This just might work.

WooT!

Bill Nelson says he will never give up his campaign and crusade against Dean and the DNC.  He sent an email saying that and has a petition up at his website.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1496

He says he will keep fighting as long as it takes. 

I despise him with every ounce of my being.   I was going to call his office today, but my hubby said wait until I calmed down.  

He never cared about the soldiers,  he only cares about being first and being the winner. Like a schoolyard bully.  I hate that man.

88. Previous thread -- thanks for breaking up the trouble in our sandbox Sherri :~)

G'night all I think.

http://johnedwards.com/watch/iraq-address/

John responds to
President Bush

floridagal, thanks for keeping us informed on the fla sitiation.

Senator Bill Nelson, does he really think this helps him? He barely made re-election, but I guess that's the point, he doesn't have to worry about his constituents for a long time. So he'll be a rabid attack dog.

Funny, he's not even trying to claim any reason that he should still get the delegates for breaking the rules and the calendar, and how it would reck the entire election, besides just saying, WE STILL WANT THEM. Yeah, great.

Obviously he doesn't hold principle, law and ethics in high regard......gee, who else does this sound like?

Thanks for your #4, Annilow.

>

Hi folks,

It has come to my attention that some inappropriate remarks have been made recently on the blog. I think now  is a good time to go back and review the DFA Terms of Service that we all signed onto when we joined DFA:

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/tos

I know that it often gets challenging to be civil when in the midst of passionate political discourse, but I would remind everyone to uphold the highest standards since as a member you are a representative of Democracy for America. Blog for America is one of the first places people go to determine whether to join Democracy for America and when you write offensive language on the blog, it sullies the organization, yourself and all who read it.

Thanks,

Sheri

Night, folks.

I can't believe Nelson is waging this war (with Howard essentially). Sheesh.
-----
Didn't watch Bush - don't have the stomach for that war criminal.
-----

I saw a lovely bumper sticker today in the Fairhaven section of Bellingham --
*Give 'em hell Howard*. Gotta love all Deaniacs. I'm feeling so nostalgic now. None of the current Dem contenders move me like Howard did/does. Sigh...

I  didn't know there were 37 coalition countries in Iraq.  Where have I been?  This man needs to be removed for being INSANE.

I like many things about Biden and I think he belongs in a GORE cabinet. 

Edwards threw down the gauntlet to Clinton and Obama.   He has nothing to lose and hopefully this will catapault him into first place..if Iowa is really wanting out of Iraq.....while putzie catapaults the propaganda. 

I fell asleep during the first sentence and woke up to "God bless America."  Loved Keith afterwards.

So putz is like the miser who wants to take all his worldly possessions with him to the grave, wanting to make sure the war continues ad infinitum.  Someone please explain why a  dem prez couldn't bring the troops home.  Will putz be signing a pledge with his mirror putz in Baghdad sorta like a signing statement that must be upheld?

 He's clinically insane.

If the dems buy this,....but then, why should they make waves now?  Bought and paid for compliments of our "special relationships." 

Uh oh, this can't be good

Petraeus Expressed Desire for Presidency
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091307A.shtml
Patrick Cockburn of the Independent reports, "The US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, expressed long-term interest in running for the US presidency when he was stationed in Baghdad, according to a senior Iraqi official who knew him at that time."

Here's the word count on Bush speech

Al Qaida - 12 times

Victory - 0 times

That tells the story. Great job, Mr. President.

We need some love and hope that such different spirits can love one another.  I hope this doesn't break the blog.

Comments (14)

The 12-week-old macaque - who was abandoned by his mother - was close to death when it was rescued on Neilingding Island, in Goangdong Province.

After being taken to an animal hospital his health began to improve but he seemed spiritless - until he developed a friendship with a white pigeon.

Scroll down for more...

The macaque nestles his head against his feathered friend

The blossoming relationship helped to revive the macaque who has developed a new lease of life, say staff at the sanctuary.

Now the unlikely duo are never far from each other's side, but they aren't the only ones to strike up an unusual friendship.

Earlier this year a pig adopted a tiger cub and raised him along with her piglets because his mother couldn't feed him.

And in 2005 a baby dear named Mi-Lu befriended lurcher Geoffrey at the Knowsley Animal Park in Merseyside after she was rejected by her mother.

Thanks,

Sheri

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excellent. Thanks for the reminder. Let's keep it civil and be respectful of each other. We're a community....

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-09-13-military-donors_N.htm?csp=34

Posted 3h 51m ago

Both top a new list of presidential candidates receiving campaign contributions from people who work for the four branches of the military and National Guard, according to a study released Thursday by the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Obama, an Illinois senator, brought in more donations from this group than any White House contender from either party. The Democrat announced Wednesday his plan to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2008.

Paul, a Texas congressman and the only GOP presidential hopeful who supports an immediate troop withdrawal, comes in second.

"Paul and Obama are talking straight to soldiers, and what they are saying is resonating," said Larnell Exum, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, who gave $500 to Obama.

...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-09-13-military-donors_N.htm?csp=34

(cont)

...

In 2004, military personnel contributed $1.2 million to presidential and congressional candidates, the center said. This year, those donations are about $200,000.

The analysis also found that military personnel have shifted their donations. In 2002, the center said Democrats received 23% of contributions from military workers; Republicans got 77%. This year, 40% of their donations have gone to Democrats running for Congress and president. The GOP got 59%.

The donation patterns "would suggest that those who wear the uniform want change," said Joe Davis, spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Bruce Altschuler, a political scientist at the State University of New York at Oswego and a Vietnam veteran, said, "The whole country has been shifting to Democrats, and the military, in some ways, is a microcosm of society."

...

Howard and Jim Dean are more first every day.

Edwards threw down the gauntlet to Clinton and Obama.

As a WarDem, Edwards only has a gauntlet of hypocrisy. 

He has nothing to lose and hopefully this will catapault him into first place..

And even if Edwards is sincerely against his own record, I can't respect politicians who only tell the truth when they have nothing to lose. 

If the dems buy this,....but then, why should they make waves now?  Bought and paid for compliments of our "special relationships." 

They will certainly make a big show of not buying it before signing another mortgage. 

Hey mary! That's great about the bumper sticker. That must have mad you feel right at home.

_________________________________

13 seashell, very touching.

a natural animal instinct, including us, touch and expression.

Al Qaida - 12 times

Can't help but believe Bush has drawn all the water there is from that well. 

.........(the sound of sucking wind).............


night all.

Seashell...

Have you ever heard what the procedure is for dealing with someone occupying the Presidency who is delusional and appears to be losing it. We shouldn't ever have to be hostage like this again. If there are no provisions, seems like we need to figure out some for the future.

Have you ever heard what the procedure is for dealing with someone occupying the Presidency who is delusional and appears to be losing it.

Amendment 25 - Presidential Disability and Succession

Audrey and everyone.

We need a provision that allows congress or we the people to force any critter to undergo psychiartric evaluation when asked for; especially the prez, vp and cabinet members.  

How can we get this done and then start with putz?  I'm surprised the Founders didn't think of mental illness.........

I'm surprised the Founders didn't think of mental illness.........

They never imagined Congress would be insane enough to legislate away their own powers and turn presidents into virtual emperors, if not dictators. 

maryvb #9:    After  i finished the post -speech vomit mopping, i dug around in the big living room cabinet and found my ":Give 'em Hell, Howard" button.   Perfect to wear at  the Harkin Steak Thing sunday.   The current candidate class would make a great, great cabinet, but this country really needs a great, great Pres.   We may have to draft one.   Gimme a name or 2.

I know that it often gets challenging to be civil when in the midst of passionate political discourse,

==============
The political discourse does not have to be very passionate for some people to make slanderous, humiliating remarks without much thought.

bush gave the dems an opening in prolonging the exit into the next administration.  chuck schumer and the dems must ratchet up the pressure on the vulnerable repubs up for re-election.  run ads in their home states while tightening the screws in washington. 

***********

sid blumenthal's piece on salon.com discusses the offer by the sunnis in anbar to end the violence about two years ago.  the brits advised bush to take it.  he refused.  i want to know how many american troops died in anbar in the two years.  to die for a commander's obstinance is crushing.  i don't know how those families can stand it.

This is a little off topic; but does anyone know what ever became of Monica Lewinsky? Is she hanging out somewhere with Steve Bartman?

The political discourse does not have to be very passionate for some people to make slanderous, humiliating remarks without much thought.

Agreed. Only one person comes to mind though -- and that's who Sheri was talking to.

but does anyone know what ever became of Monica Lewinsky?

We've been distracted by too many things of lesser importance to care. 

sid blumenthal's piece on salon.com discusses the offer by the sunnis in anbar to end the violence about two years ago.

In view of the assassination of their leader yesterday, they obviously aren't in a position to end the violence.  Bush has wandered down another dead end street.

4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Unfortunately, this does not address mental/emotional illnes.

Like I said, we need a provision fast.

30.

Sitka

Agreed. Only one person comes to mind though -- and that's who Sheri was talking to
====================

Just a coincidence you should respond? You are always the instigator. Next time will be your turn - just keep up the bad-mouthing.

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide,

In other words, It's Cheney's call. We're screwed. 

Back to impeachment. 

Whatever, FRED.

I don't need to plead my case to the blog ad nauseum, so carry on.

29.

john nelson

This is a little off topic; but does anyone know what ever became of Monica Lewinsky?
=======================

Guaranteed to hear about her if Hillary gets the nomination.

36.

Sitka

I don't need to plead my case to the blog ad nauseum, so carry on

============
No, but anybody who interferes with the sacred "out now" mantra, with any kind of diversity, is immediately labeled a heretic according to your faith.

Just saw Sen. Reid's response to Bush. He nailed Bushboy's hide to the wall. And Democrats couldn't have chosen a better spokesperson that a former officer who didn't vote with Bush in 2002.

anybody who interferes with the sacred "out now" mantra, with any kind of diversity, is immediately labeled a heretic according to your faith.

"Heretic" is FRED's term, not mine. I hold anyone who voted with Bush in 2002 to be "discredited."  I hold anyone who wants to leave any number of US troops in Iraq indefinitely to be "dead wrong."

Guaranteed to hear about her if Hillary gets the nomination.

Considering how Hillary's popularity shot up because of Monica back in 1998, Hill just might invite Mona to campaign with her. 

OK, I think I learned how to do this...from my camera.  It's shot thru a screen window but I love the 2 *kissing* finches.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p120/seashell_08/IMG_0107-1.gif 

Great work, Sea! If that's a first effort I can't wait to see what's coming with practice.

But I can't post the photo directly to here for some reason and it's driving my crazy cuz I can post photos from the web directly, just not from my camera.  :-(

OMG, it posted.  Last night it wouldn't!  hum.....

Thanks, Sitka, but what are you complimenting?  The ability to post or  :-) the shot itself? 

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide,

It's the "or"

Huh???

"Then ask two of your friends to join the President and pressure Congress to follow through and start bringing the troops home. With the President on our side, we can finally start to put Iraq behind us.

Thank you, Mr. President for finally supporting the troops."

Charles Chamberlain
Political Director

I know you must mean well, probably speaking tongue-in-cheek (please God tell me this guy is joking)...

Not even republicans here in this deeeeep dark red corner of noflippin' where think the pResident is gonna bring the troops home. That is frankly an ignorant statement.
Do you remember the last four years?
Cake walk?
Self-funded reconstruction?
Stand-up, stand-down?
100 ready to take charge Iraqi divisions?
Purple fingers? yiipppeeeee!

Not a chance in hell are we buying that this pResident is a partner in anything but disaster covered generously with death.
Perhaps VT is toooo far away from the funerals of our soldiers to really understand what is going on. Our finest, and yes brave sons and daughters are still being slaughtered for the muse of an idiot.

National interest, or regional influence, or stabilize the ME my big ole butt.

... you are kidding, aren't you?!?
p.s. about as funny as smushed kittens in the driveway, bud.

40.

Sitka

I hold anyone who voted with Bush in 2002 to be "discredited." I hold anyone who wants to leave any number of US troops in Iraq indefinitely to be "dead wrong."

=============
You can hold your opinions dear to your heart, but you have no right to denigrate everyone who doesn't share your beliefs, as being accomplice to the neocons, and that is exactly what you do.

You say it as a formally established "fact." It is not your preogative to convict people as such based on the criteria of your own opinion.

You have no right to insult and denigrate good people like that with your self-righteous indignation.

Thanks, Sitka, but what are you complimenting?  The ability to post or  :-) the shot itself?

Everything. Shooting through the screen gives it a surreal effect as if it were pixelated (is that a word?) 

Some people never learn -- or at least one on this blog doesn't.

Keep pleading away to a jury that has seen it all with their own eyes.

dear derF,

I gave Sitka my authorization to oppose the b.s. that is spewed here by blathering minions of the war machine, just like Biden gave the pResident carte blance to go kill folk innocent of threatening our nation.

He's doing a great job. He makes me proud!
Why isn't Biden proud?

This guy/girl? was peeking in at Dante,my cat. 

This guy/girl? was peeking in at Dante,my cat

It's funny how cheeky squirrels can be. 

I gave Sitka my authorization....

And I didn't even have to feed you lies for you to use as an excuse. 

It is really boring even exchanging only one round with this character. He is soooo like one other, i'm starting to be convinced it is the same psycopathic personality, dredged up yet again

... and equally as ineffective. hmmmm

OK, this is the last for now since dial ups are slow.  This is a photoshop creation from several years ago. The colors are much bright than the photo here shows.   I switched their heads.

I can't bear to do D&G tonight so I'm off to read and meditate and watch Stewart.

bbl for a bit 

I switched their heads.

I'll probably be embarrased by this, but I'd think the one on the left is Dick Cheney -- if I had ever seen him smile. And the one on the right -- Chelsea Clinton? 

Thank You, Mr. President by Charles Chamberlain

... we can do better than THAT!

My thoughts are that Nancy Pelosi would make an excellent President, heck for even 12 or 13 months.
All that needs to be done is, as Dennis says, is not give the boyking a single bill to veto. This raving maniac doesn't need even one more rock for his slingshot.
Let the cr@p hit the fan, watch him unravel. Let's see him be the fundraiser-in-chief for money from his oil and pharma buddies for the next 150 million dollars till next August.
Does anyone think that will happen?
Will the 'support the troops' crowd step in with gift money to the treasury?
OR will they say, well, elections matter, no political capital left - the jig is up?( i'm guessing this one, turn-abouts-fair-play... no?)
How about a deal with the insurgents and al Sadr to not shoot away at hordes of C130's getting our folk the heck out of there?
Then Congress can fund the Iraqi to reconstruct the disaster.
It's funny that other countries can swiftly evict a monster at their helm.
We claim to have that wonderful system that is responsive to the people. Right now nearly 95 per cent of non-republicans, and 30 percent of republicans would be in favor of Bush and Cheney retiring early.
Congress needs to represent, now!!

oops that should be 150 billion dollars

3.

floridagal .

So sad. They've embarrassed themselves.


"Half of the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm. But the harm does not interest them."--T.S. Eliot

Deaniac - re: "...Perhaps VT is toooo far away from the funerals of our soldiers to really understand what is going on. Our finest, and yes brave sons and daughters are still being slaughtered for the muse of an idiot."

I hope you were being tongue in cheek - Vermont has lost the most in this war per capita of any state in the union. we aren't too far away, we're in the middle of it. our latest group of Guards are sniffing out IEDs on the roadsides. have a little respect, huh? just cause we're way up here by Canada doesn't mean we're not 'engaged' with what's happening. the funerals hurt us just as much as any Georgian, my dear.

nighty night, Deaniac. please don't piss on Vermont, unless of course you have good reason and some facts to back it up. do you truly think we aren't suffering this along with the rest of the nation? do you truly think Vermonters have their heads in the sand on this war?

My thoughts are that Nancy Pelosi would make an excellent President, heck for even 12 or 13 months.

I used to think that -- or hope it. In the past few months I've come to wonder if she isn't a perfect example of the Peter Principle -- rising to the level of one's incompetence.  As president would she get punked by the GOP and her own Demoblicans even more than now?

Did anyone see the author on Stewart who wrote "The Merchant of Death?"  To quote Stewart, "Thank you, Reagan."

Sitka, the 2 switched heads are of dancing friends of mine.  :-) 

just to edify (not sure why I can't just scroll a slander on Vermont!)

Remarks Of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.),
Families Of The “Vermont Fallen” Go To Washington
Senate Floor
July 12, 2007

This week, the Senate is again engaged in an intense debate about one the most pivotal issues facing our Nation and its families right now – the ongoing war in Iraq. There is great division in the country and in the Congress on many of these issues. But we remain united in support and appreciation of our troops, and their families and friends here at home.

The Nation shares the sorrow and grief over the loss of so many fine Americans in war. Our military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have come at the cost of precious American lives.

And no one knows that pain more than those loved ones left behind -- the spouses, the parents, the sons and the daughters who are left to pick up the pieces. A gaping hole of unimaginable proportions opens with each and every one of these family losses.

Families in Vermont have gone through more than their share of the pain. Vermont has suffered the highest-per-capita casualty rate of any state in the Nation during these ongoing operations. We are a state of just over 600,000, and many of our state’s sons and daughters are part of the Vermont National Guard, the Reserves, and of the active duty forces. Twenty-six service-members with Vermont ties have given their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And behind the names of those Vermonters are dozens of families and hundreds of friends facing that all-to-real and perhaps unknowable loss.

Earlier this year, dedicated students at Vermont’s Norwich University produced a documentary about these families coping with the loss of their loved ones. Titled “Vermont Fallen,” their film documents how many of these family members have reacted and have tried to cope.

In the darkest and saddest of times, this project has helped a new Vermont family to emerge, brought together by community screenings of the film. They have been able since then to turn to each others for comfort.

The Norwich students’ project has offered a glimpse into the searing and highly personal grief and mourning that have touched thousands of American families and scores of American communities, across Vermont and across the country. They have produced a tribute that speaks directly to each human heart.

more...
http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200707/071...

<>Sitka, the 2 switched heads are of dancing friends of mine.  :-)

<>Please tell your female friend for me that she has a smile to die for. 

(But please don't tell the guy that I said he resembles Dick Cheney -- if Cheney was a human, that is.)

hi sea - good photos - I love nature shots, especially of little critters and birds. looks like your feeder is busy!

Sitka - I thought that was Cheney, too and if he looks that much like him, he must have heard it before! what a horrible thing it must be to be a Cheney look-alike in this day and age...

As president would she get punked by the GOP and her own Demoblicans even more than now?

That's also something that should be asked of all the current candidates. Which among them will stand for what is right and which will go along to get along with Republicans and Demoblicans while betraying the people who voted them into office?

Here's some of the skinny on the Merchant of Death.  Bill Clinton and Feingold good (in this area) ....putzie bad bad bad.  Pelosi knows how corrupt putz is and yet does nothing.

News: For the war effort in Iraq, the Bush administration has hired at least one company tied to the network of Victor Bout, one of the world's most notorious arms traffickers.

By Michael Scherer

September 20, 2004


The War as They Saw It
The U.S. government has for years kept in its sights one of the world’s most notorious arms traffickers, Victor Bout. Known on both sides of the Atlantic as the "merchant of death," Bout has been implicated in running guns and missiles to combatants across the world, from the Taliban and Northern Alliance in Afghanistan to the UNITA rebels of Angola and the teen-age army of Liberia’s former tyrant, Charles Taylor. He has been blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury from doing any business in the United States, faces an arrest warrant for money laundering in Belgium, and was aggressively pursued by the Clinton administration. "We were trying to take him out of business," says Witney Schneidman, an Africa expert who worked in the State Department at the time.

But now the Bush administration has hired at least one company tied to Bout's network for the war effort in Iraq. Records obtained by Mother Jones show that as recently as August, Air Bas, a company tied to Bout and his associates, was flying charter missions under contract with the U.S. military in Iraq. Air Bas is overseen by Victor Bout’s brother, Serguei, and his long-time business manager, Richard Chichakli, an accountant living in Texas; in the past, payments for Air Bas have gone to a Kazakh company that the United Nations identifies as "a front for the leasing operations of Victor Bout’s aircraft."

Concerns about Bout’s work for the United States date back to May, when Senator Russ Feingold asked the Pentagon and the State Department to scour their files for any evidence of contracts with companies tied to Bout. An inquiry conducted by the State Department found, according to a State Department source, that "there were allegations that raised our concerns, and we shared those concerns with the Department of Defense." Months later, however, the Pentagon has yet to respond, and officials there would not say whether they are looking into the State Department’s concerns.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2004/09/09_413.html 

Oh please spare me this tripe.  So she gives the finger to our Constitution.  No surprises there

Hillary's Prayer: Senator Clinton's Religion and Politics
For 15 years, Hillary Clinton has been part of a secretive religious group that seeks to bring Jesus back to Capitol Hill. Is she triangulating—or living her faith?

Welcome to the 6th century of humanism.

School of Shock
Eight states are sending autistic, mentally retarded, and emotionally troubled kids to a facility that punishes them with painful electric shocks. How many times do you have to zap a child before it's torture?

Knowledge is  power and we can bet that the powers that be want to keep us ignorant and separated.

*****************
The End of the Internet?

Jeff Chester
    
    
The nation's largest telephone and cable companies are crafting an alarming set of strategies that would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online.

Verizon, Comcast, Bell South and other communications giants are developing strategies that would track and store information on our every move in cyberspace in a vast data-collection and marketing system, the scope of which could rival the National Security Agency. According to white papers now being circulated in the cable, telephone and telecommunications industries, those with the deepest pockets--corporations, special-interest groups and major advertisers--would get preferred treatment. Content from these providers would have first priority on our computer and television screens, while information seen as undesirable, such as peer-to-peer communications, could be relegated to a slow lane or simply shut out.

Under the plans they are considering, all of us--from content providers to individual users--would pay more to surf online, stream videos or even send e-mail. Industry planners are mulling new subscription plans that would further limit the online experience, establishing "platinum," "gold" and "silver" levels of Internet access that would set limits on the number of downloads, media streams or even e-mail messages that could be sent or received.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060213/chester 

New York state investigators filed a blistering report that made the place sound like a high school version of Abu Ghraib.

It's what I was thinking as I read and then there it was. Bush's torture chambers have entered the vernacular alongside "gulag". 

Rob Richie | As California Republicans seek to game the dysfunctional Electoral College, a campaign is rising to establish a national popular vote.

And now I must to bed.   

a campaign is rising to establish a national popular vote.

It's ironic that the "little" states are the ones most opposed to a popular vote, but it is they who are most ignored under the electoral college.

The parties love the college system not just because it allows them to pull off the kind of fraud JFK and GWB are certain to have stolen elections doing, but it allows them to focus resources on a handful of larger states that are "in play" while simply flying over the smaller ones whether they are or not.

If the whole country and every vote were equal the candidates would have to campaign in all, or almost all, of them. 

Well, I always have to do a PS, don't I?  Perhaps we'll find out that god is a banana..a very good Mayan banana.  LOL

The hidden content in ancient works could be illuminated by a light source 10 billion times brighter than the Sun.

The technique employs Britain's new facility, the Diamond synchrotron, and could be used on works such as the Dead Sea Scrolls or musical scores by Bach.

Intense light beams will enable scientists to uncover the text in scrolls and books without having to open - and potentially damage - them.

The research was presented at the British Association science festival.

Iron gall ink, which is made from oak apples, has been in use from the 12th Century, but causes parchment to deteriorate rendering precious documents unreadable.

There are some parts of the Dead Sea scrolls which have not been unrolled
Professor Tim Wess Both paper and parchment - thinly stretched skins from cows, sheep or goats - contain collagen, which reacts with iron ink to become gelatine.

When dry, gelatine is very brittle; but as soon as it gets wet, it turns into jelly, destroying some documents if they are disturbed.

Unrolling the scroll

Now, scientists from the University of Cardiff have developed a technique that uses a powerful X-ray source to create a three-dimensional image of an iron-inked document.

The team then applies a computer algorithm to separate the image into the different layers of parchment, in effect using the program to unroll the scroll.

Would it be so difficult to give us an edit or delete button?  Here's the URL.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6991893.stm 

Good morning, everybody

I thought we were going to thank him for proving that it really doesn't take all those expensive people to run the United States.  One guy can do it all.  Hail to the Leader!!!

The only problem for Republicans is that in not admitting he was wrong, Bush Two is not following the script.  The role of the leader is to accept all responsibility for error so nobody else has to be wrong.  If the leader doesn't do that, somebody else is going to be blamed for what's obviously wrong and that's going to generate a whole lot of uncertainty in the ranks--people who's main purpose in being Republicans is to enjoy the certainty of being right.  No wonder the base is searching for another leader.

Newt Gingrich, btw, won't do.  He's talking about choices and change already.  That's enough to turn the Republican base off. 

79.  There, you've done it.  Mentioned the magic word--equal.  Equality is always better in theory.  Most people don't want to be equal.  Equality just isn't attractive to people who've been burdened with an inferiority complex that they're desperately trying to overcome.

BTW, this logo is really easy to copy.  I'm going to put it on Hannah.  Good job, whoever designed that! 

off to breakfast with Jim Webb. What u gonna do now Jim?

well not personally, maybe 500 people and me and Jim and my friends, well not that many friends, maybe one.

ok later.

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3177

Media Misrepresent Dems' Options on Iraq War
Confusing 'can't' and 'won't'

The problem with all these accounts is that Congress does not have to pass legislation to bring an end to the war in Iraq--it simply has to block passage of any bill that would continue to fund the war. This requires not 67 or 60 Senate votes, or even 51, but just 41--the number of senators needed to maintain a filibuster and prevent a bill from coming up for a vote. In other words, the Democrats have more than enough votes to end the Iraq War--if they choose to do so.

The Democratic leadership may believe--rightly or wrongly--that such a strategy would entail unacceptable political costs. But that's very different from being unable to affect policy. To insist, as many media outlets have, that the Constitution makes it impossible for Congress to stop the war obscures the actual choices facing the nation--by confusing "can't" with "won't."

THE KOOLAID IS BEING SERVED

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Editorial/201219/

Comes September, the long-awaited "Month of Decision" on the Iraq war, and all parties with a career stake in the outcome have swung into action. Pretty, perky Katie Couric took her “CBS Evening News” program to Iraq, and who turned up ? Why President Bush ! What a coincidence that America’s least popular president and lowest-rated TV news anchor showed up simultaneously at a U. S. air base in convenient Anbar province. Next Bush jetted off to Sydney, bragging that the U. S. is “kicking ass” before gravely thanking Australia’s prime minister for visiting “Austrian” troops in Mesopotamia. Pure showbiz magic ! Walking in Baghdad with Gen. David Petraeus, Couric displayed the journalistic rigor of a cheerleader interviewing the football captain. She all but asked to feel his muscles. Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported that the Dora Market, where Petraeus escorts visiting celebrities on flak-jacketed tours before whisking them off to dine on lobster tortellini and steak at the U. S. Embassy, is basically a U. S.-financed movie set patrolled by heavily armored Humvees and kept in business by $ 2, 500 cash grants to shopkeepers.

Serving a surf- ’n’ -turf special in the Iraqi desert may eventually symbolize the entire doomed enterprise.

Al Gore joins Emmy parade
His Current TV earns its first nomination

Gore, who was a presenter at the Grammys (he used the occasion to round up talent for the Live Earth concerts) and attended the Oscars as part of the team behind winning doc "An Inconvenient Truth," said the Emmy nom for Current "is an exciting recognition of the quality of user-generated content and the quality of the work of the people who are making this network hum every day."

Current TV launched Aug. 1, 2005, after Gore and Hyatt, along with an investment team, bought the Canadian news network Newsworld Intl. for a reported $70 million. Defying the expectations of many observers, who assumed that they would launch a progressive alternative to Fox News, they created a network of eclectic programming in so-called pods, short segments often less than 10 minutes in duration, touching on everything from student loan practices to the crystal meth crisis to International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

At times, the channel's programming can resemble a film festival of short subjects. In the recent mix, for example, was a segment on architect Santiago Calatrava and a viewer-submitted piece on the Kibera slums in Nairobi.

About one-third of the programming comes from viewers who submit their shorts and see them posted online for viewers to vote on what they want to see on air.

There was skepticism that such a network could succeed, but some validation has come with the rise of YouTube and, more importantly, with TV news outlets like ABC News and CNN calling for their own citizen-generated video. Most new cable nets try to achieve traction with a few signature programs or personalities, but Gore and Hyatt said that they have not been tempted to adopt more traditional formats, like a 30-minute network-style newscast.

"Rather than us trying to be like them, we are sometimes tempted to be flattered that they are trying to be like us," Gore said.

..."That gets to our core vision. Most of what you see at the boundary of television and the Internet involves TV programming cannibalized for the Internet," Gore said. "We have actually reversed the flow by using the Internet as part of our core production infrastructure in order to connect to the thousands of young creators of our content who are able to send programming to us."

http://www.variety.com/awardcentral_arti...

Have the pancakes linda b :)

MORFORD ON IRAQ

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2007/09/14/notes091407.DTL&nl=fix

We are, of course, mostly fighting against ourselves.

It must be repeated every so often, just as a painful, necessary, ego-tweaking reminder: Iraq was never a war. Not really, not in any sense that mattered or that we could actually define and understand or to which we could truly submit ourselves or our national identity.

There was never any coherent, justifiable heroic cause. Indeed, the truth about Iraq, as evidenced by Gen. David Petreaus' muted, bleak testimony before Congress just this week, is much more simple, nefarious, pathetic. Iraq is, was, and forever will be our very own massive strategic blunder, a failed land grab for position and power in a tinderbox region defined by furious instability and corruption and death.

It's the great unspoken subtext. Iraq has always been a war between our dueling national identities, a battle over how we are to move and breathe and behave in the new millennium. Are we really this violently paranoid bully, this rogue pre-emptive screw-em-all ideological war machine defined by the dystopian Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld vision of permanent, ongoing global conflict?

Or do we try, instead, to move forward and reinvent ourselves over and over again as the world's most commited, forceful peacekeeper, ever striving for balance and cooperation and tact, even in the face of hardship and fundamentalist rage, refusing to be taunted and dragged down lest we take the bait and lose our minds and engage in torture and misprision and ultraviolence and become little better, ideologically speaking, than our taunters? Have we already made our choice?

 We all know the current reality: We are not safer. We are not better off in any measurable way. We are not stronger or more unified or prouder or more respected or healthier or wealthier or wiser and we have done exactly zero to stem the flood of radical Islam or the general outpouring of global disgust at what America has become under this president. This is our scar. This is our great American shame.

AL GORE: Highlights from Jan 16 Speech at Constitution Hall.

Maybe we should send this video clip to every member in Congress.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6bMDaX14...

I should clarify, Jan 16 2006

Is voting to go to war in Iraq a laughing matter ?:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/09/13/maher-asks-clinton-why-_n_64242.html

fyi - new Front thread

Petraeus Betray US.

What is ''Success'' to soldiers ? - Can One Tribe make friends with another tribe using GUNS ?

What is ''Winning'' to a lying, invading murderer ?

King George's British Soldiers did NOT write the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.

King George's British Soldiers can only DESTROY what the PEOPLE wish to create.

Bush lied to his underfunded slaves, and sacrificed our father's country for oil profits.

George Bush's definition of ''winning'' is the same a King George's, in 1776.

... To OWN the labor , the people , and the resources.