Idiocracy

Should be filed in the "Horror" section. It's not much of a stretch, which is really scary.

Paper: Indictment against Alleged Cunningham Briber "So Close"

...A couple of weeks ago, The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Attorney overseeing the investigation, Carol Lam, had ordered her prosecutors to draw up the indictment before she was finally forced out in mid-February....

In Defense of Lam
Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007 | Over the past several years, San Diegans could trust that when something in public life or the white-collar world smelled funny, U.S. Attorney Carol Lam would be there to sniff it out.

Oregon senator threatens filibuster

By MATTHEW DALY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

WASHINGTON -- An Oregon senator is threatening to filibuster a must-pass spending bill if Congress does not extend payments to rural counties hurt by cutbacks in federal logging.

"The federal government has an obligation to rural Oregon, and it's time to meet that obligation," said Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore...


Republicans are lying, hypocritical, Bush bootlicking pond scum .
Remember all the "obstructionist" language they spouted.
Remember how much horrible media coverage the Democrats received when they discussed filibustering?

Class Warfare & the Minimum Wage:
Behind the Senate's Attack on American Workers

by Anthony DiMaggio
January 29, 2007

yeesh

end_war_30700.MOV

End War Protest. January 27, 2007. Downtown San Diego, Horton Plaza.

1/27/06 Horton Plaza in San Diego No War protest

Beachblogger42 was busy taking pictures and posting them.

I'm going to borrow one because these are acquaintances of my kid's and the negativity regarding the protesters was a very tiny portion of the over all response, but I did hear it. Military people are not supposed to protest and I'm sure this particular group of marines was just trying to get into the mall (Horton Plaza) and they had no choice but to walk through the protest because that's where the bus stops. One of them muttered "Freaks." as they walked by the group of teenagers that I was standing with. These two were more interested than the other kids in attracting attention. I spent 4 or 5 hours with some of these kids and I was impressed at their knowledge of current events and complete disgust with the Bush Regime. Genuninely nice kids. They seem like good kids, no drugs, or alchohol, they get good grades and they were very polite with me. All in all the protest was extremely well received, there were lots of thumbs ups and honking in support, a ton of smiles, hell, it looked like most of the cops were having a good time. This time it was wonderful, the haters were soooooooooooo outnumbered.

:) Oh, and yeah there were a LOT more people there than in previous years. All in all not a bad turnout for a military town. I'm really bad at judging numbers but I thought there were about a thousand, but the fishwrap says 1500.

CONVICTIONS in Ohio!
Thursday, January 25, 2007

You didn't really think that BushCo won the election without cheating, lying and stealing did you? Did you really think that they did it legally?

I had to comment

Drug-Resistant Supergerm Infecting Wounded GIs
READ MORE: Iraq
Wired Steve Silberman Posted January 26, 2007 02:03 PM

I'm researching nutrition like crazy lately and I know why there are supergerms, and it's not because doctors are prescribing too many antibiotics for infections. It's because of:

Antibiotics
Almost all of the animals raised for food in the United States today are given antibiotics to stimulate growth and to keep them alive in filthy, disease-ridden conditions that would otherwise kill them. Roughly 70 percent of the antibiotics used in the U.S. each year go to animals raised for food.31

Who are the terrorists?

Government Food Safety System a Sham
By Jason Mark, AlterNet. Posted January 25, 2007.

When Does Green Rage Become Ecoterrorism?
By Matt Rasmussen, Orion Magazine. Posted January 25, 2007.





Amendment I.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of relgion or prohibiting the free exercised thereof: or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assembly and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

India, Russia for axis with ChinaBut oppose anti-satellite missile test

Rajeev Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 25India and Russia today supported their trilateral axis with China, but opposed Beijing’s January 11 testing of an anti-satellite missile saying that they were against militarisation of space.

Off the Rails: Big Oil, Big Brother Win Big in the State of the Union

Off the Rails: Big Oil, Big Brother Win Big in the State of the Union
Published by Greg Palast January 24th, 2007 in Articles
by Greg PalastTuesday, 23 January, 2006

How can anyone not love Greg Palast? He can deliver the most heinous news and still make you laugh.

Now for some good news and an excuse to use a picture I dearly love again.

U.S. wind power seen growing by a quarter in 2007

remarks on the stou

Mr. Webb, you give great speech.


It is all but wasted on president-cornered-in-the-garage for he has once again said nothing, and he will hear nothing.

Ethnic Cleansing in L.A.

By Brentin Mock, Intelligence Report. Posted January 20, 2007.

Acting on orders from the Mexican Mafia, Latino gang members in Southern California are terrorizing and killing blacks...

...The violence is not even limited to Los Angeles County. This November, six members of a Latino gang in Carlsbad, Calif., were arrested and charged with hate crimes for allegedly hurling racial slurs at a black teenager -- ...

They kill white kids in what used to be white neighborhoods too.

Oil, Not Terrorists, the Reason for US Attack on Somalia

The reward for those who fought in another of our bloody oil wars and were seriously injured?

Sources say case workers for wounded laid off
By Karen Jowers - Staff writerPosted : Saturday Jan 20, 2007 8:33:08 EST

Defense Department officials have laid off most of their case workers who help severely injured service members, sources said.
The case workers for the Military Severely Injured Center serve as advocates for wounded service members who have questions or issues related to benefits, financial resources and their successful return to duty or reintegration into civilian life — all forms of support other than medical care.


I think maybe I've been slacking off because I can't find my sense of humor and I'm really sick of crying. Thank God the Democrats are keeping their promises and trying to roll back some of the damage that 12 years of Repugnant thuglicans have wreaked upon this country. I am looking forward to watching Jim Webb comment on Preznit Whinypants speech tomorrow.

The Kingdom of Silence

one word: Blech.


Greg Palast the Con p 263 of Armed Madhouse

In his vulturous, brain-damaged way, Zell Miller was right: Stand up for Black voters and the redneck boobs will take their revenge. So the election came down to this: Nitwits who think Ollie North's a hero not a conman, who can't name their congressman, who believe that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin laden were going steady, who can't tell Afghanistan from a souvlaki stand and bloated with lies and super-sized fries, clomped to the polls 59 million strong to vent their small-minded hatreds on us all.

I fear the election was an intelligence test that America flunked.

(So far this is my favorite paragraph in the book .)


THE KINGDOM OF SILENCE
A job at a Saudi newspaper offers a rare look inside a closed society.
by LAWRENCE WRIGHT
Issue of 2004-01-05Posted 2004-01-05

This New Yorker article is very long. Parts of it are very funny, and I'm sure that this passage is meant to be somewhat sympathetic:
"For most of the country’s business and intellectual leaders, and for many of the royals, the Western world had been a refuge from the intellectual and sensual sterility of the kingdom. I suspected that many had nurtured a secret escape plan in case the extremists gained complete control—they would retreat to second homes in Santa Barbara or Miami. But now such places seemed hostile to them. These élite men who had prided themselves on living in two worlds felt trapped in their own stern culture, and they were suffocating."


My first thought after reading it was Good, maybe the chickenshit Saudis will do something about their out of control religious idiots.

Deeeesgusting

Tomgram: Klare, The Pentagon as an Energy-Protection Racket


Yeesh, if you met anybody in the Navy in the last 30 years, this is not news, they've been babysitting oil tankers on their way out of the Persian Gulf for at least that long.

The US Government has an even longer laundry list of grievances (that rarely get an appeal for redress) for GIs {Government Issue}. It's a long and disgusting list. Here are a few.

CA National Guard

Schwarzenegger Backs Bush's Iraq Troop Surge
Jan 12, 2007 5:50 pm US/Pacific

So, hey brainiac, who's gonna take care of California's levees while more of the California National Guard goes to Iraq to try to secure oil supplies? Oil supplies that we need since your corporate base doesen't give a shit about anything but profits.





And they profit from the status quo.


California was at one time a magnet for the best and brightest students because the state invested in research and development because the corporate interests shared in that investement and PAID THEIR FUCKING TAXES. Now the corporations all have cadres of lawyers whose job it is to find out how to avoid paying taxes. Chevron is one of his gold sponsors. They got their way on 87 didn't they? They ain't paying no damn taxes on the oil they suck out of the ground in Cali.

Got a pretty good deal in Iraq, also:
...From those earliest days until now, throughout all the twists and turns, the blood and chaos of the occupation, the Bush Administration has kept its eye on this prize. The new law offers the barrelling buccaneers of the West a juicy set of production-sharing agreements (PSAs) that will maintain a fig leaf of Iraqi ownership of the nation's oil industry -- while letting Bush's Big Oil buddies rake off up to 75 percent of all oil profits for an indefinite period up front, until they decide that their "infrastructure investments" have been repaid. Even then, the agreements will give the Western oil majors an unheard-of 20 percent of Iraq's oil profits -- more than twice the average of standard PSAs, the Independent notes...

A sweet deal for 'official' felons

A sweet deal for 'official' felons
By S.A. Miller
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
January 11, 2007

(yeah, yeah, I know, the Washington Times? ewwwwwwww)

..Bills that would withhold the pensions from members of Congress convicted of major crimes have been introduced in the past and failed. They usually die in the Senate. "They always worry that somehow they will get caught and lose their pensions," Mr. Kirk said of the senators. "They have always killed this common-sense reform." The measure's supporters say they are optimistic this time because of the strong push for ethics reforms this session -- a response to voter anger at Washington corruption that is credited in part for Democratic gains in last year's midterm elections. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, promised "serious consideration" of the proposal. Still, the effort is encountering the usual skepticism among seasoned lawmakers in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle. "I understand the image," Senate Republican Whip Trent Lott, Mississippi Republican, said of the pension payments. "I think the concept is achievable, but we had better be careful about it." "It is easy to pontificate and take this great ethical stand, but then you have to ask yourself, 'Well, what about this senator's or this congressman's innocent spouse who still has to live? What about the money that was actually paid into the retirement system?' " The specter of punishing "innocent spouses" also was raised by Rep. Charles B. Rangel, New York Democrat and chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. "I would think the type of offense committed should have some weight, especially for someone who violates the public trust," he said. "We shouldn't have any different standard than any other part of government."

And we'll see if this bill dies also. I don't belive for one damn minute that Dukie Cunningham's wife is "innocent." She knows what a Navy officer makes, and she knows what a congressman makes and it isn't now, nor was it ever enough to live in Rancho Santa Fe and shop in antique stores.

Doing what we elected them to

Bush’s Plan for Iraq Runs Into Opposition in Congress
Democrats and moderate Republicans expressed profound skepticism about President Bush’s call to increase the U.S. military commitment in Iraq.
Published: January 11, 2007

Fucking Duh. The Bush plan sounded like more of the same to me, except for sending another twenty thousand troops to get slaughtered, maimed, or brain damaged in that fucking meat grinder called Iraq. I heard a statistic the other day that just floored me:

For every one troop killed, there are eight that will require some kind of medical help for the rest of their lives. Oh boy. That along with a shitload (70 million) of baby-boomers needing increasingly more extensive and expensive medical care wouldn't break the bank here in the US. This stupid fucking war is.

Wow. Five days without a blog post. Two days till my first year bloggy birthday. I got nothing. Any ideas?

US car giants launch green drive
By Stephen Foley in Detroit
Published: 08 January 2007

Yeah, only because they can't get away with the same old crap because of those internets.

spiders on drugs

spiders on drugs

Friday jan 05 2007

In a perfect world
Pass these laws in 2007 and watch society improve overnight.

Stacy Taylor read these this morning on the air and I laughed. That's an improvement. Yesterday I didn't even get out of bed till 6 pm, and that was ONLY because I wanted to see the first woman house speaker---Nancy Pelosi. Today they passed some ethics reform bills. i'm so cyincal, I thought, "Yeah, how long before they figure out how to get around this?"

Squirrel tales

LesbianDad has a squirrel tale that's cuter than mine
. I never fed these animals, they look like rodents. I dubbed them the Cheeto-thieves. The bold little Spermophilus beecheyi will come into the house to remove any Cheetos that fall onto the floor, which is cute, until they can't remember how to get back outside, corner themselves and poop on the floor, which is disgusting. They will also feed on skunk corpses, which is even more disgusting. They are rodents, and manangement says they are "wild animals" and nothing can be done to reduce the population in this immediate area. Wild?, the fuckers eat Cheetos, and they have no fear of humans, and I haven't seen one coyote (with four legs) for all the years I've been here. I saw one Spermophilus beecheyi get lunched on by a hawk, but hawks never nest here because the crows send them packing. If I could have pet here, I would choose a rat terrier, and not because I think they are cute, but because they're useful. Rabies shots updated of course, and the best flea treatment, because the damn squirrels are loaded with fleas, and they share them with everyone, ain't that nice, the little fuckers share the wealth.

Hnnaaaaappyy fuggin new year

America's Red Ink
WaPo 12/23/06

Are the rich affected?

Fuck No

How's that war on terror that supposedly started in Afghanistan going?

Herion dealers doin' just fine

Visa Problems for US Businesses

But I seriously doubt these assholes have any problems there. The Saudi economy is looking up.

We're warning China away from energy deals with Iran.

And energy piggies feeding from the corporate welfare trough yowling about accepting help for for OUR poor from Venezuela.

And how about.

This year we get real.

We call Israel on their bullshit.

And we quit financing their follies.

Riverbend's alive

Just when I think that the violence in Iraq has robbed the world of a really good writer, and hopes for rebuilding a country she posts again.

(update---5:37 PM 1/2/2007 I linked the post, but I didn't read it, I'm reading it now and I stumble across this sentence: "Again, I can't help but ask myself why this was all done? "
and I think to myself: You and me both, baby, and many other people are wondering what the hell this planned chaos is actually supposed to gain anyone? And then there is the Saudi economy. Nice. My husband was spending a quarter of his income on gasoline to get to work so that some useless fucking (literally, here folks, those fuckers breed like rabbits) Saudi Prince could continue to be useless?

I just haven't felt like keeping up with the news, or posting. I don't know how to tie these stories together, but I can face the news now. Most of it came from ICH

Our Next Big Mess
By Ted Rall 12/28/06
The Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and--until now--Turkmenistan are all being ruled by the same former Communist Party bosses who ran them in Soviet times. Niyazov's death marks the beginning of the end for the post-Soviet authoritarian order and the beginning of a period of increasing instability, as foreign powers attempt to monopolize access to oil and natural gas resources and pipeline routes.

The oil companies and the Saudi Princes usually get their way, but I'll watch these two stories just to see if my cynicism is justified.

But, Hey wait a sec, I thought the next war would be Iran?
The neocon crazies, including Isralies are pushing the doofy American public.
And us stoopid Americans don't know about stuff like this.
Soooo, we have a history of pissing off people in the middle east

but we support our troops don't we?, no matter what?


But one last shot, cause that fucking mess in the middle east ain't all our fault:
Why can't Muslims take a joke?
By Spengler
I found this paragraph interesting:
Muslims rage at affronts to their faith because the modern world puts their faith at risk, precisely as modern Islamists contend. [3] That is not a Muslim problem as such, for all faith is challenged as traditional society gives ground to globalization. But Muslim countries, whose traditional life shows a literacy rate of only 60%, face a century of religious deracination. Christianity and Judaism barely have adapted to the modern world; the Islamists believe with good reason that Islam cannot co-exist with modernism and propose to shut it out altogether.

More lists

OMFG, this guy predicted the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 1997:

A Peak Under the Covers
by Jay Hanson, 11/11/97


And it looks like I may be taking a break from the dead tree books today:

TheOilDrum.com Top 50 Posts of 2006


I'm having a hell of a time getting through Catch-22 anyway, but I've heard the first third of it is set-up. I'm not quite into the second third, although I did get my first belly laugh from the first third set-up. I dunno, maybe my sense of humor is too quirky?

Woodward, Ford, Bush, yadda yadda yadda

Fucking Republicans never let the cat outta the bag until they don't have to face the music for sayin it.' (from the local Republishill station, no less)

Woodward is no stranger to keeping Republican secrets .

It's obvious to me who's team he's on.

I didn't pick the book out, it was a gift. My husband did better than he usually does, but...I chose Greg Palast's book for me, so there ya go.

How Now Cloned Cow

FDA: Cloned animals' meat is safe
Posted 12/27/2006 10:52 PM ET











By Chris Gardner, AP
Cloned dairy cows Cyagra, left, and Genesis, right, share hay together as they eat at the farm of Greg Wiles in Williamsport, Md. For nearly four years, the dairy farmer has poured milk from his cloned cows down the drain in compliance with a voluntary ban on food from cloned livestock.

Cookie Jill's posts just kick ass

go check it out: top 10 stories you might not have heard of

State of Denial

I'm 320 pages in and I've got notes and questions penciled in all over the margins.

One of them is if the author ever saw these:

The Power of Nightmares part one

The Power of Nightmares part two

The Power of Nightmares part three

Because if he did, and it made an impact, it does not show in the book. So far all I've gotten out of the book is that Washington sure is loaded with arrogant idiots....

on page 425 Laura Bush says to Andrew Card during one of their "candid sessions" every six weeks, "He's happy with this," the first lady said, "but I'm not." Another time she said, "I don't know why he's not upset with this." She was referrring to the problems with Rumsfeld that everyone seemed to have.



Pickles, doesn't your old man ever read the funnies?

Umm, yeah, and nobody ever told you that you didn't marry a brain surgeon?

Just take another Zanax, uhhh-kay?