howard and jim are first.

where is sheri driver?

the posts I see are kind of strange.

Where is Sheri Diver?

Also, does anyone know what happened to Michael Ware, the wonderful journalist who reported from Iraq on CNN? Has he been muzzled in the name of the surge?

Yes, Phil is very kind and patient and the way I go on about Iowa voters should embarrass me...and it does...so I'll just shut up and see what unfolds.

I still have a passport.  :-) 

Some people think this man should be prez.  Yikes!

January 1, 2008 at 19:24:05

New Year's Eve Arrests at Huckabee Headquarters

by Jayne Lyn Stahl     Page 1 of 1 page(s)

http://www.opednews.com
           

Tell A Friend

With only days to go before the Iowa caucuses, one Republican candidate is showing his stripes, Mike Huckabee. Yes, this former Baptist minister, and Arkansas governor, boy next door, Huckleberry Finn, who looks like a cross between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Stewart, as innocuous as a barfly, waited in his campaign bus across the street while three demonstrators, all in their 50's, were arrested for "criminal trespass" at his Iowa headquarters.

 According to a press release from the Catholic Peace Ministry, the protesters bore signs reading "Who Would Jesus Bomb?" called for an end to the war in Iraq, any other planned military adventure, as well as read from the Bible to bolster their argument for peace while they were carted off.

As they were transported to Polk County Jail, where they were charged, and later released, cheers rippled through the crowd of onlookers. Those apprehended by Des Moines finest were members of a group called SODaPOP (Seasons of Discontent: A Presidential Campaign) who, a few months ago, reportedly delivered a letter to Mr. Huckabee in which they requested his pledge to withdraw all troops from Iraq within three months of his presidency, as well as halt any plans for military action against Iran. Addditionally, they called for tax dollars currently being spent on combat to instead bolster the "infrastructure of the United States."

The three SODaPOP members gathered in the Huckabee campaign office, in Des Moines, merely to await a response to their letter to the presidential candidate, two months ago, which went unanswered.   If it all sounds surreal, or like something out of Saturday Night Live, guaranteed you won't feel that way in November, 2008, if Huckabee wins the election.  And, while that's not likely to happen, the fact that his campaign has made it as far as it has is something that would scare the hell out of anyone who considers themselves rational, let alone progressive.

 What a sad day it is, in America, when a presidential candidate has a tiny group of middle-aged protestors arrested, and charged, with criminally trespassing on his property. One wonders, too, if, upon election, Mr. Huckabee would also consider the White House his "property."  While the First Amendment guarantees "freedom of assembly," one hardly thinks that the framers conceived of things like You Tube, campaign headquarters, or the Grey Panthers, either, for that matter.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_jayne_ly_080101_new_year_s_eve_arres.htm 

This should come with a warning label.

*************In a surprise and apparently sudden decision Tuesday evening, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the hiring of a new Chief of Staff for her DC office.  The choice of someone without any experience on Capitol Hill surprised many observers, leading to speculation as to what changes Pelosi may have in store for the new year.

"Al Groh will be able to hit the ground running," Pelosi said in a statement.  "As head coach of the University of Virginia Cavaliers football team Groh has displayed exactly the decision making skills we need to turn this country around and head it in the right direction."Apparently basing her decision in large part on Groh's performance in Tuesday evening's Gator Bowl, Pelosi went on to detail what she found inspiring about Groh's work.  "Coach Groh saw an enormous lead for his team with only a few minutes remaining in the game," Pelosi said, "and he made the courageous and Democratic decision to play his freshman quarterback, a player who was completely unprepared for the game but who deserved a chance to be humiliated on national television.  The overconfidence that Groh exhibited in blowing his team's enormous lead reminded me immediately of the Democratic Congress under President Reagan and the decision not to push for impeachment over Iran-Contra.  That Congress showed maturity and restraint, well calculated to win the next elections when it became recognized by the American people.  The fact that the Republicans wiped the floor with us indicates only that the American people are a bunch of ignoramuses.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_david_sw_080101_pelosi_s_new_chief_o.htm 

Robert Weitzel: Philip Roth's "Our Gang:" A Satirical Purgative for the Last Seven Years Nothing can change these last seven years in the land of "liberty and justice for all," but Philip Roth's 1971 satirical masterpiece, "Our Gang" is a dose of "yeah, well take that" catharsis that will ease the way into the last 385 days of a difficult eight years. It is a book that needs to be read or reread . . . if you want to laugh instead of cry.

Grande Strategy: Pakistan: The Beginning of the Storm At GrandeStrategy, we believe that the fundamental battle taking place in Pakistan is between the secular and western-based educated pro-American elites, against the Islam-championing hard core religious types.

Bill Douglas: Renowned Physicist Joins 9/11 Coalition Advocating, the new novel, "The Shell Game" from best selling NY Times author (6 comments) Renowned Physicist Joins 9/11 Coalition Advocating, the new novel, "The Shell Game" from best selling NY Times author. Professor Steven Jones, then of Brigham Young University, became a force for truth when he studied the collapse of the World Trade Center's on 9/11 He found that the official story of 9/11, did not agree with the laws of physics. His research has found controlled demolition substances in WTC debris.

The E. F. Schumacher Society - An Economy of Peace "Buddhist Economics," Fritz Schumacher's classic essay widely understood as a call for an economics of peace. In the essay Schumacher imagines a multitude of vibrant, self-sufficient villages which, from their secure sense of community and place, work together in peace and cooperation.

****************

If ya ever get the chance, vote Buddhist!  :-) 

Putzco strategy is *divide and conquer."

The Politics of Dismemberment Dismemberment is a political tactic that can involve more than individuals. Spoken of as "partition" or "territorial and demographic adjustment," it can be used against an entire nation; just slice corpus from corpus, separate populations, separate lands, or build walls of separation. Made to seem as a means to diminish internecine conflict and provide a welcomed communal division, the breakup of nations has been a strategy.

I disagree.  it's a one party strangehold.

Joel S. Hirschhorn: David Brooks Almost Said Something Smart (4 comments) What I first thought smart was the statement that "some would rather remain in control of a party that losses than lose control of a party that wins." But then I started thinking. What both major parties really fear is a nominee for president that would actually work to overturn the political establishment by eliminating the two-party stranglehold.

Seize or disable?  That means troops and/or bombs, right? Putz has a whole year to start a nuke war..."Who could have imagined...?"

Special Forces On Standby Over Nuclear Threat US special forces snatch squads are on standby to seize or disable Pakistan's nuclear arsenal in the event of a collapse of government authority or the outbreak of civil war following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

The Benazir Bhutto dossier: ‘secret service was diverting US aid for fighting militants to rig the elections’ On the day she was assassinated, Benazir Bhutto was due to meet two senior American politicians to show them a confidential report alleging that Pakistan’s intelligence service was using US money to rig parliamentary elections, officials in her party said. Ms Bhutto was planning to share the contents of the report with the British Ambassador as well as the US lawmakers.

Privacy groups blast new passport technology 1/2

Uh oh.  Time for Boston Legal.

Peace. 

Edwards has hit a chord. but he did vote for the war or he would be running away with it

I can't accept that at face value. After all, Kerry and Edwards ran away with Iowa and the rest in 2004. And this time Hillary and Edwards combined are garnering 50% of Iowa. Most Dem voters seem willing to turn a blind eye to records they don't like if it suits them.

Yes, Phil is very kind and patient and the way I go on about Iowa voters should embarrass me...and it does...so I'll just shut up and see what unfolds.

I'll have to take up the slack.

In all fairness, Iowa Democrats are no different than the people of any state would be if they were made first and told they're the doorkeepers to the presidency and treated like overindulged children.

And it isn't even really the ordinary Democrats' fault that self serving politicians and self important politicos have saddled them with a cumbersome and byzantine caucus system that demands they come out in the evening and spend hours being hustled by political real estate salepeople just to select delegates to the county convention later -- which then selects delegates to district conventions -- when then send delegates to the state convention -- when then selects the people's delegates to the national convention.

Is it any wonder that only 124,000 Iowa Democrats turned out in 2004? You'd think with all that pampering they'd be eager to go to all that trouble for nothing.

The GOP process is just as screwed up; except that their ballots are secret (better) but non-binding (even worse).

"some would rather remain in control of a party that losses than lose control of a party that wins."

I've said as much before on this blog. It was amply demonstrated in 1972 and 2004 when the party establishment assassinated George McGovern's candidacy at the convention, and then attacked Howard Dean so viciously with  judgement slurs that had he won the nomination in spite of it, he would have been a non-contender against Bush. 

But it was was the Clinton Cabal, which wanted no Democrat to win in 2004 and upset Hillary's plans for this year. And, for the same reason, the Bush Mafia does not want a Republican to win this time around and threaten their control of the party machinery and Brother Jeb's plans for 2016.

For such people, political parties are their playthings and family heirlooms. Hopefully Dem voters will wise up and stop the Clintons now. 

where is sheri driver?

I don't know. But I noticed Sheri Diver's disappearance occurred shortly after she started posting threads which were openly critical of the DCDems. 

Well, sitka,  Sheri disappeared about mid October.    I wondered about it.  If the reason you give is right....then tell me good-bye right now.  I do criticize DC Dems.   It is about the first time someone has left DFA and they did not tell us why.  She was great, and really on the ball.

BTW....Justice Scalia thinks our government should be an instrument of God's vengeance.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1728

Video included from Theocracy Watch. 

The RW whackos project their own hatred and ugliness onto a god of their own understanding and creation.  Their god has to be just like them in order to justify their own militant repressive war-like behavior.

God always has to be on their side.

We are sliding fast into 11th century thinking and behaving. I don't think we can refer to the US as a civilized society anymore.

Is Sheri OK?  She hasn't been *disappeared* has she?  Now I'm concerned.

Annilow, check your DFA messages!

Nite All.

Well, I got hooked.   This is very chilling and plausible.

Since The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht is copyrighted 1999, it must have been written and put through the pre-print process before the 2000 election and therefore the book was ahead of its time as far offering fear mongering to the American public is concerned. The two authors warn readers: "When a life is imperiled or a dire situation is at hand, safe alternatives may not exist."

Since the book’s publication, the Bush Administration has brought fear and paranoia to a fever pitch in the United States, but, for someone who is really good at worrying, it seems possible that Piven, Borgenicht, Bush, Homeland Security, et al may have missed the biggest, baddest, most screwed-up possibility of them all.

Obama may indeed be drawing crowds to rallies (esp. young people--sound familiar)?

Colleges are still on break (not good, sans the "bodies" needed to vote--bumping up the calendar put the skids on turning out that particular demographic cohort group, for sure).

Oopsie.

...based upon "hope," of all outlandish silly notions.

Get a grip.

They're not regular "most likely to attend" Dem. caucus-goers (on a clear cold night, no less).

NOT good.

Politics is pragmatic as hell.

Nuts-n-bolts "how to" stuff.

http://tinyurl.com/3yujmz

Caucuses do suck.

However, states are too cheap (like mine) to appropriate taxpayers' funding (in order to hold primaries).

Our last primary was in 2000. Mucho larger statewide turnout (would be even higher now--we can vote absentee 5 weeks in advance), vs. what will happen this time (will be pathetically low--shitty candidates).

The primarily anti-war and anti-DLC base will NOT turn out in droves for this pack of spineless complicit fools.

Caucuses also need freakin' conveners, so towns which don't have one=people can't vote (even if they *do* show up). Very important in rural states (if your statewide org sucks, watch things tank at the county & municipal levels).

One of ME's smallest rural towns during the '04 caucus is a married couple (I know them personally). They were the only two Democrats who showed up (small towns=very "red" in Maine).

The wife "convened" the caucus (legitimately)--she's also the town's official Registrar of Voters; and that meant one delegate to the state convention for Howard). No horse-trading nonsense.

Done. Poof. 10 min., tops. I still chuckle over it.

That's the type of caucus conveners we were shooting for in '04; and it's why Howard did as well as he did up here (with not one damned ad from Burlington HQ, mind you). 30 below zero, to boot.

26%, dammit. More than commendable. We beat the piss out of that pathetic primary charadein WI , BTW.

http://tinyurl.com/3892sb


It's a state-by-state issue (legislature/appropriations dichotomy).

Ranting about it won't change things.

Bill Gardner isn't about to change NH's Constitution & statutes, folks. Nada. Big $$$$ at stake for IA & NH's economies.

At the national level, start replacing the DNC's Caucus Rules & Bylaws committee members...again--too late for that, also.

As the candidates & their staffers become tired and ugly this week--anything can happen.

Crapshoot.

A.B.H.

Happy Day after New Year's to all here!

Had to run the car to the garage in the wee hours this am and loved making it to the garage in 15 minutes. Ordinarily, traffic makes the run at least a half hour at best, 45 min to an hour at worst. But today is still a holiday here for most ... not the garage though!

Actually, the Christmas season does not officially end here until 6 January (Epiphany or Twelfth Night). So most schools will not begin again until next week, which is another reason for the reduced traffic.

It's not just candidates and their staffs becoming tired and ugly, sea. I am linking to Nance Greggs' latest *rant.* She tries to remind us gently that WE are supposed to be on the same side and, despite our druthers, that side must be anyone but a Rethug (ABaR) for this election.

Like it or not, I'm afraid that is the only option in the current political realities. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for a Gore draft (and that he'll accept one), but if that doesn't happen, and it looks less likely by the day, I have no choice but to vote for the Dem nominee. Granted that I like some candidates much better than others, but I can live with ANY one of them over ANY Rethug alternative, even though none of the current candidates will ever have my heart or my passion.

========================
Cover My Back, Boys - I'm Goin' In ...

What a way to start the New Year – posting something that is bound to make me incredibly unpopular. But sometimes you just have to speak up – and for me, this is one of those times.

Believe me, I do not go gently into this good night, nor do I venture into this blackened landscape unadvisedly – thanks to Santa, I have a brand-new asbestos suit, and I'm wearing it tonight.

It is apparent from the posts here of late that we have truly impassioned supporters of our various Democratic presidential candidates. They are, for the most part, true Democratic patriots who see in their candidate someone who is reflective of their ideal choice for the next president of the United States.

They state the case for their chosen candidate with enthusiasm; they cite the accomplishments of their candidate in the past, and point to the facts that tend to show their candidate’s ability to lead in the future.

However, there are others.

“(My candidate) is the ONLY choice!” No, last time I checked, your candidate was not the only choice, but one of many. That’s the way the system works (or should work). It’s called democracy in action – ever heard of it?

“I can’t understand how anyone could support (candidate’s name here).” I’m sure you can’t – in the same way others can’t understand how you can support your candidate. See how that works?

[...]
What set me off on this little rant was a post here tonight – and in keeping with DU rules as well as political etiquette, I will not name names – a discussion thread implying that two current Democratic candidates will jam the caucus phone lines of a Democratic competitor.

When we start accusing fellow Democrats of utilizing illegal and immoral Republican tricks, I think certain people here have crossed the line. In fact, I have no hesitation in stating that such baseless accusations are truly reprehensible.

I applaud all of the unwavering support that many of my fellow DUers have demonstrated for their candidate-of-choice. In most instances, such enthusiasm is born of a true belief that their candidate has shown himself/herself to be more than worthy of consideration for the most important position in the country, and at a time when the right choice may determine the fate of our nation in a very uncertain future.

[...]
http://www.democraticunderground.com/dis...

And speaking of intra-party, even intro-familial, rivalries, here's one from the Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

It's worth remembering that these guys don't just take verbal shots.

We haven't yet deteriorated quite that far. But if putzCo had their wishes, we could still.

=======================
Family rivalries surface to tear at Benazir's legacy
· Son should not have been made party leader, says clan chief
· Feudal lord intervenes in the wake of assassination
Declan Walsh in Mirpur Bhutto
Wednesday January 2, 2008
Guardian

Mumtaz Bhutto sat back on the cool marble veranda of his sprawling country mansion in rural Sindh province. A guard brandishing a Kalashnikov stood behind him. A servant fanned the chocolate cake on the table to keep the flies at bay. He was dismayed.

The rise of Asif Zardari, Benazir Bhutto's husband, to the leadership of the Pakistan People's party, was nothing less than a disaster, said Mumtaz, the sprightly 74-year-old head of the Bhutto clan.

"Zardari is an illiterate man. He has no political background or experience. He will not be able to conduct himself as the same level as Benazir," he said with barely concealed disdain. "Most unfortunate."

Family feuds are never pretty but for the Bhuttos, Pakistan's dominant political dynasty, they are played out with the same intensity that characterises the rest of the family's Greek tragedy-style history.

As Pakistan's opposition has fractured, so Bhutto's family has been rent asunder by discord. There are several rival wings, mostly defined in terms of support or opposition to Benazir. Now that she is dead, though, that may be about to change.

Mumtaz Bhutto fell out with Benazir more than 15 years ago. He said she had led the PPP astray; she said he was jealous of her power. His house is just six miles from Benazir's Naudero home, but the last time they met was in 1995. "It was a lunch in Islamabad. We didn't agree on anything," he recalled.

Mumtaz retreated to start his own political party from his elegant home amid the salt-encrusted fields. But it won little support, so he concentrated on his duties as an old-style feudal lord. Critics call him a relic of another age.

[...]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,33192...

Yeeargh! ... should be *intra-familial* Sheesh!

There are very bad things happening in Kenya right now as a result of disputed elections.

Democracy is not a panacea, especially when there is nothing to prevent democratic elections from being stolen.

putzCo have set a very bad example for the very cause that they pretend to promote. Credibility is a terrible thing to lose.

==================
Britain and US call for compromise to end Kenya riots
Matthew Weaver and agencies
Wednesday January 2, 2008
Guardian Unlimited

Kenyan leaders on all sides must call on their followers to end the violence that has hit the country since Sunday's disputed presidential vote, Britain and the United States said today in a joint statement.

The foreign secretary, David Miliband, and his US counterpart, Condoleezza Rice, said their immediate priorities were to support a political compromise in Kenya and to find a way to stop the bloodshed that has claimed more than 275 lives.

Their joint statement noted "there are independent reports of serious irregularities in the counting process".

But it said the immediate focus should be on a political compromise between opposition leader Raila Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki, who was inaugurated for a second term on Sunday after a vote alleged to have been rigged.

Miliband pointed out there were allegations of voting irregularities on both sides. "We don't know who won," he insisted in an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"There is a responsibility on both sides to ensure that the political process is maintained." He said both Kibaki and Odinga "need to reach out and find common ground".

Yesterday Odinga rejected a plea by Gordon Brown to negotiate with Kibaki, saying he would only do so if Kibaki acknowledged that he had lost the election.

[...]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,33192...

Thanks to Monica for posting the very sad statistics about the ongoing despair that we are bringing to the people of Iraq.

5 million orphans due to us. Our illegal invasion and occupation looks more like genocide.

And here are new statistics to add to the macabre death toll.

===================
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
36 Dead in Baghdad Bombing;
23,000 Civilians Killed in 07;

After having celebrated New Year's Eve in style for the first time since 2002, Baghdad awoke on the first of the year to bad news. In a signature tactic of the Salafi Jihadis in Iraq, a suicide bomber detonated his payload at a Shiite commemoration for the departed in Zayouna, a mixed neighborhood of east Baghdad, killing 36 and wounding dozens.

[...]
http://www.juancole.com/2008/01/36-dead-...

Omigosh, this sounds as bad as the horrors from Rwanda! Let the West please not again underestimate the capacity for evil, once its horrors are well and truly unleashed.

===========================
80 children massacred in Kenyan church
By Steve Bloomfield in Nairobi
Published: 02 January 2008

Kenya edged closer to tribal warfare last night after more than 100 people – at least 80 of them children – burned to death as the church they had fled to for refuge was set alight. More than 200 people, mainly Kikuyus, the same tribe as President Mwai Kibaki, were sheltering for safety in the Kenya Assemblies of God church five miles outside Eldoret in the Rift Valley. An armed gang of young men drawn from the Kalenjin, Luhya and Luo tribes – ethnic groups which backed the beaten presidential candidate Raila Odinga – stormed the church compound yesterday morning and set it alight.

Joseph Karanja, a volunteer for the Kenya Red Cross, who arrived at the scene in the afternoon, said he counted scores of bodies. "They were piled up, on top of each other". He said at least 80 of the dead were children. "You could see from the size of their heads and bodies they were kids.

[...]
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/afri...

Obviously, the world *illegal* has lost any meaning whatsoever as applied to Israeli actions against Palestinians.

Just another of the daily outrages ...

===================
The Great Divide: Israel's forbidden road
It runs straight through the heart of the occupied West Bank, but Palestinians are not permitted even to set foot on the asphalt their ancestors laid. Donald Macintyre reports from Beit Sira
Published: 02 January 2008

It's just after dusk on Route 443, where the heavy northbound traffic from Jerusalem decelerates as it approaches the Maccabim checkpoint. The Israeli commuters, impatient to get home to Tel Aviv or the dormitory town of Modiin, have no idea that in the darkness to the left of the four-lane highway, everyday scenes are unfolding that tell their own story about this land and the conflict that has scarred it for 40 years.

We are in a side road, the one that drivers used to take if they were heading for Beit Sira and the other West Bank villages beyond it, until the Israeli military closed the entrance to cars with two rows of solid concrete blocks. Beyond them, you can just make out the distinctive green and white Palestinian number plates of some 30 parked cars belonging to the very small minority of Palestinians here who have a coveted permit to work in Israel. The labourers are on their way home after a day that may have begun as early as 3.30am to allow time to queue at the checkpoint in time to start jobs paying around £12 per day net of permit and travel costs.

[...]
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/midd...

On the much-needed lighter side ...

===================
Bizarre experiments: Why did they do that?
From glowing cats to Teflon frogs, scientists carried out some bizarre experiments last year. Simon Usborne finds out what, exactly, they were trying to prove
Published: 02 January 2008

Why study kangaroo farts?

Until recently, we may have thought that the most interesting things about kangaroos were their mean left hooks and, in the case of Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, their ability to rescue lost children from the wilds of Australia.

But, thanks to research carried out in Queensland for the past four years, and released last month, the marsupial's cleverest trick is its ability to produce environmentally friendly farts. Researchers have isolated the bacteria in the stomach lining of kangaroos that means their farts contain no methane, a greenhouse gas far more damaging than carbon dioxide.

[...]
http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/a...

Good morning, everybody

I am too ignorant to understand the story of Groh.  LOL

http://www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.aspx?id=19845 

an essay not to be missed.  Of course, i've been teiling you that the 

problem with the news is the script.  But, the networks having been 

taken over by people supposedly focused on the bottom line provide

evidence that corporate enterprise is what has lost its focus in that

profit has been replaced by stability, which is supported by 

monopoly and longevity, rather than innovation.  And, in a sense,

stability rears up as a force that is resistant to change.  And change,

of course, is a constant.  Which means that stability is illusiory. 

Other bizarre experiments include the following:

If you wonder why ... jump on in and read.

=================
What's the point of a glow-in-the-dark cat?

[...]
Why give worms antidepressants?

[...]
Why map the genome for the fungus that causes Dandruff?

[...]
Why produce robotic snot?

[...]
http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/a...

35.  Which reminds me of the story the spouse read yesterday about the hypothesis that the reason third world children have a better immune system is because the intestinal worms from which they suffer destroy the bacteria we treat with antibiotics that make the bugs more resistant.

Not necessarily good news for the USD because US debt stands at an all-time high, thanks primarily to the black hole of Iraq and the deliberate wreckage of the USG by putzCo.

=================
Euro gains more ground in global battle for supremacy
By John Lichfield in Paris
Published: 02 January 2008

Five years after its appearance in European wallets, the euro has gained new ground, territorially and symbolically.

The pound – albeit the Cypriot pound – joined the euro yesterday, along with the Maltese lira, taking the number of countries using the single European currency to 15. At least four eastern European countries are expected to join in the near future.

At the same time, the much-derided euro is gaining new ground as a global reserve currency. According to the International Monetary Fund, the euro's share of the world's foreign exchange holdings has risen to a new peak of 26.4 per cent – two percentage points up on the end of 2006. The value of the euro has been hitting new highs against the dollar and threatens to break the $1.50 barrier in the first weeks of this year. European officials believe that the still largely unloved currency has now become a significant, and permanent, global rival to the once unchallenged greenback.

During 2007, the total value of all euro notes in circulation in the word exceeded those of dollar bills for the first time. The euro also overtook the dollar as the principal currency for issues of international debt.

[...]
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/art...

38.

What a thought ... importing third-world intestinal bugs to treat our own ailments after we have destroyed our built-in immune systems ... LOL!

It's just nutty enough to be something that may have to happen.

34.  This road closure business in Palestine should serve as a warning of the wet dream of any autocratic state--that the movement of the population can be totally regulated and controlled. Indeed, traffic control signals are a component. 

2008 = the Year of the Chinese ...

and more waning of US influence and prestige.

Thanks again, putzCo.

=====================
2008: The year a new superpower is born
By Cahal Milmo
Published: 01 January 2008
Here comes the world's newest superpower. The rest of the world is gloomily contemplating economic slowdown and even recession. Not in Beijing. China is set to make 2008 the year it asserts its status as a global colossus by flexing frightening economic muscle on international markets, enjoying unprecedented levels of domestic consumption and showcasing itself to a watching world with a glittering £20bn Olympic Games.

The world's most populous nation will mark the next 12 months with a coming-of-age party that will confirm its transformation in three decades from one of the poorest countries of the 20th century into the globe's third-largest economy, its hungriest (and most polluting) consumer and the engine room of economic growth.

Once regarded at best as a sporting also-ran, China is widely tipped to top the medals table in the Beijing Olympics in August, an event in which the country's leadership is investing huge importance and prestige.

[...]
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia...

It is interesting to see how the Security Council reacts when the USG supports a state's head of government (Pakistan) as opposed to how the Council acts when the USG doesn't support a state's head of government (Syria).

The different standards are being noticed.

I just heard recently from a friend who deals with textbooks for international schools abroad that the school administrations are requesting that books that too openly espouse US solutions and US POV be weeded out of the offerings, particularly insofar as history and social studies are concerned. The teachers are refusing to use them, finding them either too limited, too politically biased, or even wrong in light of the facts on the ground.

How far we have fallen and so fast! It may take generations to repair the damage, if it is even capable of being repaired.

===============
POLITICS: A Tribunal for Bhutto?
Analysis by Haider Rizvi

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 1 (IPS) - When former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri died in a bomb blast in February 2005, the United Nations Security Council immediately passed a resolution calling for the establishment of an international tribunal to investigate his murder.

The question arises if the world body would do the same to probe the assassination of popular Pakistani leader and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto? The possibility may not be ruled out. However, it depends on how the international players in the Security Council respond to the calls for an international inquiry.

On Dec. 27, within hours of Bhutto's murder, the 15-member U.N. Security Council called an emergency meeting deploring her assassination and underlining the need to bring "perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors" of the crime to justice.

But the fact that in its presidential statement, the Council described the fatal attack on Bhutto as "an act of terrorism" has raised many eyebrows, because it indirectly supports the Pakistan government, which in the eyes of Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is the prime suspect.

[...]
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=4...

Hi Judy,  You know it's struck me as strange that "change" which is, after all, a constant should be on offer from our political candidates and I decided that this is one of those offer to do something that can't be done or doesn't need doing ploys where failure won't come as a surprise because it's expected.  

But now I'm thinking that they're on to something to the extent that change (albeit a constant) is the opposite of stability (the goal of the neo-cons), which is, of course, entirely unrealistic and, when properly understood, as unwelcome as "security."  Which raises the question how a nation that sprang out of change and technological innovation has suddenly become fixated on stability.  

Which raises another question in my mind about the conservative attitude of the majority of African Americans.  The African American community is not welcoming of change.  In that sense, Clarence Thomas is very representative.  As are Barack Obama's social attitudes.  He says he's for change, as does Hillary Clinton, and I don't believe either of them.

Well, IMHO, it should look grim and lonely. It would make me even happier if I knew that 2008 would be cut short altogether for putz by an impeachment process fo prick, at least, with the future prospect of a war crimes trial.

Of course, even without an impeachment process since too many *powerful* DC Dems are such wimps (not all, I acknowledge, and all my admiration for those who are not), the propect of a future war crimes trials for these war criminals is not an impossible one.

=================
CHALLENGES 2007-2008: Bush’s Twilight Year Looks Grim
Analysis by Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Dec 30 (IPS) - If the last days of 2007 are any indication, U.S. President George W. Bush’s last year in office is shaping up as grim and lonely.

Grim, because Bush’s signature "war on terror" is nowhere near the kind of "victory" on which he had placed so much hope. Hundreds of billions of dollars from the U.S. Treasury have been spent, but the democratic transformation of the Middle East and the wider Islamic world has not materialised.

Indeed, while Bush’s Surge strategy has helped reduce violence in Iraq over the past year, his top military commanders stress that the relative peace that has been achieved to date is fragile and that prospects for national reconciliation -- the Surge’s political goal -- remain dim.

Meanwhile, victory in the larger terror effort is nowhere in sight, as this week’s assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, helped illustrate.

Grim, because the economic news -- which has generally remained upbeat over Bush’s tenure -- has turned decidedly negative in recent months. The chances that his successor may inherit a recession, as well as the many foreign-policy fiascos created by the disastrous combination of the administration’s ideological rigidity and incompetence, are growing steadily.

Lonely, not only because of the departure during the past year of virtually all of his closest and most long-standing loyalists -- Dan Barlett, Karen Hughes, Harriet Miers, Alberto Gonzales, and Karl Rove -- but also because he is seen increasingly as both a lame duck and an albatross around the necks of his party’s candidates.

[...]
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=4...

I'm not sure that I believe either as well, Monica, but what I find even more striking is whether or not even THEY believe what they say. It is sad when candidates mouth platitudes for the sake of it, or simply because they perceive that what they say will get them elected whether they believe it or not.

Who is more responsible for this, I wonder, because to a certain extent, their perceptions are true?

Clarence Thomas has always sent chills up and down my spine. What a traitor he has been to blacks ... he is the very antithesis of the truly wonderful Thurgood Marshall, whose work was one reason that Thomas even made it to the *majors* so to speak.

Marshall believed in civil rights for all. Thomas believes in civil rights only for those who toady to him.

Just another failure to lay a putzCo's door ...

====================
Bhutto's death a blow to 'war on terror'
By M K Bhadrakumar

The German weekly Der Spiegel reported in mid-December that at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Allied Joint Force Command in Brunssum, the Netherlands, and at NATO military headquarters in Mons, Belgium, top-secret strategy games have been held about worst-case scenarios in Afghanistan.

That may turn out to be smart forward thinking. The computer simulations assumed that if the situation in Pakistan were to spin out of control, the Taliban would get a free run on the border regions with Afghanistan, and NATO's supply lines through Pakistan might be jeopardized.

In November, USA Today quoted Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell as saying that the US military was reviewing contingency plans in case unrest in Pakistan began to affect the flow of supplies for American troops fighting in Afghanistan. He underscored that the supply lines were "very real areas of concern", since three-quarters of the supplies for the 26,000-strong US military deployment in Afghanistan flowed via Pakistan by land and air. "Clearly, we do not like the situation we find ourselves in right now," Morrell commented.

[...]
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/...

What should be really worrying about China is that they've taken the principles of capitalism and achieved a signal societal revolution at the same time that the supposed proto-type economy, ours, is taking a dive.  The reason, I would submit is that while China has been loosening social controls, the U.S. has been trying to tighten them, validating the perception that the historic antagonism towards the common ownership of resources and productive assets and centralized direction were objects of jealousy, rather than rejection.  The U.S. elites wanted what they thought the politburo had achieved and have been working over-time to copy that pattern under the umbrella of the "private" corporation--the "public" corporation having become an unattractive organization because of the need to be responsive to public input and direction.  So, we've got two epic antagonisms here.  We've got the elite versus the equal and we've got stability versus change.  What's interesting is that in each case the perception of the relationship depends on the direction  from which it is viewed. Stability perceives change to be a threat.  Change perceives stability as a part of itself.The elite perceive the equal as a threat.  Egalitarians couldn't care less about the elite since they see them as no different from themselves.  There are people in the U.S. who see China as an antagonist, claiming things that the U.S. wants.  I don't think China considers the U.S. as an antagonist but, rather, as an entity to emulate.  Is it a matter of perspective or prejudice? 

Here are some VERY scary scenarios that I sincerely hope to God NEVER play out.

But all are plausible, given the two countries in question. AIPAC's RW controllers may yet destroy us all.

==================
Sneak peek at a desert Armageddon
By David Isenberg

WASHINGTON - Millions of words have been written about Iran's nuclear program and how terrible it will be for not only the Persian Gulf and Middle East regions, but the entire world, if it obtains nuclear weapons. But there has been one underlying question that nobody has asked, let alone answered; namely, what would actually happen if there was a nuclear war between Iran and another country?

Perhaps the monumental destruction that would accompany any nuclear exchange helps explain people's reluctance to discuss that scenario. Yet during the Cold War people not only discussed
it but a veritable industry was built around parsing the literal fallout if deterrence should fail. Indeed, it was Herman Kahn, who founded the Hudson Institute, who in 1965 wrote the book On Escalation, which included an escalation ladder, whose final and 44th step was "spasm or insensate war".

In a somewhat similar spirit, a recently released briefing has been making waves. Compiled by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), it explored a series of conflict scenarios, such as Iran vs Israel, Iran vs the United States and Syria vs Israel. The conflicts are assumed to take place between 2010 and 2020.

The briefing is turning heads because it was written by Anthony Cordesman, who was a former director of intelligence assessment in the US Secretary of Defense office. He also holds the Arleigh A Burke chair in strategy at CSIS and has done numerous assessments of the Persian Gulf and the Middle East.

[...]
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East...

Insightful comments about China, Monica, IMO. They can be applied generally to many countries who thought of the US generally as a paradigm, until several began to make tweaks in the protoype, e.g., the EU, where, among other things, "public" corporations remain fairly accountable and people, after watching warily the US experience with "private" corporations, have limited the scope of such generally. Since the advent of the unmitigated disaster that is putzCo, more and more are considering the EU model as the one to emulate and China is not unresponsive to this either.

I believe that both perspective and prejudice play factors, although perspective may be a dominant factor in some instances and prejudice a dominant factor in others. There is also timing, history, culture and the impact of world events, especially in the military and economic sectors. Nothing exists in a vacuum.

This has been a fun interlude, but I do have a few things that I must finish up today.

Have good ones, all!

49.  Cordesman has never impressed me.  His speaking voice and demeanor work well on camera and make him persuasive, but his ideas leave me cold.

There's a good reason why nuclear war is not being discussed in its particulars.  The people in the Persian Gulf region are convinced that they've already been subject to one because of the contamination that's being spread from the depleted uranium.  Assertions that the stuff isn't deadly are belied by the fact that metals from the battlefield in Iraq being recycled in the countries of Asia have been identified as causing illness in the workers who handle the stuff.

There have been reports that one of the problems associated with removing the U.S. from Iraq is that all of the materielle will have to be shrink-wrapped for transport back to the U.S.  The official explanation is that the region's pests need to be isolated, lest they be introduced in the U.S.  An equally important reason is that DU contamination needs to be dealt with according to hazmat standards.

There are so many things the U.S. government can't do at home that it's been doing overseas!  The U.S. government is a nest of law breakers.  And that, btw, is nothing new.  What's new is that we now do have mechanisms to hold government officials accountable--and not just be removing them from office. 

Monica Smith
Wed, 01/02/08

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

you have made John Edwards' basic argument in a nutshell with that post. I'm surprised you aren't backing him.

the main argument that resonates on the street for a Muslim bomb is that Israel already has them

few things have caused more long range damage to our chances for propping up moderate forces than our green lighting of India to crank out nukes because that brings in China more strongly on behalf of Pakistan to militarize as Muslims

we're all in this together:

http://www.chooseourpresident2008.com/dodd1.jpg

http://www.chooseourpresident2008.com/obama1.jpg

http://www.chooseourpresident2008.com/kucinich1.jpg

http://www.chooseourpresident2008.com/gravel1.jpg

http://www.chooseourpresident2008.com/edwards1.jpg

http://www.chooseourpresident2008.com/richardson1.jpg

http://www.chooseourpresident2008.com/clinton1.jpg

http://www.chooseourpresident2008.com/biden1.jpg

I'm glad I'm a dem in this presidential election cycle

I don't know  (maybe I'm biased) but it just seems like our side has a better set of candidates to select from, than the other side.

Dare say it ?

Ok, I will -- I feel sorry for repub voters this cycle (slim pickings).

 The U.S. elites wanted what they thought the politburo had achieved and have been working over-time to copy that pattern under the umbrella of the "private" corporation--the "public" corporation having become an unattractive organization because of the need to be responsive to public input and direction.  So, we've got two epic antagonisms here.  We've got the elite versus the equal and we've got stability versus change.  What's interesting is that in each case the perception of the relationship depends on the direction  from which it is viewed. Stability perceives change to be a threat.  Change perceives stability as a part of itself.The elite perceive the equal as a threat.  Egalitarians couldn't care less about the elite since they see them as no different from themselves.

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

The basic premise I am operating on is that the status quo is unacceptable. Most people are go along get along types and as such have become beasts of burden.

 Sure global corporatists can work with China, and sure they can drag our currency down to a articficially low level to try and out manipulate a central government not playing from the same rule book

ordinary folks understand they are getting the shaft because the result is $100 oil and mortgage payments that can't be met

When you fail to defend your currency you have failed as a central government.

Bushco has failed every single test it has faced.

worst ever

no doubt

Three people who I admire greatly for the work they have done since they left political office:

Jimmy Carter (Habitat for Humanity, etc.)

Al Gore (an Inconvenient Truth documentary on global warming, etc.)

Joe Kennedy (Citizens for Energy, etc.):

http://www.citizensenergy.com/main/Home.html

Citizens Energy Corporation exists to help make
life's basic needs more accessible and affordable.
At the same time, Citizens Energy seeks to use
market opportunities to help the poor and needy.

typo - Citizens for Energy

s/b - Citizens Energy

http://www.altoonaherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080102/NEWS09/801020363

Obama draws heavy crowds

By JASON CLAYWORTH
REGISTER STAFF WRITER

Sioux City, Ia. - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama drew heavy crowds at campaign events Tuesday, attracting so many people at one event that hundreds were moved to an overflow room.

"It looks like we just might do this thing," Obama said to applause before a crowd of more than 500 people at Irving Elementary School in Sioux City, where roughly 200 more people had to watch the Illinois senator from an overflow room.

Obama in the past 10 months has, generally, attracted hefty crowds. Depending upon the venue, most have been between 300 to 500 people.

But, in the past few days, most of the crowds have become move visibly crowded and more enthusiastic.

At his last stop of 2007 in Ames on Monday, for example, roughly 1,000 people waited more than an hour for the senator to show up. They gave thunderous applause when a supporter announced the results of a Des Moines Register poll that indicates he is the Democratic presidential front-runner.

"Who would have thunk it?" Obama said to a roaring crowd.

On Tuesday, roughly 1,000 Obama supporters rallied at a canvass kick-off event in Des Moines, hundreds amassing to knock on doors in frigid single-digit weather.

The event marked one of the final last pushes for support, roughly 55 hours before the Iowa caucuses were to begin.

Energy levels were high.

...

West Des Moines residents Beth Claypool and her boyfriend Tim Flynn remained undecided Tuesday morning but attended the Des Moines rally, largely to experience the excitement of the event since they've already heard Obama's stump speech, Claypool said.

Both are considering supporting Obama or Clinton. They also like Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

"It's an exciting race," Flynn said

...

sunlight wrote "you say that [1] Edwards and Kucinich were not sympathetic to each other? And [2] what were Kucinich's misdeeds? Gee, I don't get it. [3] He supported Edwards and not Dean? So now he supports Obama... meaning what? Just curious, [4] why do you address 'former' as Ivan?"

To reiterate, in response to vb who used Kucinich's instructions to his Iowa supporters as an occasion to complain about the horsetrading that goes on among caucus candidates, I said that I didn't begrudge Kucinich or anyone else, in principle, the right to steer cacus goers towards a second candidate he or she viewed as having a similar views on issues.  I pointed out, however, that Kucinich foolishly schemed to give Edwards, a co-sponsor of the Senate authorization, his nonviable votes instead of Dean, who opposed the war from the outset. 

Kucinich is not stupid.  According to Phil, he opted for Edwards in Iowa out of spite for the treatment he got from Dean, believing that Dean regarded him as the nonfactor he was.  That's why I referred to his deal with the Edwards campaign as his misdeeds.  Because I feel that Obama's platform mirrors in material respect the platform Dean was promoting in 2004, and that the Edwards candidacy is little more than a fraudulent marketing scheme, I said that it's possible Kucinich has learned his lesson this year from 2004, meaning that as a general proposition, Dean's and Obama's postitions on issues resemble Kucinich's more than Edwards' positions do,

I call former Ivan because that's his name.

Linda wrote "Half the country didn't not want to vote for Mr. Gore and he won the popular vote, along with the Electoral."

I'm not knowledgeable about what half the country didn't not want to do with their vote in 2000 but I do know that of the total votes cast, slightly over 48% were for Gore.  I don't recall any comments by Obama disputing that, or even regarding whether Gore won the popular or electoral vote.

mainefem wrote "Obama may indeed be drawing crowds to rallies (esp. young people--sound familiar)?....based upon "hope," of all outlandish silly notions. Get a grip."

"Based upon hope."  Ha ha. Obama is a dumbass.  We'll fix his wagon.

fyi - new front thread

65. Sure Tom...I'm sure you remember what Obama said.

""I don't want to go into the next election starting off with half the country already not wanting to vote for Democrats," said Obama, as reported by ABC. "We've done that in 2004 and 2000. 47 percent of the country on one side, 47 percent of the country on the other...We don't need another one of those elections."

67. And Tom...Obama may not like it, or want it, but there are simply some people that won't vote for him, but to attack esteemed Democrats on a false fact, to try to make excuses why he is so Republican lite, at their (Al Gore) expense, is WRONG and bad form.

Linda quoted Obama: "'I don't want to go into the next election starting off with half the country already not wanting to vote for Democrats,' said Obama, as reported by ABC. 'We've done that in 2004 and 2000. 47 percent of the country on one side, 47 percent of the country on the other...We don't need another one of those elections.'"

Can you clarify what it is your objecting to?  Is it the percentage of votes won by the 2000 and 2004 candidates?  What esteemed Democrats were attacked and how?