state secrets

Have a great day!

Do you like the bitter herbs at Seder?

The Cross of Corn
Tom Laskaway links to an enlightening CBO report on ethanol’s impact on food prices and carbon emissions which concludes that it makes food more expensive (boo!) while arguably increasing carbon emissions (also boo!) to say nothing of the direct budgetary costs of ethanol subsidies. His post asks “Is ethanol’s Congressional free ride coming to an end?”

I’m going to say no. The appeal of ethanol to the congress has nothing to do with issues about the merits of ethanol.

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/04/the_cross_of_corn.php

The Oil Problem
As you may recall, right before the world economy collapsed oil was becoming incredibly expensive. Now, courtesy of global economic collapse, it’s cheap again. But it’s not actually all that cheap in historical terms. And it’s showing a notable tendency to leap upwards at the slightest sign of recovery. This suggests that any recovery might entail immediate large increases in gasoline prices and so forth in a way that could, in turn, cripple the recovery. As Ryan Avent says:

As the global economy recovers, so too will oil prices, and fast. That increase is going to cut the legs out from under a recovery; a rise in oil prices is like a tax increase, which is contractionary. And if we nonetheless manage to grow through the rise, the increase in prices and oil demand will expand the trade deficit once more.

I don’t think it’s that hard to work around these issues. We could pass a substantial gas tax increase now to take effect in two or three years. In expectation of the increase, consumers would purchase more fuel efficient automobiles, potentially boosting auto sales and reducing vulnerability to high oil prices. And I’m sure I don’t even need to say that a program of rapid expansion of transit and passenger and freight rail capacity, funded immediately by deficit spending and after recovery by gas and congestion taxes, would kill multiple birds with one stone — providing stimulus, facilitating structural shifts, and reducing exposure to rising oil prices.

This is exactly right. I find it very disappointing that there doesn’t seem to be legislative work on this happening. It’s clear today that economic conditions are worse than they were in February when the first stimulus package was being outlined, and the headline number on that package was too small given even the macroeconomic projections we had back then. What’s more, there’s near-universal agreement that even if optimists are right and growth returns in Q3 or Q4 of 2009 that it would still take years to re-achieve full employment. Under the circumstances, I think there’s a strong case for investment in rail infrastructure (both freight, intercity passenger, and commuter) projects beyond the merely “shovel ready.”

Beyond that, there remains a very strong case for a federal role in funding mass transit operating costs. All across America, transit systems are hiking fares and cutting back on service. That’s directly contractionary. It’s taking a lot of money out of the pockets of people with high marginal propensities to consume, and it’s also create a perverse situation where we’re laying-off or furloughing bus drivers with one hand, even as we’re trying to employ people in new transit starts. Meanwhile, once the service is cut back, there will be difficulty ramping it back up to speed when growth returns. Which means a lot of people could end up caught in the oil price hike trap. We ought to be doing the reverse. Cutting fares and expanding service. That would work as short-term stimulus, and it would also create a situation where we’re better-prepared for the next oil price spike.

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/04/the_oil_problem.php

Obama Dog Arrives Tuesday

TMZ is reporting that the Obama family’s dog will arrive at the White House on Tuesday. The Portuguese Water Dog is six-months old, male, and coming from a kennel in Texas. How's this for pedigree? “The kennel has sold the Kennedys three Portuguese Water Dogs in the past, all from the same lineage. The dog the Obamas will be getting is from the same lineage as the Kennedy dogs. The Kennedy family will be presenting the new dog to the Obamas, but it's really coming from the kennel.”

http://www.tmz.com/2009/04/11/white-house-obama-family-dog/

Submitted by maggiesboy on Sat, 04/11/2009 - 11:24am.
...What we need is a healthcare system that practices medicine first, not business...
---------
I have a fairly low opinion of some of the people who enter the teaching profession...but that's a different discussion.

For purposes of agreeing with you, maggiesboy, I note that teachers must spend a lot of money on higher education to enter a profession having fairly low pay and little hope of a career climb to wealth.

I don't understand why we expect teachers to accept their economic fate based on their altruism while we are expected to accept that physicians (and other health care professionals) should become wealthy in careers that should attract altruistic people.

Neither education nor health care are consumer products that fall under "discretionary spending." People don't buy grade school or antibiotics because they are fun on a Saturday night.

If economic sacrifice is good for education careers because educating members of our society is beneficial to the society, then economic sacrifice is good for health care careers because keeping members of our society healthy is beneficial to the society.

For the same reason, basic foodstuffs should never be supporting wealthy careers. If every price at the grocery store was as out-of-whack as the prices in health care, there would be some lamp post hangings in a New York minute.

work calls

Interesting blog today. I liked your rant MB!!

Later

he said there are working versions of a hydrogen powered car that gets 200 miles to the tankful and is a decent ride. saunders hadn't heard of it but said he would look into it. what's holding it back is the lack of a hydrogen fuel infrastructure.

all that being said i would rather my tax dollars go to build that infrastructure and get this into mass production than have them go to the big 3 to keep on building the same ole. at the same time, whoever has the technology down should be required to license it at a reasonable price to the big 3 since they have the manufacturing capability.

Smackdown
Submitted by SEDER on Fri, 04/10/2009 - 9:36pm.

I like Buchanan-- he is the living embodiment of Nixon. I can't explain why I liked Nixon as a person. I just did/do.

BUT O'Donnell delivered a great smack down.

Maron. Is. God.
www.sigzone.blogspot.com

..Crank's accountant!

Just kidding. Great point Crank. If everyone had access to good healthcare and education we wouldn't have to spend so much time discussing tea-bagging. ;-)

Hug a teacher today and slip 'em a fin.

perhaps there needs to be a rebate process based on years spent as a teacher.

whats more aggravating is the constant need for teachers to take continuing education courses and the fees for getting a license and of course to make that license more meaningful there is testing and then theres the courses to prepare you for testing. its a racket.

why do teachers need a masters degree?

maybe if this game wasn't there teachers might focus on the basics.

and don't get me started on how teachers as in my other half spend their own money on educational supplys for other peoples kids whose parents are too cheap to ante up.

have you considered counseling or is it just a substitute for getting your blood pressure up?

Is s/he (other half) still happy sometimes with his/her work, or trying to get out (or would be if the economy was better)?

and will probably do it from the grave if she can figure out how. the best part is the kids (grades 1-3) love her. when we go to school events they will come running up to her. also its me that complains about the school supplys. she's happy to do it as part of what she brings to the table.

I think it is crazy that teachers are studying "education" instead of getting real good at their area of interest. If they want to be teachers they can take education classes but still get a degree in what they are good at particularly from middle school and up....

I thinks schools are institutions for housing children. I did not get education until college except for the first 4 years when I learned to read and write. I just loved those flash cards.

om mani padme hum

that goes into effect this July.

I think your total debt has to be over 30,000 or something and I think that if you consolidate your older loans into this option, they can't be from before 1998 (something like that). Anybody who's interested can check with www.finaid.org, for example.

But if you qualify, your payment is adjusted every year based on your income and you pay no more than a certain per cent (with a minimum payment of 50/month). You pay for 25 years. If you don't pay it off in 25 years, it's discharged, and all you have to do is pay taxes on the part you didn't pay, but at the rate of the year you left school, not at the current rate.

You don't have to be a teacher or anything, but that's the kind of people it is meant to help.

It's such a comparatively fair thing, I'm surprised it got through. It was one of the few good things the new dem majority did in 2007.

I'm sure someone will find a way to do away with it soon.

unfortunately teaching and nursing attracts some pretty autocratic, mean people while some are just gems that should make a lot more money.

om mani padme hum

Cap pollution -- sign today
Message: Hi!

The We Campaign is about to deliver a petition to Congress urging them to close the carbon pollution loophole. More than 65,000 people have already signed, including me. Will you add your name?

http://www.repoweramerica.org/carboncap_ad

With so much misinformation out there about the "carbon cap," the We Campaign just launched a new ad, explaining exactly what it does: heats up our cold economy, and cools down our hot planet.

Check it out:

http://www.repoweramerica.org/carboncap_ad

Thanks!

*****
;)

eya MB!

Bgurl loves that Bill Evans tune, "Peace Piece". She sends her compliments for a good radio show.

was suspended. Doing sock-puppet research (you know who you are) ;) :P.

But, Annette! This poem "Ground Zero," by David Lerner. Wow!

http://www.samsedershow.com/node/2944#comment-188297

I always forget how slow spring-break week is.

squeaky wheel and all

om mani padme hum

wild weekend.

Oh well, that's prolly what--he's still sleeping it off.

Seems lately I'm getting more north of 44'40' listeners than on this side. ;-)

Buddy & Julie Miller song that was just on..
Every time We Say Goodbye..
A pretty tune..

Good post on Public vs For Profit Health Care on last thread too..

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

state secrets

Submitted by SEDER on Sat, 04/11/2009 - 11:11am.

still abused. do something here.

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

I've been playing a cut off it (Written in Chalk) every week since it came out last month. Another surprisingly good one for me is the Carrie Rodriguez album "Infinite Night". This show I'm playing "El Dorado".

As for healthcare, I know what I know from being a medic in the service. You can do good healthcare on the cheap. There are somethings where profits don't figure in at the top, healthcare is one of 'em.

pretty please?

om mani padme hum

I'll work on it and do it soon if not next show.

So right !

**
I hadn't heard of Buddy & Julie before,thanks..

Julie has a real young sounding voice but,it's pretty..

Carrie Rodriguez I've heard before..She has a pretty voice,too..

I'm a sucker for prety female voice..If ya haven't guessed already.. :)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Actually I spent the whole morning wrestling a power auger helping a friend of mine dig holes to start a new deck...it is definitely not the brightest thing I've done so far this week...

Everything is fine as long as I keep moving....during the drive home I stopped to pick up a bottle of wine, and getting out of the car my back reminded me, in no uncertain terms, of what an asshole I have been to it....my physical therapist is going to be pissed...

The rest of the day will be flexaril and red wine for sure....by 10pm I will either be unconscious or dancing naked in my living room listening to the rest of my Black Sabbath cds.

How you doin Glory?

and go babysit the other.

Play nice...tD's not here to breakup any fights. ;-)

A Medic..Tough job..

My Mom was a Navy Nurse..WWII..

Were you in Combat ?

I was a few years too young for our last big War mistake before
this last one..

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

- Majority Report Radio updated and enhanced with podcasts though out the old blogs duration.

I'm trying to follow that first rule of yours, but I don't have much experience with it.

I found freerice.com, but the Spanish doesn't go high enough. But I did a lot of English (I cheated, but it's for the children. ;) ) 1200 bowls of rice then I had to reset the modem cuz it gave out.

I think all guys are idiots about their backs (not to stereotype). They don't see to them soon enough and then they go out and do things like help friends with their power augers while they're getting treated.

Of course then there's George Jefferson, but he's not real. (I was very sad when I found out about the Easter Bunny and George Jefferson.)

1200 bowls would really be something. I will probably be doing this a lot at work from now on, if work stays pretty much the same.

We are getting a new computer, so people from upstairs might be more covetous of it and I'll be less able to blog etc. during the day.

a public ftp server if it would help you...i've a few spare ips, and a 12megs down/2megs up connection. I could probably cobble together an old p3 windows box with a 40 gig or so hd and make it a dedicated ftp server....

one of the more ingenious inventions of the internet age....where else can you procrastinate endlessly, improve your vocabulary and feed the hungry at the same time?

Definitely a worthy waste of time.... :)

That's something I don't always remember which is which.

Hierro is iron because it has an i. OK.

That's the only thing I've learned so far.

But the English--OMFG!

By Matt Taibbi - April 10, 2009

“But Summers, a leading architect of the administration’s economic policies and response to the global recession, appears to have collected the most income. Financial institutions including JP Morgan, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch paid Summers for speaking appearances in 2008. Fees ranged from $45,000 for a Nov. 12 Merrill Lynch appearance to $135,000 for an April 16 visit to Goldman Sachs, according to his disclosure form.” — Washingtonpost.com

So I guess that $45,000 speaking fee from Merrill Lynch wasn’t technically a bribe because Summers wasn’t named to Obama’s economic transition team until Nov. 24 —a full 12 days later. I’m sure Larry Summers had absolutely no inkling whatsoever that he was going to be one of the key advisers to the new administration on Nov. 12.

It likewise makes perfect sense that Merrill Lynch, a company just months removed from having to be rescued from bankruptcy by an 11th-hour, pseudo-state-subsidized buyout by Bank of America, would decide to spend $45,000 on a speaking appearance by Summers because, well, they really valued his economic expertise and his proven ability to rally the troops with his stirring rhetoric.

It certainly had nothing to do with the fact that a) it was eight days after a Democrat was elected to the presidency; b) Summers had a long history of being one of the key policymakers in Democratic Party politics; and c) Merrill was absolutely not going to survive more than a few more months unless taxpayers forked over another 20 billion or so to cover the giant hole in Merrill’s balance sheet that was, at that time, still being hidden from Bank of America and its shareholders.

And how about that $135,000 appearance for Goldman Sachs in April, when Summers was already involved with Democratic Party politics again? That wasn’t a surreptitious campaign contribution at all!

But you have to give Goldman credit: it sure is thorough. It literally leaves no stone unturned.
...

Instructions: "You can pick your choice of TYRANT from Column A (Republicans) or Column B (Democrats). Good Day."

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/04/11/bagram/

[excerpt]

As Judge Bates noted, the prisoners shipped to Bagram actually have even fewer rights than the Guantanamo detainees did prior to Boudemiene, because at least the latter were given a sham Pentagon review (the CSRT tribunal), whereas the U.S. Government -- under both Bush and Obama -- maintain that Bagram prisoners have no rights of any kind.

In the wake of Judge Bates' ruling that foreign detainees shipped to Bagram at least have the right to a hearing to determine their guilt, what is the Obama DOJ doing? This:

The Obama administration said Friday that it would appeal a district court ruling that granted some military prisoners in Afghanistan the right to file lawsuits seeking their release. The decision signaled that the administration was not backing down in its effort to maintain the power to imprison terrorism suspects for extended periods without judicial oversight. . . .

Tina Foster, the executive director of the International Justice Network, which is representing the detainees, condemned the decision in a statement.

“Though he has made many promises regarding the need for our country to rejoin the world community of nations, by filing this appeal, President Obama has taken on the defense of one of the Bush administration’s unlawful policies founded on nothing more than the idea that might makes right,” she said.

In late February, I interviewed the ACLU's Jonathan Hafetz, counsel to several of the Bagram detainees, who said:

What happened was, these people were picked up in this global war on terror, were brought to Guantanamo in 2004, and once Guantanamo became subject to habeas corpus review, the administration basically, the Bush administration stopped bringing people there, and started bringing them to Bagram, and Bagram's population has shot up, and it's become in some sense the new Guantanamo. . . . And so what you have is you have a situation where the Bush administration, was free to, and the Obama administration will continue to be free to, create a prison outside the law.

The Obama DOJ is now squarely to the Right of an extremely conservative, pro-executive-power, Bush 43-appointed judge on issues of executive power and due-process-less detentions. Leave aside for the moment the issue of whether you believe that the U.S. Government should have the right to abduct people anywhere in the world, ship them to faraway prisons and hold them there indefinitely without charges or any rights at all. The Bush DOJ -- and now the Obama DOJ -- maintain the President does and should have that right, and that's an issue that has been extensively debated. It was, after all, one of the centerpieces of the Bush regime of radicalism, lawlessness and extremism.

Consider, instead, what Barack Obama -- before he became President -- repeatedly claimed to believe about these issues. The Supreme Court's Boudemiene ruling was issued at the height of the presidential campaign, and while John McCain condemned it as "one of the worst decisions in the history of this country," here is what Obama said about it in a statement he issued on the day of the ruling:

Today's Supreme Court decision ensures that we can protect our nation and bring terrorists to justice, while also protecting our core values. The Court's decision is a rejection of the Bush Administration's attempt to create a legal black hole at Guantanamo - yet another failed policy supported by John McCain. This is an important step toward reestablishing our credibility as a nation committed to the rule of law, and rejecting a false choice between fighting terrorism and respecting habeas corpus. Our courts have employed habeas corpus with rigor and fairness for more than two centuries, and we must continue to do so as we defend the freedom that violent extremists seek to destroy.

My, what a ringing and inspiring defense of habeas corpus that was from candidate Barack Obama. So moving and eloquent and passionate. And that George W. Bush sure was an awful tyrant for trying to "create a legal black hole at Guantanamo" -- apparently, all Good People devoted to a restoration of the rule of law and the Constitution know that the place where the U.S. should "create a legal black hole" for abducted detainees is Bagram, not Guantanamo. What a fundamental difference that is.

Even worse, here is what Obama said on the floor of the Senate in September, 2006, when he argued in favor of an amendment to the Military Commissions Act that would have restored habeas corpus rights to Guantanamo detainees. I defy anyone to read this and reconcile what he said then to what he is doing now:

The bottom line is this: Current procedures under the CSRT are such that a perfectly innocent individual could be held and could not rebut the Government's case and has no way of proving his innocence.

I would like somebody in this Chamber, somebody in this Government, to tell me why this is necessary. I do not want to hear that this is a new world and we face a new kind of enemy. I know that. . . . But as a parent, I can also imagine the terror I would feel if one of my family members were rounded up in the middle of the night and sent to Guantanamo without even getting one chance to ask why they were being held and being able to prove their innocence.

This is not just an entirely fictional scenario, by the way. We have already had reports by the CIA and various generals over the last few years saying that many of the detainees at Guantanamo should not have been there. As one U.S. commander of Guantanamo told the Wall Street Journal:

"Sometimes, we just didn't get the right folks."

We all know about the recent case of the Canadian man who was suspected of terrorist connections, detained in New York, sent to Syria--through a rendition agreement--tortured, only to find out later it was all a case of mistaken identity and poor information. . . .

This is an extraordinarily difficult war we are prosecuting against terrorists. There are going to be situations in which we cast too wide a net and capture the wrong person. . . .

But what is avoidable is refusing to ever allow our legal system to correct these mistakes. By giving suspects a chance--even one chance--to challenge the terms of their detention in court, to have a judge confirm that the Government has detained the right person for the right suspicions, we could solve this problem without harming our efforts in the war on terror one bit. . . .

Most of us have been willing to make some sacrifices because we know that, in the end, it helps to make us safer. But restricting somebody's right to challenge their imprisonment indefinitely is not going to make us safer. In fact, recent evidence shows it is probably making us less safe.

In Sunday's New York Times, it was reported that previous drafts of the recently released National Intelligence Estimate, a report of 16 different Government intelligence agencies, describe "actions by the United States Government that were determined to have stoked the jihad movement, like the indefinite detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay."

This is not just unhelpful in our fight against terror, it is unnecessary. We don't need to imprison innocent people to win this war. For people who are guilty, we have the procedures in place to lock them up. That is who we are as a people. We do things right, and we do things fair.

Two days ago, every Member of this body received a letter, signed by 35 U.S. diplomats, many of whom served under Republican Presidents. They urged us to reconsider eliminating the rights of habeas corpus from this bill, saying:

"To deny habeas corpus to our detainees can be seen as a prescription for how the captured members of our own military, diplomatic, and NGO personnel stationed abroad may be treated. ..... The Congress has every duty to insure their protection, and to avoid anything which will be taken as a justification, even by the most disturbed minds, that arbitrary arrest is the acceptable norm of the day in the relations between nations, and that judicial inquiry is an antique, trivial and dispensable luxury."

The world is watching what we do today in America. They will know what we do here today, and they will treat all of us accordingly in the future--our soldiers, our diplomats, our journalists, anybody who travels beyond these borders. I hope we remember this as we go forward. I sincerely hope we can protect what has been called the "great writ" -- a writ that has been in place in the Anglo-American legal system for over 700 years.

Mr. President, this should not be a difficult vote. I hope we pass this amendment because I think it is the only way to make sure this underlying bill preserves all the great traditions of our legal system and our way of life.

I yield the floor.

So that Barack Obama -- the one trying to convince Democrats to make him their nominee and then their President -- said that abducting people and imprisoning them without charges was (a) un-American; (b) tyrannical; (c) unnecessary to fight Terrorism; (d) a potent means for stoking anti-Americanism and fueling Terrorism; (e) a means of endangering captured American troops, Americans traveling abroad and Americans generally; and (f) a violent betrayal of core, centuries-old Western principles of justice. But today's Barack Obama, safely ensconced in the White House, fights tooth and nail to preserve his power to do exactly that.

I'm not searching for ways to criticize Obama. I wish I could be writing paeans celebrating the restoration of the Constitution and the rule of law. But these actions -- these contradictions between what he said and what he is doing, the embrace of the very powers that caused so much anger towards Bush/Cheney -- are so blatant, so transparent, so extreme, that the only way to avoid noticing them is to purposely shut your eyes as tightly as possible and resolve that you don't want to see it, or that you're so convinced of his intrinsic Goodness that you'll just believe that even when it seems like he's doing bad things, he must really be doing them for the Good. If there was any unanimous progressive consensus over the last eight years, it was that the President does not have the power to kidnap people, ship them far away, and then imprison them indefinitely in a cage without due process. Has that progressive consensus changed as of January 20, 2009? I think we're going to find out.

[end excerpt]

the Constitution and the rule of law. "

Yeah...me too...

Thanks but I think this server will work for now. It's got 150Gb with a deluxe bandwidth package from GoDaddy.com paid up till 2013 for it.

btw... The GoDaddy.com car is turning left at the Nashville Pepsi 300 right now on ESPN.

is that monthly? Wow....

righteous price too...

Its almost not worth the hassle of maintaining your own servers anymore...

It's the Official Beer of Easter Sunday.

The number 33 is printed prominently on all bottles of Rolling Rock. A widely-held belief is that it marks the repeal of prohibition in 1933. However, according to James L. Tito, former CEO of Latrobe Brewing, the "33" signifies the 33 words in the beer's slogan: "Rolling Rock - From the glass lined tanks of Old Latrobe, we tender this premium beer for your enjoyment as a tribute to your good taste. It comes from the mountain springs to you."

I was in the middle of setting up my own servers at the house and saw what they had and it was a no brainer. Faster, better, and with support. Nobody can beat GoDaddy.com imo.

Yes, that is per month.

You can say it doesn't matter but today at Nashville, they are racing for a Gibson.

Quiz Time

Which would YOU consider a "terrorist act'?

A. The cutting of fiber optics phone cables -- effectively shutting off land and cell phone lines and all contacts regarding emergencies, commerce/banks, etc., for tens of thousands of people.

OR

B. Standing infront of a research lab carrying a sign that reads "Stop torturing animals" and occasionally
yelling -- "Quit cutting up puppies and kittens, you Madmen!"

Done?

IF YOU CHOSE option A. -- sorry, YOU are WRONG!

That's 'vandalism'.

(Don't feel bad. Senator Dianne Feinstein got it wrong, too, when she and Sen.Inuye crammed through the "Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act" in 2006!)

Look at this here article on the recent incident in California. It is being considered a mere act of "vandalism".

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/10/MNJB170JM7.D...

[excerpt]

$250,000 reward in phone cable vandalism
John Coté,Michael Taylor, Chronicle Staff Writers

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Authorities hope a quarter-million-dollar reward will shake loose a tipster to lead them to the vandals who severed underground fiber-optic cables, cutting off phone service for tens of thousands of people and disrupting life throughout southern Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties.

Investigators said Friday they are tracking down at least 10 leads and reviewing traffic-camera footage taken near one of four sites where the cables were cut Thursday in hopes of a breakthrough.

AT&T, which owns many of the severed cables, increased the $100,000 reward it offered after the cables were sabotaged to $250,000 on Friday, an incentive that police believe will be compelling.

"This case is going to be solved through a citizen contact," said San Jose police Sgt. Ronnie Lopez, calling the reward "huge."

No suspects have been named. Police revealed little about the investigation, saying some physical evidence had been found but providing no details.

The sabotage crippled parts of the three counties. Public safety crews that rely on 911 calls, hospitals trying to access medical records and people who wanted to make a landline or cell phone call, use an ATM or make a purchase with a credit card found services down. Repairs were completed, and full service was restored early Friday, about 24 hours after the first problems were reported.

Although many people trying to get emergency help via 911 were unable to do so for much of Thursday, officials were cautiously optimistic that no major problems had gone unreported.

"We've been running around doing a lot of service calls, but nothing as far as any major crime or emergency that was discovered," said Santa Cruz County sheriff's Sgt. Christine Swannack.

Lifting manhole covers
Most of the 10 severed fiber-optic cables were in San Jose, where the first four were cut shortly before 1:30 a.m. Thursday in an underground vault along Monterey Highway north of Blossom Hill Road. Those belong to AT&T.

Four more underground cables, at least two of which belong to AT&T, were cut about two hours later at two locations near each other along Old County Road near Bing Street in San Carlos, authorities said. Two others were cut in south San Jose.

Each time, the vandals had to pry up manhole covers, climb down into vaults and chop through the thick cables.

Considering their importance to public safety and the economy, fiber-optic cables are not highly secured. The manholes are on public streets, and their covers generally are not that difficult to remove.

The typical manhole cover, a 250- to 350-pound disc of cast iron, can be removed with the use of a J-hook, a steel pole with a hook at one end, or any similar tool. AT&T spokesman John Britton said the vandals must have had access to such tools, but he declined to discuss what extra security precautions the company's manholes had, if any.

There are ways to deter thieves - or fiber-optic cable cutters - from getting into manholes, said Luke Menchl of the Neenah Foundry in Wisconsin, one of the nation's largest manufacturers of manhole covers.

Manhole covers can be locked with five- or six-headed bolts that require special tools to remove, he said. For those who want more security, there's a lock that Menchl likened to "a big security lug nut on expensive automobile wheels."

"U.S. embassies use them," Menchl said.

Ultimately, however, "getting a manhole cover up is not that difficult, even if it's bolted," Menchl said.

Contract talks
The sabotage in the South Bay came as AT&T was negotiating with the Communications Workers of America for a contract covering more than 80,000 employees, who have been working under their old pact since it expired Sunday.

[end excerpt]

========================

If this is a 'false flag industrial sabotage' event done by the Corporations to make the union workers look bad, one might understand how the corps would not want their agents (and themselves)charged with terra-ism!

Just like a 'false flag' provocateur act turns public opinion away from a government's opponent/critic of bad government policy, corporations do the same thing against workers! Remember the HAYMARKET massacre.

lissening to the first April 04 show!

i miss janeane...

I'll tell you this, if it really was fiber techs and they were looking to hurt ATT, the damage would have been a lot more extensive...

If you know how the fiber rings are layed out and where in the system the main splice enclosures are, all you need is a pair of cable cutters and maybe a ladder, and you could take out service for entire counties fairly easily....

In my last job I did a lot of fiber work. Sometimes when I got mad at my asshole boss I'd fantasize about riding around the city one night filling my truck with cutout splice enclosure... :)

there are so many historically significant shows up there.

-

By DIANE JENNINGS / The Dallas Morning News

Everyone agrees Andre Thomas is crazy.

In 2004, he cut out the hearts of his wife and her two children and pocketed them. Before his murder trial, he plucked out his right eye. In January, while on death row, he ripped out his other eye and swallowed it.

Thus far, courts say Thomas is not insane.

His case is a classic example of the complexities of Texas' insanity defense law – and why some mental health advocates are pushing to change it. Several bills pending in the Texas Legislature would do just that.

With medication and treatment, Thomas eventually was found mentally competent to stand trial, because he could communicate and assist his attorney in his defense. At trial, he was found to be sane at the time of the crime because he knew the difference between right and wrong. And he may be found competent to be executed if he understands what execution means and why he is being killed.

Thomas is "clearly 'crazy,' " a judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals wrote in a concurring denial of his appeal last month, "but he is also 'sane' under Texas law."

Next up Phoenix...then...TALLADEGA...He won at Daytona...I'm just sayin'...

Love me some restrictor plate....

about crazy. Ley de Herodes.

Running on his own looking for sponsorship

Not done racing!

Kyle Busch ... what an ass.

I think the road to peace in Afghanistan, like the road to better relations with all Muslims, is through Palestine. And if something is done to create the impression that the US is maybe a more fair actor in Palestine, then one of the main grievances, one of the main reasons people have for attacking the US or for resenting the US, will be removed.

http://www.imemc.org/article/59889
Once again, the Israeli Navy opened fire on Friday at Palestinian fishing boats near the Gaza shore and Rafah.

Dr. Muawiya Hasanen of the Palestinian Ministry of Health said that no injuries were reported in the attack

Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli Navy boats increased their presence in the Palestinian territorial waters, and are barring the Palestinians from fishing.

Palestinian fishermen are subjected to daily attacks by the Israeli Navy, a violation to the Palestinian right to fish in the Palestinian territorial waters.

Dozens of fishermen have ben killed in the last few years as a result of repeated attacks carried out by the Israeli navy.

Last Wednesday, the Navy detained seven fishermen who were fishing off Beit Lahia, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

Also on Wednesday, the Israeli army opened fire at farmers, international activists and reporters near Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

In Calif., Medical Marijuana Laws Are Moving Pot Into Mainstream

"Pot is now retailed over the counter in hundreds of storefronts across Los Angeles and is credited with reviving a section of downtown Oakland, where an entrepreneur sells out classes offering "quality training for the cannabis industry.

Los Angeles officials say applications for retail outlets surged after Feb. 26, when U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced that the Drug Enforcement Administration will no longer raid such stores. Those pressing for change in drug laws regard the announcement as a watershed in a 40-year battle against marijuana's official listing as a dangerous drug -- a legal fight that, in California, is being waged on ground that has shifted dramatically toward acceptance."

"this machine kills fascists"

..must be a nice weekend everywhere.

I may have lost half my left hand making dinner. But other than that, it's great.

I'll find out what I lost when I pull it off ice....

No strength in numbers for America's uninsured

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press Writer Ricardo Alonso-zaldivar, Associated Press Writer – Sat Apr 11, 5:16 pm ET
WASHINGTON – If the uninsured were a political lobbying group, they'd have more members than AARP. The National Mall couldn't hold them if they decided to march on Washington.

But going without health insurance is still seen as a personal issue, a misfortune for many and a choice for some. People who lose coverage often struggle alone instead of turning their frustration into political action.

Illegal immigrants rallied in Washington during past immigration debates, but the uninsured linger in the background as Congress struggles with a health care overhaul that seems to have the best odds in years of passing.

That isolation could have profound repercussions.

Lawmakers already face tough choices to come up with the hundreds of billions it would cost to guarantee coverage for all. The lack of a vocal constituency won't help. Congress might decide to cover the uninsured slowly, in stages.

The uninsured "do not provide political benefit for the aid you give them," said Robert Blendon, a professor of health policy and political analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health. "That's one of the dilemmas in getting all this money. If I'm in Congress, and I help out farmers, they'll help me out politically. But if I help out the uninsured, they are not likely to help members of Congress get re-elected."

The number of uninsured has grown to an estimated 50 million people because of the recession. Even so, advocates in the halls of Congress are rarely the uninsured themselves. The most visible are groups that represent people who have insurance, usually union members and older people. In the last election, only 10 percent of registered voters said they were uninsured.

The grass-roots group Health Care for America Now plans to bring as many as 15,000 people to Washington this year to lobby Congress for guaranteed coverage. Campaign director Richard Kirsch expects most to have health insurance.

"We would never want to organize the uninsured by themselves because Americans see the problem as affordability, and that is the key thing," he said.

Besides, added Kirsch, the uninsured are too busy scrambling to make ends meet. Many are self-employed; others are holding two or three part-time jobs. "They may not have a lot of time to be activists," he said.

More here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090411/ap_on_he_me/uninsured;_ylt=Aum3FPpjA...

Armey of darkness
Aha. So the “tea parties” are to a large extent being run by Freedom Works, which is basically Dick Armey with a lot of Koch-Scaife-Bradley-Olin support.

Same old, same old.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/11/armey-of-darkness/

A comment on Krugman's blog

Koch-Scaife-Bradley-Olin

to all my friends in the msm...

why are these scum not household names
why are their nefarious activities not exposed
why are they not branded traitors of democracy

um, because...

because you're complicit?

BREAKING NEWS:
a little girls squirrel got lost in the forest

Interesting art work with this story:

Image credit: Freaking News PhotoShop contest

Writers with two mainstream American newspapers took on the issue of marijuana today. And here's the shocker: both articles are outstanding.

In the San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko explores the questions surrounding medical marijuana defendants charged under Bush-era policies that don't sync with the Obama administration's position on the matter.

The portion of his report I found most interesting was this bit about the Compassionate Cooperative of Alameda County, which was raided by the DEA in 2007 ...

The owners, brothers Winslow and Abraham Norton, had a county permit and had been paying taxes on their multimillion-dollar annual sales, their lawyers said.

The charges against them include drug distribution, money laundering and carrying guns during drug trafficking - firearms held by their licensed security guards, a charge that ratchets up the mandatory minimum sentence to 15 years.
Ouch.

Also published today on the Web (and set to run in Sunday's edition), Washington Post writer Karl Vick sees marijuana laws moving into the "mainstream," not just in California but across the nation.

But as far as Cali is concerned, bud is Big. Maybe even too big.

"But in California, pot is such a booming growth industry that lawmakers are being asked to consider its potential as a salve to the state's financial woes. Betty Yee, chair of the California State Board of Equalization, endorsed a bill in February to regulate the estimated $14 billion marijuana market, citing the state's budget problems. California currently collects $18 million in sales taxes from marijuana dispensaries, and Yee said a regulated pot trade would bring in $1.3 billion."

"I think the tide is starting to turn in terms of marijuana being part of the mainstream," she said. "The pieces seem to be falling into place."

In Los Angeles, Councilman Dennis Zine warned that half the city's sales outlets might be forced to close, but only to control the growth of what the city now regards as an accepted business. "We're not getting complaints about people smoking marijuana," said the retired motorcycle policeman. "We're seeing complaints about the proliferation of facilities. They opened up right down the street from my district office, in the same complex as a liquor store. Got the big green leaf in front."

So, let's light up this conversation.

How do you feel about marijuana and the debate surrounding it? Have you ever used cannabis for medical reasons? If so, why, and and how did it affect your life?

Finally, if you live in California, would you care to enlighten the rest of us as to how the medical marijuana industry has integrated into visible society?

More here: (The responses)

http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/04/newspapers_go_green/

ono - did the easter roo leave you anything good

- T

This is Palm Sunday for Eastern Orthodox.

Happy Easter all:

I see sparks in the clouds. Huge lightning storm going on here.

a pot of gold
a diamond necklace

I'M RICH! BIOTCH!!

all made of chocolate

won't give Obama an honorary degree because his body of work isn't done.

But didn't Bush get an honorary degree? What "body of work" did he ever do? I am assuming it's connected to college work. Am I wrong?

we defeated togo in the great war

actually, we went to school together

he used to call me "wog"

anyway, we meet after many years

"hey, rhino-man"

"howdy, wog"

(lmao -- you still got it, potsy)

he's a farmer in the middle of new south wales, at condobolin

oh, you know the place...

it's a town east of lake cagelligo, south of nyngan
and north of west wyalong

yeah, you've passed through there a thousand times.

so i'm packing my bags to flee america's woes
and get back to nature
drinking beer, vomitting
cutting down trees
devastating the habitat
endangering species
and generally being the only wog in town...

i just pray to god there's an internet out there

(xristos anesti)

the wog lady from chicago knows what that means

: )

Beck to attend $500 a plate fundraiser for ‘tea party’ protests.
As ThinkProgress and others have pointed out, the Fox News Channel has staked out its position as the “voice of opposition” to the Obama administration by aggressively promoting the radical anti-Obama “tea party” protests set for April 15. Fox News hosts like Neil Cavuto claim that they are only broadcasting live from the events in order to “cover” them. But as Media Matters’ Karl Frisch pointed out in his column yesterday, Cavuto’s colleague, Glenn Beck, announced on his radio show this week that he is raising money for the protests as well:

Beck isn’t just helping with turnout. Discussing his participation in the upcoming protest at the Alamo in San Antonio on his syndicated radio program, Beck announced, “I’m going to do a fundraiser for them” to help defray costs. “So you can come and you can have lunch with me. … I don’t know any of the details, but I’ve heard it’s like $500 a plate or something like that.”

Watch a ThinkProgress video demonstrating Fox News’ tea party advocacy: at link

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/11/beck-tea-party-fundraiser/

imagine that..
little old me
(hee)

i might even come back with an accent & speak like dr

[full disclosure: rhino-man is more enviromentally friendly since he told me he cuts down trees to spite me, way back in the late 80's]

fuck i hate farmers...
they're all cunts

: )

Palin trying to backtrack from her call for Begich to step down.
On April 2, the Alaska Republican Party sent out a press release saying that in light of the charges being dropped against Ted Stevens, “current Senator Mark Begich should resign his position to allow for a new, special election.” That same day, Gov. Sarah Palin (R) said, “I absolutely agree” when asked about the Alaska Republican Party’s request. However, yesterday in a press conference, Palin tried to backtrack:

“I didn’t call for Begich to step down, either,” Palin said. “I said I absolutely agree that Alaskans deserve a fair, untainted election for the United States senate seat. I’m not splitting hairs on how that happens. I’m saying wonderful, good. I want to see an election that is fair, that isn’t influenced unduly by some announcement that the sitting senator was facing a multi-felony count conviction. That’s what we were told. Now, come to find out, that wasn’t the case.”

However, if Palin supports a new special election, by state law, Begich “would have to step down.” That process would temporarily leave Alaska with just one active senator. Nevertheless, Palin yesterday insisted that she wasn’t “splitting hairs on how a new election should happen.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/11/palin-begich-resign/

gone 2 Brew
sea-ya *poof*

Sounds like a good trip for you. Enjoy!

is on ABC. All the women have rocket bras on. And the lace netting is hilarious.

UP TO 100,000 HOMES WERE BUILT WITH CONTAMINATED DRYWALL…. product was made in China

At the height of the U.S. housing boom, when building materials were in short supply, American construction companies used millions of pounds of Chinese-made drywall because it was abundant and cheap.

Now that decision is haunting hundreds of homeowners and apartment dwellers who are concerned that the wallboard gives off fumes that can corrode copper pipes, blacken jewelry and silverware, and possibly sicken people.

Shipping records reviewed by The Associated Press indicate that imports of potentially tainted Chinese building materials exceeded 500 million pounds during a four-year period of soaring home prices. The drywall may have been used in more than 100,000 homes, according to some estimates, including houses rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina.

“This is a traumatic problem of extraordinary proportions,” said U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, a Florida Democrat who introduced a bill in the House calling for a temporary ban on the Chinese-made imports until more is known about their chemical makeup. Similar legislation has been proposed in the Senate.

http://gangbox.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/up-to-100000-homes-were-built-wi...

PHOENIX — Battered by the recession and the deepest and most widespread budget deficits in several decades, a large majority of states are slicing into their social safety nets — often crippling preventive efforts that officials say would save money over time.

President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package is helping to alleviate some of the pain, providing large amounts of money to pay for education and unemployment insurance, bolster food stamp programs and expand tax credits for low earners. But the money will offset only 40 percent of the losses in state revenues, and programs for vulnerable groups have been cut in at least 34 states, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a private research group in Washington.

Perhaps nowhere have the cuts been more disruptive than in Arizona, where more than 1,000 frail elderly people are struggling without home-care aides to help with bathing, housekeeping and trips to the doctor. Officials acknowledge that some are apt to become sicker or fall, ending up in nursing homes at a far higher cost.

Ohio and other states face large cutbacks in child welfare investigations, which may mean more injured children and more taken into foster care. Despite tax increases, California has ended dental coverage for adults on Medicaid, all but guaranteeing future medical problems.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/us/12deficit.html?_r=1&hp

After a day of withering criticism over its decision not to award President Barack Obama an honorary degree, Arizona State University announced on Saturday that it would expand a scholarship program in the president's name.

In a press release sent out by ASU spokeswoman Sharon Keeler, the university "apologized" for the "confusion" over the past few days. Its president Michael Crow, meanwhile, framed the "President Barack Obama Scholars" program as a higher honor than the honorary degree, one that would "affect the lives of thousands of students" and be "an honor befitting, not only the president's exceptional achievements, but also his values as an individual."

Crow also suggested that the school had never ruled out the degree for Obama - something that earlier statements suggested - but merely had yet to make a determination as to what honor would suit the president best.

"It has always been our intention to recognize and honor President Obama's accomplishments during his visit," said Crow, "but we had not yet determined the best or most appropriate way to do so."

More at link

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/11/arizona-state-to-start-ba_n_185...

sorry, i have to speak as much greek as possible
before it's wall to wall aussie aussie aussie
(oi oi oi)

actually, the idea is still in it's infancy & probably won't get off the ground

speaking of which...

the bridegroom is an aeronautical engineer in saudi arabia
he told me about tesla
and when he settles here, he's going to (wait for it)
build a flying saucer
: )
cool!
i'll be your igor

something?

New sofas (from China) to blame for rash of allergies

AN unexplained rash could be a sign that your couch is making you sick. A toxic fungicide in imported furniture is behind an outbreak of chronic dermatitis, skin burns, eye irritation and breathing difficulties across the world. Medical experts here are warning consumers to watch for symptoms.

The international journal Allergy has confirmed what thousands of British and mainland European citizens have known for more than a year: new leather sofas imported from China are a hotbed of allergens. Dimethyl fumarate, in the form of a fine, white crystalline powder, was found in sachets embedded in the furniture sourced to China. It is believed the body heat generated from sitting on a contaminated couch causes a toxic vapour to seep out.

Rosemary Nixon, from Melbourne's Skin and Cancer Foundation, said although there have been no reported cases in Australia, people may not have made a link between a skin outbreak and their couch. "The rashes can be quite severe, this chemical is a really strong allergen," Dr Nixon said. "It can make the skin itchy enough to prevent sleep, and cortisone creams and sometimes even cortisone tablets are needed to calm it down."

About 200,000 of the suspect couches have been imported by 15 furniture retailers in Britain alone and compensation for victims, some of whom required hospital treatment, could be in the tens of millions of dollars. The European Union and British governments ordered a recall of all products containing dimethyl fumarate late last month.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/new-sofas-to-blame-for-rash-of-allergies-...

I said it.

I'm watching an old movie with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. The Road to Bali. I haven't seen it in years.

and step outside

my world gets turned upside down.

i'd rather keep jabbing nando in the ribs...

//And the lace netting is hilarious//

if you say so, monkey brains

by Jason Leopold - April 11, 2009 -

The CIA began videotaping interrogations of two alleged “high value” terrorist detainees in April 2002, four months before Bush administration attorneys issued a memo clearing the way ... However, In a letter to a federal court judge Thursday, the Justice Department only agreed to provide details on the harshest interrogations of prisoner Abu Zubaydah that occurred in August 2002 – after the Bush administration's lawyers had provided the legal cover for waterboarding and other brutal tactics.

.... Amrit Singh, an ACLU staff attorney, said the government’s “motivations in confining its (latest) response to the month of August are highly suspect.” .........

Singh, the ACLU attorney, said Friday she could not speculate whether videotapes made prior to August 2002 might have depicted “enhanced” methods such as waterboarding. Those techniques were cleared for use by an Aug. 1, 2002, legal opinion that narrowly defined torture, thus enabling the Bush administration to claim that its harsh tactics didn’t qualify as torture.

Last year, Dick Cheney admitted in several interviews that he “signed off” on the waterboarding of three “high-value” prisoners and personally approved the harsh interrogations of 33 other detainees. .... “There are questions as to who was authorizing what for the CIA before August,” Singh said. “Those facts need to be made public and that’s why we need to have an investigation.”

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/041109a.html

GOD is talking to Moses

thru the burnin bushes.

Don't fuck this up.

you're watching a movie and posting articles

so, what do you do for an encore

: )

Fernando..?

i hear voices in my head

//STFU A/O//

ok, god

Submitted by toniD on Sat, 04/11/2009 - 10:27pm.
...It is believed the body heat generated from sitting on a contaminated couch causes a toxic vapour to seep out.
-------
Usually the dog gets the blame.

I boiled the fu middle finger tip in a high pressure steam incident.

It's throbbing but I'm on Advil and vodka. I was disabled earlier with that appendage in a cup of ice & water.

Not sure how many times in my life I have been walking around with a cup of ice water for that purpose but OMG did it help.

the o.g. told me about this gangster wedding he attended

it was eddie the monster's wedding

and at the reception, his wife of an hour was caught having sex with eddie's brother

"did that cause a commotion"

"all hell broke loose, but no one knew who to smash"

Tornado survivor: 'Sounded like 7 freight trains'

The Associated Press - ‎4 hours ago‎

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) - The worst sound Eric Funkhouser said he has ever heard was a 10-second "voom" followed by a man's screams...

??

ah, so that's how it's done

you simply post in the comment box...

THIS ANNOYING PRACTICE MUST STOP!!

yes, i'm talking to you

toni & chubby

lmao...

'Sounded like 7 freight trains'

it's deja vu...

lmao... 'Sounded like 7 [warning: abrupt ending]
Submitted by air-ono on Sat, 04/11/2009 - 11:07pm.
lmao...

'Sounded like 7 freight trains'

fix the blog to prevent a comment being posted without a heading

and automatically closes tags
and limits picture size
and wraps unbroken lines
and
and
just "and"...
[last line deleted because my ride showed up to take me to the post wedding bbq, and i got jittery and i panicked & wrote something untoward & it preyed on my brain & now i'm home sweet home & need a big siesta]

..but it only sounded like 5 freight trains and the second one didn't even have a caboose.

Mark Twain said it best something to the effect "I haven't heard such a noise since the orphanage burned down".

I'm just a fuck up. All parts of me are used to it.

FYI

..I steam the old fashioned way. I turn on FOX news and then set food on my forehead.

Works every time...

I reheated chili from earlier in the week under a pyrex tempered glass bowl. I do that so if the meal explodes it doesn't kill the microwave oven.

Apparently I removed the glass dome pre explosion and got my finger. I'll live.

If you're interested in watching the pablum that passes for journalism on the Sunday Morning "News" shows then you're in luck!

Easter-Passover Pass-Out at Brick Teevee!
On the Open Mics over there ------------->
http://www.samsedershow.com/node/4635

How is everybody tonight?

We got some more fish to give Chad some company, after McFish met his end on Passover Wednesday. I made Da Kid clean the tank and install a new lighted hood. He did a great job! He picked out a way tiny bright orange goldfish and another silver and gold fan-tail(?) that's a bit bigger. Chad doesn't seem to mind them too much. The wee orange fish I think is about the size McFish was when we brought him home, so I'm calling him McFish II for now. So far so good.

Now to the top of the thread to see what's up!

Good evening Sederville!

Be the Man!
Get us the fuck
out of Afghanistan!

Cover with paper a paper towel or 2.

Avoid that nasty steam buildup.

http://streamingradioguide.com/radio-show.php?show=2990

He sounds like a combination capitalist libertarian, neocon, rightwing patriot, cynic.

... and we've never missed yet with the girls we meet

Maron. Is. God.
www.sigzone.blogspot.com

fuck or resurrect or just be happy you are here.

[the mystery of the truncated heading solved]
Submitted by air-ono on Sat, 04/11/2009 - 11:06pm.
ah, so that's how it's done

you simply post in the comment box...

THIS ANNOYING PRACTICE MUST STOP!!

yes, i'm talking to you

toni & chubby

==================================

Those truncated headings make my head hurt....

I concur.

No heading is better than the truncated heading.

The Sunday Show Line-Ups
By Eric Kleefeld - April 10, 2009, 4:20PM
Here are the line-ups for the Sunday talk shows this weekend:

• ABC, This Week: Pastor Rick Warren.

• CBS, Face The Nation: Arturo Sarukhan, Mexican Ambassador to the United States.

• CNN, State Of The Union: Gen. Ray Odierno, and Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie.

• Fox News Sunday: Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK).

• NBC, Meet The Press: Special holiday weekend roundtable: Jeffrey Goldberg, from The Atlantic; Michele Norris, from NPR; Robin Wright, author of Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East"; and Byron York, of the Washington Examiner.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/the-sunday-show-line-ups-2.ph...

Thanks for the Carmen Miranda! :)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.vodamusic.com/blog/

there's a cute cat, the striped tiger type that reminds me of roman cats

he must have moved in with some new neighbors, there's been some turnover recently

i have been trying to lure him/her but it's not working, the cat just ignores me

yesterday i was lounging in the sun reading and saw the cat getting busy trying to catch a bird

would make a cute video, i thought, so i ran in the house to find my camera

i shoulda known the cat would wisen up and ignore me again

boy he went so fast up that thing

(i'm assuming he's a boy)

but when he saw my camera he froze, so instead of an exciting jungle cat-catches-bird clip i got this cat-spurns-mire-again

that the cat is pissed i interrupted his fun hunt

stupid cat, he coulda been somebody on youtube

Your welcome Cranes. Sorry for the delayed response, I went back to bed.

The First puppy is a gift to the Obama girls from Sen. Kennedy. His name is Bo and he is 6 months old. He's a Portugese Water Dog.

where did you see the dog news, is he on tv?

it's grey and chilly, and a storm heading this way from texas

it's probably gonna rain on the Easter parade in the French Quarter

Seems he's a bit afraid of you but if he keeps coming back to your yard, maybe he's trying to make friends.

effing stupid who-cares tv

i will have to turn it off or my mood will turn sour again

or maybe just interested in the birds and butterflies!

but i am sure we'll be friends eventually

on MSNBC along with the story. They had a picture of him with Easter Egg colored flowers around his neck in a Lei fashion. What a cute dog!

Talk to him,he will come around.. :)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

WASHINGTON - Who let the dog out?

That's the Washington mystery du jour.

The identity of the first puppy - the one that the Washington press corps has been yelping about for months, the one President Obama has seemed to delight in dropping hints about - leaked out Saturday. This despite White House efforts to delay the news until the big debut planned for Tuesday afternoon.

The little guy is a six-month-old Portuguese water dog given to the Obama girls as a gift by that Portuguese water dog-lovin' senator himself, Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. Malia and Sasha named it Bo; their cousins have a cat named Bo and first lady Michelle Obama's father was nicknamed Diddley, a source said. (Get it? Bo ... Diddley?)

Bo's a handsome little guy. Well suited for formal occasions at the White House, he's got tuxedo-black fur, with a white chest, white paws and a rakish white goatee.

Clearly, the identity of the dog was information too big to contain. A mysterious Web site called FirstDogCharlie.com published a puppy picture Saturday morning, complete with a Q and A with the dog, which it said was originally named Charlie. The celebrity gossip Web site TMZ.com linked to the picture. So much for the big White House unveiling.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/04/11/20090411obamadog-ON.ht...

toni it reminds of your mitzi with those white paws

Perfect...
{I even fell asleep looking for the Celtic Hare :}
;)

rakish white goatee lol

at this wedding, there was an exotic beauty, a spanish-americano girl from guatemala & raised in naw leans

and that fucking prick rhino-man danced with her, where as i couldn't even directly look at her... she was too exotic & gorgeous (i'm feeling faint at the very thought of her)

and this guy from yorkshire asked me how old i thought she was

i said, "ok, it's a trick question... i'll say she's 29, but she's actually 39"

...48

NO WAY!
NO FUCKING WAY, MAN
if she's 48, she's taking some voodoo elixir

anyway, she had a disgusting californian accent...
and i said you're not from naw leans
NO WAY!
NO FUCKING WAY, MAN
[she moved around, like she spent 5 years in chicago, etc]

: )

I posted Mitzi's picture almost a year ago! Mitzi is fuzzy and cuddley just like Bo though, you are right.!

the most pressing question for this grace witch (is that her name) is "where are the obamasa gonna go to church?"

well i must say the dog story is corny enough but it's easter and at least it sets the right tone, without getting all religious and pious and passion of the christ on you

another good pr scoop would be if they get a good resolution to the kidnapped by pirates captain

but didn't i say i was gonna turn the tv off today

that's you-tube gold!

of course, you need the back ground info

for the alchemy to work...

mire gets dissed

(your paparazzi days are over)

nawlins accent is like brooklyin accent didya know that? (certainly not california) maybe the beauty was lying, because you know, nola is getting trendy, it's the new california

there's been an awsome influx of new blood from the south (certainly guatemala) since katrina, so who knows, everything is possible, and that voodoo is a clue

oh no, just getting started :)

intially i thought naw leans is more cosmopolitan

than the rest of lousianna

but she moved around, like she spent 5 years in chicago, etc

(i spent about 5 minutes talking to her today... "oh, you're from america,... oh, naw leans... i know a woman that i blog with from naw leans" but she didn't really care about my exotic life on the blog, and she moved on)

(she actually lived in dr's town of traverse city)

(so i laid down my cosmopolitan credentials, "oh, i know a guy from there on the blog that i blog at, and..." but she didn't really care about my exotic life on the blog, and kept moving on)

hey, you're always moving...

stick around

i know a woman from chicago on the blog and she met elvis

but her interest in my pathetic vicarious lifestyle began to wane...

anyway, there's this guy named cent & he's into sabbath like me

Great vid...beautiful cat...

I've seen that tail wag before...that is kittyspeak for "do you want to be friends or are you going to try to eat me?"

Town rocked by arrest
of Sunday school teacher

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Police and residents here said they were shocked when the suspect in the killing of a young girl turned out to be a woman, the mother of the slain girl's best friend.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090412/ap_on_re_us/girl_in_suitcase;_ylt=Ai...

Does "pr" stand for "poop recovery" here? (Apropos of dog talk.)

(Sorry...)

is covering the easter parade in nyc

why not cover the new orleans easter parade, much more interesting

Hysterical right-wing media pushing the unhinged over the edge

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Confronted with a wildly popular president prone to few gaffes, conservative media are having trouble coming up with ways to successfully smear Barack Obama's administration.

http://www.alternet.org/story/135981/is_hysterical_right-wing_media_push...

***

Rise of Glenn Beck's
bizarre media militia

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fox News is playing an increasingly erratic and dangerous game by embracing paranoid insurrection rhetoric and conspiracy theorists.

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/135541/the_rise_of_glenn_beck%27s_b...

***

Huh? Whacko right blames gay marriage for recent gun violence

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recent acts of gun violence, they claim, are the poisoned fruit of the push for gay marriage.

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/135997/religious_right_group_claims...

that was awful.... ;)

pup from "Unc" Ted...adorable
Tea Cheers All
Tea Time...
BB {be back, Blessed Be, Burning Butt {;)}, busy(bzzzy)Bee)
pick a BB ;)
*Poof*

What a cute puppy!
Oh.. the animal rights people r going to
have a fit because they didn't adopt.
That dog is gonna have a good life, the
'girls r sure to be excited. I can't wait to see
there faces.
Thanks toniD for the picture :)

Pope blocks Caroline Kennedy's appointment to Vatican

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Vatican has blocked the appointment of Caroline Kennedy as US ambassador, according to reports.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/5...

"this machine kills fascists"

who in their right mind would buy a ticket
for $500.00 to go see that insane idiot
Glenn Beck????? I mean come on....

(Did I use "their" the right way?)
their right mind....

It's from the Exec. Director of my Park District...

Occasionally, I am asked, “what does the Rotary Club of Carol Stream do?”

Among many other things, mostly local, we raise money to fund “shelter boxes”… these are kits in a large plastic box that have a tent and many daily necessities. When there is a disaster leaving people homeless, Rotary ships these boxes to help. This time, it they went out to Italy after the earthquakes there.

April 8, 2009: International disaster relief charity ShelterBox has put up a “tent city” to house more than 300 homeless people in a village close to the epicenter of the April 6 earthquake in central Italy.

A ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) has put up 40 tents in the village of Assergi, 20 kms from the town of L‟Aquila. “The village is in the mountains where the temperature falls below zero at night,” says SRT volunteer John Diksa. “We have set up two camps with 20 tents in each so that the community remains close together. Everyone now has a roof over their heads.”

ShelterBox is working with the local disaster relief co-coordinator to identify other nearby villages that require emergency shelter. “We are working through a list of villages in need of our help, and we will be getting assistance to them as quickly as we can,” adds John.

The international charity has sent 240 boxes to Italy, 15 of the boxes sponsored by US Donors are providing shelter for 150 of the homeless. ShelterBox is on standby, ready to provide more aid at a moment’s notice. “We are still monitoring the situation there and are ready to send some more out if they are needed,” says General Manager Lasse Petersen.

Each ShelterBox contains a 10-person tent, blankets, water purification and cooking equipment, basic tools, a stove and other essential equipment. Every box is individually numbered and can be tracked by donors. ###

From my email, no link. But here's one directly from Shelter Box...

http://www.shelterboxusa.org/

Because that's how many bank failures the United States has seen just this year.

From the Associated Press:

Federal regulators shut down two more banks Friday, raising the number of bank failures so far this year to 23.

The first bank was Cape Fear Bank in Wilmington, N.C., the first North Carolina bank to fail in nearly 16 years. The other bank was New Frontier Bank of Greeley, Colo., the second Colorado bank this year to collapse.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over both banks Friday after their respective state regulators closed them down.

When you read things like this, how does it affect the way you handle your finances? Is all your money stashed in a mattress, or do you continue to have faith in the banking system?

http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/04/twenty-three/

always expand "they're"

and if "they are" doesn't make sense, use "their"

same with "whose vs who's"

expand "who's" into who is or who has

I really never knew what they did either,
thanks for the 411 - & good work girls (& boys)

air-ono - there r so many different ways to
use certain words. & so many rules.

Will Crank correct ono?

Heh!

BAGHDAD (AP) — A suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt Saturday among U.S.-allied Sunni paramilitaries collecting their salaries at an army base, killing nine and wounding about 30, Iraqi officials said.

The attack in the town of Jbala, about 35 miles (50 kilometers) south of Baghdad, follows a bloody week of bombings that killed more than 50 people in the capital. Five U.S. soldiers died Friday in a bombing in Mosul — the deadliest attack against American troops in more than a year.

Those attacks have raised concern about the capability of Iraqi forces to control security after U.S. soldiers withdraw from Baghdad and other Iraqi cities by June 30

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hwK_CSpBxsNuVUEaDuOwmS...

cool and classy

but i'd rather read about mire's cat antics

than talk to an exotic beauty

I have to go call my mum.
Wish her a "Happy Easter"

//Will Crank correct ono//

in his dreams

even then he'd wake up and apologise

(heh-heh)

the man's a bum

IT'S SUNNY & 38°

HOW'S EVERYBODY?

yes it's interesting

and will crank correct that wog ono?

i need to go out and buy bread for today's feast

getting together with some italian friends; it's gonna be a potluck and a lot of fun i am sure

but i don't know if it can be as much fun for me as it was last year

i had my family visit with the grandkids and we went for easter brunch at the sheraton

and this is the last vid i'll post today, unless there's some guatemalan beauty at the party and i'll post it for ono

on the funky green telephone

and he told me about the...

NEW THREAD!!

i'm already in a trance

: )

hi sandy, happy easter!

which reminds me

i have to go call my daughter to wish her "happy easter"

after i come back from buying bread

Awake and Sing!
By FRANK RICH
“I am pronouncing the depression over!” declared CNBC’s irrepressible Jim Cramer on April 2. The next day the unemployment rate, already at the highest level in 25 years, jumped yet again, but Cramer wasn’t thinking about the 663,000 jobs that disappeared in March. He was thinking about the market. Mad money. Fast money. Big money. The Dow, after all, has rallied in the weeks since Timothy Geithner announced his bank bailout 2.0. Par-tay! On Wednesday, Cramer rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, in celebration of the 1,000th broadcast of his nightly stock-tip jamboree.

Given Cramer’s track record on those tips, there’s no reason to believe he’s right this time. But for the sake of argument, let’s say he is. (And let’s hope he is.) The question then arises: What, if anything, have we learned from this decade’s man-made economic disaster? It wasn’t just trillions of dollars of wealth that went poof in the bubble. Certain American values also crumbled and vanished. Making quick killings by reckless gambling in the markets — rather than by investing long-term in new products, innovations, technologies or services that might grow and benefit America and the world — became the holy grail in the upper echelons of finance.

This was not an exact replay of the preceding dot-com bubble. As a veteran of the tech gold rush recently observed to me, in Silicon Valley “the money comes later” and “the thing you make comes first, however whimsical, silly, microscopic, recondite it may be.” On Wall Street over the past decade, the money usually came first, last and in between. There was no “thing” being made at all unless you count the slicing and dicing of debt into financial “products,” the incomprehensible derivatives that helped bring down the economy, costing some five million Americans their jobs (so far) and countless more their 401(k)’s.

On the same Friday that the Labor Department reported the latest jobless numbers, the White House released (in the evening, after the network news) some other telling figures on the financial disclosure forms of its top officials. From those we learned more about how much the bubble’s culture permeated this administration.

We discovered, for instance, that Lawrence Summers, the president’s chief economic adviser, made $5.2 million in 2008 from a hedge fund, D. E. Shaw, for a one-day-a-week job. He also earned $2.7 million in speaking fees from the likes of Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Those institutions are not merely the beneficiaries of taxpayers’ bailouts since the crash. They also benefited during the boom from government favors: the Wall Street deregulation that both Summers and Robert Rubin, his mentor and predecessor as Treasury secretary, championed in the Clinton administration. This dynamic duo’s innovative gift to their country was banks “too big to fail.”

More here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/opinion/12rich.html?_r=2&ref=opinion&p...

Wonderful Video ... which reminded me how much I love "la vie en rose" thus listening now to E Piaf & L Armstrong...
{hum} ;)

ON THIS DAY

On April 12, 1945, Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Ga., at age 63. Vice President Harry S Truman became president.

From the NYT

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