Morning Open Thread
Chat away...
Comments (41) «
once again we have to destroy everything to save it...boy this little war of choice really turned out great...
AP
updated 5:27 a.m. ET, Thurs., May. 8, 2008
BAGHDAD - Iraqi soldiers for the first time warned residents in the embattled Sadr City district to leave their houses Thursday, signaling a new push by the U.S.-backed forces against Shiite extremists who have been waging street battles for seven weeks.
Iraqi soldiers, using loudspeakers, told residents in some areas of southeastern Sadr City, which were virtually abandoned, to go to nearby soccer stadiums, residents said. UNICEF says about 6,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in Sadr City, most of them from the southeastern section...
This RACE CARD (as many will see it) is unacceptable in the Democratic Party! I hope it stops today! This from Time Magazine (THE PAGE) and the Super Delegates better be paying attention.
Clinton Boasts of White Support
Thursday, May 8th, 2008
Candidate explicitly touts support among “white Americans” in interview with USA Today.
Highlights news story showing “how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me.”
Adds: “There’s a pattern emerging here.”
The Entire USA Today Story and the RACE CARD concern cited in previous post.
Clinton makes case for wide appeal
By Kathy Kiely and Jill Lawrence, USA TODAY
Hillary Rodham Clinton vowed Wednesday to continue her quest for the Democratic nomination, arguing she would be the stronger nominee because she appeals to a wider coalition of voters — including whites who have not supported Barack Obama in recent contests.
"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article "that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."
"There's a pattern emerging here," she said.
Clinton's blunt remarks about race came a day after primaries in Indiana and North Carolina dealt symbolic and mathematical blows to her White House ambitions. The Obama campaign, looking toward locking up the nomination, stepped up pressure on superdelegates who have the decisive votes in their race.
In both states, Clinton won six of 10 white voters, according to surveys of people as they left polling places.
Obama spokesman Bill Burton said that in Indiana, Obama split working-class voters with Clinton and won a higher percentage of white voters than in Ohio in March. He said Obama will be the strongest nominee because he appeals "to Americans from every background and all walks of life. These statements from Sen. Clinton are not true and frankly disappointing."
Clinton rejected any idea that her emphasis on white voters could be interpreted as racially divisive. "These are the people you have to win if you're a Democrat in sufficient numbers to actually win the election. Everybody knows that."
CLINTON: Campaigning continues despite dire forecasts
OBAMA: Faced with a divided party
Larry Sabato, head of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said Clinton's comment was a "poorly worded" variation on the way analysts have been "slicing and dicing the vote in racial terms."
However, he said her primary support doesn't prove she's more electable. Either Democrat will get "the vast majority" of the other's primary election votes in a general election, he said.
Clinton lost North Carolina by 15 percentage points and won Indiana by 2 points after competing full-out in both states. She had loaned the campaign $6.4 million in the past month. She said she might lend more.
"We should finish the contests we have and see where we stand after they're over," she said, referring to the six remaining primaries that will end June 3.
There were signs of unrest Wednesday, even among Clinton allies. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein wondered to The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper, "whether she can get the delegates that she needs." Former South Dakota senator George McGovern, whose 1972 presidential bid gave Clinton her first political experience, switched his support from Clinton to Obama.
Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-05-07-clintoninterview_N.htm
I just wish Hillary would think before she speaks. Lately, every time she speaks she just does more damage to herself and to the Democratic Party. Sorry, but that is the way I see it.
Good morning, all.
So the new strategy in Iraq is the old one after all...Fallujah.
Our troops are herding refugees out of their homes and then come in with bulldozers to destroy entire neighborhoods. I don't even think the ancient Romans were this barbaric.
The reasoning is that if you can't convince the locals to cooperate, destroy their homes and way of life so they are so despondent that they will begin to cooperate. Since the Feudal Dark Ages strategy of wall ghettoes didn't work, so let's revisit the glory of the Third Reich?
I'm not too sure how these images of people clutching their few remain belonging as they are driven from their homes into holding pens is going to affect our troops. I would think it would be more mentally and emotionally-impairing than picking up dead body parts.
But then they have seen that, too.
With that in mind, does the Rev. Wright tapes really seem so scarey in the light of day back here at home? The GOP wants us all to be afraid of exotic dark skinned people who loudly advocate the idea of resisting force.
What about the madmen in the Republican Party who devised ways to make feudal torture methods legal again and force mass migrations of refugees commonplace?
On that note, I'm off to work in the Brave New GOP/Clinton world of NAFTA outsourcing.
It's a place where everyone is an independent contractor trying to under-bid their former co-workers for what little work is left during this second Bush recession in seven years. The rest are packing up their belongings and moving into shelters because their homes are being auctioned off from sub-prime forclosures.
Is it shades of The Great Depression or just shades of Fallujah? Bush has proven that it's a small multinational world after all. And McCain will complete the process...in not the pain.
later.
Posted by SandyH on May 8, 2008 at 09:32 AM
Better days are coming, although I agree it is going to take time and a lot of hard work to reverse the course Bush has set this nation on.
curtis, i will try to make some sense of a very difficult topic.
racism has been a core issue ( maybe THE core issue ) at the base of the very existence of our country since it's founding and the enslavement of millions of africans. slavery ( free labor ) is at the core of this nations wealth. and slavery and it's artifacts cause this nation's soul to be bleeding.
with an african american running for president racism will rear it's ugly head no matter if we try to pretend otherwise, the best of us will try to acknowledge it, deal with it and overcome it's handicapping effect on our ability to be beacon for the rest of the world, the worst of us will use it to turn one against the other.
neither obama nor hillary created this dynamic which now may cost our party the white house. neither camp in my view has done a very good job of handling the issue ( with the exception of obama's great speech ) and now both are being drawn further and deeper into the mess with cretins like rush cheering and laughing...
but the reality is that african americans are voting overwhelmingly for obama and many of those votes are because he is african american and many whites are voting for hillary because she is white...this is where we really are right now.
so it is up to our leaders, hillary, obama, dean and kerry and lewis and the rest to bring this all back together...to show us a way to make lemonade out of this lemon, to acknowledge the racial divide, the centuries of pain and violence and to put forth a vision of a way we can all get to a better place and leave behind a sane world for future generations.
if they fail then the curse that was born on those slave ships during the middle passage and in those lynchings for which no one was ever arrested and so on will bring forth the greedy, the war mongers, the destroyers of the environment and they will reduce this nation to land of a few rich and many poor despised by the rest of the world and never achieving it's potential to lead the people of the world to a better way of living together...
this is not hillary's fault. it may in fact be that the way to start to bring it all back together is for them to run together, to overcome their differences in a gesture of leadership...there may well be other ways to make lemonade out of this lemon...but the genie is out of the bottle and now we need our leaders to show the way to put the genie to good use.
How can National Democratic Candidates Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama win over the other candidate’s supporters after the National Democratic Convention?
Would not you agree that if Senator Clinton wins the Democratic nomination she would need to find a way to win over Senator Obama’s supporters against Washington’s political sensationalism?
If Hillary Clinton would bring more energy to her campaign against the Republican GOP’s politics by further making a public show about all she and her husband know about the politics around oil, U.S. and Middle Eastern, I think she might win Obama’s supporters over regarding the war against terrorism.
Would not you agree that if Barrack Obama wins the Democratic nomination he would need to find a way to win over Hillary Clinton’s supporters who lean towards thinking that she understands more about issues and the way Washington works?
I think if Barrack Obama would then publicize the suggestion of a well-organized presidential cabinet, surrounding his self with well-known and knowledgeable public figures; he could win over more of the public trust.
I admit I may not know as much about American politics as I probably should, but I’m trying to get an grasp on what’s going on with the Democratic primary. I’m more than a little concerned this party may just snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with what is happening according to some polls. I’m also concerned that I may not be able to weather another four years of McBush and his admitted lack of knowledge of economics, and his unwavering support for an unpopular war.
I came to this country mostly because of the economic opportunities afforded by the economic policies of the Clinton administration, only to almost immediately see those opportunities eroded and abused by the Bush regime. That said, and with all the respect in the world for the Clintons, could it be time for Hillary to step up to the plate and withdraw from this race before it becomes an unmitigated debacle?. Are we simply giving McBush a free skate to the white house? Am I wrong in my thinking? We need to kick some Elephant ass out of Washington, and soon. I don’t see a protracted and self-inflicted national flagellation as the way to do that, and why give the swift-boaters, cretins like Rove and his ilk, and all the other Republican loons an opportunity to load up on free ammunition. I would like to think we are above that as a political party.
That‘s my rant, I feel better, and now I‘m going back to work while I still have a job to go to.
So Hillary's bragging that under-educated white racist red-necks support her?
Well, maybe some of the women, but not the men. I think Hillary is not in touch with reality at this point.
I used to live in Southern Indiana. I know the kind of people that she's talking about. I lived in a sundown town near the IN-KY state line aka the Ohio River, for more years than I care to think about at this point. I was also stationed in eastern PA, and found that, almost 20 years later, there were a lot of people there who still had the same attitudes.
These are not the voters who are going to vote for a woman either. They can't envision a woman in the White House unless she's in a 1950s style apron, cleaning it.
They'll go McCain. They'll faithfully watch Faux News, listen to "good ol'" Rush, and shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to voting. They are a part of the hardcore 20-some percent that thinks Bush is doing a good job.
Their kids will either vote like their parents, or the smarter ones will go Obama.
Hillary, Nah! I don't think so.
If Obama doesn't convince people to vote economic issues instead of religious/social issues he will lose. Talk morals instead of values. Passing 100% of the war debt to our children is immoral. Giving tax breaks to companies that move overseas for cheap communist labor is immoral. The Consumer Product Safety not making sure our goods and food are safe is immoral. Attacking countries for oil is immoral. Corporate wellfare with no regard for families losing their homes is immoral. The religious voters don't know any facts about financial matters. That's how you open the door.
Posted by gregg on May 8, 2008 at 09:56 AM
g'morning gregg, basically, humans of all races have more behaviorial traits in common than not. they especially have essentially similar needs well demonstrated by almost any natural catastrophy; food, shelter, clothing, medical care. unfortunately, despots and tyrants have historically used insignificant differences and deprivation of needs for control and to assert their will. my contention is that we can not begin to overcome not only hundreds but thousands of years of conditioning until every person has access to, and is provided with, the fundamental requirments for life. i'm looking for our new democratic leaders to rise above the inequities of the past and get on with the job of bringing people together.
The Clinton tide has ebbed and the Russ Limbaugh "Surge" Rouge Republicans has come in with chaos Myanmar results, but in the end, we need to unite as Democrats with Progressives joining the diversity mix. The negative bulldozing must end and like the Constitution the Democratic Party must work for "We the people" and take out the Conglomerate "At Will" Guantanamo rule and waterboard tactics, restoring the Civil Liberties of the American Home of Life, Liberty, Justice, and the Pursuit of Happiness. The Federal Courts must again have Constitutional Jurists that restores the fabric of diversity of people, where we can all dream again of futures for US and our children within the United States. America is not a Corporate Government Republic Alliance of the New World Order, we have a Middle Class with Katrina tears we must heal their broken hearts.
Good Democratic slogan for Obama, "Campaign For America."
Rant
Bring the Poetry back to American homes Free Speech where "We the people" can paint our American Artmosphere of Freedom and Democracy. Let our fingers never be banned the right to speak out in Free Will Free Verse that questions the HeArt of a divine nation.
Let US bring back a human religion of many faiths getting along, where human compassion overrides bulldozing negativity of political neglect. Yes, Democrats let US sing "God Bless America" united together in our desires that patriotism does not make a whole working class slaves to Corporate and White House 24/7 edicts.
God gave me a gift and he has given you the gift of Free minds, not to Judge but to understand each other, so that together as a nation with this great mix of patriots, we can renew our Declaration of Independence of History and Heritage, where the people run this nation.
If I could do anything, I would love to be involved in opening up minds of our children to their great potentials. In a dream I would want Hillary to be involved with motivating education, not as a woman, but a talented Democrat with a challenged mind of motivational power, to where we are training Microsoft minds that have AT&T fingers, creating Ben Franklin’s, Thomas Edison’s, and Bill Gate’s, who take America to the next level of glory.
We do not need Bush Republican in their zeal to globalize America worldwide destroys the Constitutional fiber with “At Will” outsourcing our Middle Class into poverty. Education must be and will be beyond “No Child Left Behind” second-class segregation, it is planting the garden within US in the History and Heritage to succeed in believing in our self, where we create a bouquet Artmosphere in Public Education.
And in Corporate Alabama, they call me “Obscene” for opening minds. Bless Alabama, and this nation that after January 20th 2009, a new leaves covers over the bush and weeds out the stranglehold of Executive Privilege Autocracy with fresh air of cleaning up Washington, and putting John Yoo principles on trial for their obscenity that tortured and abuse our Constitution.
Go Obama, Go Democrats, in a patriot act let US override the Patriot Act with Civil Liberties protections, where all three branches with collegiate, and respected Constitutional civilians have oversight duties to eliminate a President autocratic rule over a nation.
Got a minimum wage job out there, where a Terminated Poet can help Democrats help our kids future? I know the pen is the poison that can turn on you with a venom, if you strike at it. But the pen is also the flower that takes your words and amplify them within your own ability to express yourself. For the Devil Advocate (“Taking the other side to teach,” too many Conservatives out there to call that Obscene) has often been used to bring someone out of their shells.
Hillary look into your mirror's reflection, and what image people see. You can slip into the mirror and go to the other side as Lieberman did in the status quo of Washington. Or you can wear an outfit as a Democrat, who united the party by pulling back to create the new fashion of doing politics in Washington. Should you crack the mirror the floodwater will come in, and like a Mississippi Katrina coastline, never be restored the same.
A goodly portion (I'd think a majority) of the "religious" or "values" voters are in fact nothing of the sort. It isn't a sense of civic duty nor a sense of patriotic duty that flocks them to the polls: rather, it's the sheer glee of taking something they don't appreciate away from someone they don't know who needs it. As Abramoff's buddy Scanlon put it, "the wackos" are easily stirred by non-issues that don't affect them in the least to vote against their own self-interest. Just because they vote wrapped in a flag and toting a cross doesn't mean that they're religious OR patriotic.
Their actions (and willful participation in the destruction of the Constitution and America's economy) point them out for exactly what they are: wedge-issue voters. They aren't informed, don't want to be informed and I wonder if they are in least educable. They haven't demonstrated any tendency in that direction.
It is, then, up to the rest of us who are educable and educated to outvote the willfully lazy and proudly stupid 20%-ers. They've wrought enough destruction on all of us and have enriched the rich using our wallets.
Though they have enabled the Republic pillaging of America's treasury and national treasures, they're hardly republican, either. These 20%-er dead-enders fly the Republic flag of convenience because they're gullible enough to buy the marketing line of bullshit the GOP is willing to sluice out. The 20%-er dead-enders are the perfect vehicle for enabling GOP plunder: folks who will trespass into your back yard to steal sheets off your line to go beat somebody they don't know with a Bible they don't read.
It really is that simple.
But for pity's sake, name them for what they are. Calling them "religious" or "values" voters only puts a thin patina of acceptability on what they've actively and treasonously participated in and enabled. As for these wedge-issue voters, f*ck 'em. The stinking albatross of the Bush The Less legacy should hang firmly, rotting about their necks.
Posted by TheOriginalHillWilliam on May 8, 2008 at 10:59 AM
g'morning hill, i think the younger set is finally getting the idea that to be spiritual doesn't necessarially require a church, or someone telling you what to believe either. anyway, hope you got your raised beds finished and your garden off to a good start.
cheers
It takes a Surge of Rush Limbaugh Republicans to invade the Democratic Primaries to show US how far we have gone since the MLK and Kennedy years. To see both Blacks and Whites be Blacks and Whites in judgmental pasts of segregating sides from the gains made over years of real change to see in one's mind, "For Colored Only" signs for Obama, and "White's Only" signs for Hillary. Shame, shame, shame that Russ Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and hate media has proven themselves right, American can never have diversity in our White House for it is a white house plantation, who treats its all its citizens as slaves. Can you imagine on talk Rush Limbaugh talk radio, "Ladies and gentlemen I helped elect our president." I think. I am going to puke Republican that is when it comes out of both ends of recession and inflation.
Heya Boilerman,
I'm starting to become in awe of the young'uns. They've not only begun to realize that the future is firmly in their hands, they've also begun to realize that it's in their hands to shape well. Truly, I dropped "religion" in favor of a deep and abiding faith long ago; I didn't realize that so many other folks were coming to the same conclusion that I had: you can talk to G'd any time, any where and don't need someone to take your money to speak on your behalf.
Well, I didn't do raised beds this year after all. I bought myself a tiller and 1/2-way through busting sod on a 60'x60' plot. Got 40 'mater plants hatched and a load of beans, peas, corn, okra, dill, cukes, squash, watermelons, and all ready to go in. I'll be done with the second half by Saturday afternoon. Man, nothing like a fresh 'mater out of the garden (wistful sigh). I'll admit, I haven't been this sore in years. I used to hit the gym 6 nights a week (yeah, like 10 years ago!), so I'm pretty sure I can take it. But I found out real quick, what was no big deal at 40 makes ya think real hard about your plans and how ya go about 'em at 50.
I didn't realize that living the country life would entail having so durned much equipment around. Since last year I've become the proud owner of a lawn tractor (with PTO and wagon), a roto-tiller, a fence-post auger, a self-propelled push-mower for big trimming, a weed-whacker for small trimming (around the house and the blackberry canes)... and a shed full of "stuff" I actually use. (That Firestorm stuff is THE DEAL.) Amazing how it accumulates. But the Little Farm on the Hill is starting to take shape. This evening, I'll be putting in 5 cherry trees, a couple more young peaches. That's in addition to the raspberry bushes (4 ever-bearing and 2 late-bearing), the blackberry canes, the 8 pomegranate trees... If I live through all the tilling and cultivating, we'll eat well LOL
Heya Boilerman,
I'm starting to become in awe of the young'uns. They've not only begun to realize that the future is firmly in their hands, they've also begun to realize that it's in their hands to shape well. Truly, I dropped "religion" in favor of a deep and abiding faith long ago; I didn't realize that so many other folks were coming to the same conclusion that I had: you can talk to G'd any time, any where and don't need someone to take your money to speak on your behalf.
Well, I didn't do raised beds this year after all. I bought myself a tiller and 1/2-way through busting sod on a 60'x60' plot. Got 40 'mater plants hatched and a load of beans, peas, corn, okra, dill, cukes, squash, watermelons, and all ready to go in. I'll be done with the second half by Saturday afternoon. Man, nothing like a fresh 'mater out of the garden (wistful sigh). I'll admit, I haven't been this sore in years. I used to hit the gym 6 nights a week (yeah, like 10 years ago!), so I'm pretty sure I can take it. But I found out real quick, what was no big deal at 40 makes ya think real hard about your plans and how ya go about 'em at 50.
I didn't realize that living the country life would entail having so durned much equipment around. Since last year I've become the proud owner of a lawn tractor (with PTO and wagon), a roto-tiller, a fence-post auger, a self-propelled push-mower for big trimming, a weed-whacker for small trimming (around the house and the blackberry canes)... and a shed full of "stuff" I actually use. (That Firestorm stuff is THE DEAL.) Amazing how it accumulates. But the Little Farm on the Hill is starting to take shape. This evening, I'll be putting in 5 cherry trees, a couple more young peaches. That's in addition to the raspberry bushes (4 ever-bearing and 2 late-bearing), the blackberry canes, the 8 pomegranate trees... If I live through all the tilling and cultivating, we'll eat well LOL
thank you Yellow dog for bringing this forward
I particularly like that it seems focused not just on what has happened and how----but that we as citizens can actually do something and what that is. It has been apparent to me that our elected congress, that we elected to protect us, has not intention to do that.
What is their (our representatives) payoff?
This landmark investigation is a testament to what private citizens can accomplish when government officials fail to protect our right to vote and to count those votes as cast. Every American – Republican and Democrat – should read this book, and join the fight for democracy’s most fundamental right.”
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=209x6265
I beg all on this site to read this book, so it can become the number one issue BEFORE it is too late in November.
We can't wait 4 more years.
buy it here
U.S. teacher sacked for performing magic trick
MOSCOW, May 7 (RIA Novosti) - A school teacher lost his job after he performed a magic trick in front of students at a Florida school and was accused of wizardry, Local 6 TV said on Wednesday.
Jim Piculas, a relief teacher, made a toothpick vanish and reappear during a lesson. The trick was recorded on a cell phone camera.
However, the father of one of the students complained that his son had been traumatized by the toothpick trick and Piculas was subsequently sacked.
Link
I think it is so self righteous that this appeared in Russian papers about Bush's America Constitutional Freedom and Democracy. Wow, I am glad I did not do magic tricks in Alabama at Mercedes Benz but used Poetry that got me Terminated. Why instead of "Obscene" they would have called me a witch that would have been a bitch to explain, it is hard enough to ask why anyone would call an person "Obscene" when you cannot call them a N, J, F, and other lettered names, but condemn them for being a liberal that they are Conservatively Constitutional banned, censored and Terminated from a Patrioc Act that denies Civil Liberties in employees home sweet Alabama homes, and simple magic tricks in redneck parts of Florida. It seems the ACLU needs to say something but they quake in Bush intimidated fear of Bush and World Conglomerates.
Congress take on the magic trick and give a formal rebuke to repuke right winger Republicans. Maybe Congress needs some wizardry to make some of the disappear come Election Day. Support that poor teacher that was fired, now it has to go on his teaching credentials banning him from Conservative Redneck employment. Feel this in a Democratic nation, and how Russians must enjoy this:
The teacher is now worried that he will not be able to get another teaching job.
Local education officials, however, deny that Piculas was sacked for wizardry citing a number of other complaints made against the teacher, such as not sticking to lesson plans and allowing students to use school computers.
Not allowed to use computers! Where in the backwoods of America is this?
Posted by TheOriginalHillWilliam on May 8, 2008 at 11:31 AM
thanks for the update, hill. it's always a pleasure reading your posts. i know what you mean about all that equipment. what would we do without internal compustion? my main motor is a 1976 60hp international model 674 diesel tractor which i use mostly to bush-hog, and disk. the bush hog is a 6 footer and the disk has 20 18in disks in two rows of 10. by elevating the rear row above the ground, i was able to use the disk and a section harrow to construct 10 70ft raised beds in less than an afternoon. the beds are supposed to become part of my planned perennial garden but for now i've planted them with 8 different types of squash which are doing super. i also have an 8hp huskvarna tiller for finishing up rows and cultivating, i use its wheels to make little furrows. ocassionally i use either a one or two row middle buster for making rows, but it's harder to keep the grass and weeds down. anyway, yea, it takes a lot of equipment and work, but i've done what i can to keep down the effort. still, though, i don't always feel like getting out and doing what needs doing. like right now, for instance. i really should be out fixing up some new rows for okra, beans, and peas and have lots of starts to get in the ground yet, but i guess i'm just lazy sometimes. i did get 100ft of cucs planted yesterday...took about an hour to make the row, fertilize it, and plant the seed. ok, now i can justify my procrastination, it's raining! hehe...
Fresh from the In-Box:
Dear James,
You may have heard of Rev. John Hagee, the McCain supporter who said God created Hurricane Katrina to punish New Orleans for its homosexual "sins." Well now meet Rev. Rod Parsley, the televangelist megachurch pastor from Ohio who hates Islam. According to David Corn of Mother Jones, Parsley has called on Christians to wage war against Islam, which he considers to be a "false religion." In the past, Parsley has also railed against the separation of church and state, homosexuals, and abortion rights, comparing Planned Parenthood to Nazis.
John McCain actively sought and received Parsley's endorsement in the presidential race. McCain has called Parsley "a spiritual guide," and he hasn't said whether he shares Parsley's vicious anti-Islam views. That's because the mainstream media refuses to ask. And so, we've taken matters into our own hands, joining Mother Jones to present the truth about McCain's pastor:
Watch the video: http://bravenewfilms.org/watch/27527633/38133?utm_source=rgemail
Since the media won't question McCain about his deeply bigoted pastor, it's up to you to call attention to this issue. Make McCain's pastor problem a major story by forwarding this video to your family, friends, and colleagues. Digg it! Anything to spread the word.
We can't let McCain get away with aligning himself with a religious leader who's called for an all-out war on Islam, someone who draws no distinctions between Muslims and violent Islamic extremists. Now is the crucial time to act.
Yours,
Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New Team
With politicians rushing banning everything from furniture to dogs to human positions while driving, and now with the State of Florida banning Magic as wizardry, no wonder we are turning into a Tali-Bana nation. The sad thing is you are banned, before you even know it is against unwritten billions of HR employee policies of Right To Work laws without due process rights that denies peer reviews.
Maybe the greatest magicians that can make elephants disappear can make this whole town disappear and appear in public airings with the teacher magician looking on in awe. Maybe they need a magicians convention, there to show how innocent it is.
I hate to see what they do to a natural healer, tar and feather them.
Governor Crist compute this people teacher's firing, so he can teach in Florida again. Governor can you supply the student there computers they can use and learn from down there. It seems the computers are under lock and key censorship.
Sometimes I feel like I have Elvis swinging hips with arthritic aging writing limbed verse, where in the early 60's Elvis was banned all over the South in towns making iy illegal from Elvis from using them, and Southern Belles has chastity lock and key stay at home rules from his magic watching ,swooning on his shows. Then people in parts of Alabama and Florida had to go to Tennessee to see the King.
Boilerman,
Oh, man, I envy that motor. Bustin' sod with a tiller isn't that much fun, but I'm gittin'r done. This year I devoted a 60'x60' square for vegetables which I figured was as big as I could handle for the first year. Deer are a real problem around where I live, so I'm enclosing that part with a 10' fence that's doing double-duty as trellis for hops and kiwis. Deer won't jump where they can't see over, so maybe, just maybe I'll actually get a watermelon or two this year without them getting stomped at eaten the very night they're perfectly ripe.
We'll have to figure out how to swap garden pics. If it isn't storming when I get home, I plan to take some tonight. Nothing much to see yet; all that's going in the ground tonight is the 40something tomatoes I hatched a couple of weeks ago. If there's time, I'll get the corn and beans in the ground. If not, well, tomorrow evening then. This weekend I'll finish the tilling and get the rest in the ground, see if I beat summer or not.
Deer are a real problem
Try wolf urine.
Florida Land O' Lakes Wizardry
'Well, Pat, can you explain this to me?' 'You've been accused of wizardry,'" Piculas explained.
Teachers all over the United States need to rally for this teacher that he was unjustly Terminated for making a toothpick disappear.
Like when I was accused of obscenity for writing about someone who had been abused all their lives by another (non-employee, just met that one time). HR mandated private counselor, found innocent by that counselor, after explaining myself to HR they said I was "Obscene" and could not write any form of Poetry 24/7, nor post any form of Poetry on the Internet, while working for them. That if they found me writing even in my home or under a ghost name that they would Terminate me. I was later Terminated for Poetry by this German American Alabama Corporation.
When can a employer Judge a person for obscenity, wizardry, Liberal, Liberal Arts, Music, and other things without due process of Constitutional Freedom and Democracy of self expression, where is our right to peer review?
It is time to demand school board members, have to have children in the public school system, and not demand their narrow religious values permeate the Public Schools banning magic tricks. Religious leaders with Religious schools must not be allowed to serve on Public Schools as conflict of interests.
hey hill...if you're still around, i think i've figured a way to share info without the trolls getting it. have you ever played abermuds? it doesn't really matter whether or not you have, the basics of being able to log on and talk are fairly easy, and you can know if anyone else is around to listen. let me know if and when (central time) you can give it a try.
I found this on wikipedia. Just one more reason to be sure we elect a 'bullet-proof' majority to both houses of Congress. If we were to do that, in theory, President Obama could then 'pack the court' (as FDR tried to do) and be sure to get us our 'New Deal!'
Size of the Court
The United States Constitution does not specify the size of the Supreme Court; instead, Congress has the power to fix the number of Justices. Originally, the total number of Justices was set at six by the Judiciary Act of 1789. As the country grew geographically, the number of Justices steadily increased to correspond with the growing number of judicial circuits. The court was expanded to seven members in 1807, nine in 1837 and ten in 1863. In 1866, however, Congress wished to deny President Andrew Johnson any Supreme Court appointments, and therefore passed the Judicial Circuits Act, which provided that the next three Justices to retire would not be replaced; thus, the size of the Court would eventually reach seven by attrition. Consequently, one seat was removed in 1866 and a second in 1867. In the Circuit Judges Act of 1869, the number of Justices was again set at nine (the Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices), where it has remained ever since. President Franklin D. Roosevelt attempted to expand the Court (see Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937); his plan would have allowed the President to appoint one new, additional justice for every justice who reached the age of seventy but did not retire from the bench, until the Court reached a maximum size of fifteen justices. Ostensibly, this was to ease the burdens of the docket on the elderly judges, but it was widely believed that the President's actual purpose was to add Justices who would favor his New Deal policies, which had been regularly ruled unconstitutional by the Court. This plan, referred to often as the Court Packing Plan, failed in Congress. The Court, however, moved from its opposition to Roosevelt's New Deal programs, rendering the President's effort moot. In any case, Roosevelt's long tenure in the White House allowed him to appoint eight Justices to the Supreme Court (second only to George Washington) and promote one Associate Justice to Chief Justice.[7]
Good morning / afternoon, Y'All!
Add another "family values" Pug to the list. This one is a 3fer. DUI, adulterer and illegitimate child. I wonder if he was wearing a flag pin when he was arrested?
The consensus on Capitol Hill is in: Vito is finito
Boilerman,
How 'bout sending me a private message via PartyBuilder. 'At'll work.
DooBeeDooBeeDoo,
I'll go ya one more. Western NC's big-talking, supermoralizing, law'n'awdah, occasionally Bible-thumping sheriff (Republic, of course) was recently indicted for running a bigass gambling ring. What is it with those republics, so ready to punish/torture/incarcerate anyone who doesn't go along with their power-schemes, but are so busy breaking the law. Big stink up in the hills. Show me a republic in a position of power, I'll show you one more crook on the take.
Michigan Democrats Plan for Delegate Seating By Kathy Barks Hoffman
The Associated Press
Lansing, Michigan - Michigan Democratic leaders on Wednesday settled on a plan to give presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton 69 delegates and Barack Obama 59 as a way to get the state's delegates seated at the national convention
Morning all,
How can candidates speak the truth about tough issues when they are in such fear of media smear and hype? Conyers and Pelosi won't even do their duty and start impeachments because they fear that the media spin would be turned against the truth and the accusers and make things even worse. Pitiful.
The system is broken when the MSM and its backers are running the monopoly game show, and the free press and the truth are shut out. How can we fix this fluckedup corrupt cesspool that gets away with portraying itself as capital entertainment?
Charge the media that were involved in the fraud in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq with war crime? It's time for some legislation to protect and encourage the free press as the watchdog over this democracy.
Moyers and Goodman. The MSM excludes them at the peril of freedom and democracy:
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BILL MOYERS: Well, no. The main reason I put this book out, Moyers on Democracy, is because we are facing—you know, democracy is always a story of narrow escapes, and we may be running out of luck, because we’ve always thought the present was better than the—generally thought the present was better than the past and the future will be better than the present. All bets are off now, because we are not—our politics can create problems our policies can then not solve. Start a war, can’t finish it. Spend $2 trillion on healthcare, but can’t fix it. Infrastructure crumbling, highways full of potholes, can’t do anything about it.
These fundamental structural issues of American democracy are not being addressed by this campaign, even in the best of times, when it’s not just a horse race, when they’re on the Sunday morning talk shows, when they’re making speeches. They are so appealing to the particular interest of people, of groups, that they cannot take on—they’re not taking on the large issue. Obama talks about change. Hillary Clinton talks about, you know, a populist message. But neither one of them seem to me—and nor does John McCain—none of these three seem to me to be grasping what’s fundamentally at stake in this country, which is a system that is now dysfunctional. And so many powerful interests have a stake in maintaining the dysfunction that it’s almost impossible to change it.
That is the moment—this is the moment in which if we don’t solve that structural issue of our politics, we are in real trouble. And I don’t like to say that, because I have five grandchildren, and the future is theirs, not mine. But this is what we’re not hearing. This is what the system is not going to deal with in November. And it’s a very troubling reality.
www.democracynow.org/2008/5/7/broadcasting_legend_bill_moyers_on_the
And some more excellence in journalism from the above DN! show:
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BILL MOYERS:
I have since, subsequently—and I once did a broadcast called “The 30-Second President” about what’s wrong with advertising. And I’m totally against these short commercials now. But what was wrong with that ad—what I learned from that ad is how quickly you can inject emotions into the mainstream of voters, because ads are impressionistic. Ads are about feelings, not about rational thought, about reason. And they are like heroin. They just give you that high very quickly. And that’s wrong, because people could—we could have the best of intentions with that ad, and voters could take away from it exactly the opposite of what we intended. And so, not long after that, I did this series on politics and one of the broadcasts was about these ads, and I said, somehow we’ve got to find a way to relieve our politics of these highly stimulated, highly distorted messages that we send through these thirty-second commercials.
AMY GOODMAN: Why do you think these candidates, the leading candidates of the Democratic supposedly opposition party, do not call for an immediate end to the war, do not call for single-payer healthcare?
BILL MOYERS: Because the media doesn’t allow complicated thought to be articulated in ways that enlighten instead of misinform people. Partisans seize upon these sound bites and turn them into—seize upon these speeches, take the sound bites and turn them against the candidates. It’s fear. It’s fear of being misquoted. It’s fear of having your ideas misappropriated.
An electric car in every garage and solar panels on every roof to power it. And we could have paid for this if we weren't defrauded of our taxdollars by a conspiracy to illegally invade countries to keep oil companies rich and oil dictatorships and monarchies in power.
We got sold out by corrupt politicians and media whores and I don't want to foot the bill for this insane plundering. Stop the fighting for oil insecurity now! There are better things in which to invest our energies and resources and lives.
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A Price Drop for Solar Panels
The silicon shortage that has kept solar electricity expensive is ending.
By Kevin Bullis
****
A report from Michael Rogol, an analyst at Photon Consulting, says that demand for solar panels will quickly rise in response to even slightly cheaper prices, holding the price drop between 2007 and 2010 to a mere 20 percent. But others think that the demand will have trouble responding quickly to lower prices. That's in part because the market for solar has been generated by government subsidies, especially in countries such as Germany and Spain, and there are limits to how fast these subsidized markets can grow.
Regardless of the growth in demand, Bradford predicts that over the next couple of years, production of solar panels will double each year.
In a recent presentation, Bradford said that prices for solar panels could drop by as much as 50 percent from 2006 to 2010. In areas that get a lot of sun, that will translate to solar electricity costs of about 10 cents per kilowatt hour, matching the average price of electricity in the United States. That will make solar affordable and, eventually, will vastly increase the market, Bradford says. "You can't even begin to imagine the transformation that that's going to create."
www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/20702/?nlid=1041&a=f
Getting our roadsters drunk on corn whiskey and burning rubber in donuts while people around the world starve and riot for food is at the zenith of perverse human irony. Religionists had better hop onto their high-horses and ride to the rescue of human sanity and morality. Popemobile indeed, I wouldn't be surprised if it ran on hogfat, or worse.
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India considers ban on trading in food futures
By Raphael Minder in Madrid
Published: May 5 2008 12:10 | Last updated: May 5 2008 12:10
India is considering a blanket ban on trading in food futures, highlighting growing concerns in Asia over the role of hedge funds and financial market traders in the recent surge in commodities prices.
An emergency move by India to shut down its food futures market, proposed on Monday by P Chidambaram, the finance minister, would reverse measures introduced only five years ago to aid the development of India as a financial centre.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Asian Development Bank’s annual meeting in Madrid, Mr Chidambaram also lambasted the conversion of crops into biofuel as “the single biggest reason why we are facing this [food] crisis”. His comments came a day after US president George W. Bush said India was partly responsible for rising food prices.
“To put it mildly, [converting food crops to biofuels] is foolish; to put it strongly, it is a crime against humanity,” Mr Chidambaram said.
Man, was it truth and decency that clears the air, or what?
Thanks ML
This would be good news, except for the fact there are those who WANT to be used for politican gain! Ignorants who think we should have a theocracy here, like in the old days when the Bishops and cardinals lived in the King's castles and told them what to do!!!
US Evangelicals Call for Step Back From Politics
By Ed Stoddard
Reuters
Dallas - A group of U.S. evangelical leaders called on Wednesday for a pullback from party politics so that followers would not become "useful idiots" exploited for partisan gain.
there are also those out there, who do not want these pictures published, because it shows the truth about this occupation and surge, and that eliminating Saddam Hussein was not worth these children's lives! Then these same people go and sit in church and pretend they are great Christians ! HA !
A Picture Worth a Thousand Words: Newspaper Criticized for Publishing Photo
By Helen Thomas
Hearst Newspapers
Washington - Some readers resented The Washington Post for publishing an Associated Press photograph of a critically wounded Iraqi child being lifted from the rubble of his home in Baghdad's Sadr City "after a U.S. airstrike."
Two-year-old Ali Hussein later died in a hospital.
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