Tomgram: Chalmers Johnson, Teaching Imperialism 101

The RAND Corporation was the ur-think tank, the Cold War granddaddy of them all, and it's still with us.

A Litany of Horrors

America's University of Imperialism
By Chalmers Johnson

This essay is a review of Soldiers of Reason: The RAND Corporation and the Rise of the American Empire by Alex Abella (Harcourt, 400 pp., $27)

...Without RAND, our military-industrial complex, as well as our democracy, would look quite different...

...The RAND Corporation is surely one of the world's most unusual, Cold War-bred private organizations in the field of international relations. While it has attracted and supported some of the most distinguished analysts of war and weaponry, it has not stood for the highest standards of intellectual inquiry and debate. While RAND has an unparalleled record of providing unbiased, unblinking analyses of technical and carefully limited problems involved in waging contemporary war, its record of advice on cardinal policies involving war and peace, the protection of civilians in wartime, arms races, and decisions to resort to armed force has been abysmal...

Watching this now

CARRIER

I tell you whut. I wouldn't last ten minutes on that ship. One of those pilots embodies everything that I hate. Cubby holes and needing everything to be seen black and white, right and wrong. Fuck that. Salute that jerk? Nope. I am not military material.

Rigid, inflexible, arrogant, pack like, and not nearly as fucking smart as they think they are. No, wait, that would be the Republicans. Uh, yeah, like I said, I've never been military material.

Kids from Polygamous Sect Remain in State Custody

Talk of the Nation
April 28, 2008 · More than 400 children remain in the care of the state after reports of child sexual abuse prompted a raid on a Texas polygamist compound. Authorities maintain that they are protecting the kids, but families argue there was no evidence of abuse. Guests and callers weigh in on what's best for the children.

Guests:

Howard Berkes, NPR rural affairs correspondent

Rodney Parker, attorney based in Salt Lake City, Utah; spokesman for the families whose children are in state custody


John Sampson, professor of law at the University of Texas; teaches the Children's Rights Clinic, which provides legal representation for abused and neglected children in Travis County

Jack Downey, president and CEO of The Children's Shelter in San Antonio, Texas; caring for 22 children from the Eldorado compound


Related NPR Stories

April 25, 2008Officials Using DNA to Sort Polygamy Sect Kids

April 23, 2008

Courts Pitting Child Welfare Against Religious Freedom

April 17, 2008

After Texas Raid, Officials Work to Help New Orphans

April 16, 2008

Children from Polygamist Compound in Legal Limbo

April 9, 2008

Texas Raid Leaves 400 Children in Custody

Gene Disorder Complicates Sect Custody Fight

31 of 53 teen girls at FLDS ranch are pregnant or had baby
By MICHELLE ROBERTS – 1 hour ago 3:59 PM 4/28/2008

Tracing the Polygamists' Family Tree
Sunday, Apr. 20, 2008 By HILARY HYLTON

...Four surnames dominate the list: Jeffs (relatives of Warren Jeffs, the sect's imprisoned leader and "prophet"), Jessop, Barlow and Steed.

In the 1930s, two families, the Jessops and the Barlows, settled the area around Hildale, Utah, along the border with Arizona, where they founded the FDLS — and began handing down to their descendants a recessive gene for a severe form of mental retardation called Fumarase Deficiency...

...Families whose children are affected often avail themselves of state-funded medical care, consistent with the FLDS philosophy of seeking government aid — despite their suspicion of government — which they call "bleeding the Beast."

...The FLDS community, by and large, rejects the idea that Fumarase Deficiency is caused by genes, according to Tarby...


Birth defect is plaguing children in FLDS towns
Fumarase Deficiency afflicts 20, is linked to marriages of close kin
By John Hollenhorst
Published: Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2006 11:36 p.m. MST

Bust up in Bountiful (update)
CBC

More Clarity About Abuse, Intermarriage, Child Breeders, and the Fundamentalist Church of Later Day Saints
Posted by Sara Robinson, Orcinus at 2:51 PM on April 25, 2008.

Polygamy in Canada: Legal and Social Implications for Women and Children – A Collection of Policy Research Reports

Barf.

Update 12:07 PM 4/30/2008
Official: History of injuries found in polygamist sect kids
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Investigators have discovered a history of physical injuries, including broken bones, in children taken from a polygamist sect's ranch compound, the chief of state protective services told legislators Wednesday...
..."When asked, women and children would change their names and ages," he said...
...Church officials have denied that any children were abused at the ranch and say the state's actions are a form of religious persecution.

They also dispute the count of teen mothers, saying at least some are likely adults.

Local Mayor stuff

This reminded me of an old post of mine:

McCain visits, gets Sanders' endorsement
(it's a really short post)

Mayor Sanders (used to be Chief of Police, so not surprised) but I'm not sure if him refusing to shake the other mayoral candidates hand and telling him "Fuck you Francis" was very endearing.

So, who is this guy Francis who pissed off a pretty affable Sanders?

The two faces of Steve
Will voters who remember Steve Francis from 2005 recognize the new model?
By David Rolland

The new Steve Francis
Who are you, and what have you done with that conservative rich guy?
By CityBeat Staff

Steve Francis meets with medical cannabis group
Posted on Saturday, April 26th, 2008 by Marc @ 11:30 am

Francis has promised to take the city out of the developers pockets.(Not)
I don't think it can be done, it's how this city works, the M-I-C and the real estate developers. The Francis ads, the push polls, and blaming Sanders for the budget and pension crisis are annoying to me.

Let's go back in time please, before there was a "strong Mayor" .

And let's have look at how the city started going broke. Oh look, it was those "fiscal conservative" Republicans.

Still there are so many people in this county who just mark the candidate with the R by the name. No matter what. It's what they do.

Stupid? Intellectually lazy? Loyal to the point of self-destructiveness? Need daddy to tell them what to do? It's what their parents did?

I don't get it. I just know that you'd have to be crazy to want the job, and I'm not thrilled with either of the candidates, basically I see two Rs.

Chalmers Johnson writes, I read

The Pentagon Strangles Our Economy: Why the U.S. Has Gone Broke
By Chalmers Johnson, Le Monde diplomatique. Posted April 26, 2008.

World Total military expenditures --(2004 est) --- 1,100 bn

World Total minus the US ------------------------------500 bn


...Our excessive military expenditures did not occur over just a few short years or simply because of the Bush administration's policies....

...In its conclusions, NSC-68 asserted: "One of the most significant lessons of our World War II experience was that the American economy, when it operates at a level approaching full efficiency, can provide enormous resources for purposes other than civilian consumption while simultaneously providing a high standard of living."...

...Dated 14 April 1950 and signed by President Harry S. Truman on 30 September 1950, it laid out the basic public economic policies that the U.S. pursues to the present day...

...By 1990 the value of the weapons, equipment and factories devoted to the Department of Defense was 83% of the value of all plants and equipment in U.S. manufacturing

...Military industries crowd out the civilian economy and lead to severe economic weaknesses....

...Devotion to military Keynesianism is a form of slow economic suicide...

...Some of the damage can never be rectified. There are, however, some steps that the U.S. urgently needs to take...

...If we do these things we have a chance of squeaking by. If we don't, we face probable national insolvency and a long depression....


Yeah, the guy who wrote the Blowback Trilogy.

Bill Moyers interviewed Jeremiah Wright (Part I)

Part II

It was worth watching last night. The links lead to the page with video stream links.

Frankly, I got the impression from this piece that Reverend Wright takes the saying "faith without works is dead" as a direct challenge...

I tried Googling that saying and got horribly confused by all the semantics squabbles on the internet tubey thingies. I dusted off my Bible and started reading at James 2:26. That's where the quote "faith without works is dead" comes from, but that's where the important information ends, back your way up through James to get it.

Bet you didn't think I owned a Bible, didja?

Well I do, and occasionally I consult it. There's some good stuff in it, and some really outdated CRAP in it also. Like all religious texts written a few thousand years ago, there is some silly, superstitious, arrogant, patriarchal, misogynous, homophobic, outdated bullshit in them.

Update 8:42 AM 4/28/2008 -- AND as y'all reminded me, (thank you for that) there is violence, mayhem, murder, all that happy horseshit in thet there Bible too.

At least somebody did a follow up interview to the NY Times story

The story.

Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand


The follow up interview on yer teevee.

First fatal shark attack since 1959 in San Diego

And according to this video interview with Prof Rosenblatt they never found the body then, the guy disappeared.


The attack took place about 150 yards offshore. Several swimmers wearing wetsuitswere in a group when the shark attacked, said Solana Beach lifeguard Craig Miller. Two swimmers were about 20 yards ahead of the man when they heard him scream for help. They turned around and dragged him back to shore....

...club members had been meeting at the beach for at least six years and never had seen a shark...


Oh great. Way to freak out the tourists right before tourist season. The sixty year old man looked like breakfast wearing a wetsuit. Shark took a taste and spit him out, they eat seals, not skinny old men. The shark is probably half-way to Monterey Bay by now. The water here is usually too warm for Great Whites during tourist season, which is not April or May which are actually nice here, but gloomy June, OK July and miserably hot August. It's going to be hot this weekend, but the water temp still ranges cooler. With a shark scare it just might be nice and empty at the beach. Hmmmmmmm.

Update 2:04 PM 4/25/2008 with idiots running businesses like this one which are said to alter sharks' natural behaviour I may just cool off in the surf & I'll be taking short dips. Even then it might not be too frightening because most of the "dangerous" sharks off the coast of San Diego are 4-5 foot blues.

Speaking of sharks: Countrywide CEO earns $132 million in 2007 pay, stock sales

Bill Moyers interviews Jeremiah Wright tonight (click here)

Excerpts from Rev. Jeremiah Wright Interview with Bill Moyers
Greg Mitchell
Rev. Jeremiah Wright Interview with Bill Moyers
Posted April 24, 2008 | 12:24 PM (EST)

I'll be watching PBS' NOW also tonight.

Bill would make Coast Guard protect LNG terminals

Right, yes of course, because the Navy hasn't yet been trained by Blackwater.

Oil, specifically running out of the shit

Seems to be
what everybody's
talking about it lately.

I covered this my first month blogging.


This study hadn't been written yet.

well wouldja lookit that--

...Cost information available from projects and design studies performed in the 1980s can be escalated to give a very rough estimate of the anticipated capital costs
for mining and surface retorting plants. Using this approach, a first-of-a-kind commercial surface retorting complex (mine, retorting plant, upgrading plant, supporting utilities, and spent shale reclamation) is unlikely to be profitable unless real crude oil prices are at least $70 to $95 per barrel (2005 dollars)...

For three million barrels a day that require 2 barrels of water for every barrel of oil. We use 20 million barrels of oil a day now and water wastage in the west is just stupid. You can't reuse the water after you process out shale oil, it's toxic.

Jeez, You won't die if you don't get your McFatass into your SUV and over to Burger Boob's for Cheezwhiz covered fries for three days. You WILL die if you don't get water after three days.

Zogby: End it Now

Ok then. Makes sense to me.

Primary results

Anything you want to know about the 2008 elections?

Just in case you're not overwhelmed by that last ton of links in the last link, here's more .


General Election polls, who does better to beat McCain state by state?

5:27 PM 4/23/2008 - 7 myths of energy independence

The Seven Myths of Energy Independence
NEWS: Why forging a sustainable energy future is dependent on foreign oil
By Paul Roberts
May/June 2008 Issue

Hmmmm. I used to think that Mother Jones was kind of a hippy dippy publication. I don't think that way any more.

Myth #2

Ethanol Will Set Us Free

Made me think about the Independent Lens show that we watched late last Sunday. It was called King Corn It was one of the most entertaining informational films I've ever watched.

Myth #3

...The doe found that replacing three-quarters of the U.S. fleet with plug-in hybrids would cut vehicle CO2 emissions by 27 percent nationwide—40 percent or more if the country's power system were upgraded to match California's low-carbon grid...

Trains are more efficient. WaPo just used a really nifty graphic two days ago, helllloooooooo?

Myth #7
Once Bush Is Gone, Change Will Come

No presidential candidate has indi­cated he or she will raise energy taxes or sit down in oil talks with Tehran. All have ties to a self-interested energy sector, be it coal, ethanol, or nukes....

Blackwater on the border

Virtual fence on Mexican border deemed insufficient
By ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, April 23, 2008

So?


Blackwater still needs to feed from the government trough, and what better place than San Diego? Just what we need patrolling the border here, Blackwater.

There's just something about right-wing Christofacist zombies. Relentless fuckers, aren't they?

Duncky will come to their rescue. Lemon Chicken man does his best to secure bucks for all the boondoggles that defense contractors can dream up.

Rep Bob Filner, to his credit, has this to say

I have a question though. Why is Blackwater training sailors here? San Diego is one big huge Navy base.

THE DEMOCRATIC END GAME: Who has the right credentials?

By Rhodes Cook April 03, 2008

I might be wrong, I haven't been graded on this assignment yet, sorry, ungraded homework is the best I can do for the moment.

This is me condensing the title linked article.

The last time the Democratic Party had a fight involving the credentials committee was during the election cycle of 1972 over the nomination of what turned out to be George McGovern. At that time the party had a new ban on the previously used "winner-take all" system that a lot of Republican primaries & caucuses still use today. The party had recently switched to proportional allocation of delegates, and the anti-McGovern forces used this to strip McGovern of his California delegates. The legal challenge over S. Carolina and California delegates turned the convention chaotic. This situation doesn't look like the same fight, but basically it is. I'm not really sure how Florida and Michigan will seat their delegates at the convention, but I think the credentials committee may be more involved with the choosing of the Democratic Party candidate for President than they have since 1972.


The Clinton-Obama battle could be decided by Michigan and Florida or by the credentials committee. I didn't know what the credentials committee was so I used Google and found this:

What Is This Thing Called the Credentials Committee?
By Greg Sargent - March 31, 2008, 4:23PM (TPM Election Central)

(update: Ok, I'm still learning here, this says "Democratic Party may not seat delegation to violation of primary scheduling rules" )

Pushing Back Against the Pentagon's Pundits

I don't think the old men that run things in this country really understand just how fed up the American people are.

Tell Congress: Investigate the Propaganda Pundits

The News Dissector

is all over it today, except for he didn't link to BradBlog, which has really interesting info on

The Pennsylvania Primary: Democracy of the Gods
BLOGGED BY Brad Friedman ON 4/21/2008 8:05AM
Tuesday's Election Will be 'Unrecountable, Unverifiable, and Unauditable'...

A Switch on the Tracks: Railroads Roar Ahead

Monday, April 21, 2008; Page A01 (WaPo)


Global Trade, Fuel Costs Add Up To Expansion for Once-Dying Industry
Video
Railroads Raise the Roof
Staff Writer Frank Ahrens talks with Norfolk Southern engineer Bob Billingsley about expanding a Norfolk Southern tunnel in southwest Virginia to make way for double-stacked railcar containers. The railroad industry is enjoying a building boom as soaring diesel prices and a changing global market drive freight back to the rails...

...In the 1970s, tight federal regulation, cheap truck fuel and a wide-open interstate highway system conspired to cripple the railroad industry, driving many lines into bankruptcy....

...A train can haul a ton of freight 423 miles on one gallon of diesel fuel, about a 3-to-1 fuel efficiency advantage over 18-wheelers, and the railroad industry is increasingly touting itself as an eco-friendly alternative. Trucking firms also use the rail lines; UPS is the railroad industry's biggest customer...

Hmmmmm, a little econ history, please:

in approximately 1900. Nine out of the twenty-two fortunes were railroad fortunes:

Update 3:42 PM 4/22/2008 Looks like the "gilded age" or robber baron history is being blogged over at TomDispatch also

SUPERDELEGATE MATH
Unpledged delegate projections don't favor Clinton
By Alan I. Abramowitz
Special Guest Columnist
Dr. Alan Abramowitz is the Alben W. Barkley Professor of Political Science at Emory University, and the author of Voice of the People: Elections and Voting Behavior in the United States (2004, McGraw-Hill).

A whosy-whatsy? A Superdelegate?

Undecided superdelegates don't feel bound by primaries
4/20/2008
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER

SUPERDELEGATES
Dangling The Kryptonite
by Chris Bodenner
Wed. Apr. 9, 2008
Speaker Nancy Pelosi on 4/9 "said she favors a reduction in the number of superdelegates -- and their oversized influence -- in choosing" the Dem nominee.
Pelosi "did not say how many superdelegates would be appropriate in future elections or how they should be chosen. But she criticized the influence of this year's group and said the party should do a better job making the public aware of the rules that give them such power."

Ummm, sure, Ok. More confused than I was before. By design?

WHAT IF DEMOCRATS USED WINNER TAKE ALL?
April 3, 2008
Without proportional allocation Obama would trail
By Wesley Little
Special Guest Columnist
Wesley Little is the Political Chair for Washington & Lee University's "Mock Convention", the nation's most accurate mock convention since its inception in 1908, and a political columnist for several Virginia news papers, including the News Advance and the News-Gazette.

Basically, if the Dems used the same system the Repubs used that Clinton would be winning the nomination.

THE DEMOCRATIC END GAME:Who has the right credentials?
April 10, 2008
By Rhodes CookSenior Columnist
One of the basic themes of the long-running Democratic nominating campaign between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton speaks to the need for a new era in American politics. But increasingly it seems as though their race could be decided by a method quite old--a decision by the convention credentials committee that is voted up or down on the convention floor.

Palestinian Suicide Bombers Attack Crossing Into Gaza

A Hamas leader in Gaza City, Sami Abu Zuhri, said the group would carry out more attacks on crossings to break the nearly yearlong blockade of the territory.




The military wing of Hamas has launched a rare suicide attack on Gaza's border with Israel.

It came as a controversial meeting between Hamas officials and Jimmy Carter, the former US president, was concluding in Syria.

At least 13 Israeli soldiers were wounded, and three Palestinian fighters were reported to be killed.

Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland reports from Gaza.

This. Crap. Just. Never. Ends.

Local newz

Notice the wording of these headlines.

Marine wife accused of poisoning husband
Woman charged with first-degree murder for financial gain
Thurs., Dec. 15, 2005

Authorities: Wife Killed Marine Spouse For Breast Enhancements
Sommer Resists Extradition
POSTED: 9:03 am PST January 4, 2006
UPDATED: 7:05 am PST January 5, 2006

Well, can you imagine my surprise when this woman was released from prison yesterday?

Test clears woman of poisoning husband
Published: April 18, 2008 at 2:12 PM
SAN DIEGO, April 18 (UPI) -- Prosecutors in San Diego have dropped charges against a 34-year-old woman convicted in January of killing her U.S. Marine husband.

Cynthia Sommer was freed from the Los Colinas jail after spending two years and four months behind bars on charges of fatally poisoning Sgt. Todd Sommer with arsenic, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Friday.

In freeing Sommer, prosecutors said the conclusions of a new group of toxicology experts has cast doubt on poisoning as a cause of Sgt. Sommer's death.

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis told a news conference Thursday "as soon as we had the information that pointed to reasonable doubt, we brought this case this afternoon to get the matter dismissed."

Sommer, 23, died in February, 2002 after collapsing at the couple's home at the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.

At first doctors said he died of natural causes but tests later found high levels of arsenic in his liver and kidneys.

Court documents said a lab in Canada re-tested Sommers' tissue samples this month and found no evidence of arsenic.
© 2008 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.

For more go here

Yeesh, I'm so cynical at this point I wonder if it might have been poisoning that killed him and it was easier for the local authorities and NCIS to grab her instead of dealing with the real problem.

US Military Bases Known To Be Contaminated (ca. 1992) (From: Life in the Times)

The following 59 U.S. military bases were suffering from significant water or soil contamination a year ago, according to the Department of Defense's interpretation of its latest hazardous waste survey. DoD officials say not every base suffering such contamination is on the list, because information was not available for all bases. The list is based on the latest status report for DoD's Installation Restoration Program.

The IRP report contains no explanation of the problems at each base, so we asked each service to provide details. The Army did so. The Navy Chief of Information refused to help us gather the information...

Moffett Field NAS, CA
The major contaminants in the ground water are volatile organic compounds.
Whidbey Island NAS, WA...

Other Navy bases:
China Lake, CA
Indian Head NOS, MD
Jacksonville NAS, FL
Miramar NAS, CA (now MCAS Miramar)
Pabmont River NAS, MD


Toxic Trails: U.S. Military Bases and the Environment
November 29, 2000

Medical "professionals?"

Filipino doctors on YouTube face penalty By OLIVER TEVES Associated Press Writer

Anybody that's ever worked in an ER knows these kinds of cases show up, and the buzz goes around the hospital, but you never publicize them. NEVER. These medical "professionals" need a remedial class in ethical standards and to be penalized for "violating a code of conduct."

The Philippines train and send out more nurses than most countries do.

I'm sure most of them are highly competent professionals.

This is why I don't bother with the debates

and Jon Stewart will make you laugh as he 'splains it.

Does the Pope Care About Workers' Rights?

posted April 14, 2008 (web only)The Nation
Angela Bonavoglia

...To the casual observer, this (teacher's) strike makes it seem like Catholic school teachers are secure in their right to fight for just wages and working conditions. Yet in reality, they have legal protection for union activities only in a handful of states, thanks to the obstructionist tactics of Catholic bishops...

(Since he's in my country this week, it must be pick on the Pope week for me, sorry to those of you who gain some comfort and spiritual guidance from the guy, but Ratzi, and actually the whole organized religion thing gives me the creeps)

Testosterone May Drive Traders to Risks, Riches (Update1)

Said Captain Obvious.


It is often said that woman make the best investors, but not traders.



Yes, I still laugh every time I see it.

The Pope visits

Traffic Tie-Ups, Disruptions Expected During Visit
D.C. Officials Recommending Patience, Planning
By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 13, 2008; C01

The visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Washington this week could cause major traffic backups and disrupt subway and bus commutes on a scale not seen since the state funeral for former president Ronald Reagan four years ago, transportation officials said....

Yeah, whatever. You know where I think this clueless fuck should be visiting with his cadre of secret service looking dudes? The Arizona desert where pollos die trying to get across the border to make enough to feed their families. Let's see how long those suits last jogging through that heat. That's not to say that Mexicans are not ignoring the Church's cluelessness now:

...Around the world, fertility rates have fallen from an average of 4.95 children per woman in the 1960-1965 period to 2.96 children in the first half of the '90s. ... a 60 percent decline from the mid-1960s.

But fast-growing populations are like speeding locomotives that cannot brake slowly, and even though Mexican birth rates fell dramatically, the population has continued to surge....

Because this:

The Pope and Birth Control: A Crisis in Catholic Authority
Friday, Aug. 09, 1968
ROME has spoken," runs an ancient proverb of the Roman Catholic Church. "The case is closed." No longer true.
Last week Pope Paul VI formally promulgated his encyclical on birth control, which condemns all methods of contraception, except rhythm, as against the will of God.

Really wasn't that long ago.

Funny how he's not visiting Tijuana, he's safer than most Mexicans in that Popemobile of his.

You think he'll be visiting anywhere that they are having food riots?

Food prices, population and failures in family planning

Q&A: Rising world food prices
Page last updated at 10:26 GMT, Friday, 11 April 2008 11:26 UK Page last updated at 10:26 GMT, Friday, 11 April 2008 11:26 UK

The price of wheat, rice and maize have nearly doubled in the past year - and they are not the only foodstuffs trading at a high price on the international commodity market.What are the main causes?

...The first reason why prices are rising is growth in the world's population, which is expected to top nine billion by the middle of the century.

That is an incredible number of mouths to feed and will put pressure on a range of resources, including land, water and oil, as well as food supply...
BBC video on food shortage protests

U.S. Farm subsidies are not moral if you think globally.

On the other hand, we have water problems and the farming practices are lowering our most important aquifer. Should we use up our most precious resource helping along exponential population growth?

50 simple things you can do to save the Earth (#47)
In more than half the developing countries studied by the U.N., population has been growing faster than food supplies.

...Step 2. Think nationally. The U.S., with 5% of the global population, uses about 25% of the world’s fossil fuel resources, and the average American consumes 120 lbs. a day in natural resources. So population stabilization in the U.S. could have a big impact on protecting the environment...

I'm not picking on the Philippines here, the next two links are only an example of how tradition and customs are making progress harder and starvation more frequent.

Arroyo lauded for preventing food riots in RP
Posted on Saturday 12 April 2008
PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is “appropriately concerned” and “very concerned” over the continued rising prices and low supply of food including rice in the world market, which has already sparked civil disturbance and food riots in 33 countries, an official of the United Nation’s International Fund for Agriculture Development (Ifad) said.

Philippine Fertility Rate Is One of the Highest in Asia: Santa Clara, Segundina and Other Stories
In this predominantly Catholic country, people often pray for divine intervention from Santa Clara (Saint Claire), the patron saint of the childless, for one very specific purpose: to aid fertility and bless them with children.

Bangladesh faces food crisis
Page last updated at 23:02 GMT, Thursday, 10 April 2008 00:02 UK

Birth rate country comparison

Population growth rate by country 2005

List of countries by population growth rate

Of course the neutrality of the Wikipedia page on Overpopulation is disputed. Probably by some bible thumping head-up ass Bush supporter.

Dems Lose Fight on Family Planning Aid
December 17, 2007
by Anne Flaherty
The Associated Press

Abstinence only Sex Ed in the US has been a miserable failure.

Update: We're wasting our precious water on our fucking gas tanks and people are starving? Yikes.

McCain Erases Obama Lead

And the depiction of U.S. citizens as Neanderthal continues.

Cui Bono?



Oh look, it's an old as dirt peroxide blonde pony-tailed Neanderthal. Ain't she a sweetheart?

RepugnantThuglicans....



It's what's for dinner.

10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don't):

1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.1
4 times against it


2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."2
100 years in Iraq
Bomb Iran

3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.
More CCain hypocrisy

4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."
voting record


5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.
CNN article

6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.
McCain's money CNN

7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."
teh Google on de temper


8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.
teh Google on his lobbyists

9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."
Columbia Journalism Review

10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year. hoooo-eee, lookit all them NVs (not voting) in his recent environmental votes

John McCain is not who the Washington press corps make him out to be.

Religion sucks #11

Documents: Sect Married Girls at Puberty
By MICHELLE ROBERTS Associated Press Writer
ELDORADO, Texas (AP) - A polygamist compound with hundreds of children was rife with sexual abuse, child welfare officials allege in court documents, with girls spiritually married to much older men as soon as they reached puberty and boys groomed to perpetuate the cycle.

Our British laws are there to protect Muslim women
From The Times
February 14, 2008
Mary Ann Sieghart




Canada: Polygamous Ontario Muslims collecting multiple benefit cheques
12/02/2008: Polygamous Muslims in Ontario receive benefits, although polygamy is officially illegal in Canada. (Toronto Sun)

An abuse of the welfare system by GTA [Greater Toronto Area, ed.] Muslim men allowed to live in polygamous marriages under a controversial Ontario law was met with shock and outrage yesterday.

Polygamists are selfish, stupid, pig-dogs.
There are already enough people on the planet