Chris Matthews: MSNBC bosses were 'basically pro-war'

I have to give kudos to Chris Matthews. He was honest (for a change) and it could well cost him his job.

Chris Matthews: MSNBC bosses were 'basically pro-war'

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White House: Pre-war emails 'lost'

File under: The dog ate my homework.

This administration never fails to amaze me.

The White House does not have archival copies of e-mails exchanged between administration officials during the weeks leading up to President Bush's decision to invade Iraq nor for the first two months of the war there, according to a just-released filing concerning millions of e-mails alleged to have gone missing or been deleted.

"A White House declaration filed late last night ... makes the stunning admission that the White House failed to preserve ANY backup tapes for the period March 1, 2003 through May 22, 2003, a period of time during which the U.S. went to war in Iraq," says a release from Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington, a watchdog group suing for public records concerning the disappearance of internal White House e-mails.

Without computer backup tapes from this critical pre-Iraq war period, future researchers may be deprived a vital resource as the delve into the inner workings of the Bush administration as it decided to invade a country that had not attacked the United States and possessed no weapons of mass destruction.

Or as Dana Carvey as The Church Lady would say, "Well, isn't that convenient?"

Don't people get imprisoned for destroying evidence of a possible crime? Just asking.

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Googling Kirkland

Is the greater Seattle area becoming silicone valley north? Kirkland is almost a stone's throw from the Microsoft campus in Redmond.

Curious. Is Microsoft the reason Google is moving in? Will have to watch and see.

The last time 1,000 people worked at one company in Houghton, they were building minesweepers at a shipyard along Lake Washington.

That was more than 60 years ago during World War II, in a town that long ago was swallowed by Kirkland.

So having a business come in with that many workers is kind of a once-in-a-century deal.

The effect may be even more profound this time around because of the business. It's Google.

By early next year, some 195,000 square feet of offices along Sixth Street South, on the site of a former Navy depot and door company, will be occupied by Googleites. They will move into three office buildings in a campuslike setting near downtown Kirkland between Lake Washington and Interstate 405.

The development is expected to have major impacts on both the city and the region.

"There are going to be several hundred well-paid people coming to town," said Andy Loos, development manager for SRM Development, which developed the Google property.

But the implications of Google's expansion go far beyond numbers of workers, said Ellen Miller-Wolf, Kirkland's economic-development manager.

"It's a really big deal," she said. "It's a change in the way of thinking about Kirkland."

Google's move is a transformative step toward the city's own vision of being a community where people can work, live and play all in the same place, she said, and where people walk more and sit in traffic less.

"Most important in the future of a city like Kirkland is driving foot traffic and downtown activity," said Dave Despard, an IBM vice president and member of the Kirkland Downtown Association. "Our biggest push is to attract and retain this level of employers and employees to the downtown."

The city already has taken steps toward that goal in developing high-density housing, she said. The number of multifamily housing units in the central business district jumped from 39 in 1995 to 1,170 in 2007.

Evidence of Kirkland's evolution is visible at restaurants like the Purple Cafe and Cactus, both within easy walking distance of many downtown businesses, including Google and Bungie Studios, where the "Halo" games of Xbox fame were developed. The restaurants fill up with a jeans- and shorts-clad crowd for lunch and dinner.

...

Peter Wilson, Google site manager in Kirkland, says the decision to grow in Kirkland came in part because the city matches the company's inclination toward low-rise buildings and informal, people-friendly environments.

"Kirkland kind of fits," he said, noting that he lives along Lake Washington Boulevard and commonly walks to work.

On a recent tour of Google's existing Kirkland offices, Wilson points to rooms filled with pool tables, video games, free food and even massage stations.

Jesus H Christ sitting at a computer with a Mountain Dew. I kick myself for not going to work for Google. Safeco insurance (I worked there for 7 years) had an on-staff dietitian and subsidized meals so they were really and I mean really cheap, but not free. And I never saw a pool table or video game there.

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Cost to make a U.S. penny more than a penny

In my humble opinion and operating with a diseased mind (thank God not contagious), this strikes me as the epitome of a no brainer.

Surging prices for copper, zinc and nickel have some in the U.S. Congress advocating the steel-made pennies of World War II because it costs more than a penny to make one and a nickel costs 7.7 cents.

Just do away with pennies completely. We can round off to the nearest 5¢ or 10¢ and eliminate the nickels too. Hell, the dollar is the new penny anyway.

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OIL, OIL, EVERYWHERE

As Kevin Drum seems to believe, if the cheerleaders are having second thoughts, ya better brace for some very bad news on oil.

"It's not that the genie is out of the bottle — it's that 100 genies are out of the bottle," said Daniel Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates. Normally known for optimistic forecasts of lowering oil prices, Mr. Yergin's firm now says the price could rise to $150 a barrel this year.

Saying Daniel Yergin is an optimist is like saying Chris Matthews is annoying. Yergin basically thinks peak oil is Luddite crankery and that new technology will allow us to continue increasing production for at least the next several decades. He's the Pollyanna of the oil patch.

Now, I'm sure he'd say that his current pessimism is based not on a fundamental reevaluation of recoverable reserves, but instead on "aboveground" issues: political instability, terrorism, lack of investment, and so forth. Still, if even Daniel Yergin thinks oil prices are headed upward, it's a pretty good guess that oil prices are headed upward.

I knew once the $100 psychological barrier was breached it would become a roller coaster ride. So throw your hands in the air and enjoy.

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Lawmakers debate animal virus research (AP)

File under: What the fuck are they thinking?

Lawmakers are debating legislation to give national security officials full control over whether to move research of highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease from an isolated island laboratory to the U.S. mainland near herds of livestock.

The Bush administration requested the change, which would erode the role of the Agriculture Department in deciding the safest location to conduct research involving one of the world's most contagious animal viruses. The virus does not infect humans.

Under current law, the secretary of agriculture would issue a permit to move the research from a lab on isolated Plum Island, N.Y., only if he determined the move to be necessary and in the public's interest. The Senate's version of a farm bill would direct the secretary to approve the permit, so the Homeland Security Department could move ahead with its plans to build a new research facility on the mainland.

The House version of the same legislation would leave in place the agriculture secretary's discretion.

The Senate proposal was jointly requested by the departments of Agriculture and Homeland Security, said Erin Hamm, spokeswoman for Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga. The Senate plan would prevent the agriculture secretary under the next presidential administration from easily interfering with the lab's relocation to the mainland.

Chambliss, the Senate Agriculture Committee's top Republican, supports moving the virus research, and Athens, Ga., is one of the candidate sites for the government's new lab. The other possible locations are Manhattan, Kan.; Butner, N.C.; San Antonio; and Flora, Miss.

Democratic leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, some community activists and some livestock groups say it's too dangerous to bring foot-and-mouth research near commercial herds, although the livestock industry is divided. The committee asked 103 livestock groups whether they support moving the lab; only 19 responded: Eight were undecided, seven opposed it and four favored the move.

The Homeland Security Department "claims to have the support of the livestock industry to move foot-and-mouth disease to the mainland, but our survey shows that some of that support may have been written in disappearing ink," said Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Foot-and-mouth virus can be carried on a worker's breath or clothes, or vehicles leaving a lab. The existing lab is 100 miles northeast of New York City in the Long Island Sound, accessible only by ferry or helicopter. Researchers there who work with the live virus are not permitted to own animals at home that would be susceptible, and they must wait at least a week before attending outside events where such animals might perform, such as a circus.

If even a single cow signals an outbreak in the U.S., emergency plans permit the government to shut down all exports and movement of livestock. Herds would be quarantined, and a controlled slaughter could be started to stop the disease from spreading.

Infected animals weaken and lose weight. Milk cows don't produce milk. They remain highly infectious, even if they survive the virus.

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Personal

The point of this post is 3-fold.

I spent some time in Cork, Ireland for a major corporation. From the offices we were in we could see the above insane asylum (locals' term, not mine). We couldn't see the river Lee in the foreground. It was as dreary and scary looking as the photo depicts.

The major corporation had very deep pockets and enormous resources. One day I was on the phone to the US. I told them I had info for them. By satellite, I hit the "enter" key. Immediately they said, "Got it". I was astonished.

If you should go to Ireland, don't miss Cork. Visit the Blarney Castle and kiss the stone. Hope your photo turns out. Mine didn't.

Dublin is nice (Guinness plant anyone?) as are Limerick and other locations, but Cork is so fucking charming you will never forget it. Besides, they have probably the best pizza in Ireland and steaks you won't believe.

Almost forgot. ALL meals include potatoes.

May you be in Heaven
a half hour before the
Devil knows you're dead!

If you want to help the people of Myranmar

Stolen whole from Brilliant at Breakfast because its important shit.

When I donate to charitable and relief organizations, I look for those with the least amount of money put into exorbitant executive salaries, fancy offices and other overhead; and that don't plow a sizable percentage of donations back into additional fundraising. In looking for such groups to help the Myanmar relief effort this morning, I found a few of them:

One relief group with a high fund-raising efficiency (and #2 on Forbes' list with 99% charitable services after expenses) that has already issued a press release outlining its efforts is Direct Relief International, which has already contacted its partners in the area about helping.

International Medical Corps is #7 on the Forbes list, with 94% charitable services after expenses). IMC is already targeting donations to Myanmar cyclone relief.

Brother's Brother Foundation, a nonsectarian foundation whose mission is "to promote international health and education through the efficient and effective distribution and provision of donated medical, educational, agricultural and other resources.
All BBF programs are designed to fulfill its mission by connecting people’s resources with people’s needs." They deal primarily in donated medical and related supplies, but also accept cash donations to help purchase containers and pay shipping costs. Forbes Magazine profiled the foundation last December, calling it "as efficient as they come on our list of the country's 200 largest-by-private-donation nonprofits." I don't know what programs they specifically are doing for Myanmar, but you could contact them and find out.

Usually the American National Red Cross is first out of the gate at times like this, but it is one of the least efficient charities. So I thought it'd be worth the investment of time to come up with some where your money actually has a shot at going to help the people who need it instead of the executives running the foundation.

Please don't get me wrong. The Red Cross does great things, but they come at huge costs never helping anyone except the Red Cross.

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Breaking news…

This must have caused some awkward moments to say the least.

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MS Walk

If you don't get the joke at first, hang in there. It'll dawn on you.



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A Night in Baghdad

Appreciate what you have if you are not in Baghdad, Lebanon, Gaza, Somalia, Myanmar, Ethiopia, Darfur...and the list goes on seemingly without end.

In an outdoor garden we ordered sweet, fresh orange juice and shared plates of chickpea dip, salads and grilled meat and chicken. For the first time in a long time we went out as an office and stayed out what could be called late in Baghdad. We were living on the edge. We didn't get home until a whopping 8:45 p.m.

Jesus H Christ at the wailing wall but I seem to be negative right now. Gotta fucking change that.

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Georgette W. Bush

While this dismal blogger is crying about Myanmar, the people who actually can do something about it and those covering them are practically ignoring it. Shit!

Please go to the link. The "Georgette" in the headline is NOT a typo.
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The sweet smell of success

SPIIDERWEB™ hasn't won any Koufax awards or anything like that and never will but we are content because we have this:


Had to lighten things up a bit after that last post.

Myanmar cyclone death toll soars past 22,000: state radio

Now I have to cry. The initial reports of 350+ dead was bad enough.

The cyclone death toll soared above 22,000 on Tuesday and more than 41,000 others were missing as foreign countries mobilized to rush in aid after the country's deadliest storm on record, state radio reported.

Up to 1 million people may be homeless after Cyclone Nargis hit the Southeast Asian nation, also known as Burma, early Saturday. Some villages have been almost totally eradicated and vast rice-growing areas are wiped out, the World Food Program said.

Images from state television showed large trees and electricity poles sprawled across roads and roofless houses ringed by large sheets of water in the Irrawaddy River delta region, which is regarded as Myanmar's rice bowl.

"From the reports we are getting, entire villages have been flattened and the final death toll may be huge," Mac Pieczowski, who heads the International Organization for Migration office in Yangon, said in a statement.

Buddhist monks and Catholic nuns wielding knives and axes joined Yangon residents Tuesday in clearing roads of ancient, fallen trees that were once the city's pride. And soldiers were out on the streets in large numbers for the first time since the cyclone hit, helping to clear trees as massive as 15 feet in diameter.

President Bush called on Myanmar's military junta to allow the U.S. to help. The White House said the U.S. will send more than $3 million to help cyclone victims, up from an initial emergency contribution of $250,000.

"We're prepared to move U.S. Navy assets to help find those who have lost their lives, to help find the missing, to help stabilize the situation. But in order to do so, the military junta must allow our disaster assessment teams into the country," he said.

Bush spoke at a ceremony where he signed legislation awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to Burmese democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myanmar's military regime has signaled it will welcome aid supplies for victims of a devastating cyclone, the U.N. said Tuesday, clearing the way for a major relief operation from international organizations.

But U.N. workers were still awaiting their visas to enter the country, said Elisabeth Byrs of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

"The government has shown a certain openness so far," Byrs said. "We hope that we will get the visas as soon as possible, in the coming hours. I think the authorities have understood the seriousness of the situation and that they will act accordingly."

The appeal for outside assistance was unusual for Myanmar's ruling generals, who have long been suspicious of international organizations and closely controlled their activities. Several agencies, including the International Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, have limited their presence as a consequence.

Allowing any major influx of foreigners could carry risks for the military, injecting unwanted outside influence and giving the aid givers rather than the junta credit for a recovery.

However, keeping out international aid would focus blame squarely on the military should it fail to restore peoples' livelihoods.

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Video killed SPIIDERWEB™

I'm so sorry. If you post video feeds I gloss over them. There is no way this sick computer can handle any of them.

Consider this a heads up.

Canada: BC taser inquiry underway

I think its pretty clear. I have no future should I apply for work at the TASER® company*.

A Taser gun doesn't routinely kill people, although the conducted energy weapon delivers electric current up to 85 times what's lethal, an American electrical engineer told a public inquiry in Vancouver Monday.

85 times what's lethal.

* Our mission is to protect life by providing safer, more effective force options and technologies.

Well, except for the unfortunate fucking bastards who die. We also cull the gene pool.

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U.S. base is no longer welcome in Ecuador

File under" No shit.

Mayor Jorge Zambrano pulled up to the Manta City Hall in his black Ford Explorer (SUVs are everywhere), expecting to find a rally in support of the American military outpost that runs drug-surveillance flights from this gritty port city. He left an hour later behind a wall of riot shields and a cloud of Mace, as police fended off banner-waving protesters who crashed the event in March. With 18 months left on its decade-long contract, the U.S. Forward Operating Location in Manta has few friends in this South American nation - and fewer still who believe that the agreement has any hope of being extended.

Is the US welcome anywhere these days? Just asking.

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Grain profits soar as food crisis worsens

In the following the emphasis is mine alone because the sources would never emphasize such shit.

At a time when parts of the world are facing food riots, Big Agriculture is dealing with a different sort of challenge: huge profits.

On Tuesday, grain-processing giant Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. said its fiscal third-quarter profits jumped 42 percent, including a sevenfold increase in net income in its unit that stores, transports and trades grains such as wheat, corn and soybeans.

Monsanto Co., maker of seeds and herbicides, Deere & Co., which builds tractors, combines and sprayers, and fertilizer maker Mosaic Co. all reported similar windfalls in their latest quarters.

The robust profits are emerging against the backdrop of a food crisis some experts say is the worst in three decades. The secretary-general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, on Tuesday called for the creation of a high-level global task force to deal with the cascading impact of high grain prices and oil prices. He said that countries must do more to avert "social unrest on an unprecedented scale" and should contribute money to make up for the $755 million shortfall in funding for the World Food Program, which feeds the world's hungry.

President Bush told reporters Tuesday that he's "deeply concerned about people who don't have food abroad," and all three presidential contenders have recently cited high food and energy prices as causes for concern. Arizona Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican candidate, has said he favors scrapping the 51-cent per gallon ethanol tax credit and a 54-cent per gallon tariff imposed on most imported ethanol, ideas abhorred by farmers and many politicians.

The crisis stems from a combination of heightened demand for food from fast-growing developing countries like China and India, low grain stockpiles caused by bad weather, rising fuel prices and the increasing amount of land used to grow crops for ethanol and other biofuels rather than food.

Food companies say they're not to blame for the soaring prices and are committed to working toward a solution. They say bigger profits can be used to develop new technologies that will ultimately help farmers improve productivity. Monsanto says it's designing improved genetically modified seeds that can squeeze even more yield from each acre of planted grain*, while ADM says it's investing in tools that can mitigate supply disruptions. "Maybe the question should be not, "Are you making money?' but, 'What are you doing with the money that you make?'" says Victoria Podesta, vice president for corporate communications at ADM.

I especially like the fucking "Are you making money?' but, 'What are you doing with the money that you make?' That bit is so damn kewl.

They are pocketing the goddamn money, idiot. Case closed.

Are these altruists who want to really help anyone who doesn't hold stock in their companies? Silly rabbit.

The best you can do is invest in a supply of Wicked® Slick™ because they are fucking you any way they can.

BTW, I take no credit for the strange quotation marks. They were part of the original.

* Oh yeah? Liars.

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Jolly gene giant

We were warned but no one (I know of) was at all concerned.

A review of Claire Hope Cummings' Uncertain Peril

In October 1996, a spokesman for Monsanto told Farm Journal why his company was buying up seed companies left and right: "What you're seeing is not just a consolidation of seed companies, it's really a consolidation of the entire food chain."

Today, Monsanto is the world's largest seed company -- and makes more money selling seeds than chemicals. The company's biotech seeds and traits accounted for 88 percent of the worldwide area devoted to genetically modified seeds in 2006 -- and Monsanto earns royalties on every single one. No one needed to tell Monsanto: Whoever controls the first link in the food chain -- the seeds -- controls the food supply.

What better way to understand the perilous state of industrial food and farming than by starting with the seed? Claire Hope Cummings' new book, Uncertain Peril: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Seeds is a sharp and elegant analysis of the biotech seed debate.

Beginning with the tragic story of how the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq led to the destruction of Iraq's seed bank, and the subsequent dependence of Iraqi farmers on U.S. aid and multinational agribusiness, Cummings explains what's at stake when farming communities lose the crop diversity that they've nurtured and managed for thousands of years.

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Free (loader?) bird

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Yankee or Dixie quiz

This blows me away.

How do you talk? How do you say different things?

Check on your dialect and see if you might have crossed over to the “other side”! Simply click on the correct answer. As you go, the quiz will automatically interpret each answer to show you what your answer implies about you. When you are done, press Compute My Score. Your score will be calculated as a percentage: 0% is pure Yankee and 100% is pure Dixie.

My score? 100%. I'm a redneck!

Take the Yankee or Dixie quiz

Notice non-Americans may not get the same results.

Disclaimer: My guess is, under scientific scrutiny, this test may prove bogus.

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Cyclone death toll nears 4,000 in Myanmar, state radio says

Jesus H Christ hunting for shelter. I hope the number of deaths are overstated.

Its 9/11 or 9/11X3.

And, typical of the idiot's administration, the US isn't welcome. Go figure.

Almost 4,000 people were killed and nearly 3,000 others are unaccounted for after a devastating cyclone in Myanmar, a state radio station said Monday.

Foreign Minister Nyan Win told foreign diplomats at a briefing that the death toll could rise to more than 10,000, according to diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was held behind closed doors.

Tropical Cyclone Nargis hit the Southeast Asian country, also known as Burma, early Saturday with winds of up to 120 mph, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless.

Myanmar's ruling junta, which has spurned the international community for decades, appealed for aid on Monday. But the U.S. State Department said Myanmar's government had not granted permission for a Disaster Assistance Response Team into the country.

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The Old Bait 'n' Switch

How do I put this without being totally coarse?

Oh yeah, I've got it. The government fucks the veterans so you don't have to.

How many join the military assuming they will get a free education after they have fulfilled they're obligation to serve? Most is my guess and they are so very wrong.

When I was sitting in a humvee in Baghdad two years ago, we had plenty of time to talk. While the conversations varied between musing about the morning's chow, the stifling heat or what type of truck we were going to buy when we got home, one theme remained constant. Everyone said they were going home to get that college degree that Uncle Sam promised us when we enlisted.

Last December, a year and a half late, I finally graduated. I still laugh when people ask me whether the military paid for my education. When I tell them how meager the actual education benefits are, their shock always make me feel like I just told a child that there is no such thing as the tooth fairy. Unfortunately, many of my battle buddies realized the hard way that the GI Bill isn't what it used to be. The education benefits for troops are so low that they either never enrolled, or dropped out of school because they couldn't handle working two part-time jobs or living back home on Mama's couch to afford to attend school.

My fellow veterans are struggling because the current GI Bill is woefully inadequate. Service members are forced to take out loans just to start classes, and then wait months to get any reimbursement. Even then, the benefit only covers 60 to 70 percent of the cost of a four-year public university. For expensive private schools, the GI Bill is barely a drop in the bucket. And every year, the GI Bill is losing value because education benefits have failed to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of education . . . .

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When ya gotta go

Offbeat Earth has many more unusual/clever restroom signs but a couple may be NSFW. These happen to be my favorites.

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Nothing dangerous if you can handle profanity

Next Time Impede the Investigation in Finnish

This is just too funny.

[Patrol car flashing lights at curb. Small group of high-schoolers corralled against wall]
Police officer: So what happened --what did you see?
Sharp teen: No hablo inglés.
Officer, in perfect Spanish: Entonces, que pasó? Qué viste?
Smart teen: No hablo español!

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Exposed: the great GM crops myth

Many people aren't nuts about GM (genetically modified) food if not down right frightened by them. They don't like scientists fucking with nature and some are very suspicious about what GM foods might do to humans.

But there's another reason to be anti-GM food. They don't produce the same yield as do non-GM varieties.

Genetic modification actually cuts the productivity of crops, an authoritative new study shows, undermining repeated claims that a switch to the controversial technology is needed to solve the growing world food crisis.

The study – carried out over the past three years at the University of Kansas in the US grain belt – has found that GM soya produces about 10 per cent less food than its conventional equivalent, contradicting assertions by advocates of the technology that it increases yields.

Professor Barney Gordon, of the university's department of agronomy, said he started the research – reported in the journal Better Crops – because many farmers who had changed over to the GM crop had "noticed that yields are not as high as expected even under optimal conditions". He added: "People were asking the question 'how come I don't get as high a yield as I used to?'"

He grew a Monsanto GM soybean and an almost identical conventional variety in the same field. The modified crop produced only 70 bushels of grain per acre, compared with 77 bushels from the non-GM one.

The GM crop – engineered to resist Monsanto's own weedkiller, Roundup – recovered only when he added extra manganese, leading to suggestions that the modification hindered the crop's take-up of the essential element from the soil. Even with the addition it brought the GM soya's yield to equal that of the conventional one, rather than surpassing it.

The new study confirms earlier research at the University of Nebraska, which found that another Monsanto GM soya produced 6 per cent less than its closest conventional relative, and 11 per cent less than the best non-GM soya available.

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The biofuels boom

Now if this isn't the precursor to food riots I don't know what is.

Barbed wire? Hell, it can't even contain cattle in some cases and cattle are stupid.

Wait. People can be pretty stupid animals too.

A growing global food crisis has not curbed the appetite of Canada's newest biofuel plant, which is busy stockpiling a mountain of wheat near this town west of Regina. Huge trucks loaded with grain roll into the $130-million plant, weigh in, then swing round and add to the growing pile of wheat behind a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire.

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The destruction of our highway system

I really have nothing much to add. The federal gas tax moratorium is ludicrous. When the cost of food and other commodities (if available) are skyrocketing, this doesn't even amount to a fucking band aid. Its pandering to the hoi polloi to keep them quiet.

That's right folks. To save a family of four $70 this summer, (according to HIllary) or $37 (according to most far more reputable sources) Hillary will cut the federal gas tax for three months. In exchange for that fiasco, gas companies can push up prices, knowing that $4.00 is not even a psychological barrier anymore.

But here's the real good news. 350,000 US citizens, (possibly far more - see below) many of you union workers, will be fired this summer. Anyone who lays tar, pours concrete, makes and ties rebar, fills pot holes, does welding to repair cracks in bridges, builds new roads, or fixes and expands existing ones, every single one of you will be fired this summer.

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Hillary Clinton dismisses "elite" economists on gas tax plan

Come on. We already have a moron running the country (into the ground) who doesn't listen to those who know what they're talking about. Do we need another? Just asking.

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Sunday dismissed the "elite opinion" of economists who criticized her gas tax proposal, using a term that has dogged rival Barack Obama in recent weeks.

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Iraq backs off allegations that Iran is behind violence

Oopsie. It seems the puppet has cut another string.

The Iraqi Government seemed to distance itself from U.S. accusations towards Iran Sunday saying it would not be forced into conflict with its Shiite neighbor. And Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki ordered the formation of a committee to look into foreign intervention in Iraq.

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Global Famine: The Lords of Capital Decree Mass Death by Starvation

Politicians who have some vested interest in biofuels can spin and lie about ethanol and biodiesel, but the fact remains large corporations are literally taking food out of people's mouths and driving up the cost of the food that remains.

Having crushed the planet's peasants and converted food into just another commodity for global manipulation, the Lord's of Capital have unleashed upon humanity the threat - no, certainty - of mass starvation. The criminal mega-enterprise is centered in the United States, the former "breadbasket of the planet" whose massive conversion to biofuels has caused staple crop prices to skyrocket beyond the reach of hundreds of millions of the world's poor. The death of millions translates into profits in the trillions for the Lords of Capital, killers on a mass scale whose only talents lie in "the production of overlapping calamities, each more lethal than the last."

"No amount of emergency aid is sufficient to make up for the wild price rises that have already occurred." [formatting in original]

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Airporn

Where ultra light airplanes come from (snicker).

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Stop and smell the, uh, oh never mind

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Diplomatic Sources: Plans for Air and Naval Strikes on Iran Submitted

This boggles the mind. Why would any military entity not have plans to retaliate should their military assets be attacked. That would seem to be a no-brainer if not completely incompetent. One doesn't just sit there as targets.

As for provocation, its pure bullshit. Unless attacked, the military has no right to attack in spite of what the moron believes. To some degree, many countries of the world have "provoked" the US.

The U.S. military has drafted and won approval for attack plans in response to an Iran attack.

Western diplomatic sources said the U.S. military's Central Command has submitted plans for an air and naval strike on Iran, Middle East Newsline reported. The sources said the plan envisioned escalating tensions that would peak with an Iranian-inspired insurgency strike against U.S. military assets in the Gulf.

Comment: So that's what all the recent allegations about Iran being involved in Iraq are about: they are, as we suspected, part of the necessary propaganda to carry out the war plan already approved, signed and rubber-stamped. They just needed an excuse to invade and now they have decided which one that will be.

Meanwhile, on April 29, a second American aircraft carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln, steamed into the Gulf in what officials termed a show of force. They said the U.S. Navy plans to withdraw a carrier group, USS Harry S. Truman, from the region.

Comment: Aircraft carriers are not moved around the globe for no reason.

"There is tremendous tactical benefit to us to operate the two side-by-side in restricted space," Lt. Gen. Carter Ham, director of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Wednesday. "We can generate more sorties, some of them strike, some of them reconnaissance, some of them to perform other operations."

"This is not some grand scheme to destroy the Iranian regime and its nuclear program," a source said. "It is a practical plan on how to respond to an Iranian strike or a provocation."

Comment: It has already been decided that an Iranian "provocation" will take place - whether the Iranians like it or not.

Officials said the Defense Department has sought an update for plans to attack Iran amid what they term its "increasingly hostile role" against the United States. The officials cited the weapons flow to insurgency groups in Iraq as well as confrontations with U.S. ships in the Gulf.

"I have reserve capability, in particular our navy and our air force so it would be a mistake to think that we are out of combat capability," Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said.

Under the plan approved by the Defense Department, Central Command would be allowed to retaliate for an Iranian attack with U.S. air strikes. The sources said the plan contained a series of options that range from a limited to full-scale attack.

"We are not taking any military elements off the table," Mullen said.

Isn't it about time everyone retired the "off the table" locution? I know I'm fucking sick of hearing/reading it.

Comments are contained in the original article. They ain't mine even though I agree with them.

Note: Headline links to source.

Envisioning a World Without Men

Well, it was nice while it lasted.

Will there still be misogyny?

Wow! This really raises important questions about procreation. Can they freeze enough sperm? Will they need to? Perhaps asexual reproduction?

Will we have to jettison the question "Who's your daddy?"

Imagine a world without men: Lauren Bacall but no Bogie, Hillary Clinton but no Bill, no Starsky or Hutch.

This isn't just an unlikely sci-fi scenario. This could be reality, according to Bryan Sykes, an eminent professor of genetics at Oxford University and author of Adam's Curse: A Future Without Men.

"The Y chromosome is deteriorating and will, in my belief, disappear," Sykes told me. A world-renowned authority on genetic material, Sykes is called upon to investigate DNA evidence from crime scenes. His team of researchers is currently compiling a DNA family tree for our species.

Note: Headline links to source.

World’s Most Expensive Home: $2 Billion Skyscraper!

This is enough to make me upchuck*. How in hell can anyone, whether they can afford it or not, justify this?

When the Ambani residence is finished next year, it will be the most expensive home in the world: a 27-story skyscraper in downtown Mumbai. The cost? $2 billion!

But the Ambani family can well afford it, because Mukesh Ambani, head of India’s petrochemical giant Reliance Industries, is the fifth richest man in the world and is worth $43 billion.

* Vomit.

Link has a picture.

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I'm cruel but realistic

Oft times I sincerely believe I need someone to temper my lack of discretion, deportment and good taste. This is one of those times.

When voters in the US go to the polls in November, should they choose to vote Republican, they are voting for John McCain's running mate because that person will most likely succeed McCain.

Life expectancy in the US is 77.8 years (McCain is 71). With a hair trigger temper it probably goes down more. And you can throw in the melanoma and I would surmise hypertension.

Note: Headline links to life expectancy source.

‘Senior U.S. Official’: McCain’s Plan To Kick Russia Out Of The G8 Is ‘Impossible’ And ‘Just A Dumb Thing’

I run into such horrid mistakes all the time and am amazed professionals do this.

Were the proofreaders rather than the lawyers the first to be killed? Just asking.

In his March 26 speech on foreign policy, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) laid out what Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria calls “the most radical idea put forward by a major candidate for the presidency in 25 years.” McCain, seeking to make “his most comprehensive statement” yet on foreign policy, declared that Russia should be kicked out of the G8, of which it has been a member since 1997:

The Group of Eight, or G-8, as it’s popularly known, makes decisions by consensus, so no single nation can kick out another. Most experts say the six other countries — Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Japan and Canada — would never agree to toss Russia, given their close economic ties to their neighbor. [emphasis moi]

Fareed, may I suggest if you start with eight countries and are talking about eliminating one, it is seven, not six who would be responsible.

Its a simple equation a child could understand: 8-1=7! Capice?

As for the meat and potatoes of the item, McCain's suggestion, it not worth comment. He's an ass and proves it over and over. The US need not the reincarnation of the village idiot.

Note: Headline links to source.

Where's the Love?

File under ya think?

Shibley Telhami and Zogby International have some not-so-surprising new poll numbers [link in original] out of the Middle East on views of the US, threat perceptions, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and most interesting to me, Iran's nuclear program. The 2008 Annual Arab Public Opinion Poll finds that:

* 81% of people surveyed in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE feel that "most of the Iraqi people" are "worse off" than before the war

* 81% of people surveyed in Lebanon chose "Iraq will remain unstable and spread instability in the region" as their "biggest concern about the consequences of the war in Iraq"

* 36% surveyed did not "believe the reports of a significant reduction in violence" in Iraq

* 64% surveyed had a "very unfavorable" attitude toward the US, up from 57% two years ago

* 65% surveyed "don't believe that democracy is a real American objective"

* 24% surveyed would prefer France to be the sole superpower, leading Germany, China, the US, Russia, Britain, Pakistan

* When asked to name two countries respondents thought posed the biggest threat, Israel garnered 95% while the US competed for a close second at 88%

There's a huge gap between what Americans are being told and what the people with a stake in the Mid-East know.

Note: Headline links to source.

Diversions

Absolutely no comment(s) required.







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Air Marshals Grounded by Government's No-Fly List

Could this administration be any more fucked up than it already is?

BTW, that's a rhetorical question.

False identifications based on a terrorist no-fly list have for years prevented some federal air marshals from boarding flights they are assigned to protect, according to officials with the agency, which is finally taking steps to address the problem.

Federal Air Marshals (FAMs) familiar with the situation say the mix-ups, in which marshals are mistaken for terrorism suspects who share the same names, have gone on for years — just as they have for thousands of members of the traveling public.

One air marshal said it has been "a major problem, where guys are denied boarding by the airline."

"In some cases, planes have departed without any coverage because the airline employees were adamant they would not fly," said the air marshal, who asked not to be named because the job requires anonymity. "I've seen guys actually being denied boarding."

A second air marshal said one agent "has been getting harassed for six years because his exact name is on the no-fly list."

Note: Headline links to source.

McCain clarifies remark about oil, Iraq war (AP)

One thing you should expect of a Presidential hopeful or a President is carefully worded statements. Preferably these should be written comments so they're very precise with absolutely no ambiguity.

John, baby, there are no "do overs" in the Presidency. Say what you mean the first time.

Republican John McCain was forced to clarify his comments Friday suggesting the Iraq war involved U.S. reliance on foreign oil. He said he was talking about the first Gulf War and not the current conflict.

To be fair, which I really hate to do, all the candidates from the start of this protracted campaign season have made similar statements on this or that subject. This just happens to be one of the most recent. It still holds. What you say should not need later "clarification" if that's really what it is rather than spin.

Note: Headline links to source.

Israeli army blames militants for Gaza deaths (AP)

This is spin that just doesn't fucking cut it.

Even if this were true, what are the chances the ammunition would have detonated without the air strike?

Israel killed those people just as surely as if they had put guns to their heads.

The Israeli army blamed militants for the deaths of a Palestinian woman and her four young children, saying Friday that they died in secondary blasts when the Hamas fighters' ammunition detonated in an Israeli air strike.

Note: Headline links to source.

All salmon fishing banned on US West Coast

Chinook or King salmon
This is what happens when you don't have "big" government judicially regulating an industry. Thousands will be economically devastated.

Here is what could have happened.

1. Limit takes. Don't let the trawlers over-fish the salmon to the point they are decimated.

2. Set a limit on the number of boats allowed to fish through licensing.

3. Establish a waiting list of captains who want to fish and dole out licenses as other captains retire or die.

4. Set limited seasons on when boats can take salmon.

These steps, had they been implemented earlier could have prevented this catastrophe. Everyone would suffer to some extent, but not been deprived of their livelihoods completely.

Salmon fishing was banned along the West Coast for the first time in 160 years Thursday, a decision that is expected to have a devastating economic impact on fishermen, dozens of businesses, tourism and boating.

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez immediately declared a commercial fishery disaster, opening the door for Congress to appropriate money for anyone who will be economically harmed.

Note: Headline links to source.

Secret Bush "Finding" Widens War on Iran

I personally have no problem accepting this article at face value, but I do want to point out there is no corroboration nor are there verifiable facts in the article. It amounts to "they said". Ye old anonymous sources.

That said, the neocons, through the conduit of the moron, have a hard on for the Mid-East and are determined to shape it to their vision. And that can be verified quite easily.

Six weeks ago, President Bush signed a secret finding authorizing a covert offensive against the Iranian regime that, according to those familiar with its contents, "unprecedented in its scope."

Bush's secret directive covers actions across a huge geographic area - from Lebanon to Afghanistan - but is also far more sweeping in the type of actions permitted under its guidelines - up to and including the assassination of targeted officials. This widened scope clears the way, for example, for full support for the military arm of Mujahedin-e Khalq, the cultish Iranian opposition group, despite its enduring position on the State Department's list of terrorist groups.

Similarly, covert funds can now flow without restriction to Jundullah, or "army of god," the militant Sunni group in Iranian Baluchistan - just across the Afghan border -- whose leader was featured not long ago on Dan Rather Reports cutting his brother in law's throat.

Other elements that will benefit from U.S. largesse and advice include Iranian Kurdish nationalists, as well the Ahwazi arabs of south west Iran. Further afield, operations against Iran's Hezbollah allies in Lebanon will be stepped up, along with efforts to destabilize the Syrian regime.

All this costs money, which in turn must be authorized by Congress, or at least a by few witting members of the intelligence committees. That has not proved a problem. An initial outlay of $300 million to finance implementation of the finding has been swiftly approved with bipartisan support, apparently regardless of the unpopularity of the current war and the perilous condition of the U.S. economy.

Until recently, the administration faced a serious obstacle to action against Iran in the form of Centcom commander Admiral William Fallon, who made no secret of his contempt for official determination to take us to war. In a widely publicized incident last January, Iranian patrol boats approached a U.S. ship in what the Pentagon described as a "taunting" manner. According to Centcom staff officers, the American commander on the spot was about to open fire. At that point, the U.S. was close to war. He desisted only when Fallon personally and explicitly ordered him not to shoot. The White House, according to the staff officers, was "absolutely furious" with Fallon for defusing the incident.

Fallon has since departed. His abrupt resignation in early March followed the publication of his unvarnished views on our policy of confrontation with Iran, something that is unlikely to happen to his replacement, George Bush's favorite general, David Petraeus.

Though Petraeus is not due to take formal command at Centcom until late summer, there are abundant signs that something may happen before then. A Marine amphibious force, originally due to leave San Diego for the Persian Gulf in mid June, has had its sailing date abruptly moved up to May 4. A scheduled meeting in Europe between French diplomats acting as intermediaries for the U.S. and Iranian representatives has been abruptly cancelled in the last two weeks. Petraeus is said to be at work on a master briefing for congress to demonstrate conclusively that the Iranians are the source of our current troubles in Iraq, thanks to their support for the Shia militia currently under attack by U.S. forces in Baghdad.

Interestingly, despite the bellicose complaints, Petraeus has made little effort to seal the Iran-Iraq border, and in any case two thirds of U.S. casualties still come from Sunni insurgents. "The Shia account for less than one third," a recently returned member of the command staff in Baghdad familiar with the relevant intelligence told me, "but if you want a war you have to sell it."

Even without the covert initiatives described above, the huge and growing armada currently on station in the Gulf is an impressive symbol of American power.

Note: Headline links to source.

Irish Christian leaders barred from Western Wall for wearing crosses

Apparently tolerance/acceptance is a uni-directional thingy.

The rabbi of the Western Wall says officials barred visiting Irish church leaders from praying there because they were wearing crosses.

Note: Headline links to source.

US plan to protect right whale from shipping blocked by Cheney

This should come as no surprise. This administration rarely makes decisions based on the advice of scientists. They do what the fuck they want and to hell with the facts or, in this case, the expert knowledge of government scientists.

Efforts to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale from being killed by ships are being blocked by Vice President Dick Cheney according to leaked documents.

A behind the scenes struggle is raging between the White House and US government scientists who want to force ships to slow down near the calving grounds of the almost extinct right whale.

The right whale controversy is the latest example of the Bush Administration sidestepping the advice of its on scientists which are aimed at protecting endangered species or threats to the environment. On Monday, a judge had to order the administration to release its much-delayed decision aimed at protecting the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act.

Only 350 of the whales remain in Atlantic waters off America's eastern seaboard and they are considered one of the most endangered species on Earth. Government scientists warn that the loss of just one more pregnant female is enough to doom the species, which was almost hunted to extinction in the 19th century.

Every year around three right whales are either injured or killed in collisions with ocean-going vessels like containerized cargo ships even though they are protected under the Endangered Species Act. Right whales frequently wash up on shore bearing deep scars from being struck by ships propellers.

To reduce ship strikes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) decided that ships should restrict their speed to 10 knots or less near whale feeding and calving grounds during parts of the year.

But Mr Cheney's office, which tends to operate in secrecy, sent letters repeatedly questioning whether the rule was needed according to leaked documents. Flatly contradicting the scientific research Mr Cheney's staff argued, "that we have no evidence that lowering the speeds of 'large ships' will actually make a difference."

A critique of the scientists analysis by the administration led to a strongly worded reply in which they said: "The basic facts remain that there is a direct relationship" between a vessel's speed and the likelihood of death or serious injury to the whale, and "at vessel speeds at or below 10 knots, the probability of death/serious injury is greatly reduced."

There was, the scientists wrote, "no basis to overturn our previous conclusion that imposing a speed limit on large vessels would be beneficial to whales."

Congressman Henry Waxman who publicised the correspondence said it was "the latest instance of the White House ignoring scientists and other experts."

Note: Headline links to source.

D.C. Madam Found Dead: Was it Really Suicide?

I'm just throwing this out for you to contemplate. BTW, there are links to CNN and ABC News if you click on the headline.

Sometimes it doesn't pay to know where the bodies, uh, are buried.

Deborah Jeane Palfrey, who was convicted of running a high-end prostitution ring in the nation’s capital (her nickname is the "D.C. Madam"), was found dead of an apparent suicide today (CNN and ABC News have the story)

Now, just how many of you believe that it was a suicide?

Interestingly enough, the image comes from NavyTimes.

Les Madame claimed she had used freelance military women in her business.

Note: Headline links to source.

The Accomplisher

"Queen of Hearts" by Shirley Holt
The headline links to a great post by Eli. He of the Google fixation.

Is it possible to be so wrong that you end up in a different dimension altogether? I give you… Richard Perle, 5/2/03:

From start to finish, President Bush has led the United States and its coalition partners to the most important military victory since World War II. And like the allied victory over the axis powers, the liberation of Iraq is more than the end of a brutal dictatorship: It is the foundation for a decent, humane government that will represent all the people of Iraq.

This was a war worth fighting. It ended quickly with few civilian casualties and with little damage to Iraq’s cities, towns or infrastructure. It ended without the Arab world rising up against us, as the war’s critics feared, without the quagmire they predicted, without the heavy losses in house-to-house fighting they warned us to expect. It was conducted with immense skill and selfless courage by men and women who will remain until Iraqis are safe, and who will return home as heroes.

That the troops might well return home as heroes is not beyond possibility. They have been brave, persevered and sacrificed, but there has been no victory. There couldn't be a victory.

I really would like to know what the neocons are on. They have a grasp of reality only matched by the queen of hearts.

Of course, I could have gone with the image of Bettie Page. We are talking fantasy here.



Note: Headline links to source.

Shut down! ILWU shuts down West Coast ports

As in ALL West Coast ports.

It wasn't over higher wages or more benefits but to protest the war in Iraq, and in solidarity with immigrants' rights.

It can be a fucking bitch when Americans act like Americans.

Please click on the headline for more.

Note: Headline links to source.

Economy

I was watching a story on CNN about the economic crunch. A story I might add which will be seen on cable and satellite stations around the world.

They were talking to a family somewhere in the US. Some things happened in the report before it dawned on me the significance of it all.

They live in a fairly large brick home.

The family drives a [a or an? I never know] SUV. I believe I saw a new model sedan in the driveway too.

The teenage daughter in the family has her own SUV. She complains about having only enough money to keep it in fuel.

As they were talking about how badly they're being squeezed by the crunch of the economy, the father/husband was putting what appeared to be about 4 lbs (9 kg) of beef steaks on an outdoor grill.

These people are supposed to elicit fucking sympathy? From whom?

Didn't work for me.

The TIME 2008 World's 100 Most Influential People

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas*
Such lists are always controversial, but they're harmless diversions.

I'm not sure I agree about Stephen Colbert. Ya think he carries much weight outside the US? Just asking.

However, I do agree about Shigeru Miyamoto. That guy has revolutionized wasting time.

I'll make a couple admissions here. I referred to wasting time because I believe that's what video games are. I've never played one, but seen others obsess over them to the point of avoiding responsibilities, sleep, work, school, family.

My second confession here is that I never in my wildest dreams believed the gaming industry had a chance of surviving when it was just beginning. Boy was I wrong on that!

TIME asked who you thought should be on the list of the 100 most influential people of the year. Over 200 candidates were given a rating of 1 to 100. And your #1 choice? Shigeru Miyamoto! The video game designer had almost 2 million votes, over 300,000 more than runner-up, Rain. After a tight race at the top, Stephen Colbert came in third place with close to 900,000 votes.

* Yeah, I know Grand Theft Auto IV is out; I'm no Luddite, but I liked this graphic.

Note: Headline links to source.

The ultimate act of sportsmanship

If you haven't heard about this, you need to. Perhaps its not the "ultimate", but its right up there.

Two NCAA Division II schools were playing softball. Western Oregon senior Sara Tucholsky had never hit a home run in her college career, but with the score tied 0-0, she hit one out of the park. Two players on base ran home, and Tucholsky ran toward first base, missed it, then turned around. Her knee suddenly gave out and she collapsed. Tucholsky could not reach first base.

If she received any help from her coach or teammates, she would be out. The coach could replace her with another runner and keep a two-run single, but that would rob Tucholsky of her only possible collegiate homer.

That’s when the opposing team stepped in. Central Washington senior and scoring leader Mallory Holtman asked if she and her teammates could carry Tucholsky to each base.

“Honestly, it’s one of those things that I hope anyone would do it for me,” Holtman said. “She hit the ball over her fence. She’s a senior; it’s her last year. … I don’t know, it’s just one of those things I guess that maybe because compared to everyone on the field at the time, I had been playing longer and knew we could touch her, it was my idea first. But I think anyone who knew that we could touch her would have offered to do it, just because it’s the right thing to do. She was obviously in agony.”

Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace lifted Tucholsky off the ground and supported her weight between them as they began a slow trip around the bases, stopping at each one so Tucholsky’s left foot could secure her passage onward. Even with Tucholsky feeling the pain of what trainers subsequently came to believe was a torn ACL (she was scheduled for tests to confirm the injury on Monday), the surreal quality of perhaps the longest and most crowded home run trot in the game’s history hit all three players.

And the sportsmanship goes even further because of another rivalry.

Sara is decked out in Nike® gear and the other team is in Adidas®.

Thanks to Bits and Pieces from whom I stole this whole post.

Note: Headline links to source.

Quote of the day

"A man who is good enough to shed his blood for the country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards. More than that no man is entitled to, and less than that no man shall have."

-- Theodore Roosevelt
-- 26th President of the United States
-- (1858-1919)

Note: Headline links to source.

The GOP don't need help

No links because you can easily find tons of them your own self.

Why the fuck is the left promulgating the meme that HRC would obliterate Iran if it attacked Israel. The GOP will push this meme out on a regular basis and the left should be challenging them rather than assisting.

She said the US is capable of doing so. She didn't say she would do it.

US: High-Level Officials Warn of Fake Terror

Does this sound all tinfoil hat like?

Well the author makes a pretty strong case for the assertion with abundant links.

A variety of current and former high-level officials have recently warned that the Bush administration is attempting to instill a dictatorship in America, and will itself carry out a fake terrorist attack in order to obtain one.

...

Sounds nuts, right?

Sorry to have to tell you, but "false flag terror" -- that is, state-sponsored terrorism, blamed on the "bad guys" of choice -- is an age-old trick which has been used by governments around the world for thousands of years to consolidate power and create support from their people. See this article on the Reichstag fire, and this article on the perennial ploy of those grabbing power.

Note: Headline links to source.

Time Warner plans to break off cable as profits slide

Time Warner Center
File under greed.

Time Warner, the world's largest media company, said Wednesday that it planned to divest its lucrative cable TV unit as first quarter profits slid by 36 percent to $771 million.

Oh the poor fuckers. Only $771 million. And that wasn't sales but profits.

Of course their management or lack thereof had nothing to do with the slide.

Note: Headline links to source.

Plea to world: 'Keep nation's image separate from crime'

Austria's president appeals to world not to equate his country with the crimes of Josef Fritzl.

Dear Mr president,

No problem.

Note: Headline links to source.

McCain's $5,000 Promise

Do you think this is just a matter of fudging on the issue or is it a matter of deliberate deception? If the latter, does the US really need someone who is willing to deceive the American public? Just asking.

According to FactCheck.org, his new ad only tells half the story of what his health proposal could mean for U.S. workers.

McCain says in a new TV ad: "Let's give every American family a $5,000 refundable tax credit" to buy health insurance.

Sounds good. But McCain failed to mention how existing employer-sponsored health benefits would be affected.

* Employers could no longer deduct the cost of health plans for their workers, which several experts say is likely to cause companies to reduce or eliminate health benefits for their employees.

* Workers would be taxed on the value of any employer-paid health benefits, partially offsetting the $5,000 credit for those now covered by such plans.

The aim of the McCain plan is to reduce health care costs through increased competition, by encouraging individuals to shop around for health insurance and medical care. There are many who favor such an approach, and we take no position on it one way or the other. But McCain's simplistic ad misleads viewers by promising to give "every American family" a $5,000 benefit while failing to mention what he would also take away.

Note: Headline links to source.

"Mission Accomplished" 5 Years Later

Just check out the emphasis which is mine. You decide. Was the banner put there by the administration or the captain of the Abraham Lincoln?

The White House said Wednesday that President Bush has paid a price for the "Mission Accomplished" banner that was flown in triumph five years ago but later became a symbol of U.S. misjudgments and mistakes in the long and costly war in Iraq.

Thursday is the fifth anniversary of Bush's dramatic landing in a Navy jet on an aircraft carrier homebound from the war. The USS Abraham Lincoln had launched thousands of airstrikes on Iraq.

"Major combat operations in Iraq have ended," Bush said at the time. "The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on Sept. 11, 2001, and still goes on." The "Mission Accomplished" banner was prominently displayed above him _ a move the White House came to regret as the display was mocked and became a source of controversy.

After shifting explanations, the White House eventually said the "Mission Accomplished" phrase referred to the carrier's crew completing its 10-month mission, not the military completing its mission in Iraq. Bush, in October 2003, disavowed any connection with the "Mission Accomplished" message. He said the White House had nothing to do with the banner; a spokesman later said the ship's crew asked for the sign and the White House staff had it made by a private vendor.

"President Bush is well aware that the banner should have been much more specific and said `mission accomplished' for these sailors who are on this ship on their mission," White House press secretary Dana Perino said Wednesday. "And we have certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner. And I recognize that the media is going to play this up again tomorrow, as they do every single year."

The WH sounds guilty to me.

Note: Headline links to source.

City GOP chair led piracy ring?

This is rich. Or most likely Tony Krvaric is.

Any job applicant knows that background checks are routine - especially for jobs involving authority or oversight of money. So why didn't the San Diego Republican Party do a simple Google search before naming Tony Krvaric as its chairman? Online research reveals that Krvaric is the co-founder of Fairlight, a band of software crackers which later evolved into an international video and software piracy group that law enforcement authorities say is among the world's largest such crime rings. After co-founding Fairlight in Sweden, Krvaric established U.S. operations for the organization, including an arm headquartered in Southern California-a major center for the computer and video game industry. Krvaric has also been appointed by California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring to head up the state party's budget committee. RAW STORY's investigation reveals the California GOP has put an alleged pirate in charge of its treasure trove.

OK, Google isn't definitive and hardly irrefutable evidence, but should be adequate for determining someone is probably not qualified to be in charge of your budget.

Note: Headline links to source.

The moron and his family

I just don't understand, but I may have mental issues.

Don't the moron and his family have a clue about how to behave when in public with ever present cameras?

I mean, if you're at someone's house, especially your in-law's house, don't you act prim and proper? If a picture is taken of you wouldn't it show you smiling or laughing and otherwise exhibiting apt comportment?

OK, I'm not referring to the time after three bottles of Cold Duck©. That was an aberration, an anomaly if you will and I still wasn't as silly looking as the ol' bro-in-law who was riding his young daughter's tricycle. At least there are no pictures showing otherwise.

No, that's not a picture of the ol' bro-in-law, but its just as goofy.

Note: Headline links to source.