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Hmmmmm...
![rodin_thinker[1].jpg](http://www.democracycellproject.net/blog/archives/rodin_thinker[1].jpg)
Ahh..the campaign season. Funny how a few short years of memory lapse can create such marvelous moments:
For example, there's the resurrection of a classic idea of American diversity and inclusion.
There's lovely comments on immigration and fashion.
There's recognition of labor, here and elsewhere.
There's the enthusiasm of the crowds.
And of course, there's dedicated supporters and volunteers.
Its the fall election season, and campaigns are out motivating the "base".
Anyone want to venture what common denominator is the rallying cry for these individuals?
And who can forget who gets the rough end of the business in the process?
Bush Tells Group He Sees a 'Third Awakening'
By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 13, 2006; A05
President Bush said yesterday that he senses a "Third Awakening" of religious devotion in the United States that has coincided with the nation's struggle with international terrorists, a war that he depicted as "a confrontation between good and evil."
Bush told a group of conservative journalists that he notices more open expressions of faith among people he meets during his travels, and he suggested that might signal a broader revival similar to other religious movements in history. Bush noted that some of Abraham Lincoln's strongest supporters were religious people "who saw life in terms of good and evil" and who believed that slavery was evil. Many of his own supporters, he said, see the current conflict in similar terms.
"A lot of people in America see this as a confrontation between good and evil, including me," Bush said during a 1 1/2 -hour Oval Office conversation on cultural changes and a battle with terrorists that he sees lasting decades. "There was a stark change between the culture of the '50s and the '60s -- boom -- and I think there's change happening here," he added. "It seems to me that there's a Third Awakening."
The First Great Awakening refers to a wave of Christian fervor in the American colonies from about 1730 to 1760, while the Second Great Awakening is generally believed to have occurred from 1800 to 1830.
Some scholars and writers have debated for years whether a Third Awakening has been taking place, although some identify other awakenings in U.S. history. Bush aides, including Karl Rove, have read Robert William Fogel's "The Fourth Great Awakening and the Future of Egalitarianism."
Bush has been careful discussing the battle with terrorists in religious terms since he had to apologize for using the word "crusade" in 2001. He often stresses that the war is not against Islam but against those who corrupt it. In his comments yesterday, aides said Bush was not casting the war as a religious struggle but was describing American cultural changes in a time of war.
"He's drawing a parallel in terms of a resurgence, in dangerous times, of people going back to their religion," said one aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the session was not open to other journalists. "This is not 'God is on our side' or anything like that."
The White House did not release a transcript of Bush's remarks, but National Review posted highlights on its Web site. On another topic, Bush rejected sending more troops to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border areas to find Osama bin Laden. "One hundred thousand troops there in Pakistan is not the answer. It's someone saying 'Guess what' and then the kinetic action begins," he said, meaning an informer disclosing bin Laden's location.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/12/AR2006091201594_pf.html
Posted by: monkey at September 13, 2006 01:53 PM
Uh-Oh, he's got that ol' time religion again.
From Torture, The Passion and a Great Awakening
"If anything, the film must be seen as illustrative of our collective presence amidst yet another Great Awakening – a phenomenon quite common in American history, where often-irrational religious emotion and fervor overtake reason and authentic spiritual insight."
"The Founders and Framers each lived through at least one of these periods – the first of which in American history ran from about 1730 to 1760, and the second from 1820 to the mid-1830s. These were decades of great religious revivals, and fiery preachers – whose message, heard through modern ears, is apt to strike us as the Book of Revelation struck Thomas Jefferson – “the ravings of a maniac”."
"For an example of what I’m describing, take the time to read the linked sermon by Jonathan Edwards, one of the leading figures of the First Great Awakening, his “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. "
"These “awakening” periods are a part of our history, but let me strongly suggest that the thinking that they reflect is far removed from the breakthrough in human consciousness that was behind the birth of this nation in 1776. As historians point out time and again, it was a miracle of near-biblical proportions that a group of men as forward thinking and intellectually brilliant as the Founders and Framers even came together at that point in human history."
http://www.democracycellproject.net/blog/archives/2005/03/jesus_the_passi.html
Posted by: oncall at September 13, 2006 02:31 PM
Still crazy after all these wars.
NeoCon talking points that I expect to hear about daily in propaganda presentations on Lamestream McMedia before Nov. 7 (sans rebuttal from Dems, or if rebutted, Dems will be ridiculed by McSpinmeisters who will do all the talking, repeating DimWit's and the Vice Wit's opinions we've all heard ad nauseaum for six years, and not let Dems get a word in edgewise, so even if Dems appear on the shows "for balance" and mock "equal time," they will be coerced into listening to spin and not be able to get their points across):
War... 'ter-rirists'... fear... stay the course, god-is-on-our-side (shhh... crusade allusions)... anyone who doesn't back DimWit is unpatriotic and a godless atheist to boot, 'cuz NitWit gets his messages straight from the man upstairs himself... war... fear... hate... xenophobia... fear... war... "enemies" (undefined, of course)... 'finish the job'... fear... war... 'no global warming proved' and we don't have to sign on to Kyoto Treaty to reduce emissions 'cuz that will hurt corporate 'Murika's profits... more 'ter-rirists' and (undefined) "enemies"... signing statements that make the rule of law go away... 'Murika's A-OK... torture is okay if the pretzelnit says we don't do it 'cuz there's dangerous "enemies" being kept at the concentration camps... fear... 'ter-rirists' caught overseas so alert level goes up... war... more (undefined) "enemies" of 'Murkia and they're jealous of our freedoms... war... fear... religious-reich-gays-guns-god-faith-based-charities-abortion-abstinence... war... fear... stay the course... cut & run Dems... ignore the fact the Gulf hasn't been cleaned up after Katrina and what a fiasco that still is... war... fear... swiftboating anyone who doesn't agree with DimWit's [unconstitutional and illegal] "war" policy, never mind he doesn't have the Constitutional authority to declare war, only Congress does... fight them over there so we don't have to fight them here... war... economy's great (for big oil, and corporations such as Halliburton, KBR, DynCorp, Custer Battles, Bechtel, et al., who are robbing our treasury with no-bid contracts... shhhh...)... prosecute government tattle-tales... war... more 'ter-rirists'... flag burning... abortion... 9/11-Iraq-al Qaida-Taliban-Iran-threats of pre-emptive strikes... war... more (undefined) "enemies"... victory over 'ter-rirists'... win the [unconstitutional and illegal[ war - never mind that invasion and occupation of a country that was never a threat and didn't have one danged thing to do with 9/11 was in and of itself a war crime... anyone who tells the truth is a traitor, so don't listen to anyone who says the McAdministration's war, 'detention camps' and torture is an unconstitutional and impeachable offense (not to mention war crimes)... fear... war... 9/11 changed everything... war... fear... 'ter-ririst' alert levels to red... be afraid, but go out shopping and carry on your lives as usual anyway and don't forget to watch reality TV or fictitious mocumentaries, go to church (christian, of course), and ignore the fact that we now have a corporate fascist government 'cuz this country is great, so vote the way your preacher-man says you should vote 'cuz pretzelnit will keep you safe if he has a neoCon Congress to rubber-stamp any legislation he proposes... war...reach out to the other side, but only if they rubber stamp legislation... fear... war... be careful or the bogey man will crawl out from under your bed... religious reich-abortion-flag burning-gays-guns... war... fear... 9/11-Iraq-al Qaida-Taliban-Iran-nuclear-threat... fear... buy big gas-guzzling cars... war... be afwaid, be vewy, vewy afwaid... pre-emptive strikes, unitary executive... war... make tax cuts for rich people and corporations who keep their money off-shore permanent... war... ignore the mounting deficit that does not include war costs which were part of 'emergency spending bills' and are not part of the total for the national debt... fear... 'ter-ririst' alert to red again... war... fear... ignore fact that Medicare is FUBAR... war... Social Security "Reform"... war... fear... get them before they get us (aka pre-emptive strikes)... war... OBL releasing another tape... fear... "they" are coming for ya... support the war [occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan] and push for more wars elsewhere... release of a Taliban tape for good reinforcement to fear on top of latest OBL tape... push legislation that exempts DimWit, Vice-Wit, and other McAdministration McIdiots not able to be charged for war crimes and make torture and kangaroo courts and secret military tribunals legal, even though it goes against the Constitution and the Geneva Conventions... war... fear... don't look at the death toll numbers, watch idiotic TV infotainment and reality shows instead... war... torture is approved because the unitary executive said we do not torture anyone ever... war... fear... red 'ter-ririst' alert again between Nov. 1-7...
Oh, and have I mentioned that we're all supposed to support the [unconstitutional and illegal] war and be afraid of unseen and undefined 'enemies' of the US who hate our freedoms???
"Lib-rul" Media, my @$$~!!!
War is NOT Pro-Life...!
Kerry on Republican Failure to Denounce Boehner: Character Test for United States Senate
Below are John Kerry’s remarks that he delivered on the floor of the Senate this afternoon. In his remarks, Kerry spoke about the comments of House Majority Leader John Boehner and challenged his Republican colleagues to denounce them.
“Enough has been written about the comments made yesterday by House Majority Leader John Boehner.
I’m not interested in asking Mr. Boehner for a clarification or a retraction or even an apology. His statement was very clear, and equally despicable. His words are beyond redemption.
They are, however, sadly, what we’ve come to expect in politics today.
What I am asking, today, is for the Senate to be the Senate. We talk here about “my friend” from across the aisle. We talk about the traditions of the Senate. We talk about civility. But in the last years, I’ve seen things happen here that never would’ve happened in the Senate that I joined in 1985. We’ve come a long way since the days when Bob Dole and George Mitchell refused to campaign against each other. I’ve seen colleagues say in the cloakroom that they thought it was wrong to see the courage of their friend Max Cleland attacked, but on the floor of the Senate – silence.
I think there are good people here who still long for civility. I’ve heard it. I heard the junior Senator from Oregon say just this summer, “"My soul cries out for something more dignified." My friend from Arizona just this spring said that “self-expression sometimes overwhelms our civility.”
This is one of those times – but it is much more. I’m asking for my 54 Republican colleagues across the aisle, to stand up not just for civility, but for truth, and to come here and condemn Mr. Boehner’s remarks in no uncertain terms if they disagree with them.
That is a test of the kind of place we’ve become and the kind of politics we’ll tolerate. It’s a test of the character of the United States Senate, and I think every American would benefit from hearing where each and every Republican stands on Mr. Boehner’s words just yesterday.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060913/ap_on_re_as/afghan_taliban_photo
U.S. military investigates leaked photo
KABUL, Afghanistan - The U.S. military said Wednesday it is looking into the unauthorized release of a photo purportedly taken by an American drone aircraft showing scores of Taliban militants at a funeral in Afghanistan.
NBC-TV claimed U.S. Army officers wanted to attack the ceremony with missiles carried by the Predator drone, but were prevented under rules of battlefield engagement that bar attacks on cemeteries.
Lt. Tamara Lawrence, a spokeswoman with the U.S. military in Kabul, said the photograph was released to the network by someone who did not have the clearance to hand it out.
"It is an operational security issue and the photo was released at an inappropriate level," Lawrence told The Associated Press. "Inquiries are being made into how it was released."
NATO spokesman James Appathurai declined to comment on the incident.
"I haven't seen the story and I can't comment on U.S. rules of engagement," he told a news conference in Brussels, Belgium.
Lawrence declined to provide further details. It was not clear when the photo was taken nor where the gathering took place.
~~~~~~~~~~
If it's so easy for "news" crews to find and interview Taliban members and broadcast those interviews on Lamestream McMedia evening snooze... what, pray tell, is the big deal if a drone photo is released? Those same "Taliban" members have likely already been interviewed by Lamestream McMedia "reporters in the field" anyway.... Sniff... sniff.... Whether the photo was taken hours, or days, or months, or years ago, we don't know. But with the release of the photo, I smell more government censorship "for security reasons"in the air.... Click on link for more.
War is not healthy for children and other living things.
Bush is delusional. & I dedicate this to Cheney and all the other blood-sucking patriarchs of the world.
~from IMMORTALITY ~
by William S. Burroughs
There he sits, looking like a Chimu vase with a thick layer of smooth purple scar tissue. Encased as he is in this armor, his movements are slow and hydraulic. It takes him ten minutes to sit down. This layer gets thicker and thicker right down to the bone-the doctors have to operate with power tools. So we leave Mr. Rich Parts and the picturesque parts people their monument, a mountain of scar tissue.
Precisely where, in the human nervous system, does this ugly death-sucking, death-dealing, death-fearing thing reside? Science gives only a tentative answer: the "ego" seems to be located in the midbrain at the top of the head. "Well," he thinks, "couldn't we just scoop it out of a healthy youth, throw his in the garbage where it belongs, and slide in MEEEEEEEE?" So he starts looking for a brain surgeon, a "scrambled egg" man, and he wants the best. When it comes to a short-order job old Doc Zeit is tops. He can switch eggs in an alley.
Mr. Hart embodies the competitive, acquisitive, success-minded spirit that formulated American capitalism. The logical extension of this ugly spirit is criminal. Success is its own justification. He who succees deserves to succeed; he is RIGHT. The operation is a success.
BUSH'S DARK 9/11 SPEECH CALLS FOR MORE WARS
Joshua Holland, AlterNet
If you paid close attention to the president's rambling discourse on the "War on Terror" on Monday evening, it was clear that he was promising even more "constructive" destruction to come.
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/41550/
THE RIGHT-WING ROOTS OF ABC'S 9/11 MOVIE
Max Blumenthal, The Nation
How conservative zealot David Horowitz and a band of little-known operatives produced and promoted ABC's skewed 'The Path to 9/11.'
http://www.alternet.org/story/41546/
IT'S THE (TANKING) ECONOMY, STUPID
Barbara Ehrenreich, AlterNet
Conservatives say struggling Americans are just too dumb to grasp the wonders of our 'knowledge-based economy.'
http://www.alternet.org/story/41533/
A SWEATSHOP BEHIND BARS
Chris Levister, New America Media
The nation's prison industry now employs more people than any Fortune 500 corporation except General Motors. Is prison labor rehab or corporate slavery?
http://www.alternet.org/wiretap/41481/
BLOCK THE VOTE: THE 10 WORST PLACES TO CAST A BALLOT
Sasha Abramsky, Mother Jones
American democracy's glaring weak spots include machines that count backward, slice-and-dice districts, felon baiting, phone jamming and plenty of dirty tricks.
http://www.alternet.org/story/41483/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sidney-blumenthal/how-bush-rules-bu_b_29297.html
How Bush Rules: Bush's Radicalism is Leading to a GOP Crackup
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/security-moms-to-bush-we_b_29300.html
Security Moms to Bush: We're Just Not that Into You Anymore
What a strategic ally in the war against global Islamofascist terra-ism we have in Jesus.
War is not healthy for children and other living things.
Posted by: Otter at September 13, 2006 03:47 PM
What our esteemed Furry Friend said... We all need BIG bumper stickers and refrigerator magnets and door signs and window signs to say the same thing....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060913/ap_on_re_ca/canada_college_shooting
At least 12 shot at Montreal college
MONTREAL - At least one gunman in a black trench coat opened fire Wednesday in the cafeteria of a Montreal college and wounded at least 12 people — six critically — before shooting himself, witnesses and authorities said.
~~~~~~~~~~
See? There's all these crazy "ter-rirists" out to get us.... The article doesn't mention the name or ethnicity of the fellow who did the shooting before killing himself, but I'll bet it plays out as a "ter-ririst" act before day's end. No one will ever say it's a random act of violence done by a crazy person, that the feeling after the fact (of fear) is the collateral damage as a result of a criminal act....
Posted by: Otter at September 13, 2006 03:47 PM
The Furry One's post brought back an image dimly remembered. In searching for it I found this article
a bit of an inspiration for us.
http://tinyurl.com/zu2to
Posted by Fe Bongolan at September 13, 2006 01:28 PM
Peter King wants to start profiling Middle Easterners and Muslims? I've had far more problems with, say, Korean Christians. (Honestly, I will NEVER fly in the same plane with someone who's got Korean words and a cross on his T-shirt.) What would King say to profiling his favorite sweetheart minority group?
Mann Coulter thinks Maxine Waters is a beneficiary of affirmative action? He needs to look in the mirror - a product of the right wing's own affirmative action for castrated reactionary gay men. (Jeff Gannon, I'm talking about you too.)
The right wing is so full of hypocrites.
Posted by: NonnyO at September 13, 2006 04:06 PM
Most likely, the gun was smuggled in from the US. That's how I see it - no more, no less. A lunatic taking advantage of our lax gun laws to create mayhem next door.
What a strategic ally in the war against global Islamofascist terra-ism we have in Jesus.
Posted by: Otter at September 13, 2006 03:51 PM
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Again, I am far more fearful of the domestic Christofascism.
OY, just dropping in to catch up (this place still feels like home, you know!).
I am swamped, overwhlemed, too busy and nuts. But tomorrow morning I fly to Utah and maybe there I will be able to reflect and share what I have learned in the past few weeks.
I hope so! At any rate, Love reading up and catching up and I hope all of you are well, or improving. Yes, we were right. All along.
Love.
NonnyO:
Those who can remember the '60's are condemned to requote them.
Posted by: Otter at September 13, 2006 04:23 PM
I thought those who remembered the 60's weren't truly there ;-)
Happy Daze Are Hair Again
Posted by: monkey at September 13, 2006 01:08 PM
Even though Air America is going bankrupt, two things are turning out right in this article.
First, despite being Republican-owned, Clear Channel smells enough money in liberal talk radio to continue investing in it.
Second, Air America Radio is doing one thing right by kicking Jerry Springer out. He's one of the reasons why so many trannies - Mann Coulter included - are so right wing.
But tomorrow morning I fly to Utah and maybe there I will be able to reflect and share what I have learned in the past few weeks.
Posted by: karen at September 13, 2006 04:22 PM
I surely hope you do - it sounds like Camp Democracy has been very fruitful so far, with so many things to digest.
It's a shame that I couldn't make it there myself.
Please have a safe, nice trip.
What a strategic ally in the war against global Islamofascist terra-ism we have in Jesus.
Posted by: Otter at September 13, 2006 03:51 PM
AYE MEN!!!!! Now pass the plate and don't forget to vote the way your Reverend ahh, err, Rove et al just told you to.
Instead of the Shi'ites it's the She'its.
And I'm not just messin' around.
Posted by: Otter at September 13, 2006 04:23 PM
Posted by: monkey at September 13, 2006 04:32 PM
Those of us who were teenagers in the 60s remember it too well....
Of all the days that had the most impact on my life (of major or minor importance for which I remember specifics), the day I KNEW I was ending my youth (at age 17), it was 22 November 1963 when JFK was assassinated, followed within the week by watching Jack Ruby kill Oswald on live television. That, more than 9/11, affected me most. The Beatles were beginning to be played by that fall, and they were on Ed Sullivan on 9 February 1964... and their music is the sound track for my life. The class of '64 lost their innocence on 22 Nov '63.
So, if we who were young in the 60s on up to the 70s are condemned to requote them, perhaps it's because we see too many parallels with idiotic and senseless wars (I lost school chums in Nam); but even I could not have imagined I'd see the US in such dire straits as we are now and feel so helpless about how to change anything. At least back then media recorded the protests....
Ten Big News Stories You Aren't Hearing
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091306E.shtml
The San Francisco Bay Guardian newspaper has printed a list of stories the media have largely ignored over the past year. Here are the Top 10 most ignored stories from an annual list developed by Project Censored, a media research group based at Sonoma State University that tracks the news published in independent journals and newsletters.
~~~~~~~~~~
Besides the obvious under-reporting of the legal decision of Judge Anna Diggs Taylor (because of the non-story about the guy who did not kill JonBenet Ramsey that came out the same day but was reported about for - what, two weeks?), the end of the TO article above has a reference to the home page for Project Censored with a list of the top 25 under-reported stories. Clicking on any of the 25 embedded links gets you to this page:
http://www.projectcensored.org/censored_2007/index.htm#1
This is a long and dense article, complete with references and sources. I'm particularly interested in #14, 16, 17 (by Greg Palast who is now under government scrutiny... hmmm), 18, 24.
Top 25 Censored news stories of 2007
#1 Future of Internet Debate Ignored by Media
#2 Halliburton Charged with Selling Nuclear Technologies to Iran
#3 Oceans of the World in Extreme Danger
#4 Hunger and Homelessness Increasing in the US
#5 High-Tech Genocide in Congo
#6 Federal Whistleblower Protection in Jeopardy
# 7 US Operatives Torture Detainees to Death in Afghanistan and Iraq
#8 Pentagon Exempt from Freedom of Information Act
#9 The World Bank Funds Israel-Palestine Wall
#10 Expanded Air War in Iraq Kills More Civilians
#11 Dangers of Genetically Modified Food Confirmed
#12 Pentagon Plans to Build New Landmines
#13 New Evidence Establishes Dangers of Roundup
#14 Homeland Security Contracts KBR to Build Detention Centers in the US
#15 Chemical Industry is EPA’s Primary Research Partner
#16 Ecuador and Mexico Defy US on International Criminal Court
#17 Iraq Invasion Promotes OPEC Agenda
#18 Physicist Challenges Official 9-11 Story
#19 Destruction of Rainforests Worst Ever
#20 Bottled Water: A Global Environmental Problem
#21 Gold Mining Threatens Ancient Andean Glaciers
#22 $Billions in Homeland Security Spending Undisclosed
#23 US Oil Targets Kyoto in Europe
#24 Cheney’s Halliburton Stock Rose Over 3000 Percent Last Year
#25 US Military in Paraguay Threatens Region
Senate Republicans Block Attempt to Curb Wiretapping
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091306G.shtml
Senate Republicans blocked Democratic attempts to rein in President Bush's domestic wiretapping program Wednesday amid a sustained White House campaign to give the administration broad authority to monitor, interrogate and prosecute terrorism suspects.
Military Wants to Use Microwave Weapons on American Citizens
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091306K.shtml
The Secretary of the Air Force said the military is interested in using nonlethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices on American citizens in crowd-control situations before they are used on the battlefield.
{{{WTF?!?!?}}}
Robert Scheer | Subverting Democracy With the Big Lie
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091306M.shtml
Robert Scheer writes: "Bush was correct in saying Monday night that 'Our nation is being tested in a way that we have not been since the start of the Cold War.' Unfortunately, it's Bush's administration that is testing us - with its relentless incompetence, attacks on our civil liberties and inability to acknowledge the bankruptcy of its policies."
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/09/13/there_is_no_war_on_terror.php
There Is No War On Terror
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/09/13/terrorist_network_disconnect.php
Terrorist Network Disconnect
American Airlines Could Pull Ads from ABC
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091306L.shtml
American Airlines is prepared to pull its advertising from ABC in order to protest its portrayal in the network's recently aired movie "The Path to 9/11." The carrier also said it is considering legal action against the network.
Dean Baker | Deficit Hits New Record
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091306F.shtml
Dean Baker writes: "Most people didn't see this headline, because the deficit that just soared to a new record was the trade deficit, not the budget deficit. The newly released trade data for July showed the deficit running at an annual rate of almost $820 billion, more than 6 percent of GDP. This is more than three times the size of the $260 billion dollar budget deficit now projected for 2006."
Cindy Sheehan | Hey George
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091306J.shtml
Cindy Sheehan writes to George W. Bush: "Torture is a crime against humanity, George, and information gained from torture is highly compromised and not even admissible in a court of law, so basically, the information you have been cruelly gleaning from 'suspected' terrorists is useless in protecting America."
Martin Schram | Maybe the Time for Apologies Has Not Yet Arrived
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091306C.shtml
"The facts we know provide key answers: Was there a White House effort to discredit Wilson by dishing details to trusted journalists? Yes. Fitzgerald's public filings last April make that clear. Were Cheney, Libby and Rove involved in the effort? Again, yes. And Fitzgerald's filing says President Bush wanted it done," writes Martin Schram.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060913/wl_canada_nm/canada_weather_nino_col
El Nino weather pattern forms in Pacific
TSP: Okay, question marks it is... ;-)
Nic Robertson on CNN: Taliban could be getting as much as $1 billion a year from the drug trade in Afghanistan.
So, why are 150,000 American troops in Iraq?
Robertson also reports that there are as many as 100,000 addicts currently in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Matthew Carnicelli at September 13, 2006 07:44 PM
... and I'll bet there's a fair number amongst that 100k addicts that would do just about anything they were told for a fix, like killing Americans.
Dub Be Damned
Waxman hits deceptive pregnancy information services.
A new study released by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) has found that federally
funded pregnancy resource centers often mislead pregnant teens about the medical
risks of abortion, The report states:
**Under the Bush Administration, pregnancy resource centers (also called "crisis
pregnancy centers") have received over $30 million in federal funding. Female
investigators, who posed as pregnant 17-year-olds seeking advice about an
unintended pregnancy, telephoned the 25 pregnancy resource centers that have
received capacity-building funds from the Department of Health and Human
Services. Twenty of the 23 centers reached by the investigators (87%) provided
false or misleading information.
**Some falsely claimed there is link between abortion and breast cancer. One
center said that "all abortion causes an increased risk of breast cancer in
later years," whereas another told the caller that an abortion would "affect the
milk developing in her breasts" and that the risk of breast cancer increased by
as much as 80% following an abortion.
~snip~
[False and misleading health information by federally funded pregnancy resource
centers. U.S. House Committee on Governmental Reform, July 2006]
Read the rest here...
http://www.chsourcebook.com/articles/waxman2.pdf
------------------------------------------------
Kerry on NATO Refusal to Increase Troops in Afghanistan
Despite tough rhetoric, Administration fails to lead to prevent disaster
“NATO’s refusal today to listen to the commanders on the ground and send more troops to Afghanistan is a terrible setback for America’s security. Secretary Rice yesterday said we’ll “pay for it" if Afghanistan again devolves into a terrorist stronghold. But this Administration is failing to heed its own warnings.
Where NATO allies have pledged troops and assistance to Afghanistan, they must follow through. The United States must lead by example by sending at least five thousand additional American troops -- including more elite Special Forces troops; more civil affairs forces; and more experienced intelligence units – to Afghanistan immediately.
The Taliban and al Qaeda know we are bogged down in Iraq. We must not allow that disastrous policy to be the excuse for allowing Afghanistan to descend into chaos.”
________________________________________________
A Friend Of Mine: Jon Soltz
READ MORE: Iraq, Afghanistan
Two years ago, I met a young man with character a lot of old men will never know. His name is Jon Soltz.
Jon is a veteran who served his country in Kosovo and Iraq. For five long months from May to September of 2003, he was a Captain with the 1st Armored Division.
Jon was called back up to our country's service in 2005 when he spent a year at Fort Dix, training soldiers as they prepared to go serve in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
~snip~
read the rest here...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-kerry/a-friend-of-mine-jon-sol_b_29364.html?view=print
))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
I'd rather be in Rodin's garden.
[Edited: PLEASE observe fair use and copyright guidelines and refrain from posting entire items.]
NonnyO,
The script you wrote for lamestreet is right on...it's already begun !!Please E1..just keep on working!
I'd rather be in just about anybody's garden, actually.
It seems like a such a long, long time since I was able to just stop and smell the flowers rather than having to keep on keeping on and fighting the good fight.
Such a long time, indeed... so long I can hardly recall what the simple pleasures of smelling the flowers even feel like anymore.
But, as they say, those who cannot remember the plants are condemned to reseed them.
So wotthehell, archie, wotthehell... there's bound to be a bounce in the old game yet.
*phweeet!* Play ball! Time to go on out there and win one for the Sniffer!
[Yeah, yeah, I know, I know... but a man's speech must exceed his grasp, or what's a metaphor?]
Posted by: Otter at September 13, 2006 08:38 PM
... lest his speed outlasts his gasp.
Yo Ott... Here's Yer Straight Line d'Jour...
What's a metaphor?
Speak for yourself, old man.
:0)
This morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas...
(Tag, monkey, you're it!)
http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/climate_change
Arctic ice melting rapidly, study says
Just wanted to point out that those of us who have been a tad concerned about global warming were not idiots after all.
Neither were those of us who have been a tad concerned about global warnings.
Posted by: Otter at September 13, 2006 09:00 PM
Did he leave eavesdroppings?
Posted by: Otter at September 13, 2006 09:10
True my furry little friend :)
No, he didn't... but much as with Kenneth Starr, what he was doing in my pajamas I'll never know.
(Say the secret woid, and the DOD comes down from the ceiling and gives you a billion dollars to rebuild a middle Eastern country with!)
The Marxist Brothers?
All hail Marx and Lennon!
Ann Richards, feisty ex-governor of Texas and keynote speaker at the 1988 Democratic National Convention, died tonight at her home of cancer. She's remembered for a lot of great lines, including saying this about Papa Bush at the convention: "Poor George, he can't help it, he was born with a silver foot in his mouth." (Like father, like son.)
Requiescat en pace, Governor Richards. You done good in your time here on earth, you done good early & often, and you will be missed.
Kerry: "...including more elite Special Forces troops; more civil affairs forces; and more experienced intelligence units – to Afghanistan immediately. "
Posted by: DiAnne at September 13, 2006 08:17 PM
So... in doublespeak, does "civil affairs forces and more experienced intelligence units" mean more mercenaries with DynCorp, KBR, Blackwater, Custer Battles, Bechtel... et al.?
I keep running across these vague phrases that are meant to signify something, but definitions are lacking.... When I first heard about "civilian contractors" + "private security officers" in connection with Abu Ghraib (and they've been alluded to for Gitmo, and I still don't know which military unit is at Gitmo - we never, but never, ever hear about regular military who have returned from Gitmo - or, at least I haven in all these years since I found out there was a concentration camp there - so I suspect it's almost entirely "private security contractors" with Halliburton or one of their subsidiaries) things started to fall into place. I suspect there are a lot more mercenaries in Iraq and Afghanistan than we know about - mercenaries loyal to the ones who sign their pay checks, mercenaries who have not taken any oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution....
There are too many bloody secrets connected to the administration, and even some Dems know what the secrets are and never tell us. That MUST stop!!!
re Ann Richards
When I was at DNC in Boston, I went to an event called Revolutionary Women, with Hillary Clinton, Madeline Albright, & most of the other women governors, senators, congresswomen, mayors, judges etc - it was amazing. Howard Dean was the token man.
Ann Richards walked out of the restroom with a young woman and I heard her saying to her, "Well, I hope you washed your hands, honey."
NonnyO
Tip of the iceberg (contractors etc). You can read up on the drug trade history in Afghanistan and how some of the money can be laundered and filters to the west. The Afghans get just a stipend of the total. It's possibly to the advantage of the west, just as arms trade and oil trade. You can read about it at Global Research site from Canada, which some may think is mostly conspiracy but those of us who remember Iran Contra know the CIA are not innocents, as does most of the Third World. There may be alot of addicts in the middle east and southeast asia but if they are using mostly opium instead of refined heroin, it's weaker by much. 90 percent of Britain's heroin comes from Afghanistan. I read that 2/3 of the world's total supply now comes out of there. We are feeding the monster.
Posted by: Patti F. at September 13, 2006 08:35 PM
Er... "E1"...? That's a new one for me. What does it mean, please? Well, as far as what I hear in Lamestream McMedia... I'm only writing off the top of my heads the words and redundant phrases I've heard in the few times I've watched the evening snooze, or read in the printed versions of speeches from the McAdministration. It didn't take any genius ability to remember the catch-phrases, since they're drummed into us daily (pretty boring, to my way of thinking - the repetition is about to drive me mad, and I have a very low threshhold of boredom).... ;-)
Yes, the electoral swiftboating has begun... in spades already, in Minnesota. Nov 7 can't get here soon enough for me.
A fellow who won yesterday's primary in the 5th district (not mine - in the Cities), a Dem who is replacing a retiring Dem, the district has been traditionally liberal Dem for more than 20 years, is the first black person to win in that district... and he's a Muslim. If elected, he'll be the first Muslim ever elected in MN. I just listened to my local PBS station's 10 p.m. news... they ran a sound byte of the neoCon who's opposing Ellison... Yikes! That race is gonna get nasty! Since Ellison is a Muslim, it wouldn't surprise me if he makes national snooze at some point.
Before the primaries there was some trashy literature that arrived in mailboxes all over the town (I got it, too, put it in the recycleable papers immediately without reading it, but heard about it first via the local PBS evening news broadcast) about 'homosexuality will be taught in our schools' nonsense - a direct reference to a Repub who is currently in the state legislature who had to 'fess up to being gay not long after he was elected a couple of years ago, and (amazingly!) he won the local Repub primary over a local real-estate agent - the latter said he didn't know anything about the literature when he was questioned by a local reporter. I thought for sure the gay Repub would be defeated in the primaries yesterday now that he's been outed while in office and and he's out of the closet.
So much for "Minnesota Nice..."
E1 means "everyone",that means you,me and anyone with means,ways,muscle,might..get going the vote!! Just...BE THERE!!
Posted by: DiAnne at September 14, 2006 12:45 AM
Yes, we are feeding a monster - a monster with a voracious appetite for corruption, and it all started many years ago (even before the Iran-Contra days - I watched that whole thing on live TV), so it leads back to at least Pappy Bushie who headed the CIA before he was Veep - I figured out the blank stares by the befuddled Reagan were not fake, but the early signs of senility - Alzheimer's (my grandfather had gone senile before he died a few years before that, so I recognized the signs of befuddlement), not answering a direct question because he honestly could not remember the answer, and I figured right then and there that Bush was running the country behind the scenes, etc. Reagan as the "great communicator" - my @$$~! He was the senile old fool who didn't know answers, so told old jokes instead of answering direct questions.
Posted by: Patti F. at September 14, 2006 12:58 AM
Oh, yes! :-) I bragged to the taxi driver yesterday that I have my valid bitching rights because I voted...! @;-) He just looked bored. I felt sorry for him. I do figure since I vote I'm entitled to tell my senators and reps what for and why....
Still, I vote, on a PAPER ballot with cute little ovals I made sure were totally filled in with black ink, ran it through the scanner... but the PAPER ballot can be recounted if necessary! Within the last few years there have been at least three local-level elections that had to be recounted and the difference was actually only one vote in two of those contested elections, and very few more than that in another. Votes most assuredly DO count in these local precincts, as we well know. I've been registered in the same precinct for years, so while they have my name in the computer printout, they don't even ask for my ID that I always make sure I have with me. I just sign next to my name and get handed the ballot and go vote....
I know how easy it is to vote here, how quickly one can register (even on election day - and there are voter registration forms even in the phone book), which is why the whole thing with the e-voting machines just boggles my mind....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060913/ap_on_go_co/congress_terrorism
Negotiations on terror bill snag
{{{This bill "should" be filibustered....!!!}}}
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060913/ts_nm/afghan_nato_dc
NATO gets no offers of extra Afghanistan troops
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060914/ap_on_re_us/obit_richards
Ex-Texas Gov. Ann Richards dies
{Longer obit on Gov. Richards. She was quite a lady, and she will be missed...!}
Novak accuses Plame source of distortion
Armitage minimizes role in CIA leak, but columnist differs
By R. Jeffrey Smith
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON - Columnist Robert D. Novak, who first revealed Valerie Plame's employment by the CIA and touched off a lengthy federal leak investigation, is accusing his primary source of misrepresenting their conversation to make the source's role in the disclosure seem more casual than it was.
In an unusual column that appears today, Novak says his initial source, former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage, was more sure of Plame's ties to the CIA than the source has indicated. Novak adds that Armitage linked her directly to her husband's CIA-sponsored trip to Niger and suggested the disclosure would be a good item for Novak's column.
This differs from Armitage's assertions last week that his disclosure was made in an offhand manner and that he did not know why Plame's husband was sent to Niger.
Armitage, in an interview yesterday, said he stood by his account and disputed Novak's.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14825283/
RICHMOND, Sept. 13 - Virginia's U.S. Senate race turned nasty Wednesday as Republican Sen. George Allen launched a character attack on his Democratic opponent's past views toward women in combat, signaling the start of a two-month barrage of negative campaigning in what has become a close race.
Allen, who is fighting for a second term, organized a news conference with five female U.S. Naval Academy graduates who said an article written 27 years ago by Allen's opponent, James Webb, prompted harassment by male midshipmen at the academy.
In the Washingtonian magazine article, "Women Can't Fight," the ex-Marine Webb wrote of the brutal conditions during the Vietnam War and argued against letting women into combat.
-snip-
Allen has been on the defensive for a month, responding to criticism after calling a young Webb volunteer "Macaca" and fighting old charges of racial insensitivity. In a speech Tuesday to a black educational foundation, Allen again apologized for the comment and attempted to explain his youthful admiration of the Confederate flag.
"What I was slow to appreciate -- and wish I had understood much sooner -- is that this symbol, which for me simply stood for rebellion against authority, and for others stood for regional pride in heritage, is, for black Americans, an emblem of hate and terror, an emblem of intolerance and intimidation," Allen said.
more crap here...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14825276/from/RS.1/
Even if this is from the Onion, what scares me the most in this report is the very last sentence...because it's probably the truth...
Over 87 percent of Americans are unprepared to protect themselves from even the most basic world-ending scenarios, according to a study released Monday by the nonpartisan doomsday think-tank The Malthusian Institute.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff sharply disagreed with the report's findings. "This study is inaccurate and misleading," Chertoff told reporters on Tuesday. "Americans are a resilient, can-do people. We are more prepared than ever to survive a gigantic tsunami, a major gravitational disruption, or any other heretofore non-prophesied calamity."
Chertoff added: "As for Armageddon borne out of God's heavenly wrath, I can say with assurance that this nation has never seen a presidential administration that has given more thought to this very scenario."
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/52708
Posted by: madame defarge at September 14, 2006 08:18 AM
Waco And Smell The Coffins