To the people, Dean is first.

I'll go tell the other thread.

And with this, I'm off to bed.

Hi, spirit of Judy!  :-)

Goose down pillows and rain pattering against the panes.  

Life is good. 

Forgot to post this.

This just has to stop.  Even a DLC dem would stop this.  And prolly a blue dog too.

**************************** 

http://www.opednews.com
           
Yassin Aref's Struggle for Justice in Police State America - by Stephen Lendman

Yassin Aref is a 37 year old Albany, New York resident and one of many Muslim victims of police state justice in post-9/11 America. They've been hunted down, rounded up, held in detention, kept in isolation, denied bail, restricted in their right to counsel, tried on secret evidence and trumped-up charges, then incarcerated as political prisoners or deported to where they face possible arrest and torture.


Because of his faith and ethnicity, Aref was victimized by US "justice" in a post-9/11 climate of fear. He's an Iraqi Kurd who emigrated to the US as a UN refugee in 1999 with his wife and three young children. He's now in federal prison but committed no crime. He's also the author of a poignant memoir/autobiography titled "Son of Mountains: My Life as a Kurd and a Terror Suspect." He wrote it in custody at Troy, New York's Rensselaer County Jail after his wrongful conviction in October 2006.
 

Darn tidbits keep jumping out.  LOL

MOBILIZING TO SAVE CIVILIZATION We have reached a fork in the road to the future. In his new book, Lester Brown shows us that major economic change is inevitable. We can choose to stamp out poverty, prevent run- away global warming and invest in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and ecological restoration. Or we can pursue business as usual and watch civilization unravel.

You won't believe this.  We need to overturn 95% of critters to stop this.  Caligula speaks from the grave.

Bush "Envious" Of Soldiers Serving "Romantic" Mission In Afghanistan "I must say, I'm a little envious," Bush said. "If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed. It must be exciting for you ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks." AWOL Chickenhawk Bush Longing for War? FMD

Shipyard workers organize to stop 21st century slavery right here in Bush USA The shipyard workers – who are from India – have filed a class action suit against Signal International, a marine fabrication company; recruiters in India and the United States; and a New Orleans immigration lawyer, Malvern Burnett; accusing them of forced labor, human trafficking, fraud and civil rights violations. The suit charges that in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, more than 500 Indian men were trafficked into...

Hi & bye, sea! Pleasant dreams.

***********
I am sorry to see that the BFA circular firing squad is continuing in full force.

Rove must be chortling away.

***********
Almost pathetically trying to stay relevant after he sold his soul to putzCo, poodle is now trying a new venture. Laudable as the cause may be, his success rate since he sold his soul is not all that enviable.

Too little and too late ... if he were serious, he would be working with Al Gore.

But I seriously do wish anyone well with this topic.

=================
Blair to lead campaign on climate changeAct urgently or global warming will be irreversible, former PM warns
Patrick Wintour
The Guardian, Friday March 14 2008

Tony Blair is to lead a new international team to tackle the intractable problem of securing a global deal on climate change which would have the backing of China and America.

The former prime minister believes he can help prepare a blueprint for an agreement to cut carbon emissions by 50% by 2050, and has the backing of the White House, the UN and Europe, including Gordon Brown.

He told the Guardian he has been working on the project with a group of climate change experts since he left office last summer, and will publish an interim report to the G8 group of industrialised nations this summer.

[...]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/...

Carolyn Baker: FOOD, FUEL, AND FASCISM: THEIR ELECTION OR YOUR LIFE? No candidate running for president has the slightest interest in talking rationally or honestly about these issues with the American people, but all three would be delighted to take action to lock down the nation, ration food and fuel, and continue empire's quest for the last drops of oil on the planet by any means necessary.

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

"Some say that economic depressions don't affect the poor because they are already poor, but I'm certain that a black mother in the projects who can now give her kids only two meals a day will become acutely aware, as will her children, when she can only give them one.

Yet, amid what is unfolding in front of us, I receive emails from readers who tell me that they are quite sure that somehow Obama is our hope and that if we just get the right leadership, things will turn around. I hear talk at the checkout counters of "all recessions eventually end" and "we just have to ride it out." I wonder what these individuals will be doing one year from now. I wonder how they will eat, where they will be living, what will get them up in the morning, and whether they'll be able to sleep at night. And as the hollow, trite, tired clichés assault my eardrums, I see and hear Richard Heinberg reporting soberly and assertively in "The End Of Suburbia" that we will soon enter "a recession that never ends." I also hear Matt Simmons telling us that oil is still too cheap, and I ponder his recent interview on CNBC forecasting $378 a barrel. I recall overhearing a man last summer saying, "Gasoline is now three dollars a gallon. What's happening to this world?" I wonder where the man is now; I wonder if he'll still be around for $378 a barrel."

Looks like sea is still here, LOL.

**************
Medieval or enlightened response? That is the question.

===============
US city plans moat to keep out migrants· Yuma goes back to basics as hostility to fences grows
· Environmentalists back plan for Mexican border
Dan Glaister in Los Angeles
The Guardian, Friday March 14 2008 Article history

There have been virtual fences, real fences, increased patrols and night-vision cameras. Now the latest initiative by the US to seal its increasingly porous border with Mexico harks back to one of the oldest approaches: dig a moat. City officials in Yuma, in south-western Arizona, have come up with a scheme to create a "security channel" along the nearby border by reviving a derelict two-mile stretch of the Colorado river.

"The moats that I've seen circled the castle and allowed you to protect yourself, and that's kind of what we're looking at here," Yuma county sheriff Ralph Ogden told the Associated Press. The scheme would see engineers dig out a two-mile stretch of a 180-hectare (440-acre) wetland known as Hunters Hole.

Once a haven to anglers, ducks and the Cocopah Indians, the area is now a thicket of tamarisk, forgotten shoes and old cars providing cover for smugglers and border crossers. But under the plan, all that would change. The banks of the river would be replanted with native cattail, bulrush and mesquite, and wells would supply water to the wetlands as well as to a 20-metre-wide, three-metre-deep channel that would run the length of Hunters Hole.

[...]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar...

more from Baker's article.

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

I understand how desperately many individuals would like to believe in a "savior" candidate who's going to make everything right. I recall how excited I was earlier in my life about the candidates that I was certain would turn everything around. I remember how angry I felt when I heard some cynic tell me that there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between any of them. Oh how I wanted-desperately wanted, to believe.

But only in America is the definition of insanity lived out with such oblivious impunity. Only in America do we continue to believe that "this time it will be different" in the face of all evidence to the contrary. Faith in any of the three leading candidates running for the presidency to have the capacity or desire to affect any significant change is nothing less than blatantly illogical and irrational.

In my recent article "Celebrating UN-President's Day: Why I Will Not Vote For A President In 2008" I laid out my case for not voting, but that was before I saw the latest documentary on election fraud, "Uncounted: The New Math Of American Elections". Anyone seriously considering voting for a president in 2008 must see this documentary as well as Bev Harris's 2006 HBO documentary "Hacking Democracy." You may, in fact, live in one of those rare areas where paper ballot voting still occurs, but "Uncounted" and "Hacking Democracy" reveal a rigged election system, so gargantuan, so blatant, and so foolproof that it is now safe to say that legitimate presidential elections in the United States are no longer possible. In other words, American elections no longer belong to you, but to those who manufacture the candidates and select the winners.

a MOAT?  ROFLMAO..with gators and everything?  And armored knights on the battlements? 

Goody! 

Just in case anyone can afford to travel to the Continent with a USD that is literally heading for the toilet flush, here's some welcome information.

==================
Top 10 tapas bars in Granada
Granada is one of the few remaining cities in Spain still serving tapas on the house - which is as close as you're going to get to a free lunch. Lucy Ribchester on the best places to snack
Lucy Ribchester
guardian.co.uk, Thursday March 13 2008

The name, 'tapa', originates from the word tapar, to cover. Speculations on the origin of tapas range from the practical to the mythological. A popular theory is that when the 13th-century King Alfonso fell ill, he was prescribed small bites of food with wine to aid his recovery. After discovering the benefits of snacking, he is said to have decreed it law that all bars begin to serve food with alcohol. Obviously placing the titbit on top of the drink, either via a piece of bread or small plate, served the dual purpose of helping to keep flies from crawling into the glasses. A less savoury suggestion of the etymology also exists - that in 16th-century Castilla-La Mancha, landlords liked to dish out free nibbles of mature cheese to 'cover' the taste of bad wine.

The tapas tradition soon grew into an elaborate menu of nibbles which increase in quality and quantity the more drinks are ordered. These days, the rest of Spain has cottoned on to the idea that punters don't mind paying for their pub snacks, but in Granada (as well as Leon, Salamanca and Madrid), tapas are still seen as a gift of the house, and many bars take more pride in their tapas than their selection of drinks.

[...]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/ma...

sea, there are no 'gators planned for this one that I can see ... and there are some benefits.

That's why there's a question.

************
This is the BIG news around here right now. Nyon is just a few km from my apt and I pass UEFA HQ to get there.

Several of the major games will be played in Switzerland this summer. There is a lot of infrastructure prep happening right now.

=============
Europe in awe as the Big Four line up
England's finest are full of confidence on the eve of the Champions League draw
David Hytner
Thursday March 13, 2008
Guardian

There will be an unprecedented show of English strength tomorrow when the Champions League draw takes place at Uefa's headquarters at Nyon in Switzerland. The Premier League's Big Four will be all present and correct - the first time any nation has so dominated the business end of the competition - and it speaks volumes that with no "country protection", to borrow from the Uefa lexicon, the psychological sparring already centres on the prospect of these English clubs being thrown together.

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

My own D&G has given me a headache so now to the goose down pillows and comforter.

I remember when it used to be a pleasure to travel. putCo are doing their best to discourage it for Americans by making our USD worthless ... and to make the US less desirable as a tourist destination.

In just seven short years, to sink so far.

If there are some who still can't seen the difference between Dems (even DLC Dems) and Rethugs after all that's happened, then they really need some serious self-examination and counseling.

I have my preferences among Dems, of course, and the ones I want most never threw their hats in the ring at all. But I will vote for whoever is the Dem nominee, and gladly so.

Because I understand the alternative all too well.

=================
US succeeds in splitting EU over visa rules
Ian Traynor in Brussels
The Guardian, Friday March 14 2008

The US insisted yesterday on striking individual deals with European capitals on controversial transatlantic travel security measures, refusing to bow to EU demands to deal only with Brussels.

At a meeting in Slovenia with a group of European interior ministers and European commission officials, Michael Chertoff, chief of the US department of homeland security, maintained that US terms for lifting visa requirements for Europeans would be negotiated with national governments.

The new American terms, denounced as draconian by Brussels and resisted by Britain, include mandatory armed guards on all transatlantic flights by US carriers, stiffer passport control measures, exchanges of information on all travellers to the US from Europe, and a system requiring all travellers to apply online for permission to travel to the US before being able to buy a ticket.

On Wednesday the US signed agreements with two of the EU's three Baltic states after striking a deal with the Czech Republic last month, agreements that outraged Brussels and big western European countries, which feel their negotiating clout has been weakened by a US policy of dividing and ruling the Europeans.

[...]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar...

Shades of the old USSR ... right in ye Olde Englande.

=================
Iraq: teachers told to rewrite history
MoD accused of sending propaganda to schools
By Richard Garner, Education Editor
Friday, 14 March 2008

Britain's biggest teachers' union has accused the Ministry of Defence of breaking the law over a lesson plan drawn up to teach pupils about the Iraq war. The National Union of Teachers claims it breaches the 1996 Education Act, which aims to ensure all political issues are treated in a balanced way.

Teachers will threaten to boycott military involvement in schools at the union's annual conference next weekend, claiming the lesson plan is a "propaganda" exercise and makes no mention of any civilian casualties as a result of the war.

They believe the instructions, designed for use during classroom discussions in general studies or personal, social and health education (PSE) lessons, are arguably an attempt to rewrite the history of the Iraq invasion just as the world prepares to mark its fifth anniversary.

[...]
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/educat...

Something to think about seriously ... especially our own role in helping to make this once-rare activity practically an epidemic.

Now, to the salt mines.

=================
Robert Fisk: The cult of the suicide bomber
Few players in the 'war on terror' are more chilling, or misunderstood, than suicide bombers. Yet the true scale of their grisly activities has never been properly calculated. Five years after the invasion of Iraq, Robert Fisk details the shocking extent of the most widespread campaign of self-liquidation in human history
Friday, 14 March 2008

Khaled looked at me with a broad smile. He was almost laughing. At one point, when I told him that he should abandon all thoughts of being a suicide bomber – that he could influence more people in this world by becoming a journalist – he put his head back and shot me a grin, world-weary for a man in his teens. "You have your mission," he said. "And I have mine." His sisters looked at him in awe. He was their hero, their amanuensis and their teacher, their representative and their soon-to-be-martyred brother. Yes, he was handsome, young – just 18 – he was dressed in a black Giorgio Armani T-shirt, a small, carefully trimmed Spanish conquistador's beard, gelled hair. And he was ready to immolate himself.

A sinister surprise. I had travelled to Khaled's home to speak to his mother. I had already written about his brother Hassan and wanted to introduce a Canadian journalist colleague, Nelofer Pazira, to the family. When Khaled walked on to the porch of the house, Nelofer and I both realised – at the same moment – that he was next, the next to die, the next "martyr". It was his smile. I've come across these young men before, but never one who so obviously declared his calling.

[...]
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/fisk/r...

Good morning, everybody

There's nothing much to say at 4;04 in the morning.  Some of my keys are sticking.  The MAC needs to go in the shop but i don't want to be without it. 

Suicide is the ultimate act of self-determination.  Which, of course, is why it is against the law.  One of our neighbors committed suicide rather than face more years of psychiatric treatment to bring him to terms with the reality that his experiences were never going to match his expectations.  And in his case, his actions weren't missing.  They just never matched up.

I mention the actions because that's what seems to be the missing link in the relationship between Hillary Clinton's expectations and experience.  Perhaps its a matter of the actions having been delegated for such a long time that she never does anything herself.

I can't get the image of Bush Two talking about his daughter's engagement just before Thanksgiving and when he was asked if he would host the wedding in the White House, Laura jumped in and said perhaps they could discuss that over the holiday.  Seemed like the question wasn't part of the script they'd prepared for. 

Well, what shall we call it?  The electronic curtain or the cyber curtain.  Perhaps we should have a contest.  Wonder if Lenin and Stalin ever realized that the West was green with envy.

If Stalin would have had Bush's warrantless blanket of surveillance he would have lined up the ten million he wanted on the sides of the trenches to machinegun, instead of an extra five million caught in his web.

We haven't reached Stalin's depravity (yet).

If the Fed lowers interest rates another notch it is trying to push the problem to the next President not fix it. Carter inherited a very similar economic situation, the cure for which is higher interest rates Congress is stepping up to the plate and letting the Bush Tax Cuts expire with their budget.

today my HOWARDLY goes to both houses of Congress for passing a budget that aims to be balanced 

Bush has set us on a path of a lowered standard of living that will take a few  years to turn around.

 mention the actions because that's what seems to be the missing link in the relationship between Hillary Clinton's expectations and experience.  Perhaps its a matter of the actions having been delegated for such a long time that she never does anything herself.

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

This is where we get into what it is the job of President entails, because Carter failed because he was incapable of delegating and had to have the final say on who used the tennis court at the White House.

I view the skill to delegate favorably in a candidate.

Well, phil, if you have nothing else to do, hannah has the first installment of my ancient scribblings.  At present I'm just glad the stuff got copied from floppy disks and word perfect for Windows 3.1 into a format i can work with on the MAC, so I haven't even looked at what's all there.

"Textwrangler" opens the files, but they look funny--page after page of squiggles at the side.

The tax cuts don't expire until 2010.

Of course, they don't tax non-existent profits anyway.  So it doesn't make a whole lot of difference. 

a budget is an intention; the appropriation is the act

I like the fact that Democrats have chosen to make a statement that it is their intention to balance the budget.

I'm pretty busy right now in the middle of calving season, and field work is days away (not that you would know it looking at the snow); but I will take a look Monica. I go through a similar step with my lender to a budget, but just call it a cash flow, and we both know ag prices are so volitile it is a guestimate, gives me and them a heads up on when I might need to balance sales,inputs and credit. should have borrowed last year to put two years of feed in inventory, six thousand in interest would have saved me about one hundred thousand dollars. I do follow the dollar pretty closely because my costs are up over one hundred thousand dollars in twelve months and to me as a small businessman that is real money  ...  inflation at the farm input level is raging 

End the war, end the Bush Tax cuts, and the dollar and economy would right itself in a few quarters.

one of the 'benefits' of equating expectation or intent with experience is that intent is difficult to prove or disprove.

WASHINGTON - Hillary Clinton, who has frequently described herself on the campaign trail as playing a pivotal role in forging a children's health insurance plan, had little to do with crafting the landmark legislation or ushering it through Congress, according to several lawmakers, staffers, and healthcare advocates involved in the issue.

Earlier Clinton's role in the FMLAct was disputed since it was developed before Clinton took office in 1993.

Perhaps 'support' is an ephemeral notion akin to faith. 

Printable version

The firm's co-founder David Rubenstein told the newspaper that he was working on ways to address clients' losses.

His comments came after Carlyle Capital Corporation (CCC), a unit of Carlyle Group, said it was unable to pay back its debts and may be liquidated.

doing calling last night again and found an interesting number of Edwards supporters who are going to try and elect uncommitted delegates by staying viable as a caucus

the 15% rule still applies so over half would have to stick together to make it work

at this stage it is about who goes to Denver

sending Elesha Gayman as a Dean delegate to Boston has yielded a great young legislator in Des Moines

Listening to Obamas pastor/minister/preacher today.........hmm, If I were Obama, I would have witched churches long ago................its over folks........Mccains got it..it was a good run for a short time.................

Oh well.....................4 more years of hell

Mike I think Obama has clearly distanced himself from that kind of language and isn't particularly damaged by it, at least not more than the apocalypso nut case in Texas has hurt McCain. interesting that pastors seem compelled to use over the top language

Steve King wins the award for this week anyway though Ferraro was a close second.

The results of my 2008 Legislative Survey are in, and I am so pleased that so many people in the 84th District took the time to participate! The results were very telling, and the voices of Scott County was heard loud and clear. The top issue for families in Scott County is quality, affordable Health Care. Out of six options, 48% of those taking the survey said the top concern for their family is Health Care. 32% of those who responded said Helping the Middle Class was their top priority, followed by 20% with a Balanced Budget. Though many people have many different concerns for their families, one thing is clear: we need to do more to help Iowa’s middle class families. People are saying with a loud voice that we want more jobs that pay well, more options to provide health care to our families without spending half of every paycheck, fiscally responsible spending that doesn’t benefit the loud voice of lobbyists here in Des Moines but the average family instead.

Yet another way for the Democrats to lose in November (as if they needed one).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/if-democrats-remain-silen_b_91470.html

Although Election Day is still eight months away, this is a crucial moment in the 2008 campaign. While Clinton and Obama trade blows, the Republicans are slowly winning the war over the war. And Democrats are doing very little to stop them.

The idea that the surge is working and that the U.S. is making progress -- the self-declared make or break issue of John McCain's candidacy -- is taking hold with the public. A recent poll by the Pew Research Center found that nearly half of Americans -- 48 percent -- believe that the military effort in Iraq is "going well." This is an 18 percent jump from a year ago.

Along with the White House and McCain, who pounds the "surge is working" drum at almost every campaign stop, we can thank the media for much of this shift. Over the last seven months, there has been a massive 80 percent reduction in the amount of coverage devoted to the war. And this lack of attention has taken a profound toll: a new study found that public awareness of U.S. deaths in Iraq has plummeted since August 2007, when 54 percent of the public was able to say how many American soldiers had been killed in the war. Now, just 28 percent are aware that the death count is about to reach 4,000. Chilling.

So McCain and the White House PR machine are able to promote the myth of success in Iraq without much pushback from the media. Or from Democrats. Indeed, the most lasting "opposition party" image of the last few months regarding the surge is Hillary Clinton springing to her feet at the State of the Union when the president declared "Ladies and gentlemen, some may deny the surge is working, but among terrorists there is no doubt." Is there any wonder the public is confused?

08:45am

Phil Specht
Fri, 03/14/08
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Phil,

Obama could get away with it in say, NZ, UK, Sweden or Norway...maybe even Canada......but we are here......the USA.................and that is all she wrote........sorry, i wish it were otherwise.

Michael, with all due respect you have said it it over lots of time.

On my way to work but wanted to add that I agree with puddle who said a couple of threads ago that HRC is not a Democrat.

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Ooops it is not it it.

Obama could get away with it

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

Obama didn't say it did he? But it proves he is a Christian not a muzlum if he has a pastor  (spelling deliberate for tommy), might even gain him votes with some of the jaywalkers

Printable version

Though located in a remote corner of the planet, the fields of Australia's food bowl are central to the worldwide price of wheat

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

more to do with our wheat prices than ethanol by a factor of ten