Solstice and Sustainability

Sounds fun, slugbug.

I'd pay money to see them take it on the road to Crawford, TX though.

Good morning, folks. And to all our DCP fathers out here have a very special Father's Day.

(Name of video here--Father's Day for Peace)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiZMqLM2bAI

Fathers Day for Peace. org

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00EtaTuOcFk

16,000 children die per day of starvation. The one campaign is a nonpartisan campaign to help fight poverty. Here's their youtube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nf8tuVny4Q

Karen--this one's for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u83z9gH0lA&mode=user&search=

(You're always telling us to come to DC...)

NEW YORK (AFP) - A general who investigated US troops sexually humiliating Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison said in a report out Saturday that top Pentagon officials denied knowledge of lurid photographs of the acts.

Army Major General Antonio Taguba said he met with then secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld and other top officials and described to them some of the contents of a report he had prepared on the notorious prison.

But Rumsfeld testified before Congress the following day that he had no idea of the extent of the abuse, Taguba told the New Yorker magazine in an interview.

"He's trying to acquit himself and a lot of people who are lying to protect themselves," the magazine quoted him as saying, referring to Rumsfeld's May 7, 2004 testimony.

The photographs taken by US jailers humiliating prisoners who were naked or hooded, on leashes or piled in a pyramid, rocked the world, becoming one of the few things President George W. Bush has said he regretted about the war.

Taguba said that he described to Rumsfeld what he termed the "torture" of "a naked detainee lying on the wet floor, handcuffed, with an interrogator shoving things up his rectum," the magazine reported.

He said that all high-level officials had avoided scrutiny while the jail keepers were tried in courts-martial.

"From what I knew, troops just don't take it upon themselves to initiate what they did without any form of knowledge of the higher-ups," Taguba told the New Yorker, adding that his orders were to investigate the military police only and not their superiors.

"These (military police) troops were not that creative," he said. "Somebody was giving them guidance, but I was legally prevented from further investigation into higher authority," he told the magazine.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070616/pl_afp/usiraqmilitaryprison_070616234741

Christy,

That doesn't surprise me. Also, I remember hearing about them punishing the whistleblower (the leaker) who first revealed the pictures. There are a lot of people who have been destroyed because they brought forth the truth or have tried to protect the detainees as their job oath required.

Has any officer been convicted in the Abu Ghraib case?? They just convicted a bunch of low level MP's from the National Guard...

Posted by: ralpheh at June 17, 2007 10:36 AM

My understanding is that no officer was punished for allowing the abuse at Abu Ghraib.

I do know that the 'leaker' has experienced the wrath and retribution of Bushco.

"Taguba told the New Yorker, adding that his orders were to investigate the military police only and not their superiors."

Happy Father's Day to all - my husband is still sleeping and I'm going to let him. My son stayed overnight & had brought croissants from Bakery Nouveau, where he works, baked by the guy who won Le Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie! Hooray!

The pictures below the fold are more morbid than they would have to be if our (unelected) President had not gotten us into the middle east quagmire. Still, it's good to make a visual statement about it in public venues, to keep people thinking.

Happy Solstice, early! (It officially falls midweek this year)

Posted by: Christy at June 17, 2007 11:56 AM

Interesting, huh?!!!

(Forgot to add the sarcasm tag.)

((( sarcasm )))

Kayakbiker and I will have material in the "Chapbook" for the YearlyKos event, which will now run to 150 pages. The funny thing is that the book will apparently be "waterproof" - good reading for the hot tub. It's a product of ArtKos, a subgroup of YearlyKos, to be held August 2-5 in Chicago.

Sparrow,
The Backbone Campaign did take the Chain Gang to Crawford.
http://backbonecampaign.org/storydetail.cfm?ID=170
They put them in the Crawford County Jail.

Re Abu Graib, the buck should stop at the top and we all know who that is. W and his cohorts have the legal authority to detain and hold indefinitely without charges anyone they want and do anything to them they want. Part of the reason this is true is because the law doesn't prevent it. They didn't joint the World Court. They ignore or try to dominate the UN, NATO, IMF and WTO. They rewrite the Codes of Conduct and amend the Geneva Convention and Constitution, and use signing statements, ignore and go around the law, if they haven't already changed it to add to their power. They redefine what is torture or argue in its favor. The Congress is still stacked with their friends and so is the Justice Department. There is corruption in the Pentagon, the CIA and all the rest. That's how they get by with it.

Did you see this one?

Hamas – and its Syrian and Iranian allies - capture priceless Palestinian Authority intelligence archives in Gaza putsch
http://www.topix.net/forum/world/iran/TKQDPUQJD2FOCGCHQ

The Fatah-led general intelligence and security services caved in too fast to shred, wipe or burn documents, computer disks and archives. The entire collection fell into Hamas’ hands when they seized Palestinian Preventive Intelligence HQ at Tel Awa (henceforth Tel al-Islam) and the Palestinian General Intelligence center near Gaza port.

Never before has a bonanza of Western intelligence secrets on this scale ever reached an Islamist liberation movement. The US, British and Israeli intelligence services may have suffered their greatest debacle in America's middle-east follies. It will take them many years to recover.

Hamas has taken possession of hundreds of thousands of documents cataloguing the clandestine operations of Western intelligence services in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and the oil emirates. It is now the owner of complete archives of Palestinian undercover links with foreign intelligence services going back decades, with names of spies, political collaborators and double agents. The documentation covers the secret ties Palestinian intelligence maintained from the 1970s, when Yasser Arafat was based in Lebanon, with the Americans, the British, the French, the Israelis and many others.

clip

After the Nazi regime was defeated at the end of World War II and Eastern Germany fell in the 1990s, there were officials willing to make a desperate effort to destroy or hide their intelligence treasure. Palestinian intelligence officers did not burn a single page.

Do you know what I would do right now if I had unlimited resources?

I would build a wall. A big one.

I would request through the Iraqi press all the names of all children under the age of 15 who have died in the violence since 2003 and carve each of their names, age at death, and birthplace on a brick.

A pink hued brick for the girls and blue hued ones for the boys.

If the Lancet can be trusted it will take about 300,000 bricks.

I would also buy fun house mirrors, beautifully shaped, to be inlaid in intervals along this big ass 300,000 brick wall.

I would build it so that every damn day, for as long as stone lasts, my countrymen would have to drive by that wall and see how many bricks there are.

And if they dared walk by it, they would catch distorted glimpses of themselves in the mirrors. Horrible, funny, childish distortions.

I think the pink and blues would start forming their own patterns and it would be lovely.

I would probably have to build it somewhere else since Louisiana has a guntoting redneck problem.

But then again, that is perhaps where that kind of wall is needed most.

Nice to see the solstice in Seattle, DiAnne - and the naked bikers again. :)

Travel plans have changed, so I won't be heading your way (or Canada) this 4th of July. The best I can muster will be Mormon Country (AKA Utah) and Las Vegas.

All of these stories are related, connected by a thread of abuse of power.

Seymour Hersh | The General's Report
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061707A.shtml
The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh reports that a general who investigated US troops sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison told Pentagon officials, including former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, about the incidents before the scandal became public, but Rumsfeld, and other
officials, who told Congress they were unaware about the extent of the abuse, "are lying to protect themselves."

RUMSFELD LIED.

Blair Knew US Had No Post-War Plan for Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061707B.shtml
Tony Blair agreed to commit British troops to battle in Iraq in the full knowledge that Washington had failed to make adequate preparations for the postwar reconstruction of the country, the Observer UK reports.

BLAIR LIED

Lawmakers Eye Criminal Charges Over Defense Contracts
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061707C.shtml
Senator Claire McCaskill, who is investigating reports of waste, fraud and mismanagement in defense contracts in Iraq, said criminal charges may be filed in some cases and that the government might get at least a little of its money
back.

CONTRACTORS LIED.

Conflict Over Executive Privilege Looms
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061707D.shtml
Congressional Democrats have always believed that the Justice Department's plan to fire eight US attorneys began in the White House, and last week they proved willing to take their investigation to its doorstep by subpoenaing two former
Bush aides. Many legal observers say the subpoenas are more likely to force the White House to find some sort of middle ground - even if it takes a protracted legal fight to get there.

GONZALES LIED

Posted by: not my president at June 17, 2007 04:19 PM

THEY ALL LIED...!!!

The thing that SO aggravated me years ago was when Lamestream Media snooze anchors and bobbleheads began to say "misled" and that there were "misleading misstatements" as the blame game progressed when they were caught in LIES. It somehow made LYING less illegal, less offensive, more like accidental and innocent statements, when in FACT we all knew they were LYING (but it was somehow blasphemous and uncouth to actually SAY Georgie and Dickie and their cohorts were all LYING through their teeth... which was the cause for all the deaths in Iraq....

Why is it less offensive to LIE about reasons for going to war which has resulted in untold thousands of deaths than it was for Clinton to LIE to Congress (and be impeached) about a stupid blow job...? There is recent precedent for impeaching a president for lying. Why not use that precedent as just cause to START the impeachment process against Dickie (first, so we're not stuck with him) and then Georgie...?

Hmmmm...???

Someone puh-leeze get me out of this damnable surreal painting...! I want to live again in a world without submissive Congress Critters who give in to every dictatorial demand of a spoiled frat brat who's one step away from declaring himself dictator for life...!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/6756899.stm
Warnings of 'internet overload'
{{{{Hmmm.... Our "internets tubes" may or may not be getting clogged, but this reads like a soft propaganda piece subtly in favor of letting corporate media giants control our "internets" - for a price, of course, but that's not explicitly stated - so end-users who do not yet have fiber-optic cable can still get info as fast as everyone else.... Hmmmm....}}}

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6759115.stm
Head of US military 'forced out'
The US military's outgoing top commander, Gen Peter Pace, says he opposed the decision to replace him at the end of his first term.

Gen Pace said he did not resign voluntarily as he felt this would be "unacceptable" for him as a leader. "I've been told I'm done," he said.

US Troops Could Be in Iraq for a Decade
http://news.google.com/nwshp?tab=wn

Petraeus was on FOX News, so here is the propaganda transcript:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,283553,00.html

WALLACE: But how is the surge working so far? General Odierno, your number two, said this weekend that he believes that you have control over only 40 percent of Baghdad. Is that accurate?
And how do you feel it's going in terms of clearing out and securing Baghdad and Anbar province?

PETRAEUS: Well, I think, Chris, as I mentioned to the press yesterday, we're ahead of where we thought, I thought, we would be at this point in time, and then we are behind where we might have been in some other areas.

Huh? Sounds like Rumsfeld doublespeak.

Want a diary with lots of graphics - try this. It talks about a paleoconservative who served under Reagan who is fed up.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/6/17/14638/6423

file this under International Law

Charter of the International Military Tribunal
August 8, 1945

ARTICLE 1
In pursuance of the Agreement signed on the 8th day of August 1945 by the Government of the United States of America, the Provisional Government of the French Republic, the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, there shall be established an International Military Tribunal (hereafter called "the Tribunal") for the just and prompt trial and punishment of major war criminals of the European Axis.

ARTICLE 6

The Tribunal established by the Agreement referred to in Article 1 hereof for the trial and punishment of the major war criminals of the European Axis countries shall have the power to try and punish persons who, acting in the interests of the European Axis countries, whether as individuals or as members of organizations, committed any of the following crimes.

The following acts, or any of them, are crimes coming within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal for which there shall be individual responsibility:

(a) Crimes against Peace: namely, planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation in a Common Plan or Conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing;

(b) War Crimes: namely, violations of the laws or customs of war. Such violations shall include, but not be limited to, murder, ill-treatment or deportation to slave labor or for any other purpose of civilian population of or in occupied territory, murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war or persons on the seas, killing of hostages, plunder of public or private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns, or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity;

(c) Crimes against Humanity: namely, murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, before or during the war,14 or persecutions on political, racial, or religious grounds in execution of or in connection with any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, whether or not in violation of domestic law of the country where perpetrated.

Leaders, organizers, instigators, and accomplices participating in the formulation or execution of a Common Plan or Conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing crimes are responsible for all acts performed by any persons in execution of such plan.

Huh? Sounds like Rumsfeld doublespeak.
Posted by: not my president at June 17, 2007 04:56 PM

Must be taking Bu$hSpeak lessons from Georgie....

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/imtconst.htm

Link to full text of the Charter of the International Military Tribunal, part of which nmp posted above.

I think all the history buffs on this blog already know, but this is the document used to try the war criminals at Nuremberg. It is from these precedents that the Geneva Conventions arose.

Posted by: not my president at June 17, 2007 06:54 PM

Thanks for the diary and graphics. Was surprised to see the David Hicks video, but pleased too. David isn't actually free. Because he's a convicted/confessed terrorist he's very, very dangerous and is locked up in solitary with our worst of the worst. Locked up till January when he's supposed to be released but our politicians are still beating on the terrorist drum so he'll have to be on a Control Order. No physical contact with anyone till yesterday when officials said that he could hug his kids.

Of course I am always happy to sign the GetUp petitions and write letters to and about the appropriate people. It was only after the GetUp campaign that Howard got Hicks "tried and sentenced" and home. It is a powerful lobby group.

Hey Woz and anyone else....

I went back to what I wrote that day, and I revised part of it because I left out a few important details.

I want to repost one revised section here, because of two reasons... I want the world to know we can prove the police fed a killer a confession.

We can prove what they did. And I want you to know what they did to us.

I have never discussed the details of Lucas' 'confession' outside of our family.

"Huckabee was still sheriff when a killer named Henry Lee Lucas was brought to bay in Texas and started confessing to everythng they put in front of him. He confessed to Alines murder, and something very strange happened.

Lucas we know for a fact was making a false confession, but, they (the cops) said he drew a map to clothes. In Desoto Parish. A place we are sure he never went too. But, Huckabee went there (supposedly), and lo and behold a pair of jeans, a shirt, and an empty purse were there. Womens clothing, roughly matching Alines in description and size. She was a size 4.

And without any warning at all, Huckabee again returned to my grandparents and told my grandma of Lucas 'confession' and oh by the way, are these Alines clothes? I was told he 'shoved them into her face' with no warning.

He implied yo my grandmother Lucas had sex with Alines after she was dead, then went on to tell her that Lucas had 'chopped Aline into pieces' and disposed of her 'pieces', from a car over an area so vast they could never be recovered.

My grandmother literally went into shock on the spot and could not walk for days. My mother was called to Louisiana immediately, they took turns holding grandma under a cold shower and sitting with her as she sobbed for hours on end. My mother reported back she could not even stand without just...collapsing. For days she was like that..

We can now say for sure Huckabee lied about the clothes. They were NOT recovered in Desoto Parish, and Desoto Parish is sure about that. But at the time we did not think to check up on him, because why in God's name would the police LIE about such things?

There was some talk after that it was a 'false' confession. Some of us chose to believe it anyway, because it was easier than ...nothing. All of us were left with the image of tiny, beautiful Aline, being chopped into pieces by a monster.

I was raised with that image in my head.

More years passed. More lies and obstruction from the Red River Parish Sheriffs Department. And the DAs office.

And the clothes that were recovered? They were logged into the evidence vault where they promtly went missing as surely as Aline had vanished. The current sheriff has no idea how that happened nor does he really seem concerned about it. He is still telling our family they were recovered in Desoto Parish."

I want those f*cking clothes.

I want them worser and badder than I have ever wanted anything.

Almost as bad as I want to know WHY I have the current Red River Parish sheriff on tape lying about them.

OMG Christy. I can't imagine what would go through the mind of a little girl whose grandmother had fallen into an emotional cataclysm. I feel that you'll never get the clothes and they probably wouldn't be Aline's anyway. But why on earth would that police officer be so brutal about it to your grandmother? Do you really have him on tape?

I find it remarkable that you are able to remember these things and write them here. I believe that must surely help you to stay sane. There is injustice and corruption all over the world. That doesn't lessen your personal grief, but it does help to know that whatever happens to us, we are in the company of thousands, perhaps millions, of others who have experienced personal horrors, and continue to experience them.

"But why on earth would that police officer be so brutal about it to your grandmother? Do you really have him on tape?"

That actually covers two different Red River Sheriffs.

Huckabee did that to my grandma.

And the current sheriff, Johnny Ray Norman was...interrogated... by me, on Sept 11th 2006, and yes, I really do have him on tape lying about it.

The clothes are not the only things he lied about that day, but I want those clothes, because there is a 50/50 chance THEY ARE Alines.

How Huckabee got them..??.. It was real convienant timing for his brain to explode just as they were finally on their way to question him about it.

I was not the only one raised with it. Her children knew all about it. So was Micheal, Tracy, Kelly, Matthew, Little Ricky, Barbie, Keli, Wendy, Jenny, and Dave. We all knew.

I'll be honest, Karrie believed the Lucas confession because it was easier.

Can you imagine living in a world where PIECES of your mother being scattered after her dead body was molested is EASIER THAN the truth?

Yes, I know corruption is all over. All I can do is hope what happens here changes that, even if just a little.

"I find it remarkable that you are able to remember these things and write them here. I believe that must surely help you to stay sane."

Again. I will be honest. I also am slightly amazed at how easily it is all coming back to me.

For so many years it was like a bad dream. My cousins too, after they were gone for so long, they became like a dream.

I am not sure how sane I am, but I do know these bastards would be stone cold stupid to try anything else against my family.

We are not Aline who can be ambushed with no one seeing anything.

When I tell you about it, it is really the only time I have felt relatively 'safe' for years.

All these damn cops make me nervous.

"But why on earth would that police officer be so brutal about it to your grandmother?"

The prevailing theory is Huckabee and his boys needed to get my grandpa off their back so they decided to frame a supposed 'serial killer' who was retarded enough to confess to anything.

My grandpa was in a head to head fight he could never win, first with one sheriff, then another. If he was ever afraid of them, none of us saw it.

He got real sick after Aline disappeared, and never really again recovered. He died fighting like a lion.

I can only hope he found his daughter on the other side.

He used to sit on his front porch and stare at Alines car. They lived out in the boonies and were surrounded by deep forrests and swamps.

He would sit there and stare at that car and say "I know my baby is probably less than 20 miles from me, but I just can not find her."

He had dreams where she was screaming for him to help her.

In his final days, his body collapsed and he lost his mind. He went back to the battle fields of Korea. He was the pilot that landed the first amphib to hit the beach at Guada Canal.

By the time they actually hit sand, he was the only survivor on board. He spend 10 days living in a foxhole on the beach, on the front lines of a battle that was maybe the bloodiest my nation ever fought.

My grandfather was called 'Shorty', but even big men, like my father were in awe of him.

He was a truly brave man. Those sheriffs knew they had a problem on their hands.

His daughter vanishing crushed him. They made sure of it.

Did I ever tell yall about the monkey?

My grandpa never spoke about the war in Korea. We all knew not to ask.

My grandpa had a love of monkeys, and he LOVED toys. Monkey toys were like the greatest thing ever to him.

We all knew why he had a monkey fetish.

After they took the beach at Guadalcanal, and moved inland, and took the territory, my grandpas battalion were basically a long way from home and supplies were not coming and they were basically cut off and slowlt starving.

For all his life my grandpa HATED the American Red Cross. They were doing donation drives back home, getting us to 'donate' ciggarettes to 'Our Boys Over There' and then they were selling them to the soldiers on the front lines for a dollar a pack.

A dollar was a lot of money. My grandpa could get a pack of ciggarettes for a dollar on some godforsaken island, but not food.

He HATED them for it.

Anyways...My grandpa made a surprising new friend unexpectedly. This spider monkey, or whatever those monkeys are called, maybe it was terrified by the fighting, or whatever, but it had suddenly found its way to my grandpas side, desperate for food and comfort and my grandfather was smitten.

He fell in love with a monkey and it apparently went everywhere with him. He took care of it.

The cut off of supplies went on and on. Our soldiers had whipped the ass of the local occupants but were seriously starting to starve.

One night while my grandfather was sleeping, his 'buddies' ambushed the monkey and were cooking it when my grandpa woke up.

According to the legend my grandpa FLIPPED OUT.

Rumor has it there were threats of fratracide and a short standoff before my grandfather succumbed to the fact his little friend didn't make it.

I asked my grandma once, 'If grandpa never talks about the war, how do you know about the monkey?'

She just laughed and told me ' Because sometimes in his sleep he still gets mad about it.'

HAHAHA!

On his deathbed, when he went back in his mind, he was still FURIOUS about that monkey.

Christy, Aline's story is horrific. But this story about your grandfather and the monkey - this is such a telling story of the kind of man he was. Thinking of your grandfather staring into Aline's car is so awfully sad. I was sobbing by this point. And then the monkey. How fragile is our sanity?

All the anecdotes that you've added give life to the family who were so badly abused. Fragmented nightmares for the rest of his life. It's fitting I think, that his mind plunged him back into the war. Aline's absence renewed those feelings and fears. His complete lack of control. How debilitating that is. How could he resolve his feelings of guilt? As a man, as the father of the household, he should have been able to protect his child. He couldn't protect his monkey that he loved and cared for like it was a child. Yes, the mind is brutal in its condemnation of us, when there should be no blame.

These aren't simply fillers for a story - these are the bones that support the meat of your story.

Again I thank you Christy. I really am beginning to know and understand the people of the family. I loved your grandmother when I read about her heartache. And now I love your grandfather.

I don't get all of the relationships and how each person was affected throughout the years. All of the children who grew up with the knowledge of what had happened even though these things were only whispered about. Whispers mean Secrets. Whispers mean shame - something not to be shared outside the safety of home. From whispers, questions grow. You'd seen so much of the broken minds of your grandparents, I imagine that you didn't talk about it with anyone else outside of your own family.

It seems so odd for me to contemplate how you must see my family.

We were just ordinary people, and it really makes you realize how every family has a story.

We are all touched by extraordinary events, but it is rare that one such event could encompass so many other issues.

I often think of Wandas Hudsons family and wonder how they lived with it. What happened to that young woman was absolutely horrific and they were on the scene the next morning, desperately trying to shield her body from onlookers.

The police stood by and let the curious just stroll through the crime scene, then the deputies started showing off her crime scene photos all over town.

With Aline, she just walked out of our lives one day. Poof. Wandas family had to see what became of her. How horrible it must have been.

Wandas mother lived long enough to hear the Browne confession but did she hear the truth?

No. Not at all.

Robert Charles Browne is a liar.

Why did he confess to Wanda's murder, if he didn't do it? Were there any similarities between Aline's disappearance and Wanda's murder? Why did the police setup Lucas to take the fall for Aline's disappearance? How do you know that Lucas lied? If Wanda's body was found so quickly, doesn't that imply a different perpetrator for Aline's disappearance?

I'll take these one at a time.

'Why did he confess to Wanda's murder, if he didn't do it? '

I can only guess. Better treatment, bragging rights, to set up the Red River Parish Sheriffs Deoartment, whom he HATES with a passion.

Only Robert Charles Browne can truly answer that.

Were there any similarities between Aline's disappearance and Wanda's murder?

No. The only similarity is the fact they both lived in the same apartment complex, were dead within two months of each other, both cases were 'mishandled' by the same sheriffs dept and Robert Charles Browne was a nieghbor to both and confessed to both.

There is nothing to indicate Aline and Wanda even knew one another.

"Why did the police setup Lucas to take the fall for Aline's disappearance?"

Because he was a convienant fall guy for a murder they had no intention of actually solving.

They put this whole story in our heads knowing we had no way of proving or disproving it.

"How do you know that Lucas lied? "

I was not told to hold this back, so I won't.

Trooper Allen has flat out stated that he knows Lucas was 'fed' this confession. It is on tape, and Allen said it was obvious what they were doing, and what Lucas actually said was 'jibberish'.

The Red River cops fed him that confession, and the LA State police can prove it.

"If Wanda's body was found so quickly, doesn't that imply a different perpetrator for Aline's disappearance?"

That is a very interesting question and I very much wish I could answer it.

But I can not.

Straighten Up and Fly Right
words and music by Nat King Cole & Irving Mills

The buzzard took the monkey for a ride in the air
The monkey thought that everything was on the square
The buzzard tried to throw the monkey off his back
The monkey grabbed his neck and said now listen, jack!

Straighten up and fly right
Straighten up and fly right
Straighten up and fly right
Cool down, papa, dont you blow your top.
Ain't no use in jivin'
What's the use in dabbin?
Straighten up and fly right
Cool down, papa, dont you blow your top.

The buzzard told the monkey you're chokin me
Release your hold and I'll set you free
The monkey looked the buzzard right dead in the eye and said
Your storys quite fetchin' but it sounds like a lie

Straighten up and fly right
Straighten up and do right
Straighten up and fly right
Cool down, papa, dont you blow your top.

Straighten up and fly right
Straighten up and do right
Straighten up and fly right
Cool down, papa, dont you blow your top.

Thanks for the lyrics, monkey. Now that's the one that will continue through my head all night.

Walter Reed patients say mental care falls short
Doctor shortage, unfocused methods leave Iraq combat vets frustrated

By Anne Hull and Dana Priest
washintonpost.com
June 17, 2007

On the military plane that crossed the ocean at night, the wounded lay in stretchers stacked three high. The drone of engines was broken by the occasional sound of moaning. Sedated and sleeping, Pfc. Joshua Calloway was at the top of one stack last September. Unlike the others around him, Calloway was handcuffed to his stretcher.

When the 20-year-old infantry soldier woke up, he was on the locked-down psychiatric ward at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. A nurse handed him pajamas and a robe, but they reminded him of the flowing clothes worn by Iraqi men. He told the nurse, "I don't want to look like a freakin' Haj." He wanted his uniform. Request denied. Shoelaces and belts were prohibited.

Calloway felt naked without his M-4, his constant companion during his tour south of Baghdad with the 101st Airborne Division. The year-long deployment claimed the lives of 50 soldiers in his brigade. Two committed suicide. Calloway, blue-eyed and lantern-jawed, lasted nine months -- until the afternoon he watched his sergeant step on a pressure-plate bomb in the road. The young soldier's knees buckled and he vomited in the reeds before he was ordered to help collect body parts. A few days later he was sent to the combat-stress trailers, where he was given antidepressants and rest, but after a week he was still twitching and sleepless. The Army decided that his war was over.

Every month, 20 to 40 soldiers are evacuated from Iraq because of mental problems, according to the Army. Most are sent to Walter Reed along with other war-wounded. For amputees, the nation's top Army hospital offers state-of-the-art prosthetics and physical rehab programs, and soon, a new $10 million amputee center with a rappelling wall and virtual reality center.

Nothing so gleaming exists for soldiers with diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder, who in the Army alone outnumber all of the war's amputees by 43 to 1. The Army has no PTSD center at Walter Reed, and its psychiatric treatment is weak compared with the best PTSD programs the government offers. Instead of receiving focused attention, soldiers with combat-stress disorders are mixed in with psych patients who have mental issues ranging from schizophrenia to marital strife.

Even though Walter Reed maintains the largest psychiatric department in the Army, it lacks enough psychiatrists and clinicians to properly treat the growing number of soldiers returning with combat stress. Earlier this year, the head of psychiatry sent out an "SOS" memo desperately seeking more clinical help.

Individual therapy with a trained clinician, a key element in recovery from PTSD, is infrequent, and targeted group therapy is offered only twice a week.

Young Pfc. Calloway was put in robes that first night. His dreams were infected by corpses. He tasted blood in his mouth. He was paranoid and jumpy. He couldn't stop the movie inside his head of Sgt. Matthew Vosbein stepping on the bomb. His memory was shot. His insides burned.

Calloway's mother came to Walter Reed from Ohio and told the psychiatrist everything she knew about her son. Sitting in the office for the interview, Calloway jiggled his leg and put his head in his hands as he described his tour in Iraq. His mental history was probed and more notes were taken. The trivia of his life -- a beagle named Zoe, a job during high school at a Meijer superstore, a love of World War II history -- competed with what he had become.

"I can't remember who I was before I went into the Army," he said later. "Put me in a war for a year, my brain becomes a certain way. My brain is a big, black ball of crap with this brick wall in front of it."

After a week in the lockdown unit, Calloway was stabilized. They gave him back his shoelaces and belt. On the 10th day, he was released and turned over to outpatient psychiatry for treatment. And Calloway, a casualty without a scratch, began the longest season of his young life.

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19279863/

Thanks for the use of the call, Mr. Belafonte...

-----------

One Monday morning I got up late
And there was Mr. Monkey outside me gate
One Monday morning I got up late
There was Mr. Monkey outside me gate

Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)
Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)

My girl came over to have a drink
I came downstairs and what do you think?
The monkey had run and he let her in
He poured her a glass of me favorite gin

I don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)
Well I drink gin monkey drink gin too
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)

I ran to de yard to get a stick
But I’m tellin you friends that monkey was quick
‘Cause when I returned much to my disgrace
Mr. Monkey had my girl in a manly embrace

I don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)
Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)

Yessah! Up!
Ah play dat ting!
Round de corner!
Hep!

I went to me bath for a Burma Shave
This monkey going put me in a me grave
The entire cabinet was laid to waste
I had to shave with some Gleem toothpaste

I don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)
Well I go to shave monkey go shave too
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)

Well by dis time I was in despair
I was using de shoebrush to brush me hair
I ask him to leave but he stayed around
He pulled de chain and I almost went down

I don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)
Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)

Yep!
Yessah! Play sah!
Mariposa!
Yep!

Well me patience run out and I’m telling you sure
Tomorrow I’m going show dat monkey de door
And if he don’t leave I’m inviting you
To me house for dumplings and monkey stew

Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)

I don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)

When I drink gin monkey drink gin too
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)

When I go (rat tat tat) monkey go (rat tat tat) too
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)

When I go brrp! Monkey go brrp! too
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)

When I go down monkey go down too
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)

When I go up monkey go up too
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)

Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)

I don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)

When I go (smooch) monkey go (smooch) too
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)

Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)

When I play drum monkey play drum too
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)

I don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)

Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do
(Don’t know what to say de monkey won’t do)

Monkey Time
by Boz Scaggs & Band

Back in '64 I was feeling 63
The strangest sort of feeling
Started creeping over me
It's not the kind of feeling
You would easily forget
My head started burning
And my knees began to sweat

I figured I was crazy
So I went back to my chair
But I looked into my mirror
And I just wasn't there
Just then the window shattered
And a monkey hit the floor
Looked like it was time for me
To make it to the door

But the monkey grabbed my coat
And took away my hat
And I don't remember
What happened after that
Except my friends hear the story
About how I left it all behind
Seems ever since that day
I've had that monkey on my mind
Tried to do my best
And make something of my life

So I cut off all my relatives
And then I left my wife

I've tried a hundred cures
Anything that I could find

But you know life ain't easy
With a monkey on your mind

Every time I make my mind up
I'm really gonna try
Well that monkey starts to jumping
And looks me in the eye

Oh, dig the monkey

Well, something exploded
When the monkey got loaded
And we went out on the town
The monkey got so drunk he
Started getting funky
It was hard to hold the poor boy down

He did the boogaloo the shoogaloo
The Eskimo the Hindu
He even made the teenage queen
Oh the joint started leaping
Everybody was a-freaking
The greatest show they'd ever seen
Then someone started screaming
And I woke up from my dreaming
Tried to get myself realigned

But it's all right
And it all comes easy
When you got a monkey on your mind

Dig the monkey
Oh, one more time...
Dig the monkey

I think it is a sign that we always come back to monkeys.

Shock the monkey

Shock the monkey to life
Shock the monkey to life

Cover me when I run
Cover me through the fire
Something knocked me outta the trees
Now I'm on my knees

Cover me, darling please
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know when you're going to shock the monkey

Fox the fox
Rat the rat
You can ape the ape
I know about that
There is one thing you must be sure of
I can't take any more

Darling, don't you monkey with the monkey
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey

Wheels keep turning
Something's burning
Don't like it but I guess I'm learning

Shock! - watch the monkey get hurt, monkey

Cover me, when I sleep
Cover me, when I breathe
You throw your pearls before the swine
Make the monkey blind

Cover me, darling please
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey

Too much at stake
Ground beneath me shake
And the news is breaking

Shock! - watch the monkey get hurt, monkey

Shock the monkey
Shock the monkey
Shock the monkey to life

------

blow dat monkey horn, gabriel,
otter

Wow Otter.

That was strangely violently erotic.

I am not sure I wanted that monkey image in my head.

... and the ever-evolving thread spins on into the afternoon hours...

Monkey
by Counting Crows

All dressed up
No place to go
Hey monkey, when you gonna show your face around me?
I know all the wrongs and rights
And I just want a little light to fall on me

Hey monkey, where you been?
This lonely spiral I've been in
Hey monkey, when can we begin?
Hey monkey, where you been?

We'll I'm all messed up
That's nothing new
Hey monkey, when you open up your blue eyes,
I don't know if I'm wide awake or dreaming
But all I ever need is everything

Hey monkey, where you been?
This lonely spiral I've been in
Hey monkey, when can we begin?
Hey monkey, where you been?

Just get the world off your shoulders
and close your pretty blue eyes
Hey monkey, what's life without an occasional surprise?

Got nowhere but home to go
Got Ben Folds on my radio right now
I'm in trouble for the things I need
Hey monkey don't you want to be needed too?

Hey monkey, where you been?
This lonely spiral I've been in
Hey monkey, when can we begin?
Hey monkey, where you been?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070618/pl_nm/usa_congress_war_dc
Newly empowered Democrats draw wrath of voters

The new Democratic-led Congress is drawing the ire of voters upset with its failure to quickly deliver on a promise to end the Iraq war.

This is reflected in polls that show Congress -- plagued by partisan bickering mostly about the war -- at one of its lowest approval ratings in a decade. Surveys find only about one in four Americans approves of it.

"I understand their disappointment," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) of Nevada. "We raised the bar too high."

In winning control of Congress from President George W. Bush's Republicans last November, Democrats told voters they would move swiftly to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.

But they now say voters must understand they need help from Republicans to clear procedural hurdles, override presidential vetoes and force Bush to change course.

Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record) of Delaware said he explained this recently to anti-war demonstrators. "'We know. We know,"' he quoted them as replying. "But we are so disappointed."'

Biden, seeking the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, said: "Voters are going to be mad with us until we end the war."

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) said some Democrats understand "we can only do so much."

"Others are just very unhappy. I include myself among them," Pelosi, of California, told The New York Times.

Republicans have increasingly voiced their own concerns. Yet most have stood by Bush -- at least for now -- and given him the votes he needed to block timetables for withdrawal.

Republicans also are tweaking Democrats on other fronts, such as stalled efforts to upgrade health care and reduce the cost of college and energy.

'DO-NOTHING CONGRESS'

They are even adopting the same line Democrats once used against them, calling this "a do-nothing Congress."

"If Democrats fail to reverse course, the dynamics in the 2008 elections may shift significantly, allowing Republicans to run as the party of change ... only two years after Democrats successfully campaigned on that same theme," Senate Republican leaders told their ranks in a letter last week.

{{{More on link.}}}

The Dem Congress Critters are pulling a "oh, poor pitiful us, we can't do anything because the 'Pubs are still too strong" routine.

That is pure bull, and they know it. They're getting big bucks from corporate oil and pharma and medicine, and they are not going to stop the spoiled frat brat from committing more crimes.

The Dems will lose in '08 if they continue this crapola.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/06/18/wall-of-separation/
“Wall of Separation”

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/06/18/hollywood-stepping-into-net-neutrality-debate/
Hollywood Stepping Into Net Neutrality Debate

Ally would believe this. I went to a wedding where both sets of parents were fundamentalists and conservatives and immigrants. The mother of the bride said her most important advice for the bride was to "submit" - other than all that stuff, it was a lovely wedding, with alot of cute kids, beautiful bride and good food.

I know that if you criticize your own group you can be considered sexist, racist etc. but sometimes it takes someone from within the group to know what's going on. I know this from feminism, for one thing.

On another topic, I think that if the Congress was 100% Democrat and so was the President, we might find it difficult to get out of these wars, to slow global warming and to stop the fall of the dollar and reverse the deficit. In many ways, we have no one to blame but ourselves - for realizing too little too late and for insufficiently examining how our own lifestyles and belief systems contributed. I have four fingers pointing back at myself.

I'm off to Mobile, AL (will see Veritas!) for the week, but stopped by Take Back America this morning. Richard is still there, along with TayTay and FedUp, Island Blue, AllDemsOnBoard, and other bloggers from the JK sites. The mood was different this year--a large number of determined peace activists will be inside, questioning why there is so little discussion of the war on the schedule. All of the Dem. candidates will be there, although no one we knew seemed totally committed to any of them. There is a Hillary contingent who seem so deeply inside that they are oblivious to the sense of rage outside the Beltway. But there are also a large number of activists who wish to remind them of priorities.

I am almost sorry not to be there. I would have liked to have shown the little video I made, just to remind them that some folks are working mighty hard to get them to do their jobs.

Will Ferrell on Global Warming
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1wogkDmLlQ

Someone has also put this audio with a kid who is supposed to be an impersonator of W but I don't find it convincing. This is better. The other is a JibJab one.

Have fun Karen!

Posted by: not my president at June 18, 2007 01:55 PM

I totally believe it - in fact, all the weddings I ever go to (forced, of course) are fundamentalist immigrant ones. Seriously, I need to attend a Unitarian lesbian wedding - if only to help my novel's ending.

Another proof that I need to get the hell out of my reactionary ethnic suburb. It may not be a ghetto financially, but it is one culturally and politically.

Posted by: karen at June 18, 2007 02:05 PM

Have a nice trip, and say hi to V for all of us.

Ally
I went to a Unitarian lesbian wedding, the weekend before 9/11/01. Ironically, it was held in the Chinese Room of the Smith Tower downtown but the betrothed were American Sicilian and Swedish Corsican, respectively. Sadly, they are now engaged in a vicious custody battle. Human discord is not unique to a gender, religion or race.

You need to get out of their eventually. Be strong. Some people who are born here think they're entitled to the mythical "American dream" and some who come here work even harder to attain it, never realizing that it's an empty promise.

THE MONKEY TIME
Major Lance

There's a place right across town, whenever you're ready
Where people gather 'round, whenever they're ready
And then the music begins to play
You feel a groove comin' on its way
Are you ready (are you ready)
Well, you get yours, cause-a I got mine
For the Monkey Time (Monkey Time)
(Monkey Time)
Now the dance that the people do, I don't know how it started
All I know is that when the beat brings a feel
It's so hard to get parted
And then the music begins to play
Automatically you're on your way
Are you ready (are you ready)
Well, you get yours, cause-a I got mine
For the Monkey Time (Monkey Time)
(Monkey Time)
Do the Monkey, yeah (do the Monkey Time)
Do the Monkey, yeah (do the Monkey Time)
Ah-twist them hips (twist them hips)
Let your backbone slip (let your backbone slip)
Now move your feet (move your feet)
Get on the beat (get on the beat)
Are you ready (are you ready)
Well, you get yours, cause-a I got mine
For the Monkey Time (Monkey Time)
(Monkey Time)
Now the dance that the people do, I don't know how it started
All I know is that when the beat brings a feel
It's so hard to get parted
And then the music begins to play
Automatically you're on your way
Are you ready (are you ready)
Well, you get yours, cause-a I got mine
For the Monkey Time (Monkey Time)
Ah, do the Monkey, yeah
Give me a big strong line
You're lookin' real fine

On Monkeys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a15KgyXBX24
What we are

pre-hensil & grett'll...

Monkey Man
by Dave Matthews Band

Great Monkey Man has gone the distance
The lucky one's going to get it all
Loving life now
Living on top of
Lucky ones always get it all

Oh, I'm hungry
Don't wanna die like a little dog
Gonna take what I can get
I'm the Monkey Man
With the great, great monkey plan

It's crazy, crazy, little man
You've got yourself entangled

Oh, love to lie to myself
To say everything is fine now
We got to keep it up
Or fall behind
I got to keep it up
Or lose the edge we found there faster
I'll build higher, still higher
I dig deeper down 'til it's down in the ground
It's found, used up and then thrown out

Crazy, crazy little man
What do you think you're doing here?

Big, beautiful world just for us
Good use we must put it to
Any way I can think to use it up
What will I tell my grandson's grandsons?

I could weave a fairy tale
On a great Bible-thumping scale
When he stands empty hands
On his empty land
That's what happened here
Great, great Monkey Man

Where did you think grey was the color of this?
You think I don't know quite what to say
But I'm worried for myself in this

I'm hungry
Don't wanna die like a little dog
Well, I eat what I can get
From the Monkey Man
Great, great monkey plan

Crazy, crazy man
You get yourself turned in a pickle

(break)

Crazy, crazy Monkey Man
Who is the one in the middle

(break)

Take a walk
Cross the ice
Melts too quickly
For us to reach the other side

It's cold in here
But the sun shines bright, oh
It warms this up well
Oh, the tide is rising higher

Look, it's strange
Floating by
Looks just like ones that
Flow out and ride, oh, I will

Golden age...
These golden times
Our golden days seem to have us
Hypnotized or blind, well ...

Robot hosts South Korean wedding

A robot on Sunday acted as master of ceremonies at a South Korean wedding in what its creators claimed as a world first.

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Robot_hosts_South_Korean_wedding_06172007.html

Traditional-smaditional.

That is totally freaky.

Like dance?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SItPGEsjLQ

Posted by: not my president at June 18, 2007 02:52 PM

The "American Dream" depends on who defines it.

If you come from a really poor country where toilets don't even flush, then buying a small home - and parking a Lexus there - can count as the accomplishment of the American Dream.

The problem is that many immigrants who run small businesses end up resorting to illegal tactics - from underreporting incomes to evade taxes, to hiring illegal aliens at below minimum wage - to make it happen.

Honestly, I consider tax evaders in Lexuses to be at least as evil as the Reaganian welfare queen who used her AFDC payments to buy a Cadillac. And unlike the welfare queen, the tax evaders are real.

And on the subject of immigrants and the American dream:

My father always likes to say that immigrants, being poorer and hungrier, will work harder to outdo the native-born Americans. The whole point of the immigration system in the US is to introduce this outside competition, so that Americans will end up working harder for less.

In other words, white Americans who work 40-hour weeks, have healthcare and union representation, and get other ample benefits, must realize that their days are numbered.

This is the same logic that the Washington Times (the Moonie paper) uses to support illegal immigration.

If those in power are admitting immigrants so that all Americans will be living 12 to a room in boarding houses because their meager pays can only afford so much, then no thanks.

I'm rambling on and on.

I'm one of the few to pay Davis-Bacon prevailing wages to my employees.

Davis-Bacon prevailing wages have two components: the base wage and the fringe benefits. The latter is payable either as a benefits package or as cash value payment.

Suppose that I have a sheetmetal worker getting $30/hr base and $15/hr fringe benefits. My father's policy is to pay the $45/hr in cash before taxes. Neither he nor his men can stomach the thought of a labor union, or some other administrative entity, taking the extra $15/hr away. They just don't understand the value of a benefits package - they only see "Communist bastards" (AKA union administrators) taking the money and using it for themselves.

And speaking of Commies... McCarthyism is still very alive and well in Koreatown and Little Saigon. It must die.

Yall will not believe what I just heard. I am so stunned I do not know how to process it all or what I should tell.

I think we can directly link former sheriff Huckabee to a murder within his own family.

I think I may be sick.

Wow, I so need to get the hell out of Dodge.

Brazil sounds nice.

Kerry Says He’ll Filibuster Any Republican Effort to Open Alaska to Oil Drilling

WASHINGTON D.C. – Senator John Kerry announced today that he intends to fight any renewed effort to open ANWR to oil drilling or exploration. Alaska’s two senators have said that they will again try to open up the state’s 1.5 million acre pristine wilderness to oil rigs as part of the Senate’s debate this week on energy legislation.

“It’s déjà vu all over again when it comes to proposals to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and I’m as committed to defeating it this time as I was the last seven years,” Kerry said. “Drilling in the Refuge is a terrible idea that a majority in both houses of Congress have already gone on record opposing. I feel strongly enough about this that I will filibuster the amendment and force those who want to drill in the Artic refuge to find at least 60 votes. I hope they take the hint and drop this ill-conceived idea. By now it should be clear to everyone that we can’t drill our way towards energy independence.”

Posted by: Ally McRepuke at June 18, 2007 04:10 PM

What you have said here applies to Europe as well and you can see how people like Margaret Thatcher and Sarkozy get into office.

Ally
My husband, who is born in Nebraska, once worked in a "Japanese" restaurant in Minnesota but it was run by Koreans. They brought some relatives over and made them work off their debt and sleep on rugs in the kitchen. I had forgotten about that. So yes, they shouldn't be too hard on "welfare queens" etc. It's not too hard to understand why some people sell drugs and prostitute themselves either, given some of the alternatives.

The Feds have a 'massive' corrupption investigation into Alaskas legislators going and every now and then something real interesting pops out then it goes quiet again.

It is about oil and paid for legislation.

If I were a senator from Alaska, opening ANWR would be the last thing I would want to be seen doing at the moment.

It makes sense that if 'legislators' are in bed with oil companies it would be happening in Alaska.

Very curious how that will go now that the 'massive' investigation is an open secret.

Posted by: Christy at June 18, 2007 06:36 PM

Christy, you have to understand one thing about Alaskans and their politics:

Drilling for more oil = more revenue to the state = more dividend for you. Result: just about everyone is a hardcore right-wing Republican, because Republicans are the ones digging, Democrats are the ones blocking the digging.

Alaska is as one-party state as it gets.

Posted by: not my president at June 18, 2007 06:31 PM

MSNBC has coverage about what it calls the "changing face of Europe" - immigrants, legal and illegal.

Like it or not, immigrants are remaking Europe, and European institutions from the welfare state to the Dutch tolerance will be tested.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18981598/

Posted by: not my president at June 18, 2007 06:33 PM

A Korean-run Japanese restaurant is pretty much the norm, in areas with too low a Korean population to support Korean cuisine alone.

When I lived in Arizona, same story - expensive sushi restaurants were Korean owned (with a small side menu of Korean dishes), cheap tonkatsu restaurants were really Japanese owned.

You can use similar ingredients to make both Japanese and Korean food, hence the trend. Chinese/Vietnamese/other Asian cuisines require a whole other set of ingredients.

Interesting to know that your husband worked in one of those places. So difficult for me to picture that!

Poor Alaska.

It has been left to the republicans. How very sad.

All the more reason to make it a point to take it away from them, I say.

Ally
Before my husband took that job he was even more desperate (just finished college in Mass Communications but there was a recession) - he worked in an adult book store. Boy there are some stories around that! Mankato MN didn't have a "gay bar" so people showed up at the local "disco" and it was back in the John Travolta/Saturday Night Fever days! & we made a friend Maxine/Max (TS).
Those were the days!

Christy, Ally

Re Alaska:

Even Fox News reported that Ted Stevens used tax money to remodel his house. He was already a peripheral figure in bribery and extortion scandal. He hired lawyers and said the FBI told him to preserve documents. Apparently he was dealing with some shady characters, with a grand jury investigation into it. Stevens doubled the size of his house in a ski resort town. The contractors have spilled the beans. The Alaska oil services and construction company which worked on it is suspected to have bribed the government in the past. Stevens' son is involved too.

Here is more on the crook Ted Stevens
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20070617-1710-wst-stevens-investigation.html

Posted by: not my president at June 18, 2007 08:22 PM

Lots of stories there... When we meet again, we'll have tons of stories to share!

College degree + crummy job = experience many people share (myself included). I had to do $8/hr jobs when I lived in Tucson, and had to be grateful that they were (1) white-collar at least, and (2) not minimum wage ($5.15/hr) jobs. One of them was a federally funded job that ended when W cut off the funding for it.

Ted Stevens is such a prominent figure in Alaska that the airport in Anchorage, a popular refueling stop for Asian airlines, is named after him...

It is amazing how many subjects/information can be contained on a single blog thread.

It was a different imperialist George (III, not 43) who said this after several years of another long, dragged-out war (in which the insurgents were winning against the occupiers from across the sea, too) -- reckon this is where Shrub and the warmongering PNACers got their cruel canard logic from?

"It was a joke to think of keeping Pennsylvania. There is no hope of ever recovering New England. [But I] am determined to never to acknowledge the independence of the Americans, and to punish their contumacy by the indefinite prolongation of a war which promised to be eternal."

And beachmom posted an excellent diary rant on a subject near and dear to us here, one that some of us would do well to keep in mind when our frustration levels get too high:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/6/18/202728/944

Posted by: Christy at June 18, 2007 10:07 PM

Heavy streams of consciousness... your stream may vary.

Annoyed where prohibited.

Report: White House aides used GOP e-mail to skirt law

June 18, 2007

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- E-mail records are missing for 51 of the 88 White House aides with Republican Party accounts, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee reported Monday.

The White House says the accounts were set up to keep political work separate from official business, but investigators concluded White House officials used the accounts to conduct official business in a way that circumvented the Watergate-era Presidential Records Act.

The 37 accounts the Republican National Committee did save include nearly 675,000 individual messages -- more than 140,000 of them from Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser.

"Whether intentionally or inadvertently, it appears that the RNC has destroyed a large volume of the e-mails of White House officials who used RNC e-mail accounts," the report states.

The committee found 88 officials who held GOP e-mail accounts; the White House had acknowledged 50.

more...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/06/18/white.house.emails/index.html

Posted by: monkey at June 18, 2007 11:18 PM

What was that about seams of conscience?

Or was that steaming conscientiousness?

Just came up to post that I saw V.--and here she is!

Bush supposedly here Thursday, I will liveblog if possible.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/06/18/countdown-white-house-rnc-e-mail-scandal-bigger-than-originally-thought/
Countdown: White House, RNC E-Mail Scandal Bigger Than Originally Thought

I think we can directly link former sheriff Huckabee to a murder within his own family.

Posted by: Christy at June 18, 2007 05:16 PM

How can the link be made Christy?

10,000 U.S. soldiers launch Iraq offensive
Troops target al-Qaida northeast of Baghdad as death toll skyrockets

Updated: 3:02 a.m. ET June 19, 2007

BAGHDAD (AP) - About 10,000 U.S. soldiers launched an offensive against al-Qaida in Iraq northeast of Baghdad early Tuesday, killing at least 22 insurgents, the U.S. military said.

The raids, dubbed “Operation Arrowhead Ripper,” took place in Baqouba, the capital of Diyala province, and involved air assaults under the cover of darkness, the military said in a statement. The operation was still in its opening stages, it said.

On Monday, military officials said U.S. and Iraqi forces had launched attacks on Baghdad’s northern and southern flanks to clear out Sunni insurgents, al-Qaida fighters and Shiite militiamen who had fled the capital and Anbar during a four-month-old security operation.

A top U.S. military official said American forces were taking advantage of the arrival of the final brigade of 30,000 additional U.S. troops to open concerted attacks.

“We are going into the areas that have been sanctuaries of al-Qaida and other extremists to take them on and weed them out, to help get the areas clear and to really take on al-Qaida,” the senior official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the operation. “Those are areas in the belts around Baghdad, some parts in Anbar province and specifically Diyala province.”

Al-Qaida has proven to be an extremely agile foe for U.S. and Iraqi forces, as shown by its ability to transfer major operations to Baqouba from Anbar province, the sprawling desert region in western Iraq. There is no guarantee that driving the organization out of current sanctuaries would prevent it from migrating to other regions to continue the fight.

Death toll skyrockets
The death toll in sectarian violence Monday skyrocketed after a brief period of relative peace. At least 111 people were killed or found dead nationwide, with 33 bodies of torture victims showing up in Baghdad alone.

more surge...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19301194/

Dumbya is a SUCKER!

"How can the link be made Christy?"

Another body fell out of the sky.

This killing was not left 'unsolved' BUT... I will tell you what I know so far.

Sheriff Huckabee at some point arrested his own son-in-law. Not sure of the exact reason yet.

A deputy was sitting in front of Huckabees desk, and so was the son in law, who was pissed he just got arrested.

This former deputy told us that the son in law started telling Huckabee what a 'sorry son of a bitch' he was and 'I don't care your my father in law'. He was talking trash to him.

At some point this deputy says, Huckabee pulled a 'derringer' and aimed it directly in his son in laws face, and told him if he said anything else 'I will kill you.'

6 weeks later, Huckabees son in law was dead, a shotgun blast to the chest.

According to what we know, Huckabees DAUGHTER pulled the trigger.

She claims her husband pulled the gun on her, she 'took it from him' and killed him, in 'self defense'.

The son in laws name was Steve Brown.

I do not know if that is Brown with an n, or Browne with an e, but either way it is a HUGE coincidence.

This deputy was told to stay out of it, don't ask or poke around into it.

We not only have an eyewitness that can put a gun in Huckabees hand and death threats coming out of his mouth, according to what he says, we can also show Huckabee covered it up and instructed other officers to ignore it.

And that is just SOME of what we learned yesterday.

The rest of it is just as shocking.

BTW, the unsolved murder of Perry Casen, that occurred minutes after Huckabee took office, we also found out he was killed with a shotgun blast to the chest.

Huckabees son in law and Perry Casens bodys were both found in the same place.

Huckabees daughter was never charged with anything related to killing her husband.

It went down as 'self defense'.

Huckabees daughter was not the only sheriffs kid involved n murder.

There is a body we know of but can not find. Actually two bodies in one.

Long, Long ago I heard this one.

Sheriff Kerwin Browns son, the sheriff who was sheriff when Aline disappeared.

His son was sitting in the parking lot of a motel, with his 8 month pregnant girlfriend in the car. A violent argument ensues inside the car.

I was told that Browns son got out of the car, took a 'sawwed off shotgun' out of the trunk, walked around to her window and gave her both barrels to her face.

It was in broad daylight and 'everybody saw it'.

I was told the 'police report' says something much different, that he says she fought with him, got despondant, pulled the gun on herself, and he fought with her to get the gun from her, but she just went on and killed herself.

We know it went down as 'suicide'. Funny how 'everybody knows all about it' they just will not give us her name. They always get sudden amnesia.

To this day, it is the only time I have ever heard of a pregnant woman committing 'suicide'.

She wasn't just a little pregnant either, she was 8 months along. The child died with her.

Christy
Sheriff Huckabee any relation to the one running for President of the US? If so, he is probably an appropriate match.

They may just be related, I have no idea. The Huckabee family is a big deal down here.

I know when Huckabee was sheriff his family had an EMPIRICAL hold on Red River.

Huckabee Hospital was controlled by the Huckabee Family.

Huckabee the sherriff, and I think it may have been his wife or daughter, but a Huckabee was clerk of court.

There is some questions flying about how they controlled certain information.

For example, until last year, Wanda Hudsons family had never once heard the name Faye Aline Self.

We always knew about them, but they never once knew of Aline. How is that possible in such a small town?

There are other strange informational anomolies I think can be explained by this three way hold they had on power.

Get this, Alines 'personal doctor' was listed as 'Dr. Huckabee'.

They controlled the Sheriffs department, the hospital, and the clerk of courts office, all at the same time.

With control like that, you could get away with ANYTHING.

I know certain people are watching my comments here.

I need a moment of total transparency.

I want to be upfront and say that there is information being held back, lots of it.

Some of what I just told you was just discovered and maybe I should not have said anything yet, but in my own defense, I have to live 38 miles from these bastards and nothing I have said so far directly impacts the details of Alines case.

I am telling you what I told you because I will be damned if I wind up with a shotgun blast to the face and no one knows anything about why.

The rest will come out, and I swear to God I will sit down and tell you all of it when I can.

If I feel the silence has lingered too long, I will tell you anyway.

I understand the concerns of those who are watching what I say.

I will keep my promises. I have kept them.

But these people are really starting to scare me and I have to freaking live here.

Who Can It Be Now?
by Men At Work

Who can it be knocking at my door?
Go 'way, don't come 'round here no more.
Can't you see that it's late at night?
I'm very tired, and I'm not feeling right.
All I wish is to be alone;
Stay away, don't you invade my home.
Best off if you hang outside,
Don't come in - I'll only run and hide.

Who can it be now?
Who can it be now?
Who can it be now?
Who can it be now?

Who can it be knocking at my door?
Make no sound, tip-toe across the floor.
If he hears, he'll knock all day,
I'll be trapped, and here I'll have to stay.
I've done no harm, I keep to myself;
There's nothing wrong with my state of mental health.
I like it here with my childhood friend;
Here they come, those feelings again!

Who can it be now?
Who can it be now?
Who can it be now?
Who can it be now?

Is it the man come to take me away?
Why do they follow me?
It's not the future that I can see,
It's just my fantasy

Oh...Who can it be now?
Oh...Who can it...Who can it...
Yeah yeah yeah

And beachmom posted an excellent diary rant on a subject near and dear to us here, one that some of us would do well to keep in mind when our frustration levels get too high:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/6/18/202728/944

Posted by: Otter at June 18, 2007 10:42 PM

In order for this to happen, the Dems need to go on the offensive, and start going after safe Republican demographics and areas.

The Republicans achieved their dominance by going after Catholics, Jews, Mexican-Americans, and other safe Democratic blocs.

Unfortunately, I don't trust my state Democrats with making this happen.

http://www.al.com/entertainment/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1182244586299940.xml&coll=3

sory on the conference I'm at...

"The Republicans achieved their dominance by going after Catholics, Jews, Mexican-Americans, and other safe Democratic blocs."

Absolutely.

"the Dems need to go on the offensive, and start going after safe Republican demographics and areas."

AMEN SISTER.

Time to walk where angels fear to tread.

Republicanville.

Posted by: Ally McRepuke at June 19, 2007 11:40 AM

Here's a novel idea: How 'bout stop going after blocs of people and actually start displaying integrity and honesty and action that betters peoples lives in blatantly obvious ways and let THAT do the F'ing talking for a change...

'... and on the 7th day, God created Man in His image, white and shiny and .... and on Day 7.1 He Created the Jews, and on Day 7.2, He created Mexicans, and Day 7.3, He created Catholics, and on Day 7.4, He created....'

GEEEEEZ! I swear I can't keep up with the "CreationNation" software release schedule.

Hugh Toepia

Jessie Davis Case Update - The father of Jessie Davis' son and unborn daughter is a police officer. He is Bobby L. Cutts Jr. and is married to another woman Kelly Cutts and reports claim that she is apparently was aware of the relationship between her husband and Jessie Marie Davis. He has now been placed on administrative leave because of the stress in the case.

Jessie Marie Davis Development: Father of Children's Home Searched

Nine months pregnant, Jesse disappeared from her home, leaving her 2-year-old son behind. She is due to give birth in two weeks.

http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272614163.shtml

Christy
Then there is Huckabee's Restaurant chain.
I'm boycotting it just in case.

** new thread **

"Bush supposedly here Thursday, I will liveblog if possible.

Posted by: karen at June 18, 2007 11:39 PM

They will let you close enough to hear bush speak...?

I thought they only let koolaid drinkers that close.

"The Dem Congress Critters are pulling a "oh, poor pitiful us, we can't do anything because the 'Pubs are still too strong" routine.

That is pure bull, and they know it. They're getting big bucks from corporate oil and pharma and medicine, and they are not going to stop the spoiled frat brat from committing more crimes.

The Dems will lose in '08 if they continue this crapola."

Pure Bull?

Perhaps we need a civics lesson on how the filibuster works. Bush just vetoed the stem cell legislation that every rational person supports. What pretell does big oil and pharma have to do with overriding a veto on stem cell research? In fact big pharma is behind stem cell research its the loonies on the right who want to tar everything in this country from stem cell research to global warming with the broad brush of baby killing. Until that stops absolutely nothing will pass until we have a new President or 67 rational Senators.
And exactly how is this the Democratic Party's fault that enough Republicans are unwilling to stand up to their own party, do the right thing and vote to override, which takes 67 votes. 67-51 means we are 16 votes short to override.

There are 3 ways around that:
1. Rewrite the US Constitution;
2. The nuclear option to threaten to abolish the filibuster, like the Repubs did with the Alito nomination and the extraordinary circumstance test which is what I support;
3. Convince 16 Republican Senators to do the right thing and support "life"; that of the sick and elderly who need stem cell research.

Since all of the above are unlikely then just piling on the Dems does absolutely nothing to further the cause of stem cell research and precisely why I have stayed away.

I have been off this site for 2 months but I am not just going to sit still and hear Dems bashed because of Bush and Republican intransigence. To blame Dems its ridiculous and just mimicking Rush's mantra. Can someone please explain how to override a Presidential veto with 51 votes (less 1 vote for Tim Johnson)