September 2009 Archives

I'm more like a cat ...

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I've been thinking of this, as I've been stretching like a ballet, or a yogi (not Bear, nor Berra), and though I need to restore my strength, I need more to restore my recovery.

I watch the dogs constantly working out, doing aerobics in the yard next door.

I watch the cats in my yard stretch.

The dogs catch balls.

The cats catch critters.

'Nuff said?

The strength isn't as important as the stretch.  The grasp has to overextend the reach (of course, retractable claws help greatly in that respect).  I think I'm limited there (non-retractable fingernails).

How Did We Die (2006)?

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It's Elementary, My Dear Mr. Lerher

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The element song (102 of them set to a 'vaguely recognizable tune')
The poll on the web had only one sign that had a majority thumbs down.
 

Scorpio
Switch sign:

Registered
Guests
 
 
She's right, it's been too long
She's wrong. He deserves to suffer more for what he did to her
 

Polanski

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Samantha Geimer Photos

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) Roman Polanski's rape victim, Samantha Geimer, who identified herself long ago, is asking that the Oscar-winning director's case be dismissed. 

Photos: Roman Polanski 

If Polanski is brought to an American court, Geimer, who is now an adult and living with her husband in Hawaii, cannot be forced to testify against him. What she really wants, she says, is for the case to be over. Geimer has already sued him and reached an undisclosed settlement. She filed court papers earlier this year asking the charges against Polanski be dismissed, according to CNN. 

But clearly American authorities have different ideas. 

Polanski, 76, director of "Chinatown," "Rosemary's Baby" and the Oscar-winning "The Pianist" was arrested Saturday as he arrived in Zurich to receive a lifetime achievement award from a film festival. 

Authorities in Los Angeles consider Polanski a convicted felon and fugitive, and a Swiss justice official said there has been an international arrest warrant out on him since 2005. 

Back in 1977, the director had pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a then 13-year-old Geimer, who said Polanski performed oral sex, intercourse and sodomy on her after giving her champagne and part of a Quaalude pill at Jack Nicholson's house while the actor was away. 

Polanski has called the girl a sophisticated teen who willingly had sex with him. The court didn't see it that way. 

He was sent to prison for 42 days, but the judge tried to renege on the plea bargain. On the day of his sentencing in 1978, aware the judge would sentence him to more prison time, Polanski fled to France. 

He is currently in a Swiss prison, awaiting a decision on whether he will be extradited to the United States. Swiss officials have said he will likely not be released until a court has ruled - a process that could take weeks. 


Dec 3rd, 2008 | Samantha Gailey survey

Samantha Gailey says: leave Polanski alone


3 year old model, Samantha Gailey, had sex with Roman Polanski, who was at the time one of the rising stars in Hollywood. The affair was discovered, Polanski was tried, and fled out of the states to avoid being punished. Gailey is now well in her 40s and publically claims Polanski needs to be left alone:

Here's what she writes:

"Here's the way I feel about it: I don't really have any hard feelings toward him, or any sympathy, either. He is a stranger to me.

But I believe that Mr. Polanski and his film should be honored according to the quality of the work. What he does for a living and how good he is at it have nothing to do with me or what he did to me. I don't think it would be fair to take past events into consideration. I think that the academy members should vote for the movies they feel deserve it. Not for people they feel are popular." (source)



Samantha Gailey says: leave Polanski alone


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Lisa is a fiery vixen, full of passion and with a lusty, naughty side. Don't let her posh exterior fool you.spacer
closeupLisa has red hair and emerald green eyes. Her nipples are reddish-pink and her pubes are dark auburn. She comes complete withBLACK teddy, garters, and stockings (our lingerie supplier has discontinued the green); dark fuchsia fingernails; and golden hoop earrings.


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Top, Bottom, and Versitile

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If we were to take the standard sexuality preferences, male, female, either, and apply them to the sexes, and *then* add the gay male categorization, you start to see the magnitude of the problem (I count eighteen identifications, and we aren't even counting intersex at this point):

top male for female
top male for male
top male for either
top female for female
top female for male
top female for either
bottom male for female
bottom male for male
bottom male for either
bottom female for female
bottom female for male
bottom female for either
versatile male for female
versatile male for male
versatile male for either
versatile female for female
versatile female for male
versatile female for either

SNL Rips Beck

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Yes, It's *NOT* My Imagination

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Currently, women are a bunch of annoying shitheads who are more often than not problematic, unhappy wretches who merely want to extend that misery to another so they've got company.


It's a sad state, but see the graph?



From the same author:


We polled thousands of women on the following five questions, and interviewed in-depth those women who could respond "everyday" to four of the five. If you want to self-diagnose the kind of life you're living, try them out on yourself:


1. How often do you get to do things you really like to do?
2. How often do you find yourself actively looking forward to the day ahead?
3. How often do you get so involved in what you're doing you lose track of time?
4. How often do you feel invigorated at the end of a long, busy day?
5. How often do you feel an emotional high in your life?

What We Found

Martha Washington, the first first lady, said that, "The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our disposition and not on our circumstances." Our research certainly confirmed this. The women who could answer positively to the questions above had, on some level, simply decided that they were going to be happy. They made that choice.


Nutjobs on Parade, even moreso

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Obama Risks a Domestic Military 'Intervention'



There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America's military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the "Obama problem." Don't dismiss it as unrealistic.

America isn't the Third World. If a military coup does occur here it will be civilized. That it has never happened doesn't mean it wont. Describing what may be afoot is not to advocate it. So, view the following through military eyes:

  •  Officers swear to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic." Unlike enlisted personnel, they do not swear to "obey the orders of the president of the United States."

  •  Top military officers can see the Constitution they are sworn to defend being trampled as American institutions and enterprises are nationalized.

  •  They can see that Americans are increasingly alarmed that this nation, under President Barack Obama, may not even be recognizable as America by the 2012 election, in which he will surely seek continuation in office.

  •  They can see that the economy -- ravaged by deficits, taxes, unemployment, and impending inflation -- is financially reliant on foreign lender governments.

  •  They can see this president waging undeclared war on the intelligence community, without whose rigorous and independent functions the armed services are rendered blind in an ever-more hostile world overseas and at home.

  •  They can see the dismantling of defenses against missiles targeted at this nation by avowed enemies, even as America's troop strength is allowed to sag.

  •  They can see the horror of major warfare erupting simultaneously in two, and possibly three, far-flung theaters before America can react in time.

  •  They can see the nation's safety and their own military establishments and honor placed in jeopardy as never before.

    So, if you are one of those observant military professionals, what do you do?

    Wait until this president bungles into losing the war in Afghanistan, and Pakistan's arsenal of nuclear bombs falls into the hands of militant Islam?

    Wait until Israel is forced to launch air strikes on Iran's nuclear-bomb plants, and the Middle East explodes, destabilizing or subjugating the Free World?

    What happens if the generals Obama sent to win the Afghan war are told by this president (who now says, "I'm not interested in victory") that they will be denied troops they must have to win? Do they follow orders they cannot carry out, consistent with their oath of duty? Do they resign en masse?

    Or do they soldier on, hoping the 2010 congressional elections will reverse the situation? Do they dare gamble the national survival on such political whims?

    Anyone who imagines that those thoughts are not weighing heavily on the intellect and conscience of America's military leadership is lost in a fool's fog.

    Will the day come when patriotic general and flag officers sit down with the president, or with those who control him, and work out the national equivalent of a "family intervention," with some form of limited, shared responsibility?

    Imagine a bloodless coup to restore and defend the Constitution through an interim administration that would do the serious business of governing and defending the nation. Skilled, military-trained, nation-builders would replace accountability-challenged, radical-left commissars. Having bonded with his twin teleprompters, the president would be detailed for ceremonial speech-making.

    Military intervention is what Obama's exponentially accelerating agenda for "fundamental change" toward a Marxist state is inviting upon America. A coup is not an ideal option, but Obama's radical ideal is not acceptable or reversible.

    Unthinkable? Then think up an alternative, non-violent solution to the Obama problem. Just don't shrug and say, "We can always worry about that later."

    In the 2008 election, that was the wistful, self-indulgent, indifferent reliance on abnegation of personal responsibility that has sunk the nation into this morass.

    John L. Perry, a prize-winning newspaper editor and writer who served on White House staffs of two presidents, is a regular columnist for Newsmax.com. Read John Perry's columns here.

    © 2009 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

  • And The Winner is ....

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    In the post titled One of the Above below, I subsetted the Congress to the few (seventeen) potential congress-critters that had a lesbian affair with a Turkish spy.

    We have a winner.  It's apparently:

    Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D-IL 9th District) 6th term Democrat from Illinois 9th District. 

    Really Scary

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    Not the bomb, silly--the hysteria.

    Sicko Poll

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    Secret Service Investigating Facebook 'Kill Obama' Poll

    There are really only a few things you should never post online: Indiscreet pictures from spring break, tweets about what an awesome time you're having with the boys when you told your gf you were working late, and of course, anything that sounds like a threat to kill the president.

    Apparently, the folks who posted a poll Saturday on Facebook asking respondents "Should Obama be killed?" forgot that the NSA has armies of bots scanning the 'net 24/7 for any indication that someone might be planning harm to the occupant of the Oval Office.

    Which is why, as the Associated Press is now reporting, the Secret Service has started an investigation. Facebook has since removed the poll, whose possible answers included yes, maybe, if he cuts my health care, and no.

    Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is one of the people who's not going to be happy to hear about the poll. At a press conference following Joe Wilson's "You lie!" outburst at the State of the Union, Pelosi became emotional, saying the increasingly violent rhetoric surrounding the health care debate reminded her of the atmosphere in the days preceding the assassination of San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk.

    "I wish we would... understand that some of the ears that [those kinds of statements are] falling on are not as balanced as the person making the statements may assume," she said at the time. "You have to take responsibility for any incitement that [your words] may cause."



    FBObamaPoll.gif

    hermaphrodite-twins.jpg

    Intersex is a group of conditions where there is a discrepancy between the external genitals and the internal genitals (the testes and ovaries).

    The older term for this condition, hermaphroditism, came from joining the names of a Greek god and goddess, Hermes and Aphrodite. Hermes was a god of male sexuality (among other things) and Aphrodite a goddess of female sexuality, love, and beauty.

    Although the older terms are still included in this article for reference, they have been replaced by most experts (and patients and families) because they are misleading, confusing, and insensitive. Increasingly this group of conditions is being called disorders of sex development (DSDs).

    The symptoms associated with intersex will depend on the underlying cause, but may include:

    • Ambiguous genitalia at birth
    • Micropenis
    • Clitoromegaly (an enlarged clitoris)
    • Partial labial fusion
    • Apparently undescended testes (which may turn out to be ovaries) in boys
    • Labial or inguinal (groin) masses -- which may turn out to be testes -- in girls
    • Hypospadias (the opening of the penis is somewhere other than at the tip; in females, the urethra [urine canal] opens into the vagina)
    • Otherwise unusual appearing genitalia at birth
    • Electrolyte abnormalities
    • Delayed or absent puberty
    • Unexpected changes at puberty

    Ideally, a team of health care professionals with expertise in intersex should work together to understand and treat the child with intersex -- and to understand, counsel, and support the entire family.

    Parents should understand controversies and changes in treating intersex in recent years. In the past, the prevailing opinion was that it was generally best to assign a gender as quickly as possible, often based on the external genitals rather than the chromosomal gender, and to instruct the parents to have no ambiguity in their minds as to the gender of the child. Prompt surgery was often recommended. Ovarian or testicular tissue from the other gender would be removed. In general, it was considered easier to reconstruct female genitalia than functioning male genitalia, so if the "correct" choice was not clear, the child was often assigned to be a girl.

    More recently, the opinion of many experts has shifted. Greater respect for the complexities of female sexual functioning has led them to conclude that suboptimal female genitalia may not be inherently better than suboptimal male genitalia, even if the reconstruction is "easier." In addition, other factors may be more important in gender satisfaction than functioning external genitals. Chromosomal, neural, hormonal, psychological, and behavioral factors can all influence gender identity.

    Many experts now urge delaying definitive surgery for as long as healthy, and ideally involving the child in the gender decision.

    Clearly, intersex is a complex issue, and its treatment has short- and long-term consequences. The best answer will depend on many factors, including the specific cause of the intersex. It is best to take the time to understand the issues before rushing into a decision. An intersex support group may help acquaint families with the latest research, and may provide a community of other families, children, and adult individuals who have faced the same issues.

    Intersex can be divided into four categories:

    • 46, XX Intersex
    • 46, XY Intersex
    • True Gonadal Intersex
    • Complex or Undetermined Intersex

    Each one is discussed in more detail below. Note: In many kids the cause of intersex may remain undetermined, even with modern diagnostic techniques.

    46, XX Intersex. The person has the chromosomes of a woman, the ovaries of a woman, but external (outside) genitals that appear male. This usually is the result of a female fetus having been exposed to excess male hormones before birth. The labia ("lips" or folds of skin of the external female genitals) fuse, and the clitoris enlarges to appear like a penis. Usually this person has a normal uterus and Fallopian tubes. This condition is also called 46, XX with virilization. It used to be called female pseudohermaphroditism. There are several possible causes:

    • Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (the most common cause).
    • Male hormones (such as testosterone) taken or encountered by the mother during pregnancy.
    • Male hormone-producing tumors in the mother. These are most often ovarian tumors. Mothers who have children with 46, XX intersex should be checked unless there is another clear cause.
    • Aromatase deficiency. This one may not be noticeable until puberty. Aromatase is an enzyme that normally converts male hormones to female hormones. Too much aromatase activity can lead to excess estrogen (female hormone); too little to 46, XX intersex. At puberty these XX children, who had been raised as girls, may begin to take on male characteristics.

    46, XY Intersex. The person has the chromosomes of a man, but the external genitals are incompletely formed, ambiguous, or clearly female. Internally, testes may be normal, malformed, or absent. This condition is also called 46, XY with undervirilization. It used to be called male pseudohermaphroditism. Forming normal male external genitals depends on the appropriate balance between male and female hormones; therefore, enough requires the adequate production and function of male hormones. 46, XY intersex has many possible causes:

    • Problems with the testes. The testes normally produce male hormones. If the testes do not form properly, it will lead to undervirilization. There are a number of possible causes for this, including XY pure gonadal dysgenesis.
    • Problems with testosterone formation. Testosterone is formed through a series of steps where each requires a different enzyme. Deficiencies in any of these enzymes can result in inadequate testosterone and produce a different syndrome of 46, XY intersex. Different types of congenital adrenal hyperplasia can fall in this category.
    • Problems with using testosterone. Some people have normal testes, make adequate amounts of testosterone, but still have 46, XY intersex.
      • 5-alpha-reductase deficiency. People with 5-alpha-reductase deficiency lack the enzyme needed to convert testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT). There are at least 5 different types of 5-alpha-reductase deficiency. Some of the babies have normal male genitalia, some have normal female genitalia, and many have something in between. Most change to external male genitalia around the time of puberty.
      • Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS). This is the most common cause of 46, XY intersex. Here the hormones are all normal, but the receptors to male hormones don't function properly. There are over 150 different defects that have been identified so far, and each causes a different type of AIS. AIS has also been called testicular feminization.

    True Gonadal Intersex. Here the person must have both ovarian and testicular tissue. This might be in the same gonad (an ovotestis), or the person might have one ovary and one testis. The person may have XX chromosomes, XY chromosomes, or both. The external genitals may be ambiguous or may appear to be female or male. This condition used to be called true hermaphroditism. In most people with true gonadal intersex, the underlying cause is unknown, although in some animal studies it has been linked to exposure to common agricultural pesticides.

    Complex or Undetermined Intersex Disorders of Sexual Development. Many chromosome configurations other than simple 46, XX or 46, XY can result in disorders of sex development. These include 45, XO (only one X chromosome), and 47, XXY, 47, XXX -- both cases have an extra sex chromosome, either an X or a Y. These disorders do not result in an intersex condition where there is discrepancy between internal and external genitalia. However, there may be problems with sex hormone levels, overall sexual development, and altered numbers of sex chromosomes.

    • Chromosome analysis
    • Hormone levels (for example, testosterone level)
    • Hormone stimulation tests
    • Electrolyte tests
    • Specific molecular testing
    • Endoscopic examination (to verify the absence or presence of a vagina or cervix)
    • Ultrasound or MRI  to evaluate whether internal sex organs are present (for example, a uterus)

    Please see information on the individual conditions. The prognosis depends on the specific cause of intersex. With understanding, support, and appropriate treatment, overall outlook is excellent.

    If you notice that your child has unusual  genitalia or sexual development, discuss this with your health care provider.


    Gender Bias

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    I have been commenting somewhat privately about 'gender' issues (that what we have 'set up' is patently ridiculous and provably wrong in ever so many ways).  Here's an example:











    Now, if you examine all the photos in this set, you will note that there's a commonality there that precedes any attraction to the body of the other.

    In other words, if what you want (sexually) is pain, chances are you'll prefer your non-preferred gender to one of your preferred gender who prefers gentility in the sack, no?

    And if you are of a gentle nature, if offered an extremely attractive person in other respects, once the underlying requirements are exposed, the attraction simply is not there, no?

    The actual situation resembles RPG categories far more than that BS, "Male and female He created them."

    Of course, that's provably incorrect.  Male, female, and [P/C]AIS he created them, at *least* (gotta get that whole list made up properly).

    And if the G guy *forgot* to include that little fact in his 'Big Book' for us, what *else* might he have forgotten?  

    Per the (likely) incorrect 'Big Bangers' he's at least fifteen billion years old now. 

    I wouldn't think that it would be 'early onset' if it were some kind of age-induced senility.

    And of course, He created *US*.  That doesn't really point to a rational decision.

    Best one liner on that yet:

    Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire) 
    "God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." - Copy to Clipboard
      --  Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire) 






    Yeah.

    Acoustic and Chemical Attacks on the Brazilian Embassy

    The Sound and Fury of the Honduran Coup

    By LAURA CARLSEN

    counterpunch.com

    Over the past few days, reports poured in from Honduras of the use of sound devices and chemical warfare in attacks on the Brazilian Embassy by the Honduran coup. The use of Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) has been confirmed by observers and journalists. Numerous photographers have also documented their use.

    The UN Security Council today called upon the de facto government of Honduras to "cease harassing the Brazilian Embassy" and "condemned acts of intimidation."

    These devices are described as a "non-lethal weapon" produced by the U.S.-based American Technology Corporation. They emit painful sound at 151 db. with a range of 300 meters on land, and are used in situations of war and to control demonstrations.

    While acoustics weapons have been used over the past several days, on Friday the Armed Forces sprayed the Embassy with poisonous gases and by some accounts pumped them into the building through the drainage system. The Honduran News Network reports that First Lady Xiomara Castro de Zelaya climbed a ladder to ascertain the source of the attacks and was sprayed with chemicals. She and others in the Embassy are reportedly experiencing bleeding as a result of the effects of the chemicals.

    Father Andres Tamayo described the situation to Radio Progreso, "Over a thousand soldiers in front (of the Embassy) left and returned with a cistern and helicopters spraying gases. There are also neighbors that lent their houses to spray these things and house the military. They have placed pipes to spread the gases. We feel a tightness in our stomachs and throat, vomiting, dizziness and some people are urinating blood. There are more than a thousand people around here and at this moment all we can do is drink a little milk."

    A press conference was called to reveal the results of the analysis of the gas, done by public health specialist Dr. Mauricio Castellanos.

    * Concentrations above normal of amonia, which is used as a base of pepper gas
    * Concentration between 100 and 200 particles per thousand 
    * Hydrocyanic acid, which produces a rapid reaction on inhaling when it enters in contact with the iron in the blood, and produces vertigo, nausea, stomach pain, headaches and breathing difficulties

    The report concluded, "This mixture is technologically purely military, prohibited under international treaties. Exposure for a prolonged period is lethal to any living organism."
    Juan Almendares, a Honduran medical doctor and human rights leader, states:

    "The occupants of the Brazilian Embassy that accompany President Manuel Zelaya Rosales, his wife and family, communities and protesters are the object of the launching of chemical arms from helicopters and airplanes or troops, and the use of sophisticated sound and electromagnetic equipment that have produced severe diarrhea, vomiting, nasal hemorrhages and gastrointestinal problems in both the Embassy and surrounding areas.

    "According to the clinical reports, this could be due to the usage of toxic substances including: pesticides, chemical components of gases, radioactive substances like radioactive cesium and toxic mushrooms.
    "It is urgent that an international medical team from the United Nations and the World Health Organization be sent. We are facing an irregular war against the people of Honduras. The Armed Forces do not allow the International Red Cross entry into the Brazilian Embassy, violating all international health treaties and conventions and human rights."

    Numerous reports, including Honduran News Network sources, also mentioned radioactive cesium. If the use of radioactive cesium is confirmed, the consequences are very serious. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry finds that the effects of high levels include the symptoms listed above and even coma and death.

    This is the notorious "day-after" effect of nuclear bombs. The agency adds that "it is reasonable to expect that individuals exposed to high levels of radiation from a source of radioactive cesium will develop the same types of cancer observed in survivors of the atomic bombs in Japan."

    Embassies are protected under the Vienna Convention and any violation of this is an international issue. With the notable exceptions of Colombia and the United States, all nations of the region expressed concern about the Honduran situation at the 64th UN General Assembly meeting.

    As the society breaks down into a coup-provoked crisis, the Women's Collective CODEMUH writes in to that workers in offshore assembly plants have been forced to work overtime to make up for time lost due to the coup's curfews, in clear violation of labor law.

    The Collective notes, "According to Article 23 of the Labor Code, "Workers can participate in profits or benefits of the boss, but never assume the risks and losses," meaning that business cannot charge workers for the losses caused by the national political crisis, which the businessmen and women are key actors in causing. Ladies and gentlemen, you cannot force workers to pay for the losses that you provoked with the coup d'etat. "We call on transnational brands like Nike, GAP, Adidas, Hanes, HBI and Walmart, among others, as well as university students in the U.S. and consumers in general, who wear the products produced in the sweatshops of Honduras, to demand the offshore industry pay its workers for the days they did not show up for work due to the curfew of the de facto government, without requiring that they make up these days. And that the workers refuse to accept these extra days."

    President Zelaya has called on "the resistance to maintain the fight that together, the people and the president, will achieve the constitutional reforms and fall of the usurpers."

    With the no-holds-barred repression unleashed by the coup regime and the increasing militancy and organization of the resistance--still adhering to principles of non-violence, to their credit--the political ground has once again shifted in Honduras. The terms of the San Jose Accords, hammered out by President Oscar Arias of Costa Rica and consistently rejected by the coup regime, have become clearly obsolete. The demand for a constitutional assembly has grown in breadth and volume throughout the country. The urgent tasks before the international community are to recognize that the crisis requires structural reforms and not patch-ups, to halt the human rights violations immediately, and to take all diplomatic steps toward the reinstatement of the constitutional government.

    Laura Carlsen is director of the Americas Policy Program in Mexico City. She can be reached at: (lcarlsen(a)ciponline.org).

     

    12 Hour Party

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    That's really the way it works best in Texas, 4pm-4am.

    And I've got to say that over the years, this group of friends has matured to be a self-reinforcing structure (I'm watching a lovely crop of young'uns show up).

    How many places can you go to where you can sit down at a table of a half dozen, amidst some of the finest scotches, wines, and cigars on earth, and find that 100% has read Dante?

    Where *else* in freakin' Texas would you be able to get into a discussion of the rights of gender-altered individuals and not get tarred-and-feathered?  

    It's nice to be able to transition from a discussion of haute culture to the relative price of a .32 vs. a 9mm, and to skip from that to smoked meat recipes and animal rights.

    These Californians, they just aren't as deep or broad (I guess everything *is* bigger in Texas).

    I still miss the missing parties, though.  There were two that were *sorely* missed. 

    And there's another who I always hope will return to the fold, but never expect to hear from again.

    The best part is that I got to *personally* see the first engagement of the new crop.

    One can't really put a price on that, can one?

    Choosing A Wife

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    A man wanted to get married. He was having trouble choosing among three likely candidates. He gives each woman a present of $5,000 and watches to see what they do with the money. 

    The first does a total make over. She goes to a fancy beauty salon gets her hair done, new make up and buys several new outfits and dresses up very nicely for the man. She tells him that she has done this to be more attractive for him because she loves him so much. 

    The man was impressed. 

    The second goes shopping to buy the man gifts. She gets him a new set of golf clubs, some new gizmos for his computer, and some expensive clothes. As she presents these gifts, she tells him that she has spent all the money on him because she loves him so much. 

    Again, the man is impressed. 

    The third invests the money in the stock market. She earns several times the $5,000. She gives him back his $5,000 and reinvests the remainder in a joint account. She tells him that she wants to save for their future because she loves him so much. 

    Obviously, the man was impressed 

    The man thought for a long time about what each woman had done with the money he'd given her. 

    Then, he married the one with the biggest boobs. 

    Men are like that, you know. 

    ...

    More money is spent on breast implants and Viagra today than on Alzheimer's research. This means that, by 2040, there should be a large elderly population with perky boobs and huge erections and absolutely no recollection of what to do with them. 

    Big Walkout

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    Yeah.  I heard it yesterday on CNN.  'Biggest walkout--ever!' at the UN.  Note that Germany threatened to leave if there were 'anti-Israel' remarks but apparently didn't.  Maybe they finally 'get it' (the quote he's most famous for is "assume that the Germans committed atrocities on the Jews--why are we punishing the Palestinians for it???").

    Here's the story from presstv.ir:  

    Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivering a speech at the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.
    Delegations from the United States and a number of other countries have walked out of the UN chamber during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech. 

    France was the first to walk out of the room on Wednesday as Ahmadinejad once again affixed Israel to 'genocide'. 

    In his speech at the 64th UN General Assembly, the Iranian president said the Israeli regime was committing 'genocide' against the Palestinian people. 

    "How can one imagine that the inhumane policies in Palestine may continue to force the entire population of a country out of their homeland for more than 60 years by resorting to force and coercion; to attack them with all types of arms and even prohibited weapons," Ahmadinejad said. 

    "How can the crimes of the occupiers against defenseless women and children and destruction of their homes, farms, hospitals and schools be supported unconditionally by certain governments, and at the same time, the oppressed men and women be subject to genocide and heaviest economic blockade being denied of their basic needs, food, water and medicine." 

    Other than the US and France, delegations from Argentina, Australia, Britain, Costa Rica, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Italy and New Zealand left the room, a European source said. 

    "It is disappointing that Mr Ahmadinejad has once again chosen to espouse hateful, offensive and anti-Semitic rhetoric," Mark Kornblau, spokesman to the US mission to the UN, said in a statement. 

    German officials had earlier threatened to leave the UN hall if the Iranian president's speech included anti-Israel remarks. 

    A French diplomat also told AFP that European delegations had coordinated in advance what action to take if they found parts of the address unpalatable. Israel had earlier boycotted Ahmadinejad's speech. 

    I don't find the word 'myth' here

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    Full Text of President Ahmadinejad's Remarks at U.N. Conference on Racism

    April 21, 2009 
    by Jeremy R. Hammond
    Ahmadinejad speaks at the U.N. conference on racism (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)

    Ahmadinejad speaks at the U.N. conference on racism (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)

    This is a rush transcript of the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's remarks at the United Nations Durban Review Conference on racism in Geneva, Switzerland, on April 20, 2009. Transcribed from the translation given in the U.N. webcast of the speech.

    In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful... [Protestors in clown costumes escorted out by security] May he bestow upon his prophets... Praise be upon Allah, the Almighty, who is just, kind, and compassionate. May he bestow upon his prophets his blessings and his grace from Adam to Noah; Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, and His last prophet, Mohammed. Peace be upon them all who are the harbingers of monotheism, fraternity, love ... [Applause] ... human dignity and justice.

    Mr. Chairman. I call upon all distinguished guests to forgive these ignorant people.

    In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Praise be upon Allah, the Almighty, who is just, kind, and compassionate, and praise and salutations of the Almighty God to the great prophet. May he bestow upon [us] His blessings, His grace. We thank the Almighty God. Praise be upon him who is just and who is compassionate. And the salutations and regards of Allah to his prophets, from Noah to Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, and his last prophet Mohammed. Peace be upon them all who are the harbingers of monotheism, fraternity, love, human dignity, and justice.

    Mr. Chairman. Honorable Secretary General of the United Nations. Madam High Commissioner. Ladies and Gentleman. We have gathered here in the follow up to the Durban conference against racism and racial discrimination to work out practical mechanisms for our holy and humanitarian campaigns. Over the last centuries, humanity has gone through tremendous suffering and pain. In the middle ages, thinkers and scientists were sentenced to death. It was then followed by a period of slavery and slave trade, when innocent people in millions were captivated and separated from their families and loved ones, to be taken to Europe and America under worse conditions; the dark period that also experienced occupations, lootings, and massacres of innocent people.

    Many years passed by before nations rose up and fought for their liberty and freedom, and they paid a high price. They lost millions of lives to expel the occupiers and proclaim their independence. However, it did not take long that the coercive powers imposed two wars in Europe which also plagued a part of Asia and Africa. Those horrific wars claimed about 100 million lives and left behind massive devastation. Had lessons been learned from the occupations, horrors, and crimes of those wars, there would have been a ray of hope for the future. The victorious powers called themselves the conquerors of the world while ignoring or downtreading the rights of other nations by the imposition of oppressive laws and international arrangements.

    Ladies and gentlemen, let us take a look at the U.N. Security Council, which is one of the legacies of World War II and World War I. What was the logic behind their granting themselves the veto rights? How can such a logic comply with humanitarian or spiritual values? Could it be in conformity with the recognized principles of justice, equality before law, love, and human dignity? [Applause] Or rather, with discrimination, injustice, violation of human rights, or humiliation of the majority of nations and countries?

    That Council is the highest decision-making world body for safeguarding the international peace and security. How can we expect the realization of justice and peace when discrimination is legalized and the origin of law is dominated by coercion and force rather than by justice and the right?

    Coercion and arrogance is the origin of oppression and wars. Although today many proponents of racism condemn racial discrimination in their words and in their slogans, a number of powerful countries have been authorized to decide for other nations based on their own interests and at their own discretions. And they can easily ridicule and violate all laws and humanitarian values, as they have done so.

    Following World War II, they resorted to military aggression to make an entire nation homeless on the pretext of Jewish sufferings. And they sent migrants from Europe, the United States, and other parts of the world in order to establish a totally racist government in the occupied Palestine... [Delegates walk out in protest. Applause] And in fact in compensation for the dire consequences of racism in Europe... Okay, please. Thank you. And in fact in compensation for the dire consequences of racism in Europe, they helped bring to power the most cruel and repressive, racist regime in Palestine. [Applause]

    The Security Council helped stabilize this occupation regime and supported it in the past 60 years, giving them a free hand to continue their crimes. It is all the more regrettable that a number of Western governments and the United States have committed themselves to defend those racist perpetrators of genocide whilst the awakened conscience and free minded people of the world condemn aggression, brutalities and bombardments of civilians in Gaza. They have always been supportive or silent against their crimes. And before that, they have always been silent with regard to their crimes.

    Distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, what are the root causes of U.S. attacks against Iraq or invasion of Afghanistan? [Shouts from audience] What are the root causes of U.S. attacks against Iraq invasion of Afghanistan? Was the motive behind the invasion of Iraq anything other than the arrogance of the then U.S. administration and the mounting pressures on the part of the owner of wealth and power to expand their sphere of influence, seeking the interests of giant arms manufacturing companies, affecting a noble culture with thousands of years of historical background, eliminating potential and practical traits of Muslim countries against the useful Zionist regime, or to control and plunder energy resources of the Iraqi people? Why, indeed almost a million people were killed and injured and a few more millions were displaced and became homeless. Why, indeed the Iraqi people have suffered enormous losses amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars. And why was hundreds of billions of dollars imposed on the American people and its allies as a result of these military actions? Wasn't the military action against Iraq planned by the Zionists and their allies in the then U.S. administration in complicity with the arms manufacturing companies and the owner of the wealth?

    The invasion of Afghanistan; restore peace, security, and economic well being in this country. The United States and its allies not only have failed to contain [?] in Afghanistan, but also the illicit cultivation of narcotics multiplied in the course of their presence. The basic question is: What was the responsibility of the job of the then U.S. administration and its allies? Did it represent the world? Have they been mandated by them? Have they been authorized on behalf of the people of the world to interfere in all parts of the globe? And of course mostly in our region aren't these measures a clear example of egocentrism, racism, discrimination, or infringement upon the dignity and independence of nations?

    Ladies and gentlemen, who are responsible for the current global economic crisis? Where did the crisis start from? From Africa? From Asia? Or was it first from the United States, then spreading to Europe and to their allies? For a long time they imposed inequitable economic regulations. By their political power on the international economy they imposed a financial and a monetary system without a proper international oversight mechanism on nations and governments that played no role in the repressive trends or policies. They have not even allowed their people to oversee of monitor their financial policies. They introduce all laws and regulations in defiance to all moral values only to protect the interests of the owners of wealth and power. They further presented a definition of market economy and competition that denied many of the economic opportunities that could be available to other countries of the world. They even transferred their problems to others whilst the wave of crisis lashed back, plaguing their economies with thousands of billions of dollars in budget deficits. And today, they are injecting hundreds of billions of cash from the pockets of their own people into the failing banks companies and financial institutions making the situation more and more complicated for the economy and their people. They are simply thinking about maintaining power and wealth. They couldn't care any less about the people of the world and even about their own people.

    Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, racism is rooted in the lack of knowledge concerning the truth of human existence as the selected creature of God. It is also the product of his deviation from the true path of human life and the obligations of mankind in the world of creation. Failing to consciously worship God, not being able to think about the philosophy of life or the path to perfection that are the main ingredients of divine and humanitarian values, have restricted the horizon of human outlook, making transient and limited interests a yardstick for his actions.

    That is why the cells of the Devil's power took shape and expanded its realm of power by depriving others from enjoying equitable and just opportunities to development. The result has been the making of an unbridled racism that is posing the most serious threat against the international peace and has hindered the way for building peaceful coexistence in the entire world. Undoubtedly, racism is the symbol of ignorance which has deep roots in history. And it is indeed a sign of frustration in the development of human society. It is therefore crucially important to trace the manifestations of racism in situations or in societies where ignorance or lack of knowledge prevails in the societies. This increasing general awareness and understanding towards the philosophy of human existence is the principle struggle against such manifestations; which is the key to understanding the truth that humankind centers on the creation of the universe, and the key to a return to the spiritual and moral values, and finally the inclination to worship God the Almighty. The international community must initiate collective moves to raise awareness in the afflicted societies where the ignorance of racism still prevails so as to bring to a halt the spread of these malicious manifestations.

    Dear friends, today the human community is facing a kind of racism which has tarnished the image of humanity in the beginning of the third millennium. The world Zionism personifies racism that falsely resorts to religion and abuse religious sentiments to hide their hatred and ugly faces. However, it is of great importance to bring into focus the political goals of some of the world powers and those who control huge economic resources and interests in the world. They mobilize all their resources, including their economic and political influence and world media to render support in vain to the Zionist regime, and maliciously endeavor to diminish the indignity and disgrace of this regime. This is not simply a question of ignorance, and one cannot conquer this ugly phenomenon through cultural campaigns. Efforts must be made to put an end to the abuse by Zionists and their supporters of political and international means and respect of the will and aspirations of nations. Governments must be encouraged and supported in their fights aimed at eradicating this barbaric racism [applause] and to move towards reforming ... [applause] ... the current international mechanisms.

    There is no doubt that you are all aware of the conspiracies of some powers and Zionist circles against the goals and objectives of this conference. Unfortunately, there has been literature and statements in support of Zionism and their crimes, and it is the responsibility of honorable representatives of nations to disclose these campaigns which run counter to humanitarian values and principles. It should be recognized that boycotting such a session as an outstanding international capacity is a true indication of supporting the blatant example of racism.

    In defending human rights it is primarily important to defend the rights of all nations to participate equally in all important international decision making processes without the influence of certain world powers. And secondly it is necessary to restructure the existing international organizations and their respective arrangements. Therefore this conference is a testing ground and the world public opinion today and tomorrow will judge our decisions and our actions [applause].

    Mr. President. Mr President. Ladies and gentlemen. The world is going through fundamental changes, radical fundamental changes. Power relations have become so weak and fragile. The sounds of cracks in the pillars of world oppression can now be heard. Major political and economic structures are at the brink of collapse. Political and security crises are on the rise. The worsening crises in the world economy for which there can be seen no bright prospect, amply demonstrate the rising tide of far reaching global changes. I have repeatedly emphasized the need the change the wrong direction in which the world has been managed today. And I have also warned of the dire consequences of any delay in this crucial responsibility.

    Now, in this [?] and valuable event, I would like to announce here to all leaders thinkers, and to all nations of the world present in this meeting and those who have a hunger for peace and economic well being, that the management, the inequitable and unjust management of the world, is now at the end of the road. This deadlock was inevitable since the logic of this imposed management was oppressive.

    The logic of collective management of world affairs is based on noble aspirations which centers on human beings and the supremacy of the Almighty God.  Therefore it defies any policy or plan which goes against the interest of nations. Victory of the right over the wrong and establishment of a just world system have been promised by the Almighty God and his messengers and it has been a shared goal of all human beings from different societies and generations in the course of history. Realization of such a future depends upon the knowledge of the creation and the belief in the hearts of all the faithful [applause]. The making of a global society is in fact the accomplishment of a noble held in the establishment of a common global system that will be run with the participation of all nations of the world in all major and basic decision making processes and the definite route to this sublime goal. Scientific and technical capacities as well as communication technologies have created a common and wider spread understanding of the world society and has provided the necessary ground for a common system.

    Now it is incumbent upon all intellectuals, thinkers, and policy makers in the world to carry out their historical responsibility with firm belief to this definite route, I also want to lay emphasis on the fact that the western liberalism and capitalism, like communism, has reached to its end since it has failed to perceive the truth of the world and human[kind] as it is. It has imposed its own goals and directions on human beings with no regard for human and divine values, justice, freedom, love, or brotherhood; has based the living on the intensive competition securing individual and collective material interests.

    Now we must learn from the past by initiating collective efforts by dealing with present challenges, and in this connection and in closing my remarks I wish to draw your kind attention to two important points. One: It is absolutely possible to improve the existing situation in the world. However, it must be noted that it could only be achieved through the cooperation of all countries in order to get the best out of existing capacities and resources in the world. My participation in this conference is because of my conviction of these important issues, as well as to our common responsibility to defending the rights of nations vis-a-vis the sinister phenomenon of racism, and being with you, the thinkers of the world. [Applause]

    Two: Mindful of the inefficacy of the current international political, economic, and security systems on the world scene, it is necessary to focus on the divine and humanitarian values and by referring to the true definition of human beings, and based upon justice and respect for the rights of all people in all parts of the world, and by acknowledging the past wrongdoings in the past dominant management of the world undertake collective measures to reform the existing structures. In this respect, it is crucially important to reform the structure of the Security Council, including the elimination of the discriminatory veto right ... [applause] ...  and change the current world and financial monetary systems. It is evident that lack of understanding on the urgency for change is equivalent to the much heavier costs of delay.

    Dear friends, be aware that to move in the direction of justice and human dignity is like the national rapid flow in the current of a river. Let us not forget the essence of love and affection, the promised bright future of human beings is a great asset that will serve our purpose in keeping us together to build a new world and to make the world a better place full of love fraternity and blessings; a world devoid of poverty and hatred, [inaudible] the increasing blessings of God Almighty and the righteous management of the perfect human being. Let us all join hands in amity in playing our share in the fulfillment such a decent new world.

    I thank you Mr. President, Secretary General, and all distinguished participants for having the patience to listen to me. Thank you very much.


    The 'Evil Empire'

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    Yeah, I'm *really* scared of a bunch of people who haven't managed to conquer in a few thousand years.

    In any case, Iran is getting slammed (again) in the news (big walkout).

    Now, I can mention (again) the re/mis-translation of the phrase 'sacred cow' as 'myth', but I'll leave it at the comment.

    Here's some of the items he *actually* mentioned that you won't likely hear because the thirty seconds will be full of 'myth-busters' ;)

    Ahmadinejad calls for restructuring UN
    Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:41:09 GMT
    Font size :   
    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
    Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the restructuring of the UN in order to transform the world body into an efficient organization. 

    Ahmadinejad, in his address to the 64th session of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday said that the reform in the structure of the UN should turn the body into a "fully democratic organization, capable of playing an impartial" role in international relations. 

    Ahmadinejad also called for reforming the structure of the Security Council, especially by abolishing "the discriminatory privileges of the veto right". 

    The Iranian president also called for restoring the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people by organizing a referendum and free elections in Palestine.

    Ahmadinejad: Capitalism at end of road
    Thu, 24 Sep 2009 01:15:37 GMT
    Font size :   
    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
    Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the "unfair capitalism" system has reached the end of the road and the world needs fundamental changes. 

    Ahmadinejad, in his address to the 64th session of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday said, "Continuation of the current circumstances in the world is impossible." 

    He noted that the present unfavorable condition in the world runs counter to the very nature of human kind and contravenes the goal behind the creation of the world. 

    "It is no longer possible to inject thousands of billions of dollars of unreal wealth to the world economy simply by printing worthless paper assets, or transfer inflation as well as social and economic problems to others through creating severe budget deficits," Ahmadinejad said. 

    "The engine of unbridled capitalism with its unfair system of thought has reached the end of the road and is unable to move," the Iranian President stated. 

    "The era of capitalist thinking and imposition of one's thoughts on the international community, intended to predominate the world in the name of globalization and the age of setting up empires is over," Ahmadinejad concluded.

    You Might Pay Attention (really)

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    Protect Insurance Companies!!!!

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    Dreams w/o REMs

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    Sometimes I sing like I'm infinite monkeys, 
    at infinite typewriters.
    Here's the scene: you're at the zoo,
    the cheetah's ordered pizza but 
    the lions want Hawaiian and the tigers wanted mushrooms

    All you know is time goes on in meters
    Writing kilo-syllables, making noise
    while music's playing 
    in the background you can sleep
    and the dreams that will come to you, 
    will make more sense
    that what I write, cause 
    I write everything.


    (this came from recalling Mary Travers' statement about Zappa and Bowie--and wondering if Michael Stipe was doing the Bowie thing intentionally or not).

    Conspiracies

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    Always have a 'con' aspect to them.

    Now, one would have to be an idiot to think that the 'big' conspiracy going on, when the small one explains it.

    For example, one *could* conclude that the major media companies, reporting on ACORN, are telling the truth, and the rest of the world is trying to help them 'cover up' their 'fraud'.

    Or, one could take the easy path that points to the sell-outs in the media not even bothering to *READ* the ACORN statements.  It's not hard, but it's hard to read them and then give voice to any of their detractors.

    I should mention too, that I'm a former ACORN volunteer (in Dallas, Austin, and Albuquerque), and that their work organizing the 'little people' has always been terribly important (which is *exactly* why they are under attack).

    In another thread, on another topic, on a discussion not here, I pointed out that in the 'old days' (before non-violence became fashionable) there was a proscribed method for dealing with those who 'Bore False Witness' (and it involved a great many rocks).

    If we don't get a non-violent equivalent to this behavior, we are going to *continue* to suffer these liars' in our midst FOREVER.

    Anyway, that said, here's some links to a *FINE* group of people doing *IMPORTANT* work for *YOU* (even if you don't know it).  And of course, in Dallas, listen to KNON, and in Austin and Albuquerque, watch the Community Access TV station.

    Statement to Friends and Allies

      Many of you have seen the "news stories" that originated on Fox about ACORN employees captured on videotape advising people posing as a prostitute and a pimp on how to complete federal tax forms and secure a mortgage.

    [more]

    [Full Statement, PDF]

    ACORN and Voter Registration - Get the Facts

    ACORN Voter Registration Myths and Facts

    ACORN 2008 Voter Registration Statement

    The Truth About ACORN is where you can find out the truth behind the attacks on the organization and the lies being spread about its work.

    Statements of support from organizations that share ACORN mission of expanded voter participation, economic justice, and fighting for working families.

    This section contains links to several videos that show various independent experts, ACORN staff, and ACORN leaders presenting information about ACORN's voter registration work, its quality control systems, and explaining the nature of the coordinated and largely partisan attacks on the organization.

    Flexibility

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    As I've mentioned, the herbs are doing *wonders* for my arthritis.

    I realized I'd be able to assume a posture soon that many people assume I'm already in.

    Yes, I will be able to stick my head up my ass.
    The Ground Truth: The Untold Story of America Under Attack on 9/11
     





     

    The Ground Truth: The Untold Story of America Under Attack on 9/11 (Hardcover)

    by John Farmer (Author)

















    Editorial Reviews

    From Publishers Weekly
    Farmer, senior counsel to the 9/11 Commission, updates the commission's report in this thorough and bipartisan analysis. Drawing on newly declassified records and recent investigative reports from the departments of defense and transportation, the author concludes that the failure to detect and prevent the attack lay in the [bureaucratic] nature of modern government. Most significantly, rules proscribing information-sharing within and among agencies meant that no one had complete access to all available intelligence or information--typical bureaucratic inertia that presaged the government's bungled response to Hurricane Katrina. Farmer faults the disconnect between decision-makers and operational employees, concluding that leadership was irrelevant on 9/11 and the official version of events was almost entirely, and inexplicably, untrue. Farmer's conclusion that bureaucratic government does not adapt fast enough to changing missions to be effective is not original, but in his careful exegesis of the events of 9/11, he transcends easy generalizations to expose the fault lines in contemporary governance and point the way to fundamental reform. (Sept.) 
    Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 

    Review
    "All Americans should read John Farmer's The Ground Truth. With keen analytical insight, Farmer rips the lid off of many mysteries pertaining to both the 9/11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina. A highly recommended historical curative for our times."
    --Douglas Brinkley, author of The Great Deluge

    "No one is more qualified to write the definitive book about the tragedy of 9/11 than John Farmer. Fortunately, he has done so. Even more fortunately the language is clear, alive and instructive for anyone who wants to make certain this never happens again."
    --Bob Kerrey, Former US Senator and Member of the 9/11 Commission

    "In revisiting the tragedy of the 9/11 attacks that still haunt America, John Farmer provides a devastating account of how what government and military officials told Congress, the 9/11 Commission on which he served, the media, and the public 'was almost entirely, and inexplicably, untrue.' The result is a major, carefully documented and deeply disturbing book, one that deserves the most serious attention of every American concerned about our future."
    --Haynes Johnson, Pulitzer Prize winner and best-selling author.

    "Physics teaches us that waves of the same frequency amplify each other. That's what brought down the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. The Ground Truth reveals 9/11 as a manifestation of that same phenomenon, with waves of history cresting together. It does so with perfect clarity, thanks to the brilliance of finding, in the examples of two "minor" national security agencies, the dysfunctionality that plagued the mightiest-seeming arms of the government. I made the mistake of not writing down the first two or three times I felt goosebumps. The Ground Truth is superbly conceived and carried out. What a great book." --Jim Dwyer, author of 102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers

    "Revelatory-Farmer makes shattering new sense of the day's events and exposes the true disarray and arrogance in the military and government responses."
    -William Langewiesche, author of American Ground and The Atomic Bazaar 

    DIVORCE VS. MURDER

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    A nice, calm and respectable lady went into the pharmacy, walked up to the Pharmacist, looked straight into his eyes, and said, "I would like to buy some Cyanide."

    The pharmacist asked, "Why in the world do you need cyanide?"

    The lady replied, "I need it to poison my husband."

    The pharmacist's eyes got big and he exclaimed, "Lord have mercy! I can't give you cyanide to kill your husband.

    That's against the law! I'll lose my license! They'll throw both of us in jail!  All kinds of bad things will happen. Absolutely not!  

    You CANNOT have any cyanide!"

    The lady reached into her purse and pulled out a picture of her husband in bed with the pharmacist's wife.

    The pharmacist looked at the picture and replied, "Well now, that's different. You didn't tell me you had a prescription."

    Last Known Good Bylaws for GPMC

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    from the 'internet wayback machine' (no, not *that* one):


    BYLAWS OF THE GREEN PARTY OF MENDOCINO COUNTY

    This organization shall be known as the Green Party Of Mendocino County, or
    GPOMC, and is ultimately responsible to the registered voters of the Green
    Party of Mendocino County

    1.  Membership
         a.)
    All persons registered as Green Party voters, residing in the
    County of Mendocino, shall be regarded as members of the Green Party of
    Mendocino County.
         b.)Non-citizens, non-residents of Mendocino County, and others
    otherwise unable to vote may be regarded as members if they have been
    actively engaged in the work of the Green Party of Mendocino County.

    2.  General Membership Meeting
    Here after known as the General Meeting or GM
         a.)General Meetings are gatherings of Greens to consult together, make
    decisions, share knowledge and information, communicate and otherwise
    maintain the cohesiveness of the GPOMC.
         b.)The General Membership Meeting is open to all registered Greens and
    interested observers.
         c.)All registered Green Party voters who are present at the current
    meeting can vote and participate in the decision-making of the Green Party
    of Mendocino through General Meetings or present concerns that require a
    vote. 
        d.) General Meetings will be held every third month. on the second Monday

    in rotating order between Ukiah, Willits, Fort Bragg and Boonville. The date,

    time and place shall be noticed at the previous GM and noticed in the county

    media

    Local meetings will be held at the convenience of local groups at an interval and

    location decided on by each group. Monthly meetings are recommended.

         d.)General Meetings will be held every month on the second Monday in
    rotating order between Ukiah, Willits, 
    Fort Bragg and Boonville. The date,
    time and place shall be noticed at the previous GM and noticed in the
    county media.
         
         e.)If there is reason to call a meeting out of sequence this may be
    done by the previous General Meeting or by a quorum of the County Council.  
         f.)A quorum necessary to make a decision that concerns the whole
    membership at a General Meeting shall be eleven (11) active members.
         g.)As the main deliberative body of the Green Party of Mendocino
    County, the General Meeting shall:
    ` 1) Define general goals, policy, strategy, and priorities of the GPOMC
    2) Make endorsements of candidates and ballot measures
    3) Direct the spokesperson to make statements in the name of the GPOMC 
    4) Make recommendations and proposals to the County Council
    5) Elect delegates to the General Assembly of the Green Party of California
    6) Elect treasurer and secretary of GPOMC 
    7)Review the decisions and actions of any other body of the Green Party of
    Mendocino County
    8) Amend these bylaws 
    9) Elect County Council Member(s) to fill vacancies in between primary
    elections. The State Coordinating Committee must be notified immediately by
    the Secretary if such action takes place.  
    10) Delegate any work necessary to expedite a decision by the GM to a
    Working Group
    11) Choose a facilitator for the next General Meeting who will then
    collect items and establish the agenda for said meeting.

    3.  Elections:
         a.)All internal elections of the Green Party of Mendocino County shall
    be governed by the rules covered in this article. 
    In elections a preferential voting system shall be used.  
         1)If, in any election, the number of candidates or options is less
    than or equal to the number to be selected, then the Meeting may choose to
    elect by consensus. 
         2)If, in this case, there is any objection to electing by consensus,
    then the election will proceed by secret ballot. 
         b.)All active members will be permitted to cast ballots for any or all
    candidates; any candidate not receiving a majority of all votes cast will
    not be elected.
         c.)Delegates to the General Assembly of the Green Party of California
    are to be elected at a General Meeting preceding the next State General
    Assembly.
         d.)The County Council may canvass the active membership before the
    meeting, and may present a slate of nominees to the meeting.
         e.)At the General Meeting, nominations may also be made; the General
    Meeting shall then proceed to elect the delegation according to the
    procedures set down in this article. 
         f.)The General Meeting may also delegate the election of delegates or
    a portion of the delegation to the County Council or to a Working  Group.

    4.  The County Council

          a) The registered membership of the GPOMC shall be represented by

    the County Councilwhich shall meet monthly in person or by telephone.
         a.)The registered membership of the GPOMC shall be represented by the
    County Council.

         b.)The number of County Council members shall be seven (7).
         c.)Members of the County Council of the GPOMC shall be elected at
    large for two-year terms in each general primary election and shall take
    office at noon on the Tuesday following the 30th day after their election. 
         d.)Members of the County Council must be registered members of the
    Green Party of California and live in the County of Mendocino.
         e.)The name of each candidate for member of County Council shall
    appear on the ballot only if she or he has filed a nomination paper
    pursuant to Division 6 (commencing with Section 6000) of the Elections
    Code, signed in the candidates behalf by twenty (20) active members
    (sponsors).  These sponsors may reside in any district within Mendocino
    County
     and may endorse multiple Council Candidates outside of the district
    in which they reside.  
         f.)Care should be taken to assure when possible that all supervisorial
    districts are represented and there is a racial and gender balance. 
         g.)The County Council shall act upon or communicate the deliberations,
    decisions, and actions and shall do the business of the General Membership
    of the GPOMC.
         h.)County Council duties are:   
    1)To propose agenda items, and to make recommendations and proposals for
    General Meetings, subject to its revision by majority vote of the GM.
    2) To see that the records of the Green Party of Mendocino County are
    maintained. 
    3) To set dates for General Meetings, if not otherwise decided at the
    previous General Meeting, and to take adequate steps to see that the
    membership is informed of those dates.
    4) To ask for and receive reports and recommendations from the Working
    Groups and to make comments on above to GM;    
    5) To make every reasonable effort to see to it that decisions of General
    Meetings are faithfully carried out 
    6) To make such decisions as are normally reserved to a General Meeting,
    but cannot be delayed until the next scheduled General Meeting session.
    Decisions may be subject to revision or rejection at the next General
    Meeting.  However, the implementation of controversial decisions must
    require calling a General Meeting ASAP.   
    7) To be ultimately responsible for seeing that the legal and fiscal
    responsibilities of the Green Party of Mendocino are met.
    8) To authorize individuals (spokesperson(s) to speak for the GPOMC
    General Meeting, within the general parameters of established GPOMC policy,
    the State Platform, and recognized green values.
    9) To carry out any duties required of it by the Green Party of California.  
         h.) The County Council may delegate any of its duties and powers to
    committees.  These committees may contain non council members and may act
    in all other respects as Working Groups of the GPOMC but remain responsible
    to the CC.
         i.)It may elect delegates if the General Meeting failed to elect or
    provide for the election of sufficient delegates to the State of California
    General Assembly
    .  If at the General Assembly there are not a sufficient
    number of delegates present, then the delegates present may choose
    alternates from any members of the Green Party of Mendocino County who are
    present.
         j.)The County Council shall distribute the individual duties described
    in this Section to volunteers among its membership and inform the General
    Membership about the various internal appointments and responsible contact
    persons.  After the installation of at least three new Council members, the
    Council shall redetermine this distribution and inform the General
    Membership of any changes. Note: These are "duties" not "offices".
          k.)A council member may appoint an alternate in her/his absence.
    Alternates shall have full consensus and voting rights only with the
    written authorization of their appointing Council member. An alternate
    member shall be subject to the rules of the Council and may vote only while
    the elected member is absent.
         l.)A Council member automatically resigns if s/he:
         1) Moves out of Mendocino County.
         2) Is no longer a registered Green.
         3) Misses three consecutive Council meetings, without appointing an
    alternate.
         m.)A sitting council member can be recalled by the process stated here:
         1)Three members of the GPOMC present a written statement to the
    Council member specifying why they would like the Council member recalled. 
         2)The statement must be presented to the County Council member at a
    Council or General meeting or by certified mail.  The agenda of the next GM
    shall allot equal times for the two positions.  If that meeting results in
    a consensus (minus the member being recalled) or in a 75% fall back vote at
    a following General meeting (at least seven days apart) in favor of recall,
    the Council member is recalled.
         n.)Any member of the County Council may be removed if they:
            1) Register as a member of another political party. 
            2) Violate the bylaws of the GPOMC.
            3) Behave in a manner blatantly not in keeping with the 10 Green Values.
            4) Misuse of funds of the GPOMC or of any working group or of any
    campaign of the GPOMC. 

    5.  Secretary Duties:
         a. Take the minutes of both G.M. and CC meetings or assign someone to
    do so in the secretary's place.   May appoint an additional note taker.
         b. Keep all official GPOMC documents including bylaws, standing rules,
    position papers, meeting minutes, financial records, membership lists, etc.
         c. Act as the conduit for all reports to the County Council not
    assigned to another contact person.

    6.  Treasurer Duties:
    a. Maintain the financial accounts of the GPOMC.
    b. Keep the party checkbook and be responsible for acceptance and
    dispersal of all party funds.
    c. Shall be responsible for reporting the GPOMC finances to the G.M.
    at every monthly meeting or appoint someone to do so if unable to attend.

    d. Shall be responsible for submitting  all legally required government reports to proper agencies

    7. Amending Bylaws
    These bylaws may be amended at any time through the following process:
    a. Proposals for an amendment must be submitted to the GM. 
    b. If it is agreed that the amendment is necessary, then a bylaws
    working group shall draft  a proposed amendment. 
    c. The proposed amendment may be adopted at the next GM by consensus
    or if necessary a  75% vote.
     
                             ADDENDUM to GPOMC Bylaws:

    Affirmative Action.

    The membership of the Green Party of Mendocino shall take affirmative
    action to reach goals of sexual, racial, and social diversity and balance
    in the allocation of responsibilities among its members. The Green Party of
    Mendocino shall also work to ensure that the diversity of local Green
    groups interested in participation are included.

    Freedom to Speak and Caucus Around Political Views. 
    Members in the minority on a decision may publicly dissent from that
    decision, and organize caucuses to promote their views, provided they

    clearly distinguish their position from that of the majority.

    Freedom of Information.

    All financial records, membership lists, meeting minutes, and other
    official Green Party of Mendocino records shall be open for inspection by
    any active member. To facilitate this capability, all official records must
    be filed with the responsible Council member in both 'hard-copy' and
    electronic-format'.

    Green Conduct

    No individual member, Working Group, Committee, or Green Local recognized by
    the Green Party of Mendocino shall:
    a) commit the Green Party of Mendocino or any of its affiliates (other than
    themselves) to actions, endorsements, or other policy positions outside the
    decision-making process described within these Bylaws;
    b) misrepresent the decisions and policies of any Green Party body;
    c) commit financial irregularities with Green Party funds;
    d) advocate or practice racial, sexual, national, or religious discrimination;
    e) advocate or practice violent political action;
    f) violate any other provision within these Bylaws.

     Violations.

    The responsibilities described in this Section shall apply to all
    individual members, Working Groups, Committees, and Green Locals recognized
    by the Green Party of Mendocino Violations may be cause for sanctions
    including (as appropriate) reprimand, suspension , recall or expulsion.
    These sanctions, except for reprimand, result in either a temporary or
    permanent loss of 'standing' (or voting rights) within the Green Party of
    Mendocino. 
    All such sanctions must be voted on by secret ballot at any meeting of the
    General Membership and require prior notice and a "high threshold" vote
    (75%>>majority)  for approval. The accused shall be given prior notice and
    shall have the opportunity to present a defense before the vote.

    Proposals

    Proposals to be considered by the General Membership may be submitted by
    the County Council, or any Committee or Working Group.

    Proposals to be considered by the General Membership may be submitted by
    any individual member to the County Council or appropriate Committee or
    Working Group for evaluation before submission to the General Membership.
    alternately, such proposals may be submitted directly to the General
    Membership but, in this case, will require consensus for approval

    Working Groups

    The Green Party of Mendocino is both a political party and a grass roots
    political activist Organization. The work of the activist members of the
    GreenParty of Mendocino is organized through Working Groups. Working Groups
    are voluntary associations of Green Party of Mendocino activists carrying
    out that aspect of the work of the Green Party of Mendocino to which they
    are dedicated or interested. The Working Groups, along with the membership
    the County Council, comprise the Green Party of Mendocino, as it exists as
    an activist organization. Working Groups may be established by either the
    County Council or by a General Meeting/Plenary. The purpose of the Working
    Group, its duties, responsibilities, and delegated powers (if any), should
    be clearly stated at the time of its formation. The establishing body may
    name a coordinator for the Group. An individual shall be designated to
    serve as a liaison to the County Council. Working Groups may be executive or
    deliberative, or both, depending on the nature of their work. Decision
    making within Working Groups shall be by consensus. WG¼s may establish
    their own rules of procedure, or may use an informal decision-making
    process, according to the specific needs of the Group. The County Council
    will be responsible for keeping track of which Groups are active, and which
    are not.
    Working Groups will be responsible for keeping a list of ongoing, active
    members and supplying the County Council with that list, as well as with
    meeting dates and times. Working Groups are required to remain active, if
    their work is ongoing, or they will be dissolved. The County Council has
    discretion to dissolve inactive Groups, or to merely suspend them, if the
    Group¼s work is periodic, Working Groups are not to be maintained if
    interest in their work has failed, of if their functions are obsolete.
    Active Working Groups may be dissolved with the consent of both the County
    Council and the General Meeting/Plenary, or a Working Group may dissolve
    itself. Working Groups may establish and dissolve committees to which they
    may assign or delegate specific tasks. No Working Group may make any
    financial commitment on behalf of the Green Party of Mendocino without the
    prior consent of the County Council, unless financial powers have been
    specifically delegated to it, or unless specific arrangements have been
    made for the Group's independent financial responsibility. No Working Group
    may make any endorsement, or claim to speak on behalf of the Green Party of
    Mendocino without prior approval or delegation by the appropriate body. 
    Consensus

    All bodies of the Green Party of Mendocino shall seek consensus in all
    decision-making. Any item or resolution presented to a body of the Green
    Party of Mendocino which has not chosen another process as provided for
    under these bylaws, must be passed through the following formal process of
    consensus: Any item presented to the Meeting will be given adequate time,
    within the judgment of the Facilitator and the limits of the agenda, for
    discussion and consideration. When satisfied that the proposal is
    sufficiently understood by the membership, the Facilitator will ask for,
    and recognize members to present. 
    Concerns. Each Concern may be addressed by further discussion and proposals
    to amend the item. When, in the judgment of the Facilitator, Concerns have
    been addressed as well as may be, the Facilitator shall call for consensus
    by asking for unresolved Concerns. If there are no unresolved Concerns,
    then the proposal has passed; but if unresolved Concerns remain, then the
    Facilitator shall ask if the member presenting the Concern will stand
    aside. If the member is willing, then the proposal has passed; and the
    Concern will be recorded verbatim in the journal of the Meeting. If,
    however, the member is unwilling to stand aside, then the Meeting shall
    proceed to vote on the proposal. The total number of votes for and against
    the proposal, and the number of abstentions, shall be recorded in the
    journal of the Meeting; and at the request of any two members, the vote
    shall be taken by secret ballot. If the proposal is a policy-making
    decision, then 80% approval of the members voting is required for the
    proposal to pass; but if the proposal is a business item, then a 2/3 vote
    of the members voting will be sufficient to pass the proposal. If, however,
    the number of members abstaining is more than 25% of the number of members
    voting yes and no, then the proposal has not passed. 
    A policy item shall be defined as any proposal which sets official Green
    Party of Mendocino policy, makes endorsements of candidates or ballot
    measures, establishes a process, or amends bylaws. 
    A business item shall be defined as any proposal which executes a policy
    already established, establishes or dissolves committees or Working Groups,
    chooses an established process, makes statements or non-ballot endorsements
    that are in accordance with established Green Party of Mendocino positions,
    or otherwise makes no fundamental changes in the structure or positions of
    the Green Party of Mendocino only active members may present unresolved
    Concerns or vote on proposals in any meeting of the Green Party of Mendocino

    Fiscal policy:

     

    Green Party funds are to be used only for party building, electoral and candidate

    support.  Special purpose fund raising will be allowed.


    Revisions:

     

    Approved 2/10/03

    Section 2.

    Replace:   d.) General Meetings will be held every third month. on the second Monday in rotating order between Ukiah, Willits, Fort Bragg and Boonville. The date, time and place shall be noticed at the previous GM and noticed in the county media

    Local meetings will be held at the convenience of local groups at an interval and location decided on by each group. Monthly meetings are recommended.

     

    Section 4.  The County Council
    Replace:   a) The registered membership of the GPOMC shall be represented by the County Council, which shall meet monthly in person or by telephone.

     

    Approved 2/14/03

    Section 6. Treasurer Duties;

    Add "d. Shall be responsible for submitting  all legally required government reports to proper agencies."

     

    Add: Fiscal policy: Green Party funds are to be used only for party building, electoral and candidate support.  Special purpose fund raising will be allowed.

     

     


    The Emperor of Hemp

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    Jack Herer suffered a heart attack on his trip to the Hempstalk in Portland, OR.



    If you heard he was already dead, that's a nasty rumor mongered by this man (rumor attached since examiner.com had the decency to remove it (though not enough to remove him):

    John English
    Portland Drug Policy Examiner


    Find out more about John:

    John English, a retired professional locksmith of 27 years and a member of Drug Watch International, has worked against illicit drug use for a quarter century, and with the help of committed friends, has contributed to positive changes in his community and surrounding cities. He has instituted a new approach of bringing his former out-of-control drug community to be family-friendly. josiahrivers@gmail.com

    Jack is dead; he and Jerry can say hello again ... Ken Kesey too ... three criminals, three lives wasted. Of course there's an endless list ... Keith Ledger, Michael Jackson, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, John Lennon, Leary ... the list just goes on and on and on. 

    Jack lived and died in denial. Live by the sword, die by the sword, I guess ... 

    I'd warned him. He'd taken a toke or two just before collapsing at the 2000 Hempfest run by Bill Conde in Harrisburg, Oregon and had a stroke. I was just down the road and watched the ambulance take him away although I wasn't aware who was inside at first. Though we talked, he refused to believe that pot raised one's blood pressure then; he got angry at me for saying it; he refused to believe it until the day he died. 

    The day they took him away from Conde's, Bill had accused me of starting a fire in the dry field across the road from where I was protesting. I saw the teenagers who'd thrown the fireworks into the field and called it in to the fire department immediately with a description of the car and the license plate number. Bill knew the accusation wasn't true, but he and Jack were two of a kind. Bill wasn't much for the truth either. 

    I actually found out I liked Bill but never had any use for Jack, nor Jerry, nor Ken Kesey, all of whom promoted pot use to America's youth! 

    Evidently, Jack died after getting worked up again? He was a passionate and excitable guy. Just like the during the 2000 hempfest, where he had a stroke in front of the crowd, he collapsed at Portland's hempfest, but backstage this time, on Saturday, September 15 after once again speaking about the miracles of pot. 

    Take a look at Jack's last comments in another Examiner's column ... Jack was deceived until the end. 

    They'll hate me even more for this article ... nothing new ... that's how it goes with druggies ... that's how it is with addicts. 

    Republican Gomorrah

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    Over the last year, award-winning journalist and videographer Max Blumenthal has been behind some of the most sensational (and funniest) exposes of Republican machinations. Whether it was his revelation that Sarah Palin was "anointed" by a Kenyan priest famous for casting out witches, or his confronting Republican congressional leaders and John McCain's family at the GOP convention about the party's opposition to sex education (and hence, the rise in teen pregnancies like that of Palin's daughter), or his expose of the eccentric multimillionaire theocrat behind California's Prop 8 anti-gay marriage initaive, Blumenthal has become one of the most important and most constantly cited journalists on how fringe movements are becoming the Republican Party mainstream.

    Republican Gomorrah is a bestiary of dysfunction, scandal and sordidmess from the dark heart of the forces that now have a leash on the party. It shows how those forces are the ones that establishment Republicans-like John McCain-have to bow to if they have any hope of running for President. It shows that Sarah Palin was the logical choice of a party in the control of theocrats. But more that just an expose, Republican Gomorrah shows that many of the movement's leading figures have more in common than just the power they command within conservative ranks. Their personal lives have been stained by crisis and scandal: depression, mental illness, extra-marital affairs, struggles with homosexual urges, heavy medication, addiction to pornography, serial domestic abuse, and even murder. Inspired by the work of psychologists Erich Fromm, who asserted that the fear of freedom propels anxiety-ridden people into authoritarian settings, Blumenthal explains in a compelling narrative how a culture of personal crisis has defined the radical right, transforming the nature of the Republican Party for the next generation and setting the stage for the future of American politics. 
    Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party
     
     

    Nation of Morons

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    Bob sent this to the Stop the War Machine mailing list:

    Claims_Office.jpg

    Yes, it's hard to ignore, isn't it?  Especially when you see all the geriatric geezers with their tea-bags demanding that their social-security be eliminated.



    The lady shown with the 'birth certificate' is a lovely example of a cognitive disorder called 'True Believer' syndrome.

    Note how glibly she contradicts the statement that the document is forged.

    cartoon-orly-taitz-ai

    Keeping things in Perspective

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    I got a whiner today from the 'good guys' who pointed out that 44K people die every year in America from lack of health insurance.

    But the death rate for people who see a doctor and he kills them by mistake?

    Around 100K.


    Headin' to The Lone Star State ...

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    Things are a bit dimmer there, since Sol isn't a 'major' star in their context. This is merely prep:


    Absolutely Bizarre Symptom

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    So, I'm continuing on the herbal treatment, and I'm hanging my *shower curtain* (no sharp edges) and a pencil eraser size bit of flesh flaked off my left pinky knuckle and it started *pouring* blood (plus a tiny bit half that size that did the same at first).

    It's been an hour.  I gave up on band-aids ten minutes in when the first one started leaking.  I've strapped a paper towel to my hand with duct tape.
    But Mother Jones caught up:

    Corn Syrup's Mercury Surprise

    Are grape jelly and chocolate milk bad for kids' brains?

    CornSyrup-300x250.jpg

    If the specter of obesity and diabetes wasn't enough to turn you off high- fructose corn syrup (HFCS), try this: New research suggests that the sweetener could be tainted with mercury, putting millions of children at risk for developmental problems.

    In 2004, Renee Dufault, an environmental health researcher at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), stumbled upon an obscure Environmental Protection Agency report on chemical plants' mercury emissions. Some chemical companies, she learned, make lye by pumping salt through large vats of mercury. Since lye is a key ingredient in making HFCS (it's used to separate corn starch from the kernel), Dufault wondered if mercury might be getting into the ubiquitous sweetener that makes up 1 out of every 10 calories Americans eat.

    Dufault sent HFCS samples from three manufacturers that used lye to labs at the University of California-Davis and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The labs found mercury in most of the samples. In September 2005, Dufault presented her findings to the FDA's center for food safety. She was surprised by what happened next. "I was instructed not to do any more investigation," she recalls. FDA spokeswoman Stephanie Kwisnek says that the agency decided against further investigation because it wasn't convinced "that there was any evidence of a risk."

    At first, Dufault was reluctant to pursue the matter. But eventually, she became frustrated enough to try to publish the findings herself. She had her 20 original samples retested; mercury was found in nearly half of them. In January, Dufault and her coauthors--eight scientists from various universities and medical centers--published the findings in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health. Although they weren't able to determine what type of mercury was present, they concluded that if it was organic, the most dangerous form, then based on average hfcs consumption, individuals could be ingesting as much as 200 micrograms of the neurotoxin per week--three times more than the amount the fda deems safe for children, pregnant women, women who plan to become pregnant, and nursing mothers.

    But the FDA and the Corn Refiners Association, an industry trade group, claim there's nothing to worry about. The group hired ChemRisk, the consulting firm whose scientists testified on behalf of a polluting utility in the lawsuit portrayed in Erin Brockovich, to analyze Dufault's report. ChemRisk criticized Dufault for not specifying the type of mercury her tests had found. This, the consultants said, was key, since mercury poses different risks depending on its chemical form. In its unadulterated elemental state, mercury is relatively safe to ingest--the body absorbs only about a tenth of a percent of it. Inorganic forms of mercury, such as cinnabar, are more easily absorbed and therefore more dangerous than elemental. Organic forms, like methylmercury, which originate from fossil-fuel emissions and build up in the fatty tissue of tuna and other kinds of fish, are the worst; readily absorbed, they can cumulatively damage the brain and nervous system.

    Though it provides no scientific evidence to back up this assertion, the FDA says that the mercury in Dufault's HFCS samples is elemental. But the lab that analyzed the samples believes there's a good chance the mercury is organic. The analysts "said in so many words, 'It doesn't look like inorganic,'" says Peter Green, Dufault's UC-Davis colleague who coordinated with the lab. "They would even say it's more likely not the regular elemental mercury."

    The corn-syrup industry claims that no HFCS manufacturers currently use mercury-grade lye, though it concedes some used to. (According to the EPA, four plants still use the technology.) It says that its own tests found no traces of mercury in HFCS samples from US manufacturers, including a number of samples from some of the same sources Dufault tested. But hundreds of foreign plants still use mercury to make lye--which may then be used to make foods for export. Already, 11 percent of the sweeteners and candy on the US market are imported.

    At around the same time that she published her study, Dufault also learned of a report issued by the Minnesota-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, which found low levels of mercury in 16 common food products, including certain brands of kid-favored foods, like grape jelly and chocolate milk. Researchers haven't proven that the mercury in the foods came from HFCS, but internist Jane Hightower, who coauthored theEnvironmental Health study, points out that it ultimately doesn't matter how it got there: The FDA has allegedly known about the mercury-contaminated hfcs for nearly four years and "should already have an answer for us based on science and not speculation," she says. The agency says it has no plans for further testing unless additional evidence of harm emerges in outside scientific literature. But the issue has been getting some attention in Congress--a bill proposed in April would require plants that once employed the technology to report how much mercury they used.

    Dufault retired from the FDA in January 2008, after the agency began taking her off her field projects. "All of a sudden, they wanted me to sit in the office," she says. She moved to Hawaii, but she hasn't exactly been lounging on the beach. She recently finished a paper, currently in the peer-review process, that explores why children and fetuses are more sensitive to mercury than adults. She also teaches second- and third-graders with learning disabilities. "I worked for an organization that allowed stuff to go on that probably impacted these children," she says. "I look at this as doing penance."


    Ridiculous Scare Tactics

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    Yesterday, on Ed Shultz' show, I heard a caller talking about the 'dangers' of 'common household cleaners'.

    Now, lets look:

    Ammonia is a normal bodily by-product which is converted to urea and excreted, but it *is* something your body has circulating about normally.

    Chlorine is 1/2 of table-salt, and is commonly found as hydrochloric acid in the intestinal tract.

    I don't think one can consider them 'poisons' unless one is intending to misuse them as dietary supplements.  Properly used, these chemicals aren't 'unnatural' (not like cooking with radium or disinfecting with plutonium).

    One of the Above

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    Brad, of BradBlog.com writes

    In this first break-down article, we'll look at the answers given by Edmonds during her deposition in regard to bribery and blackmail of current and former members of the U.S. Congress, including Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Bob Livingston (R-LA), Dan Burton (R-IN), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Stephen Solarz (D-NY), Tom Lantos (D-CA, deceased) and an unnamed, currently-serving, married Democratic Congresswoman said to have been video-taped in a Lesbian affair by Turkish agents for blackmail purposes. 

    So, what we know is that there's a Congresswoman who meets this criteria. Here's the list of all seventeen who could fit (who do you think it might be???): 

    Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA 8th District) 12th term Democrat from California 8th District. 

    Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA 34th District) 9th term Democrat from California 34th District. 

    Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA 39th District) 4th term Democrat from California 39th District.

    Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D-IL 9th District) 6th term Democrat from Illinois 9th District. 

    Rep. Louise McIntosh Slaughter (D-NY 28th District) 12th term Democrat from New York 28th District.

    Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY 12th District) 9th term Democrat from New York 12th District. 

    Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA 35th District) 10th term Democrat from California 35th District. 

    Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA 38th District) 6th term Democrat from California 38th District. 

    Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY 14th District) 9th term Democrat from New York 14th District.

    Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY 18th District) 11th term Democrat from New York 18th District. 

    Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA 16th District) 8th term Democrat from California 16th District. 

    Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX 18th District) 8th term Democrat from Texas 18th District. 

    Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA 36th District) 8th term Democrat from California 36th District.

    Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT 3rd District) 10th term Democrat from Connecticut 3rd District. 

    Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO 1st District) 7th term Democrat from Colorado 1st District. 

    Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA 53rd District) 5th term Democrat from California 53rd District. 

    Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV 1st District) 6th term Democrat from Nevada 1st District. 

    POLITICS

    Fresh off getting kicked to the curb on the sly, Van Jones, may be getting a new position. Obama's former Green job's advisor found himself under a barrage of political attacks after a video leaked of him stating the obvious and saying Republicans are "assholes" and Bush is a "crack head."

    Following the leaks, he found himself silenced saying what millions of people were thinking, and had to formally "resign."  Now he's getting his past due and will reportedly be the Green Party's candidate for President in the 2012 election. The Green Party is sticking up for the brother and denouncing the Republican party for attacking Black politicians saying,

    "The targets tend to be Black - consistent with Republican fury over the election of Barack Obama to the White House."

    As t the Green Party is jumping to the aid of this brother, and tightening him up to lead their party, Green Party co-chair, Mike Feinstein sang praises to the advocate for environmentally friendly jobs, saying:

    "Like the Greens, Van Jones sees green jobs and a healthy environment as interconnected pillars of a sustainable and just economy.  We encourage Van to bring that agenda into the electoral arena as a Green Party member, leader and possible future candidate, either nationally, statewide in California, or locally in Oakland, his home."

    If Jones does get the nomination he can shut the mouths of people like everyone's favorite racist Fox News commentator, Glen Beck. Beck spearheaded the smear campaign against Jones digging up the old videos and also Jones' signature on a petition asking for further investigation of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The petition reportedly questioned the government's role in the event, again another opinion reflective of many people's sentiments. Good for Jones, the brother deserves a break for all the political hell he went through for practicing free speech.


    Chummy little Chumby

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    Italian Confession

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    italian_confession.jpg'Bless me Father, for I have sinned.  I have been with a loose girl'. 

    The priest asks, 'Is that you, little Joey Pagano ?' 

    'Yes, Father, it is.' 

    'And who was the girl you were with?' 

    'I can't tell you, Father. I don't want to ruin her reputation'. 

    "Well, Joey, I'm sure to find out her name sooner or later, so you may as well tell me now. Was it Tina Minetti?' 

    'I cannot say.' 

    'Was it Teresa Mazzarelli?' 

    'I'll never tell.' 

    'Was it Nina Capelli?' 

    'I'm sorry, but I cannot name her.' 

    'Was it Cathy Piriano?' 

    'My lips are sealed.' 

    'Was it Rosa DiAngelo, then?' 

    'Please, Father, I cannot tell you.' 

    The priest sighs in frustration.  'You're very tight lipped, and I admire that.  But you've sinned and have to atone.  You cannot be an altar boy now for 4 months.  Now you go and behave yourself.' 

    Joey walks back to his pew, 

    and his friend Franco slides over and whispers, 'What'd you get?' 

    'Four months vacation and five good leads.' 

    Stopping The "War Machine"

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    I belong to a group (which often gets space here) called SWM (Stop the War Machine).

    Now, I've often had some 'issues' with them.  Sometime back, there were some baby-dolls covered in ketchup and the inappropriate use of the word 'murderer' (shack guards rarely take flight to Iraq and murder babies in their free-time).

    Let's make an analogy, so it's clear:

    Say you have a group called 'Stop Police Brutality' (I've actually been a member of a few groups that might be better named that).  Your group *isn't* about getting rid of police, but about getting *good* police, right?

    So how come there's always this thing with soldiers?  Is it leftover Vietnam syndrome?

    If we had soldiers who were properly trained to refuse illegal orders, is the simple idea that we pay people to be ready to *kill* REALLY BAD PEOPLE a bad idea?  If we aren't sending them off to kill them simply because we can (like we've done for, oh, fifty years or so) then is the idea that they just *know* how to do this somehow evil?

    And if (and I know for some, it is) a 'sin' to take life, where exactly do you draw the line?

    If you won't kill a cow, why will you kill a carrot?  Would you kill H1N1 viruses?

    The point is to have a full cadre of *honorable* men, and freakin' *deadly* honorable men.

    If you pay attention, the actual disconnect in this system is the lies they have been using in order to manipulate the honorable ones.

    Mary Travers

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    I met Mary Travers back in the 1980's at Richland Community College (where she did a show and then a seminar which I attended for some hours).

    During the seminar, she listed two musicians who she thought were geniuses, Frank Zappa, and David Bowie.  Frank Zappa because he wrote the music for the words, and David Bowie because he wrote the words for the music (and she thought this was obvious).

    She also answered the question, "Why don't you ever sing any Joni Mitchell songs?" quite candidly: "Because she writes her music too *fucking* high, and I can't sing it."

    Incidentally, in the write-up (below) they mention that  "I Dig Rock and Roll Music" is a parody of "The Mamas and the Papas".

    I had never noticed.  I *always* thought that *was* TM&TP.

    If you never noticed, here's the lyrics to "I Dig Rock & Roll Music" (*quite* cheeky, now that I'm in on the joke):

    I dig Rock and Roll music 

    And I love to get the chance to play. (and sing it)

    I figure it's about the happiest sound goin' down today.


    The message may not move me, 

    Or mean a great deal to me,

    But hey! it feels so groovy to say:

    I dig the Mamas and the Papas at "The Trip," 

    Sunset Strip in L.A.

    And they got a good thing goin'

    When the words don't get in the way.

    And when they're really wailing, 

    Michelle and Cass are sailin'.

    Hey! they really nail me to the wall. 


    I dig Donovan in a dream-like, tripped out way

    His crystal images tell you 'bout a brighter day

    And when the Beatles tell you

    They've got a word "love" to sell you

    They mean exactly what they say 


    I dig Rock and Roll music 

    I could really get it on in that scene.

    I think I could say somethin' if you know what I mean

    But if I really say it, the radio won't play it

    Unless I lay it between the lines



    Now, mis-categorizing it was because I was already familiar with "Creeque Alley":


    John and Mitchy were gettin' kind of itchy

    Just to leave the folk music behind;

    Zal and Denny workin' for a penny

    Tryin' to get a fish on the line.

    In a coffee house Sebastian sat,

    And after every number they'd pass the hat.

    McGuinn and McGuire just a-gettin' higher in L.A., 

    You know where that's at.

    And no one's gettin' fat except Mama Cass.


    Zally said, "Denny, you know there aren't many

    Who can sing a song the way that you do; let's go south."

    Denny said, "Zally, golly, don't you think that I wish

    I could play guitar like you."

    Zal, Denny, and Sebastian sat (at the Night Owl)

    And after every number they'd pass the hat.

    McGuinn and McGuire still a-gettin higher in L.A.,

    You know where that's at.

    And no one's gettin' fat except Mama Cass.


    When Cass was a sophomore, planned to go to Swathmore

    But she changed her mind one day.

    Standin' on the turnpike, thumb out to hitchhike,

    "Take me to New York right away."

    When Denny met Cass he gave her love bumps;

    Called John and Zal and that was the Mugwumps.

    McGuinn and McGuire couldn't get no higher

    But that's what they were aimin' at.

    And no one's gettin' fat except Mama Cass.


    Mugwumps, high jumps, low slumps, big bumps---

    Don't you work as hard as you play.

    Make up, break up, everything is shake up;

    Guess it had to be that way.

    Sebastian and Zal formed the spoonful;

    Michelle, John, and Denny gettin' very tuneful.

    McGuinn and McGuire just a-catchin' fire in L.A., 

    You know where that's at.

    And everybody's gettin' fat except Mama Cass.


    Broke, busted, disgusted, agents can't be trusted,

    And Mitchy wants to go to the sea.

    Cass can't make it; she says we'll have to fake it---

    We knew she'd come eventually.

    Greasin' on American Express cards;

    Tents low rent, but keeping out the heat's hard.

    Duffy's good vibrations and our imaginations

    Can't go on indefinitely.

    And California dreamin' is becomin' a reality... 

    (AP) - 2 hours ago
    Mary Travers, of Peter, Paul and Mary Fame
    (click link to see slideshow)


    DANBURY, Conn. -- Mary Travers, one-third of the hugely popular 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, has died.

    The band's publicist, Heather Lylis, says Travers died at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut on Wednesday. She was 72 and had battled leukemia for several years.

    Travers joined forces with Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey in the early 1960s.

    The trio mingled their music with liberal politics, both onstage and off. Their version of "If I Had a Hammer" became an anthem for racial equality. Other hits included "Lemon Tree," "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and "Puff (The Magic Dragon.)"

    They were early champions of Bob Dylan and performed his "Blowin' in the Wind" at the August 1963 March on Washington.

    And they were vehement in their opposition to the Vietnam War, managing to stay true to their liberal beliefs while creating music that resonated in the American mainstream.

    The group collected five Grammy Awards for their three-part harmony on enduring songs like "Leaving on a Jet Plane," "Puff (The Magic Dragon)" and "Blowin' in the Wind."

    At one point in 1963, three of their albums were in the top six Billboard best-selling LPs as they became the biggest stars of the folk revival movement.

    It was heady stuff for a trio that had formed in the early 1960s in Greenwich Village, running through simple tunes like "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

    They debuted at the Bitter End in 1961, and their beatnik look -- a tall blonde flanked by a pair of goateed guitarists -- was a part of their initial appeal. As The New York Times critic Robert Shelton put it not long afterward, "Sex appeal as a keystone for a folk-song group was the idea of the group's manager, Albert B. Grossman, who searched for months for `the girl' until he decided on Miss Travers."

    Their debut album came out in 1962, and immediately scored a pair of hits with their versions of "If I Had a Hammer" and "Lemon Tree." The former won them Grammys for best folk recording, and best performance by a vocal group.

    "Moving" was the follow-up, including the hit tale of innocence lost, "Puff (The Magic Dragon)" -- which reached No. 2 on the charts, and generated since-discounted reports that it was an ode to marijuana.

    Album No. 3, "In the Wind," featured three songs by the 22-year-old Dylan. "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" and "Blowin' in the Wind" both reached the top 10, bringing Dylan's material to a massive audience; the latter shipped 300,000 copies during one two-week period.

    "Blowin' In the Wind" became an another civil rights anthem, and Peter, Paul and Mary fully embraced the cause. They marched with King in Selma, Ala., and performed with him in Washington.

    In a 1966 New York Times interview, Travers said the three worked well together because they respected one another. "There has to be a certain amount of love just in order for you to survive together," she said. "I think a lot of groups have gone down the tubes because they were not able to relate to one another."

    With the advent of the Beatles and Dylan's switch to electric guitar, the folk boom disappeared. Travers expressed disdain for folk-rock, telling the Chicago Daily News in 1966 that "it's so badly written. ... When the fad changed from folk to rock, they didn't take along any good writers."

    But the trio continued their success, scoring with the tongue-in-cheek single "I Dig Rock and Roll Music," a gentle parody of the Mamas and the Papas, in 1967 and the John Denver-penned "Leaving on a Jet Plane" two years later.

    They also continued as boosters for young songwriters, recording numbers written by then-little-known Gordon Lightfoot and Laura Nyro.

    In 1969, the group earned their final Grammy for "Peter, Paul and Mommy," which won for best children's album. They disbanded in 1971, launching solo careers -- Travers released five albums -- that never achieved the heights of their collaborations.

    Over the years they enjoyed several reunions, including a performance at a 1978 anti-nuclear benefit organized by Yarrow and a 35th anniversary album, "Lifelines," with fellow folkies Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Dave Van Ronk and Seeger. A boxed set of their music was released in 2004.

    They remained politically active as well, performing at the 1995 anniversary of the Kent State shootings and performing for California strawberry pickers.

    Travers had undergone a successful bone marrow transplant to treat her leukemia and was able to return to performing after that.

    "It was like a miracle," Travers told The Associated Press in 2006. "I'm just feeling fabulous. What's incredible is someone has given your life back. I'm out in the garden today. This time last year I was looking out a window at a hospital." She also said she told the marrow donor "how incredibly grateful I was."

    But by mid-2009, Yarrow told WTOP radio in Washington that her condition had worsened again and he thought she would no longer be able to perform.

    Mary Allin Travers was born on Nov. 9, 1936 in Louisville, Ky., the daughter of journalists who moved the family to Manhattan's bohemian Greenwich Village. She quickly became enamored with folk performers like the Weavers, and was soon performing with Seeger, a founding member of the Weavers who lived in the same building as the Travers family.

    With a group called the Song Swappers, Travers backed Seeger on one album and two shows at Carnegie Hall. She also appeared (as one of a group of folk singers) in a short-lived 1958 Broadway show called "The Next President," starring comedian Mort Sahl.

    It wasn't until she met up with Yarrow and Stookey that Travers would taste success on her own. Yarrow was managed by Grossman, who later worked in the same capacity for Dylan.

    In the book "Positively 4th Street" by David Hajdu, Travers recalled that Grossman's strategy was to "find a nobody that he could nurture and make famous."

    The budding trio, boosted by the arrangements of Milt Okun, spent seven months rehearsing in her Greenwich Village apartment before their 1961 public debut.

    Travers lived for many years in Redding, Conn.

    So, apparently, six years of war hasn't accomplished any learning.  They don't follow the rule: "War is God's way of teaching Americans geography."


    Fox News graphics department has shaky grasp of Mideast geography

    July 27, 2009 5:28 pm ET by Media Matters staff

    From the July 27 edition of Fox News' The Live Desk (hat tip to Twitter user StefanoScalia):

    live desk


    BTW, if you *don't* get it, Egypt is the country right above the Fox News logo on the lower left.  The country marked "Egypt" on the map is *not* Egypt.   If you *don't* know what country it is, PLEASE don't ask *me* (unless you want to be personally listed here in this blog with your *REAL* name).  My brother is excluded from that last item, BTW, since I know his short-term memory issues.

    Pole Dance Doll
     
    The keywords on the box read "Interesting," "Flash," and "Up and Down," which sound like they were written by the happiest pedophile in playland.

    'The World Says "No!" to War'

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    Dunno if you recall that event.  It wasn't listed as much in the major media, and all the news downplayed it as if it were some kind of 'crank' event that only a few hippies showed up to.

    However, I was there, I marched.  I watched the footage (real footage, not like the liars below in the next post).

    In NYC, there was at *least* a half a million people marching (at least--and it may well have been two million).  I watched it on Free Speech TV, and it was clearly at least fifty blocks long.  It was the single biggest thing that I ever saw happen in Albuquerque.

    This event took place in *every* major city IN THE WORLD.  Attendance was similar at all locations.

    This was the last week of peace (just before the war started).

    Here's the DNow! show from that next Monday (February 17th, 2003).

    If you note, nearly every point currently being made about the lies the Bush administration promulgated is mentioned on this show (except the torture, of course).

    Now, if you *don't* recall this event, you should consider finding alternate information sources, as it really did happen, and there were *many* more people than reported.

    Somewhat like the support for public health care (which is running well over 60% for a single-payer style system now), but you wouldn't get that from the 'major media'.

    (er, pants on fire, again)

    By Catharine Richert
    Published on Monday, September 14th, 2009 at 11:34 a.m.


    In the competitive world of Washington protests, crowd size is often a matter of dispute. Organizers usually boast of huge crowds, while police and the news media offer much smaller estimates.

    So supporters of Saturday's "tea party" protests against President Barack Obama were quick to highlight their big turnout. To bolster countless claims on blogs and Facebook, many posted a photograph that showed a gargantuan crowd sprawling from Capitol Hill down the National Mall to the Washington Monument.

    But it turns out the photo is more than 10 years old, apparently taken during a 1997 Promise Keepers rally.

    On Saturday, estimates about the crowd spread quickly through the conservative blogosphere. Many writers, including author Michelle Malkin, pegged the number of people between 1 million and 2 million. Those reports were largely based on information from people in the crowd.

    Malkin, for example, updated her blog at 12:34 p.m. noting that, "Police estimate 1.2 million in attendance. ABC News reporting crowd at 2 million," and she cited a Twitter post from Tabitha Hale, writer of Pink Elephant Pundit, who was in Washington for the protest.

    Many bloggers said the media was unfairly reporting much smaller numbers, and many included the photo.

    "I have no doubt that Washington Democrats are well aware of how many people turned out, even as their media outlets try to downplay the event," said Power Line, a conservative blog that linked to the photograph from Say Anything, another conservative Web site.

    " 'Media' estimates range from 60,000 to 500,000 to around 2 million (yes, 2,000,000)," wrote John G. Winder for the conservative blog Cypress Times. "Those estimates, the language employed, and the visuals chosen for use in reporting the rally and representing the people gathered, vary greatly based solely on bias."

    In the mainstream media, crowd estimates varied.

    The New York Times reported that "thousands" of protesters "filled the west lawn of the Capitol and spilled onto the National Mall," while Fox News wrote that "tens of thousands" marched on Washington. CNN said "reporters at the scene described the massive crowd as reaching the tens of thousands."

    Pete Piringer, public affairs officer for the D.C. Fire and Emergency Department, said the local government no longer provides official crowd estimates because they can become politicized. But the day of the rally, Piringer unofficially told one reporter that he thought between 60,000 and 75,000 people had shown up.

    "It was in no way an official estimate," he said.

    We asked Piringer whether there were enough protesters to fill the National Mall, as depicted in the photograph.

    "It was an impressive crowd," he said. But after marching down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol, the crowd "only filled the Capitol grounds, maybe up to Third Street," he said.

    Yet the photograph so widely posted showed the crowd sprawling all the way to the Washington Monument, which is bordered by 15th and and 17th Streets.

    There's another problem with the photograph: It doesn't include the National Museum of the American Indian, a building located at the corner of Fourth Street and Independence Avenue that opened on Sept. 14, 2004. (Looking at the photograph, the building should be in the upper right hand corner of the National Mall, next to the Air and Space Museum.) That means the picture was taken before the museum opened exactly five years ago. So clearly the photo doesn't show the "tea party" crowd from the Sept. 12 protest.

    Also worth noting are the cranes in front of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. According to Randall Kremer, the museum's director of public affairs, "The last time cranes were in front was in the 1990s when the IMAX theater was being built."

    It appears that the photo was actually taken in 1997 at a rally for Promise Keepers, a group for Christian men. According to the group's Web site, nearly 1 million people attended the event. Photos of the Oct. 4, 1997, event that were posted on various Web sites in 2003, 2008 and earlier this year show either the same picture or a similar photo that has identical tents and what appear to be TV screens in the same locations.

    Conservative bloggers who originally posted the picture have backed down.

    Malkin, like some of her conservative cohorts, retracted the number she had attributed to ABC when the network chastised FreedomWorks president Matt Kibbe, whose organization arranged the event, for inaccurately telling the crowd that the news organization had reported the crowd at 1 million to 1.5 million people.

    Malkin linked to the ABC story on her site, and changed her blog post headline to "Celebrating the 9/12 rallies; Turnout estimated at 2 million; Update: How many?; FreedomWorks in error."

    Say Anything updated its original post to say that the picture was "of the wrong rally." An accurate photo "clearly shows that (the rally) didn't take place on the mall nearly as extensively as the image I mistakenly posted does." Power Line took the picture down all together.

    But because mistakes can still live forever on the Internet and many people who saw the photo on Facebook were unaware it was found to be the wrong picture, we decided to still rate it on the Truth-O-Meter. And Pants on Fire it is.

    UPDATED: We updated this item with new details about the Promise Keepers photos.

    This is art of the highest caliber, sort of

    By CARISSA DIMARGO
    Updated 2:27 PM EDT, Mon, Sep 14, 2009

    The Colbert Report

    Like the Mona Lisa or Michelangelo's David, the portrait of Stephen Colbert is a lasting testimony to the power of human spirit and beauty.

    Right.

    Today is the last day to take a gander at Stephen Colbert's very serious and important portrait, which is currently on view at the National Museum of American History in D.C. -- and, as a museum staffer likes to point out, it's hanging next to Dumbo the Flying Elephant.

    The star of the hard-hitting Comedy Central "Colbert Report" spent time during the 2007-2008 writers' strike traipsing around D.C. with the portrait strapped to his back.

    He was finally rewarded for his gargantuan efforts. The portrait received a six-week stint on display -- right near the bathrooms at the National Portrait Gallery. That is because Stephen Colbert is a man who knows how to bring the class. 

    The portrait has been hanging in the American History museum since its reopening last November. After tomorrow, the painting is going back into the Smithsonian's "collection" -- we think that actually means "storage" -- but we're hoping it'll make it to the Louvre soon. Anything less would be a national tragedy.

    The museum is open until 5:30 p.m. today.

    If you wanted to store carbon, the best place is diamonds.  Of course, we can do this now, so why not start?  It's not like they'll 'decay' if we make a big pile of them or something.
    Ulcerative colitis appears to be a disease of non-smokers. Former smokers are at the highest risk for developing ulcerative colitis, while current smokers have the least risk. This tendency indicates that smoking cigarettes may prevent the onset of ulcerative colitis.


    I went there 'cause I ran across this:

    Pharmacokinetics of nicotine tartrate after single-dose liquid enema, oral, and intravenous administration

    BJ Zins, WJ Sandborn, DC Mays, GM Lawson, JA McKinney, WJ Tremaine, DW Mahoney, AR Zinsmeister, RD Hurt, KP Offord, and JJ Lipsky

    Ulcerative colitis is predominantly a disease of nonsmokers, and transdermal nicotine is therapeutic but often results in adverse reactions. Colonic administration of nicotine tartrate as a liquid enema could decrease systemic nicotine absorption and adverse reactions. The purpose of the current study was to determine the bioavailability and pharmacokinetic parameters of nicotine after administration by hydrophilic liquid enema (acidic and basic), hydrophobic liquid enema (acidic and basic), and by oral and intravenous routes. Thirty healthy volunteers received 45 micrograms nicotine base/kg (as nicotine tartrate) in one of five formulations (each n = 6): hydrophilic acidic liquid enema, hydrophilic basic liquid enema, hydrophobic acidic liquid enema, hydrophobic basic liquid enema, and oral solution. All participants also received 15 micrograms nicotine base/kg (as nicotine tartrate) intravenously during a separate study period. Serum concentrations of nicotine were determined by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry. The mean (+/-SD) bioavailabilities of nicotine after administration in the liquid enema formulations (hydrophilic acidic 17 +/- 18%, hydrophilic basic 16 +/- 16%, hydrophobic acidic 25 +/- 17%, hydrophobic basic 15 +/- 12%) were similar to the bioavailability of nicotine after administration by oral solution (20 +/- 25%). The bioavailabilities of nicotine for all five nonintravenous formulations were significantly less than for intravenous nicotine (100%). Serum concentrations of nicotine did not predict adverse reactions. Nicotine tartrate administered as either a liquid enema or as an oral solution had low bioavailability and was well tolerated. The therapeutic potential of nicotine tartrate liquid enemas, which can potentially limit toxicity by local (colonic) delivery of high doses of nicotine should be investigated in patients with left-sided ulcerative colitis. 

    Pants on Fire!

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    Ok, so the hatemongers at Human Events sent me a 'warning' about the Freedom of Choice Act.

    Here's the text from their warning:

    It's called the "Freedom of Choice Act," or FOCA -- but don't let the Orwellian title fool you. It isn't about "freedom" or "choice" at all. It's about forcing each and every American citizen -- regardless of his or her view on abortion -- to support abortion-on-demand not just as a "fundamental right" but as a taxpayer-funded entitlement.

    Here's the meat of the Senate version of the bill:

    SEC. 4. INTERFERENCE WITH REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH PROHIBITED.

      (a) Statement of Policy- It is the policy of the United States that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child, to terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability, or to terminate a pregnancy after fetal viability when necessary to protect the life or health of the woman.

      (b) Prohibition of Interference- A government may not--

        (1) deny or interfere with a woman's right to choose--
          (A) to bear a child;
          (B) to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability; or
          (C) to terminate a pregnancy after viability where termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman; or
        (2) discriminate against the exercise of the rights set forth in paragraph (1) in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information.
      (c) Civil Action- An individual aggrieved by a violation of this section may obtain appropriate relief (including relief against a government) in a civil action.


    So, if you see a 'taxpayer funded' something here, could you point it out?

    And if states are allowed to pass laws which prohibit abortion of viable fetuses, how can this be permitting 'abortion on demand'?

    Red-heads are dead-heads.



    I couldn't post it there ...

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    So I got my 'Red State Roundup' this AM, and clicked through to A Tangled Web of Socialists Targets Glenn Beck and Talk Radio.

    It's a great article, BTW (not in their take, but just looking at the breadth of the 'web').

    I found a comment field at the bottom, but they make you log in to leave a comment, and I figured I'd lose my subscription if I posted this there:

    I'm Stunned, Frankly

    As I understand it, you guys are cheering on a mouthpiece of media who's calling the author of "The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems" a *socialist*??? Do you guys actually read and/or do any critical thinking on your own, or is this a flock of parrots I've run across? Yeah, you should be free to say whatever you want. But yano, if you're an idiot, you should expect to be called out on it. Beck's one. And pointing out that the public trust which was rented to the media (the airwaves--a public 'commons') *for the purpose* of enhancing local public awareness is being co-opted by other, non-local forces is just pointing out that the pig is no longer in the poke. The idea that the 'local' radio station has no people working inside the building is just creepy, and there's *plenty* of stations to which that description applies. So, if you're an idiot, expect that people will begin to notice and comment on it (as it's getting quite fashionable to point out that red-heads are dead-heads). I want to work on the 'liar' part (this country is one of the few in which it's *legal* to lie about someone in public). I'm sure you'll be with me on that one, right? I mean, it's one of the Ten Commandments (and something for which one is taken to the center of town and stoned to death for). It's the 'Bearing False Witness' one, if you hadn't read them lately.

    Who Do *YOU* believe?

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    7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

    The Lord spoke unto Ron, and said, "Trust, but verify."

    No One Takes You Home

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    Gee, you gotta watch it, but she's really good (btw, the pic isn't Kathryn)

    Aha!

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    The third question.

    The first was the size of the moon (nearly statistically impossible that we might experience an 'eclipse' at all, let alone all *three* varieties).

    The second is that solid water floats in liquid water (one of only three known molecules that exhibits this behavior).

    The third?  That's easy (after contemplation).  Altruism.

    Explain altruism in terms of anything other than what's best for the 'not-self'.

    For the concept that there's any chance that 'chance' put this situation together, I find this to be the most wholly ridiculous and asinine 'assumption' that anyone could muster.

    Now, personally, since I am in touch with God quite a bit, I've no doubts of It's existence.

    But if you are a 'chance' fancier, you *have* to admit that the 'chance' of altruism is pretty far-fetched in a self-serving fantasy.

    For the most of you, this won't be an issue (since when your eyes are opened fully you won't doubt any longer).

    This message is merely for the die-hards.

    You will, of course, and it will be *much* harder than you think.

    Hitler Having Sex

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    It's a German Anti-Aids Commercial.  Of course, the Jerrys have a far more sensible culture that allows for the broadcast of sexual imagery during prime time (one of the benefits of shipping all the religious anti-tolerants off to the 'New World' was freedom from prudery).

    It's got two lines in it that are translatable:

    The first is 'AIDS is Mass Murder' and the second is 'Protect Yourself'.

    I'd embed it if I could.  Probably better off though (some folks might find Hard-On Hitler a bit perturbing if they didn't pick it themselves).

    The 'Other' Olympics

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    We *gotta* get one for these *REALLY* special people like Caster Semen-y(e)a(h).

    Now, XY girls are OK.  It's probably for the better that they lop the testes off, since bearded ladies went out with the sideshow, but I think they should just leave what there is of the penis, as lopping that off would tend to make one 'frigid'.

    We shouldn't think poorly of them.  After all, Jamie Lee Curtis does a sexy dance, and (it's likely) that Jennifer Anniston has the same (lack of) parts.


    The 9-12 Project

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    I ran across this item and thought (since the originals appear to be deleted from the site), that I'd post it here, just in case you wondered (as I did) what the 9 principles and 12 values.

    The 9/12

    The 9 Principles

    1.America Is Good.
    2.I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.
    God "The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained." from George Washington's first Inaugural address.
    3.I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
    Honesty "I hope that I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider to be the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man." George Washington
    4.The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
    Marriage/Family "It is in the love of one's family only that heartfelt happiness is known. By a law of our nature, we cannot be happy without the endearing connections of a family." Thomas Jefferson
    5.If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
    Justice "I deem one of the essential principles of our government... equal and exact justice to all men of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political." Thomas Jefferson
    6.I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
    Life, Liberty, & The Pursuit of Happiness "Everyone has a natural right to choose that vocation in life which he thinks most likely to give him comfortable subsistence." Thomas Jefferson
    7.I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
    Charity "It is not everyone who asketh that deserveth charity; all however, are worth of the inquiry or the deserving may suffer." George Washington
    8.It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
    On your right to disagree "In a free and republican government, you cannot restrain the voice of the multitude; every man will speak as he thinks, or more properly without thinking." George Washington
    9.The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.
    Who works for whom? "I consider the people who constitute a society or a nation as the source of all authority in that nation." Thomas Jefferson

    The 12 Values
    * Honesty
    * Reverence
    * Hope
    * Thrift
    * Humility
    * Charity
    * Sincerity
    * Moderation
    * Hard Work
    * Courage
    * Personal Responsibility
    * Gratitude

    Grandeur

    | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks
    From B5:

    Ivanova: "You're having delusions of grandeur again."

    Marcus: "Well, if you're going to have delusions, you might as well go for the really *satisfying* ones."

    Tim King Salem-News.com

    Our thoughts go out to his wonderful wife Jeannie Herer, and we hope that Jack makes a full and speedy recovery.

    Dr. Phil Leveque, Jack Herer, Bonnie King and Allen St Pierre, at Hempstalk, September 12, 2009
    Dr. Phil Leveque and Jack Herer at Hempstalk, September 12, 2009 Salem-News.com Photo by Tim King

    (PORTLAND, Ore.) - The most well known person in the world on the subject of marijuana, author Jack Herer, had a heart attack Saturday, after a fiery speech at the Portland Hempstalk Event at Kelly Point Park.

    Ironically, Jack told our Doctor Phil Leveque, an old friend of his in the fight to legitimize and legalize marijuana, that he was feeling better Saturday than he had, "In the ten years."

    Event staff came together quickly and called in the paramedic crew that treated Jack in the area backstage where he fell ill. Madeline Martinez, Executive Director of Oregon NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, says Jack didn't look like he felt well after the well received speech, and she told him he should get some water.

    Shortly after that he apparently collapsed where he was sitting, and the emergency crews were called in. Bands kept playing and the medical personnel spent a considerable amount of time stabilizing Jack, before loading him in an ambulance and transporting him to the Emanuel Trauma Center in Portland.

    Source report that Jack was in critical condition when he was admitted to the hospital with his son at his side. Soon after that, they were told that he was the victim of a heart attack, a result of arterial blockage.

    Jack was was undergoing angioplasty surgery late Saturday.

    Jack suffered a stroke several years ago that left him somewhat challenged in terms of speaking, but today more than one person watching him noted that his speech was much clearer than even the year before.

    Jack Herer is beyond legendary with popular culture and his book, "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" is the largest and first account of the real story of marijuana and the techniques used by big money corporations to demonize and criminalize it.

    (Story continues below video)

    This video clip from Saturday, recorded about two hours before Jack suffered a heart attack, shows him explaining to Dr. Phillip Leveque of Salem-News.com how how he has been feeling better recently:

    Video

    There are no equals to Jack Herer; he is a friend of Salem-News.com and has personally helped us on more than one occasion in our research. Our thoughts go out to his wonderful wife Jeannie Herer and we hope that Jack makes a full and complete recovery.

    Dr. Phil Leveque, Jack Herer, Bonnie King and Allen St Pierre, at Hempstalk, September 12, 2009


    Dogball

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    It's like baseball, but everyone brings their dog and the dog plays (can't bat, of course, just fields).

    No Funds for Honduran Coup Govt

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    My letter (slightly altered from the template):

    I am writing you on the anniversary of the WTC attack to express my concern about the coup in Honduras and the IMF response to it. Since June 28 the people of Honduras have responded to the coup d' état with peaceful protests only to have been met with violent repression on the part of the coup government. I urge you to issue a public press announcement clearly stating that the IMF "Will not make any funds available to the coup regime of Honduras, including Special Drawing Rights." If you would like to offer funds to the legitimate government in order to help re-establishment of law in Honduras, I would support that. Sincerely,

    Richard Haley


    Gotta Love AI, Yano?

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    Not much else in life is as entertaining as artificial intelligence (makes the real thing look *so* good in comparison).

    I mean, people can be stupid, and even obtuse, but it takes a computer to be completely w/o hope of getting a clue.

    For example, the new iTunes 9 product has some *amazing* features (which work for the most part rather well).  In this case, it's the 'Genius Mixes' feature that amused me.  It made a dozen 'mixes' based on my musical taste.  

    All tolled, there were five rock mixes, and one each of R&B, Alternative/Punk, Country, Classical, Spoken, Soundtrack, and 'Holiday'.

    Now, 'Holiday' is something I attend to pretty well (got a playlist with all the xmas tunes, and another with only secular holiday tunes).

    'Genius' reported this as it's rationale: 'Based on Frank Sinatra, Dionne Warwick, The Bobs, and Others'.

    However, it's picking of songs from these artists (all of whom I've got xmas music by) isn't done by artist, so when the Genius picked Frank Sinatra's "High Hopes" as the first song, followed it with The Bobs' version of "Psycho Killer" and went into a cut from "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street", I knew I had to comment on this amazing 'intellect'.

    A message from Rebecca Vilkomerson

    | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks

    A message from Rebecca Vilkomerson.

    I am very honored and proud to introduce myself as the new director of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).

     

    I first joined JVP in 2002. The second Intifada had just started, leading me to re-examine everything I had learned as a child about Israel. Once I understood the reality of my responsibility as an American, a Jew, and later, as a mother to Israeli-American children, I had to act. JVP became not only a place where I could act on my politics, but a community that reflected my Jewish values.

     

    Three years ago, I moved to Israel with my family so my husband, who is Israeli, could be close to his family. While there I worked for Palestinian-Israeli social justice organizations, and was actively involved in the Israeli movement in solidarity with Palestinian partners.  From the South Hebron hills, where local families fought to stay on their land, even as children are stoned on their way to school and their harvests and animals are poisoned; to Asariyah, formerly part of Jerusalem, but now cut off and surrounded by the Wall; to Bedouin communities in Israel that are being demolished over and over again; I was witness to the ravages of state policies that unequivocally favor one people over another, making neither peace nor security possible for anyone in the region.

     

    But during this time I was also privileged to get to know the amazing groups of tireless Palestinian and Israeli activists who need our support.  I am more convinced than ever that we in the US have an enormous responsibility -- and opportunity -- to play a critical role in bringing about an end to the apartheid-like policies that are the heartbreaking reality of the Occupation today.      

     

    This is an important time politically and for JVP.

     

    We have a new national board; we've added people like Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein and Michael Ratner onto our advisory board; and in the last year our list of supporters has grown from 20,000 to almost 90,000. As a result, we have come out of this year stronger than ever, and in a great position to expand our membership and strength in communities all over the U.S. 

    In the last nine months something really feels like it has shifted in the discourse about Israel and Palestine in the United States.  In just a short period, the New York Times covered protests against the Wall in Bil'in; Jon Stewart criticized the invasion of Gaza; and the LA Times published Neve Gordon's op-ed in support of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. It's clear that a window is slowly opening that brings great opportunities for public education and public action. 

     

    I really look forward to working with you as we work not only to open this window wider, but to increase our ability to play an active and effective part in the wider movement to bring justice for all peoples of Israel and Palestine. Please feel free to contact me at Rebecca@jewishvoiceforpeace.org if you have any questions.

     

    guardian.co.uk


    South of the Border is Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone's record of a trip to Venezuela to meet the president, Hugo Chávez. Ahead of the film's premiere at the Venice film festival on Monday, Stone writes about his hopes for the film, and the future of US foreign policy in the region

    Watch a world exclusive trailer from Oliver Stone's South of the Border Link to this video


    I've been fortunate to be able to make several films about North America's neglected "backyard" - Central and South America

    The low-budget, independently-shot Salvador, about the US involvement with the death squads of El Salvador, and starring James Woods in an Oscar-nominated performance, was released in 1986; this was followed by Comandante in 2003, and Looking for Fidel in 2004, with both of these documentaries exploring Fidel Castro in one-on-one interviews.

    Each of these films has struggled to be distributed in North America. I was invited to Venezuela to meet President Hugo Chávez for the first time during his aborted rescue mission of Colombian hostages, held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), during Christmas of 2007.

    As is often the case, the man I met was not the man I'd read and heard about in the US media. I was able to return in January 2009 to interview President Chávez in more depth. Was Hugo Chávez really the anti-American force we've been told he is? Once we began our journey, we found ourselves going beyond Venezuela to several other countries, and interviewing seven presidents in the region, telling a larger and even more compelling story, which has now become South of the Border. Leader after leader seemed to be saying the same thing. They wanted to control their own resources, strengthen regional ties, be treated as equals with the US, and become financially independent of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

    Oliver Stone's South of the Border ... Stone with ChavezSouth of the Border ... Oliver Stone with President Hugo Chavez. Photograph: Jose Ibanez

    Based on our experiences in Iraq, Americans must question the role of our media in demonising foreign leaders as our enemies. The consequences of this can be brutal.

    This is a continuing story. It is going on right now with Hugo Chávez in Venezuela. Hopefully, in our film, you'll get to hear a far different side of the "official" story.


    What's Happening to me ...

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    I've been describing it in more detail to my email readers, but let it suffice to say that I've come across a combination of herbs that is effecting some *remarkable* changes in my physiology.

    It's almost as if my body is 'Rolfing' itself (in so many different ways, yet all the same, and all at once).  It hurts like hell, to be frank, but my range-of-motion is *so* increased I've just *GOT* to let it progress.

    Anyway, if you don't know 'Rolfing' here's a blurb (one of the big alterations has been 'posture' BTW):

    Rolfing Therapy: A Way to Align the Body and Relieve Pain
    by Steven Hefferon, CMA, PTA

    Rolfing is a method of structural integration accomplished by soft tissue manipulation and movement education. Developed in the 1950s by Ida Rolf, this bodywork method has allowed people to stand straighter, move better then ever and gain height through its focus on correcting tissue fixations.

    It is no secret that physical and emotional stress leaves its mark in the body via tight muscles, cramps, trigger points, aches and pains. Every time we have been in a stressful situation, our body has reacted by tightening up and holding that stress in the tissues. Every physical sprain or strain we have suffered, is still locked into muscle memory. Is there any doubt as to why we suffer chronic pain, especially musculo-skeletal pain?

    There are many hands-on pain relief methods, such as massage, trigger point therapy, reiki, stretching, physical therapy and others. Among these is Rolfing, which specializes in soft tissue release. Basically, by releasing the adhesions and scar tissue holding muscle, fascia and tendon locked into spasm, the body can be corrected and free motion returned. This is accomplished by direct deep pressure that a practitioner applies to the body of a client with their fist, fingers and elbows.

    Rolfing may be painful for some because of the deep pressure and tearing actions used. However, the pain only remains while the treatment is in session. The pain is evoked by the pressure exerted into the adhered soft tissue areas. Once the adhesions are worked out, the pain subsides and the body is returned to normal ranges of motion and suppleness.

    Since Rolfers differentiate between good posture and correct body structure, they strive to organize the skeletal system that has been made "Crooked" through injury and stress. By correcting the underlying structure of the body, and also removing adhesion of muscle and connective tissue, the body can realign and hold itself properly. And with proper structure and posture comes pain relief.

    Through Rolfing sessions people can expect to improve flexibility, athletic performance, reduce swelling and pain, increase range of motion and correct posture. All types of performance improve and pain disappears when the muscles fire completely and rest completely. And this can only happen when the body is correctly aligned.

    You might be asking yourself how Rolfing is different than regular massage? The difference is in the focus on the body treatment. Whereas massage improves circulation and helps relaxations and short term stress, Rolfing focuses on re-ordering the body to prevent the pains returning. Also, whereas massage works on muscle tissue Rolfing works on the fascia or connective tissue.

    So if you suffer muscle or skeletal pain and have tried traditional massage, why not go one step farther and give Rolfing a try. Its a deeper therapy that may be the answer you are seeking.

    I'll Try That, Then ...

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    I know a man who *expects" that he'll be able to get everything for free.

    He wants to get the cheap (Windoze) laptop, and then download anti-thing stuff to install to 'protect' himself, but they all want him to pay for some kind of 'support' in order to make their 'free' thing work (yathink?).

    I explained to him that there are these two ways of approaching 'support'.  One is to offer free crap that you have to pay to get any hope of making work (Windoze).  Believe me, I've made *plenty* of money making Windoze shit run.  They paid me instead of M$, but they always *have* to pay someone (no free lunch).

    The other approach is the Mac approach.  They sell hardware, and support contracts of three years.  What they want is for you *not* to call them for three years, and then to call to buy a new piece of hardware (only).  They achieve this goal, and if for nothing else other than the hardware warranty extension, 'Consumer Reports' *recommends* (yes--RECOMMENDS) this after-market warranty (the only product worthy of this recommendation other than projection TVs).

    It costs more up-front, but TCO (total cost of ownership) is much lower.  I told him that I'd made the switch eleven years ago, and my *entire* down-time due to any OS/virus related issues has been *zero* ('0'), as in 'none' (zip, zilch, nada).

    He's down at least four hours a week with something, and most of the Windoze users I know who try this path are down *far* more than that average (but then, he doesn't really 'work'--he just plays games).

    In any event, here's the latest Mac ads (very pertinent):

    If there's another reason ...

    | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks
    For people wrapping their heads in tinfoil, please clue me in.

    I know I'm out here in the far fringes.

    But it's perhaps a bit further out than I thought.

    Gates Jobs

    | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks
    Ok, this is fair.  Here's Steve, debating the microlith vs. the monolith (at that point, Apple vs. IBM, if you recall--Microsoft was busy stealing 'PC-DOS' from IBM then).



    One of the few times Bill speaks truly:



    Steve being honest:




    Er, I don't think Bill does:



    iFrauds: The Fakest iPods Ever!

    | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks

    iFrauds: The Fakest iPods Ever!

    They look like iPods--sort of. They play music--kind of. And to be honest, they scare me.

    By Harry McCracken  |  Posted at 6:33 am on Monday, December 22, 2008

    See all: Slideshows

    1 of 21  |  NEXT»


    ifrauds-splash2

    Last week, I went to a "liquidation sale" in San Francisco. Along with the alarming 64-ounce bottles of perfume, leather jackets made from the skins of unspecified animals, andShamwows, the show's dealers offered music players. Ones that shamelessly rip off the iPod. Scads of them. I took crummy pictures with my iPhone-and, I'm ashamed to admit, bought an iFraud of my own.

    10 Votes

    1 of 21  |  NEXT»

    www.afterdowningstreet.org

     

    Judge Baltasar GarzonBy Andy Worthington

    The Spanish newspaper Público reported exclusively on Saturday that Judge Baltasar Garzón is pressing ahead with a case against six senior Bush administration lawyers for implementing torture at Guantánamo.

    Back in March, Judge Garzón announced that he was planning to investigate the six prime architects of the Bush administration's torture policies -- former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; John Yoo, a former lawyer in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, who played a major role in the preparation of the OLC's notorious "torture memos"; Douglas Feith, the former undersecretary of defense for policy; William J. Haynes II, the Defense Department's former general counsel; Jay S. Bybee, Yoo's superior in the OLC, who signed off on the August 2002 "torture memos"; and David Addington, former Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff.

    In April, on the advice of the Spanish Attorney General Cándido Conde-Pumpido, who believes that an American tribunal should judge the case (or dismiss it) before a Spanish court even thinks about becoming involved, prosecutors recommended that Judge Garzón should drop his investigation. As CNN reported, Mr. Conde-Pumpido told reporters that Judge Garzón's plans threatened to turn the court "into a toy in the hands of people who are trying to do a political action."

    On Saturday, however, Público reported that Judge Garzón had accepted a lawsuit presented by a number of Spanish organizations -- the Asociación Pro Dignidad de los Presos y Presas de España (Organization for the Dignity of Spanish Prisoners), Asociación Libre de Abogados (Free Lawyers Association), the Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos de España (Association for Human Rights in Spain) and Izquierda Unida (a left-wing political party) -- and three former Guantánamo prisoners (the British residents Jamil El-Banna and Omar Deghayes, andSami El-Laithi, an Egyptian freed in 2005, who was paralyzed during an incident involving guards at Guantánamo). The newspaper reported that all these groups and individuals would take part in any trial.

    It is, at present, uncertain whether another attempt to stifle Judge Garzón will derail him, as he is not known for letting adversaries stand in his way. At the end of June, the Spanish Parliament pointedly passed legislation aimed at "ending the practice of letting its magistrates seek war-crime indictments against officials from any foreign country, including the United States," on the basis that no Spanish Court should be able to judge officials of foreign countries except when the victims are Spanish or the crimes were committed in Spain.

    However, on Sunday, when Público spoke to Philippe Sands, the British lawyer, and author of Torture Team, which provided much of the first-hand evidence for Garzón's case, Sands explicitly stated that there was "no legal barrier" to prevent Judge Garzón's prosecution from proceeding. He explained that he believed the recent decision by US Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special investigator to investigate cases of torture by the CIA is related to the Spanish lawsuit and the importance it has acquired because of its instigation by Judge Garzón. Sands told Público, "The recent decision by Eric Holder emphasizes how appropriate the Spanish investigation is. Many commentators believe that this decision has had a significant and direct impact in the United States, reminding people that there is an obligation to investigate torture."

    He added, "Judge Garzón's actions have acted like a catalyst, and are supported by many people in the United States, including some members of Congress. He has reminded everybody that a blind eye cannot be turned to these actions and that there are people who are not going to let that happen." He also explained that Eric Holder's gesture is only a first step, "limited to cases in which interrogators may have exceeded the limits formally approved by lawyers in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel," that the architects of the "legal decisions that purported to justify the use of torture are not in immediate danger in the United States," and that there is, therefore, "no legal barrier to the continuation of the Spanish investigation."

    He concluded by stating that it was "important" that Judge Garzón proceeds with the case in Spain, because, although Eric Holder "has confirmed the importance of the Convention Against Torture, he has taken only a first step that "does not really address the actions of those who were truly responsible for its violation."


    Mid-Trex

    | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks
    More Star Trek Remastered episodes (click the title to go to CBS):
    08"Miri"2713.5Vincent McEveetyAdrian SpiesOctober 27, 1966September 16, 200612
    After discovering what appears to be a duplicate of the planet Earth, Captain Kirk and his landing party find a population ravaged by a strange disease, which has two effects: children are granted extraordinarily long life, but anyone who reaches puberty (including the adult landing party) develop painful sores which eventually kill the infected. The oldest child, a girl named Miri, develops a jealous affection for Captain Kirk, and works with the other children to kidnap Janice Rand after Kirk attempts to comfort the frightened yeoman.[36] 
    09"Dagger of the Mind"2715.1Vincent McEveetyS. Bar-DavidNovember 3, 1966October 13, 200711
    At Tantalus V, a rehabilitation colony for the criminally insane, the inmates have taken over the asylum using a neural neutralizer, which is used to remove (or implant) memories from a subject's mind. One colony administrator, Simon van Gelder, escapes to the Enterprise, leading Captain Kirk to investigate the colony. While on the surface, Kirk is brainwashed and taken prisoner, but is helped by Dr. Helen Noel, a colleague from the Enterprise who joined him on the planet. Spock performs a mind-meld with van Gelder to counteract the effects of the neutralizer, healing his mind and allowing van Gelder to take over the colony after Kirk and Noel's rescue.[36] 
    10"The Corbomite Maneuver"1512.2Joseph SargentJerry SohlNovember 10, 1966December 9, 200603
    The Enterprise find an odd, glowing cube floating in interstellar space, which must be destroyed after it begins to emit dangerous radiation. Following the cube's destruction, an immense, glowing sphere called Fesarius races to the Enterprise's location, controlled by Balok, an alien who announces that he will destroy the Enterprise in retribution. Captain Kirk manages to bluff Balok into believing the Enterprise contains a deadly substance called Corbomite, which would severely damage any attacking ship. After managing to escape theFesarius's tractor beam, disabling the alien ship, Kirk and a landing party board the sphere, discovering the true identity of the vessel's controller.[36] 
    11"The Menagerie, Part I"3012.4Marc DanielsGene RoddenberryNovember 17, 1966November 25, 200616
    After claiming to receive a subspace message, Spock diverts the Enterprise to Starbase 11 in order to visit the ship's previous captain, Christopher Pike, who has been severely injured and was using a wheelchair. Spock continues his deception by secretly transporting Pike to the Enterprise and uses falsified orders to take the ship to the quarantined world Talos IV(leaving Captain Kirk behind). Kirk and Commodore Mendez of Starbase 11 trail and eventually catch up to the Enterprise in a shuttle, where Spock surrenders. Mendez orders Spock to trial, where Spock uses the events of "The Cage" as his defense.[36] 
    12"The Menagerie, Part II"3013.1Robert ButlerGene RoddenberryNovember 24, 1966December 2, 200616
    Spock continues detailing the events of "The Cage" to the tribunal, using video evidence transmitted from Talos IV directly to the Enterprise. After witnessing the Talosians' capabilities of mental illusion, Kirk realizes that Spock intends to return Pike to the planet, where he can resume a normal life. Starfleet officially sanctions Spock's plan, and Pike is transported to the surface where his injuries appear completely healed.[36] 
    13"The Conscience of the King"2817.6Gerd OswaldBarry TriversDecember 8, 1966September 22, 200713
    The Enterprise visits Planet Q at the request of Dr. Thomas Leighton, a friend of Captain Kirk. Leighton suspects that the leader of a famous acting troupe, Anton Kardian, is actually Kodos "The Executioner," the murderous former governor of planet Tarsus IV, where Kirk grew up. Kirk initially disagrees, believing the official story detailing Kodos' death years earlier, but begins to doubt after Leighton is found dead. To confirm Karidian's identity, Kirk arranges for the troupe to perform aboard the Enterprise.[36] 
    14"Balance of Terror"1709.2Vincent McEveetyPaul SchneiderDecember 15, 1966September 16, 200609
    While investigating a series of destroyed outposts, the Enterprise discovers a lone Romulan vessel with cloaking device. The Romulans, having never been seen by humans, are revealed to visually resemble Vulcans, which causes navigator Lt. Stiles to suspect Spock of treason. The two ships become locked in a cat-and-mouse battle through space, leaving the Enterprise seemingly crippled by Romulan weapons.[36] 
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    Nice Little Phantasy

    | 3 Comments | No TrackBacks
    So, I'm online at the dating site (okcupid.com), and this window pops up with a chat from a girl.

    Er, a 'girl':

    1581522931574918164.jpeg
    But, after a short bit, it becomes apparent that this isn't a girl at all, but a computer.  See the chat log (pardon my candor if you visit).

    Start Rex

    | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks
    #TitleStardate[11]DirectorWriter(s)Original airdate[2]Remastered airdate[17][43]Production #
    01"The Man Trap"1513.1Marc DanielsGeorge Clayton JohnsonSeptember 8, 1966September 29, 200706
    The Enterprise visits planet M-113 for a routine medical inspection of archaeologists Robert and Nancy Crater, but find that Nancy Crater has been replaced by a deadly, shape-shifting creature.[36] 
    02"Charlie X"1533.6Lawrence DobkinD.C. FontanaSeptember 15, 1966July 14, 200708
    While traveling about the Enterprise, a dangerous young man named Charlie Evans terrorizes the crew with his unusual mental powers.[36] 
    03"Where No Man Has Gone Before"1312.4James GoldstoneSamuel A. PeeplesSeptember 22, 1966January 20, 200702
    After the Enterprise attempts to cross the Great Barrier at the edge of the galaxy, crew members Gary Mitchell and Elizabeth Dehner develop "godlike" psychic powers which threaten the safety of the crew.[36] 
    04"The Naked Time"1704.2Marc DanielsJohn D.F. BlackSeptember 29, 1966September 30, 200607
    A strange, intoxicating infection which lowers the crew's emotional inhibitions spreads throughout the Enterprise. A crew member's inebriated actions place the ship in danger, forcing Scotty to perform a hazardous and untested engineering procedure to save the ship from destruction.[36] 
    05"The Enemy Within"1672.1Leo PennRichard MathesonOctober 6, 1966January 26, 200805
    While beaming up from planet Alpha 177, a transporter accident splits Captain Kirk into two beings: one "good," who acts weak and indecisive; and one "evil", who acts overly aggressive and domineering. Scotty must quickly repair the transporter system to reunite the two Kirks, and to rescue the landing party trapped on the surface of the icy planet below.[36] 
    06"Mudd's Women"1329.8Harvey HartStephen KandelOctober 13, 1966April 19, 200804
    The Enterprise encounters interstellar con man Harry Mudd, who is arrested on outstanding charges while ferrying three extraordinarily beautiful women to a remote planet, destined to be wives for the miners located there. In actuality, the plain-looking women use illegal Venus drugs, which make them appear to be much more attractive than their natural appearance; after the drugs wear off, revealing Mudd's deception.[36] 
    07"What Are Little Girls Made Of?"2712.4James GoldstoneRobert BlochOctober 20, 1966October 6, 200710
    In search of Nurse Chapel's fiancé, renowned exobiologist Roger Korby, the Enterprise visits the icy planet Exo III, where Korby has discovered an ancient machine which allows him to duplicate any living person with an android replacement. Korby plans to use the machine to spread controlled androids throughout the Federation, and replaces Captain Kirk with such a duplicate in an effort to take over the Enterprise.[36]

    I never want you to take the journey that I'm currently on. So, I want to tell you about it. 

    It starts on the front of the refrigerator. "The Healthiest Foods on Earth." A two-page primer from apple to watermelon, touting immunity to male fertility support. Inside the refrigerator, natural and organic foods only. On the countertop is the Jack LaLanne juicer, the Magic Bullet, the handy food chopper plus, the food saver vacuum sealer--all items familiar to us because they are constantly hawked on the midnight cable channels. Hanging from the kitchen cabinet door are plastic bags for recycling: one for plastics, the other for aluminum cans. The house and car are filled with reusable shopping bags made of recycled materials. By the way, a new car was in the works, and not because of the cash for clunkers program of the Federal Government. An American-made hybrid was preferred--keeping U.S. workers working. In the back seat of her Ford Focus is a booklet, "Living in a Healthy Body: A New Look at Health & Weight." What I'm trying to describe is someone working very hard at changing a typically indulgent "American" lifestyle into one more respectful and healthy for the body, healthy for our earth. 

    So, in an act of preventive medical care, my aunt Hazel went to the doctor to have a colon oscopy. We are all bombarded with television commercials advising us to have a colonoscopy. I know in the black media, those ads abound. And so, dutifully, my aunt abided by those suggestions for healthy choices and had her first colonoscopy. What the family knows is that her colon was perforated. That's when our journey took us on a wrong turn. 

    Unfortunately, the facility that performed the colonoscopy had told my aunt not to call before the results were published and that would take up to two weeks!!! When my aunt called them because she was feeling so bad, they told her that she'd be ok overnight and that they would call her in the morning. The hospital talked to her and her daughter. The hospital told my aunt to go to sleep overnight and they'd call her back in the morning. But my aunt-tee continued to deteriorate so badly that her daughter called 9-1-1 and by the morning, my aunt-tee was already in surgery at another hospital that was not too busy to care for her. This is when the perforation was discovered and repaired. 

    While my aunt was recovering in the second hospital, in intensive care, a letter was sent from the hospital where the colonoscopy was performed stating that they were the insured's provider and that the hospital performing the emergency surgery would not get paid. The hospital performing the mal-colonoscopy demanded my aunt-tee back. So, against the desires of the hospital providing the emergency surgery, my aunt, while still in intensive care, was forced to be transferred to the hospital that, in my opinion, committed a capital crime. 

    My aunt-tee deteriorated after the transfer, but fought like heck to live. Unfortunately, her body had been so poisoned by the doctor's failure to recognize that he had perforated her colon that her body became toxic. The third affront to my aunt-tee's health and life occurred when morphine was administered, ostensibly for pain and gave her such a blow to her vital statistics that the family objected to a second administration of morphine. But guess what!!! She was given morphine again, despite her children's complaints!!!! My aunt never recovered from that. 

    My aunt, a divorced mother of two, struggled to live righteously. Those of you in southern California know that she accompanied me almost everywhere I went. She was a hard-working woman, a proud homeowner in Watts, a student working on her Social Work degree, finally able to achieve her dreams after deferring them for so long in order to help her children realize theirs. She also took to the campaign trail too many times, traveling to Georgia to help my father and me realize ours. I can't even believe that she's gone--through no fault of her own--and I'm still wondering how the heck my aunt ended up in this place. Despite all the care she took of herself this is unfathomable to me. And sadly, too many families are arriving at this same place. Iraqi families devastated by U.S. occupation; Afghani families devastated by U.S. war; U.S. families also devastated by U.S. policy makers. Why? 

    For the last four years, I've spouted off the racial quality-of-life disparities that exist in our country. I've said it so much, it's as if no one heard me. Because even during my tenure in Congress, I gave floor speeches, but the policy change never came. I spoke at banquets and conventions about it, but the policy changes never came. Two steps forward always seemed to end with one step backward. If we got the money appropriated, in too many instances, black institutions couldn't be in charge of it, so only a trickle at best reached the community. I found that the "plantation" was alive and well in patterns of federal spending. So when Dr. David Satcher, President Clinton's Surgeon General, found in a 2005 study that over 83,000 blacks die unnecessary and premature deaths each year due to their treatment after they arrive in a doctor's office, among other factors, I added that datum to my panoply of quality-of-life stats. And now, my aunt factors in Dr. Satcher's numbers. 

    I have seen such betrayal and lack of principle in the current "health care" debate, I had no intention of getting into it. In our Power to the People campaign, I wrote a platform that included policy recommendations to eliminate all disparities still extant in our society, including for health care. A single-payer system is so obviously needed, it should be too politically costly for our Democratic majority in the Congress and our Democratic White House to do anything else. I recommended an end to war. I advocated public ownership of the Federal Reserve. I even anticipated the skullduggery of the bailouts and recommended that if the "powers that be" were intent on forcing Congress to give these bailouts to institutions that conducted what I would call criminal behavior, then at a minimum, a credible person like David Walker, former U.S. Comptroller, should audit all corporations and institutions receiving such funds. I suggested that Senator Obama use the power of his Senatorial pen to amend the bailout legislation to this effect. It didn't happen. 

    My aunt-tee had a policy of rarely voting for an incumbent. She understood that just as she was trying to change herself into a lifestyle that she could believe in, she wasn't going to get political, social, and economic change that she could believe in by voting like everyone else, for the same special interest candidates. Once she decided that it was necessary to step outside of the box of political conformity, she discovered that there were Independent, Green Party, Libertarian, and other political party candidates on her ballot that she had long ignored.. She began to listen to them and learned to explore the totality of her options. It was glorious to watch my aunt-tee's liberation. 

    So why is she in the morgue now? 

    Not enough people took that journey with her.. Not enough people saw her example. Not enough was done to change policy. At a time when the policy makers have never been so divorced from the reality borne by the average citizens that they govern, the American people have shown an amazing ability to accept graft, corruption, death, and destruction while continuing to believe that hope alone can produce real change. Why did Cindy Sheehan protest without thousands in front of President Obama's $50,000 a week vacation home? 

    I've tried to walk my talk.. Just last week it came out that one "journalist" who called for my lynching was on the FBI payroll at the time of his comment. He claims to have been paid to say provocative things. I've withstood a lot--for the people. But now, I really don't know how much more walking or talking I'm able to do. I just wonder, how many more will have to experience this before more people write their own Declarations of Independence from this political disorder.. 

    The phone just rang and it was the hospital that performed the botched colonoscopy on my aunt, that ignored her call for help, that demanded that she be transferred while she was in intensive care, that administered morphine twice, despite objections from the family and from which her vitals never recovered. They wanted to know how my aunt would rate their service. I told them poor on every count. 

    Thank you for reading this with empathy and I thank you all for your support. I apologize for any appointments that I've missed while I've been on the road to this place I'm in now.

    There is a theory ...

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    There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
    -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"

    High Crimes & Atrocities

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    Lies and illegal war, torture, warrantless wiretapping and shameless disregard of the Constitution. The list of crimes and atrocities committed by the Bush administration will never be forgotten. Even as Obama and the new Congress "forgive and forget", the grassroots movement toward impeachment continues its demands for prosecution and justice. 

    that you *aren't* the 'everything', you are merely a chit in a big bucket of dividends unless you manage to get the money for your disease before they drop you.

    And you'll *have* to learn patience, since it's freakin' OBVIOUS that the current Congress is representing their 'constituents' (the health insurance and pharmacological industries).

    So, yes, you will have to 'afford to wait' (like you've got some *other* choice).

    REM and MoveOn together at last:




    Or, you could vote for the Green Party candidates for office.  They'll vote for health-care, and they'll put the criminals behind bars, and let the harmless potheads out to make space for them.

    The Ten Commandments (according to Barack Hussein Obama)


    I. Thou shalt have no God in America, except for me. For we are no longer a Christian nation and, after all, I am the chosen One. (And like God, I do not have a birth certificate.) SOURCE

    II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, unless it is my face carved on Mt. Rushmore. SOURCE

    III. Thou shalt not utter my middle name in vain (or in public). Only I can say Barack Hussein Obama. SOURCE

    IV. Remember tax day, April 15th, to keep it holy. SOURCE

    V. Honour thy father and thy mother until they are too old and sick to care for. They will cost our public-funded health-care system too much money. SOURCE

    VI. Thou shalt not kill, unless you have an unwanted, unborn baby. For it would be an abomination to punish your daughter with a baby. SOURCE

    VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery if you are conservative or a Republican. Liberals and Democrats are hereby forgiven for all of their infidelity and immorality, but the careers of conservatives will be forever destroyed. SOURCE

    VIII. Thou shalt not steal, until you've been elected to public office. Only then is it acceptable to take money from hard-working, successful citizens and give it to those who do not work, illegal immigrants, or those who do not have the motivation to better their own lives. SOURCE

    IX. Thou shalt not discriminate against thy neighbor unless they are conservative, Caucasian, or Christian. SOURCE

    X. Thou shalt not covet because it is simply unnecessary. I will place such a heavy tax burden on those that have achieved the American Dream that, by the end of my term as President, nobody will have any wealth or material goods left for you to covet. SOURCE

    We prefer the private, for-profit ones that don't stand for re-election (or at least, that's what the dolts say):



    California's Real Death Panels: Insurers Deny 21% of Claims

    PacifiCare's Denials 40%, Cigna's 33% in First Half of 2009

    More than one of every five requests for medical claims for insured patients, even when recommended by a patient's physician, are rejected by California's largest private insurers, amounting to very real death panels in practice daily in the nation's biggest state, according to data released Wednesday by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.

    CNA/NNOC researchers analyzed data reported by the insurers to the California Department of Managed Care. From 2002 through June 30, 2009, six of the largest insurers operating in California rejected 47.7 million claims for care -- 22 percent of all claims.

    The data will be presented by Don DeMoro, director of CNA/NNOC's research arm, the Institute for Health and Socio-Economic Policy, at CNA/NNOC's biennial convention next Tuesday, Sept. 8 in San Francisco. The convention will also feature a panel presentation from nurse leaders in Canada, Great Britain, and Australia exploding the myths about their national healthcare systems.

    "With all the dishonest claims made by some politicians about alleged 'death panels' in proposed national legislation, the reality for patients today is a daily, cold-hearted rejection of desperately needed medical care by the nation's biggest and wealthiest insurance companies simply because they don't want to pay for it," said Deborah Burger, RN, CNA/NNOC co-president.

    For the first half of 2009, as the national debate over healthcare reform was escalating, the rejection rates are even more striking. 

    Claims denial rates by leading California insurers, first six months of 2009:

    • PacifiCare -- 39.6 percent
    • Cigna -- 32.7 percent
    • HealthNet -- 30 percent
    • Kaiser Permanente -- 28.3 percent
    • Blue Cross -- 27.9 percent
    • Aetna -- 6.4 percent

    "Every claim that is denied represents a real patient enduring pain and suffering. Every denial has real, sometimes fatal consequences," said Burger.

    PacifiCare, for example, denied a special procedure for treatment of bone cancer for Nick Colombo, a 17-year-old teen from Placentia, Calif. Again, after protests organized by Nick's family and friends, CNA/NNOC, and netroots activists, PacifiCare reversed its decision. But like Nataline Sarkisyan, the delay resulted in critical time lost, and Nick ultimately died. "This was his last effort and the procedure had worked before with people in Nick's situation," said his older brother Ricky.

    Cigna gained notoriety two years ago for denying a liver transplant to 17-year-old Nataline Sarkisyan of Northridge, Calif. and then reversing itself, tragically too late to save her life.

    In 2008, six days before RN Kim Kutcher of Dana Point, Calif., was scheduled to have special back surgery, Blue Cross denied authorization for the procedure as "investigational" even though the lumbar artificial disc she was to receive had FDA approval. At the time of denial, which she calls "insurance hell," Kutcher had "already gone through pre-op testing, donated a unit of blood, had appointments with four physicians." Kutcher paid $60,000 out of pocket for the operation and is still fighting Blue Cross.

    Rejection of care is a very lucrative business for the insurance giants. The top 18 insurance giants racked up $15.9 billion in profits last year.

    "The routine denial of care by private insurers is like the elephant in the room no one in the present national healthcare debate seems to want to talk about," Burger said. "Nothing in any of the major bills advancing in the Senate or House or proposed by the administration would challenge this practice."

    "The United States remains the only country in the industrialized world where human lives are sacrificed for private profit, a national disgrace that seems on the verge of perpetuation," she said.

    CNA/NNOC supports an alternative approach, expanding Medicare to cover all Americans, which would give the U.S. a national system similar to what exists in other nations. Data released in late August by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, which tracks developed nations, found that among 30 industrial nations, the U.S. ranks last in life expectancy at birth for men, and 24th for women.

     
    Eric Wingerter and Justin Delacour
     
    In the early morning hours of January 31, vandals broke into Tiferet Israel, a Sephardic synagogue in Caracas. They strewed sacred scrolls on the floor and scribbled "Death to the Jews" and other anti-Semitic epithets on the walls, before making off with computer equipment and historical artifacts. Understandably, the incident frightened and upset many in the Venezuelan Jewish community. Right away, U.S. news outlets, including The New York Times and The Miami Herald, linked the incident to Venezuela's increasingly strained relations with Israel, after the two countries suspended diplomatic relations two weeks earlier over Israel's bombing of Gaza, then still under way. 
     
    Herald editorial went so far as to describe an "official policy of anti-Semitism" in Venezuela and implied that Chávez's foreign policy had unleashed a wave of anti-Semitic violence in the country, culminating in the assault on the synagogue.1 Some international NGOs were no more nuanced. Just hours after the break-in, the U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) was already implicitly comparing the Chávez government to the Nazis, calling the synagogue attack "a modern-day Kristallnacht."2
    But the Caracas police investigation bore out a different story. Authorities quickly realized that the synagogue's security fence had been cut from the inside, prompting detectives to investigate the break-in as an inside job. Within the week it became clear that the attack had in fact been a robbery disguised as anti-Semitic vandalism, carried out by the synagogue's privately contracted security team. Eleven men were arrested for their role in the plot, and their statements to the police indicated that the graffiti and desecration were intended to throw off investigators.3 
     
    Although the arrests helped ease the anxieties of Venezuela's Jewish community, the international media pressed on with the storyline of a politically motivated attack. The very week that the Venezuelan Israelite Association issued a statement praising the swift and successful investigation, The Washington Post ran an editorial titled "Mr. Chavez vs. the Jews," which again blamed the robbery on the government, or, more specifically, on an ugly comment left on a "pro-government Web site," demanding "that citizens 'publicly challenge every Jew that you find in the street, shopping center or park' and called for a boycott of Jewish-owned businesses, seizures of Jewish-owned property and a demonstration at Caracas's largest synagogue."4 The editorial concluded that the synagogue was then "duly attacked."5 The idea that the sacking of the Caracas synagogue was based purely on anti-Semitism has persisted, even showing up in a recent piece authored by two academics in the high-brow Boston Review. The authors claim the attack is a sign of "state-directed anti-Semitism."6
     
    Full story at: https://nacla.org/node/6106

    Oil on the Water

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    Oil on the Water


    Description:

    This is a single drop of clove oil on the surface of a glass of red wine, first in real-time, then in slow-mo ('till the end of the song). There are no 'effects' (digital or otherwise) applied to this footage. The background song is "Oil on the Water" by Boo Hewerdine and Darden Smith from the album "Evidence" (if you didn't know).

    Cool, *COOL* Fractal Patterning

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    I'm almost thinking I'll do a video (thinking about the lighting).

    Take a glass of red wine.

    Take a drop of clove oil (to make it 'mulled wine').

    Drop the drop in the wine.

    Watch.

    hometop

    GreenStream

    About this Archive

    This page is an archive of entries from September 2009 listed from newest to oldest.

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    Mentionables ...

    It's been days since Israel broke the truce and started murdering Palestinians again.

    Pres. Barack Obama
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    (415) 393-0707

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    (415) 403-0100

    Mike Thompson
    962-0933

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    (916) 651-4002

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    463-5770

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