Sino-Russian baby comes of age

Asia Times
Jun 13, 2009
from page 2 of 3

....The Obama administration's proposed budget for the State Department allocates of $41.5 million for Kyrgyzstan and $46.5 million for Tajikistan, whereas the corresponding figures for the current fiscal year are $24.4 million and $25.2 million, respectively. US military aid to the two countries will also similarly be increased under the new budget.
The justification given is that Central Asia's strategic importance has risen of late for US regional policies. According to budget justification documents released by the State Department in Washington on May 7:

"Central Asia remains alarmingly fragile: a lack of economic opportunity and weak democratic institutions foster conditions where corruption is endemic and Islamic extremism and drug trafficking can thrive. For this region, where good relations play an important role in supporting our [US] military and civilian efforts to stabilize Afghanistan, the [budget] request prioritizes assistance for the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan."

The political rationale for in Washington's decision to step up aid to Central Asia at a time when the Russian capacity to bankroll Central Asian economies is in serious doubt. "The United States rejects the notion that any country has special privileges or a 'sphere of influence' in this region; instead the United States is open to cooperating with all countries in the region and where appropriate providing assistance that helps develop democratic and market institutions and practices.


Sunday, June 14, 2009
NEWS BRIEFS

KYRGYZSTAN: RUSSIANS KANT LEAVE MILITARY AIRBASE FOR 49 YEARS
5/29/09

The Americans may have to be out of their base by August, but the Russians can look forward to at least another 49 years in Kyrgyzstan.

Under a new deal, the Russian air base at Kant, outside of Bishkek, will be leased to Moscow for 49 years, with an automatic option for a 25-year extension. Kant was opened in 2003 and serves Collective Security Treaty Organization forces. Russia pays $4.5 million annually to the Kyrgyz government in rent, the RIA Novosti news agency reported on May 29.

President Kurmanbek Bakiyev ordered US forces out of the Manas Air Base in February in a move that was widely linked to the receipt of a massive aid and loans package from the Kremlin. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Posted May 29, 2009 © Eurasianet

When you live in San Diego

Sometimes you just gotta go play tourist.












Time spent with a really good friend is the best.

No, I'm not posting the pics of me and my friend goofing off in Balboa Park or on the roof, just the few of the pictures I took.

Friday squirrel blogging

Holocaust survivor: Museum shooter akin to suicide bomber
(CNN) -- The gunman who opened fire at Washington's U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum this week is no better than a suicide bomber, a survivor of the Holocaust said.


ANALYSIS - Qaeda struggling with slump in donations
Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:27pm IS

When it comes to poor Al Quaida struggling for donations, the first thing that goes through my mind is "Sympathy is in between shit and syphilis in the dictionary."

Gator gitters

Did anyone else get this e-mail? Just recently a buddy sent me this, but it's been circulating since 2004. I'm glad I don't live in the southeastern part of the US, for more than one reason.


This picture was taken by a helicopter flying over Lake Wiess about 90 miles north of Birmingham , Alabama !
The helicopter pilot and the game warden were in communication via radio's here is a transcript of their conversation.

'Air1 have you a visual on the gator, over'

'Approaching inlet now, over'

'Roger Air1'

'Gator sighted.. Looks like it has a small animal in its mouth.. moving in, over'

'Roger Air1'

'Holy Crap it's a Deer!'

'confirm Air1.. did you say Deer?, Over'

'Roger.. a Deer in its mouth.. looks like a full sized buck.. that's a big gator, we are going to need more men, Over'

'Roger Air1.. can you give me a idea on size of animal, over'

'Its big 25 feet at least, please advise Gator is heading to inlet.. do I pursue?, over'

That has to be a HUGE gator to have a whole deer in its mouth!

The deer was later found to be a mature Stag and was measured at 11feet!

Are you ready to go skiing on Lake Wiess ?!

If you ski at the west end of the lake -- try not to fall.


This alligator was found between Centre and Leesburg , Alabama near a house! Game wardens were forced to shoot the alligator - guess he wouldn't cooperate...

Anita and Charlie Rogers could hear the bellowing in the night.

Their neighbors had been telling them that they had seen a mammoth alligator in the waterway that runs behind their house,

but they dismissed the stories as exaggerations.

'I didn't believe it,' Charles Rogers said, but they realized the stories were, if anything, understated.

Alabama Parks and Wildlife game wardens had to shoot the beast.

Joe Goff, 6'5' tall, a game warden, walks past the 28 foot, 1 inch alligator 8.5 metres (?) he shot and killed in their back yard.

snopes sez, story basically true, but gator was "at least 12-13 feet long"

Too bad they shot it. Jeff Sessions would have made a nice snack.

Anyhow, this woman probably wouldn't want to tangle with this particular gator, but she seems to do pretty well with other gators.

California nears financial "meltdown" as revs tumble

By Jim Christie Jim Christie – Wed Jun 10, 7:31 pm ET
Reuters
Underscoring the severity of California's cash crisis, Controller John Chiang, who has previously warned the state's government risks running out of cash without a budget deal, said revenues in May fell by $1.14 billon, or 17.7 percent, from a year earlier...
...The state's revenues from personal income taxes tumbled by 39.3 percent in May from a year earlier while revenues from corporate taxes fell by 52.1 percent and revenues from sales taxes sagged by 7.6 percent, according to a report released by Chiang's office....


Public release date: 9-Apr-2009
University of Kansas
Tax lobbying provides 22,000 percent return to multinational firms, KU researchers find A recent tax law change provided a tax break to the corporations by lowering their tax rate 85 percent on certain worldwide income
LAWRENCE, Kansas — Three professors at the University of Kansas have found that a one-time tax break allowed multinational corporations to receive a 22,000 percent average return on lobbying expenditures.


Obama: Corp. tax-cheats cost $210 billion
Posted May 4, 2009 12:15 PM
by Christi Parsons
President Barack Obama said this morning that he plans to crack down on American companies that legally avoid U.S. tax obligations by investing money in countries with lower tax rates.


Ummmm, yeah, Obama must be going after some low hanging fruit, because $210 billion seems awfully damned low to me.

FedEx Campaign Delivers Controversy

Source: New York Times, June 9, 2009

...At issue is "a provision in a Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill" that would reclassify some FedEx employees under the National Labor Relations Act, making it easier for them to form unions. UPS, which is "heavily unionized," is already classified under the Act. UPS spokesman Malcolm Berkley said that FedEx "uses the fact of the labor law it is currently under inappropriately as a lever when talking to UPS customers, particularly when we're negotiating our contracts."...

I'm tired of hearing what rich people think

This picture was in my mind when I woke up this morning. I think I stole it from the Freeway Blogger's site.



Anyway, it's exactly how I feel today. The Nation Magazine had an essay contest for high school or college students a while back and here are two of the winners.


Addressing Inequity in Education
By Laine Alison Zalac
December 15, 2008


Transcending Trauma
By Victor Lopez
December 13, 2008

Tomgram: Alfred McCoy, Back to the Future in Torture Policy

posted June 07, 2009 5:32 pm

When the Abu Ghraib photos were released in 2004, it seemed that most Americans were shocked by such novel and horrific images, but at least one was not. I'm talking about Alfred McCoy, who had been following the Central Intelligence Agency since the early 1970s, when it unsuccessfully tried to stop the publication of his book, The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade.


119 Million Americans Want a Public Health Option -- Why Aren't Politicians Listening?
By Robert Parry, Consortium News. Posted June 8, 2009.

Shamanaqua gives us a few ugly supporting facts.

Monday, June 08, 2009
Politics, a game for fools, clowns and scalawags

IAEA on Iran. Israel, US editoral reaction to Cairo speech

Safeguards Reports Circulated to IAEA Board for June Meetings
Staff Report
5 June 2009
IAEA Board of Governors

...IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei has circulated his latest report on nuclear safeguards in Iran to the Agency´s Board of Governors, the 35-member policymaking body, in advance of their meetings this month. The report outlines developments since the Director General´s report of 19 February 2009....

The IAEA Board of Governors will discuss the report when it next convenes in Vienna on 15 June. The report is entitled Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and relevant provisions of Security Council resolutions 1737 (2006), 1747 (2007), 1803 (2008) and 1835 (2008) in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Also circulated to the Board was the Director General´s latest report entitled Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Syrian Arab Republic, a topic also before the Board in June.

Circulation of the reports is restricted; they cannot be released to the public unless the IAEA Board decides otherwise.


June 7, 2009
Tehran Times Political Desk
IAEA reaffirms non-diversion in Iran’s nuclear program
TEHRAN - In its latest report released on Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency reconfirmed that there has been no diversion of Iran’s nuclear material.

The report, a copy of which was obtained by the Tehran Times, also stated that Iran’s enrichment activities at the Natanz facility “remain under agency containment and surveillance.”

"..and will continue its cooperation with the IAEA. ..."

* Posted on Friday, June 5, 2009
UN: Iran expands uranium efforts, is blocking monitoring
By Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Newspapers



Date: 19 February 2009 IAEA board of Governors report

"9. Iran’s refusal to grant the Agency access to IR-40 could adversely impact the Agency’s ability to carry out effective safeguards at that facility, and has made it difficult for the Agency to report further on the construction of the reactor, as requested by the Security Council. In addition to the roofing having already been completed for the other buildings on the site, construction of the reactor building’s domed containment structure has also been completed, as observed in images taken on 30 December 2008, rendering impossible the continued use of satellite imagery to monitor further construction inside the reactor building or any of the other buildings."

Former Ambassador Indyk Tells Israelis Some Unpleasant Truths
By M.J. Rosenberg - May 28, 2009, 11:34AM

...On attacking Iran: "An Israeli attack on Iran will postpone the project for two, three years. No more."...

Commentators in Israeli papers interpreted US President Barack Obama's address to the Muslim world


Commentary: Editorials on President Obama's speech in Cairo
Compiled by McClatchy-Tribune News Service
Friday, June 5:



Lebanon Election Results: Pro-Western Majority Declares Victory
Huffpost - Lebanon Election Results: Pro-Western Majority Declares Victory
SAM F. GHATTAS | June 7, 2009 07:51 PM EST

OTV, the television station of one of Hezbollah's key Christian allies, former army chief Michel Aoun, conceded that the party's candidates who challenged pro-Western competitors in several Christian districts had been defeated, preventing a victory for the Hezbollah coalition. But Aoun was able to hang on to his representation in other districts.

Obama speech to Muslims "deceptive", Taliban says

Sun Jun 7, 2009 4:56am IST

Fuck the Taliban.

Susie Linfield on How to Think About the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

(click on title link)

This is a long article on a book written by Benny Morris.

It is hard to take a side on the issue of Israel/Palestine if you look closely at the modern and ancient history of the place. I suppose the way I would sum up my true feelings on the subject is to repeat what my blogger buddy "Blue Girl" wrote one time that struck me deep in my soul. She said "I want Israel to exist, but I want it to deserve to exist."

This part of Obama's Cairo speech was particularly striking to me because I swear the President said things that I have thought and spoken and probably written before.

Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy filings rise to 6,000 a day as job losses take toll

The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA) (Pub.L. 109-8, 119 Stat. 23, enacted April 20, 2005), was a law enacting several significant changes to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. It was passed by the 109th United States Congress on April 14, 2005 and signed into law by President George W. Bush on April 20, 2005.

Totally unrelated, but Oh. My. God. I gotta get cable. I hate this bitch. Why do all the networks think that some British twit (or dork) will help them sell some crappy reality tv show? I'm watching American television, and I'm sick of hearing AussieSouthAfricanBritish accents. It's not exotic or unusual anymore, it has become tediously annoying to me.

I love this song. I like No Doubt.

Tiller's murderer found with Operation Rescue's Senior Policy Advisor Cheryl Sullenger's phone number on him

This disgusting waste of oxygen has two kids? And she spread her poisonous hatred here in San Diego before she went to Kansas to terrorize Dr. Tiller. These assholes are terrorists. They are at public gatherings, no matter what the focus is. I've seen these nutjobs and their disgusting blown up pictures at a few different public gatherings. I know what it is like to try to cross one of their picket lines, they block driveways and are frighteningly unhinged.

Cheryl Sullenger is a pro-life activist an insane religious whacko. In 1988 she was arrested for and confessed to a conspiracy to bomb the Alvarado Medical Center abortion clinic. She was sentenced to two and a half years and was released after serving two of those years.

Power

Inhofe’s Strategy To Block EPA Regulation Of Greenhouse Gases: ‘We Can Stall That Until We Get A New President’

Jeezus Christ, could it be any more obvious that some of these decrepit old fucks are only useful for their corporate sponsors?

Hot Air from the Firm Behind "Clean Coal"

Greenwashing a Coal Power Plant
E.ON U.K's parent company, E.ON, plans to build another dozen new coal-fired power stations across Europe.

Jon Stewart on GM

Bernanke Warns Deficits Threaten Financial Stability (Update3)
By Craig Torres and Brian Faler
June 3 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said large U.S. budget deficits threaten financial stability and the government can’t continue indefinitely to borrow at the current rate to finance the shortfall.

What the fuck was Bernanke the brainiac's first clue?

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
BiG Mess
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Why I don't watch Bill O'Reilly

I really don't like watching him, he's the kind of customer that would have gotten hot coffee thrown on him had anyone ever been foolish enough to hire me as a barista. But enough about how the guy makes me feel.

Mr. Free speech's favorite phrase is "Shut up!"

He is an overpaid

blowhard lying sack of shit for the rich

who's daddy was an oil executive

Tiller killing puts spotlight on Fox's O'Reilly
By DAVID BAUDER – 8 hours ago

O'Reilly falsely claimed he only "reported what groups" were calling Tiller
June 02, 2009 11:31 pm ET

Inside the Obama White House

You know, I'm going to have to watch the stuff I missed, but right this instant I'm pissed. Why all the reactionary response to a bunch of right-wing bullshit shows on the Sotomayor nomination?

Liberal media my ass.

The Democrats won. Helllooooooo?

Torturing Democracy

Watch it online, if you dare.

Grand Theft Auto: How Stevie the Rat bankrupted GM

by Greg Palast
Monday, June 1, 2009

...But not this time. Stevie the Rat has a different plan for GM: grab the pension funds to pay off Morgan and Citi...

So what's wrong with seizing workers' pension fund money in a bankruptcy? The answer, Mr. Obama, Mr. Law Professor, is that it's illegal. (click on title link)

I also read
Monday, June 1st, 2009
Goodbye, GM ...by Michael Moore

and it makes a hell of a lot more sense than Obama and his bankster's scheme.

Dr. George Tiller (1941-2009): Murdered Abortion Provider Remembered for Lifelong Dedication to Women’s Reproductive Health

The 8th abortion provider to be assassinated since the 1970's.

George Tiller Killed: Abortion Doctor Shot At Church

This fucking chaps my hide.

Foxtard Bill O'Reilly says Tiller operated a "death mill"

Chilly, drizzly Saturday reading

Plant to Destroy Chemical Weapons Opens in Russia
By Philip P. Pan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, May 30, 2009
U.S. Gave $1 Billion as Part of Effort to Dispose of Huge Stockpile of Munitions


Huh? What about ours?


Interest groups already engaged in nominee battle
Thursday, May 28, 2009
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The battle is on between conservative and liberal interest groups to define little-known federal judge Sonia Sotomayor before senators - away from the capital on a weeklong break - return to weigh in on the fate of the woman who would be the Supreme Court's first Hispanic.

posted May 28, 2009 10:19 am
Tomgram: William Astore, Educating Ourselves to Oblivion

Friday squirrel blogging

SPIN METER: Sotomayor has conflicting images
By SHARON THEIMER – 1 hour ago AP

Duck blogging

I was getting my first cup of coffee this morning and I got some visitors on the common grassy area right in front of my apartment. I tried to get a shot of the one brave and curious squirrel and the ducks, but I missed it.

Sending loved ones

Today someone I love very much sent her baby brother to Iraq, or Afghanistan, I can't even remember which one because it is so incredibly painful. I met him through her when he was a pre-teen and his voice wasn't anywhere near to cracking and then changing. My friend has to be strong for their mother. The father and the son are two more victims of the economic downturn. The plant they worked at can make the product cheaper and without unionized labor somewhere else, never mind that it breaks lives, homes, families, and hearts. This familiy has already been through hell, they don't need this shit too.

I know what it is like to send a loved one into a war zone. All the patriotic bullshit disappears and your knees are weak at the thought of never seeing this person again that you love so much.

Frankly, this just sucks.

Sibel Edmonds announcing Project Expose MSM

Blogged by Sibel Edmonds 5/27/2009 5:00AM
Whistleblowers set to name names, turn tables on media who've betrayed our trust
Newsweek reporters named in 'real-life' case example of new project...
Guest Blogged by Sibel Edmonds

California Supreme Court Upholds Prop. 8 Gay Marriage Ban, But Allows Current Gay Marriages To Stand

Ho hum. That was predictable. People vote for whatever has the best teevee ads and the PropH8ers must have spent their money more wisely, or something. I know that churchgoers are easy to recruit because they were all over my usually very tolerant neighborhood.

If there is one thing I cannot stand about Christianity, it's that so many preachers, ministers, priests and pastors are concerned with their congregations breeding more of whatever brand of Christianity they are preaching and that the homosexual bashing is in far too many churches. It's time for that stupid, fear-based crap to STOP.

Why the fuck do we need more people on this planet which is being choked by humans and their toxic waste? Seven billion is plenty of people, and it is a completely unsustainable amount of people on the planet. Especially the humans used to a standard of living like we have in the USA. That's not to say that gay people don't have families because they do. I hope that if they are reading this, that they watched to video I linked to also.

Update 9:24 AM 5/27/2009
California Supreme Court Upholds Prop 8
posted by Richard Kim on 05/26/2009 @ 1:36pm

Memorial Day 2009 - A Look at Women in the Military

Marcia G. Yerman
Huffington Post
May 23, 2009

...The Pentagon confirmed that one in three women serving her country has been the victim of a sexual assault. There were 3,000 sexual assaults "reported" in 2008 (as opposed to those that went unreported for fear of ostracism or repercussion). It is clear that the problems of our service women need to be heard and addressed...
(click on title link for full article)


Why Are Women Still Treated Like Second-Class Soldiers?
By Helen Benedict, The Nation
Posted on May 25, 2009, Printed on May 25, 2009



I was born and raised in San Diego, which for all practical purposes is one big military base, or military contractor haven staffed with ex-military. I worked on a base for a couple of years. From what I have observed military women are given the choice of three titles, informally of course, by their fellow servicemen:

1. Bitch

2. Slut

3. Dyke

And my husband wonders why I didn't want to subject my siblings (non-military people) to ten fucking hours of this.

Am I going to get crap for being so "insensitive" on Memorial Day? Probably. Will it change my love/hate relationship with the military? Probably not. Do I hate the glorification of a brutal and misogynistic culture? Yes. Do I blame the kids who join the military, usually now because our industrial base has been hollowed out and said kids need jobs? No.

Do I hate the rich fucks who's kids never join the military yet expect the military to protect, or increase their wealth?

Absolutely.

Do I really hate being dependent on the military budget which has become a sacred cow in this country, yet is bankrupting this country?

Absolutely.

When I got married I felt like I was in between a rock and a hard space and I did not have only myself to think about.

I don't watch the Sundy morning babble on shows

I figure if I miss anything important some blog that I read will pick up on it. So this is what I'm reading:

Obama signs weapons procurement reform
Published: May 22, 2009 at 12:54 PM UPI

Last update - 05:49 24/05/2009
'Israel won't yield to U.S. demands, won't halt settlement construction'
By Haaertz Service


Al Qaeda recruits back in Europe, but why?
Four men say their training experience in Pakistan wasn't what they hoped for. Anti-terrorism officials wonder if they're just biding their time, ready to strike in Europe.
By Sebastian Rotella
LA Times
May 24, 2009

Go to the LA Times search function and put in "israel settlements" and compare the titles of the articles to the title on the Haaretz (an Israeli newspaper) article above. It doesn't surprise me that LA is fed a bunch of bullshit when it comes to Israeli settlements, or the Al Qaeda and Iran fear is ramped up. I'm sure that AIPAC has a huge fucking office in LA.

May 23, 2009
Easy bets with other folks' cash
By Chan Akya
Asia Times

Elite Colleges Are Promoting a Culture of Selfish, Cutthroat Behavior and We Are All Paying the Price
By Peter Schmidt, AlterNet. Posted May 23, 2009.
The results are campus environments where disregard for society is socially accepted, where misguided students are encouraged to become worse.

The House That Taxpayers Built
Posted on May 22, 2009
By David Sirota

Rising unemployment raises threat of social crisis: World Bank
Sun May 24, 2009 7:27am EDT
Reuters

The last article cracked my ass up. If you don't know why that is you haven't read the Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein yet.

I'm also still reading The Ecology of Fear by Mike Davis © 1998

Fires, floods, earthquakes and who knew that LA had a tornado alley?

Saturday