Dean and freedom of speech and open debate are first

Yes Fred, and pursuit of Happiness, too.

28.

FRED from OR
Thu, 08/09/07
3:49 am

Reply to this

21.

JudyforDean
Thu, 08/09/07
3:19 am

Reply to this

Really good question ... and let's hold their feet to the fire.

Censure is not enough, IMHO, but it's a good beginning. And I am not alone in believing this

====================
How do we do this with 50 votes in the Senate? This kind of rhetoric sounds like that old biblical quote "an unfaithful friend is like when there is thunder and lightning but no rain comes.

Hot air will only get us more animosity from the independent voters. Democrats like you want to make tough statements (sans teeth) in the hope to get a Democrat elected in 2008 to the presidency and have her/him get the credit for getting us out of Iraq - even if that precludes a bipartisan political solution towards, subsequently costing another few hundred thousand Iraqi lives and more misery in the mean time.

Bad strategy.

This style of tough-talk stalmating is so obvious to most common people, but of course in your ego-centric ivy tower you wouldn't know much about that

=============================

This response to Judy's post is what

JudyforDean says "vilify" her with "slander" and "picking a fight"

and

Joe*in*Vermont piled on with calling it "slinging insults"

I guess they don't have a response to my points, so they have to get flustered and change the subject. If Judy was such a whiz, she would tell me where the flaws in my position are, but she has always got huffy puffy about not lowering herself to my level to respond to my points. Sounds elitist if you ask me. The same kind of elitism from the right that got us into this mess. Communication is the key.

Thanks, Phil, I guess you know there are good cows, bad cows, and ornery cows, but no sacred cows.

Brave Gold Star mother standing up to cowering leadership is equally first in my book... and hardly anyone gets that spot in my heart.

Look out mark, that trip to CA may be rising on my priority list!

3.

sheeeez, what a waste

How do i type "King of communication" then strike through communication and write whining?

anybody?

potential Presidential boner mistake

Dang, how'd he get her?

To strike through communication you click the line through (IE ABC) before typing the word then click the same BEFORE typing anything else to return to normal typing, Deaniac.

60.

Imn2Paine
Thu, 08/09/07
11:11 pm

Reply to this
55.


FRED from OR
>

I don't mean to pile on because I ain't. Just want to reflect my impression that you've been overly agitated lately. Hope you're well as can be expected with what I gather is an increasingly stressful illness. Hope you can find a different tack to take with stresses here.

Democrats 08
==================================

Like I'm the only one agitated - that's a laugh. The difference (with me) is that I often have a different point of view from the groupthink, a POV which is usually characterized as figment of the opposition on the right, which it ain't. But you know, all's fair in politics, and usually very dirty.

Anyway, thanks for the words of kindness, even if I don't see it that way.

Dang, how'd he get her?

>

Boner Mistake.

He's pretty smart she's --- not

YES, please sign the petition for DFA to include Al Gore on their straw/Pulse Polls

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/al-go...

FRED from OR

> good points Fred, but that has always been granted you.  You're pissed lately.  You may have the right, but heck now don'tchya know it ain'a gotta go on for ever.  I guess I see some on the blog askin' that you do what you can to cool it a bit.  It's in your court.  I trust you'll do the right thing

... she's hot not


Couldn't figure it out Paine, but thanks

I don't mean to seem like the blosphere stenonographer, and I know that most people here can find buzzflash.com with their brain tied behind their back....

But in case someone here falls through the cracks...

I will be concise....

Read This Right Now

http://www.buzzflash.com/hartmann/05/11/har05011.html 

Done Linda, got your link message.

Gotta sleep folks. i really do hope we can get along and not be sooo sensitive. It should be understood that we'll disagree strongly, but most can't just sit on the blog to have the last word ad nauseum. i think that's when folks get 'short', but you have to let it go eventually

Love ya'll, mean it!!

Purple Rain over Santa Fe mountains

to see more pictures, click the link

http://picasaweb.google.com/LindainSFNM/PurpleRainOnThursdayAug9 

14.

Imn2Paine
Thu, 08/09/07
11:47 pm

============

I see your points. I've had a rough week. My computer crashed big time - my own fault, tinkering not being careful enough. I know just enough about computers to get in trouble, but also usually enough to get it back together. Never took it to a shop. But sticking my head in such proximity to electronics in the case gives me headaches. I should wear a mask but always forget. Also, picked up a machine at a yard sale and the owner had used killer air freshener. Finally ended up ruining it trying to get the smell out with spraying peroxide, but got lots of good parts.

I now realize if I had replaced the power supply with all the wires and the drive cables, I probably would have had a good machine. It's just impossible to get that air-freshener fragrance out of the soft plastics. Well anyway I am reinstalling my hard drive as I write this on my original computer. I cannibalized the yard sale one for old parts which are very valuable for me because they are "gassed out" from the electronics vapors, and I can build a computer or replace parts that won't give me headaches.

Using my daughter's laptop with a dial-up right now. Wife and kids will be back Tuesday from New Jersey and the place looks like a tornado hit it.

oops

http://picasaweb.google.com/LindainSFNM/PurpleRainOnThursdayAug9 

Deaniac, thank you!  Have a great night.  :)

Phil, I'm so sorry about your truck.  I'm happy you're ok.  I hope it's not a total loss.

14.

Imn2Paine
============

I can put it more mildly, but I don't think that is the issue. The issue is that when you swim against the tide of thinking on this blog [and politics in general] you never get equal treatment. Everything you say get butchered, twisted, and deformed to the point of being foreign to what you originally said. Whereas if you say something that is approved by the herd mentality, no matter how vicious and abusive you are, it tends to be overlooked.

LIke Jimmy Carter said, "Life is unfair"

It could happen here, too.

I imagine most Real Americans (i.e. "native") would say that the holocost has happened here too.

I also imagine that most African Americans would say that the ghettos and "jim crow" laws of the nazis were worse than those in America only by degree.

And that Japanese Americans saw FDR's concentration camps as only less malignant than Hitler's.

What an ass.

This FISA thing still upsets me so much.  I watched Gonzo stumble and bumble in front of congress, and now he has more power over us. 

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1424

Wife and kids will be back Tuesday from New Jersey and the place looks like a tornado hit it.

>

Sounds like a field day ahead for you (clean up), Fred.  Ya gotta toss the liquor bottles in the trash at least.  Don't forget that, Fred.  Last thing the little lady wants to see upon walkin' in with the little ones in tow is bottles every wheres and some guy flat out on the sofa with the TV and computer blastin'.  Trust me on this, Fred - been there, done that, bought the T-shirt.  (kidding))

As to your computer, I know a guy who builds his own computers ...or used to...

he just today received a refurbished one today for $200.  Told me he couldn't do it for $300. 

refurbished one today for $200

think it was TigerDirect or sumpin'

Regarding FISA, I will again recommend that people check out this series at Firedoglake. Well, for people interested in taking action. Wouldn't want to detract from any of the high caliber pissing matches that go on here, night after night.

Oh BTW

Linda, woe, that Santa Fe area is fanfrikingtastic. Sky, mountains, and bloody skies on the other side.

And thanks for the diary, floridagal. Next time I update my shared items, I'll be sure to include it.

The Thom Hartman link said "Forbidden."  Could someone please post a link in blue?  Maybe that will work.  I found "11th Hour" but I don't think that's what PA was referring to....

What happened to Phil's truck?  Is Phil OK? 

I like Dennis being in the race since he keeps a good focus on what we need to be doing.  He would be an asset, perhaps, in the Gore administration. 

Was Hartman talking about fascism? 

Linda ( who already went to bed, but will be on duty later) that picture is sooo beautiful. Thanks.

Sitka,

Yeah. Yeah. That's it. yikes.

Hittin' the hay here, folks.  Heard that the comming day will have a high temp in the upper 60s.  Saweeeeet!

Paine, happy you enjoyed.  

Senator Gravel is doing GREEAAAT on the Human Rights Forum.

night all. 

Åh, I found it.

In the years since George W. Bush first used 9/11 as his own "Reichstag fire" to gut the Constitution and enhance the power and wealth of his corporate cronies, many across the political spectrum have accused him and his Republican support group of being fascists.

On the right,The John Birch Society's website editor recently opined of the Bush Administration's warrantless wiretap program: "This is to say that from the administration's perspective, the president is, in effect, our living constitution. This is, in a specific and unmistakable sense, fascist."

On the left, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. specifically indicts the Bush administration for fascistic behavior in his book "Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and his Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy."

Genuine American fascists are on the run, and part of their survival strategy is to redefine the term "fascism" so it can't be applied to them any more. Most recently, George W. Bush said: "This nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation."

In fact, the Islamic fundamentalists who apparently perpetrated 9/11 and other crimes in Spain and the United Kingdom are advocating a fundamentalist theocracy, not fascism.

But theocracy - the merging of religion and government - is also on the plate for the new American fascists (just as it was for Hitler, who based the Nazi death cult on a "new Christianity" that would bring "a thousand years of peace"), so they don't want to use that term, either.

While the Republicans promote the term "Islamo-fascism," the rest of the world is pushing back, as the BBC noted in an article by Richard Allen Greene ("Bush's Language Angers US Muslims" - 12 August 2006):

"Security expert Daniel Benjamin of the Center for Strategic and International Studies agreed that the term [Islamic fascists] was meaningless.

"'There is no sense in which jihadists embrace fascist ideology as it was developed by Mussolini or anyone else who was associated with the term,' he said. 'This is an epithet, a way of arousing strong emotion and tarnishing one's opponent, but it doesn't tell us anything about the content of their beliefs.'"

Their beliefs are, quite simply, that governments of the world should be subservient to religion, a view shared by a small but significant part of today's Republican party. But that is not fascism - the fascists in the US want to exploit the fundamentalist theocrats to achieve their own fascistic goals.

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0828-23.htm 

I found "11th Hour" but I don't think that's what PA was referring to...

_____ 

 I don't know what "11th hour" is, so I can confirm that that is not what I was talking about, but please enlighten me.

Sorry, here's the link

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0828-23.htm 

Linda SF, lovely photo.

Here's the trailer for "11th hour"

The 11th Hour[, a documentary feature film created, produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio,] examines the human relationship with earth from its earliest glimmers of innovation, to the challenges humanity faces in the present, to the possibilities of the future.

The makers of the film spoke with over 70 scientists, designers, historians and thinkers to examine the state of the oceans, land and air, social, design and political challenges for change.

http://www.aidg.org/component/option,com_jd-wp/Itemid,34/p,643/ 

“Blessed Unrest” is about a movement that no one has noticed, not even the people involved. “The movement,” as Paul Hawken calls it, is made up of an unknowable number of citizens and mostly ragtag organizations that come and go. But when you do see it, you understand it to include NGOs, nonprofit agencies and a seemingly disparate range of people who might describe themselves as environmental activists, as well as people who might not describe themselves as anything at all but are protesting labor injustices, monitoring estuaries, supporting local farming or defending native people from being robbed of the last forests. There are a few billionaires, working hard to give their wealth away, and there are even some Christian evangelicals, who have decided the earth is not theirs to trash, but the movement is mostly about shared beliefs, even if those beliefs are unproclaimed. “Life is the most fundamental human right,” Hawken writes, “and all of the movements within the movement are dedicated to creating the conditions for life, conditions that include livelihood, food, security, peace, a stable environment and freedom from external tyranny.”

"...By the middle of the century, Hawken writes, resources per person on the globe will drop by half. Pesticide residues are prevalent in soft drinks in India. The World Bank helps pay for an oil pipeline through the Mindo Nabillo Cloudforest in Ecuador. Species extinction and poverty abound while profits soar. “The world’s top 200 companies have twice the assets of 80 percent of the world’s people, and that asset base is growing 50 times faster than the income of the world’s majority,” Hawken notes. According to Hawken, the movement’s modus operandi is to work at the edges, on lower levels. The movement is an alternative to the old choice of Communism or capitalism, and the current one of freedom versus terror. “Instead of isms it offers processes, concerns and compassion,” he writes. “The movement demonstrates a pliable, resonant and generous side of humanity. It does not aim for the utopian … but is eminently pragmatic.” When you read about the movement, Hawken says, its members are usually described as anarchists or at least nut jobs -

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/09/3087/

I'm becoming more and more convinced that these nut jobs in the BH and Israel want Armeggedon asap.  I sure they have safe bomb shelters and I don't think they even grasp the magnitude of nuclear war.  Impeach them NOW.

It is appalling, if unsurprising, to read the neoconservative cheerleader Oliver Kamm arguing in these pages that the atomic bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki 62 years ago saved lives and ended suffering. The subtext is plain. The same camp whose vocal endorsement led to the present catastrophe in Iraq are now hawkishly gazing at Iran. The same absurd and dangerous logic that defends the nuclear atrocities of 1945 can now be used to support the pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons against Iran - the threat of which in turn makes the idea of a conventional attack appear more palatable. Now, more than ever, we should be unequivocal in our moral position: as Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has said, the mere possession of nuclear weapons today should be viewed with the same condemnation and horror as we have regarded slavery and genocide in our modern civilized world.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/09/3088/ 

This FISA thing still upsets me so much.

If it didn't, that's when you should worry about yourself.

As for DCDems, they should never have even let it be voted upon. 

seashell :-)
Fri, 08/10/07
12:38 am

God help us that anyone who values Freedom, LIberty, Humanity, Free Will ( which is given by God), the Rule of Law, Human Conscience, the very very very very very Basics of Human Decency, will

WAKE UP AND OPPOSE corpo**** Tyrrany.

didn't these anti-American people every see Total Recall (Schwarzeneger movie about Corporatist Ultra-Conrtol/Tyranny)?

Oh, yeah. I guess they view Total Recall and George Orwell's 1984 as Radical "TRAINING MANUALS)!

These works were supposed to warn against corp Tryanny. Instead the Villians used these warnings as a Training Manual.

Do the words "training manual" remind you of any extremist organization like anyone you've been trained, instructed, scared into, or brainwashed to fear ??

I really don't want to think about this.

We may look back someday and say this was the week that secured the nomination for Hillary Clinton, if the netroots prematurely accept her as a "progressive" candidate. Progressive? She refuses to rule out the use of nuclear weapons on the grounds that a potential President doesn't engage in "hypotheticals." Yet she's repeatedly endorsed the use of torture, against the recommendation of the generals, using the most hypothetical situation imaginable as her justification.

If the end result is a Clinton candidacy that continues to lean right ("centrist" in today's distorted nomenclature), it may be a Pyrrhic victory - for her and for the Democrats. The best chance for victory will come from a clearly articulated platform that makes a clean break from current policies.

I can no longer tell the difference between  Olmert and Cheney, both of whom should be tried and convicted in The Hague. 

Karni is the main transit point for goods between Israel and Gaza Gaza could become completely dependant on aid within weeks because of economic damage caused by Israeli restrictions on border crossings, the UN has said.

All 600 garment factories in Gaza have closed, because they cannot import raw materials, a UN relief agency said.

And more than 90% of factories involved in the construction industry have shut down and laid off workers.

A senior official from the UN Relief and Works Agency called for the opening of the main crossing point into Gaza.

Unless restrictions are eased, the agency (Unrwa) said, Gaza may become "virtually 100% aid dependent".

Gaza today is isolated like never before. There is misery and fear on every single Palestinian face you see here
BBC's Matthew Price
Gaza a jail for its people

Filippo Grandi, the agency's deputy commissioner general, said in a statement: "I appeal to the Palestinian authorities, to Israel and all other parties to take immediate steps to open up the Karni Crossing, to imports and exports, as well as humanitarian goods...

"Only this will allow the little that remains of Gaza's economy to survive."

He added: "Gaza risks becoming a virtually 100% aid-dependent, closed down and isolated community within a matter of months, or even weeks, if the present regime of closures continues."

Economic woe

Israel has sealed off Gaza from the outside world since the takeover of Gaza by the radical Hamas group.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6939710.stm 

OMG. like the Prez, I feel like I should say "Did I say those words?"

I have flown this very plane back and forth from Mooea to Tahiti many times and I have friends on the island whom I need to write to right now and make sure they're OK.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version

Reports said the twin-engine Twin Otter DHC6 turboprop crashed into the sea just after take-off from the island of Moorea, 17km (10 miles) from Tahiti.

The aircraft, which was carrying 19 passengers and one pilot, belonged to Air Moorea, a local Polynesian airline.

An inquiry is under way but the cause of the crash was not immediately clear.

French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie issued a statement expressing her condolences, Reuters news agency reported.

She said that Christian Estrosi, secretary of state for France's overseas territories, would go to the region to show the government's solidarity.

Five of the passengers were foreigners, including three tourists and two EU officials, AFP news agency reported.

The 14 bodies already recovered from the sea have been taken to a nearby chapel for identification. Helicopters are being used in the search for the remaining passengers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6939745.stm 

Of course that's Moorea, not whatever I spelled.  I'm waiting to hear if my friends are OK.

3684

The Pentagon and BH are now conspirators in cold-blooded murder; but what's a few more innocent Iraqis.  It isn't bad enuf that the craven repugs are allowing this, but the dems too are paralyzed with fear.  This country and the dems are being held hostage by FEAR and depravity.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version

L/Cpl Justin Sharratt was among several accused of going on a rampage in which 24 Iraqis were killed after a roadside bombing killed one US marine.

Investigators said the allegations were not supported by independent evidence.

Two more marines still face murder charges. Three others have been charged with failing to investigate the deaths.

A fourth, Capt Randy W Stone, had his charges of failing to investigate the killings adequately dropped on Thursday.

Charges against another murder suspect, Sgt Sanick Dela Cruz, were dropped in April in exchange for his testimony.

To believe the government version of facts is to disregard clear and convincing evidence to the contrary
Lt Col Paul Ware
Investigating officer
What happened at Haditha?

In a ruling released at Camp Pendleton, California, Lt Gen James Mattis said that an investigating officer's report on L/Cpl Sharratt's case, did not support a referral to court-martial.

"To believe the government version of facts is to disregard clear and convincing evidence to the contrary," said the investigator, Lt Col Paul Ware.

L/Cpl Sharratt has never denied killing the three Iraqi men, but insists they were insurgents and that at least one was holding an AK-47 rifle when he opened fire.

Contradictions

Twenty-four Iraqi civilians, including three women, seven children and several elderly men, died at Haditha, in Anbar province, on 19 November 2005.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6939337.stm 

putz's hyprocrisy is breathtaking.

There had been mounting speculation that President Pervez Musharraf was considering the move, after he called off a visit to Afghanistan.

Pakistan is facing an increasingly volatile security situation, as well as internal political problems.

Mr Bush also urged Gen Musharraf to act on intelligence on top terror suspects.

Mr Bush said the Pakistani leader shared Americans' concern about radicals and extremists.

'Committed to democracy'

Correspondents say the US has been pushing for the elections to go ahead as a way of strengthening the legitimacy of Gen Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999.

I have indicated to him that the American people would expect there to be swift action taken, if there's actionable intelligence on high-value targets inside his country
President Bush
Profile: President Musharraf Musharraf's dilemma

"My focus in terms of the domestic scene there is that he have a free and fair election and that's what we have been talking to him about and hopefully they will," Mr Bush said at a White House news conference.

A Pakistani government spokesman said there was pressure on Gen Musharraf to declare an emergency but that he had decided not to because he was "committed to democracy".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6939133.stm 

A truly great tenor whom I never had the privilege of hearing in person..only on TV.  What an amazing voice.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version

Hospital spokesman Alberto Greco confirmed the 71-year-old tenor had been admitted, but declined to comment on his treatment.

A spokesman said the star was admitted with a fever, and could "be released in the next few days".

Pavarotti pulled out of several concerts last year after undergoing surgery for pancreatic cancer.

A local newspaper reported that Pavarotti was diagnosed with pneumonia while on holiday with his family at a resort on the Adriatic seaside.

A spokesman for the Modena University Policlinico in northern Italy said Pavarotti was admitted on Wednesday - although earlier reports suggested he had entered the facility on Tuesday.

"He is currently under observation and his condition is satisfactory," said Gabriele Sorrentino.

New material

In June, Pavarotti's manager Terri Robson said the singer was busy recording a new album, adding that the collection of classical religious music would be released early next year.

In recent years he has been plagued with bad health.

In March 2005, he had neck surgery to repair two vertebrae, while a bout of laryngitis forced him to cancel an appearance at a Three Tenors concert in Mexico in June last year.

He also had back surgery and contracted an infection while in hospital, which forced him to cancel further concert dates.

Since making his debut in Italy in 1961, Pavarotti has become one of the world's most widely-recognised opera performers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6938313.stm 

I just received an email and all my friends on Moorea are OK.  It's only a 7 minute run between the two islands but those little planes have only one pilot...cause of crash is still unknown.

After my trip to Argentina this fall, I'm thinking of spending the *farm* (which I sold last fall) and going back to spend some time with my Tahitian friends on  Moorea.  So I'll be taking that little 7 minute flight, unless I go by catamaran across the Sea of Moons.  I am lonesome for my friends there and I love the island tho it's gotten a bit more pricey.  Years ago, I had a bungalow (fare) on the sea for $800 US/month.  Food was cheap from the sea or picked from the trees.  Those were fabulous days and these days with another incarnation are fabulous in a different way.

JOE BIDEN ON CHARLIE ROSE FOR THE HOUR TONITE - STARTING NOW

I'll say g'nite with this.

I'll take a mutt any day.

Interesting change in the margin  that puddle should like if they keep it. Nice to see the clock fixed. Race night tonite and so I have to get my mechanic to grab my truck before he loads his race car on the trailer because it is in a tow zone. no one hurt, so no big deal, I'm color blind so I won't be able to rewire the truck (the brake line rubbed against a hot wire and the short caused a fire right where two sub-harnesses meet so it will be tedious work to fix)

The hassle will cause me a few hours today.

nothing like a stock trader's hassle

there is a solid floor of support under the stock market on the charts about 800 points lower so I don't expect a true panic, as it would still be up for the year

bbl 

cash corn in the last year went from $1.89 to $4.24, back to $2.73, and now $3.04 so the stock market looks tame to me

I sold off the combine for $3.04, and just cleaned out one bin for the exact same price, but it was a wild ride in between

Good morning, everybody

Well, yes, we've been discussing authoritarian rule for a while here.  As I've said, obedience is attractive because when there's only one rule to follow, it's easy to be right--i.e. never wrong.  The human brain likes to be right.  It's its default condition.  Indeed, being wrong is upsetting to the whole organism.  One has to get used to being wrong.

But, looking over Hartman's essay, I was struck that I'd never thought of fascism as fascinating before.  "Fascism" is one of those words that's hard to remember how to spell (Nazi, too) that one tends to ignore its root meaning.  And then, of course, that the word is supposedly derived from a bundle of sticks which were used as a symbol of unity or power is also confusing.  Most people don't normally associate a bundle of sticks with strength though most children learn that a shieff of papers is much harder to rip than one sheet.

Anyway, I suddenly noticed that the German people were fascinated by Hilter and his cohorts, much as Americans are fascinated by Bush II.  Fascination doesn't necessarily imply approval or support or participation.  It's more like not being able to look away, ignore, or do anything about what's taken hold of one's senses.   Some people are more easily fascinated than others.  It's an immobilizing experience to which ADD types are perhaps less susceptible.  It also resembles coma.  You'll remember that in thinking about Norquist and his bathtub, it seemed obvious that to drown the government (the people) it would first have to be rendered comatose.

So, the next time you are tempted to become fixated on what outrage Bush Two will commit next, try to ignore and focus on what you have to do.  Getting progressives elected on the local level is a good distraction.  Which suggests we've made another mistake in thinking that Bush Two has been trying to distract the nation from what they're actually up to.  More to the point, they've been trying to distract the people from doing what they must to retain their freedom.  Every apparent outrage is another ploy to keep us from acting 

55.

The truth is that Iraqi insurgents are civilians.  Insurgents are citizens who refuse to accept the authority of those who presume to rule.  What the U.S. is doing is trying to eliminate the opponents of the government we have set up and which the Iraqi people were tricked into voting for.  They were tricked because their religious and tribal leaders were promised that the Constitution would soon be amended to take out onerous provisions and, on the basis of that promise, these leaders urged a positive vote.  Since then, the amendments have not been adequately considered or passed and the leaders have concluded that they were deceived.  And the deception has made them even more reluctant to go along with the agenda.

There's not much point in trying troops for murder when they've been told that everyone they encounter is an enemy. 

Seems the Human Rights Commission sponsored a forum which was only broadcast on LOGO.  Bluehamsphire had some live blogging, you might like to review

FRED from OR -

Hang in there.

This blog IMO is better thanks to your input here on various issues.

("it takes a (blog) village"..., [smile])

(there's a Team Rudy [supporters for Giuliani's prez campaign like Ben Stiller], well IMO maybe this place can be loosely called Team Dean ? -- the one Howard, who no longer is here but is here in spirit and here trhough his brother Jim, but still IMO is the glue that holds us ALL here, no matter how dissident from each other our views on certain subjects, and certain directions are)

(since the last time I posted this poll results, at 9137 responses, early yesterday, both Clinton and Edwards has lost a 1% each and Kucinich gained a 1%;

since the MSNBC poll [still open for voting] first was posted online 4 days ago, Clinton has fallen from a start of 27% to that of 18%, Edwards fallen from 32% to that of 24%, Obama risen from 19% to that of 26%, Kucinich risen from 13% to that of 16%):

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19679074/

Top poll

Vote

Which Democrat will best represent labor interests?" currently has 9652 responses:

Biden 4.1%

Clinton 18%

Dodd 0.8%

Edwards 24%

Kucinich 16%

Gravel 1.2%

Obama 26%

Richardson 8.6%

I see that my man Kucinich and Mike Gravel are the only presidential candidates with the courage to support gay marriage.

It's the law in all of Canada now, and guess what? No riots in the streets or people marrying their dogs.

The Ontario health minister married his (male) partner last weekend.

Sympathy and electrical healing vibes to the truck, Phil.  Believe I will look at my brake line routing sometime soon.   It's Iowa weekend for wife and me.  Knoxville tomorrow night, and state fair Sunday.  Got the Harkin invite, so we are looking for Gore shirts and bumper stickers.  Sure hope guest list changes to include Gravel and Kucinich. Corn market is totally wild.  Should go up due to flood, drought, and developing inhospitality of Great Plains/American Desert to spindly,water-grubbing, overhybridized greenery.   Driveby for now as work beckons.

SORRY FOR FIRING A BLANK!  

+++

stuff happens

I live in MA and it's the only state in the U.S. that allows for gay marriage.

We're doing fine here.

I supported Howard's run for president in 2004 even though he was not full throttle (ie. he supported gay civil unions) on everything I believe in (I also believe in strict gun control, Howard, from a more rural state like Vermont, was not so strict).

I'm doing so this time too (in fact the strict gun control, at least, is with the candidate I support -- Obama).

Sometimes half an apple, eventually gets you to the other half.

Now, I see in contrast to the the dems (Biden and Dodd were the only dems not to show up at last night's LGBT froum0 that the repub (who don't have/offer an apple at all) candidates ALL, including Romney, declined an invitation to a separate LGBT forum, so that forum will be cancelled.

typo - LGBT froum0

s/b - LGBT forum)

(warning - and I will not post any more animal "lions,tigers and bears" type videos again; I was just trying to mention something about teamwork, by employing that Battle at Kruger video Youtube link yesterday here, and yet I was the one who ended up learning the lesson about sensitivity to others and how my intentions might not be apparent to all -- posting that video I guess was me "firing a blank" and I'm sorry)

seashell wrote: Pavarotti has been admitted to hospital in his hometown of Modena in northern Italy.

Mr. Pavarotti, hope hope for a quick reocvery.


Ahhh, Modena. My grandma's sister and family were still living there as of a few years ago.

My Great Aunt in passed in recent years, but her family is still there.

Home of so many wonderful things. Besides Mr. Pavarotti, Lamborgini, Balamic Vinegar ...and of course to Italy, they make some fantastic truffles that are sold and labeled for clients around the world.

Yummmy. Mr. P, in the land you be, soon you will be buzzing around like a Bee. :)

Good morning all. Great pics of purple rain, Linda. Thanks for sharing.

Ah, Luciano - may he sing again. My father in law died of pancreatic cancer. Very sad that Pavarotti has it. One of my favorite Italian pop stars, Zucherro, penned a song years ago for Pavarotti to sing. Pavarotti told Zucherro to have Andrea Bocelli sing it because he thought Bocelli was better than him. Huge talent and modest.

Being we've been shouting so much about the broken clock. I thought I would give a shout out for a FIXED CLOCK.

YEAAHHHH HQ........Tic Toc, Tic Toc, so nice to have a working Clock!!!!!

fyi - new front thread

Yesterday Bush said taxpayers would not bail out the mortgage industry. Today the fed bailed out over 13 billion to banks to buy portfolios.

72.

Dodd sent his regrets and said he would answer all questions on his web site.

Personally, I think the "marriage" versus "civil unions" distinction is a bit silly, especially since "marriage" is a French word and its proponents claim to reject everything French.

I'd prefer "civil unions" on the off chance that the designation might actually make the participants in the union more civil.

On the other hand, perhaps what conservatives are actually objecting to is the word "union."  They don't much like "united" as in United Nations either.  Perhaps because union implies equality and equality is what they really disapprove of. 

Being French is less onerous than being equal.