Blogger Round table

"The Lightning Thief"- robbed of its story

2010-02-14T18:06:00.009-06:00

(a fellow blogger asked for my opinion, this is not a review as such)

Just buy the book

As the mother of a demi-god, I can say I have been responsible for his discovery of the Percy Jackson series. I read the Lightning Thief before he did, suggested it for about 2 months. When he finally tried it, he was hooked. Like many other Percy Jackson fans, he already was well versed in Greek mythology and the mythological creations came alive through Rick Riordan’s well-written settings of current life. At the Last Olympians’ book signing, Rick Riordan mentioned that he was getting ready to visit the set of the Lightning Thief in Vancouver and the attending demi-gods and camp half-blood regulars cheered with the excitement and expectations of seeing the story on the big screen.

We saw the movie in advance because of the work of a very loyal mythology teacher who rented a movie theater space for her many students; we were ready for the big reveal. As the film unfolded, it was clear to me from the very beginning. This seemed like Chris Columbus’ film version of attempting to make Basil Fawlty’s famous waldorf salad and it truly was, full of ‘waldorfs’.

You can always expect parts to be excluded from a film version of any book, but this treatment only kept the title, a few characters, and added a lot of action in an attempt to dazzle. It did not. The key ingredient; the story with its built-in protagonists and antagonists, was missing. The film seemed to be made for a one-time only audience. It certainly cannot have been made for building up a successful adaptation series as the Harry Potter films have been. What was the point? The Percy Jackson series have plenty in it to make it useable for script content. Sure you’ll need to leave things out, but the basic story line is easy enough. A dyslexic and ADHD 12 year old discovers that he is the product of a liaison between a mortal and an immortal god, in Percy Jackson’s case, Poseidon, god of the sea. He discovers that mythological creatures are after him for some reason unknown to him and he soon finds himself at Camp-Half blood, the only protected spot on the planet for many other illegitimate mortal/immortal off-spring whom (the Greek) monsters are after. In the first book, Percy ends up on the quest to not only prove his innocence, but to find Zeus’ lightning bolt that he’s been accused of stealing. The readers of the book encounter many mythological creatures, a few who even make it to the screen; Medusa, the Hydra and the Fates.

Uma Thurman as Medusa...one of the film's highlights

But there are plenty of others missing. Also missing is Ares, god of war and father of Percy’s main antagonist at camp Half-blood, Clarisse. Both characters are very important for the rest of the series. Instead of learning more about mythology, we learn that this is a basic road film as the kids (Percy, Grover and Annabeth) drive themselves. They, the characters and the actors are at least 17/18 years old. There is quite some action but the action misses the point. Percy is actually 12 years old and he finds out over the course of the first two books, that there is a prophecy. This prophecy suggests that he, Percy Jackson, will become a dangerous weapon at the age of 16. So where are we to go with this film?

Alas, another kid lit book bites the dust at the hands of the director and the studio whose own myth is that children’s books fans are really not that important and that just filming one book out of a series is good enough. My suggestion is to blow off the movie and read the books instead. At least you’ll know there’s another one coming when you’re done with the first. “A gin and orange, a lemon squash, and a scotch and water, please!” –snaps fingers- , “and someone please order Mr. Columbus a real waldorf salad”.

Pentagon lifts media ban on returning coffins: FINALLY!

2009-02-26T13:32:00.004-06:00

It is shameful that there ever was a ban. Now people are getting a double whammy; not only was and is the economy NOT ok (hasn't been for a while and it did not just start now with Obama at the helm), but now people will get to see the literal, death toll now the ban is lifted. (and how did the odd picture come out?)

"WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday said he was lifting the ban against media photos of soldiers' coffins returning to the U.S. and will instead leave the decision up to families.

Gates told reporters earlier this month that he was reviewing the policy and that if the needs of the families could be met, and the privacy concerns could be addressed, he favored honoring fallen troops as much as possible."

It was about bloody time! It's funny how the GOP is now getting up in arms (no pun intended) over 'big government' and all kinds dramatic slogans that will make their flock reel but finally, reality-politics is coming to town and reality bites! Bad economic times the likes of the Depression, hell, it's supposed to become worse than that really.

Seeing the fallen soldiers return after patriotic notions got them to enlist (that or poverty because in middle schools, the military is trying heavily to recruit already) so here they are. After all that, and then not even to be acknowledged, no, allowed to be acknowledged if the family wants it.. it was one of those shameful laws. That said, it was apparently in place since '91 so that said, there have been fallen, returning soldiers during the Clinton years who did not receive their due recognition either.

Good on you Obama people. I am still the Independent and won't agree with foreign politics (business as usual) but I will have to give kudos when warranted.

Lullabies if you can't sleep..

2009-02-20T21:37:00.003-06:00

I'm looking for some of the songs on my daughter's cd. It's Putumayo's 'Dreamland; world lullabies and soothing songs.

Tanja Solnik's "Numi Numi"

Angelique Kidjo with Carlos Santana "Naima"

Claudia Martinez "Arriba Del Cielo"

Sometimes all you need is a piano and Tim Finn

2009-02-19T18:47:00.004-06:00

Tim Finn's "Winter Light" from the >"Chronicles of Narnia" soundtrack. Remember that voice from Split Enz and Crowded House?

Both kids are probably 'flu-free' (try saying three times fast)but I'm just keeping them home for one more, last day. They ought to be out of the woods completely by next week (they're both doing fine, especially 'daughter dearest' who's driving me batty with her motormouth and 'liveliness').

I keep in mind it's the flu. Some kids apparently got the type A flu only to return later to have picked up type B. So..let's not and say we did. I need next week to get ready for my mom's arrival in early March and I need my peace!!

Later peeps or when you look to your right "twitter boys and girls"!

the flu

2009-02-18T09:05:00.002-06:00

after a 4 day weekend with the kids, at the end, one got the flu and the other one followed suit. Amazingly, so far so good. We all had shots and the oldest, who was asymptomatic but had this chest congestion thing going on..again..was the one who started but seems fine with no fever for several days. In fact, when he must have started having it, he only had very low grade fever the first days with feeling a bit chilled and that mostly at night.
Then, just the night of school starting, the youngest woke up with a fever and we've just finished a day of moaning and groaning, eyes glazed over and 'feeling sad'. When I took her to the doc to confirm it was the flu, she got sick and bless her little independent self, she grabbed the bucket and did her thing without me having to pull over. (I was going as fast as I could).Then she asked for the towel I had brought so she could wipe her little mouth. (5 1/2yrs)

As I parked in the parking lot and saw the 'content', I thought DANG. More than I thought. What to do? Where's the nearest spiggot?? So I ended up composting it ahem, on a strip of grass next to the concrete paved parking lot. Usually, my husband is the one who's the designated 'cleaner upper' for 'that kind of stuff' as I normally gag and try not to follow suit (blech!), but I'm proud to announce I managed to clean the whole thing, stay composed and clean it out to boot with heaps of those antibacterial wipes we always have in the car. Last thing you need is to get back in the car with that 'smell'!

Plus, fyi..here's a way to get into your own separate room sooner at the doctors; ask for a bucket for throwing up. We got one and quickly got whisked to our own little room. [g]

Poor baby had fever and was just miserable and aching all day. When we finally got home around 4sh..I put her to bed and at 6:45sh..she woke up, hair looking like she sweated it out and her pajamas feeling accordingly and since that time..no fever! So what to do? If she hasn't had a fever for 24hrs, technically, she could go back to school. She's chipper now and hasn't crashed back into misery as I expected it. I thought it would be a long night last night but no. She did wake me up twice as she of course, slept too much. Now she's happy and watching the Backyardigans.

My son who's been sequestered in his room and the guest room (tv and bathroom) is now still asleep. Having the flu but no fever for days and asymptomatic.

Well..it could be worse. So another reason for not having posted. Again!
Later peeps. I've been collecting all these articles I had wanted to comment on but they're all old news now..c'est la vie!

Signs of the time; it's time to learn economics!

2009-02-14T12:50:00.008-06:00

John Mauldin in The Market Oracle "Back to the 1998 Crisis, Subprime's to Impact for a Longtime"

Even though all the pro-Obama voters (and non-voters the world over) have experienced an anti-climax "bleh" after the whole election kerfafle was done, I do know, we are far from being out of the woods. There are forces at work to the conspiracy theorists, who are determined to undermine and undo the American dollar. Globally, financially, we are connected to whatever, whomever, where ever, a stock market or industry would collapse.

Most recently, US Treasury Geithner accused China of manipulating their currency. However, what has been common practice in most American administrations, republican or democrat is having a discussion be two way. 'Cause apparently, the Obama administration hasn't been listening.

Simon Smelt, New Zealand economist

Here is Simon Smelt, writing for "Seeking Alpha";

"China’s leadership likes to communicate by brief but loaded signals, both to its own population and beyond. They are less inclined – have less need - to posture than politicians in the West. That is, they mean what they signal.

Whilst China is reliant on the U.S. as its biggest market and for the investments it has made there, the U.S. is reliant on China for ongoing cheap credit and goods. Given this inter-dependency, what is China signalling about its intent amidst current market turmoil?

The signals are clear but don’t seem to have been well picked up by the media. I suggest that there are three loud “No”s to be found in what China has been saying on the international stage, as well as some quieter “Yes”s."

Here are Simon's three 'NO's':

1 - "...In 2005 a bilateral Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) between China and the U.S. was set up. Reportedly, Beijing has put a lot of effort into this and sees the SED as the primary channel for dealing with pressing economic issues. It is the mechanism for dialogue between the G2 on strategic issues, including those of worldwide importance.

What all this boils down to is that China expects to be involved in the big decisions. The message is:

No more U.S. hegemony in the financial world

Lacking a suitable multi-national mechanism (memo from China: “don’t blame us – we’ve been calling for one”), the G2 will do fine instead."

2 - "...The U.S. has long run a trade deficit with China. The U.S. fiscal deficit by the government is more recent. It stems from the Bush years and is about to get much worse due to the various bail-out and stimulus packages. The Chinese can scarcely object to the trade deficit – they have funded it for years. So, the message is: don’t rely on us to buy your extra bond issues caused by your economic mismanagement.

So, the second Chinese “No”:

No extra U.S. bond purchases by China above the normal level"

3 - "...China will voice its concerns over U.S. government finances and the potential for a weaker dollar when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits China on Feb. 20. The idea has been floated that a guarantee might be “one of the prerequisites for more (bond) purchases”.

What’s going on here? The Chinese know full well that “guarantees” in the normal sense of the word can’t be given. What they are communicating is more than a bit of anxiety. It is the third “No”:

No policies that could lead to sharp depreciation of the U.S. $"

Read the whole, very well explained financial relationship and US/Chinese exchange on the current financial situation at Seeking Alpha's "China's Three No's to the U.S.: Is Washington Listening?"

Well people, time to stop being an unconscious consumer and use the time to learn some economics instead!

Getting the twitter bug - Stephen Fry, do you hear me now?

2009-02-08T11:35:00.010-06:00

Stephen Fry

In the spirit of publicity, I figured I needed to be more web savvy. So I figured I'd check out Twitter, having seen the twitter feed on Utah Savage's page, plus dh is on it. I started out yesterday and boy, it's a 'viral' and addictive thing. I'm keeping it under control as much as possible (i.e. don't follow many and not have that much followers, that'll get you tagged as an online marketing schemer). I have as of writing 15 followers and I am following 26. That includes CNNinthefield, Het Parool(a Dutch newspaper I grew up with) and 4 bloggers that I know. I don't necessarily follow whomever is following me either since they are following gezillion people and they are obviously in it for the marketing part. Of course, can't blame them but, it is not considered impolite NOT to follow someone who follows you.

Stephen Fry and the guy who plays Seeley Booth, sorry, can't find the time to check right now

That said, I wished Stephen Fry would follow me, he's a wonderfully accomplished, HILARIOUS comedian/actor (latest gig being Agent Seeley Booths' British psychiatrist on Bones)AND since I am on the board of the Gilbert and Sullivan society, having a famous brit for possible publicity/fundraising activities would be great!

My board and publicity committee doesn't know it yet, but I'm trying to think of non-Gilbert and Sullivan ways to raise money for our productions. Since Gilbert and Sullivan is inherintly British, I would suspect an actor like him could appreciate the endeavour.

Anyhow..to any of my blogger buddies, Enigma, Jim, Billie, Kel, Paula, Maria, Mary, Cyber Otter, Lindsay, Gary, Zee, DK, Ruth, Heathlander Jamie..am I missing anyone? Get on the Twitter train, it's fun!

That said, gotta get off the computer to get ready. My 11yr old has his first classical guitar recital and I need to boogie. I will explain more about twitteretiquette too.

Stephen Fry, do you hear me now? [do you hear me now?]

Publicity hound

2009-02-07T11:42:00.007-06:00

"woof!"

In the last couple of weeks, since getting on the board of the Gilbert and Sullivan society, I've been asked to join the publicity committee AND the fundraising committee. Both up my alley interest-wise. Since we are getting ready for auditions for Iolanthe, I was asked to contact all high schools here in Austin and the various colleges and universities. I tell you, I've been having fun with that. My brain is wired for PR. This morning, it hit me.

Gilbert and Sullivan society for Austin, audition info follow the link

Over 20 yrs ago (crap, time flies), a girl friend of mine was working in PR back in Ottawa Canada. She had worked previously for the Canadian Opera company as well (in Toronto) and during an outing, she turned to me and said, you know, you should go into PR because you've got "it". I asked, what is "it"? (being the newly emigrated, young naief person that I was) She said, I don't know, if I did, I would be better at it.
Entrance to Lady Birds' Wildflower Center..peace and more peace to be had..

Well somehow, life for me took many twists and turns (= many moves, in and outside Canada) but somehow PR was never a part of any endeavour. Until now. And I'm lovin' it! At 45, I finally know what I want to do 'when I grow up'. Yikes!

That said, I'm not going to fret about my age, it cannot be helped. I am not going to dwell on all those supposed missed opportunities as I a)can't do anything about it, and b)I've never been in such a supportive environment as I find myself right now being on the Gilbert and Sullivan society's board!

Hence, that, plus my scattered life in the past weeks what with doctor's appointments and the mondane things in life (laundry, grocery shopping, picking kids up from school etc) has kept me from even wanting to post.

My mind is in PR gear and I'm finally being appreciated for it. It's nice for a change! I have kept my eye out on politics too mind you, but have not had the umph to comment on it. I am having too much to do and I need to get my house environment in order as well, literally. If I need to do a lot of 'thinking-work', I cannot function in chaos and we have ehem, a bit of that.

So..there you have it. I haven't fallen of the face of the earth nor intend to do so. I do realize in blog time, I have been away for ages so I will try to make amends. Robert R..thanks for your email update and take care, I'll be thinking of you. Cyber Otter, it was awesome hearing from you the other week (when was that again??) I have honestly missed you so please come back [s]. The rest of 'yuus'..you know you're in my favourites list and I will always return to check in with you. Now with getting a life, which I had wanted for so long, I have to learn time management AND stress management..yes yes, join your club. Well, I'll get there. In the mean time, bear with my apparent absence but know I'm still there, I just can't promise anything.

oh and..can anyone read Japanese? Someone posted on my babies know obama post (in Japanese) but for the life of me (thank you sitemeter, ehem), i cannot 'see' where. All I see is the occasional english word (but nothing pertaining to this blog) and a lot of Japanese script (does it have a name?) and a ton of cutesy flora and fauna pics.. so Japanese I tell ya {g].

Adventures in Medicine and something completely different...The Mean Kitty Song

2009-01-31T11:16:00.002-06:00

The Mean Kitty song

It's been a long while since I've posted and still, the visitors kept coming. Apparently, "Obama knows babies" was/is quite the hit. It's a testimony to my many posts(-ing) that I have anyone visiting at all! I know I have some of my blogger buddies checking me out but on the whole, the majority of visitors do their searches and google nicely steers them towards me.
One of the searches that apparently puts me 'up there' is 'the ugly parent syndrome'. I posted on that a long time ago and for some strange reason, there are many Aussie searches for that one. Hmmm..what does that signify eh??

Anyway, I've been awol from the blogosphere due to 'adventures in medicine'. Last week, my son's allergies spiked severely (unusually high cedar count and he's taking three different allergy shots even, he's got a slew of allergies, animal, food and various pollen with the occasional cockroach..yes yes)..anyhow..his histamines went to work and what was in his head ended up in his chest, causing tightness and that is for the most part his asthma related issues. We were in two separate ERs last week. One 'regular' one and the next day, I just thought no, he needs to go to the children's ER (20plus miles away). Then a follow up doctor's appointment with exrays (oh, and a chest xray at the children's ER)..pfff...and this week, a final doctor's follow up with the ok to go back to school..hooray! He had to endure a week of prelone (makes you hyper), on top of his numerous maintenance meds. Plus, in the beginning, on top of the medicine, I gave him stuff with guefenisin so his chest would get loose.

Then I had something going on (blood test showed too low potassium but I realized afterwards I had a LOT of black licorice over the past couple of weeks (one of my b'day presents) that depletes potassium in your body. So of course, a follow up blood test for me (low potassium in especially women can cause heart problems, think keeling over) so..I'll be glad when this month is done. I haven't had time to actually focus on what I had planned to do..

So hence, in the spirit of, 'and now for something completely different'..this kitty cat vid that my kids stumbled upon..
have a good weekend and hope you're safe and warm whereever you are..

2009-01-16T20:37:00.002-06:00

The Independent's 'Dave Brown'.

Saturday, I have my eldest birthday party (11) and I've been quite busy and scattered, errand wise. Hopefully, I can get my posting back up. I haven't even had time to check out 'ya'll's posts, let alone think about what I feel or want to post on. This Gaza nonsense has just made me feel kind of desillusioned and maddened, once again. Politics does that.
Goodbye Bush..ya dumb puppet. We need to keep paying attention to the players who made it all happen, they're definitely not going to disappear any time soon. That and the military industrial complex, follow the resource as I've mentioned below. That and the money trail.
That, and the trail of dead bodies...

Happy Birthday To 'Ya'..

2009-01-14T06:45:00.003-06:00

Trying to 'going on being' and that is one of my goals for the year. It 'is' convenient for my birthday to be at the beginning of the year. That said, most people are recupering this month from their December gluttony and splurches and tend to forget 'us' January babes. Well, in honour of Martin Luther King's birthday next week (this song was composed for him) and Obama's inauguration, I'll play this song.
That, and the following people (for those entertainment junkies):

1875 Albert Schweitzer (humanitarian, physician, musician, philospher)
Faye Dunaway born on January 14, 1941
Lawrence Kasdan born on January 14, 1949
Claude Chirac born on January 14, 1962
Steven Soderbergh born on January 14, 1963
"Moi", 1964
Emily Watson born on January 14, 1967
LL Cool J born on January 14, 1968
Jason Bateman born on January 14, 1969

You know it doesn't make much sense
There ought to be a law against
Anyone who takes offense
At a day in your celebration
'Cause we all know in our minds
That there ought to be a time
That we can set aside
To show just how much we love you
And I'm sure you will agree
It couldn't fit more perfectly
Than to have a world party on the day you came to be

Chorus
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday
(Repeat)

I just never understood
How a man who died for good
Could not have a day that would
Be set aside for his recognition
Because it should never be
Just because some cannot see
The dream as clear as he
That they should make it become an illusion
And we all know everything
That he stood for time will bring
For in peace our hearts will sing
Thanks to Martin Luther King

Chorus
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday
(Repeat)

Bridge
Why has there never been a holiday
Where peace is celebrated
all throughout the world

The time is overdue
For people like me and you
You know the way to truth
Is love and unity to all God's children
It should be a great event
And the whole day should be spent
In full remembrance
Of those who lived and died for the oneness of
all people
So let us all begin
We know that love can win
Let it out don't hold it in
Sing it loud as you can

Chorus
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday
(4x)

(Background Stevie)
Happy birthday Ooh yeah
Happy birthday,
To you

We know the key to unity of all
People
Is in the dream that you had so
Long ago
That lives in all of the hearts
Of people
That believe in unity
We'll make the dream become
A reality
I know we will
Because our hearts tell us so

Natural Gas drilling by BP off-shore at Gaza

2009-01-11T09:23:00.011-06:00

Well peeps, I was 'wrong'. Well, wrong about this particular Israel-Gaza war. With all these casualties, this is a full blown war. This cannot even be considered an 'exchange' as it's so lopsided but..it's lopsided for a reason.

This particular Gaza invasion came about due to there being gas fields off-shore Gaza. And well, most of us 'truth seekers', unfortunately mostly progressives and libertarians know that all these (US/Isreal/Russia, future China?) war on 'this and that' abroad is always about a resource of sorts. One could say in political science terms that these days, you need to look at it from a political economy perspective. History helps too though. It's still a great predictor. Israel has been very aggressively pushing away the Palestinians off their lands ever since the state was formed (water AND land being the main reason, nicely cloaked in religious terms and using antagonism to provoke and cause reactions) this time, it is all about the off-shore gas fields. Naturally, they'd stood to benefit Gaza but naturally...can't have that.

Excerpt from Michel Chossudovsky's War and Natural Gas: The Israeli Invasion and Gaza's Offshore Gas Fields:

"The military invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israeli Forces bears a direct relation to the control and ownership of strategic offshore gas reserves.

This is a war of conquest. Discovered in 2000, there are extensive gas reserves off the Gaza coastline.

British Gas (BG Group) and its partner, the Athens based Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCC) owned by Lebanon's Sabbagh and Koury families, were granted oil and gas exploration rights in a 25 year agreement signed in November 1999 with the Palestinian Authority.

The rights to the offshore gas field are respectively British Gas (60 percent); Consolidated Contractors (CCC) (30 percent); and the Investment Fund of the Palestinian Authority (10 percent). (Haaretz, October 21, 2007).

The PA-BG-CCC agreement includes field development and the construction of a gas pipeline.(Middle East Economic Digest, Jan 5, 2001).

The BG licence covers the entire Gazan offshore marine area, which is contiguous to several Israeli offshore gas facilities. (See Map below). It should be noted that 60 percent of the gas reserves along the Gaza-Israel coastline belong to Palestine.

The BG Group drilled two wells in 2000: Gaza Marine-1 and Gaza Marine-2. Reserves are estimated by British Gas to be of the order of 1.4 trillion cubic feet, valued at approximately 4 billion dollars. These are the figures made public by British Gas. The size of Palestine's gas reserves could be much larger.

Who Owns the Gas Fields

The issue of sovereignty over Gaza's gas fields is crucial. From a legal standpoint, the gas reserves belong to Palestine.

The death of Yasser Arafat, the election of the Hamas government and the ruin of the Palestinian Authority have enabled Israel to establish de facto control over Gaza's offshore gas reserves.

British Gas (BG Group) has been dealing with the Tel Aviv government. In turn, the Hamas government has been bypassed in regards to exploration and development rights over the gas fields.

The election of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2001 was a major turning point. Palestine's sovereignty over the offshore gas fields was challenged in the Israeli Supreme Court. Sharon stated unequivocally that "Israel would never buy gas from Palestine" intimating that Gaza's offshore gas reserves belong to Israel.

In 2003, Ariel Sharon, vetoed an initial deal, which would allow British Gas to supply Israel with natural gas from Gaza's offshore wells. (The Independent, August 19, 2003)

The election victory of Hamas in 2006 was conducive to the demise of the Palestinian Authority, which became confined to the West Bank, under the proxy regime of Mahmoud Abbas.

In 2006, British Gas "was close to signing a deal to pump the gas to Egypt." (Times, May, 23, 2007). According to reports, British Prime Minister Tony Blair intervened on behalf of Israel with a view to shunting the agreement with Egypt.

The following year, in May 2007, the Israeli Cabinet approved a proposal by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "to buy gas from the Palestinian Authority." The proposed contract was for $4 billion, with profits of the order of $2 billion of which one billion was to go the Palestinians.

Tel Aviv, however, had no intention on sharing the revenues with Palestine. An Israeli team of negotiators was set up by the Israeli Cabinet to thrash out a deal with the BG Group, bypassing both the Hamas government and the Palestinian Authority: Read the rest".

Like the US' pursuit of oil abroad, setting up situations for justification to go to war, likewise, Israel has done the same. Hamas came legally into government, however, the Israeli government had no intention of working with them because of all what they needed to give up; claims to land, water, and now, gas. When one has the upper hand politically (being protected by the US by way of military aid and vetoes in the UN) and militarily, one doesn't need to be very compromising right? Right.

And so the Energy geopolitics continue. Be sure to read the rest of the article. And get out your world atlas and check out some maps. It's time to 'see' how the Middle East/Georgia area fits together.

The Real Gaza story

2009-01-03T09:31:00.012-06:00

Israel Aquifers

What is the real reason behind all these Israel-Palestinian conflicts? WATER!!

As I asked a fellow Israeli blogger recently, does Israel still have an open door policy? (called the Law of Return)It used to be such that Israel allowed any Jew from anywhere in the world immigration even though the size of Israel can safely be considered too small to accomodate the many millions that might want to live in the "promised land". He answered yes.

So how sustainable is having an open door policy when you live in a sliver of land in a dry arid region called Israel?!
There's always been that pesky problem of uncooperative Arabs who've lived there ever since the diaspora a few thousand years ago.

So in very short, (there are books and articles galore to elaborate), this has become Israel's policy for the Palestinians from day one and how it played out in this time's "Operation Cast Lead".

Johann Hari from the Independent explains this 'ever confusing' who-did-what-first-and-why in one perfectly laid out column. Something you will not likely find in any mainstream American treatment. Here goes:

"According to the Israeli press, Yuval Diskin, the current head of the Israeli security service Shin Bet, "told the Israeli cabinet [on 23 December] that Hamas is interested in continuing the truce, but wants to improve its terms." Diskin explained that Hamas was requesting two things: an end to the blockade, and an Israeli ceasefire on the West Bank. The cabinet – high with election fever and eager to appear tough– rejected these terms.

The core of the situation has been starkly laid out by Ephraim Halevy, the former head of Mossad. He says that while Hamas militants – like much of the Israeli right-wing – dream of driving their opponents away, "they have recognised this ideological goal is not attainable and will not be in the foreseeable future." Instead, "they are ready and willing to see the establishment of a Palestinian state in the temporary borders of 1967." They are aware that this means they "will have to adopt a path that could lead them far from their original goals" – and towards a long-term peace based on compromise.

The rejectionists on both sides – from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran to Bibi Netanyahu of Israel – would then be marginalised. It is the only path that could yet end in peace but it is the Israeli government that refuses to choose it. Halevy explains: "Israel, for reasons of its own, did not want to turn the ceasefire into the start of a diplomatic process with Hamas."

Why would Israel act this way? The Israeli government wants peace, but only one imposed on its own terms, based on the acceptance of defeat by the Palestinians. It means the Israelis can keep the slabs of the West Bank on "their" side of the wall. It means they keep the largest settlements and control the WATER supply. And it means a divided Palestine, with responsibility for Gaza hived off to Egypt, and the broken-up West Bank standing alone. Negotiations threaten this vision: they would require Israel to give up more than it wants to. But an imposed peace will be no peace at all: it will not stop the rockets or the rage. For real safety, Israel will have to talk to the people it is blockading and bombing today, and compromise with them."

and..

"To understand how frightening it is to be a Gazan this morning, you need to have stood in that small slab of concrete by the Mediterranean and smelled the claustrophobia. The Gaza Strip is smaller than the Isle of Wight but it is crammed with 1.5 million people who can never leave. They live out their lives on top of each other, jobless and hungry, in vast, sagging tower blocks. From the top floor, you can often see the borders of their world: the Mediterranean, and Israeli barbed wire. When bombs begin to fall – as they are doing now with more deadly force than at any time since 1967 – there is nowhere to hide."

and..

"The most detailed polling of Palestinians, by the University of Maryland, found that 72 per cent want a two-state solution on the 1967 borders, while fewer than 20 per cent want to reclaim the whole of historic Palestine. So, partly in response to this pressure, Hamas offered Israel a long, long ceasefire and a de facto acceptance of two states, if only Israel would return to its legal borders.

Israel's pre-1967 borders and land distances

Rather than seize this opportunity and test Hamas's sincerity, the Israeli government reacted by punishing the entire civilian population. It announced that it was blockading the Gaza Strip in order to "pressure" its people to reverse the democratic process. The Israelis surrounded the Strip and refused to let anyone or anything out. They let in a small trickle of food, fuel and medicine – but not enough for survival. Weisglass quipped that the Gazans were being "put on a diet". According to Oxfam, only 137 trucks of food were allowed into Gaza last month to feed 1.5 million people. The United Nations says poverty has reached an "unprecedented level." When I was last in besieged Gaza, I saw hospitals turning away the sick because their machinery and medicine was running out. I met hungry children stumbling around the streets, scavenging for food.

It was in this context – under a collective punishment designed to topple a democracy – that some forces within Gaza did something immoral: they fired Qassam rockets indiscriminately at Israeli cities. These rockets have killed 16 Israeli citizens. This is abhorrent: targeting civilians is always murder. But it is hypocritical for the Israeli government to claim now to speak out for the safety of civilians when it has been terrorising civilians as a matter of state policy."

emph and underlined and bold added as usual, by yours truly.

Read Johann Hari's story in whole; The true story behind this war is not the one Israel is telling

As promised, my backyard makeover, still a work in progress

2008-12-28T14:49:00.003-06:00

sure it looks nice, but do you want to pay $300 a month for watering and mowing it in 90F plus degrees??

Finally, slowly but surely, our big backyard is taking shape. Literally. After killing off the highly useless St. Augustine grass (in Central Texas, we're in a constant state of varying degrees of 'drought'), we ended up with caleechy exposed soil and a LOT of weeds. Finally, we made some progress.

half-way done..

We got rocks from a local cemetary where they literally have a pile on a side lane free for the taking, and we also found roughly chopped cedar mulch (which ended up having quite a lot of palm by the looks of it) from the Lake Travis Brush Recycling$3 a yard which, with the tax and delivery included, ended up costing us only $205.68 to be exact! (we got 25yards).

For Mother's day I had gotten several native, drought resistant trees; one Texas persimmon, one desert willow (they are happy trees here, bloom beautifully), one Mexican plum and two Possum Haw hollies. They all happen to have white flowers but are all still fairly short, about 3 to 4 feet. Digging the holes for them was not possible to do manually but that saga happened too long ago. Just trust me when I say; here in Central Texas, you build upon, you don't dig. Not if you ever can help it 'cause it'll mean having to hire machinery.

Anyway, without further ado..the before ...and the after.

LANDSCAPE FABRIC?? I know I know..some of you will have a cow but trust me..there's no saving this soil (caleechy works it's way up) and it's too expensive with a yard this size to keep putting top soil on it. If you go native, you do not need to worry about the soil. The fabric is to minimize the weeds as we are facing a greenbelt. When it's planting time, you just push the mulch aside, cut a whole, do a little diggin' well, scraping in our case, and voila..done!

A path running through it..

Taking shape...I have two vegetable beds that actually had to be covered from a freeze..

The truck with the 25 yards of mulch..

THAT'S what 25 yards of mulch looks like..whoa nelly!

Shaping continued..for now we have a few mulch 'humps' but I'll post some more updates, finished outlined path pictures later this week..

Voila!

8 plus hours later, 3 wheelbarrels assembly line style, several helpful neighbour kids for a few hours here and there and the day before Christmas..it was finally done!

Like I said, we still have more pictures to show... It feels good though. It's a great start..perhaps I can even figure out a little video so I can give the panoramic scanning view of the ...we'll see how that goes.

cross-posted at Austin Permie

No Good Comes from Dick Cheney!!

2008-12-26T09:28:00.004-06:00

"Oh Christmas tree Oh Christmas tree..." most of the presents were for the kids from 'multiple' sources of course

To Ingrid from..Dick Cheney?? What gives!? (it's a Smith and Wesson airsoft pistol)

To Dirk and Rebecca from..what?? Dick Cheney? (Nerf dart guns..start 'm early eh..DICK??)

I guess someone.. wanted to give us a Texas-style Christmas! Hm.
Can you see me like this? "I love you honey bunny..KIDS..go get 'm!"

or...

what'll be?? (know of any other ehem..more legally respectable scenes??)

Merry Christmas, Canada style - 12 days of Christmas "hey hoser!"

2008-12-24T22:08:00.003-06:00

Bob and Doug Mckenzie.. the one and only version worth while listening to in my not so humble opinion..

"Hey Hoser!"

Merry Christmas Y'all from a very sunny, not at all white Central Texas, eh!! From still a canuck-probably-soon-to-be dual citizen...imagine..Canada having 12 provinces ..hehe..now THAT is what I call a 'silent revolution' (Canucks will know what I mean)

Of colds and earaches and shopping thwarted..

2008-12-20T19:38:00.005-06:00

Just a pic, not my daughter dearest though..

Quick update;

This past week I've been practically home all week (except on Thursday for a few hours) with the youngest one having a bad case of head and chest congestion so aside from pumping her full of meds every 4hrs, naturally, 'one' is up as well during the night at times.
And naturally, this had to happen during the last week of school when I had my errands planned and thought no problem, I have plenty of time!

Did manage to post something here and there quickly but alas, my visiting was minimal and replies to comments non existent. Now you know why.
The 'head and chest' case turned into an ear infection which I figured out early this morning (of course it being Saturday), after two nights of fevers and a definite "ow my ear hurts' this morning. sigh

Luckily, Murphy's law cannot always fully rule even though I suspect it was put in place 'just' for parents, so luckily, our pediatrician did have office hours this morning and is on call for the whole weekend. He's a great elderly gentleman who's not retired as he still has one or two kids to put through college. Or so I here. I wish he was my doctor but that's another story.

So..now we're on antibiotics (the non penicillin type as my youngest could be allergic to it and there has not been a penicillin test on the market for the last 2yrs..Enigma, wassup with that??) and a migrating earache that went from one ear to the other.. sigh again.

Sooo, instead of 'carpeting' my backyard with my husband (story and pictures to come), I was on kid duty..again! (did you not always want your mom and not your dad when you were sick?)

This afternoon after another wailing session with big tears and a passing out for 30min..I talked to the nurse on call and was informed that yes, I can give her alternating pain meds every 3 hrs. When that finally went into effect, boy what a difference. Sigh times three.

Now, the two kids are watching the Spiderwick Chronicles, perhaps a little scary for the younger one but hey, she's been 'baptized' into gollum land a few years ago (thank you older sibling without asking OR thinking) so hey, sigh sigh sigh sigh..

I am taking a short break. I'd rather be in my yard..I'm behind in my shopping, not to mention doing all my christmas (read, oversees) cards...well, that'll be happy new years then..

I'll be back with backyard updates, political stuff etc. My husband has these two weeks off so phew, we can take turns..
Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer

Hope you're having a good weekend..I'm gonna chill with my 'As time goes by' tonight and dream of 'that what could've been'.. I love some of those brit comedies..(and geoffrey palmer and judi dench are a great pair)

Oh and did I mention I was/am pretty bored?? c'est la vie..
nighty night..
(thx Gary! [s])

Gimme Shelter, short docuvid by Ben Affleck about Congo

2008-12-17T15:35:00.002-06:00

This is the write up;

Actor-director Ben Affleckand Sir Mick Jagger have launched a short film for UNHCRs new Gimme Shelter campaign to help raise funds and awareness about the crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the work of the UN refugee agency.

In November, Affleck visited Africa to shoot footage in DRCs strife-torn North Kivu province, where tens of thousands have fled their homes since fighting resumed in August. He also visited Uganda, where some 30,000 people have sought refuge and are receiving help from UNHCR. The result is a short film entitled Gimme Shelter, set to the classic Rolling Stones song of the same name, which Jagger and the group donated to the campaign.

UNHCR hopes the Gimme Shelter campaign will help raise US$23 million in 2009 to pay for clean water supplies and emergency humanitarian assistance kits in the region.

The film - Gimme Shelter - was directed by Affleck and filmed by John Toll, both Academy Award winners. The footage was shot in the strife-torn North Kivu regionof the DRC in November, where thousands have fled their homes since fighting resumed in August.

- For more information about the Gimme Shelter campaign go to http://www.unhcr.org

U.S. War Veterans and PTSD Awareness

2008-12-16T18:15:00.003-06:00

This is still close to my heart. I don't know any veterans, I don't know of anyone going through this. I still want to help out with some kind of reintegration non profit or 'process'. There is one organization in Denver that does something about military reintegration; One Freedom.
Below is video from a class project (not related to this organization). For most of us, it's nothing new. But..it's an acknowledgement for those who need it. With more troops being sent to Afghanistan, I see this reintegration business being needed for quite a while. And it shouldn't. I despise the politics behind these wars. Wouldn't it be great if there was some great awakening and people would seize to join the military? Nobody's life is worth the political crap-games that is being played. And that's all I have to say about that.
I'll dedicate this to Jim. Hope your boys come home safe and sound.

Playing For Change - Stand By Me

2008-12-15T12:02:00.005-06:00

Thank You ZEEster for sending me this vid (albeit through Facebook)..I had seen a short blurb on PBS a few weeks ago (before their endless fundraising schedule..can I have my Brit comedies back please??) and an interview of Bill Moyers with one of the co-directors, Mark Johnson behind the documentary "Playing For Change: Peace Through Music". (Jonathan Walls being the other director)

[Mark Johnson]

Playing For Change - Join the Movement

It's easy, just sign up for updates and info. I just did.

Playing For Change - School Building

Oxfam America's report; the worst place on earth to be a woman

2008-12-13T12:32:00.008-06:00

The Greatest Silence; Rape in the Congo

Enormous HAT TIP to Border Explorer who mentioned it in a comment on the post Rape and the Spoils of War (see Wednesday's post);

"This came in yesterday from Oxfam America & I thought it fit here:

The worst place on earth to be a woman?

The Democratic Republic of Congo.

Help change the situation: contact President-Elect Obama TODAY.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is host to the world’s deadliest conflict since World War II.

And women and girls have borne the brunt of this horrific crisis, with rape as a weapon of war on a scale seen nowhere else in the world.

But you can do something about it.

Tell President-Elect Obama to announce his plan to end sexual violence in Congo.

photo from Humanitarian Relief - Michael Bear Kleinman, aid worker, lawyer, and consultant with experience working in Afghanistan, across east and central Africa, and Iraq.

Eastern Congo is the worst place in the world to be a woman in 2008. Rape and sexual violence are routinely used as a weapon to destroy women, families, and communities. It is time to get serious about ending the conflict and protecting and empowering Congo’s women.

The US government is in a unique position to take action immediately. They can promote peace through aggressive diplomatic efforts, increase UN patrols and support organizations that help keep women safe, and work to ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.

Oxfam America has joined with the RAISE Hope for Congo campaign to raise awareness about the crisis. And by adding your voice, you are helping to raise awareness about the horrors of this nine-year conflict.

Tell the president-elect to announce his plan to end the vicious cycle of sexual violence."

SIGN THE RAISE HOPE FOR CONGO PETITION TO THE PRESIDENT!

I just did.

"Human Kindness Overflowing.."

2008-12-11T16:35:00.005-06:00

Don't know why but I went down memory lane. We had this 'lp' (for those from this cd era; definition; Long Play An analog audio recording pressed in vinyl that rotates at 33.3 RPM. Sound is literally "carved" into the platter in a spiral groove, starting at the outer edge of the platter. The undulations in the groove are an analog of the original acoustic waves. A needle (stylus) is placed in the groove which oscillates as the platter rotates. The oscillations are converted to electricity, amplified and sent to the speakers)

anyhow, we had this 'Unicef' lp for which the proceeds of course went to Unicef, and one of the songs I listened to a lot as a young un' was Dusty Springfields's "I think it's gonna rain today". Before I even knew or understood any english, I loved this song.

I dedicate this to the current recipients of the Right Livelihood awards, see post below.

I Think Its Gonna Rain Today
by Randy Newman

Broken window, empty hallway
Pale dead moon in a sky streaked with grey
Human kindness overflowing
And I think it's gonna rain today

Scarecrows dressed in the latest style
With frozen smiles to keep love away
Human kindness overflowing
And I think its gonna rain today

Lonely, lonely
Tin can at my feet
Think I'll kick it down the street
That's no way to treat a friend

Right before me, signs implore me
Help the needy and show them the way
Human kindness overflowing
I think its gonna rain today

Rape and the spoils of war

2008-12-10T12:17:00.016-06:00

I remember in the mid90s, sitting in a political science class, when the professor was discussing, no, excusing the rape that had just occurred in Bosnia and Kosovo by way of explaining it as 'spoils of war'. It was something that men did in the face of death and destruction. Some primal urge. I was in my early 30s then and the majority of my classmates were much younger than myself, except for the odd student. Sitting in the back, I could see their reaction of disbelief. It was not just politically incorrect, it was truly ignorant. The professor actually believed it!

I could not say nothing and inspite of always having felt extremely shy to speak up in class, I raised my hands and said "no professor, rape is not an act of desire, it's an act of aggression".

Monika Hauser

One of Amy Goodman's fellow recipients of the Right Livelihood award (see post below), the alternative Nobel award, is Monika Hauser. She is a gynocologist and founded a non profit organization based in Germany called "medica mondiale". Her organization works to "prevent and punish sexual violence against women and girls in wartime."
Over 70.000 women and girls from "Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Afghanistan" have been exposed to their aid.

Anti-rape sign in Liberia

Here is an excerpt of Amy Goodman's interview with Monika Hauser:

"...Hauser received the Right Livelihood Awardfor “her tireless commitment to working with women who have experienced the most horrific sexual violence in some of the most dangerous countries in the world, and campaigning for them to receive social recognition and compensation.”She joins me here in the studio in Stockholm, Sweden.
Welcome to Democracy Now!"

MONIKA HAUSER: Thank you, Amy.

AMY GOODMAN: "So, congratulations, and tell us about your organization. What is medica mondiale? What prompted you to start this?"

MONIKA HAUSER: "I founded medica mondiale in the end of ’92, because I realized what happened in Bosnia, because in the war there, many, many women got raped. And as a young gynecologist who has worked already with raped women before in Germany and other places in Europe, I was aware about that these women need a holistic approach of support. They need medical support, they need psychosocial support."

photo by HIDAJET DELIC [Bosnian Muslim women holding posters with the names of the missing during a protest in front of the UN office in Sarajevo, on Friday, July 18 , 2008. Hundreds of war-time rape victims protested against the decision of the U.N. war crimes tribunal to reject the prosecution's request for rape to be added to the charges against two Bosnian Serbs currently on trial for other war crimes. The women claim Milan and Sredoje Lukic organized rape camps for Serb soldiers in which they held Muslim women as sex slaves. Milan and Sredoje Lukic are on trial at the tribunal in Netherlands for murder and other war crimes described by the prosecution as one of the most brutal in the 1992-95 Bosnian war.]

"When I read the media reports, I got very angry, angry about that what happened to the women and angry about that how the medias reported about the women. They scandalized that what happened to them. And instead of looking to them as survivors of grave human rights violations, they abused, misused them again by their media reports. So I said to myself I have to support these women, as a gynecologist, as a feminist and as a European.

I went there to central Bosnia, and I found very fast twenty professional Bosnian women, gynecologists, nurses, psychologists, who were very eager to start with me this women’s therapy center there."

AMY GOODMAN:" And how did you go from that to working in countries around the world?"

MONIKA HAUSER: "So, this was the first step, and now Medica Zenica is fifteen years old, the project there, still working and still helping traumatized women. And the staff there is very experienced.

And then we started new programs in Kosovo, because we saw after the end of the war there in ’99 that to Kosovo women, the same happened again. Rape as a tool of war was happening, and they were exposed to so much violence. So we decided to set up there our second project. And Bosnian therapists, Bosnian professionals supported us to build up this new project. They trained their new colleagues."

"The 12-year-old girl, gang-raped in Afghanistan, weeps as her family demands justice", please see >"Muslims Against Sharia - Islamic Reform Movement"

"And the same with Afghanistan. This is our main project since 2002. We have there now, in the meantime, over seventy local female staff members, and we had again the Bosnian therapists with their huge experience coming over to Kabul to train doctors, midwives, nurses, psychologists, lawyers, in order to help traumatized Afghan women."

Read the rest of the interview.

Here is a definition of rape; The crime of forcing another person to submit to sex acts, especially sexual intercourse.

[emph,bold,underlining added by yours truly]

Congratulations Amy Goodman! The Alternative Nobel Prize winner of the Right Livelihood award!

2008-12-08T10:07:00.007-06:00

Asha Hagi Elmi, Amy Goodman, Krishnammal Jagannathan, Monika Hauser

Amy Goodman and three other women [Asha Hagi Elmi, co-founder of Save Somali Women and Children; Krishnammal Jagannathan, an 82-year-old activist from southern India; and Monika Hauser, a gynecologist and founder of “medica mondiale] are in Stockholm Sweden right now in honour of receiving the Right Livelihood award.

I had never heard of this award, which has apparently been around since 1980 and was established as an alternative Nobel prize award. Since 1980, there have been 133 "Alternative Nobel Laureates" chosen from 57 different countries. The purpose of this award was, quote; "to honour and support those “offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today.”

Amy Goodman's Democracy Now was chosen for “developing an innovative model of truly independent political journalism that brings to millions of people the alternative voices that are often excluded by mainstream media.”

Jakob von Uexkull

Read more about the founder of Right Livelihood Jakob von Uexkull and the 2008 recipients and/or listen to Amy's broadcast at The Right Livelihood Award: A Look at Sweden’s “Alternative Nobel”

Good for you Amy, the world is watching AND listening! Of course, the other women are heroins in their own right. Thank god there are more where they came from.

No Fear even though the Recession is here!

2008-12-05T14:24:00.006-06:00

James Zogby

It's unreal to fathom that we've entered into one of the worst recession times ever. Did we not just joke about our parents (ok, some of 'us'/you who are of a certain age) or even our grandparents being veritable scrooges because of having gone through 'THE Depression'?? Is that depression going to be replaced by THIS one?

I have been thinking about the seeming unreality of it. Or better put, of it still. Having had on my mind the possibility of re-entering the workforce in whichever capacity (too long a story) this is not exactly the best time. Or is it?

James Zogby started out in the 1990s contemplating how Americans seemingly lost the spirit of the American Dream. Instead, through his work as a pollster, he came to find out something different;

[But instead],as I probed deeper, I found a renewed spirit, a survival instinct, a readjustment of life's expectations and a redefinition of the American dream. I have found for years now that more Americans say the American Dream has more to do with spiritual fulfillment and leading a genuine and honest life than with the attainment of material things. [John Zogby: America's Secular Spiritualists - Why they're still optimistic]

So here I am, having caught the signals coming my way to 'reinvent' myself and now, with the beginning of this recession, really having to think of what this reinvention means. Many people will get laid off and worry, at first, about the basics of providing for their family. That probably means going to a food pantry for the first time. It could mean having to dip into savings (if you have it) before being eligible for any kind of government assistance, getting food stamps etc. Take heart though, because it can also mean, that THAT what we as human beings have been programmed for, can start resurfacing after years of complacency;

Survival instinct! Adaptibility. Reinvention of yourself as a person, as a provider. Being able to do without all things materialistic. Appreciating a roof over one's head. Seeing and receiving help when needed.

For those of us who are able and who are not as effected; if you haven't already, let's start giving to our local, neighbourhood food pantry. Give clothes and necessities to Goodwill, the Salvation Army, St. Vincents, you know your area's charity of choice.

Benevolink

Not just now for the holidays, but as a good habit to start off the New year. We're all going to be in this together.

Just thinking...

"Barack Obama's kettle of hawks" by Jeremy Scahill

2008-12-03T11:01:00.005-06:00

Trust a British columnist to dare end the dream of all dreams; nothing seems to be going to change with the US Foreign Policy. Or as Jeremy Scahill calls it, "America First", in his Barack Obama's kettle of hawks;

"The assembly of Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates, Susan Rice and Joe Biden is a kettle of hawks with a proven track record of support for the Iraq war, militaristic interventionism, neoliberal economic policies and a worldview consistent with the foreign policy arch that stretches from George HW Bush's time in office to the present.

[snip]

On Iraq, the issue that the Obama campaign described as "the most critical foreign policy judgment of our generation", Biden and Clinton not only supported the invasion, but pushed the Bush administration's propaganda and lies about Iraqi WMDs and fictitious connections to al-Qaida. Clinton and Obama's hawkish, pro-Israel chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, still refuse to renounce their votes in favour of the war. Rice, who claims she opposed the Iraq war, didn't hold elected office and was not confronted with voting for or against it. But she did publicly promote the myth of Iraq's possession of WMDs, saying in the lead up to the war that the "major threat" must "be dealt with forcefully". Rice has also been hawkish on Darfur, calling for "strik[ing] Sudanese airfields, aircraft and other military assets".

It is also deeply telling that, of his own free will, Obama selected President Bush's choice for defence secretary, a man with a very disturbing and lengthy history at the CIA during the cold war, as his own. While General James Jones, Obama's nominee for national security adviser, reportedly opposed the Iraq invasion and is said to have stood up to the neocons in Donald Rumsfeld's Pentagon, he did not do so publicly when it would have carried weight. Time magazine described him as "the man who led the Marines during the run-up to the war – and failed to publicly criticise the operation's flawed planning". Moreover, Jones, who is a friend of McCain's, has said a timetable for Iraq withdrawal, "would be against our national interest".

[snip]

What ultimately ties Obama's team together is their unified support for the classic US foreign policy recipe: the hidden hand of the free market, backed up by the iron fist of US militarism to defend the America First doctrine.

[snip]

... but neoconservative leader and former McCain campaign staffer Max Boot summed it up best. "I am gobsmacked by these appointments, most of which could just as easily have come from a President McCain," Boot wrote. The appointment of General Jones and the retention of Gates at defence "all but puts an end to the 16-month timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, the unconditional summits with dictators and other foolishness that once emanated from the Obama campaign."

Steve Benson

Boot added that Hillary Clinton will be a "powerful" voice "for 'neoliberalism' which is not so different in many respects from 'neoconservativism.'" Boot's buddy, Michael Goldfarb, wrote in The Weekly Standard, the official organ of the neoconservative movement, that he sees "certainly nothing that represents a drastic change in how Washington does business. The expectation is that Obama is set to continue the course set by Bush in his second term."

There is not a single, solid anti-war voice in the upper echelons of the Obama foreign policy apparatus. And this is the point: Obama is not going to fundamentally change US foreign policy. He is a status quo Democrat. And that is why the mono-partisan Washington insiders are gushing over Obama's new team. At the same time, it is also disingenuous to act as though Obama is engaging in some epic betrayal."

Yes, I'm back..

Today is the burial

2008-11-21T12:42:00.004-06:00

Alan Dale Wisian

of our friends' best friend.
I won't be able to attend but my husband will, in support of him..
we're contemplative today;
Loreena McKennit - Penelope's Song

Update: dh emailed me on his blackberry to say that the funeral home was packed. Would you leave that kind of impression?

"Alan Dale Wisian of New Braunfels was born Feb. 20, 1953 to Alfred and Adelene Wisian. He passed away on Nov. 18, 2008 at the age of 55. He was an extraordinary husband, father, grandfather and friend. Alan was affectionately known as “Da-daddy” to his beautiful grand-girls, Faith and Brooke Thompson. He also enjoyed and loved his beautiful step-granddaughter, Abigayle Winn.Alan is survived by his wife Brenda Wisian, his daughter, Laura Thompson and husband, Scott; son, David Wisian and wife Amanda; granddaughters, Faith and Brooke Thompson and step-granddaughter, Abigayle Winn. He is also survived by his mother Adelene Wisian and his sister Beverly Kleen. Alan is preceded in death by his father, Alfred Wisian.After graduating from Southwest Texas State University, he built a career in technology. Alan enjoyed being involved in his home, his church and his community. Anyone who knew him recognized his patience, kindness, caring nature and his love."

Nooo! collective groan..

2008-11-21T11:39:00.004-06:00

Hillary Clinton as secretary of State..sorry, but there goes peace in the Middle East. The Clintons are too pro-Israel to balance anything out..I don't even wanna know what 'concession' dear Bill was willing to make..
ugh..
So Mash (docstrangelove)..you lost that prediction! (he predicted Bill Richardson) Click and find out which predictions he's made and which ones came true..
sigh..(I know I know..the line will be "can't please everybody" well, this was a concession on the part of the Obama transition team and not a sound one at that, this will not be 'change'..)

Sarah Palin pardons turkey whilst turkeys are being slaughtered

2008-11-21T07:13:00.004-06:00

Bit hat tip to Mash who called her a 'blithering idiot'. My husband actually felt sorry for her and that this was too humiliating as she did not have any 'handlers' to say 'xnay xnay'.. Weheell.. I don't agree. Just think this woman with an ego the size of Alaska would've been our Vice-President who carelessly divided in an attempt to conquer and win 'politics as usual'..why oh why feel sorry for her? She lacks even the most common traits of respect and sensibility.. hell, this is the story of 'no-sense and nonsensibility'...pah!

anyhow..beware of gruesome imagery..or as they say, viewer discretion advised.
Btw..Happy Thanksgiving!! [g]

Losing a Loved One..

2008-11-18T11:42:00.004-06:00

One of our friends just lost his best friend this morning. This is for all who are hurting because of losing someone, or who are just hurting. This is just the song..And as always, for our returning veterans who are carrying all that hurt still inside..I'm thinking of you too..

Murray Head-Say It Ain't So Joe- Night of the Proms

Say it ain't so Jo, please, say it ain't so
That's not what I wanna hear Jo
And I got a right to know
Say it ain't so Jo, please, say it ain't so
I'm sure they're telling us lies Jo
Please tell us it ain't so

They told us that our hero has played his trump card
He doesn't know how to go on
We're clinging to his charm and determined smile
The good old days have gone

The image and the empire may be falling apart
The money has gotten scarce
One man's word held the country together
But the truth is getting fierce

Say it ain't so Jo, please, say it ain't so
We pinned our hopes on you Jo
And they're ruining our show

Ooh baby don't you think
We're gonna get burned
Ooh baby don't you think
We're gonna get burned
We're gonna get turned
We're gonna get burned
Yes we're gonna get turned
We're gonna get burned
We're gonna get turned
Yes, we're gonna get burned
We're gonna get burned
We're gonna get burned
Yes we're gonna get turned
We're gonna get burned

Say it ain't so Jo, please, say it ain't so
That's not what I wanna hear Jo
And I got a right to know
Say it ain't so Jo, please, say it ain't so
I'm sure they're telling us lies Jo
Please tell us it ain't so (x2)

Comment on Cali's Prop 8

2008-11-17T14:02:00.004-06:00

There were many protests around the country re. Cali's prop 8. I have in comment sections in people's blogs made mention of this non-profit organization, led by reverend Barry Lynn; Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Get yourself a blog button, spread this like wildfire and check out their site. They have local chapters in all states and if there is none in your city, there are directions in how to set it up.

During the Bush years, Barry Lynn, a former lawyer turned minister, has vigorously defended the separation of church and state either in taking churches to court, or debating Falwell or Robertson on tv. He surely can hold his own. So you want to do something about prop 8? Do something about the separation of Church and State. As this election showed, it's all about grassroots efforts so keep yourself mobilized.
Step 1, put this blog button in your sidebar.
Step 2, go to the site, familiarize yourself
Step 3, find a local chapter.
Step 4, get to work!

(example)
Americans United Files Seven Complaints With The IRS, After Churches Endorse Political Candidates In Religious Right Election Scheme

Friday Night Order of Brave Combo

2008-11-15T10:45:00.010-06:00

Brave Combo at Jovita's November 14th, 2008 (see below 'the Simpsons' replica)

Last night, our neighbours took us to see 'Brave Combo'. This band who hails from Denton TX near Dallas, comes into town at least twice a year and my neighbour is a 'religious groupie' who's known these guys for at least 15 years or longer. They even played at her wedding. As it happens with many 'bands' who do not make it apparently big (i.e. achieve super status and play in stadiums), they have been playing at least for over 20 years all over the place. They'll have gigs as faraway in Holland (yes, we got to talk 'shop' a bit) and Japan, amongst other places. For their Japanese fan they even made a special Christmas cd and knowing these guys, you got to wonder how they fenagles to 'spruce up' any holiday music.

Myself and my neighbours Grace-Marie and Randy

You see, they're not 'just a polka band', they use music and turn it around into samba, changing style midstream only to change it back to a samba. Or they do cajun, zydeco, cha cha, latin jazz..you name it. There is a lot of latin styles in their 'interpretation' and what it amounts to is a VERY loyal fan base who come out to have fun and DANCE!! I did not feel like dancing last night but since this was at Jovitas in South Austin, there was plenty of people watching going on..I loved it and we had a great time. These guys are consumate musicians and they're the best. They are approachable and low key. This is who they are.

Brave Combo doing Louie Louie -dance away!

No ego nonsense but just plain musicians who love to play. It doesn't get any better than that. And another tidbit about these guys; Matt Groenig from the Simpsons loves this band as well and he wanted to find a way to get these guys on his show. Well, they ended up in the episode "Co-dependents' Day" in 2004.
Brave Combo on the Simpsons

Talking to Carl Finch, one of the co-founders. He's a producer and this includes some of his other work; He co-produced the albums Equal Scary People for singer-songwriter Sara Hickman and El Gato Negro for conjunto musician Santiago Jimenez, Jr. He composed music for and appears as an extra in David Byrne's 1986 movie True Stories. His instrumental "Mall Music" appears on the associated album Sounds from True Stories. He co-wrote the music for the play Evelyn and the Polka King.[1] He produced the opening for YuYu Hakusho and Dragon Ball. He appeared in animated form, along with the rest of Brave Combo, on an episode of The Simpsons in 2004. He produced and, along with Brave Combo, performed all of the music for the 2008 animated PBS television series Click and Clack's As the Wrench Turns. Check it out.

Brave Combo - their version of the William Tell Overture.. keep dancin'!

James and I, him with earplugs, I must be getting deaf as I did not need them. (need them in movie theaters though!)

Some other brushes with national exposures include;

The band made a short appearance, as animated figures, on the March 21, 2004 episode of The Simpsons (Co-Dependent's Day).[1]
In that same episode of The Simpsons, the band played a new original song called "Fill The Stein" and their version of the theme song played over the closing credits.[2]
Finch and other band members made cameo appearances in Talking Heads leader David Byrne's 1986 movie True Stories, set in fictional Virgil, Texas. Finch can be spotted in the fashion show sporting a brick-patterned suit and in the parade leading the all-accordion marching band. (Trivia note: Brave Combo was David Byrne's wedding band.)
They appear in the 1986 Hank Wangford Channel 4 television series The A to Z of C & W singing the Hank Williams song "Cold, Cold Heart".
Their song "Busy Office Rhumba" was used as the theme for the 1993 FOX television series Bakersfield P.D.
They appear as a wedding band in the 1995 feature film Late Bloomers.
In 2000, they appeared on the national telecast of the MDA Labor Day Telethon with Jerry Lewis dancing along to the music.[3]
They wrote and performed the theme song for the 2005 series "ESPN Bowling Night".
The opening theme and other music for the 2008 PBS animated series Click and Clack's As the Wrench Turns were produced by Carl Finch and composed, arranged, and performed by Finch and Brave Combo.[4]

Sarah Vaughan / Peter Gunn (Max Sedgley Remix)

2008-11-13T12:40:00.001-06:00

No politics. I finally found this on youtube as before I only had the 'odeo.com' version..

Music by Henry Mancini
Lyrics by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans

Every night your line is busy
All that buzzin' makes me dizzy
Couldn't count on all my fingers
All the dates you had with swingers

Bye-bye
Bye, baby
I'm gonna kiss you goodbye
And walk right through that doorway
So long
I'm leaving
This is the last time we'll meet
On the street going your way
Don't look surprised
You know you've buttered your bread
So now it's fair
You should stare
At the back of my head
If you write a letter to me
My former friend
Don't you end
With a R.S.V.P.

I'm going bye, bye
I'm moving
Tomorrow I may be splittin' to Britain or Norway
I'm saying bye, bye
Bye, baby
Now that I heard all that jazzing
Whereas I have had it
I've had it
I'm through now
With you now

So baby it's au revouir
Adios
Ciao ciao
Goodbye!

* Copyright owner of some or all of the visual content in this video: DMGI

Veterans Day - Rememberance Day

2008-11-11T06:55:00.005-06:00

The National WWII Memorial

Korean War Memorial

Vietnam War Memorial

Faces of the Fallen - Iraq and Afghanistan theatres.

As recent as Pfc. Scott G. Dimond on October 13th or Spec. Geoffrey Johnson

4780 American men and women have died in the last two, still ongoing unnecessary wars. Well, that is if you buy the official line as to why we're there. I'm not going into a diatribe of 'why we're really there'. Those of you who've done your research already know. Those of you who don't.. well, I'll save that for tomorrow for a more appropriate time.

For now, ponder and wonder why, besides the OBVIOUS World War 2, Americans have been sent OFF to war, "fighting" for their "freedoms". (here is a hint, no one was invading)

As someone who was born and raised after WW2 in the Netherlands, but hearing plenty of stories of courage, resistance people and family members and Allied forces alike, I am disgusted at the immorality of sending all these people off to war as if their lives don't count. Well..they do. And that's all I have to say about that.

Go check out the link and for today, if you cannot go to a cemetary to honor the fallen, go to the site to at least make this more real. You can click on the faces and find out when and where they were from and how they died.

Update: This picture is in response to Border Explorer's comment, see comment section.

The Death of "Mama Africa" - Miriam Makeba

2008-11-10T08:46:00.005-06:00

Miriam Makeba (1932-2008)

"Throughout her life, Mama Makeba communicated a positive message to the world about the struggle of the people of South Africa and the certainty of victory over the dark forces of apartheid and colonialism through the art of song."

N'Kosi Sikeleli Africa- With Miriam Makeba (South Arican national anthem "God Bless Africa", at the end of a concert with Paul Simon, see last song below)

Miriam Makeba - Pata Pata

Miriam Makeba and Paul Simon - Under African Skies

I will postpone my 'Part 2' (see previous post) because this will actually tie in to a message of sorts..I see connections anyway..rest in peace Mama Africa..

Censorship in the Western Media: What they Don't Want You to Know

2008-11-09T09:09:00.005-06:00

Important 'stories' have emerged, but aside from the US Presidential election, they've been conveniently ignored.. what would be so important about them? Let's take a look;

East Germans want to return to Socialism
Consider this Reuters article: Global crisis sends east Germans flocking to Marx According to this article, quote; "A recent survey found 52 percent of eastern Germans believe the free market economy is "unsuitable" and 43 percent said they wanted socialism rather than capitalism,".

American Left Ephemera Collection

That is not surprising. When Eastern European countries found themselves 'free' of Russian influence and in a democracy, the one thing that many visiting Western European tourists noticed was the lack of, and inability to provide 'service'. The one thing about being in a competitive market, is that you need to make sure that your company or your service stands out from the rest. Naturally for Dutch tourists (amongst other Western Europeans), the lack of work ethics was duly noted. If you get paid regardless of performance, why work hard? Or why work harder? It is a tough mindset to alter and unless the market delivers, it is obviously more than tough. Considering that we are in a global market economy, that probably provided more obstacles than needed to make that transition work.

U.S. Dollar has Plundered the World
Apparently, the latest banking fiasco was criticized severely by the People's Daily (china). This is what they proposed;
"U.S. has plundered world wealth with dollar..." and that as a starting point, "all trade transactions between Asia and Europe should be settled in Euros, Pounds, RMB, and Yen."

Interestingly enough, years ago, Saddam Hussein threatened the US to switch the payment of Iraqi oil from the weakened US dollars, to a very strong, debt-free Euro:
"Saddam turns his back on Greenbacks" from November 13th, 2000
"Petrodollar Warfare: Dollars, Euros and the Upcoming Iranian Oil Bourse"
19. U.S. Dollar vs. the Euro: Another Reason for the Invasion of Iraq

Just digest this for now. Tomorrow I'll post part 2. Because the connection between the state of the US dolllar or better put, petro dollar, needs to 'hit home'. Will Obama follow suit with previous administrations on this one? I sure hope not!

Jon Swift: Why McCain Will Win: Update..whoops!!

2008-11-05T17:57:00.001-06:00

The 2008 Weblog awards are up for grabs and Jon Swift has 'got' to be one of the best..this is one of his brilliantly funny pieces..satire anyone?
Go vote, just one more time..pretty pls??

Jon Swift: Why McCain Will Win

Postcard to the President from all over the world

2008-11-05T12:00:00.003-06:00

What I like about these videos is that ordinary people speak, and they make it very clear what they expect to be upheld; promises. Another thing I like is that we get to see their city and get a taste of 'their life', as opposed some detached report that you read and you cannot 'imagine' how other people live and think.

From Australia

From London England

From Tel Aviv, Israel

From Gaza, The Occupied Territories
(Palestinian residents of Gaza ask U.S. President-Elect Barack Obama to work for peace, and to improve the situation in Gaza.

1. (Arabic) ABDEL-HAMID FAYYAD, 72-YEAR-OLD GAZA RESIDENT, SAYING: "By the name of the Palestinian nation, I ask Obama to find a just solution for the Palestinian cause. I hope that he will be better than the ones before."

2. (English) 49-YEAR-OLD GAZA RESIDENT, ADAM HAMDAN, SAYING: "The most important thing politically, how can Obama push the wheel of the peace, not only the negotiations but the triggers on the ground?"

3. (Arabic) 50-YEARS-OLD GAZA RESIDENT, MOHAMMED ABU AWDA, SAYING: "(Obama), We hope that he will help us to find a solution for the Palestinian case, and to end the siege because we are really suffering, I hope he will find a solution for the Palestinian case and everybody will live in peace.")

From Moscow, Russia

(Russians hope for warmer, freindlier relations between Russia and the U.S, and for a just international policy under Obama:

1. (English) ALEXANDER FYODOROV, ENGINEER FROM MOSCOW, SAYING:
"Mr.Barack Obama, Mr President, I would like to congratulate you with your victory, I hope that you will be strong enough and powerful enough to provide reforms you've planned, I hope that you will develop peaceful and friendly relations between our two countries."

2. (Russian) ANDREI KAZAKOV, MOSCOVITE, SAYING:" I have the only message for him to rule his country in a just way and to conduct a foreign policy in a just way, because it is very important to treat all the worlds' countries objectively, friendly and with respect."

3. (Russian) ELENA, STUDENT FROM MOSCOW, SAYING:"US policy, no matter wether Republicans Or Democrats are in charge, has been the same for a long time, for the past 100 years. So I wish to Bararck Obama to love Russia and do not treat it just as a consumer market.")

From Baghdad, Iraq

(On the streets of Baghdad a call for his withdrawl of U.S. troops:

1. (English) BAQEE NAQED, JOURNALIST, SAYING : "I as an Iraqi, I am asking Obama to keep his promise about
withdrawing the U.S. security forces here from our land and we want friendly
ties with Iraq people and government. We do not need an occupation here, we
need people to help us to improve security situation and services."

2. (Arabic) MOHAMMED AL-SHABIKY CITIZEN, SAYING: "We hope from Obama to hold talks with neighbouring countries and
represent new U.S. policy in Middle East and more specifically in
Iraq."

3. (Arabic) FADHIL AL-SHAMREE, BANKER, SAYING: "We call upon Mr. president Obama to hold good relations with Iraq
and pullout U.S. and multi-national forces from iraq as soon as
possible.". President-elect Barak Obama.)

From Tehran, Iran

From Havana, Cuba

(Among the reaction, Cubans said Obama's campaign vow to ease the 46-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba and his willingness to consider dialogue with the Cuban government were a breath of fresh air after almost eight years of tough talk and hard-line policies from the Bush adminstration.

1. (English) TAMARIT SAYING: "Obama, you are the hope for millions of people so things improve throughout the world. The war should end and relations between Cuba and the United States, maybe, should improve in the future. We hope for that."

2. (Spanish) 18-YEAR OLD HOSPITALITY STUDENT YAIMA TORRES SAYING: "I hope there is an improvement for Cuba, for the world; may our presidents unite to help the world progress. I am also hoping for an end to the war, that the money and economy of the United States be for the people and not to send bombs to Iraq or Afghanistan as they have been doing."

3. (Spanish) 31-YEAR-OLD MILITARY DOCTOR JOBEDIS MATINES SAYING: "My message to the new president would be to end the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and to end the blockade that the United States has in place against Cuba which impedes us to further develop as a free country."

4. (Spanish) 24-YEAR-OLD MEDICAL STUDENT REGINO FERRER SAYING: "The message I have for the new United States president is to eliminate the injustices that are being committed around the world, he has the power to do it, he (Obama) can do it.")

The World is relieved!

2008-11-05T09:51:00.003-06:00

I am allowing myself to dwell in the moment although my critical, politically Independent self will come back in full force with the 'now what's'..Over at the Huffington Post there is a photo slide of the world's reactions to Obama's victory.

The one below is from my home country the Netherlands. The Dutch are a pretty pragmatic lot who have dealt with ages of religious discrimination and several wars to boot, on their own soil no less! (ahem) And an 80yr war with Spain too! We've been through the ringer. That said, I cannot really say 'we', as I gave up my Dutch citizenship when I became Canadian, thinking I was going to stay there for the rest of my life. In a moment of sponteneity, I told all the Obama supporters on my street (of which there are many with the sole Libertarian at the end of the cul de sac, I bet he's glad that he did not get elected but that's another story)...

I told everyone that if Obama would win, I'd apply for citizenship. It was kind of a symbolic gesture. One that would signify a relief of the past 8yrs and a hope that, in certain areas, the American political landscape would be taken back from the corporations by the grassroots activism that made the Obama campaign so successful. I applaud all you volunteers, you did right and remained steadfast. Great job everyone.
Now I need to find two things; my passport and my greencard. Both of which got 'safely' (!!) put away when we had our flooring changed last Fall.
Is there a patron Saint for lost paperwork? I'm getting desperate! oi...

The Osterley Times: Jubilant Crowds Gather Outside White House.

2008-11-05T09:31:00.000-06:00

This crowd is probably saying; "January cannot come fast enough..start packin'!!"

The Osterley Times: Jubilant Crowds Gather Outside White House.

Wizard of Oz "Brand New Day"!

2008-11-05T06:51:00.003-06:00

Nervous I was. Expecting some underhanded somethin' somethin'.. for all of us AND especially for all African-Americans, Americans of any other colour than 'white' (lordy lordy, when I first saw that designations on a medical paper when I first got here, I always put 'other'..ha..what is your race? Who cares??)

I'm sniffly now and have not seen any acceptance nor concession speech from either Obama or McCain..man..what a weight is lifted off my shoulders.

THANK YOU THANK YOU DIE HARD OBAMA VOLUNTEERS, AND THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS A HISTORICAL VOTERS TURN OUT!!

Paintball Fight!!! Funniest snippet from last nights' Boston Legal

2008-11-04T13:48:00.002-06:00

Last night's Boston Legal was superb to say the least. How opportune that their timeslot DID change from Tuesday night to Monday night. Was that intended with an eye towards the upcoming election? Who's to say. But the episode last night was replete with political messages wrapped in great humour. Here's the funniest snippet of the whole show..I wished I had taped the dang thing myself..
"MAVERICK MAVERICK MAVERICK" - "CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE"

What Would Jesus Do Today? What Would He Indeed!

2008-11-04T11:29:00.004-06:00

The republicans and the culture warriors don't "own" 'God', 'Jesus' and the 'Holy Spirit'..let the spirit within Progressive America come forth..dear God or for Pete's sakes!!

Joan Osborne..One of Us..

scacchi clay stop motion - chess clay stop motion

2008-11-03T16:28:00.003-06:00

Let's hope this happens on election day! I'll be on pins and needles..and not following anything on tv..will resurface Wednesday..I hope..

Awesome isn't it?? (and I actually recognize some moves)
claymation of the chess game Roesch - Willi Schlage (Hamburg, 1910).
The position after 13...Bh3, and the ones that follow, were used in Stanley Kubrick's movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" for the game between Frank Poole and the HAL-9000 Super Computer.
On Roesch-willi Schlage

Ode To Bill O'Reilly - John Cleese

2008-11-03T10:57:00.004-06:00

hat tip to Glenda from The Peace Train

I would have the same reaction with far left, ranting/raving types who are too biased for their own good. Bill O'Reilly is not even a journalist but then, Fox is merely a propaganda machine for the conservatives, whether they are in power or not.

"Ode To Bill O'Reilly"

--- by John Cleese

Bill O'Reilly's No Spin Zone,
is rated highly by his own beloved mother,
but ... no other.
Except that Bill, for all his faults,
still has one skill, a skill of sorts.
He can amuse a true dumb ox,
the dullest crayon in the box,
the kind of ox that watches Fox.
And Bill will pander to this group,
with propaganda, right-wing poop,
knee-jerk views and censored news.
Thus Bill O'Reilly earns his crust,
behaving vilely as he must.
He will not shirk from Rupert's work.
He really is a perfect berk.

And here is John Cleese on Sarah Palin, Fox etc.(hat tip to Enigma) A pretty much typical, mature view on this whole poli drama;

Happy Halloween!! Squirrel Nut Zippers..Hell..in the afterlife music video..

2008-10-31T20:05:00.003-05:00

Let's BOOGIE!!

love the rhytm and the windinstruments..let's boogie ya'll!!

"The Front Fell Of"..australian senator interview

2008-10-30T15:28:00.002-05:00

John Clarke and Brian Dore performing a political spoof pretending to be Senator Collins (Australia) and an interviewer..it's hilarious. (I figured it was a spoof some people seem to think it's 'real') 'drole' if you ask me!

I need comedy to keep things light. I know the torchbearers out there are remaining vigilant and political..I just have other things going on. I just found out one of the kids has a sinus infection (at least he's getting treated and no more worries and sleepless nights for me) and the 'other one' keeps crawling into our bed, disturbing the peace.. sigh.. family!

Republicans for Obama and "Wisdom of the Ages"

2008-10-27T09:18:00.009-05:00

"Wisdom of the Ages" by Barbara Gordon is featured on the website 'Republicans for Obama'. As usual, it's always interesting to hear opinions coming from 'opposing counsel', especially when they have not necessarily changed, but have been tempered with the ability to be flexible in making important political choices. That is why I am and always will be, an Independent. I do not fit any particular party ideal and as a typical European, am too beholden to nuances that I cannot possibly just tow any party line for the sake of 'unity'. My opinions are my own and as your (stereo)typical Dutch person, I want to be able to "agree to disagree". It's not defection, or being a traitor or being (pffff) 'anti-American' (dimwits)..it's just having another opinion.

So here is an excerpt from Barbara's "Wisdom of the Ages"'

"I was thinking about leaders today, and about how we decide which guys would make good elected officials. When you set aside platform, I think we all pretty much agree on what kinds of characteristics make for ideal leaders. In fact, it seems like the characters we value in our leaders today are probably the same ones that have been highly regarded throughout the ages. So, to test my theory I decided to go back. Way back. I pulled up the quotes of ancient sages King Solomon (tenth century, BCE) and Confucius (fifth century, BCE) to see if either one had any wisdom on the virtues required of leaders. This is what I found:
"For a lack of guidance a nation fails, but victory is won through many advisers." -- Solomon

One of the complaints many have had about the Bush administration is that he and Cheney have been sort of Lone Ranger executives. Sure they have advisers, and sometimes they even let the advisers advise, but rumor has it that the two of them listen politely before going ahead with whatever their plan was to begin with, regardless of any concerns raised. Colin Powell says he cautioned President Bush about the long-term implications and complications involved in invading Iraq. He says he did everything in his power to dissuade Bush from invading, but Bush insisted. Now, six years later, I think most of us wish Bush had heeded wise counsel. And indeed many of us now value a leader's willingness to accept counsel so much that we've watched both McCain and Obama closely to try to get a sense of how they interact with their campaign advisers.
"A ruler with discernment and knowledge maintains order." -- Solomon
Clearly we still value both discernment and knowledge. A majority of voters polled now say that Palin makes them less likely to trust McCain with the presidency. Why? Because they say that Palin lacks the requisite knowledge for the vice presidency, and the fact that she does makes them question McCain's discernment."

Check out the site Republicans for Obama and if possible, leave a comment to say thanks for putting country first and let's work towards a bipartisan next four years!

Plus..check out the long list of republicans and conservatives who've endorsed Obama and their reasons as to why; Republicans and conservatives endorsing Obama

Babies 'know' Obama ("This message was approved by "Babies for America")

2008-10-26T11:44:00.008-05:00

Part 2

When I showed my husband the pictures of yesterday's post, it dawned on my why Obama is appealing to so many people; he's a modern man. A guy who most likely (cannot say for sure of course unless I get it from the 'campaigns' mouth)changed his little girls' diapers, stayed up when they cried as babies, had sleepless nights like other tag teaming dads out there. And it shows. He knows how to hold a baby. His feelings show as he's been there done that. That is why these pics are so appealing, to me anyway. It's not just an awkward photo op, it's a comfortable, familiar pose.

technically not a baby but this is like 'little dude' embracing 'big dude'

Babies 'know' Obama (this message was approved by "Babies for America")

2008-10-25T13:51:00.010-05:00

(Part 1)

So who do you want to answer that 'call' at 3am in the morning when you say, help! I'm manning the fort alone, husband is out of town and one of my kids need to go to the ER, can you come over and babysit? Ok..weird analogy I guess but the core notion of this '3am ad' is "who do you trust"?

10 out of 10 babies trust Obama..man those Obama girls are lucky to have him as a dad. Pictures speak a 1000 words and Obama is as genuine as it gets, inspite of babies always being 'photo-ops'.. enjoy and see the difference between Bush and McCain.. (ok, wee cheap shots but still, I cannot see them as being warm but just as men who want to be in charge and feeling 'powerful'!)

Some Comic Relief..The Best of Craigslist tag..

2008-10-22T10:47:00.006-05:00

Ok..I need to do something other than 'politics'. Once and while, even for this poli sci major, politics gets on my nerve big time. So I need to do/read/write something completely different. This morning, inspiration struck and I thought, what the hey, I can start my own 'tagging'..

I know some intense political bloggers who are veritable citizen journalists/activists and who keep theirs' and our flames of political passion glowing. In the light of the last tense weeks of our neverending election (so it seems).. I think they and I need a 'wee' break.

So darlings..this is the deal. Post at least one of your favourite 'best of craigslist'. There are some great ones out there and we're all in need of a good laugh. Seriously, WE are! I'll post one of my favourites, then tag a few people (what the hey, make up your own number just don't go past the 8 or 10 mark) who you think need a little 'time off'..a little belly laugh, a little health boost as it were. And as the tagging goes, tag back to whom tagged whom. You know the drill.

Here is one of my faves and after that, check to see if I am trying to give you a 'day off'..

Simon Ellinas: Caricaturist and cartoonist blog

Nemesis required. 6-month project with possibilty to extend

I've been trying to think of ways to spice up my life. I'm 35 years old, happily married with two kids and I have a good job in insurance. But somethings missing. I feel like I'm old before my time. I need to inject some excitement into my daily routine through my arm before its too late. I need a challenge, something to get the adrenaline pumping again. An addiction would be nice, but, in short, I need a nemesis. I'm willing to pay $350 up front for you services as an arch enemy over the next six months. Nothing crazy. Steal my parking space, knock my coffee over, trip me when Im running to catch the BART and occasionaly whisper in my ear, "Ahha, we meet again". That kind of thing. Just keep me on my toes. Complacency will be the death of me. You need to have an evil streak and be blessed with innate guile and cunning. You should also be adept at inconsicuous pursuit. Evil laugh preferred. Send me a photo and a brief explanation why you would be a good nemesis.

British accent preferred.

OK lovelies (imagine the British accent, whichever one at that), your turn;

Christopher. Talk about intense! Does he ever get a foot rub or neck massage?? Those neck muscles are intense dude..your turn to POST!!

Robster. Robbie or RJ to some but hey, we go back a few years and in blogosphere time, that counts at least multiplied by... Robster has his latino passion for all things politics and sports. One hell of a combination, I can only imagine what the tv has to endure when he watches a game..ehem (blink blink)..Robbie...darlin' muchacho..por favor..gimme somethin' good. I know you can appreciate some good humour when you read it and of course, no censorship allowed!!

Jim! The intensity seems to be all with the men I think. No worries, some women to follow. Jim Jim Jim.. the end is nigh and still he exorts us by telling us to all schtick together and hope for the best. Sigh, seeing the end of times is heavy duty stuff and nothing alleviates the burden of Jim the Atlas by getting him to post a little comedy so Jim...take a load of your feet, unburden your heart and your mind.. give us something good! (the best of craigslist to me is for the most part pre-tty funny).. POST!

Utah Savage. Her name says it all...yikes. But with a bipolar disorder that most of us are not burdened with, her fortunate outlet, among other things, is her blog. She's an amazing writer but still, her latest post being 'Poo Pie'...hmmm, me thinks she's in dire need for some 'best of craigslist'! Com'on Utah S...I'm expecting something hilarious and raunchy out of that stack! You're IT!

Enigma..she's my personal red phone nurse on call but really, everyone's caretaker with sage advice of all kinds, personal, emotional, health wise and all around, probably the female arch type of the first true Atlas. I mean really, did the first man really carry the weight of the world on his shoulders? That, my friends, was probably a woman and a mother to boot because those mommy genes realize that there's nothing to be gotten with war and everything to be gained by sharing what the world has and keeping the peace between us all. (Palinotologists excepted). So dear Enigma mine..stop the countdown for just a minute and post something that makes you laugh. No holds barred and as I said before, NO (SELF)CENSORSHIP!!

Helenwheels..this LA self-described hippie chick must be channeling MAD TV "Bullshit" and even though she's got plenty of reasons like the rest of us to be appalled, dismayed, pissed off etc at the mainstream media..who's going to keep you sane through all of this?? Yes, THANK YOU.. ME! Time for a little 'pottymouth' break missy of the craigslist variety. Come on. I know you can do it. (the pottier the better, go wild)

That's it! Kindly link back to me and do let me know if you participated. It's all in good fun and hell, after 8yrs plus being condensed in these last months..man alive..we need it. All! Have fun.

It bears repeating; this is for all American Muslims

2008-10-21T12:07:00.008-05:00

Mash and I visiting at his place.

My friend Mash, whom I met in July with my family, is a very, very smart and articulate man. He's also the son of Bangladeshi diplomats, educated and oh yeah, Muslim. Further on in this post I will show you his reaction, so well articulated, to Colin Powell's endorsment of Obama. Colin Powell did not jus endorse Obama, he denounced the GOP's bigotry of going after Obama as if he's Muslim, AS IF that is a crime. As if by virtue of being Muslim one must be associated with 'terrorists'. Colin Powell, stood up for American Muslims like my friend Mash by saying this; (took this from Mash's post..he won't mind)

"I’m also troubled by, not what Sen. McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some 7-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, "He’s a Muslim,and he might be associated with terrorists." This is not the way we should be doing it in America."

Elsheba Khan at the grave of her son, Specialist Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan

"I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son’s grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards — Purple Heart, Bronze Star — showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn’t have a Christian cross, it didn’t have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life. Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourself in this way. And John McCain is as nondiscriminatory as anyone I know. But I’m troubled about the fact that, within the party, we have these kinds of expressions."

Thank you Colin Powell. This is what should be focussed on. There is an idiot woman in Congress who wants to "investigate" members for being anti-American (does she get paid to say this I mean really), there is a hatred towards Muslims and clearly anyone not 'white' that the McCain campaign has stoked and not doused by any measure. Well, this is how Mash felt about Colin Powell's endorsement, and I have no doubt, other Muslims echo his sentiment;

"I - a Muslim American - have been a rhetorical punching bag for the McCain campaign. Too cowardly to openly declare the racism that is the underpinning of his campaign, the McCain campaign has instead been using the "Obama is a Muslim" smear as a proxy for "Obama is Black". Obama has been forced to defend against the false charge. No one has been able to defend my faith. It is just not done in American politics - post 9/11.

Until now.

General Powell was perhaps the only American leader with the stature necessary to effectively push back on the anti-Muslim hatred coming from the McCain campaign. He did it by invoking the sacrifice of a brave young American - a Muslim American - who rests in Arlington National Cemetery under a headstone adorned with a crescent. It was an important moment in American politics and for American society."

Read the rest (although I admittedly copied a lot but hey, we're friends and what can I say "he's my brother, he ain't heavy".. are we one nation or what??

The Austin-American Statesman endorses Obama

2008-10-19T09:16:00.009-05:00

Darron Cummings, photo
Sen. Barack Obama represents what we all profess to love about our country: an intelligent youngster who grew beyond his family's modest circumstances to earn an Ivy League education and eventually win a seat in the U.S. Senate and from there launch a bid for the presidency.

Wow..anything coming from Texas is great! I don't know the current tally of newspapers who have endorsed Obama and which one have endorsed McCain, see Editor and Publisher, a journal that covers the newspaper industry (hat tip Enigma);

And apparently anything coming from Texas is considered a 'shocker';

Shocker from Texas: Houston and Austin Papers--Former Bush Backers--Endorse Obama

"NEW YORK As chronicled by E&P in recent days, a, overwhelming trend from big city newspapers in editorial endorsements has favored Barack Obama with several papers that backed George W. Bush in 2004 switching over to the Democrat this year. But few expected that would happen deep in the heart of Texas.

Now it has, with the Houston Chronicle and Austin American Statesman coming out for Obama today.

Obama in Austin, veeery early on in the campaign

That brings to at least 17 the number of papers that have made the switch. The Dallas Morning News and San Antonio Express-News did stick with the GOP candidate John McCain but he has lost papers all over the country, from the Chicago Tribune to the San Bernardino Sun to the New York Daily News."

This is from my local newspaper, the Austin American Statesman;

"Each of the two major presidential candidates fill the air with different words that all say "change," but only Sen. Barack Obama defines change clearly and positively.

It is a time of peril, both at home and abroad, and the nation needs the focused, energetic leadership Obama has projected and delivered since he announced his presidential candidacy in early 2007." [snip] "
In the third and final debate last week, John McCain, the Republican senator from Arizona, tried to bait him into the gutter, but Obama refused to get down there. Political wisdom dictates that candidates who are attacked return double the fire directed at them. Obama responded calmly, defending himself but declining to respond in kind.

Now that's change."

This is what the Houston Chronicle had to say;

"After carefully observing the Democratic and Republican nominees in drawn-out primary struggles as well as in the general campaign, including three debates, the Chronicle strongly believes that the ticket of Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden offers the best choice to lead the United States on a new course into the second decade of the 21st century.

Obama appears to possess the tools to confront our myriad and daunting problems. He's thoughtful and analytical. He has met his opponents' attacks with calm and reasoned responses. Viewers of the debates saw a poised, well-prepared plausible president with well-articulated positions on the bread-and-butter issues that poll after poll indicate are the true concerns of voters. While Arizona Sen. John McCain and his running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin have struck an increasingly personal and negative tone in their speeches, Obama has continued to talk about issues of substance."

Here is OFF THE GRID witht their tally; Texas’ Seven Largest Newspapers Endorse Obama, check 'm out.

What can I say..YEEEHAWW!!

Saturday Hodgepodge of Songs

2008-10-18T17:11:00.004-05:00

I'm in funky restless mood so here is a hodgepodge of songs..anthems to rock to mellow stuff..take your pick at whatever's your pleasure..

The Dutch National Anthem - Het Wilhelmus(read the history). It's very 'anthem-y' but the song has english subtitles AND some great Dutch images..

And sorry..but this has GOT to be my favourite anthem of all time (ok, it's not the official one)..I like this version and dedicate this to our venerable aussie blogger buddy and blogosphere resident poet Lindsay Lobe;
Waltzing Matilda , this version by Rod Stewart;

Van Halen from Balance, the Seventh Seal. Boy, in '95 I drove a red taurus with this song blasting like mad. ahem..live it never sounds as good but hey, it's still VAN HALEN.. note the intro by a much younger Jon Stewart! Here's Van Halen with the 'other blond woman' hehe..

The Rolling Stones - Undercover of the Night , I always liked this song 'though I'm not a big RS fan. Like it happens so often,the songs I do like do not become the big hits.. anyhoo..here it is, very 80s (as in, story but no 'movement'to the beat in the vid);

And speaking of '80s style music videos..here are the Stray Cats with 'Strut'..love that gitarrr..reow!

Earth Wind and Fire's Fantasy.. I really cannot palate the live versions out there so here's nothin much to look at but just listen..it's awesome..I love the windinstruments in this one

Joe Dessin - L'ete Indien ( Indian Summer ) Poor guy died of a heart attack at the age of 41. This probably was filmed in the 70s (looks like it) but his voice was great. Too bad he died so young. To think I'm 44..I better remember to be good and take my lipitor!!

My good friend Mash hates plumbers. Know why?

2008-10-17T20:19:00.001-05:00

I'd call it "plumber-envy"..

This is why.

LA Times Endorses Obama for President

2008-10-17T18:05:00.003-05:00

It's starting to come (hattipHelenwheels); the LA Times is following suit (or whomever started first, I really don't know);

"...We need a leader who demonstrates thoughtful calm and grace under pressure, one not prone to volatile gesture or capricious pronouncement. We need a leader well-grounded in the intellectual and legal foundations of American freedom. Yet we ask that the same person also possess the spark and passion to inspire the best within us: creativity, generosity and a fierce defense of justice and liberty.

The Times without hesitation endorses Barack Obama for president."

Read the Rest.

Hanky time...this is why I'd want a dog...An Airforce Man returns from Iraq after 14 months

2008-10-17T14:12:00.002-05:00

Coming to you via Respectful Insolence and then via Gruntdoc ...sniff...

Watergate Summer: Obama Roasting McCain& Palin at the Alfred E. Smith Dinner Last Night....

2008-10-17T09:03:00.000-05:00

Major Top of the Hat to ya Enigma lass!!
As the brits would call this; bloody brilliant..go see.

Watergate Summer: Obama Roasting McCain& Palin at the Alfred E. Smith Dinner Last Night....

Washington Post endorses Barack Obama as President

2008-10-17T07:10:00.003-05:00

Let them come and follow suit. This is what the 'Washington Post' reasons for their endorsement;

(Yet)it is without ambivalence that we endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president.

The choice is made easy in part by Mr. McCain's disappointing campaign, above all his irresponsible selection of a running mate who is not ready to be president. It is made easy in larger part, though, because of our admiration for Mr. Obama and the impressive qualities he has shown during this long race. Yes, we have reservations and concerns, almost inevitably, given Mr. Obama's relatively brief experience in national politics. But we also have enormous hopes.

Mr. Obama is a man of supple intelligence, with a nuanced grasp of complex issues and evident skill at conciliation and consensus-building. At home, we believe, he would respond to the economic crisis with a healthy respect for markets tempered by justified dismay over rising inequality and an understanding of the need for focused regulation. Abroad, the best evidence suggests that he would seek to maintain U.S. leadership and engagement, continue the fight against terrorists, and wage vigorous diplomacy on behalf of U.S. values and interests. Mr. Obama has the potential to become a great president. Given the enormous problems he would confront from his first day in office, and the damage wrought over the past eight years, we would settle for very good.

Yes..imagine the concept; consensus building. Not setting one group of the population up against another. No 'divide and conquer' or 'zero-sum' bullshit politics. As my mother in the Netherlands calls it; "finally an American politician who's actually civilized"! (in Holland they frown on all that mudslinging advertising, as they consider it not only a sign of weakness, but big time immaturity and it does not belong in politics but on the playground)

McCain's Republican attack strategy works no more..

2008-10-16T07:16:00.008-05:00

Jonathan Freedland puts it so well in his The end of attack politics

"John McCain went into this third debate needing a "game changer". The trouble for him is that the game has changed.

In the lead-up to the 2008 campaign, Democratic sages were lining up to warn whoever won the party's nomination that there was one lesson of past defeats they had to learn: if attacked, they had to hit back hard.

Political consultants such as Drew Westen, author of The Political Brain, warned that John Kerry, Al Gore and Michael Dukakis had all gone down because they had let their Republican opponents punch them and punch them again. Kerry had been "Swift-boated", refusing to dignify vicious attacks against him by responding to them - and had lost an election in the process.

Yet in this debate, Barack Obama plainly ignored that advice. McCain kept coming at him - attacking him for his relationship with an "old washed-up terrorist", accusing him of "class warfare", branding him an "extremist" on abortion - but Obama did not do what the conventional wisdom of campaigns past said he should. Sure, he politely tried to set the record straight, but only gently. And not once did he throw a punch back. When asked whether Sarah Palin was qualified to be president, he said it was up to the American people – and then praised her energy as a campaigner.

In the past, that would have had Republicans licking their chops, predicting that their muscular method of warfare would put away yet another meek Democrat. But not this time.

David Fitzimmons

True, McCain succeeded in putting Obama on the defensive from beginning to end, forcing him constantly to deal with criticism from the Republican first and setting out his own agenda second. True, too, that McCain had his best debate performance so far (including a firm declaration that "I am not President Bush").

And yet none of this seemed to trouble either Obama or the Democratic surrogates who spun for him straight afterwards. Emboldened by a New York Times poll that showed voters disapproving of McCain for fighting too negative a campaign, they concluded that every time McCain threw a punch, the person he hurt was himself. By contrast, the Democrats reckoned that every time Obama remained cool and unruffled, bringing the subject back to jobs or healthcare, he looked presidential - and conveyed that he cared about the voters above all."

[bold and emph, underlined, added by yours truly]

Amen! Need we say more?

Vote on the PBS poll; Sarah Palin is unequivically not qualified!

2008-10-15T10:19:00.004-05:00

Steve Sack

I received this email from a neighbour down the street;

PBS has an online poll posted asking if Sarah Palin is
qualified. Apparently
the right wing knew about this in advance and are flooding
the voting with
YES votes. The poll will be reported on PBS and picked up
by mainstream
media. It can influence undecided voters in swing states.
Please do two
things -- takes 20 seconds.
1) Click on link and vote yourself. Here's the link:
http://www.pbs.org/now/polls/poll-435.html
2) Then send this to every single Obama-Biden voter you
know, and urge them
to vote and pass it on. The last thing we need is PBS
saying their viewers
think Sarah Palin is qualified

And this is from this lady from Wasilla who apparently has known 'Sarah' all her life:

"Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents. During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.

Mike Luckovich

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”. During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.

David Horsey

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later–to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing."

Read more why Sarah Palin does not have the education and work background to be qualified to be Vice-President..she's definitely qualified as a Rove dog attacker though.

William F. Engeldahl: "Financial Tsunami:The Ende of the World as We Knew It"

2008-10-13T16:37:00.009-05:00

Financial Tsunami:
The Ende of the World as We Knew It : William F. Engeldahl

Andy Davey

This bail-out and global financial crisis has left ordinary people bewildered and in many cases, down on their luck as a lot of them were/are close to retirement, having lost their financial security for their golden age. We have lost big time as well. We're not the only ones who wondered how and why, and why them?

Read this;

"The actions of Treasury Secretary Paulson since the first outbreak of the Financial Tsunami in August of 2007 have been directed with one apparent guiding aim―to save the obscene gains of his Wall Street and banking cronies. In the process he has taken steps which suggest more than a mild possible conflict of interest. Paulson, who had been chairman of Goldman Sachs from the time of the 1999 Glass-Steagall repeal to his appointment in 2006 as Treasury head, had been one of the most involved Wall Street players in the new securitization revolution of Greenspan.

Under Paulson, according to City of London financial sources familiar with it, Goldman Sachs drove the securitization revolution with an endless rollout of new products. As one London banker put it in an off-record remark to this author, “Paulson’s really the guilty one in this securitization mess but no one brings it up because of the extraordinary influence Goldmans seems to have, a bit like the Knights Templar order of old.’ Naming Goldman chairman Henry Paulson to head the Government agency now responsible for cleaning up the mess left by Wall Street greed and stupidity was tantamount to putting the wolf in charge of guarding the hen house as some see it."

[snip]
Nouriel Roubini

"As respected economist, Nouriel Roubini pointed out, in almost every case of recent banking crises in which emergency action was needed to save the financial system, the most economical (to taxpayers) method was to have the Government, as in Sweden or Finland in the early 1990’s, nationalize the troubled banks, take over their management and assets, and inject public capital to recapitalize the banks to allow them to continue doing business, lending to normal clients. In the Swedish case, the Government held the assets, mostly real estate, for several years until the economy again improved at which point they could sell them onto the market and the banks could gradually buy the state ownership shares back into private hands. In the Swedish case the end cost to taxpayers was estimated to have been almost nil. The state never did as Paulson proposed, to buy the toxic waste of the banks, leaving them to get off free from their follies of securitization and speculation abuses.3

Paulson’s plan, the one essentially rejected on September 29 by the House of Representatives, would have done nothing to recapitalize the troubled banks. That recapitalization could cost an added hundreds of billions on top of the $700 billion toxic waste disposal.

Serious bankers I know who went through the Scandinavian crisis of the 1990’s are scratching their head trying to imagine how crass the Paulson TARP scheme is. That politically obvious bailout of Wall Street by the taxpayers, what some refer to as ‘Bankers’ Socialism―socialize the costs of failure onto the public, and privatize the profits to the bankers―is a major factor behind the defeat of the TARP compromise version. Under Paulson’s scheme, which seems likely to get very little alteration by Congress in coming days, the Treasury Secretary, initially Paulson, would have sole discretion, with minimal oversight, to use a $700 billion check book, courtesy of taxpayer generosity, to buy various Asset Backed Securities held not only by Federal Reserve regulated banks like JP Morgan Chase or Citicorp, or Goldman Sachs, but also by hedge funds, by insurance companies and whomever he decides needs a boost.

‘The Paulson plan is unworkable,’ noted Stephen Lewis, chief economist with the London-based Monument Securities. ‘No one has an idea how to set a price on these toxic securities held by the banks, and in the present market a lot of them likely would be marked to zero.’ Lewis like many others who have examined the example of the temporary Swedish bank nationalization, called Securum, during their real estate collapse in the early 1990’s, stresses that ultimately only a similar solution would be able to resolve the crisis with a minimum of taxpayer cost. ‘The US authorities know very well the Swedish model, but it seems in the US nationalization is a dirty word.’"

(underlines, italics, bold added by yours truly..)

Well, so is Banker's Socialism...socialism is for society, not for 'high society'. But then of course it becomes a 'dirty word'. Click on the title (in the post) for the whole article. It has an interesting background story on Phil Gramm, remember Mr. We're a country of whiners?? Psha!

McCain Gets a 'D' from Vets Group

2008-10-10T07:10:00.004-05:00

"Sen. John McCain may be the combat veteran and son and grandson of admirals, but he rates only a D when it comes to supporting veterans issues, according to the "Congressional Report Card" just issued by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

Sen. Barack Obama is no veteran, but his votes in the U.S, Senate over the past year earned him a B, says IAVA executive director Paul Rieckhoff"

Read the rest

Btw..."McCain was one of only four senators to make the D list. The others are Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Michael Enzi of Wyoming and Jim DeMint of South Carolina."

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America's Congressional Report Card.
2008 Congressional Report Card by Citizens for Global Solutions.

I'm looking for..

2008-10-09T15:49:00.002-05:00

the rendition of Summertime by Jose Feliciano. I googled everywhichway imaginable..but cannot find it. Have you ever heard it? It's really a great swinging, scatting kinda sound..loooved it. I heard it over 10, perhaps 15yrs ago..don't quite remember.

Anyhow..anyone have any leads?

Lewis Black on what the US isn't...

2008-10-08T13:30:00.001-05:00

I've posted this before but in light of the Republicans' attitude..it bears repeating. That said, I wished Obama would not act like this is the greatest country on earth because that is plain pandering..there's no such utopia..I know. I've lived in a few places...

The Presidential Debate's theme; disrespect and hardly contained disdain for Obama by McCain

2008-10-08T10:19:00.003-05:00

Hat tip Robster..

'That One' which is going through the blogosphere like a virus being dissected and looked over again and again is just 'one' of the many ways McCain cannot help show his disrespect and disdain for Obama. He will be an extremely sore loser and as for civilized conduct..he has definitely not the markings of a respectable person ready for a very high office in government.

The white supremacists must be having a field day...will they finally be allowed to 'come out' and be allowed to 'play'?

Europeans long for peace..hope for Obama..

2008-10-07T14:00:00.002-05:00

The Telegraph conducted a research during the week of May 23-29th. I wonder how it would look now..

Barack Obama beats John McCain in European vote: US election 2008

"Senator Barack Obama emerged as Europe's favourite candidate for America’s presidency today when a poll conducted for Telegraph.co.uk gave him 52 per cent support across five of the world’s richest nations, including Britain.

John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee, received only 15 per cent of the vote in unprecedented survey covering Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia."

Check out the poll research.

How would you contribute to the political process if..

2008-10-07T12:04:00.003-05:00

you had limitless amount of money?

My choice would be to start a national newspaper with independent editorials, reporting on issues or critiquing issues them and politicians who'd normally would not get touched by the MSM. I would need no advertising as I would have of course, unlimited funds. However, in the event I did win the lottery, I would add some advertising and also add a national and regional component of highlighting good news development, focus on the good work of non profits and have the journalists engage in actual 'journalism'. Details at this point do not matter of course since I do not have any mula [g].

So what would you do?

The Osterley Times: Conservative newspaper endorses a Democrat for president for the first time since 1936.

2008-10-04T20:07:00.000-05:00

Kel, one of my favourite brit bloggers somehow seems to know where to 'find them'..hallelujah let's hope more conservatives (and yes Kathleen, real ones that take a stand and say no to the neocons, not 'con-ser-va-ti-sm..) wake up.. wake up already dangit!

The Osterley Times: Conservative newspaper endorses a Democrat for president for the first time since 1936.

The Marketing of Sarah Palin

2008-10-04T17:50:00.007-05:00

R.J. Matson

Thank you thank you and well said Sarah Wildman (Guardian);

"In the hours since Thursday's vice-presidential debate, the punditry class has filled the airwaves and web, parsing Sarah Palin's failure to fail. But what is perhaps most striking is what Palin failed to actually say. Amid all the "doggone"s and "there ya go"s and "Oh, yeah, it's so obvious I'm a Washington outsider"s, Palin neglected to articulate any difference between the McCain-Palin ticket and the current team in the White house.

Joe Biden, even if restrained at the outset, made a strong, forceful case for how the Obama-Biden ticket would be different - far better than Barack Obama himself did in his first debate against McCain. Palin, on the other hand, had all the spontaneity of a grown-up version of Small Wonder, that 1980s robot girl from Saturday night television. In the end, Biden looked like a president. And while both candidates (rightly, I think) shied away from answering the macabre "in the event of the death of your running mate" question, only Biden looked like he would actually be able to assume the job of president in such an awful scenario.

Part of the problem is that Palin isn't being marketed as, nor is she expected to be, a politician. That's all well and good for PTA president, or mayor, or maybe even governor in a state without a huge number of people. But when we're talking about the highest executive office, there need to be a few criteria in place beyond relateability." (emph and underlining added by yours truly)

More in; Will the Real Sarah Palin please stand up?

Walt Handelsman

Kathleen Parker steps out of the Republican fold..

2008-10-03T10:46:00.002-05:00

and see what happens? None of us on the outside are surprised..

Speak correctly, or build a big bunker

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am a traitor and an idiot. Also, my mother should have aborted me and left me in a Dumpster, but since she didn't, I should "off" myself.

Those are just a few nuggets randomly selected from thousands of e-mails written in response to my column suggesting that Sarah Palin is out of her league and should step down.

Who says public discourse hasn't deteriorated?

The fierce reaction to my column has been both bracing and enlightening. After 20 years of column writing, I'm familiar with angry mail. But the past few days have produced responses of a different order. Not just angry, but vicious and threatening."

Well Kathleen, perhaps you belonged to the wrong 'flock'! Republicans are not exactly pro-women, let alone strong women who disagree! The hate mail she received was based on this;

"Palin's recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.

No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I've been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I've also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted.

Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there's not much content there. Here's but one example of many from her interview with Hannity:"

(read the rest)

Yes, back to Kathleen's reaction;

"...extreme partisanship has a crippling effect on government, which may be desirable at times, but not now. More important in the long term is the less-tangible effect of stifling free speech. My mail paints an ugly picture and a bleak future if we do not soon correct ourselves.

The picture is this: Anyone who dares express an opinion that runs counter to the party line will be silenced. That doesn't sound American to me, but Stalin would approve. Readers have every right to reject my opinion. But when we decide that a person is a traitor and should die for having an opinion different than one's own, then we cross into territory that puts all freedoms at risk. (I hear you, Dixie Chicks.)"

Well Kathster, that's what 'we' have been saying for the last 8yrs. I'm sure this epiphany is a little too late for the Dixie Chicks too. Welcome to 'our fold'.

McCain's Keating Five ad surfaces..bad news for McCain

2008-10-03T08:42:00.005-05:00

Helenwheels asked for this to be kept 'viral' and I cannot but oblige. This comes to you courtesy of Public Campaign Action Fund (clean money clean elections)

This was the email Helen received;

Dear HelenWheels,

I just received some news I had to share with you: The ad we showed you yesterday — the one that breaks the silence on John McCain and the Keating Five scandal — has hit the big time and is getting plenty of attention in the press.

Today, The New York Times said our ad "dredges up a scandal that Mr. McCain would rather forget, particularly as Americans are struggling to accept the government's proposed $700 billion bailout of financial institutions."

We need your help to keep holding John McCain accountable. Please take a minute to forward the ad -- which can be found at

http://www.campaignmoney.org/keating

-- to everyone you know.

Thanks,
David Miller

Well..and surprise surprise;
Lobbyist Hired by Freddie Mac to Work on McCain Is Now Senator's Aide:

When mortgage giant Freddie Mac feared several years ago that Sen. John McCain was too outspoken on the issue of executive pay, it pinpointed a lobbyist known for his closeness to McCain and hired him to work with the senator.

Mark Buse, a longtime McCain adviser who had been staff director of the Senate commerce committee, signed on as a Freddie Mac lobbyist, and his firm, ML Strategies, earned $460,000 in lobbying fees in late 2003 and 2004, according to lobbying disclosures. Buse is now chief of staff at McCain's Senate office.

"Just the facts Ma'am"

2008-09-30T09:38:00.006-05:00

Bummed from the website 'Dream World'

My Independent self is rearing its uncomfortable, probing head. Ok, in light of my previous posts, I probably should've posted an 'ick alert' but I'm tired. I want to write politics now. (can't help it, I'm drawn that way)

So as an Independent, AND as someone who was born and raised in the Netherlands where there are quite a number of parties that make up coalition cabinets (now now, gotta play nice no one's getting the whole piece of pie..)..the difference between the Democrats and Republicans are very nominal. Naturally, the extremism of the neoconservatives have widened that gap a bit but on the whole, both dems and reps pursue the same foreign intervention agenda in the interest of economics and yes..oil! Except the dems call it humanitarian intervention (like in Kosovo which was dumb, thank you Clinton).

If you are a 'truth seeker' and it is not too painful for you to see , do check out Fact Check, the organization set up by Walter Annenberg in 1994 with the goal to "to create a community of scholars within the University of Pennsylvania that would address public policy issues at the local, state, and federal levels". Click on the fact check to inform yourself.

Quote from Jacques Ellul, famous author of Truth or Propaganda, the formation of the minds of men:

[This] sociological propaganda in the United States is a natural result of the fundamental elements of American life. In the beginning, the United States had to unify a disparate population that came from all the countries of Europe and had diverse traditions and tendencies. A way of rapid assimilation had to be found; that was the great political problem of the United States at the end of the nineteenth century. The solution was psychological standardization--that is, simply to use a way of life as the basis of unification and as an instrument of propaganda. In addition, this uniformity plays another decisive role--an economic role--in the life of the United States; it determines the extent of the American market. Mass production requires mass consumption, but there cannot be mass consumption without widespread identical views as to what the necessities of life are. One must be sure that the market will react rapidly and massively to a given proposal or suggestion. One therefore needs fundamental psychological unity on which advertising can play with certainty when manipulating public opinion. And in order for public opinion to respond, it must be convinced of the excellence of all that is "American." Thus conformity of life and conformity of thought are indissolubly linked.

(underlining linked by yours truly)

The continued staph saga

2008-09-28T13:15:00.002-05:00

Friday afternoon, after conferring with Enigma (I have access to her hotline), I decided to go to the ER to get someone to look and most likely clean my staph infection. She was not impressed with the care I had gotten from my doctor's office so she urged me to go to the ER.

So we went to a nearby hospital which is practically set in the country (we live on the outskirts of Austin) but which had an excellent ER according to my neighbour friend who took the kids in. What a different experience it was from other times we've been in other ER's more closely or in town. (of wherever we lived) It was Friday afternoon 2pm-sh and there were only a few people. It felt peaceful and oh before I forget, there was a big big parking lot and parking was free! (have you ever had that headache to think about? "I hope I have enough money to pay for parking once we're done here..")

I got 'processed' and was in the ER section in the back in no time. My doctor was awesome. Dr. Grayson better live up to my high regards as I will be (hopefully) seeing him again this afternoon for a follow up. That was one of the things they did not do at my doctor's office; do a 48hr follow up every time to monitor the progress or lack thereof of the staph infection.

He was extremely friendly, and tried to put me at ease about the potential painfulness of the procedure without "promising anything". I told him I was a big girl and I understood that promises like that can never be made. See, the day before I had gone into my doctor's office where the physicians' assistant (my doc was booked) performed the drainage procedure. Naturally, the site on my elbow was extremely sore to the touch so let alone sticking a lidocaine filled needle in it! She had to 'poke' me three times and was very apologetic for hurting me. Then, of course, she drained it by squeezing and they bandaged it up and told me to change the bandage however many times needed. I was going to come back the next day.

The next day however, I went to the ER instead. So this doctor Grayson looked at how she'd done it and said, well, it's not done incorrectly ..BUT..from our experience, the incision with infections like this need to be made much bigger. (the 'much' being relative, my husband dearest who was fascinated by the procedure said, oh, he used a 15 scalpel like on Grey's Anatomy! Whatever....(I never look)

Soooo...I was very worried about another round of shots but as it turned out, he was so careful and knowledgable about how to do it, he showed an intern and made her do it as well. He told her what he was doing and why;
use this angle to insert and push very slowly, it decreases the amount of pain
warm the liquid to room temperature, it makes it less painful
He also rubbed on the spot after he was done.

He got the particular lab results from my doctor's office and said, even though they gave you the right amount for what this lab report shows, you really should have twice the dose of what you're taking. So the long and short of it was, I should have been looked at so they could've figured that out themselves.

[ICK alert]

So husband dearest got to play doctor by changing my dressing, and the long thin strip of medicated gauze they put in there (a FOOT long! my husband exclaimed, yuk, gives me goosebumps just writing it yech) anyhow, a bit came out and there went the goosebumps up and down my back and head YUK!

so today, the gauze kinda fell down and a longer part came out..YUK again! Of course, they're going to take the whole (rest!) thing out this afternoon and I'll have to go over the whole procedure again..shees..

Now my biggest problem is the meds. It always agreed with my stomach, no problem there. But..I cannot swallow pills so I have the liquid version. Well, twice the dose of something you've already taken for over a week?? Normally by the end of an antibiotic 'routine' for other ailments, I'm totally done and cannot take it anymore. I'm going to ask for the IV treatment instead. I could not handle taking the whole, new dose and it almost came back out if you know what I mean..

So that is my big worry; will they give it to me because there is a.b.s.o.l.u.t.e.l.y. no way in hell I can take anything orally.

And that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I've rested as much as possible and as much as my husband is a good tag teamer, he did not get a relaxing weekend to decompress from work so the taking care part for which the details are not important to him (cut something of, if a part falls down, it stays down unless I point out to him he 'might want to pick that up'..slob!!) Anyhoo..he's having to do a lot and I'm being practical. The kids need me plain and simple.
They've bickered more, the youngest one is out of sorts as I've practically quarantained myself in terms of 'no hugs and kisses'.. and we're a very affectionate family. Oh yea, and I guess my husband would like to play doctor 'his way' too (hehe)

I have started to get visibly better, but I know I'm not done yet.
To be continued..

Paul Newman tribute-rest in peace my moses 1925-2008

2008-09-27T09:50:00.003-05:00

Check out Paul Newman's biography. Paul and his wife Joanne Newman dedicated their lives to giving to charity with his organic product line "Newmans' Own". It is still successful. They also have their own non-profit camps. A classy actor from a classier time in Hollywood. He DEFINITELY did not fail to communicate.
A Paul Newman tribute

Staph, the infection

2008-09-25T13:50:00.004-05:00

ICK ALERT!

Well crap. Last week, I thought I had just a freaky potential brown recluse spider bite so since that spot hurt and was kinda swollen, I decided to go to the doctor. They biopsed (-eed?) 'the spot' (it's on my elbow)and said, oh, we'll have the results in three to five days. Well, freaking out about a potential brown recluse spider bite, I had not heard anything all day Monday so I called and the verdict was; staph. Well, MSRA. I'm not going to link to it it's 'icky' and aside from being icky and painful as hell, it's apparently 'going around'. Many people have been coming into our doctor's office thinking they have some bug bite of sorts only to find out they have indeed MSRA. Naturally, I did a quick search and had a mini-freak out (more people die of 'it' than of aids) but the doctor's office assured me I was going to be just fine. (it's part of the medical vernacular..'just fine')

They/I got to it early and after almost a full week, nothing had changed other than the swelling going down a bit. I say a bit, it's all relative you know. So yesterday I decided I had enough (and would be almost out of the meds they gave me so I called for an appointment today figuring they had to drain it. NEVER YOU MIND that I asked for it on MONDAY!! I got the response, nah, just take your medicine and if it gets worse just call us. Well, I mentioned this to Utah Savage in a comment, 'we' ought to really listen to our own selves right?? I should've pushed for it but better late than never. The draining part was p.r.e.t.t.y. painful. Holy cow, at least when I birthed my youngest, there indeed was a hormone to cover that pain (at least the memory of it, it was mostly fear on my part), there's no hormone covering pain otherwise.

"Are you allergic to licadaine?" You mean the stuff they use at the dentist? "Yes". Oh no. Ok.. well...l.i.t.t.l.e. did I know..

lica(co?)daine is supposed to numb the spot but because I have that infection, it hurt so much I almost cried. I started to think about that one nurse in pre-birthing class saying "moan away, moaning helps with the pain, I even got my husband to moan when he was in a lot of pain in the hospital, it works!"

I almost moaned. Three separate spots from one very long needled lico/cadaine. Yikes. After it was sorta kinda numbed, she started , what was that term? Not scalping but they use that small scalpel thingy. Well, she 'dug deep' as she said and not being one to leave the patient in the dark, she gave me a description to always remember; "you know, it's kind of like a honeycomb in there so I have to dig in different places". Sweet! Tell me more.

And inspite of the 'numbing', it really hurt at times and I thought I was good with pain! Well, tummy aches and ehem, 'womanly' pain stuff you know, I can grin and bear it, just take meds and not move. Then she started to push to drain the lymphatic fluid and that was loverly too. It actually reminded me when I had my adrenal gland removed (long story) in Saudi Arabia and after the operation they did not put a drainage 'thingy' in my wound so it got infected and likewise, they had to squeeze the living daylights out of my side. So I guess, come to think of it, it's all relative. THAT one I did so moan for..sheesh.

So after the procedure, the put this, I call it anyway, a worm version of a stocking tube like in my elbow to let the whole thing drain. My neighbour friend across the street was all interested as she's capable of handling 'blood and guts' and she even changed the bandage on me (I had been draining quite a bit).

Anyhow, I got myself a whole bunch of chewable, immunity supporting stuff; multi vitamin, omega three, vit B boost and will try to think happy healthy thoughts. And take my additional medicine of course. I have high hopes that since the stuff is draining, that that should start clearing the infection at a better rate.

Did you know how much you use your elbow? I bet you don't.

Ah well, so much for gardening.

Bush invites McCain, Obama to discuss bailout

2008-09-24T20:12:00.002-05:00

Bush invites McCain, Obama to discuss bailout

"WASHINGTON - Democrats won a key concession from the White House on legislation to bail out the financial industry on Wednesday, then sought to scale back the $700 billion price tag, as Republican presidential nominee John McCain inserted himself into high-stakes negotiations on the rescue.

President Bush invited McCain and Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, along with congressional leaders, to a White House meeting Thursday to discuss the bailout."

You gotta be fucking kidding me right?? The Republicans are trying to cover their tracks so now Bush wants/needs to drag Obama into this with whatever ploy or potential threat or blackmail? I'm smelling something and it ain't rotten eggs..

I'm totally disgusted! I got 32 words of my own for Bush and Paulson et al but I am a mom and other than saying fuck you, I can't really go further than that!
You unbelievable piece of works. I hope the everyday man and woman don't fall for this crap!

Wanda Sykes Hall baby...

2008-09-24T16:07:00.001-05:00

I saw part of this on the Huffington Post but here is a longer version. Wanda on Leno..I'm not up that late..enjoy!

Lessons about the Constitution

2008-09-23T11:20:00.007-05:00

Censored2008

(cross posted on Uncommon Sense)

If you, like me, know so little really about the American constitution, then the only way you can wrap your brain around it is in reference to something. How does it apply and how does it apply today. Why has their been such a great concern by Democrats, Libertarians and Independents alike about the dismantling, or 'fidgeting' of the Constitution and Constitution law?

What? No mention of Republicans? I would like to think that those Republicans who would call themselves truly conservative (but not neoconservative) would not vote Republican anymore or either become Independents or Libertarians. Sure there might be some for Obama but I have no doubt the numbers are negligable. And for this discussion irrelevant anyway.

What discussion am I talking about then? Well, how does one learn about the Constitution? Should it be by rote like in school where you learn it, memorize the parts and have to pass a test? I would suggest to old and new comers to these 'lessons' about the Constitution which you will find on this site that it is all by exploring how it is being abused and undermined. Nothing gets a discussion fired up and going when one has to quote and interpret the Constitution and let's not forget the Amendments.

A book I highly recommend through which to indirectly learn about the Constitution and its Amendments is the latest book by Project Censored. Their 'Censored 2008'- the top 25 censored stories of 2006-07, covers materials that indirectly deal with the constitution and the basic 'mission statement' of this country. Let me give you some chapter topics and I will let you investigate, this book is found online and in the library so there's no excuse in not knowing how to get the information. Here goes;

(bummed from A Spork in the Drawer)

*No Habeus Corpus for "any person" (that's a biggie 'cause any person does not mean just terrorists but could VERY easily be interpreted to be you, who's an activist rounded up like what happened at the RNC..you're one step away from being branded)

*Bush moves towards martial law (do I need to say more?)

*Immigrant roundups to gain cheap labour for US corporate giants

*Impunity for US war criminals

*Terror Act against animal rights activists

Abuses and encroachment abound but you won't see it if you don't read the stories and have your handy dandy Constitution/Amendments reference by your side.

Ben Bagdikian

Media ownership is pretty monopolized and Ben Bagdikian shows that from 50 companies in 1983, only 5 big corporations own the media. Who is going to report on all these constitutional abuses? Not the media.

Yes, the lessons about the Constitution can be found here on this site (referring to Uncommon Sense), or on quite a few alternative websites for which I hope we can make a blogroll pretty soon. (As I should here on my own) Alternative media and citizen journalism through blogs with their own opinion pieces have picked up where the media left off. If you want to learn about the Constitution, these days, you're better off learning about the issues that challenge them. And courtesy of the last 8 years (although it started covertly much longer ago) , we have plenty of materials.

"What a beastly girl", and other weekend happenings

2008-09-22T07:22:00.006-05:00

Finally, we could not get out of a playdate I had postponed for so long. Our youngest, five year old has a girl in her class who wanted her to come over and this Saturday it was finally happening. Well, never again. We've known her and her mother for a few years now through shared activities and school. She's a very spoiled, selfish and rude little thing for which the blame cannot be put on her of course, but the way she is being (not) raised. I know she knows how to behave at school because her teacher doesn't let her get away with anything. You see, in the Montessori system, kids are grouped in a class according developmental stage so the Primary years/class has kids ages 3-6. And grace and courtesy are two of those buzzwords that Montessori kids get drilled into them. Every class is considered a 'community' and each child has a 'job' in their community as they learn from very early on that they need to take care of their 'environment' (the classroom community and the other children).

Well, the mother of this girl is actually very nice and smart to boot but her lack of any re-direction of 'the girls' behaviour is just shocking and appalling! Now every time I see her behave inappropriately (for her age) when her mom's around after pickup, I keep hearing that line from the Willy Wonka movie; "what a beastly girl!"

Veruca Salt song from Willy Wonka

So 'mom' wants to have another playdate but this mom absolutely does not! I had a talk with my daughter as we left their house and of course she was defensive of her little 'friend' (who behaved anything but, the world evolves around her you see and mom and dad just cater to her). However, I do think that she understand the difference between how this girl behaves at school versus at home. I told her I was glad that she made better choices and behaved better but I was sooo pissed off that I also told her that her friends' behaviour was atrocious and UNACCEPTABLE!

I continued to explain to her how one behaves when you receive a guest and what it means to be a 'host'. (you know, hosting 101; asking what the other person would like to do, share toys cause if you don't want to share them, you put them away, giving someone first choices with toys if there are two of them etc- plain courteous behaviour)

She does have an older brother and he was actually in my son's class and he was a jerk at that time. So when our daughter had a birthday party at our community pool in May and I knew that boy was coming too, I told my son to just behave and be a host to him inspite of their past. Well of course, afterwards my son told me he still kicked him in the groin in the water when he tried to beat him at something.. it is very telling. Mom and dad are nice, kids are competitive and not nice. (I can call them all kinds of things but I am trying to write this out of my system and not get re-wound up![g])

I'm not going into the whole story of what this girl did because that just turns into a drama story, trust me, there is no correction or teaching these kids the right way to behave other than saying passively, well, could you not let Rebecca have a turn? (after Rebecca picked out a toy to play with when ms thing was doing something else and then of course she had to have it..good lord)

Dr. Laura, I have a dilemma! I hate confrontations and my avoidance with this family has just worked fine these past years. They live far away and they have their kids in all kinds of activities so hey, schedule never worked. But now the mom wants to push for more playdates because they are really for 'ms thing' who does not have any friends. My daughter apparently is a social butterfly who plays with everyone on the school playground so she really does not 'need' this friendship. Still, I do not want to hurt this mom's feelings but I do need to start saying 'no' to any request for playdates. Or so my husband said. I told him, you cannot just say 'no' to a woman and not expect a question like 'why'? But I'll have to deal with it. I'll just have to figure out a way to break the news to her. Oh dear..sigh.

At any rate, we attended a nice birthday party yesterday and I helped my neighbour selling her home made (lampwork) jewelry friday night so the weekend was not all bad. [s]

Humpday post

2008-09-17T10:24:00.003-05:00

Am going through a bit of an anxious episode but am working on it while life goes on; taking kids to school, watching them play outside, attending a class information evening at my son's school..you know..same old same old..
One of the things he will be doing this school year is get classical guitar lessons. He's not that excited about it but apparently the Austin Classical Guitar society has regular performances on Sunday so we'll take him to wet his appetite. His teacher posts the weekly lesson on Youtube and this is one of his posts (but this is not him!)

flashback city for 'us' of a certain age; Bohemian Rhapsody by Edgar Cruz..bravo Edgar!!

Update;

perhaps this song is more appropriate for this week, ha! (no wonder I always liked this song when I was a little girl..haHA!)

ok ok.. for those who think that's too 'much'..how about this one?It's kinda a swinging version of 'what good is it all'.. well, kinda..haHA! What? Pfff..it's been taken off Youtube due to terms of use violation..cha.. those Squirel Nut Zippers..sigh. (alas, no "In the Afterlife"..)

The Hurricane Ike dud for Austin TX

2008-09-13T11:06:00.007-05:00

A boarded up home sits along the beach as Hurricane Ike approaches Friday, Sept. 12, 2008 in Galveston, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) (David J. Phillip - AP)
Nearly 3M people without power as Ike hits

"The unfortunate truth is we're going to have to go in ... and put our people in the tough situation to save people who did not choose wisely. We'll probably do the largest search-and-rescue operation that's ever been conducted in the state of Texas," said Andrew Barlow, spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry.

Sadly, Galveston became ground zero at 2:10am if I remember correctly, and once again, some 100.000 people decided to play russian roulette with mother nature. I hope no one perishes during the rescue mission. Galveston is really a hurricane barrier of sorts and like New Orleans, really no place to build a city. However, the state of Texas and the city of Houston (where people evacuated, some people visiting family who live here on our street) were well prepared and I'm sure that most of you with cable will be or have been following the developments and will know more than me.

For us here in Austin it will be business as usual, I do not expect any great winds or even rain (we were so hoping). It is very overcast which is a nice reprieve from all that sunshine. Today is also family day and we'll just be doing the regular family activities.

Check out this cool Harris County rain gauge map where the brunt of Hurricane Ike was felt; Harris County Rain Gauge

I probably will be 'out' for the weekend. See you on Monday as I'm contemplating another blog change. Not necessarily the 'personal' one I was talking about , but consolidating the round table and austin permie one. I liked the responses I got on greening the desert and thought perhaps I ought to just put these two together..
have a safe weekend guys.

Greening the Desert

2008-09-08T15:39:00.004-05:00

I'm a 'permie' (permaculture practitioner) and it's all about the soil. There is a social and political component to permaculture, but this for now gives you an idea of some of the principles involved. Permaculture got started in Australia and was pioneered by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren. I'll be posting more about this as there's too much to tell. This is Geoff Lawton talking about greening the desert. Follow the 'greening the desert' link for transcript.

Strange thought to wake up to..

2008-09-07T09:01:00.007-05:00

I slept very restlessly last night. I kept having these intense dreams and then waking up. I'm processing 'stuff' but also just plain did not sleep well. I took something the night before that made me actually sleep through the night and for me, that's practically unheard of; sleeping uninterrupted for more than 8.5 (!!) hours.. wow. Normally, if/when not taking anything I can wake up after either 3 or 4 or so -sh hours, either by myself or my 5 yr old is coming to our bed and I heave ho her right back to her own. Lately she's been sleeping so much better, I'm not though. Haven't for years.

At any rate, the meds I took (not a sleeping med) the night before and the night before that just help me so much that I have glimpses of what I and my brain would be like on more than 7hrs of sleep. Can you dig it? I sure can.

Still, did not want to take it last night and get 'used' to it. So after 4.5hrs I woke up. James woke up several times as well which is unusual for him as he's the big,deep sleeper in the family. It was work related of course. He's going to Washington DC for the week for work.

One of the things I had in my head when I woke up one of the few times last night was this and I'll just put it out there;

Fear of dying is not fear of dying but fear of living.

As you noticed in my previous post my going down memory lane, I will be starting up another blog to facilitate putting my thoughts and more indepth memories and thoughts on so as to separate the 'political me' and the more 'introspective personal me'. Sometime this week. I need to process, I need to put all manner of thoughts and feelings that I have not 'taken care off' in the last 20 plus years after leaving home (literally, emigrated the heck out of there) out there without concern that those of you who come to visit will put up their hands and say "XNAY XNAY TMI!!" (too much information)

One has friends where one can just shoot the breeze, and friends who you share your deeper thoughts with without fear of rejection or indifference.

I'm sure 'ya'll' have your own stuff and situations so whether you, at whatever point, come over to the other site or not doesn't matter. It's optional, it's just one other side of me. It's foremost personal stuff that I need to express. I know most people put only their personal feelings/emotions/trials and tribulations on their blog but I'd be bored with that myself. One blog for one part of me. A separation of the personal and the political. At least for the 'audience' at large.

What does that remind you off?[s]

The Osterley Times: Biden: The Republican silence was deafening.

2008-09-06T13:18:00.000-05:00

My 'bloody brilliant Kel' sure knows where to find them! I hereby sprinkle him with what little authority I have as 'honorary American' 'cause he sure as hell stands up as one! (might be a dubious acknowledgment for Kel but I trust he knows I mean well)

check out Biden's response to the Republican convention (video) and just tell Kell how brilliant he is. It 'is', after all (I believe) a 'British' originated word..ahem..

The Osterley Times: Biden: The Republican silence was deafening.

I'm A Promenader!

2008-09-06T09:34:00.013-05:00

As much as this is the most British spectacle of 'britishness', you'll find all manners of flags represented from all over continental Europe. Note the Dutch flag!

The Royal Albert Hall, Last Night of the Proms

McCain might be a "Georgian", but I'm a "Promenader." I'm really an anglophile who somehow, should've ended up emigrating to England as opposed to Canada. It was one of those fork in the roads that to this day makes me wonder; did I make the right choice?

I will talk about by life's journey at a later point, perhaps even in a separate blog as this blog has really been an outlet for my political opinions etc.

I moved away from the Netherlands on a very rainy Monday morning, September 24th 1984. My mom drove me to the Hague as the Canadian embassy was lax in sending me the visa I needed (requested months prior, idiots) plus my passport that they had requested for the visa so I could board my flight in Amsterdam Airport to Montreal Canada where I was going to go for a one year employment as a nanny.

flying over Holland

The Saturday prior, I did what I had done for years; I watched the last two hours of the Last Night of the Proms. The last two hours are/were (?) always televised and the first two hours broadcast were broadcast on the radio. I borrowed a friends' radio who could receive the BBC so I could tape, with my tape recorder, the whole thing.

I will explain more in full when I make some changes as suggested by a dear friend.

For now I will tell you that the opening number of the 1984 Last Night of the Proms, performed as always at the Royal Albert Hall, conducted by the scottish director James Laughran (unusual as it was always considered a "British" thing but JL was conductor of the BBC Scottish orchestra so hey, some british connection there)..

White Cliffs of Dover

I keep digressing. The opening number performed then is one of those pieces that make my eyes swell up with tears, my heart and being cry, and my mind to be filled with images of England; landscapes, and for some weird reason..the white cliffs of Dover. Don't ask. I'm not an overly sentimental person (perhaps only deep inside), and I've never ever seen the white cliffs of Dover. One things' for sure, I need to write. Music equals images equals bits and snippets of 'stories'..

If ANYONE can ever somehow send me a video of that 1984 Last Night of the Proms performance which includes Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Serenade to Music", which had the most beautiful, tenderest rendition..I would be very thankful. Youtube does not have it. I have not found it. The BBC never could oblige either..I've tried. Does anyone have any leads for me?

For now, this is what I found. Not a whole orchestral piece but one with violin and piano and about 15 voices. It is still a beautiful rendition they do a wonderful job.
Thank You Hirowaki.

Important; Next Week Conference in Andover MA - Plan Prosecution of Bush, Cheney, Et Al!

2008-09-05T21:05:00.006-05:00

Conference: Join Us in Andover, Mass., to Plan Prosecution of Bush, Cheney, Et Al!

September 13 – 14, 2008 Andover, Massachusetts

Registration details available at: http://war-crimes.info

From Opening Statement of The Chief Prosecutor, Supreme Justice Robert H. Jackson, at Nuremberg.

"The same disaster has now happened twice in forty years, in Viet Nam and Iraq. It must never happen again. As at Nuremberg, we need to take steps to insure that leaders will never do it again."

Some of the attendees next weekend;

Lawrence Velvel
Lawrence R. Velvel, Dean of the Massachusetts School of Law
Joshua Dratel,

written by Joshua Dratel

Esq. Christopher Pyle, Mount Holyoke College Philippe Sands, University College London (on crimes of torture and abusive behaviour)

Amy Bartholomew from my alma mater Carleton University Ottawa Canada
Amy Bartholomew, Carleton College Jordan Paust, University of Houston Ann Wright, retired U.S. Army and author of "Dissent (talking about preemptive war and aggressive war
Vincent Bugliosi, former prosecutor and author of "Prosecuting George W. Bush For Murder"Panel Discussion And Subsequent Audience Participation On:"The Torture Team: The Actions of Bush Administration Lawyers, Their Criminal Liabilities, And Potential Disbarment." Speakers: Ben Davis, University of Toledo Joshua Dratel, Esq. Barbara Olshansky, Stanford Law School Philippe Sands, University College
London

Check out the rest of the very interesting and worthwhile supporting panel discussions and participants

These are people who mean business. This would be a great precursor to what could happen if and when Obama/Biden get elected into office.

Joe Biden apparently mentioned the following last week;
Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden said yesterday that he and running mate Barack Obama could pursue criminal charges against the Bush administration if they are elected in November.

Biden's comments, first reported by ABC news, attracted little notice on a day dominated by the drama surrounding his Republican counterpart, Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

But his statements represent the Democrats' strongest vow so far this year to investigate alleged misdeeds committed during the Bush years.

"If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation, they will be pursued," Biden said during a campaign event in Deerfield Beach, Florida, according to ABC.

"[N]ot out of vengeance, not out of retribution," he added, "out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no attorney general, no president -- no one is above the law."

Obama sounded a similar note in April, vowing that if elected, he would ask his attorney general to initiate a prompt review of Bush-era actions to distinguish between possible "genuine crimes" and "really bad policies".

"[I]f crimes have been committed, they should be investigated," Obama told the Philadelphia Daily News. "You're also right that I would not want my first term consumed by what was perceived on the part of Republicans as a partisan witch hunt, because I think we've got too many problems we've got to solve."

Congressional Democrats have issued a flurry of subpoenas this year to senior Bush administration aides as part of a broad inquiry into the authorisation of torturous interrogation tactics used at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.

Three veterans of the Bush White House have been held in criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to respond to subpoenas: former counsel Harriet Miers, former political adviser Karl Rove, and current chief of staff Josh Bolten. The contempt battle is currently before a federal court.

Patrick Cockburn: White House strategy is to help McCain win in November

2008-09-03T13:31:00.003-05:00

Patrick Cockburn: White House strategy is to help McCain win in November

Big HAT TIP to Kel from The Osterly Times This time, I copied and pasted the whole post. Do follow the title link AND Kel as he has a number of very insightful posts with naturally links that only can be found in a non-American newspaper;

"I spoke yesterday about how, in the past, the Republicans have used military campaigns abroad to win elections, even if it meant undermining peace in Vietnam or freeing American hostages in Iran.

And how Vladimir Putin is convinced that the US was behind Saakashvili's decision to invade South Ossetia was, in part, to help John McCain win the November election.

Well, today Patrick Cockburn, one of the few journalists who remains on the ground in Iraq, claims that the handing back of Anbar province is being done for the exact same cynical reasons."

The hand- over by the US military of control of Anbar province, once the heartland of the Sunni rebellion, to Iraqi forces is a case in point. The US will keep 25,000 American soldiers in Anbar, so the extent to which the Iraqi government will really take over is debatable.

[...]

Much of what the White House is now doing is done to help the Republicans in the presidential election. The aim is to give the impression that Iraq has finally come right for the US and victory is finally in its grasp. The surge is promoted as the strategy by which the tide was turned and it is true that the Sunni uprising against the US occupation has largely ended.

But it has done so for reasons that have little to do with the surge or American actions of any kind. Crucial to the success of the government against the Mahdi Army has been the support of Iran. It is they who arranged for the Shia militiamen to go home.

It takes real cheek for Mr Bush to claim yesterday that "Anbar is no longer lost to al-Qa'ida" since during the last presidential election in 2004, he was claiming that the media was exaggerating the success of the insurgents.

"There is an astonishing amount of gall to Bush now claiming that Anbar has been saved when he has previously insisted that the media were exaggerating what was happening there.

But, by claiming to hand it back to the Iraqis - whilst retaining 25,000 troops there and doing no such thing - Bush can only have one aim. To help McCain claim that the surge is working and advise against moving out too quickly."

So says Kel. He's one of my favourite bloggers and a relentless blogger at that.

Watergate Summer: AMY GOODMAN AND 2 DEMOCRACY NOW PRODUCERS ARRESTED AT THE RNC CONVENTION: SHE NEEDS OUR HELP READ BELOW

2008-09-01T20:42:00.002-05:00

Update; Amy Goodman her producers have since been released;

ST. PAUL--Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar have all been released from police custody in St. Paul following their illegal arrest by Minneapolis Police on Monday afternoon.

All three were violently manhandled by law enforcement officers. Abdel Kouddous was slammed against a wall and the ground, leaving his arms scraped and bloodied. He sustained other injuries to his chest and back. Salazar’s violent arrest by baton-wielding officers, during which she was slammed to the ground while yelling, “I’m Press! Press!,” resulted in her nose bleeding, as well as causing facial pain. Goodman’s arm was violently yanked by police as she was arrested

Amy Goodman, one of the few very visible activist journalists who do not cater to the mainstream media moguls, is worth any little bit you can do to try to help her. Pass on the news and let's get Amy and her producers out!!

Amy Goodman, NOT making trouble..

Watergate Summer: AMY GOODMAN AND 2 DEMOCRACY NOW PRODUCERS ARRESTED AT THE RNC CONVENTION: SHE NEEDS OUR HELP READ BELOW

Last week however, ABC's Assa Eslocker was on the phone, investigating lobbyists and the DNC when he got pushed on the street by a Denver cop and then on the street was told he was impeding traffic and got arrested. Watch the video here (you'll have to endure a brief commercial but this arrest was such a blatant abuse of power, stick with it pls)

Make no mistakes, the Democrats too are guilty of allowing heavy handed police tactics. After 9/11, it became illegal to protest where once you could and democratic activities have been very much curtailed. When people think of a police state, they think of Russia, but you know..changing things a little a time turns a country into a police state. They would not change things overnight. Make no mistake, it is not just rhetorical clap trap to say that your rights have been severely diminished. It's just one of those uncomfortable truths!

Of fender benders and front yard puttering

2008-09-01T17:17:00.007-05:00

[bump-dent in the 'mommy car']

This labour day weekend went differently than planned. For starters, after picking up the kids from school on Friday, I got into my first fender bender. Alas, I was not the 'bumpee' but the 'bumper' as I thought the person in front of me was moving and about to turn and she obviously wasn't. To make a long story short; she was one of those hesitant drivers (or just plain slow-urr) and I thought we were all part of a flow.
No mas, this lady was so startled I thought she was injured (and never you mind, we have great Geico insurance, I was really worried she was hurt) but phew..she wasn't. Her 20sh daughter was very kind and understanding and we were all exchanging numbers and insurance info and the daughter quickly canceled the police (lest I had to pay a fine since really they only needed my insurance info).. so all's well that ends well. I get to live another day in the country without getting booted.

OK,ok..I know it wasn't a felony but as a green card holder, you better take care. One felony and you're out! Luckily for me I'd be sent back to Canada, but still. Just think of Daniel Bowman's story;

A British immigrant in the U.S. for 25 years is facing deportation.

Daniel Bowman sits in jail for what he calls a bad mistake he made in May 1994, when he, at age 20, and another man stole a car radio from a woman in Newport News.

He pleaded guilty, served five years probation, and has not been in trouble since.

But his past came back to haunt the 35-year-old on July 30, when he tried to renew his green card. After an hour wait, an officer took him away in handcuffs.

and gee..there is another thing; "His lawyer says there’s such a backlog of cases that Bowman could wait up to a year before he’s seen by a judge."

This labour day dh went out 'very early (6sh) to start clearing the many weeds that have sprung up and were neglected and scooped out two rosemary bushes out of a dilapitated bed and garlic chives and two oregano bushes out of another. Hence this afternoon I was busy digging and putting in the 'old' and the new in my front bed. I had bought a bunch of sedums and agaves, aloe Saturday morning so I was busy doing my relaxing and 'puttering'.

However, four plus hours of being outside in this 100F heat,even in the shade just zonks you so I'm headin' to bed..hopefully soon.

About 30 minutes ago, Maria came by and took a cluster of garlic chives 'cause I just had too much. Apparently she's got quite a few plants to share and give away so I'll be doing some more 'puttering'. The big backyard is beckoning...

For Enigma

2008-08-30T21:49:00.003-05:00

Cat 5 it's official. Even if it won't hit New Orleans directly, this does not bode well for Luzianna. We used to live in Baton Rouge and know well what it means for hurricanes to head that way, even when you're inland. Katrina taught a lot of people lessons, but the levees are, according to Enigma not strong enough for Cat 5. With abaited breath we'll wait.

Aaron Neville - It feels like rain

(john hiatt)

Down here the river meets the sea
In the sticky heat I feel you open up to me
Love comes out of no where, baby, oh, just like a hurricane
And it feels like rain
And it feels like rain

Lying underneath the stars right next to you
And Im wondering who you are, and how do you do, how do you do baby
Oh, the clouds roll in across the moon, and the wind howls out your name
And it feels like rain
And it feels like rain

We never gonna make that bridge tonight, baby
Set across the poncetrain
And it feels like rain
And it feels like rain

Batten down the hatches, baby
Leave your heart out on your sleeve
Looks like were in for stormy, stormy, stormy weather
That aint no cause to leave
Just like
Let it wash away the pain
And it feels like rain
And it feels like rain
Baby can you feel it, can you feel it
It feels like rain
Baby can you feel it, can you feel it
Feels like rain
Let your love, let your love come down
Oh, down on me

Labour Day Special-Three Strikes: Miners, Musicians,

2008-08-30T09:43:00.014-05:00

Three Strikes: Miners, Musicians,
Salesgirls, and the Fighting Spirit of Labor's Last Century - Dana Frank, Howard Zinn, Robin D.G. Kelley

This is an interview with the University of California newsroom;

"In the 1930s, Woolworth's Five and Dime was the equivalent of
Wal-Mart today, said Frank. The chain boasted 2,000 stores in five
countries, the company exploited its workers and sold products made
in sweatshops. "There was a whole movement in the 1930s against chain
stores," said Frank. "They were called 'the chain store evil' because
they were wiping out small businesses."

Waitresses at Woolworth's staged an eight-day sitdown strike in 1937, singing, dancing, exercising, doing each others hair and nails until finally management recognized their union and gave them a five-cent per hour pay hike.

The sit-in for higher wages and overtime by 100 salesclerks
gained momentum, and the strikers capitalized on media coverage that
dismissed them as "young girls, blonde, brunette, slim, plump, going
on strike for their rights." The widespread press reports drew
attention to the strikers' cause and prevented Woolworth's executives
from calling for the National Guard. The strikers won all their
demands, and the victory helped set in motion a number of winning
sit-down strikes at department and chain stores across the country.

Ludlow Tent Colony

Zinn, author of the bestselling A People's History of the
United States, tells the grim tale of the conflict in which at least
66 people died, including women and children who were burned to death
in a pit beneath the coal miners' tent colony in southern Colorado.
Although Woody Guthrie wrote a wrenching song about the tragedy, it has been mostly overlooked by historians, noted Zinn.
1913 Massacre by Woody Guthrie (see lyrics below and read it while listening)

"Yet that story has been buried, in the way that labor
struggles in general have been omitted or given brief mention in most
mainstream accounts of the history of the United States," writes
Zinn. "It deserves to be recalled, because embedded in the events of
the Colorado strike are issues still alive today: the class struggle
between owners of large enterprises and their workers, the special
treatment of immigrant workers, the relationship between economic
power and political power, the role of the press, and the way in
which the culture censors out certain historical events."

1913 Massacre
by Woody Guthrie

Take a trip with me in nineteen thirteen
To Calumet, Michigan in the copper country
I'll take you to a place called Italian Hall
And the miners are having their big Christmas ball

I'll take you in a door and up a high stairs
Singing and dancing is heard ev'rywhere
I'll let you shake hands with the people you see
And watch the kids dance 'round the big Christmas tree.

There's talking and laughing and songs in the air
And the spirit of Christmas is there ev'rywhere
Before you know it you're friends with us all
And you're dancing around and around in the hall

You ask about work and you ask about pay
They'll tell you they make less than a dollar a day
Working their copper claims, risking their lives
So it's fun to spend Christmas with children and wives.

A little girl sits down by the Christmas tree lights
To play the piano so you gotta keep quiet
To hear all this fun; you would not realize
That the copper boss thug men are milling outside

The copper boss thugs stuck their heads in the door
One of them yelled and he screamed, "There's a fire"
A lady she hollered, "There's no such a thing;
Keep on with your party, there's no such a thing."

A few people rushed and there's only a few
"It's just the thugs and the scabs fooling you."
A man grabbed his daughter and he carried her down
But the thugs held the door and he could not get out.

And then others followed, about a hundred or more
But most everybody remained on the floor
The gun thugs, they laughed at their murderous joke
And the children were smothered on the stairs by the door.

Such a terrible sight I never did see
We carried our children back up to their tree
The scabs outside still laughed at their spree
And the children that died there was seventy-three

The piano played a slow funeral tune,
And the town was lit up by a cold Christmas moon
The parents, they cried and the men, they moaned,
"See what your greed for money has done?"

©1961 (Renewed) by Fall River Music Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

Check out where ordinary labour rights stand in NAFTA and CAFTA

Happy Labour Day..just remember who still work for blood sweat and tears, don't take it for granted.

Louisiana..

2008-08-29T20:53:00.002-05:00

Go over to my friend Enigma who'll be watching out for Louisiana..we're all hoping they're not going to get hit again and if so..not so bad and that the levvies will hold..

We also love this one. Not that I'm Catholic or particularly religious, but it's a beautiful rendition nevertheless..

A war to help a struggling candidate

2008-08-28T23:03:00.005-05:00

Well, I mentioned in my earlier posts that this Georgia-Russia conflict was very beneficial to tough talkin' 100 yr war Presidential candidate McCain. In a very recent post (see below), former German Chancelor Schroder stated that "...everyone knows that these US military advisors in Georgia exist". And if everyone does, then the Russians certainly did. In an interview with CNN, Putin makes it very clear;

"...unnamed persons in the United States provoked the conflict in Georgia in an attempt to help a candidate in the U.S. presidential election."
and

"...Moscow suspected that U.S. nationals were present in the war zone in Georgia and the Russian military produced a copy of a U.S. passport it said had been retrieved after a bloody clash between Russian troops and Georgian special forces."

Naturally, to a lot of Americans this seems ludicrous but then they're the same Americans who've accepted the last 8yrs and cannot wait for another 4. Life is all rosy for them because that is what they believe. We are good, they are bad. It must be nice to live life so simply and unencumbered.

At any rate, Russia is in no mood to be forgiving. Today, Russia stopped, or suspended rather, their military "cooperation activities" with Nato.
Russia stops co-operation with Nato allies

After all, Russia offered assistance for the Nato troops in Afghanistan;

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Nato Secretary General and Putin

Putin will offer NATO transit rights through Russia for supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan at a bilateral summit dominated by the alliance's expansion plans.

The Russian offer, which will shorten some of the supply routes for the NATO-controlled 43,000-strong U.N. force, comes at a summit where Russia will try to persuade the alliance against granting a membership roadmap for Ukraine and Georgia.

Russia views the Membership Action Plans (MAP) for its neighbours as unfriendly acts which would bring NATO dangerously close to its borders.

Peskov indicated that any decision by the NATO summit on the MAPs would not affect the Afghanistan transit offer but made clear that in the long run this could affect bilateral ties.

"Cooperation on Afghanistan is a different dimension," he said. "But, NATO enlargement policy touches upon the future of the activities of the (Russia-NATO) council," he added.

"Its work is based on mutual confidence, reciprocity ... And if one dimension is missing the whole system will malfunction."

And I guess the whole system is being dismantled. No more cooperation from Russia for Nato. I wonder how difficult things will be in Afghanistan for the Nato troops.

The Afghan transit - kinda looks like a big dipper

"It is not just that the American side could not restrain the Georgian leadership from this criminal act. The American side in effect armed and trained the Georgian army," Putin told CNN in a portion of the interview that was broadcast on Russian state television. "Why...seek a difficult compromise solution in the peacekeeping process? It is easier to arm one of the sides and provoke it into killing another side. And the job is done."

Referring to Russian suspicions that U.S. citizens were actually present on the battlefield on the side of Georgian forces -- accused by Moscow of committing "genocide" during the conflict -- Putin said: "If that is true, if that is confirmed, then that's really bad. It's very dangerous and a mistaken policy.

"It that was the case, then the recent events could have a American domestic political dimension," he said in the interview. "If my suspicions are confirmed, in that case the suspicion arises that somebody in the United States has intentionally created this conflict with the aim of making the situation more tense and creating a competitive advantage for one of the candidates fighting for the post of U.S. president."