Denial

picking up on the last thread oscar stuff.

i haven't seen avatar yet so this might not be fair or accurate but it seems to me that the irony of spending 300 million dollars to make a movie about capitalism / imperialism run amok is getting lost.

====

i also thought clooney was good in up in the air, but i suspect the big prize will elude him.

Thanks for keeping the blog going!

but if your talking about being in denial about the state of affairs in the Good ole USA I think it is a protective ,defensive response that most of U.S share.
Tom Hartmann is cashing in on his gold that will get Ya Thinking.

we need weiner and kucinich to hang tough, but sanders' got a point. But but but

i didn't know that insurance companies can sue local governments for establishing single payer systems, did you?

totally fucked up

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/08/kucinich-becomes-target-o_n_490...

With the real possibility that a handful of lawmakers -- or even a single vote -- in the House of Representatives could end up deciding the fate of health care reform, advocates are suddenly targeting the chamber's most progressive holdout.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio.) has firmly staked out his opposition to health care reform's passage, citing the timidity of the legislative language and, specifically, the unwillingness of lawmakers to seriously consider a single payer system.

For months, leadership had assumed his position was unalterable. But with an "all hands on deck" whip operation now in progress, Kucinich is getting a burst of attention.

In a meeting at the White House on Thursday, President Obama directly addressed the congressman's concerns by pointing out that the Senate bill does, in fact, include single-payer language. His reference (which Kucinich wrote down on paper) is a provision in the bill that Sen. Bernie Sander (I-VT) introduced, which would allow states to use federal money to set up a single payer system years down the road.

On Monday, Sanders told the Huffington Post that he had talked to Kucinich about the topic - albeit "a while back."

"He was coming from a slightly different angle on this," Sanders said. "But we did talk to Dennis and I've talked to [Rep.] Anthony Weiner and other" single-payer advocates.

Sanders said his provision is a significant step towards making the bill more to Kucinich's liking, but he didn't sound optimistic that either his personal lobbying or his legislative language would persuade Kucinich in the end. "Dennis looks at the world the way he looks at the world," Sanders said.

Under Sanders's proposal, states would have the option of using the federal funding they receive for health care services (including the new subsidies in the bill) on policies for providing universal care. There are certain restrictions. For starters, a state could only use 90 percent of the federal funds it received, and it could only spend that money on a universal system starting in 2017 - both stipulations of the Congressional Budget Office. Sanders is still working on a reconciliation fix to move the start date forward three years (perhaps by allowing blocs of states to start before others) in addition to increasing the funding threshold. But the goal, he stressed, remains providing a foundation for single-payer to grow in practice and popularity.

"One state is finally going to do it, they are going to do it well, and it will catch on," he said.

Kucinich didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The congressman has previously insisted that the law allowing insurance companies to sue states that adopt single-payer systems must be changed. And on this front, Sanders admits, his provision has a "weakness."

Still, in the days ahead the pitch will be made to the congressman and other skeptical progressives that this bill is far from conservative. On Sunday, Chris Bower at OpenLeft put out a nine-point list of concessions that liberal lawmakers were able to secure from the party's more centrist members. Sanders, likewise, pointed to the money going to prevention and wellness initiatives, as well as the expansion of coverage through community health care centers, as uniquely important progressive achievements.

"Look, I'm not here to tell you this is a great bill," the senator said. "What I will tell you is we fought very hard for some things that don't get a lot of attention but are very important."

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/08/violence-is-not-religiously-...

snip
As my colleague Adam Nossiter reports, hundreds of Nigerians were killed this weekend in ethnic violence near the city of Jos, in central Nigeria’s Plateau State.
In a telephone interview with Britain’s Channel 4 News on Monday, the Rev. Benjamin Kwashi, the Anglican archbishop of Jos, described the attacks on Christian members of Plateau’s leading ethnic group, the Beromas, by Fulani herdsmen, who are Muslims, as “systematic and quite well organized,” and suggested that they were carried out by “people who knew what to do and were trained on how to do it.”

videos in the link

Hartmann's doing what?

This health insurance reform is not a moderate package, unless that refers to only letting a 'moderate' number of Americans plunge into BANKRUPTCY because of out-of-control healthcare costs!!! (Poor people have nothing in the $$$ department left to lose; but those in the middle class do). It is clearly not the "start" of this 'reform'; it is more like an END. No one will touch further reform measures until they prove this one does not work -- so arguments will be made to let the 2013 start-up show it's promised stuff; is that 2016? How many will be crushed under paying The Man his MANDATES, that is, The Man's un-capped MANDATE$.

HANG IN THERE, Kucinich. (I am really disappointed in Bernie Sanders.)

Rahm E. being portrayed as a moderate is ridiculous. He is a HAND-MAIDEN for his own Corporate Class. Moderate shmoderate.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts1223

[excerpt]

...The reliably vulgar enforcer of internal White House discipline gets kudos from centrist commentators as the administration's pragmatic voice of reason-backing a modest approach to health care reform and opposing the White House's botched one-year deadline for the closure of Guantanamo. Rahm's foes on the left, meanwhile, contend that he's single-handedly holding Obama back from pursuing the ambitious progressive agenda he laid out during the presidential campaign. The only thing about him that now seems certain is that drama surrounding him has seeped into the sphere of "No Drama" Obama, and the White House appears to be a house divided....

[end excerpt]

i was only paying half attention but i think he said he was selling out his stock holdings because he is fairly certain a 2nd and much more severe crash is coming.

he also talked about making sure he had some gold coins handy should we end up in some post apocolyptic survivor environment where barter will be the way.

it was on todays 3 pm rebroadcast.

from time to time.

But the survivor environment thing, he hasn't been there for a while, if ever. He does the gold commercials, he says he's got gold, but he's not that explicit usually as far as "survivor environment" that I've heard.

But I didn't hear it at all today...

post something other than a beginning post.
I wish that he would join in more often.
I miss him a lot.

true. those were my words. i believe he used the words "barter economy"

what good would gold be?

dan?

(I am asking you knowing that there may be some explanation and you would be pretty likely to know it if there was.)

The area around Denali National Park has just been opened to wolf hunters and trappers. Last Friday (5 March 2010), the state’s Board of Game voted to erase park’s protective zone, as reported in the Anchorage Daily News, and approved opening the northeast periphery of the Denali National Park and Preserve for wolf trapping.
The 4-3 vote, over vigorous opposition of those who wanted the wolves protected, eliminates the current buffer zone that forbids trapping.
“The state decision is obnoxious,” said Friends of Animals’ president Priscilla Feral. “And it contradicts what the park authorities had asked for. Federal officials had recommended expanding the buffer zone to protect wolves naturally wandering outside the park’s boundaries.”
Feral added, “As long as Alaska officials thumb their noses at common sense and decency, the public should stop supporting the state. We understand this is not easy for businesses, but we need their public declaration in support of the wolves and their advocates! It’s the government that’s condoning the killing of the very animals tourists go up to see.”
Friends of Animals, a group opposed to all hunting and trapping of wolves, pressed to reinstate a 600 sq.-mile east and northeast boundary buffer similar to that established in November 1992. Instead, not only has that area shrunk, but the current Board of Game went so far as to try to control federal lands proposing wolf control inside Denali National Park.

“Don’t support Alaska,” Feral said. “Alaska’s state officials have shown a disgraceful lack of respect for nature and the ecosystem as well as the wolves themselves. Governor Sean Parnell needs to step in and control the humans who are paid by the state.”

Please tell Gov. Parnell you’re boycotting travel to Alaska because of the state’s wolf persecution.

WRITE TO:

Gov. Sean Parnell
P. O. Box 110001
Juneau, AK 99811-0001
Email: sean.parnell@alaska.gov

Telephone: (907) 465-3500

Example message (suitable for 28 cent post cards, letters and e-mail):

Dear Gov. Parnell: I have joined Friends of Animals’ travel boycott; please step in now to stop Alaska from controlling wolves through any and all state permits or proposals — and that includes stripping the buffer zone around Denali National Park.

This week a privileged resolution will be brought to the floor of the House of Representatives to make an attempt to try to get America out of the war in Afghanistan.
This resolution, which I wrote, requires the President to remove the troops within 30 days from the time the resolution is passed and no later than December 31st, 2010.
There are many reasons why we need to get out of Afghanistan; I'll just name a few.
We're spending hundreds of billions of dollars - total waste - because the Afghanistan central government is totally corrupt. We have a thousand troops whose lives have been lost. And many more injured, some of them permanently. Countless individual Afghanistan citizens have been killed or injured as a result of this conflict.
We should take heed from the Russian experience in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is not going to be conquered and we have to understand that the weight of history has been against our efforts from the start.
Now we have to determine whether or not America will take a new direction in Afghanistan. Not to go in deeper with the surge, but to get out. That's what is going to be discussed this week in Washington.
Please, help us. Please, get the word out. Please, contact anyone who you think could be influential in getting members of Congress to pay close attention to this vote. The vote will occur on Wednesday.

Thank you, as always, for your help and for your determination to see a more peaceful world created.

Thank you.
Dennis

http://kucinich.us/afghanistan/

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/08/BA5O1CCCP4.D...

[excerpt]

"Tea Parties will tell conservatives...that they're not alone out there." -- George Buckle, 70, member, Marin County Republican Central Committee

who in the hell can afford gold anyways - I can't.

Limbaugh promises to "leave the country" if his health care passes

Sam, that's too much to contemplate! An HOUR!

It is sort of mafiosa bizarre, but she is not going for the bizarre: Rahm verbally and nakedly physically threatening Massa in the Congressional club shower.

have u seen in your reading travels
anything on "long term anti-depressants
use on the human brain?"
I am going to do some of my own research
I just thought I'd ask u - I like a lot
of your articles that U post. ;-)

me 2 cent - that would b great.
I'd love to see that fat ass leave.

How sad. Post-apocalyptic barter system?!? *facepalm*

BTW, Beck selling "survival seeds" in the wake of having lost 119 sponsors...

"this machine kills fascists"

Nothing really matters...anyone can see...Nothing really matters....

:)

the same one where you can learn how to hook up your dsl if you lost your directions, says this:

(I'm sure most people know already and I'm the idiot questioner...)

I also love how they rate the difficulty as "Moderately Easy." Huh?
________________________________
How to Survive in a Bartering Economy Post-Disaster

By virtuoso
User-Submitted Article
Article Rating: (0 Ratings)

The Great Depression
People can and will survive after a disaster whether it be war, famine, or even another Great Depression. Life may drastically change quickly but with a little knowledge, you can survive and thrive in conditions where essential commodities become currency.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions [:)]

[snip]

Step 3

When hyper-inflation hits, which means our money will be worth very little, using gold to conduct trading for goods and services will likely be the preferred transactional currency. However, gold is quite expensive now and may be difficult to acquire enough to make a difference, but nevertheless, it is wise to have a little on hand. When commerce grinds to a halt, food, medicine, and other survival essentials could be used to trade for gold however. And the great news is that you can use your survival stores.

[...]

http://www.ehow.com/how_5177619_survive-bartering-economy-postdisaster.h...

===
So it assumes that at some level, business is still going to be done on the gold standard? Or that someday it might again?

Anyhow, Sandy, yeah. It only really would help rich people anyway. (To "thrive.") People who can afford to hoard more than maybe one gold coin.

Feel free to impugn my source and guide me towards a better one. But that's where I gotta let it lay for now.

Roller derby benefits food banks

Hundreds attended Sunday as the Charlottesville Derby Dames and other regional roller derby teams kicked of their 2010 season with a scrimmage. Dubbed the "Snow Brawl," the exhibition event used ticket sales, a raffle and donations to support local food banks.
...

http://www.newsleader.com/article/20100308/NEWS01/3080313

If you lived hear...you'd be home buy now.

You can't Google Ruta Lee without reading about Ruta Baga, first.

I think I even remember the can o'food thing happening before. No time right now, but someday I'll go.

Not that it really matters to you...Anyone can see that. :)

I am just waiting to hear any bit...I mean objections about my flier duplicating plan...

I'm glad YOU said it 60th. I was biting my tongue. :}

Apocalypse Applesauce and
Market Meltdown Mayonaise

Available in an undisclosed bunker near you today!

[snip]

Last fall, when the House was debating a better bill than the one Obama and Pelosi are now pushing, Kucinich raised objections that for the most part remain valid.

Reviewing the details of what would become the House version of reform legislation, he asked on the House floor: "Is this the best we can do? Forcing people to buy private health insurance, guaranteeing at least $50 billion in new business for the insurance companies?

Kucinich continued:

Is this the best we can do? Government negotiates rates which will drive up insurance costs, but the government won't negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies which will drive up pharmaceutical costs...

Is this the best we can do? Eliminating the state single payer option, while forcing most people to buy private insurance.

If this is the best we can do? Then our best isn't good enough and we have to ask some hard questions about our political system: such as Health Care or Insurance Care? Government of the people or a government of the corporations.

[snip]

Oh!

Teh!

Humanity!!

et tu, Manatee?

Teh Democratss arre implodinnnggg!

"this machine kills fascists"

Leaning No: Will Kucinich Become The Ralph Nader Of Health Care Reform?

As the health care reform fight enters its final days, most eyes are on about two dozen pro-life and vulnerable Democrats in the House, where the greatest number of votes remain in play. But could the fate of reform actually rest in the hands of a long-serving progressive?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/leaning-no-will-kucinich-beco...

-----
One good way to tell if Alice has left the building...

(Yes, it pisses me off too.)

is selling his sperm - yuck

Hi, smcgee43!

I just wrote a long long thang in reply to your question, and pressed some button unawares and the tab closed and I lost it. I am so depressed now! Ironic!

It will take me awhile to redo it. Sorry. It may be awhile, but I'll get back to your question.

hey, norad & all you conspiracy freaks
Submitted by air-ono on Sun, 03/07/2010 - 11:48pm.

do you know about this...
The strategy of tension (Italian: strategia della tensione) is a theory that describes how world powers divide, manipulate, and control public opinion using fear, propaganda, disinformation, psychological warfare, agents provocateurs, and false flag terrorist actions.

Find a scary "ism" that resonates with the masses perfectly and just keeping on tapping that "ism" until your opposition is nothing more than a collapsed mass of quivering 'Harry Reids.' Applying Telsa's principle of resonant frequency to politics has proven much easier than hard science-- until now. The rash of so-called "earthquakes" we are now experiencing is compelling evidence that our military has finally harnessed the limitless power of the "resonant generator"

Red State I gotta be at anyway, but Rush...

That should be consensual only!!

(I'll try not to reread that sentence ever again and maybe I won't be sick.)

Why Chile? (nb: Question not original with me but I'm interested too in any theories.)

Nothing
Submitted by Alice on Mon, 03/08/2010 - 6:55pm.

Hey, we're getting a derby team here in Traverse.

is going off the air on your local PBS station's
if anyone watches it. I watch it & it's a great
1/2 hour of international news, stuff that u don't
get on your local stations or "Nightly News" crap.
They can't get enough funding ...... I say what the
fuck. Does NOT George Soros have a shit load of
cash?????? I mean, it shows what the hell is really
going on in the world. NOT what CORPORATE MEDIA WANTS
YOU to SEE. Calling George Soros ......... where r u??

take your time - I appreciate you responding.
I'm here all night - ain't going no where.

Oh my EEG was NORMAL
so now if anyone says I'm not ..... u can .....
well u know.....what i mean

I have stepped to get my 500 cosmic orange and my 500 re-entry red.

And I really shouldn't bbl, but I might.

in the event of collapse, what do you convert it to? Wheat?

Cant eat diamonds....

So are you feeling better? If not, what's the next step to try to figure it out?

It only really would help rich people anyway.

SFG!

(safe for glory) :)

I loves me some wingnut catfights

comments are delshiousszzz!

"this machine kills fascists"

I haven't felt like this in awhile.
But it's hit or miss - it's usually
a hit, when I say that I mean I feel
like shit usually. I think I have a
mystery illness - they have some vague
idea's but they r not 100%.
Next is a Dr. @ Northwestern ~ downtown
Chicago
tanks 4 asking gloryoski

Pinochet suffered a heart attack on the morning of December 3, 2006, and subsequently the same day he was given the last rites. On December 4, 2006, the Chilean Court of Appeals ordered the release of his house arrest.

Massive spontaneous street demonstrations broke out throughout the country upon the learning of his death. In Santiago, opponents celebrated at the Alameda avenue, while supporters grieved outside the Military Hospital. Pinochet's remains were publicly exhibited on December 11, 2006 at the Military Academy in Las Condes. During this ceremony, the grandson of Carlos Prats, a former Commander in Chief of the Army in Allende's Government, murdered by Pinochet's secret police, spat on the coffin, and was quickly surrounded by supporters of Pinochet, who kicked and insulted him.

In a government decision, he was not granted a state funeral, an honor bestowed upon constitutionally elected Chilean presidents,...

control premiums?

I keep hearing Obama claim it is going to stop runaway cost...

How?

***

heh - What Kucinich just said...

cent, really now I'm surprized @ u
booze & weed silly. u know better
than that.

From Barrons...

Washington Post Scooped

scroll down about halfway to Post article...fuck it, I'll just put the whole thing here (bold emphasis is what intrigues me)

"THE WASHINGTON POST COVERS government agencies as closely as any daily newspaper. Yet an investor would have had to scroll through the Washington Post Co.'s (WPO) 10-K filing last week to see news of a Department of Education inquiry into its important education unit.

Most intriguing in the 10-K is the passing (and first) mention that the Education Department has been conducting a "Program Review" of Kaplan University's main offices in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., since September. The Post business desk seemed not to notice any of this, but Post investors might want to."

"this machine kills fascists"

hahaha...didn't you know sandy, out here in da hills, we grow and brew our own... ;)

Canadian MPs put seal meat on parliament's menu in rebuff to EU

Seal meat banned by the EU will be served to Canadian MPs in Ottawa to show public backing for the country's annual seal hunt

Canadian MPs will be served seal meat this week in support of hunters fighting an EU ban on products from the animals.

A Liberal MP, Celine Hervieux-Payette, said Wednesday's seal meat menu in the parliamentary restaurant would allow politicians to show their backing for the annual hunt.

"All political parties will have the opportunity to demonstrate to the international community the solidarity of the Canadian parliament behind those who earn a living from the seal hunt," she said.

The EU ban on seal imports was imposed last July on the grounds that Canada's annual hunt was cruel.

The east coast seal hunt, the largest in the world, kills about 275,000 harp seals between mid-November and mid-May. The seals are either shot or hit over the head with a spiked club called a hakapik.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/08/sealmeat-canada-ottawa

not sure. i'm not a goldbug. but i keep hearing that people think gold has some intrinsic value. personally i would go with gas, grass, and (damn its a bitch getting old)

The Justice Department said Monday it will require the biggest voting machine company in the country to sell off key assets following a merger that left the firm in control of more than 70 percent of U.S. voting equipment systems.

The federal government and nine state attorneys general filed a lawsuit Monday saying the combination last September of Election Systems & Software and its biggest competitor harms competition.

Under a proposed settlement, ES&S would sell voting equipment system assets it bought from Premier Elections Solutions Inc., a subsidiary of Diebold Inc. The proposed settlement, to which both sides have agreed, must be approved by a federal judge before it becomes final.

The assets include the means to produce all versions of Premier's hardware and software that record, tabulate, transmit or report votes.

Before the merger, ES&S, headquartered in Omaha, Neb., had systems installed in 41 states and collected $149.4 million in 2008, the Justice Department said. Premier, as the second-largest voting machine company, had equipment installed in 33 states and had $88.3 million in revenue in 1988.

?????

"The proposed settlement will restore competition, provide a greater range of choices and create incentives to provide secure, accurate and reliable voting equipment systems, said Molly S. Boast, deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's antitrust division."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8980196

it kinda sucks.

Wondered this from time single payer was abandoned. I guess it's magical inverse supply and demand. You add 30 mil. more customers, and offer federal stipends to the needy, and magically the demand for health insurance diminishes.

At 6:30pmMST Charlotte Dennett author of The People v. Bush: One Lawyer’s Campaign to Bring the President to Justice and the Nationwide Grassroots Movement She’s Encountered Along the Way ~
Charlotte Dennett, in this book, is trying to awaken the conscience of the nation. She wants us to recognize not just that our government at the highest level — the president and the people around him — have committed war crimes, but that they should be prosecuted as we prosecute ordinary criminals.

She has been carrying this campaign forward with extraordinary persistence and courage, organizing people in her state of Vermont, demonstrating that grass roots action can be powerful.
Her book is a clarion call for the people to confront the crimes of government, for democracy to come alive.
– Howard Zinn, best-selling author of A People’s History of the United States

http://www.thejefffariasshow.com/

Mar 8, 1917:
February Revolution begins

By 1917, most Russians had lost faith in the leadership ability of the czarist regime. Government corruption was rampant, the Russian economy remained backward, and Nicholas repeatedly dissolved the Duma, the Russian parliament established after the Revolution of 1905, when it opposed his will. However, the immediate cause of the February Revolution--the first phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917--was Russia's disastrous involvement in World War I. Militarily, imperial Russia was no match for industrialized Germany, and Russian casualties were greater than those sustained by any nation in any previous war. Meanwhile, the economy was hopelessly disrupted by the costly war effort, and moderates joined Russian radical elements in calling for the overthrow of the czar.

On March 8, 1917, demonstrators clamoring for bread took to the streets in the Russian capital of Petrograd (now known as St. Petersburg). Supported by 90,000 men and women on strike, the protesters clashed with police but refused to leave the streets. On March 10, the strike spread among all of Petrograd's workers, and irate mobs of workers destroyed police stations. Several factories elected deputies to the Petrograd Soviet, or "council," of workers' committees, following the model devised during the Revolution of 1905.

On March 11, the troops of the Petrograd army garrison were called out to quell the uprising. In some encounters, regiments opened fire, killing demonstrators, but the protesters kept to the streets, and the troops began to waver. That day, Nicholas again dissolved the Duma. On March 12, the revolution triumphed when regiment after regiment of the Petrograd garrison defected...
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

Published on Monday, March 8, 2010 by TruthDig.com
Calling All Rebels

by Chris Hedges

There are no constraints left to halt America's slide into a totalitarian capitalism. Electoral politics are a sham. The media have been debased and defanged by corporate owners. The working class has been impoverished and is now being plunged into profound despair. The legal system has been corrupted to serve corporate interests. Popular institutions, from labor unions to political parties, have been destroyed or emasculated by corporate power. And any form of protest, no matter how tepid, is blocked by an internal security apparatus that is starting to rival that of the East German secret police. The mounting anger and hatred, coursing through the bloodstream of the body politic, make violence and counter-violence inevitable. Brace yourself. The American empire is over. And the descent is going to be horrifying.

Those singled out as internal enemies will include people of color, immigrants, gays, intellectuals, feminists, Jews, Muslims, union leaders and those defined as "liberals."...
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/03/08-2

Published on Sunday, March 7, 2010 by CommonDreams.org
Time for a U.S. Revolution – Fifteen Reasons

by Bill Quigley
It is time for a revolution. Government does not work for regular people. It appears to work quite well for big corporations, banks, insurance companies, military contractors, lobbyists, and for the rich and powerful. But it does not work for people.

The 1776 Declaration of Independence stated that when a long train of abuses by those in power evidence a design to reduce the rights of people to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it is the peoples right, in fact their duty to engage in a revolution....
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/03/07-7

"unrest" though.

And I was reading earlier (still can't find) that this would delay the economic austerity measures Pinera was going to implement. (Thus earthquake would be anti-shock, in that sense. Still looking for that article. Saw about a week ago.)

However, there is this...

Chile's Pinera: Military To Remain In Earthquake-Ravaged Areas

SANTIAGO (Dow Jones)--The troops outgoing Chilean President Michelle Bachelet sent to restore the peace in earthquake-ravaged cities such as Concepcion will remain in place, President-elect Sebastian Pinera said Monday.

Following one of the worst earthquakes on record, which hit early Feb. 27, Bachelet send over 10,000 troops to the devastated areas, some of which saw looting in the days after the temblor.

"The government will leave troops deployed to guarantee that public order, but the military's job should go beyond that, as in essence it's an institution that has the tools and instruments need to deal with catastrophes," Pinera told ADN Radio.

The president-elect, the first democratically elected conservative in 52 years, takes office Thursday.

His chief of staff, Cristian Larroulet, who also serves in the cabinet as liaison with the legislative branch, said the government plans to send an emergency reconstruction bill to Congress.

"We'll...send an emergency reconstruction bill to congress to facilitate donations and other things we hadn't thought about and we've worked arduously these past few days on what the country needs," Larroulet told Radio Agricultura.

[...]
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100308-706904.html?mod=WSJ_World_M...
------

Or was that merely a Pat Robertson reference?

I dunno...maybe someone should read the bill :)

Last I remember crazy rate hikers would be excluded from exchanges and there was something else about companies being required to spend a high percentage (80% or 90% or something) on health care vs. profits or they'd have to give back the money as rebates or something.

I'll see what I can find...

"this machine kills fascists"

to contribute to the perception that nothing is under control.

(Not to mention Fox just loves words like _rampage_.)

(When was the last time you heard?}
----
Chile Quake Rampage « Liveshots

Yohan Vassquez admits he is "lucky to be alive."

For the last three years he has worked as a guard at a prison in the Chillian city of Chillan. Nothing could have prepared him for what happened the morning of the 8.8 mega quake.

Vassquez says he and the other 19 guards on duty were asleep when the tremor hit at 3:30 AM. Soon after awakened by the quake he discovered the inmates were on a rampage.

Cell doors had been jostled loose by the quake. Hundreds of the 760 inmates housed at the facility were free to roam the prison compound.. among them rapists and murderers held in maximum security.

According to Vassquez, although equipped with 9 millimeter revolvers, guards could not use the weapon unless an inmate was no longer on prison grounds. Instead, he says guards could only use a wooden baton or a shotgun loaded with non lethal rubber coated pellets.

The inmates, some armed with makeshift five foot spears, made it to the recreation yard. Three of the guard towers had collapsed along with large chunks of the perimeter wall.

Overwhelimg the guards, the prioners scalled a small wire fence and made it to freedom. After looting a nearby liquor store they burned it to the ground. Intoxicated by drink and freedom they returned to the prison releasing prisoners still behind bars.

[...]

http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/03/08/chile-quake-rampage/?test=...

BREAKING: Some Bullshit Happening Somewhere

"this machine kills fascists"

problem...

but mainly I'm just in this for the /snark.

(Last Chile M$M /snark, promise.)
---------------------
Ex-Goldman Banker Rues ‘Cinderella’ Wine Valley Razed By Quake

March 08, 2010, 6:04 PM EST
By Matt Craze and Rodrigo Orihuela

March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Chile’s strongest earthquake in 50 years may bankrupt smaller winemakers after vines collapsed, casks broke apart and millions of liters were spilled, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker-turned-winemaker said.

The O. Fournier winery, located in the south-central Maule Valley region about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the quake’s epicenter, lost 35 feet (10.7 meters) of vines to the Loncomilla River, owner Jose Manuel Ortega said. While O. Fournier is set to recover and the industry “will bounce back quickly,” Ortega said, some wineries are likely to fold as the quake’s damage compounds a slump in sales caused by the global economic crisis.

“One-hundred and fifty years of history and it’s gone,” Ortega said March 5 as he surveyed the ruins of the main house on the Valley’s Gillmore estate...

[snip]

Unlike most Maule Valley producers, Ortega says he uses centuries-old vines instead of planting new ones. Partly because of this, he calls his farms there “My Cinderella Valley.”

“We moved those grapes that everyone thought was the cleaning lady, and turned them into a princess,” he said.

[...]
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-08/ex-goldman-banker-rues-cinde...

Diminishing Returns.

The next step is that you will have anarchy.

It's coming along with that second bubble they are building now that will be bursting in a year or two.

toniD's Ya Think?

loss ratio.

RJ said something about it, I think.

(I'll see what I can find...)

....and Charles J. over at LGF (against his will) agrees with Beck!

Whatta day! :) Loves me some "bizarro days"

"this machine kills fascists"

More On Enforcing The Medical Loss Ratio

http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/12/28/more-on-enforcing-the-medical-los...

Last week I wrote about the medical loss ratio and wondered who would enforce it. It’s part of a broader issue about enforcement, given that the health care bill has settled on a regulatory reform model instead of a public insurance model.

I asked Sen. Al Franken’s office for some guidance on this. Sen. Franken was the leading voice in getting the 85/80% medical loss ratio into the Senate bill, and has used the provision as an example of the positive aspects of the reform package. Here’s how they responded:

I just spoke to our MLR expert before she caught her plane home to MN and she explained that part of the benefit of having a federal law is to have a uniform definition and calculation for these measures. Making this law at the federal level gives us the ability to have better oversight. She and Senator Franken will actively monitor the regulatory process for implementation of the MLR provisions to minimize the risk of gaming. Furthermore, Senator Franken sits on the HELP Committee, which oversees the laws related to the private insurance markets including MLR.

This is another example of the importance of the implementation stage. Congress has chosen not to make a lot of the specific rules governing their broad regulations, so the Health and Human Services Department and the state insurance regulators and a few other agencies will spend the next several years determining just what the bill means for the industry, who will enforce the law, et al. There are states with MLR guidelines which the federal government can look to as a model, but HHS better have a provision to double their budget in the implementation phase. There are many really important issues – regulatory guidelines, minimum benefit packages, some of the abortion provisions, cost-sharing exemptions – where the Department will have a lot of control over how the reform looks. And you have to be pretty optimistic about this and other future HHS Departments to invest it with so much power.

Franken’s in the HELP Committee gives him an oversight role, but it’s not entirely possible for Congressmembers to involve themselves in day-to-day regulatory oversight. They need to be sure their processes can work on their own. To that end, I asked RJ Eskow, a blogger who previously worked for several years in the insurance industry, to assess the Franken response. “It’s not a bad response, but I just sat down and figured out five ways the insurance companies could game it. It only took a few minutes.”

Eskow described a number of ways that the industry could overcome the rules. He discussed a figure called “IBNR” – incurred but not reported medical losses. These numbers have some flexibility built into them. If the “unreported” medical losses are increased, the total amount spent on medical care would look bigger than the reality. Costs could shift across fiscal years as well, with more pushed into one year to make it look like the 85% number has been hit. Also, Eskow said, “They can – and probably will – reclassify some administrative expenses as ‘medical,’ rather than ‘non-medical.’ I’ve seen insurance companies do this in workers’ compensation. They’ll classify their own doctors, nurses, and medical paraprofessionals on staff as part of the medical expenditure in order to make their numbers look different and game the results.”

Eskow said he only thought about this for a few minutes before coming up with some strategies. Insurance companies will have paid staff looking for several years to surmount regulations like the medical loss ratio requirements. That doesn’t mean that a vigilant regulator and strong oversight cannot push back and enforce their own rules – but since we don’t even know what those rules are yet, it’s worth questioning.

Finally and perhaps most perversely, the MLR requirements could lead to higher medical costs throughout the system, or at least push the incentives in that direction. “The easiest way to maximize profit under an 85% rule would be to increase medical payouts,” Eskow said. “That’s obvious, right? If you can keep 15 cents in profit for every 85 cents spent on medical expenditure, spend more on medical. There are easy ways to do that — one is to increase reimbursements to doctors. Another is to negotiate higher rates with key hospitals. Would they do that? I don’t know. Logic would say no, since premiums would go up and they would become less competitive. But it’s certainly not impossible. And, even in the best case, they’re certainly not being given an incentive to keep costs down.”

It’s important to scrutinize this closely because it has been held up as one of the most crucial reforms in the entire Senate bill. And yet the drafting, enforcement and oversight have not yet been clarified. And clearly, insurance companies will have the potential to devise strategies that will not ensure a certain amount of premium dollars get spent on medical care, given their fiduciary responsibility to shareholders to maximize profit.

---------------
This is the whole thing but some links in the text I am not bothering with bringing over.

The concept of diminishing returns can be traced back to the concerns of early economists such as Johann Heinrich von Thünen, Turgot, Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo. However, classical economist such as Malthus and Ricardo attributed the successive diminishment of output to the decreasing quality of the inputs. Neoclassical economists assume that each "unit" of labor is identical = perfectly homogeneous. Diminishing returns are due to the disruption of the entire productive process as additional units of labor are added to a fixed amount of capital.

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

We've outsourced so many jobs, we don't have enough here to employ people, plus the computer and internet and other things have lessened the amount of people needed for a job.
Service industries are suffering because of the recession and prices are rising which may cause a deflation as opposed to an inflation because of the amount of people out of work.

All this is my humble opinion.

toniD's Ya Think?

If we have anarchy Alice will make us all work in the library! For free!

;-)

Keep the thought below in your thoughts tonight

It's always darkest before dawn.

HeeHeeHee - I spent the evening over at Atlas Shrugs singing Kumbaya. They love me over there. I'm switchin' sides! (Actually, I posted and ran like hell, but for the most part they seemed OK. I say they are split on Beck and FOX News but that's a good sign. Their media is crapping on them like the M$M did to us. There's a lesson in here somewhere but you'll have to figger it out. Me and the dogs are off to nodsville.)

Palin says her family went to Canada for health care when she was young Updated at 1:01 PM

Source: WP

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, a fierce opponent of Democratic health-care reform efforts who has said America under President Obama is headed toward socialism, told a Canadian audience in her family used to go to Canada to get medical care when she was growing up.

"We used to hustle over the border for health care we received in Canada," Palin said a speech Saturday night, according to a report in Medicine Hat News of Medicine Hat, Alberta. "And I think now, isn't that ironic."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/03/palin-says-she-used-canadian...

toniD's Ya Think?

Intranational Intrigue!

The Plan:

"All,

Please do not post this call in information anywhere publicly -- on a blog for instance. Also, please do not share the call in number without touching base with me. The trolls on the Left on Twitter and elsewhere are actively trying to infiltrate this call."

The Breach:

"But oops, guess what? My source got on the call, the very call that was all about what the Tea Tantrumers are planning.

Yes, that's right, they will be using those videos to "get the truth out". And by truth, they mean their version of events, I'm sure. Maybe it's the same kind of truth James O'Keefe wanted to get out. If so, it will be the edited truth."

"this machine kills fascists"

I had no idea they were this close to proving election fraud 2004...

"Ohio’s secretary of state in 2004 was a fiercely partisan Christian named Ken Blackwell. Blackwell had hired a company called GDC Limited to run the IT systems, which had subcontracted the job to Michael Connell’s company, GovTech. Connell had in turn sub-contracted SMARTech, an IT firm based in Chattanooga, to act, it was claimed, as a backup server.

“By looking at the URLs on the Web site, we discovered that there were three points on election night when SMARTech’s computers took over from the secretary of state,” says Arnebeck. “It is during that period that we believe votes were manipulated.”

In computer jargon it is known as a man-in-the-middle attack.

“At the time I didn’t know who SMARTech were,” says IT expert Stephen Spoonamore, opening a file on his computer showing the Internet architecture map of the 2004 Ohio election. He points to a red box in the bottom right-hand corner showing SMARTech’s server.

“Then I found out: They host Rove’s e-mails. They host the RNC’s Web site. They host George Bush’s Web site.” His voice rises in disbelief.

“I go, ‘Holy shit, this is a man-in-the-middle attack! These guys have programmed the state’s computers to talk to a company with ties 
to the Republican Party.’ It’s brilliant.”

With his wiry hair and designer glasses, Spoonamore looks like a character in a Tim Burton movie. A lifelong Republican, he is also one of the world’s acknowledged experts on cybersecurity, with a résumé that includes work for the U.S. armed forces and the FBI. In his spare time he has devoted thousands of hours to investigating cyberfraud in American elections. “I know I sound crazy when I talk about this stuff. No one wants to believe it. They say, ‘No one would steal an elec--tion.’ And I go, ‘Yeah, they would. And that’s exactly what they did.’ ”...

Just six weeks before his death, Connell had given a deposition in an Ohio lawsuit that accused Rove, Bush, and Co. of something far more serious than merely scrubbing e-mails: the theft of the 2004 Ohio vote. “This is the biggest scandal in our history,” says Mark Crispin Miller, a professor at New York University who has written extensively about electronic voter fraud. “Watergate grew out of a paranoid attempt to disable the opposition. But Ohio was exponentially different. We’re talking about a systematic, centralized attempt to rig the voting system.”

“We decided to try to bring a racketeering claim against Rove under Ohio law,” says Cliff Arnebeck, the attorney who brought the suit, a broad-shouldered man with a Senatorial air dressed in a blue blazer. “We detected a pattern of criminal activity, and we identified Connell as a key witness, as the implementer for Rove.”...

Ultimately, only a full criminal investigation can determine the truth about Ohio ’04 and the death of Michael Connell. Robert Kennedy Jr., who sought Connell’s cooperation during an investigation into the election, believes the current administration should pursue the matter. “I think this is more serious than Watergate,” he says. “Watergate was essentially about winning the battle for public opinion. That’s why the break-in took place—to gather strategic information about Democratic strategy and dirt. But the electoral process remained intact. The Ohio vote undermines the very foundation stone of American democracy. There should be an official investigation. Otherwise this becomes a blueprint for how to steal an election from here to eternity.”

REALLY interesting article!

http://www.maxim.com/humor/stupid-fun/86265/mysterious-death-bushs-cyber...

And here's the DU link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&fo...

toniD's Ya Think?

Court to rule in military funeral protest case(Phelps & Westboro)

Source: Washington Post

The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will review whether the anti-gay protests at funerals of American soldiers are protected by the First Amendment.

The case is brought by a Maryland father whose son's 2006 funeral was picketed by members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan. Westboro pastor Fred Phelps contends that the deaths of American soldiers are punishment for the nation's tolerance for homosexuality.

Phelps and members of his church -- which consists primarily of his family members -- have picketed at funerals across the country, carrying signs that read "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "Semper fi fags."

A jury in Baltimore awarded Albert Snyder more than $10 million in damages, an amount later cut in half and then thrown out by U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond.

The three-judge panel said the signs could not be reasonably understood to be referring directly to Snyder and his son, Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder. And the court said that as distasteful as it might find Phelps's rhetoric, it was protected as speech about issues in the national debate.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/08/AR201003...

toniD's Ya Think?

Brazil Raises Tariffs on U.S. Goods, to Break Patents (Update3)

By Iuri Dantas and Mark Drajem

March 8 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil will raise tariffs on 102 U.S. exports, including wheat, cars, boats and chewing gum, and break patents worth $238 million in a bid to force the U.S. to end subsidies to cotton producers.

Acting on a World Trade Organization ruling, Brazil will impose levies of 14 percent to 100 percent, according to a list published in the government’s Official Gazette. The sanctions, which take effect in 30 days, represent $591 million in trade with wheat goods the largest target, Carlos Marcio Cosendey, head of Foreign Ministry’s economic department told reporters.

The government of President Luiz Inancio Lula da Silva plans to take additional steps and break U.S. patents as part of the $829 million retaliatory measures, Cosendey said. The ministry will publish a draft for public consultation of sanctions over intellectual property March 23, he said.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-08/brazil-raises-tariffs-on-u-s...

toniD's Ya Think?

Tobacco lobby underwriting part of the conservative anti-tax rally tomorrow in Georgia. Updated at 10:05 PM

Source: Think Progress

Tobacco lobby underwriting part of the conservative anti-tax rally tomorrow in Georgia.

Tomorrow, conservative groups Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and Americans for Tax Reform are organizing a rally at the Georgia State Capitol to protest the state’s upcoming budget. The protest, like many recent anti-tax protests, is cloaked in an ideological veneer of fiscal conservatism and limited government. The invitation presents the rally, where Grover Norquist is speaking, as an opportunity to “cut spending and encourage economic growth.” But the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Jim Galloway notes that the fine print at the bottom of the invitation e-mail says the list serv was paid for “by Altria Clint Services on behalf of Philip Morris USA”:

Notably, part of the new budget is a proposal to levy a dollar-a-pack cigarette tax. Both groups involved in the protest have a long history of astroturfing for corporations to build popular support for their policies. AFP is led by Tim Phillips, a longtime astroturf lobbyist who has used evangelical and conservative groups to lobby on behalf of corporations like Enron and the gambling industry. AFP was founded and continues to be funded by oil billionaire David Koch, who has aggressively used his group to oppose clean energy reforms that might cut into his business.

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/08/afp-norquist-tobacco

toniD's Ya Think?

Sorry to hear you still feel shitty most of the time. Good luck with the next doc.

Voters Still Prefer Obama to Bush
In case you were wondering, a new Zogby/Newsmax poll shows President Obama would beat George W. Bush in a hypothetical match up, 48% to 38%.

Said Zogby: "Despite the turbulent crises that face Barack Obama and the sense of dashed expectations that Americans, especially independents and moderates, feel, he still handily defeats George W. Bush in a face-off."

http://newsmax.com/Newsfront/poll-clinton-obama-bush/2010/03/07/id/35188...

toniD's Ya Think?

http://www.samsedershow.com/node/5669#comment-399300

Just heard a news clip of Obama campaigning for the Senate Health Insurance Reform bill -- and he sounded like he did during the campaign -- like this thing will bring the change we can believe in.

is what I was thinkin' today when I was listening.

Submitted by toniD on Mon, 03/08/2010 - 10:54pm.
Voters Still Prefer Obama to Bush
In case you were wondering, a new Zogby/Newsmax poll shows President Obama would beat George W. Bush in a hypothetical match up, 48% to 38%.

---
My Yoo face is already heinously under-pixelated cause I've got no color cartridge and that was just gratuitous...

How To Achieve Single-Payer Health Care

"Jon Walker at FireDogLake notes that there’s a section in the Senate health care bill called 'Waiver for State Innovation.'

…that will allow states to opt out of the current reform structure if they can provide the same level of care for the same amount or cheaper with a different plan. Given how poorly designed the Senate bill is, that shouldn’t be hard on a policy level. In theory, this could allow for state-based single payer plans, and reconciliation could deal with two major problems with the provision."

"this machine kills fascists"

Tom Hartmann is cashing in on his gold that will get Ya Thinking.
=============
Has this been resolved? My hunch is that He was merely doing his coin peddling routine. He does have a fundamentalist capitalist side to him. He is all about markets. So he was probably riffing on that and through in the gold coins for emphasis.

I'm not even saying that's wrong, constitutionally, but at the same time it's circular reasoning.

This particular flavor and extremity of batshit "issues" about the gay (etc) is only "in the national debate" because this cult put it there.

Do you remember when you first heard about it? Did you have to be told two or three times what was the insane connection they were making? Or is that just me being thick again?

Try to think about when it wasn't "normal."

But overall I think they're right, dammit. As long as that strict standard gets applied to everybody's free speech, which it certainly ain't.

Prez Obama said the insurance companies were abusive. Then why try to strike a deal with the unethical insurance companies, a deal to preserve their death-filled profiteering?

Sheesh.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/20-9

My friend says the main reason there is so much OBVIOUS bigotry against gays is that all the bigots have left is to openly bash is gays.

Sounds possible.

Too many laws now exist to protect their other targets -- women and blacks, etc. -- so they have to do their other bigotry at these other targets in more hidden ways. Plus, they've created this phony "the Bible says we are righteous when weare bigots against gays" stuff, too. If we don't use laws to shut down their gay-hate bigotry, pretty soon the bigots will be emboldened to reinterpret more Bible passages Dominionist-style to justify bigotry based on gender, race and religion.

it!

And look you can help name them!

...
HELP NAME THE TEAM!

The team is holding a contest in regards to a name for the organization. The community is urged to participate by sending their entry to tcrdname@gmail.com or by visiting a Cuppa Joe location (more locations to be listed soon). The contest ends on March 12. The winner and new name will be announced at the team’s launch party on Saturday, March 13 at 7 PM inside Right Brain Brewery.
...

http://www.mynorth.com/My-North/February-2010/Traverse-City-039s-New-Rol...

xoxox

Very cool. Thank you.

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/03/06/1793941/waste-mail-is-part-of-risin...

[excerpt]

2010 census, which is costing taxpayers $15 billion — and rising.

That’s $48 per person counted, compared with $16 in 2000 (about $20 adjusted for inflation) and about a penny in 1790 (or 24 cents after 220 years of inflation).

In March 2008, federal auditors designated this year’s census a “high-risk area” of federal spending. Among the reasons: weak management of Census Bureau purchases, including computers and software, and inaccurate cost estimates.

Adding to that expense, The Kansas City Star found, are 28 million Census mailings that bureau officials and the U.S. Postal Service have agreed will simply be thrown away.

That’s right. Of the 425 million pieces of mail that began going out last month, up to 28 million pieces, or about 7 percent, will end up in the nation’s recycling bins.

“That is waste at its worst, and we could have avoided it,” said U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican who sleeps on a cot in his office to save money.

Census spokesman Stan Rolark agreed that as many as 28 million letters could be tossed, but said the mailings were needed to ensure that the census reached as many respondents as possible. He had no estimate of the cost.

[end excerpt]

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/03/06/1793941/waste-mail-is-part-of-risin...

Africa's arable lands being dominated by foreign dollars, shipping food and biofuels abroad while Africans go hungry....(Some of our bail-out billions involved perhaps? Bankster oligarchs love to invest in exploitation.)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/07/food-water-africa-land...

[excerpt]

An Observer investigation reveals how rich countries faced by a global food shortage now farm an area double the size of the UK to guarantee supplies for their citizens

...

The farm manager shows us millions of tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables being grown in 500m rows in computer controlled conditions. Spanish engineers are building the steel structure, Dutch technology minimises water use from two bore-holes and 1,000 women pick and pack 50 tonnes of food a day. Within 24 hours, it has been driven 200 miles to Addis Ababa and flown 1,000 miles to the shops and restaurants of Dubai, Jeddah and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Ethiopia is one of the hungriest countries in the world with more than 13 million people needing food aid, but paradoxically the government is offering at least 3m hectares of its most fertile land to rich countries and some of the world's most wealthy individuals to export food for their own populations.

The 1,000 hectares of land which contain the Awassa greenhouses are leased for 99 years to a Saudi billionaire businessman, Ethiopian-born Sheikh Mohammed al-Amoudi, one of the 50 richest men in the world. His Saudi Star company plans to spend up to $2bn acquiring and developing 500,000 hectares of land in Ethiopia in the next few years. So far, it has bought four farms and is already growing wheat, rice, vegetables and flowers for the Saudi market. It expects eventually to employ more than 10,000 people.

But Ethiopia is only one of 20 or more African countries where land is being bought or leased for intensive agriculture on an immense scale in what may be the greatest change of ownership since the colonial era.

An Observer investigation estimates that up to 50m hectares of land – an area more than double the size of the UK – has been acquired in the last few years or is in the process of being negotiated by governments and wealthy investors working with state subsidies. The data used was collected by Grain, the International Institute for Environment and Development, the International Land Coalition, ActionAid and other non-governmental groups.

The land rush, which is still accelerating, has been triggered by the worldwide food shortages which followed the sharp oil price rises in 2008, growing water shortages and the European Union's insistence that 10% of all transport fuel must come from plant-based biofuels by 2015.

In many areas the deals have led to evictions, civil unrest and complaints of "land grabbing".

The experience of Nyikaw Ochalla, an indigenous Anuak from the Gambella region of Ethiopia now living in Britain but who is in regular contact with farmers in his region, is typical. He said: "All of the land in the Gambella region is utilised. Each community has and looks after its own territory and the rivers and farmlands within it. It is a myth propagated by the government and investors to say that there is waste land or land that is not utilised in Gambella.

"The foreign companies are arriving in large numbers, depriving people of land they have used for centuries. There is no consultation with the indigenous population. The deals are done secretly. The only thing the local people see is people coming with lots of tractors to invade their lands.

"All the land round my family village of Illia has been taken over and is being cleared. People now have to work for an Indian company. Their land has been compulsorily taken and they have been given no compensation. People cannot believe what is happening. Thousands of people will be affected and people will go hungry."

It is not known if the acquisitions will improve or worsen food security in Africa, or if they will stimulate separatist conflicts, but a major World Bank report due to be published this month is expected to warn of both the potential benefits and the immense dangers they represent to people and nature.

Leading the rush are international agribusinesses, investment banks, hedge funds, commodity traders, sovereign wealth funds as well as UK pension funds, foundations and individuals attracted by some of the world's cheapest land.

...

Some of the African deals lined up are eye-wateringly large: China has signed a contract with the Democratic Republic of Congo to grow 2.8m hectares of palm oil for biofuels. Before it fell apart after riots, a proposed 1.2m hectares deal between Madagascar and the South Korean company Daewoo would have included nearly half of the country's arable land.

Land to grow biofuel crops is also in demand. "European biofuel companies have acquired or requested about 3.9m hectares in Africa. This has led to displacement of people, lack of consultation and compensation, broken promises about wages and job opportunities," said Tim Rice, author of an ActionAid report which estimates that the EU needs to grow crops on 17.5m hectares, well over half the size of Italy, if it is to meet its 10% biofuel target by 2015.

"The biofuel land grab in Africa is already displacing farmers and food production. The number of people going hungry will increase," he said. British firms have secured tracts of land in Angola, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nigeria and Tanzania to grow flowers and vegetables.

Indian companies, backed by government loans, have bought or leased hundreds of thousands of hectares in Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Senegal and Mozambique, where they are growing rice, sugar cane, maize and lentils to feed their domestic market.

[end excerpt]

no. the context was that a 2nd crash of the markets is coming. he stated that he is lousy at market timing and that he does investments in a 2 to 10 year time frame. his thought based on what he is reading and hearing is that now is a good time to go to cash or some other medium that won't lose all its value if and when there is a crash.

=====

when you consider that its been a year to a year and a half since every thing came apart at the seams and we have literally done nothing in the form of regulations, breaking up banks, starting a national reconstruction program, and instead we have been transferring wealth (whats left of it) to the rich and going furthur and futhur into debt the spectre of a crash is fairly believable.

why won't obama roll back the tax cuts and get reverse the ballooning deficits?

//Find a scary "ism" that resonates with the masses perfectly and just keeping on tapping that "ism" until your opposition is nothing more than a collapsed mass of quivering 'Harry Reids.'//

beautifully articulated
& lol @ quivering 'Harry Reids.'
reminds me of a cartoon
http://www.salon.com/comics/tomo/2007/06/04/tomo/story.jpg

//why won't obama roll back the tax cuts//
obama
obama
obama
obama's a fucking puppet... that's why!
and everyone in congress is a fucking puppet
it's all one gigantic ruse

why won't obama suck my cock?

the answer may shock you...

because he doesn't want to

Canadian MPs put seal meat on parliament's menu
Submitted by ghettodefender on Mon, 03/08/2010 - 8:33pm.

to be blogging @ same time as my love air-ono
How r u my love - I hope well
missed u the other day

strong Sumatran coffee, can I get
anyone a cup???

unfortunately, i'm turning in early tonight
i need the zees

I mean, it seems to me to be the consensus that
people around the globe really don't take to kindly
to bashing little baby seals in the head for "their"
fur or meat. It's all just so barbaric to me.
Wasn't it Gandi who said:
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”
not by the way u bash them in the head with a god damn pick axe. geez - fucking - slackers - get - a - clue.

you make me blush
but then again so does dan...
he has his penis out
and i'm still reeling at gd, adding tesla into the mix
what a stroke of genius...
that's super-conductive reasoning

dammit again
i wish i could click my fingers
to share a cup of coffee with you

sleep well & dream light tonight
for tomorrow is another day.

he makes me blush 2

we're just misfits in this world
just like montgomery clift & marilyn monroe dancing in a honky tonk bar
in the movie the misfits

: )

he's the cause of so much blushing
there ought to be a law against it

to paraphrase reagan...
mr. danachev
put away that
penis.

what better way to start the day then with a dick waving contest. man up and drink some coffee and stop that blushing. only salty sea sailors blush.

but alas, i will never be a professional dick waver...

(although i do have a red tie)

Dick Armey Wants Tom Tancredo Out Of His Tea Party Tent

Recently, tea party profiteer and FreedomWorks chairman Dick Armey has taken a more vocal stance against anti-immigrant rhetoric. In an interview with Charlie Rose that aired late last week, Armey went as far as to list former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) as representing part of the “tea party tent” that he feels “uncomfortable” with due to his “harsh and uncharitable and mean-spirited” immigration positions:

ARMEY: I tell you, I was for example not really happy to see Tom Tancredo calling himself a tea party guy.

ROSE: Because?

ARMEY: His harsh and uncharitable and mean-spirited attitude on the immigration issue.

ROSE: But what do you say to that? Do you speak out against that?

ARMEY: Absolutely have, and I’ve taken a lot of heat for it too. But first of all, we’re a nation of immigrants and a wonderful tradition. People have marched with their feet to America looking for freedom. Our biggest problem in immigration is we have a dysfunctional INS. If the government would do its job with some degree of efficiency –

ROSE: So the enforcement idea is what you would like to see more?

ARMEY: I mean look you drive by any INS office in America, and the one I see is mostly in Dallas, Texas. At 5:00 in the morning you see a line of four blocks long of people who want to be here and be here legally that are having the window slammed in their face and callous indifference by an inept agency.

Watch it: at link

In 2006, Armey referred to Tancredo as the “cheerleader of jerkiness in the immigration debate.” Nowadays Armey has to worry about Tancredo associating himself and his immigration jerkiness with a movement that Armey credits himself with creating. Tancredo isn’t Armey’s only problem. The anti-immigrant group Americans for Legal Immigration PAC has started urging its members to attack Armey’s immigration position and make their voices heard. According to ALIPAC, Armey has been fighting to “keep the illegal immigration issue out of the Tea Party movement.”

Armey shouldn’t be surprised. The Southern Poverty Law Center warned that hate groups and “nativist extremists” would begin exploiting the anger of tea baggers in an effort to recruit more hateful supporters. While it might seem that Armey would be glad to receive tea baggers of any kind, the long-term viability of the right-wing movement largely rests on its ability to embrace a more inclusive immigration approach and score much-needed political points with the growing Latino electorate. The majority of Americans, including Republicans and independents, support a solution to the nation’s broken immigration system that includes a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Chances are, many would also be turned off by ALIPAC and Tancredo’s impractical “deport them all” strategy and nativist vitriol.

As he identified other groups he’d like to see kicked out of his tea party tent, Armey also described the LaRouchers as “an embarrassment” and the John Birch Society as “historically” having a “good deal of people that have regretted them.”

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/03/08/dick-armey-tom-tancredo/

toniD's Ya Think?

sitting up straight as an arrow -
Clark Gable looking handsome as ever -
Montgomery, well no need to say nothing
bout him (he's just beautiful)
what a great movie Misfits is/was.
John Huston directing - couldn't ask
for a better director ~

I have to say - I LOVE your post's
u get to the point & I understand
them. Do they call that lay-mens terms???
is that even how u spell it???

Morning toni -
how was work last night?

that movie fits perfectly
i was searching for the slow waltz scene in the misfits
and forgot about the mustang muster

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvGF0YhPSZg

he's succinct, insightful & brilliant
but he's a cattle rustler
and we're gonna have to
string 'im erp

Why would Rahm be at the Congressional Gym showering? There's a Gym and showers at the White House.

Massa said re Rahm: Naked as a Jay Bird, poking me in the chest!

I don't like Rahm, don't get me wrong, but Massa's a bit weird also!

toniD's Ya Think?

jest know that dan's gay
gayer than montgomery clift
and he caused them ther earthquakes
bar invokin' the wrath a gard...
string 'im erp!

dan: "but i thought jeezus dard fer our sins"
sheriff ono: "dang! he gert us on a techneecalitee... ok, curt 'im down"

Both sides but more so on the GOP side. What do they drink there in DC?

Did you notice that Boehner kept his orangey tan all through the snow storm in DC?

And who would vote for a guy with no chin and no lips? Guess who?

And raving lunatic Michelle Bachman! Can the karma god strike her mute please!

Add your own to this list, there's plenty

toniD's Ya Think?

Then I went grocery shopping because I was too lazy to do it on Sunday and it was foggy out just like it is now! Damn moisture just reeks havoc with my joints so by the time I got home and had to bring the groceries in I was about ready to scream.

I hear this weather is heading east, so prepare all you east coasters! It's very eerie out there today!

toniD's Ya Think?

A Private Poll and Some Encouraging News

* Jonathan Cohn
* March 8, 2010 | 5:01 pm

It would be nice if members of Congress voting on health care reform thought more about what's good for the country rather than what's good for their re-election prospects. But let's not kid ourselves. Many Democrats are plainly spooked by the prospect of supporting a measure that, according to the polls, a majority of Americans don't support.

Some of us have been arguing that the polls are misleading. Among other things, most people don't seem to know what's in the bill. When pollsters have asked respondents whether they like particular provisions, like forcing insurers to take all customers regardless of medical condition or providing tax credits to small businesses, the response has been consistently positive.

But suppose people did learn about all of the good things reform would do. Would that really translate into more support for reform overall--and, no less important, more support for the legislators who voted for it?

There's no way to be certain. But a confidential poll, made available to TNR, should give nervous Democrats at least some reason to believe the answer is "yes."

The poll comes from Lake Research Partners and focuses on two of the population groups most skeptical of reform right now: Voters who identify as independent, rather than Democrat or Republican, and voters who are older than 50. Lake Research conducted the survey in January on behalf of an independent foundation, which chose not to make the results public. But a Democratic strategist passed along a PowerPoint summary of the findings late last week. Tresa Undem, vice president at Lake Research, has since confirmed the poll's results and explained the methodology behind it.

The pollsters began by asking respondents a straightforward question: Do you support health care reform? The answers were consistent with what published surveys have shown. Among the older voters, just 36 percent supported reform while 47 percent opposed it. Among the self-described independents, the response was even more negative: just 30 percent supported it while 51 percent opposed it.

Then the pollsters told the respondents about some of the features reform included--like guaranteeing insurance access for people between 55 and 64, prohibiting insurers from denying coverage to children because of pre-existing conditions, expanding home- and community-based services, ending lifetime caps on benefits, and providing tax credits to small business.

After explaining these features, the pollsters returned to the original question: Do you support health care reform? The numbers jumped dramatically, with older voters saying they approved of reform legislation by 47 to 37 percent:

Opinion among independent voters moved, too, with 44 supporting and 39 percent opposing it once they'd heard about the benefits:

Lake Research also asked respondents about whether they'd be more likely, or less likely, to re-elect a member of Congress who had supported health care reform. And, again, they asked the question twice--once before explaining what's in the bill and once after.

The results were similar, although less clear-cut. Among older voters, support for pro-reform members of Congress increased by 15 points once the voters heard about the plan's details. Among independents, the increase was 17 points. Even after hearing the results, the independents remained less likely to vote for such a representative, by a margin of 9 points. (Originally it was 26 points.) But the older voters were more likely to support such a representative by 1 point. Says Undem:

We rarely see such a large swing in a single poll. Respondents’ naturally want to stick with the opinion they stated at the outset of survey. This shift underscores the lack of knowledge about the facts of health care reform. Once people hear the facts, they become more positive, whether we’re talking support for health reform overall, or likelihood to re-elect.

(The finding about independents may help explain why the foundation didn't want to release the poll. Neither my strategist contact nor Lake Research would identify, or speak for, the foundation. But keep in mind these voters were responding at the very moment when their fury at the Cornhusker Kickback and legislative deal-making was at its peak; it's not hard to imagine how that number could improve still further with even a modest change in the political environment.)

There's one other intriguing result. Lake Research found that 21 percent of respondents remained undecided about a candidate even after hearing the bill's description. These people said either they "aren't sure" how they'd vote or that reform would "make no difference" in their vote.

But when Lake Research asked this subgroup of people if they thought "Democrats are doing the right thing by passing health reform now, even if Republicans are not on board," 35 percent said they agreed while 28 percent said they disagreed. When Lake Research asked if these people thought "Republicans are doing the right thing by trying to stop health care reform and repeal it," 21 percent said they agreed while 44 percent said they disagreed.

To be clear--you knew there was a "to be clear" coming, didn't you?--I'm generally leery of over-interpreting polls. And I'm certainly leery here. Public understanding of health care policy is fuzzy at best. Even in the context of a detailed survey, people may not understand exactly what they are saying. The whole point of this survey is to gauge how people will feel several months from now, which is extraordinarily difficult to do. And, of course, this poll gave respondents a pretty one-sided view of the bill. It happens to be a truthful description of the bill's features, while many of the attacks on the bill are disingenuous. But this presentation is one-sided all the same.

Still, these results do seem to tell us something--particularly since they are consistent both with surveys that have shown voters support the substance of reform as well as some more recent polling suggesting voters are starting look upon the reform enterprise, and its proponents, a bit more favorably. Besides, what a lot of us have been saying all along remains relevant: If reform legislation actually passes, voters will start to see for themselves how off-base Republican attacks have been. There will be no death panels, no destruction of Medicare, no long lines for services. There will be, instead, assistance for seniors buying drugs, insurance access for children regardless of pre-existing condition, first-dollar coverage of preventative services, and other benefits.

In short, this poll doesn't prove that voting for reform is a sure winner. No poll could. But it should call into question the assumption, so widely shared, that reform is a sure loser.

http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-treatment/exclusive-encouraging-news-private...

toniD's Ya Think?

which I don't have time to find.

The "fudge" thing--that was about the first part of MY argument, in case there was any doubt. My brain is completely fried and I should stop posting because my brain is completely fried so I will do that now--stop posting because my brain is completely fried.

Did I mention that my brain is...Oh yeah, so I did.

So, Dick Armey likes brown people?!?....who knew!?

I don't think that "compassion" rhetoric is gonna win him any fans in Teabagistan.

I'm reading some really interesting things right now about WH Outreach (Treasury this time) to "new media" and Progressive bloggers...another pattern...I'll gather the links and post in a minute.

"this machine kills fascists"

the higher up you go
the more sexually degenerate you are...
Former Regensburg Choirboys Talk of 'Naked Beatings'
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,682344,00.html

so they have to pretend they're pious...
Pope Silent on Uganda's 'Kill-the-Gays' Bill
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/08/pope-silent-on-ugandas-kill-the-...

and it's no accident
they aim for power

(nb: this has nothing to do with being homosexual)
(and everything to do with sadism & hypocrisy)

We know darlin'. You're silly. :)

(Oops. Fingers slipped.)

I.e. We know you're not saying that.

Or maybe you weren't saying that-that which is what?

Nevermind. Fried brains. Back to plan A.

It's comforting to be on Plan A in some aspect, at my advanced age.

i'm with john waters
he believes you should be able to marry a tree if you want too (lol)
hell, marry an ant for all i care

and yet this wonderful urbane man is considered degenerate
but pat robertson isn't...
what a twisted world

deep breath

Ryan Grim: Fed Audit Bitterly Opposed By Treasury

Sam Stein: Treasury Department Makes Robust Effort To Repair Image, Acknowledges Messaging Problems

I guess the guys from AmericaBlog were there too and will post their takes today.

Aravosis: My Bad. Apparently the meeting with Geithner was more on the record than I thought.

"I just got back from dinner with a number of the bloggers who joined Joe and me at the Geithner meeting earlier today, and I learned a funny thing. Apparently there was a mis-communication and the meeting was not as off the record as Joe and I had understood. We still can't quote anything anyone said, but we can paraphrase what was said, so long as we don't attribute it to any one of the handful of senior Treasury officials who were at the meeting. I know, not perfect, but it's better since Joe and I can now talk openly about what happened at the meeting, and about our impressions about Treasury.

So, tomorrow Joe and I will be posting in more detail about what happened, and what we think"

"this machine kills fascists"

here , that is ... TeaHee ;)

EU warns US against protectionism in Pentagon deal
By SLOBODAN LEKIC, AP Aviation Writer Slobodan Lekic, Ap Aviation Writer 46 mins ago

BRUSSELS – The EU on Tuesday warned the United States against protectionism after a European-led consortium pulled out of the bidding for an Air Force contract, saying the terms had been altered to favor a U.S. company.

EADS, the parent company of Airbus, had partnered with Northrop Grumman to vie for the tanker project, but their consortium pulled out on Monday. They said the terms of the deal appeared designed to eliminate its design in favor of a smaller jet offered by rival Boeing Co.

The announcement left Boeing as the only bidder for the project. It is offering a version of the 767 commercial airplane to replace the U.S. Air Force's 1960s-era fleet of KC-135 tankers.

"The European Commission would be extremely concerned if it were to emerge that the terms of tender were such as to inhibit open competition for the contract," the European Commission said in a statement.

In the United States, the political fallout from the announcement was also swift, with several U.S. lawmakers — including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., President Barack Obama's campaign rival in 2008 — saying they regretted the Northrop Grumman/EADS decision.

In 2008, the EADS-led consortium was awarded a contract for the tanker fleet, but Boeing protested and the deal was annulled later that year.

In December, Northrop Grumman/EADS expressed serious concerns to the Pentagon and the Air Force that the new criteria for the project were slanted in favor the Boeing design.

"It is highly regrettable that a major potential supplier would feel unable to bid for a contract of this type," said EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht. "Open procurement markets guarantee better competition and better value for money for the taxpayer."

The EU noted that the trade balance in defense equipment with the 27-nation EU has traditionally been heavily in favor of the American side, and that in 2008 the US exported $5 billion worth of defense materials while importing only $2.2 billion from the European side.

"The Commission will be following further developments in this case very closely," the statement said.

In Germany, Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said on Tuesday he was disappointed by the developments in the U.S. and warned the situation had "signs of protectionism."

"The free market should not be unilaterally restricted," he said.

In Paris, EADS CEO Louis Gallois maintained that the EADS design — based on Airbus A330 — makes a better tanker than the Boeing alternative.

"We deeply regret that the U.S. Air Force will not get the best available airplane," he told journalists.

He said the decision doesn't change EADS' intention to boost its presence on the American defense market.

Gallois said the consortium was talking to the administration in Washington to recoup some of the money it spent on its bids.

Also on Tuesday, EADS reported that spiraling costs on its new military airlifter, the A400M, and its A380 superjumbo had led to losses in the fourth quarter and full year but said its outlook visibility was improving.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100309/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_tanker_fight/print

toniD's Ya Think?

It was pretty fascinating, and there's not much we can tell you about it because Treasury wanted the entire meeting with Geithner, and most of the rest of our time at Treasury, on deep background. Meaning, we could use everything we were told, but could never attribute it to anyone, anywhere. So, if I learned a fact at the meeting, I could mention it some day in passing, but couldn't say how or why I know it.

The meeting was the second time, I'm told, that Treasury has invited a group of bloggers to meet with some of the senior staff and the Secretary (second time?) It took place in the Treasury building next to the White House, and it included around 18 bloggers. I know I'm going to leave someone out, but those I could recognize (or read their name plates) included: Faiz and Amanda at ThinkProgress, John Amato at Crook & Liars, Duncan Black of Eschaton, Sam Stein, Shafein Nasiripour and Ryan Grim of Huff Post, David Kurtz of TPM, Felix Salmon of Reuters, Megan McArdle of the Atlantic, Matty Yglesias of ThinkProgress, Patrick Garofalo of the American Prospect, James Kwak, Joe Sudbay of AMERICAblog and me. From Treasury, among others, were Secretary Geithner, Deputy Secratary Neil Wolin, Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions Michael Barr, Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy Allen Kruger, and Counselor to the Secretary Gene Sperling. Quite an impressive, high level group.

The meeting took place in an absolutely stunning room of what is the most stunning federal office building I've seen in all my years. Much of official Washington is kind of old. State isn't exactly a pretty building on the inside, nor is DOD, nor a number of other agencies, and even the White House has parts that are kind of eh. Not Treasury. Stunning building, stunning hallways, stunning meeting rooms. This room was amazing. It's called the Secretary's Conference Room. Huge pendulum clock on the wall. Huge. Wide dark wooden doorways framed in gold. Beautiful etched transoms above the doors, ornately painted ceiling, and a beautiful 200 year old portrait of George Washington on the wall. Simply stunning. You can read more about the room here.
more here:

http://www.americablog.com/2010/03/joe-and-i-just-met-with-treasury.html

toniD's Ya Think?

Call-in Day Tomorrow: End Mountaintop-removal Coal Mining
InboxX

Reply |Center for Biological Diversity to me
show details 2:42 PM (14 hours ago)

Dear XXX,
This week hundreds of activists are in Washington, D.C. taking action to end mountaintop-removal coal mining. You can be part of the action by picking up the phone and calling your representatives tomorrow, March 9, for the national call-in day to end mountaintop removal.

Mountaintop-removal coal mining is one of the most outrageous environmental and social-justice transgressions in America today, threatening the biodiversity and human communities of Appalachia. More than 500 mountains, 1.5 million acres of forest, and 2,000 miles of stream have already been annihilated by this practice.

The deep pockets of Big Coal are working hard in Washington to block a bill called the Clean Water Protection Act that would undo the political loopholes that currently make it legal for coal corporations to blow up mountains and then dump the wastes directly into streams.

Please call your representatives tomorrow, March 9 and ask them to become cosponsors of the Clean Water Protection Act, H.R. 1310. If they're already a sponsor, ask that they actively work to promote this bill and to ban mountaintop removal.

Click here to find out more and take action.

If you have trouble following the link, go to http://action.biologicaldiversity.org/t/5243/p/salsa/web/common/public/c....

Talking points for calls to representatives:

Introduce yourself -- give your name and city.
State that you're calling to urge Representative XXX to cosponsor the Clean Water Protection Act, H.R. 1310.

The bill would undo the political loopholes that make mountaintop removal legal.

More than 500 mountains, 1.5 million acres of forest, and 2,000 miles of stream have already been annihilated by this practice.

If they're already a sponsor of the bill, ask that they actively work to promote it and to ban mountaintop removal.

Thank them for their time.

Please take action on March 9, 2010.
*** ***
;)

Speaking of the White House blogger meeting, you might recall that at the WH meeting I had a back and forth with the VP's top economic adviser, Jared Bernstein over whether bloggers were partly to blame for the stimulus not selling well, and more generally, over the White House's lack of effective messaging on the stimulus and other issues. Without going into the content of our deep-background discussions at Treasury, I can say that the blogger questions for Geithner were as hard, if not harder, than the question I raised at the White House for Bernstein. And the reaction from the folks at Treasury, including Geithner himself, to the tough blogger questions was simply fabulous. Geithner handled himself extremely well. Shockingly so, really. He walked in, didn't have any opening remarks, and just opened the floor up to questions for a good hour. We all got our say. Repeatedly. It was great. Geithner handled himself so well, and was so impressive, intellectually and personally, that it's all the more harder to understand why we're not permitted to talk with you about the substance. Geithner doesn't exactly have a stellar reputation among a lot of Democrats. If they were to see him as we saw him today, that view might begin to change.

toniD's Ya Think?

The Hard Work Of Blogging

Spent the afternoon on a super duper deep background (or whatever) meeting with top Treasury officials, including my favorite Treasury Secretary. That means I can report what they said, but no quotes and no attribution.

Anyway, first thoughts are that a big frustration with the discourse of members of this administration is that they tend to present their policies as if they were optimal given the constraints they face, constraints such as Congressional legislation. But they rarely express what would be optimal if they..didn't face such constraints. They rarely say "we want Congress to pass X, but they won't, so the best we can hope for is Y." They say, "maybe it could have been better, but Y was the best we could get done" suggesting that there is some better policy without actually clearly stating what it would be.

There doesn't seem to be much interest in finding ways to expand what the range of possibilities, by, for example, getting allies to fight for X.

-Atrios 16:51

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2010/03/hard-work-of-blogging.html

toniD's Ya Think?

I hope this is a sincere effort at outreach and communication with the Progressive base. It certainly sounds as if it is, but obviously it's gonna be a tough sell with many after enduring the Bush years, as nora said, but also just in terms of disappointment with the WH and the Dems lack of messaging strategy, or their seeming unwillingness to start with the most Progressive position on any policy.

But I'm heartened by it for now and will keep looking for it in regard to future policy.

Mmmm...scraps! ;)

On the plus side of that though, I know the doggies in the park prefer scraps to what they have to eat out there. Maybe someday Obama will take Progressives in and give them love and two squares a day :)

"this machine kills fascists"

Obama Admin realizes they need the progressives that Rahm called retards. I don't think I am part of the looney left, I just want my voice heard along with the others.

The problem is we, out here, are looking at part of the story that plays out in the media and the bits and pieces we get from whistle-blowers and anonymous sources that I have a hard time with.

Most of the entitlements that were voted in, in the past, were not so good at the start but were modified. What bothers me is that I wasn't as astute back then, too young or too busy to pay attention of how those all went down. I have to rely on history to tell me what happened back then.

toniD's Ya Think?

Democrats fail on
filibuster reform effort
One vote shy of 60, frustrated Democrats are talking about changing Senate rules to make it easier for them to overcome Republican filibusters.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34099.html

toniD's Ya Think?

Detroit wants to turn decayed
areas into farmland
Detroit, the very symbol of American industrial might for most of the 20th century, is drawing up a radical renewal plan that calls for turning large swaths of this now-blighted, rusted-out city back into the fields and farmland that existed before the automobile.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100308/ap_on_bi_ge/us_downsizing_detroit

toniD's Ya Think?

Packard: Fiorina
almost destroyed HP
The granddaughter of one of Hewlett-Packard�s founders wrote a letter Monday trashing California GOP Senate candidate Carly Fiorina's leadership of the company.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34086.html

toniD's Ya Think?

Submitted by toniD on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 10:01am.

I just shutter to think how contaminated the soil might be from the decayed areas. The idea is good and it is possible to test the growing areas before starting on the food production. It is a start. Maybe plant things that aren't for immediate food production but good for the transition period?

Collapse of the American Empire: swift, silent, certain
Commentary: Historians warning of a sudden 'thief at night,' an 'accelerating car crash'

By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch

ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- "One of the disturbing facts of history is that so many civilizations collapse," warns anthropologist Jared Diamond in "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed." Many "civilizations share a sharp curve of decline. Indeed, a society's demise may begin only a decade or two after it reaches its peak population, wealth and power."

Now, Harvard's Niall Ferguson, one of the world's leading financial historians, echoes Diamond's warning: "Imperial collapse may come much more suddenly than many historians imagine. A combination of fiscal deficits and military overstretch suggests that the United States may be the next empire on the precipice." Yes, America is on the edge.

Dismiss his warning at your peril. Everything you learned, everything you believe and everything driving our political leaders is based on a misleading, outdated theory of history. The American Empire is at the edge of a dangerous precipice, at risk of a sudden, rapid collapse.

Ferguson is brilliant, prolific and contrarian. His works include the recent "Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World;" "The Cash Nexus: Money and Power in the Modern World;" "Colossus: The Rise and Fall of The American Empire;" and "The War of the World," a survey of the "savagery of the 20th century" where he highlights a profound "paradox that, though the 20th century was 'so bloody,' it was also 'a time of unparalleled progress.'"

Why? Throughout history imperial leaders inevitably emerge and drive their nations into wars for greater glory and "economic progress," while inevitably leading their nation into collapse. And that happens suddenly and swiftly, within "a decade or two." ...........(more)

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-rise-and-certain-fall-of-the-americ...

toniD's Ya Think?

http://citizensposse.com

March 9th - Washington, DC - BE THERE!

10:30 AM, gather in Dupont Circle for a march to the insurance companies

MASS CITIZENS' ARREST

We just learned of TWO critically important budget hearings before the House AND Senate Appropriations Subcommittees for the Department of Interior (DOI) budget, both scheduled for Tuesday, March 9. At these hearings, DOI Secretary Salazar (9:30 am) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Director Bob Abbey (2:00 pm) will testify on the proposed FY 2011 DOI/BLM budget, which includes funding for the fundamentally broken BLM wild horse and burro program. Director Abbey will testify specifically about BLM’s budget before the House Appropriations Subcommittee.
We need to make sure the Senators and Representatives at both of these crucial hearings on Tuesday hear loudly from Americans that this program needs systemic reform – that roundups must stop and no funding should be given for Secretary Salazar’s proposed “preserve.”

YOUR voice is desperately needed. Let's do what we can to try to get Congress to address the horrible wild horse and burro program at these critically important hearings on Tuesday. TAKE ACTION NOW (by clicking here) and PLEASE ask your friends and family to take action.

https://secure2.convio.net/ida/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction...

Sunny and warming up here too! Springtime!

Health Care Resurrection

"Betting markets don’t have any mystical power, but they do summarize conventional wisdom pretty well; and judging from Intrade, health reform has gone from a long shot to more likely than not.

And I’m impressed by the passion of this guy Obama who’s campaigning for reform. Where was he last year?"

Busy, I guess...

"this machine kills fascists"

Senate to take up unemployment insurance extension

Source: AP

WASHINGTON — Legislation extending unemployment insurance for the long-term jobless faces a key test vote in the Senate, its momentum helped by about 60 popular tax breaks for individuals and businesses that expired at the end of last year.

The measure also prevents doctors from absorbing a crippling cut in Medicare payments, extends health insurance subsidies for the unemployed and gives cash-starved states help with Medicaid, the federal-state program providing health care to the poor and disabled.

The unemployment insurance alone — to provide weekly unemployment checks averaging above $300 to people whose core 26-week benefit package has run out — will cost $66 billion through December. In some states people are eligible to receive benefits for up to 99 weeks.

The bill, and the test vote Tuesday, demonstrate the difficulty Democrats face as they focus on jobs. It doesn't include new ideas for boosting jobs, but instead reprises elements of last year's $862 billion economic stimulus bill, which is earning mixed reviews from voters. Simply extending those provisions has produced a far more expensive measure than a separate so-called jobs bill that Democrats hope to soon send to President Barack Obama. That measure would boost highway spending and give tax breaks to companies that hire the unemployed and could clear the Senate for Obama's desk this week.

At a gross cost of about $148 billion, Tuesday's measure illustrates the extraordinary cost of the unemployment safety net as the economy inches out of the recession. Democrats say the unemployment benefits inject demand into the economy and say renewing the tax cuts helps preserve existing jobs.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i-RtM-JtqLEc5SQktzZ7dI...

toniD's Ya Think?

Wade Crowfoot, Environmental Defense Fund to me
show details 5:36 AM (1 hour ago)

Having trouble using links or viewing images? View the web version.
Dear XXX,
California's landmark global warming bill, AB 32, is under attack and we need your help.
Please go to our coalition website to join our campaign to fight the big polluters and protect California's environment and clean energy future.
And, if you're on Facebook, you can join our campaign's Facebook page, too.
What's At Stake
Texas-based oil companies Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp. are bankrolling an initiative for the November 2010 ballot to kill jobs in California’s fast-growing clean tech industry.
They've reportedly pledged $2 million to collect signatures to force a ballot initiative that would suspend California's landmark climate and clean energy law. The initiative was drafted by a handful of anti-environment opponents who want to keep polluting California and derail our clean energy future.
Remember the last time a Texas-based energy company interfered with California's energy economy? Enron's fraudulent schemes to rip off California's energy consumers led to rolling blackouts and economic catastrophe throughout the Golden State.
It's time Californians stood up to Texas-based polluters and reclaimed our own clean energy future.
You can do three things right now to help:
1) Visit our coalition website, www.noonvalero.com. There you can sign up, join our Facebook and Twitter pages, spread the word, and get involved.
2) Forward this email to all your friends and family to help us defeat the big polluters and fight for California's clean energy future.
3) Make a donation to support our efforts to beat back this attack on California's landmark global warming bill.
More Background
The Texas oil company-sponsored ballot initiative calls for indefinitely suspending AB 32, California's landmark climate and clean energy law.
AB 32 is already creating jobs and attracting industry-leading clean tech investments that will enable California to reduce its dependence on foreign oil and compete in a trillion dollar global market.
If passed, this deceptive big polluter initiative would kill hundreds of thousands of jobs, chill billions of dollars of investments, leave us with dangerous and deadly air pollution, keep us addicted to oil and cripple our ability to compete in the new economy.
We need to stand up to Texas-based polluters and tell them to stop messing with California. It's time to tell Texas-based Valero and Tesoro they can't buy their way onto our ballot.
A coalition of businesses, public health and environmental groups -- including EDF -- have formed Californians for Clean Energy and Jobs to help defeat this effort.
Please join us. Go to our coalition website to get involved.
And please make sure all your friends and family get the message, too.
Thanks for your activism and support,
Wade Crowfoot
West Coast Political Director
Environmental Defense Fund
*** ***

looks like he may have finally hit the bottom; gone too far! long list of abuses and power grab, but with his latest i think he may have just gone too far and the country won't take it any more

too long a story to explain here, and don't have time to research what the international media are saying about this

it's about manipulating the regional elections scheduled for march 28 - looks like the whole country is revolting in response to his "coup" attempt through the courts and the people finally had enough

we can only hope this time is for real

interesting to watch, and i know there's more pressing stuff going on in this country that merits being glued to tv (the massa interview lol!) but i have been riveted to the italian channels for now - so exciting

how is the kitty peeing going??
I know it's a pain -

Daily Herald Editorial Board
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=362535&src

Illinois residents must take advantage of a rare opportunity to remove power from politicians who have allowed Illinois to become too corrupt for too long.

Good government groups, including the League of Women Voters, members of the Illinois Reform Commission and others, are spearheading a drive to change the way we elect members of the Illinois House and the Illinois Senate. But they need your help.

Every 10 years the information gathered in the U.S. Census is used to create a new map of legislative districts to reflect the more accurate population count. Right now, the power to draw the map sits with the lawmakers. When lawmakers can't agree, the Illinois Constitution directs them to take the absurd step of drawing a name out of a hat. That determines which party is likely to control the Illinois General Assembly for the following decade.

A random drawing is a stupid way to break a tie, to be sure. But it's also unfathomable that representatives are allowed to draw their own districts, picking which pockets of voters are most likely to keep them in their jobs.

Members of these groups are passing petitions to collect signatures to put an initiative they call the Fair Map Amendment on the November ballot, the last opportunity to change the constitution before maps based on the 2010 census must be submitted.

If the people don't act now, Illinois likely will be stuck with a system that almost always ensures victory for incumbents regardless of their record. It's a system that breeds corruption and prevents accountability.

Based on recommendations of the Illinois Reform Commission with input from the Brennan Center for Justice, the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform and others, the measure is far superior because an independent commission would draw the maps. Unfortunately, a citizen initiative can't completely remove the power from the General Assembly. So this calls for each legislative leader to appoint two people to the commission. No lobbyists, no state employees, no politicians or family members. Those eight would have to agree on a ninth member.

The group must follow strict guidelines based on specific criteria. Meetings would be open to the public. Citizens could even submit their own maps for consideration. There are many more details at http://www.ilfairma p.com/

toniD's Ya Think?

The paper along the edge of the walls is gone now...so I can't see any new ones...though they may still be doing it...

I decided I'm going to invest in feliway diffusers...and I'm going to keep the cats out during the day...they can come inside at night once the house is done...

nora is so dedicated to the litter boxes and that's how was up until there were more than three cats...I used to wash out the boxes every weekend..There's no way I can have one box per cat... And without the boxes at all then they just go all around the house outdoors and that's not good either...especially in the heat...if they went further away, but I can't seem to explain that to them in a way they understand.. :)

so the vanguard of the blogosphere face off with wall street's stooge
and what did they acheive
did they make any of their cute snarky comments
or did they cower when confronted by real power...
slowy they're being indoctinated into the fold
//It was great. Geithner handled himself so well, and was so impressive, intellectually and personally, that it's all the more harder to understand why we're not permitted to talk with you about the substance. Geithner doesn't exactly have a stellar reputation among a lot of Democrats. If they were to see him as we saw him today, that view might begin to change.//

woo-hoo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eONhto0x_nI
behold the new villagers...
they're hip
street smart
snarky
& wear calvin klein

(welcome to the machine)

...

mcgee, i blame you for still being awake
you & my new laptop...
we're in bed together

: )

https://secure2.convio.net/ida/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction...
{DITTO what smcgee43 said ;) Hey Folks we need to make some calls for the Horses ~ PLEASE
Submitted by smcgee43 on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 10:20am. said!}

Urgent Action Needed For Wild Horses
Send Fax (Below) Before March 9!
Senate AND House Appropriations Committees must hear from YOU

This Tuesday, March 9, Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee about his agency's FY 2011 budget proposal. The very same day, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Director Bob Abbey will testify before the House Appropriations Committee to justify BLM’s FY 2011 budget. Both Salazar and Abbey will attempt to justify an additional $12 million for the controversial Bureau of Land Management (BLM)'s Wild Horse and Burro program, as well as $42.5 million to purchase the first of several so-called "preserves" in the Midwest or East to house horses rounded up and removed from their native western ranges. See below to take action.

Report after government report has documented the waste and mismanagement in this agency's wild horse and burro management program. In 2008, a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that the agency's wild horse and burro program was not sustainable as long as the costs for off-the-range holding facilities continued to overwhelm the program's budget.

In FY 2010, Congress increased the BLM's wild horse budget by 30 percent but directed the development of a new and sustainable management plan. Instead of reform, the BLM used the increased funding to remove even more horses from the range, with plans to round up 12,000 wild horses from the West in FY 2010 alone. The majority of these horses will join the estimated 33,000 horses currently warehoused in government holding facilities at a cost to taxpayers in excess of $100,000 a day!

It's time for Congress to say whoa! to the BLM's runaway policies, which rely almost solely upon the mass roundup of wild horses from their homeland and the stockpiling of these iconic animals in government holding pens and pastures.

We need to tell our Senators and Representatives to stop pumping money into the fiscal black hole that is the BLM's wild horse and burro management program. Congress must require the BLM to implement a new management program that relies on humane and minimally intrusive, in-the-wild strategies to preserve and protect wild horses and burros on our Western rangelands and save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in the process. We, the taxpayers, have already paid for our horses to be on our public lands.

The time for real long-term reform is NOW.

Please personalize the subject line and text and submit the letter below, which we will FAX to each Senator and Representative who sits on the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees for the Department of Interior budget. And please use the tell-a-friend link you will see after submitting this form to forward this alert to as many friends and family as possible.

If possible, in addition to the letter, please phone each Senator and Representative’s office. Congress must know that you want the BLM held accountable, and the appropriations process is the place to start.

Phone numbers: Democratic Senate Subcommittee Members

Dianne Feinstein (Chair) (CA), 202-224-3841
Robert Byrd (WV). 202-224-3954
Patrick Leahy (VT), 202-224-4242
Byron Dorgan (ND), 202-224-2551
Barbara Mikulski (MD), 202-224-4654
Herb Kohl (WI), 202-224-5653
Tim Johnson (SD), 202-224-5842
Jack Reed (RI), 202-224-4642
Ben Nelson (NE), 202-224-6551
Jon Tester (MT), 202-224-2644

Republican Senate Subcommittee Members

Lamar Alexander (Ranking) (TN), 202-224-4944
Thad Cochran (MS), 202-224-5054
Robert Bennett (UT), 202-224-5444
Judd Gregg (NH), 202-224-3324
Lisa Murkowski (AK), 202-224-6665
Susan Collins (ME), 202-224-2523

Democratic House Subcommittee Members

Norman D. Dicks (WA) (Chair), 202-225-5916
James P. Moran (VA), 202-225-4376
Alan B. Mollohan (WV), 202-225-4172
Ben Chandler (KY), 202-225-4706
Maurice D. Hinchey (NY), 202-225-6335
John W. Olver (MA), 202-225-5335
Ed Pastor (AZ), 202-225-4065
David E. Price (NC), 202-225-1784
David R. Obey (WI) (Ex Officio), 202-225-3365

Republican House Subcommittee Members

Michael Simpson (ID) (Ranking), 202-225-5531
Ken Calvert (CA), 202-225-1986
Steven C. LaTourette (OH), 202-225-5731
Tom Cole (OK), 202-225-6165
Jerry Lewis (CA) (Ex Officio), 202-225-5861

Completing the form below will fax your letter to each Senator and Representative listed above.

Contact
*Required fields
Title:
Mr. Ms. Mrs. Miss Dr.
* First Name:

* Last Name:

* Your Email:

Address 1:

Address 2:

* City:

* State / Province:
Choose a State AK AL AR AZ CA CO CT DC DE FL GA HI IA ID IL IN KS KY LA MA MD ME MI MN MO MS MT NC ND NE NH NJ NM NV NY OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VA VT WA WI WV WY AS FM GU MH MP PR PW VI AB BC MB NB NL NS NT NU ON PE QC SK YT None
* ZIP / Postal Code:

Yes, I would like to receive occasional updates from In Defense of Animals (IDA).

Remember me. What's this? Message
* Subject:

Dear [Decision Maker],

* Please personalize your message
As a taxpayer, I urge you to decline Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Director Bob Abbey's request to increase funding of the BLM Wild Horse and Burro program budget. Increasing funding for this poorly managed program is fiscally irresponsible and Secretary Salazar and Director Abbey's requested $12 million operational budget increase and $42.5 million allocation for the purchase of land in the Midwest or East for a wild horse "preserve" should be denied.

At issue is the need for reform of the BLM's policy of rounding up and removing wild horses and burros from their native western ranges and stockpiling them in government holding facilities. The policy has resulted in more wild horses and burros stockpiled in government holding facilities (36,000+) than are left in the wild. The cost to taxpayers to roundup and warehouse wild horses in holding facilities exceeds $44 million a year, more than two-thirds of the budget. Moreover, last December a federal judge found that BLM's long-term holding facilities, where the vast majority of these warehoused horses exist, are likely illegal.

Allocating even more funds to this poorly managed and possibly illegal program without serious requirements for reform would be fiscally irresponsible.

Please see that any appropriation for the BLM's wild horse and burro program includes these requirements for reform:

* A suspension of roundups in all but truly emergency situations;

* A prohibition on the use of any funds to euthanize healthy horses or sell horses directly or indirectly to slaughter;

* Phasing out long-term holding and shifting BLM resources toward managing horses on the range in a humane and minimally intrusive manner as Congress intended.

* Prohibition of any funding for any so-called "preserves" as outlined in Secretary Salazar's plan, such as the $42.5 million one currently proposed.

Thank you for your attention to this issue.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State ZIP]

In Defense of Animals, located in San Rafael, Calif., is an international animal protection organization with more than 85,000 members and supporters dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of animals by protecting their rights and welfare. IDA's efforts include educational events, cruelty investigations, boycotts, grassroots activism, and hands-on rescue through our sanctuaries in Mississippi, Mumbai, India, and Cameroon, Africa.

In Defense of Animals is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization. We welcome your feedback and appreciate your donations. Please join today! All donations to IDA are tax-deductible.

In Defense of Animals
3010 Kerner, San Rafael, CA 94901
Tel. (415) 448-0048 Fax (415) 454-1031
idainfo@idausa.org

*** ***

how many times do they have to fuck you in the arse
before you realise that you're being fucked
in the arse

http://www.wjactv.com/irresistible/22752515/detail.html

Finally some justice in the world.....

too bad all this passion is being expended on is to advocate a crappy corporatist bill

maybe this explains the passion, though (cynical snark inserted)

On Wikipedia?

Aung San Sun Kyi is under house arrest
Nelson Mandella should be under house arrest & nearly dead
Chief Joseph (who the fuck is he)
& Harvey Milk is dead

I guess you have to consider whether or not I was willing...

I'm sorry if it bothers you to watch...

not really :)

"this machine kills fascists"

don't mind me
i'm just disillusioned
and painting a worse case scenario
just to be on the safe side
of history

"and don't it feel good"

From the NationalPost:

MIAMI -- Florida lawmakers are considering a "family friendly" bill that would deny tax credits to films and television shows with gay characters in favor of those promoting traditional values.

The proposal, which has fueled a heated controversy for its discriminatory nature, would increase current tax credits from 2 to 5% of production costs for shows considered "family friendly."

Those productions are defined as films or TV shows with a "cross-generational appeal" that includes a "responsible resolution of issues." Smoking, profanity, nudity and sex are also out, along with what the state's sex crime laws define as "obscene."

The little-known provision was slipped into a $75-million incentive package that Republican leaders who hold the majority in the state House of Representatives hope will bring more entertainment industry jobs to Florida.

"I want Florida to be known for making those kinds of movies: Disney movies for kids and all that stuff. Like it used to be, you know?" Republican state Representative Stephen Precourt told The Palm Beach Post.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8557072.stm

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has urged Nigeria to arrest and try those responsible for killing hundreds of people near the city of Jos.
ANALYSIS

Caroline Duffield, BBC News, Lagos
Already this is being described as retaliation for the outburst of killing in January in which hundreds more people were killed.
Back then the largest losses were suffered by the Hausa Fulani community. In the village of Kuru Karama more than 100 people were killed and their bodies thrown into wells and sewers. Grave accusations were made that the local government had stoked the violence. This time it is clear that the targets were Berom Christians.
For weeks there have been rumours of retaliation in these villages and people have been living in a state of anxiety. Many families left. These killings are often painted by local politicians as a religious or sectarian conflict. In fact it is a struggle between ethnic groups for fertile land and resources in the region known as Nigeria's Middle Belt.
================
Submitted by taozen on Mon, 03/08/2010 - 5:13pm.
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/08/violence-is-not-religiously-...
===============
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/paul-adujie/nigerian-citize...

fuck, dan
you can introduce every news item here
with that title

yeah but that would just get boring.

Moderate Dem rethinks position on health bill

By ERICA WERNER

The Associated Press
Tuesday, March 9, 2010; 10:39 AM

WASHINGTON -- A moderate Democrat who had vowed to oppose any effort by party leaders to push a health care bill through the Senate with a simple majority vote is rethinking her position.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln said Tuesday that she wants to see what is in the companion bill before deciding.

Democratic leaders are looking at a two-step approach in which the House approves a Senate-passed bill from last year, despite House Democrats' opposition to several of its provisions. Both houses then would follow by approving a companion measure to make changes in that first bill.

Weeks ago, Lincoln had said she opposed that approach. One of the more endangered incumbents, the Arkansas Democrat recently drew a primary challenge from Lt. Gov. Bill Halter in state's May 18 primary.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=10050544

toniD's Ya Think?

A Conversation With Dr. Peter J. Pronovost

Q. WHAT GOT YOU STARTED ON YOUR CRUSADE FOR HOSPITAL SAFETY?

A. My father died at age 50 of cancer. He had lymphoma. But he was diagnosed with leukemia. When I was a first-year medical student here at Johns Hopkins, I took him to one of our experts for a second opinion. The specialist said, “If you would have come earlier, you would have been eligible for a bone marrow transplant, but the cancer is too advanced now.” The word “error” was never spoken. But it was crystal clear. I was devastated. I was angry at the clinicians and myself. I kept thinking, “Medicine has to do better than this.”

A few years later, when I was a physician and after I’d done an additional Ph.D. on hospital safety, I met Sorrel King, whose 18-month-old daughter, Josie, had died at Hopkins from infection and dehydration after a catheter insertion.

The mother and the nurses had recognized that the little girl was in trouble. But some of the doctors charged with her care wouldn’t listen. So you had a child die of dehydration, a third world disease, at one of the best hospitals in the world. Many people here were quite anguished about it. And the soul-searching that followed made it possible for me to do new safety research and push for changes.

More here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/science/09conv.html?ref=science
________________________

How to Get Out of the Hospital Alive: A Guide to Patient Power
http://www.amazon.com/How-Get-Out-Hospital-Alive/dp/0028623630

The Doctor
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101746/

Police confirm one OSU employee dead, two taken to hospital after shooting

Source: OSU Lantern

Two Ohio State employees are in the hospital and one dead after a shoot out occurred them around 3:30 a.m. by the Maintenance Building on Tuttle Park, police confirmed in a press release this morning.

The crime location is secure, with few traffic restrictions around the building. The suspect for the shooting is in custody already and OSU police are investigating the case.

No names have been released, as the family has not been notified of the shooting.

Campus will remain open today as normal.

Here is a video press release from Ohio State.

http://www.thelantern.com/campus/police-confirm-one-osu-employee-dead-tw...

toniD's Ya Think?

High Finance Headaches For Giannoulias Campaign

March 9, 2010 9:51 AM
http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/eyeon2010/2010/03/how-to-win-and-lose-at-the...

ill-alexi.jpgUpdated: 11:05 a.m. --
Crain's Chicago Business describes a transaction that sounds like it's bound to end up in an Illinois campaign commercial -- and which has put the Senate campaign of Alexi Giannouli into damage-control mode.

Crains wrote that a $75 million loss at the struggling Broadway Bank generated tax benefits that are potentially worth between $12 million and $15 million for the Democrats' Senate nominee, Giannoulias, his two brothers and his mother. It's quite a campaign headache: The candidate is a non-voting shareholder of the failing bank, and the campaign's had to repeatedly explain how the recovery of tax overpayments could help the bank recapitalize.

We hat-tipped to BNN Frontrunner, which is where we noticed the story. Check it out for yourself. Here's the link to Crain's report and here's the link to the campaign's point-by-point response..

Crain's Report:
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/article.pl?articleId=33099

Gianoulias Campaign Responce:
http://www.alexiforillinois.com/blog/alexi-illinois-releases-fact-check-...

toniD's Ya Think?

being fucked in the arse everyday Obama's merry band of roving gangrapists!

wanna see my "O" face?

I know, I know...TMI

That's okay ono, I don't mind you
I'm in awe that you could even be disillusioned
considering that your illusions are so vivid

Or maybe allusions is a better term...yes, it is

Maybe it's my illusions that are vivid

They must be

(It's the ass burgers)

"this machine kills fascists"

and as the evening crumbles into the next day
this ones for all you gay lovers out there
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e4WLdLNajs
good...
night!

(shuts the door)

Democrats Hold Edge on Generic Ballot
A new Gallup Poll finds Democrats lead Republicans by a slight 47% to 44% margin when registered voters are asked which party's congressional candidate they would support in their district "if the elections for Congress were being held today."

Nonetheless, the poll also shows Republicans with a distinct advantage over Democrats in terms of enthusiasm about voting this year.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/126503/Dems-Hold-Slight-Advantage-2010-Electi...

toniD's Ya Think?

Spitzer Madam Runs for Governor
The Daily Caller profiles Kristin Davis, the latest entrant into New York's race for governor, noting that "not since porn star Cicciolina was elected to the Italian parliament has there been a sexier political candidate."

"Davis built the most successful escort service in world history. She had more than 100 girls and operated in 5 countries, with a call center in Uruguay. She could dispatch a $1,000-plus-an-hour call girl to a hotel or residence in Paris, Berlin, Gstaad, Rome, New York, L.A., Miami, Dubai, Montreal or elsewhere within minutes. She personally recruited her girls at bars, clubs, resorts and restaurants."

Her most notable patron: Eliot Spitzer.

http://dailycaller.com/2010/03/09/spitzer-madam-kristin-davis-busts-into...

Sorry, couldn't resist!

Another: All Pollys are prostitutes anyway! Might as well have a madame in charge!

toniD's Ya Think?

What do I ask or say to about two dozen Democratic US Senators... tomorrow?
By Rob Kall

http://www.opednews.com/articles/What-do-I-ask-or-say-to-ab-by-Rob-Kall-...

I'll be going to the Progressive Media Summit meeting, sponsored by the Democratic Senate Outreach committee on Wednesday.

It's my third year attending this invitation only event that in past years has had 35-45 progressive media attendees, including Ed Schultz, Thom Hartmann, Bill Press, Chris Hayes, David Kagrox Waldman, Nancy Wheeler, Jane Hamsher, Mark Levine, David Korn-- and me. It's a chance to meet, in fairly intimate circumstances, with about two dozen Democratic senators, with one-on-one face-to-face time. Any suggestions on questions to ask them or things to tell them? Please use the link above to post your suggestions.

Have any other progressive media publishers or media people asked YOU what they should say to these senators? If you value the role OEN plays as a true outpost for progressive citizen journalism, please support us financially. Make a contribution because we depend solely upon member support.
Click here (http://www.opednews.com/donate)to send something in.

Thanks,

Rob Kall

Submitted by Cat Chew on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 11:35am.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Get-Out-Hospital-Alive/dp/0028623630

GOOD POST CAT CHEW

was just on Contessa's MSNBC show talking about the tea party protest tonight to get Dems that haven't committed to the HCR bill.

She said she doesn't think that the insurance companies should be made to take people that would cost them money, like people with pre existing problems.

And she doesn't believe in mandates.

She said if we cut the costs in Medicare, medicaid and the VA programs, we could lower the cost of insurance so more people could buy insurance.

She mentioned all this can be found at the Heritage Foundation web site. So the HF is leading this group and giving them the talking points.

toniD's Ya Think?

"family friendly" bill that would deny tax credits to films and television shows with gay characters in favor of those promoting traditional values.

Dammit ono - I thought u were going to bed 4 hours ago
darling...

THINK PROGRESS

Hate radio host Rush Limbaugh has been one of health care reform’s most vociferous opponents, warning that “[h]uman beings will die earlier than normal” under the “freedom killing” and “life threatening” plan, and calling for it to be “aborted.” Yesterday, Limbaugh put his money where his mouth is, saying that if health care passes and all his fears are realized, he’ll leave the country:

CALLER: If the health care bill passes, where would you go for health care yourself? And the second part of that is, what would happen to the doctors, do they have to participate in the federal program, or could they opt out of it? [...]

LIMBAUGH: My guess in even in Canada and even in the UK, doctors have opted out. And once they’ve opted, they can’t see anybody Medicare, Medicaid, or what will become the exchanges. They have to have a clientele of private patients that will pay them a retainer and it’ll be a very small practice. I don’t know if that’s been outlawed in the Senate bill. I don’t know. I’ll just tell you this, if this passes and it’s five years from now and all that stuff gets implemented — I am leaving the country. I’ll go to Costa Rica.

Listen here:

Free Democracy

Apparently that passes for "grassroots" in Teabagistan

I posted this yesterday

Special to TPC: Infiltrating the Tea Baggers' Big Event

"this machine kills fascists"

a few weeks ago, but of course I can't find the week it was on (yet) still looking - but I came across this, which is what this Dr. is promoting.

http://www.saferpatients.com/medical-errors.htm?gclid=CMDB48-WrKACFRAeDQ...

eh, i am torn between being entertained or being saddened by massa

remember he's got cancer and undergoing probably serious treatment, which i am not sure what involves, but, probably with the cancer and the cancer treatment eating his body, it's very likely he doesn't even know what he's saying any longer, he may have lost his mind, i mean, literally

so, while i want to laugh, maybe we shouldn't laugh too much

Fucking Atrios!

"...Admittedly more surreal than testifying in front of the FEC was testifying to Bob Ney's (who I call NEYNEY) committee."

Oh man, if only I had the time to listen to the old tapes during the MRR/SSS transition! I would find that Seder/Atrios call where Seder mentioned that I coined that and Atrios proceeded to poop on it from atop Mt. Eschaton!!!

VINDICATION!!!!!!!!!!!!

"this machine kills fascists"

A Surgeons Notes on an Imperfect Science ~ by Atul Gawan

great to read ya -
how ya doin?
I hope things r well.
Love Franken

John Taylor talked about the efficacy of foreclosure prevention measures taken so far by the Obama administration, and he responded to telephone calls and electronic communications. He also discussed the Obama administration's program that would pay struggling homeowners to sell their homes at a loss. C-SPAN Radio's Nancy Calo read news .. Read More

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/292428-4

Watched this today. He really explains things, some I don't agree with but most I do and he put a winger in her place.

toniD's Ya Think?

Submitted by toniD on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 12:56pm.

I appreciate this find RE: yesterday mornings questions on foreclosures

this is the kind of stuff rachel would love to cover - should someone email her? or did she cover it already? i've been out of the loop and haven't watched rachel in a long time

and on that note, fare thee well 4 i must sleep at least a few, 4 now.

Alice, I have some answers from a RIP dear stray/feral type FRIEND that passed by here. I do not think you will love answers, but i have a few - some which u have heard. Perhaps we will meet here, if u don't "skate" away...

zzzzzzzz bblater......ShadowWolf, wee Toto dog demands me to lie down ;)

U.S. Chamber of Commerce grows into a political force
A swelling tide of money could put the business group in a better position to sway elections.
March 08, 2010|By Tom Hamburger

Reporting from Washington — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is building a large-scale grass-roots political operation that has begun to rival those of the major political parties, funded by record-setting amounts of money raised from corporations and wealthy individuals.

The chamber has signed up some 6 million individuals who are not chamber members and has begun asking them to help with lobbying and, soon, with get-out-the-vote efforts in upcoming congressional campaigns.
Advertisement

The chamber's expansion into grass-roots organizing -- coupled with a large and growing fundraising apparatus that got a lift from Supreme Court rulings -- is part of a trend in which the traditional parties are losing ground to well-financed and increasingly assertive outside groups. The chamber is certainly better positioned than ever to be a major force on the issues and elections it focuses on each year, analysts think.

The new grass-roots program, the brainchild of chamber political director Bill Miller, is concentrating on 22 states. Among them are Colorado, where incumbent Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet is vulnerable; Arkansas, where Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln faces an uphill reelection battle; and Ohio, where the chamber sees opportunities in numerous House races and an open Senate seat.

The network, called Friends of the U.S. Chamber, has been used to generate more than a million letters and e-mails to members of Congress, 700,000 of them in opposition to the Democratic healthcare plan. That is an increase from 40,000 congressional contacts generated in 2008.

What makes the initiative possible is a swelling tide of money. The chamber spent more than $144 million on lobbying and grass-roots organizing last year, a 60% increase over 2008, and well beyond the spending of individual labor unions or the Democratic or Republican national committees.

The chamber is expected to substantially exceed that spending level in 2010.

The chamber's expanding influence is worrisome to top officials in the White House -- including Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who has expressed concern about the chamber in the past, and senior advisor Valerie Jarrett, who tried to build direct contacts with company executives last fall when the chamber was fighting the administration's legislation to regulate carbon emissions.

Several companies, including Pacific Gas & Electric and Apple, left the chamber over its stance on climate policies, but since then many more firms have joined and made substantial contributions, chamber President Tom Donohue said. more....2 more pages

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/08/nation/la-na-chamber9-2010mar09

toniD's Ya Think?

(Reuters) - The number of U.S. households with a net worth of at least $1 million jumped 16 percent last year after dipping sharply during the financial crisis, an industry consulting group said on Tuesday.

Households with a net worth of $1 million or more, excluding their primary residence, totaled 7.8 million in 2009, up from 6.7 million in 2008, according to Spectrem Group.

The number of millionaire households shrank by 27 percent in 2008, it said.

The current total is still well below the record 9.2 million millionaire households reported in 2007, Spectrem said.

Last year's spike came as U.S. stock markets rallied. The S&P 500 Index rose 28 percent, and the largest wealth management firms reported strong earnings as their clients' accounts recovered from the 2008 meltdown.

The study also found ultra high net worth families -- those with at least $5 million -- grew 17 percent last year to 980,000, Spectrem said.

Households with $500,000 or more topped 12.7 million, up 12 percent.

Spectrem said its study was based on surveys of 3,000 affluent households and online surveys of roughly 2,600 families.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6282M220100309

Bet they are all in Financials or Insurance jobs!
Maybe Oil too!

toniD's Ya Think?

I've been doing research for my friend Gloria so I was looking for info on the foreclosure deal the admin wants to do.

Looks like you have to sell your home in a short sale to get the cash and the bank would have to accept that. Then there is $1500 walk away cash for the orig. homeowner.

Watch the vid because he explains more about the program.

toniD's Ya Think?

Hard drive evolution could hit XP
By Mark Ward
technology correspondent, BBC News

Hard drives are about to undergo one of the biggest format shifts in 30 years.

By early 2011 all hard drives will use an "advanced format" that changes how they go about saving the data people store on them.

The move to the advanced format will make it easier for hard drive makers to produce bigger drives that use less power and are more reliable.

However, it might mean problems for Windows XP users who swap an old drive for one using the changed format.

Error codes

Since the days of the venerable DOS operating system, the space on a hard drive has been formatted into blocks 512 bytes in size.

The 512 byte sector became standardised thanks to IBM which used it on floppy disks.

While 512 bytes was useful when hard drives were only a few megabytes in size, it makes less sense when drives can hold a terabyte (1000 gigabytes), or more of data.

"The technology has changed but that fundamental building block of formatting has not," said David Burks, a product marketing manager for storage firm Seagate.

This fine resolution on hard drives is causing a problem, he said, because of the wasted space associated with each tiny block.

Each 512 byte sector has a marker showing where it begins and an area dedicated to storing error correction codes. In addition a tiny gap has to be left between each sector. In large drives this wasted space where data cannot be stored can take up a significant proportion of the drive.

Moving to an advanced format of 4K sectors means about eight times less wasted space but will allow drives to devote twice as much space per block to error correction.

"You can get yourself into a corner where you cannot squeeze much more onto the disk," said Steve Perkins, a technical consultant for Western Digital.

This shift also allows manufacturers to make more efficient use of the real estate on a hard drive.

"We can put more data on the disk," he said. "It's about 7-11% more efficient as a format."

Slow down

Through the International Disk Drive Equipment and Materials Association (Idema) all hard drive makers have committed to adopting the 4K advanced format by the end of January 2011.

Hard drive makers have begun an education and awareness campaign to let people know about the advanced format and to warn about the problems it could inflict on users of older operating systems such as Windows XP.

This is because Windows XP was released before the 4K format was decided upon.

"The 512 byte sector assumption is ensconced into a lot of the aspects of computer architecture," said Mr Burks from Seagate.

By contrast, Windows 7, Vista, OS X Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard and versions of the Linux kernel released after September 2009 are all 4K aware.

To help Windows XP cope, advanced format drives will be able to pretend they still use sectors 512 bytes in size.

When reading data from a drive this emulation will go unnoticed. However, said Mr Burks, in some situations writing data could hit performance.

In some cases the drive will take two steps to write data rather than one and introduce a delay of about 5 milliseconds.

"All other things being equal you will have a noticeable hard drive reduction in performance," said Mr Burks, adding that, in some circumstances, it could make a drive 10% slower.

In a bid to limit the misalignment, hard drive makers are producing software that ensures 512 sectors line up with 4K ones.

Those most likely to see the performance problems are those building their own computers or swapping out an old drive for one that uses the new format.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/8557144.stm

toniD's Ya Think?

Scope of salmonella-tainted flavouring recall will continue to grow

Source: Montreal Gazette

It could take months for some food companies to figure out whether a popular flavouring ingredient contaminated with salmonella found its way into their products, industry experts say.

In the past five days, a batch of the flavour enhancer hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) that was found last month to be contaminated with salmonella has already resulted in the recall of 94 items in the U.S. and nine in Canada, with another five items added to the list late Monday.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency warned people Monday not to consume Quaker Crispy Minis rice cakes in tomato and basil, Family's Best smokey bacon potato chips, Compliments onion soup mix, and two No Name brands of soup mix — onion recipe and cream of leek.

And the CFIA warns there will be more. The Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. says the contaminated HVP, manufactured by Nevada company Basic Food Flavors Inc., could balloon into one of the largest-ever food recalls in North America.

The ingredient, often mixed in with other spices, is added to thousands of processed foods, including chips, dips, salad dressings, sauces, hotdogs, soups and frozen dinners. And if HVP is part of a flavour mix, it may not be listed as an ingredient on a food package.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Scope+food+recall+will+grow+CFIA/2...

There are over one hundred products on the recall list in the US. Today Pringles is recalling its product
P&G recalls Pringles as salmonella scare widens
http://www.just-food.com/article.aspx?id=110116

Outside of blogs and industry specific sites, there are very few articles in US media. Canadian media is full of the news.

The US company responsible for this salmonella contamination hates government regulation:
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/03/regulatory-climate-sent-hvp-maker-...

Basic Food Flavors--the company at the center of the recall of foods containing hydrolyzed vegetable protein that may laced with a strain of Salmonella Tennessee--was born in California and fled to Nevada for a more favorable regulatory environment.

The North Las Vegas food Ingredient Company is not saying much today, but in 1990 it was the subject of a Forbes magazine article about its expansion to Nevada after encountering too many regulatory obstacles in Pomona, California.

Basic Food Flavors has apparently never looked back. The Las Vegas Review Journal reports that Basic Food Flavors has expanded several times since moving to the Las Vegas area two years ago.

It now offers the food industry 120 varieties of hydrolyzed vegetable protein or HVP, which are used in all kinds of dips, soups, dressings, snack foods, and more.

Basic Food Flavors is a privately held company that does not make its financial information or employment figures public. Its annual sales are estimated in the $20 to $50 million range and its employment at 50-99 workers.

toniD's Ya Think?

Salem Athenaeum’s model faces modern challenges

...
“Once I get to know someone and their reading interests, I make direct recommendations as soon as they come in,’’ said Procious, director of the Salem Athenaeum, which celebrates its 200th anniversary with a fund-raiser on Saturday. “I’m cultivating the community if I get people excited about what they’re reading.’’

Since 1810, Salem-area residents have paid for subscriptions to the athenaeum - one of only about 16 membership libraries left in the United States - and have welcomed nonmembers to read free of charge. A 50,000-volume collection testifies to the membership’s evolving, idiosyncratic passions for topics from theology to botany and world travel.

Now as the athenaeum enters its third century, this historic institution faces sobering challenges to its venerable traditions. A $20,000 deficit is the athenaeum’s largest ever, representing 15 percent of its annual budget of about $130,000. Officers strive to recruit new subscribers, but persuading people to pay $90 per year per household for the privilege of checking out books and sustaining a Salem icon isn’t an easy sell in a tough economy. Meanwhile, rare volumes dating to the 16th and 17th centuries are gradually decaying in the absence of funds needed for preservation.

“They’re going to turn to dust,’’ said Francie King, president of the board of trustees. “We just can’t afford to do what it takes to preserve them, unless someone were to give us millions.’’
...

Mozart - Piano Sonata #15 in C Major.mp3

c'e sempre la speranza, mire...

I have been caught up in the italian elections kerfuffle

i am also thinking about travelling to italy to vote :) at the end of this month

I will vote for this guy, a liberal, green party, candidate for president of Tuscany, his passion is health care as a right

Partiti: Pd, Sel, Sinistra, Idv, Verdi
Età: 51 anni
Assessore e sindaco di Pontedera, dal 2000 è consigliere regionale e assessore regionale al diritto alla salute

Submitted by toniD on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 2:06pm.

I think that If people really find out about this food flavor enhancer and others like it's Big brother MSG, and others which act on the brain chemistry to trick a positive taste response ,people might stay away from these products more often.

Many flavor enhancers have been indicated in the continuing research as to another possible cause of Mental Health issues with sensitive kids and people of Noradian extraction.

http://www.drpressman.com. in the new video section has a very informative piece on the world of MSG and flavor enhancers/HVP \
======
(from toniD's post above)
And if HVP is part of a flavour mix, it may not be listed as an ingredient on a food package.
THEY DONT WANT YOU TO KNOW WHAT IT REALLY IS AND WHAT IT DOES TO YOU. BETTER LVING THROUGH CHEMISTRY
as judy kanuda sez '"It's possible"

Joseph Stiglitz explained to Maria Bartiromo why he thinks the Fed is desperately in need of reform. Basically, it comes down to the influence the banks have in selecting the Fed chairman. How can we expect effective regulation or fair financial rescues from men who owe their power to the heads of the biggest banks?

toniD's Ya Think?

Thread: http://samsedershow.com/node/5704#comments

It might be the pringles she likes to eat or

This Stiglitz Cat may be layin down some truth's she doesnt have the stomach to absorb.

Long live the Cats of Higher Consciousness

nice make-up...she looks like a freaking night stalker...a cheap Elvira knockoff...

comically apropos.

toniD's Ya Think?Greece asks US to help crackdown on speculators

Source: BBC

The Greek prime minister has called on the US to help crack down on the financial speculators he blames for exacerbating his country's debt woes. George Papandreou said he wanted to see the US impose stricter regulations on hedge funds and currency traders.

Its deficit currently stands at 12.7%, more than four times higher than the 3% limit set for the 16 European nations that share the euro.

"Unprincipled speculators are making billions every day by betting on a Greek default," said Mr Papandreou, who met US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington on Monday. "That is why Europe and America must say 'enough is enough' to those speculators who only place value on immediate returns, with utter disregard for the consequences on the larger economic system - not to mention the human consequences of lost jobs, foreclosed homes, and decimated pensions," he added.

Ms Clinton said the US wanted to work with other nations to reform the "unregulated financial market that globally moves money at the speed of sound, if not light, and leaves in its wake all kinds of consequences that governments have to contend with".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8556944.stm

toniD's Ya Think?

toniD's Ya Think?

When she's on MoJo I just want to slap her.

Leaving for work.

Have a nice evening.

Later

toniD's Ya Think?

http://samsedershow.com/node/5704

you must be kidding, toni, right?

ah ah ah ah ah