Luciano Pavarotti, RIP

I hope my Dad has his favorite seat in the front row, balcony, for every performance.

Posted by Casey Morris at September 6, 2007 10:02 AM

I hope he can see past my Mom :)

Glad to see Pavarotti! NPR seemed to have shortened their broadcast about the Republican debates in New Hampshire so that they could mention Pavarotti and give us a little sound blast. There was a woman who just retired from here who used to play opera in the morning. Maybe I should reinstitute the tradition.

Now for Tin Foil Hat Coffee:
Staging Nukes for Iran?
http://tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2007/sep/05/staging_nuke_for_iran

Man that totally sucks that he died.
What a man, what a voice.

Rossi,

I barely remember the Carter years, mostly remember tying yellow ribbons to everything in sight, including oak trees for our hostages.

But, growing up I learned from both sides Carter was a complete failure as a president, though no one says it too his face, because they do respect him so much as a man.

When you ask, 'Why was a genuinely good man a bad president?" the universal answer from both sides is that he was 'Too nice."

Yes, I know it sounds absurd, but you have to remember we are a nation of war, modern day Sparta. Peacemakers are often not useful to such a society.

And in some ways, the critisim is actually merited, as Carter did his best to be diplomatic even with people whom could not be swayed by it. As a president it was a serious flaw, even if it made him a good man.

All of us will defend Carter on a human level. He is one of the best our nation ever produced.

But as a president he left office with things wildly out of control. Deserved or undeserved hardly matters, that is just the way it was.

He is remembered as a terribly weak leader. On both sides.

Ahhh Luciano, who took us to heights of human possibility and eased us back down again, to the rich earth.

We will miss the ride...

US strikes in Baghdad kill 14 sleeping civilians

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_strikes_in_Baghdad_kill_14_sleep_09062007.html

Somebody has given Edwards the right words to finally slip off his chains. It is about time.

He has my vote.

"President Bush wants everyone to keep playing the Beltway game. But this isn’t a game - lives are at stake. Young men and women are dying almost every day and Iraq is descending further into civil war. It’s time to end the game - we can’t wait. Congress must tell the president something very simple: No timetable, no funding. No excuses."

Oh man Madeleine Albright tears georgie apart in the WaPo! Beautiful.

"President Bush could do his part by admitting what the world knows -- that many prewar criticisms of the invasion were on target. Such an admission would be just the shock a serious diplomatic project would need. It would make it easier for European and Arab leaders to help, as their constituents are reluctant to bail out a president who still insists that he was right and they were wrong. Our troops face death every day; the least the president can do is face the truth."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/05/AR2007090502044.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

SUPPORT THE TROOFS!!!!

... and nuthin but the troof!

Sew hemp me Gawd!

(laugh today at least once)

Justice Dept. against ‘Net neutrality’
Feds say imposing regulation on Internet could hamper development

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department on Thursday said Internet service providers should be allowed to charge a fee for priority Web traffic.

The agency told the Federal Communications Commission, which is reviewing high-speed Internet practices, that it is opposed to "Net neutrality," the principle that all Internet sites should be equally accessible to any Web user.

Several phone and cable companies, such as AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp., have previously said they want the option to charge some users more money for loading certain content or Web sites faster than others.

The Justice Department said imposing a Net neutrality regulation could hamper development of the Internet and prevent service providers from upgrading or expanding their networks. It could also shift the "entire burden of implementing costly network expansions and improvements onto consumers," the agency said in its filing.

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20625194/

Christy
I disagree about Carter. He is the first President I voted for. I didn't tie any yellow ribbons on anything because I had about as much faith in our foreign policy in general then as I do now. I knew that we had helped Shah Reza Pahlazi back in as a puppet and helped overthrow democratically-elected Mosadeq.

Carter could have had a second term had not Reagan arranged the "October Surprise" as far as the hostage release timing. Our media was already showing ignorance and lack of objectivity, profitting off sensationalism and bowing to advertisers, even before the widespread advent of cable.

Carter did the following:
Won the Nobel Peace prize.
Was both a Senator and Governor.
Created the Department of Energy
Created the Department of Education
Advocated decreased reliance on foreign oil.
Bolstered Social Security via staggered payroll tax (which needs to be done again)
Pursued the Camp David accords (which hasn't been done since, hence no resolution in the Israeli/Palestinian problem for all this time)
pursued the Camp David Accords,
Second Round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (which we now aren't even involved with)
Held other countries to a human rights standard that he felt Americans would morally want the US to adhere to as well.
Founded the Carter Center to promote global health, democracy, health & human rights.
Travelled extensively to monitor elections, conduct peace negotiations and establish relief efforts.
Has written at least 25 books.

Jimmy Carter is one of my heroes and if he wasn't appreciated as President, it doesn't necessarily mean that people are good at appraising what is good about a President.

Look at all the brouhaha around Reagan and he set the stage for the Empire we're living in now.

Re. Edwards - he says some good things - now let's see if the same American people are smart enough to listen.

Carter is actually ranked about in the middle for overall success of his domestic and foreign policy achievements. Rankers are historians and scholars, not citizens, so may result in a different ranking.

These all ranked below Carter (Wikipedia):

Gerald Ford
Herbert Hoover
Benjamin Harrison
Calvin Coolidge
Richard Nixon
James A. Garfield
Zachary Taylor
John Tyler
Millard Fillmore
Ulysses S. Grant
William Henry Harrison
Andrew Johnson
Franklin Pierce
James Buchanan
(abstracted from Wikipedia)
Warren G. Harding

Monkey
So Hemp Me Good

Christy
I also don't think we should be a nation of war and a peacemaker is a failure (Carter) and then we would turn around and support another peacemaker who wants to withdraw troops and funding (Edwards) - it's not consistent.

I think we should always be a nation of peace and support peacemakers. If we are really a nation of war, a modern day Sparta, then we should support McCain or some hawk like that.

"In Monkey We Trust: So Hemp Me Good!"

Hey, thanks! You may just have won the "name the theme contest" for this years Monkeyball!

Back to your regularly scheduled snoring, already in progress...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Coral Ridge ministries former pastor Dr. D. James Kennedy died Wednesday due to complications from cardiac arrest at his home in Fort Lauderdale.

Fort Lauderdale police spokesman Cathy Collins said the 76-year-old Kennedy was discovered by his nurse around 2:15 a.m. Kennedy had been convalescing at home since suffering a heart attack in December of last year.

It was announced last month that Kennedy would not be returning to the pulpit at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale.

Kennedy founded the Coral Ridge Ministries in Fort Lauderdale 48 years ago. He also hosted "The Coral Ridge Hour," aired by 600 television stations and seen in 145 nations.

Kennedy, a pioneering megachurch pastor who became one of the nation's most prominent Christian broadcasters and a key figure in the rise of the religious right, took Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church from a congregation of 45 in 1959 to a megachurch of nearly 10,000 members today.

He organized Capitol Hill Bible studies and other events that attracted top government officials in Washington. He was also a close colleague of the Rev. Pat Robertson, the Rev. Jerry Falwell and other religious broadcasters and was an early board member of the Moral Majority, which Falwell formed in 1979.

In the 1960s, Kennedy created Evangelism Explosion International, which trains lay Christians to share their beliefs in every day life, according to the ministries.

http://www.local10.com/news/14048899/detail.html

Meanwhile, some good news...

U.S. District Court Judge Strikes Down Part of Revised Patriot Act
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070906/ap_on_re_us/patriot_act_lawsuit

Monkey
So what is my prize?

NMP,...We are a nation of war, and that is hardly my fault or Carters fault. It has always been that way.

From the 'discovery' of our existance as a land mass, we are the greatest war prize on earth.

We have invaded 60 countries in 50 years..or something like that. We are not literally LIKE the Spartans socially, but our entire empire has always been an industrial military machine.

Martin Luther King was a peacemaker. And our society put a bullet into his head for it.

Carter is also one of my heros. And as I said, wether he deserved it or not, wether it was his fault or not, his administration was riddled with difficulty. Some he handled well, others he didn't, but living memory tells the tale of a weak president, who was 'too nice'. No, it is not hardly fair, but he made powerful enemies by trying to be a man of peace in a nation built on war.

He did not win the Nobel Prize until after his presidency. In many ways, he does more good as an EX president than he was ever allowed to do as president.

BTW: Regarding calling Washington D.C. about the war, I have cued up, on my computer, the beginning of ML King's speech on the Vietnam war

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b80Bsw0UG-U

I called the White House comment and said "If George Bush doesn't listen to me, maybe he will listen to a great American like Martin Luther King about stopping war." and played the above recording. Probably won't do much good but it was fun anyway....

I received this today from the Dodd campaign:

The New York Times reported earlier today that Democrats are considering whether to offer a "compromise" amendment on Iraq to the upcoming Defense Department Authorization bill.

This "compromise," the Levin-Reed amendment, would reportedly establish a non-binding "goal" -- as opposed to a firm deadline -- for withdrawing our combat troops from Iraq.

The net result could be another blank check for President Bush.

Senator Dodd said it best earlier today, "I cannot and will not support any measure that does not have a firm and enforceable deadline to complete the redeployment of combat troops from Iraq. Rather than picking up votes, by removing the deadline to get our troops out of Iraq you have lost this Democrat's vote."

We can stop this before it sees the light of day.

Please contact your Senators and ask them to publicly reject any Iraq legislation that does not include enforceable deadlines for withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq.

http://chrisdodd.com/stopthebill

There is an alternative that all Democrats should rally behind today.

The Dodd Amendment:

* Start withdrawal immediately
* 50,000 troops out of Iraq by January 31, 2008
* Complete re-deployment of combat troops by April 30, 2008
* No additional funding for combat operations after April 30, 2008
* Make funding for the war during the redeployment period contingent on progress of redeployment.

Please email your Senators and ask them to vote "YES" on the Dodd amendment and "NO" on any legislation without hard deadlines.

http://chrisdodd.com/stopthebill

Together, we can stop another blank check from being presented to President Bush.

Tim Tagaris
Chris Dodd for President

"Lastly, I want to add by stating to all of these Republican candidates that are comfortable with our presence in Iraq and back this president; how can anyone even think of voting for you if you are backing an illegal action? By all intents and purposes to further this policy you too will be breaking the law. Any candidate no matter what party that wishes to continue this failed policy in Iraq using our soldiers and causing their deaths as well as innocent Iraqis are knowingly breaking the law as defined by the United States Constitution."

http://www.marymacelveen.com/blog/_archives/2007/9/6/3210746.html

Carter could have had a second term had not Reagan arranged the "October Surprise" as far as the hostage release timing. Our media was already showing ignorance and lack of objectivity, profitting off sensationalism and bowing to advertisers, even before the widespread advent of cable.

Carter did the following:
Won the Nobel Peace prize.
Was both a Senator and Governor.
Created the Department of Energy
Created the Department of Education
Advocated decreased reliance on foreign oil.
Bolstered Social Security via staggered payroll tax (which needs to be done again)
Pursued the Camp David accords (which hasn't been done since, hence no resolution in the Israeli/Palestinian problem for all this time)
pursued the Camp David Accords,
Second Round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (which we now aren't even involved with)
Held other countries to a human rights standard that he felt Americans would morally want the US to adhere to as well.
Founded the Carter Center to promote global health, democracy, health & human rights.
Travelled extensively to monitor elections, conduct peace negotiations and establish relief efforts.
Has written at least 25 books.

Jimmy Carter is one of my heroes and if he wasn't appreciated as President, it doesn't necessarily mean that people are good at appraising what is good about a President.

Posted by: nmp at September 6, 2007 02:39 PM

Worked his butt off building houses in New Orleans after Katrina, and to be quite honest Americans suck at picking Presidents,
If a country decides the Leader of the Free World, a hell of a lot more than 40% of the people need to get off their butts learn about world events, and go out and vote, it should be mandatory, or they should not be voting for the friking leader of the free world.

The above accomplishments would have made Carter, just the President the world needs in todays enviroment whether it be enviromentally or in times of war and peace. I would imagine.

These all ranked below Carter (Wikipedia):

Well I would certainly have ranked Reagan, Pappy Bush, and Georgie the illiterate thug, below Carter

SUPPORT THE TROOFS!!!!

... and nuthin but the troof!

Sew hemp me Gawd!

Posted by: MONKEY at September 6, 2007 01:13 PM

Darn Monkey I need that in a car sticker to put beside my bush and hemp good and bad sticker can I get one somewhere.

I hope my Dad has his favorite seat in the front row, balcony, for every performance.

Posted by Casey Morris at September 6, 2007 10:02 AM

I hope so to Casey,

My mob as well, they all definitely would appreciate his being there.

Christy
I agree about nation of war v man of peace.
It's very frustrating. It's why someone like Kucinich is always considered "symbolic," why someone like McGovern lost 49/50 states but they had to take his advice & get out of Vietnam eventually.

It's also how I came to be pretty pragmatic and talk about voting with nose plugged, who is "electable," not dissing Dems & all that. It rankles my idealistic side & whether I will even do it depends on the day. I do NOT, however, like to give the Atwoods and Roves of the world ideas on line so will plot or speculate certain things in private that I would not on the internet, necessarily.

IF we have always been a nation of war, and have been quick to invade, deploy, defend or offend - then what do we do? Even today, Israel has been accused of flying into Syrian and Lebanese airspace, which is a provocation to war. Were we to defend them, our ally, we could end up fighting Syria and Iran. There are neocons in this country who would love to do so.

There are times in history it may have been argued that we should participate in war, such as against Hitler or Milosovic. It was an act of propaganda to emphasize the despotic aspects of Saddam while ignoring other dictators as we have in places like Uganda and Liberia. I guess they did not have oil. Oh the propaganda we have been asked to swallow.

How do we teach people to understand and respect diplomacy? Who in the world will even listen to us any more? What allies do we have except certain factions in the governments of Israel, certain Arabic countries run by sheiks and princes, the rightwings of Australia, Japan, the UK and South Korea, possibly the new more rightist leaders of Germany & France?

It's all getting so complicated. Even in the arena of labor, we are now a service country that does not produce many tangible items. When immigration and outsourcing are brought up, it now must be considered that we buy mostly foreign-made goods (often from American companies, purchased with borrowed money on the part of the consumer and the company). We are now seeing "reverse outsourcing," as 25% of Georgia's labor force now works for foreign companies, and an Indian software company just hired 600 American programmers, and hundreds of new grads with MBAs are MOVING to Bangalore! They make less there but the cost of living is less.

Economically speaking, our place in the world's economy can be measured by the value of our currency. We are under the European continent, the UK and the Scandinavean companies, as well as Canada and Japan, but we are above the South American, Southeast Asian, Chinese, Indian and African economies but China and India are moving up fast. We are no longer at the top of the heap. We still have a big economy but a company like Rolex or a five-star resort looks elsewhere for companies. We have more rich people on top because of our skewed rich-get-richer tax scheme but countries such as Russia and even Mexico are growing new millionaires more quickly!

Bush's Iraq swagger a distant memory

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Bush_s_Iraq_swagger_a_distant_memor_09062007.html

Not distant enough for me, it will never be a distant enough memory for me

Fox host accuses Paul of taking Qaeda 'marching orders'

He ate them for breakfast, still rotfl

I was just listening to the public response to Thomson entering the fray, It is amazing after what they got with Georgie for the last eight year, feeling that he was a man they could have a beer with, they are proclaiming the same about Thompson small town boy, someone you can have a beer with and so on.

And darn it all they are picking the Leader of the Free World, will someone get on a Friking microphone and annouce to these clowns the World does not want someone you can swig a beer with, do some cocaine with, a small town boy, they want someone with the EDUCATION to lead the Free Worlds Foreign Policy, not the next clown they can have a beer with.

Posted by: rossiann at September 6, 2007 05:36 PM

I should maybe go into the bumper sticker biz, huh?

There are times in history it may have been argued that we should participate in war, such as against Hitler or Milosovic. It was an act of propaganda to emphasize the despotic aspects of Saddam while ignoring other dictators as we have in places like Uganda and Liberia. I guess they did not have oil. Oh the propaganda we have been asked to swallow.

How do we teach people to understand and respect diplomacy? Who in the world will even listen to us any more? What allies do we have except certain factions in the governments of Israel, certain Arabic countries run by sheiks and princes, the rightwings of Australia, Japan, the UK and South Korea, possibly the new more rightist leaders of Germany & France?

Posted by: nmp at September 6, 2007 05:52 PM

To true

"IF we have always been a nation of war, and have been quick to invade, deploy, defend or offend - then what do we do?"

We evolve, or we die. It really is that simple.

We either denounce it as a whole, or..it kills us.

Posted by: rossiann at September 6, 2007 05:36 PM

I should maybe go into the bumper sticker biz, huh?

Posted by: monkey at September 6, 2007 06:25 PM

Hell yeah, I look everywhere for anti bush stickers here Down Under but I cannot find any, they are few and far between. Darn it all

Police Fuming After Bin Laden Lookalike Cracks Bush's APEC Security

APEC's $250m security cracked by comics

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22376204-5006022,00.html

Ahahahahaha I just bet they are.

Even today, Israel has been accused of flying into Syrian and Lebanese airspace, which is a provocation to war. Were we to defend them, our ally, we could end up fighting Syria and Iran.

Posted by: nmp at September 6, 2007 05:52 PM

nmp - that's been the intention all along - Iran and Syria have to go according to your Terrorist-In-Chief. Israel went into Lebanon with US blessing. Israel is fostering the divide between the Palestinian factions even though Hamas won the election by a landslide. America doesn't like Hamas and asked the entire world to heap sanctions on Palestine and encouraged the Israelis to effect the divide.

When there was no food and the Israelis were still coming into Palestine to kill the kids, the divide came about. So, now Israel only has to keep Hamas isolated until they've starved them all to death with the encouragement of mr gwbushears himself.

American Girls' Suicide Rate Highest In A Decade

The suicide rate among preteen and teenage girls rose to its highest level in a decade, and hanging surpassed guns as the preferred method, federal health officials reported Thursday.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070906/teen-suicides/

Posted by: rossiann at September 6, 2007 06:41 PM

Girls hanging themselves? I thought girls and women used pills. Not that the means by which they suicide is anywhere close to being important under the circumstances. What would be the reasons for feeling so desperate?

Is it because the adults in their lives can't keep the hate and vengeance away? It's a terrible statistic and really needs to be addressed. Oh yeah. No health care. No hope.

Posted by: nmp at September 6, 2007 05:52 PM

Very good points - possibly we need to turn this into a threader here, or an entry on the Silenced Majority blog.

When there was no food and the Israelis were still coming into Palestine to kill the kids, the divide came about. So, now Israel only has to keep Hamas isolated until they've starved them all to death with the encouragement of mr gwbushears himself.

Posted by: woz at September 6, 2007 06:40 PM

Shame on a World that countinances it, Hamas was Palistines democratically elected Govt whether the world and Georgie, like it or not. They were after all, more democratically elected than Georgie ever was in his eight year term.

Murdoch's Compensation For Year Ending June 30: $32.1 Mil »

http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2007/09/06/mr-murdochs-perks/?mod=homeblogmod_marketbeatblog

The Land of the Free? Unfrikingbelievalbe

Police break up anti-war meeting in Washington

Mounted police charged in to break up an outdoor press conference and demonstration against the Iraq war in Washington on Thursday, arresting three people, organizers and an AFP reporter said.

"The police suppressed the press conference. In the middle of the speeches, they grabbed the podium" erected in a park in front of the White House for the small gathering, Brian Becker, national organizer of the ANSWER anti-war coalition, told AFP.

"Then, mounted police charged the media present to disperse them," Becker said.

The charge caused a peaceful crowd of some 20 journalists and four or five protestors to scatter in terror, an AFP correspondent at the event in Lafayette Square said. No one appeared to have been hurt.

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Police_break_up_anti_war_meeting_in_09062007.html

Missouri Picks One Contractor to Fix 800 Bridges

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14191386

Mo. bridge repair bill signed
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
09/06/2007

ST. JOSEPH, mo. — Gov. Matt Blunt signed legislation Wednesday that supporters say will allow the state to fix more than 800 bridges within five years.

Under the plan, called the Safe and Sound Bridge Program, Missouri will drastically speed the repairs of its bridges by awarding a single 30-year contract to fix and maintain 802 of its worst bridges.
(snip)

The contractor that wins the job will be required to fix or replace the 802 bridges within five years, rather than the two decades it would take at the state's current pace of bridge maintenance. The contractor would be paid only after all repairs are done and would have to maintain the bridges in satisfactory condition for the next 25 years.

Only three states — Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Iowa — have more bridges in poor condition than Missouri. Of Missouri's 24,024 bridges, nearly 20 percent, or 4,595, are structurally deficient, according to a 2006 Federal Highway Administration report.

Almost all of the bridges included in Missouri's plan are in poor or serious condition, meaning they are just a step away from closure. Even with the large repair project, 171 other bridges in serious or poor condition would not be repaired.

More:
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/misso...

Have we mentioned Syria?

Israel 'broke laws of war' in Lebanon
By Ed O'Loughlin, Jerusalem
September 7, 2007

THE New York-based group Human Rights Watch has accused the Israeli Government of killing hundreds of civilians last year by failing to discriminate between civilians and fighters in accordance with the laws of war.

After a year-long field investigation, the group yesterday rejected the Israeli Defence Force's claim that it was not responsible for the deaths because Hezbollah militants had used the civilians as shields.

"Hezbollah fighters often didn't carry their weapons in the open or regularly wear military uniforms, which made them a hard target to identify," said the group's executive director, Kenneth Roth. "But this doesn't justify the IDF's failure to distinguish between civilians and combatants, and if in doubt to treat a person as a civilian, as the laws of war require."

■Israeli warplanes bombed unidentified Syrian targets early yesterday, causing no damage or casualties, the official Syrian news agency said.

Syrian air defences fired at the incoming planes, which crossed into Syria after midnight local time, the agency said.

Israel Radio, quoting an unidentified military source, said there had been no air strike on Syria. But a military spokesman said: "We're still checking."

With REUTERS

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/israel-broke-laws-of-war-in-lebanon/2007/09/06/1188783409781.html

The Israeli planes didn't want to drop their bombs. Syria made them do it. I remember refereeing this kind of argument between my preschool aged children almost 30 years ago. He made me do it!

Tensions flare in Mid-East bombing claim
Damascus
September 7, 2007 - 8:09AM

Syria accused Israel of bombing its territory on Thursday and said it could respond to the Jewish state's "aggression and treachery''.

Israel declined to comment on the charge by Syria, which said no casualties or damage were caused.

The Syrian accusation was partly responsible for triggering a rise in world oil prices of more than $1.40 a barrel.

"It appears that the Israeli planes were on a reconnaissance mission when they got caught by Syrian defences and were forced to drop their bombs and extra fuel tanks,'' said a Western diplomat in Syria's capital Damascus. He declined to be named.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/tensions-flare-in-mideast-bombing-claim/2007/09/07/1188783452950.html

Pavarotti & James Brown
Click on my name

They are staging a reason to go to war.

Prank in which comedy team drove a motorcade through Sydney for APEC, with one of the guys dressed as bin Laden. One of the rare funny things this gang has done. Some people just take themselves too damn seriously.

Chaser arrest
Was the APEC stunt which saw the Chaser crew arrested funny?

Yes - 86%

No - 14%

Total Votes: 11232

Pavarotti & James Brown
Click on my name

Posted by: nmp at September 6, 2007 11:09 PM

Thanks nmp. I never tire of hearing him sing. And especially, I never tire of hearing him sing with James Brown.

Winner-take-all? Not necessarily (Calif. electoral vote initiative OK'd)

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/05/MNA6RVOC0.DTL&tsp=1

Great photo - great protesters!

Protesters moon APEC motorcade
Anti Bush protestors bare their Bums in a 'mass moon' at Sydneys Hyde Park during the Apec meeting this afternoon.
Photo: Lee Besford
September 7, 2007 - 4:20PM

A protest involving around 50 bare-bottomed activists spilled onto Sydney streets today, stalling an APEC motorcade and triggering scuffles with police.

The Bums for Bush campaign was hailed a success by organisers, even though drizzling rain kept many protesters away from the mooning anti-Bush protest.

Around 50 people lined up at Hyde Park's north end and mooned an audience of several hundred people, including supporters and media.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/protesters-moon-apec-motorcade/2007/09/07/1188783480075.html

George Bush is very happy to be at the *O*PEC meeting.

Moron

God save us all from that kind of religion again

We need candidates who are really religious
From Where I Stand by Joan Chittister, OSB

The closer the United States gets to choosing a president, the more the event begins to look like a papal election: it's all about religion and little about what religion teaches.
The United States, we love to say -- and Europeans repeat in a kind of incredulous wonder -- is the most "religious" country in the world. Meaning, of course, the most church-going country in the world. Whether or not going to church correlates well with religious values is clearly a debatable subject. To wit, the corporal works of mercy -- as in, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, house the homeless, visit the imprisoned, visit the sick, and bury the dead. It is on these criteria in Matthew 25: 31-46, however, that Jesus rests his definition of salvation. No small thing for those who considers themselves "religious." No small thing, then, one would think, if a nation -- if a candidate for political office -- were really serious about being "religious."
Point: The corporal works of mercy would, it seems, be a very clear template, a constant standard in such a nation, for the evaluation of a party platform, a legislative program or a candidate's fitness for office by those who consider themselves Christian. You can picture the score card now: Candidate A proposes keeping two of the works of mercy; Candidate B, five of them. Forget the need to count votes. The winner is ...
In the nation in which, they tell us, the last two elections were decided by Catholic and Evangelical Christians, the need to define what we mean when we say we're looking for a candidate with "religious" values is not an idle exercise. Given all our commitment to bible-quoting candidates, how do we stack up as a religious people against the religious principles we're told are essential to Christianity? The answers may make us all think again about what religion really means where politics are concerned.
If "feeding the hungry" is a basic, we're slipping, no matter how much we congratulate ourselves on our virtue. According to Bread for the World, a faith-based movement seeking justice for the world's hungry, over 35 million people -- including 12.4 million children -- live in hunger in the United States. They skip meals regularly or, when they eat, eat too little. Some of them go without food, the report says, for entire days. But hungry children develop more chronic illnesses, suffer more from anxiety and depression, and have more behavior problems than children who eat regularly. Those children we put in our institutions, call them social problems, and hire more police to keep them in line rather than feed them well.
If "clothing the naked" -- sending people into the world with dignity and propriety -- is a work of mercy, we will need legislators who are committed to spending money on education. With the amount of money we have spent on the war in Iraq -- over $449 billion -- we could have provided 21 million four-year college scholarships to young people whose parents are already strained to the financial break-point. That means, of course, that we need legislators who indicate a willingness to spend money on the intellectual future of this country. Then maybe, in the future, we wouldn't have so many wars.
If "giving drink to the thirsty" is a work of mercy, we could be doing something on a national level to save the water supply in this country. We would need legislators intent on controlling the global warming that is turning the southwest into a dust bowl and threatening to swamp property on the coastlands of the United States. We could be putting money into saving the water we have before water is no longer free and the poor cannot afford that either.
If "housing the homeless' is a work of mercy, we could at least match our housing chest with our war chest to provide four million new public housing projects. The U.S. Conference of Mayors "Hunger and Homelessness Survey" of 23 major cities in 2006 reports that 59 percent of those cities report an increase in requests for emergency shelter for families in the past year alone. Almost 30 percent of those appeals went unmet for lack of resources, the report tells us, as we agonize over which political candidate is more religious than the other ones.
If "visiting the sick" is a work of mercy, we might want to ask legislators who are seeking to renew their long-running terms in office why it is that of the 45 million uninsured people, 21 million of them are full-time workers? Whatever happened to the notion that if we worked hard in this country, we could take care of ourselves?
If "visiting prisoners" is a work of mercy, then it is time to think again about how closely religious values parallel our institutional goals. According to Human Rights Watch, September, 2007, "Most inmates [in U.S. prisons] had scant opportunities for work, training, education, treatment or counseling because of taxpayer resistance to increasing spending on prison rehabilitation programs." Clearly, we are a "lock 'em up and throw away the key" society. We send them to prison, do almost nothing to prepare them to live a decent life outside of it, and then wonder why the recidivism rate is as high as it is.
If "bury the dead" is work of mercy, then it is time to increase home health care facilities. According to the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, "one in five U.S. households are involved in home health care for an adult." Nevertheless, in August, Medicare announced proposed cuts of $7 billion dollars to local home health care agencies. Surely we need legislators who are intent on providing caregivers and families the support they need to care for their sick and earn a decent living themselves at the same time.
It's time, it seems, if we're Christian, to judge people the way Jesus told us to judge them: "By their fruits." But if that's the case, then the question is not: What do each of these candidates tell us about how religious they are? The question is: What do each of these candidates plan to do to make the corporal works of mercy a living sign of the Christian tradition in this so-called Christian culture?
In fact, how conscious are we of the silent erosion of each of these works of mercy in the society around us while we define "religion" as single-issue politics? After all, food and education and decent housing and support services are exactly the things that take the strain off families and make abortion unnecessary.
From where I stand, it may well be our own unawareness of the loss of these services that's making it so difficult for us to make a distinction between what is really "religious" about our candidates and what is only religion being used as another kind of slippery election strategy. God save us all from that kind of religion again
http://ncrcafe.org/node/1296

US Deports Parents of Dead Soldiers
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090607B.shtml
Domenico Maceri reports for New America Media, "Three years after US Army Private Armando Soriano, 20, died fighting in Haditha, Iraq, his father is facing deportation."

Look at this, some very wierd stuff. Something is terribly wrong with this story.

"Judy Miller telephoned the Holy Land Foundation and tipped them off the day before the FBI came with a search warrant from Pat Fitzgerald. Josh Marshall had that story long ago, and do scroll through the comments following it for some informative tidbits or maybe just tinfoil hattery.

The thing is, the commenters seem to think that the WH may have had an interest in tipping off the Islamic charities that were the targets of PatFitz’s money laundering/terrorism financing investigation because there were connections that would lead back to some of Bush and Cheney’s favorite Saudis.

Well I don’t know, but something pretty strange is going on because in the American Spectator article an unnamed White House source who claims that Pat “the silent one” Fitzgerald has leaked, LEAKED I tell you, information about Gonzales’ connection to the Muslim charities and it had embarrassed AGAG and he was afraid of being caught out again."

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/09/06/thursday-afternoon-as-i-don-my-tin-foil-chapeau/

So...Islamic charities, torture boy. money launderimg, Judy Miller and Patrick Fitzgerald.

WTF?

Holy Shittokki Batman!

The Miller/Fitzgerald Backstory
By Josh Marshall | bio

Don't forget: This isn't the first time Plame prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has tangled with Judy Miller while investigating a leak out of the Bush White House.

A little more than a year ago, I reported on TPM how Fitzgerald had quite aggressively investigated another Bush White House leak in late 2001 and early 2002. Fitzgerald had been investigating three Islamic charities accused of supporting terrorism -- the Holy Land Foundation, the Global Relief Foundation, and the Benevolence International Foundation. But just before his investigators could swoop in with warrants, two of the charities in question got wind of what was coming and, apparently, were able to destroy a good deal of evidence.

What tipped them off were calls from two reporters at the New York Times who'd been leaked information about the investigation by folks at the White House.

One of those two reporters was Judy Miller.

http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/7/7/1148/62336

I left something out...

So...Islamic charities, torture boy. money launderimg, Judy Miller, Patrick Fitzgerald, the White House and SAUDIS.

And all this predated the Iraq invasion but was right after 911.

How did I read allplameallthetime, and never saw this?

Then again, I watched flight 800 get shot down by a missle on teevee and yet somehow I simultainiously missed that too.

Has anyone seen the new Time mag cover?

Rosie the Riveter finally finally got a suitable upgrade. Go look, she's gorgeous.

http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20070910,00.html

Not bad! for a rag that once put Mann Coulter on the cover!

Gaffe-prone Bush in fine form at APEC summit
'OPEC' forum filled with slips of the tongue, confusion for president

SYDNEY - Even for someone as gaffe-prone as U.S. President George W. Bush, he was in rare form on Friday, confusing APEC with OPEC and transforming Australian troops into Austrians.

Bush's tongue started slipping almost as soon as he started talking at a business forum on the eve of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Sydney.

"Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for your introduction," he told Prime Minister John Howard. "Thank you for being such a fine host for the OPEC summit."

As the audience of several hundred people erupted in laughter, Bush corrected himself and joked, "He invited me to the OPEC summit next year." Australia has never been a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Later in his speech, Bush recounted how Howard had gone to visit "Austrian troops" last year in Iraq. There are, in fact, no Austrian troops there. But Australia has about 1,500 Australians military personnel in and around the country.

Upon finishing his speech, Bush took the wrong way off-stage and, looking slightly perplexed, had to be re-directed by Howard to a center-stage exit.

But not before a veteran White House correspondent seized the opportunity to ask Bush whether there had been any new message in his speech. Apparently misunderstanding the question, he bristled and asked, "Haven't you been listening to my past speeches?" before turning away.

Bush is no stranger to the occasional faux pas, and often jokes about his habit of mangling the English language.

moron...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20632737/

Dumb dumb da-dumb, dumb dumb da-dumb...

Yall see this about that little missing gorl Madeline?

Her blood was found in the hotel room and her parents rental car.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/09/07/madeleine.mccann/index.html

The hotel results I read in European press this morning.

Damn that is horrible.

Where is the soul of the world?

Missing

The New York Times | A Chance to Make Votes Count
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090707M.shtml
The editors of The New York Times write: "Electronic voting has been an abysmal failure. Computer experts have done study after study showing that electronic voting machines, which are often shoddily made, can easily be hacked. With little effort, vote totals can be changed and elections stolen. In many recent elections, voters have complained of 'vote flipping,' in which touch-screen machines took votes cast for one candidate and gave them to an opponent."

U.S. military says 7 troops killed in 2 attacks
Fighting flares up in Anbar; gunmen attack Sunnis after evening prayers

BAGHDAD - Four U.S. Marines were killed in fighting in Anbar province, and three soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in northern Iraq, the military said Friday.

The four Marines assigned to Multi National Force — West were killed Thursday while conducting combat operations in Anbar, a predominantly Sunni province west of Baghdad that has seen a recent drop in violence, according to a statement.

Three Task Force Lightning soldiers also were killed Thursday when a bomb exploded near their vehicle in the northern Ninevah province, the military said separately.

The deaths raised to at least 3,760 members of the U.S. military who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20637105/

AWOL

--new thread--

I feel so ill........

Luciano, as I almost knew him.

I worked at PolyGram Classics in the mid-80s, the parent organization of London/Decca, Pavarotti's label. Given that my boss at the time, a knave named John Harper, played the role of a real-life Rigoletto to Luciano's Duke whenever he was in the States, and that Pavarotti was by far the biggest star in PolyGram Classics' sky, I thought it best to steer clear of any potential political misadventures. So while I found myself standing next to Luciano on a couple of occasions, I was never was formally introduced - and never attempted to force the issue.

The upper management of the music industry in my time, even "classics", was largely comprised of a collection of gangsters and groupies. There were a few exceptions, but by in large, the middle management people were pretty much keeping the ship afloat. This upper management crowd could be staffing the Bush Administration today - and perhaps some of them are. Given the stakes, and my generally shy nature, I almost never took the opportunity to go backstage, or even think about any attempt to insert myself into a performer's circle. In retrospect, I regret that choice today – but not with regard to the circus that surrounded Luciano.

Luciano was larger than life, in more ways than one. In my younger days, I tended to be a bit more judgmental about his personal issues - of which there were many - especially given the fuss that either Luciano's flunkies or the Breslin organization would make if the slightest thing we did wasn't to their liking. Today, I'm apt to overlook them as simply part of the fabric of a human life.

Herbert Breslin's name is getting quite a lot of positive mention this week - so it's fair to mention that, at least as they told it, Breslin and Harper were key creative contributors to the film, "Yes, Giorgio", Luciano's only feature, and the only MGM musical condemned by the Catholic Church! As far as I'm concerned, the movie wasn't nearly as bad as it's critics made it out to be. But Luciano evidently never made total peace with its failure - as witnessed by the fact that the film's soundtrack has never appeared on CD. As far as I am aware, this is only the Pavarotti recording yet to be reissued. Ah, for the good old days, when an album that had yet to even ship to stores, or even be heard, could carry a sticker proclaiming "contains the hit, If We Were in Love". We used the word "hit" in rather loose fashion in those days. Evidently, a hit could mean anything we wanted it to mean. Now that Luciano’s gone, I expect we’ll finally see a reissue – but if not, I have a pristine copy of the LP in my possession, just waiting to be digitized.

Whatever his personal issues, Luciano is one of those unique talents whose star is likely only to brighten as the years go by. He was simply a wonderful singer with the right music - a category that encompassed most of the lyric and spinto Italian tenor repertoire as well the vast storehouse of Italian art and popular song. Domingo is considered the more cerebral singer and musician today, but Luciano was warmer, more personal, more Italian - in all the ways that being Italian means life-enhancing and endearing. The world would be a much, much better place today if Italian were more thought to mean "Luciano" and less thought to mean "Soprano". If only the corporate powers that be spent as much time promoting that image of Italians as they do sociopaths and gangsters.

Posted by: Matthew Carnicelli at September 7, 2007 12:33 PM

As one who has had the great privelege to stick around with the same stunning Sicilian for 18 yrs...

Saluto.

Lovely post, Casey. Thanks so much. Nice way to end the week.