Friday, March 31, 2006

Closer

One step closer to DeLay, the crook.

"A former top aide to Texas Republican Rep. Tom DeLay pleaded guilty in the widening Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal on Friday, the second former assistant to the powerful congressman to do so.

Tony Rudy, the former deputy chief of staff to DeLay, entered the guilty plea to one count of conspiracy in federal court as part of a deal with Justice Department prosecutors."


NOTE: Posted using the free WiFi at the Ashland, WI, pubic library. Too bad about The Black Cat Coffeehouse.

More Heat

It's already overwhelming, so how soon will we do anything about it?

"The Pacific is getting warmer and more acidic, while the amount of oxygen and the building blocks for coral and some kinds of plankton are decreasing, according to initial results from scientists with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, the University of Washington and elsewhere."

Heat


Where will the penguins go? Bu$hCo doesn't care about penguins.

"In the winter sky over Antarctica, scientists have detected a vast cap of steadily warming air, in the first sign that record levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere may be trapping heat above the ice sheets of the South Pole.

The temperature of the winter air over Antarctica has been rising at a rate three times faster than the world as a whole, the researchers reported Thursday in the journal Science."

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Well, Duh

I do care what people believe, although there is only so much I can do about it. This study will, hopefully, quiet the anti-science crowd, for awhile, at least, until the next hoodoo comes sailing on in.

"Prayers offered by strangers had no effect on the recovery of people who were undergoing heart surgery, a large and long-awaited study has found.

And patients who knew they were being prayed for had a higher rate of post-operative complications like abnormal heart rhythms, perhaps because of the expectations the prayers created, the researchers suggested."

Read The Whole Thing

Via the Booman Tribune we get this great accounting of the Valery Plame plus scandal. I know that we know much of what is said, but being reminded just how corrupt & anti-democratic this Bu$hCo, alright I'm going to spell it, assministration has always been is a good thing. I know it's old news, but print the thing off & give it to your koolaid friends.

Fat Tony #3

Same to you, moron.

"“The judge paused for a second, then looked directly into my lens and said, ‘To my critics, I say, ‘Vaffanculo,’ ” punctuating the comment by flicking his right hand out from under his chin, Smith said.

The Italian phrase means “(expletive) you.” "


He & Cheney truly are good friends.

Kirby

I could have been a contender. A very inside reference from a long time ago. Ah, the sweet taste of whine, not circa 1969.

"But wresting Merwin's upcoming work away from Knopf, including his second collected poems, was a giant leap into the publishing major league, where big bucks and big egos rule. Copper Canyon benefited from Merwin's growing disenchantment with Knopf, which seemed to him to be afflicted with the bottom-line preoccupations of New York publishers these days."

Trees Are Just Big Brush

I wish the judge would invalidate the whole Bu$hCo administration. We would all breathe easier.

"A Bush administration decision to ease logging restrictions under the Northwest Forest Plan was arbitrary and should be invalidated, a federal magistrate has found."

Steelhead

Maybe this will help. Maybe it's too late.

"'Steelhead have this mystique around them, and a lot of people, including me, have an obsession about them,' he said. When it comes to steelhead, 'Puget Sound was formerly the last, best place, and it's not today. It's a fraction of what it was.'"

The Sadness

of the well-to-do. Grow up.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Almost The End Of March

We've had a few really nice days lately, highs in the 40's & today the low 50's. & sunny, to top it off. I'm having some outrage inertia today. I'm watching the country I live in make mistake after mistake, & apparently not seem to care. I took the day off & decided to do a little self-caretaking. My upper left arm is hurting like hell, again. Four years ago I had surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff which turned out to be bone spurs instead. A case of the MRA over-indicating. The arm's been OK, but lately the same damn pain is back. It took 53 years for the spurs to grow in the first place & now 4 to grow back? I don't get it. It does mean that I'll only be able to do the aerobic exercises & that is a relief. The weight lifting was getting old. I be searching the web tonight for some enlightenment. Get better Joe, the new guy. Kidney stone passing hurts, but enjoy the trip, if you know what I mean.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

More Reasons

Via Altercation, we get this take on why Iraq is so messed up. I have to admit, as someone who utterly dismisses the market when it comes to actually helping people in trouble, that I forgot completely about the 24 year old that set up this horseshit was to run a country.

"Because the privatizers of the Bush administration were, however, in control of a largely prostrate and conquered country, the Iraqi reforms were enacted more swiftly and in a far more draconian manner than anywhere else on the planet. Within six months, for example, the American occupation government, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), had promulgated all manner of laws designed to privatize everything in Iraq except established oil reserves. (New oil discoveries, however, were to be privatized.) All restrictions were also taken off foreign corporations intent on buying full control of Iraqi enterprises; nor were demands to be made of those companies to reinvest any of their profits in Iraq.

"At the same time, state-owned enterprises were to be demobilized and sidelined. They were to be prevented from participating either in repairing facilities damaged during the invasion (or degraded by the decade of sanctions that preceded it) or in any of the initially ambitious reconstruction projects the U.S. commissioned. This policy was so strict that even state-owned enterprises with specific expertise in Iraqi electrical, sanitation, and water purification systems -- not to speak of Iraq's massive cement industry -- were forbidden from obtaining subcontracts from the multinational corporations placed in charge of rejuvenating the country's infrastructure."

I Don't Know, But I've Been Told

This looks like chaos.

"Masked gunmen, many in military uniform, stormed into a currency exchange and two electronic stores in broad daylight Tuesday, kidnapping 24 Iraqis and making off with tens of thousands of dollars.

With 40 Iraqis taken hostage in less than 24 hours,...."

No Sympathy

I have absolutely no sympathy for a pardoned criminal. This is exactly what's wrong with ReThug accountability - THERE IS NO ACCOUNTABILITY for those who break the laws or exhibit the coarsest incompetence.

Crooked Talk


John McCain has become a tragic fool.

& more.

Healthy Activity

Go & contribute, it will lower your cholesterol, well, maybe not, but it will make your good cholesterol go up, well, maybe not, but the Flying Spaghetti Monster will love you, guaranteed.

More Stuff To Do

It's Tuesday, so that must mean you, loyal four readers, must read this & do what it asks at the end of the post. I am thanking you in advance.

Monday, March 27, 2006

Sifu Tweedy

Yes, what he said. This uprising seems to have slipped beneath the media's radar. It's good to see this being talked about a bit more. In Chicago, Mayor Daley let the march. Milwaukee had a march, plus 200 protested in Senslessbrenner's home county. That fat bastard, I may have to move in with my mother-in-law & try to convince people down there that he hates America.

"Paraphrasing George Peppard, I love it when a giant, angry, highly motivated voting bloc (grass roots, spontaneous, exponential, virulently anti-GOP) comes together. Especially when that bloc’s been kicked around for, like, ever, and it’s all your fault, you and your racist bedfellows. And you were trying, on the ludicrous basis of a shared love of pickup trucks, to get them to LIKE you? To vote for you? How’s that going?"

Justice Scalia Flips The Finger In Church

Fat Tony, see post below, complete asshat embarassment on the Supreme Court, does a Cheney in church. What a guy! Wonder what the pope thinks? Probably, not much.

"U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia startled reporters in Boston just minutes after attending a mass, by flipping a middle finger to his critics."

Noodling

OK, The BOOK is out. Go buy & read so we may be on the same noodlelength as Joe, the New Guy. Via Maru.

Go Do This

Goddamnit. Or I won't be nice to you anymore, or something. Plus, maybe you'll learn how to send a fax with your computer.

Jimmy Carter

Here's one more thing a Democratic ex-President has done with his life. What a great addition to his legacy. & remember, Time magazine's "Blog of the year" - Powertools - called Pres. Carter a traitor. ReThugs are so compassionate, aren't they? Good for Carter. I hope Assrocket chokes on this one, or better yet, gets one of this worms coming out of his ass, an inch at a time.

"For untold generations here, yardlong, spaghetti-thin worms erupted from the legs or feet — or even eye sockets — of victims, forcing their way out by exuding acid under the skin until it bubbled and burst. The searing pain drove them to plunge the blisters into the nearest pool of water, whereupon the worm would squirt out a milky cloud of larvae, starting the cycle anew.

'The pain is like if you stab somebody,' said Hyacinth Igelle, a farmer with a worm coming out of a hand so swollen and tender that he could not hold a hoe. He indicated how the pain moved slowly up his arm. 'It is like fire — it comes late, but you feel it even unto your heart.'

Now, thanks to a relentless 20-year campaign led by former President Jimmy Carter, Guinea worm is poised to become the first disease since smallpox to be pushed into oblivion. Fewer than 12,000 cases were found last year, down from 3 million in 1986."

Good

The good news is from Nebraska this time. I hope the slime ball that lied to his colleagues gets his due.

"The Nebraska legislature has reversed a decision to yank hundreds of thousands of dollars in family planning funds from Planned Parenthood and distribute them to other health care agencies. The pro-life lawmaker who sponsored the change was accused of hiding his original intent."

Due Diligence

Feeling any safer yet? Didn't think so.

"'They don't know where Osama bin Laden is, but they're spending money watching people like me,' said environmental activist Kirsten Atkins. Her license plate number showed up in an FBI terrorism file after she attended a protest against the lumber industry in Colorado Springs in 2002."

Badgers

Eat Golphers, delicious.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

More Progress

I guess.

"U.S. and Iraqi special forces killed at least 16 followers of the Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr Sunday in a twilight assault on what the U.S. military said was a 'terrorist cell' responsible for attacks on soldiers and civilians.
....
An aide to Jafari, who was endorsed by Sadr's political wing to retain his job in the next government but is opposed by other Iraqi factions, said the government was not notified about the raid in advance.

"The incident has injured the whole political process," said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, referring to the deliberations about the composition of the next government that have deadlocked since elections in December. "Some leaders will be dismayed of this situation and hesitate to participate knowing that such an incident took place and how the government was not aware. We need to sort of calm down the situation now.'"
How did the government of Iraq not know about this raid? There were, apparently, crack Iraqi troops involved in the raid. Jeez, who's wagging what dog here?

Fat Tony

This Fat Tony, not that Fat Tony, ought to be in jail.

"Scalia dismissed the idea that the detainees have rights under the U.S. Constitution or international conventions, adding he was 'astounded' at the 'hypocritical' reaction in Europe to Gitmo. 'War is war, and it has never been the case that when you captured a combatant you have to give them a jury trial in your civil courts,' he says on a tape of the talk reviewed by NEWSWEEK. 'Give me a break.' Challenged by one audience member about whether the Gitmo detainees don't have protections under the Geneva or human-rights conventions, Scalia shot back: 'If he was captured by my army on a battlefield, that is where he belongs. I had a son on that battlefield and they were shooting at my son and I'm not about to give this man who was captured in a war a full jury trial. I mean it's crazy.'"

Another real, true reason to hate, yes, I said hate, but I suppose I ought to heed my dead mother & say despise, ReThugs. This man is not intelligent, I don't care how many times people say it. He's a ReThug & will be treated that way.

Ancestor

Discovering our ancestors is one of the great, cool things about being a modern human. Unlike the IDers & Muslim fanatics, most people don't fear modernity or history. Good find.
"'The Gawis cranium provides us with the opportunity to look at the face of one of our ancestors,....'"

Progress? Oh, Yeah

This must be the optimistic good news from Iraq that Bu$hCo knows about. Awful, awful. Good job.
"The bodies of 30 beheaded men were found on a main highway near Baquba this evening, providing more evidence that the death squads in Iraq are becoming out of control.
Interior Ministry officials said a driver discovered the bodies heaped in a pile next to a highway that links Baghdad to Baquba, a volatile city northeast of the capital that has been wracked by sectarian and insurgent violence.

Iraqi army troops were waiting tonight for American support before venturing into the insurgent-infested area to retrieve them.

'It's too dangerous for us to go in there alone,' an Iraqi Army commander, Tassin Tawfik, said."

Emphasis added.

Saturday, March 25, 2006

I'm Now Officially In Love

Again. This time it's the Dixie Chicks. Click Here to listen to their new song. Here's my favorite part of the song. Via Atrios.

"I made my bed and I sleep like a baby
With no regrets and I don’t mind sayin’
It’s a sad sad story when a mother will teach her
Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they’d write me a letter
Sayin’ that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over"
Take that Imus, you old geezer.

Reporters - Bah

Here's a headline from today's New York Times:


For Some Who Manage to Solve Puzzle, New Medicare Drug Plan Is Paying Off

Now here are some grafs from the article itself:

"One way to assess the program is to talk to people in a place like Tulsa. People here are far removed from the raucous debate in Washington, where Republicans describe the drug benefit as a boon to older Americans and many Democrats call it a disaster.
....

"In Oklahoma, Medicare beneficiaries can choose from 43 prescription drug plans, with premiums ranging from $10.07 to $70.79 a month, different co-payments and very different lists of covered drugs.
....


"Satisfied beneficiaries say they could never have analyzed the options or made a choice without the help of friends and relatives, pharmacists or counselors from groups like LIFE Senior Services, a private nonprofit group, which offers advice at seminars and enrollment clinics in the Tulsa area.
....

"The counselors are adept at using the Medicare Web site to compare drug plans and identify the ones with the lowest overall annual cost for a particular beneficiary. Before selecting a plan, a beneficiary typically must spend an hour with a counselor, but some spend much more time.
....


"For example, Bobby G. Brown, a retired letter carrier, and his wife, Anna, both 71, spent four hours with a LIFE counselor. "It was well worth the time," said Mrs. Brown, who is being treated for congestive heart failure, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, high cholesterol, depression and other ailments.
....

"People who are satisfied are the quieter voices," said Leslie A. Dick, executive director of the Burgundy Place retirement community in Tulsa.
....

"Many beneficiaries say they are grateful to local insurance counselors, rather than to Medicare, the government or politicians.
....

"We had a whole lot better deal before the government started messing with it," said Francis A. Murphy, 79, a retired airline mechanic who is losing drug benefits from a former employer. He said he did not expect to see any savings under Medicare. Beneficiaries are anxious about their choices for good reason. Their out-of-pocket costs under different plans can vary by hundreds or thousands of dollars a year.
....

"Even those who save money may complain because the new program is "much too complicated for a lot of people to understand," Mr. Coffey said.
....

"Todd E. Pendergraft, owner of a Medicine Shoppe pharmacy in Broken Arrow, Okla., outside Tulsa, said the new drug coverage was "significantly beneficial" to one-third of his 750 Medicare patients, "marginally beneficial" to half the patients and "no benefit at all" to the remainder.
....

"They are not on Medicaid, the federal-state program for the poor. People eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare had comprehensive drug coverage under Medicaid, but lost it on Jan. 1 and were assigned at random to private Medicare drug plans. The Medicare plans may charge slightly higher co-payments and often cover fewer drugs.

"Also, Medicare beneficiaries are more likely to appreciate the new benefit if they live in places like Oklahoma that did not have generous state-financed programs to help them with their drug costs. Drug benefits have been available for years to low-income people through state programs in Maine, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, among other states.
....

Beneficiaries could face new problems in coming months. Insurers can impose stricter limits on access to certain drugs after March 31, when a 90-day transition period ends. In addition, some beneficiaries will have to pay more at the pharmacy counter, because most drug plans have a gap in coverage after a person's total drug costs reach $2,250. The gap lasts until the beneficiary incurs total drug costs of $5,100. Beyond that point, Medicare pays about 95 percent of the cost of each prescription."
Emphasis added.

It appears that some people are getting a benefit, but the majority are not. Who allows such a misleading headline. & the gratuitous slam at Washington - ReThugs for the plan & Dems against it, as if both are wrong. This is the "balance" bullshit the MSM claims it aims for. If you read the article, those people who have statistics on the benefits, claim that a good majority of seniors do not get much of a benefit. The anecdotal evidence provided by the reporters is interesting, but it's not in context. Note how the better off seniors are now better off. Jeez, that's hardly proof that the plan is working. & note that Tulsa is in a state that had a woefully inadequate program to begin with, again it's hardly a surprise that some people are happier. & while I would certainly encourage everyone to get a lot of help in figuring this thing out, why the hell is it so hard to figure out in the first place? Yeah, yeah, market forces. Why didn't this reporter interview those who didn't sign up yet, to find out why they didn't? The Times seem to indicate that these folks are just too damn lazy to figure out a complex, unfair plan. It's their fault that they can't figure it out. & those who are finding the benefits are the quiet, rock solid, heartland Americans. &, again, the implication is that because they don't complain, aren't raucous, they deserve the benefit. Shh, be quiet, then you'll get yours from Bu$hCo. Typical ReThug compassion.

Friday, March 24, 2006

I've Got Ice In My Glass

& my fingers are moving magically across the keyboard, although I must backspace more than normal. Soon the ice will be gone. My grandchildren may see things that I don't even want to dream about. More alcohol.

"That means that the models of sea-level rise used to predict an increase of up to 3ft by 2100 may have significantly underestimated its ultimate extent, which could be as great as 20ft.

Such a rise would threaten cities such as London, New York, Bombay and Tokyo. Large parts of the Netherlands, Bangladesh and Florida would be inundated, and even smaller rises would flood extreme low-lying areas, such as several Pacific islands and New Orleans."

Emphasis added. Can't catch a break.

The Friday Random I Can't Count To Ten Calvados Edition

So sue me.

Sexual Telepathy - Earl King
Congo Square - Sonny Landreth
Every Bit Of Love - Anders Osborne
Mean Old Frisco - Snooks Eaglin
Ring Of Fire - The Radiators
Blinded By Rainbows - The Rolling Stones
In A Station - The Band
Send In The Clowns - Judy Collins
Got My Mojo Working - Etta James
When The Ship Comes In - Bob Dylan
Ramblin' On My Mind - Tab Benoit
South of I-10 - Sonny Landreth
Heartbreakin' Woman - Marva Wright
Garden Of Eden - Irene Sage
Come Back Baby - Snooks Eaglin
Sinaloa Cowboys - Bruce Springseen
Miracle Mule - The Subdudes
New Faces - The Rolling Stones

Michaelangelo, Michael, Mike, & Finally Mikey, R.I.P.

It's a sad day in the coldH2O household. This morning we found our 20 year old cat, Mikey, dead near his food dish. He had been ailing the last several days, but he did not appear to be in any pain. Mrs. coldH2O held the cat & I held them both & we did a sad mini-Mary Tyler Moore last show shuffle around the basement. He was a great cat & he will be missed. His recent good friend, Tipitina is now queen of the house. We'll see if she has the will to do it. Here are a lot of pics of the late Mikey. Our 28 year old daughter, aka, the kid, initially named him Michealangelo after her obsession with the Ninja Turtles. He was an old cat. I bought some Calvados this late afternoon & we will be toasting him, repeatedly, this evening & tomorrow & the next day & who knows for how long. & I know about the tens of thousands of dead people in Iraq & Afganistan. The thousands dead & severely injured U.S. soldiers, & the people going to bed hungry right here in northern Wisco & I mourn them daily. So fuck you if you want to tell me to get my priorities straight. They are as straight as they ever will get. I already miss that cat. I miss him terribly. Thanks so much Rosy for bringing him to us all those long years ago. That sweet kindness will never be forgotten.

Mikey & the kid's Tcoupitoulas, the last time Mikey ran was to chase Tchoupitoulas into the basement for bullying Tipitina.


Mikey & Tipitina, being a cat is really hard work. Harder than being a fake president.


I really love this picture.


I really, really love this picture.


Showing that, indeed, he is genetically descended from the lion. A really slow lion.


Mikey rolling on living room floor. I'll miss these performances.


Mikey & the flunk-out seeing eye dog, Rocky.


Mikey & the new kitty, Tipitina, having some fun.


Mikey & a pup from our last litter, this was two years ago.


While you can't tell because of the devil eyes, this is the cross-eyed king of the house.


NOTE: To my friends & ex-students, I'll try & track you down, particularly Meghan & Colleen, & let you know the news.

Feeling Safer Yet?

Bu$hCo shuns Patriot Act requirement

"When President Bush signed the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act this month, he included an addendum saying that he did not feel obliged to obey requirements that he inform Congress about how the FBI was using the act's expanded police powers."

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Well, This Makes Me Happy

No. 1 Duke Is Done

Kissinger Supported Argentine Regime

War criminal. He's escaped justice for his crimes against humanity. Another failure of our country's legal system. But, he's a ReThug, so he doesn't need to be accountable.

Bush Crime Family: Still Ticking

Via Booman Tribune. These people really are beneath contempt. What a bitch & yes that rhymes with rich, even though, Leslie, I hate rhyming, but I don't hate you or George & I did have two fingers raised, not one. Don't be so sensitive.
"Former first lady Barbara Bush donated an undisclosed amount of money to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund with specific instructions that the money be spent with an educational software company owned by her son Neil.

Since then, the Ignite Learning program has been given to eight area schools that took in substantial numbers of Hurricane Katrina evacuees."

Good News From Arizona

I think Arizona has tended slightly blue lately & this withdrawal of a crappy bill is another fine example for other states, say South Dakota. Under concerted pressure from two of my loyal four readers, I now demand a coat hanger colonoscopy protocol for only the South Dakota legislators who voted to make woman the property of the state. I wrestled with this for about two minutes & then was forced to yield to the pressure.
"PHOENIX — Teens will be able to continue getting birth control in Arizona without a parent's consent."

Icy Obsession

It's the human influence stupid.

"Within the next 100 years, the growing human influence on earth's climate could lead to a long and irreversible rise in sea levels by eroding Earth's vast polar ice sheets, according to new observations and analysis by several teams of scientists.

One team, using computer models of climate and ice, found that by about 2100, average temperatures could be 4 degrees warmer than today and that over the coming centuries, the world's oceans could rise 13 to 20 feet — conditions last seen 129,000 years ago, between the last two ice ages.

The findings, being reported today in the journal Science, are consistent with other recent studies of melting and erosion at the poles."

Emphasis added.

Do What You're Told

While quickly flipping through the cable news channels this a.m., the news anchors started there news round-ups by saying their is good news from Iraq. I couldn't quite figure out if they were being sarcastic, given Bu$hCo's order that the news had better become good, or if, in fact, they have been intimidated (again!) by Bu$hCo. Here is the good news & it is good news, three peace advocates had been recused.
"US and British forces rescued three Western aid workers held hostage in Iraq for almost four months,..."
The American peace activist was not rescued, remember, his body was found last week. If you think that everything is now hunky-dory in Iraq, well, read the finish of the sentence I quoted above:
"...amid an explosion of violence that left at least two dozen people dead."
While I'm glad that these three men were rescued & while they should never have been abducted in the first place, thank Bu$hCo for that or Rush Limbaugh who had zero sympathy for these peace activists. Here's the fat drug addict's take on the kidnapping of the peace activists:
"I'm telling you, folks, there's a part of me that likes this."
So, I guess things are going just great. But that damn liberal press keeps reminding us of all that inconsequential non-news out of Iraq.
"BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two separate car bomb explosions killed at least 21 people and wounded more than 50 in the capital Thursday, police said."

It's Feeling Like...

Amur tiger time!

Really, really cute edition.

Bad Housing

While the middle class is indeed suffering, the poor & almost poor are in deep trouble, as well. This is a class problem, in a "classless" society.

"'It's time to take a second look' at the nation's housing policies, said Ann Schnare, the center's chairwoman. 'Simply boosting the overall homeownership rate is an empty gesture, unless working families with children are fully participating.'

That message resonated in Wisconsin, where the median home resale price soared to $162,000 last year from $69,000 in 1990.

'We have lots of homes for upper income people, but the middle class is being squeezed by stagnant wages and the cost of homes rising so fast - 8 percent, 9 percent a year,' said Glen Lewinski, Waukesha County's community development coordinator. He is liaison for the Home Consortium, a four-county partnership that helps modest-income people find housing.

His group's mission is getting tougher. Government housing aid is available only to those at 80% or less of metro area income, which the federal government set at $53,750 for a family of four - a level that hasn't changed since 2003, Lewinski said."

IMHO

One term Doyle. Oh, & greedy whiny ass titty babies.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Some Leadership, Indeed

It's no accident that a woman is showing positive leadership in the moron state of South Dakota. Again, I call for a coat hanger colonoscopy protocol for all male patients in South Dakota.

"As South Dakota hurdles towards the anachronistic member of this union they want to be, the President of the Oglala Sioux tribe, Cecilia Fire Thunder, [a former nurse and healthcare giver] had this to say:

To me, it is now a question of sovereignty... I will personally establish a Planned Parenthood clinic on my own land which is within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Reservation where the State of South Dakota has absolutely no jurisdiction.

Now that's some leadership."

UPDATE:
Bitch, Ph.D. has more on this situation. Here are some addresses she provides in case y'all want to help out.

The mailing address is:

Oglala Sioux Tribe
ATTN: President Fire Thunder
P. O. Box 2070
Pine Ridge, SD 57770

or

ATTN: PRESIDENT FIRE THUNDER
PO BOX 990
Martin, SD 57751

For donations specifically for the Planned Parenthood clinic, make checks out to OST Planned Parenthood Cecelia Fire Thunder. General donations may be made out to the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

Intelligent Tax Cuts

Of course, don't mind them, they're British.

"It comes after 69 MPs signed an Early Day Motion in support of a campaign to cut tax on condoms and contraceptives.
....

"Jan Barlow, chief executive of Brook - the sexual health charity for young people, welcomed the announcement saying condoms and other forms of contraception are a necessity, not a luxury.

""Cutting VAT will not only benefit the people left with some extra change in their pockets, it will also help services such as Brook's which buy contraception in bulk to give away to young people who can't afford to pay for it.

""This move is a valuable contribution towards improving Britain's sexual health.""

Almost Nothing

I've just finished reading my morning online papers. Here's the list:

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
The New York Times
The St. Petersburg Times
The Toledo Blade
The Washington Post
The Star Tribune"
The Boston Globe
The Times Picayune
Chicago Tribune
L.A. Times
San Francisco Chronicle
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

This is not to brag, but to show you that even with reading these papers, I still got nothing but a headline about the SideKick's stuffed penguin. I believe it's a hangover from listening to Bu$hCo on the radio yesterday. As I was driving to work, I tuned in C-Span to listen to the press conference. After about 12 miles my head was about to explode & I turned to the Blues channel. The loose stitching in my brain shrunk back to their normal state & I didn't deposit brain spittle all over Hwy. 13. I suppose that's a good thing, at least for my loyal four readers. I'm going to the blogs now, maybe something will be there. Later gator.

New Orleans Headline

BUTLER DOES IT

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Email Sen. Shumer

Send Sen. Shumer & the other Beltway Dems a message. It's all polite & everything.

Lying Bu$hCo

Josh Marshall shows us once again what a liar Bu$hCo is. I wonder if anyone in the MSM was paying attention? Nah, they were probably Blackberrying their Sunday talk show slots. Pathetic losers are making all of America a pathetic loser.

Toxic?

This says as much about ReThug Kean as it says about Dick "Dick" Cheney. You can read down in the story & see the route Kean took to miss Cheney. They're chickenhawks in every part of their lives.

"In the biggest campaign fund-raiser yet on behalf of State Senator Thomas H. Kean Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney traveled to New Jersey on Monday and praised Mr. Kean as someone with 'the experience, the values and the vision to be a superb United States senator.'"

The No Accountability Administration

Federal case against cop halted

Beltway Dems Ought To Listen

We Badgers like our Dems with a spine. & a sense of right & wrong.

"But when Feingold made his case to censure the president, he received sustained applause from a crowd of nearly 100 people at the Belle Plaine Community Center in Shawano County."

Monday, March 20, 2006

Russ Feingold

Via Hullabaloo, Russ in his own words.
"The idea that Democrats don't think it's a winning thing to say that we will stand up for the rule of law and for checking abuse of power by the executive --- I just can't believe that Democrats don't think that isn't something, not only that we can win on, but it does, in fact, make the base of our party, which is so important, feel much better about the Democrats. The Republicans care deeply about making the base of their party feels energized. What about the people of our party who believe in the Democratic Party especially because they fight for the American values of standing up for our rights and civil liberties?"

Wisco Politics

I'm glad this article references Tony Earl. I remember that awful election. Tony Earl was a good liberal, a fine head of the DNR. Somebody, no doubt a Beltway consultant, convinced him that he had to be Demican, to betray his own principles. Of course, I'm presuming he had principles to begin with. I was, of course, so much older then, I'm younger than that now The article discusses Doyle's signing of the school voucher expansion. It's a huge mistake. When will they ever learn? Sorry for the lyrics, but they seemed right, actually left. I think the writer is correct to use the word "demobilize" - that is exactly what's going to happen with this election. Since Kathleen Falk is not running for Gov., I'll probably vote for Doyle, but with absolutely no enthusiasm, with absolutely no financial donations, with absolutely no inclination to help or encourage others to vote for him. It will be a small, quiet vote. This is not what the Dems need, but it is what they will get. Gary Sherman, my local assemblyman, said at the Dem fundraising picnic last year that the number one job was to reelect Doyle. Well, Gary also said that Ted Kennedy ought to have been purged from the party in 1980 for challenging Jimmy Carter. I think Jimmy Carter is a fine person & has been a great help to all progressives in this, & other countries. However, in 1980, Ted Kennedy would probably have beaten the loony Reagan. The country has suffered since then. The Dems both national & local need to understand that the last thing we need is strategy. What the people need is strong, principled, progressive leadership. That's what people value. So go read the article & let me know what you think, or what you think I should think.
"So why is this bad politics? Doyle has not seemed to learn the lesson of the last election or why Tony Earl lost to Tommy Thompson in 1986. If you want to win, stay principled and don’t sell out your base. The idea that Democratic voters have no one else to turn to (since Green or Walker would be much worse) simply does not work. How will the teachers unions organize the base and turn people out?

"On the political level, Doyle has managed to demobilize another group of traditional Democratic Party voters, the 12,000 MPS employees. MPS employees and parents now will just less likely vote.

"Perhaps the most amazing thing about it is that Doyle did this to the very group that put him through the primary: WEAC. No way would Doyle have survived the primary if WEAC had gone neutral in the 2002 against Barrett and Falk. As it is, he only beat Barrett by 8 percent."

ChchchchchChanges

I've updated my links list - the Atrios link now works, & I've added a couple of blogs that are good - Rhodian Attic & Morning Martini. I did lose the code for WWOZ, but I'm researching on how to get it back. Jazz Fest is coming up & the lineup looks great. I really need to get down there for the Fest, but I need a place to stay. We'll see. So go & enjoy the new links.

Capitalism Sucks

Billmon has the goods on Sec. Snow, you know, the guy who says the market is god. Well, Snow has managed his god's little acre rather well. I wonder how his employees are doing? No private jets for their retirement years, I'll bet. Freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom.

Worrisome

Sirota has a great take on Bu$hCo's true hatred of democracy. They just love the voting, until, of course, Hamas gets elected, or Chavez get elected, or Gore gets elected, or Kerry gets elected. In the last two cases, since they were here in America, the ReThugs were able to steal those elections. & the press, goddamn them, just let it all flow down the toilet. Too bad for us.

Just Bull #32946

Via Atrios we get this crap from ReThug shill Howard Kurtz & ReThug shill Jake Tapper. Yeah, a real, super-double duper liberal press. Go here to read the sorry crap.

Progressive Patriots Fund

The kid sent this website to me today. Click on the link, read about the candidates, & vote. The winner gets $5,000 donated to their campaign. Russ Feingold is the honorary chair of the Progressive Patriots Fund, reason enough to support this venture. Go do it or the kid will get mad at me & then you won't want to be around me for awhile, because I will be using coarse & vulgar language.

Sue Me, Sue Me, Sue Me

Friday Random 10

Memories - Van Morrison
Stuck On My Baby - Anders Osborne
Louisiana Woman - Rockin' Tabby Thomas
The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar - Bob Dylan
The House Is A Rockin'(Live) - Stevie Ray Vaughn
Henry's Boogie - Henry Butler
Rocker - Charlie Parker
When You Ain't Got Nobody - Tom Waits
Altitude - Chris Whitley
The Lonesome Road - Snooks Eaglin

What you got?

Narvin Kimball, R.I.P.

One less banjo player.

"Narvin Kimball, 97, the last founding member of New Orleans' Preservation Hall Jazz Band, who was known for his vocal stylings and banjo playing, died Friday at his daughters' home in Charleston, S.C. He and his wife, Lillian, had been staying there since shortly after Hurricane Katrina."

Good Start

Another step in the right direction. These small steps will get bigger. We have the town meeting in the northeast, the protests in Duluth, & now in Tampa. It keeps building & Bu$hCo's poll numbers keep falling.
"Sunday's rally, which drew more than 300 to Joe Chillura Courthouse Square, was the first of its kind in Tampa. It also was larger than previous rallies, said Jay Alexander of St. Petersburg, who founded the Tampa Bay chapter of Veterans for Peace, a national nonprofit organization."

Sunday, March 19, 2006

3 Years In & You Can Read It Here

All the miscalculations, the repeated lies. Go read the sad timeline.

V.P. - We Don't Believe No Stinking Iraqi

I wish I had access to the happy pills these guys are taking. Talk about creating a reality just by talking about it. Jeez. Of course, the Beltway Dems will need to spend, oh, maybe 2 years, strategizing about how to respond.

"The latest came today from Iraq's former interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, in an interview with the BBC.

Mr. Allawi said there had been a daily average of 50 to 60 people throughout the country being killed, 'if not more' in the wake of the shrine attack in Samarra.

'If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is,' he said.

But Vice President Dick Cheney, asked about Mr. Allawi's remarks, disagreed and said that American military commanders on the ground in Iraq shared his view."

Go Read

Digby.

"This was not metaphorical. They literally believed that they could create their own reality. I don't think people really understand that. And why wouldn't they? It's what they had done for some years with great success in this country.
It's their worldview. They believe that if the act like victors, if they say they are strong, if they procalim victory --- then it's true.


The mantra on the right remains that everything changed after 9/11. (Dick Cheney said it again today.) Let's assume that's correct. If so, then undertaking this war was a recklessly dangerous experiment in psychological warfare that failed and left this country much weaker than it was before 9/11. All this money spent, all this fighting, all this messianic freedom rhetoric has actually made this country weaker than it has been at any time since the end of WWII. We have proven that we are a befuddled, undisciplined giant that allowed a radical political faction with half-baked delusions of grandeur to hijack the country. Either we make a precipitous course correction pretty soon, or the rest of the world will start banding together to get us under control. "

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Butler, Oh Butler

Your ancestor is calling. You sit with D. & Jambie & the locked-in-the-basement demented cats, but no one talks to you. Here's something to cheer you up - this is what you looked like 62 million years ago. The years have been, well, almost kind.

3 Years

It's been three years. Bu$hCo, the Incompetent, The Worst President Ever, has kept his war going for three years. & where are we? A fake battle, see below, Osama still free, & the moron is beating the drums for invading Iran. We have become something I never dreamed back in 1967 or 1963 or 1958. We've become a country controlled by fear, a country who doesn't care, not only about the people of the world, but the people in its own country. Don effing Imus has to a run fund raiser to make sure wounded soldiers are cared for. WTF? I saw a comment today over at PZ Myer's place that suggested all of us sad, pissed off patriots go move to some other country. I remember back in, actually it was 1967, & I was at a Dow demonstration at UWMadison. I remember a young man, christ I was even younger than him, saying that he wanted Dow & namplam & Viet Nam gone because he loved his country. I agreed. I stayed. I got a bum knee. Graduated from beer to martinis & bourbon, had a heart attack, quit smoking & started a blog. I do love this country, but not the warts, not the neo-fascists, not the, frankly, deniers of WiFi. But I've also watched the bird hunting in the upper Midwest go to hell, for a variety of reasons. I've seen victories, but then the wealthy from Duluth want to strip mine the Penokee Mts. for taconite. They have no conscience, absolutely no ethics. Their children laugh with dirty, wet martinis, rather than clean & dry gin. There are those that claim most of us will be dead before the mine comes, but that's of little comfort. But then I see Shutterwi take & post some great pics. I see a new friend from the Mojave Desert fighting the same good fight & another pissed off new friend fight the good fight in Florida, the birthplace of our present nightmare. So I will wash down a vike with this bourbon & seltzer & my knees will work better for awhile, finish watching Gods & Monsters while I end this post, wait until 10 p.m. CST & watch an hour of The Red Green Show, & be really happy that the kid, pregnant again, was part of an anti-war march down in the Cities today. It could always be worse.

Wag, Wag

What happened to the terror colors? Instead of that, we get an apparently fake battle. I hope Bu$hCo goes down to 30% because of this stunt. How about an investigation now?

"But contrary to what many many television networks erroneously reported, the operation was by no means the largest use of airpower since the start of the war. ('Air Assault' is a military term that refers specifically to transporting troops into an area.) In fact, there were no airstrikes and no leading insurgents were nabbed in an operation that some skeptical military analysts described as little more than a photo op. What’s more, there were no shots fired at all and the units had met no resistance, said the U.S. and Iraqi commanders."

Bloggered

Man, Blogger is acting up again, what's the deal? Just because I get a few hundred hits in a couple of days & whammo, I can't edit my posts. So, please forgive the mistakes in the previous post about sex. Apparently, I've got Blooger all hot & bloggered. Sorry about that. I'll try & fix it later. That way I won't look as stupid as I truly am. Later.
UPDATE: All fixed now. Boy that was quick. I won't make any crude jokes about ReThugs in Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska, or South Dakota. Sure.

Dry Dreams

So, I’ve been thinking about this whole attack on abortion & the companion attack on birth control. I have to agree with others that this is really an attack on sex, on recreational sex, on sex as pleasure. These creatures of the creepy, peepy night are restricting contraception in Missouri & are taking us a step closer to a sexless society, the, if you will allow me, wet dream of the American religious right.

“The Missouri House voted Wednesday to ban state funding of contraceptives for low-income women and to prohibit state-funded programs from referring those women to other programs.”


The only way to stop abortion for these people is to stop sex. After all, if you have sex without contraception, & you get pregnant, your punishment is to give forced birth to a child no one may want.

& remember, if a woman is using birth control, she’s a whore.

"If you hand out contraception to single women, we’re saying promiscuity is OK as a state, and I am not in support of that," Phillips, R-Kansas City, said in an interview.”

How fucking sick is this woman? & a large majority of Missouri’s House members agreed with this loon. Just so you know that this anti-sex mania crosses gender line, here we have a male loon named Senator Mike Foley. Here’s a portion of a column about this mental midget, no offense to midgets:

“That is laughable. It is insulting to any intelligence exceeding that of primordial goop.

“The move represents an effort – and a hope – aimed at reducing the number of women who receive contraceptives, and might eventually receive advice on abortion rights.

“The Foley amendment is a version of the anti-government “starve the beast” strategy. Financially strangle the things you don’t like, reducing their effectiveness as much as possible."
The smugness of a guy like Foley requires that the next time you see him, you need to smack that smirk into the next state.

The whole point of all of this has nothing to do with saving money, or frankly, preventing abortions. It has everything to do with stopping people from getting all naked & sweaty. From getting all lovey & spent. From getting all human & happy. If there was a hell, I’d hope the people in charge of this anti-sex crusade will be put in a room & be made to watch really, really bad porn for eternity.

Stay Strong, Small Town

The second most important statement in this article concerns Bu$hCo's framing of any dissent as sedition. Good for these good people of Vermont.

"The protest unfolded in a white meeting house on one of the prettiest town commons in Vermont. The debate at the Town Meeting was by all accounts unfailingly polite. And when the secret ballots were counted, residents of this tiny resort town had voted 121 to 29 to impeach President Bush."

Freedom To Act

"Publicity over the drama debate, including a front-page story in The New York Times, has cast an unflattering light on Fulton as an intolerant small town, several of DeVore's colleagues said.

'We have become a laughingstock,' teacher Paula Fessler told The Fulton Sun."
Emphasis added.
Ya think?

Friday, March 17, 2006

Rejected

Here's one victory for those folks who actually care about the country. Let's hope this continues. Damn those pesky courts & laws. King George Bu$hCo must be pissed. Probably called his mommy. See spineless Beltway Dems, the courts, as well as the people, find Bu$hCo quite unpopular & illegal, stand up for something you morons.

"A federal appeals court blocked the Bush administration's four-year effort to loosen emission rules for aging coal-fired power plants, unanimously ruling yesterday that the changes violated the Clean Air Act and that only Congress could authorize such revisions."

Emphasis added.

Amur Tiger Time

What a beautiful animal.

It's Done

Hey, hey, hey - I reached my goal of 10,000 visitors in a year's time. & 3 weeks early! I think I started this blog about this time last year, but didn't get the sitemeter stuff going until April 7, 2005, so I wanted to use the April 7 date as my blogiversary. The kid called & told me about it, thanks. & thanks to all my readers, the loyal 4. It's been fun & I'm looking for increased traffic in the future. Thanks again & keep the comments coming. Except for the moron trolls, keep it to yourself. Like the goof who thinks we should be happy that rich, white men destroyed the true habitat of the northwoods. He claims we have all this wildlife up here & we should be thanking the lumber barons. Well, I-must-not-have-done-too-well-at-school boy, we've had to bring back the fisher, the martin, & the wolf came back on his own. There were no stinking white-tailed deer up here, only moose, elk, woodland caribou. I won't even go into the bird issue. Now, some goofballs have planted Rocky Mountain elk a bit south of here & they keep dumping splake into Lake Superior. There has been a recent attempt to reestablish the coaster brook trout population, but it has had limited success. Mostly because the clear-cutting of the timber & lousy farm practices have pretty much destroyed the inland brook trout habitat. More on that later. But again, thanks to all of you for making this a good year for me & hopefully a little less comfortable for the ReThugs & the boy president. Later.

Alright, Alright

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Go get drunk, or something.

Bad Blogger

Apparently Blogger has been doing bad things to the comments. I've had a bit of trouble lately with posting pics. Anyway, a commenter who was unable to post emailed his comment instead. It's about the lunacy of the proposed mine in Mellen, WI. Don't forget, there was a secret meeting, including Ashland city employees, about this mine. Here's the comment:

The ore isn't going anywhere. There should not be a rush to judgement on this. I do not believe we need jobs at any cost. This countryside that was raped a hundred years ago in the great timber harvest that left nary a tree standing. The largest community in the region has adopted a sustainable model for management which would ask for recycling over mining. Which resource is more important in the long run water or iron? There are no studies I know of that point to an iron shortage to impact mankinnd in the future however you need not look far to find studies that point to the value of clean water. RLK

Mary Landrieu, Mary Landrieu

A continuing embarassment for the Democrats. When wlll she learn?

"The Senate adopted a $2.8 trillion budget Thursday night with the help of a single Democratic vote -- from Louisiana's Mary Landrieu."

Idiot

I had high hopes for Dayton, but he turned out to be a spineless man. Too bad.

"On Thursday, he called the resolution irresponsible and dangerous, and accused Feingold of grandstanding."

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Closer & Closer

I've been back & no, I did not get selected for jury duty. I'm off again, to Drinking Liberally. At the present time we meet at the place that shall not be named, even if I'm going back in there, but to not buy anything. I do tip the baristas, however. They shouldn't suffer for the mistakes of their boss. I'm getting real close to my goal of 10,000 visitors by April 7, 2006. The Atrios link sure helped & I must thank my four readers, who have been awfully loyal & apparently, awfully good at reloading, if you know what I mean. Later.

Jury Duty

I been picked for jury duty this month & today is a jury trial. So I'll be back later today. I'd bring the ole laptop with me& blog from the big city, but The Black Cat doesn't have WiFi. I know, I know, unbelieveable.

Let's Hear It

for Bu$hCo's continuing success in Afghanistan. We initially did the right thing there, but then abandoned them to invade a country that posed no threat to us. Good planning, boys.

"Remnants of the ousted Taliban regime have launched a campaign of arson, intimidation, and assassination targeting schools and teachers in southern Afghanistan, forcing some 200 schools to close in recent months, local officials say.

Five teachers have been killed, said Hayat Allah Rafiqi, head of the education department in Helmand province. Hundreds more teachers have received ''night letters' -- threatening notices nailed to their houses under darkness, warning them to quit teaching or die."

Joementum

How's that Bu$hCo ass-kissing working out for you, Joe? Apparently, it's not working out too well. Oh, & Collins is supposed to be a "moderate" ReThug, ha.

"Collins called Lieberman's request 'neither warranted nor appropriate,' because it could deprive presidents of candid advice and violate executive privilege. "

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

OK, Amur Tiger Time


Moron-in-Chief

What about the seniors who have have no children to help them? What a dick. This is what makes me embarassed to be an American. It also goes to show you what two stolens elections will get you. It's situations like this that make an alcohol addled body almost seem attractive.

"'Look, I'm not going to tell you your business, but I think it's your responsibility to help your mom,' Bush told Wendy Meyeroff. She had asked him to consider extending the May 15 deadline for registering for the new benefit without a penalty, but Bush refused."

Emphasis added.

Deceit

This sounds just like Bu$hCo. Thanks to Mary R. for this forwarded email. I get so pissed that they keep these things quiet. What really corks me off is that public officials are part of the secrecy, the coverup. I'm extremely disappointed.

ANOTHER NORTHWOODS MINE???

State Senators and Local Government Officials Tour Penokee Mountains
with La Pointe Iron Company VP

Mellen WI- Saturday felt nearly like spring along Highway 77 in southern Ashland County. Tall trees stood thick amid the snow where the largest open-pit mine Wisconsin has ever seen - 21 miles long, 500 feet deep- could be built in a soon as seven years. La Pointe Iron Company, a subsidiary of U S Steel whose national mineral rights were recently purchased by the Texas-based RGGS Land & Minerals Ltd., is in the process of seeking financial and political backing for the project. David Meineke, vice president of La Pointe, spent theafternoon presenting the proposed site to such state leaders as
StateSenator Dale Shultz (R-District 17), State Senator Dave Zien (R-District 23), and local leadership, including Mayor of Montreal Robert Morzenti , Ashland City Planner and Zoning Administrator Brea Lemke and Ashland City Administrator Brian Knapp,[*] as well as localunion and industry representatives. The meeting was not announced publicly, though a few community members did manage to attend.

After a parking lot tailgate presentation on the mines location and geology, discussion turned to political support for the potential mine. "We haven't met with the governor yet but we met with... his aid and we got a rather favorable response", Meineke said. Senator Shultz added "I think both political parties are way up to our project." The office of Governor Doyle has made no formal public comment on the project thus far.

The tour continued to a point along Highway 13, just south of Mellen and a few hundred feet north of Foley Road, where the ore body juts from the ground, and then on to the Penokee Mountain Lookout in the Chequamegon Nicolet National Forest, overlooking the Bad River gorge. Iron ore is oxidized 1000 feet from either side of the river and does not have marketable value, but valuable deposits continue for three to four miles to the west. The tour concluded in the town of Upson, where the eastern end of the ore body lies just a quarter mile south of Highway 77.

"You know, we're looking around the world, talking to all the big companies." said Meineke. The company is seeking anywhere from a half billion and to over a billion dollars in financial backing. Once such backing is secure, the company expects a minimum three year period before formally submitting a proposal to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The acceptance or denial of a metallic mine proposal submitted to the WDNR typically takes at least 4 years, which does not account for the local zoning and permitting process.

[*] These people need to be held accountable for this secret meeting. Why won't they open this up to the light of public scrutiny? We all know why. Notice that no, absolutely no elected state official from our area was present. What does that tell you? Pissants.

33%

& spineless Democrats refuse to back one of their own. What will it take?

"Several recent polls, including the AP-Ipsos poll, have found Bush's approval ratings in the 30s. The Pew poll found Bush's job approval at 33 percent, the lowest ever in that poll."

I Hate, No, Really Despise, Kevin Drum, No, I Hate Him

But I love Glenn Greenwald, who smacks this, frankly, right-wing Democrat, where it hurts - in the truth. I can't tell you how much I hate Drum. Purge, purge, purge.

"But even if the Censure Resolution ultimately fails, the rationale for pursuing it is self-evident. Kevin frequently frets about (among other things) the fact that Democrats are perceived as being weak. The reason for that is because Democrats often are weak, precisely when they do things like abandon their own Senators and refuse to take a principled stand against a President who got caught breaking the law.

"People like Kevin -- who believe that Democrats must "prove" to the country that they can be strong -- should most understand the value in having Democrats take a stand regardless of whether they ultimately prevail. Strong and resolute people fight. Weak and spineless people run away from fights -- or fight only when their victory is guaranteed in advance. The Democrats have been running away from fights for five years now based on the Kevin Drum theory that fights are only worth fighting if you know in advance that you will win. It is beyond irrational to think that the Democrats are going to look strong by simply crawling away meekly and allowing George Bush to break the law."

Faulty Intelligence?

When will we get this right?
"U.S. forces flattened a house during a raid north of Baghdad early Wednesday, killing 11 people -- mostly women and children, while insurgent attacks elsewhere left five dead, police and relatives said."

Emphasis added.

Freedom

Sort of.... The driveway is plowed so I'll be able to get out & drive to town today. No blowing or falling snow. There will be light to no posting until later today. Work related things to do.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Welcome

Hello to readers of Atrios. This, along with eating hamburger soup with Robert Bly at my home, it my closest brush with fame.

Knowledge

The Corps of Engineers knew about the potential failure of the levee. How come they didn't report to the Commander-in-Ineptitude? Afraid for their jobs, maybe? Somebody beside Drownie needs to be held accountable. Where is the ReThug mantra of personal responsibility?

"The corps called it an unforeseen combination of events that split the earthen levee and toppled the floodwall.

But Raymond B. Seed and Robert G. Bea, in charge of the National Science Foundation's Independent Levee Investigation Team, said Monday that the results should have been foreseen, given the results of a 1985 test done near Morgan City in south-central Louisiana. The test was done at an Atchafalaya Basin levee and floodwall system built to test whether a design similar to that of the 17th Street Canal levee and floodwall would work.

The test ended when — with water nearly 8 feet high along the test floodwall — sheet piles supporting it inside the levee began tilting backward, 'indicating that failure was imminent,' the statement said.

'Not only did they have that in their repertoire of information, they failed to use it, as best we can tell,' Seed said in a telephone interview from the University of California at Berkeley.

The Corps' Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force, which issued its report Friday, did know about that test, Corps spokesman Wayne Stroupe said. He said he would forward Seed's and Bea's statement to a Corps scientist for a response.

Seed and Bea said the soft clay behind the levee also should have been known to the corps."
Emphasis added.

The Big Fix

Imbalances Driven by Markets...Bernanke. I'm sure the NYT will fix this, but WTF? It finally dawns on the head of the Fed that the budget deficit will actually kill people. This is a step in the right direction for the ReThugs.

"...the prospective increase in the budget deficit will place at risk future living ... from birth and untreated it leads to coronary heart disease early in life."

We Want To Know Who These

Pacifists are. They are a danger to our war on terror, or whatever it is that we're calling it this week.
"It identifies the group as 'a left-wing organization advocating, among many political causes, pacifism.'"
From Raw Story.

34%

Here's another poll with even lower numbers. Via Atrios, via Holden.

"PRES. BUSH’S JOB APPROVAL

Now 2/06
Approve 34%
Disapprove 57
The American people continue to give President Bush low marks...."

Support Feingold

Thanks to Joe, the new guy for this link. Just cut & paste the URL & go sign the petition supporting Sen. Feingold's censure motion.

http://www.progressivepatriotsfund.com/page/petition/censure0306/kocdo

This is one reason why we need WiFi in The Black Cat. This probably could have generated a lot more signatures from Ashland, if in fact, that place joined the 21st century, or, truly cared about the world in a meaningful way.

Jeez

I suppose in Bu$hCo's world these are flower petals being strewn at the feet of Americans. "Goddamn the pusherman."

"Police found the bodies of at least 85 people killed by execution-style shootings in the past 24 hours - a gruesome wave of apparent sectarian reprisal slayings, officials said Tuesday."

Monday, March 13, 2006

Here's Exactly What's Wrong

Bu$hCo says one thing & Karl Rove blames the Democrats. What the hell is wrong with these people? How many more lies will we have to put up with. I'm getting so disgusted that I'm damn near despair.
"Critics called the cuts immoral. Mr. Bush replied, "It's not immoral to make sure that prescription drug pharmacists don't overcharge the system." His comment, in Manchester, N.H., on Feb. 8 this year, infuriated many pharmacists because it seemed to suggest that they were cheating the government."
....
"In an e-mail response, Mr. Rove said: 'The president was not attacking pharmacists and pharmacies. He was responding to the Democrat leader of the Senate who called the Medicaid reforms 'immoral.' '"

Emphasis added.