Americans Pledge Millions, but Cash Flow Takes Weeks

* JANUARY 16, 2010

...Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, CNN, and users of Twitter Inc. have urged people to punch 90999 and then type in the word "HAITI" on their phones to send $10 to the American Red Cross. But the money won't be routed from most U.S. wireless carriers to relief efforts until cellphone users pay their phone bills.

That could take 30 to 90 days, telecommunications officials estimate, well after the critical initial days in which humanitarian aid organizations are trying to deliver medical supplies, food and water to save injured earthquake victims and help others with their most immediate needs. The needs for money and supplies are staggering, disaster relief experts say, following Tuesday's earthquake that struck close to the capital city of the Western Hemisphere's poorest country.

Brian Williams In Haiti: 'This Is Just A Colossal Calamity'

I'll bet that 'ol Brian knows that this disaster didn't start with the earthquake. Ya think he'll report that?



Somehow I doubt it.



Published on Thursday, January 14, 2010 by CommonDreams.org

What You're Not Hearing about Haiti (But Should Be)

by Carl Lindskoog

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/14-2
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

What You're Not Hearing about Haiti (But Should Be)

Published on Thursday, January 14, 2010 by CommonDreams.org
by Carl Lindskoog

For more wreckage of the past created by large American corporations in cahoots with the IMF and World Bank , read:


Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins



The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein

Any more books? Suggestions in comments are welcome. I didn't sleep worth a crap last night, so I'm tired.

Californians really shouldn't miss this:

By Brad Friedman on 1/13/2010 4:45PM
New Study Suggests CA's 2008 Prop 8 Election Results Could be Fraudulent or In Error

'Election Verification Exit Poll' analysis show tallies of 'Marriage Equality Ban' off by 7.5%, as high as 17.7% in some L.A. precincts...

Miscellaneous articles that caught my eye this morning

Don’t Blame China
Posted on Jan 12, 2010
U.S.-China trade toast
By Robert Scheer

Google threatens to leave China after attacks on activists' e-mail
By Ellen Nakashima, Steven Mufson and John Pomfret
Wednesday, January 13, 2010; 10:15 AM

(Pfffft, I'll believe it when I see it)

Sarah Palin Makes Her Debut As Fox News Analyst On 'O'Reilly' (VIDEO)
First Posted: 01-12-10 01:58 PM | Updated: 01-13-10 11:30 AM
By Frazier Moore, Associated Press


(any opportunity to share Annie's photoshopping masterpiece of Molly McMooseturd works for me, but please go watch the flaming mooseturd if you can stomach it)

History of discrimination against gays cited in Prop 8 trial
By Susan Ferriss | The Sacramento Bee
Posted on Wednesday, January 13, 2010


Marijuana legalization gets OK from California legislative committee * Posted on Wednesday, January 13, 2010
By Peter Hecht | The Sacramento Bee


And finally on today's reading list, Chris Hedges' knife edge of cynical truthiness cuts all the way to the bone before you even know what hit you.

Wall Street Will Be Back for More
Posted on Jan 10, 2010
By Chris Hedges

Only a New Global System Can Handle a World of Explosive Risk

"One lesson in particular is inescapable -- that the world's governing bodies, from the UN to the World Bank, from the G20 to the IMF, can no longer cope with systemic risks of these kinds."



Ohhhhh really? And they could at one time? For the benefit of whom, might I ask?



No sh*t. Their antics can now be twittered from anywhere in the world.



HA.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

10 Questions The Financial Crisis Commission MUST Ask

How many of you banksters donate to food banks or homeless shelters?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Senators. Rich old white guys. *sigh*

Republicans cite Lott in calling for Reid to quit
By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL
Associated Press Writer


Republicans - "I know you are but what am ?!?"

No wonder I keep avoiding the newZ.

What Do You Mean My Doctor Is Dead?

And we wonder why there is fraud in the current system?

"Some experts say health care fraud hovers around three percent of all health care expenditures.

Three percent of $2 trillion: $60 billion.

But Malcolm Sparrow says the number is probably much higher.

Sparrow is a professor of public management at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School...."

http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/lewismorris010710.htm
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

The war on terror

Dumb. Dumb as the war on drugs. Doesn't work.

France deports radical Imams. Makes sense to me that they should get rid of an Egyptian who preaches hatred of "The West" in France.

We go broke chasing our tails.

Doing exactly what Osama bin Laden wants us to.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

How to get fat without really trying

Peter Jennings Reporting: How to Get Fat Without Really Trying

Unh huh, this is what I've been reading about for years and frankly I'm sick of assholes who tell me that everyone in America is fat because they are lazy and won't get off of their ass. To their ignorance I invite them to watch this film. As a mother who read labels and fought the food industry constantly for the tastebuds of my child I can say to those of you who insist on blaming the victims -- fuck you. To those of you who never had to budget and try to feed a child healthy food on very little money I can say -- you don't know.

The kid moved out and doesn't listen to me and has gained weight.

Judge: Gay marriage trial can be shown on YouTube

Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010
By LISA LEFF Associated Press Writer

"SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The federal trial on the constitutionality of California's same-sex marriage ban beginning next week will be videotaped and uploaded to a video-sharing Web site, the presiding judge ruled Wednesday.

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who first floated the idea of broadcasting the highly anticipated proceedings live several months ago, said he decided instead to have court employees record the trial for delayed broadcast on Google's YouTube Web site.

Walker did not explicitly say why he favored a system that could keep the proceedings from being aired for hours instead of one that allowed for simultaneous broadcast. But he said he felt strongly that "it's important for the transmission to be absolutely within the court's control...." (title link)

The world, my country and my state

Tomgram: Michael Klare, The Blowback Effect, 2020
Posted by Michael Klare at 4:10pm, January 5, 2010.



McCain Gets It, Obama Doesn’t
Posted on Jan 6, 2010
Obama and McCain
AP / Haraz N. Ghanbari

Facing off: Sen. John McCain looks on as President Barack Obama meets with members of Congress to discuss immigration last June 25 at the White House.
By Robert Scheer


KPBS discusses the State of the State

update: speech transcript

Privatizing prisons, getting more than 78 cents back for every dollar we send to Washington DC (NM gets back twice what they send to DC) spending more on Universities than we do on prisons and dealing with the 20 billion dollar budget shortfall. I could be wrong, but it sounded like the pensions for State workers will be changed. Hmm, what State pensions? Wall street already got their greedy fucking paws on the State pensions.

American on Purpose

by Craig Ferguson


I am a big fan of Craig Ferguson, I think he's hilarious on The Late Late Show , so I knew it was only a matter of time before I bought and read his autobiography American on Purpose.

It was going to be a gift for my neighbor who recently got her citizenship, but that's not going to work. She's such a foofy girl I think she would act shocked. It's hard to say if she really would be shocked, but I think for her kid's sake I'll get her something pretty and feminine. I don't mean foofy in a negative way, she's really nice, it's just going to be a baffling and miserable shopping trip for me. She's from a country that alcohol is illegal in, and she's still learning English, so the book would probably be a bit baffling to her.



I love the book, Craig Ferguson is really funny, and unlike me, a good writer.

I will probably read "Between the Bridge and the River," by Ferguson also.

Surprise! The Fed says don't blame the Fed

Paul R. La Monica, editor at large
January 4, 2010: 1:15 PM ET


Bwaaaah ha ha ha ha ha hahahahahaha


The Structure of the Federal Reserve System
Responsibilities

Religion sucks #21

UPDATED ON:
Sunday, January 03, 2010
20:57 Mecca time, 17:57 GMT
Egypt court upholds exam veil ban

"The government said it banned the niqab in part because students, male and female, were attending exams disguised as other candidates by wearing a face veil."

Why don't religious zealots have any common sense?

Starz Inside: Unforgettably Evil

Someone asked Javier Bardem who he thought of while trying to find inspiration for the character of Anton in No Country for Old Men ? George Bush. I would love to find the film clip, if there is one.

I liked watching this series of interviews. I never wanted to see the Kill Bill movies and I still don't, but watching this made me decide to stop questioning why Joel and Ethan Cohen and Quentin Tarantino are so popular. They're brilliant. I find most of their work revolting, and somewhat patronizing of their audiences, but they are good at displaying over-the-top characters who can be riveting and horrifying.

Suicide Attack in Pakistan Kills 75

* JANUARY 2, 2010
By ZAHID HUSSAIN

"A suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden truck into a crowd of people gathered to watch a volleyball game in a village in northwest Pakistan, killing at least 75 in an attack seen as a retaliation against locals who had formed a progovernment militia.

The attack -- in an area near South Waziristan, a center of Taliban and al Qaeda activities..."

Wow. The local people are already working with the government, do these turds think that killing 75 people is going to endear them to the locals?

AlQaeda and Taliban ain't the sharpest tools in the shed are they?


Pakistan suicide bombing toll nears 100
By Mark Magnier and Zulfiqar Ali
January 2, 2010 | 7:13 a.m.

Fed Judge Gives Blackwater Huge New Year's Gift, Dismisses All Charges In Iraq Massacre

By Jeremy Scahill

"...In a memo defending his opinion, Urbina cited a similar rationale used in the dismissal of charges against Iran-Contra figure Oliver North—namely that the government violated the rights of the Blackwater men..."



I'm sure that Jeremy Scahill's mouth is not hanging open in stunned silence. Mine is. The 14 innocent Iraqis the Blackwater assholes slaughtered in this particular incident right's weren't violated, right?

*sigh*

This decade sucked. Big-time. I'm really glad it's almost over. You'd think that after a year of Fucktard (43) being gone I'd hate him a little less, right? Nope, we ain't never getting out from under the mess that retard made.

Happy Fucking New Year.

Water is important and investors know it

Cookie Jill brought my attention to this
State bond lets firms profit from water
Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Sunday, December 27, 2009


Flow

"From both local an global perspectives, this documentary examines the harsh realities behind the mounting water crisis Learn how politics, pollution and human rights are intertwined in this important issue that affects every being on Earth. With water drying up around he world and the future of human lives at stake, the film urges a call to arms before more of our precious natural resource evaporates."



Blue Gold: World Water Wars.

The narration in Blue Gold is done by Malcolm McDowell who is extremely good in Tank Girl.

One of my favorite films. I'll bet the French hate Blue Gold.

As Foreclosure Nightmares Increase, Will More Homeowners Pay Off Their Bankers in Violence?

By Scott Thill, AlterNet. Posted November 9, 2009.

The economic crisis revealed late-capitalism's central offense: Human beings are being transparently treated if they were mere transactions. And they're going postal over it.

...their attack on Dean and Garcia crossed a line laid down by the rule of law. But that rule, as everyone from voters to homeowners to municipalities and more have come to fully realize during the last decade, rarely applies in both directions...(.Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:24pm EDT)

Yup, I figured stuff like this would happen, I just hadn't heard about this case of torture in LA. Now can we please investigate the abuses of the wealthy and powerful? Starting with the Federal Reserve and the structural similarities to the Western European Banking system we fought and died to prevent during the Revolutionary War?

Yemen is the new Afghanistan

Abdulmutallab, A Banker's Son Turned Muslim Radical
Family Says Accused Northwest Bomber Ceased All Contact Months Ago
By RICHARD ESPOSITO and BRIAN ROSS
Dec. 28, 2009

{..."The Obama administration has been admitting lately, that Yemen is the new Afghanistan," said Clarke. "It is the new sanctuary. The new al Qaeda base, where people from around the world, who want to be trained are sent. No longer to Afghanistan, but to Yemen."...}

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

New?

Osama bin Laden's father is from Yemen.

Crap-ola. The whole "War on Terror' is going to be the same miserable failure that the "War on Drugs" is, and for the same reasons. The reasons for terrorism are not addressed, just like the reasons for the drug trade, the sex trade, the human traffiking are not addressed.

A) A grossly unfair economic system tilted in favor of developed countries and wealthy banksters.
B) Overpopulation stressing availability of needed natural resources for development.
C) Poverty, ignorance and desperation versus advanced military weapons systems.

Merry Christmas

Whew. House is trashed. Love it. We have a tradition of having a paper fight. You gotta grab your gifts and scootch them into a corner or an out of the way place or they end up in the paper fight. None of that staid, fussy ''wrap goes in this bag and ribbons go in this bag'' to be put on a gift next year, we go for it. I'm pooped and ready for a nap, but I have way too much coffee on board.

My sister is awesome. I almost lost it when I realized she gave money for tree seedlings through Heifer International.

Shaping up and getting ready

Shopping √
Wrapping √
Tree done √
Outside lights √
Xmas Eve dinner shopping √
Guests RSVPd √

Duuuuuuuuuuude.

Ready for take-off.

I think I'll paint my nails tonight.

Learning new things

Tamales. Pollo con mole (chicken, vegetables and mole). Puerco (pork with chile colorado). Dulce (sweet masa with nuts, raisins and sprinkles). My kid brought home the industrial dorm germs from hell so I am sick. I don't touch the tamales once they are done. I think this batch will bring the total to approximately 340, but I'm so delirious I'm not sure. I never knew what the big deal was about tamales. Now I know. I snuck into the kitchen at 4 Am the other night and I must have looked like a starving street child as I scarfed that thing over the kitchen sink.

My friend Annie is a great teacher, and she's quite amused at my efforts. Needless to say I fear I may never be an expert at the whole spreading the masa on the corn husk thing. No doubt I look as doofy as I feel, but laughter is good.

40 qt. tamale steamer

Hired by Customs, but Working for Mexican Cartels

WAR WITHOUT BORDERS
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
Published: December 17, 2009

Just another example of how retarded the whole War on Drugs is.

Chasin the Xmas blues away

Ok ladies and gents here's the scoop. Christmastime sucked big time at the old Nunya house when she was growing up. She's sort of tried to change some things so that it didn't suck for her kid. Wasn't always successful but she's here to tell ya that this year she's going to try even harder and is in the process of letting Anne's irrepressible holiday cheer teach 'ol Nunya some newer, more improved tricks.

Nunya is going to learn how to make tamales this year, and food always makes Nunya happy :). Even more important Annie is going to teach Nunya how to spread holiday cheer instead of being Grinchina.

So wish Nunya luck, new adventures are always a little scary, but it's off to a bright new world, eh? Nunya has complete confidence in Annie, who happens to be all that and a bag of chips. Especially when it comes to teaching people how to be cheerful.

There's More to Sex Than a Cum Shot to the Face: What Men Should Unlearn from Hardcore Porn

By Vanessa Richmond, AlterNet. Posted December 12, 2009.

No, porn does not turn men into crazed sex fiends. But it's clear that pornography has affected the way we view -- and have -- sex. Here's how to counter porn's effects.
(click on the title link for the article, and I found the comments there hilariously predictable)

Do I like porn? NO. I never have, I just never felt the need to blog about it before. Am I a prude? No way, not by any means and I never have been. Do I think it is your right to stay deluded (I'm talking to those of you with a penis, who are heterosexual by the way) by enjoying those fantasies? Sure, just don't expect that shit from a real, honest female. If you do, you are not only deluded you are STUPID. You goddamned fucking morons think we like that shit because you saw it in a porn flick? I DON'T want your nasty-ass spooge on my face, it's disgusting to me. AND I don't want my feet wrapped behind my neck, it HURTS. You try it, ya like it?

Get a fucking clue, guys, porn stars get paid to do that shit, and most of the girls are loaded on God only knows what drugs.

And men wonder why women are bitter? Fucking idiots. There are only so many times that women will put up with bad porn sex, and then it's ta-ta dear, go pay a whore, and leave me the hell alone.

Make Love Not Porn

Whack-A-Bankster

An arcade game that allows people to vent their anger at bankers has proved so popular the owner keeps having to replace worn out mallets.

Key provisions of Wall Street regulation bill
By The Associated Press (AP) – 1 day ago

Provisions look pretty useless to me.

Copenhagen and capitalism December 12, 2009
Minqi Li: No legally binding agreement the result of elites seeking short term profits first

You have to watch this!

December 11, 2009

Organizers George Goehl and Heather Booth on turning anger into action.

Howard Zinn
Renowned historian Howard Zinn has chronicled centuries of people's struggles against oppression. He joins Bill Moyers to discuss the voices of today's people — facing big interests' outsized influence — and his new film THE PEOPLE SPEAK.

A Bill Moyers Essay.

I am REALLY going to miss Bill Moyers Journal, but hey - the man deserves to retire sometime.

Spyro Gyra - Shaker Song

Now is it obvious that I love my hometown?