MySpace Friends

----The Suicide Reportedly Resulting from a MySpace Friendship that Turned Abusive: Could It Provide the Basis for a Successful Tort Lawsuit?
By ANTHONY J. SEBOK ----

When I first read the title of this OpEd I thought "What, are you kidding me?"

Then I read it.

Umm, Mrs. Drew? It looks like you enjoyed junior high a bit too much, but it's really time to grow the fuck up. Your job is not to be your kid's best friend, it's to be a mother. Right now you suck at that job. Don't tell me it's hard because I know it's hard. I did it.

Republican congressman defies Bush administration, pledges probe into destroyed CIA tapes

Sunday, Dec. 16, 2007
HOPE YEN Associated Press Writer

Mmmmm hmmm, sure, when monkies fly out of my ass.

Maybe Hoekstra can investigate Blackwater also.

Sure, he'll just check out his hometown cronies,rrriiiiiigggghhhhttt, sure buddy.


The FCC is up to their old tricks and the above article looks like more junk news to me.

Watch the junk news video.

Heh, it's only three minutes, and the music is fun. I love the stuff Danny digs up.

Oh. My. God. listen to this.

Well well, whadaya know?

Fitrakis & Wasserman were right, and I knew it!

12-14-07: UPDATE on Iowa Caucus Procedures

Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 3:09 pm:
By Bev Harris

Coming Jan. 3, 2007: The famous Iowa caucuses. Traditionally considered a critical sign of candidate viability, results in Iowa can make or break candidate funding and public image. What problems can affect caucuses?...

As I'm reading the above linked BBV update I've got a million things flying around in this little squirrel brain of mine.

I'm wondering how the hell a state which makes me think of corn and pigs got so much power to pick the presidential candidates? Really folks, wtf is frickin' Iowa known for except corn, pigs and the Iowa Caucuses? I'm not trying to offend Iowans, I've heard that they take this stuff really seriously. It's just that I take my city and my state to be of more importance because of the population and economy size.

Besides, I have to live here and

we have

real problems

here.

Anyone who thinks that elections are clean and fair in San Diego is plumb crazy.

They'll try to steal 08 also. And they just might have the peeps and machinery in place already.



San Diego's motto is "Ever Vigilant?"

Yeah, maybe to the Grover Norquist fans, and Jarvisites . I'd like to drown those fuckers in the bathtub. Not in the ocean, it's too damn polluted.

I understand vigilance also.

Huckabee Rising

Huckabee Rising

Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007 By JAY NEWTON-SMALL

Enlarge Photo

Republican Presidential candidate and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

Brooks Kraft / Corbis for TIME

Oh Lord help us.

What is wrong with these religious nutjobs?

Huckabee's fair tax? my ass And Yeah, why are Republicans, especially the religious nutjob types, such fucking idiots?

Ho Ho Ho's -- Buh Bye, Hammers slammed

California Town Rejects Blackwater, Fires Council Members Who Endorsed Them

Posted by Paddy , Cliff Schecter's Blog at 5:33 AM on December 12, 2007.

Update: Rick Jacobs explains why rare triumph of democracy IS a big deal, and yet, the Blackwater slime will continue to ooze into San Diego without vigilant battle from local residents.

I wonder also if this isn't a message to the greedy assholes who think that all government functions should be privatized.

NYT Monday Dec 10, 2007

December 10, 2007
Disability Cases Last Longer as Backlog Rises
By ERIK ECKHOLM

December 10, 2007
Philharmonic Agrees to Play in North Korea
By DANIEL J. WAKIN

December 10, 2007
The Long Run
Crime Buster With Eye on the Future
By MICHAEL POWELL

December 10, 2007
Republican Candidates Firm on Immigration
By MICHAEL COOPER and MARC SANTORA

December 10, 2007
Unlikely Ally Against Congo Republic Graft
By LYDIA POLGREEN



December 10, 2007
Flying Humans, Hoping to Land With No Chute
By MATT HIGGINS



December 10, 2007
By CHOE SANG-HUN
South Korea Cleans Up Big Oil Spill


December 10, 2007
Opposition to Take Part in Pakistan Election
By CARLOTTA GALL

December 10, 2007
News Analysis
Screenwriters Dig In for an Extended Brawl
By MICHAEL CIEPLY

EU-Africa summit begins

Muammar Gaddafi called for compensation from former colonial powers [AFP]

The second ever EU-Africa summit has started in Lisbon, the Portuguese capital, in the presence of 67 leaders from the two continents, including Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe.


Terry has a great post on local Blackwater shenanigans

Al Qaida uses girls to do their dirty work

Female suicide bomber attacks local anti-al-Qaida group, kills 15 outside Baghdad, police say
HAMID AHMED Associated Press Writer Friday, Dec. 7, 2007

(AP) - BAGHDAD-A female suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt Friday outside the offices of a local anti-al-Qaida group that has joined forces with the U.S., killing at least 15 people, police officials said. It was Iraq's second suicide attack involving a woman in less than two weeks.


The article doesn't say where these women come from. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

WaPo Th Decempber 6, 2007

Bush Wins Agreement To Freeze Mortgages
Hard-Up Owners Won't See Adjustable Rates Soar
By David Cho and Neil Irwin
Thursday, December 6, 2007; Page A01

Japan's Bloggers: Humble Giants of the Web
By Blaine Harden
Thursday, December 6, 2007; Page A01

As N.H. Primary Nears, Clinton Clings to Narrow Lead
By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 6, 2007; Page A01

Plea Deal Expected In Military Sex Case
Chaplain Accused Of Abusing Power
By Josh White and Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 6, 2007; Page A01

Study Questions Va. Driver Fees, Raising the Possibility of Repeal
By Anita Kumar and Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 6, 2007; A01

More muslim extremist idiocy

Yeah. And I thought Christians were stupid for believing that some dude rose from the dead. And the Jews were assholes for thinking that they were God's chosen people.

Religious boobs are squirting out brats like there's no tomorrow.



Helloooooooooo?




Reality check

Is our children learning?

Teen births tilt up, unmarried rate hits record
Wed Dec 5, 2007 5:26pm EST
By Will Dunham

Batshit crazy people

LA Times T Dec 4, 2007, & today's UT

Iran's nuclear ambitions on hold, U.S. agencies conclude
Intelligence experts say such work has been shelved for now -- a change in consensus with major implications for U.S. policy.
By Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 4, 2007

China's man at the anchor desk
BROADCAST NEWS IN CHINA: “I don’t feel that any of us are employed to be stooges,” Edwin Maher says of fellow foreigners at China’s English-language television station, CCTV. “But obviously there are limits.” Above, he relaxes in Beijing.
Westerner Edwin Maher reads government 'news' for Beijing TV. He ignores those who call him a sellout.
By John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 4, 2007

A desire to curry voters' favor outweighs earlier calls for fiscal responsibility.For Congress, election imperils balanced budget
By Noam N. Levey, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 4, 2007

BASEBALL
Walter O'Malley's long road to the Hall of Fame

Ex-priest pleads guilty in molestation scandal
Michael Stephen Baker's case was a key part of Cardinal Roger M. Mahony's fight to withhold records.
By John Spano, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 4, 2007
Former Roman Catholic priest Michael Stephen Baker, who authorities say ranks among the Los Angeles Archdiocese's most prolific child molesters, pleaded guilty Monday to sexually abusing two boys and was sentenced to 10 years and four months in prison.

Chavez revolution takes hit in election
Crime, shortages, student opposition combine to help erode support for the Venezuelan president. His constitutional reform plan is narrowly defeated.
By Chris Kraul, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 4, 2007

Powell's turns the page
The legendary Portland, Ore., bookstore has been a how-to guide for surviving Internet and chain rivals. So why is its owner so nervous?
By Scott Timberg, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 3, 2007

Today's fiswrap
Tecate police official slain
Killing occurs hours after tunnel is found
By Anna Cearley
and Sandra Dibble
STAFF WRITERS
December 5, 2007
Juan José Soriano Pereira, 35, who was described as second in command of Tecate's police force, was shot to death in his bed about 2 a.m. yesterday, said Sonia Patricia Navarro, who oversees Baja California's state investigative police force. Soriano was hit by 45 bullets, Navarro said...
...An armed man escaped by ducking into the passageway, leaving behind bundles of marijuana. The Drug Enforcement Administration said yesterday that the drugs weighed 13,776 pounds. No detentions had been made on either side of the border...

Almost seven tons of pot abandoned and a dead high-ranking local Mexican cop. Could someone please tell me why marijuana is illegal again? I don't get it, & neither does Norm Stamper who started out as a San Diego beat cop, and he doesn't think the "War on Drugs" has been successful.

Leslie over at No Quarter has a fantastic blog post on the military-industrial-congressional-complex and their insidious inclusion in the "war on terrorism."

Documentary on Blackwater in Potrero

COUNTY WILDFIRES
Tracing the root of a fire takes time
Power lines, transformers likely caused most of blazes
By J. Harry Jones and Kristina Davis
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
November 11, 2007

NYT Mon Dec3,2007

Venezuela Hands Narrow Defeat to Chávez Plan
December 3, 2007
by Simon Romero
Party’s Triumph Raises Question of Putin’s Plans
December 3, 2007
New Orleans Hurt by Acute Rental Shortage
December 3, 2007
By SUSAN SAULNY
For Justices, Another Day on Detainees
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
December 3, 2007
Supreme Court Memo
Lonely No More, Huckabee Faces Hurdles
December 3, 2007
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Nevada Learns to Cash In on Sales of Federal Land
By CLIFFORD J. LEVY
December 3, 2007
Public Lands
By JESSE McKINLEY and GRIFFIN PALMER
Trouble on a Vital Road in Afghanistan December 3, 2007
By C. J. CHIVERS

Yesterday's view

Dudes.
I haven't been sailing in over ten years.
I haven't seen the people who took Anna and me sailing yesterday in probably twenty years. They're still lovely people.
Good, kind, intelligent people who do important work for those in need.
For yesterday I am grateful.
I'm still grinning.

Not in a good mood this morning. My shows weren't on last night, the extra credit points are just more work on a subject that has never been interesting to me and I need to get my doofball husband out of the way so I can clean.

Man, you know you're getting old when...

an interesting Friday night plan is to get extra credit points for a class and then plop in front of the teevee to watch PBS shows.

Tonight's shows are right up my alley:

Will The 2008 Vote Be Fair?
How safe is your right to vote? Former Justice Department official and voting rights lawyer David Becker, who worked under both President George W. Bush and former President Bill Clinton, alleges a systematic effort to deny the vote to hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of Americans. In a revealing interview with NOW's David Brancaccio, Becker openly worries that the 2008 election will not be free and fair. Is our government part of the solution, or part of the problem?

And from NOW to Bill Moyers Journal

Christians United for Israel (CUFI)

Ronald J. Sider and M.J. Rosenberg
November 30, 2007
A look at the headlines related to this week's conference on Mideast peace in Annapolis might leave a reader confused about expectations and results:
"Restraint in Quest for Peace," THE NEW YORK TIMES; "Annapolis Talks Prompt Much Doubt, a Few Jokes, in Mideast," THE WASHINGTON POST, "Olmert warns of 'end of Israel'," THE BBC, "Annapolis conference gave Rice little to build on," NEWSDAY.

THE ECONOMIST was especially blunt in its assessment of results: "Better than nothing. For now, that is the most that can be said of the new Arab-Israeli 'peace process' George Bush inaugurated in Annapolis on November 27th."

Moyers Mailbag

And this is what I watched last night. Fas-ki-na-tin stuff, focusing on the M-I-C in San Diego.

And finally, I've been following the story about the teacher who let the kids in her class name a teddy bear Muhammed and I really don't understand why this teacher wasn't flown home to Britain. Now the locals want to kill her. Something funny here.

Wapo Th Nov 29

Moscow May Host Middle East Follow-Up
Interest Growing in Talks On Israel-Syria Relations
By Robin Wright and Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, November 29, 2007; Page A01

In Debate, Romney and Giuliani Clash on Immigration Issues
By Michael D. Shear and Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, November 29, 2007; Page A0

Municipal Bond Deals Squeezed By Credit Crisis
By David Cho
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 29, 2007; Page A01

Foes Use Obama's Muslim Ties to Fuel Rumors About Him
By Perry Bacon Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 29, 2007; Page A01

Old Allies Abandon Chávez as Constitution Vote Nears
By Juan Forero
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, November 29, 2007; Page A01

And so begins the silent scream...again

This is why I think of Republicans as lemmings .

Here are some words that come to mind when I think about the Republican Leadership.


Mach·i·a·vel·li·an

Hypocritical.

Authoritarian.

Vile

Pampered

Lying

Cheating

Thieving

Criminals

(I didn't need to see that last one because I knew most of it, but it sure needs to be updated before the '08 election, eh?)

Here's today's fishwrap & yesterday's
LA Times
Published Date: November 27, 2007
CAMPAIGN '08 Clinton the organized
By Stephen Braun
As first lady, the senator didn't win every battle. But she was known for showing up thoroughly, perhaps obsessively, prepared.

In Iran, a cadre of lawyers takes the case of justice By Borzou Daragahi
Of Iran's 27,000 attorneys, perhaps no more than 100 take politically charged cases. They brave insults, assaults and jail.

Colorado mayor's sympathy for immigrants costs him his job
By Nicholas Riccardi
Tom Selders spoke out against a raid at a meatpacking plant, and the town spoke in the voting booth by turning him out of office.

Viability of sex-offender law in doubt By Michael Rothfeld
The lifetime GPS monitoring ordered by Prop. 83 may be too costly and complex to ever fully implement.

Mideast peace conference opens By Paul Richter and Richard Boudreaux
Bush meets separately with Israeli and Palestinian leaders at the White House before the event today in Annapolis, Md.

Homeowners' big question: How low will prices go? By Peter Y. Hong
Eric S. Broida wants to trade up. He has been eyeing a multimillion-dollar house near his Pacific Palisades home and thinks it might be a bargain. Eventually, that is.

Monday Nov 26, 2007 NYT

Bitterest Rival of Musharraf Returns Home
November 26, 2007
By CARLOTTA GALL

Short of Funds, G.O.P. Recruits the Rich to Run
November 26, 2007
By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ

Rice’s Turnabout on Mideast Talks
November 26, 2007
By ELISABETH BUMILLER

In West Iowa, Obama’s Man Thinks Locally
November 26, 2007
By JEFF ZELENY



New York Manhole Covers, Forged Barefoot in India
November 26, 2007
By HEATHER TIMMONS and J. ADAM HUGGINS

Missouri, No. 1? College Football Surprises Again
November 26, 2007
By PETE THAMEL and THAYER EVANS

F.C.C. Chief Seeks Votes to Tighten Cable Rules
By STEPHEN LABATON
Published: November 26, 2007


Retail Sales Rise, but Stores Relied on Discounts
November 26, 2007
By MICHAEL BARBARO

Doling Out Other People’s Money
November 26, 2007
By ADAM LIPTAK

After Cyclone, Bangladesh Faces Political Storm
November 26, 2007
By SOMINI SENGUPTA

The Lynching Tree

I watched this last night and frankly I was a bit irritated with it. Not because it's something that should be ignored, and not because I could not fathom the connection between the the lynching tree and the crucifixion of Jesus by the Romans but because James Cone has a seriously annoying voice. I also didn't appreciate that smug victim hood he appeared to be promoting, and wallowing in.

Why would that bug me?

Because wallowing in victim hood sure didn't promote spiritual growth in MY life. Then again, I didn't grow spiritually until I gave myself permission to chuck out the window some of the elitist bullshit involved with organized religion. People that take the part of their religion that the rich and powerful used to control them and remain rich and powerful and then wear it like a hair shirt make me sick. The hair shirters are not nearly as bothersome to me as the people who think that their shit doesn't stink, and everyone else is a lesser human being, or deserve to die because they subscribe to a different religion, or none at all.

I thought that what Bernice Johnson Reagon had to say was beautiful and eloquently delivered.

Moving on, I watched a show that had a team of scientists, historians and divers looking for evidence of the Battle of Lepanto (1571) during which the Christian Europeans used some new kind of battleship and kicked some Turkish Muslim butt right out of Europe. Which basically means that Christian pirates were free to plunder the world & bring it back to their royalty and not have the plunder snatched by Muslim pirates and taken to their royalty.

(my ITunes just played this:

Damned For All Time/Blood Money 5:09 Andrew Lloyd Webber Jesus Christ Superstar [Disc 1] Soundtrack )

Okay-bee

Happy Thanksgiving.

Some people get up to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving at stores that open at 4:00 AM...




I'm not one of them....

Stuff this in your effin turkey

I should shopping for MY turkey, but I'm trying to finish this stupid assignment. I get it, I get it, teaching takes more time to do well than is humanly possible. The assignment is to make up questions for current events articles. This article was a particularly rough slog for me, because this is how I feel about Rumsfeld

In Sometimes-Brusque 'Snowflakes,' He Shared Worldview, Shaped Policy

By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 1, 2007; A01

In a series of internal musings and memos to his staff, then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld argued that Muslims avoid "physical labor" and wrote of the need to "keep elevating the threat," "link Iraq to Iran" and develop "bumper sticker statements" to rally public support for an increasingly unpopular war.

The memos, often referred to as "snowflakes," shed light on Rumsfeld's brusque management style and on his efforts to address key challenges during his tenure as Pentagon chief. Spanning from 2002 to shortly after his resignation following the 2006 congressional elections, a sampling of his trademark missives obtained yesterday reveals a defense secretary disdainful of media criticism and driven to reshape public opinion of the Iraq war.

Rumsfeld, whose sometimes abrasive approach often alienated other Cabinet members and White House staff members, produced 20 to 60 snowflakes a day and regularly poured out his thoughts in writing as the basis for developing policy, aides said. The memos are not classified but are marked "for official use only."

In a 2004 memo on the deteriorating situation in Iraq, Rumsfeld concluded that the challenges there are "not unusual." Pessimistic news reports -- "our publics risk falling prey to the argument that all is lost" -- simply result from the wrong standards being applied, he wrote in one of the memos obtained by The Washington Post.

Under siege in April 2006, when a series of retired generals denounced him and called for his resignation in newspaper op-ed pieces, Rumsfeld produced a memo after a conference call with military analysts. "Talk about Somalia, the Philippines, etc. Make the American people realize they are surrounded in the world by violent extremists," he wrote.
People will "rally" to sacrifice, he noted after the meeting. "They are looking for leadership. Sacrifice = Victory."

The meeting also led Rumsfeld to write that he needed a team to help him "go out and push people back, rather than simply defending" Iraq policy and strategy. "I am always on the defense. They say I do it well, but you can't win on the defense," he wrote. "We can't just keep taking hits."

The only man to hold the top Pentagon job twice -- as both the youngest and the oldest defense secretary -- Rumsfeld suggested that the public should know that there will be no "terminal event" in the fight against terrorism like the signing ceremony on the USS Missouri when Japan surrendered to end World War II. "It is going to be a long war," he wrote. "Iraq is only one battleground."
Based on the discussion with military analysts, Rumsfeld tied Iran and Iraq. "Iran is the concern of the American people, and if we fail in Iraq, it will advantage Iran," he wrote in his April 2006 memo.

Rumsfeld declined to comment, but an aide said the points in that memo were Rumsfeld's distillation of the analysts' comments, though he added that the secretary is known for using the term "bumper stickers." "You are running a story based off of selective quotations and gross mischaracterizations from a handful of memos -- carefully picked from the some 20,000 written while Rumsfeld served as Secretary," Rumsfeld aide Keith Urbahn wrote in an e-mail. "After almost all meetings, he dictated his recollections of what was said for his own records."

In one of his longer ruminations, in May 2004, Rumsfeld considered whether to redefine the terrorism fight as a "worldwide insurgency." The goal of the enemy, he wrote, is to "end the state system, using terrorism, to drive the non-radicals from the world." He then advised aides "to test what the results could be" if the war on terrorism were renamed.

Neither Europe nor the United Nations understands the threat or the bigger picture, Rumsfeld complained in the same memo. He also lamented that oil wealth has at times detached Muslims "from the reality of the work, effort and investment that leads to wealth for the rest of the world. Too often Muslims are against physical labor, so they bring in Koreans and Pakistanis while their young people remain unemployed," he wrote. "An unemployed population is easy to recruit to radicalism."
If radicals "get a hold of" oil-rich Saudi Arabia, he added, the United States will have "an enormous national security problem."

The memos delve into issues beyond Iraq and terrorism. In a memo to national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley in July 2006, Rumsfeld warned that the United States is "getting run out of Central Asia" by the Russians, who are doing a "considerably better job at bullying" than Washington is doing to "counter their bullying."
As public discontent and congressional questioning grew in 2006, his final year at the Pentagon, a series of snowflakes revealed a man determined to counter the chorus of media criticism in one- or two-line zingers to staff members about specific articles.
"I think you ought to get a letter off about Ralph Peters' op-ed in the New York Post. It is terrible," he writes on Feb. 6, 2006. In a Feb. 2 New York Post column, Peters decried "chronic troop shortages in Iraq" while the Pentagon buys "high-tech toys that have no missions."

On March 10, he commanded J. Dorrance Smith, the assistant defense secretary for public affairs, to craft a "better presentation to respond to this business that the Department of Defense has no plan. This is just utter nonsense. We need to knock it down hard." A Washington Post-ABC News poll that month found that 65 percent of Americans thought that Bush had no plan for victory.
On March 20, Rumsfeld ordered a point-by-point analysis of the seven "mistakes" columnist Trudy Rubin wrote about in the Philadelphia Inquirer and a response to her essay -- which he wanted to see before it was sent out. Rubin wrote that the war had "gone sour."

"Please have someone find precisely when I said 'dead-enders' and what the context was," he ordered Smith in September 2006.
A November 2006 editorial in the New York Times that said the Army was ruined "is disgraceful," Rumsfeld wrote to Smith. The editorial said that "one welcome dividend" of Rumsfeld's departure was that the United States would "now have a chance to rebuild the Army he spent most of his tenure running down."

Rumsfeld later reprimanded his staff, writing, "I read the letter we sent in rebuttal. I thought it rather weak and not signed at the level it should have been." He then instructed staffers to prepare an article about the Army. "We need to get that story out," he wrote on Nov. 28, 2006, a Tuesday. He ordered a draft by Friday.


Which statement is the best one sentence summary of the article by Robin Wright?

A. Donald Rumsfeld's "snowflakes" memos were lovely holiday gifts for aides and Cabinet members.

B. Rumsfeld formulates policy on the fly with the icy bite of the "snowflake memos."

C. Donald Rumsfeld is the most ignorant, arrogant asshole on the planet, and he should have done Lynndie England's time in the Miramar Brig.

So read the following articles before Thanksgiving when you have to deal with that right-wing uncle that you have to smile at and be nice to when you want to throw that nasty giblet gravy, or that God-awful green barf-looking jello mold that nobody ever had the chutzpah to tell mom that everybody hates, in his stupid Fox newz spewing pie-hole.


Scottiebot spills the beans, Cheney leaked CIA agent's name

(smile in uncky dum-dum's face K?)


EXCLUSIVE: Daniel Ellsberg Says Sibel Edmonds Case 'Far More Explosive Than Pentagon Papers'
BLOGGED BY Brad Friedman ON 11/19/2007 4:46AM

Really big smile for uncky dum dum....

'cause we know better, eh?

In my mailbox this AM

NYT Monday Nov 19, 2007

U.S. Hopes to Use Pakistani Tribes Against Al Qaeda
n the Swat region, a member of the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force that has about 85,000 soldiers, stood guard at a bazaar.
By ERIC SCHMITT, MARK MAZZETTI and CARLOTTA GALL
Published: November 19, 2007

Goldman Sachs Rakes In Profit in Credit Crsis
By JENNY ANDERSON and LANDON THOMAS Jr.
Published: November 19, 2007

Chinese Dam Projects Criticized for Their Human Costs
The Three Gorges Dam is projected as an anchor in a string of hydropower “mega-bases” planned for the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River.
By JIM YARDLEY
Published: November 19, 2007


Keeping Witnesses Off Stand to Keep Them Safe
Scared Silent
Detective Sgt. Ronald Hampton of the State Police gang unit.
By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI
Published: November 19, 2007

U.S. Says Attacks in Iraq Fell to Feb. 2006 Level
By CARA BUCKLEY and MICHAEL R. GORDON
Published: November 19, 2007

Child Matadors Draw Olés in Mexico’s Bullrings
Michelito Lagravere Peniche, 9, one of Mexico’s youngest bullfighters, confronts a calf in Mérida. More Photos >
By MARC LACEY
Published: November 19, 2007

this is why people avoid the real news

The true Economic Cost of Iraq
Larry Johnson
November 18, 2007 at 7:51 PM


Preparing for Life After Oil
By Michael T. Klare
11/18/07 The Nation


Because it's baaaaaaaaaaad. Oy.

Republic vs. Democracy

November 17, 2007 at 17:55:30
by Mark E. Smith Page 1 of 1 page(s)
OpEdnews.com/
Republic vs. Democracy
by Mark E. Smith
Do you think we have a democratic form of government? Think again! When progressives call for democracy, the response from regressives is often that we do not have a democracy, we have a republic. A republic, we're told, is a representative form of democracy, so many people think that we do at least have a type of democracy. We do not. The republic we have in the USA is not only undemocratic, it is anti-democratic. The reason for this is that while we supposedly have the right to elect our representatives, in reality we do not, as I explain below, and we also lack the power to remove them for refusing to represent us, as many of us have already learned the hard way. Without the power to elect representatives who will protect our interests, and to remove them if they fail to do so, we cannot be said to have a democratic form of government.

The Major Daily Sheds Its D.C. Eyes

Holy Crap, how did I miss this one?

Monday, Nov. 12, 2007

Marcus Stern is the author of the best article I’ve ever read in The San Diego Union-Tribune. His June 2005 article about Randy "Duke" Cunningham’s home sale was a classic example of what Bob Woodward of The Washington Post famously referred to as the "Holy Shit" story because that’s exactly what I said after reading it....

...The news service was established to serve the company’s chain of newspapers, but almost all of those papers have been sold off to pay owner David Copley’s estate taxes. The death of Copley’s mother, Helen, in 2004 left her only child with a staggering debt to the IRS. (Estate taxes are sometimes blamed for killing off family-owned newspapers in America.)

...Faced with insufficient resources to pay the bill, Copley probably had little choice but to sell off the company’s dailies in Ohio and Illinois this year with the goal of hanging on to the flagship Union-Tribune...

...No one would have missed Copley New Service had it perished in the first half of its 52-year existence. The news service that ended Cunningham’s career reportedly began life as a CIA front. James S. Copley, David’s father, offered President Eisenhower his fledgling news service to act as "the eyes and ears" of the U.S. intelligence community in Latin America, according to a 1977 expose by journalists Joe Trento and Dave Roman in Penthouse magazine. CIA operatives were placed on the payroll, the story goes, and the new service exchanged information for scoops. It was all furiously denied by the Copleys, but even the company’s own historian conceded that the news service had a "sad and thoroughly undistinguished" past.

Ummm hmmmm. You don't really wonder why I call the San Diego Uniion Tribune " the Fishwrap," do you?

Artsy fartsy

All this hanging around artists makes me think of my favorite painting by Adolphe-William Bouguereau


The art show was great.
More of the best work there can be seen if you click on the image below, and scroll down

US Senate blocks bill to pay for Iraq, Afghanistan without restrictions

ANNE FLAHERTY Associated Press Writer
(AP) - WASHINGTON-The U.S. Senate on Friday blocked a Republican proposal to pay $70 billion (€47.7 billion) for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan without strings attached.

.."There is a misperception that this department can continue funding our troops in the field for an indefinite period of time through accounting maneuvers, that we can shuffle money around the department. This is a serious misconception," Gates told reporters at the Pentagon.

As a result, he said he is faced with the undesirable task of preparing to cease operations at Army bases by mid-February, and lay off about 100,000 defense department employees and an equal number of civilian contractors. A month later, he said, similar moves would have to be made by the Marines.

Some members of Congress believe the Pentagon can switch enough money to cover the war accounts, Gates said. But he added that he only has the flexibility to transfer about $3.7 billion (€2.5 billion) which is just one week's worth of war expenses. Lawmakers, he said, may not understand how complicated and restrictive the situation is.

Completely unrelated, but more interesting than I can do this morning. President of Venezuela: The Venezuelan President says they will cut off oil exports to the US if it decides to attack Iran


What is economic growth?

Wed SDUT Nove 14, 2007

Bond funding delays put some plans on hold
By Ed Mendel
STAFF WRITER
November 14, 2007

Bhutto calls for her rivals to unite
She says Pakistan leader should quit, rules out deal
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE AND THE WASHINGTON POST
November 14, 2007

Vaccine-preventable deaths mostly eliminated
It's first time CDC has done a review
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE AND BLOOMBERG NEWS SERVICE
November 14, 2007


New laws spur run on land, turbines
By Ted Sickinger
NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
November 14, 2007


Championship bridge players slammed over anti-Bush sign
By Stephanie Strom
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE
November 14, 2007

Th WaPo Nov 15,2007

Turmoil replaces treatment at Coalinga hospital

Shades of gray in fiction

Randi Lynn Beach / For The Times
Elaine Petrocelli, owner of Book Passage stores in San Francisco and Corte Madera, says Alice Sebold's novel "The Almost Moon" is "bold" and "brilliant."
As the target audience ages, protagonists are dealing with the same unsettling issues as baby boomers -- IN LARGER PRINT.
By Maria L. La Ganga, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 15, 2007


Airport tests reveal major security flaws
Investigators smuggled parts for liquid bombs past screeners at 19 locations. Changes at TSA are expected.
By Nicole Gaouette, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 15, 2007

Evangelical flocks on their own at the polls

AT THE CORE: Concern over security could lead Christian conservatives to overlook disagreements with Rudolph Giuliani, above, at a campaign stop in a Kirkland, Wash., cafe last month.
Conservative Christian leaders are increasingly reluctant to get political, leaving a key Republican voting bloc divided. The trend may help Giuliani but hurt the GOP in the long term.
By Stephanie Simon and Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
November 15, 2007

Monkey embryos cloned for stem cells, scientists say

Work published online by the journal Nature, a US-led team said they had created cloned embryos from rhesus macaques using the same method that created Dolly the Sheep and other animals.
The breakthrough is said to be a step toward doing the same with humans.
By Karen Kaplan and Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
November 15, 2007

LAPD's Muslim mapping plan killed
Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times
The reversal comes after a week of protests from Muslim groups and civil libertarians, who equated the mapping with religious profiling.
By Richard Winton and Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers November 15, 2007