Jared Diamond lectures on Collapse

Today I will finish this book.
I have to, I have midterms coming up, and have other reading to do.

I did, however have some interest in sharing with you a brief (condensed by me) quote:

Throughout recorded history, actions or inactions by self-absorbed kings, chiefs, and politicians have been a regular cause of societal collapses, including those of the Maya kings, Greenland Norse chiefs, and modern Rwandan politicians discussed in this book...
...Conversely, failures to solve perceived problems because of conflicts of interest between the elite and the masses are much less likely in societies where the elite cannot insulate themselves from the consequences of their actions.

From the Washington Post this morning:

Since '01,Guarding Species Is Harder
Endangered Listings Drop Under Bush
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 23, 2008; A01

From yesterday's AlterNet

The Folly of Turning Water Into Fuel
By Stan Cox, AlterNet. Posted March 22, 2008.


Even the commenters on AlterNet are typical Americans in that they think the solution to the problem of cars that run on on gasoline or diesel are cars that run on renewable energy sources. How can the problems created by cars be more cars?

Murikans ain't givin' up thur cars. Period. No matter whut it costs them other people.

How much longer do you really think we will have that choice? The rest of the world is pretty much sick of our shit.

Lagos-based daily’s cartoonist attacked at home by armed intruders

Nigeria
21 March 2008
Reporters Without Borders condemns an attack on The Guardian newspaper’s cartoonist

Who attacks cartoonists?

Oh yeah, morons


Jailbird morons throw urine, feces, trays silverware and sue because they are given horrible tasting food as punishment?

Gimmme a break. Some people are just too stupid to live.

I knew Ben Stein was weird

and he certainly isn't a box office draw for me anyway, but I didn't know he was one of those batshit crazy Intelligent Design people either. I guess he is, & isn't quiet about it. How was I supposed to know? I don't watch Bill O'Reilly.Bill O'Reilly is a nasty ass bully

Looks like Phayrngula (PZ) was expelled from Expelled , even though he's in it.
The movie has been criticized by several of the interviewees, including biologists PZ Myers and Richard Dawkins^[47] and NCSE head Eugenie Scott, who say they were misled into participating by being asked to be interviewed for a film named Crossroads on the "intersection of science and religion", with a blurb^[48] which described the strong support that had been accumulated for evolution, and contrasted this with the religious who rejected it, and the controversy this caused.^[49][50][51]

Pentagon divided on Iraq strategy

Ummmm. This is news? OKAYAAABEE.

Religion sucks #10 (or how to unsuccessfully mix politics and religion)

Lieberman forced to Correct McCain again


McCain referred to the Jewish holiday Purim as “their version of Halloween.”
Liebershrewd & McInsane were confused by the whole candy thing.
Mmmmmmmm. Makes me wonder if McInsane is tapping the old lady's stash, I mean, somebody's popping too much something.


In other recent news: Fucktardama bin Laden pipes up again. --- Alienating moderate Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Oh, what's this? The Saudis say they will retrain 40,000 clerics? Hmmmmm. Color me skeptical. If it's true it must be the almighty €uro talking.

The Hasidim look like idiots to me:
Hasidic actor walks off Portman movie
(Abe Karpen, 25, a married father of three, was cast as Portman's husband...)
Yeesh, where would Israel be if the only two exports this country has left (Arms and Entertainment) were stopped?

You thought I wouldn't bash the Christian whack-jobs?
Oh boy, lookeee here, it's got three brands of religious whack-jobs in one article plus a bonus McCain bashing.

Center for Media and Democracy ( covers another great story that the MSM will ignore)

Home » Spin of the Day » Mar 16, 2008

Teaching College Kids to Lie

Topics: corporations | education | ethics | front groups | guerrilla marketing

Source: Inside Higher Ed, March 3, 2008

Additional details have surfaced about the story we mentioned last month regarding a corporate-sponsored hoax at Hunter College. The college receives donations from the Coach Corporation, a manufacturer of handbags, shoes and other women's accessories. In particular, Coach funded a "guerrilla marketing" class that "educated" students about the dangers of knockoff products by creating a fictional student named "Heidi Cee" who claimed that she had been conned by a counterfeit Coach handbag. "The professor who taught it says that he was pressured to do so even though he has no expertise in advertising or public relations (he teaches computer graphics) and had ethical qualms about the course," reports Scott Jaschik. "Further, the professor -- and other professors who have investigated the circumstances of the course -- maintain that the professor was required to teach only one side of the issue, had to accept industry officials watching him teach, and had little clout to fight back since he didn't (and still doesn't) have tenure." According to Hunter professor Stuart Ewen, the lessons in deception were designed by Paul Werth Associates, an Ohio-based PR firm working for the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition, a Coach-funded organization.

I can haz cheez plz.

Obama's Historical Speech On Race 3-18-08

Fuck the pundits and the analysts. Watch it for yourself.

Obama's Historical Speech On Race 3-18-08 Pt. 1 of 4

Obama's Historical Speech On Race 3-18-08 Pt. 2 of 4

Obama's Historical Speech On Race 3-18-08 Pt. 3 of 4

Obama's Historical Speech On Race 3-18-08 Pt. 4 of 4


Or go read the transcript:

I liked this story also today;

Calif., Ohio election officials honored as Profiles in Courage
The Associated Press

Um, except for saying the Iranian Oil Bourse is in Tehran, instead of Kish Island, where an FBI agent was killed, er, oops, has disappeared I think he got it right.

He tells us slowly and laboriously tells us what's behind all the talk of war with Iran



And I love this post about the corporate media ignoring the anti-war protests inside the United States. Yes, folks, the Iraq war has united the United States in their disgust with this war and the idiot we didn't elect. Either time.

The movie "Bordertown" gave me nightmares

My friend was visiting El Paso recently and she called me and said "Well, I can see Juarez from here, but I can't go there, it's too dangerous." There was sad resignation in her voice. She and I and our friends used to go to Tijuana occasionally to eat or shop, and when we were younger, occasionally to dance and drink. I still use a blanket that was made and purchased in Mexico that is probably 25 years old. The last time I went to Tijuana was some time after September 11 and another friend and I were appalled that they kept pushing us to buy tequila shots for our 13-year-old daughters on the famous (or infamous) Avenida Revolución. It was a week day and around lunch time, so we made sure we got our butts back across the border way before dark. Later I thought to myself, "Hey guys, way to send responsible tourists packing, never to return." We bought blankets that were labeled "Hecho en Corea" that day.

The news reports mention around 400 raped and murdered women in Juarez. The movie mentions that there may be as many as 5,000 missing women in Mexico. I don't know about you, but that number makes me wonder just what the fuck is going on in our border towns? And who all might be involved, eh? Sometimes Hollywood tries to bring attention to real problems and sometimes it even goes as far as throwing out there creative solutions to real problems.

But anyway, all you kids who think that just handing over a couple of bucks when you fuck up, or you get fucked up in Mexico on Spring Break? You might end up in more trouble than you think, and don't be surprised if the problems you create in Mexico follow you home. Yeah, everybody's looking for the mordida .



To Work and Die in Juarez

Mass grave unearthed in midst of Mexico's drug war
By Marla Dickerson and Richard Marosi, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
March 15, 2008
MEXICO CITY -- Authorities in Ciudad Juarez said Friday that they had uncovered the remains of 33 people buried in the yard of an abandoned property, a mass grave believed to be linked to the city's violent drug trade.

Bodies of 5 Minors Found Executed Outside of Tijuana
Last Update: 3/04 11:57 pm
Murder Victims Found

Drug Trade Tyranny on The Border

Mexican Cartels Maintain Grasp With Weapons, Cash and Savagery
By Manuel Roig-Franzia
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, March 16, 2008; A01

...More than 20,000 Mexican troops and federal police are engaged in a multi-front war with the private armies of rival drug lords, a conflict that is being waged most fiercely along the 2,000-mile length of the U.S.-Mexico border. The proximity of the violence has drawn in the Bush administration, which has proposed a $500 million annual aid package to help President Felipe Calderon combat what a Government Accountability Office report estimates is Mexico's $23 billion a year drug trade.

A what?

No, es más que ese, mirada aquí,...
Y aquí...Y aquí...Y aquí...Y aquí...Y aquí...Y aquí...


some shit just never changes ... history repeating

& Cheney goes to thank & kiss some Arab ass this week regarding this country's other addiction problem

A friend sent me this yesterday

And my friend said it's ok to share it with you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The Oracle stutters...

In a TV speech delivered this Thursday,George Bush finally accepted the possibility that the Country was "going through some tough times" Mr. Duh strikes again! if George had been present when the Universe started with the Big Bang, he would have said, a long time later, that perhaps there had been a "bit of a 'pop' somewhere out there."

The economy has been headed South, by every sign, for a good long time. With the oil cartel holding the country (and the rest of humanity) to ransom, with the speculators on the New York Mercantile Exchange bidding up the Commodity Traded price of oil and minting billions in take-home profits right under our noses, with the federal Government paying out incentives for converting Wheat acreage to Corn to promote its Ethanol circus while driving up food costs nationwide, and what with the Treasury borrowing Billions every week from China so that China can export billions worth of shoddy goods to U.S. markets and finance the Endless War to Undefined Victory in Iraq, the American citizen doesn't stand a chance.

Recession?

What recession?

In a little less than ten months from now, George will retire to his collection of Horse manure in Crawford Texas, and visit his Presidential Library once a year to look at the book displayed on a polished shelf made from Texas Sage wood. He will look at the pictures and return the book to its shelf, so others can look at it and know what an avid reader he was. There will also come a time when he will begin to believe that he was America's Greatest president, but that a typo made a 92% approval rating look like 29%.by the end of his Eighth Year as the Leader of the Free Wire-Tapped World..

The likes of George Bush are sent to test us. He has a strictly faith-based economic Plan, faith in that the next President will somehow resolve the mess he created.

In its wisdom, Congress passed the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution some time after FDR. It limits the President to Two Terms. If they do nothing else for the next Ten Thousand Years, they will still have merited a Free Pass through the Pearly Gates for this one Act of Good Sense: can anyone even imagine what three Bush terms would feel like?


Try sitting down without pants on a nest of Amazon Fire Ants, for starters.

Religion sucks # 9

Top Saudi cleric calls for writers' deaths
REUTERS
Reuters US Online Report World News
Mar 15, 2008 09:35 EST

I read the above article and I started wondering about the Crusades, because I had heard that at least one or more of them involved pushing the Ottoman Turks (Muslims) out of Europe. So I go looking around for some basic information& I find...

How the Crusades Began:
For centuries, Jerusalem had been governed by Muslims, but they tolerated Christian pilgrims because they helped the economy. Then, in the 1070s, Turks (who were also Muslim) conquered these holy lands and mistreated Christians before realizing how useful their good will (and money) could be. The Turks also threatened the Byzantine Empire. Emperor Alexius asked the pope for assistance, and Urban II, seeing a way to harness the violent energy of Christian knights, made a speech calling for them to take back Jerusalem. Thousands responded, resulting in the First Crusade.


And the more I look, the more I realize that I know VERY little about the Crusades. So if I ever finish reading Collapse by Jared Diamond, I'll pick something shorter to read next time.

Maybe something like
The New Concise History of the Crusades (Hardcover)
by Thomas F. Madden (Author)

R World enlightens us

and reminds me of how I came to have an intelligent child.

Fish tacos.

Yup, I was really poor when I was pregnant with my child, but I worked in a cafeteria so I could choose to eat well and my big splurge on payday every Friday was a fish taco at Cotija's in Chula Vista. Those guys got to where they would see my big blueberry ass waddling down the street (I had one comfortable shirt and it was purple) and have my fish taco ready for me.

The tacos must be good because Cotija's is still there, they still serve fish tacos, and the kid is in college.

Heh.

Pleased as punch

to add Brady Bonk over at Ketchup is a Vegetable to the blogroll.

The Anti-Nannier has some interesting ideas also.

Also, I knew that as soon as he got his forensic economisty ducks in a row, that Greg Palast would have something to say about Eliot Spitzer and the connection to the sub-prime meltdown, and he does.

Religion sucks #8

Kidnapped Archbishop Found Dead in Iraq
BAGHDAD, March 13 -- The body of a senior Christian cleric was found Thursday in the northern city of Mosul, two weeks after gunmen abducted him there and killed three of his associates...

There are a lot of Iraqi Chaldeans in San Diego so this is probably a bummer for them. So, out of curiosity, I decided to do a Google search to see if any of the Muslim leadership had been treated this way in Iraq lately. Or anywhere.
Hmmmmmmmmmm.
No wait, here's one .Omigod, fool was preaching peace and non violence.

Iranians vote for new parliament
...Ahead of the vote, the Guardian Council, an unelected body of clerics and jurists, disqualified around 1,700 candidates, mostly reformists.

Those barred from running were judged "insufficiently loyal to Islam or the revolution"...

Finally, if you missed Scoobie Davis' priceless catch of a video of Sun Myung Moon's incoherent rant it's short, but stunning. Moon has power and influence in Washington and wow, just wow, you gotta see this guy to believe that someone would actually say what he said.

Oy.

Spitzer’s Shame Is Wall Street’s Gain

Posted on Mar 12, 2008
Wall St. traders watch Spitzer confession
AP photo / Richard Drew

Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange watch New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s televised apology on Monday.

By Robert Scheer

...The media consensus from the opening salvo was that Spitzer must resign and he will be thrown to the dogs, which is unfortunate because, like Clinton, he has done much valuable work in the public interest, and the outrage over this personal dereliction, tawdry in the extreme, is excessive...

I agree Mr. Scheer, it's excessive. The media circus is over the top again. The Columbia Journalism Review checks in on the same side I'm on on this one:

Another Baseless Screed
As will most press-bias rants, Strassel’s piece is hollow
By Dean Starkman Thu 13 Mar 2008 05:27 PM

“Many reporters built careers on the prosecutor’s leaks intended to bully innocent people” - Kimberly A. Strassel, Wall Street Journal opinion piece, Wednesday.

Ah yes, she must mean those innocents over at Marsh & McLennan who demanded kickbacks...

What? Wall Street Journal opinion pieces are full of shit? Oh, now who'da thunk it?

Fighting Global Warming on the Fly

Home » ..Spin of the Day » Mar 11, 2008
Fighting Global Warming on the Fly
Topics: environment | global warming | politics
Source: Los Angeles Times, March 7, 2008

Less than a year ago, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was being lauded as the cover boy for NewsWeek's issue about how to battle global warming. But critics are calling attention to the governator's daily commute -- Sacramento to Los Angeles and back -- by airplane. "The governor's Gulfstream jet does nearly as much damage to the environment in one hour as a small car does in a year...

Free Superdelegate widget

Pepe Escobar for Real News

Dems snooze through Latin America's wake-up call

Almost two years ago I knew the shit was gonna hit the fan

How?

Cause the shit was splattered on me before I knew it was shit. I lasted four days as a temp at JP Morgan. I had never seen a mortgage file before and they did not want me learning anything about mortgage files. Especially these files. They were loans that never should have been given, were being called in because of these god awful balloon payments and the homes were incredibly overpriced little shit boxes sold to minorities who didn't know any better, or perhaps were red lined out of better housing. Now keep in mind that that is the opinion of someone who had never seen a mortgage file before. Evah. They also didn't want anything other than a slimy little hamster on a wheel working there. That's what worked there, & that's not what they got with me. I acted like I didn't get it because I got it the first day and I hated every second of it once I did get it. Some snippity little schmuck that worked there got in my face and said to me "Well it's not rocket science!" and I snarled back "There aren't any rocket scientists here, especially not the person who plans your fire drills!"

You see, big corporate culture isn't exactly where I fit in. Works quietly in her cubicle while taking it up the ass by working for nine bucks an hour (in a city where 18.00 bucks an hour barely gets by) isn't exactly on my resume.

7:39 PM 3/17/2008
Jersey Cynic over at Blondsense posted this music video today, & it reminded me of this post of mine, so I added it.

Randi gives one hell of a speech a year ago today

Yeah, it's worth watching again.



I like it :) and here's some other interesting stuff I found today:

Spitzer's Sex Life Is Weapon of Mass Distraction for Bunch of Bad News for Bush
10 Mar 2008

Yeah, that's what I thought.

And this article is only a month old, how quickly we forget how many powerful people Spitzer pissed off. You think maybe powerful people wanted him gone? Fucking duh.

Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime
How the Bush Administration Stopped the States From Stepping In to Help Consumers
By Eliot Spitzer
Thursday, February 14, 2008; Page A25

And then there's the attack on him by the religious nutjobs (You have to hear these Catholic whack-jobs to believe them. What is it with these fucking retards? The population on this planet has more than doubled in my lifetime)

Global Warming to Affect Transport

Tuesday, March 11, 2008
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Flooded roads and subways, deformed railroad tracks and weakened bridges may be the wave of the future with continuing global warming, a new study says...
...The report cites five major areas of growing threat:

- More heat waves, requiring load limits at hot-weather or high-altitude airports and causing thermal expansion of bridge joints and rail track deformities.

- Rising sea levels and storm surges flooding coastal roadways, forcing evacuations, inundating airports and rail lines, flooding tunnels and eroding bridge bases.

- More rainstorms, delaying air and ground traffic, flooding tunnels and railways, and eroding road, bridge and pipeline supports.

- More frequent strong hurricanes, disrupting air and shipping service, blowing debris onto roads and damaging buildings.

- Rising arctic temperatures thawing permafrost, resulting in road, railway and airport runway subsidence and potential pipeline failures...


CEI: Fixing Climate Change Will Cause ‘Death On A Massive Scale’ In The Developing World
3/11/2008

So big big changes are presenting big challenges for us here, especially in San Diego. How we going to deal with them?

How More Money Would Be Won for Firefighting
By WILL CARLESS Voice Staff Writer

Wednesday, March 5, 2008 As San Diego's city and county governments congregate to discuss, again, how to fix the region's wildfire preparedness problems, a key concern overshadows every move they make: How the region will scratch together the cash to better prepare itself for the next massive wildfire...

...The bill, the wording of which has not yet been finalized, would call for an amendment to the California Constitution to change the percentage of votes needed from 66 percent to 55 percent. Kehoe said she's introducing the bill because the last two catastrophic wildfires in 2003 and 2007 showed that the state is poorly prepared for wildfires, and that local governments are inadequately funded to properly defend themselves from firestorms....

Oh fer fuck's sake, here we go. Not one God damned thing is going to change in this city. The fucking developers own and operate this county and they're not changing. Why should they? They get the money for the housing they build and they don't have any responsibility beyond that. They come in, build with illegal and disposable labor, and bail. Then the government is scrambling to provide the residents of these overpriced crappily built places with schools, fire and police protection and oh yeah, water. You want public transportation with that? Bwwaaa ha ha ha ha ha.
and Michael Klare checks in over at Tomdispatch:

posted March 11, 2008 09:53 am Tomgram: Michael Klare, The Permanent Energy Crisis Hits Home

Bad news

Oil prices gush to new highs
3/10/2008
9 hours ago
...New York's main contract, light sweet crude for April delivery, soared over 107 dollars a barrel for the first time and then crossed 108 dollars, striking an all-time high of 108.21 dollars...

Economic woes lead to retail retrenchment
3/10/2008
Amid belt-tightening, many chain stores are struggling

Spitzer scandal stuns Wall Street
By Nick Godt, MarketWatch
Last update: 5:51 p.m. EDT March 10, 2008
One question hanging is governor's involvement in bond-insurer bailout

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Many on Wall Street were stunned and some apparently were pleased by a Monday report linking New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer to prostitution, while stocks showed little immediate reaction.

Oh puhleeeeeze, if they were stunned why is this the first sentence in the article?

"Lots of people on Wall Street didn't like him because he went after certain people -- heads of firms, analysts and [former New York Stock Exchange chief Richard] Grasso," said Donald Selkin, head of equity at Joseph Stephens.


Anybody see Juno? When she goes into labor she sputters "Fuckity Fuckity Fuckity!"

This country is imploding, & most of the world is doing the golf clap.
Why?
Maybe we don't know enough of our own history?

Sorrows of Empire

Killing Hope

The Shock Doctrine


American Theocracy

Or maybe we just had our turn, eh?

Gonna catch some heat for this one

Posted this in the online class last night. I'm going to catch shit from the Republicans in the class for this one, I can see it coming. I don't give a shit, these people need to know a little bit about who they're voting for instead of just voting for the candidate with the R by the name, which is what the brainwashed doofs do. It's like they can't think, they just cling to a daddy figure and do what daddy told them to do.

It's a beautiful day and I want to go play with my friend so I'm slacking on the blog. Sorry.

[Note; to open link in new window use R click]

If one cannot specify precisely who or what constitutes an “elite” why do political scientists use the term?

In a word; Power. It refers to those who rule. The term ruling elites is commonly used. and commonly understood to mean the people who really have the power as any quick Google search will turn up.

I believe that is what political scientists are referring to when they use the term “elites.” They mean the ruling classes. According to this documentary there is The American Ruling Class. I haven't seen the documentary. This evening, however, I was a bit alarmed to find out that Presidential hopeful John McCain comes from a family that might be termed the military elite and he is endorsed by Rapture-seeking elite leader Pastor John Hagee. Despite his media created image, McCain is no maverick.

Page 93 (Roskin/Berry) in the text states that “Political scientists call the top or most influential people in a political system its “elites,” the people with real political clout. Also that “Much of political life consists of struggles, often out of public sight, among and within elites to control the country’s direction. Typically, the masses then follow.”

The restructuring following the collapse of the State Socialist system in the former Soviet Union is being studied and reported on by the IPSA Research Committee on Political Elites because of the major changes in International Political relations that this has spurred.

Tracking CEO Compensation (watch with RealPlayer)

Tracking CEO Compensation
Today
">Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) chairs a House Oversight & Government Reform Cmte. hearing on CEO compensation. The Cmte. examines benefits and retirement packages granted by three companies involved in the current mortgage crisis.

House of Representatives MEMORANDUM March 6,2008 pdf
On Friday, March 7,2008, at 10 a.m. in room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office
Building, the Oversight Committee will hold a hearing to examine the compensation and
retirement packages awarded to the CEOs of three companies implicated in the mortgage crisis:
Angelo Mozilo of Countrywide Financial Corporation, E. Stanley O'Neal of Merrill Lynch, and Charles Prince of Citigroup.

Compensation Consultants?
For companies that fail?
Holy Fuck.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
Lookin' at some spiffy golf tans here.

Except for Chris Cannon (R. Utah).

"Cannon was named Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law at the beginning of the 108th Congress in January of 2003. As chairman he oversees legislation involving bankruptcy reform, privacy, interstate compacts and tort reform. He also serves on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property."


Yeah, he looked a little pale as I was watching him earlier online on CSPAN. He wasn't too happy when the freeze rate bill thingy happened:

"Most Republicans said the bill would harm the market and called for Congress to show restraint. "What we're doing is putting a sledgehammer in the hands of borrowers," Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah."

Hey, Señor Cannon?

Theese eez for ju.

revenge for the deaths of nearly 130 Palestinians since Feb. 27.

I'm so sick of the way what's going on in Israel is reported to Americans.

Don’t Blame The Inmates Of The Lunatic Asylum

Cosby Makes Challenge to Black Community

I've heard before that Cosby has been the target of criticism inside the black community. I'm not qualified to say anything about that simply because of my skin color.

I can say I've been a Cosby fan since I was a little kid in the 60's. I can tell you that when I found it almost impossible to communicate with my teenaged daughter that this video helped us laugh together. I will give credit to Mr. Cosby's work for helping me save my relationship with her. We wore that video out. When I had to evacuate because of the fires last October I made sure that I grabbed that DVD.

Cosby is on Oprah today.

Update 4:59 PM 3/6/2008 Okaybee Mr. Cosby, I listened to what you had to say and I gotta tell you that that shit wouldn't have worked with my kid. I tried it and it drove me AND the kid crazy and accomplished nothing productive. She didn't need me all up in her business any more. Maybe the difference is I already had confidence that I had a good egg, who was going through a bad time, and she would figure it out on her own. And she did. Every kid is different.

Bankruptcy Makes Gift Cards Worthless

By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - You know that Sharper Image gift card you got for Christmas? Right now, it's worthless. And other gift cards in your wallet could lose their value, too.

As more retailers file for bankruptcy or go out of business, more than $75 million in gift cards are at risk of becoming worthless pieces of plastic this year...

Completely unrelated, but speaking of worthless, you smell a sting here too?

Peeeee-yeeeeew.

Red state brainiacs fail and renewable energy tax incentive bill passes anyway

Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008

On Passage 02/27/2008 House Roll Call No. 84 110th Congress, 2nd Session Passed: 236-182 (see complete tally)

The House passed H.R. 5351, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide tax incentives for the production of renewable energy and energy conservation, by a yea-and-nay vote of 236 yeas to 182 nays, Roll No. 84.

Vote Map: House Roll Call No. 84

Votes For :	236
Votes Against :	182
Not Voting :	11

Vermont (Roll Call #84) Democrat (D): 1 Yea Click state for details

My congresswhore voted against it. Yeah, the one who's only response to e-mails is "Mailbox Unattended." Fucking RepugnantThuglican tool.

The Three Trillion Dollar War --authors interviewed on Democracy Now

Ill say it again. Democracy Now shows up the complete failure of the MainStream Media to report anything of importance to the American people. What I mean is that the msm doesn't help us to become an informed constituency.


Tomgram: William Hartung, The Cost of a Week in Hell
posted March 04, 2008 11:44 am