I have only one small point to make

about the death of Gerald Ford. Okay, maybe more than one, but these are simple straightforward wonderings.

For instance, he was not elected to the office of Vice President, nor that of President. He was appointed, as directed by the recently passed 25th Amendment. Thus Nixon, and his cabal of venal henchmen chose the successor knowing that he was a functioning puppet who could be controlled to the end of his days.

We are treating our dead Presidents as if they were kings, holding rituals and ceremonies for them, ignoring the Constitution's Article I, Section Nine which forbids these acts of nobility and aristocracy. What makes this one public servant so much more worthy than a Senator who has served this great nation for 24 years? Nothing except the pomp and ceremony given over to Kennedy when he was killed. Nixon jumped all over this, raising the imperial standard over the White House, claiming his emperorship and the mantle of all mighty power. Ford is a loser and glaringly unworthy of this puff and consequence.

Ford committed the unforgiveable pardon of Nixon, the hideous Kissinger approved destruction of East Timor, the invasion of Cambodia and Laos, and silly post- Vietnam proclamations. Ford was the puppet under which the first major robberies of the US Treasury were instituted by corporations led by the cabal. Ford was directed to allow the big oil companies to make billions in profit while preparing a second fake crisis. Ford is a loser and glaringly unworthy of any attention whatsoever.

essential economic problems

The richest 2 percent of adults in the world own more than half the world's wealth, according to a new study released by the Helsinki-based World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University. The study's authors say their work is the most comprehensive study of personal wealth ever undertaken. They found the richest 1 percent of adults owned 40 percent of global assets in the year 2000, and that the richest 10 percent of adults accounted for 85 percent of the world's total. In contrast, the assets of half of the world's adult population account for barely 1 percent of global wealth.

<>"It reflects the extreme nature of inequality around the world," one of the study's authors, New York University Professor Edward Wolff, told OneWorld. "Yes, we are richer than Africa and Latin America and most of Asia, but how much richer is what hadn't really been established until our study came out," Wolff added. According to the report, the average American's wealth amounted to $144,000 in the year 2000, more than 100 times higher than the average Indian or Indonesian, whose assets totaled $1,100 and $1,400, respectively. The study defined wealth as physical and financial assets--like personal savings and home, land, and stock ownership--less debts. Besides the United States, only Canada, Western Europe, Japan, and Israel showed average personal wealth of more than $50,000.

These are powerful statistics, especially when viewed through the haze of how citizens in the US use the planet's natural resources to provide the infrastructure necessary to maintain such a dysfunctional unsustainable lifestyle. The nature of this economic disparity is rooted in the acceptance of three fundamental flaws in the basic philosophical principles that form the base for the US. Each of these alone would be sufficient to demonstrate the insanity of the attempts to keep it functioning, yet the irrational faith the public has in living these lies, further erodes the capacity of the earth to sustain life.

The most egregious of these flaws is that the economy is predicated on forcing US citizens to pay for basic life sustaining resources. All human beings require earth resources to effectively function in the environment of the planet. The capitalistic system demands that these resources be marketed rather than provided, although the planet itself provides. In essence, some humans beings, who have no direct connection to the process of extracting the resources and the humans using them to nurture their physiological needs, have inserted themselves into the flow, diverting not only resources, but also increasing the destructive processes of waste, toxicity, and unsustainability, as well as forcing an economic rentier taking from this. It is the ultimate in selfish greed. And yet no one complains, because everyone has faith that this is the only way to do it. No one questions the authority of why this must be so. No one challenges the flawed principles that are used to frame the constructs that allow immense human suffering to be increase in direct proportion to the apparent virtual increase in non-existent values. No one can eat money, or gold, or houses, or cars; no one can drink oil, or vinegars, or alkalais, etc. No, only food and water are useful, and in most of the populations of the planet, access to these essentials for life are free. But not here in the US, nope, we can't have that, because otherwise our unnecessary and earth destroying economic system would collapse.

The second flaw is one that libertarians find particularly attractive to promote. At the core of their demands for hierarchical wealth accumulation and private property, is the idea that a human being owns their personhood. While this is attractive, and justifies an incredible array of behaviors, all of which lead to the destruction of the planet at the expense of selfish affluence, the flaw is in the necessary separation of humans from all other species of life. The ownership principle must accept a distinct qualitative and quantitative difference between human dna and that of all other species, so that the hierarchical construct provides the argument that human consciousness is something authoritative and deserving. This of course must deny the functional necessary dependence of humans on other species to survive, including the species within their own physical bodies, without which humans could not survive. We cannot casually toss of the mantle of dependent interconnectedness in order to justify extracting virtual value from exploiting the earth and even other humans. Yet onward it goes, demanding more and more obedience and subservience of the masses of all species, including humans, to satisfy the greed and selfish behavior of those who have the audacity to suggest they are superior to others and deserve the plentitude of resources they take from everything else.

Takings are part of the third flaw, in that profit is nothing other than taking something for nothing. It is a form of theft, stealing value from others, from the earth, using portions of that profit to purchase the labor of some for security to increase the takings. The staunchest advocates for private property (owning parts of the earth) must take from others to sustain their way of life. No matter how they disguise it, they are nothing other than theives of the wellbeing, despoilers of the common good, and damagers of the planet. Profit is theft of labor and utility, theft of resources, generated on the toxification of environments, and so far forth. Profit is a legal construct that protects this form of robbery within the system, in order to maintain the system, designed solely to protect itself even up to the point of destroying the earth rather than acknowledge its own flaws and failures. We citizens in the US must begin to reject the authority of a system that allows some to steal so much from us and from the earth. We must reject, condemn, deny, and throw out the infrastructural constructs that allow some to claim they are better than others in order to use more of the planet for their own desires, and therefore increase planet wide suffering.

a lazy day blog away...

The instructions i received to facilitate the playing of this game:

1. Grab the book closest to you.
2. Open to page 123, go down to the fifth sentence.
3. Post the text of next 3 sentences on your blog.
4. Name of the book and the author.
5. Tag three people.

I: Well damn, i sit next to a bookshelf with a few hundred books, and by closest to me, i can only infer they are referencing a measure of differing distances which are not at all easily discernible given the size and shape of the bookcase. I wonder if i should get up and get a tape measure and start with that problem. mmmmm okay, that narrows it down to three four choices all within a millimeter of difference in distance. We have Journeys in Microspace; The Deluxe Transitive Vampire, an Intimate History of Humanity, and Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. I therefore arbitrarly select the last volume for the thrill of the game.

II: the page heading is James Joyce and features a variety of entrees from "In Flanders Fields" to Joyce, James.

III:
Irving, Washington An American author of the nineteenth century; "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle" are two of his best known works.
it is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done A sentence from the end of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.
The Character who says this is about to die in place of another man.

IV: Hirsch, E.D., Kett, Joseph, Trefil, James: The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know.

V: I never tag other people

This is not good... and won't be for a long time

So here are some stories that have a great deal to do with one another, and almost nothing to do with any good or beneficial direction in the state of the planet. Consider three distinct areas of operations in which the money is flowing: military expenditures, energy resource costs, transportation of necessities. All of these are huge burdens on the mass of the population of the Earth, yet there are those that extract the financial rent from the system, who are under no illusions about their desparate need to keep the status quo in order to insulate themselves from the coming global depression.

With labor under attack the "share of American workers carrying union cards has plunged from over 20 percent in 1980 to under 13 percent in 2005, and almost half of those are government employees." In a report on the recent boom in corporate profits, economists at Goldman Sachs wrote plainly, “The most important contributor to higher profit margins over the past five years has been a decline in labor’s share of national income." Cornell University researcher Kate Bronfenbrenner writes, at least 5 percent of workers involved in unionization campaigns are fired, which is both quite illegal and quite routine: Companies would rather pay the nominal fines than pay their workers higher wages and lose the absolute control they hold over the work lives of their employees." Today's labor movement faces union-busting law firms and consulting agencies which are increasingly enlisted by union-wary employers to keep labor from organizing. Today, the vast majority of union members -- 84 percent -- live in only 12 states, leaving workers with little organized power in much of the country.

Dare we say that most citizens of the US, 95% of them, are not experiencing the best possible potential future, given the current state of their lives, their access to healthcare, their costs for energy, and their costs for food??

Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs will set a record this year when it comes to paying bonuses. It is giving out $16.5 billion. Some top executives are expected to get a whopping $100 million dollars. They are the highest paid people in one of the world's richest cities, and they're about to make even more. After a year of record profits on Wall Street, investment banks are dividing up the winnings. Goldman Sachs is reportedly leading the way:

Average worker at Goldman will take home $622,000 this year

Senior administrators will get $5 to 10 million dollars

Senior executives and traders get $10 to 20 million each

Company CEO and department heads get $25 million

Top traders will get $50 million and more

"The reason they're making so much money for themselves is because they're making so much money for their firms ... You can debate all day whether it's fair or unfair but they're being compensated as a portion of what they're making," Neil Weinberg, of Forbes Magazine, said. The bonuses help fuel the city's economy through income taxes and sales taxes. Everyone from luxury car dealers to jewelers will feel it. But economists say Wall Street's richest drive up the cost of living in New York and widen the gap between the rich and everyone else.

But that is not all, by any stretch of the imagination

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., led by its strength in bond trading, reported a 22 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit and ended the year with a record $4 billion in earnings. Lehman, the fourth-largest U.S. securities firm by market value, increased earnings at a slower pace than competitors Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. Growth was led by a 31 percent gain in revenue from fixed-income sales and trading. Fees from investment banking rose 5 percent, reversing a third- quarter decline

So we live in a country that is now so glaringly dysfunctional that those that are reaping the direct benefits from it all are demanding and requiring the rest of us to keep ponying up so that they won't begin to slide down. They need us to believe that because as long as we do, they "promise" to protect us from the depression that will happen anyway.

Why this isn't a problem, but a solution--Totum dependeat

Dark economic clouds are gathering ahead. After six years of booming home prices, the great American housing bubble has finally popped, and the market is now on the verge of collapse. Tens of millions of families who bought homes at bubble-inflated prices "now face the prospect of seeing their life savings disappear." This development will have wide-ranging effects on the American economy. "Over the last few years," writes Princeton economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, "most good U.S. economic news has been the result of soaring home prices." With this engine of economic growth now broken down, America faces a potential future of rapidly falling house prices, rising default and bankruptcy rates," lost jobs, fewer consumption, even a possible recession." The dark clouds ahead may be a perfect storm hitting the U.S. economy.

So, what is good about this?? Well it is really quite simple, though a bit abstract. Our entire national economic engine functions solely because people buy stuff. And by "stuff" i refer to the extraneous, unnecessary consumer items upon which a vast assortment of taxes, fees, tariffs, etc. are generated for local, state, and federal governments. Sales taxes and excise taxes, road user fees, transportation levies--all manner of funding of our infrastructure and services to just simply survive is predicated on convincing the majority of the population to keep purchasing things they do not need, that damage the planet, that corrupt governments, and create massive suffering. Without a home mortgage deduction on income taxes, without the capacity to pass on property taxes exemptions and deductions on other taxes, consumer would not be sufficiently financed to help the capitalists keep the economic system operating. And therein lies the direct benefit of the next global depression.

We have chance, a real and serious opportunity, to end the cycle of carnage and damage to our planet, to increase sustainability and social justice, to empower and use redistributive justice to enact participational parity, to reduce and constrain greenhouse gas emissions and so forth, simply by rooting for the depression. People will stop having money to spend on useless junk, and focus solely on providing for their families. They will be forced to travel less, reduce their use of fossil fuels, seek solutions to growing and producing local foods, design more cooperative and collaborative localized relations to function in the place of bankrupt governments. Our dependency on foreign oil, on products from outside the US, on maintaining this militarized empire to supply itself will be cast aside as more and more people find it absolutely necessary to reprioritize the very core of their survival, basing decisions on their real needs, and not on their whims and wants. TV's will turn off, when cable bills are unpaid in exchange for buying food. Cars will stop being driven so that people can access healthcare and cheaper mass transit.

These will have egalitarian benefits, as the rich and powerful realize that without a functioning economic engine, their peasant-serf workforces, who are supposed to protect them and their precious property, will have other, much more visceral and meaningful priorities. Gone will be the capability and capacity of the systems to evict folks from their foreclosed homes. Local governments will find it better to simply ignore orders from national and international financial operations, and focus their diminishing resources on providing as best they can for the people for whom they have allegiance (and a serous survival stake). We can foresee the end of recreational vehicle toys and use, we can envision the end of large scale movement of crappy GE and GMO foods around the planet and country, we can finally take a breath from the onslaught of capitalists demanding we keep them happy.

Depression or planetary salvation? You make the call.

November wrap up and then sum..

A case that best represents the imperial centristic conceit of the US would be the take on hurricanes this year. We have arrived at the official end of the season and our own press suggests the following:

Hurricane Season A Breeze... This Time The Ledger - Nov 30, 2006
Hurricane season bows out quietly CNN International
The calm instead of the storm NATURE.com

The irony of this cannot be lost however, since in the same round up of the season we find the following stories:

Official: Typhoon casualties in Philippines could attain 200 MANILA, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Over 200 people are feared dead as typhoon Durian battered Albay province, central Philippines, with heavy downpour that caused mudslides from Mount Mayon volcano, a top government official said Friday.
Death toll rises to nearly 200 in Philippine typhoon, 260 missing Canada.com
Death Toll In Philippine Typhoon Rises To 147 Playfuls.com

Opps, did someone forget to tell the billions of people living in Asia that their experience of eight super-typhoons (and twelve other ones), killing thousands, destroying billions of dollars of property and infrastructure was just a quiet calm breeze of a season???? But that also fails to mention our nearest neighbor as well, Mexico. I guess they don't count either, what with the four Cat 3+ storms that wasted the Pacific Coast and thrashed Cabo San Lucas three of those times. No, of course the only substantive measure of a bad hurricane season is the Gulf Coast. Hell these idiots didn't even bother to reference the massive rains and flooding that the Mexican hurricanes created in the Southwest. The mindnumbing provincialism of this should help people realize that the rest of the world sees us for what we truly are: selfish arrogant conceited mindless bigots.

I have a problem with the supposed hit TV show: HOUSE. This season they introduced the most unrealistic and bizarre character portrayl ever, of an overzealous, self-righteous police detective. The role has this minder of virtue acting like one of Stalin's or Beria's private thugs, pursuing House with vicious unconstitutional illegal due process behaviors; behaviors that even an inept and incompetent attorney would have stopped a while ago. To continue down this idiotic and stupid script plot only destroys all that is best about the show. This guy must die, and soon too. No police detective would ever be free to act as this guy; that is why we have district attorneys, special investigators, layers of evidenciary and rights protections, and courts with skilled and knowledgeable judges. If the idea is to suggest to the American people that this is how we want our government to behave, then we are indeed headed for a fascist hell that is beyond measure. Kill the guy off and save America.

thanks for what???

In a Paul Craig Roberts essay published today, i find myself and my thoughts being echoed. There will not be anything to be thankful for until we are done with Bushco. And we cannot be done with Bushco until they are all, every single one of them (legislators, political appointees, hired staffers, justices, all of them) out of government service and their leadership in prisons around the world. If, as a nation, we are unable to do this, accepting the trite and petty bullshit that bygones shall be bygones, and that can go into the past, well then we won't be done with them. They will still be in power, manipulating and controlling the future of the country and the planet. PCR writes:

George Orwell warned us, but what American would have expected that in the opening years of the 21st century the United States would become a country in which lies and deception by the President and Vice President were the basis for a foreign policy of war and aggression, and in which indefinite detention without charges, torture, and spying on citizens without warrants have displaced the Bill of Rights and the US Constitution?

If anyone had predicted that the election of George W. Bush to the presidency would result in an American police state and illegal wars of aggression, he would have been dismissed as a lunatic.

What American ever would have thought that any US president and attorney general would defend torture or that a Republican Congress would pass a bill legalizing torture by the executive branch and exempting the executive branch from the Geneva Conventions?

What American ever would have expected the US Congress to accept the president's claim that he is above the law?

What American could have imagined that if such crimes and travesties occurred, nothing would be done about them and that the media and opposition party would be largely silent?

Except for a few columnists, who are denounced by "conservatives" as traitors for defending the Bill of Rights, the defense of US civil liberty has been limited to the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch. The few federal judges who have refused to genuflect before the Bush police state are denounced by attorney general Alberto Gonzales as a "grave threat" to US security. Vice president Richard Cheney called a federal judge's ruling against the Bush regime's illegal and unconstitutional warrantless surveillance program "an indefensible act of judicial overreaching."

But, alas, "law and order conservatives" have been brainwashed for decades that civil liberties are unnecessary interferences with the ability of police to protect us from criminals. Americans have forgot that we need protection from government more than we need protection from criminals. Once we cut down civil liberty so that police may better pursue criminals and terrorists, where do we stand when government turns on us?

Americans should be roused to fury that attorney general Alberto Gonzales and vice president Cheney have condemned the defense of American civil liberty as "a grave threat to US security." This blatant use of an orchestrated and propagandistic fear to create a "national security" wedge against the Bill of Rights is an impeachable offense.

Mark my words, the future of civil liberty in the US depends on the impeachment and conviction of Bush, Cheney, and Gonzales.

We must stand together and renounce this national nightmare. We must undo the more than one thousand edicts and orders that are destroying the environment of the planet and space. We must retake our own institutions, especially schools and other public commons, freeing ourselves of the fascism that has become endemic to the core beliefs of most citizens. Too many of you are accepting too much, stop it!

what threats?? ooohhh i get it.

The top U.S. general in the Middle East, Army Gen. John Abizaid, said on Friday that if the world fails to stop the escalation of military crisis in Middle East, it will face a third world war. Among the major problems tearing up the Middle East region Abizaid named Arab-Israeli tensions, militant extremism, and Iran's nuclear program. However, dealing with Iraq is number one priority, according to Abizaid, who thinks that al Qaeda ideology is dangerously similar to fascist ideology in 1930s that led to World War II.

"If we don't have guts enough to confront this ideology today, we'll go through World War Three tomorrow," Abizaid said speaking at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge. "The sacrifice that is necessary to stabilize Iraq, in my view, must be sustained in order for the region itself to become more resilient." Abizaid earlier in the week warned U.S. Congress against setting up a timeline for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. Abizaid's comments came only a week after President George W. Bush's Republicans lost the congressional elections largely because of growing angst in the American society over the 4-year-long Iraq war.

Shall we read between the lines then?? Okay. What we got here is the military version of three card monte. First the shark shows you the threat, in this case al Qaeda terrorism. Then he hides Iraq under the threat as Iraq is a breeding ground for al Qaeda. Then Iraq gets covers the Middle East in general, and finally all of that covers the planet and there we have it. What?? You don't get it?? Then you weren't following the threat, but rather the facts, and we all know that facts ruin a perfectly good attempt at propaganda.

You see, the US invaded Iraq to control the water and oil resources (Israel needs the water, and the US needs the oil to be sold in US dollars). Then the US claims that Iraq is liberated, but secretly supports the insurgency through fundings contracts without controls. The insurgency then becomes a breeding ground for terrorists, and that allows the US to claim that we must continue this war in perpetuity. Iraq is Iran (since Iran is a threat to Israel and to the US dollar) and therefore we need to attack Iraq/Iran to stop it/them from becoming powerful. Because if we allow them (you know, we have all this power to let them do whatever we want see) to get stronger and have more weapons and non-US dollars, they will fund more terrorists. And then we need to expand the war on many horizons, since other countries (like Venzuela, Nigeria, Myanmar, and Sudan) won't sell us our oil cheap. That way the world is at war. But it will always be there fault, for not just bending over and being screwed like the citizens of the US have been doing so wonderfully up until a couple of weeks ago. Which means that a world war is necessary to get the US population to lay back down on their stomachs and let the military/security/police corporate fascist state screw them where they lie.

Because, we have so much power, we get to change the name of things, and therefore those that oppose our institution of a US global fascist imperial regime must be the real fascists (this of course assumes that the word no longer means anything other than a dysphemic label). The only real fascists must call those that oppose them fascists in order to foment the spread of war further and farther than before.

the election sheen is scratched and dirty

Now that the politicians have settled back into their regular activities, the stain of fascism is still showing through in this country. The behavior of the White House and the GOP particularly do not bode well for the planet and the future. I was thinking about how a core cabal of national leaders, agreeing to set in motion fixed plans to facilitate the creation of a US militarized security state, that uses nuclear weapons to dominate the rest of the world and its resources, is not something outside of possibility. It is likely, given the election results, the resistance of the media to accept and project a view that people might not think as they do, and the ongoing behavior of the leaders, we are well on the way to not having a 2008 election at all. And unfortunately, as the ravages of global climate change and its accompanying diseases and other natural catastrophic problems fall upon the citizens, most of them will happily allow their government to keep them living in the best possible status quo. Talking with seemingly reasonable people locally reveals that they are in fact quite accepting of doing whatever it takes to control the planet's resources just for the citizens of the US. That ain't cool, and can only represent the ongoing thinking among the rich and powerful that they have an open season on the Constitution, the nations of the world, the expansion of a US gulag, and the repression of dissent.

I can't see how people here will avoid the same human thought processes that have led whole nations to blindly follow Alexander, Moghul Shah, Genghis Kahn, Saladin, Julius and Augustus Caesar's, Holy Roman Emperors, Napolean, Victoria, Kaiser Bismark, Mussolini, Hitler, et all throughout human history. Why shouldn't we imagine that Cheney and his fellow clan of elitist Straussian/Randian objectivist libertarians see the entire planet at their beck and call. There are numerous philosophical rationales for such behavior. And from what i can see, there isn't much in the way to stop them at this point.

wtf happened???

There was this election the other day, and a few things changed. But why do i keep thinking that things didn't really change at all??? Well it could be the fight over who is Chairperson of the House Intelligence Committee. Harmon, one of the more corrupt and centrist DLC Dems wants the job, so she can continue to cover up the malfeasance of her corporate contributors. And Doc Hastings wants the job, so he can help his previously corrupt contributors continue to bribe him some more. If these are the two choices, we haven't moved at all towards a better country. Promise goes up in flames of stupid again.

I think we all need a Dylan refresher course

They're selling postcards of the hanging -/- Saddam
They're painting the passports brown -/- Detain citizens as enemy combatants
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors -/-
Fashion is more important than global climate change
The circus is in town -/- General Election of 2006
Here comes the blind commissioner -/-
Can you say inspector generals relieved of duties
They've got him in a trance -/-
Listen to Kerry's joke, pay no attention to the GOP House members
One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker -/- Congressmen Sweeney and Hastert
The other is in his pants -/- Foley and Haggard
And the riot squad they're restless -/-
Call out the private security forces to protect the hacking of machines
They need somewhere to go -/- Out of Iraq and Afghanistan?
As Lady and I look out tonight -/- Liberty and Justice
From Desolation Row -/- the USA

Cinderella, she seems so easy -/- Angelina Jolie
"It takes one to know one," she smiles -/- Nicole Kidman
And puts her hands in her back pockets -/- Jennifer Aniston
Bette Davis style -/- Renee Zellwegger
And in comes Romeo, he's moaning -/- Brad Pitt
"You Belong to Me I Believe" -/- Tom Cruise
And someone says," You're in the wrong place, my friend
You had better leave" -/- George Clooney
And the only sound that's left -/- Hear those cameras click
After the ambulances go -/- Keith Urban
Is Cinderella sweeping up -/- Angelina in the third world
On Desolation Row -/- the USA

Now the moon is almost hidden -/- Hope for a better planet
The stars are beginning to hide -/- Global climate change killing species
The fortunetelling lady -/- Gaia's corporate-government enemies
Has even taken all her things inside -/- Document shredding begins in DC
All except for Cain and Abel -/- Dick in Bush
And the hunchback of Notre Dame -/- Roman Catholic pedophelia
Everybody is making love -/-
Conservative Christian anti-homosexual but still gay leadership
Or else expecting rain -/- ACLU
And the Good Samaritan, he's dressing -/-
Entertainment infotainment celebrity attention span diversions
He's getting ready for the show -/- Follow the bouncing celebrity tits and ass
He's going to the carnival tonight -/- Main Streaming media
On Desolation Row -/- the USA

Now Ophelia, she's 'neath the window -/- Marisa Hargitay
For her I feel so afraid -/- Nicole Ritchie
On her twenty-second birthday -/- Lindsey Lohan
She already is an old maid -/- Paris Hilton
To her, death is quite romantic -/- Winona Ryder
She wears an iron vest -/- Gweneth Paltrow
Her profession's her religion -/- Madonna
Her sin is her lifelessness -/- Micha Barton
And though her eyes are fixed upon -/- Scarlet Johansson
Noah's great rainbow -/- the Kate/Cate/Kathryn/Kirsten
She spends her time peeking -/- Reese Witherspoon
Into Desolation Row -/- the USA

Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood -/- Affleck and Damon
With his memories in a trunk -/- Another set of films
Passed this way an hour ago -/- Trying to open a dialog
With his friend, a jealous monk -/- Ferrell or Willis or Kutcher
He looked so immaculately frightful -/- Schwarzenegger
As he bummed a cigarette -/- Martin Sheen
Then he went off sniffing drainpipes -/- Sean Penn
And reciting the alphabet -/- Denzell and Samuel L
Now you would not think to look at him -/- Fishburne or Whittaker
But he was famous long ago -/- Hoffman and Newman
For playing the electric violin -/- Stephan G et Jean Luc P
On Desolation Row -/- the USA

Dr. Filth, he keeps his world -/- Cheney
Inside of a leather cup -/- Hadley and Addington
But all his sexless patients -/- Hastert and Frist
They're trying to blow it up -/- Foley is Haggard
Now his nurse, some local loser -/- Rove
She's in charge of the cyanide hole -/- Card
And she also keeps the cards that read -/- Dobson & Falwell
"Have Mercy on His Soul" -/- W or DeLay?
They all play on penny whistles -/- Boehner and the boys
You can hear them blow -/- Rumsfeld
If you lean your head out far enough -/- Capitol nor Pentagon
From Desolation Row -/- the USA

Across the street they've nailed the curtains -/- NASA, EPA, FDA
They're getting ready for the feast -/- corporate dinner donor lists
The Phantom of the Opera -/- DeLay of the K Street
A perfect image of a priest -/- Norquist
They're spoonfeeding Casanova -/- the citizens of the USA
To get him to feel more assured -/- celebrity news and the new TV season
Then they'll kill him with self-confidence -/- ignore all science for political pursuits
After poisoning him with words -/- what won't kill you won't hurt you too much
And the Phantom's shouting to skinny girls -/- food industry's GMO and other increased fats
"Get Outa Here If You Don't Know -/- choking on global climate change
Casanova is just being punished for going -/- you people are all on your own
To Desolation Row" -/- the USA

Now at midnight all the agents -/-
DHS, FBI, DOJ, NSA, CIA, DOD, NCIS, ACID
And the superhuman crew -/-
all local militarized law enforcement
Come out and round up everyone -/-
the Constitution is in shreds
That knows more than they do -/-
pretty much most of the Earth's human population
Then they bring them to the factory -/-
the heart of the matrix of TV, iPod, Internets, media mind control central
Where the heart-attack machine -/-
overeating, over indulgence, over stimulation, over stress
Is strapped across their shoulders -/-
wage slavery fails to keep up with standard of survivable living
And then the kerosene -/-
disparity of the rich becoming ever richer and healthier
Is brought down from the castles -/-
increasing world poverty, more diseases, more catastrophes
By insurance men who go -/-
globalization of remaining capital assets
Check to see that nobody is escaping -/-
militarizing all foreign policy, a nuclear weapon is necessary
To Desolation Row -/- the USA

Praise be to Nero's Neptune -/- Rumsfeld
The Titanic sails at dawn -/- FoxNews
And everybody's shouting -/- Hannity, O'Reilly, Limbaugh
"Which Side Are You On?" you are all terrorists
And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot -/- Berube and Brayton
Fighting in the captain's tower -/- blogsphere expanding trope
While calypso singers laugh at them -/- 50¢, Eminem, JayZ, Snoopp
And fishermen hold flowers -/- commentors and posts on threads
Between the windows of the sea -/-
NYRB or Newsweek; Moyers or Blitzer; Olberman or Gibson
Where lovely mermaids flow -/- Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue
And nobody has to think too much -/- hours of celebrity infotainment
About Desolation Row -/- the USA

Yes, I received your letter yesterday -/- the ballot came in my mail
(About the time the door knob broke) -/- it could easily not be counted
When you asked how I was doing -/- i vote the bottom up anyway
Was that some kind of joke? -/- submit it to be counted
All these people that you mention -/-
the candidates, their supporters, and the corporations who run the machine
Yes, I know them, they're quite lame -/-
they are mostly scum who are zealously selfish about their own interests
I had to rearrange their faces -/-
evolution provided wonderful alkaloids for this purpose
And give them all another name -/-
changing the labels on the same old bottles of wine
Right now I can't read too good -/-
damn those alkaloids, all i see are geometric pattern fluctuations
Don't send me no more letters no -/- the voting processes are void of verifiability
Not unless you mail them -/- with NCR paper trail record keeping
From Desolation Row -/- the USA

either they are insane

or they really believe that lying to you is necessary? Of course that syllogistic interrogative may not be and either/or proposition, rather just a cause/effect one. All i can discern is that the leadership of the GOP is spewing some of the most disingenuous and vile propaganda ever. The lies and deceits are becoming legendary going into the final days of the campaign. Here are just a few, culled from the headlines.

A male prostitute alleges that he had a three-year relationship with prominent right-wing evangelical leader Ted Haggard, who has said that homosexuality is a sin; every Monday, Haggard participates in a conference call with members of the Bush administration. He has stated, “I’m a right-wing religious conservative..."

Representative and GOP House Majority Leader Boehner says:
"Let's not blame what's happening in Iraq on Rumsfeld… the generals on the ground are in charge."
"to beat John Kerry to death if he doesn’t apologize for his comments on Iraq"
"There are a lot of people who want to blame what’s happening in Iraq on Donald Rumsfeld. But when you look at the transformation that our military has been through, it’s nothing short of remarkable. And I think there’s only person in America who could have brought about that transformation and that’s Donald Rumsfeld"

Bush says:
“I really don’t think it’s fitting for the president to drag the presidency into that kind of a mudslinging.”(is this not a classic Nixon redux?)
"However they put it, the Democrat approach in Iraq comes down to this: The terrorists win and America loses"
"I’ve never really resorted to name-calling. And I’m not trying to say, well, you know, I’m innocent and everybody else is guilty. That’s not what I’m trying to say."

“President Bush said Wednesday he wants Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney to remain in his administration until the end of his presidency, extending a job guarantee to two of the most-criticized members of his team.”

Inspectors general from NASA and the Commerce Department will investigate if Bush’s “political appointees have prevented climate researchers at from conveying their findings to the public.

it's an economic headline mash mucking

Today we reflect on this week in the economy, as revealed in the business and political headlines:

Bush: Tax Cuts Good For Economy

Growth slowest in more than 3 years

Housing slump hits US economy growth

Q3 profit climbs to $10.49 billion

Chevron Continues Big Oil's Hot Streak

Chevron earns record profits

GDP Slows Sharply to1.6% Rate

Wall St. closes lower as growth falters

US economy falters as service sector dips

US economy losing its global dominance

Slump May Chill Asia's Hot Exporters

Global trade no longer hostage to US consumers

The rich get richer in Bush economy

Poor people die earlier: but why?

Reducing poverty will cut health bills, says research

Stakes are High for Business in Nov. Elections

Masticate Feces and Be Deceased you shriveling lunatic!

This from the most nefarious of idiots managing the US government at this time:

At the Pentagon press conference this afternoon, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was asked what would happen if the Iraqi government failed to meet the “benchmarks.” Rumsfeld first responded that “it is not complicated,” but just seconds later said, “This is complicated stuff. It’s difficult. We’re looking out into the future. No one can predict the future with absolute certainty.” He added, “So you ought to just back off, take a look at it, relax, understand that it’s complicated, it’s difficult.”

All that i can think to say is: shut the fuck up you spineless lizard of a chickenhawk! If no one can predict the future, then why in your own godheaded assbackward mind, did you promote and manipulate the US into invading Iraq in the first place??? The senility is no longer being hidden, the man is stark raving insane. He must be fired immediately, if not, then impeach the bastard.

a short pause in today's moments.

If the Repugs are able to withstand the onslaught and keep control of the House and Senate, it will be one of the crowning achievements of Karl Rove's life. It will also provide substantive evidence for something that the US military, the CIA, the NSA, and every other federal intelligence and security apparatus agency, has known for a long long time: there is a profound use of, and need for, political assasinations.

reading between the lines time again

Official disclaimer: My sister, upon receiving her Ph.D. was hired as a research nutritionist for the largest processor of tuna products in the US. This was during the mid to late-1970's, at the beginning of the focus on the Japanese experiencing large scale mercury poisoning from their seafood. Her analysis led her to warn members of her family to stay away from most seafood along the upper end of the protein food chain. She found unsafe levels of mercury, PCB's, and other contaminants in all fish brought through her lab; though the USDA, FDA, and NHS had agreed that the levels (the news ones they proposed) had not been exceeded, the levels my sister found were too high for her to accept. Now a new report from a taskforce on health and sea food suggests that we need to balance the healthy benefits with the known risks. How does this work??? Welll the following paragraph in the report certainly ought to illuminate that:

• For all seafood categories, levels of contaminants such as dioxin and PCBs in commercially obtained fish generally do not pose health risks when consumed in amounts recommended by federal agencies. These contaminants tend to be geographically specific problems. State advisories are intended to alert the public about contaminated fish and shellfish from regional and local sources. Most people can gain nutritional benefits from seafood while minimising their risk of exposure to contaminants by selecting fish and shellfish in amounts that fall within current dietary guidelines, the report says. Because seafood supplies and cultivation practices change constantly, it would be difficult for federal agencies to develop a list of "good fish" and "bad fish" that would not become obsolete in a short time.

Read that paragraph carefully again. Did you see that lovely and amazing equivocation? "Fish generally do not pose health risks" speaks volumes here. Generally is a gianormous category isn't it? Another valid way to say this would be that only in specific cases would the consumption of fish pose health risks; and that those cases include eating fish in amounts outside of those recommended by a consortium of federal agencies. However those federal agencies cannot agree on those recommendations, each suggesting different levels of exposure and quantities for safe and health eating. Then of course there is the reliance of consumers on state advisories; somehow commercial media, paid for by the largest food corporations in the US are going to provide education to the population regarding the safety and health of seafood??? I can't see that happening, any more than i can see people only eating recommended amounts. The US over eats constantly, in massive quantities. And if that isn't sufficient, then they note that bothering to actually work on these guidelines is pointless because they would have to change them constantly. So the people should rely on information that is current, but that current information isn't reliable, and no new information will be used in the recommendations, but people should pay attention to advisories. This is an objectivist libertarian's wetdream.

The rest of the report isn't really any better. Perhaps one of the most striking aspects may be that it does admit that all of our seafood is toxic at some levels. That human beings have successful polluted the oceans and rivers, lakes and seas, with massive amounts of hazardous materials should be the banner headline of this report. But they bury that information pretty deep down in there.

Seafood is the major source of human exposure to methylmercury, a contaminant that accumulates in the muscle of animals over time. Because evidence suggests that methylmercury can disrupt neurodevelopment in the foetus, the report supports current recommendations that women who are pregnant or wish to become pregnant avoid consumption of lean, predatory fish such as swordfish, shark, king mackerel, and tilefish, and limit their consumption of albacore, or "white" tuna. Other potential risks associated with seafood are exposure to persistent organic pollutants such as dioxin and PCBs - though there is not clear evidence on the adverse effects associated with these compounds - and microbial infections, which are contracted mainly through the consumption of raw or undercooked fish and shellfish.

The report supports current dietary guidelines and seafood advisories. However, the committee's interpretation of the risks and benefits differs in that it consolidates information on both risks and benefits for sensitive population groups and addresses all segments of the population. And it does not support giving those with a history of heart disease advice different from that given to the general population

Among their other recommendations are these gems:

• Lean fish are good sources of protein, are low in saturated fat and cholesterol, and provide moderate amounts of omega-3 fatty acids. Predatory fish with long life spans - such as swordfish, shark, and tilefish - contain levels of methylmercury that are too high for pregnant and breast-feeding women.

• Fatty fish such as salmon are good sources of protein and provide the highest amounts of omega-3 fatty acids. They also contain higher levels of saturated fat and cholesterol and can accumulate higher amounts of pollutants such as dioxin and PCB, depending upon the source. Their methylmercury burden is lower than that of many lean fish.

• Shellfish and crustaceans are good sources of protein and low in saturated fat, although some contain moderate amounts of cholesterol. They present the greatest risk of microbial infection if eaten raw.

Can you make sense of this? Eat salmon for the protein and omega-3 fatty acids; don't eat salmon because it contains some of the highest levels of toxic chemicals humans have spewed on the planet. Don't eat long-lived lean fishes (most of those sold throughout the US) because they contain the most mercury; eat long-lived lean fishes because they have good proteins and best balance of fatty acids w/ zero cholesterol. And so forth.

The problem is solved quite simply. Eat more vegetables, fruits, legumes, grains, and much less seafood, and very little meat.

I demand CNN & FOX apologize immediately,

as well as all those conservative talking heads who lambasted Eason Jordan. I notice that i can't, at this time, find that either CNN nor Fox are carrying this story:

<>OXFORD (Reuters) - One of Britain's most experienced journalists was unlawfully killed by U.S. soldiers in Iraq, an inquest into his death ruled on Friday, prompting calls for the perpetrators to be tried for war crimes. Veteran war correspondent Terry Lloyd, 50, who worked for ITN, was killed in March 2003 in southern Iraq as he reported from the front line during the first few days of the U.S.-led invasion.

<>"He was fired on by American soldiers as a minibus carried wounded people away," Coroner Andrew Walker said at the conclusion of the inquest, which U.S. soldiers declined to attend. "I have no doubt it was an unlawful act of fire on the minibus," Walker added. He said he intended to write to the Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecutions in an effort to bring those responsible for Lloyd's death before a British court.

Louis Charalambous, the Lloyd family's lawyer, said those responsible for his death should be brought to trial for what he termed "a very serious war crime." "It was a despicable, deliberate, vengeful act," he added. He said the unlawful killing verdict had been "inescapable" and had come about because "U.S. forces appear to have allowed their soldiers to behave like trigger-happy cowboys"

Nearly two years ago Eason Jordan had made some comments regarding the targetting and killing of journalists by US military forces, at the World Social Forum in Davos. Shortly thereafter he was fired by CNN and was tarred and feathered by the MSM far reichstag talking pundits for merely suggesting that the US would ever do such a dastardly deed. Since then the killing has gone on, and the MSM has steadfastly avoided any mention of the stories, hoping against all hope that they would just fade away. At the time of the firing the WaPo published an essay that contained this bit:

Do US Troops Target Journalists in Iraq?

This fiery topic became a real nightmare today for the Chief News Executive of CNN at what was an initially very mild discussion at the World Economic Forum titled "Will Democracy Survive the Media?".

During one of the discussions about the number of journalists killed in the Iraq War, Eason Jordan asserted that he knew of 12 journalists who had not only been killed by US troops in Iraq, but they had in fact been targeted. He repeated the assertion a few times, which seemed to win favor in parts of the audience (the anti-US crowd) and cause great strain on others.

<>Due to the nature of the forum, I was able to directly challenge Eason, asking if he had any objective and clear evidence to backup these claims, because if what he said was true, it would make Abu Ghraib look like a walk in the park. David Gergen was also clearly disturbed and shocked by the allegation that the U.S. would target journalists, foreign or U.S. He had always seen the U.S. military as the providers of safety and rescue for all reporters.

What intensified the problem was the fact that the session was a public forum being taped on camera, in front of an international crowd. The other looming shadow on what was going on was the presence of a U.S. Congressman and a U.S. Senator in the middle of some very serious accusations about the U.S. military.

I am quite sure that somewhere in the Middle East, right now, his remarks are being printed up in Arab language newspapers as proof that the U.S. is an evil and corrupt nation. That is a real nightmare, because the Arab world is taking something said by a credible leader of the media (CNN!) as the gospel, or koranic truth. What is worse is that I am not really sure what Eason really meant to communicate to us, but I do know that he was quite passionate about it. Members of the audience took away what they wanted to hear, and now they will use it in every vile and twisted way imaginable.

To me, what was said can not be put back into the genie's bottle. So here is my request as a U.S. citizen, and really only a minor, minor player in the whole WEF scheme of things: Congressman Frank and Senator Dodd, you both seem like good and honest men, and Congressman Frank especially seems like someone with a bit of courage (I'm sure Senator Dodd is brave as well). Clear up this mess, use your power and authority as elected leaders, and make transparent what really happened. You must do this to respect the 12 journalists killed and let the world know how and why. Here is another challenge, and this one is for the CNN and the BBC: What the hell happened? Is Eason right or is he wrong? Good journalism calls for digging into and revealing all of the facts (or was everything that was said in the mild part of the discussion about fair coverage and seeking the truth just verbage?).

If what Eason originally said was true, exactly what happened and why needs to become known to the American public and world at large. If it is not, it is an example of how "news" is created by the heat of the moment, without any bearing to reality. If it is true, we need to know if it was official or if it was just some random disgruntled soldiers. The dark scenario, what the rest of the world would love to believe, is that the U.S. is sinister and evil and this is just another example of Darth Bush. Is this the same U.S. that I know and love, or was this just someone accidentally becoming swept up in the anti-U.S. feeling that is all pervasive in Davos (but they love us too, especially Clinton).

Gosh, if only any of these suggestions had been followed? They were not however; what immediately transpired was the firing of the Jordan. That seemed to be the only way the US powers that be could deal with the issue. Fire the man, and make it seem that he was the "loose cannon" on the deck of a perfectly steered ship of war, rather than someone speaking truth to power. Idiots like those from the WSJ made comments like this:

If Jordan ever harbored thoughts that U.S. forces had targeted journalists, a position that could be supported by the Kurtz story, then it was his duty as a newsman to pursue the story by assigning a CNN investigative team to it. If he did, I'd love to see the results. But it's fairly obvious that he didn't. Jordan's dereliction is less a mistake than it is proof of brain rot. The supreme editor of a news organization can't expect to make unsupportable inflammatory statements and maintain the respect of his truth-seeking troops at the same time. CNN did the right thing to show him the door. I would have done the same.

Even Jordan spun a recantation because the Rovian forces of Swiftboaters had launched salvo after salvo of attacks on him. His "resignation message" offered:

This is the statement Eason Jordan released tonight around 6:00 pm EST:

After 23 years at CNN, I have decided to resign in an effort to prevent CNN from being unfairly tarnished by the controversy over conflicting accounts of my recent remarks regarding the alarming number of journalists killed in Iraq.

I have devoted my professional life to helping make CNN the most trusted and respected news outlet in the world, and I would never do anything to compromise my work or that of the thousands of talented people it is my honor to work alongside.

While my CNN colleagues and my friends in the U.S. military know me well enough to know I have never stated, believed, or suspected that U.S. military forces intended to kill people they knew to be journalists, my comments on this subject in a World Economic Forum panel discussion were not as clear as they should have been.

I never meant to imply U.S. forces acted with ill intent when U.S. forces accidentally killed journalists, and I apologize to anyone who thought I said or believed otherwise. I have great admiration and respect for the men and women of the U.S. armed forces, with whom I have worked closely and been embedded in Baghdad, Tikrit, and Mosul, in addition to my time with American soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen in Afghanistan, former Yugoslavia, Somalia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the Arabian Gulf.

"I never meant to imply" what kind of lame ass bullshit is that? How powerful are these legions of doom that control the US government and media?? Most of us knew all along the US killed journalists. They had done so during Iran/Contra and were chastized for it until Bush I pardoned the cast and crew. But now, we have the British government asking the World Court to investigate serious breaches of the Geneva Conventions in the case of one of their own from two years before Eason made any comment whatsoever. Will these Bushco apologists fall on their swords?? Will they publicly acknowledge their complicity in their role to silence criticism of these practices??? Will they come forward and investigate and report on all the other more than 100 killed. Terry Lloyd died with two other journalists, in an ambulance shot intentionally by US troops. That is the long and short of it.

I'm the decider... see heh heh heh... see.. heh heh

From yesterday's press conference; count the number of times he claims to have made decisions (from David Corn).

THE PRESIDENT: Speaking about books, somebody ought to add up the number of pages that have been written about my administration. There's a lot of books out there -- a lot. I don't know if I've set the record, or not, but I guess it means that I've made some hard decisions and will continue to make hard decisions.

And...this is the -- this is about the fifth time I've been asked this type of question. And as you know, there are some things that I wish had happened differently -- Abu Ghraib. I believe that really hurt us. It hurt us internationally. It kind of eased us off the moral high ground. In other words, we weren't a country that was capable of, on the one hand, promoting democracy, and then treating people decently. Now the world has seen that we've held those to account who are -- who did this.

You know, there's just a lot of look-backs. Presidents don't get to look back, but I will tell you, the decision to remove Saddam was the right decision. And I would look forward to the debate where people debate whether or not Saddam should still be in power....So when it comes to that decision, which is a decision to cause a lot of people to write books, it's the right decision.

so what was that pesky question anyway?
So I'm wondering, is there anything you wish you would have done differently with regard to Iraq?

oops, nothing about any books in the question so to speak, nor was there any effort to respond to the question either. Oh well, he's the decider see, and he gets to decide what he decides to say.

Herr pResident orders us to fugedabodit

<>

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Wednesday that former Rep. Mark Foley's behavior toward former congressional pages was "disgusting" but predicted that voters would care more about the economy and national security than the ex-Florida lawmaker in next month's election. "I know this Foley issue bothers a lot of people, including me, but I think when they get in that booth they are going to be thinking about how best to secure the country from attack and how best to keep the economy going," Bush said in response to a question at his Rose Garden news conference.

See it is really easy. He speaks, Fox listens, tells its constituency to act, they follow, GOP stays in power. and whatever they do, they must not think about GOP's glaring social conservative hypocrisy, nor the Iraq and Afghan war, nor the national debt, nor the failing to act on any legislation Congress, nor the crisis in health care for the vast majority of citizens, nor anything else except: that the GOP can run a better police state and give more tax cuts to the wealthiest citizens. If you look at the canned adds that the GOP Senate and Congressional candidates are running right now this is their only message. The Dems are weak on security and will raise taxes.

There is zero substance to any discourse on the issues, and mere platitudes concerning the most corrupt and now nefariously disgusting behavior of the party leadership. There is only fluff and smoke and illusion. The US is in deep shit, and put there by bushco intentionally. Yet the MSM and the GOP candidates are being told not to discuss that at all. So please remember, do only what your lead says, all else is treason.

stay the course??? mmmm..

Let's see how many courses we know have open-ended successful outcomes??

Well, the analogy must come from sailing on the oceans, as in "stay on course, mark such and such, bearing such and such, speed such and such." These types of courses have specific navigable requirements however. They go from point A to point B and so forth, with an end point necessary to facilitate the proper charting of the course in the first place. These courses, and their ever important course corrections, require prior knowledge of hazards, location of key celestial and terrestrial triangulation vertices, and capacity to change course in case of emergencies and obstacles. The only way one could endlessly stay on course would be for the watercraft to have suffered severe damage to its steering systems: broken or stuck rudder, loss of propulsion (set adrift from staying on course), loss of command and control function, and so forth.

Golf courses, have 19th holes of course. The last hole, the finishing stop, the end of the course, the goal so to speak of staying on course until the outcome is achieved. Several things can get one off the course, most important of which is threatening and bad weather (lightning, tornado, high dangerous winds, massive flooding downpours, etc.) or some other catastrophe in the capacity to actually stay on course and play (injury to self or party, loss of balls, crash of carts, dropping of clubs in lake). In each of these sorts of cases when staying on course is no longer intelligent, safe, healthy, useful, the parties choose to immediately go to the 19th hole and claim satisfaction that they arrived at the goal.

Race courses--such as auto, motorcycle, horse, and so forth--are closed looped, and thus staying on course is relatively easy in terms of knowing where the course is going. Completing each circuit represents the fine tuning of the knowledge required to stay on course, but likewise increases the chances of being taken off course. All sorts of crises make getting off course critically important for survival. Hell they shoot horses don't they???

Distance race courses for running, ride and tie, triathlons, etc. are more open-ended yet have all manner of safety and health checks, backup systems, provisions and equipment support, and so far forth. Thus if a runner/rider on the Western States Marathon, or Tevis Cup Ride and Tie, wishes to stay on course, to the finish line (ah yes, forgot to mention that these courses have finish lines where the course officially ends), that person must abide by the decisions of officials evaluating and judging that individuals capacity to stay on course. Many problems get people yanked from the course, and only those who exhibit the best strategies, tactics, equipment, and most of all training, are allowed to stay on course to compete until they reach the finish line and achieve the goal.

There are lots of other courses too: curricula, technical training, safety screenings, rudimentary skills acquisition, testing of manpower and equipment, etc. All of these have clearly defined check points, benchmarks, checks for understanding, analyses, achievement criteria, and other markers that determine if the path of the course is optimal and meeting the objectives as outlined before beginning the course. We can certainly see why Bushco is trying now to deny that they ever mentioned staying on course in the first place. It was idiotic for them to phrase it that way; they have demonstrated that they do not belong on course; they have failed to specify their desired outcomes; they simply are not on course, except possibly one that is headed for crashing on some sub-surface rocks that will destroy the ship and all aboard.

Len Hart writes today:

I suppose I should indulge a bit of Schadenfreude. For years, from obscurity, I have been yelling that the policies of George W. Bush have made terrorism worse, alienated friends, confirmed potential enemies, and, in short, made Americans less safe, despised, reviled around the world. Bush's polices were bone-headed -- misunderstanding and misstating the nature of terrorism and, worse, failing to address it. There was some hope even among liberals that Bush's invasion of Afghanistan might bring an acknowledged terrorist to justice -- hopes dashed when Bush, himself, made of our nation a rogue state with a pattern of ineffective, ham fisted, policies. Under Bush, we became a rogue state, little better -- if at all -- from terrorists themselves. Bush's body count in Iraq alone far surpasses those of either Bin Laden or Saddam Hussein -- whom Bush calls terrorist and dictator.

Among Bush's policy blunders, he arrogantly dismisses the principles of Geneva, Nuremberg and the other treaties to which the US is not merely obliged -- we helped write many of them. Bush has thus abjured the very principles which had -- until Bush -- distinguished America from the dictatorial regimes of Hussein, Pinochet, Pol Pot et al. We have -- under Bush -- become the world's number one terrorist threat.

So my question is: "When will the next superpower military force decide that it is time for regime change for the torturous evil US totalitarian Bushco government?" Seems to me we as a nation have just joined the parade of thugs and villians, hellbent on incresing the strength and might of the chosen few at the expense of the masses wellbeing, freedom, and safety. Welcome to the rest of the 21st century.

thick thick smoke, and it's getting hot in here

What happens when we combine these two stories on the same day that the major news should have been openly dissecting and discussing the abandonment of the US Constitution and the Geneva Conventions by the Bush Administration??? Can you say distraction??

<>The resignation rocked the Capitol, and especially Foley’s GOP colleagues, as lawmakers were rushing to adjourn for at least six weeks. House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told The Washington Post last night that he had learned this spring of some “contact” between Foley and a 16-year-old page. Boehner said he told House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), and that Hastert assured him “we’re taking care of it.”
It was not immediately clear what actions Hastert took. His spokesman had said earlier that the speaker did not know of the sexually charged e-mails between Foley and the boy.

So they know about this for four months, do nothing until the story comes out, and time the responses to the same day as the Freedom to Torture bill is based. More intriguing however is Hastert's immediate response. Rather than admit he knew anything (and his own website changed the time frame of the story later in the day), or do much more than accept Foley's resignation, Hastert goes on the evening Fox news cycle and spins this drek:

HASTERT: I think what they do is, they are so bent on protecting criminals and going through the process and not expediting these people who really want to take our lives, to murder us, and you know, we’ve seen it time and time again. We just saw it just now with the ms-13 gangs, trying to stop them from coming into the country and the liberal Democrats in the Senate blocked it.

ASMAN: But again “coddling terrorists.” You say democrats are doing that. That’s really tough language.

HASTERT: I’m saying what they’re doing is they’re not allowing us to prosecute these people. They’re not allowing us to — the 130 most treacherous people, probably in the world, and they want to put them and release them out in the public eventually.

Wow, how amazing it is that he can discount the other 14,000 prisoners so casually? Or maybe it is the notion that we have convicted so many for terrorism of those we captured?? Oh, that's right we haven't been able to do that even with the illegal unconstitutional torture regimes. I am really curious who these 130 are though, because at last count the IRC talleyed more than 700 at GITMO, and every one of those who have been released from there (a couple of thousand or so) have been found to have been innocent of any charges. But Hastert, knowing the story is about supporting the elimination of the US Constitutional provisions, claims that there are these people somewhere we have been torturing who deserve that treatment and it is the Democrats fault for some reason; all the while blaming others while blowing smoke over the Foley story. Way to go Dennis, real statesmanship.

a snapshot of today's hidden news..

this is a quick overview of several stories just posted today:

• US Department of Energy releases study that essentially says that research shows it may already be too late to avoid the crunch of peak oil collapse.
  
• BP opens spigot to lower prices and reduce possible Congressional action and anti-GOP sentiment in upcoming election. A third coverup of global climate change data and reports by Bushco is reported today.
  
• US EPA releases report that states the population carrying capacity of the US environmement, with the population expected to grow towards 400 million by middle to end of 21st century, might only be 200 million or less. We are overusing our land, using too much water, polluting too much water and air, and otherwise making a giant mess of it all.
• Bushco needs more war to facilitate the remaining political power they receive from defense and security contractors.
  
• US housing bubble worsens as new inventory of available homes increases dramatically
• US Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Commerce release joint report that shows a whopping 84% increase in health insurance premiums between 2000 and 2006 while overall wages grew at a measly 19.7% over the same time period and inflation 17.8%. Of course executive salaries and compensation packages grew over 250%, and that would include those of insurance industry leadership. Corporations are refusing to continue too offer health benefits.

can it get worse... just wait...

one of them meme thangs....

If you make a music mix that is a reflection of your informative years, what would those dozen or so songs be, and maybe more interesting, why? You don't have to be proud of the song choices - they're not necessarily a reflection of taste, more about your history.

First we need to dispense with "informative years," then get to the implied difference between relative value of my history, versus long term recognition of influence and inspiration. I will accept the construct "informed" to apply to inherent (and coherent) integration of this or that particular piece of music to my development of my personhood: personality, spiritual consciousness, aesthetic values, shared relations with the world and people around me, and so far forth. However, for this exercise, i will rule out the years of developmental relations with music, the pubescent and adolescent period, because, although that music underlies and seriously informs the constructs of one's life, i acknowledge that those influences were largely unconscious. Rather i would prefer to look at music that is representative of serious personal choices, and/or relationships to events through and with the music.

So, let's quickly dispense with the obvious. I contracted mononucleosis and hepatitis during my junior year of high school and spent 8 weeks essentially isolated in convalescence. That happened to be the Spring semester of 1964, when the British invasion hit the US, and all over all radio one heard Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Dave Clark Five, etc. So those influences, stripped as they were of social relations and interactions, were absorbed into my core developing adult consciousness, and remain to this day. I have seen most of Stones tours since, still greatly appreciate Ray Davies, and always enjoy anything by the Beatles. That isn't the music i want to talk about.

No, the most significant musical intervention into my life must have been Dylan songs played by the early Grateful Dead (1966/1967). It was a synthesis, under the influence of lots of legal (cough cough) koolaid (and thus opening my consciousness to undo nearly two decades of imprinting), of all of the forms of music i had previously found near and dear to me. From CA surf guitars and drums, through folk and doo-wap ballads, to british rock blues and R&B, all amalgamated with psychedelicized classical forms (i played in orchestras and concert bands from the age of six to 17). The Grateful Dead were, are, and will be the music that informs me. Thus, music that has come to me through my interest and experience with the GD, is also part of that which informs me.

Bill Graham made an effort to tie SanFran 60's psychedelic music with other forms at his Fillmore and Winterland shows. Introduced to that diversity of forms and genres played by the best of the best, certainly influenced and informed my life. Watching Miles (playing with his Algartha and Pangaea band) at shows, waiting for the Dead to come on profoundly changed how i viewed the jazz i had learned to play back in the early 60's. Same can be said for Weather Report and so many other legends. There was the time that the GD (who controlled what music was played through their sound systems) introduced the crowd at intermission to the music of the young angelic voice of Dolly Parton, and later to Olatunji and Baba Maal.

If i am asked to pick others i have to go with:
Country Joe and the Fish whose sound and voice are found now in Widespread Panic
Quicksilver Messenger Service (early days) carried into the 21st century with My Morning Jacket
Love and Kaleidescope preparing the way for Queen or Sting to Bardo Pond and Molehill Orkestrah
Massive Attack along with Portishead are in my collection because of my sensitivities to Joan and Joni;

but perhaps the most impactful of all is the single David Crosby solo album: If I Could Only Remember My Name that took all of the SanFran/LA psychedelia and moved it into the 21st century 35 years ago. Today i find Godspeed You Black Emperor and Explosions in the Sky still hovering in that space. Along with so many many others from Dave Mathews to the Shins, Killers, Pixies, Calexico, Tea Leaf Green, Scott Law Band, etc. et al and so forth.

Lastly my world is only complete because of Frank Zappa who took me back to my father's fascination with Ken Nordine, Spike Jones, Ernie Kovacs, and spewed it into the 22nd century and further. Without Frank i would never have fully appreciated rap/hiphop/poetryslam jam performances rooted in protest and angst and anger with the world. Frank was the master of that synchretic form spewing joy and humor across the worst of our species behaviors calling us out for all of our stupidities and arrogance. Frank was one of the greatest musical geniuses of all time....

property is a privilege not a right

I am going to make this simple and explicit. The next time some objectivist libertarian type tries to tell you property is a right, and is natural like: life, liberty, faith, belief, learning, pursuing happiness, being, etc., turn to them and tell them to "fuck off." They are blowing the proverbial fascist smoke up your ass. Property as a right, requires fundamentally taking and controlling something that can never actually belong to you. Property is acquired initially through violence, controlled by coercive threats, fear, intimidation and violence. It is inextricably linked to power, manifested either physically or economically. There can be no right, when one agent (governmental, military, posse, gang, bank, financial institution, etc.) takes the property and holds it claiming it is their right to "own" it. We can't own a piece of the planet, we can't own material possessions, we can't own children, we can't own space. Everytime some white dude in the US claims they own a home on some land, they are doing so intentionally ignoring the history of violence and genocide that allowed them to acquire the land in the first place. They fund through the one set of taxes they must hold dear, the security apparatus necessary to protect their property against others who, like them, want to take it and hold it. If a something can only be acquired and controlled through fear, it is not a right.

George meets George...

Last week, our national pResident of the White House spaketh thusly:

“It's impossible for someone to have grown up in the ’50s and ’60s to envision a conflict with people that just kill mercilessly, using techniques that are kind of foreign to modern warfare,”

Interesting this, in that George the Third said pretty much the same thing back in May of 1775 or so, when it became apparent that the ragtag minions of colonists and revolutionaries stopped fighting fair, using techniques that were "kind of foreign" to the imperial military behavior of those civilized Europeans. And since our Georgey is talking about citizens of the US (i gather he never once participated in a drop drill in school; the idiotic posture that was supposed to help us survive nuclear war {as if nuclear war is somehow now the appropriate norm for modern warfare and never consisted of the merciless killing of mass populations and abject radiological destruction of whole ecosystems}), he must be applying the same rational at the Third was expressing for his subjects: "these people simply don't know what is good for them."

If ever Georgey hasn't looked more imperial and kinglike than last week, i don't know what moment that would be? He was downright regally pissy about being disobeyed by his minions when he wanted to scrap the Geneva Conventions, excuse himself and his synchophantic courtesans from all perception of crimes against humanity, and put torture as the paramount legal policy of the US. I suggest we look more closely at something those colonists wrote about how George the Third got it wrong; and how Georgey is our own tyrant king.

The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

We could of course simply rewrite this by inserting : ruler of the US for King of Great Britain, since all else is true.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

can we all say "signing statements?"

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

we need to get rid of only "his Governors" and replace it with "all members of his administration and party"

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

"you are either with us or you are the enemy" meanwhile bow down to the lord thy ruler damn it.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

can we all say Terry Schiavo? can we all recognize that the GOP Congress of the last two sessions has been the least useful, with the least number of days worked???

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

we are either completely supportive and give up all powers and rights, or we are terrorists and the enemy within and must be destroyed.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
can we hear his immortal words of last week: "we are safer, but we are not yet safe"?

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

can we look at immigration issues, New Orleans, taking military control of planetary resources, the use of the term "enemy combatant" and extraordinary rendition???

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

well to be fair he simply has ignored the judiciary and restructured the administration of justice to be outside the constitution and public purview and control

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

you're laughing right?? you better be, because just looking at his appointments we can see this is incredibly true.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

can we all say DHS, and all of its subsidiaries and private contractors?? can we all recognize the political agents who are regulating and controlling the federal bureaucracy by repressing science, information about our health and safety, and increasing the number of classified documents at rates in excess of the entire history of classification in the world?

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures.

of course he then makes sure they are overseas when they are needed here in emergencies so that more and more of the population can be removed to camps and their homes and cities taken.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

can we all say Rumsfeld, as in there is only the three of them in charge--Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld? I don't see any civil authority operating here at all.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

can we see hundreds of signing statements, hundreds of executive orders, hundreds of military orders--all of which represent a usurption of the constitution and the development of a private secret government that does as it pleases, abandoning all rule of law and due process??

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

to be fair they are private security forces contracted through the DoD and DHS.

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

isnt this what he is all pissy about at the moment?? he is trying to get Congress to grant him blanket immunity from all crimes against humanity, so that he can then turn this same behavior on the US population before 2008!!!

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

can we agree that maybe the massive record setting trade deficits have essentially destroyed the future of the US economy, while benefiting only the wealthiest 1%???

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

someone is going to have to pay for that more than a trillion dollars in tax breaks for the wealthiest 1%, while they move trillions of US dollars and assets outside the US.

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

hell even the US Supreme Court has had to tell him he is in violation, just to make it look like something is being done, but it isn't, and the abuses continue

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

two words: extraordinary rendition

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

can't we all see unconstitutional actions declared by fiat to be appropriate?

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

the list here is simply endless isn't it?? we have essentially allowed him to destroy our democratic republic through election fraud, massive corporate corruption, and defying the constitution.

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

can we all say "signing statements?" can we recognize the many statements that he will do has he pleases and ignore any and all legal and constitutional constraints when it suits his purpose

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

can we all say the Patriot Act and the warrantless unconstitutional spying, terror watch lists, no-fly lists, restriction of all civil rights, abandoning the Geneva conventions, holding and torturing innocent persons against their will in prisons outside the US, etc., et al??

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people

can we acknowledge his complete and total savaging of the planet's environment and the gulf coast?? he has removed, or tried to remove, every environmental protection and law in the US, and encouraged his corporate colleagues to ignore the health of the earth for increasing profit.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
more than half of all US forces in Afghan and Iraq are private contracted mercenaries. most of the US security apparatus (and emergency preparedness services) are private corporate agents serving only their masters without citizen or civilian oversight, nor rule of law.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

can we all say Iraqis?? can we describe his efforts to increase the terror and encourage others around the world to attack us: "bring it on" my ass?

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

okay, this one needs some work, but when one considers his handling of Katrina and the mess of 9/11 etc., it becomes immediately apparent that he has done everything in his power (granted this is really Cheney) to foment fear and terror among the citizens to excuse his own ordering of US military to his known rules of warfare, torture, destroying innocents and infrastructure at home and abroad!!!

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

exactly!!! nuf said!!! I am beginning to understand why those colonists reacted the way they did 230 years ago!!!!! Maybe we better get off our asses before it is too late!!!!