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Bearly Surviving Amid the Ebbs and Floes
"Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it."
But polar bears can't talk. So it's up to us to talk about it for them. Because they're in trouble and they need our help.
One of the most visible side effects of global warming is that Arctic sea ice is melting away at ever-increasing rates.
Polar bears are completely dependent on Arctic sea ice to survive, but recent reports indicate that 80 percent of that ice could be gone in 20 years -- all of it by 2040.
Polar bears are already suffering the effects: birth rates are falling, fewer cubs are surviving, and more bears are drowning.
With more than 25 percent of the world's polar bear populations already in decline, further warming could drive this magnificent Arctic animal to extinction by the end of this century.
And in the meanwhile, as the clock ticks down to zero, Washington may be talking about the weather but nobody's doing anything about it as far as the polar bears are concerned.
The Bush administration does have a proposal on the table to list the polar bear as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act. They didn't want to do it and they still don't, but public pressure forced them to propose it anyway.
Yet the administration's proposal does not designate "critical habitat" for protection, even though melting habitat from global warming is the main threat to the polar bears' survival.
And even the halfway measure they proposed has never been approved by federal agencies including the Fish and Wildlife Services, whose responsibility it would be to step in and help prevent the bears' dying out entirely.
Too bad polar bears don't vote. If they could, the White House might actually pay attention to their plight. And too bad polar bears can't talk or write. Because if they could, they could petition the Bush administration to stop stalling and start saving their species before it's too late.
The remaining polar bears can't vote, though. They can't talk, and they can't write. But we can. And we should. And we have to do it right away.
The Bush administration is accepting public comments only through April 9 on whether it should protect polar bears -- or leave them at the mercy of global warming instead.
That means that we have only until the end of Monday to make our voices heard on behalf of those beleaguered bears. They're counting on us to save them from extinction. They need our help. And they need it NOW.
The Natural Resources Defense Council has been working to protect the environment for the last 37 years, and they've been pushing hard on the polar bear problem. They have an area on their website where we can add our voices to those speaking out on behalf of the bears:
The terms of the Bush administration's unwillingly-offered proposal state that citizen comments can only be officially submitted through the end of Monday, April 9.
So don't delay. Have your say. And save a polar bear today.
Join Blogswarm Against Theocracy
April 6-8, 2007
http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com
http://www.radrombin.com
See also
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/7/13414/89041
Interesting blog - if you read English (the only requirement), you can participate. Some stuff gets cross-posted at dKos.
http://www.eurotrib.com/special/about
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/uclickcomics/20070407/cx_crwiz_uc/crwiz20070407
Wizard of Id
We have three Orca pods in the Puget Sound and one is starting to drift south looking for salmon, could become endangered.
The new climate change report indicates that we are at risk for decreased snowpack, flooding and more.
Pelosi: Global Warming Underway
http://www.torontodailynews.com/index.php/SciTechNews/2007040701global-warming
MSNBC has put together a slide-show offering a brief history of Iran. They’ve managed to go back further than 1979 - impressive for a mainstream outlet, whose memories usually begin with the Islamic revolution.
But, amazingly, they’ve contrived to ignore Mohammed Mossadeq, the democratically elected prime minister of Iran who in 1953 was overthrown in a UK/CIA-backed coup, which installed the brutal and corrupt Shah in his place. The overthrow of Mossadeq is probably, together with the 1979 Islamic revolution, the seminal moment in the history of 20th century Iran, and MSNBC has just wiped it out for political convenience. Mossadeq had dared to nationalise the Iranian oil industry at the expense of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now British Petroleum), and such defiance could obviously not be tolerated by the masters of the world.
The slide-show also makes no mention of the fact that the U.S. supported Iraq in its aggression against Iran, which left up a million people dead on all sides.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/7/93340/47529
The tall guy with the Boston accent posted a new entry to his dKos diary today:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/8/7259/09964
--------------
We Democrats should’ve been unapologetic this week defending Speaker Pelosi because the truth was on our side: She had a right to go. And she was right to go. The coordinated attack on her trip to Syria was as inappropriate as it was irresponsible. And when that happens to a Democrat, we should all damn well stand up and be counted in our support, or else we hand partisan hacks on the other side a dangerous victory. They thrive on destroying our leaders -– we can’t let them. Especially when we’ve got the moral high ground.
If someone asks you about Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Damascus, you might want to start by telling them how many Republicans have traveled to Syria. That Arlen Specter has gone 16 times since 1984. Yes, this Republican outrage is selective. I didn’t hear a whiff of criticism when a Republican Congressional delegation was in Damascus just last weekend. Calculated crocodile tears for political gain -– sad but not surprising.
But, even more than that, we need to stand up to this effort to demonize diplomacy. We shouldn’t be surprised that an Administration that treats dialogue as a reward rather than a process would stoop to this. But, as Americans, we need to stand up and demand better from our elected leaders.
As I said in a statement I released during the week, America would be stronger if the White House started listening to Speaker Pelosi, James Baker, and countless others who understand that effective foreign policy requires talking with countries who aren’t our friends. We have the standing as a country to approach any other country from a position of strength; our leaders should have the strength of character to do it.
But, time and again, not only does this Administration fail to demonstrate that strength, they try to demonize those who do.
Whatever their motives for singling out this trip, by this distinguished public servant, I’m not going to let them do this unchallenged. I wholeheartedly support Speaker Pelosi’s right to go to Damascus, and I hope she debriefs the White House to show them how diplomacy is done. For only with a return to true diplomacy, with a show of confidence by our nation in its ability to talk to any country, can we begin to find solutions to the mess the Bush Administration has made of Iraq. And only by all Democrats standing up and defending Speaker Pelosi, and defending diplomacy, can we show the news media, the American people, and the rest of the world, that we believe in a better way. So write your letters to the editor, get on the phone to talk radio –- get out there and show that these guys attack your Speaker at their political peril.
----------------
give 'em hell johnny,
Otter
Oh, Ally, you have got to watch this video, you have *so* got to watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgSBhlw-o9E
Posted by: Otter at April 8, 2007 09:51 AM
Thank you so much for the Easter morning present. :)
I hope Henry does realize what kind of anatomy Mann has... :)
Join Blogswarm Against Theocracy
April 6-8, 2007
Posted by: not my president at April 7, 2007 06:46 PM
Thanks for reminding me... I will definitely put up, on my blog, something about the pervasiveness of hate-filled fundamentalist Christianity in Koreatown USA, as well as its support of Sam Brownback.
This morning I read one of the most heart-breaking stories in the Washington Post magazine. It is not heart-breaking in the same way that the issues of climate change and the loss of species is heart-breaking, or the way that a child's murder is heart-breaking. It is a story about the loss of our souls and our attention to beauty:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html#video1
Be sure to watch the videos that accompany the story.
BTW: Talking about Joshua Bell... I highly recommend buying the CD "Iris - the Soundtrack", with Joshua Bell as soloist. The music is haunting and sad. The composer is Horner who has done other movie scores (apparently in a very similar style). I first heard this recording on the radio and had no idea who the composer was....
RE: nobody listening to the music...
I think America is losing its soul...
I am inviting "Tall Guy" to Michigan (since he neglected Michigan in 2004 while both Bush and Cheney made several appearances in my area - we did manage to get Elizabeth Edwards, however)
(John - if you're not too busy, check this out!!!!)
DEMOCRATS and REPUBLICANS SUPPORT
BATTLE CREEK MAYOR SIGNING
U.S. MAYORS CLIMATE PROTECTION AGREEMENT
BATTLE CREEK – When Battle Creek Mayor John Godfrey signs the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, Democratic State Senator Mark Schauer and Republican Representative Lorence Wenke will both be a part of the ceremony.
“We need a big tent on the issue of climate change. Regardless of where we stand on any other issue, Democrats and Republicans can agree that clean air is a good thing for us and for future generations. We can all agree that cutting back on our use of fossil fuel is better for our environment, and that cutting back on oil and gas imports is better for our national security,” said Senator Schauer.
Mayor Godfrey will sign the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement at a ceremony at noon on Saturday, April 14th, the National Day of Climate Action, at the main concourse of the Lakeview Square Mall by Barnes and Noble and J.C. Penney’s.
Under the agreement, participating cities commit to strive to meet or beat the Kyoto Protocol targets in their own communities by reducing CO2 emissions. Over 400 mayors across the country have signed the agreement.
The noontime signing ceremony is part of an event called “Make the Change” and runs from 10:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. at the Lakeview Square Mall in Battle Creek. Anticipate hourly drawings, climate change displays, music, a display of hybrid and solar cars, and children’s activities.
“Make the Change” pledge cards will encourage reducing energy use. The first 600 people who sign a pledge card will receive an energy efficient compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb, which will be distributed one to a household.
The event’s sponsor, the Climate Change Coalition, is supported by the Battle Creek Community Foundation. For more information, please contact Betty Arnquist at (269) 963-9302.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070408/ts_nm/iraq_dc
Iraqis flock to city for anti-U.S. protest
NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Thousands of Iraqis streamed to the holy southern city of Najaf on Sunday in response to a call by fiery Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr for a big anti-American protest on Monday.
Sadr, who blames the U.S.-led invasion for Iraq's unrelenting violence, has urged Iraqis to protest on the fourth anniversary of the day American forces swept into central Baghdad.
"In order to end the occupation, you will go out and demonstrate," Sadr, who accuses U.S. forces of deliberately fomenting civil strife in Iraq, said in a statement.
{More on link.}
The True Story of Free Speech in America
By Robert Fisk
Sami al-Arian is 49 but he stayed on hunger strike for 60 days to protest the government outrage committed against him, a burlesque of justice which has, of course, largely failed to rouse the sleeping dogs of American journalism in New York, Washington and Los Angeles.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17503.htm
{This ends with info about the high school play in Wilton, CT....}
Reid: America Cannot Afford Plan to Send National Guard to Iraq, Further Stretch Military:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released the following statement regarding the Defense Department's proposal to send 12,000 National Guard combat forces to Iraq and Afghanistan:
http://reid.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=272015
Levin: Senate Won't Withhold Iraq Funds
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040807A.shtml
The Senate will not stop paying for the Iraq war nor relent from insisting that President Bush keep pressing the Baghdad government for a negotiated end to the violence, a Democratic leader said Sunday.
{{{So, in essence, the Senate is not stopping the war since they're still funding it. The only thing they're trying to do is get DimWit to set a date for withdrawal (and, of course, even that may not happen, and there would still be troops in Iraq to "train" Iraqi forces, so that means US troops will be in Iraq indefinitely with that little clause). So, the war goes on, no matter what, and no matter how many hissy fits Herr Boosh throws over Congressional attempts to set a date to end his war based on lies for oil....}}}
Frank Rich | Sunday in the Market With McCain
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040807C.shtml
"John McCain's April Fools' Day stroll through Baghdad's Shorja market last weekend was instantly acclaimed as a classic political pratfall. Protected by more than a hundred American soldiers, three Black Hawk helicopters, two Apache gunships and a bulletproof vest, the senator extolled the 'progress' and 'good news' in Iraq. Befitting this loopy brand of comedy, the star had a crackerjack cast of supporting buffoons: Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who told reporters 'I bought five rugs for five bucks!,' and Representative Mike Pence of Indiana, who likened the scene to 'a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summertime.' Five rugs for five bucks: boy, we've really got that Iraq economy up and running now!" says Frank Rich.
{Another story lambasting ol' Johnny for his gaffes....}
GodTube .. like YouTube but moralistic
http://newsgrinder.blogspot.com/2007/04/forget-youtube-now-theres-godtube.html
Sort of a parody of a kind of worthwhile project Bono has
with the Gap, but still makes a good point
http://www.buylesscrap.org/ ................ www.buylesscrap.org GOTTA LOVE THAT WEB SITE!
I think America is losing its soul...
Posted by: Ralpheh at April 8, 2007 03:38 PM
This administration, and this government keeps f***in' over New Orleans, and any shred of soul left will be gone for good.
Funkin Bushit
(and happy easter)
On The Impeachment Front:
By David Swanson
In 10 U.S. states, either this year or last year or both, the state legislature has introduced and considered, though not yet passed, a bill to petition the U.S. House of Representatives to impeach Bush and Cheney. The question, of course, is what in the heck is wrong with the other 40 states? We can't find a single state legislator with the decency to uphold the U.S. Constitution and at least introduce a resolution to impeach? Where are the states that created the Constitution? Where are Massachusetts and Virginia? What's holding up New York? Where in the world is Oregon? Is this all the pressure we can muster in the cause of justice?
But let's give credit where it's due. These 10 states have acted: CA, HI, IL, MN, MO, WA, VT, NM, WI, TX. These 10 legislators who've taken the lead should be drafted to run for Congress (except for Ellison, whom we've already elected to Congress): Les Ihara, Jr. HI; Lon Burnam TX; Gerald Ortiz y Pino NM; Eric Oemig WA; Paul Koretz CA; Daryl Pillsbury VT; Karen Yarbrough IL; Jamilah Nasheed MO; Frank Boyle WI; and Keith Ellison MN. Special credit goes to Oemig and Ortiz y Pino who have come close to passing their bills.
Of course, at the local level, dozens of cities and towns have passed these resolutions, and dozens more are trying. Vermont is far and away in the lead in the number of resolutions passed, but its Congress Member has not yet responded. While the national Green Party backs impeachment, so do at least 16 state Democratic parties. A list of all these resolutions, passed and pending, can be found at http://www.impeachpac.org/resolutions-list
I think America is losing its soul...
Posted by: Ralpheh at April 8, 2007 03:38 PM
This administration, and this government keeps f***in' over New Orleans, and any shred of soul left will be gone for good.
@@@@@@
The American government, by and large, is a reflection of the country. Right now we have a country which is greedy, corrupt and hungers for blood and revenge.
Many Democrats in Congress supported the invasion of Iraq without so much as a question..... In Connecticut they re-elected Joe Lieberman, one of the most pro-war Senators in the Congress....
Bush had approval ratings at or near 80% after 9-11; even after the invasion if Iraq his approval ratings were consistently over 60%. The country and the Congress are complicit in following Bush into disaster....
6 US Soldiers Die on Easter (as suburbia celebrates with giant rabbits) from Kayakbiker
http://silencedmajority.blogs.com/silenced_majority_portal/2007/04/six_us_soldiers.html#comment-65754530
They had their cynical code worked out. The public are swine; advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill-bucket.
George Orwell (1936)
The atom bombs are piling up in the factories, the police are prowling through the cities, the lies are streaming from the loudspeakers, but earth is still going round the sun, and neither the dictators nor the bureaucrats, deeply as they disapprove of the process, are able to prevent it.
Some Thoughts on the Common Toad, George Orwell
Political language — and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists — is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
Politics and the English Language (1946)
Notes on Nationalism (1945)
Nationalism is power-hunger tempered by self-deception.
The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.
Despite some good quotes, Orwell was no pacifist!
Ah, yes, nmp...
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
-- George Orwell
And here are some other choice snippets of the man's attitude towards man as well:
"Liberal: a power worshipper without power."
"Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it."
"On the whole, human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time."
"The Catholic and the Communist are alike in assuming that an opponent cannot be both honest and intelligent."
"An autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats."
Oh, yeah. Woo, hoo. I'll bet ol' George was just *tons* of fun at cocktail parties.
or, well, maybe not so much,
Otter
Since this happened back in January it is probably not news to you. It's hard to know where there is a "right" as in "not as wrong" side in the world these days.
US allows secret Korea weapons deal
Michael Gordon, Washington
April 9, 2007
THREE months after the United States successfully pressed the United Nations to impose sanctions on North Korea over the country's nuclear test, Bush Administration officials allowed Ethiopia to complete a secret arms purchase from North Korea.
http://www.democracycellproject.net/blog/archives/2007/04/bearly_survivin.html#comments
Hey moderators,
The track backs seem to have been defiled. That's a bummer after the beautiful polar bear story.
Thanks for that, Rick!
Been a long time since I rocked a troll...
If the environment doesn't get them, the whalers will. Every year Japanese whalers come down to our southern oceans and kill hundreds of whales - "for scientific purposes" although world experts who have investigated this claim have found nothing at all has come out of any investigation - scientific or otherwise.
Diplomacy push in whaling deadlock
Andrew Darby, Hobart
April 10, 2007
A DIPLOMATIC push will try to break the global deadlock over whaling by shifting the issue up a notch, into the hands of government leaders.
Negotiators on both sides of the dispute are now openly advocating looking beyond the regulating organisation, the International Whaling Commission, to resolve the matter.
A conservation symposium at the UN in New York this week will be told that IWC commissioners have probably gone as far as they can by negotiating. Pro-whaling nations have separately agreed that it may now be up to governments.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/diplomacy-push-in-whaling-deadlock/2007/04/09/1175971016559.html
The world is collapsing
Around our ears
I turned up the radio
But I can't hear it...
Ummmmm, hello?????
Guard units in 4 states set for Iraq deployment
Pentagon notifies brigades in Okla., Ohio, Ark., and Ind.; 13,000 troops
Deployment 'not associated with current troop surge'
TULSA, Okla. - The Department of Defense announced Monday it has notified National Guard brigades in Oklahoma, Ohio, Arkansas and Indiana to prepare for possible deployment to Iraq.
If the order is finalized, about 13,000 troops would begin deploying in December for a maximum of one year.
"They are receiving alert orders now in order to provide them the maximum time to complete their preparations," the Defense Department said in a prepared statement. "It also provides a greater measure of predictability for family members and flexibility for employers to plan for military service of their employees."
The troops would be used as replacement units and the deployment would not be associated with the current troop surge.
A final determination of whether these units will deploy will be made based on conditions on the ground in Iraq, the statement said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18022693/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18022693/
Posted by: monkey at April 9, 2007 11:49 AM
I wonder if this will make Lamestream Media snooze, and if sheeple will figure out that these numbers represent more than the 21,500 (technically ca 48,000 with "support personnel") DimWit wants, and this number is not included in the 21,500...?
Will anyone think to ask what would happen if the US was actually attacked (for real, not in DimWit's paranoid imagination; 9/11 was a criminal act, not an act of war, after all) and how We The People would be protected when so many of our guard and reserve troops are in Iraq serving to protect and defend the Iraqi oil fields for the sake of oil corporations. What would happen if there was another natural disaster on a catastrophic scale (Katrina/Rita or something on that scale of whatever kind, not necessarily a hurricane) and who would be here to help people clean up after the disaster...?
Someone is not thinking ahead or leaving us with any CYA measures for guards or reserves on our own soil (just in case they would be needed).
I'm an advocate of planning and training above and beyond the call of duty, over-training, even, for people such as firefighters, police officers, first responders and ambulance and first aid crews and emergency dispatchers, etc., and that includes guard and reserve troops. I believe in training and equipping them in every possible way... and hope like crazy their training and equipment will never be needed.
But I am NOT in favor of sending those same superbly trained and equipped people out of the country for the sake of lies for oil....
Memo to Nancy Pelosi: When can we talk about IMPEACHING the bam dastards who are dragging us all down with them....?
MY SENATOR, CARL LEVIN, CAVES TO BUSH ON IRAQ:
WASHINGTON Apr 8, 2007 (AP)— The Senate will not stop paying for the Iraq war nor relent from insisting that President Bush keep pressing the Baghdad government for a negotiated end to the violence, a Democratic leader said Sunday.
Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, the Senate Armed Service Committee chairman, took issue with an effort by Majority Leader Harry Reid to cut off money for the war next year as a way to end U.S. involvement.
"We're not going to vote to cut funding, period," Levin said. "But what we should do, and we're going to do, is continue to press this president to put some pressure on the Iraqi leaders to reach a political settlement."
Bush has asked Congress for more than $100 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year. The House and Senate have approved the money, but their bills seek to wind down the war by including timelines for troops to come home something Bush will not accept.
The Senate bill would require a U.S. troop exit to begin within 120 days, with a completion goal of March 31, 2008. The House bill would order all combat troops out by Sept. 1, 2008.
Democratic leaders have not negotiated a final version to send the president. Bush has made clear he will veto it, which will start the process all over.
"We're going to fund the troops. We always have," Levin said. He added, "We're very strong in supporting the troops, but we're also strong on putting pressure on the Iraqi leaders to live up to their own commitments without that political settlement on their part, there is no military solution."
Ralpheh
Democrats seem to cave often because some of them too get donations from oil companies. Check out Huffington Post today. Feinstein, for example.
This is the article NMP is referring to....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/the-money-race-politicia_b_45295.html
The Money Race: Politicians Win, You Lose
Money money money -- it's the talk of the political world right now. Who raised the most? Who had the most donors? Which party raised more?
The answer to the last one is the Democrats, who crushed the Republicans in fundraising for the first quarter of 2007. But allow me to interrupt the victory parade for a moment to point out that the raising of political money isn't the whole story.
It's what happens afterwards that should command our attention.
A perfect example: the potential $10 billion oil industry windfall made possible by an omission in the offshore drilling leases agreed to in 1998 and 1999.
The Bush administration's response to what the Interior Department's Inspector General has labeled "a jaw dropping example of bureaucratic bungling" has been exactly what you would expect: do nothing and let the oil companies keep the money. Inspector General Earl Devaney called the administration's inaction on the mistake "shockingly cavalier."
The Democrats, on the other hand, pledged to fix the blunder as part of their "First 100 Hours" campaign. And, in fact, the House has already passed a bill to that effect.
But over in the Senate, Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico and Diane Feinstein of California have suddenly gone all wobbly, and are leading an effort to water down the bill. Both of them, not coincidentally, are recipients of political donations from -- can you guess? -- oil companies. In fact, Bingaman pockets more oil money than any other Senate Democrat. And here is the quid pro quo he gave to the oil industry:
"The way I would like to proceed," he said, "is to find something that the administration thinks will pass muster."
Really? If what passes muster with the administration is what passes muster with the American people, Bingaman would still be in the minority in the Senate.
Feinstein, meanwhile, has endorsed the version favored by the Bush administration, which is to ask the companies -- very nicely, I'm sure -- to renegotiate, and, in exchange, extend their current leases without bids.
{More on link.}
NonnyO
Yes, that is the article - thanks!
Yet we ourselves feed the beast. Most of us drive. We have to work, yes, but so does everybody. We don't have energy efficent houses, for the most part, and they are too large in many cases. Most Americans don't turn the lights off or the heat down, or close off doors to areas not in use. Since WW2, Europeans have, and regular people there don't throw away leftovers either. Ditto for people in the upper midwest who lived through the Great Depression.
Maybe we need more hardship. It's starting too, with terrorism, senseless war, bad management (Katrina etc), waste (Halliburton etc), economy dependent on consumerism, and global warming. We will pay and pay and pay.
We can blame the politicians and we should. We can blame the weather. But when we point a finger, we do still have four fingers pointing back at ourselves.
Why Do American Candidates Need so Much Money?
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=22&art_id=nw20070408215826615C853479
God, this is embarrassing!
Maybe it's better if Bill Richardson isn't a top contender for President, as he's heading a delegation to North Korea and may have better results in his current capacity. Ditto for Gore and Kerry. Maybe they can do more through other channels. The Office of the President need to be completely revamped because as it sits, I don't think it's possible to hold it without being corrupted.
It's the 4th anniversary of the fall of Bagdad and thousands of Shiites are in the streets demanding that the US leave. So it remains that we seem to be trying to keep Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds from fighting each other and also us. Everyone is at war with everyone else. There was a private quoted at TPM today who said it was like a cat and mouse game with a "very smart mouse."
Don't read this scary article about Blackwater.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/9/4314/88854
Great cartoon from Center for American Progress
http://www.americanprogress.org/cartoons/2007/04/040907_bushtwins.html
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/uclickcomics/20070409/cx_nq_uc/nq20070409
Non Sequitur
Kerry debates (!) Gingrich on the environment,
Tuesday April 10, 10 am EDT.
Broadcast on CSPAN 1 cable channel (not a clue as to broadcast time in other time zones, but should be 10 am on east coast), and ALSO LIVE ON THE WEB (www.c-span.org)
Oh, I love it when technology bites Rover in his big butt...
GOP-issued laptops now a White House headache
Democrats say a private e-mail system was used in violation of federal rules.
By Tom Hamburger, Times Staff Writer
April 8, 2007
When Karl Rove and his top deputies arrived at the White House in 2001, the Republican National Committee provided them with laptop computers and other communication devices to be used alongside their government-issued equipment.
The back-channel e-mail and paging system, paid for and maintained by the RNC, was designed to avoid charges that had vexed the Clinton White House — that federal resources were being used inappropriately for political campaign purposes.
Now, that dual computer system is creating new embarrassment and legal headaches for the White House, the Republican Party and Rove's once-vaunted White House operation.
Democrats cite evidence that the RNC e-mail system was used for political and government policy matters in violation of federal record preservation and disclosure rules.
In addition, Democrats point to a handful of e-mails obtained through ongoing inquiries suggesting the system may have been used to conceal such activities as contacts with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, convicted on bribery charges and now in prison for fraud.
Democratic congressional investigators are beginning to demand access to this RNC-White House communications system, which was used not only by Rove's office but by several top officials elsewhere in the White House.
The prospect that such communication might become public has further jangled the nerves of an already rattled Bush White House....
http://tinyurl.com/22mg46 = LA Times
Notes on Nationalism (1945)
Nationalism is power-hunger tempered by self-deception.
The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.
Posted by: not my president at April 8, 2007 10:50 PM
Boy, if that doesn't hit the nail on the head NMP!
Madame Defarge,
Thanks for the weekend cartoons. Very good. Sending them to some Pubs who I think are just about ready to laugh at them. (Through their embarrassment, I hope!)
Ralpheh,
This country has not lost it's soul. We the people make up this country and we have not lost our soul.
The country was lulled to sleep, and it is waking up. Not fast enough, perhaps, but it IS waking up. People are still way too undereducated about the darling's running the snake oil show.
Thank God for Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, John Edwards, Barack Obama, Teddy Kennedy, and many many others.
We have definitely not lost our soul. Mankind has seen just as bad if not worse throughout history, and good WILL triumph over evil.
James Brown is gone though.
New hunger strike hits Guantanamo
Washington
April 10, 2007
MORE than a dozen Muslim detainees have begun a new hunger strike at the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay.
Citing military officials and lawyers, newspaper reports said the military responded by force-feeding the detainees.
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Why force feed them? Isn't the whole idea of them being in Guantanamo to keep them quiet? How much does one detainee cost the US Govt? I'd have thought it would be a good cost-cutting measure. I thought the US Govt wanted all terrorists wiped from the face of the planet. And we all know that every single detainee is "the worst of the worst". Surely a hunger strike would have seemed like an economically-sound bonus to the administration. No cost for a show-case trial and execution.
article here. .....
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/new-hunger-strike-hits-guantanamo/2007/04/09/1175971016018.html
I hope you realise my comments above are made tongue in cheek. Force feeding is yet another indignity to be borne.
I just made a poster with all the conservative popular media pundits. It might seem like a waste of time but it's part of a series for ArtKos in the summer. I have The Evil Dictators 2003, The Dictators 2007, Presidental Contenders 2004, Presidential Contenders 2008 and now The Conservative Popular Media "Pundits." The style is inspired by my autistic neighbor Gregg Blackstock, who dispassionately catalogs things he find bizarrely interesting. I quite appreciate it!
Kayakbiker has added a photo essay entitled "Progressive Panhandler Promotes Randi Rhodes" - see it at http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com - leave a comment if you like! He is also looking for more information about the project for April 28 on Impeachment. Reportedly, some people will form the word "Impeach" in canoes, on a lake, visible from overhead. There are literally thousands of lakes. Anyone find more on this, let me know! I'll be in Bend, OR, of all places, trying to get some action going. My brother lives there and I'll see OR blogger Astrobuff of http://www.radrobin.com.
The country was lulled to sleep, and it is waking up. Not fast enough, perhaps, but it IS waking up. People are still way too undereducated about the darling's running the snake oil show.
Thank God for Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, John Edwards, Barack Obama, Teddy Kennedy, and many many others.
We have definitely not lost our soul. Mankind has seen just as bad if not worse throughout history, and good WILL triumph over evil.
Posted by: tsp at April 9, 2007 07:30 PM
The Dems in Congress are losing their nascent backbones. Here's a headline from from a Dem website:
Carl Levin sends Bush a message - "You keep sending Americans to die in this illegal and immoral war, and we'll keep paying for it."
Here's that number to call to awake up your lulled, sleeping Dem Congressperson....
202-224-3121
Reid said we should not be policing a civil war.
Pelosi said the Dems will not come back early from recess to get the bill going, as the Republicans demand.
I read all about the deployment of the National Guard and I read it on FoxNews.com, to see how they present it entirely uncritically, which is really wierd. They tell how the National Guard troops are not part of the "surge" - they are replacements for yet other troops. They say that whatever General Petraeous says we need, then that's what we need. They are completely uncritical and completely unanalytical. It's spooky because you can still read between the lines and imagine all these not-ready or unrecuperated guys getting their orders.
Also read that Newt Gingrich wants Gonzales to step down because he's making the Republicans look bad. Is Newt positioning himself for a run in what?! He ought to be reviewing for his debate tomorrow with Kerry.
Fox version didn't mention this about the National Guard (found in CS Monitor & NY Times):
"88 percent of units with less than half the equipment required to perform missions at home"
Ford CEO saves President Bush’s life.
Ford CEO Alan Mulally tells reporters that he had to run over and stop President Bush from plugging an electrical cord into the hydrogen tank of a hybrid car at the White House last week.
“I just thought, ‘Oh my goodness!’ So, I started walking faster, and the President walked faster and he got to the cord before I did. I violated all the protocols. I touched the President. I grabbed his arm and I moved him up to the front,” Mulally said. “I wanted the president to make sure he plugged into the electricity, not into the hydrogen This is all off the record, right?”
hat tip to Rude Pundit, who referred me to
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/08/ford-ceo-saves-president-bushs-life/
"My Name Used to Be #200343"
By David Phinney
Inter Press Service
Saturday 07 April 2007
An American former Navy soldier and private contractor imprisoned and tortured in Iraq by the US military and falsely accused of "aiding terrorists" warns that our worst fears about Iraq have come true.
A year ago, Donald Vance learned what its like to be falsely accused by the U.S. military of aiding terrorists. He was held without charge for more than three months in a high-security prison in Iraq, and interrogated daily after sleepless nights without legal counsel or even a phone call to his family.
On Wednesday, the former private security contractor was honored for his ordeal in Washington and for speaking out against the incident. At a luncheon at the National Press Club, Vance received the Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling, an award named in memory of Army helicopter gunner Ron Ridenhour who struggled to bring the horrific mass murders at My Lai to the attention of Congress and the Pentagon during the Vietnam War.
Vance was joined by former president Jimmy Carter, who won a lifetime achievement award, and journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran of The Washington Post who was recognised for his recent book, "Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone".
As hundreds at the luncheon finished their lobster salad, Vance, a two-time George W. Bush voter and Navy veteran, recounted the events of his imprisonment and the grief of his fiancé and family. They did not know if he was alive or dead, he said. They were already making inquiries to the U.S. State Department on how to ship his body home.
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/50191/
Fox version didn't mention this about the National Guard (found in CS Monitor & NY Times):
"88 percent of units with less than half the equipment required to perform missions at home"
Posted by: not my president at April 9, 2007 09:59 PM
@@@@@@
This is outrageous... another crime....
Is it time for civil disobedience???