Shift Happens

It was 35 years ago today....

http://www.watergate.info/nixon/resignation-letter.shtml

Ok, so maybe it was 33, but that's just fuzzy math...

No Monkey Left Behind

What strikes me the most is the thought of children with access to laptops who have the basic intelligence to figure it out, and to be creative, but who have no instruction in how to be in the world as it is.

It strikes me how irrelevant our western "rules" and way of life will be--and very soon too.

I do not think this is all bad, by the way. To a certain extent, Woodstock predicted this!

And yet, I can't help but wonder how the currently powerful are preparing for the eventuality that they will be obsolete. Is what we are seeing a race to have the most stuff before that happens?

Are they all going off to an island somewhere to live by themselves? Will they take the servants with them?

Enquiring minds want to know--and to prepare in our own way.

It strikes me how irrelevant our western "rules" and way of life will be--and very soon too.

Are they all going off to an island somewhere to live by themselves? Will they take the servants with them?

Enquiring minds want to know--and to prepare in our own way.

Posted by: karen at August 9, 2007 01:58 PM

makes me think of Victorian England& the social rules~

as to preparation-that is why your sister has lots of room in the country....just in case...

Appletini and Sangria Blogging at Liberal Values, to celebrate our first blogiversary:

http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=1986

This year we even update the original Liberal Values Appletini Recipe

This sure sounds unconstitutional but hey why should the constitution stand in the way of the Republican party's grab for power. It didn't seem to stop Tom DeLay when he pushed ReDistricting that voters in Texas did not want.

"A group called Californians for Equal Representation has submitted a ballot initiative to state Attorney General Jerry Brown that would change the current statewide winner-take-all system to a formula based on congressional districts. "

"Republicans say the idea is aimed at attracting presidential candidates to campaign in California, which they rarely do because the statewide vote traditionally leans Democratic. Opponents call the proposal an attempt to grab Democratic votes."

Under the proposal, the winning candidate in each of the state's 53 congressional districts would get one electoral vote, with two votes going to the statewide winner.

"Supporters want to put the proposal on the ballot for next June's state primary, which would put the change into effect for the 2008 election."

Sacramento Bee

apparently Nebraska and Maine allow for proportionate electoral voting in the Presidential election but if it is allowed in California it could cause an avalanche of tinkering with the electoral college sufficient to change the outcome of the '08 election. Not to be an alarmist but this stinks. After their ouster of Governor Gray Davis we should put nothing past the California GOP for dirty tricks. Apparently Ken Blackwell is not the only government official we need(ed) to fear.

Bubba,

The California proposal will make California LESS attractive, given the gerrymandering of each congressional district.

Also, California's Republican Party has a lot of bite. It's very strong in Orange County and the inland areas. It's pushed the property tax revolt, the illegal immigrant service ban, the affirmative action ban, the declaration of English as the official language of California, and the gay marriage ban. It's gotten close to passing the teen abortion ban and the opt-out of union dues for political purposes.

And also given this strength of Republicans in California, the whole notion that the state's EVs will automatically go to the Democrats is hogwash at best. Our EVs are more in play than people realize.

Also, according to former Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, the California Republican Party is the most ideological/extreme of the 50 state-level Republican organizations.

BTW, Shelley was himself disgraced and forced to resign, at the hands of the Republicans.

Of course, it doesn't help that the California Democratic Party is itself too ideological, and largely irrelevant in the Southern California suburbs, where all the state's population growth is.

ally:
this has to do with aportioning Presidential electors not Congressional gerrymandering.Without carrying California's 55 electoral votes or winning only 23 of 55 electoral votes could hand the keys of the Whitehouse to Guiliani

ally:
this has to do with aportioning Presidential electors not Congressional gerrymandering.Without carrying California's 55 electoral votes or winning only 23 of 55 electoral votes could hand the keys of the Whitehouse to Guiliani

Posted by: Bubba at August 9,

Bubba, I posted this a week or so ago here, and it is amazing, I have not seen it posted,in the media, or even heard it being discussed, on the air.

Simple amazing, as you say it could hand the keys of the WhiteHouse to the republicans

Called Rhandi Rhodes show to see if they might be interested in discussing and they said no thanks. I see it like the removal of Gray Davis, Texas ReDistricting and Ken Blackwell's tricks with the weight of paper of absentee ballots. Sorry Ally, I have seen what these shanagans did to 7 of our Congrssional candidates here in Texas and taking votes from JK in Ohio. Call me paranoid, but I believe we should be proactive. This Proposition needs to be confronted head on with the Republican candidadtes. If they support it in California do they support it in Texas and Georgia where a Democratic Presidential candidate would pick up equal numbers of electoral votes. We should have learned from the California recall, phone jamming in New Hampshire, blocking Gore's recall with a dispute of 550 votes out of millions of votes and Texas ReDistricting to take these whack job's efforts to manipulate Congressional and Presidential elections seiously. If we have learned anything here at the dcp, it should be to take our opponent's dirty tricks seriously. I am with you rossiann, although I have been labeled by some as an alarmist.Don't worry, we will take back the Whitehouse easily in '08. Don't be so sure.

Called Rhandi Rhodes show to see if they might be interested in discussing and they said no thanks.

The only place that I have heard it discussed is on the Thom Hartman Show.

How do they work that, do they put it in with a war funding bill and get it passed, when no one reads the bill, or is it a referendun

You know I have often wondered why in the crap we can not stop the gerrymandering of districts...?

I mean, we could fix all the rest of our elections probs, but them redrawing districts will still get us every time.

BTW, g'day Rossi.

I was thinking about you last night. I drew out three great nudes, my first endeavor into the abstract. I have no idea wtf I am doing, but they are great nudes.

Can't wait to paint them.

Did you give your mum the two Marys? Can I make a confession about them?

There are actually three.

The third was painted at the same time, and features a black Virgin and child. It was given to my friend for his birthday.

His wife stole it about 5 seconds later.

BTW, anyone...

Did our stock market crash?

I mean, to me, it looks like it crashed. But, wtf do I know?

No one is saying 'crashed'. What is it doing?

Hey Bubba.

Are you going under Bubba again,I wasn't sure if it was the pussycat or someone else.

No I still Have the two Marys here, everytime I open my safe I have to move her.

I think my cuz definitely missed your art on Rebelle

I thought I heard them say it lost 370 points, I'd say that is quite a lot of cash.

Excerpt from The New Yorker article:

The Tuesday after the first Monday in June is California’s traditional Primary Day. But it’s not the one that everybody will be paying attention to. Five months ago, the legislature hastily moved the Presidential part up to February 5th, joining a stampede of states hoping to claim a piece of the early-state action previously reserved for Iowa and New Hampshire. June 3rd will be an altogether sleepier, low-turnout affair. There may be a few scattered contests for legislative nominations, but the only statewide items on the ballot will be initiatives. More than two dozen have been filed so far, ranging from a proposal to start a state-run Internet poker site to pay for filling potholes to a redundant slew of anti-gay-marriage measures. Few will make it to the ballot. Many are not even intended to; they’re a feint in some byzantine negotiation, or just a cheap attempt to get a little attention—for a two-hundred-dollar fee, anyone can file one. (Actually getting one on the ballot requires more than four hundred thousand signatures, and the outfits that collect them usually charge a dollar or two per signature.) Initiative No. 07-0032—the Presidential Election Reform Act—is different. It’s serious. Its backers have access to serious money. And it could pass.

Nominally, the sponsor of No. 07-0032 is Californians for Equal Representation. But that’s just a letterhead—there’s no such organization. Its address is the office suite of Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, the law firm for the California Republican Party, and its covering letter is signed by Thomas W. Hiltachk, the firm’s managing partner and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s personal lawyer for election matters. Hiltachk and his firm have been involved in many well-financed ballot initiatives before, including the recall that put Arnold in Sacramento. They specialize in initiatives that are the opposite of what they sound like—the Fair Pay Workplace Flexibility Act of 2006, for example. It would have raised the state minimum wage slightly—by a lesser amount than it has since been raised—and, in the fine print, would have made it impossible ever to raise it again except by a two-thirds vote in both houses of the legislature, while, for good measure, eliminating overtime for millions of workers.

Dow Falls Almost 400 After French Bank Freezes Funds

More from Calitics:

The New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg penned a column about the California Republican Party's attempt to siphon off what could be roughly twenty of California's fifty four consistently Democratic electoral votes. Naturally, they are using the initiative process to try and do this.

Two weeks ago, one of the most important Republican lawyers in Sacramento quietly filed a ballot initiative that would end the practice of granting all fifty-five of California's electoral votes to the statewide winner. Instead, it would award two of them to the statewide winner and the rest, one by one, to the winner in each congressional district. Nineteen of the fifty-three districts are represented by Republicans, but Bush carried twenty-two districts in 2004. The bottom line is that the initiative, if passed, would spot the Republican ticket something in the neighborhood of twenty electoral votes-votes that it wouldn't get under the rules prevailing in every other sizable state in the Union.
The Republican lawyers behind this convoluted effort, Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, were deeply involved in the 2003 recall campaign against Democratic Governor Gray Davis that propelled current Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger into power.

It is no surprise that the law firm created a ficticious front group, Californians for Equal Representation, to do their bidding because they have a history of it.

more: http://www.calitics.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3393

Dow Sinks 387 on Renewed Credit Concerns

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070809/wall-street/

Posted by: Bubba at August 9, 2007 05:30 PM

Bubba,

Fe just explained it in detail. Each presidential elector will come from each Congressional district - and since it's about Congressional districts, gerrymandering definitely is a factor.

I do take this very seriously. As I said, California's Republicans are extreme AND powerful.

California does have a good practice though - for each proposition that the voters vote on, every voting household gets a copy of the full text of the proposition, a concise summary, and pros and cons (and rebuttals).

When those materials are distributed to the voters, I will talk to a lot of people about this, and tell them flat-out that this is less about empowering voters and more about partisan tricks.

Status of Initiative in Assembly:

http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_j_071807.htm

(accompanied by a DOMA-type initiative that wants to eliminate receipt of ebenfits from domestic partners).

Busy Republicans at work.

About the video:

Despite the internet, CD's, DVD's, cell phones etc.. I am shocked at the lack of general knowledge of Americans both young and old.

My simple test for political literacy: can a person name his/her two Senators and congressman. In my blue-collar community, I would guess that at least half the adults ARE UNABLE to do this. BTW it goes without saying that people here have no idea who their state and county elected officials are.

I have come to realize, sadly, that Americans are not "educated" - they do not know history, geography, mathematics, foreign languages, science, literature etc.. it is truly shocking...

Its backers have access to serious money. And it could pass.
Nominally, the sponsor of No. 07-0032 is Californians for Equal Representation. But that’s just a letterhead—there’s no such organization. Its address is the office suite of Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, the law firm for the California Republican Party, and its covering letter is signed by Thomas W. Hiltachk, the firm’s managing partner and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s personal lawyer for election matters. Hiltachk and his firm have been involved in many well-financed ballot initiatives before, including the recall that put Arnold in Sacramento. They specialize in initiatives that are the opposite of what they sound like—the Fair Pay Workplace Flexibility Act of 2006, for example. It would have raised the state minimum wage slightly—by a lesser amount than it has since been raised—and, in the fine print, would have made it impossible ever to raise it again except by a two-thirds vote in both houses of the legislature, while, for good measure, eliminating overtime for millions of workers.

Posted by: Fe at August 9, 2007 06:59 PM

My thoughts exactly.

http://www.calitics.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3393
That the post I read

Posted by: Fe at August 9, 2007 07:04 PM

It is my sincere belief that such partisan hacks must be disbarred for life.

California does have a good practice though - for each proposition that the voters vote on, every voting household gets a copy of the full text of the proposition, a concise summary, and pros and cons (and rebuttals).

When those materials are distributed to the voters, I will talk to a lot of people about this, and tell them flat-out that this is less about empowering voters and more about partisan tricks.

Posted by: Ally McRepuke at August 9, 2007 07:10 PM

Trouble is Ally will they read the materials distributed, bet they are hoping that most Californians won't be interested enough.

Posted by: Ralpheh at August 9, 2007 07:12 PM

Ralpheh, that's the Republican attack on public education - the "last bastion of socialism in America" - at work.

Educated people vote more progressively, and that's precisely what the Republicans are afraid of. That's why they are killing public education and driving the money to private/parochial education, where brainwashing can easily occur.

Posted by: rossiann at August 9, 2007 07:17 PM

Most people don't read them, unfortunately. But they do read them when I bring up something about those propositions.

Heck, I don't read the full text either. Too much legalese.

But I definitely read the summary and the pros and cons and rebuttals. I base my voting decisions on how well the pro/con arguments and rebuttals are crafted, and who prepares those arguments.

By the way, not knowing English is NOT an excuse for not reading these. Depending on your county, if 5% of the population speaks your language, you can get the analysis in your native language in addition to English.

it is truly shocking...

Posted by: Ralpheh at August 9, 2007 07:12 PM

When you think that Georgie could be elected Leader of the Free World, it blows you mind, how uneducated the people are

grrrrr

Here's one optimistic thought though...

This new initiative is NOT a wedge issue.

Gay marriage ban was a wedge issue, and it brought out many ethnic votes in favor.

Teen abortion ban, which almost passed, same story.

Illegal immigrant services ban, many PO-d angry white men voted for it in droves. Same with English as official language and the ban on affirmative action.

But this is NOT a wedge issue on the same level as those divisive propositions. When people see it for the partisan hack job that it is, they will vote along party lines - and the Dems should eke out a narrow victory.

Complacency is NOT an option, nevertheless.

'America's private army' under fire for Illinois facility

Anti-war activists, locals are wary about military contractor's new training site

MT. CARROLL, Ill. - Strangers rarely venture onto the twisting gravel roads in this corner of the state, and those who do sometimes get lost amid the rolling hills.

So it came as a surprise to many locals when the expert marksmen of Blackwater USA -- a controversial military contractor that provides armed security guards in the Iraq war -- took over an 80-acre rifle range and opened up a new training center this past spring. Blackwater North, as the North Carolina-based firm calls its new site, is designed primarily as a tactical training ground for domestic law enforcement and contractors, not for security missions to Iraq or Afghanistan, Blackwater officials said. Using civilians schooled in military warfare, the site offers training in weaponry, hostage dealings and terror reaction.

Still, the sudden appearance of Blackwater is attracting criticism and questions from miles around.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-blackwater_23jul23,0,1702001.story

But this is NOT a wedge issue on the same level as those divisive propositions. When people see it for the partisan hack job that it is, they will vote along party lines - and the Dems should eke out a narrow victory.
Posted by: Ally McRepuke at August 9, 2007 07:24 PM

Hope So

Damn.

I just turned a bushevik wanna be into a democrat.

Thanks to the The Nation Magazine and an article about soldiers committing unthinkable crimes and then bearing witness to it.

Damn. I had almost given up on him entirely.

He left here talking like his jaw had been broken. That was a total bonus for an already good day.

Another one bites the dust.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/080907O.shtml

Six War Protesters Arrested at Democratic Lawmaker's OC Office
By Jennifer Delson
The Los Angeles Times

Thursday 09 August 2007

The group camps at Rep. Loretta Sanchez's office overnight, demanding that she oppose Iraq funding. She refuses, and police are called in.

Six antiwar demonstrators were arrested Wednesday at the Garden Grove office of Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Santa Ana) after camping there overnight and telling her they wouldn't leave unless she promised not to approve more funding for the war in Iraq.

When you think that Georgie could be elected Leader of the Free World, it blows you mind, how uneducated the people are

grrrrr

Posted by: rossiann at August 9, 2007 07:23 PM

@@@@@@

On the bright side:

I'm reading a book by an M.I.T. mathematician who says that there was something very, very fishy about the Ohio and Florida vote in 2004. Kerry was projected to win according to the exit polls in both states. This fellow had assumed Kerry would be the projected winner in both Ohio and Florida. He was very perplexed at the reluctance of the networks to call either state - even some time after the polls had closed.

He was very surprised the Bush won both states despite the exit polls. So he started thinking about why the exit polls were so wrong. He wrote a preliminary draft of a hypothesis and circulated it on the internet. The draft spread like wild-fire and he was inundated with emails.

That is how the book began to be written...

The really awful thing is that No One - except John Conyers and the Green Party candidate for president (and a few others) challenged the election results in either state. With all the lawyers the Dem party has, no one came forward to challenge the results....

Ralpheh, that's the Republican attack on public education - the "last bastion of socialism in America" - at work.

Educated people vote more progressively, and that's precisely what the Republicans are afraid of. That's why they are killing public education and driving the money to private/parochial education, where brainwashing can easily occur.

Posted by: Ally McRepuke at August 9, 2007 07:17 PM

@@@@

I hate to be conspiratorial but an uneducated mass of people can be easily manipulated, fooled and exploited.

yes rosarrian I am the old bubba.
The distinction I was making ally is that gerry mandering effects the aportionment of your Congressional representation but the 55 electoral votes it is my understanding is based soley on each state's poular vote for the Democratic or Republican Presidential candidate and the winner of the poular vote except in nebraskda and Maine go entirely to the state winner of the popular vote. Your proposition or initiative as you call it is much much more sinister and has national implications. Typically its winner take all in each state in the Presidentail election. For instance in 2000 Gore lost Florida by 550 votes and did not get any electors from Florida even though he garnered 6 million or so votes in the state. This proposition if applied in Florida would have split the electors 19 for Bush and 18 for Gore but would have given Bush 20 California electors and Gore and Kerry 32. That would be disasterous unless done nationally which should require a constitutional amendment but likely the Republicans could cherry pick legislators, i.e. have blue states be proportional in their electors and red states where Republicans control their legislators like Texas and Georgia remain winner take all. This game would have national implications and make sure that the right wing stay in the Whitehouse indefinitely. I am sure that Issa and the same whack jobs that put Arnold in as your governor are behind this. Sorry but I don't trust your voters after the recall to do the right thing regardless of whether they get a pamphlet telling them of the implications. Personally I hope that Jerry Brown can stop it but I feel that your initiative process is flawed and deliberately being misued and that Rove et al are behind it. Again we should have learned the extent that these crooks manipulated Texas ReDistricting and manipulating the 2004 absentee ballots in Ohio. We need to be vigilant and vocalize this in our local media b/c it defitely could turn the Whitehouse back to the Republicans in'08.

You know what?

I think this whole 'I have lyme disease problems' is bullsh*t.

Someone, probably named karl, is setting him up for a "I had lyme disease and can't remember' defense.

Did not leak for a year? Funny how NOW it leaks.

What interesting timing.

Jesus Christ!

WHAT IN THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE??????

Stu Bykofsky | To save America, we need another 9/11

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/stu_bykofsky/20070809_Stu_Bykofsky___To_save_America__we_need_another_9_11.html

Yall should all make it a point to stop and call this bastard out right freaking now.

E-mail stubyko@phillynews.com or call 215-854-5977.

OMFG! I can not believe what I just read.

OMG I am shaking.

I feel like I have just been mauled and I am pissed.

Posted by: Bubba at August 9, 2007 08:40 PM

Bubba, the proposed initiative, AFAIK, assigns two EVs to at-large (winner takes all), and the other 53 to the results of each congressional district. It's not population based AT ALL - it's district based.

I lost faith in the state's electorate BEFORE the Gray Davis recall - back in 2000, when conservative ethnic minorities helped pass the gay marriage ban. I suggested to gay leaders, at that time, to support a nativist proposition in retaliation for the blatant homophobia of many immigrants; they, being the PC bastards they are, refused.

And btw, Gray Davis was of the DLC ilk and a notorious poll-watcher like Hillary. He was extremely unpopular. My only regret during the recall is that Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante (also a Dem) did a poor job of campaigning, allowing Arnold to dominate. Last year, Phil Angelides ran a crappy campaign and lost to Arnold - he deserved to lose, sorry.

Posted by: Ralpheh at August 9, 2007 08:17 PM

It's reactionary Orange County, and Sanchez, despite being a Democrat, is beholden to the Republicans and American Independents of the district.

Orange County is so Republican that we better be thankful that there is a Democrat there at all.

I am NOT condoning what Sanchez did, but that's sad reality.

Christy,

Just read that garbage.

The real problem is that W stopped going after our real enemies - Saudi Arabia and the Taliban - going after Saddam to settle personal scores instead. Meanwhile, the Saudis are getting some of our best weapons, to someday turn against us once again.

Even another 9/11 won't help. It will ONLY prove that W's tactics have failed miserably. And next time, it will NOT be four hijacked airliners - it will be weapons that W just sold to the Saudis this year.

The only thing I agree with this bastard is that extremist Islam is our common enemy. But so is extremist Christianity, which our Emperor and his court practices, and to a lesser degree, extremist versions of other religions.

We need to be vigilant and vocalize this in our local media b/c it defitely could turn the Whitehouse back to the Republicans in'08.

Posted by: Bubba at August 9, 2007 08:40 PM\

Right On Bubba,

A state that would elect that clown as Governor of their state, definitely have more than a few screws loose.

Posted by: karen at August 9, 2007 01:58 PM

Karen, this is an awareness that I've been growing for about 15 or more years. There was a teen novel that somehow fell into my hands and I gave it to my boys to read. At the end of the book, they both came to me and said that, they weren't so worried about the end of the earth after a nuclear holocaust. That it would be bad. It would be different. That people would have to learn again to survive without all the trappings. That, in many ways, it would be better.

The book is in 3 parts. The first part is 1 family creating a survivor. The 2nd part is where the rich have lived underground for about 2 generations. Living with computers and changing little about their physical lives. The 3rd part is the meeting of the 2 survival groups - the rich who have come out of their bunkers and got their trucks fuelled up to go, with guns, and get food from the settlements. The settlements share with everyone - there's no need for guns.

The outsiders are in various stages of mutation, and the 3rd part is centred on the 2 teens. Towards the end of the book there's a paragraph that is the best I've ever read. Sorry - can't remember it here, except for the last few words - and two thousand years of hate resolved itself in them.

It's a truly beautiful story and although there are tears, there's always the indomitable human spirit that shines through.

The book is called: Children of the Dust by Louise Lawrence

exactly my point ally; your initiative is NOT based on your popular vote and that is exactly the problem.
Bustamonte was a bad candidate but Angelides probably ran the worst, most inept camaign in California political history. Jerry Brown and Boxer seem to be the only compitent California polticians you have left. Sorry but I think that you are underestimating the potential loss of 22 electoral votes in 08.That is equal to having to take 5 additional states equal to Colorado,no easy task. It must be stoppend.Daryl Issa should not be allowed to be the next king maker for the country. Its that big a deal.

The only thing I agree with this bastard is that extremist Islam is our common enemy. But so is extremist Christianity, which our Emperor and his court practices, and to a lesser degree, extremist versions of other religions.

Posted by: Ally McRepuke at August 9, 2007 09:30 PM

That covers the majority of Bush Voters, Christian Extremists. After all Gods speaks through Georgie doesn't he.

NO wonder the Church today turns my stomach, when evil like Georgie and his minions, represent the Leadership of the Free World, and Rome opens the doors of the Catholic Church to someone with so much death on his hands.

grrrrr

woz: many years agao I was a freshman taking a political science seminar.One of our assignments included an essay about what 10 species to save and why. It was through the discussion that followed that I saw how species-centric I was and it started me on many journeys of thinking. By the end of the course, I was fine with the concept of extinction with homo sapiens .

THAT was a great course-thanks for the memory!

Posted by: Bubba at August 9, 2007 10:16 PM

Rest assured that I am NOT underestimating the Republicans in California.

If anything, I am the one who constantly complains about California not being blue enough. The south and the inland areas are solid red.

I will split my efforts into two camps - one, to defeat this electoral vote initiative, and two, to help with the Democratic congressional challenger in my district (Ron Shepston) who was recruited and is funded by DCCC. Even though I will move to another district before the next election, I will still work for Shepston.

Posted by: rossiann at August 9, 2007 10:52 PM

I consider the Roman Catholic Church to be no more than the Department of Faith for the W regime. The secretary would be Pope Benedict XVI.

So much is my mistrust of the RCC that I am going to boycott its biggest corporate supporter, BMW. But then, you've read about my boycott of BMW about ten days ago already.

Yall should all make it a point to stop and call this bastard out right freaking now.

E-mail stubyko@phillynews.com or call 215-854-5977.

OMFG! I can not believe what I just read.

Posted by: Christy at August 9, 2007 09:

@@@@@@@

THAT COLUMN IS COMPLETE TRASH - IT SHOULD BE RETRACTED

I WOULD CALL THE NEWSPAPER'S EDITORS - THAT COLUMN SHOULD NEVER HAVE GOTTEN PAST THE EDITOR....

Pearl Jam Censored by AT&T
http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com/

Posted by: Ralpheh at August 9, 2007 08:33 PM

I read your comment about the book on fraud in elections in 2004 (Florida, Ohio etc) and how no one came forward (except Conyers & a few). So true, and on Saturday I am looking forward to getting together the two foremost experts on voting fraud that I know of - Marjorie G of Brooklyn and Elizabeth from here (Seattle). I am almost afraid of what I will learn.

If the Republicans get most of California's electoral votes, isn't it all over?

See Nixon getting ready to resign .. he's worried the camera will catch him picking his nose

http://apenwarmedinhell.blogspot.com/2007/08/nixon-resigns-august-9th-1974.html

He certainly has more charisma than Bush on here!

THAT COLUMN IS COMPLETE TRASH - IT SHOULD BE RETRACTED

I WOULD CALL THE NEWSPAPER'S EDITORS - THAT COLUMN SHOULD NEVER HAVE GOTTEN PAST THE EDITOR....

Posted by: Ralpheh at August 9, 2007 11:34 PM

Me, too, I don't get how it got past the editor.

It should be retracted with a freaking apology.

Man, I thought I had calmed down, I am appalled to even still be thinking of it.

Oh LOOK! Oh my, is that awareness starting to creep in?

US public sees news media as biased, inaccurate, uncaring: poll

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070809/lf_afp/usmedia_070809222839

MORE THAN..HALF.

Let us celebrate tonight the impending demise of the so called MSM.

They have no one to blame but themselves.

And life goes on Christy, but their is no rule against distorting or falsitying the news.

Project Censored Media democracy in actionIn February 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with an assertion by FOX News that there is no rule against distorting or falsifying the ...
http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2005/11.html

Fox News Continues Persecution of Reporters Who Exposed Network ...The Fox appeal was largely on an argument that it is not technically illegal for a broadcaster to deliberately distort the news on television. ...

http://www.organicconsumers.org/rbgh/fox-news.cfm

Hmmmm.

Senator Jim Bunning: "Little Green Doctors Are Pounding at My Back"

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=668

Actually Rossi there was a law, Foe News had it challenged in court when they fired two reporters who demand they run the contaminated milk story in the interest of public safety.

They won because they were able to secure the argument they are not obligated to be honest because they are paid, private, entertainment.

The three free networks, available to anyone with a TV, (ABC, CBS, NBC) their local affiliates are still required to maintain truthful content, because they are considered a PUBLIC SERVICE.

HOWEVER, ABCNBCCBS all own their own cable affiliates that CAN play fast and loose with the truth, and local airwaves are easy to dominate with local news and little else.

In otherwords, there may as well not even be any rules.

In otherwords, there may as well not even be any rules.

Posted by: Christy at August 10, 2007 12:56 AM

sucks

Market plunge wipes off $56bn
THE stock market posted its biggest one-day fall in six years today following falls on Wall Street still spooked by the rout in the US sub-prime mortgage sector.
The largest fall since the September 2001 US terrorist attacks wiped almost $53bn from the value of the market, rattling investor confidence and eroding superannuation-linked gains
http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,23636,22220587-14334,00.html

Bear Stearns Execs Cashed Out Just Before Hedge Fund Implosion
http://www.thestreet.com/s/bear-stearns-fat-cats-cashed-out-at-the-top/funds/followmoney/10372963.html

The stock market is wildly overvalued to begin with...it should drop another 1500 points to reflect valuations more in line with historical benchmarks; Price / earnings, etc.

Houses are in the same boat, people taking out interest only balloon loans...its nonsense.

Gold has been moving up to reflect flight to Hard Assets. Some of the best stocks to own during these times are stong mining companies, gold and industrial metals.

This occured as a result of wild credit practices in the last 5-6 years, government fiscal practices and imbalances in the markets place...its balance being forced back again.

From my Inbox (I get the Moyers newsletter with info on upcoming shows, and this is what's on Bill Moyers Journal tonight):

This week on Bill Moyers Journal (check local listings)

Talk of impeachment is in the air as a recent opinion poll says that nearly half of Americans favor impeachment of the President and more than half believe Vice President Cheney should be impeached. In a conversation that generated a passionate response when first broadcast, Bill Moyers gets perspective from Constitutional scholar Bruce Fein, who wrote the first article of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, and The Nation’s John Nichols, author of The Genius of Impeachment.

And, some markets will air an encore presentation of "Buying the War" - the premiere episode of Bill Moyers Journal that explores the role of the press in the lead-up to the invasion in Iraq. Check local listings to see if "Buying the War" will air again on your local station.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I did check my local listings and they are airing the impeachment program, not the first Bill Moyers Journal program about how media sold us the illegal war in Iraq.

If anyone you know has not seen the Moyers show on impeachment, let them know about the re-run.

With the only caveat that the show does not mention Kucinich's H. Res. 333 impeachment bill against Cheney which already exists, the show is still the most important TV show I've seen in the last ten years, with the Journal show about the media failures regarding the lead-up to the Iraq war (that info is all over the net, sometimes even in Lamestream Media).

We need a national dialogue about impeachment to take place nationwide (IMHO), and to continue to contact our Reps to sign on to Kucinich's bill, and try to get Conyers to dust off and update his previous articles of impeachment against Bush.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/325316_impeach29.html
John Nichols: It's time to impeach Bush, Cheney and the public knows it
[i.e.: If impeachment proceedings begin, people will listen - and support it.]

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/video_popups/pop_vid_impeachment1-1.html
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/video_popups/pop_vid_impeachment1-2.html
Videos: Part One and Part Two online.
Transcript link:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07132007/transcript4.html

US public sees news media as biased, inaccurate, uncaring: poll
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070809/lf_afp/usmedia_070809222839
Posted by: Christy at August 10, 2007 12:18 AM

We do not need "fair and balanced" OPINIONS in media. We need FACTS and TRUTH. FACTS and TRUTH are not "fair and balanced." Facts are facts, and truth is truth. From facts we can derive opinions, yes. Opinions about facts can be truthful, or some version of truth, or even false, but OPINIONS are still not FACTS or TRUTH. Just because a Sunday morning political bobble head show has two people talking over each other, interrupting each other, and appearing to fight about OPINIONS so the networks can (falsely) allege they are "fair and balanced," it does not logically follow that two or more OPINIONS about any issue have anything to do with FACTS or TRUTH.

Unless someone can separate voice tracks, who understands what anyone says anyway? The only "interviewers" who let people finish their answers to any questions are Bill Moyers and Keith Olbermann, as near as I can tell. From what little I've gleaned from Sunday morning bobble head shows when I've occasionally caught them while channel surfing, they're more interested in discussing red herrings and infotainment and creating controversies where none exist than they are discussing anything remotely relevant to FACTS or TRUTH.

http://news.yahoo.com/comics/uclickcomics/20070808/cx_crwiz_uc/crwiz20070808
Wizard of Id

Is that what these 400 pt. tanks are all about, re-evaluation? Can it continue to adjust wildly like that without crashing or are we actually watching a crash mounting...?

Don't worry Chinatool, I do not invest in anything other than art.

As a result, what is hanging on my walls are actually worth more than the walls.

I could roll up a small fortune and stuff it in my pants if need be.

Okay, you don't have to discuss it, but can I just ask that everyone WATCH the damn video.

Thanks, and thanks to those who have given thoughts.

Casey,

I think you should run, and win, and take over. But having everyone watch that video is critical. Also, Suz reminded me of this one:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/66

Casey
Thanks for the video. I am blocked from watching at work but can now if I keep the sound low (everybody sleeping).

It is not unusual that it looks like people don't even read the thread headers - I .. don't .. know.

I read an article recently about how "the right" was getting people to run for school boards (there is an organization just for that - can't think of the name). This definitely needs to be countered. Wish I could remember where I read that. Now my antennae will be out.

Casey,

I slowed down and watched the video today-my monkey mind likes to skim through "facts" and get to the point quickly. But now I am left with only questions: I wonder how youth trained to pass tests will fair...I wonder how the at-risk youth with whom I worked will find a place in this "new" global economy and I wonder what impact the massive, and as yet hidden, high school dropout rate numbers will have to the California economy. Education is a political football but from my perspective on the inside it is also a shell game and a numbers game. And I then wonder what this means for the foundation of our democracy...sorry I have only questions...don't let the barbarians get you down...

Casey I have had to watch the video and few times to assimilate all the information, The experience of having International Students staying with me for years, I can definitely understand some of the numbers, and Percentages.
Simply Amazing

More Amazing I have never visited My Space, will have to take time to visit.