From Hiroshima to Hope

Everyday People
by The Supremes

Sometimes I'm right, and I can be wrong
My own beliefs are in my song
The butcher, the thinker, the drummer and then
Makes no difference what group I'm in
I am everyday people, yeah

There is a blue one, who can't accept the green one
For living with a fat one, trying to be a skinny one
And different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo, yeah
We got to live together

I am no better and neither are you
We are the same whatever we do
You love me, you hate me, you load me and then
You can't figure out what bag I'm in
I am everyday people, yeah

There is a long hair, who doesn't like the short hair
For being such a rich one, that will not help the poor one
Different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo, yeah
We got to live together

There is a yellow one, who doesn't like the black one
Who won't accept the red one, who won't accept the white one
Different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo, yeah
I am everyday people

'Cause there is a blue one, who can't accept the green one
For living with the fat one, trying to be a skinny one
There is a long hair, who doesn't like the short hair
For being such a rich one, that doesn't help the poor one
I am everyday people

'Cause there is a yellow one, who don't accept the black one
Who won't accept the red one, who won't accept the white one
I am everyday people

Thanks Dianne for that beautiful story. I agree with you; we do need to find ways to support people who are supporting peace within the mid-east and elsewhere.

This is beautiful, DiAnne. Thanks.

We have to do everything in our power to prevent these weapons from ever being used again - and treat anyone who advocates using them again in a first-strike scenario as the psychotic enemy of humanity that they truly are.

Awesome, Dianne! Thanks!

Statement By Congressman Bob Ney

Ohio, Aug 7 -

Congressman Bob Ney (OH-18) made the following statement today that he is withdrawing from the 18th Congressional race:

“After much consideration and thought I have decided today to no longer seek re-election in Ohio’s 18th Congressional District. I am extremely proud of my 25 years serving the people of Ohio. We’ve accomplished many things to make this state better and I will always be grateful for the trust my constituents put in me. Ultimately this decision came down to my family. I must think of them first, and I can no longer put them through this ordeal.”

“I am deeply grateful for all of the trust and support my family, friends and constituents have given me over the past two years. I look forward to serving out the rest of my term and serving the constituents of the 18th District.”

http://www.bobney.org/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=17155

I am everyday people

Posted by: monkey at August 7, 2006 09:12 AM

THAT is the song that was going to open the Blogger's Ball. Let's hold onto the thought for future celebrations...and pray for a return to sanity along the way.

BP shuts down largest U.S. oil field
Indefinite closure removes 8 percent of U.S. production, raises price fears

MSNBC News Services
Updated: 37 minutes ago

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Oil company BP scrambled Monday to assess suspected pipeline corrosion that will shut shipments from the nation’s biggest oilfield, removing about 8 percent of daily U.S. crude production and driving oil prices sharply higher.

BP, which is already facing a criminal investigation over a large spill in March at the same Prudhoe Bay oilfield, said it did not know how long the field would be offline. “I don’t even know how long it’s going to take to shut it down,” said Tom Williams, BP’s senior tax and royalty counsel.

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14219844/

Flashback, campaign 2004...

"Up and down the food chain, people are paying more and this president has not lifted a finger to try to lower the price or make America energy independent," Kerry said. "I will."

Kerry criticized the administration for allowing the oil, utility and power interests to dictate U.S. energy policy.

"The result was that today we have a president and oil administration that is entirely narrow vision, entirely focused on fossil fuel, oil and drilling," Kerry said.

Referring to the Lewis and Clark Expedition 200 years ago, he said the country needs "a modern-day Corps of Discovery" to find alternative energy sources. Washington, with its concentration of technology experts and environmental researchers, can lead the way, he said.

"Let me share a scientific fact with this president that most children learn in school very quickly. ... There is no possible way for the United States of America to drill its way out of this predicament. We have to invent our way out of this."

Tracey Schmitt, regional spokeswoman for Bush-Cheney '04, said Bush proposed a comprehensive energy plan three years ago that would have increased production and reduced dependence on foreign oil.

"John Kerry helped block the bill in the Senate and is now inserting himself into the debate in a blatant display of political opportunism. Senator Kerry supported higher gas taxes at least 11 times, including a 50-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax," Schmitt said.

Kerry made several comparisons between his energy policy plan and John F. Kennedy's vision for space exploration.

That and what she considered an overall positive message sat well with Pat Hentges.

The 70-year-old from Kirkland said Kerry had the right idea for reducing America's oil dependence.

"Absolutely," Hentges said. "We've got to do something and he's appealing to the brains of the United States. Energy conservation is the future of the energy policy."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/175216_kerry27.html

How's that 50 cents a gallon increase lookin' about now?

I am everyday people

Posted by: monkey at August 7, 2006 09:12 AM

You know, that song used to be on the commercial of a certain car company that hired John Roberts to destroy the ADA...

DiAnne, it was nice to see this on your blog, and thanks for sharing on the DCP as well.

How's that 50 cents a gallon increase lookin' about now?

Posted by: monkey at August 7, 2006 11:25 AM

I'd rather take a 50-cent increase that comes back in the form of infrastructure improvements, than a $1.50 increase that only fattens the oilmen.

Posted by: Ally McLesbian at August 7, 2006 11:37 AM

Amen, Ally.

The article and pictures are really beautiful.
A thought that just breezed into my mind is
what would it take for individuals to try to
encourage people out of hate. It seems that in
some way all the haters feel that they have
been slighted and have not been treated fairly
or some equally short sighted view of the world.
What if..... just what if there is someone who
could talk with individuals who hate and find
out just what it is that they are so hung up on.
What if all the energy they have that they are
directing into hate could be used to make
positive changes. Its a kind of world in which
people just might be able to live in peace
and there could be lots of other benefits as well
like cooperation and helping people who are
extremely poor get some of the things they need.
Maybe there could be Quaker envoys or Muslim
envoys for peace or Christians for peace or
Jews for peace who would actually go and talk
to the people who want to perpetrate the ugliest
of wars. Gang mentality seems to go all wrong.
Maybe one on one efforts to work towards a
better world would help alleviate this scenario
of a world that seems to be careening from
bad to worse.

From a previous thread:

Military spending accounts for more than half of the United States' federal discretionary spending, which is all of the U.S. government's money not spoken for by pre-existing obligations.[1]

Posted by: DiAnne at August 5, 2006 09:49 AM

Thanks, DiAnne. Now I know where my healthcare money is going.

For photos of Senators (JK & TK) doing what they should, go on over to the DU here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2759794

Bush: Mideast violence must stop
President wants quick UN cease-fire resolution

Monday, August 7, 2006; Posted: 11:43 a.m. EDT

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) -- President Bush said Monday he recognizes that Israel and Hezbollah are objecting to parts of a Mideast cease-fire resolution but said "we all recognize that the violence must stop."

The president said the United States and its allies were pressing for a comprehensive solution that would restore Lebanon's sovereignty and provide a lasting peace.

Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke about the Mideast during a meeting with reporters at his Texas ranch. Rice is expected to go to the United Nations for deliberations on twin resolutions for a cease-fire and the establishment of a peacekeeping force.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/08/07/bush.mideast.ap/index.html

... and btw, I HATE, and mean HATE, that damn sign behind W's skull in Crawford that says "The Western White House"...

Head Case

Posted by: monkey at August 7, 2006 12:30 PM

All sign, no cattle...

Dianne,

Glad to see this posted here. I like the way you worked your own personal story about your Dad into this peace news. It's nice to read a post that isn't strident, doesn't blame anyone, and simply promotes peace.

Now if we could only get more people to think this way........

Kayakbiker

Mind Games
by John Lennon

We're playing those mind games together
Pushing the barriers, planting seeds
Playing the mind guerrilla
Chanting the mantra, peace on earth
We all been playing those mind games forever
Some kinda druid dudes lifting the veil
Doing the mind guerrilla
Some call it magic, the search for the grail

Love is the answer and you know that for sure
Love is a flower, you got to let it, you got to let it grow

So keep on playing those mind games together
Faith in the future, outta the now
You just can't beat on those mind guerrillas
Absolute elsewhere in the stones of your mind
Yeah we're playing those mind games forever
Projecting our images in space and in time

Yes is the answer and you know that for sure
Yes is surrender, you got to let it, you got to let it go

So keep on playing those mind games together
Doing the ritual dance in the sun
Millions of mind guerrillas
Putting their soul power to the karmic wheel
Keep on playing those mind games forever
Raising the spirit of peace and love

Love...
(I want you to make love, not war, I know you've heard it before)

Watch how lightning-fast the frame is shifted:

There is no possible way for the United States of America to drill its way out of this predicament. We have to invent our way out of this."

Tracey Schmitt, regional spokeswoman for Bush-Cheney '04, said Bush proposed a comprehensive energy plan three years ago that would have increased production and reduced dependence on foreign oil.

"John Kerry helped block the bill in the Senate and is now inserting himself into the debate in a blatant display of political opportunism. Senator Kerry supported higher gas taxes at least 11 times, including a 50-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax," Schmitt said.

***************
The argument starts with "we can't drill ourselves out of this", i.e. we need to work on alternative energy options.

Faster than you can hit black gold in a Texas oilfield, the Bush rep ducks, turns, and cross-punches, effectively blaming Kerry.

But did you notice: this great Bush plan was dependent on PRODUCTION, the very thing that Kerry said wouldn't help us. No wonder he voted against it. The argument is apples and oranges here, and the press failed to pick up on it.

A reminder, once again, that the Bush presstitutes deserve every dollar of their paychecks. This woman even admitted that the Bush plan was predicated on increased production and STILL came out of it with an unrebutted, stinging attack on Kerry.

It's also times like this that I wish the maligned Congresscritters would say something like "Yes, of course I voted against the president's plan. It was nothing but a fat check written to the oil industries, and do they really need any extra favors right now? The only way to find long-term relief from high energy prices is to help out all the small business owners who already have great prototypes for alternative energy models, folks who just need a little financial push to get these solutions out on the market. That's what my energy bill is about and I don't see why the president is trying to suffocate these small business entrepreneurs for the benefit of huge oil corporations, except if it has something to do with where all his campaign contributions came from. I'm calling on all my fellow Senators/Representatives to stand with me and support the American entrepreneurial spirit, small business growth, and the pocketbooks of everyday Americans who are having to choose between gas and schoolbooks by voting for this energy bill..."

Posted by: Veritas at August 7, 2006 01:37 PM

Smack-dab on target... which then leads to Hhase 2 of the dawg chases tail cycle, which is, why in God's name, and I mean that quite literally, can an enormous segment of the population not see right through this kind of crap?

What we're left with America's glass half empty... and I think we know who hammered the good half.

Glassholes.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Science/520190.html
Doomsday vault: experts suggest DNA, data be stored on moon
{{{Y'know, if we didn't have "leaders" who lack intelligence and are always too ready to start moronic wars and destroy our environment by giving breaks to polluting corporations, there would be no reason for people to even think of these things....}}}

A Shorter Vacation for Bush
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/080606E.shtml
This parched Texas cattle town, population 705, has been a haven for President Bush every August, an escape from the buttoned-down confines of Washington. Here, Mr. Bush can clear brush, ride his mountain bike along scrubby trails, curl up with a book or kick up his feet for an afternoon siesta. But this year reality - in the form of the November midterm elections, the peace activist Cindy Sheehan and the legacy of Hurricane Katrina - has intruded on the president's summer vacation, cutting short his time at his 1,600-acre ranch.
{{{Aw-w-w-w-w... Poor widdle baby-waby. A short vacation.... Well, okay. Poor USA and Poor World because he's on a short vacation.... I vote we give the moron and his staff a vacation until Jan 21, 2009 and import some adults with mature and common-sensical thinking processes run this country for a while....}}}

Good thread header, DiAnne....

For the life of me, I just can't figure out WHY men keep starting wars every 20-30 years. The oldest of them remembers the previous wars and should know better than to start new wars that inflict the same grief on younger generations that they went through when they were young. I thought parents always wanted better for their children than what they had when they were young.

Our "moral values" are seriously FUBAR if men can't learn to be adults and stop playing king of the hill in wars that only further enrich those whose greed demands more money and more power through more money. The only ones paying the price with their lives are young people who didn't start the wars and the innocent people who have become known as "collateral damage."

If modern humans can't stop wars, we are still not as civilized as our Paleolithic ancestors who didn't kill each other in senseless wars. They were too busy trying to stay alive and survive to start wars. To survive they had to cooperate with each other. We shame the memories of our Paleolithic ancestors when we kill each other for imagined power and wealth.

Ney Will Not Seek Re-Election
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/080706J.shtml
Congressman Bob Ney, dogged by an influence-peddling probe in Washington, announced Monday that he will not seek re-election.

{{{Okay, Ney's out. That's good. But it does make me wonder how DumDum will reward him for past help....}}}

William Fisher | Screw Up, Collect Reward
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/080706K.shtml
"Millions of us have shaken our heads in disbelief as President George W. Bush made a cottage industry of rewarding the undeserving," writes William Fisher. "The cast of characters is long and Orwellian."

Interesting opinion piece by Deepak Chopra...

Selling the Illusion of Victory

America leads the world in advertising techniques, and now we'll need every ounce of Madison Avenue's skill to sell a difficult product. That product is victory. From the beginning we were told that victory was the only acceptable outcome in Iraq, and now selling that message has become twice as difficult in Lebanon.

--snip--
It's sad when image can't match reality. But isn't that the point in all wars? The home front must be sold the inevitability of victory and the impossibility of defeat. War-makers are frighteningly willing to sacrifice civilian lives while fiercely defending their own posturing. Thus Israel, with our backing, proclaimed that its Lebanon campaign could only end in the total destruction and disarming of Hezbollah. From the beginning some voices said this goal was impossible, and so it is proving. The image of victory was duly modified to lesser goals as things began to go contrary to plan. Israel next wanted a 15-mile safe zone in southern Lebanon, then a one-mile zone, then an international peacekeeping force. The reality is that there's nothing left to sell but the illusion that they will win.

Wars are places where illusions go to die. A great many died after the fall of Saigon in the Vietnam fiasco, but after thirty years a new crop sprouted again. Installing democracy by force in Iraq is an illusion; deep sectarian hatred is the reality. A government of national unity is an illusion; the U.S. putting a Shi'ite sectarian president in power is the reality. Iraqi security forces are an illusion; armed thugs dressed in police uniforms to make it easier to kidnap and slaughter innocent people is a reality.

These days I think I'm like most people, exhausted from criticizing the Bush war policy. All I really want now is an honest admission, first to all Americans and then to the world, that we've stirred up far more than we can handle. Let's stop fighting over WMDs and distorted evidence and yellow cake uranium. A real crisis faces the world on an order of magnitude no one ever anticipated. Every demon has flown out of Pandora's box, and trying to market the illusion that we're winning feels like a page from George Orwell. The citizens in "1984" were trapped in a world where war never ended, yet they woke up every morning to the cheerful news of impending victory that was just around the corner.
http://www.intentblog.com/archives/2006/08/selling_the_ill.html

The citizens in "1984" were trapped in a world where war never ended, yet they woke up every morning to the cheerful news of impending victory that was just around the corner.

Posted by: madame defarge at August 7, 2006 02:54 PM

Thanks for the reminder, madame... I really need to hit that book again. The last time I read it was during the early Clinton era, and back then, nobody ever imagined that the book could ever become reality in the US...

Hi!
Just had coffee w/an artist I met in NYC but who is my neighbor & now I'm buying a small painting of hers as my birthday present. She paints "EveryDay People" and says the song is by Sly & The Family Stone, which I think is correct. She may have emailed Monkey to that effect. It's kind of her theme.

We met another artist who turned out to be about the best student of history either of us had met - he pointed out that Russia vs Germany was the bulk of WW2 in terms of casualities, dwarfing D-Day. He also laid out for us, according to his understanding, the events that led up to or were triggers for most of the wars we've been involved in. He claims military were being trained for jungle warfare before Pearl Harbor was ever hit and that the harbor was cleared of ships before the attack. It turns out my dad's ship had just left Pearl Harbor when it was hit - I heard this story all my life.

We ended up exchanging links and authors/book titles including Howard Zinn & others. It was like a salon. We agreed that we will not truly have a democracy until our system for electing public officials undergoes major reform. It's possible to hack a Diebold system in 16 seconds, as he said - I've seen the demonstration.

Posted by: DiAnne at August 7, 2006 03:09 PM

Holy Canoli, it is by Sly... I know the Supremes covered it though, so I get to keep a jewel in my musicsnob crown. ;-)

Bad Day at Black Rock

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5251742.stm
Google warns on 'unsafe' websites

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/5253160.stm?ls
Troops 'took turns' to rape Iraqi
{{{Words haven't been invented to describe my visceral reaction to this kind of horror story....}}}

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/08/07/hands_on_the_internet.php
Hands On The Internet

We agreed that we will not truly have a democracy until our system for electing public officials undergoes major reform.

Posted by: DiAnne at August 7, 2006 03:09 PM

For starters, we will have an influx of immigrants that actually help the economy, as opposed to hurt it. We will have an influx of immigrants that will help the political discourse, instead of remaking America into the Third World country that their homelands used to be.

I can never say it enough. I am DAMN SICK of the Koreatown here.

Troops 'took turns' to rape Iraqi
{{{Words haven't been invented to describe my visceral reaction to this kind of horror story....}}}

Posted by: NonnyO at August 7, 2006 04:11 PM

Well, there is supposed to be no remorse to raping, pillaging, and killing those raghead infidels, I thought.

What a bunch of sickos we have become. All in the name of the Savior.

Posted by: Ally McLesbian at August 7, 2006 04:14 PM

Prints of Piece

ira, if you're out there, this one's for you (and anyone else who is following this). I know you understand the issue, but I found this explanation helpful...

Please help shut down the GOP spin that the DeLay case was about keeping Tom DeLay on the ballot, as is often misreported.

Neither the Democratic Party's petition, nor Judge Sam Sparks's opinion (http://www.lonestarproject.net/files/sparks.pdf ), nor the Fifth Circuit opinion (http://www.lonestarproject.net/files/delayopinion.pdf ) sought or required Tom DeLay to stay on the ballot.

The suit was to prevent the Republican Party of Texas from violating the Constitution and the Texas Election Code by taking the candidate selection process away from the primary voters and giving the voters' right and authority to a far-right-wing insider group within the Republican Party of Texas.

This fight is about the Republican Party of Texas trying to steal the voters' right to select the candidate through the party primary process. No one (not even the Republicans or even Tom Delay himself) wants Tom DeLay on the ballot. We merely want to stop Tom DeLay and the Republican Party of Texas from assuming that the Constitution and laws of Texas don't apply to them. We merely want them to follow to Constitution and Texas law, which forbids a party from hand-picking a ballot replacement when the candidate waits until after the parties' primaries to withdraw.

Please correct people who repeat Republican talking points by erroneously claiming that our fight against the illegal Republican ballot scheme was a fight to keep Tom DeLay on the ballot. We have never objected to his withdrawal, just his illegal and unconstitutional replacement.
http://tinyurl.com/zuzyq = DU

. . . I wish the maligned Congresscritters would say something like "Yes, of course I voted against the president's plan. . .I'm calling on all my fellow Senators/Representatives to stand with me and support the American entrepreneurial spirit, small business growth, and the pocketbooks of everyday Americans who are having to choose between gas and schoolbooks by voting for this energy bill..."

Posted by: Veritas at August 7, 2006 01:37 PM

Veritas-- For the record, Kerry has been on this for years, way before the 2004 election, during the 2004 election, after the election, and just recently, this past June, at Faneuil Hall. A terrific speech, well worth a careful read
See http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/speeches/spc_2006_06_26.html

June 26, 2006
Three New Bold Ideas for Energy Independence and Global Climate Change

As prepared for delivery
Boston, MA -

Here in Faneuil Hall, America’s first great gathering ground of free speech and dissent, we came together two months ago and nearly two and a half centuries after the voices of patriots were first heard within these walls.

We came together to affirm that the patriotism of 2006, no less than the patriotism of 1776, demands that we speak truth to power – that for love of country, we must end a war in Iraq that kills too many of our sons and daughters, betraying both our national interests and our ideals.

Last week, in the Senate, we stood against appeals to politics and pride and demanded a date to bring our troops home. We did that because that’s the way you get Iraqis to stand up for Iraq and fight a more effective war on terror.

We defied the White House tactics of fear and smear. Presidents and Republican politicians may be concerned about losing votes or losing face or losing legacies. We told the truth because we are more concerned about young Americans and Iraqi civilians losing their lives. And I guarantee you, our success would bring less loss of life, less expenditure of dollars, and it would make America safer.
say “we” because even though our resolution only won 13 votes this time, I know every minute of the debate you were there with us -- there with Russ Feingold, there with Ted Kennedy and there with us as we voted our beliefs and yours – that a policy based on deception and filled with blunders is no excuse for its own perpetuation.

But while we lost that roll call, I guarantee we will win the judgment of history because Washington is wrong and Americans are right, and we must set a new course in Iraq.

Yet our challenge is not just to end this war, it is to prevent the next one. The arrogance of ideology and the willful ignorance of the intelligence led us into a war of choice in Iraq. Now we must act so that at some future date America will never have to fight for its economic security because we are permanently held hostage to foreign oil.

We must make the hard choices – about alternative energy and clean coal, conservation and fuel efficiency – that will free our future from the dominance of big oil and yesterday’s fossil fuels, a dominance that in the era of global warming threatens the future itself.

So I come here again to Faneuil Hall, which is also the cradle of American independence, to set out a strategy for energy independence. To propose specific steps for an energy revolution as far-reaching as the industrial revolution. And to oppose the procrastination, the Washington evasion and the Cheney-run secret task forces by and for big oil.

How insulting and ridiculous it is to be told that the solution to our problems is to drill in and destroy the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that would yield a few months of oil when we are already importing 60 percent of our oil and climbing? God only gave us 3% of the world's oil reserves. There is simply no way to drill our way out of our problem. We have to invent our way out.

To do that, we also have to invent our way out of the politics of greed and empty posturing that has worsened our dependence and denied the undeniable and potentially disastrous effects of global warming.

Not long ago, in the face of record gas prices, a volatile Middle East, and hostile rhetoric from a fundamentalist regime in Iran, a President of the United States asked “Why have we not been able to get together as a nation to resolve our serious energy problem?”

His name was Jimmy Carter – and that steamy summer of 1979 seems as familiar today as the question he raised then. Almost twenty seven years later we face another summer of record gas prices, raging violence across a volatile Middle East, renewed rhetoric of hate from a fundamentalist regime in Tehran. Our national neglect has made the quarter of a century since then what Winston Churchill called “years the locust has eaten.” Today we endure another summer of record gas prices; we witness the violence raging across a volatile Middle East; and we hear the rhetoric of hate from a hostile government in Tehran.

George W. Bush now says that “America is addicted to oil.” His preferred policy has been to feed the addiction; his attitude on greenhouse gases is to let them increase; his energy alternatives are token; again and again his approach to crisis is to denigrate the environment. Mr. President, the people know the truth: America is not addicted to oil because it wants to be. Washington is addicted to oil because that’s the way powerful interests want it to be.

And it has been this way ever since President Nixon announced a national goal that by 1980, “the United States will not be dependent on any other country for the energy we need.” President Ford extended the deadline: energy independence by 1985. Come 1985 President Reagan was promising to “ensure that our people and our economy are never again held hostage by the whim of any country or cartel."

The bottom line – whenever we face an energy crisis, talk of energy independence becomes the common currency of the American political dialogue. We have Apollo projects and Manhattan Projects for alternative fuels; summits and conferences and energy expos. And then, as the price of oil falls or supplies increase or a war is put behind us, the sense of urgency evaporates.

Too often our leaders in both parties have done what’s easy, turned their backs on hard realities and great possibilities. Renewables, efficiency breakthroughs, clean technologies have been marginalized in the face of self-interested forces.

In these lost years, we could have created millions of new jobs, opened up vast new markets, improved the health of our citizens, slowed global warming, saved the taxpayers money, earned the respect of the world, and significantly strengthened our long term security. Instead America’s energy strategy has been rhetorical, not real.

For evidence, look no further than the fake energy bill Congress enacted over bipartisan objections – a monstrosity with no guiding national goal, no tough decisions, no change in priorities – just a logrolling, back-scratching collection of subsidies for any industry with the clout to get a seat at the table and a share of the pork. A few good ideas, a lot of bad ideas and ugly ideas—Washington smiled equally upon all of them.

I don’t know how to say it more plainly: Washington’s energy policy is as real as their claims of Mission Accomplished in Iraq. But it is also the latest chapter in the long story in both parties politics at its worst – ducking the difficult choices, giving into the big contributors, substituting words for deeds, postponing the reckoning until the day after tomorrow. If you offend no one, you change nothing. The world is changing and now the reckoning is real.

Last Thursday, Brian Williams opened the nightly news with a stark statement: “Top climate scientists are saying with a high level of confidence that the earth is the hottest it has been in 400 years.” NBC’s science correspondent reported that global warming may lead to “rising sea levels, heavy rains in some areas, drought in others, and an increase in severe weather, including hurricanes.” Was there room to argue? Well, as the NBC story concluded “you can [always] make a debate if you can find one scientist who says the earth is flat and have him debate it against everybody else.”

Well, Washington is full of “flat-earth” politicians. No matter how the evidence has mounted over two decades -- the melting of the arctic ice cap, rising sea levels, extreme weather – the flat earth caucus can’t even see what is on the horizon. In the Congress they’ve even trotted out the author of Jurassic Park as an expert witness to argue that climate change is fiction. This is Stone Age science.

Here’s the bottom line: within the next decade, if we don’t deal with global warming, our children and grandchildren will have to deal with global catastrophe. It is time to stop debating fiction writers, oil executives and flat-earth politicians, and actually take on the other mortal threat to America after terrorism, which, because of our oil dependence, is a decisive front in the war on terrorism.

We can’t respond to climate change, and we can’t wage and win a real war on terror if we don’t at last take bold, real steps towards energy independence. For too long, we have allowed fundamental problems in the Middle East to fester by signaling corrupt Arab regimes that we don't care what they do so long as they keep the oil flowing.

So, energy independence is more than an important economic priority; it is an indispensable element of our national security. Our reliance on oil not only props up decaying and dictatorial regimes, but those that tolerate and sustain terrorist groups. Any long-term strategy for winning the war on terror must be matched with a determined effort to reduce our dependence on petroleum. It demands an international response, linked to the rapid emergence of new energy technologies, in order to ensure that emerging economies don't become the new enablers of Middle East autocrats. Make no mistake, our long term mission in the war on terror depends on long term energy independence. We must end the empire of oil.

For some, it may be hard to conceive of a world where fossil fuels, and especially petroleum, are not the dominant sources of fuel.

In fact, we’ve been here before. One hundred and fifty years ago in Massachusetts, in New Bedford and Nantucket, no one could conceive of a future that didn’t depend on whale oil. But until recently, America’s history has been to drive technology, transform marketplaces, and invent a future never imagined before. In America, making the impossible possible has been a credo and a way of life. In the 1930s only 10 percent of rural America had electricity. Utilities refused to wire rural counties because homes were too far apart. To bring electricity to all Americans, Congress provided more than $5 billion to finance rural electrification. By the 1950s, there was hardly a corner of America that was still dark. Across our history we’ve successfully moved from wood to coal, coal to oil, oil to a mix of oil, gas, coal, nuclear and hydroelectric. Now it’s time to move to solar, wind, biomass, fuel cells, clean coal, and other wonders of American ingenuity, and I believe Washington must lead the marketplace in the right direction.

Today there is as compelling a national interest to address the security and environmental threats of fossil fuels as there is to defeat radical, extreme Islamists and global terror. Our soldiers shouldn’t be the only ones to sacrifice in this war. We must all be soldiers, and we must all welcome some sacrifice in that service.

As individuals, the change can be as simple as replacing traditional light bulbs with efficient fluorescents. In our communities we should require that new buildings include lights that turn off when people leave the room. We should follow the lead of Tokyo and their energy efficient escalators that shut off when they aren’t being used. There are literally thousands of things to be done, too few of which we are being asked to do.

Each of us can do something. And together all of us can insist on leaders who secure our energy independence, not ones who barter it away. We wouldn’t elect a candidate who said terrorism wasn’t a threat. We wouldn’t tolerate a candidate for national office who didn’t say he was committed to capturing or killing Osama Bin Laden. But for too long we’ve tolerated those who treat the threat of energy insecurity and the truth of global climate change as an inconvenient myth. Well, from now on, every American who walks into a polling place can and should vote to kick out anyone who stands in the way of energy independence.

But it is also time to put Washington to the test. Time to tell powerful interests that the old era has ended and so have their easy arrangements. Then instead of empty slogans and long laundry lists of bite-sized ideas that tinker at the edges of outdated policy, we can embark on revolutions that will put our energy future in our own hands and put global climate change at the top of the national agenda where it belongs.

Today I want to focus on the three big steps that are imperative to addressing global warming and transitioning to dependence on homegrown sources of energy. First, I believe we need to establish an oil goal and implement an aggressive set of policies to reach it. Second, I believe we must immediately expand the availability, production, and distribution of renewable fuels to run our cars. And third, we need to get serious about climate change and take measures to freeze and reverse our greenhouse gas emissions.

To start: We must establish mandates for reducing U.S. oil consumption by 2.5 million barrels of oil per day by 2015 – an amount equivalent to the oil we currently import from the Persian Gulf.

Yes, I said mandate -- and I said it because we have lost too much time for voluntary measures to be put to the test. And we can’t just set a mandate – we have to provide incentives to businesses and industry to make the mandate achievable.

We must significantly ramp up our production of Flex Fuel Vehicles. They run on alternative fuels, like E85, a blend of 85 percent ethyl alcohol -- a home-grown, domestic, completely renewable source of fuel that burns cleaner than gasoline.

Other countries already know something we don’t. Actually they’ve been doing something we won’t – something influential interests don’t want us to do. Thirty years ago when Brazil faced an energy crisis they got serious about alternative fuels. Relying on new stocks of homegrown fuels in addition to its own oil production, this year Brazil will achieve energy independence. If Brazil can do it, why can’t we? If a developing country can go from 90 percent dependence on foreign oil to zero percent dependence in three decades, then we -- the most powerful, creative, industrial country on Earth – we can change the destructive course we’re on.

Today, in this country, only six million vehicles – just 10 percent of all those on the road – can be fueled by E85, and less than one percent of the service stations have even a single E85 pump. To change that we must require – not just recommend – that an increasing percentage of new cars can run on E85 and that by 2020 all new cars will have the capacity to run on E85. 20/20: that’s not just a vision, that’s a real program to jumpstart energy independence.

But building these cars doesn’t get you very far if there is nowhere for Americans to them fill up. What a Washington solution it would be if we built flex fuel cars but you couldn’t buy the fuel– talk about a bridge to nowhere. We need to immediately expand our investment in E85 infrastructure. Mandate that 10 percent of all major oil company filling stations offer at least one ethanol pump by 2010. And to deploy this technology quickly, provide financial incentives to both independent and retail chains to install the new pumps. Just think -- we can put ethanol pumps in every single gas station in America for what we spend in Iraq in just one week. I don’t think there’s a Member of Congress who will want to tell their constituents they didn’t think breaking our dependence on oil was worth as much as one week in Iraq. When the energy spending bill comes before the Senate, I will offer an amendment to get over 1800 E85 pumps across the country in the next year alone, and with your help we’ll make the Congress vote yes or no – choose the status quo or choose America’s energy future.

To ensure we have enough ethanol to meet our demands, we must also invest in the kind of ethanol produced from plant wastes and energy crops like switchgrass. And we must set a goal of having 30 percent of our fuels come from biofuels by 2020. Believe me, if we’re spending 2 billion in Iraq in one week, we can commit $2 billion in funding for cellulosic biofuels over the next ten years!

Energy efficiency can be a powerful weapon in the arsenal of our democracy and is as indispensable as armor and munitions. We have to combat the threat to soldiers that comes not just from gun barrels but from oil barrels. We should all be incensed that we are in effect financing both sides in the war on terror every time we fill up our tanks. We can’t keep asking American troops to risk the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq if those of us on the homefront aren’t ready to make even the smallest sacrifice to help them.

I remember sitting with a top CEO from the auto industry in the spring of 2003. He’d come to see me to talk about automobile efficiency standards. I asked him why the American auto industry seemed unwilling to build more fuel efficient cars. He told me that the American consumer wouldn’t buy a more fuel efficient car. He asked me, “Why in the world would we change everything to build more fuel efficient vehicles when no one wants them?” Three years later as the demand for hybrids and high mileage vehicles soars, the Japanese are there in the market and our own companies are struggling to catch up and even survive.

With leadership in Washington through a combination of incentives, grants and standards, we can and must at last revolutionize the way we drive.

We must no longer be afraid of the third rail of energy policy – fuel economy standards. Fuel efficiency standards have been essentially unchanged since 1980. Think about that. Jimmy Carter was President, my daughters were playing Atari and wearing leg-warmers, apartheid was a way of life in South Africa, and America was tuning in to find out who shot J.R. Since then, because Washington stood still, captive to powerful interests, the average efficiency of vehicles has actually declined. The United States can’t have a serious policy for oil security until we leave the 1980’s behind – entering the 21st century by demanding a major increase in the fuel economy of our cars.

Massachusetts and California have led the way cutting CO2 emissions from cars, leading the way for more efficient cars in these states. But state action alone cannot meet this national challenge. Washington must do its job, too. We need to establish a federal standard for controlling carbon dioxide emissions from cars and trucks. If the entire country did what Massachusetts and California are already doing, we could raise fuel efficiency by 40 percent.

Building the cars of the future – fuel-efficient, advanced-technology vehicles – will require automakers and their suppliers to retool their factories. I believe the federal government has a responsibility to help them remain competitive. Tax credits will help support the necessary investments, make the new technologies cost effective, and create jobs for the workers who will build the cars of the future and help consumers buy them. We should commit $3 billion to this effort in tax credits over the next five years – tax credits that will not only help reduce oil dependence but which will pay for themselves through tax revenue generated by the growth and productivity that follow.

But like all the funding in my proposal, let’s not leave it subject to the whims of Congress and an army of appropriators. We need to create a new security and conservation trust fund to guarantee the resources to move the nation towards energy independence. This isn’t a matter of capacity, it’s a matter of willpower. We have the money, the question is whether we have the right priorities. Just by rolling back the tax breaks for big oil which even President Bush opposes, and by renegotiating oil leases, we can invest in a fund for energy security.

Instead of a tax code that works for the K Street lobbyists, let’s provide an aggressive set of tax incentives and grants to ensure that by 2020, 20 percent of all passenger cars and trucks on the road will be fuel efficient, low emissions hybrid vehicles. Sure, hybrid vehicles are more expensive today. But they don’t have to be if we put a little presidential muscle behind them. The doors of college were only open to the rich and powerful until President Lincoln pioneered a system of Land Grant Colleges that gave us UMass and URI and the University of Connecticut. After World War II, highways and roads were underfunded by local governments and some were unusable until President Eisenhower pushed through a national highway system. You want hybrid vehicles out on those highways? Make it affordable for Americans to buy American hybrids – because that’s a hell of a lot better than subsidizing Saudi sheiks who look the other way while madrassas teach kids hatred and violence.

Here‘s another bottom-line: Good energy policy is also fundamental to coping with global climate change.

In 1992, I was part of the Senate delegation to the Rio Earth Summit. I was continuing an interest sparked when I lead efforts in the eighties to deal with acid rain -- efforts that culminated in our creating a Cap and Trade system for emissions and making it part of the Clean Air Act in 1990. I believe that George Herbert Walker Bush – Bush "41" -- can be proud that he was a President Bush who signed into law bills to help us reduce pollution.

The story since then is not just a disappointment -- it is a flagrant, dangerous, arrogant disavowal of science at the behest of the powerful. It is a damning story of public irresponsibility and private profiteering. Those who have encouraged, facilitated and acquiesced in it will go down in history as modern day robber barons who sold out future generations for their own selfish gain. We need to use this November to throw the robber barons and their cronies out of the Congress and put the peoples’ interests back in.

Each year since 1992, the science has become more certain. What was theory in some areas is now proven fact. Scientific models have become more sophisticated and more accurate. Across the world scientists and national leaders – except ours -- have spoken out and acted decisively. Only the United States stands out as a flat earth holdout for inaction. When confronted by scientific facts, leaders must not change the facts to suit their politics; whether the issue is global warming, stem cell research, or Iraq, leaders must tell people the truth.

In the last month Al Gore’s "Inconvenient Truth" has brought the science to millions of Americans in a dramatic and persuasive way. Al was an early leader and a visionary on climate change – and if he had not just been elected but been inaugurated as President, America today would be the world’s leading advocate, not the world’s leading opponent of climate change.

The question now – even more than it has been for the last years – is not whether climate change is happening but what are we going to do about it? No, I don't mean how does the political system moan and groan and adopt makeshift responses. I mean what are we really going to do? How do we turn this danger into opportunity? How do we meet a challenge of epic proportions with an epic American response?

Well we have to start by ending the bizarre disconnect of American politics. Real crises stare us in the face, screaming for solution. But non-existent, contrived ones replace the real ones on the agenda of a Congress that wants to change the political climate instead of dealing with climate change. They remain bent on dividing the country with flag burning and gay bashing amendments to the Constitution when we should be strengthening the country with a determined attack on global climate change.

Compare that kind of craven politics, to last week’s announcement by the nation’s leading climate scientists -- a shocking new report that revealed that the earth's temperature is at a 2,000 year high. The scientists said – let me just read it to you – that the “recent warmth is unprecedented for at least the last 400 years and potentially the last several millennia” and they also stated that "human activities are responsible for much of the recent warming.”

Unless we deal with global warming boldly and quickly our world will undergo a string of terrible events in both the Atlantic and the Pacific far worse than Hurricane Katrina.

Never before have so many people lived so close to the coasts: More than a hundred million people worldwide live within three feet of sea level. Some of the world’s greatest cities like – New York, Shanghai, Bangkok, and Tokyo – are at risk.

So we need a plan that actually does what the science tells us we have to do to. That’s why I will be introducing in the Senate the most far-reaching proposal in our history. Nothing else will protect our security and our world. And I believe that anyone who knows the urgency of this global challenge, would be fighting to make this our national policy. And that is what I’m going to do.

It will stop and reverse U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. I propose establishing an aggressive economy wide cap and trade program to reverse emissions growth starting in 2010. After that, we will progress to more rapid reductions and end at 65 percent below 2000 emissions by the year 2050.

At the same time, we cannot be reckless about the economic impacts. We must ensure American businesses remain competitive with the rest of the world. To achieve that goal, my plan will provide the tools to help the economy transition to new clean energy technologies, protect workers and affected communities, and protect companies and consumers from energy cost shocks. We will provide tax incentives for good behavior and increased funding for research, development and deployment of clean energy technologies. And I believe we should double the federal government funding for research and development to support private sector energy research, demonstration, and deployment.

The U.S. is the world’s single largest emitter of greenhouse gases, but the U.S. alone cannot solve the challenge of climate change. It is going to take action from other countries - - both developed and developing. We must re-engage in discussions with the international community and work together to plan a path forward. It’s a global problem and it’s going to require a global solution.

We have big challenges to solve – and a whole host of people in Washington who don’t know how to tackle them, and a whole cast of political consultants who will counsel their candidates not even to try.

That’s where you come in. You need to push the curve. You need to shake things up.

A Saudi Arabian oil minister and a founder of OPEC once said, "That the Stone Age came to an end not for a lack of stones, and the oil age will end, but not for a lack of oil." We are not about to run out of oil, but the consequences of endless dependence on oil are too great, too profound, and too dangerous for our nation. Rather than have our energy policy be the last big mistake of the 20th century, we can and must create a policy that is the first great breakthrough of the 21st century.

So for the second time in our history let’s declare and win our independence. This time not from foreign rule but from foreign oil. If we are as Lincoln said the “last best hope of Earth,” let’s stop being the denier of global warming that endangers the Earth. Let’s give our people back the truth, and let’s give the world back its future.

mbk
Thanks for posting that!

SCALIA: DELAY STAYS ON BALLOT
By Paul Kiel - August 7, 2006, 5:01 PM
Bad news for Tom DeLay.

Lawyer for the Texas Republicans James Bopp has just issued a notice that Justice Antonin Scalia has denied their stay request.

That means that Tom DeLay WILL be forced to run again -- or watch the Democrat opponent run without a GOP opponent.

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001289.php

just reading about WW2 -

It is believed that approximately 62 million people, or 2.5% of the world population, died in the war; estimates vary greatly. About 60% of all casualties were civilians, who died as a result of disease, starvation, genocide (in particular, the Holocaust), massacres, and aerial bombing.

(Wikipedia)

There is also mention of nationalism, land grab, embargoes & consolidation of oil fields. How little we learn.

My husband saw a headline "Lieberman Thrilled By Latest Poll" - apparently because of a 6 point lag instead of 13 point - is this preparation for some rigging?

If you are going to post an entire speech, please place it in the forum and post a link to it on the blog.

http://www.democracycellproject.net/forum/index.php?s=0ffd68d14d39aacd5e342ede261041a2&showforum=146

Or just pick a few excerpts that you really like and give us the link to the source.

Thanks

.... is this preparation for some rigging?

Posted by: DiAnne at August 7, 2006 05:56 PM

That's a rhetorical question, no?

http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/media/bush-lieberman-kiss.jpg

is this preparation for some rigging?
Posted by: DiAnne at August 7, 2006 05:56 PM

Since Lieberman is so "close" to Republicans now, it wouldn't surprise me in the least to someday find out they are funding some of his campaign, since he is pro-Iraq-war.

Nor would it surprise me to find out any e-voting machines in CT were rigged in Lieberman's favor in Tuesday's primary.

NeoCons know a good friend when they see one, and as long as Lieberman is pro-war, any and all good he has done in the past is negated by his support of both Bu$h and his war.

Norman Solomon | News Media's Love-Hate for Nuclear Weapons
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/080706E.shtml
"In US news media, the implicit message is that American nuclear bombs are A-OK, and the fact that Washington's ally Israel maintains a large nuclear arsenal is supposed to be no cause for major concern," writes Norman Solomon. "Going deeper than nationalistic blind faith, some important questions should be considered. Last week, the Latin American writer Eduardo Galeano asked two of them: 'Who calibrates the universal dangerometer? Was Iran the country that dropped atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima?'"

How the US Super-Rich "Dodge" Taxes
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/080706F.shtml
A Senate probe that has examined hundreds of documents and issued 74 subpoenas turns a spotlight on the murky tax dealings of some of America's richest citizens.

Justice Kennedy Questions American Democracy
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/080706C.shtml
The United States is not making the case for freedom, democracy and Western law to the rest of the world, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy said Saturday. "Make no mistake, there's a jury that's out. In half the world, the verdict is not yet in. The commitment to accept the Western idea of democracy has not yet been made, and they are waiting for you to make the case," Kennedy said in an address to the American Bar Association.

This speaks to your last post, I think, NonnyO (the Justice Kennedy article about not assuming the whole world wants US style "democracy")

U.S. Asked to Not Interfere in Cuba

Leftist intellectuals and human rights activists from around the world pleaded with the United States on Monday not to interfere with Cuba while Fidel Castro recovers from intestinal surgery, and Cuba's parliament speaker warned the U.S. would face dire consequences if it did.

Many of the 400 signers of the open letter are from Latin America, and numerous Nobel Peace laureates are listed, such as former Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and activist Rigoberta Menchu of Guatemala.

Announcing the letter at a news conference, leading Cuban writer Roberto Fernandez Retamar said Cubans are convinced that Castro's handover of power to his younger brother and defense minister, Raul Castro, is only temporary. "In a few months, we'll have him back with us," Retamar said.

Vice President Carlos Lage, in Bogota to attend the inauguration of President Alvaro Uribe for a second term, said Monday that Castro "continues to be coming along favorably and we are sure that he will recover. "He himself has said that in a few weeks he will be back at work again," Lage added. He said Cuba was operating normally in Castro's absence "with a delegation given provisional duties."

That optimistic assessment has been reinforced by other statements from Fidel Castro's inner circle and Latin American allies, who say the Cuban leader is recovering well from surgery for internal bleeding. Cubans have been told most details of his health would be kept "a state secret" to prevent enemies from taking advantage of his condition. Indeed, officials haven't said precisely what ails Castro or what surgical procedure he underwent.

President Bush said the United States remains in the dark about the illness, but he didn't miss the chance to motivate anti-Castro activists to push for change. "The only thing I know is what has been speculated, and this is that, on the one hand, he is very ill and, on the other hand, he is going to be coming out of hospital," Bush said Monday. "Our desire is for the Cuban people to choose their own form of government."

Cuba's Parliament Speaker Ricardo Alarcon said Monday that if the U.S. tried to intervene on the island "it's going to become a hell for them from the first day." "We will guarantee them total failure once again," Alarcon added in an interview from Havana with the Venezuela-based television station Telesur, apparently referring to the failed U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday denied the United States is contemplating an invasion of the island in the wake of Castro's illness but said the U.S. wants to help Cubans prepare for democracy. "The notion that somehow the United States is going to invade Cuba, because there are troubles in Cuba, is simply far-fetched," Rice told NBC.

The Castro brothers have been out of sight since the July 31 announcement on state television that Fidel had undergone surgery and was temporarily ceding power to Raul.
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/08/07/international/i131104D36.DTL

--Let's hope this Admin stays out of the affairs of yet another sovereign nation, this one in our hemisphere. Nice to see that AP sends reporters to Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela & Spanish-speaking, at that.

Lamont led in the double digits - now the race is "too close to call" - what gives?!

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec06/conn_08-07.html

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/08/07/iraq-civil-war-3/

"You know, I hear people say, Well, civil war this, civil war that. The Iraqi people decided against civil war when they went to the ballot box."

(George W. Bush)

Posted by: DiAnne at August 7, 2006 08:54 PM

I think the USA needs to take some time out, mind it's own friggin' business for a change, and stop any "nation building" that DumDum talked about in the 2000 debates. We need to fix our own house so it's worth emulating as a model of government. If people in other countries don't like the idea of a republic or a democracy or a parliamentarian system or a constitutional monarchy, then they need not adopt those forms of government. To have favor with any citizens, leaders must "rule by the consent of the governed." Without that, no country can succeed, and leaders will be thrown out of office - legally through a voting system, or otherwise through revolution. Our own Declaration of Independence is a declaration of reasons for the US revolution, so that document actually affirms revolution as a method to gain self-governance. If we keep having more "leaders" like DumDum, the people of this nation may have to have another revolution....

Posted by: DiAnne at August 7, 2006 08:56 PM

I missed all local and national news tonight, but I tuned in to The News Hour just in time to see that whole segment.

When I heard that Lamont's lead was only single digits, I figured someone has done some push-polling to get skewed results at the last minute... and that kind of story in Lamestream Media makes it a psy-ops barrage of information that CT residents are now swinging back to the status quo. After stuff I've read on blogs and newsletters, I think the poll is way off.

But it still wouldn't surprise me to hear that somewhere in the background Turd Blossom has something to do with skewed poll results. The Republicans want Lieberman in office even if he does have a (D) after his name, since ol' Joe has been so good as to praise the CIC and support his illegal war (which, by implication, supports the other war crimes with Gitmo, torture, etc.)

I'm just hoping there are not a lot of e-voting machines in CT that will give the primary to Lieberman; I want Lamont to win... if only to send a message to other Dems in the nation to "Lis-sen up fer yer own good, Congress Critters and candidates! People out here in mainstream America want the troops home ASAP, the jig's up, we know the Bu$hCo administration LIED to us for the reasons they wanted to start the war (and some of us knew they were lying at the time, even if Congress and Lamestream Media didn't figure it out); ordinary citizens of this country don't approve of torture, they want prison camps closed, and they will vote warmongers out of office, and they want good education and medical care that aren't going to only benefit corporations, and affordable prescriptions, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera - We the People have grievances that have not been addressed since SCOTUS installed the current administration...!!!"

With Lamont owning a company that provides internet service, he bears watching so he doesn't pass legislation that clamps down on the free-flow of information on the internet, etc....

Still, I do want Lamont to win, tomorrow and in November....

Good evening!

Just got back from a planning session for Camp Democracy.

It is coming along--we have permits and plans for a major concert as well as training sessions on issues and strategies, creative responses, media, and activism. We are hoping that many will heed the call to come to Washington for at least part of the events.

It is only through concerted efforts and a huge presence that folks will take heart and become more engaged themselves. We are trying to train, inspire, and build energy in ways that the media and the political leadership of this country cannot ignore.

Please help and be a part of this effort.

If we keep having more "leaders" like DumDum, the people of this nation may have to have another revolution....

Posted by: NonnyO at August 7, 2006 09:41 PM

First you'll have to pry them off their bloated, lazy butts, but your point is well taken.

Fat chance.

Governors Balk at Bid to Place Guard Under Presidential Control
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/080706T.shtml
The nation's governors are closing ranks in opposition to a proposal in Congress that would let the president take control of the National Guard in emergencies without the consent of the governors. The idea is part of a House-passed version of the National Defense Authorization Act. The Senate has not yet agreed to it.
{{{Anyone besides me see the pitfalls if this piece of idiocy is approved by our CongressCritters?!?!? Hello fascist nation putting ordinary citizens into prisons like the new facility in Gitmo and the other prisons being built by Halliburton on our own soil, people herded up by our own military.... Gee, I hear echoes of the past before I was even born....}}}

Scott Galindez | Is Lieberman Producing for Democrats?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/080706R.shtml
Scott Galindez on the importance of tomorrow's Democratic primary in Connecticut: "This election is about defeating 'corporatism' couched as 'centrism' in the party. The problem with Joe Lieberman is that he has spent so much time trying to sell himself as a centrist that it has affected his ability to lead on liberal issues that he cares about."

David R. Francis | Why the US Should Mandate Paid Vacations
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/080706LC.shtml
"It's vacation season. But a third of American working women are given no paid leave, and a quarter of men get no pay from their employer if they take a week or more off for rest and recreation. Unlike other industrialized nations, the United States has no law requiring companies to give their workers a paid vacation of any duration," writes David Francis.

Administration Aims to Set Health Care Standards
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/080706HA.shtml
The Bush administration will soon launch an ambitious effort to require that all providers of federally financed health care adopt quality-measurement tools and uniform standards for their information technology, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said Sunday.
{{{Read this carefully. It's a proposed "executive order." Funding faith-based charities was also an "executive order" which is why it by-passed CongressCritters who might still have opposed it in January 2001 following the separation of church and state (altho I don't think they'd still deny churches funding any longer, given the 30% who make so much noise about combining religion and politics). I've yet to figure out how those same "faith based charities" are still being funded - through more "executive orders" or through additions to necessary bills our CongressCritters have passed in the wee hours of the morning before anyone has read any funding legislation.... IMHO, any churches preaching politics from their pulpits need to be denied their tax exempt status, since it seems so many are also getting tax money through "faith based charities" funded by taxpayer dollars. After reading this, I can only conclude it would be yet another windfall for corporations that deal with Medicare and the elderly, in particular, and they're already getting enough taxpayer dollars - from the government and from the people they pretend to help, IMHO....}}}

Anyone besides me see the pitfalls if this piece of idiocy is approved by our CongressCritters

(NonnyO, referring to W's desire to control National Guard, which are supposed to be state militia under each Governor, but W would supercede this & be in charge, in case of what he deemed a national emergency)

Yes - a guy who is moving out of the country warned me about this yesterday.

David R. Francis | Why the US Should Mandate Paid Vacations
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/080706LC.shtml

Posted by: NonnyO at August 7, 2006 10:04 PM

Thanks for sharing, Nonny.

Longer vacations help the travel and tourism industry, but more importantly, when Americans can take time off and travel to other parts of the country (or the world), they come back more enlightened, and make better, more productive members of the American and global society.

One reason the Europeans are so knowledgeable about American and world affairs is because they can afford the time to travel to the US or wherever they need to be. Take a transatlantic flight, and the economy class will be filled with European vacationers - very few Americans, even on US-flagged airlines.

And that's precisely what the big businesses are afraid of. Enlightenment and slave labor don't mix.

Posted by: DiAnne at August 7, 2006 10:34 PM

Putting the Criminal Cabal and/or the front man Puppet dictator in charge of our National Guard is a very dangerous proposal and needs to be stopped dead in its tracks. Governors need to be able to dispatch them to state emergencies or send them to neighboring states who have asked for help when natural or other disasters happen.... IMHO.

Posted by: Ally McLesbian at August 8, 2006 12:10 AM

Other nations have much more civilized things like both maternity and paternity leave (paid), and vacation time for workers than we do in this country. They also have better-managed health-care systems for their people, both young and old (without corporations reaping government-paid financial windfalls for which corporate executives get obscene bonuses). They actually care about their people, not the corporations! What an attitude adjustment, eh? I don't forsee such common-sense legislation or thinking in this country in my lifetime.

Ally, NonnyO

re vacations & our lack thereof .. as in Jeremy Rivkins book -
Americans live to work, Europeans work to live

- when we really had unions, we opted for more pay, they
opted for more leisure

- now seems with globalization & the aging of the populations
& the money crunch & the turn to the right, we are all
ending up with less money & less leisure as well

In France, Sarkozy (who is contender for head of govt in 2007) is touting a return to the 40 hour week from the 35 hour week, & for people to work more - for example.

In America, we are encouraged to take short trips, lots of "long weekends" instead of real vacations, to take extra cash in lieu of vacation, or don't have paid vacation at all. How many flat screen TVs and outdoor kitchens can one family purchase?!

Is Kos Really the Kingmaker?

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1223869,00.html

I don't know, but at YearlyKos the MSM were crawling all over each other to interview him.

The news is full of Lieberman's last minute blitz.

No.

If Lieberman loses, it will be primarily because of what Lieberman has done, not Kos.

"Lamont led in the double digits - now the race is "too close to call" - what gives?!"

Polling for these primaries is very imprecise. It is never clear in doing such polls who will actually turn out to vote.

How Republicans really go about stealing elections:

http://www.dembloggers.com/story/2006/8/7/221459/2827

Maybe this isn't enough to call stealing. At very least it's pushing them off the back of a truck.

In America, we are encouraged to take short trips, lots of "long weekends" instead of real vacations, to take extra cash in lieu of vacation, or don't have paid vacation at all. How many flat screen TVs and outdoor kitchens can one family purchase?!

Posted by: DiAnne at August 8, 2006 12:34 AM

DiAnne - it never ends. By the time you are done purchasing the big screen TV, your neighbor pulls up in a Mercedes S-class, and you have to have one too. It takes two years of the average worker's pay to get one of those things.

At least it's how things are working in my area. Keeping up with the Joneses (or the Kims in my area). It never ends.

The unions' priority on more wealth in America, versus better quality of life in Europe, shows the difference in the way of thinking between the two.

In my case, I've been working 7 days a week, weekdays at a reactionary Marine base in the desert, weekends in my office, racking up at least 60 hours a week. These days, I no longer have to be in the desert so much, but I spend my office time spacing out and goofing, instead of working, because I am so burned out. But I won't be getting a vacation anytime soon. I was lucky to get a long weekend in Seattle with you, and I will be lucky to get a long weekend in Vancouver for Labor Day, as opposed to a week off to spend in DC to assist with Camp Democracy.

Unfortunately, vacation, even unpaid, is considered a luxury in the immigrant circles, at least in my waters. They say that it's the only way they can compete, while "unionized American workers get lazy and take vacations." This is yet another reason I am getting fed up with immigration - declining quality of life for ALL American workers.

How the US fired Jack Straw:
The Foreign Secretary spoke his mind on the Middle East — and became a target in Washington
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-2301799,00.html

Osama Has Won
Hatred of the US is Now Universal
By Brian Cloughley
Israel is supported root and branch by the President and Congress of United States of America. They unconditionally endorse the actions, no matter how barbaric or bizarre, of a racist, nuclear-armed country that willfully ignores UN resolutions and assassinates people as a matter of national policy.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14397.htm

Democrats who oppose illegal wars and torture want to reclaim the party :
A grassroots revolt by voters has sparked a struggle for the party's soul, and a New England senator is in the firing line
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1838736,00.html

George Galloway - Hizbollah Is Not A Terrorist Organization
One mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighterGeorge Galloway has spoken out in support of Lebanon, saying he believes Hizbollah is justified in defending Lebanon against Israeli attacks . The Respect MP also lambasted media coverage of the war and said the UN resolution means nothing. Video.
Click here to view
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14391.htm

Blog entry I left on their Comment section (most everybody admires George Galloway, it seems):

George Galloway brings tears to my eyes....

Articulate, off-the-cuff, no script, no parsing words for sound bytes, absolute grasp of basic FACTS with an historical perspective....

Since the presidential debates of 2000 when our Lamestream Media praised DumDum for his inarticulate, grammatically incorrect speaking (The Cretin lied during those debates and I knew it at the time) and Lamestream Media spimmeisters still keep apologetically explaining his horrible way of speaking, trying to make sense of anything the egomaniacal de facto dictator has to say, I've hung my head in shame, and my head gets lower with every unconstitutional decision and every new war crime he and/or his administration commits in *our* names and spinmeisters spin away more lies and rationalizations to 'justify' the crimes and unconstitutionality of this administration's actions. At this point in time, I could walk upright under a blade of grass hanging my head in shame that this immoral cretin is the leader of the US.

I saw a tape a long time ago when Galloway spoke before our Congress Critters and told them what for (Lamestream Media virtually ignored it, of course). I wished so badly that the very courageous Galloway was a resident of this nation and could represent us. At that moment, George Galloway became my international political hero.

We need intelligent, articulate women and men with an essential grasp of facts and more than a little common sense and diplomatic prowess to lead this nation right now, women and men who care more for the people of this nation than they do corporate money and greed and unlimited power, both here and in throughout the world, people who can speak coherently, sans scripts, with no political spin... and there seem to be none in this nation who can measure up to Galloway. None. Even the few who have occasionally had the balls to speak out against this administration carefully parse their words because they know what they have to say might be on a news sound byte and attacked by the Turd-Blossom Swiftboating Slime machine. What I wouldn't give for a US politician like George Galloway!!! I'd be first in line at the local polling precint on election day to vote for him/her!!!

Bravo, George Galloway!!! I hope he keeps talking; and I hope someday the clearly articulated things he has to say will be broadcast on this side of the pond - if, that is, our Lamestream Media ever regains their lost and compromised First Amendment rights and responsibilities and start telling the people of this nation the truth about the current administration....

Kudos, George Galloway!!! Kudos!!!

Iraq PM criticizes U.S. on Shiite militia attack
Violence kills at least 30 across the country; gunbattles erupt in Baghdad

(AP)BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq’s prime minister sharply criticized a U.S.-Iraqi attack Monday on a Shiite militia stronghold in Baghdad, breaking with his American partners on security tactics as the United States launches a major operation to secure the capital.

More than 30 people were killed or found dead Monday, including 10 paramilitary commandos slain when a suicide driver detonated a truck at the regional headquarters of the Shiite-led Interior Ministry police in a mostly Sunni city north of Baghdad.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s criticism followed a predawn air and ground attack on an area of Sadr City, stronghold of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia.

Police said three people, including a woman and a child, were killed in the raid, which the U.S. command said was aimed at “individuals involved in punishment and torture cell activities.”

One U.S. soldier was wounded, the U.S. said.

‘Very angered and pained’
Al-Maliki, a Shiite, said he was “very angered and pained” by the operation, warning that it could undermine his efforts toward national reconciliation.

“Reconciliation cannot go hand in hand with operations that violate the rights of citizens this way,” al-Maliki said in a statement on government television. “This operation used weapons that are unreasonable to detain someone — like using planes.”

He apologized to the Iraqi people for the operation and said, “This won’t happen again.”

Friction between the U.S. military and the Iraqi government emerged as the U.S. military kicks off a military operation to secure Baghdad streets after a surge in Sunni-Shiite violence — much of it blamed on al-Sadr’s militia.

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14231197/

Unbelievable... and yet, not.

Posted by: NonnyO at August 8, 2006 04:21 AM

Not sure that I agree with his entire perspective, but he sure does makes some points that, if factual, Americans need to hear.

This video from Germany seems to understand Bush quite a lot.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3934788900154749704&pr=goog-sl

*Just for some humor here.

Army Ponders Amusement Venue, Hotel At Ft. Belvoir

By Timothy Dwyer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 8, 2006; A01

Army officials say they are considering allowing a private developer to build a 125-acre entertainment, hotel and conference center complex next to a national Army museum at Fort Belvoir that could draw more than 1 million people a year to traffic-choked southern Fairfax County.

The possibility of adding what county officials call a military theme park arises as about 22,000 employees prepare to be transferred to Fort Belvoir in the next five years because of the federal base realignment and closure recommendations, designed to save $49 billion nationwide.

The Army is considering the entertainment venue to help offset the cost of the $300 million museum, which a spokesman said is scheduled to open in 2013. No federal funds are being sought for the museum, but Fairfax has donated $240,000.

A Florida developer has submitted an unsolicited proposal for a military theme park that would include the "Chateau Belvoir" hotel and an entertainment district with bars like the "1st Division Lounge" and several "4D" rides.

"You can command the latest M-1 tank, feel the rush of a paratrooper freefall, fly a Cobra Gunship or defend your B-17 as a waist gunner," according to the proposal by Universal City Property Management III of Orlando. The company has no connection to NBC-Universal, which owns Universal Studios, a spokeswoman said yesterday.

Fairfax officials, who have no say over the Army's decision because the site is federal property, said they are worried about an entertainment complex's impact on traffic.

Supervisor T. Dana Kauffman (D-Lee) was so upset after hearing about the Universal City proposal last year that he threw company representatives out of his office. He said he had no interest in turning a military history museum into "Disney on Rolling Road." After the meeting, he said, he thought the entertainment concept for the Army museum was dead.

But last week, the Army told Kauffman and other Fairfax officials that it intended to move the museum from the Fort Belvoir entrance to the Engineer Proving Ground a few miles from the post because it needs to increase the size of the complex from 75 acres to 125, which Kauffman said is a prelude to an entertainment complex.

"It seems fairly clear that the Pentagon brass has decided the only way they can succeed with the Army museum is to make a museum wrapped in an amusement park," Kauffman said.

more...
http://tinyurl.com/z3g3l

The Lousekateer Club

Monkey
re attack on Shiites
That is a big problem with having gone after Saddam (who was sitting on oil & could sell it in Euros). Saddam & his party were Sunni, like most of the moderate Arab world. Like most of their leaders, he oppressed his people & kept Shiites & Kurds down so Sunnis could rule. With Saddam gone, the poor but majority Shiites could strive for a religious state with Sharia law, like Iran.

Had we not helped (with CIA) take down Mosadeq, the Shah would not have come to power in Iran. The Shah was so hated that the people overthrew him and replaced him with religious fanatics. We could have left their democratically elected leader (Mosadeq) in place. Why didn't we? I think it's kind of the same reason our government doesn't like Hugo Chavez. Too socialist - keeps oil nationalized & after all, it should belong to the people, not us.

We had our own oil & we used it up.

I finally read the TIME article that ends with asking us to pray.
It had alot of good maps and discussed in one article the situations in Palestine, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq and 6 steps for correcting them, none of which seemed possible. Iran is particularly problematic.

NonnyO
I agree about Galloway.
I loved Clare Short, but she ended up quitting in frustration, didn't she? What an advocate for humanitarianism!

Bush: I sat on the porch thinking until Laura arrived.....

Bush said he spent the previous evening thinking about the Middle East while sitting on the porch of his ranchhouse waiting on first lady Laura Bush to arrive.

„I was thinking about the right strategy for the United States in the Middle East. I spent a long time thinking about it, went in and wrote some notes, I then shared my thoughts this morning with some of my inner circle,‰ Bush said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14206862/

ok now - off to work (for me, not him)

“Riding helps clear my head, helps me deal with the stresses of the job,” a sweat-soaked Bush said after an hour-and-20-minute ride that shot his heart rate up to 177 beats per minute at the top of one climb.

The president set a brutal pace for his accompanying riders, who included two Secret Service agents, White House spokesman Tony Snow and this reporter, who managed to gasp his way through the 12 1/2-mile (20-km) ride.

“What I would give to be 16 again!” Bush yelled out at one point as he mashed the pedals of his Trek bicycle through a wooded area.

In fact, Bush does not ride quietly, constantly shouting out in his Texas twang the names of trees and geographic features and yelling at himself to pedal faster.

“Air assault!” he yelled as he started one of two major climbs, up Calichi Hill, which he named for the white limestone rock from which it is formed.

Bush was in between work sessions at his ranch, having conducted a videoconference with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Vice President Dick Cheney, national security adviser Stephen Hadley and national intelligence director John Negroponte.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14206862/

First of all, I can't get Will Ferrels voice impersonating Shrub when I read actual dialogue from the El Presidense.

But lemme see if I got this straight, after working sessions with Rice, Cheney, Hadley and Negroponte, he goes on a little bikespin to relieve some stress, and screams, "Air Assault!"?!?!?!?!?!

Blurt much?

Cokie Robbers

Ron I am more ticked off about the consequences of Lieberman's posturing on Alito and the filibuster than his position on the war. Dems have been all over the place about the war until recently. His arrogance questioning the patriotism of those who challenge Bush such as JK and Murtha are equally troubling and sounded a lot like Bush's own language. The media makes today's primary as only a referendum on the the war. Lamont has turned it into a referendum on Lieberman himself and whether he represents the views of Connecticut voters any longer. Threatening to run as an independent pushed many over the edge, but its much deeper than just the war.

Its official: Tom DeLay can not even get a reprieve from Scalia and must run for re-election. His campaign message: I really don't want to represent anyone in the 22nd District, the Dems made me.

DiAnne, this is beautiful. (The actions, the writing) {{{DiAnne}}}

Posted by: monkey at August 8, 2006 09:15 AM

Hmmm...could this article have anything to do witht he bike for cancer fundraiser that JK just completed? He did more than 100 miles and I think he finished in around 5 hours.

Posted by: Suz at August 8, 2006 11:44 AM

... and I'll bet JK coulda passed a drug test afterwards, too.

Tour de Farce

No, there's no civil war in Iraq. How do we know? Because no one is wearing blue or gray uniforms...

Gen. Casey calls Iraq troop cuts unlikely

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gen. George W. Casey, the top American commander in Iraq, told ABC television Monday that rising violence in that country means the United States probably won't be able to reduce the number of troops there as soon as he had hoped.

"The last six weeks or so has been the highest level of sectarian violence since I've been here," Casey told ABC in an interview.

"We certainly have delayed our thoughts of drawing down this year," he said. "It's been delayed." While "it's not definite that we won't draw down this year," it is less likely, he said.

Casey's remarks followed those of Gen. John Abizaid, the senior U.S. commander in the Middle East, last week. Abizaid told the Senate that fighting in Baghdad was at the highest level he had seen and that it threatens to push Iraq into civil war.

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060808/1036165.asp

US troops 'assault Kirkuk journalists'
by Phil Sands in Kirkuk
Tuesday 08 August 2006 6:32 AM GMT

Journalists under Kirkuk feel under increasing attack from all sides

Several journalists in Kirkuk have accused American and Iraqi security forces of assaulting them and their crews as they tried to report on the worsening security situation in the northern city.

In at least six separate incidents since June, Iraqi reporters said they had been physically beaten, had their equipment confiscated and been falsely accused of "terrorism".

Senior US and Iraqi military officials admit such attacks have occurred and a series of investigations are underway.

Saman Fakhri of the Iranian-owned Al-Alam satellite television station said the assaults were intended to stop journalists reporting properly on rising levels of violence in Kirkuk.

"Things are getting worse and in response the security forces are directing an increasing amount of their energy and anger against the press," he told Aljazeera.net.

"We're under attack from all sides: the Iraqi Police, the Iraqi Army, the Emergency Services, Coalition Forces and the political parties are subjecting us to physical and verbal abuse.”

more...
http://tinyurl.com/hp5qk

Ira,

Besides the war, my major objections to Lieberman are also his position on those who criticize the war, as well as his position on "moral values" issues, such as his support for government intervention in the Schiavo case.

Here's a piece from 2004 that focused on one of my gripes with Senator Lieberman:

****

Memo to Senator Lieberman

During yesterday's Senate hearing investigating the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq, the Honorable Joseph Lieberman stated in his opening remarks:

“I cannot help but say, however, that those who were responsible for killing 3,000 Americans on September 11th, 2001, never apologized.”

I had to respond.

**********

Dear Senator Lieberman:

Please be advised that there were no Iraqis on the planes that hit the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, or on the airliner that crashed in Pennsylvania.

Let me repeat this, in case you somehow missed my point. There were no Iraqi nationals among the hijackers who attacked this nation on 9/11.

None.

Not one.

In fact, there is no credible case to be made with regard to any Iraqi involvement with 9/11. The myth of Iraqi involvement with 9/11 was one that was subliminally (and sadly, successfully) sold by the Bush Administration to the American people – with a substantial majority of respondents telling pollsters in early 2003 that they believed that Iraqi nationals were involved in the attack.

Hence, your remark on May 7 was not only irrelevant with regard to the need for Secretary Rumsfeld and General Myers to apologize, but also gives comfort to the kind of fuzzy thinking that I witness so much of the time on conservative talk radio or across the internet. This mindset postulates that because of 9/11, Americans somehow have a license to attack “Muslims” everywhere – and ultimately associates all Muslims with the 9/11 terrorists.

I strongly believe that the endorsement of such imprecise thinking fundamentally undermines our system of government. When an electorate can be so easily fooled by an obvious, completely transparent falsehood (with not even a single shred of evidence presented in support), then I worry that our great American experiment is entering its twilight hours. If you love this country, as I know that you do, I ask you to cease and desist with this unfortunate comparison. Base your case for supporting Secretary Rumsfeld, or the Iraq invasion, on intellectually tenable assertions – of which 9/11 is decidedly not one.

Sincerely yours,

Originally published May 8, 2004

http://www.hpleft.com/050804a.html