I need a music break

Bonnie Raitt -- Unnecessarily mercenary

Rickie Lee Jones -- Dat Dere

John Mayer -- Daughters

It's a charade

Terror finance trail vanishes in Saudi Arabia
The kingdom has pledged to crack down on funding activities for the likes of al-Qa'ida. So why the secrecy?

Paul Cochrane reports
Published: 30 September 2007


MMMM. Color me cynical. As the "investigations" drag on forever, people in high places in both US and SA governments continue to make obscene amounts of money on arms sales and new "war on ________" (fill in the blanks) programs that need nifty new spy gadgets.

Some things just never seem to change.

The question I have is...

How do we stop wars from happening whether they be for power, profit, or simple basic need if there are no world leaders willing to be honest about the problems of overpopulation?

Problems that are getting worse because of global warming (See Myanmar). Whether you believe that global warming is caused by human activity or you don't, the fact of the matter is that more suffering is happening because of the one human activity that happens to be extremely successful:


BREEDING.

Or as I like to call it--squirting out brats.

Bill Moyers Journal

I was too tired to watch it last night, I'm watching it now.

Well, um.. the trailer's funny, but only if you've been paying attention

"We don't do body counts," Gen. Tommy Franks, who directed the Iraq invasion, has said.
Saturday, May 3, 2003

In their testimony, Sergeant Vela and other soldiers described how their teams were pushed beyond limits by battalion commanders eager to raise their kill ratio against a ruthless enemy.
Published: September 28, 2007

Senate wants Blackwater answers
Posted by Jim Tankersley on September 28, 2007 11:32 AM Permalink

Veterans of PTSD
9.28.07

War Inc. trailer



John Cusack interviews Naomi Klein

Milton Friedman is dead.

The fantasies he sold are being exposed as fantasies.

Naomi Klein's the Shock Doctrine

The Shock Doctrine: Naomi Klein on the Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Monday, September 17th, 2007
Watch or listen to the Amy Goodman interview.

WaPo today

Increase In War Funding Sought
$42 Billion Boost Would Raise 2008 Total to $190 Billion
By Josh White and Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 27, 2007; A01

...In a rare sign of bipartisan consensus over war policy, the Senate plan to divide Iraq, conceived by Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), was approved 75 to 23, with support from 26 Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.)...What? Who me cynical?

'I Failed Him. I Failed My Baby.'
Man Sought Help for Son Weeks Before D.C. Police Killed Him
By Keith L. Alexander
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 27, 2007; A01

GM, Union Agree on Contract to End Strike
Deal Seen as Model Across Industries
By Sholnn Freeman and Frank Ahrens
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 27, 2007; A01

In Flood-Prone Bangladesh, a Future That Floats
By Emily Wax
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, September 27, 2007; A01

Report Says Fixes Slow To Come at Walter Reed
By Steve Vogel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 27, 2007; A01

Democratic Rivals Press Clinton, Courteously
By Dan Balz and Anne E. Kornblut
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 27, 2007; A01

A story I missed, & some I didn't-- Project Censored

# 3 AFRICOM: US Military Control of Africa’s Resources
Source:
MoonofAlabama.org 2/21/2007
Title: “Understanding AFRICOM”
Author: Bryan Hunt


Student Researcher: Ioana Lupu
Faculty Evaluator: Marco Calavita, Ph.D

In February 2007 the White House announced the formation of the US African Command (AFRICOM), a new unified Pentagon command center in Africa, to be established by September 2008. This military penetration of Africa is being presented as a humanitarian guard in the Global War on Terror. The real objective is, however, the procurement and control of Africa’s oil and its global delivery systems.

Happiness gap widens between ladies, gents
By David Leonhardt
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE
September 26, 2007

It appears that men may have the edge when it comes to happiness.

No. Fucking. Shit.

Update: 5:35 PM 9/26/2007

MYANMAR: 4 KILLED IN RIOTS, 3 ARE MONKS; 200 PEOPLE ARRESTED

Security Council urges Myanmar to allow UN envoy's visit 27 Sep 2007, 0443 hrs IST,AFP

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council on Wednesday failed to condemn Myanmar's military rulers for their bloody crackdown on anti-government protests and merely expressed "strong support" for a UN envoy's visit there "as soon as possible."

Iraq, Afghanistan wars to cost US $190 bln in 2008
Wed Sep 26, 2007 6:57pm EDT

Dead monks, wars that cost 200 billion dollars a year.

Gee, I don't know why women score lower on the happiness scale?

Myanmar imposes curfew, bans assembly

YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar's (Burma) military leaders imposed a nighttime curfew and banned gatherings of more than five people Tuesday after 35,000 Buddhist monks and their supporters defied the junta's warnings and staged another day of anti-government protests.

About Myanmar

Myanmar's (Burma) population is estimated at over 47 million, with the population density being 70 persons per sq km. Roughly three quarters of the population are rural inhabitants, with the remaining population living in urban Yangon, (Rangoon) Mandalay and Moulmein. About two thirds of Myanmar's population are Burman (ethnically close to Tibetans and Chinese) with other minorities making up the other third.

With less than 16 percent of the US' population Myanmar has captured the world's attention by peacefully protesting a brutal regime.

And the president of the United States embarrasses me once again...

Bush uses UN speech to criticise Burma and Zimbabwe regimes
Tuesday, September 25, 2007

The police didn't put the monks and their supporters in cages for their protest. They cracked down the day after, but they didn't set up "protest zones" days in advance.
Zimbabwe has been dealing with European colonial interests for about 500 years now. Must not be an American mining company that Mugabe is moving aside people for, or some shit, because the US Govt has propped up more than their share of tin pot dictators, including him. It'd be nice if they taught us that shit in school.

And why is everybody still talking about Ahmadinejad? How do you take someone seriously who says there are no homosexuals in Iran, a country of over 71 million ?

52nd District field grows

thicker with Repugnant Thuglican horseshit candidates.

The bottom paragraph of the article offers up two Democratic candidates in the 52nd.


Duncky also sez:

I Will Try To ‘Cut Off Funds To Columbia University’ Because Of Ahmadinejad Speech

Here's a good read for Duncky:

Shock and Awe

Candidates Forum on Health Care

The Presidential Candidate Forums, organized by the Federation of American Hospitals and Families USA, feature candidates being interviewed by a panel of prominent journalists from ABC News, National Public Radio, the Wall Street Journal, and the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. The forums, taking place at the Kaiser Family Foundation's Barbara Jordan Conference Center, will be taped for broadcast by MacNeil-Lehrer productions and webcast by kaisernetwork, Kaiser's health news and information service.

Kuckinch is up first. Think Kaiser wanted to get that one out of the way?

Upcoming Live Webcasts


Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio)
Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 8:30 a.m. ET

Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.)
Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 11:30 a.m. ET

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)
Wednesday, October 31, 2007 at 10 a.m. ET

Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.)
Thursday, November 1, 2007 at 11 a.m. ET

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.)
Wednesday, November 7, 2007 at 10 a.m. ET

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.)
TBA

Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.)
TBA

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas)
TBA

Gov. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.)
TBA

Yeah, so I think this is more important than the whole Amadinejad speaking at Columbia thing.
The Iranians are a bit puzzled also, they know that he has no real power.

Economic Impact of Peak Oil Part 1: A Flashback

Posted by Gail the Actuary on September 23, 2007 - 11:00am
Topic: Economics
Tags: debt, industrial revolution, Robert Ayres, Robert Solow


This is the first part of a three-part series providing my ideas on the economic impact of peak oil.


Mmmmm. Besides glazing over a bit when Gail the Actuary pulls the charts out, it's a great read. I didn't say fun, I said great.

Senate Clown Show

TPM nails it.

Religions sucks #7 Blackwater edition

(click book cover to find a copy of Scahill's book, click Gomer for an article that provesLarry correct)

Blackwater denies Iraq smuggling

September 27 2006
Blackwater Founder and West Michigan Native Funds Right-wing through Foundation

Blackwater in Iraq The New Private Warriors
By Sgt. MARTIN SMITH
September 19, 2007

Hessians Redux: Blackwater, U.S. and England
By Dr. Sam Hamod
09/20/07 "ICH"

Religious nutjob blogger's entry on Blackwater.

What a country I live in. My government's unfairness and arrogance and hypocrisy infuriates me sometimes. I didn't know I could feel horrified, terrified, angry, disgusted, and despondent at the same time.

*sigh*

I can.

And I'd like to add that Blackwater may finally be getting the negative press it deserves, but the problem is systemic. There are companies competing for a chunk of the security company gravy train that this shitty, fucked up war has created.

Lookee here at the list: PRIVATE FORCES DOT COM

It's Friday ya bastards

(Yup, I hear Randi Rhodes' voice as I write that)

Are USAID Funds Being Used for Covert Operations in Central Africa?
September 20, 2007 at 07:21:51

Mmmmm. Does this surprise me? Nope, I read this book a few years ago:

Hidden Terrors: The Truth About U.S. Police Operations in Latin America by A.J. Langguth (Author)

• Paperback: 343 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon (July 12, 1979)
  

The DRC had elections last year.

I know this is unrelated, but it's disgusting to me.

Oil hits high over $84

Thu Sep 20, 2007 3:33pm EDT

I'm still plugging along, reading this book. It's depressing.

Tonight on NOW

Bill Moyers is doing part of tonight's show on Rachel Carson I'm still picking up her book occasionally, but I can't read the thing straight through. It's too depressing to see how little of her work had a lasting impact on the captains of industry. I'm curious to see how long it takes for some genius to advocate the use of DDT for bedbug problems that are cropping up.

Speaking of creepy, bloodsucking critters, I love this letter to Larry Silverstein

I need to laugh today, how about you?

BuckFush

And after reading the news I have to read today, I want Jon Stewart.



Rowan Atkinson Indian waiter

What country do I live in again?

IAEA chief: Talk about war against Iran contra-constructive

America Is No More
By Paul Craig Roberts
09/18/07 "ICH" --- -- Naïve Americans who think they live in a free society should watch this video filmed by students at a John Kerry speech September 17, Constitution Day, at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Full 7 minute video of taser incident

Senate Fails on Habeas Corpus

Greenspan: Euro Gains As Reserve Choice
By AP
Report: Former Fed Boss Says Euro Could Replace U.S. Dollar As Favored Reserve Currency

Iranian Oil Bourse

Dan Rather Sues CBS for $70 Million

Congress Asked to Lift Debt Ceiling
MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer

(AP) - WASHINGTON-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told Congress on Wednesday that the federal government will hit the current debt ceiling on Oct. 1.

House Members Resist Testifying in Contractor Trial
By Paul Kane
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 19, 2007; Page A07

The defense contractor charged with bribing convicted former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham has subpoenaed 13 House members, including former speaker J. Dennis Hastert, to testify in his federal trial.

But the 13 lawmakers are refusing the subpoena, and the House general counsel sent lawyers for the contractor, Brent R. Wilkes, a letter saying that it was overly broad and "did not elaborate as to what testimony you seek from each member."

Fears of dollar collapse as Saudis take fright
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor
Last Updated: 12:18am BST 20/09/2007

Wednsday September 19, 2007 SDUT

Front Page UT

A little more Blackwater doody---

Federal official is under scrutiny
Krongard accused of stopping probes
By Lolita C. Baldor
ASSOCIATED PRESS
September 19, 2007

...Also under scrutiny is whether Blackwater USA, the private security firm banned this week from working in Iraq over the killing of civilians, was “illegally smuggling weapons into Iraq,” according to a letter to inspector general Howard J. Krongard obtained yesterday by The Associated Press...

...In addition to outlining a host of allegations against Krongard, who took over the State Department post in May 2005, the Waxman letter raises new questions about Blackwater. Although the security company is not named in the letter, several senior administration officials confirmed that Blackwater is the firm mentioned as being suspected of smuggling weapons into Iraq illegally...

Hey Howard, howsya bruthuh Buzzy, doin' eh?

Condi says she's sorry and can her Blackwater boys stay and play?

Rice apologises for US security firm shootings



The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, apologised to the Iraqi government yesterday in an attempt to prevent the expulsion of all employees of the security firm Blackwater USA...

Well, well, well, I guess that answers one of my questions anyway. Betcha she ain't spillin' the beans on the Kurdistan question, though.

Iraq Revokes Blackwater's License

Now can we keep the morons out of San Diego?

Something tells me NO, the San Diego 'ol boy/ M-I-C network is too entrenched.

Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul-Karim Khalaf said eight civilians were killed and 13 were wounded when contractors believed to be working for Blackwater USA opened fire in a predominantly Sunni neighborhood of western Baghdad.

Larry says Blackwater ain't leaving Iraq.

Hmmm, so when the blithering idiot that we call our president says something about troop withdrawal does he mean the approximately 200,000 "private contractors?" I wonder how many of the contractors are mercenaries? I know I'm still hearing local ads for Border Patrol agents. That's a big hint to me that our Border Patrol agents are working in the Middle East for security contractors who pay a hell of a lot more money than the US Govt Pays.

(See my last blogpost for why I think things are going the way they are)

I think this is the only book that preznit poopypants has ever read, but I think he missed some of the important stuff. W misses important stuff sometimes. Whoa, am I Captain Obvious this morning, or what?

Texas Co. Signs Iraq Oil Deal With Kurds
With No National Iraq Oil Law Passed, Kurdistan Region Makes Its Own Rules
Comments 30
DALLAS, Tex., Sept. 9, 2007


I have qvestion. What happens to the Kurds now? Will they be able to hire mercenaries from their oil revenues and stop the Turkish, Iranian and Iraqi governments from killing them? Will there be new borders drawn in the area? Does this mean Kurds will get Kurdistan?

(update 4:21 PM 9/17/2007 Jeremy Scahill will be on the Randi Rhodes Show tomorrow, Tuesday September 18, 2007

Reading now

Books of the Times The C.I.A.’s Missteps, From Past to Present

By MICHAEL BESCHLOSS
Published: July 12, 2007

CIA Statement on “Legacy of Ashes”
August 6, 2007


Legacy of Ashes - the undoing of the CIA
The anatomy of a discredited organization
By George Smith, Dick Destiny → More by this author
Published Wednesday 29th August 2007 07:49 GMT

Book Review At the beginning of the Nineties, this journalist went through the Central Intelligence Agency's hiring process. The process took about a year to complete, its length and rigor attributed to the great importance of its classified mission plus a purported desire to get just the right kind of people - America's best.

In any case, that was the story.

CIA Bans Water-Boarding in Terror Interrogations
September 14, 2007 5:00 PM
By Brian Ross, Richard Esposito & Martha Raddatz

Hmmm, let's see here. How long did it take to figure out that it might not be a good idea to use waterboarding?

This quote is from William Blum's "Killing Hope" (C) 2004 p. 129

At the US Navy's schools in San Diego and Maine during the 1960's and 1970's, the course had a different name. There the students were supposedly learning about methods of "survival, evasion, resistance and escape "which they could use as prisoners of war. There was in the course something of survival in a desert, where students were forced to eat lizards, but the naval officers and cadets were also subjected to beatings, jarring judo flips, "tiger cages" ---hooded and placed in a 16-cubic-foot box for 22 hours with a coffee can for their excrement--and a torture device called the "waterboard": the subject was strapped to an inclined board, head downward, a towel placed over his face, and cold water poured over the towel; he would choke, gag, retch, and gurgle as he experienced the sensation of drowning, just as was done to Vietcong prisoners in Vietnam, along with their tiger cages.
A former student, Navy pilot Lt. Wendell Richard Young, claimed that his back as broken during the course and that students were tortured into spitting, urinating, an defecating on the American flag, masturbating before guards, and, on one occasion, engaging in sex with an instructor. #41

#41 Newsweek 22, March 1976, pp 28, 31.

Religion sucks 6

Qaeda puts bounties on heads of Swedes in cartoon row


The self-proclaimed Islamic State in Iraq placed a bounty of at least 100,000 dollars on the head of the cartoonist Lars Vilks and 50,000 dollars on Ulf Johansson, editor in chief of the Nerikes Allehanda newspaper which published the caricature.

"We call for the liquidation of the cartoonist Lars who offended our prophet," said the statement issued in the name of the group's leader, Sheikh Abu Omar al-Baghdadi.


Hey, WhoseyurBaghdaddy---Your Prophet is dead, so how do you offend a dead man?

You need to bring your dumb, misogynistic ass into the 21st century and develop a fucking sense of humor. How you going to call your terrorist buddies without a cell phone? How many types of cell phones came out of Middle Eastern Muslim companies, eh, you stupid fuck?

I swear I don't know why Sweden puts up with these mentally and socially retarded criminals.

Americans don't support this war
See WhoseyurBaghdaddy? We don't want to be in your backasswards country anyway. Where'd you get the reward money? The fucking Saudis?




In his latest video message, Osama bin Laden coaxed Americans to accept Islam, in which, he also offered them heavy tax incentive.
... He said, "There are no taxes in Islam, but rather there is a limited Zakaat [alms] totaling 2.5 percent" [ABC New Blog]. This huge tax-cut might be very tempting for the well-off and big corporations in America . However, he is not telling us whole truth about the taxation system of ideal Islamic states, such as was in the now-defunct Islamic caliphate, which Osama wants to reinstate on the global scale.

A true Islamic state will have two kinds of citizens: the believers (Muslims) and the dhimmis. Dhimmis, according to Islam, constitute of four kinds of monotheists that existed in Arabia at time of Muhammad ― namely the Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians (Magians) and the Sabians. The idolaters (also heathens, atheists etc.) must accept Islam or be killed as commanded in the Quran: "kill the idolaters, wherever ye find them" [Quran 9:5]. But the Umayyad caliphs (661–750 CE) allowed the idolaters to live under the category of dhimmis in violation of the Quran. Umayyads were rightly condemned as "Godless" by the pious orthodox and the wider Muslim community for their numerous actions that violated the Quran or defied Allah....

read all of it---

Osama's Tax Incentives to Americans --- Not Telling the Whole Truth

As a woman, I have my own reasons for telling anyone who tries to sell me Islam to shut the fuck up and leave me alone. Islam fills me with contempt. I have been treated with contempt in my place of work by Muslim men. In an Islamic country I would have been killed for living my life they way I lived it, and I have worked really hard to stay on the right side of the law. I have no use whatsoever for Islam. Islam in practice benefits men, and encourages inequality and second class citizenship for women.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Testimony: Sen. Stevens' Son Took Bribes

Tonight on my favorite shows

Third Time Around - An hour-long NOW special
9.14.07

Bill Moyers Journal


Bush, Hillary, New Attorney General, Working Seniors FRI SEP 14, 2007

This book looks interesting to me

The author has an interesting background.

An audio interview with the author . from KPFK's uprising radio (Be patient, the MP3 takes a while to load)


Review of the book in Asia Times
...Parsi's book is remarkable for its detailed look at the international-relations dimension of the Israel-Iran relationship. There exists, beneath the vitriolic public exchanges, a history of intelligence cooperation, arms sales, and secret dialogue between the two countries. And the dialogue continued even after Iran turned from a monarchy into an Islamic theocracy...

I'm freaking sick of it

If one more foreigner asks me why Americans aren't doing enough to stop this insane government I'm going to ask them if they fucking read English.

Then I'll send them here, or here or here

And then there's this happy horseshit:

Oil prices hit record $80 a barrel

Black and White and Re(a)d All Over:

The Conservative Advantage
in Syndicated Op-Ed Columns

INTRODUCTION

This project did something that has never been done before: It amassed data on the syndicated columnists published by nearly every daily newspaper in the country. While a few publications, most notably Editor & Publisher, cover the syndicated newspaper industry, no one has attempted to comprehensively assemble this information prior to now. Because the syndicates refuse to reveal to the public exactly where their columnists are published, when Media Matters for America set out to make a systematic assessment of the syndicated columnist landscape, we had no choice but to contact each paper individually and ask which syndicated columnists are published on their op-ed pages.

The results show that in paper after paper, state after state, and region after region, conservative syndicated columnists get more space than their progressive counterparts. As Editor & Publisher paraphrased one syndicate executive noting, "U.S. dailies run more conservative than liberal columns, but some are willing to consider liberal voices."1

Wow. These guys went to a lot of trouble to prove what lot of people know instinctively, didn't they?

Jimmy Carter steps into the Hollywood spotlight

Hmmmmm. Let's see why Jimmy Carter is marginalized in the US mainstream media, shall we?


...In a stinging attack on US President George W. Bush and his Christian supporters, he said: "I worship Christ who was the prince of peace, not pre-emptive war."

"A superpower like the United States should use all of its resources ... to promote peace," he said...

...Carter noted that he and his wife Rosalynn had visited the Palestinian territories on three occasions in recent years.

"I was amazed and almost nauseated to see the encroachment by Israel on Palestinian land and the persecution of the Palestinians," he said, citing 205 fortified Jewish settlements in "choice places" in the West Bank.

Rosalynn commented that the wall built by Israel to separate the two sides, but condemned internationally, was "shocking."...

Is Darryl Cagle married?

Oh crap, I am, darn it.

Religion sucks 5

Europeans Get Terror Training Inside Pakistan

Gee, this might be why I think Pakistan is a vast wasteland of hopelessness and idiocy. See the truckloads of firewood in the background? What a waste. These hateful morons breed like rabbits. Maybe they should try birth control instead of terrorist training camps. It may be more productive in the the long run.

Ok, there's your Muslim idiot slam.

Here's your Christian

and Jewish idiots slams.

Karl Rove, Still Behind the Curtain

Gotta keep the propaganda machine well oiled.

Unrelated, but important I think:

Pakistani lawyers launch campaign to oust Musharraf
Islamabad, September 06, 2007

MoveOn.org Misleads Members in Support of Holt Election Reform Bill Even as Holt Distances Himself from Own Bill
'It's No Longer my Bill,' Says Congressman of Software Giant's Successful Removal of One of the Bill's Once-Postive Provisions
Call it 'Microsoft 811' Writes an Election Integrity Advocate...
BLOGGED BY Brad Friedman from Colorado ON 9/4/2007 3:13PM

Kos Is Media, Federal Ruling Determines
By Politico.
Bill O’Reilly blasts DailyKos as a “hate site,” but according to a federal ruling released Tuesday, the popular liberal blog is as much a part of the media as Fox News when it comes to campaign finance rules.

The Federal Election Commission unanimously dismissed a complaint filed against DailyKos by a right-wing blogger who had argued it was illegally acting as a political committee by giving support and free advertising to Democratic candidates.

Mmm, OK, I know there isn't much to tie these stories together, I just think they are important stories.