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Friday, March 31, 2006

Bush and Fox

This is what I think an honest conversation between George W. Bush and Vicente Fox would sound like.

Bush: "We need cheap labor that we don't want to have to pay a living wage for, health benefits for, or pension benefits for. The boards of directors don't like their profits squeezed, and the company officers gotta have their golden parachutes."

Fox: "We got plenty of them, just don't build a fence, I don't know what to do with them, you can use them".

Bush: "Deal?"

Fox: "Deal."

Aye, if only rich people would tell the truth, eh? Life would be so much simpler.

I can't help it, I love Beck's Que Onda Guero? (speakers on)

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Is the Mainstream Media Finally Getting Half the Rigged Voting Machine Story?

Published on Thursday, March 30, 2006 by the Columbus Free Press (Ohio)
Is the Mainstream Media Finally Getting Half the Rigged Voting Machine Story?
by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman

Well, it's not like they didn't get pushed by those darn "internets".


And, yeesh, lookee here, some kids looking for an excuse to ditch school. Jr. High kids are a challenge, aren't they?

I cannot write as well as Jaxpagan over at Daily Kos, but this post is perfect for how I feel about the whole illegal immigration thing.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Blocking voters

DEMOCRACY CRUMBLINGBrad Blog
New Electronic Voter Registration Database Rejects 43% of New Los Angeles Voter Applications! 26% Rejected State-Wide in California!
Applications That Don't Match EXACTLY With DMV Records are Automatically Dumped by New System!
California's League of Women Voters Sends Letter of Objection to Secretary of State

More sick of this

Students on the march in Vista, Oceanside and other communities
By: NORTH COUNTY TIMES
NORTH COUNTY ---- More than 1,700 students took to the streets Tuesday, as a second day of protests over proposed illegal immigration reform swept through North County communities.

Ruben Navarrette: Anti-immigrant zeal

By Ruben Navarrette
Published 2:15 am PST Wednesday, March 29, 2006
SAN DIEGO - Now that the Senate is taking an honest look at the immigration problem, it's time for the rest of America to be honest about what the problem really is.

Much of it really is about clashing cultures and a concern that immigrants aren't assimilating...

Yep, that and the fact that Spanish should be a required second language in Southern California at the elementary school level, and the school districts haven't wised up yet. The racism goes both ways. I know what it's like to be hated because of my race, quit pretending that only people with brown skins are discriminated against.

Monday, March 27, 2006

Sick of this

Look Godamnit, I am fucking sick of listening to people who don't live in a border town talk about the immigration hoo-hah like they know something. I consider myself a liberal, but I still get pissed off on trash day when there is shitty toilet paper all over the front lawn. I'm sorry the plumbing sucks down there, when you're here, flush it damnit! But don't flush the plastic coated diapers, don't use pine oil cleaner on the fucking cutting boards in restaurants, Y no fumar en la tienda, babosos.
When I don't have a chance in hell of making supervisor because I don't speak Spanish, I get pissy. When I watch someone with half my IQ take a job that pays more than I make for supposedly translating and I can't understand their English it pisses me off.
I happen to be very good at understanding people with thick accents. I can usually pinpoint your country (worldwide) of origin by your accent. If you really want to make yourself understood, I'm listening.
I don't want to speak Spanish, damnit, I already know they hate us, I hear it all the time from people who do speak Spanish, but aren't Hispanic. When I hear that the protesters flew the Mexican flag proudly, but they burned an American flag, after they flew it upside down, I get pissy. When I hear over and over again in lame-o English from someone who was born and raised here that the gringos stole the land, so they can take whatever they want with impunity, I get pissy. When some asshole laughs at me and I know he just stole my kid's bike helmet because I can see the shape of it in his backpack, I get pissy. When my kid hears somebody talking smack about the color of her hair (she does understand it, peen-chee ben-day-hoes) which happens to be a normal color for a white kid, I get pissy.

When my friend's kid is devastated because his friend got shot in the fucking face and killed for trying to avoid joining a gang for protection against the bangers, I get pissy.

For anyone who doesn't live with it you need to know that there are problems that need to be addressed. This is coming from someone who gave water, a meal and a free long distance phone call to the coyote, to someone who needed it. The guy was thirsty, hungry, tired, scared shitless and in my backyard, you would have done it too.

It's complicated and the lawmakers who protect the people and corporations who profit from what I think that they think is disposable labor need to pay attention to more than next quarter's earnings and their huge campaign-contributers.


"The dropout issue has been at the center of local school reform discussions since last March, when a study by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University calculated that only 45% of students were graduating in four years from Los Angeles schools. The rate was even lower for Latino students, and much higher for white and Asian American students. African Americans were close to the districtwide average.The school district cried foul, saying its figures showed that roughly 70% were graduating, a figure that has since risen. The district uses a different formula to calculate its graduation rate, one that the Harvard researchers and other critics say is deeply flawed"

"I want you to know that there are people right now all across the country that agree with you that we need immigration reform that rewards work, that gives people a pathway to citizenship, that allows families to stay together," Villaraigosa told the crowd.
He drew jeers, however, when he added: "Now that you've come, it's important that you go back to school."

still pooped

My brain is mush. My body hurts. Disneyland is more fun the following couple of days when you are younger. Watching the the little ones have fun is always wonderful.

Anyhoo, not much coverage of this topic, and I think it's important damnit! We have a prez who pushed us into fucking WW III over this shit for Chrissakes.

As prices surge, oil giants turn sludge into gold

By Russell Gold
ASSOCIATED PRESS
03/27/2006

FORT MCMURRAY, Alberta -- In February, engineers from French oil giant Total SA fired up colossal drum boilers to generate steam that will be pumped to a depth of 300 feet under the frozen ground here. If all goes well, by May, the steam will marinate a tar-like mix of oil and sand until the crude begins to flow.

Nearby, Total will go after the oil-soaked sands closer to the surface, scraping away an ancient forest of spruce and poplars and shoveling the black soil into two-story dump trucks. Fully loaded, the trucks weigh as much as a Boeing 747. Total will then use industrial versions of giant washing machines to remove the oil, generating enough liquid waste to create vast toxic lakes.

Ummm...yeah, I don't think T Boone Pickens gives a shit about toxic lakes.


And the good news, I think, no nevermind, I'm still too tired to think, make what you will of it.

FEC Won't Regulate Internet Politics



Friday, March 24, 2006

Victory garden my ass

Tomdispatch.com is one of my favorite morning reads. It makes you think. The last three days have covered things I have been thinking about since September 11, 2001. I don't have a green thumb, but after the attacks I tried gardening. I had some romantic idea that what I was doing was like the WWII "victory gardens" or some shit. I was completely and utterly defeated by these rotten little fuckers. They defeated me with all of the petroleum products necessary for gardening in this area, and piped in water readily available.

Life is funny that way isn't it? How free are we, I mean, really? Are we free to change the lives of millions of people like "Bechtel Corporation, Bank of America, Standard Oil of California, Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern Pacific, U.S. Steel, and American Trust Company." and GM do?

*** On a more positive note, the Programmer who alleged plot to steal Florida election runs for Congress in spite of the fact that "his former employer was found dead in a cheap motel room.."

Good thing that there are people who deal with rodents better than I do, eh?

Thursday, March 23, 2006

It's time


"NOT READY TO MAKE NICE"

Turn on the speakers or put the earbuds in and get the kleenex, 'cause these chicks get it.

Click to hear song Not Ready To Make Nice

Interesting date for the press release .

It is exactly three years after this incident
(...On March 10, 2003, during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq (which would take place on March 20), Natalie Maines stated during a concert in London... )

I think the country has a clue now.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

I've been trying to ignore this


March 16, 2006
Dachau's 73rd "Grand Anniversary" Celebrated
By CLANCY SIGAL at Counterpunch
Feds Schedule $385 Million Concentration Camp To Be Built By Halliburton Subsidiary

Clusterfuck Nation by Jim Kunstler wont let me

I have a friend who makes me laugh when he says to me "Womens be thinkin' too much." Okay then.

Ex-Enron treasurer says Skilling, Lay lied

Well, color me shocked. Ummm....NOT

This lady cracks me up every time

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Bush Didn't Bungle Iraq, You Fools

The Mission Was Indeed Accomplished
By Greg Palast
03/20/06
-- --Get off it. All the carping, belly-aching and complaining about George Bush's incompetence in Iraq, from both the Left and now the Right, is just dead wrong. "The Guardian"

And yet..

Baker’s Latest Assignment; tell Bush we lost


Hmmmmmmmmm. Who lost?

What a silly question. We did, the "little people" all over the world.

Do tell No more lies

Monday, March 20, 2006

Grey's Anatomy

I'm feeling really lame today, be forewarned.

The only thing I found really interesting in the lefty politicky realm was the Kos President 08 straw poll.

I don't usually say much about TV because I don't watch much of it, I just don't have the patience to suspend THAT much disbelief. I watched a bit of Grey's Anatomy when the show first started and I hated it. I have no idea why I started watching it again, but I do now and I'm hooked.

Whoever is in charge of updating this page really needs to do that because last night I heard the best line I've ever heard on TV:

Izzie corners Christina and tells her to give Preston back his scrub cap and then she says to her "I grew up in a trailer park and I'm not above kicking your pampered little Beverly Hills ass!"

Wooooooo Hooooooo, I'm still grinning at that one. Great line, great scene, ladies, gracias.

This is funny. Punk'd Pompeo

Now I know why she get's on my last nerve, but she can act, that's for sure.

Update: More giggles from Moxiegrrrl: best blonde joke eva

Go see MoxieGrrrl !!! today's post is a good one!

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Have I mentioned that I hate Diebold?

Emery County Clerk Bruce Funk has been running elections for 23 years. He was quite content with his optical scan system. The state of Utah thought otherwise: On Dec. 27, Funk took delivery on 40 Diebold TSx touch-screen machines, part of a statewide directive.

"I had concerns about Diebold," says Funk, "but I thought, 'If the state is going to mandate it, then I guess they'll assume responsibility if anything goes wrong.'"

Not so. He soon learned that he will be responsible but the state will decide what election system will count the votes.

"You're going to hate my guts on Election Day"

Funk's concerns escalated when he heard a particularly unusual statement by Diebold sales rep Dana LaTour.


go read the rest:
Posted on Saturday, March 18, 2006 - 09:33 pm:

Duh

Oil shortage threatens military

US News and World Report
By Marianne Lavelle
Posted 3/15/06
A grim view of the nation's energy future, and its implications for the military, emerges in a just released report by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

...The researchers conclude that the military needs to take major steps to increase energy efficiency, make a "massive expansion" in renewable energy purchases, and move toward a vast increase in renewable distributed generation, including photovoltaic, solar thermal, microturbines, and biomass energy sources.

Duh.

Saturday, March 18, 2006

US and the Israel Lobby


Why is it that if I say anything critical of the Israeli government I feel like people want to tie me down and tattoo a swastika on my forehead? If I point out that the Israeli government has what I believe to be an inordinate amount of sway over the US Congress I feel like someone is going to accuse me of secretly operating a gas chamber in my basement, or of secretly funding Palestinian suicide bombers. I actually had a Holocaust survivor's daughter tell me "If you don't like it here (meaning my country, the US), why don't you just leave!" That kind of knee-jerk reaction happens. It is such a touchy subject that's it's just easier to avoid it. It certainly isn't addressed fairly in the US mainstream media on a regular basis. I 'm not saying that both sides don't have valid complaints. I think that there is some benefit for some Middle Eastern leadership, and some Middle Eastern press to encourage the people to focus their anger on the US and Israel. It takes the heat off of them, and their failures. I do believe it's time to have some dialogue, because there are victims on both sides of this conflict.

Well, kudos to
Juan Cole, the London Review of Books and Alternet.




And kudos to Paul Findley , who personally dealt with it and wrote about it years ago.

Friday, March 17, 2006

Jeb's mushroom squad



from the Tallahassee Democrat via The BRAD BLOG
Originally published March 17, 2006

The Associated Press has joined the Tallahassee Democrat in objecting to a closed meeting earlier this week in the office of Secretary of State Sue Cobb, as well as her efforts to have police remove those she barred from the meeting...AP joins Democrat protest of closed meeting



Jeb's mushroom squad strikes again.
Keep the people in the dark and shit all over them.
They'll never know the difference.

Uh... Jeb?

I'd like five minutes alone with you.

Bring your friend Susie, and I'll bring some friends too.

I'd reeeeeeaaaaaallllly like that.

Oy vey




OMFG,
Go read Bob's Post And read the report too.

Then go watch this video of
Arab American psychologist Wafa Sultan


And then ask how many Jewish American women are going to need this asshole's advice?






(spy music link at http://www.somafm.com/ )


Yep, can you see the line of Jewish women all lined up to get into Saudi Arabia and marry Muslim men?

bwaaaaa haaaa haaaaa hahahahahahahahaha

ROFL

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Iranian oil bourse hits wall

...Mr. Cook dismissed the idea that Iran's goal is to use the bourse to sabotage the greenback. "I have a technical term for that," he said. "Bollocks!"...

And then there is this:

Iran ready for direct talks with US on Iraq
By Gareth Smyth and Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran
Published: March 16 2006 14:59 Last updated: March 16 2006 14:59

Confronting Iran: Bush should let others take the lead
Article Last Updated: 03/16/2006 2:37 AM MST
...Most Americans still are angry about the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran and the long ordeal of the hostages there.
However, many Americans probably are not aware that the Iranians still are angry about the CIA-backed coup in 1953 that deposed a popular Iranian leader, Mohammad Mosaddeq, and placed the shah back on the throne. Mosaddeq had proposed nationalizing Iran's oil industry, something that Britain and the United States would not abide...

Ok, it's understood that Bush shouldn't take the lead and neither should this idiot. Neither one of these men understands the word diplomacy.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

How we got here

If you want to know how the US got itself into the mess that it is in now ( you know, wars, trade deficits, budget deficits, China, Japan, military-industrial-complex, umm... etcetera), go read the Chalmers Johnson Essay at Tomdispatch.

If you haven't seen this movie, do yourself a favor and see it.
Why We Fight

Don't bother with any of this if you wish to continue drinking the Kool-Aid. Carry on.

Run Lubna, Run!

"I have earned my desk"
By Vijaya George
MEET Shaikha Lubna Al Qasimi, a woman with several firsts in a region that is still taking its first tottering steps towards giving its womenfolk the recognition they deserve -- albeit, grudgingly.
Armed with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of California...SHAIKHA LUBNA AL QASIMI the UAE Economy minister who will meet U.S. officials "next week" ostensibly to admonish the US for being racist, and to further trade talks. I wonder if she'll meet with "Abu Abdullah" ? Maybe firm up the investment in the Carlyle Group so the port deal can slip under the radar later. We know how Abu Abdullah and his family like to have rich Arabs bail their sorry asses out every time they fuck up a perfectly good business deal.

Wooooo-Hooooooo, and what better way for the ruling MEN in rich Arab sheikdoms to prove that women can't do anything but stay stuck in the house and squirt out brats? Let the woman deal with George W. Bush.

Lubna run as far away from this mess as you possibly can.

(This has nothing to do with the price of tea in China, but would someone please throw a hijab over Harry Reid!)

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Dear Iran

President Bush Continues Fall In Polls
March 13, 2006 10:01 p.m. EST

Democrats Beat Quick Retreat on Call to Censure President
By CARL HULSE NYT
Published: March 14, 2006

Months of uncertainty end for less than a day at 2 area newspapers
Staffs rejoice, then learn of resale plan





Dear Iran,

I have no idea what these megalomaniacal sociopaths will do next, but whatever it is, please know that the American people for the most part do not trust them, believe them, or even like them. Condi, Rummy, Bush, Cheney, and a few of their minions could disappear off the face of the earth and I'd bet there would be millions of Americans cheering that disappearance.Our leadership sucks, our voting machines suck, our media has become so focused on profits that it sucks and some of us are terrified that we'll never be able to get rid of these assholes.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Whistleblower Heller




Fledgling actor indicted for theft
Heller becomes folk hero for exposing problems with Diebold's machines
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER
One night early in 2004, a few weeks before the presidential primary, a Van Nuys actor making ends meet temping as a word processor listened on headphones as a young lawyer laid out a defense for Diebold Election Systems Inc.'s use of unapproved voting software in Alameda County.

Apparently, being a whistleblower is expensive in the USSR... er, I mean USA .
http://www.hellerlegaldefensefund.com/

Ratbastard


Donald Rumsfeld makes $5m killing on bird flu drug
By Geoffrey Lean and Jonathan Owen
Published: 12 March 2006

Aspartame Gate: When Donald Rumsfeld was CEO of Searle
May 07, 2004

History of Aspartame

Donald Rumsfeld is an evil ratbastard.

Looks pickled to me

House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio opened his yap and spoke for approximately 10 seconds before I reached for the remote and clicked the TV off. I heard "America, proud and President Bush" and that was it, I was done.






These jerkwads represent the American people?


On what planet?



Sunday, March 12, 2006

Swidarski speaks

It seems like so long ago, the night of the last Presidential election, with the excitement and anticipation. Before I went to sleep that night I spent some time checking "unscientific" online polls. I copied and pasted these into e-mails, sure that when I woke up on November 3rd, that John Kerry would be the new President. And boy, did we need a new President.
Well, to my dismay, we didn't get anything new. We got more of the same. I was furious, but not surprised. I remember sending out a barrage of e-mails, later on in that week, with something like, "I told you so, they rigged it and they want to make this country just like Brazil." You know what Brazil is like? A few stinking, filthy rich people driving around in bullet-proof SUVs and living in gated and guarded compounds, and the majority of the people barely surviving. Massive amounts of homeless children, driven to prostitution, and who knows what else.

I'll bet you're wondering where the hell I'm going with this aren't you?

Cue the Twilight Zone music, OK?

Diebold got started in it's voting machine business in Brazil.

Ok then

Politics: Fallout From the Dubai Debacle

...One is an Israeli high-tech company that is paying $225 million to purchase Sourcefire, a Maryland software firm that sells firewall protection. Its customers include the Pentagon. Another Dubai firm, Dubai International Capital,...

Ok then. This should be investigated. We really should thank our lucky stars for people like Dennis Kucinich and Sibel_Edmonds

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Letter to Preznit Poseur


Preznit Poseur was sent a letter by a real pilot recently. The real pilot returned his wings and bars. Among other things, the real pilot had this to say:

"As a citizen, a patriot, a parent and grandparent, a lawyer and law teacher I am left with such a feeling of loss and helplessness. I think of myself as a good American and I ask myself what can I do when I see the face of evil? Illegal and immoral war, torture and confinement for life without trial have never been part of our Constitutional tradition. But my vote has become meaningless because I live in a safe district drawn by your political party. My congressman is unresponsive to my concerns because his time is filled with lobbyists' largess. Protests are limited to your "free speech zones", out of sight of the parade. Even speaking openly is to risk being labeled un-American, pro-terrorist or anti-troops. And I am a disciplined pacifist, so any violent act is out of the question. "

here's the rest of the letter

Friday, March 10, 2006

Dubai port deal and repercussions





U.S. military brass lobbied for UAE port deal
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Friday, March 10, 2006
ABU DHABI — The American military in the Gulf until yesterday promoted the United Arab Emirates in its attempt to operate major ports in the United States.
Over the past week, officers from U.S. Central Command and the Coast Guard were authorized to brief Congress on the UAE's record of handling and securing port calls by U.S. Navy ships.

Dubai and Demagoguery
March 10, 2006
by Justin Raimondo
antiwar.com
The Huffington-Hastert united front against doing business with Arabs

Dubai threat to hit back
Friday March 10, 2006
By Roxana Tiron
Dubai is threatening retaliation against American strategic and commercial interests if Washington blocks its $6.8 billion takeover of operations at several U.S. ports.

Oh boy, what a mess. We may not like shit like this:

http://travel.state.gov/family/abduction/country/country_532.html
CUSTODY DISPUTES: When child custody disputes arise between parents, custody decisions are based on Islamic (Shari''a) law. Non-UAE nationals resident in the UAE, whether married to a UAE or non-UAE citizen, may file custody cases in the UAE. Non-residents of the UAE may also file custody cases in the UAE, but may need to authorize a UAE resident and/or a lawyer practicing in the UAE to act on their behalf for the duration of the case. Non-Muslims are also permitted to file cases in the UAE family courts, under Shari''a law.

But being the energy swine that we are, no thanks to vehicle manufacturers and suburban home developers mucking around in every city government in the US, we need the UAE.
United Arab Emirates
Energy Information Administration
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is important to world energy markets because it contains 98 billion barrels, or nearly 10 percent, of the world's proven oil reserves. The UAE also holds the%

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Enron stuff

Lawyer for Skilling Spars With Fastow
By Thomas S. Mulligan
The Los Angeles Times
Wednesday 08 March 2006

Houston - The Enron trial turned into a slugfest today as former Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew S. Fastow traded verbal shots with the chief defense lawyer for Fastow's former boss, Jeffrey K. Skilling.

I want her
in the courtroom.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

If you have to ask, you'll never know

NYSE goes public after 214 years
Last Updated Wed, 08 Mar 2006 13:37:46 EST

UPDATE 2-Grasso sees future in private equity, banking
Wed Mar 8, 2006 1:27 PM ET

How Grasso Earned It
by Dan Ackman
09.11.03, 10:22 AM ET

Calif. GOP Halts Voter Registration Plan
Wednesday, March 8, 2006
(AP) - SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.-The California Republican Party suspended its practice of paying people who sign up GOP voters while prosecutors investigate whether some registrations are improper.
Oh look, more Republican corruption. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...whah?

The Coming Resource Wars
Michael T. Klare
March 07, 2006

Don't ask me how all these seemingly unrelated articles got stuck in this post. If you have to ask, you'll never know. Just be glad you don't live in MY head, eh?

I'm almost done with this book: