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Monday, December 25, 2006

James Brown - Papa's Got A Brand New Bag

Because I want to remember the joy.
RIP

ahhhhh, and a happy x-mas to you too






Saturday, December 23, 2006

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

All-time high for homegrown as pot becomes top cash crop in US


All-time high for homegrown as pot becomes top cash crop in US

Dan Glaister in Los AngelesTuesday December 19, 2006The Guardian

Yeeesh, I didn't know that. I don't know whether to laugh or cry over this one. If the government would legalize it, tax it, and regulate it, they could make some of that money and fix the roads and fund the schools. I personally don't like smoking it, but I might if it didn't have this oohh ooooh, bad bad, it's illegal, stigma attached to it. Funny, when I look at this picture I see it being wasted, rather than turned into paper, or clothing, or rope, or biofuels.

(sigh)

America Wakes to Dying Dreams, Dead Soldiers
Published on Monday, December 18, 2006 by the Austin American-Statesman (Texas)
by Cokie Roberts and Steven V. Roberts

America wakes

Some elitist named Cokie finally wakes up.

Impeachment

Impeachment Hearing of Bill Clinton

Some information in this article has not been verified and may not be reliable.
(Please check for inaccuracies, and modify and cite sources as needed.)

The impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton in 1999, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist presiding. The House managers are seated beside the quarter-circular tables on the left and the president's personal counsel on the right, much in the fashion of President Andrew Johnson's trial.President Bill Clinton was impeached as President of the United States on December 19, 1998, by the House of Representatives and subsequently acquitted by the Senate on February 12, 1999...





Impeach Bush
Editorials and Information on How to Impeach Bush and Cheney

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Israel bugs the shit out of me

A US president named Hussein?

...Obama's 'problematic' middle name does not appear on his official Senate biography webpage, nor is there any mention of it on other official sites. But apparently someone viewed this rising-star as a threat in the political sky and pushed the name forward into the public arena, perhaps in the hope of tarnishing Obama's image...


Huh?

Frankly, this kind of bullshit rhetoric coming out of Israel is why I think Israel is a pain in America's ass But that is only the opinion of one "far left blogger."

And here's another thing that bugs me:
These guys embarrass me. They're not fighting for my freedom. I'm so fucking sick of hearing "Freedom isn't Free" from retards like this and I don't mean the kids getting the English lesson. I used to work in a tutoring lab and my favorite students were the ESL (English as a Second Language) students. I wouldn't have dreamed of steering them wrong.

Friday, December 15, 2006

Like, omigaaaaaww

It's only a little weed.

Yeah whatever.


It's only a little coke.


Yeah whatever.

How the Republicans are Stealing the November Elections

Friday, December 15, 2006

How the Republicans are Stealing the November Elections
Or, Bushes and Bonapartes


...On November 7, the American people delivered a stiff rebuke to the Bush Administration and the Republican Party over its far-right policies...

...You see, we do not have a democracy, with the Bush administration in power. We have an elective dictatorship...

If you read anything today, read Juan Cole's post

Thursday, December 14, 2006

San Diego County Supervisors wrong again

County to appeal medical-marijuana ruling

Supervisors again cite clash with federal law
By Jeff McDonald
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
December 14, 2006
A week after a Superior Court judge threw out their case against California's medical-marijuana laws, San Diego County's supervisors have voted to appeal the ruling.
...In January, San Diego County sued the state of California rather than implement medical-marijuana laws that permit qualified patients to smoke and grow marijuana and require counties to issue them identification cards...
The county was later joined by San Bernardino and Merced counties in trying to overturn Proposition 215, the 1996 initiative approved by 56 percent of voters that permitted the medical use of marijuana.
Tuesday's closed-session vote to appeal was 4-1, with Supervisor Ron Roberts opposed. It is unclear when the appeal will be filed or when the appellate judges will consider the case.
Supervisor Greg Cox said he supported the county's issuing ID cards to qualified patients, but when that vote failed 3-2 late last year, he decided to go along with the lawsuit.


Supes vote to persist with medical marijuana challenge
By: GIG CONAUGHTON - Staff Writer
SAN DIEGO -- As expected, San Diego County supervisors voted Tuesday to continue their controversial legal challenge to overturn California's 10-year-old, voter-approved medical marijuana law.Board Chairman Bill Horn said the board voted in closed session to appeal Superior Court William R. Nevitt's week-old ruling that dismissed the county's argument that California's Compassionate Use Act should be pre-empted by federal law because federal law is "supreme."
The county's challenge has national implications, patients and government officials say, because it marks the first time that any county has sued to overturn any of the medical marijuana laws voters have approved in 11 states....
..."No, not at all," Horn said. "I think it's a bad law. I mean, as far as the benefits, those are medical opinions. There are probably some medical benefits, if you listen to the (patients). But that's not our point. Our point is who has jurisdiction here (the state or federal government)
"We didn't get that from this judge, so we're going to appeal it," he said...

The M-I-C owns this creepy little cronified podunk county (of three million) and the idiotic, brainwashed repugnanthuglican peons who need to have things painted black and white for them by some authoritarian hypocrite and don't think for themselves. Can't let those holy Federal Dollars go anywhere else, right? For the war on terror, the war on drugs, the war on illegal aliens, oh, and by the way, defense contractor WAR profiteering.


Bill Horn
bill.horn@sdcounty.ca.gov

Greg Cox greg.cox@sdcounty.ca.gov (619)5331-5511

Pam Slater-Price pam.slater@sdcounty.ca.gov (619)531-5533

dianne.jacob@sdcounty.ca.gov (619) 531-5222

or copy and paste this line and mail them all at one time:

greg.cox@sdcounty.ca.gov, pam.slater@sdcounty.ca.gov, dianne.jacob@sdcounty.ca.gov,bill.horn@sdcounty.ca.gov

I am not a medical marijuana user, or a marijuana user at all. I voted for prop 215 because I believe that marijuana can help people deal with the painful and traumatizing effects of chemotherapy, and other diseases, including some that cause chronic pain.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Oily stuff and coming clean

Another Iraq Casualty: U.S. Auto Industry
by Jesse Jackson
Published on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 by the Chicago Sun-Times

Saudi ambassador quits Washington

As Darfur deteriorates, Sudan's economy booms (selling oil to China)
The Associated Press
Published: 2006-12-13 10:50:09

Does Israel have the bomb or not? Olmert: Yes, we do.
Posted By: Edward M. Gomez (Email) December 13 2006 at 12:00 AM
Uh-oh. Another prominent politician is in hot water for daring to speak the truth.

What the fuck are we doing in the Middle East? We don't need to be there.


NOW video on feasibility of biofuels

Maria Hinojosa interviews soon-to-be chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which oversees national energy policy.mp3

Umm, what exactly does this mean?


DOJ Issues New Charging Guidelines in Corporate Fraud Prosecutions
MCNULTY MEMORANDUM
December 12, 2006

Deputy U.S. Attorney General Paul McNulty issues a new Department of Justice memorandum for U.S. Attorneys with updated guidelines for prosecuting corporations. McNulty emphasized that "[t]he prosecution of corporate crimes is a high priority." If a company faces criminal charges, he cautions, that doesn’t necessarily mean that corporate directors, officers, and other employees "should not also be charged." He advises federal prosecutors on nine factors to consider when weighing whether to charge or negotiate a plea in corporate criminal cases.

U.S. Eases Tactics on Corporate Scandals
Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2006
Print This Email This
By LARA JAKES JORDAN Associated Press Writer
...Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty said the new guidelines won't hinder prosecutors from aggressively going after companies accused of fraud and other white-collar crimes. Whistle-blowers called the changes a setback for shareholders and employees who risk losing billions in pensions and savings if scandal-tainted corporations aren't fully investigated....

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Drawn back to the last NOW show

I've been thinking about this show since last Friday when it aired.

Did I not consider ethanol a viable option because of the oil companies successful PR campaign, or because it requires a lot of energy to produce?

It's worth the 24 minutes to watch the whole thing, but the ethanol question is around ten minutes in.


Corporate Compassion
Can capitalism help make the world a better place?


more information

Veering off in a different direction is some nifty information for the dipshits crying over the death of Agusto Pinochet.

uh, yeah, don't talk to me face to face with sunglasses on, I'm doing my best to ignore your mouth because I'm irritated that I can't see your eyes. I can't hear you, I'm distracted.

Monday, December 11, 2006

DuPont layoffs

Update
Employers announce a combined 20,000 jobs cuts

Originally published Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 3:45 PM
By CHRISTOPHER LEONARD
AP Business Writer

A round of more than 15,000 layoffs announced Thursday by AT&T Inc., DuPont and Viacom Inc. suggests a yearlong wave of job cuts is accelerating, just as the government is expected to report a higher unemployment rate for November on Friday.

WRAPUP 2-U.S. layoffs spread, CEOs see more pain ahead

2008-12-04 20:49 (UTC)

By Scott Malone

BOSTON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Fear of a deepening recession is spreading throughout corner offices across corporate America, prompting chief executives in all sectors to slash thousands of jobs as they scramble to find ways for their companies to survive the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

AT&T Inc and DuPont Co led the list on Thursday of blue-chip U.S. companies laying off workers in the weeks before the Christmas holiday. A number of surveys showed that CEOs were planning more cuts, as a measure of corporate chieftains' confidence fell to a record low.


DuPont Cutting 1,500 Jobs
(AP) - WILMINGTON, Del.-Chemicals maker DuPont Co. on Monday said it will cut 1,500 jobs and consolidate manufacturing in its seeds unit in a move to lower operating costs by $100 million a year....
...DuPont said it now expects to earn $3.25 per share in the quarter, including $370 million, or 39 cents per share, in net one-time gains. The previous estimate was for profit of $2.86 per share, including a gain of 1 cent per share....

DuPont to cut jobs in streamlining
Mon Dec 11, 2006 9:13am ET
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Chemicals group DuPont Co. said on Monday it would close or streamline 10 plants and cut 1,500 jobs - 2.5 percent of its overall workforce - as part of a plan to restructure its nutrition and crop protection business.

DuPont Tries to Unclog a Pipeline
JANUARY 27, 2003
Can it move new products out of the lab faster?

So after skimming the above articles and recently watching this I wonder if it's competition that forced this change, if the focus on the seed business (the big corporations make seeds that only grow food for one season and people all over the world are fighting this because they don't want to be dependent on the corporations for seeds every year) is another failure wating to happen?
Protests.

Students protest against 'dictator' Ahmadinejad
Robert Tait in Tehran
Monday December 11, 2006 Guardian Unlimited

New Clicks in the Arab World
Bloggers Challenge Longtime Cultural, Political Restrictions
By Faiza Saleh Ambah
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, November 12, 2006; Page A13

Ok then.
It's nice to know that the people want their voices heard.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

37 million poor hidden in the land of plenty

...Under President George W Bush an extra 5.4 million have slipped below the poverty line. Yet they are not a story of the unemployed or the destitute. Most have jobs. Many have two...
... The richest town in America is Rancho Santa Fe in California. Average incomes are more than $100,000 a year; the average house price is $1.7m.



Yep, I bought into the work hard and you will succeed around fifteen years ago. It almost killed me. I worked two jobs, 7 days a week 56-72 hours a week, graveyard shift every night, no benefits, no holiday pay, no time-and-a half. Neither job was minimum wage, and I still couldn't afford my own apartment, and I wasn't supporting my child at that time, her father was. I lived less than 20 minutes from Rancho Santa Fe and I never drove there in my piece of crap car because I didn't want to attract attention from the police. I'm not now, nor have I ever been a lawbreaker. My boss never changed my withholding when I asked him to, so I paid over five-hundred in State tax at the end of the year. It lasted a little over a year & I got laid off, and the company moved to a State that paid less per hour, and a few years later I found out that the company now uses workers in India. Anybody wonder why I want to give a big fat middle finger to Corporate America and their skanky lobbyists? I'd like to give another big fat middle finger to the Corporate whores in Congress.


Vote every day for the Weblog Awards 2006 . Just because the liberals are kicking ass where they actually got nominated is no excuse not to vote every day.

The Weblog Awards 2006

What fun. I suppose I've become rather insular in my blog reading. I read the blogs I have linked on my page. I like them. I have some others that I read somewhat regularly, but frankly, the only time I venture into the right wing nuttosphere is when someone I read regularly is linked to them. I DON'T like them. I did like some of the lefty blogs on the list. I've never visited a couple of them before, but I'll be back to check out this one.

I'm off to finsh voting. (click on the title link, join the fun)

Update: for someone like me, who reads the lefty blogs, this looked like a reich-wing love-fest. One of those bloggers stalked me, and terrorized me, and it left a really bad taste in my mouth. It still tastes bad. I hope the motherfucker rots in hell.

Friday, December 08, 2006

House Leadership Chided for Foley Scandal

Chided?

to listen via NPR
by Brian Naylor
...What began with a frenzy of allegations, fueled by explicit communications and accompanied by outrage, ended Friday with something less than a slap on the wrist...
...the three Republicans and three Democrats on the subpanel found that while Republican leaders failed to protect underage pages, no rules were broken...

'Scuse the cynicism, but wtf else is new?
Bipartisan bischmartisan, eh, feh.
Bizness as usual in that sewer I call Washington.

Catch 22, reading now


Yeah, yeah, why didn't I read this in High School?

Believe me, you DON'T want to know about my High School experiences.

Finally finished Les Misérables

Wow. What a great ending. It's been a really long time since a book made me cry, or really feel deeply. I was not happy slogging through sixty pages on the battle of Waterloo, I almost gave up there, that was tedious. I'm glad I stuck it out. Fifteen hundred pages (paperback). The last long book I read was on the Arms of Krupp

Thursday, December 07, 2006

What caught my attention this morning

Or, what I woke up to this morning after that damn Iraq report put me to sleep a few times last night, yeesh what a fucking snoozefest that thing is.

So, here we go------

Group claims 'tobacco'-style lobby shields toxic interests
PERCHLORATE MAKERS BLOW SMOKE ON HEALTH ISSUE
The Los Angeles-based group Environment California says an industry-funded group is using "misleading research and tobacco industry-style lobbying to influence the debate on the effects of perchorate." Perchlorate is a rocket fuel ingredient and "a known thyroid inhibitor" often present in water supplies near military and manufacturing sites. The Perchlorate Study Group (PSG) "has lobbied for maximum contaminant levels of 200 parts per billion (ppb) in drinking water, much higher than the 24.5 ppb threshold favored by the Environmental Protection Agency and the 6 ppb limit being considered by the state of California," reports Fred Ortega.
"More than half of all studies on the health effects of perchlorate published between 1995 and 2005 were funded by" PSG, which was founded by Lockheed Martin, Aerojet and Kerr McGee, "in response to efforts to regulate the potentially dangerous chemical."
Environment California also notes that PSG retained the PR firm APCO Worldwide, which previously helped "Phillip Morris to fight anti-tobacco regulations," to "help undermine the case for thorough perchlorate cleanup."
SOURCE: DailyBulletin (Ontario, California), December 4, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/5513

crap. Crap. CRAAAAAAAAAP!

The Decider can declare Martial Law?
How long have I had my head up my ass?

How did I miss this?
Fine Print in Defense Bill Opens Door to Martial Law
By Jeff Stein, CQ National Security Editor CQ.com
12/06/06

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

That Iraq Report? More of the Same

The great Baker-Hamilton crock: A classic bullshit-cloud in the proud tradition of congressional "studies"
MATT TAIBBI

Bonus: Caption contest (did you think I could resist THIS picture?)

IRAQ STUDY GROUP REPORT (click on link to download pdf file) I think it's interesting that a search of the report brings up 'Iran' or 'Iranian' 83 times.

Hmmm. Let's Google 'Iran Currency' just for shits and giggles.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Gates Hearings

I watched part of the morning Gates Senate hearings on CSpan.

Ben Nelson (D FL) asked how he would deal with the with Guard and Reserve policies?

Gates said he was unfamiliar with the policies.

Um, the ones that had Lousiana National Guard members in Iraq during Katrina?

Um, yeah those.

Gates' Assets Include Defense Stock
By SHARON THEIMER
The Associated Press
Tuesday, December 5, 2006; 7:54 PM

Yeah, Gates probably had other stuff on his mind. He said something about Turkey. I wonder if he's familiar with this hinkiness regarding Turkey

and what's this mean?

Monday, December 04, 2006

photovoltaic


The Revolution Will Be Solarized
By David Roberts, Grist Magazine. Posted December 2, 2006.
...It's not just that we're moving toward alternatives, it's that we're moving toward distributed [power generation] as well. If both of those are true, solar is the only viable option...



Will solar-cell shortage end in 2008?
September 11, 2006 1:12 PM PDT



Solar cell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Boeing Wins Contract to Build Solar Cells for Renewable Energy
ST. LOUIS, Aug. 28, 2006

Have we had enough?

Runaway victory for Chavez
AP
4 December 2006 13:08
...Conflict and ambition have marked the rise of Chavez, from a boy selling homemade sweets in a dusty backwater to a failed coup commander in 1992 and now a leader who could set the tone of Latin American politics for years to come...

Bush Mulls Resumed Energy Drilling Off Alaska
Bristol Bay, Alaska, is home to endangered whales and sea lions and the world’s largest sockeye salmon run.
..."House Republicans scheduling a vote next week to expand offshore drilling off Florida’s coast, only underscores that G.O.P. stands for Gas and Oil Party.”...
By FELICITY BARRINGER
Published: December 4, 2006

Pelosi: Our Coasts Need Lasting Protection from Oil and Gas Drilling
By: Nancy PelosiPublished: Dec 4, 2006 at 07:41

Haven't the energy industries and the vehicle manufacturers run this country long enough?

Friday, December 01, 2006

Saudi Arabia vs Iran

"A shooting war between Saudi Arabia and Iran would certainly make for interesting times in the oil markets... "

A cauldron nears boiling point
Nawaf Obaid
December 1, 2006

Nawaf Obaid, an adviser to the Saudi Government, is the managing director of the Saudi National Security Assessment Project in Riyadh and an adjunct fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. The opinions expressed here are his own.

X-mas joy



“It’s Always Christmas Time” For Credit Card Companies
But Consumers Can Get Trapped by Abusive Fees and Practices


Try not to get eaten alive by the damn credit card companies when you shop for all your loved ones this year, eh?