A Song For Ahmadinejad

Saturday Night Live had a short number last night featuring Andy Samberg singing a song for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad told the UN in a speech that there were no gays in Iran:



-

Redneck Photos

From Dave's Redneck Photos:

Redneck Christmas tree













Redneck baby "Time-out".





Redneck's first kiss.

-

PBS: The War Returns Tonight

The Ken Burns PBS Documentary "The War" is back tonight. World War 2(you know the war that was supposed to end all wars) in old film and pictures. With eyewitness accounts from those who lived and fought it. Here's a bit from VOA:
Warning some graphic content



-

Saturday Video

Marvin Gaye, "What's Going on/What's Happening Brother"

-

Army of Dude About Rush's "Phony Soldiers" Comment

US Army Blogger in Iraq talks about Rush Limbaugh and his "phoney soldiers" comment regarding anyone in the military who didn't agree with him. Rush by the way kept his ass(literally) out of Vietnam via a cyst on his butt:

--
The Real Deal

"Blue Girl directed me to a very interesting story about Rush Limbaugh, who called veterans opposed to the war phony soldiers. Of course, this is the same Rush Limbaugh who threw a fit about the Moveon.org Petraeus ad, calling it "contemptible" and "indecent." Apparently anyone in the military is above criticism as long as they agree with Rush's brave belief that we should be in Iraq "as long as it takes." And I use the term 'we' loosely, as I believe the closest Rush has ever gotten to combat was watching We Were Soldiers with surround sound."















Army of Dude - Last patrol

Link

-

Wall Animation

This is Wall Animation from Blu:



Thanks Squid.

-

Compassionate Conservatives

From the General.

-

Weekend Videos

Get your popcorn and drink and settle in. Here's my Weekend Google Video picks:

Iraq for sale - from Robert Greenwald.

Steal this movie - An American biographical film of 1960s radical figure Abbie Hoffman.

Super Size me.

What We Still Don't Know - Astronomy.

Richard Dawkins - Speech.

-

$10 Billion Prohibition

We've turned the corner in the War on Users..er, Drugs. Victory is right around the corner. Marijuana use is so dangerous and deadly because..well, because you'll get arrested and go to prison for it. And that children is why marijuana is dangerous.

-

Marijuana Arrests Set New Record for 4th Year in a Row, Exceed All Violent Crimes Combined.

-

"Childrens Do Learn"

Latest Bushism. This from The Daily Show:




-

Video Japanese Photographer Shot Dead in Burma

The AFL-CIO is holding a rally today in DC against the brutality going on in Burma.

-

The Fix Already in For 2008?

The Republicans are just fixing elections right out in the open these days. The latest will pretty much take care of Ohio and Florida for the Repubs. Governor Arnold's "ballot initiative" in California should take care of the Republicans in that state. The Democrats? I think if Bush and the minority Republicans in Congress told them to vote against having 2008 elections, Reid and Pelosi and the gang would fall all over themselves to comply. That's how much I think of the spineless Democrats. Right now they're helping the Repubs put a Republican operative on the FEC(Federal Election Commission). You know, the agency that actually oversees "elections". Oh well, this is from Political Wire:
-

"Ohio and Florida, which provided the decisive electoral votes for President Bush's two razor-thin national election triumphs, have enacted laws that election experts say will help Republicans impede voting by Democratic-leaning minorities in 2008," McClatchy reports.

The new Ohio law aimed at reducing voter fraud allows for "caging" -- "used in the past to target poor minorities in heavily Democratic precincts, entails sending mass mailings to certain voters and then using the undelivered letters to compile lists of voters for eligibility challenges." While Republican groups paid for caging efforts in the past, the new law makes the government pay for it. In Florida, the new law "stripped the state's 10.5 million registered voters of the right to contest challenges at the polls. Now a challenger need only swear to a "good faith belief" that a voter is ineligible to force the voter to file a provisional ballot."

Link.


Update: Apparently the steal California campaign has died for now.
-

Report Says Hussein Was Open To Exile Before 2003 Invasion

Of course you already knew that dubya was going to attack Iraq no matter what.

-
Hussein Was Open To Exile Before 2003 Invasion

Less than a month before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein signaled that he was willing to go into exile as long as he could take with him $1 billion and information on weapons of mass destruction, according to a report of a Feb. 22, 2003, meeting between President Bush and his Spanish counterpart published by a Spanish newspaper yesterday.

The meeting at Bush's Texas ranch was a planning session for a final diplomatic push at the United Nations. The White House was preparing to introduce a tough new Security Council resolution to pressure Hussein, but most council members saw it as a ploy to gain their authorization for war.

Link.

-

Parts of FISA Held Unconstitutional

Every now and then we still get a judge that values freedom over fear.

-
Parts of FISA Held Unconstitutional
September 26, 2007

Today, Judge Ann Aiken of the Oregon Federal District Court ruled that two provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), "50 U.S.C. §§ 1804 and 1823, as amended by the Patriot Act, are unconstitutional because they violate the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution.."

"..The price of lawful public dissent must not be a dread of subjection to an unchecked surveillance power. Nor must the fear of unauthorized official eavesdropping deter vigorous citizen dissent and discussion of Government action in private conversation. For private dissent, no less than open public discourse, is essential to our free society.."

Link.

The Sex Pistols

A lot of people never cared for The Sex Pistols or even for punk in general for that matter, but I did, "Never Mind the Bollocks" is still in my top ten rock albums of all time. They were an insult to polite society and I liked that to.

--

The original Sex Pistols will reunite for a one-off London gig to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols. The November 8 show will take place at Brixton Academy. A seven-inch vinyl of "God Save The Queen" will also be released as part of the anniversary.
Sex Pistols & friends on Bill Grundy tv show December 1, 1976:


Some nasty language

And speaking of God Save The Queen here it is in all it's glory:


-

Back-Talk

Here comes success:



-

America's "Pravda" Press

Project Censored has their Top 25 Censored Stories of 2008 up. Things you won't see Matt Lauer, Katie Couric and the gang talking about.

-

When in Doubt

Play a Dylan video. Most true to the original I found of "Desolation Row" from Highway 61 revisited:



Aaaah memories.

No More Dirty Tricks

Emmy winning actor Bradley Whitford for Nomoredirtytricks.com



“I don’t know about you, but my children can’t afford another Republican president.”

-

News Flash! TV Reporter Points Out GOP Hypocrisy

This is sweet. David Shuster who is substituting for Tucky Carlson points out the blatant everyday hypocrisy of Republicans to Rep. Marsha Blackburn(R-TN). She has all the Republican talking points down on that HAWIBLE Moveon.org ad, but what she doesn't know is the name of the latest soldier in her district killed in Iraq.



-

Hillary Proves She's A National Democrat - She Caves

At least she's staying true to Democratic form and showing juuuuust enough spine to get our hopes up and that ol' Democratic jellyfish takes over and like clockwork tough talkin' Hil' gets on her knees and surrenders to the wingnut Republicans.
With the up-coming votes on Health care for kids, more Iraq blood money. While kissing Mister 29%'s butt on government survaillance, giving the telecom companies a get out of jail fee card on a lot of that KGB like survaillance(on us). It's going to be a beautiful thing to see(in a scientific study kind of way) how the Democratic controlled Congress will tie itself into pretzels trying to appear as though they're going to do the right thing, and then, and then....and then "Weak tea" Harry Reid and Nancy "No Impeach" Pelosi(and crew) will cave like a cheap David Vitter hooker, like Larry Craig on a young male cop, like, well like Hillary just did. Here's Jane Hamsher:

Hillary Caves to Giuliani Pressure, Condemns MoveOn

"When the MoveOn controversy first broke and the Republicans were wallowing in mock outrage, Hillary Clinton was the only one of the top-tier 08 Presidentials who didn't fall for the patented flim-flam, didn't walk into their trap and play along with plans to distract from the subject of Iraq and at the same time fragment the Democratic party and dis-empower the base.

While Edwards and Obama could not hit their knees fast enough and genuflect before all that Republican bluster, I assumed it was because Hillary had been down that road before, and knew from experience that there was no way to appease the wingnut in high dudgeon. You can grovel and beg and all it will earn you is the opportunity to do more groveling and begging, and it doesn't make you look either strong or qualified for leadership.

Quite predictably, once the Republicans had bullied the Democrats into denouncing their own (and yes, ladies and gentlemen, with over 3 million members MoveOn is your own, like it or not) they began the process of trying to make the "Democrat" party the party of MoveOn. George Bush did it himself, laying a trail of bread crumbs even the Snickers obsessed and the fashion challenged could follow.."

Link

To donate to Moveon.org
(make a donation for Hillary)

-

Bill Maher Show

Bill Maher's "Real Time"(Part 1). With singer Rob Thomas, novelist Sir Salman Rushdie, and comedian Janeane Garofalo:



-

The Top Ten

Another edition of The Top Ten Conservative Idiots:













Pretty much as always when talking conservative idiots #1 has to go to dubya. This time for saying Nelson Mandela is dead and that Saddam Hussein apparently killed him.

Link.

-

Winning Hearts and Minds - Neo Con Style

Petraeous/Betray-us Shows how to keep an insurgency boiling

A Pentagon group has encouraged some U.S. military snipers in Iraq to target suspected insurgents by scattering pieces of “bait,” such as detonation cords, plastic explosives and ammunition, and then killing Iraqis who pick up the items, according to military court documents.
The classified program was described in investigative documents related to recently filed murder charges against three snipers who are accused of planting evidence on Iraqis they killed.

Link Washington Post.
-

It Takes An Idiot

Link.
-

The War Starts Tonight

The Ken Burns/PBS documentary "The War" begins tonight. It's about World War 2 and the people who fought it and the people who lived through it. Should be good.



-

This Modern World | Were You Saying Something?

Before I sign off.



















-

The Death of History

Just something else to thank Bushco and the Neo-cons for. The ultimate destruction and loss of the ancient history of humankind in what is now Iraq.

--












Head of a Woman From Urka(ancient Uruk)

It is the death of history
-Robert Fisk

"..The near total destruction of Iraq's historic past – the very cradle of human civilisation – has emerged as one of the most shameful symbols of our disastrous occupation.."

-

Photos

Walking to Kujukuri-hama...














"You can walk for hours thinking of nothing, and letting the waves wash in and out of your consciousness."
-laughing knees

-

"Bad People With Evil Intent"

I've never read John Grisholm but it looks like I need to start.

"Best-selling author John Grisham, taking his first major public step in presidential politics by planning to host an event Sunday near his home in Charlottesville, Va., for New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, said the current administration is built around "bad people with evil intent" and contends President Bush played politics as thousands died in Iraq.."

Yep, exactly how I've described Bushco.

-

Saturday Video

Pink has updated her "Dear Mister President" song:



Thanks to C&L
-

-

The News is In ... It isn't good

The News is In ... It isn't good ... and it isn't getting reported
A rise of two degrees centigrade [3.6 degrees fahrenheit] in global temperatures – the point considered to be the threshold for catastrophic climate change which will expose millions to drought, hunger and flooding – is now "very unlikely" to be avoided ...

Link.
-

This Just In..

This just in: Fred Thompson is dumber than a bag of door knobs II.

-

Stories You Won't See(Or Hear) In The Press

What Kagro says:

--
Another story you won't read in the press

Modern Republicanism is not a governing philosophy. It is legalized banditry. And you are supposed to wave a flag and give them medals while they rob you and kill your children.

-

Friday Video

Leonard Cohan with Sonny Rollins on saxophone;
"Who By Fire"



-

Anne Northup On Ernie Fletcher

This video has Republican Anne Northup saying just what she thinks of Republican governor Fletcher. Northup lost to Ernie Fletcher in the Republican primary. Ernie Fletcher is(deservedly) trailing Democrat Steve Beshear by 15 points right now. You tell 'em Anne:



Linked BluegrassReport.

-

Video | Mitch McConnell

I wish I had seen this earlier today today. A protest at Mitch McConnell's office in Louisville. Here's a new Moveon.org for Mitch Mo'Money McConnell:



Thanks Joe Sanka.

-

Olbermann Last Night

Keith Olbermann on Bush, Moveon and Betray-us..er Petraeous.



-

That Howiible, Howiible Moveon.org Ad

"Before Democrats fall all over themselves to agree with a president whose trust and honesty rating from the American people is even lower than his IQ, let’s look at the real record of Bush’s cowardice when it comes to speaking out against attacks on military heroes."
-Paul Bagala

And Don’t Forget Pat Tillman!
-Jane at FDL

-
Sign the Moveon.org petition.

-

Disaster Capitalism

From Naomi Klein:



-

Black Friday - Armband

This still sounds good to me. For the dead, for the corporate blood money, for the wounded and the anguished, for Iraq. Please make this a Black Armband Friday.
..













Wear a black armband to school, to work, to Disneyland, to wherever you go Friday as silent testimony to your opposition to the war and occupation, to your mourning of its consequences and to your determination to help end it. If you’ve got time, you could print a word or a few on it: Withdraw Now. End the War Now. Or some such.

From Meteor Blades.
-

Memorabilia?

Bet you didn't see this coming.

-
GOP Senator Larry Craig's toilet paper hits eBay

Link and Americablog.

-

There Be Pirates

Argh, Matey! There still be pirates. Here's National Geographic:
--
Dark Passage
The Strait of Malacca

"..It is hard to know what to believe of the prisoner’s claims. At times he has declared his innocence and then later confessed to being a willing criminal. He mentions he has three children, later the number is four. His passport lists his name as Johan Ariffin, but Malaysian authorities doubt that’s his real name. His age is noted as 44 (streaks of gray in his black hair make that plausible) and his residence as Batam, an Indonesian island just south of Singapore. Men like him often come from Batam, a guard says.

Though his jailers remain unsure who he is, they know exactly what he is: lanun (pronounced la-noon). When asked for a direct English equivalent, an interpreter explains that there is none, that it is a word freighted with many layers of culture and history. The short, imperfect answer is: The prisoner is a pirate.."

Link.
Unfortunately yesterday was talk like a pirate day.

-

The Next Democratic Capitulation?

It's like clockwork isn't it. Go read Glenn Greenwald, and (as always) prepare to be outraged at another big sloppy Democratic kiss for George W. Bush.

-
Are Democrats planning still worse FISA capitulations?

"..the very idea that the Bush White House would be able to force enactment of FISA legislation once Democrats controlled the Congress would have seemed unfathomable, at least to many people. But after watching the Democrats meekly sit by and allow abolition of habeas corpus and then, when in control of Congress, grant the President vast new surveillance powers without receiving anything in exchange, it is inescapably clear that there are no limits on the willingness of Congressional Democrats to enable the President's worst excesses. If this NYT story is accurate and they really do intend to provide this retroactive immunity, their joint responsibility for most of the excesses of the Bush administration will be virtually complete.."

Exactly.

-

The Dog Meat Trade

Some lucky dogs here. How many piles aren't saved?

----

Paralyzed under a crush of bodies. Fighting for breath in the stifling heat. Mouths cinched tight by plastic rope.

These horrifying images greeted our investigators when we rescued nearly 100 dogs bound for the dog meat trade in the Philippines. The dogs had been piled on top of each other in a small cage hidden in the back of a truck. Go here for video.

These animals were victims of the dog meat trade -- a trade banned by law in 1998 but still active in certain regions of the country due to lenient fines and other light penalties.

Take action at The Humane Society


=

Dan Rather Files Suit Against CBS

Well, well, this could get interesting.

---
Rather Files $70 Million Lawsuit Against CBS

Dan Rather, whose career at CBS News ground to an inglorious end 15 months ago over his role in an unsubstantiated report questioning President Bush’s Vietnam-era National Guard service, filed a $70 million lawsuit this afternoon against the network, its corporate parent and three of his former superiors.

Belated link, and here.
-

Student Tasered at John Kerry Speech

Here's a video of that student being tasered at a John Kerry speech for...well...apparently for asking to many questions and being a bit obnoxious. While Kerry continues to drone on in the background.


Here's John Kerry afterwards:
"In 37 years of public appearances, through wars, protests and highly emotional events, I have never had a dialogue end this way," Kerry said in a statement. "I believe I could have handled the situation without interruption, but I do not know what warnings or other exchanges transpired between the young man and the police prior to his barging to the front of the line and their intervention. I asked the police to allow me to answer the question and was in the process of responding when he was taken into custody."

More here.
-

Senator Jim Webb Explains

Sen. Jim Webb explains the Webb Amendment legislation which allows troops a decent interval between deployments:



From Common sense.

-

CREW: The 22 Most Corrupt (and two to watch)

The only one I'm surprised(and disappointed) by is John Murtha. Yep, my senator Mitch 'Mo Money' McConnell is right at the top(sigh).

---
CREW:
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

Today, CREW released its third annual report on the most corrupt members of Congress entitled Beyond DeLay: The 22 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (and two to watch).

The 22 Most Corrupt Members of Congress are:

Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-NM)
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK)
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)
Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-CA)
Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL)
Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA)
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-LA)
Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
Rep. Gary G. Miller (R-CA)
Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-WV)
Rep. Timothy F. Murphy (R-PA)
Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA)
Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM)
Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ)
Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY)
Rep. David Scott (D-GA)
Rep. Jerry Weller (R-IL)
Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R-NM)
Rep. Don Young (R-AK)

The two to watch are:
Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-ID)
Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)

Link

-

Creationist's Proof of No Evolution

Peanut butter...yes, that's right you silly non-believers, peanut butter. Here I'll let them..ahem...explain:



Now wasn't that an epiphany?

Link at Mike's w/comments

-

Rockin' Fundimentalists

Best video of the day.



It's got a good beat and they can dance to it.

The band is Familjin from Sweden.
Thanks BB.

-

Deadliest Item At The Grocery Store

This is scary.

---










The Deadliest Item at Your Grocery Store?

Somewhere in the northern Pacific floats a non-biodegradable petrochemical blob that's twice the size of Texas. Much of this deadly mess originated when someone innocently took home their shopping in a plastic bag.

In the U.S. alone, we throw away 100 billion plastic bags each year -- the equivalent of 12 million barrels of oil.

Link.
-

Now For Something Completely Diff..

Bright Eyes with, "First Day of My Life"



It just might cheer you up. For a minute anyway.

Thanks AmericaBlog.

-

Remember Me

For our troops:



Give them our support. Bring them home and end this war. Thanks to Nancy for the link.

That Game Winning Touchdown

Here's the game winning touchdown for Kentucky over Louisville. I'll probably want to watch it at least a few more times:



-

Russia Makes Arrest in Anna Politkovskaya Murder Case

Russian police have apparently made an arrest in the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Background here, here and here.


















-

Impeach Cheney First

Dick Cheney statue gets toppled in front of his house in Wyoming.



-

Video | Biko

I just came across the news that the 30th anniversary of Steve Biko's death was a few days ago(9-12-77). Here's Peter Gabriel:



-

Handbags For The Rich And Shallow

Here's the story on those $52,500 handbags. What? You don't think there's people rich enough and conceited enough to plunk down that kind of change for a purse? Guess again my friend. Beyonce made sure she got one.













-

The Invisible Hand of The Free Market

This Modern World looks at the Real Estate market bust:



















-

Move.org ad

The ad that Moveon should have run instead of the "General Betrayus"?



Politics tv link.
-

At War | Trailer

Clip from Scott Kesterson's "At War" film. The song in this reminds me a bit of Jefferson Airplane circa 1967.


Thanks to Taylor.

-

This just in..

This Just In: Fred Thompson is dumber than a bag of doorknobs...

-

Rachel Maddow's Campaign Asylum

Why do the Democrats keep reminding me of Charlie Brown eternally kicking the football that's not there? Rachel Maddow asks the same kind of question about the Democratic tendency to be..well...to be led around by their noses by Repubs and the MSM. Here's Rachel:



-

Some Fresh Air in Washington

Yesterday The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 was signed into law yesterday. It's the first bill introduced in the Senate under Majority Leader Harry Reid.

-

Photos Uploading in Real Time

I really like this: Photos being uploaded to Blogs in real time. Kind of hypnotic in a way.















Photo in the stream from here.

-

Iraqi Lawmakers: US Should Stop Passing Blame

---------

Iraqi Lawmakers: US Should Stop Passing Blame
-Reuters
"..Iraqi lawmakers said on Saturday that Washington should take responsibility for the turmoil in Iraq and stop blaming Baghdad, Iran and Syria.."

Link.

------------------
..and the butchery continues..
On Saturday evening a suicide car bomber killed 10 people and wounded 15 others in southwest Baghdad. Many were queuing outside a bakery to buy bread for the evening Ramadan meal which breaks the day-long fast during the Muslim holy month.

-

Images | Nature

From Imaging a Shattered Earth.





John Ganis, Alaska Pipeline, North of Valdez, Alaska, 2001.












Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison, "The Guardian", 2003.



Link.

-

Herald-Leader Correcting Their Story on beshear?

The Herald-Leader has offered this update on their sensationalist "Beshear's law firm was focus of secret scrutiny" story about Democratic candidate for KY. Governor Steve Beshear. I've been hoping someone would jump on this manufactured story from the Lexington Herald-Leader. Thankfully Bluegrass Reports gets it done here, here and even here. This story looked very suspicious to me the first time I saw it and I never saw anything as proof of wrongdoing. Hopefully a judge will allow release of all the documents. Otherwise it's just Republican talking points. Is that right Ryan Alessi?

By the way here's the days point spread, "Beshear leads Fletcher by 17 points".

Right-Wing Closed Captioning

Bill Maher interviews Chris Dodd with "Right-Wing Closed Captioning" explaining the interview to conservative viewers:



-

The Top Twenty Most Bizarre Experiments

Strange, very strange.

--
#2: Obedience

Imagine that you've volunteered for an experiment, but when you show up at the lab you discover the researcher wants you to murder an innocent person. You protest, but the researcher firmly states, "The experiment requires that you do it." Would you acquiesce and kill the person?

When asked what they would do in such a situation, almost everyone replies that of course they would refuse to commit murder. But Stanley Milgram's famous obedience experiment, conducted at Yale University in the early 1960s, revealed that this optimistic belief is wrong. If the request is presented in the right way, almost all of us quite obediently become killers.

Milgram told subjects they were participating in an experiment to determine the effect of punishment on learning. One volunteer (who was, in reality, an actor in cahoots with Milgram) would attempt to memorize a series of word pairs. The other volunteer (the real subject) would read out the word pairs and give the learner an electric shock every time he got an answer wrong. The shocks would increase in intensity by fifteen volts with each wrong answer.

The experiment began. The learner started getting some wrong answers, and pretty soon the shocks had reached 120 volts. At this point the learner started crying out, "Hey, this really hurts." At 150 volts the learner screamed in pain and demanded to be let out. Confused, the volunteers turned around and asked the researcher what they should do. He always calmly replied, "The experiment requires that you continue."

Milgram had no interest in the effect of punishment on learning. What he really wanted to see was how long people would keep pressing the shock button before they refused to participate any further. Would they remain obedient to the authority of the researcher up to the point of killing someone?

To Milgram's surprise, even though volunteers could plainly hear the agonized cries of the learner echoing through the walls of the lab from the neighboring room, two-thirds of them continued to press the shock button all the way up to the end of scale, 450 volts, by which time the learner had fallen into an eerie silence, apparently dead. Milgram's subjects sweated and shook, and some laughed hysterically, but they kept pressing the button. Even more disturbingly, when volunteers could neither see nor hear feedback from the learner, compliance with the order to give ever greater shocks was almost 100%.

Milgram later commented, "I would say, on the basis of having observed a thousand people in the experiment and having my own intuition shaped and informed by these experiments, that if a system of death camps were set up in the United States of the sort we had seen in Nazi Germany, one would be able to find sufficient personnel for those camps in any medium-sized American town."

Link

-

Planeloads of Cash | 9 Billion Still Missing

That's 9 BILLION DOLLARS missing!

"Who in their right mind would send 363 tons of cash into a war zone? But that's exactly what our government did," -Representative Henry Waxman,
"Pallets of Cash"














-
Billions Over Baghdad: How Did $9B in Cash Airlifted From the Fed to Iraq Go Missing?

One month after the invasion of Iraq, the United States began airlifting planeloads of cash to Baghdad. Between April 2003 and June 2004, a total of $12 billion dollars of US currency was shipped to Iraq where it was to be dispensed by the Coalition Provisional Authority for reconstruction. To date, at least $9 billion dollars cannot be accounted for.

Link.
-

Simply Amazing

One Third of Americans think Saddam Hussein/Iraq were involved in 9-11 attacks. Perfect proof that if you repeat a lie enough times..

-

An important New York Times/CBS News survey finds that six years after the terror attacks of 9/11, "33 percent of all Americans, including 40 percent of Republicans and 27 percent of Democrats, say Saddam Hussein was personally involved." In reality, of course, Saddam and Iraq had absolutely no connection to the terror attacks.

-

The Political War in Kentucky

Here's the upcoming cover of The Nation magazine. Among other things the cover story tells about the growing progressive grassroots affect on Kentucky politics:




















Link DitchMitch.

-

John Edwards Rebuttal to The Bush Speech Tonight

President Bush speaks at 9pm tonight. John Edwards will be nationwide on MSNBC immediately after.

Link

-

Stop the Spying Now!

George W. Bush is unconstitutionally wiretapping the telephone and Internet communications of millions of ordinary Americans.
Companies like AT&T want immunity for their illegal collaboration with the President's program.

And Congress might let them get away with it.

Stop the Spying Now!

Call Rep. Nancy Pelosi — 202-225-4965
Call Sen. Harry Reid — 202-224-3542

And go here for more.

-

Swat Teams Running Amok

I blogged recently about the militarization of police and swat teams and their terrorizing of segments of America recently. From Arizona here's a fine example of the "jack booted" thugs themselves













Dog Day Afternoon
Sheriff Joe 's goons launched an assault to make a misdemeanor arrest. The Raid left a burned house, a terrified neighborhood and a dead dog.
-John Dougherty

"..In less than 30 minutes, Arpaio's special forces unleashed an unprecedented wave of violence on this quiet community. Consider this:

• Just after the tear gas canisters were shot, a fire erupted and destroyed a $250,000 home plus all the contents inside. (The home's occupants believe the tear gas canisters caused the fire. Phoenix fire officials say the blaze was probably started by a lighted candle that was knocked onto a bed during the confusion.)

• The armored personnel carrier careened down the street and smashed into a parked car after its brakes failed.

• And in the ultimate display of cruelty, a SWAT team member drove a dog trying to flee the home back into the inferno, where it met an agonizing death.

Deputies then reportedly laughed as the dog's owners came unglued as it perished in the blaze.

"I was crying hysterically," Andrea Barker, one of the dog's owners, tells me. "I was so upset. They [deputies] were laughing at me."

Making fun of the 10-month-old pit bull puppy's death wasn't enough.

Arpaio's goons then left the dog's body to rot in the ashes for the next five days of 105-degree temperatures. A pall of death hung over the neighborhood. It was a putrid reminder of Arpaio's reckless use of force and callous disregard for the public's welfare. Not to mention the heinous treatment toward the terrified dog.

And what did Arpaio's crack SWAT team net from the raid that left a needless trail of death and destruction?

MCSO stormed the house believing there was a cache of stolen automatic weapons and armor-piercing ammunition. But MCSO got bushwhacked. Instead of finding weapons of mass destruction, they discovered an antique shotgun and a 9 mm pistol that appear to be legal weapons.

There was no sign of the cop-killer bullets. Perhaps they are buried somewhere out in the desert, with Saddam's plutonium.

Given the overwhelming display of force deployed by Arpaio's deputies, one would have expected the arrest of a mass murderer.

Instead, the crack SWAT boys nabbed 26-year-old Eric Kush. Let me tell you, Kush is really a bad, bad guy.

He was wanted on a misdemeanor warrant for failing to appear in Tempe Municipal Court on a couple of traffic citations.."

Link.

-

September 11th: A Good Day and a Tragic Day

As well as being a tragic day in America September the 11th is also my birthday. It's still a great day for a birthday but now it'll live forever for a pointless terrorist act, that with the botched aftermath has left hundreds of thousands dead and untold suffering for nothing. Now it will always be one of saddest days to, it's still terribly painful to watch those planes hit those towers. The horrors of those attacks, and then the horrors my(Neo-con) government unleashed on the world in it's name. Everyone has dedications today. The only thing I'll do is post a few videos this evening:
Bruce Springsteen, "Into the Fire"


And

Neil Young, "Imagine"


-

Super Battery For Cars?

If true this will be enormous.

..
"..plug in a car for five minutes and drive 500 miles roundtrip between Dallas and Houston without gasoline.."

Battery-like device could power electric cars















AP-Ian Clifford, founder and CEO of Zenn Motor Company

"..Millions of inventions pass quietly through the U.S. patent office each year. Patent No. 7,033,406 did, too, until energy insiders spotted six words in the filing that sounded like a death knell for the internal combustion engine.

An Austin-based startup called EEStor promised "technologies for replacement of electrochemical batteries," meaning a motorist could plug in a car for five minutes and drive 500 miles roundtrip between Dallas and Houston without gasoline.

By contrast, some plug-in hybrids on the horizon would require motorists to charge their cars in a wall outlet overnight and promise only 50 miles of gasoline-free commute. And the popular hybrids on the road today still depend heavily on fossil fuels.

"It's a paradigm shift," said Ian Clifford, chief executive of Toronto-based ZENN Motor Co., which has licensed EEStor's invention. "The Achilles' heel to the electric car industry has been energy storage. By all rights, this would make internal combustion engines unnecessary.."
More here.

-

Author Assails ABC's "Path to 9-11"

From Raw Story.

-
Author under gag order assails producer, ABC for 'Path to 9/11'

As the author of one of the three books on which The Path was based, I’m now weighing in – despite a gag order - to suggest that ABC may have other reasons for shelving Nowrasteh’s Clinton bash; a mini-series that virtually blames 9/11 on the ex-President’s failures to get bin Laden, yet gives a pass to Bush 41 for failing to stop the first World Trade Center bombing and Bush 43 for “The Day Of;” arguably the greatest defense failure in US history.
How do I know this? First because my book 1000 Years For Revenge, was one of the three works on which ABC based the mini. They acquired it for a quarter of a million dollars in 2005 under threat of litigation, after they’d lost the book in a bidding war with NBC.
Nowrasteh then proceeded to launder most of my critical findings on negligence by the FBI and the two Bush administrations and give Path a twisted pro-Bureau slant through the eyes of ex-ABC News correspondent John Miller, who now works as Assistant Director of Public Affairs for the FBI.

More here.

-

That Petraeus Report

“It’s going to be written by the White House. It’s going to be edited by the White House.”
--Richard Clarke, counterterrorism analyst

-

Katie Couric White House Stenographer?

Just part of the reason Katie's "News" show is teh suck. Here's moveon.org with a run down of Katie's recent Bushco butt kissing in Iraq:



-

Phylum Democrata II

The Democrats find a spine. From Mister Fish.




















Thanks to C & L.

-

Phylum Democrata

From "Get Fuzzy".












-

Political Divides

Found at DU:

..
Brain study finds political divide

Exploring the neurobiology of politics, scientists have found that liberals tolerate ambiguity and conflict better than conservatives because of how their brains work.

Scientists at New York University and UCLA showed through a simple experiment to be reported Monday in the journal Nature Neuroscience that political orientation is related to differences in how the brain processes information.

Previous psychological studies have found that conservatives tend to be more structured and persistent in their judgments whereas liberals are more open to new experiences. The latest study found those traits are not confined to political situations but also influence everyday decisions.

More here.

-

Quote Of The Evening

I don't think the problem is that Bush lives in a bubble. Make the bubble thicker. Use the armor we can't get to the troops. On this whole "bomb Iran" thing. Let's not, and just tell him we did.
--Bill Maher , Let Bush Be Reagan

-

The Shock Doctrine

I think we've found a name for Neo-con economics,"The Shock Doctrine". All profit all the time, with fear and torture for good measure.
The Shock Doctrine Short Film accompanies the book, "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism"


A Film by Alfonso Cuarón and Naomi Klein, directed by Jonás Cuarón.

-

Bush's Alien Overlord

Bush gives a speech on subprime mortgages(yes I know). But check out the CNN video with the alien peering out the window over his right shoulder. Or is that just Daddy Bush without the make-up?













Thanks Boingboing.
-

The Polar Bears | Our Next Sacrifice

I posted about this a while back. The polar bears will be gone in the blink of an eye. I know dubya & crew don't give a damn. Hell, they'd bid on killing the last one. It's a shame.
-

Polar bears in dire straits
WASHINGTON - Two-thirds of the world's polar bears will be killed off by 2050 — and the entire population gone from Alaska — because of thinning sea ice from global warming in the Arctic, government scientists forecast Friday.











Our sacrifices.

-

Video

Joni Mitchell. "For Free"

-

Dubya Still Making Us Cringe

America's doofus(but deadly) prezdent dubya once again making us proud. This time in Sydney Australia. George W. Bush; turning the US of A into the trailer park trash of the world since 2000.

-
Bush: Note To Self, Thank Austr(al)ians

"..His appearance at the Sydney Opera House began inauspiciously: Mr. Bush started 10 minutes late, to allow APEC workers to hustle people out of the theater's balcony to fill empty portions of the orchestra section below that were visible on camera.

Once on stage, he'd only reached the third sentence when he committed his first gaffe:

"Thank you for being such a fine host for the OPEC summit," Mr. Bush said to Australian Prime Minister John Howard.."

..

"..The president's next goof went uncorrected, at least immediately. Talking about Howard's visit to Iraq last year to thank his country's soldiers serving there, Mr. Bush referred to them as "Austrian troops" - though the official text released by the White House and posted on whitehouse.gov fixed it to "Australian."

After his speech, Mr. Bush confidently headed out - the wrong way."

-

Chris Dodd Says He'll End Cuban Embargo if Elected

I like Presidential candidate Dodd. His stated positions on a lot of US problems suit me fine, from Iraq to health care for Americans. Now he's seeing the light on the out-dated US embargo of Cuba. In this speech in Miami he says he'll end the embargo, lift travel restrictions, close down tv Marti, etc. Here's the Vid:



-

The New Democrat Surrender Monkeys

I think we all know the Reid/Pelosi Bush surrender train is going to pull in the station when dubya snaps his fingers. Ed Encho at Taylor Marsh says it better than I. Harry and Nancy this is for you.

-












The Irrelevant Bunch Rides Again

"..The Vichy Democrats of Pelosi and Palooka slithered back into D.C. this week like the whipped cringing dogs that they are to prepare themselves for the next indignity of having the escalation of the war that they reneged on ending crammed down their throats by the preening mad emperor. There will be a plethora of mocking court jesters in the punditry along with usual drooling neocon courtiers looking to gloat as the plans for the bombing of Iran are honed to perfection. Now the quisling Dems are back-peddling as fast as humanly possible in order to not appear to be weakling defeatists in the face of the propaganda blitzkrieg that will clear the way for a great General’s ascension to Capitol Hill with the good news that stuff is indeed getting better over there – the SURGE is a SUCCESS!

Batting leadoff for the real surge that is the massive PR buildup for the great words of the ambitious four star suck-o-matic named Petraeus who will give his sales pitch next week, George W. Bush made a surprise trip to Iraq on Monday. It was yet another of those highly secret visits to Mesopotamia for the sole purpose of more media chicanery by a unitary executive answerable only to God himself. This time he left his plastic turkey behind to pimp the real turkey of the continuation of his disastrous war and occupation that will apparently be allowed to go on until the bodies are piled all the way to Jesus much to the delight of the Raptureheads. The dude ranch cowboy (who is allegedly afraid of horses) never set foot outside of “Camp Cupcake,” the nickname for the desert resort military base where the dog and pony show was conducted. Staying true to form, the majority of the disgusting excuse for a media fawned over the improving situation. Bush has had the cadre of elitist Washington careerists eating out of his hand from day one and they will soon be doing their stupid pet tricks in shilling for hitting Iran, but that is for later. The first task is the relaunch of the new and improved product: Iraq Version 2.0.."

Continue here.

-

Stop Dog Fighting and Animal Abuse

Here's the HSUS winner of The Humane Society's "Knockout Dog Fighting" contest:



Go here for the people's choice winner.

-

Dubya's Iraqi Progress..Over and Over

Dubya's Iraqi escalation... er... surge isn't working but General Petraeous has his White House script. So we know there's gonna be "progress". I know I'm wasting my breath-but Congress, don't get fooled again! This is from Moveon.org:



-

Why Is Bush Smiling?

Smiling. Smirking. It's all the same to dubya. The banality(ignorance?) of evil.

-
Why Is Bush Smiling?
By Robert Scheer

"..OK, throw another $50 billion down the rat hole that is the Iraq occupation. It’s only money, if you ignore the lives being destroyed. That’s what the White House is asking for, in addition to the $147 billion in supplementary funds already requested, and Congress will grant it after Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker follow president Bush’s photo op in Iraq’s Anbar province with a dog and pony show of their own. Meanwhile, the Democrats are totally cynical about this continuing waste of taxpayer dollars and of American and Iraqi lives, and, wanting Bush to hang himself with his own rope, they will deny him nothing.

In the effort to retaliate against terrorists who hijacked planes six years ago with an arsenal of $3 knives, this year’s overall defense budget has been pushed to $657 billion. We are now spending $3 billion a week in Iraq alone, occupying a country that had nothing to do with the tragedy that sparked this orgy of militarism. The waste is so enormous and irrelevant to our national security that a rational person might embrace the libertarian creed if only for the sake of sanity. Clearly, the federal government no longer cares much about providing for health, education, hurricane reconstruction or even bridge safety, as the military budget now dwarfs all other discretionary spending, despite the lack of a sophisticated enemy in sight.."

more here.

Internet People

You know who you are.



Found at the Squid.
-

Baghdad Burning Is Back

The good news is Baghdad Burning is okay, the bad news is she and her family are now refugees in Syria. At least they should be safer there. I wish them a safe stay, and I hope the insanity that George W. Bush unleashed on the people of Iraq is soon over and everyone can go back home safe and lead their live's in peace and dignity.
Here's Iraqi girl blogger:

Leaving Home...

"..The trip was long and uneventful, other than two checkpoints being run by masked men. They asked to see identification, took a cursory glance at the passports and asked where we were going. The same was done for the car behind us. Those checkpoints are terrifying but I’ve learned that the best technique is to avoid eye-contact, answer questions politely and pray under your breath. My mother and I had been careful not to wear any apparent jewelry, just in case, and we were both in long skirts and head scarves.

Syria is the only country, other than Jordan, that was allowing people in without a visa. The Jordanians are being horrible with refugees. Families risk being turned back at the Jordanian border, or denied entry at Amman Airport. It’s too high a risk for most families.

We waited for hours, in spite of the fact that the driver we were with had ‘connections’, which meant he’d been to Syria and back so many times, he knew all the right people to bribe for a safe passage through the borders. I sat nervously at the border. The tears had stopped about an hour after we’d left Baghdad. Just seeing the dirty streets, the ruins of buildings and houses, the smoke-filled horizon all helped me realize how fortunate I was to have a chance for something safer.

By the time we were out of Baghdad, my heart was no longer aching as it had been while we were still leaving it. The cars around us on the border were making me nervous. I hated being in the middle of so many possibly explosive vehicles. A part of me wanted to study the faces of the people around me, mostly families, and the other part of me, the one that’s been trained to stay out of trouble the last four years, told me to keep my eyes to myself- it was almost over.

It was finally our turn. I sat stiffly in the car and waited as money passed hands; our passports were looked over and finally stamped. We were ushered along and the driver smiled with satisfaction, “It’s been an easy trip, Alhamdulillah,” he said cheerfully.

As we crossed the border and saw the last of the Iraqi flags, the tears began again. The car was silent except for the prattling of the driver who was telling us stories of escapades he had while crossing the border. I sneaked a look at my mother sitting beside me and her tears were flowing as well. There was simply nothing to say as we left Iraq. I wanted to sob, but I didn’t want to seem like a baby. I didn’t want the driver to think I was ungrateful for the chance to leave what had become a hellish place over the last four and a half years.."

Continue here.

-

The Real Rudy Giuliani

From The Real Rudy and BraveNewFilms.



-