Ding Dong,

The witch is dead. . . " tra la. The recent demise -by hanging- of Saddam Hussein moved that little tune to the forefront of my brain.

Why, oh why, do the NS, Mozilla, IE peeps find it necessary to hide so thoroughly the location of one's personal book marks and addresses. Every time I wipe and reinstall, they seem to be hiding in a new and different location. my 2nd (maybe the 3rd?) back up hard drive, seems to have lost track of an entire directory, *MINE* under "Documents and Settings." Arrrgh

stayin alive

From Alternet

speaks to my long held contention that Internet was going to change the world. Change the dialog, change the paradigm, of civilization as we know it.

Hopeful Signs For Global Justice

By Mark Engle

Thousands of similar campaigns stood up to local injustices, challenged corporate power, and provided the energy that ultimately unseated presidents. As we are reminded daily of the hard realities that persist in an era of executive excess and superpower militarism, their victories might seem disparate and few. But they have shown that they can accrete and build, gradually bridging the divide that separates us from once-distant possibilities: the death of neoliberalism, the political re-creation of the Americas, the end of extreme poverty, a democratic globalization. The quiet wins of 2006 together remind us that change is more possible than we might sometimes despair -- and that it is not entirely naive to invest hope in the promise of a new year.

Tagged as: globalization, neoliberalism, justice, bush, democracy

Mark Engler is a commentator for Foreign Policy in Focus. He can be reached via DemocracyUprising.com.

Stand and Wait

Here's a picture: four Major Generals, standing , fidgiting, behind a platform in front of which the Shrub will be speaking shortly. Fidgit fidgit

An inconvenient Truth

Just watched a rerun Oprah featuring Al Gore and a full hour of dire global warming warnings. Dire, meaning dire - not to denigrate the seriousness of the state of the climate. I was watching it on purpose, preaching to the choir, and all that, so I was free to pick it apart heh heh. About half way in I began to wonder what the drop out rate was going to be. Near that point, there came a recorded message from Leonardo Di Caprio to keep the girls looking, but it was quite serious, too, and maybe it kept a few feather heads tuned in. There was some information on how each individual could do just some small things, most of which save you money, to reduce CO2. If half the audience finished it, I'd like to think they'd tell their friends who'd quit watching. Pipe dreams, maybe. Oprah changes the world - again- smile.

I began to see that the 2000 election 'debacle' as I like to call it, may have been a blessing in disguise, leaving Gore free to focus on what probably IS the biggest threat to Mankind, with a capitol M.

Blog for a Change

(started on 102906)

On my "not read by anyone in the known universe" blog, the Moveon.org folks have requested I post a link to their latest attempt to bring "the Amerricun People" to their senses regarding the political process and those in control of it now. Let's see if it works. Go ">here Whoo hoo, it works! Now, if we could only get the election systems to work - can you say Diebold? With a CEO who has publically stated he would do anything within his power to se that "bush" et al win the election.

120806
right up to the minute I am.

Barbarians At the Gates

Or Bush in the White House, your choice. Another NYT amazing op ed piece kind of describes our current dilemma, politically, by looking at the precipitation of the Fall of the Roman Empire.

Anna Nicole

Her teen son somehow died in her hospital room, very shortly after she gave birth to a daughter. Maybe she only had enough soul for one child? How surreal. Tonight, her lawyer claimed to be the 'babydaddy,' while her publicist had previously claimed the spot. After all, is she not a wispy voiced, cuddly blonde, who has not really displayed great intelligence, past what allowed her to grab an 85 year old millionaire husband at Death's door, before he passed through it, making her rich? Naturally, she's still fighting his kids for it- but she has received a major chunk of $
Sad little girl; And here I've delivered an (other, no doubt) entirely mean-spirited little piece of drivel. No no - I reject that! (yes, you can disagree with yourself within a paragraph) The curious juxtaposition of new life and young death sent me seeking a cosmic truth of some sort. What if it's all random, and NOBODY gives a rat's ass about our virus-like existence?
Anna Nicole: will anyone remember her name in 1,000 years? Or mine, ftm. A most curious fact of early 21st Century Man: our ability to be fascinated by people who are famous just for being famous.

Ground Zero 9-11-01

5 years later, it seems to be making news that the folks -first responders, other volunteers- are sick from the toxic air they breathed for 2 to 3 weeks. Of course they're sick. At that time, the Feds and their honchos were announcing that "No, there isn't any danger - the air is perfectly fine." And 'they' the mass media, unwashed masses, believed it?? Oh. My. I said at the time- "My Goddess, you can SEE the air; they are breathing the 'weaponized,' if you will, residual atoms of multiple heavy metals, silica, human beings, firpete'sake. How could any reasonably intelligent, semi-educated, thinking person believe that was safe? Key word being 'thinking,' apparently.

From today's NYT - QUOTATION OF THE DAY -

"There should no longer be any doubt about the health effects of the World Trade Center disaster. Our patients are sick, and they will need ongoing care for the rest of their lives."
- DR. ROBIN HERBERT of Mount Sinai's World Trade Center Worker and Volunteer
Medical Screening Program.

And I ask again - what sort of brain-dead folks were questioning this in the first place??

A navel of a different sort

Another NY Times op\ed piece, here showed me a new perspective. By an Iranian Jewish woman who writes poetry in Persian. I'd love to ask "Another Irani on Line" about this. I hear much the same sort of remembrances from Iraqi's in so far as "We are ALL Iraqis!" I like to believe everything I read by women (my bad) and especially non US women, and I know I'm gullible. But I would also like to hear what Niki's perspective is regarding the poetry and music issues mentioned. I' believe I will write and ask her.

Navel Gazing

We have no security, just distance. Watching the Surreal News (CNN) Here's a list of all the landmarks, nuclear plants, shopping centers, in case you need to update your target list. Laughing hysterically. Earlier they were talking about a little known port (I don't remember its name he he) in Louisiana, which handles 1/3 of the US oil imports. And those coordinates are: 108.345 34.888 (don't try this at home, folks: {Poetic Lic.} I'm making a wild extrapolation based on my here and now #'s which I know) And how "they" could not very well use small aircraft/ports cuz a: not enuf bang for the buck, and b)small ports are clubbish, and wd recognize an outsider and rat him/her out. Not if 'she' had a fabulous body, and the willingness to use it. Is this so far outside the "Muslim" sensibility as to render it impossible? I dunno if a man would order it, but I betcha there are a whole lotta widows and orphans who would relish the role.

Can't recognize the difference between nuclear waste and cat sand. We're doing the Homeland Security Waste issue. Waste of $$, that is. Just a comment on a nuclear plant employee. They don't' have enough auditors to keep track of how their contractors are spending the $$. DHS bucks are pork barreled out. The 9-11 Commission recommended the pork be partitioned based on high visibility targets. That was 5 years ago. Do you think SF/Oak with it's multitude of targets has received any extra cash? NO, in spite of the Guv and the Mayor major pleading. Not to mention two strong Senators and the Democratic Congressional Whip, all women. Rep. Nancy Pelosi is pretty darned good, I think.

Too soon for ?

Kinda hard to imagine the two phrases 'too soon for' and 'cease fire' making any sense whatsoever in the same sentence.

Trouble right here in River City

I suppose I'll have to go to the durned Taxi Commission meeting tomorrow night. Big Trouble in little SF TC recently. The Commission fired the "Executive Director," Heidi M. Reasons: she was carrying out her own agenda, completely apart from what the Commission had in mind, her so-call "employer." She went on a vendetta after Jim Gillespie, GM at YC these days, but mgr at Lux before that. In the works, per Commission vote & recommendation, is/was (it's passed now) a Board of Sups resolution granting cab company managers an exemption from the bloody driving requirement. JG has never tried to hide his non-driving status (like many many others who never drove, aren't driving, will never drive - there's Richie's ex-wife, a trauma nurse at UCSF Med, a sheriff in Marin Co., etc), and the measure had been hammered out at the TC over many weeks. JG felt he was having communication difficulties with Heidi, and as GM of YC representing 2/3 of the cabs in town, he requested and received an audience with hiz honor, GN. The day after that, Heidi sent her personal team of auditors to pull all of JG's waybills, (none, cuz he wasn't forging them like the above mentioned.) and brought him up for revocation for not fulfilling the DR. Then there's the matter of her bosom buddy, (isn't this a name for a '70's (1870's!) melodrama? ) Tristan Bettancourt, who she hired as her assistant at the TC (was her roomie for 10 years, also hired by her as assistant in her *last* Civil Service job (water dept., IIRC) TB is a former YC driver. Convicted in 1987 for robbing his taxi passengers' homes after he'd dropped them off at SFO or the theatre. During the late '90s he did internet scams - lots of news about that on line! Now he has access to all our personal info. Presumably he'll only try to scam out the upper income ones among us, leaving me out heh heh heh. Every bleedin' media rag in this town took the story from the Heidi perspective: "The company's wanted me fired, because I was enforcing the rules." Hmmmm. As I recall, Mary McGuire (a Commissioner fired for her vote against Heidi)had been raising the subjects of company financial reports and waybill audits being lacking, overdue or non-existent - from approximately the 2nd meeting of the TC 7 years ago. It's all on tape somewhere. Channel 7 Eye Team -Dan Noyes- did a bit on it tonight, I learned on the TaxiL. Lots about TB, including interviews w/vics. The cameras will be at the meeting tomorrow - might even be pictures at 11 - but 'twould be surprising if the meeting concluded the "rehiring" (agenda Item) of Heidi, (or NOT) by 23:00

As I was Saying . . .

He Who Cast the First Stone Probably Didn’t
By DANIEL GILBERT

"Research shows that while people think of their own actions
as the consequences of what came before, they think of
other people’s actions as the causes of what came later."
NY Times bit

My darling 'daughter,' as her deceased mother, my good friend Carol, called her, did another one of her "I'm coming home" things last night. Cried a little bit, got 'yelled' at a bit - not nearly covering all the items I meant to cover, as I planned this rant, went to sleep, got dropped off on Mission, and. . . . She has a full 24 hours sober she says. But she's not coming home tonight.


a "'diplomatic move' by the Bush administration." Isn't that an oxymoron

15 minutes- stretched

"Most of all, it was the kind of fame -- that peculiar blogosphere kind of fame -- that made Congdon's fans feel they knew her intimately" (Not that I'd ever heard of this person til I read the online CNN bit).

OK, that explains it. Why I have always felt the bloggers I read regularly are personal acquaintances. Perhaps they 'get it.' I'm sure they get emails from tons of people who address them as tho they were brothers, sisters, sons, daughters. Oh BTW, tylenol can kill you. Violent video games w/Christian message. CNN again. I need a cigarette.

Ah ha - it's those gosh darned "Left Behind" folks, again. Reading one of those books (well, the small part I was able to consume before becoming 'full' of babble)remind me strongly of Ron Hubbard's pretense at sci fi.

"The people came out of a very large building, with multiple windows on the ground floor, and a variety of balconies above. Balconies which were variously made of concrete, different kinds of wood, such as pine, maple, mahogany, oak. These people were young and old, fat and thin. The young children were walking more slowly than the adults. A parent sometimes had to stop and wait for the child to catch up. Some of the people had red hair, some were sporting long black hair; some with blonde hair, which might have been long or short. They wore multiple colors; some were in blue, some were in green, some were in pink, some- - - -" etc. etc.

etc. Using every possible word that could be used, inflating the text to cover the maximum pages, with really very little substance involved. Hmmm L. Ron Hubbard, heh heh, the man who told a Sci Fi convention in the 1920's that the ideal way to make as much money as you could would be to set up your own religion.

And so he did. The rest, as they say, is history.

I was thinking, last night, of how extremely screwed up our government is these days. Industry insiders being appointed as overseeing regulators of their own industry, courts packed by right wing nuts ruling against our very own Constitution; president 'w' (small 'w') with his evil twin executor (the anti-Christ, Cheney)- all beginning to remind me very much of a couple of Robert Heinlein books written in the 50's. One in which the trend toward total minority employment in government offices led to a society ruled by the 'bureaucrats' who were all of colour, and loftily condescending toward all the fairer folk they oversaw: a simple extrapolation of the times. (ad.)At least three other books (one was a trilogy - can one say that?) which posited a far flung starry Empire ruled by or being attacked by a People of MiddleEastern Muslim heritage. Since they were always the villians, the most radical form of Sharia played a part in at least one of these imagined universes (universi?) IIRC, these were spawned in the late '70's, when the West was experiencing its first oil shortage, ie., gas prices skyrocketing, wide spread shortages. Who else could we vilify? Amazing isn't it, the human animal, either individually or in nation wide groups, can always find the "other" to blame for what every ill visited upon it.

Other books less clearly remembered, paint pictures that merge in my musings with the current events in our government.

Beam Me Up

I find it beyond incredulous that NASA cannot develop or find a foam product that will not crack with minor temperature variations. {{ok I get it - much more than 'minor' temp differences what with the liquid nitrogen/oxigen.}} How can this be? Was it contracted out to one of Cheneys co-conspirators? The miniscule variations on the planet shrink in comparison to the difference between here and Space. I keep shaking my head and trying to form a different question here, but it is what it is. A piece of insulation with 30 years of research behind it's composition and deployment, which curiously enough, never failed in 10 or so years of flying that bird - till over Texas, Feb. 1 of 20??. What's really going on here?

I'm tired, and leaning toward conspiracy theories tonight. Gavin Newsome trots out Gay Marriage just in time to bring all the right wing nuts out of their states of denial to vote the Shrub back in, (or rather 'in' for the first time legally)(that's a whole 'nother conspiracy). Of course, Rove kick started anti-gay marriage initiatives in several states - 4 or 5 IIRC. Plan for The New American Century. They're serious, folks. Read it and weep - or get active!

I gotta go off and find the Analog Boards- someone there may have a perfectly sane explanation of that :?)

Ongoing Gitmo situations. I would really, really, like to know which of these diametrically opposed scenarios is true.

"Former detainees at Guantanamo have alleged in the past that military personnel at Guantanamo have intentionally mishandled the Quran. The military has repeatedly denied the charges.

Durand said Wednesday that when a Quran is handled, it is handled by the detainee himself or by a Muslim translator.

"We have consulted with numerous Islamic leaders on the subject and have been informed that our procedures far exceed the accepted standard that only requires that the Koran (Quran) be handled with respect and dignity. We do this in deference to the detainees religious beliefs and to affirm our respect for Islam," Durand said."


Oh, and they finally "terminated" al Zarqawi in Iraq. CNN: "Optimism on the street in Baghdad is really hard to find."

Bears!

There is a guy somewhere in Minnesota or Iowa (will check CNN again) with a license - a LICENSE! to breed wild animals - hence a black bear's painful trip through a suburban house (wife!) They have other bears, Coyotes, big cats, !racoons! no doubt to stock the many commercial establishments who collect big bucks from the the big $$ small ' ' guys who just gotta kill something to feel manly. It's really a shame there are so many of 'them' with big $$, spawning the next generation of self-centered, amoral spoiled brats, eg., GWB

law of the jungle

"What happens when technology meets accidents?" {scene of guy stepping back too far on a scaffolding, falling three stories or so, and massive numbers of medium sized air bags sprouting from his heretofore unseen harness.} Want to know what Really happens? We begin to breed stupid people. Better these types are dealt with before contributing to the gene pool. Oh yeah, I AM a population nazi. I admit freely I believe in natural selection - if I were Goddess, I would arrange for mass die offs on a regular basis. Oh wait, She is! Bigger better tsunami, hurricanes, earthquakes, and we seem to be getting closer every day to the 'pestilence' aspect of the End of Days. Humans do, indeed, need to rearrange their paradigm of 'how things work to make me richer and move on to how we can help one another

Prez Shrub will sign the new budget bill. It extends into the future the existing tax cuts on capital gains, and investment credits. In a (n hysterical) nod to budgetary concerns, it will cut tax breaks for college tuition, and certain deductions for income earners under $50K. The Repubs are propagandizing that "MoveOn.Org" is trying to 'regulate' the internet. Um - no - there's a beautifully written discussion of the "regulation"(actually a bill before congress) at WINXPnews.com, May 9th edition The means of exchanging ideas freely among all the peoples of the world is seriously in danger here. Call your representatives.

There was another crazy mixed paradigm thingy on the news just now, but I'm brain dead and must sleep.

Jack Abramoff ha ha

"These are the men that fleeced the tribes that paid the
money that made the bribes that purchased the Congress that
Jack built."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/31/opinion/31seely.html?th&emc=
that's pretty funny.

Operation "Swarmer:"

oh my,haven't we killed enough of the poor Iraqis. Very few of the liberal professional people are still there. I feel like I need to write an apology to every Iraqi blog I've read. The only way they could establish a representative and secular, government is a mass return of Iraqis. I know many (I feel I know them) are very pro-active, and seeing the "(gag) Coalition " get out of Iraq immediately is the only thing they can see. The Iraqis are losing the chance to reclaim their own oil rights. Permanent US bases (garrisons?) are under construction. They want US out, every one.
Now the 'operation' is n/e of Samarra. Another of the oldest cities in the world. "The largest air assault operation since the initial invasion." I'm pretty sure CNN didn't use the word 'invasion,' probably a euphemism. or "NewsSpeak."
hmmm, my bad, CNN did/is using the word.
Did you guess? Yes, this event WILL be televised.

NY Times Editorial snippet

Mr. Roberts is trying to stop an investigation into Mr. Bush's decision to allow the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans without getting the warrants required by a 27-year-old federal law enacted to stop that sort of abuse.

Mr. Roberts had promised to hold a committee vote yesterday on whether to investigate. But he canceled the vote, and then made two astonishing announcements. He said he was working with the White House on amending the 1978 law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, to permit warrantless spying. And then he suggested that such a change would eliminate the need for an inquiry.

Stifling his own committee without even bothering to get the facts is outrageous. As the vice chairman of the panel, Senator John Rockefeller IV, pointed out, supervising intelligence gathering is in fact the purpose of the intelligence committee.

Out Loud?

"The U.S. and Israel are discussing ways to destabilize the Palestinian government to produce a Hamas failure and new elections." topic of a NY Times article today.
Apparently, my country only supports Democracy if it happens to support us.
Happy Valentine's day. We love you. If you do everything our way.

State of Dis Union

From an article in (on?) BBC on line, asking various Americans (North) what they thought of the SOTU speech. I have snipped this a bit, for space. Original available.

(Right after I figure out how to insert a link. snerk. I am the most likely to post ad nauseum late after work (that'd be early morning in the real world), when I'm brain dead as far as following instructions is concerned.)


"Name: Shankar Iyer
Age: 55
Lives: Fairfax, Virginia
Last year, the president viewed his re-election as giving him political capital and confidently boasted about using it to fix established social programmes such as social security and Medicare.

He also vowed to continue with his policies favouring the well-heeled and to establish democracy in Iraq.

A year later, with the blood of thousands of dead US troops and Iraqi citizens staining his presidency, along with corruption and scandal in his administration and legislature and the revelations of extra-constitutional civilian and military activities in fighting terrorism, the president began in a more conciliatory tone.

The president seemed comfortable, as always, shaping and distorting the facts.

THIS IS THE ORIGINAL -THE REST ARE MINE this is a smoothly inserted knife blade. Bravo!

He lumped the elected government of Iran in with the dictatorships of Burma, North Korea, Syria and Zimbabwe, while assuming the mantle to "deliver the oppressed and move the world toward peace".

** "The president seemed comfortable, as always, shaping and distorting the facts."


In the president's view, the ever-so-modest loosening of the dictatorial reins in Egypt and Saudi Arabia called for celebration.

**"The president seemed comfortable, as always, shaping and distorting the facts."

The electoral victory of Hamas in Palestine did not. Iran became a country "held hostage by a small clerical elite".

**"The president seemed comfortable, as always, shaping and distorting the facts."

He continued with his push to reform social security and to make his tax cuts for the well-to-do permanent.

**"The president seemed comfortable, as always, shaping and distorting the facts."

His reference to Hurricane Katrina offered a more positive picture of ongoing relief efforts than have been reported.

AND AGAIN

**"The president seemed comfortable, as always, shaping and distorting the facts."

( In sum, the president's State of the Union continued "the world according to me" view held by this administration, where rhetoric replaces realities and terror is used to justify compromises of core democratic values."

One of my mother's rules of life: A true lady or gentleman never insults anyone, *UNintentionally.* I think she may have cadged it from Winston Churchill

next day -still seething at the temerity of "them" in DC- from the NY Times , today:

"Mr. Bush threw out a dizzying array of misleading analogies, propaganda slogans and false choices: Congress authorized the president to spy on Americans and knew all about it ... 9/11 could have been prevented by warrantless spying ... you can't fight terrorism and also obey the law ... and Democrats are not just soft on national defense, they actually don't want to beat Al Qaeda."