeared overwhelming, the picture of America that emerged was, at the very least, incomplete, if not misleading. Speakers disagreed whether the U.S. was approaching fascism, or already had it. They did agree that rule by private interests was ascendant, and they enforced that rule by law and arms. If you didn’t actually walk out the door, you could imagine that the United States resembled Italy under Mussolini.

But one block away there’s a prosperous shopping street where there was an GLBT fund-raising barbecue in front of Whole Foods, across the street, people sat in open-air cafes, and pedestrians hauled bags of organic produce to both the richer and poorer sides of 14th Street. It’s not exactly the look of a dispirited population.

It’s true that the U.S. may be a police state – as anyone who protests against the WTO will find in out in short, ugly order – but it is not, for most people, a totalitarian state. People tolerate, or actively embrace, corporate rule not primarily because they’re cowed by the police, but because they aspire to the promised gifts of the program.

Oh but for helping hands instead.

How many times are you going tgo post that stupid shit?

You're an idiot!

Intelligent one.

Enlighten us Anon! It's always good to listen to the wisdom of someone so bold.

Puhleez straighten me out Anon. The teleconference I'm on is making me comatose and could use the interaction.

Army misses recruiting goal. “The U.S. Army missed its recruiting goal in May for the first time this year but said on Monday the shortfall was not the start of a downward trend.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1148152220070611?feedTy...

Bandar and the $2 Billion Question

June 18, 2007 issue - Hundreds of pages of confidential U.S. bank records may be the missing link in illuminating new allegations that a major British arms contractor funneled up to $2 billion in questionable payments to Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan. The BBC and Guardian newspaper reported last week that BAE Systems made "secret" payments to a Washington, D.C., bank account controlled by Bandar, the longtime Saudi ambassador to the United States who is now the kingdom's national-security adviser. The payments are alleged to be part of an $80 billion military-aircraft deal between London and Riyadh. Last week British Prime Minister Tony Blair acknowledged that his government shut down an investigation into the payments, in part because it could have led to the "complete wreckage" of Britain's "vital strategic relationship" with Saudi Arabia. Before the U.K. closed the inquiry, British investigators contacted the U.S. Justice Department seeking access to records related to the Saudi bank accounts. Many of these records were first obtained by NEWSWEEK in 2004. At the time, the magazine reported that federal regulators had been alerted to millions of dollars in "suspicious" activities in Saudi accounts at the now-defunct Riggs Bank.

Tom Rose, a British lawyer for Bandar, denied the Saudi prince had received "improper secret" commissions. He said the BAE funds were actually being paid into a Saudi Defense Ministry account over which Bandar had signature authority, but any payouts from those accounts "were exclusively for purposes approved" by the ministry. The accounts were known both to the British and Saudi governments. (A BAE spokesman said, "We deny all allegations of wrongdoing.")

The Riggs Bank records show the use of those funds raised concerns among bank officials and U.S. regulators. In November 2003, Riggs filed a "suspicious activity report" with the Treasury Department disclosing that over a four-month period, $17.4 million from the Saudi Defense account had been disbursed to a single individual in Saudi Arabia. When Riggs officials asked the Saudis who the person was and why he was receiving the funds, they were told the individual "coordinates home improvement/construction projects for Prince Bandar in Saudi Arabia," and the payments were for a "new Saudi palace," one document shows.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19140637/site/newsweek/

Later!

for Allen Ginsberg or anyone.

Many years later during the summer of 1967 before video porn but they didn't call it the Summer of Love for nothing, I was hanging out in Thompson Square Park in the East Village sitting on a bench. Some guy sat down next to me and we got to talking. I remember him telling me that he appreciated that I applied my eye makeup expertly and asked me if I wanted to go over to Allen Ginsberg's pad on Seventh. We got there and Ginsberg's little living room was filled with hippies and some old Beats and one dissolute poet who kept bragging he was second best to Ginsberg. The guy who brought me over started playing the violin. Someone else tapped on a congo drum or something. Ginsberg wasn't there yet. Then he came in. Everyone looked up. He wasn't in a great mood.

"Hey," he growled. "Why don't one of you chicks get in the kitchen and start doing some of these dishes?"

That was my cue to leave. Only I had to walk through the kitchen to exit through the door. He thought I was one of the "chicks" volunteering to wash the mountain of dirty plates and motioned to me where to begin. "I don't do no stinkin' dishes," I said and walked out.

I bet Paris has never done any dishes. All she did was drive around in her convertible and got popped for 0.08 percent alcohol. What's that, one beer? Give me a break. Then the State goes after her for driving with a suspended license and she gets forty five days? It isn't like she got a DUI and then invaded two countries and killed millions of people. She's just a Barbie not a Bushie.

Eva Liddell

Excellent News!!!

The doctor overseeing Sen. Tim Johnson's recovery from a brain hemorrhage said he expects the ailing Democrat to resume his duties in the Senate.

Dr. Michael Yochelson said in a statement issued through Johnson's office that the South Dakota Democrat showed improvement last week in walking unassisted and in his speech, which has become more fluid.

"I am very well aware that he is interested in continuing his work as a senator and I am confident that he will be able to resume his duties,'' Yochelson said.

It is still unclear when that will be. A spokeswoman for Johnson would not give a date for his return.

Democrats in the Senate failed to get the 60 votes needed to end debate and bring the no-confidence resolution on Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales to a vote.

why when the dems threatened to filibuster or block votes the neocons always seemed to have some secret procedure to quash it (the nuclear option?) but now when the shoe is on the other foot, the dem leadership caves and goes away to lick their wounds.

Holy Joe LIE-Berman makes me want to puke.

Jim, I hope you see these links to KPFA shows you should here

Urban Beekeepers Part 1

Urban Beekeepers Part 2

I choose to bee anon.

[Wil shakes her head .. feels heart broken and crestfallen to have to be the bearer of such horrible news ...}

[*Sighs*]

Have you not realized that the Democrats suck? No .. literally .. their bitches on their knees.

Everyone .. say it with me now .. "VIABLE THIRD PARTY!!!"

Get rid of all these losers and get people in there with souls who actually give a rat's ass about the people. What a breath of fresh air that would be!!

Have you not realized that the Democrats suck? No .. literally .. their bitches on their knees.

Christ Wil!! How about .. "They are" or maybe .. "They're" ...

Crap!! I hate it when I type fast and don't proof!

sadly, each passing day proves you are right. i suppose deep down i know it too because i stop donating money back in march because i was losing hope that they would make a difference.

the good news is that there's enough time to create a viable third party at the congressional level. at the presidential level the only hope i see is edwards or richardson pulling a coup the way clinton did in 92. i would hate to see a splintered democratic party leaving the keys to this country in the hands of a romney or thompson.

for a lot of people. Even folks who suffer from ass plums can't spell it. I have seen it spelled at least a hundred different ways on line but rarely the correct way.

Giving blowjobs?

leaving the keys to this country in the hands of a romney or thompson.

Can you imagine? : /

I pray John Edwards can make a good run .. I really do admire him. He is - frankly - the only one of the Dems currently in the hunt I could vote for without reservation.

puleez, its called servicing their customer. whats so g.d. galling is that its becoming clear their customer isn't the common person but rather its the same set of special corporate interests driving the neocons.

Hemorrhoids is hard to spell
Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 06/11/2007 - 7:12pm.
for a lot of people. Even folks who suffer from ass plums can't spell it. I have seen it spelled at least a hundred different ways on line but rarely the correct way

furthur proof that no child has been left behind...

Ya .. I believe them .. sure I do.

Congress says it is going to join the war against global warming by cleaning up its own backyard, now cluttered with a coal-burning power plant, a fleet of fuel-inefficient vehicles and old-fashioned lights.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has set a goal of making House operations carbon neutral during this session of Congress, meaning the House would remove as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as it adds by the end of next year.

"The House must lead by example and it is time for Congress to act on its own carbon footprint," Pelosi said in announcing the initiative that would also shift the House to 100 percent renewable electric power.

Ya know.. you slap some solar shingles up on those massive white buildings on the Hill, I bet you could power most of DC.

Now if we could only figure out a way to harness the power of hot air ....

I'm apprehensive about living in Los Angeles.

...but how else can I do anything?

How are you guys?

-M the a-c

Any knowledge at all about Iraq vote in 2002? Any knowledge about the decisions he has made? His votes? Anything?

"I pray John Edwards can make a good run .. I really do admire him. He is - frankly - the only one of the Dems currently in the hunt I could vote for without reservation."

GOP candidates are not worth considering about but "admire" John Edwards?

Ah well.....

I wish there were some Dem candidates I could admire but its not happening so far ....

lots of time anyway

so i missed it and just watched the final sopranos. that is called a cut to black not a fade to black. big frickin difference. who shot him?

She Sells Sanctuary

i go to bed thrashing it

(here, so i don't have to thrash it in...)

anyway, and i thrash it 1st thing this morning

(weeee)

and if we ever meet, shell, we won't be playing any of the 90% of the dead music you're partisan too

we'll play my *vibrant thing* music

: )

requirements: tequila lick & suck...

numb crotches go BANG!!

in the middle of

the night

fuck the sopranos...

get on with it

Why not?

i'll smash his guitar

i'll smash your stereo

i'll kill your cats

and i'll drink your whiskey

and your heroin, too

http://www.samsedershow.com/node/510#comment-14042

Lay My Love

Spinning Away

--i'll kill your cats--

To spank your ass when we meet...

(oh..& to have sex with the o.g. on your bed)... :)

doesn't have sex Alice.

One MAKES it.

i'm throwing down the gauntlet

i'm throwing the cat amongst the pigeons...

the o.g. must die

tonight!!

my quest is to throw the baby out with the bath water

: )

of mAnn. I'm not sure it would be good.

the o.g. approves
: )

[ono, on the other hand, walks to the courthouse to apply for an injunction to stop this illicit affair]

Submitted by toniD on Mon, 06/11/2007 - 2:14pm.
Yaakov Katz, THE JERUSALEM POST Jun. 10, 2007
--------------------------------------------------------
I wonder if Yaakov Katz is Yiddish for something that Alice cures with suppositories?

Sooo...Ono's real name is Tony Manero ?? :)

the barricades go up

shelly, you're not allowed within a 40 mile radius of my bed

:p

LMAO!!
Submitted by air-ono on Mon, 06/11/2007 - 10:17pm.
the o.g. approves

...what am I afraid of? ;)

more than a woman... ♪

more than a woman to me

♥

the rest of the joke is on the other thread...

I have to get ready. Ok?

In the mean time:)

to the o.g.

shell's propostion

that nin/star-trek video

is totally inspired...

just perfect

are you ever going to make an Open Mic?
Or are you afraid the Blog will try to make you stay there? :)

I'll let you know if the vid is funny...Tomorrow... :(

*

Ono...you know...Tahitian Moon..that song you asked WFC to get for you?...that's a good song..I've been meaning to mention it for weeks & I just remembered to mention it...

she_sells_sanctuary.mp3 .....Kicks butt...

I wish WFC would stop being on strike...he's mad that anonymous's are allowed?

they go the same way as all my unsent chubby bubba letters

they remain un-opened

Seen it.

Here.

Excellent vid...

http://www.themonsterclub.com/UU-UU-UU_CreakingDoor__CatsWhiskers.mp3

Cats Whiskers - The strange tale of a woman becoming a cat. Great ending. Creepy!

...
The Fifth Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council opened its debates on Monday analyzing a dramatic report on the world's food situation.

The UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler, produced statistics that he described as shameful, especially when he mentioned the 854 million people who are starving in the world today.

Our planet is today richer than ever, it produces more food, but it also shelters millions of human beings who suffer from hunger, malnutrition and starvation, which is a human rights violation, he pointed out.

The Swiss experts recalled that six million children die of starvation every year before they turn five years of age, a heartbreaking and outrageous reality for humankind.

Ziegler described as encouraging the experiences in Bolivia, Venezuela and South Africa, whose governments are meeting great challenges to fight the problem of hunger in the poorest sectors of the population.

In the case of Bolivia, where 42 percent of the people suffer from malnutrition, he lauded the efforts being made by President Evo Morales and his administration to end that bitter social chapter forever.

"The Bolivian government plans to redistribute the underused land, allocate a percentage of hydrocarbon revenues to food issues, and receives aid from abroad," he explained.

Cuba contributed 23 hospitals to fight children's malnutrition in Bolivia, he stressed.
...

it ate my post. And I was raging on AO. I'm going to have to use my brain again. Damn that hurts.

used to run this place called The Hunger Project...(so husbot tells me)...

not the creaking door...

(lol)

i'll have to listen later

(gtg)

Is this an official Hillary blogger or a genuine person (I'm not sure myself):

"Can anybody argue with Hillary and her views?

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 06/11/2007 - 2:45pm.

Doesn't seem that "corporatist" or "Republican-lite" to me..."

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/

-----

I like that: "she doesn't seem that "corporatist" or "Republican-lite"

//it ate my post//

spine-chilling horror

: )

NOOOOO!!!!!
Submitted by air-ono on Mon, 06/11/2007 - 10:55pm.

not the creaking door...

I read that just as the "creepy" narrator was saying

....THE CREAKING DOOOOOOOOOOOR......

:)

Steve Gilliard Audio is up from Sept. 13, 2006 interview

Submitted by SEDER on Mon, 06/11/2007 - 2:51pm.

here is pt 1 and here is part 2. I'm probably not going to be able to leave it up there long for server space reasons so I encourage you to download it and post it anywhere you like.
_________________________

Thanks for posting and sharing the audio.

I appreciate it!

one would think god could produce a lighter.

What do you think?
Submitted by dada on Mon, 06/11/2007 - 10:56pm.

Is this an official Hillary blogger or a genuine person (I'm not sure myself):

I guess my answer is, neither...

*

Granma Prints Unpublished Article by Fidel Castro (Prints it...never distributes it...)

An article written by Fidel Castro 52 years ago and thought to be lost after its edition was seized by the Fulgencio Batista government was published in Cuba on Monday.

A revolutionary journalist kept a copy of the article published in La Calle on June 17, 1955. The newspaper did not circulate because the police occupied the printing works and confiscated the issue, Granma recalls.

The article denounced the situation in Cuba after a group of young revolutionaries headed by Fidel Castro attacked the Moncada garrison, the country's second largest military fortress in eastern Santiago de Cuba, on July 26, 1953.

According to the article written by the incumbent Cuban president, demoralization, dishonesty and mean hatred reigned in power circles, affecting the style of government implanted in Cuba.

Fidel Castro denounced the practice of using the media to spread the government's lies and serve big capitalist interests, instead of backing those who defended the poor, the dignified and honest men.

He blamed the Batista's police for publishing false accusations against young revolutionaries, accusing the rebels of terrorism and harassing the families of political adversaries.

Fidel Castro said in his article that the country's economy was at rock bottom, among other reasons, because headlines denounced a terrible plot, according to the police every day.

He added that the most sensible thing to do was to publish a report on the dirty businesses and profits that proliferated in Havana, those who got rich on gambling and the most elementary lack of duty by government officials.

In his denunciation, Fidel Castro warned that it was hard to live in Cuba and that sooner than expected it would be time to emigrate or die.

...
Cuba's largest foreign investor, Sherritt International Corp. (S.TO: Quote), sees business running smoothly under acting President Raul Castro and will push ahead with a $1.2 billion expansion in nickel mining, and oil and electricity production.

Sherritt Executive Chairman Ian Delaney said there has been no adverse impact on the business climate since Cuban leader Fidel Castro took ill last year and handed over provisional power to his brother.

"Raul is a very good and crisp decision-maker, so there certainly has been no adverse change," Delaney said on Monday in a telephone interview from Toronto.

"For us things have continued to be good. He is a very good administrator," said Delaney, who met with the younger Castro last week for the opening of a power plant run by gas from coastal oil fields operated by Sherritt.

With soaring world nickel prices, the Canadian mining and energy company expects to complete the first phase of expansion at its Moa mine by the end of the year, raising output to 37,000 tonnes of nickel and cobalt in 2008. Another 9,000 tonnes is to be added by 2009, with further expansion planned for 2012. Nickel is one of Cuba's main exports.

"The operating environment in Cuba is really good. Our business is being run well," Delaney said.

Uncertainty over Cuba's political future without Fidel Castro at the helm has not shortened Sherritt's sights in Cuba, which could aim even higher if oil is discovered in deep-sea Cuban waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
...

...

Three women were among the go-fast professionals racing in the 2007 Indy 500.

Formula 1 has a rookie who has never finished worse than third during his entire six race career...and he's black. Negroid. To be precise, he's an African half-Grenadan Limey...or a half-Grenadan African Limey...whatever. The salient take-away is that he is a very fast Limey and he ain't a white one.

What with the wimmens and the field hands moving in on their turf, the NASCAR Albinosaurs might want to return to runnin' hootch through their dry albeit god-fearin' counties.

Perhaps the most entertaining aspect (to me) of finally having a black race car driver on a podium is that his name ain't Darrell or Bubba. It's Lewis Hamilton, which sounds like someone related to Thurston Howell III.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-hinton11jun11,1,1354397.story?c...

In other F-1 news, while Hamilton had the pole, the Pole had a horrific wreck. Robert Kubica escaped serious injury though his car was destroyed, coming to rest as a cockpit with a driver and a tire attached to it. YouTube has pulled video of the accident due to copyright complaints.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingsports/ci_6115314

Third post down:

Several new phases in this so-called "primitive accumulation" have been opened up in recent years: the clean sweep in Russia and Eastern Europe; the neoliberalisation in India and Latin America; the reconstitution of private capitalist class power in China; the rapid acceptance of neoliberalism by nominally leftist parties in most advanced capitalist states etc. The aggressive programmes of the happily defunct Multilateral Agreement on Investment, and similar initiatives by the World Trade Organisation, seek to extend this process. These policies don't necessarily cause wars in and of themselves any more than they cause the process of "primitive accumulation", but they have the capacity to aggravate an already existing set of conditions, or interact with other elements (such as arms and commodities markets, financial flows, 'ethnic' or identitarian tensions etc). Cramer's argument thus rebukes both the liberal view of violence as something surpassed by (post)modern states, and the liberal view of development as something that is technical, and can be achieved with a careful management of pain and consequences by very knowledgeable graduates from Oxford or MIT.

http://leninology.blogspot.com/

Development is a deeply political process with powerful motors toward violent conflict, and capitalist development is not less so than any other kind despite the formal disavowal of political violence in capitalist ideology. The process of transition, it should be said, is not one with a determinate end. At no point is every form of commons enclosed and privatised, and nor could it be: there remain struggles over who will possess how much, what will belong to all and what will belong to a few, what conditions will apply to the labour force and how oppressed groups will be treated within the social hierarchy. And, as it is a crisis-ridden system, managed and sustained in large part by the projection of extreme force, the fantasy of perpetual peace and a post-military society is (at least this side of the socialist revolution) a dense revisionist palimpsest that papers over centuries of historical reality.

US told to free 'enemy combatant'

*

Tel Aviv fountains painted red to protest killing of Palestinians

did they actually and finally decide what an enemy combatant is? Is it a lawful or unlawful enemy combatant? What's the strategery?

Person? I'm a person? Are you?

Mullets.

Ya just pissed off 3/4 of Canada! :)

Iran, Nicaragua for Peace and Justice

Fernando,

I eagerly await the day when an enemy combatant becomes collateral damage from friendly fire in a demilitarized zone.

I'll celebrate with a big ol' plateful of jumbo shrimp.

You, me? You know right? Wrong? Really?

Tell me please!

"Can anybody argue with Hillary and her views?

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 06/11/2007 - 2:45pm.

Doesn't seem that "corporatist" or "Republican-lite" to me..."

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/

-----

The "corporatist" thingy is a thru the front and backdoor Hillary Clinton bash which is plain silly since every candidate is beholden to the corporations. Links about fellow Dem candidates aplenty. Google and you shall find.

re the Republican-lite thing

Never been to the HC website before believe or not and just sort of flew over those issues which I am familiar with, too. But If there is something More Republican-like hidden in those various HC campaign issue paragraphs - which of course would put the fear of the horned devil in my heart - more scary Republican-like stuff offered as campaign issues than by her various fellow candidates, please, point them out to me if you will be so kind.

re Whoever made that remark
lets not get our knickers in a twist why don't we not. I just don't see the nec. bash factor calling out to me here at all - asking for a riproaring rant. Just an opinion was expressed. IMHO.

btw.
No Rightwinger or Hillary basher in their right mind would ever post a link to that page as was done here since HC looks darn good on those pics for a hardworking woman her age. You should see some of the Hillary Clinton photos on HuffPost Arianna Huffington's revenge ;-)

Norman Finkelstein

*

Dada...did you a Catharine & Beckett see the Tony's? Or did you get to go to them, or what?...More people @ work have heard of Coast of Utopia today...

http://www.plenglish.com/media/OpticalFiber/Index.html

a new voice? Not judging here.

I was looking to play "SimCity2000," an old game that I used to love. Turns out my mac with its new intel chip doesn't support classic software. Probably for the best, I would've wasted too much time with it.
But I found this page where a guy explains how he emulates the old processors. It's a fascinating adventure that makes my head spin. You probably don't care, but I'm amazed by this stuff. I don't think I could figure out how to do something like this, even with the instructions. Maybe Liberal at Large could do it. I'm in awe just reding about it, though.

http://www.atpm.com/12.09/classic.shtml

Fernando,

It's easy. An enemy combatant is anyone who is sequestered in solitary confinement, incommunicado, without counsel.

thanks for pointing it out..

"did you a Catharine & Beckett see the Tony's? Or did you get to go to them, or what?...More people @ work have heard of Coast of Utopia today..."

We went to a party with the rest of the 'Utopians', and cheered at the TV every time the show won. It was fun.

be any of us. Aren't we all in solitary confinement? You can't barely count on your neighbors, often your spouse. Society is odd.

Historically, I mean that in an ancient way, women fix this problem.

Not on Hillary's camp. I want GORE!

Cool! :)

*sigh*

lets hope Chomsky will write an essay about this

in fact, its Chomsky's essay about NF some years ago where I found out about him and how he challenged the establishment academia and the whole brouhaha with Alan Dershowitz

thanks for posting, Shells

John Lennon

*

Hi bridge! Random cat pic for ya.. :)

The LEADING Holocaust guy thinks Norman is cool...Dershowitz can SUCK IT...(Didn't Ron Silver play him at some point..?)...

what a person has to do to be The LEADING Holocaust guy...but..

I just found it funny that someone comes out of the blue with such a defensive attitude.

Looks to me like the anonymous was anticipating a certain reaction from this blog to Hillary. What it says to me is someone thinks that the best way to win Hillary voters here is addressing us as dyed-in-the-wool liberals for which "corporatist" and "Republican" are dirty words.

It seemed contrived. Which is why I thought it smelled a bit like an official Hillary blogger, and not a genuine person.

With Jeremy Irons, Glen Close; and Gort, the Wonder Seal.

you know, Shells,

I just noticed how I relaxed from all that good stuff you posted for me ;-)

I have no idea who is Leading Holocaust guy, either

Ron Silver did play Alan Dersh as famous lawyer
in Reversal of Fortune - that role put him on the map so to speak
- who knew that he had talent to turn in greasy Neocon eeeks

air-ono on Mon, 06/11/2007 - 10:40pm.

vehemently, strongly agree. Do I care? NO! Not at all.

AFRICOM and the U.S. Resource Wars in Africa
Interview with journalist and human rights and genocide investigator, Keith Harmon Snow. The new U.S. command, AFRICOM; the crisis in northern Uganda; the Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa; military programs and covert operations; Somalia and Ethiopia; oil and mineral resources; the Darfur region of Sudan; NGOs.

http://kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=20604

http://www.allthingspass.com/journalism.php

I didn't read the other thread so don't know if its a defensive out of the blue comment. Also I never pay attention to Anon posts usually but actually agree with this person's comments and since you are pointing it out the post lol

saw the quiz qs and felt compelled to answer ;-)

Several Dem candidates did not find it nec. to participate in the Gonzales Non-Confidence vote cause the campaign trail was oh so imp or who knows what it was .... ggrrrrrr

That drove me so mad I felt like throwing off my clothes and run down our street screaming like a bansheeee ....

I am not voting for anyone who didn't show up to vote NO and considered it was just a "symbolic" vote of little importance.

Symbols rock the world. And thats a fact.

thanks for letting me vent

;-)

Jennifer Ehle won. In her speech she said "hi" to everyone at O'Neills, which was where we all were. Thrilling. Feels silly to talk about it now, but I got caught up in the excitement. Well, that, and the guinness. She thanked her dresser Linda, who's a really wonderful lady. Linda got all choked up by it, and we all cheered. What can I say, It was sweet.

bridge. I feel the same way.

No argument here.

"Man's achievements rest upon the use of symbols."

"Who rules our symbols, rules us."

Alfred Korzybski

Nice work, bridge.. ♥ you rule...as usual! :)

My radio is on and it's "90's at 9" time...why do they have to date music like that...?? It just IS..(k..I'm fresh out of profundity...lol)....goodnight! xoox

http://www.symbols.com/

Symbols--Encyclopedia of Western Signs and Ideograms contains approximately 2,500 Western signs. In 1,600 articles their histories, uses, and meanings are thoroughly discussed. The signs range from ideograms carved in mammoth teeth by Cro-Magnon men to modern corporate logos and subway graffiti.

A unique system for classifying signs according to graphic structure lets the reader look up the meaning of any sign in seconds. A comprehensive Word Index and a large number of cross-references throughout the book make it equally easy to find signs that are related to each other. In addition, the Appendices contain discussions on especially interesting aspects of ideograms, including the historical development of signs and meanings, ancient American ideograms, the signs of the alchemists and much more.

This book serves both as a resource for professionals and a general reference tool for anyone interested in our graphic cultural heritage.
Praise for this and previous editions

"Strange sign? 'Symbols' can help. Browsing is richly rewarded." -- New York Times

"There is nothing else quite like this well-researched work." -- Library Journal

"This book will certainly become one of the key sources for tracing symbols and their meanings." -- American Libraries

sitting in a parking lot with the local wifi

didn't see it, dada, but JE rocks, too
she is a real beauty no doubt about that

She should have won the Emmy for her Elisabeth in Pride and Prejudice together with Mr. Darcy, the fabulous Colin Firth.
Its over 10 years ago and I still can't forgive the Emmy people for that oversight

just googled her name and found this
http://www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Story.aspx?ci=526424

New Yorkers are happy campers :)

night everyone :)

City of Minas Tirith from Lord of the Rings, created in SimCity2000.

http://img-nex.theonering.net/images/scrapbook/orig/8459_orig.jpg

http://img-nex.theonering.net/images/scrapbook/orig/8460_orig.jpg

http://img-nex.theonering.net/images/scrapbook/orig/8461_orig.jpg

Interesting interview - Journalist Keith Snow
Submitted by dada on Tue, 06/12/2007 - 12:21am.
________________

I agree. Good post!

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

THE SEARCH FOR A SOLUTION IN DARFUR

"The Good American Tackles Sudan"

By Mathieu von Rohr

For years, activist John Prendergast has been searching for a solution to the Darfur crisis, one of the bloodiest ongoing wars in the world.

But policy makers have consistently looked the other way. What can be done?

Link:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,486384-3,00.html

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

ENOUGH, a joint project of Crisis Group and the Center for American Progress, is determined to help bring an end to the crimes against humanity being perpetrated in Darfur, northern Uganda and eastern Congo, and to prevent future mass atrocities.

Link:

http://www.enoughproject.org/

cool dada

got me looking on utube last night and found spring awakening

mama who bore me
2007 Drama Desk Awards

The documents show the Air Force lab asked for $7.5 million to develop such a chemical weapon.

defying gravity
being a rigger, it's like my song..

heard the road show version from the fly gallery -- not like this.

As part of a military effort to develop non-lethal weapons, the proposal suggested, "One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior."

The documents show the Air Force lab asked for $7.5 million to develop such a chemical weapon.

I think I left the italics on ..

Okay .. preview seems to look like all is well.... so here goes nothing

Let me try this again ...

I tried the double whammy up there .. hopefully it will work! As it is .. I already put myself on "Bold probation..Looks like italics probation might be next .. : /

Crap... I hope I can figure this out. This is what happens when one blogs with a migraine! : (

Errantry

http://www.fluidmagic.com/tolkien-poetry.htm

He battled with the Dumbledores,
the Hummerhorns, and Honeybees,
and won the Golden Honeycomb;
and running home on sunny seas
in ship of leaves and gossamer
with blossom for a canopy,
he sat and sang, and furbished up
and burnished up his panoply.

He tarried for a little while
in little isles that lonely lay,
and found there naught but blowing grass,
and so at last the only way
he took, and turned, and coming home
with honeycomb, to memory
his message came, and errand too!
In derring-do and glamoury
he had forgot them, journeying
and tourneying, a wanderer.
So now he must depart again
and start again his gondola,
for ever still a messenger,
a passenger, a tarrier,
a-roving as a feather does,
a weather-driven mariner.

http://img-fan.theonering.net/rolozo/images/garland/earendil-elwing.jpg

Guess I am just gonna have to eamil Sunny J and see if he can fix it. I have done my "end italics" HTML everytime I posted after I discovered my boo boo and it is just mocking me now.

Hopefully he - or some other kinda soul - can correct this! I have < /i > 'd all over the place and nothign is working. Unless I try to use the HTML I am used to over at my blog ..

we will see if that works!

remember the military (and CIA) brought us wide spread LSD

http://www3.isrl.uiuc.edu/~unsworth/SLS.htm

LSD, Mind Control, and the Internet: A Chronology

1947: Project Chatter--Navy program focused on mescaline and other substances; sparked by reports of amazing results in the Soviet Union with "truth drugs." (Senate Report) This project ended in 1953.

Around this same time, a German researcher named Hoffman synthesizes LSD and experiments with it on himself.

1951: Sandoz pharmaceuticals, a Swiss company, agrees to an exclusive contract with the US Government to deliver 100 grams a week of LSD, and not to provide any to communist countries.

1954: Lily Pharmaceuticals, with CIA funding, discovers how to synthesize LSD, ending US dependence on foreign supply.

==

search led to this site for you chemists

http://designer-drug.com/pte/12.162.180.114/dcd/chemistry/thc/app10.html

I just logged out of the blog on Safari and came into Firefox .. and now you all are probably like .. what the hell is this dizzy bitch ranting about??

Well.. in Safari .. every thing I wrote was showing up as italics! Even Dada's post was all italics! and now here it looks fine... so perhaps the issue is with Safari??

Anyway .. sorry to needlessly worry folks.

I was so blown away by the non-italics I didn't sign back in on Firefox! It's me .. Wil

will it get you back to italics?

a 'settings' problem .. so many vaiables, hard to keep track.

The Atheist Manifesto

A public conversation with the controversial French philosopher and atheist, Michel Onfray

listen
(however, if you don't want your computer screen to become a giant real player, go to the site & click it there for stand alone player)

download

: )

"the system is working"

sorry just half awake :) It's 5 in the morning here!

if i was there, instead of being strangled by the o.g. here, i'd be making you a coffee

frying eggs...

listening to greek music

Too early to eat though. Haven't listened to Greek music in awhile.

Think I'll make myself a mocha latte. Must be late afternoon down under eh?

it's 8:49pm, here

we're 15 hours ahead of chicago

Left to make my coffee!

15 hours, so it's about 21:09 there! And it's your winter season so it must be dark already. We're gatting about 17 hours of daylight now.

And it has been very warm, very early this year.

News from the Orstrahyun:

Saturday, June 09, 2007
Incredible Survival Stories, And Tragic Tales, Emerge From East Coast Flood Zones

http://theorstrahyun.blogspot.com/2007/06/incredible-survival-stories-an...

McConnell backs surgeon general nominee. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has endorsed President Bush’s surgeon general nominee James Holsinger, who has repeatedly espoused medically-inaccurate homophobic positions. McConnell says in a statement:

Dr. Holsinger is a proven leader who has dedicated his career to improving health education and services in Kentucky and across the nation. He is an excellent choice for Surgeon General and I look forward to his quick confirmation.

Asked today about Holsinger’s changes of being confirmed in the Senate, McConnell replied, “I think it’s pretty early in the process, so it’s very difficult to know where it stands.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/11/mcconnell-endorses-anti-gay-surgeon-...

GOP Senators block vote on Gonzales "no confidence" motion
by Joe Sudbay (DC) · 6/11/2007 06:20:00 PM ET
Discuss this post here: Comments (334) · digg it · reddit · FARK · · Link

The Senate just voted to prevent further action on S J Res 14, the "no confidence in Alberto Gonzales" resolution. The vote was 53 - 38, with one voting present. 60 votes were needed to proceed to a vote on the actual resolution. So, while this wasn't the actual vote, this was a resounding and humiliating vote for Bush and Gonzales. Looks like he lost every Democrat and several Republicans, including Specter (PA), Collins (ME), Snowe (ME), Coleman (MN), Smith (OR), Hagel (NE) and Sununu (NH). Lieberman, the last Senator to vote, sided with Bush, of course. Ted Stevens (AK) voted present.

The GOP used a procedural gimmick to block the resolution -- that's basically a filibuster. They've become unbelievable obstructionists. If the Republican Senators want to spend all their time doing George Bush's dirty work, so be it.

In his floor statement during the debate, the Senate Majority Leader said Gonzales must go:
Time and time again, Alberto Gonzales has proven beyond a doubt his incompetence, misjudgment and lack of independence. He is profoundly unworthy to hold one of the highest and most important offices in the land. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution reflecting the facts before us. I urge Attorney General Gonzales to resign his office to allow America the chance to recover from his catastrophic tenure. If he does not, I urge President Bush to finally remove him.

http://www.americablog.com/2007/06/gop-senators-block-vote-on-gonzales.h...

Daschle: ‘New Paradigm’ Of Foreign Policy Links Global Poverty With Security »
Today, the ONE Campaign launched ONE Vote ‘08, which will push presidential candidates to “make the fight against global poverty a key foreign policy and security issue.” ONE Vote ‘08 plans to spend at least $30 million to educate voters on the fight against global poverty. Watch the campaign video featuring U2’s Bono, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, actor Matt Damon, and others:

Today, ThinkProgress attended a briefing with the ONE Vote ‘08 co-chairs, former Senate Majority Leaders Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Bill Frist (R-TN), along with advisers Michael Gerson and John Podesta. All participants stressed that the fight against global poverty is necessary to ensure America’s national security. Daschle stated that the “new paradigm” of national security extends beyond military power:

[W]e really can’t simply respond to suicide bombers and think somehow that alone will be the investment in national security that we need for the future. That a new paradigm with a realization that there is a direct impact between our success on the ground in Uganda and our safety and security in the United States can be drawn.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN
As it stands today, even the United States’s closest allies are severely hostile toward U.S. leadership. According to a recent poll, 10 out of 15 countries surveyed believe that United States cannot be trusted to “act responsibly in the world.” All 15 of those countries reject the idea that “as the sole remaining superpower, the US should continue to be the preeminent world leader in solving international problems.” Similarly, global opinions of the United States have slipped considerably since 2000.

Find out more about ONE Vote ‘08 HERE.

Christy at Firedoglake and the ONE blog have more.

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/11/daschle-one/

What's surprising is that Bill Frist is involved with this!

Report: Risk of nuclear warfare rising
Mon Jun 11, 3:07 PM ET

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - The world's top military powers are gradually dismantling their stockpiles of nuclear arms, but all are developing new missiles and warheads with smaller yields that could increase the risk of atomic warfare, a Swedish research institute said Monday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070611/ap_on_re_eu/arms_report;_ylt=Avsc813...

I was on Palast's page, He now has the Amy Goodman link we enjoyed yesterday. The next update is supposed to be an interview with the goddess of radio. I wonder if it is this interview?

i realise you're rushing, strutting around in your bunny slippers, taming your morning hair
combing the day's news, etc

you're a busy girl

I have to learn how to embed videos and Audio links.

I'd like to put some of that on my blog.

Lonely Joe was the only person to vote showing SUPPORT for Gonzales who wasn't a Republican. Boo Hoo. And on a related matter: The picture above is considered a good picture of Joe. Please don't laugh at it.

still love George now that he has a thing for General Gonzalez?

keep schumer from bringing the vote of no confidence back, and doing it over and over until it becomes meaningful? what is it about being in congress that emasculates a person?

Mornin hun. It's easy if you have a template. Here is the simplest and most reliable audio embed I know of. Just change the file name in the one obvious place to the file you want played.

I'll send a simple flash player too sometime today.

I'll also post you some reasonable code for video embeds today on an old post. I'll do a .wmv and an .mp4 or .mov embed.

You have to find simple code that supports the most players so be picky.

I'll get it eventually!! :)

Wilkes has such a slick lawyer. Now he is using delay tactics to prevent/deny himself the security clearance he needs to review the evidence against his client.

He is using structure in the system intended to protect the innocent to protect the guilty. That's one slick lawyer to have - if you know you are guilty.

George's ride breaks down on way to see the pope I guess. It's a long boring video of the pResident decider dude but the audience/authorities interaction is priceless. Original Story link.

"The August 1995 Croatian offensive, which drove some 100,000 Serbs from a large swath of Croatia over four days, was carried out with the tacit blessing of the United States by a Croatian army that had been schooled in part by a group of retired American military officers. Questions still remain about the full extent of United States involvement.

"In the course of a three-year investigation into the assault, the United States has failed to provide critical evidence requested by the tribunal, according to tribunal documents and officials, adding to suspicion among some there that Washington is uneasy about the investigation."

Scenes very similar to those with which the world has become acquainted during the last three weeks would have been seen nearly fours years ago had the American media chosen to cover the forced removal of Serbs from the Krajina province in the summer of 1995. "The Croatian Army," wrote the Times, "drove more than 100,000 Serbs from their ancestral homelands, forcing them to flee on carts and in small cars jammed with their possessions." The tribunal documents referred to by the Times cite numerous instances of atrocities committed by Croat forces against Serbs. "In a widespread and systematic manner," the tribunal's investigators assert, "Croatian troops committed murder and other inhumane acts upon and against Croatian Serbs."

According to the Times' report, these crimes were committed in the course of an operation that had been planned with the assistance of a retired American general working for a private company based in Virginia, Military Professional Resources, Inc.

The double standard applied by the United States in its attitude toward atrocities in the Balkans emerges quite clearly in the boastful account given by Ambassador Richard Holbrooke of discussions he held with Croatian President Tudjman while the offensive was in progress. He describes how the United States, while publicly feigning disapproval of the Croatian offensive that drove the Serbs from the Krajina, privately encouraged Tudjman to pursue his military assault vigorously:

"Galbraith [the US ambassador to Croatia] and I saw Tudjman on September 14. Tudjman wanted clarification of the American position. He bluntly asked for my personal views. I indicated my general support for the offensive, but delayed a more detailed exchange for a second meeting so that I could discuss it with my colleagues and Washington.

Thanks for your post yesterday regarding Paris and the Summer of Love. That was great stuff.

I was speaking to a Serbian lady at work yesterday. When I was young, 60's, there was a group of us that went to a Serbian night spot here in Chicago. It was called Europe at Night. The owners were Serbian and some of the group I used to hang with were Serbians.

That whole area over in Asia Minor and Eastern Europe has been a mess.

The One Campaign is trying to help world poverty and hunger.

The Monday meeting is being shown on c-span 1 now.

If you have a chance, watch it. All the Liberal bloggers are backing it.

The global anti-poverty effort, the ONE Campaign, held a small meeting this morning for a few bloggers from the right and the left with the new campaign co-chairs, former Senator Majority Leaders Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Bill Frist (R-TN). The campaign is launching a $30 million effort to influence the 2008 elections here in the US by getting all the presidential candidates to endorse the following goals:
5 Achievable Goals

1. Save 15,000 lives a day by fighting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, three of the world's most devastating diseases.
2. Prevent 5.4 million young children from dying each year from poverty-related illnesses and 400,000 women from dying in childbirth each year.
3. Provide free access to primary education for 77 million out-of-school children with a special emphasis on girls.
4. Improve the living conditions of vulnerable populations by, for example, providing access to clean water for 450 million people and basic sanitation to more than 700 million people.
5. Reduce by half the number of people in the world who suffer from hunger, resulting in 300 million "fewer" hungry people each year.
I was struck by two things at the Daschle-Frist meeting. First, some of the conservative bloggers were really into the campaign. And second, Senator Frist seemed awfully into the campaign as well. As a Democrat, I'm not accustomed to finding Republicans who care about HIV/AIDS and world poverty. It's was a nice thing to see.

I raised a few concerns to the Senators. First, compassion fatigue/foreign fatigue. After the ongoing debacle in Iraq, I wonder whether Americans are going to be in the mood for a very expensive foreign adventure any time soon. Having said that, saving the poor is a totally different venture than fighting a war, and it's quite possible the public would welcome a warm and fuzzy change of pace. My second concern was whether the ONE Campaign had the gumption it will need to get politicians off the dime. Meaning, it's a bipartisan campaign made up of a coalition of liberal and conservative non-profits. I can't speak for the conservative non-profits, but the liberal ones can sometimes be a bit wimpy. They don't want to ruffle feathers, and don't want to offend politicians. Their standard refrain to any proposal is "we can't do THAT." The ONE Campaign is going to need to browbeat its own member organizations just as fiercely as it browbeats our politicians.

But all in all, I think this is great. It's about time AMERICA re-engaged the world in a good, positive, helpful way. It also wouldn't hurt us to find a goal that we can all agree on, left and right.

After the briefing, ONE held an event at St. Mark's church. As I'd already had my briefing, I stayed for the beginning, which included the African Children's Choir - see video below.

http://www.americablog.com/2007/06/i-met-with-senators-daschle-and-frist...

I heard that a Serbian leader was sentenced to 35 years by the UN Courts for atrocities committed against Croats in 1995. Not disputing that. What troubles me is that Croatia carried out a massive ethnic cleansing of Serbs in 1995, from a region of Croatia where Serbs had lived for centuries. We see lots of Serbs on the dock, for war crimes, at the Hague. Why aren't there any Croats who were responsible for atrocities against Serbs, on trial? Sheer hypocrisy!

http://www.srpska-mreza.com/library/facts/Elich.html

Like the Bosnian Serbs, the Muslims also herded their adversaries into "horrible" camps at the start of the civil war, on the way to expulsion. Unlike the Bosnian Serbs, the Bosnian Muslims enjoyed the services of high-powered U.S. public relations experts in the Washington-based Ruder Finn agency who knew how to "spin" the Bosnian conflict in order to equate the Serbs with the Nazis-the quickest and easiest way to win public opinion over to the Muslim side. The news media and political figures were showered with press releases and other materials exaggerating Serb atrocities, whereas Muslim atrocities (such as the decapitations of Serb prisoners, fully documented) remained confidential. To the public, this was a one-sided conflict between a Serbian "fascist aggressor" and innocent victims, all unarmed civilians.

The general public did not know that Srebrenica, described as a "safe area", was not in fact simply a haven for refugees, but also a Muslim military base. The general public did not know what Lord Owen knew and recounted in his important 1995 book, Balkan Odyssey (p.143), namely that in April 1993, Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic was extremely anxious to prevent Bosnian Serb forces from overrunning Srebrenica. "On 16 April I spoke on the telephone to President Milosevic about my anxiety that, despite repeated assurances from Dr. Karadzic that he had no intention of taking Srebrenica, the Bosnian Serb army was now proceeding to do just that. The pocket was greatly reduced in size. I had rarely heard Milosevic so exasperated, but also so worried: he feared that if the Bosnian Serb troops entered Srebrenica there would be a bloodbath because of the tremendous bad blood that existed between the two armies. The Bosnian Serbs held the young Muslim commander in Srebrenica, Naser Oric, responsible for a massacre near Bratunac in December 1992 in which many Serb civilians had been killed. Milosevic believed it would be a great mistake for the Bosnian Serbs to take Srebrenica and promised to tell Karadzic so."

And she IS the best person for the job. No other candidate has as much experience actually working IN the White House.

My "defensiveness" was simply based on the fact that many left-wing blogs tend to be dominated by the Extremes, who are never satisfied.

Plus, the way things are looking...I think it'd be a good idea for us all to get behind her and stop the in-fighting.

For today...here's her plan for jobs and innovation!-

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/feature/innovation/

Croatian leaders should be on trial, too. (And Clinton...and Schroeder.)

http://www.counterpunch.org/schutz06052004.ht

of Jerusalem
http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=13049&sectionID=107

thanks for posting this, Fernando. Boring long video maybe, but not if you are Italian, recognize the landmarks, the police uniforms and the Italian utterances of the bystanders! Priceless - and one to remember as a bit of history along with the bird crapping on the chimp and the electric system firing back at the Giuliani nazi.... sometimes even the gods can't take it anymore

Quite an ad!!

Alexander Applauds Michael Moore’s Movie “Sicko”

...
Stewart Alexander, a presidential hopeful with the Peace and Freedom Party, says "What we learn from capitalism is that a capitalistic system is only for the capitalists; the capitalists only exploit the working class, suppressing wages, with little or no benefits. What this system has produced here in the US is the world's most expensive healthcare system, affordable to less that 10 percent of all Americans."

The Peace and Freedom Party is presently urging the labor movement and all those seeking single payer to support putting a single payer initiative on the ballot in California on November 2008. This would give Californians an opportunity to vote to remove the insurance companies from controlling the state's healthcare and to provide healthcare for all the people.

Alexander says, "I hope once people see Sicko they will understand who the real sickos are in the US, they are in Washington; the Democrats, Republicans, and the capitalists that put corporate greed above human needs.

Sicko opens in theaters June 29. For more information search the Web for: Stewart A. Alexander; Alexander: PFP Setting Tone for 2008.

... (long story)
...
In order to deconstruct Dershowitz’s serial misrepresentations, one must painstakingly review them, which explains why he is able to make one ludicrous charge after another about Norman Finkelstein’s scholarship, and thus influence the public, and thus DePaul, with respect to the recent tenure case. For Dershowitz, no target, and no charge, is out of bounds. Recall, for example, that Dershowitz accused both the political science department at DePaul and Human Rights Watch of “cooking the books”—a charge that he did not substantiate in either case, and with respect to Finkelstein’s department, was totally out of line and hideously unprofessional. How is it that Dershowitz’s McCarthy-like public rampage against Finkelstein’s tenure case was apparently tolerated by Dershowitz’s dean and Harvard’s president? And by DePaul’s president and Finkelstein’s dean?

The tenure process for Norman Finkelstein at DePaul was almost certainly, in fact, most evidently, was tainted by Dershowitz. A review of that process would seem to be in order by both DePaul and Harvard.

Good Morning Bloggi! Back from the dead!

Tom Tancredo adviser and yet another self proclaimed "True Right-Wing Leader" is outed.

On The Gist Via Eschaton

Here's his My Space via the Gist.

And a little whipsmart and incredibly relevant comedy from his MySpace.

Condoleeza Rice Names The System

by Ron Jacobs / June 12th, 2007

Back in 1965, the original Students for a Democratic Society sponsored a march in Washington DC against the US war in Vietnam. It was the largest march against the war to that point, with around 25,000 people attending. The protest is not famous for its numbers as much as it is famous for one of the speeches given there. The speaker was SDS president Paul Potter and, if a speech can be summed up with one quote, the speech Potter gave that day can be summed up with this excerpt:

...

Paul Potter’s speech forty some years ago made it clear that there was a system in place that drove the US war machine and its diplomatic auxiliary. Since the invasion of Afghanistan, that system has been called by its real name by the shameless ones that currently run the country. Condoleeza Rice’s attempt to include the aggressive strategy of the neocons in the tradition of what she terms American realism may be scorned by the liberal opposition, but their scorn is misdirected. Ms. Rice could not be more correct. Her tracing of a historical line from the imperial ravings of Teddy Roosevelt to the policy papers of the Bush administration (with a nod to Dean Acheson and Harry Truman) is closer to the truth than any speech by any of the current leaders in the Democratic race for the 2008 election. If she had only included Woodrow Wilson, Lyndon Johnson and Bill Clinton, that line would have been nearly complete.

Remembering Steve

I've been hesitant to talk about Steve because I didn't want his memory to become more entagled in recent events, but Sam Seder posted his last interview with Steve here, and you can help his family defray burial expenses by donating here.

http://www.thenewsblog.net/

posted by Gen. JC Christian, Patriot

How not to win firends and....

U.S. mistakenly kills 7 Afghan police

Turkish troops massing
along nothern Iraq border
As if Iraq were not complex enough, now Turkey's troops are massed along the rugged border between the two countries. The Turks threaten an incursion to root out separatist Kurds who attack inside Turkey. If those involved can lift their view to the height of the mountains in this region, a dangerous escalation could be avoided.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20070612/cm_csm/eturkeyiraq_1

Kuwait says US cannot
use bases for Iran strike
Kuwait, a staunch US ally, said on Monday it would not allow the United States to use its territory as a launch-pad for any attack on Iran over its nuclear program.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/kuwaitiranusmilitary;_ylt=ArWlx4qMOKmyGdwuME...

House OKs ban on
F-14 part sales to Iran
The House drew attention Monday to the danger posed by shortcomings in U.S. military surplus sales, voting a second time to ban the Pentagon from selling leftover F-14 fighter jet parts sought by Iran.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070611/ap_on_go_co/military_surplus_iran;_y...

Global military spending
hits $1.2 trillion: study
Global military spending rose 3.5 percent last year to $1.2 trillion as U.S. costs for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan mounted, a European research body said on Monday in an annual study.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/arms_sipri_dc;_ylt=AgBZRZJLab7Zh_Cz_ka_0mEDW7...

“For the first time in five years, President Bush will attend the Senate Republicans’ weekly policy lunch today as he pushes to revive his moribund overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws.” But several Republican senators “issued a terse warning yesterday: Don’t expect much.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/11/AR200706...

The time is here! The Senate is expected to vote on Senator Bingaman's (D-NM) Renewable Electricity Standard amendment as soon as today!

This marks a vital turning point in our nation's shift away from fossil fuels. Now we need your help, to make sure your lawmakers are on board.

The amendment would require 15% of our electricity to be produced from renewable energy sources, like wind, solar, geothermal and biomass, by the year 2020.

The Bingaman RES amendment would increase our use of renewable electricity to 15% by 2020 and:

Reduce global warming pollution;

Create hundreds of thousands of new high-paying jobs across the country by increasing homegrown renewable energy resources; and

Save consumers billions on their electric and gas bills, by diversifying our energy sources and increasing competition.
More than twenty states and Washington, D.C. have already adopted their own renewable electricity standards, which have proven so popular and effective that 9 of those states have actually strengthened their standards!

It's time for the rest of the country to catch up. We have a chance, this week, to make sure that happens -- if we act now.

http://action.lcv.org/campaign/res_petition/

http://altsearchengines.com/2007/06/10/a-day-without-google/

1. All day Tuesday, June 12th, don’t use any of the 5 major search engines.

2. Avoid Meta search engines, since most of them include the major search engines.

3. Likewise, the specialized vertical search engines may be too narrowly focused.

4. Consider changing your homepage or downloading their toolbar. You can always uninstall everything and change back on Wednesday.

5. On Wednesday, leave a detailed comment under this post and share your experience with the rest of us. Which alt search engine did you chose? How would you rate the experience?

It’s only one day. It’s only one day.

which is simply trying to get us to use their search engines. Nothing wrong with that, but it's not for any good political cause, it's simply a marketing gimmick. While I do think it's good to have competition, they should be honest about it.

I tried to make her a present :(

http://www.samsedershow.com/node/49

Chilean journalist Ernesto Carmona compiled other concessions throughout the world that have been cancelled or expired...

...
In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in July 1969, revoked the concession for WLBT-TV; in 1981 it did likewise for WLNS-T; in April 1999, it revoked the license of Trinity Broadcasting; and in April 1998, that of Daily Digest (Radio).

From 1934 to 1987 in the United States, 141 broadcasters lost their licenses, including 102 for non-renewal.

In 40 cases, their licenses were revoked before they were expired.

During the ‘80s, there were 10 cases of non-renewal.
...

Rice hints at Libby pardon. Meeting with the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that Scooter Libby “served the country really well” and hinted that a presidential pardon was in order. “Asked for her views on a pardon, Rice demurred but then came to the strong defense of Libby, stating that he should be treated ‘in accordance’ with his public service.”

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...

Makes the internet neutrality bs so important don't it?

I didn't think of it that way because I don't want to be hooked on google...so I look for alternatives to it...

"Not an "official Hillary blogger"...a supporter
Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 06/12/2007 - 9:41am.
And she IS the best person for the job. No other candidate has as much experience actually working IN the White House.
My "defensiveness" was simply based on the fact that many left-wing blogs tend to be dominated by the Extremes, who are never satisfied.
Plus, the way things are looking...I think it'd be a good idea for us all to get behind her and stop the in-fighting.
For today...here's her plan for jobs and innovation!-"
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/feature/innovation/

I don't think you're going to win any support by talking down at people. Not mine, at least.

I interpret that completely different than implying a pardon. If in accordance means an eye for an eye his family and friends need to have their lives perilously in danger. That's how I see it. Threaten anyone with a Libby Gene.

I'm going to check those out and copy them down. XOXOXO!!

1

2

Want to make sure that's clear.

I get a warning on most of your posts at work so I'm going to have to save them for later. If I don't respond during the day, it's not because I don't want to.

but they really are horses...

I don't know why. But a whole lot of stuff doesn't come through here including Myspace. Many point to news and that always comes through. Most of your stuff has an art element to it. Art is always offensive to filters isn't it?

S 1419 Energy Independence Bill introduced.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:S.1419:

Harry Reid is the only Co-Sponsor. Shouldn't there be like at least 48 Co Sponsors for that?

I have to tell you, I'm having serious thoughts about not voting Democrat in 2008. Fully aware what the result would be if enough people follow my lead.

I think it's incredible that I got behind the Democrats this last election, and now that it's politics as usual, I'm being called extreme, and never satisfied. I guess the jokes on me, right?

Well, have you heard about my new campaign? I'm with the "Fuck you, I'm voting for Kucinich" campaign.

And after the primaries, when me and the rest of the "Extremes" decide to exercise the Nader option, you can blame me for losing you the White House.

Maybe another four years of fascism is what this country really needs.

About special:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Republican_presidential_candidates
http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,2001380,00.html

I just want to look at those two links right next to each other and cogitate my navel.

Supreme Court bucks administration on anti-pollution. In a unanimous ruling yesterday, the Supreme Court went against the Bush administration and strengthened the landmark anti-pollution Superfund program, “enabling companies to recover costs when they voluntarily clean up hazardous material.” “The government’s interpretation makes little textual sense,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his opinion.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/11/AR200706...

The Supremes are allowing companies that pullute the ability to recover the money they spend to clean up the pollution!

Hope Clarence gets something medical that has to do with pollution, that would be Karmic revenge!

have a clue about who I would support if Gore does not run. None. I have no idea. I understand what dada is saying on many levels. Probably another uber conservative Republican Texan like Ron Paul just for the Pot of it all. My vote never matters anyway, living in North Dallas.

‘Ted Fans’ scrap plans for 9-foot tall statue of Sen. Stevens. Plans have been scrapped to “erect a nine-foot-tall…statuary tribute” to Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AL) at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. According to the Anchorage Daily News, “Ted fans decided that…recently vocal enemies of his successful delivery of federal largesse to Alaska might use the project to disparage him.” Last week, Stevens revealed that he had been asked by the FBI “to preserve records as part of a widening investigation into Alaskan political corruption.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/12/ted-fans-scrap-plans-for-9-foot-tall...

--Maybe another four years of fascism is what this country really needs.--

Send this to the Congress people and the candidates. If they get enough letters like this....

{Well, you wanted extreme...
Submitted by dada on Tue, 06/12/2007 - 12:02pm.
I have to tell you, I'm having serious thoughts about not voting Democrat in 2008. Fully aware what the result would be if enough people follow my lead.

I think it's incredible that I got behind the Democrats this last election, and now that it's politics as usual, I'm being called extreme, and never satisfied. I guess the jokes on me, right?

Well, have you heard about my new campaign? I'm with the "Fuck you, I'm voting for Kucinich" campaign.

And after the primaries, when me and the rest of the "Extremes" decide to exercise the Nader option, you can blame me for losing you the White House.

Maybe another four years of fascism is what this country }really needs.

Hah!

Did you see his new ad above?

http://www.samsedershow.com/node/520#comment-14363

Scroogle Scraper (no cookies, no records kept, etc...)

http://www.scroogle.org/

http://www.gale.com/librareo/

"I Love My Library", the contest has a prize of $10,000 that will go half to the lucky winner and half to the lucky winner's library...

(Yesterday was the last day to vote...)

Schlozman ‘Clarifies’ Sworn Testimony Over Election-Timed Voter Fraud Case »
During his sworn Senate testimony last week, former Missouri U.S. Attorney Bradley Schlozman repeatedly asserted that he had been “directed” by Craig Donsanto, the head of the Justice Department’s Election Crimes section, to file controversial voter fraud indictments against a week before the 2006 election.

Pressed by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), Schlozman testified that if questioned, Donsanto, who literally wrote the Department’s manual on how to approach election crimes, “would state explicitly and without reservation that he did in fact OK the issuing of the indictments.” But multiple former Justice Department officials have now come foward saying that it is highly unlikely Donsanto would have signed of on the indictments “of his own volition.”

Today, Schlozman sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) revising his sworn statements to Congress:

I wanted to take the opportunity to clarify my testimony with regard to the timing of the voter registration fraud indictments against four employees of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (”ACORN”). Although I later clarified my testimony in responding to Senator Whitehouse’s questioning at the hearing, I did state in response to various questions during my testimony that the long-time career head of the Public Integrity Section’s Election Crimes Branch had “directed” me to file the indictments prior to the November 2006 election.

As required by Section 9-85.210 of the U.S. Attorney’s Manual, at my direction, the Assistant United States Attorney assigned to the case consulted with the Election Crimes Branch prior to the filing of the indictments. I want to be clear that, while I relied on the consultation with, and suggestions of, the Election Crimes Branch in bringing the indictments when I did, I take full responsibility for the decision to move forward with the prosecutions related to ACORN while I was the interim U.S. Attorney.

In a statement released today, Leahy responded to the letter: “It is deeply troubling that after weeks of preparation Mr. Schlozman appears to have misled the Committee and the public about his decision to file an election eve lawsuit in direct conflict with longstanding Justice Department policy.”

“This Justice Department and this Administration already suffer from a severe credibility crisis, and learning that yet another senior official was less than forthcoming during his testimony before Congress does little to restore any of the lost trust or eroding confidence in their leadership,” Leahy said.

Read the full letter HERE.

Read Leahy’s full statement below:

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/12/schlozman-testimony/

"My vote never matters anyway, living in North Dallas."

Yep, my vote doesn't matter either, living in NY.

But I can certainly influence opinion.

Out to Get ACORN
John Atlas
June 11, 2007
John Atlas is co-author of Saving Affordable Housing, and is currently writing a book on politics, democracy and poverty through the lens of ACORN. He was formerly executive director of the nationally-recognized Passaic County Legal Aid Society.

If you think it's safe to do your civic duty in George Bush's America, ask Matt Henderson. Henderson, the head organizer for ACORN in New Mexico, believed his grassroots group's effort to register poor, minority voters was a time-honored way of bringing disenfranchised people into the American democratic process. It almost got him indicted in October 2004, when it put him squarely in the crosshairs of a protracted fight between the Republican Party and ACORN over voting rights. It's a struggle that is likely to continue into the 2008 election.

ACORN, a little known, but very successful national grass-roots anti-poverty organization, came under White House fire after registering more than 1.6 million voters in the past two national elections: mostly poor and minority people who tend to vote Democratic, and mostly in swing states. Republican operatives went after ACORN hard, with a media smear campaign, trumped-up lawsuits in Florida, New Mexico and Ohio and pressure on state law-enforcement officials to file criminal charges against the group. Days before the 2006 election, a U.S. attorney in Kansas City brought a voter-fraud indictment against four people registering voters for ACORN, spurring a congressional investigation led by Iowa's Republican Senator Charles Grassley.

The GOP voter-fraud vendetta might have remained exactly where Bush loyalists wanted it—below the radar of the press—had it not been for the scandal surrounding the firing of eight U. S. attorneys, including David C. Iglesias of New Mexico. Iglesias lost his job in December 2005 after he declined to prosecute a voter-fraud case against ACORN, which had been registering large numbers of voters in the state's low-income and largely minority neighborhoods in 2004. Prominent New Mexico Republicans, including U.S. Senator Pete Domenici, had repeatedly complained to chief White House political strategist Karl Rove about Iglesias' failure to bring voter-fraud indictments. Once Iglesias said he couldn't prove a case against ACORN, his days were numbered.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/06/11/out_to_get_acorn.php

But I vote for vid #1...hemmingway the bookworm was sort of funny tho...

Lying Down with Hyenas
Alec Dubro
June 11, 2007

Ralph Nader opened the Taming The Corporation conference with a somewhat gloomy and rueful assessment. He and his people had held a similar conference 35 years ago, and nothing much has changed in the interim.

Much of the rest of the conference outlined, in more or less convincing detail, what most people in the U.S. already know: Corporations run the place. In fact, only 40 percent of Americans think corporations make a positive contribution to the public good. And as for public trust, as the McKinsey Quarterly told The New York Times, large global corporations are at “the bottom of the list — beneath nongovernmental organizations, small regional companies, the United Nations, labor unions and the media.”

And, as the conferees pointed out, the corporations earned this distrust. According to:

• James Brock, professor of economics at University of Miami Ohio, the antitrust law is a story of taxidermy. In short, it’s dead.
• Kathryn Mulvey of Corporate Accountability International, corporations are succeeding in their drive to make water a commodity rather than a public right.
• Andrew Kimbrell of the International Center for Technology Assessment and Center for Food Safety, by marketing genetically modified seeds that withstand certain chemicals, Monsanto has been able sell 120 million more tons of herbicides around the world.
• Ralph Nader, corporations have 38,000 full-time lobbyists in Washington who effectively control the government.

While the evidence of corporate misrule appeared overwhelming, the picture of America that emerged was, at the very least, incomplete, if not misleading. Speakers disagreed whether the U.S. was approaching fascism, or already had it. They did agree that rule by private interests was ascendant, and they enforced that rule by law and arms. If you didn’t actually walk out the door, you could imagine that the United States resembled Italy under Mussolini.

But one block away there’s a prosperous shopping street where there was an GLBT fund-raising barbecue in front of Whole Foods, across the street, people sat in open-air cafes, and pedestrians hauled bags of organic produce to both the richer and poorer sides of 14th Street. It’s not exactly the look of a dispirited population.

It’s true that the U.S. may be a police state – as anyone who protests against the WTO will find in out in short, ugly order – but it is not, for most people, a totalitarian state. People tolerate, or actively embrace, corporate rule not primarily because they’re cowed by the police, but because they aspire to the promised gifts of the program.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/06/11/lying_down_with_hyenas.php

This is some of the most righteous wingnut bitchslapping & *snark* I've read in a really...really...long time. I've read driftglass' blog on occasion before, but now it's on my personal blog roll.

Definite spew warning is stressed!

Driftglass' take on the Sunday Talkies

[...] [FAUX News'] Wallace: You have done nothing in the last five months. Doesn’t that mean you are all a buncha failures.

Durbin [as in, Senator]: It has only been five months, and don’t forget we had to clean up the unfinished business the lazy, criminal, moral-lepers of the outgoing Republican Congress had left undone.

I mean it took over a month[] to get Jerry Lewis’ head pried out of Jack Abramoff’s ass. Another two weeks to chiropract and naprapath Denny Hastert’s gargantuan ass-divots out of Lady Liberty’s spine. And two more weeks to find the dungeon in which the GOP had thrown Justice and chisel Ted Stevens’ desiccated jimmy-stick out of her ass.

Also we passed a minimum wage increase, have six important bills being reconciled and ready for Preznit Badload to veto them, and have begun to restart the rusty engines of something called “Congressional Oversight”.

[Bruhahahahahahahaha!]

Thanks for the scroogle, Sir Real.

I like this one

http://www.pagebull.com/

Visual search engine.

Does anyone know where I can see the C-Span Shlozman broadcast. I saw it live but cant find a recording and cant find the transcript of it. It really was incredible testimony.

Is the failure to stall the Iraq War dragging down the new Dem-controlled Congress?

A new poll finds that Congress' approval rating is at its lowest in a decade -- and that less than one-third of liberals approve of the job Congress is doing.

-- Greg Sargent

Poll link:

http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/jun/12/poll...

Voting does feel symbolic..since it certainly seems as though the governmnt (or those who control it) can run right over us & do what they please...it seems that way...

*

Goodmorning, Sir Real.. :)

"I mean it took over a month[] to get Jerry Lewis’ head pried out of Jack Abramoff’s ass. Another two weeks to chiropract and naprapath Denny Hastert’s gargantuan ass-divots out of Lady Liberty’s spine. And two more weeks to find the dungeon in which the GOP had thrown Justice and chisel Ted Stevens’ desiccated jimmy-stick out of her ass."

Funny stuff, L@L, thanks!

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Business/2007/06/11/ikea_switches_to_hybrid...

Swedish home furnishings retailer Ikea said it is switching its company car fleet in Britain to hybrid vehicles.

The changeover will make Ikea Britain's first large private-sector company to move its company passenger-car fleet to more eco-friendly vehicles.

If I believe the bull is not there it can't hurt me

http://www.technoccult.com/

Alterati editor-in-chief James tipped me off to a book he saw in a crazy book store tucked away in an obscure corner of Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Market. Beside the Aleister Crowley and Eliphas Levi tomes and David Icke DVDs was a book about a magickal approach to hip hop. After some digging The Matrix of Hip Hop website and the Hip Hop Decoded: From its Ancient Origin to its Modern Day Matrix book was unearthed.

The author – Harlem based The Black Dot – outlays a trippy occult Hip Hop cosmology, probably best expressed in the video The Five Bloodlines of Hip Hop, where we learn how our ancestors (well, maybe not mine …) came to earth through five elemental gateways, how the Golden Age was destroyed by parasitic mutants, the transformation of the elemental archetypes of communication (Hieroglyphics, Drummer, Oracle, and Dancer into Graffiti, DJ, Emcee, and B-Boy), the unifying power of the etheric pineal gland, how the ancestral bloodlines were reactivated by hip hop in 1973, how the mutants tried to use gangster rap to thwart the reactivation and the hip hop zero point singularity of 2012 where the planet will vibrate to throbbing higher dimensional beats and rhymes.

Alice. Only you would find that. Very nice.

Snarks-r-us : )

It's good to see ya here on the day shift. Nice art the other day, too. But take that compliment w/ a grain of salt...I've been known to confuse a Matisse and a Merlot. *snark*

"People tolerate, or actively embrace, corporate rule not primarily because they’re cowed by the police, but because they aspire to the promised gifts of the program."

--

"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to the point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism — ownership of government by an individual, by a group or any controlling private power."

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Yep.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special Counsel Calls On Bush To Punish GSA Head
By Laura McGann - June 12, 2007, 10:56 AM
The head of the General Services Administration should be punished "to the fullest extent" (i.e. fired) for wrongfully attempting to help Republican candidates based on their political affiliation, Special Counsel Scott Bloch wrote in a letter to President Bush released last night.

Now GSA chief Lurita Doan's fate is up to the White House. Bloch's Office of Special Counsel, which is charged with investigating Hatch Act violations, interviewed Doan for nine hours over the course of two days and spoke with 21 GSA employees, the Associated Press reports:

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said they had received the Bloch letter and it was under review. The White House previously acknowledged conducting about 20 meetings over the past several years for federal employees on GOP election prospects while insisting that such informational briefings are neither unlawful nor unusual.
Doan is set to testify before the House Oversight Committee tomorrow.

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003412.php

Former RNC head Gillespie to replace Bartlett. Ed Gillespie, the current chairman of the Virginia Republican Party, will step down from his position as the state’s party head in order to replace Dan Bartlett as counselor to President Bush. According to the Times-Dispacth, Gillespie “was reluctant to leave…but he answered the president’s pleadings.” Gillespie, a member of the inner circle of 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign, played a a key role for the White House in shepherding Supreme Court justices Samuel Alito and John Roberts through the Senate.

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/12/former-rnc-head-gillespie-to-replace...

The Story of the Committee of 300

Tony Blair lashes out at ‘feral beast’ media. “In seemingly full-throated roar, Mr. Blair used one of his last speeches in office before he is to step down in 15 days to settle scores with a press corps that he said has hounded, badgered, blustered and bludgeoned the nation’s leaders since he came to power 10 years ago.”

“The fear of missing out means today’s media, more than ever before, hunts in a pack,” Mr. Blair declared in a speech organized at the offices of Reuters, the news organization, in London. “In these modes it is like a feral beast, just tearing people and reputations to bits. But no one dares miss out.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/12/tony-blair-lashes-out-at-feral-beast...

was the 81st annual DADA golf tournament

morfternoon gang!

Lynne Cheney ‘Won’t Deny’ Her Senate Candidacy
Recently, Lynne Cheney, the wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, has been “floated in Senate GOP leadership circles as a possible replacement” to the late Sen. Craig Thomas (R-WY), who recently passed away. Today, multiple sources are reporting that Cheney’s office is refusing to return messages and deny her candidacy. The Casper Star Tribune reports:

A lot of Republicans — maybe 20, maybe more — want to replace the late Craig Thomas in the U.S. Senate, State GOP Chairman Fred Parady said Monday.

Applicants already include recently resigned Wyoming U.S. Attorney Matt Mead, state Rep. Colin Simpson of Cody, state Sen. John Barrasso of Casper, and former state GOP Chairman Tom Sansonetti of Cheyenne. […]

A spokesperson for Lynne Cheney, wife of the vice president, would not deny that she, too, was a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat, according to The Associated Press.

The deadline to file applications is Thursday at 5:00, and on Friday, all the contenders will be disclosed. The candidates will attend a forum on Sunday at Casper College, and then the state Republican Central Committee will choose three names to pass along to Gov. David Freudenthal (D). By law, the seat will remain in Republican control.

(Find out more about Lynne Cheney’s positions HERE.)

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/12/lynne-cheney-senate/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_Autonomous_Zones

A Permanent autonomous zone (or a PAZ) is a community that is autonomous from the generally recognized government or authority structure in which it is embedded. PAZs are not controlled by any government (as recognized by other governments) or by any religious authority.

The phrase permanent autonomous zone has been applied to groups such as:

* An autonomous, collectively-run community center
* A community living space: communes, squats, self-sustaining villages, treehouses
* Independent schools and/or free schools, self-education centers
* A community garden or greenspace, efforts to preserve nature
* A non-authoritarian news organization, publisher, low power or pirate radio station, infoshop, internet service provider, or other non-profit group that provides a service to the community
* Collectively-run organizations or networks that promote non-hierarchical principles and localized autonomy
* Any continuous space, group, co-op, or individual effort accessible to a community that is founded on anti-authoritarian principles and autonomy within an egalitarian community.

[edit] Examples

* Freetown Christiania, is a partially self-governing neighbourhood in the city of Copenhagen, Denmark, which has established semi-legal status as an independent community.

* Burning Man, though of course a Temporary Autonomous Zone, is considered by many to be a model of a PAZ, despite the fact that it is not truly autonomous, being patrolled by law enforcement officers from neighboring communities

* Dreamtime Village, is a hypermedia permaculture eco-village project in southwestern Wisconsin, where the PAZifesto was first written & published as a broadside in an edition of 500.

* PAZ Ecovillage, is a sustainable eco-village project in the Chihuahuan Desert of west Texas near the old ghost town of Terlingua and located in the North Corazones area of Terlingua Ranch.

* The Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities are currently composed of 32 "rebel autonomous zapatista municipalities" (independent Zapatista communities, MAREZ from their name in Spanish) in the Mexican state of Chiapas. Established following the 1994 Zapatista uprising, these communities operate, in practice, outside of Mexican law. They are governed internally by "Good Government Councils" composed of community members and also often by weekly general assemblies open to all members of the community. Each community also sends delegates to a regional council in order to report decisions made in their respective communities.

kinda like the feeling some get from PEZ

Taking questions today? Have you ever met Randi Rhodes?

good riff on the gang running this show internationally.

excellent B&W pic btw.

Rebel Kurds declare
cease-fire in Turkey
Kurdish separatists declared a "unilateral cease-fire" in attacks against Turkey on Tuesday and said they were ready for peace negotiations, but the group maintained the right to defend itself.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070612/ap_on_re_mi_ea/turkey_kurds;_ylt=Apa...

Have you ever met Randi Rhodes?, just call ins to the show.

not face to face. she thinks i have a sexy voice.

i told her she gives "good phone"

got a laugh out of her.

Prosecutor wants
Libby jailed immediately
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald urged a federal judge Tuesday not to delay former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s 2 1/2-year prison sentence in the CIA leak case.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/06/12/prosecutor-wants-libby-j...

The only words that come to my mind Sunshine Jim...

Tongue bath. I love Randi. She introduced me to blogging, Air America and ultimately Sam Seder. I could never talk to her. I would probably freeze into a column of salt.

China warns US of economic payback
'Countermeasures' if US adopts higher tariffs; bill 'protects US interests.'

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/China_warns_of_countermeasures_if_U_0612200...

Obama: FEC nominee unfit to oversee elections RAW STORY
Published: Tuesday June 12, 2007

Sen. Barack Obama says President Bush's nominee to the Federal Election Commission is more interested in denying voters' rights than expanding enfranchisement and should not be installed on a panel tasked with ensuring fair elections.

Obama says Hans von Spakovsky's partisan influence within the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and his prior roles as a Republican appointee make him unfit for the job.

"Individuals named to the Commission should have a demonstrated record of fair administration of the law and an ability to overcome partisan biases," Obama wrote to the chair and ranking member of the Senate Rules Committee. "Unfortunately, Mr. von Spakovsky's experience ... [does] not demonstrate the evenhandedness required of an FEC Commissioner."

Obama cited von Spakovsky's role in creating a Georgia voter identification law, which career Justice Department lawyers determined would create undue hardship for black voters. Federal and state courts eventually overruled von Spakovsky and found the program unconstitutional.

The Illinois senator and Democratic presidential candidate also noted von Spakovsky's reported role in overriding objections of Justice Department lawyers to what critics say were politically motivated decisions to approve a redistricting plan in Texas.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Obama_FEC_nominee_unfit_to_oversee_0612.ht...

"Oh! Good one dada!
Submitted by toniD on Tue, 06/12/2007 - 12:14pm.

Send this to the Congress people and the candidates. If they get enough letters like this...."

just another human bozo on the bus.

she's as flawed as the rest of us, a good woman nontheless.

give her a call anytime ya want, use it artistically.

"I've been known to confuse a Matisse and a Merlot. *snark*"

That's ok... me too. *more snarks*

Good to see you too, L@L!

we got enough people to take over the goverment yet?

http://fuckyouimvotingforkucinich.org

Flaw is a word for character that is often used when you see character defined in undesirable terms.

Disease is undesirable thou and that doesn't describe the Randi I hear. Sometimes they forget to mute the mic on the streams and you hear her angry about a portion of the show. But I'd let her beat me if it gave her pleasure so I know I'm biased.

ya some people think that George Green guy is full of it...& some of that Conspiracy 300 is too weird even for me to believe...like the stuff about The Beatles...But the Plan 2000 doesn't seem too 'out there' .. at all..

& yes...lovely b&w.. :)

yer a masochist!

ask the dungeon mistresses for a session.

randi has the whole gamut of human behaviour to go through.

and does. she gives herself 'free expression'

and shares it with the gang.

brilliant crews btw.

and her flaws are

endearing.

is him saying that Paul Volker (sp) told him that Carter would be the next president, (two years before he was "elected")..because Volker allegedly said "We own them both" (parties)....

theres an element in society

that is spending huge amounts of our money

to avoid coming up with a humane alternative to that approach.

they think in terms of brute force, top down problem solving, and it is a problem.

--they think in terms of brute force, top down problem solving, and it is a problem.--

especiallty since I never agreed to be on the bottom...

last October. Most of us around him are still shook up over it. He's not in the 21 number in the link because north Dallas numbers are kept quiet. There is a problem most don't want to admit.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/12/cheese.heroin/index.html

I had 5 friends with relatives or friends that went the same way. I still haven't gotten over it. Most of the dealers have not been identified still.

It looks like they (DePaul) terminated Finkelstein for June 08...is that normal to not have a new contract if you don't get tenure?

Well the world is full of characters from Count Sadr so....

Underage sex gets honor student 10 years in prison
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003736459_webteensex0...

It probably took me 20 minutes to find a link to that story. How messed up is that?

wayyy too honest a scholar for the boyz to put up with.

You can be terminated. My cousin is an ass't professor and she finally got her tenure, which is a relief to her. There's benn cuts at her college and she has been on the edge for 3 years now thinking she'd get cut.

You can be terminated. My cousin is an ass't professor and she finally got her tenure, which is a relief to her. There's benn cuts at her college and she has been on the edge for 3 years now thinking she'd get cut.

I only posted once. Two for the price of one.

still worried about the hood kids.

have'nt heard anything back from their most recent runaway.

they call it awol, and they approach it like two buck privates on leave and in trouble.

Did you notice that sometimes the subject line is missing?

doing their best to ignore the situation and have some 'fun'.

somebody left a fat html post upbloggie, no biggie.

how you doin?

Nuremberg Prosecutor: Gitmo "Violates The Nuremberg Principles" »

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

Reuters | Jane Sutton | June 12, 2007 08:52 AM

The U.S. war crimes tribunals at Guantanamo have betrayed the principles of fairness that made the Nazi war crimes trials at Nuremberg a judicial landmark, one of the U.S. Nuremberg prosecutors said on Monday.

"I think Robert Jackson, who's the architect of Nuremberg, would turn over in his grave if he knew what was going on at Guantanamo," Nuremberg prosecutor Henry King Jr. told Reuters in a telephone interview.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N6B384799.htm

Been doing paperwork inbetween posting. Medicare claims and all the signing and mailing of the forms. I hate doing that stuff but thought I'd get it all out of the way today.

Did you send that letter to Chubby yet? I'm mailing another today. Felt a little guilty when he said he only got two in the last month!

When he out again, I'm going to give him a little sh*t for that!!!

thanks for reminding me!

got wrapped up in everything else instead.

one more cuppa and i'm out. banging away on those hilts.

Unregistered.

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 06/12/2007 - 1:48pm.

http://fuckyouimvotingforkucinich.org

-----

It's all a big joke to you, isn't it.

It'll be really funny when a Republican is in the White House in 2008.

What's up in the Sammyworld?! :)

Just waiting on you MMRules. Howya?

20 minutes to get an update on Jarlando Wilson
but tripping upon this is automatic.

Just reading posts here I missed.
What's happening in the country of Texas?
Is it Football season yet?
Too bad it's not. :)
I see you like Randi.Me too.
See can sure put a Repub Moron in his/her
place,when they call the show.
She cracks me up. :)

on your butt MMRules but I'm not really that way so, I'll wimp out of it.

Country of Texas?

Boomers expect to work longer, can't afford to quit

By Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press
WASHINGTON — As baby boomers begin to ease into their 60s, most expect to delay retirement longer than their parents or grandparents.
That's good, because many can't afford to stop working.

Two new reports portray aging boomers as better educated, with higher incomes and longer life expectancies than the generations that preceded them. They also have fewer children and are less likely to be married, leaving them fewer options if they need help in their old age.

"That one child they had will be very valuable," says William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

Frey's report Tuesday says higher rates of divorce and separation could result in greater financial hardship for aging baby boomers. In 1980, about two-thirds of Americans age 55 to 64 lived in married-couple households. That percentage fell to less than 58% in 2005.

Americans had been retiring at ever-younger ages since the growth of private pensions and Social Security began more than 50 years ago. But that trend appears to be reversing.

In 1950, nearly half of men 65 and older were still in the labor force, according to the Census Bureau. That percentage bottomed in the 1980s at less than 16%. It has since edged up to about 19%, and experts believe it will increase as the oldest boomers reach 65.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/retirement/2007-06-12-boomers-studie...

Very clever.
Submitted by dada on Tue, 06/12/2007 - 2:43pm.

...
I didn't see that I wasn't signed in....

It just occured to me to see if that site name was taken...it isn't...

You hadd some good ideas for organizing here...btw...

-alice

i miss Ms Molly!

dam! she'da laffed her ass off over these nebbishes.

welcome to the bloggie.

feel free to post. "ignore the screaming"

Haven't you heard that?Texas is like it's own country sometimes.
Like a express lane for The Death penalty.etc..
Just a joke.
What's Azlan? :)

"Noooo..that was me, dada...& you know I don't think it's a joke"

Sorry about that. Anonymousness can be confusing.

If I had the time or the talent or the resources, It wouldn't be a bad idea to do the "fuckyouimvotingforkucinich dot org," or something similar.

Instead, I guess I'll just have to be a free radical blogger...

http://kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=20556

some scary ones too!

I was just kidding too. Azlan is a group that was used by the some Republicans to scare Americans that brown people from Mexico are trying to take over the country.

Family tree pre-dates the founding of America so considering Texas a country is a modern concept that is insulting (in a joking way) to some.

One of them gave my cat syphillis!

BTW...I'm on another forum right now, arguing with some guy called Kujo from Federal Way, Washington. Isn't that where Chubby Bubba hails from? This guy likes to argue with you kinda like CB does.

tex mex and back to pre history.

real interesting stories there.

recall reading a few posts,

vaguely. millions of peeps out there.

invite em over, the more the merrier.

Will Thompson announce on Leno tonight?

Potential GOP presidential candidate's appearance leaves wags wondering

By Joel Seidman
Producer
NBC News
Updated: 42 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - There is an air of anticipation that GOP presidential contender in waiting, former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson, will have something more substantive to say tonight about his still to be announced run for the White House when he appears on the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno."

When asked about his upcoming appearance on the late night talk show a few weeks ago at a GOP fundraiser in Richmond, Thompson told NBC, "I met him a long time ago, he's a great guy," referring to Leno. No hint about any bombshells expected to be launched on the show tonight.

But four years ago another actor turned politician made headlines with his announcement on the Tonight Show.

Political precedent
Nearly 9 million people tuned in to watch Arnold Schwarzenegger tell Leno, "The man who has failed the people more than anyone is Gray Davis. He has failed them terribly...this is why I'm going to run for governor."

Leno and the aura of the show were prominent as well at Schwarzenegger's victory party when he won the race for governor. "Tonight is a testament to just how important one appearance on the 'Tonight Show' can be," said Leno before introducing the California governor to be at the celebration.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19192351/

Army secretly dumped nerve and mustard gas into the sea
"The Army now admits that it secretly dumped 64 million pounds of nerve and mustard agents into the sea, along with 400,000 chemical-filled bombs, land mines and rockets and more than 500 tons of radioactive waste - either tossed overboard or packed into the holds of scuttled vessels."

http://scienceblogs.com/deepseanews/2007/06/munitions_dumping_at_sea.php

don't know if I should be proud of my Conquistador heritage but it is interesting SJ. The name started out as Cohen but was forced out when the Jews originally fled the Mediterranean two thousand years ago. Once the Spanish Inquisition hit Spain the name was changed. Of the two remaining Cohen's, one fled because he didn't want to be quartered. My mom is from the family that migrated Europe with Cortez. My dad is actually from the other brother's family but many generations removed.

If this sounds retarded I have an explanation.

I can't find the original passage if it was late in the 1400's or real early in the 1500's but by 1575 the lineage is clear. I have a little Aztec in me. I'm proud of that and don't know why either since they have a bad rep.

I find it significant that for about 1000 years my DNA has been carried around the world to finally land in a continent that had no borders only to hear things like "go back to Mexico" today when ignorance has to win a conversation.

Anyway, another meeting beckons.

Camp Lejeune Water Under Scrutiny
Congress Probes Contaminated Water Legacy at Camp Lejeune Marine Base

By KIMBERLY HEFLING Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON Jun 12, 2007 (AP)

Marine families who lived at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina over three decades drank water contaminated with toxins as much as 40 times over today's safety standard, federal health investigators said Tuesday.

The government disclosed results from a new scientific study on the same day that some families testified for Congress about cancers and other illnesses they blame on drinking tainted tap water at the sprawling training and deployment base.

The House Energy and Commerce panel, which held the hearing, described the sickened Marines as "poisoned patriots."

At least 850 former residents of the base have filed administrative claims, seeking nearly $4 billion, for exposure to the industrial solvents TCE and PCE that contaminated Camp Lejeune's drinking wells before 1987.

"My wife and I now have new full-time careers just staying alive and figuring out how to pay for it all," former Navy Dr. Michael Gros of Spring, Texas, said. He was stunned to learn years after his work in the 1980s as an obstetrician and gynecologist at Camp Lejeune that he had a rare non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3268887&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

Former DoJ officials slam Hans von Spakovsky. Tomorrow, the Senate Rules Committee will hold a confirmation hearing on Bush’s FEC nominee Hans von Spakovsky, who formerly was a controversial appointee in the DoJ’s Civil Rights Division. Today, six former Justice Department career professionals wrote a letter urging the committee to reject von Spakovsky:

The matter which best demonstrates Mr. von Spakovsky’s inappropriate behavior was his supervision of the review of a Georgia voter ID law in the summer of 2005. It demonstrates the unprecedented intrusion of partisan political factors into decision-making, the cavalier treatment of established Section 5 precedent of the Voting Section, and the unwarranted and vindictive retaliation against Voting Section personnel who disagreed with him on this matter. […]

We urge you to explore Mr. von Spakovsky’s role in this unfortunate endeavor and refuse to reward him for this dubious stewardship.

Read the full letter from DoJ officials HERE.

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/12/former-doj-officials-slam-fec-nomine...