Monday, October 29, 2007

I, Nanny

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 — In a reversal from past election cycles, Democratic candidates for president are outpacing Republicans in donations from the health care industry, even as the leading Democrats in the field offer proposals that have caused deep anxiety in some of its sectors.

Hospitals, drug makers, doctors and insurers gave candidates in both parties more than $11 million in the first nine months of this year, according to an analysis of campaign finance records done for The New York Times by the Center for Responsive Politics, an independent group that tracks campaign finance.

---- You're gonna get that "free" universal healthcare. I can hardly wait to pay for Bubba and Earline's physical ailments brought on by a life of obesity and/or self-indulgent, and/or drugs and alcohol, and/or second and third generation social failure since no one has really held Bubba accountable for anything because parents haven't parented for the last 40 years and nothing is Bubba's fault.

I'm a loving decent person - so why shouldn't I want Bubba to have a lifetime receiving taxpayer funded healthcare and drawing SSI disability which often goes with it? He worked at least 10 years in dead end jobs, here and there, and just because his legs are giving out because his kneecaps can't support that weight, and just because years of junk food and sloth destroys his health, and now his kidneys are going and dialysis is probably in his future, and he needs those prescription drugs for pain and mood lability and meds for the sequelae of designer "diseases" like alcoholism and ADHD because exspurts say it's heredity, a gene, and nothing to do with will and responsibility, just because he's joined millions of other self-inflicted sick - doesn't mean I should resent paying to care for him the rest of his lifetime, which is likely to be short anyway.

Why good grief, if I can pay for S&L bailouts and war profiteers, if I can pay for the perks and benefits to corrupt politicians, if I can pay farm subsidies to the Rockefellas and fund the free world wealthyfare corporatocracy, if I can pay for the local cop shop robotoys from the Department of Homeland Security to oppress and harass my neighborhood – then by God I am just as happy to fund the other side of the parasite – I will fund the lifestyle and well-being of millions of Bubbas, and all the new racketeers ... uh, er, new "agencies" the government will create to disburse the funds to hospitals, doctors, drug makers, and insurers who bring the subsidized "free" pharma/healthcare industry to Bubba, and his little Bubbas.

4-Sale, Hard Worker, Won't Cry Much

LONDON: An Indian supplier to clothing retailer Gap has been found using child labour to produce items for Gap Kids branches in Europe and the United States, a newspaper reported here on Sunday.

In response, Gap has withdrawn the garments involved from sale while it probes breaches of the group's ethical code.

(Gap's last self-probing was in Cambodia.)

"The whole system is corrupt," Professor Singh says. "These are children doing work under the very noses of the government agencies in Delhi. ... The government pick up them and send them to the refinery or jails, and nothing more. But after that, they have to release them after some time, and again, they go through the same system" -- never fully escaping from the shadows in which they've lived for years.

------ Cocoa, carpets, coal, sex, from factories and fields and brothels and mines – child labor. Next best thing to slavery and migrant workers.

But rest assured friends – for centuries various governments and humanitarian organizations have worked to abolish such situations. Now, through small time "gotcha" journalism - in efforts to force modern global corporatocracies to "investigate" themselves for any wrong doing, the crusade continues.

(Cutting competitor profits has no role in who gets outed because these "free market" profit-mongers and NGO honchos really, really want to eradicate, once and for all, the forced labor of orphans and urchins and parents who sell their children.)

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Justice Delayed is Justice Denied

SEATTLE - Black soldiers court-martialed 63 years ago in the rioting death of an Italian prisoner of war at Fort Lawton were unfairly denied access to their attorneys and investigative records and should have their convictions overturned, the U.S. Army said Friday.

On August 14, 1944, several dozen African American soldiers riot at Seattle’s Fort Lawton against Italian prisoners of war, and the next morning one of the Italians, Guglielmo Olivotto, is discovered hanged. Newspaper accounts in the coming days attribute the riot to the resentment of the black soldiers toward the Italian Prisoners of War due to the seemingly lenient, congenial treatment of the Italian soldiers. This is the story that receives nationwide attention, that Seattle officials and citizens react to, and that goes down in history. It is the story related in an earlier version of this file. What actually happened was suppressed at the time: the Army classified its investigation, and contemporary newspaper accounts were based on hearsay gathered in a bar days later and on similar dubious sources. The ensuing court martial results in the conviction of 23 African American soldiers, including one for killing Olivotto. Sixty years later the Army’s investigation conducted by Brigadier General Elliot D. Cooke is declassified, and researcher Jack Hamann discovers that what was alleged to have happened was not what really happened. This file is largely based on his book, On American Soil.

Demonizing Dissent



The demonizing of dissent begins.

Bill Clinton's "How dare you," to 9/11 "inside job" hecklers is the most chilling moment I've witnessed since Election 2000 was handed to Bush. Not surprising, but chilling.

No surprise that politicians of any party would protect the system that feeds them, as they were involved or aware of 9/11 truth, either before but more likely after the fact, and are now necessary in the coverup – a little anthrax could go a long way in convincing wayward souls to protect the status quo.

There's a very subtle threat in Clinton's words to those who would dare to accuse US political puppets of staging terror at home.

The Clintons have come to love that vast rightwing conspiracy, although their acting skills are still horribly third rate - Bill used the same tone of voice in "I did not have sexual relations with that woman."

For those who believe too many conspirators would be needed for a 9/11 and truth would leak out – you do not understand the nature of global money, global power, and Intel. For those who cannot fathom the US government/ruling class murdering their fellow citizens – you do not know history. For those who believe the ruling class cares about them – you do not grasp the mentality of people who would bludgeon their own father and crawl over his body to fuck their sister if it handed them a throne.

Friday, October 26, 2007

All the News That's Iffy

Saw this headline on more than a couple of sites today, WRH and Antiwar. IRAQ: Child prisoners abused and tortured, say activists.

Antiwar made no comment on the headline but Rivero at WRH states: "Done with your tax dollars and in your names. The torture of children: doesn't it make you feel proud??"

Rivero takes his usual leap with fuzzy logic.

The story, from IRIN and source Khalid Rabia'a state : "According to Rabia'a, child prisoners between 13 and 17 are being accused of supporting insurgents and militias. Most were detained during Iraqi army military operations in the Baghdad neighbourhoods of Adhamiya, Latifiya, Alawi, Doura and Hay al-Adel.

---- Um, well, unfortunately those between ages 13-17 often are insurgents (and younger recruits). Not saying they deserve torture, nor to say there is no abuse of youth in Iraq jails. Iraqis juvenile jailers are no different than juvenile guards in the USA. And remember Martin Lee Anderson. Or Genarlow Wilson – you think a 17 year old imprisoned for a blowjob, when he should be in his dorm, isn't torture?

But when the accusation is child torture in my name with my dollars I gotta look at the source. (And I'm still looking for the same concerned white folks upset over incarcerated and tortured children in the US.)

From IRIN Middle East, their blurb states : " ... IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks) is part of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, but its services are editorially independent. Its reports do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations and its agencies, nor its member states."

Okay, "part of the UN" and yet "editorially independent." Believe it or not Ripley.

IRIN's budget and stats are here. IRIN Liaison Officer is Mark Dalton, 1 UN Plaza, New York, NY, USA Tel: +1 917 367 2422, DaltonM@un.org – but remember, IRIN is independent of the UN, its agencies, or member states, ummm yessiree Bubba, in-de-pen-dent.

Here's how it works: IRIN hires a few locals, who, with IRIN supplied guidelines on the type of news the IRIN has in mind – good, bad, the ugly – the local reporter writes the story which is then given to local IRIN desk jockeys who polish it to suit the tastes of their particular subscribers (and donors) and then send it to the big office.

Included in the stats and budget there are glowing thematic reports from IRIN "journalists" on such issues as HIV/AIDS (comic books explaining the disease), analysis and research and updates on the fight against malaria (only been fighting that one since Adam and Eve), "honour crimes" - how those barbaric African and Middle Eastern men maim and murder women who dishonor the family (known as domestic violence in the Anglo world). Feel good fotos and oh-how-sad pics included. Also fotos (below) of folks like Jan Egeland, former United Nations UG for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator from June 2003 to December 2006.

Mr. Egeland is patiently explaining to the natives how white folks just want to help.

The More Things Change ...

An American epic of science, politics, race, honor, high society, and the Mississippi River, Rising Tide tells the riveting and nearly forgotten story of the greatest natural disaster this country has ever known -- the Mississippi flood of 1927. The river inundated the homes of nearly one million people, helped elect Huey Long governor and made Herbert Hoover president, drove hundreds of thousands of blacks north, and transformed American society and politics forever.

In 1927, the business elite decided to dynamite the levee protecting St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes so that those parishes would get flooded and save New Orleans. It is interesting to note that they did not want to dynamite the area north of New Orleans because that area is more developed and would have cost more to rebuild and to compensate the victims. Moreover, city officials decided to dynamite the east bank rather than the west bank of the city because the west was more important to the business interests. Although it has not been officially indicated that levees were dynamited in New Orleans to save the city from further flooding during Katrina, witnesses near the levees protecting the eastern part of the city have said they believe the levees were dynamited to safeguard the Central Business District of New Orleans, by causing more flooding in the Ninth Ward. Such disregard for the welfare of the masses ignited dissent among the people that had to be controlled by the dominators.

In order to subdue the people, the ruling elite used force in both disasters. In fact, even in 1927, guards were given “shoot to kill orders” and rumors abounded about blacks “looting” and such black “looters” were shot by the National Guard and police officers in order to send a message to others. White people took advantage of the looting rumor by establishing an 8 p.m. curfew in Greenville, MS that was enforced only on blacks. Barry characterized the struggle against the flood as one that became a battle of “man against man” or the elite against the people.

The Great Flood of 1927 "resulted in a great cultural output as well, inspiring a great deal of folklore and folk music. Charlie Patton, Bessie Smith and many other Delta blues musicians wrote numerous songs about the flood; Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927" was also based on the events of the flood.

Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie

Shoe Horns

WASHINGTON (CNN) The FBI and Department of Homeland Security are urging state and local law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for the possible use of shoes to conceal and smuggle explosive components.

---- FBI sources at the highest level, speaking anonymously from under J. Edgar's red dress, deny any involvement in foot fetish.

Swarthy Suspect

A sketch of the alleged abductor of Madeleine McCann has been released.

"He took Maddie," states the Sun, next to a sketch of a man with dark hair carrying a sleeping child in pink pyjamas. The paper describes him as "swarthy".

----- Oh my god, I know that guy! It's the same man who murdered JonBenet.

Briefs

After 3 years in prison for the crime of oral sex while Black, Genarlow Wilson is freed in Georgia.

Home of the ICC

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A pro-pedophilia group has posted photos of 3-year-old Princess Amalia, daughter of the heir to the Dutch throne, on its Web site, a government spokesman said Friday.

The site of Martijn, a group that says it lobbies for acceptance of consensual physical relationships between adults and children, also showed pictures of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander's 5-year-old nephew Lucas.

Last year, a Dutch group campaigning for the legalization of pedophilia launched a political party that said it wanted to run in parliamentary elections. The bid foundered when the party failed to gather the 570 signatures of supporters necessary to allow it to register for the election.

The party's platform included lowering the age of sexual consent to 12.

Ruling Class Paraphernalia

Condi had that look. Holier-than-thou. Haughty. A subtle display of scorn for what she regarded as beneath her. The latest stunt by Code Pink disturbed Rice not at all.

If you're paying attention you've seen this look/attitude many times from the ruling class, "your betters." You're beneath them; your little 20 second stunts highlight nothing, change nothing. Sometimes "your betters" even guide and payroll the pranksters to pull little pranks – it gives the commoners a sense of power, and a sense of power, however impotent, keeps the little people in line – a sort of opiate for the masses.

The blood on hands stunt, for Condi supporters, has Condi appearing cool and collected under fire. For Bush-RiceCo critics – they got in her face and made a statement; a leftwing fix, ganja, freebasing on you-go-bloody-hands woman!

For the ruling class the stunt was a reminder of just how dumb and low-class the lower classes are; likely not worthy of mention at dinner (although the lapdog press may report a stunt upset or alarmed your betters, more sense of power dope to the little people). For the commoners the stunt is truth-to-power performance placebos, sugar pills for the symbol-minded. For Code Pink it's may be more donations and/or more clueless members signing up.

And as usual, it means the raping and plundering ruling class will have its way with you as they look down those long, self-composed, smug noses (and their fixers tap your vein for the next dose).

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Take Away, Please

Former US president Jimmy Carter is offering to act as a mediator to Burma in response to the military regime's recent crackdown on protesters.

"If the leaders of Myanmar would accept my presence, I'd be delighted" to serve as an envoy, he told Guardian America. Mr Carter has been known for his decades of involvement in international political and humanitarian crisis since leaving office.

But Mr Carter, who was president when America boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics, rejects the notion of boycotting the 2008 Beijing Olympics over the issue.

Mr Carter, promoting a new book, Beyond the White House, said he did not apologise for the title of his highly controversial previous book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, seen by some as a slap at Israel.

But he acknowledged in the interview his regret for a "misstatement" suggesting Palestinians agree to stop terrorism in return for Israeli actions. Mr Carter said he removed the statement from further book editions, including the new paperback.

The former president also cited what he saw a bright spot over the apartheid linkage controversy. "The criticism that it aroused, it probably increased the sale maybe a couple hundred thousand" more books, he said.

------ It's time his managers take pen and paper away from Jimmah.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

I-cons to the Left, Jokers to the Right

Tucker Carlson : I don't want to know' what Americans believe about 9/11.



Chomsky doesn't want to know either, "who cares"? it's all unexplained coincidences.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Ahh, Look What Hillary Will Undo

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 — Senator Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that the Bush-Cheney administration had engaged in a “power grab” and that she would consider relinquishing some of that executive power if she followed it into the White House.

“There were a lot of actions which they took that were clearly beyond any power the Congress would have granted, or that in my view that was inherent in the Constitution,” Mrs. Clinton said, in an interview posted on the Web site of The Guardian newspaper of Britain.

Asked whether a president could “actually give up some of this power in the name of constitutional principle,” Mrs. Clinton answered, “Absolutely.”

Democrats and some Republicans have criticized the administration, saying it has overstepped constitutional bounds by eavesdropping on certain telephone conversations without warrants, suspending due process for people classified as enemy combatants and generally resisting Congressional scrutiny.

----- Hillary: "Pick me, pick me. I plan to consider giving you back your constitution. Well, except no relinquishing those powers which First Madam absolutely needs to maintain law and order when the economy for the working poor collapses and migrant hordes and unwashed masses overrun the palace as the planet warms up and we run out of grain. Absolutely."

You Can Make This Up

From Kos on domestic surveillance: "Here's a question for you, and maybe you'd like to ask your Senators this one, too: What exactly does this FISA bill authorize in the way of domestic surveillance?

I've been wondering this myself -- literally to myself -- but Declan McCullagh has done us all the favor of writing it down:

Let's translate that. A hotel manager who lets FBI agents into a guest's room to copy a laptop's hard drive in secret would not be liable. An apartment manager who gives Homeland Security the key to a tenant's unit to place a key logger in a PC would not be liable. A private security firm that divulges a customer's alarm code would not be liable. A university that agrees to forward a student's e-mail messages to the Defense Department would not be liable. An antivirus company that helps the NSA implant spyware in an unsuspecting customer's computer would not be liable.

No court order is required. And if an eventual lawsuit accuses the hotel manager or antivirus firm of unlawful activities, it'll be thrown out of court as long as the attorney general or the director of national intelligence can provide a "certification." The "certification" is, of course, secret--all a judge may say publicly is that the rules were followed, and then dismiss the case."

------------ Bwaaahaaaa haaahaaaa haaaaahaaa stop, my sides hurt. Afraid, be very afraid - of the folks who come up with this stuff. Bwaahahaaha. And then ask your senator.

Bubba, you really think the FBI is going to trust Mr. Hot el Manager to open a room and not tell anyone of his/her undercover adventure with the F-B-I? When did the FBI need the manager to gain entry to a room?

Haaaahahahaaaaa, get this one – apartment manager, Bill Braggart Rentcollector, is in the know, giving DHS the tenant's key so Homeland Security can place a key logger on a pc, you know a key logger, those things as seen on CNN, CBS News, ABC News, and Newsweek and at your favorite spy stores with names like SpyDevil and KGB Keylogger.

A private security firm – scary – divulging a customer's home alarm code. Even if Security Firm gave Big Daddy the code to bin Laden's cave – that firm would be out of business as soon as their assistance was public knowledge. Besides, when did government burglars need help from a security firm to break and enter?

University students, other than the most weird of weird, do not use the school's e-mail for anything other than school matters. Hotmail, yahoo, excite.com, etc. are for real mail. So head up DOD – you won't get much out of geekystudent.edu emails.

NSA doing implants? Oh, implanting spyware in an unsuspecting customer's computer. Haaaahaaahahaaa. The suspect is unsuspecting boss, a real boob.

Heeeheheeeheee. Hey, Bubba ! they CAN make this shit up, and then favor us by writing it all down. Hahahahahaaha. Wait, wait - is this where I say "I could tell ya but I'd have to kill ya."

It's the CIA, Stupid

Seven CIA Veterans Challenge 9/11 Commission.

Raymond McGovern
William Christison
Melvin Goodman
Robert Baer
Robert David Steele
Lynne Larkin
David MacMichael

These liars are pros, and still working for "the man." They have not grown a conscience after decades of servicing the status quo, smiling as they collect CIA retirement checks and benefits.

They're performing - telling a portion of the public what it wants to hear; a little fun foreplay before you're screwed again by the next Commission's report. The same operation was pulled after JFK. Authors wrote books, Hollywood made movies, former InsertAgency veterans challenged the Warren Report, and "they" eventually gave you the Select Committee on Assassinations. Changed nothing, solved nothing.

Simple entertainment, handpicked and managed heros, paper tigers and troupers blowing smoke. Swallow – eating this shit up is a survival trait of the modern serf.

Team Up

Bear Stearns, China's Citic to Invest in Each Other Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Bear Stearns Cos., reeling from mortgage-related losses, shored up investor support by selling a stake to China's government-controlled Citic Securities Co. and gaining a foothold in the world's best-performing stock market.

Citic, Asia's largest securities firm, will pay $1 billion for the equivalent of 6 percent of New York-based Bear Stearns's shares, and the U.S. brokerage will invest the same amount in Citic, the companies said in a statement today. They agreed to team up to sell financial products and services in China, and plan a Hong Kong-based joint venture for other Asian markets.

Motherhood

Monday, October 22, 2007

New Guns For Hire

Baghdad: Iraqi Interior Ministry sources have said that American and British security firms have started to leave Iraq.

"Colombian, Chilean and Jordanian security companies may expand their work in Baghdad. These companies are known for their good record and their willingness to rectify mistakes carried out by previous American, Australian and British security firms who would often open fire in the street carelessly," sources at the information and investigations agency at the Iraqi Interior Ministry told Gulf News.

These sources added: "There are some 5,000 individuals working for Colombian, Chilean and Jordanian security firms and these companies have contracts with the coalition authorities, not with the Iraqi government."

---- Would those be the ex-military Colombian and Chileans recruited to work for Triple Canopy (Herndon, VA)?

Or would those be latinos with experience in helping the US fight the war on drugs? "For hire: more than 1,000 U.S.-trained former soldiers and police officers from Colombia. Combat-hardened, experienced in fighting insurgents and ready for duty in Iraq."

And, look Bubba, cheaper labor ! - "Colombians were willing to work for $2,500 to $5,000 a month, compared with perhaps $10,000 or more for Americans."

But hey, if it works for the Iraqi Interior Ministry ...

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Child's Play

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Try as he might, Baghdad businessman Ibrahim Georges can't persuade his 11-year-old daughter Sandy to lay down her arms in favour of something less hostile, such as a doll.

"She loves her gun," Georges said as Sandy, short-haired and dressed in long trousers and T-shirt, proudly displayed a menacing GC toy automatic rifle that, according to a bold stamp on the side, was made in China.

"She never plays with dolls," added Georges ruefully, outside their home in a quiet residential street in the relatively calm western Karrada suburb.

"It has laser and can fire on regular or on automatic," said Sandy, brandishing the gun that can spit out 6mm BB pellets hard enough to take out an eye and is sold in a box carrying a warning, "The best for 18 and up."

"All the children in the streets have toy guns," said Georges with a shrug, pointing to a gang of boys with whom he said his daughter plays "cops and robbers."

Earlier this year, Trade Minister Abed Falah al-Sudani considered banning the toys because they look so realistic. However, given the seeming impossibility of the task, he appears to have shelved the idea.

Whether invented by parents to scare their children or whether it really happened, children all know the reason it would, perhaps, not be a good idea to point a plastic weapon anywhere near a US soldier.

"One boy was killed by an American soldier who mistook his toy for a real gun," said one of Sandy's friends, who gave his name as Zain and his age as 12, parroting the correct answer.

According to shopkeeper Uday Mohammed, the incident really did happen "about a year ago in Diyala province," which is why he warns children buying guns from his store to be ultra careful about displaying them in public.

Mohammed said toy guns are his biggest sellers by far, and that there had been a run on imitation weapons during the just-ended Eid al-Fitr Muslim festival, when children are given new clothes and toys. "Children prefer guns to trains, balls or radios," he said.

------ I'm reluctant to say it – but giving realistic looking guns to children, particularly in a war zone, is beyond stupid. It's criminal child abuse and endangerment – but wait - will a civil liberty union wanna sue me and some Iraqi rifle association shout about right to bear arms? Will Sally Field say I am not one of the good mothers fit to rule the world?

Friday, October 19, 2007

Pete's Stark Pandering


"But you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the President's amusement."

Some applaud Stark's comments, but they're a bit over the top even for me. I don't think Bush finds much amusement in life, or death. I don't think Bush capable of human emotion other than anger at perceived insults to his ego.

Stark (made his millions in banking) has been in the "halls of power" for 35 years, approximately the same length of time the US has been on its decline in a handbasket. Have I mentioned term limits? Stark, one of many poster boys for term limits.

So, how did Stark vote on AUMF (Authorization for Use of Military Force) back in September 2001?

AUMF, the blanket that gave BushCo the whereas authority to "deter and prevent" terrorism against the United States. The congressional nod to go for it, go ahead, get your wars on, AUMF, otherwise known as let's go to Afghanistan first.

Stark voted YES to AUMF. He can play progressive man of peace in the political circus - but he knew BushCo's rising tides would lift all portfolios.

The lone House member to vote NO was Barbara Lee:

Guns & Butter or Nothing

NEW YORK (AP) -- The calculus of living paycheck to paycheck in America is getting harder.

What used to last four days might last half that long now. Pay the gas bill, but skip breakfast. Eat less for lunch so the kids can have a healthy dinner.

Across the nation, Americans are increasingly unable to stretch their dollars to the next payday as they juggle higher rent, food and energy bills. It's starting to affect middle-income working families as well as the poor, and has reached the point of affecting day-to-day calculations of merchants like Wal-Mart Stores Inc., 7-Eleven Inc. and Family Dollar Stores Inc.

Food pantries, which distribute foodstuffs to the needy, are reporting severe shortages and reduced government funding at the very time that they are seeing a surge of new people seeking their help.

While economists debate whether the country is headed for a recession, some say the financial stress is already the worst since the last downturn at the start of this decade.

From Family Dollar to Wal-Mart, merchants have adjusted their product mix and pricing accordingly. Sales data show a marked and more prolonged drop in spending in the days before shoppers get their paychecks, when they buy only the barest essentials before splurging around payday.

"It's pretty pronounced," said Kiley Rawlins, a spokeswoman at Family Dollar. "It seems like to us, customers are running out of food products, paper towels sooner in the month."

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, said the imbalance in spending before and after payday in July was the biggest it has ever seen, though the drop-off wasn't as steep in August.

"It even costs more to get the basics like soap and laundry detergent," said Michelle Grassia, who lives with her husband and three teenage children in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York.

Her husband's check from his job at a grocery store used to last four days. "Now, it lasts only two," she said.

To make up the difference, Grassia buys one gallon of milk a week instead of three. She sometimes skips breakfast and lunch to make sure there's enough food for her children. She cooks with a hot plate because gas is too expensive. And she depends more than ever on the bags of free vegetables and powdered milk from a local food pantry.

Grassia's story is neither new nor unique. With the fastest-rising food and energy prices since the 1980s, low-income consumers are stretching their budgets by eating cheap foods like peanut butter and pasta.

Electric Avenue



News In Brief

Mukasey and Guiliani and the like: The usual Italian thugs, Jewish Bosses.

Benazir Bhutto: Corrupt politician supporting the "war on terror" and bringing corrupted "democracy" back to her sheople.

Crude Oil Reaches Record $90: Hugo in the know, more than you know.

Bush and Cheney still to attack Iran. Bloggers tell us so because "... the USA ruling class is manipulated by the zionist lobby" and MSM tells us so because Bush said WWIII.

Ron Paul continues to woo the political spectrum, from boys and girls in liberal short shorts to the struggling descendents of conservatives.

And, in this week's who-gives-a-shit barnyard news there is Ellen Dog and Iggy, Nicolas "the frog" Sarkozy gets divorced, cow (or cowed) Britney loses custody again, and the FDA warns Viagra may cause hearing loss but it could be the sheep are bleating too loud to hear anything.

Baby Steps

A school in Maine, US, is to make birth control pills available to middle school children as young as 11 through its health centre. According to an Associated Press (AP) report, the decision was made in a school committee meeting earlier this week following a request from the school's health centre to make the pills available to children of high school age who were still attending middle school.

------ The above maneuver is disturbing in more ways than I can articulate. The least of which is the continuance of the who needs responsible parenting mentality – let the State be mom and dad, the sheeple follow.

But, I ask - if the State sanctions an 11 y/o girl as old enough to consent to sexual activity, and the State sanctions the 11 y/o girl is old enough to request and receive birth control - how long before the State sanctions the 11 y/o girl has the right to choose 40 y/o Chester as her lover?

And if 11 is old enough to choose, why not 10 or 9? Wasn't it immediately and widely reported that the Nevada toddler raped/taped by Chester Stiles is today a normal, healthy 7 y/o with no problems, who never displayed any behavior change to alert her mother? I can see a future where lawyers give new meaning to "no harm, no foul" - no problem when no harm or damage is done.

Pedophiles rejoice – the State has taken the first step to put you on the road to becoming simply a lifestyle, a "preference," and eventually – it's nature, in the genes.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Five Blind Boys of Alabama

Dr. Watson, Dementia I Presume

London's Science Museum canceled a talk by Nobel Prize-winning geneticist James Watson after the Long Island-based scientist told a newspaper that Africans and Europeans had different levels of intelligence.

Watson, a world-renowned scientist who co-discovered the structure of the DNA molecule - one of the 20th century's greatest scientific finds - has been quoted in a London newspaper saying Africans are less intelligent than Europeans, prompting a backlash from researchers, even those at his own Long Island laboratory.

Watson, 79, who won the 1962 Nobel Prize for medicine for his groundbreaking project with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, has been a director at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for 50 years.

He was quoted in the Oct. 14 issue of The Sunday Times saying he feels "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" since "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing says not really."

"Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory does not engage in any research that could even form the basis of the statements attributed to Dr. Watson," it continued.

Watson, who has made eyebrow-raising comments on race and gender in the recent past, could not be reached for comment. In 2000, he told an audience at the University of California at Berkeley that there is a correlation between skin pigmentation and sex drive, saying melanin content increases sex drive.

And he also said ... That's why you have Latin lovers. You've never heard of an English lover. Only an English patient." ... in a 2000 speech at the University of California at Berkeley, on his perceived correlation between skin pigmentation and sex drive, saying melanin content increases sex drive. "I've never read the Bible, so I'm not sure I've missed much." Watson, arguing in 2003 that the book of the DNA sequence would eventually be more relevant to human life than the Bible.

--------- Will blog more on above topic, as soon as I can get my dumbass out of bed and cease having nonstop nympho sex with my Sicilian (latin lover) husband.

Sloppy Dissident Seconds

Paul Findley, another high-profile individual, another new friend of the left of center, anti-war, anti-AIPAC, etc. Findley served 22 years in congress from 1961-1983. Originally a pro-Vietnam hawk he momentarily joined the doves in the early 1970s.

Post congressional career Findley has been quite cranky; a former hardliner now hard lining anything with the words Israel and Jewish lobby. An old used-up republican gasbag turned out and turned to the left of center crowd - sloppy seconds from the Republicans.

Back in 1978 regarding the Turkish arms embargo ... "some media foreign relations experts" were searching for a House member with a good overview of the situation and in particular the Palestinian Arab reaction. They turned to Findley. He has even influenced President Carter ... to be the House floor leader in the administration's effort to lift the arms embargo against Turkey. The struggle was uphill, and Findley told the President so. The President, in turn, promised his support, and the result was the House repealed the Turkish arms embargo by a vote of 208-205. Jimmy and Findley, what a team.

Turkey, 99 percent Muslim, predominantly Sunni, appreciated the repeal so much that in 1980 the right-wing generals had another coup d'état (the 3rd since 1960). The National Security Council informed President Jimmy Carter about the coup with the words "Our boys (in Ankara) did it!"

The usual tens of thousands were imprisoned, executed, tortured. The US has since aided Turkey with billions in economic and military aid and loans. But hey! Turkey is secular, just like Saddam was.

In 1983 Findley lost to Dick Durbin because the Jews did it. Thus began his career of writing and warning that Israel and pro-Israel groups somehow force congress to "give priority to Israel over America."

Today Findley writes : "There is an open secret in Washington. I learned it well during my 22-year tenure as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. All members swear to serve the interests of the United States, but there is an unwritten and overwhelming exception: The interests of one small foreign country almost always trump U.S. interests. That nation of course is Israel. Both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue give priority to Israel over America. Those on Capitol Hill are pre-primed to roar approval for Israeli actions whether right or wrong, instead of at least fussing first and then caving. The White House sometimes puts up a modest and ineffective show of resistance before it follows Israel’s lead."

For 22 years Paul Findley was a happy fat cat serving the same interests. His replacement, Durbin, was listed in April of 2006 as one of American's 10 Best Senators and according to the National Journal conservative/liberal source, Durbin is currently the most liberal Senator. I guess that means Durbin is kissing a lot of Jew butt?

Although Findley jumped on the blame-the-jews bandwagon he does not entertain that 9/11 may have been an inside job. "Nine-eleven would not have occurred if the U.S. government had refused to help Israel humiliate and destroy Palestinian society." Hmmm, so did Findley believe Ariel Sharon's claim that al-Qaeda militants were operating in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon? Sort of a round about way of blaming Palestine for 9/11?

According to Findley : How did Israel gain this influence? "It all started 40 years ago. On June 8, 1967, the U.S. commander-in-chief, President Lyndon B. Johnson, turned his back on the crew of a U.S. navy ship, the USS Liberty, despite the fact that the ship was under deadly assault by Israel’s air and sea forces. The Israelis were engaged in an ugly scheme to lure America into their war against Arab states. They tried to destroy the Liberty and its entire crew, then pin the blame on the Arabs. This, they reasoned, would outrage the American people and immediately lead the United States to join Israel’s battle against Arabs."

(Mr. Findley, Jewish power on US policy began longer than 40 years ago, and as an educated man you should know that.)

But, why wasn't Findley screaming this truth and these open secrets to the American public from 1967 to 1983, before he was ousted from congress? Because he's a self-serving liar? Then and now. Findley wasted no time, publishing They Dare to speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby in 1984. And it only took Findley 22 years to speak out.

However, time would be better spent reading Who Will Tell The People? : The Betrayal Of American Democracy (1992) by William Greider.

I have an old copy of Greider's book around and remember it making quite an impression on me. I need to reread it.

A review of Who Will Tell the People from Kirkus : An angry inquiry into the putative decline of democracy in the US. Unlike many observers, Greider goes beyond the manifest deficiencies of electoral campaigns to focus on the politics of governance--and he concludes that so-called monied interests are ascendant in Washington's power centers. By the author's anecdotal account, the institutionalized intervention of these corporate advocates into administrative as well as legislative affairs costs ordinary citizens dearly--from purposefully lax enforcement of federal law and indulgent treatment of casino capitalism through an inequitable tax system. In Greider's canon, the sorry state of the union does not lack for guilty parties. He blames the ebb of democracy in America on both major political parties (which cater to affluent elites), the press (which no longer mediates between the public and its representatives), big business (as exemplified by the awesome influence wielded by General Electric Co.), and even the populace (whose activism has been limited of late to grass-roots concerns).

---- Corporate advocates, monied interests – they ain't all Jews – so which advocates and interests are paying Findley now?

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Ron Paul: Rock Star

"By the way, did you know that Ron Paul leads all presidential candidates in donations from members of the military? That’s right. He’s being chastised by his fellow Republicans because of his views on American involvement in Iraq yet the donations flow in."

------- 'Cuse me, 'cuse me, sir, sir ... would those donations be flowing from the racist skinheads, gang members, or the felons and misfits the military is now accepting?

;)

Punchlines

U.S. torture tactics shame us all. WASHINGTON -- Thank goodness for whistle-blowers, those public servants who think Americans should know the harm that is being inflicted in our name.

Some of those high-minded officials recently revealed to The New York Times that the Bush administration has abandoned its 2004 legal opinion that torture is "abhorrent" and instead has resumed "brutal interrogations."

The Times said two subsequent Justice Department legal opinions -- implemented by then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales -- gave the go-ahead for interrogators to resort to physical and psychological tactics that inflict pain.

The authorization endorsed use of the harshest techniques applied by the CIA, including head slapping, "waterboarding" that simulates drowning, holding detainees in frigid temperatures, manacling prisoners in stress positions for hours, sleep deprivation for days and nights and subjecting them to long hours of thundering rock music.

The Times said this was the first time in U.S. history that the federal government authorized such tactics. The new orders also renew the CIA's authority to hold prisoners in so-called overseas black sites. The secret detention centers reportedly are located in Afghanistan, Thailand and Eastern Europe, where brutal tactics can be employed out of sight. They apparently are secret only to Americans.

The Times reported "nervous" CIA interrogators from abroad sent inquiries back to agency lawyers at headquarters to ask: "Are we breaking the laws against torture?"

-------Helen, Helen, Helen. I know you've been around the block more than once and know better. Please, please just let your progressive ideas rub off on police departments nationwide and boot camp guards and nurses. Please, please intervene the next time the feds blast loud music and screams of dying animals at a Waco compound. And please please write sappy condemnations the next time the US blasts Van Halen and Howard Stern at the next Manny Effing Noriega.

The US "left" isn't concerned with torture or they'd clean up domestic prisons of torture and police brutality. The "left" uses unsubstantiated stories, trots out a couple of "victims" who, strangely enough, survived to tell all. The "left" wag fingers at the Bush team, all the while they're the other team who play the same game when in power.

What bothers white liberals is that the federal government has officially authorized such tactics, not that the government always has and will continue to use such tactics.

"Nervous CIA interrogators"?? Oh please. Have you ever met a CIA interrogator? They're usually paramilitary contractors – not CIA "employees", but what the hell – the US contracts out most everything else – why not interrogation. I've heard, however, the CIA is again building up SOG units – if you believe they were ever disbanded to begin with.

Let's take a look at a typical CIA interrogator. Johnny Michael Spann, an "American hero" who was "interviewing" prisoners in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan in 2001 when he was killed during a prison revolt. Spann's is the 79th star chiseled on the wall of honor at the CIA. Spann's father remarked that Johnny said "Someone's got to do the things that no one else wants to do."

Was Spann, or today's interrogators, "nervous" about those "things"? Not repulsed by their interrogation work – just nervous about covering their ass.

So, when you rush to see the latest Hollywood thriller, Rendition, a movie depicting US torture (according to MSM), think of Johnny Spann, guy next door family man, adventurer, commando spy, interrogating and doing the things no one else wants to do.

Yessirree, kidnapping innocent dedicated family men who are secreted to "black sites" and tortured endlessly by other dedicated family men until they admit to the things their Johnny Spann interviewers want to hear. There's as much truth in Rendition as there was in Saving Jessica Lynch. One big screen, one TV movie – both to manipulate sheeple's opinion on the latest US war for profit.

As for the "harm being inflicted in our name" with "brutal interrogations" - if you believe BushCo and "neocons" are operating any differently than the US has always operated you are a fool. The US has never been respected for morality or doing the right thing – the world stands in awe of the US for doing whatever the ruling class corporatocracy wants to do and making money doing it. And you need to understand the difference between respect and awe.

I'm reminded these days of Jessup's speech in A Few Good Men:

You can't handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls. And those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives...You don't want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty...we use these words as the backbone to a life spent defending something. You use 'em as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it! I'd rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to!

The opposition - progressives/left/liberals/democrats – don't want truth – they wanna hold office.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Goodfella

Giuliani Sells New York as the Town He Tamed

Mr. Giuliani is at once running against New York City and embracing it. It is his foil and fodder, a laugh line and an applause line. It is the city he has tamed and the place where he stared down — as he tells appreciative Republicans to hearty applause — liberals, criminals, welfare recipients, big-spending City Council members and the editorial writers of The New York Times. At times, talking about the city where he has lived most of his 63 years, Mr. Giuliani sounds like he was a stranger in his own land.

“I got elected and re-elected honestly not because the people of New York City agreed with my ideas,” he told an appreciative audience at the York County Republican dinner in Rock Hill, S.C., on Thursday. “They didn’t. They agreed with my results. You agree with my ideas.”

--------Taming tools, for example – Diallo Drilled and Take This Louima.

A disgusting, salivating, reeking little man - Giuliani – NYC's own wiseguy.

Beef My Cake

In efforts to assure comrades their leaders are not girly-men or another ruling class puppet midget – President Putin will continue onward with plans to visit Tehran. KAB is assured by anonymous sources Vlad will keep his shirt on although he may be packing a small rod.

WIESBADEN, Germany (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin insisted on Monday he would make a historic trip to Iran to discuss its nuclear program, scotching doubts about whether a reported assassination plot would force him to cancel.

----"scotching" doubts – scotching?

Lest we forget - the Gore "package" of 2000.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Contract Killers Gone Legal

Murdering merc for the ruling class finally dead at age 78. May his karma follow him.

PARIS (AP) — Bob Denard, a French former mercenary who staged coups and led uprisings across Africa and the Middle East, has died, his family said Sunday. He was 78. Denard died in the Paris area and the cause of death was not immediately clear, said a family member on condition of anonymity for privacy reasons. He had been known to suffer from Alzheimer's disease and cardiovascular problems.

Once France's top gun for hire, Denard led uprisings starting in 1961 in the Belgian Congo, Nigeria, Angola, Zimbabwe — when it was white-ruled Rhodesia — as well Iran and Yemen. He claims France often covertly supported his actions.

Denard, whose real name was Gilbert Bourgeaud, staged at least three coups on the Comoros, an impoverished chain of islands in the Indian Ocean which he ruled through figurehead presidents from 1978 to 1989 — when France negotiated his departure.

----Some consider Denard the inventor of modern private armies. Denard and his men were feared and hated throughout Africa for their ruthless efficiency. Always acquitted by the French courts or given suspended sentences Denard never answered or paid for his murders and torturing - his crimes against humanity throughout North Yemen, Biafra, Angola, and Comoros islands. (Google for the days of the French in Biafra.)

The hired gun industry has been polished since Denard's glory days. Today's multinational corporate security firms (mercs) have corporate structure, PR and brand name marketing, and never use the word mercenary; the firms claim professionalism, innovating cost effectiveness, ethics, loyalty, speedy deployment, etc. etc.

Although currently private merc firms are experiencing negative publicity with accusations of incompetence, contract abuses, employee deaths, and debates on their very existence - give 'em another decade (or generation) - folks will wonder how the (anglo) world ever managed without "private security corporations."

Saturday, October 13, 2007

General Rick's Camp Victory

ARLINGTON, Va. - The U.S. mission in Iraq is a "nightmare with no end in sight" because of political misjudgments after the fall of Saddam Hussein that continue today, a former chief of U.S.-led forces said Friday.

Retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who commanded coalition troops for a year beginning June 2003, cast a wide net of blame for both political and military shortcomings in Iraq that helped open the way for the insurgency — such as disbanding the Saddam-era military and failing to cement ties with tribal leaders and quickly establish civilian government after Saddam was toppled.

NEW YORK -- A memo signed by Lieutenant General Ricardo A. Sanchez authorizing 29 interrogation techniques, including 12 which far exceeded limits established by the Army's own Field Manual, was made public for the first time by the American Civil Liberties Union today.

"General Sanchez authorized interrogation techniques that were in clear violation of the Geneva Conventions and the Army's own standards," said ACLU attorney Amrit Singh. "He and other high-ranking officials who bear responsibility for the widespread abuse of detainees must be held accountable."

The Sanchez memo dated September 14, 2003, specifically allows for interrogation techniques involving the use of military dogs specifically to "Exploit(s) Arab fear of dogs?," isolation, and stress positions.

Sanchez orders torture in Iraq.

.... one military officer cited in a Washington Post article claimed that Sanchez was actually present at the prison and on several occasions witnessed the abuse as it was taking place. According to one report, the uncropped version of a widely circulated photo of a U.S. guard holding a dog on a crouching and naked Iraqi prisoner reveals Lt. General Sanchez off to the right observing the scene.

-------- KAB : Sanchez, cleared of any charges related to Abu Ghraib, has shifted blame for any actions under his watch and points to the administration that replaced him as top commander in the aftermath of the scandal, and declined giving him that fourth star, forcing his retirement. However, he will take that 33 year retirement (approx $75-80K a year) and other goodies such as speaking engagements to discuss the nightmare with no end in sight.

Tap dancing around strategy to end the "nightmare" Sanchez says : "Even now, the U.S. government has yet to launch a concerted effort to come up with a strategy to win in Iraq, Sanchez said. Such a strategy should involve political reconciliation among Iraqis, building up the Iraqi security forces and getting Iraq’s regional partners. Sanchez acknowledged that U.S. officials have adopted that idea, but added that they do not have the necessary nonmilitary resources to carry it out. “And it is not synchronized, and there is no enforcement of the strategy,” he said."

----Sanchez offers no concrete solutions to ending the nightmare (the draft and/or admitting and planning for eternal US presence in Iraq) because that would not play well with his new friends, the anti-BushCo progressives. As long as the US bickers about timetables and surges and generals betraying us, the Iraqi insurgents/fighters have no reason to reconcile themselves. And would someone explain to me what Sanchez means by "the necessary nonmilitary resources"?

Asked why he did not speak out about his concerns, Sanchez said general officers take an oath to carry out the orders of the president while in uniform. Sanchez said he felt he could not resign and go public with his reservations while he was in Iraq, because he feared that move could further jeopardize troops serving there.

Oh? And now going public doesn't jeopardize any troops serving there?

Damn, if only they had given him that fourth star Ricky would still be servicing the empire with statements like this one from 2003 : "When you fly over Baghdad on any given day, you see a city of 5.6 million people where markets are full, traffic jams everywhere,” he states. “Out in the countryside, in most places it’s peaceful. You see people just getting on with their life. Schools are up and running. They have a judicial system and police, at different levels of effectiveness, back on the streets. You look at just about every functional area of a country, and they have been reenergized. But the most important thing is—they have freedom."

But, that was when he was speaking from the other side of his mouth while getting his jollies off at Abu Ghraib and daydreaming of that fourth star.

Same Music, Different Rockstar

On the Nobel and should Gore run for president. A little online response:

Gore/Richardson? Yes!; Gore/Obama? Yes!!; Gore/Edwards? Not only "Yes!!!," but, HELL YES!

No more Bush/Clinton mafia. Run Al, Run. For our sake, and the worlds!

Class: it's not something you buy - Though Al Gore has it in spades. It shames me more and more each day that we have Bozo the Wonder President in the White House when we could have thoughtful, honest leadership in the form of Gore. Bless you and your work, sir.

This makes my day, and calls for a celebration!

------- And websites - Draft Gore. America For Gore.

And opinion pieces - "There are times for politicians and times for heroes. America and the Earth need a hero right now," read the Draft Gore movement's open letter to the soon-to-be Nobel man. "Please rise to this challenge, or you and millions of us will live forever wondering what might have been." Now, that's pressure. But it is a velvet grip in which the peace prize winner finds himself. Al Gore has arrived at the point that most politicians can only imagine in their wildest dreams. The entire world is asking him to be not merely a candidate but an ecological - not to mention, ideological - savior. And there is simply no question that he is viable. In fact, he is more viable than he has ever been. Can Gore resist? Probably. Should he resist? Probably not.

"Since his loss, Gore has undergone a resurrection of sorts, shrugging off the consultants and the caution that hampered him during the campaign and -- aided by new distribution technologies -- evolving into perhaps the most articulate, animated, and forceful critic of the Bush administration."

"Every time he gives a speech under MoveOn's auspices, a guaranteed 3 million MoveOn members get the address blasted directly in their inboxes, where it can be read in full. From there, the speech gets e-mailed around, promoted on the blogs, passed from friend to neighbor -- what tech types call "viral marketing." At no point in this process does a news editor or television producer decide which sound bites will be emphasized for ratings. MoveOn allows him to speak on his own terms and individuals to distribute his speeches on theirs. It's Gore Unplugged, and everyone's got a ticket."

" ... you would want someone like Al Gore—the improbably charismatic, Academy Award–winning, Nobel Prize–nominated environmental prophet with an army of followers and huge reserves of political and cultural capital at his command.

------------ Dear God, please make them stop.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

I Remember

In response to questions of why I dislike Jimmah Carter - it's because I remember the Jimmy of the 1970s and '80s.

In 1970 Carter made his second and successful attempt at Georgia's governor mansion. He won by saying what all good bible thumping segregationists wanted to hear. He posed as a George Wallace supporter, he told "little white lies" and had a reputation of being very slick about it all. Jimmy posed as a conservative democrat, telling his fellow Georgians he was "basically a redneck." Another man of the southern people in blue work shirt who loved his momma and had been "born again" after losing the 1966 bid for governor.

With a big gnarly farmer's finger gauging the wind, Jimmy bigoted up his rhetoric to ride into the governor's mansion on Georgia red necks and backs, and the democrat's closet racists. Jimmy had kind words, when votes were needed, for Lt. Governor Lester Maddox. Maddox was the poster boy for segregationists, who passed out autographed axe handles in the restaurant he owned so "blacks would not be served."

(Carter's dad, the man he admired most, was the family segregationist, polite word for original fathers of racist skinheads, who treated his "black and white sharecroppers equally". Jimmy's momma has since been described as the family progressive who opposed racial inequality.)

Carter shocked the redneckers he had pandered to when, in his governor's inaugural speech, he said Blacks deserved equal opportunity in education and justice – that racial discrimination must end. Here enters the most hilarious progressive defense of Carter : He had to lie to get elected so he could do good things in office. I'm certain all politicians believe that's why they lie, hahahaha.

"But no sooner had he won office than he executed his remarkable shift on race, a move that landed him on the cover of Time as the apotheosis of the “new South” and made him a nationally recognized figure. The cause of this about-face is still a matter of conjecture. Since he was barred from running for re-election, it is possible that he was already weighing a presidential run and thinking in terms of a national audience. Or he may have long harbored liberal views that he had deliberately concealed. In any event, one of his associates later explained that it was Carter’s way to “run conservative and govern liberal.” He was soon to put that formula to use again.

In pursuing his party’s 1976 presidential nomination, Carter not only kept his ideological profile low, he also made it blurry. On Vietnam, for instance: as governor, he had had no need to say much about the war, but what he did say seemed none too dovish, especially his ardent defense of Lieutenant William Calley, a Georgian convicted of the slaughter of Vietnamese civilians at My Lai. In the 1976 primary campaign, Carter distanced himself from the passel of doves—Congressman Morris Udall, Senator Frank Church, former New York Mayor John Lindsay, among others—competing for the mantle of George McGovern, leader of the antiwar Democrats. Instead, he stressed his background as a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and, because he had served on a nuclear submarine, as a disciple of Admiral Hyman Rickover, the "father of the nuclear navy."

From the October 1980 Reagan debate - MR. CARTER: ... one of the blights on this world is the threat and the activities of terrorists. At one of the recent economic summit conferences between myself and the other leaders of the western world, we committed ourselves to take strong action against terrorism. Airplane hijacking was one of the elements of that commitment. There is no doubt that we have seen in recent years - in recent months - additional acts of violence against Jews in France and, of course, against those who live in Israel, by the PLO and other terrorist organizations. Ultimately, the most serious terrorist threat is if one of those radical nations, who believe in terrorism as a policy, should have atomic weapons. Both I and all my predecessors have had a deep commitment to controlling the proliferation of nuclear weapons. In countries like Libya or Iraq, we have even alienated some of our closest trade partners because we have insisted upon the control of the spread of nuclear weapons to those potentially terrorist countries. When Governor Reagan has been asked about that, he makes the very disturbing comment that non-proliferation, or the control of the spread of nuclear weapons, is none of our business. And recently when he was asked specifically about Iraq, he said there is nothing we can do about it. This ultimate terrorist threat is the most fearsome of all, and it's part of a pattern where our country must stand firm to control terrorism of all kinds."

In Carter's latest book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, page 62, Jimmy writes that Yassir Arafat told him in 1990 that, "The PLO has never advocated the annihilation of Israel." But but but ... Jimmy, years ago you said the PLO was a terrorist organization who committed violence against Jews. Oh, I get it, 1980 terrorists and violence against Jews is not 1990 annihilation.

Carter 2004: I never have believed that Saddam Hussein was a direct threat to the security of the United States..." but but didn't it bother you when Reagan said there was nothing we could do about Iraq, the ultimate terrorist threat?

Remember too that one item in Carter's recent solution to US election irregularities is a national voter ID card. But Carter wants the card issued free as it would otherwise be a good ol' boy "poll tax" (good luck with guvmint not making you pay for that photo ID card, it's called r-e-v-e-n-u-e). That's how "they" do things – make policy appear to benefit you while servicing the status quo agenda.

In the 27 years since leaving office, James Earl Carter has continued to collect millions in farm subsidies, write 29 books, mostly self-promotional books (he's good), photo-op in work shirt with hammer at habitats 1 day a year, and offer false comfort and political rhetoric to whatever audience is his latest target.

According to a May 2007 NEWSWEEK Poll, the public’s approval of Bush sank to 28 percent ... the last president to be this unpopular was Jimmy Carter who also scored a 28 percent approval in 1979.

With numbers that low – ya really think Republican operatives needed the "October surprise"? Inflation, gas lines, economic stagnation, the beginning of urban flight and blight sank Carter. Nothing would have given Carter a second term. He simply was not liked or respected by most of America.

And for all Carter's proselytizing about apartheid now - in the late '70s his administration opposed UN economic sanction on South Africa, even after the torture and murder of Steve Biko – however, they did agree to an arms embargo – but South Africa was a weapons plantation producing 75 percent of it's own armament and 100 percent of its needed ammo. Ouch ouch sanction. Carter was supportive of certain nations struggle for freedom – but if it could be "proven" the country was receiving aid from Cuba or Russia - then Carter no longer supported them, i.e. Zaire, Nicarauga, El Salvador (killing Salvadorans and raping and murdering American nuns was downplayed under Carter administration). In his final days as president, Carter increased military aid to El Salvador and sent additional American advisors. Once out of office, he says "I think the government in Salvador is one of the bloodthirstiest in [the] hemisphere now."

You see, out of office, they can say anything - especially if there's a sucker audience who will buy the book. And the only worldly change they make is in the estate size they leave their heirs, who usually go on to play the same game on your heirs.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Senator

Made in China

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China has more billionaires than any country except the United States, as soaring stock and property prices helped to boost wealth among the country's super-rich, researcher Rupert Hoogewerf said on Wednesday.

The number of Chinese worth $1 billion or more jumped to 108, from 15 last year, growing much faster than in western countries, Hoogewerf said in his 2007 China "rich list," which ranks the 800 wealthiest individuals in the country.

China's economic growth is largely driven by construction and manufacturing, rather than by science and technology, seven of China's 10 richest people are mainly or partly in the real estate business.

-----Construction, real estate. To build those factories and manufacture. Please end the war now. China really needs oil for continued growth.

Dear Abby

'Dear Abby' Says She's for Gay Marriage. "I believe if two people want to commit to each other, God bless 'em," the syndicated advice columnist told The Associated Press. "That is the highest form of commitment, for heaven's sake."

----Apparently this is Jeane Phillips, the aging daughter of the 89 y/o original Dear Abby (Pauline Esther Friedman) who has Alzheimer's. For heaven's sake – does her mamma know what she's doing with her column?

But remember folks – it's 50+ years of sage advice you can trust, since 1956 – the evolution of telling woman to stand by her man to telling man to stand by his man, or whatever. God bless 'em.

Then They Came For White Folks

(CNN) -- The husband of Carol Anne Gotbaum, the woman who died in police custody at the Phoenix, Arizona, airport, says a little kindness might have saved her life.

"If the airline or the police authorities had treated Carol with some modicum of sensitivity and grace, or one single person at that airport had put an arm around her shoulder, sat her down and given her some protection, she might still be with us today," Noah Gotbaum said at her funeral Sunday in New York.

----And where was the "sensitivity" from Gotbaum's family who knew she was troubled and traveling alone? With this incident and the one with Andrew "Don't Taz Me Bro" in Florida – my first thought was – upper and middle class white folks really do feel entitled to kinder and gentler treatment from the po - lice. Neither one of these "perps" was abused or mishandled by the cops – well, not by 'hood standards anyway.

Academic Freedom

Middle School Students Caught In Sex Act In Class

HOUSTON - Some parents in Fort Bend County are outraged after their children said they witnessed a pair of eighth-graders engaged in a sex act, right in the middle of class.

The principal reported that the students, a boy and a girl, made inappropriate sexual contact with each other while other students watched.

That was a shock for Tom Ray, who has a 14-year-old daughter. "To me there are a host of problems and I think it starts at home," Ray said.

Still, some parents said it all boils down to a lack of respect.

"No respect for authority, no respect for themselves, (and) not for the other kids in the classroom," Munson said.

--------Kids, school property, and sex acts have been going on at least 15 years that I know of. Locally, parents who can, take their kids to school for this very reason – kids performing sex acts on the bus. My 14-year-old granddaughter told me the talk on Monday at school was of two 13-year-old (white) girls at a weekend party had performed sex on one another as other kids watched.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Lip Glossed

From Dissident Voice:

Behind Enemy Lines
by Carl Doerner / October 9th, 2007

Fewer than a thousand Americans visit Iran each year. An informational black hole is thus created into which those who seek to harm the people and institutions of that country and diminish its resources pour disinformation and propaganda. Western politicians and media generate an image of a country as bleak and unfriendly as North Korea. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

I traveled there in May as documentarian with a group of 14 “citizen diplomats,” whose purpose was to demonstrate the friendship of ordinary Americans, and to experience Iran. Beyond Tehran, we visited Yazd, Shiraz, Esfahan, and Natanz. Religion is a subject at a middle school we visited, much as it has always been in parochial schools in this country — another, dedicated to training mullahs is like seminaries in the West. The Council on Foreign Affairs dispels the myth that terrorism is taught in these places.

President Ahmadinejad’s 2006 International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust, giving a forum to both Jews hostile to Zionism and outright Holocaust deniers, was indefensible — yet is part of this fabric of defense against the West. His own two speeches about Israel and the Holocaust have been deliberately misinterpreted in the western press.

With respect to Israel, his endorsement of Ayatollah Khomenini’s phrase “wiped off the map” referred not to Jews or to the State of Israel but to the Israeli government, specifically “this regime occupying Jerusalem.”

Human rights is a very thorny issue, as is the supreme rule of the ayatollahs. At the former, the US has also been failing. “Democracy” is defined locally. At least the mullahs who select the ayatollahs are popularly elected.

Sharia law, derived from the Koran, proscribes alcohol, drugs, pork, and gambling, and covering of women is enforced, but religious observance springs from people, not the state. This is a deeply spiritual people and in the great mosques, as in our cathedrals, faith encompasses the visitor.

Iran is a place of deep cultural roots and history. Persepolis, Esfahan’s splendid mosques, and the ancient bridges of Shiraz, are world treasures, to be preserved. These and the splendid people we met must be spared the savage warfare witnessed in Iraq.

One member of our touring group, Leslie Angeline, responded to Senator Lieberman’s call for attacking Iran with a hunger strike. To date, her Gandhian effort to meet with him to describe a country he knows so little about has been rebuffed.

---------I know an Iranian female physician who has been in the States 20 years. The doctor's description of life in Iran is not quite as splendid as the above "citizen diplomats." Older Iranians, such as the doctor, tend to favor the US over the mullahs and current Iranian leaders, but as 70 percent of the Iran population is now under age 30, the pro-West Iranians are a dying breed.

Of course Iran's government is none of US business and it's up to Iranians to change or abide their rules and rulers. And as stated here many times previously I don't believe Iran is a threat, nor do I believe the US will attack Iran.

The Dissident Voice piece above is a good example of liberal stupid; common among ordinary American progressive "dissidents." They will put lipstick on a pig and French kiss it. Ms Angeline's Gandhian effort hunger strike to meet Joe Lieberman and describe Iran to him (after a week or two filming escorted by the Iranian government) ? Grow up. Sharia law proscribes a lot more than pork and liquor.

You see, although I believe the US has no right to interfere in Iran's internal affairs - I have a problem finding anything nice to say about governments who lynch citizens, especially children, or the "dissidents" who defend them using a lot of lip gloss.

Trail of Tears

Rep. Ron Paul: I advocate the same foreign policy the Founding Fathers would.

That's right, and does Paul advocate the same founding fathers domestic policies? As when General George W. Slaveholder was warring against the French for British interests? And then warring against the British for American interests? And then fighting against Americans when the Fathers sought to raise revenue to pay off foreign debts after the war of independence, for instance with the whisky tax? Which was so unpopular with corn farmers it was called the Whisky Rebellion, and when the farmers protested, Washington was quick to send an army of 15,000 soldiers to end the rebellion? The same domestic policy of the founding fathers who thought it best to let another generation do the Civil War thing?

Remember folks, when the ruling class isn't kicking a lot of foreign ass they're kicking ass at home.

Monday, October 08, 2007

No Win

CAMP PENDLETON -- The U.S. involvement in Iraq is often judged by numbers. Among the most important are the number of boots on the ground and the number of dead.

When 200 members of the 800-member 2nd Battalion, 5th Regiment extended their enlistments this year so they could accompany the Two-Five back to Iraq, it was significant. No infantry battalion has had as many Marines extend their tours as the Two-Five -- Marines who were "short-timers" and could have ended their service with comfy stateside billets but chose instead to return to Iraq to help less-experienced Marines navigate the dangers.

As the Marines from Two-Five returned here early today, they had a new number to boast about: zero.

In seven months of patrolling the streets of Ramadi, once the most violent city in Anbar province, the 2nd Battalion, 5th Regiment had no Marines or sailors killed and only one injured. In its previous deployment, the battalion's numbers were 15 killed and more than 200 wounded.

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Violence across Iraq has fallen to its lowest level since before the bombing of a Shiite mosque in February 2006 that sparked savage sectarian bloodletting, a US military commander said on Thursday.

There has also been a 50 percent fall-off in violence in Baghdad since January, Lieutenant General Ray Odierno, the number two commander of US-led forces in Iraq, told a press conference in Baghdad.

"Attacks nationwide have fallen to the lowest level since before the Golden Mosque bombing," he said, referring to a bombing which destroyed the revered shrine in Samarra and unleashed a relentless wave of reprisals and counter-reprisals across Iraq that has already killed thousands of Iraqis.

"Car bombs and suicide attacks have dropped to their lowest level in a year," Odierno said. "Attacks in Baghdad have reached the lowest level this year and the trend continues to be down."

Civilian casualties had dropped from a high of about 32 per day to 12 per day, the US commander said.

Iraqi Violence Ebbed in September, Reports Say.

Empty Wards in Iraq Hospitals.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Two of Iraq's most powerful Shiite leaders agreed on Saturday to end a bitter rivalry in a bid to end months of armed clashes and assassinations in the oil-rich south that have threatened to spread into a wider conflict.

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the largest Shiite political party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, promised to stop the bloodshed and enhance cooperation between their two movements.

An official in al-Sadr's office in the holy city of Najaf called the agreement a "fresh start."

-----Obviously, it's not in the best interests of the "progressive left" to concede that Iraq violence might be down. Better to trust the NYT opinion person who says "... deaths by car bombs don’t count" or the WaPo opinion person who says "... assassinations only count if you're shot in the back of the head -- not the front." All according to selected "experts" who question the counting methods.

Nevermind that NYT and WaPo and 99.9 percent of the CIA controlled MSM for years sold the public pro-BushCo lies, and continue to service the phony "war on terror" - and keeping us infotained with Lindsay, Bradangie, Paris, Britney, the monthly fallen sports hero and the latest mother who drowned her babies or pimped them (if mothers ruled the world Sally?).

MoveOn.org Silicon Valley entrepreneurial founders who supported John Fony Kerry, will continue to raise millions for Dem candidates who in 2008 - after shutting down part of the Iraq operation and declaring peace - will tell you to blame the long-gone neocons for Joe Blow's America becoming semi third world.

The Senate (always crafting gravely important legislation) voted to repudiate a NYT ad from MoveOn.org which referred to Gen. David Petraeus as "General Betray Us." Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton opposed the measure to repudiate MoveOn, she knows which cackleside her PAC is buttered on – but wait, later she told Tim Russert "I don't believe that should be said about General Petraeus, and I condemn that." (Said after holding her finger in the wind for 2 weeks – pay no attention to that flip-flopper noise.)

Geeze, won't it be nice after 2008 when the Democrats and their Real People Doing Whats Best4You dot.Org supporters bring peace and integrity - and all those

austerity programs?

Sigh, heave ho, there's just no way the US can win in Iraq or anywhere else, sigh. The USA is sick, evil, lost, without friends, whipped by smarter world leaders, surrounded by shadowy Al-Qaeda cells, and repeating the same god'nam historical mistakes. Shame, shame, shame. Hang your heads low, losers. I think I'll write a book - working title:

How to Recover From an Abusive Dysfunctional Government and Learn to Love The Simple Life Standing On Your Own Two Feet When the Global Elite Finally Puts US in Third Place: (subtitle) The Coming Cure For Obesity, After EU and Asian Powers Take First and Second Place.

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