Corporate Justice

Our Supreme Court Chief "Justice" John Robert's comment on Exxon being ordered to pay $2.5billion — roughly three weeks’ worth of profits — for destroying a long swath of the Alaska coastline in the largest oil spill in American history.

“So what can a corporation do to protect itself against punitive-damages awards such as this?”
-Roberts asked in court.

I really hope like Homer Simpson Roberts then said, "Did I say that out loud?"

Three weeks worth of profit -poor Exxon...
I want a windfall profits tax starting yesterday.

Link TP.
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Humane Products

Go here for a list of companies that don't do animal testing for their products. For a downloadable, printable list click here.

Thanks to AAVS.

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Nobel Winning Economist Joseph Stiglitz | "True Cost Of Iraq War"

Of course this won't matter to the Bushistas because this has -from day one- been a war for profiteering.

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Three trillion dollars - Nobel winning economist tabulates true cost of Iraq war

Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel prize-winner in economics, says the Iraq war has cost $3 trillion so far. According to the Guardian, "three trillion could have fixed America's social security problem for half a century."

Some time in 2005, Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, who also served as an economic adviser under Clinton, noted that the official Congressional Budget Office estimate for the cost of the war so far was of the order of $500bn. The figure was so low, they didn't believe it, and decided to investigate. The paper they wrote together, and published in January 2006, revised the figure sharply upwards, to between $1 and $2 trillion. Even that, Stiglitz says now, was deliberately conservative: "We didn't want to sound outlandish."

Link.

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Morning Video - M.I.A.

Paper Planes by M.I.A.:



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R.I.P. | William F. Buckley

I just learned from Jane at Firedoglake that William F. Buckley has passed away. I'm old enough(for sure) to remember Mister Buckley fairly well. I wasn't political enough in the days of his greatest fame to realize my major differences with him. It was glaringly obvious that he was a man of great intellect and curiousity, with impeccable manners. Other sites will do a much better job of paying homage to the man.
Here he is with an interview/debate with Noam Chomsky in 1969, which frighteningly is VERY relevent today:


"Why William F. Buckley Was My Role Model"
-By Rick Perlstein

Update: On the other hand-even with the nostalgia, and manners, and historical blinders aside Buckley was still a conservative's conservative, so I also tend to agree with Tristero.

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Dick Gregory At The State Of The Black Union

Dick Gregory apologizes to our first "black" President.



I've liked Dick Gregory for ages. So far back that he was known only as "comedian" Dick Gregory then.

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Morning Video

Good Morning travelers. I just heard this oldie on Slacker here at the cavern of work. Progressive Rock as it used to be. Rush with Xanadu, in my (humble)opinion one of the best rock songs-from classic poetry(how many are there?). Crank it up and I'll listen while I work:

"To taste my bitter triumph
As a mad immortal man
Nevermore shall I return
Escape these caves of ice
For I have dined on honeydew
And drunk the milk of Paradise"

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McCain | Hero to Zero?

Surprise.
--
Republican presidential candidate John McCain got a score of zero from the League of Conservation Voters for his voting record on environmental issues in Congress in 2007 -- not because he voted against environmental protections, but because he simply didn't show up to vote. McCain missed all 15 of the Senate votes that LCV counted in compiling its annual congressional scorecard, the only member of Congress with such a dismal attendance record.

Grist Link.

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Dodd Endorses Obama

In Ohio.

Sen. Christopher Dodd endorsed one-time presidential rival Barack Obama on Tuesday and said it is time for Democrats to join forces to defeat the Republicans in the fall campaign.

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Olbermann | Rachael Maddow On The Media's Obama Smears

I don't think Rachael understands that CNN, Faux News, etc. consider it part of their jobs to smear Democrats. Especially front running Democrats:



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Taxi To The Dark Side-Academy Award Winner

Taxi To The Dark Side Won the Oscar for best Documentary last night. In your face Discovery Channel!
















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John McCain | The New Vote Vets Ad

The new Vote Vets Ad about crazy John McCain. I heard that John has started backpedaling on his "100 years in Iraq" comment. Good luck with that John.



Give to VoteVets they're a good cause for our Veterans and for us.

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Nebula Awards Finalists Announced

On a related Science Fiction note the Nebula Award finalists are up:

Finalists have been announced for this year's Nebula Awards, which recognize superior achievement in science fiction and fantasy writing. The award is presented annually by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

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SciFi Podcast Magazine | Edward Bear

If you haven't tried the Science Fiction Podcast Magazine here's an excellent story to start with. They're MP3 files and you can listen there or listen later. Subscribe to the Podcast.
This one is a haunting AI(artificial intelligence) Winnie The Pooh story located on an apparently doomed human survival ship. A Pooh story as you've never heard:

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Edward Bear and the Very Long Walk

“Do you know what’s happened to the children?”

Edward swallowed. Suddenly, he wanted to cry. “Yes. They’re…sleeping?”

He hoped and hoped and hoped and hoped, grimacing as he did. He looked around.

Makeshift beds lined the room. Small hands gripped blankets, small eyes stared at the ceiling.

“No.” The boy frowned. “They’ve died.”

“Because of Something Very Bad?”

“Yes. And I need you to be a Very Brave Bear. Can you do that?”

Rated PG. Contains strong images of death and violence. Almost certainly not appropriate for small children.


Link to Podcast also Linked at BB.

The Liberal's Guide to Authoritarians

From Doctor Biobrain. Wish I had the time(and the talent) to write like the Doctor.

If Bill O'Reilly or Rush Limbaugh make a claim, it's true enough for them. That's how authoritarians work. And nothing can get them to change. Nothing. To get them to stop accepting the claims of their authority figures would get them to rewire their brains. It won't happen. It can't happen. Stop imagining that it will. Short of a brain transplant, you cannot change these people.

Thus said, why bother? These people don't hate us because of the claims made against us. They make the claims because they hate us. And so even if you were somehow to convince a wingnut that an attack against us was baseless, they'll find some other excuse for hating us. That's what hate is all about. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And unlike the actual Terminator, even your death won't stop them. They just don't like us.

But it's not even you they hate, or any actual person alive. They hate the idea of you, for not agreeing with them and validating their opinions. They are authoritarians and their enemy is anyone who doesn't respect their authority figures. And no matter how many decent liberals they know, they'll always imagine "The Liberal" as being the enemy. Even politeness will get you nowhere with them. They'll just keep on insulting you until you finally return fire, and thus confirm all their worst suspicions about you. That's just how it goes. They don't want a debate. They want to argue and find more reasons to hate you. And the more you insult them, the better they feel.

Linked.
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Sojourns | Nature

Hello Travelers. It's Sunday night. Before you know it it'll be workday Monday again.
Maybe just an excuse to post but I sure wish I was going to the wilderness for a week or so. Before dubya and cronies turn it all to oil fields and waste.

..We call it "Nature"; only reluctantly
admitting ourselves to be "Nature" too.
Whenever we lose track of our own obsessions,
our self-concerns, because we drift for a minute,
an hour even, of pure (almost pure)
response to that insouciant life:
cloud, bird, fox, the flow of light, the dancing
pilgrimage of water, vast stillness
of spellbound ephemerae on a lit windowpane,
animal voices, mineral hum, wind
conversing with rain, ocean with rock, stuttering
of fire to coal--then something tethered
in us, hobbled like a donkey on its patch
of gnawed grass and thistles, breaks free..

- Denise Levertov, from "Sojourns in the Parallel World"

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HBO Will Air "Taxi To The Dark Side"

HBO will air documentary "Taxi To The Dark Side" That the corporate cowards Discovery Channel backed out of.



Taxi to the Dark Side, a documentary about an innocent Afghan taxi driver tortured to death by U.S. officials at Bagram Air Base, has received wide critical acclaim since its debut in April at the Tribeca Film Festival. The New York Times’s A.O. Scott said, “If recent American history is ever going to be discussed with the necessary clarity and ethical rigor, this film will be essential.”

Linked From CandL.

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America's 20 Worst Foods

YUM!
From Men's Health:

-
America's 20 Worst Foods

No. 1
Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing












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Saudi Arabia To Execute Illiterate Woman Convicted Of Witchcraft

--
Pleas for condemned Saudi 'witch'

The illiterate woman was detained by religious police in 2005 and allegedly beaten and forced to fingerprint a confession that she could not read.

Among her accusers was a man who alleged she made him impotent.

The confession which the defendant was forced to fingerprint was not even read out to her, the group says.

Also Ms Falih and her representatives were not allowed to attend most of the hearings.

When an appeal court decided she should not be executed, the law courts imposed the death sentence again, arguing that it would be in the public interest.."

Link. Also linked at BB.
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Meanwhile In Bushopotamia

Just one small story in dubya's meatgrinder.

-
BAGHDAD, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Iraqi police said on Thursday they had found the bodies of 15 men, including 10 soldiers, who had been blindfolded and shot execution-style in the head.

Also linked at Atrios.

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Evening Video

When you just need to feed the Blog what better way than a bit of new music video? Here's some studio work by singer songwriter Brett Dennon:



The film work's actually not that great but I like the song and it introduces you to Brett Dennen.

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Media Alert | Dubya Succeeds At Something!

George W. Bush is now the most unpopular president in recorded American history.















Link and link.
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One Big Union

From Matthew Grimm and his band Red Smear and thanks to DWT(read the article) here's an anthem for the writer's strike and for unions everywhere:


Unions: The people who brought you weekends, and other goodies.

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Setting Them Straight

From xkcd.



















Linked.
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Great American Speeches

While I'm throwing up videos. My co-workers and I have decided this probably belongs in the pantheon of great American speeches:


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Rock The Wednesday | Carbon Silicon

Are you ready to Rock? Here's Mick Jones(formerly with The Clash) and Carbon Silicon with "The News".


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Following In Her Mother's Footsteps?

Has your mother shown any remorse for the fact that her vote cost Iraqis a million of their lives?” a student asked Chelsea Clinton on Monday at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Ms. Clinton replied: “She cast a vote based on the best available evidence. Perhaps you had clairvoyance then, and that’s extraordinary."

When I read this quote by Chelsea Clinton I was very disappointed. I had thought(or hoped) that the daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton would be more aware, more compassionate, more in tune with what was right and wrong with the world even waaaay back in 2002. Without the blinders that(supposedly) kept her mother(and others) who could have thrown up some roadblocks to dubya's Iraqi bloodbath from seeing what was coming. You know like millions of us did waaaaayy back in 2002.
Sweet, shallow, protected Chelsea is apparently as aware of the political world as Brittany Spears. Below is Barry Crimmons who'll fill us in on what this all may mean. Be sure to go to Barry's web site and get the rest:

"..Back in 2002, I thought millions of others who also foresaw a calamitous quagmire in Iraq were just regular people, like me. I thought we'd simply drawn some sensible conclusions and then taken a principled stand. But according to charming child of privilege Chelsea Clinton, we were all much more special than that.."
-Barry Crimmons

Continue.
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Surprise -- Report Critical Of Army In Iraq Is Suppressed

US Army suppresses the Rand Report:


Warning images of bloody Donald Rumsfeld and other Neo-Cons!

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Home Of The Police State...Er..Home Of The Brave?

"Meanwhile, back in the land of "free speech" and "democracy," a doctor is being fired for having the audacity to treat an unconscious antiwar protester, and then for the further audacity of filing a complaint against a policeman who threw her against a wall. Read the details and add your voice to the protest against her unbelievably unjust firing here."

Link.
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Goood Eeeevening..!

Hello Pilgrims! Gonna read some news. Meanwhile this is still a pretty good video - Collective Soul, "The World I Know":



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Crazy Ladies For Huckabee

Mind numbing ignorance. The politics of a super magical being.



Thanks to DWT.

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Monday | Video

SIGH....Good Monday morning from the office cavern. Has crazy John McCain done anything war mongering today? Has our "News" media raised crazy John's maverick shield any higher? Anyway here's a sweet little song from Death Cab For Cutie, "I Will Follow You Into The Dark":



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Bill Maher | New Rules

Here's Bill Maher with the "New Rules". Warning: Not work or child safe.



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National Lawyers Guild Asks Inquisitor Scalia To Recuse Himself

From Commondreams.

--
National Lawyers Guild Calls on Justice Antonin Scalia to Recuse Himself From Interrogation-Related Cases

Scalia: “I suppose it’s the same thing about so-called torture. Is it really so easy to determine that smacking someone in the face to determine where he has hidden the bomb that is about to blow up Los Angeles is prohibited in the Constitution?”

“The Guild is appalled that a sitting Justice of the United States Supreme Court has ventured in a public forum his belief that it is justifiable to attempt to extract information from persons in custody by the use of torture. A justice of the highest court in the land, sworn to uphold the Constitution, whose views so undermine the fundamental right of security of the person guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, is unfit to sit on that Court.”
--Guild President Marjorie Cohn

National Lawyers Guild

"Are you going to convict Jack Bauer? Say that criminal law is against him? 'You have the right to a jury trial?' Is any jury going to convict Jack Bauer? I don't think so."
--Antonin Scalia loving his tv torture

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Keith Olbermann On Bush And FISA

Hi Y'all. Just checking in finally. Kind of busy here but I gotta get on the Net to get my real news and rumours. One daughter and the wife want on the computer a bit later but while I'm on I'll get some news and try to post a bit. This is a few days old and everyone's probably seen but if not here's Keith Olbermann nailing bloody dubya and his FISA conspiracy.



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Rep. John Yarmuth On The Contempt Resolutions For Miers And Bolten

Today the House approved H.Res. 982 by a vote of 223-32-1.
Kentucky Democrat John Yarmuth from Louisville's 3rd District talks about the long overdue contempt Resolution for Harriet Miers and Joshua Bolten. The Resolution passed today thanks to the Democrats. The Republicans proved again that covering for Bushco is everything. Here's Rep. Yarmuth:

"..They’ve chosen to make this a partisan issue. In spite of the fact that during the last six years before we took control of the Congress, no subpoenas were issued against this president, no efforts to hold him accountable were made in spite of the fact that in the prior administration, 1,000 subpoenas were offered by the Republican Congress to the Democratic president.”--Rep. John Yarmuth

And here's others including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers.

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Midday Video

Happy Valentines Day!



Coldplay -- "Fix You"
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Bi-Partisanship We Hardly Knew Ye!

Doug Schoen has a book to sell:

"..The candidate would also present a general-election platform that would include approaches traditionally within the province of the other party. Imagine having major-party nominees whose platforms committed them to developing a truly bipartisan approach to ending the war in Iraq and fighting Islamist terrorism, to developing a serious energy policy and to reforming Social Security and Medicare. As the linchpin of the deal, the candidate would select a vice president from the other party, or perhaps a nonpartisan military leader.."

Common sense doesn't:

"..one party could be in charge of addressing global warming, and the other could be in charge of denying it exists. One party could be in charge of boosting science education in our schools so that we can compete with the world, and the other could be in charge of taking science education out of our schools so that we can compete with snake handlers. One party could be in charge of formulating a policy for a responsible withdrawal from Iraq, and the other party could be in charge of keeping us there for a hundred years.."

Oh and John McCain's STILL a -- Well you know what he is:


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Spongebob Squarepants Does Old Film Classics

I have a daughter who LOVES Spongebob Squarepants so I find this highly amusing. It's from the voice actors behind the show.



More link.
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A Short History Of Iranian Democracy

Iran once had a budding Democracy. It was snuffed out by America and it's allies for oil and strategic power. Here's some people from Just Foreign Policy who know the history of a Democracy smothered in Iran:



Bloody dubya would like nothing better than to start another corporate oil/profit war. This time with Iran.

Linked.
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Shirley Golub Runs Against Nancy Pelosi

Speaking of Corporate politicians and hacks, Nancy Pelosi(Cough! Sellout! Cough!) now has a worthy Progressive opponent. Shirley Golub is a long time Democratic Progressive and activist. If Shirley can win impeachment may be back on the table.



Link and link.

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Donna Edwards Wins In Maryland!

Donna Edwards defeats corporate incumbant Al Wynn! A perfect example of the grassroots beating out the corporate insiders.













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I Love Mountains Rally Day

Valentine's Day is also a great day to show your love for the mountains of Kentucky at the "I Love Mountains Rally Day".
Thursday, February 14, 11:30AM - 12:30PM
Where: Capital Steps, Frankfort, Kentucky

On Valentine's Day, Kentuckians are coming together to save their mountains and streams at the "I Love Mountains" rally day in Frankfort. You may be familiar with the group that's leading the fight to stop the dumping of mine wastes into the headwater streams—Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC).

They're supporting the Stream Saver bill that would put an end to the removal of mountain tops by mining companies in Kentucky. Right now, there's unprecedented momentum building to move the bill out of the House Agriculture and Natural Resources committee. And public pressure from Kentuckians is what it's going to take to pass this critical legislation.

Can you be there?
Link
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Schools Out - I'm Home

No school today for my BrittBratt so I've been elected to stay home today and make sure she doesn't sleep all day or burn the house down. You know those things the dad does. It's actually fine by me there was an snow and ice storm here throughout last night. All day today it's been rain and freezing rain(feeling warm yet?). Home's the best place to be if you can do it. Unfortunately it's another day of leave time used up. I did get my latest game yesterday to play through the Winter:













The Elder Scrolls III - Morrowwind

It's a good day for that to.
We'll go slipping and sliding to pick up Brittany's mom from work at around 2 this afternoon.

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Elect Donna Edwards For Maryland's Fourth

If I have any readers from Maryland's 4th District today PLEASE vote for Progressive Donna Edwards over long time corporate hack Al Wynn.

"The mortgage meltdown is a financial crisis not seen since the depression, and it has its roots in an industry that has too often gotten its way in Congress. Congressman Wynn was wrong to vote for the Bush Bankruptcy Law which protected big banks and predatory lenders and hurt average families trying to make ends meet."

--Donna Edwards
Linked at DWT.
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GM Suffers Record Loss

You know if GM and the rest of the American auto makers had decided to be cutting edge in instead of dinosaurs this might not be happening again. Go electric, go hybrid, go small at least for the foreseeable future.

-
GM sets record for largest loss in US auto history - $39 billion

GM buying out/laying off 74,000 workers.

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John McCain

You know this is what John McCain sees for us:



No You Can't! Now get off my lawn!!

Link.

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Reports From Bush's Hell

Britt and I are leaving shortly for the country. She's still kind of sick-with that and pre-trip jobs I've just now been able to sit down for a bit and check web news before I go. Nearly the first thing I come to(Atriots) is this little item on the hell bloody dubya's unleashed for women in many parts of Iraq. Along with everything else he's done:
-

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The images in the Basra police file are nauseating: Page after page of women killed in brutal fashion -- some strangled to death, their faces disfigured; others beheaded. All bear signs of torture.

The women are killed, police say, because they failed to wear a headscarf or because they ignored other "rules" that secretive fundamentalist groups want to enforce.

"Fear, fear is always there," says 30-year-old Safana, an artist and university professor. "We don't know who to be afraid of. Maybe it's a friend or a student you teach. There is no break, no security. I don't know who to be afraid of."

Photo.

Link.

With that in mind try to have a great weekend. Gotta go. Where we're going there's no Internet and no computers. Back tomorrow evening.....

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Friday Video

Something different: "Everybody hurts"(Ognuno Sotere) by Paul Potts-


Oops. I've just been informed that it's "Ognuno Soffre". Also I failed to mention that it's on Paul Pott's new album.
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Discovery Channel Eagerly Destroys Myth Of "The Liberal Media"

I took the day off with my sick daughter. Checking into the ol' Blog mainly as a link to others to find out how badly the Dems caved on that "Stimulus Bill". I assume that they(just like with FISA)rolled over for Bushco like scolded hounds. Harry Reid was on CSpan this morning talking about how they'd reached a "bi-partisan" deal, and we all know what that means with Dems in Congress don't we? I assume they'll be borrowing more money from China for that stimulus. You know just like I'm always borrowing money to pay off my bills and get myself out of debt..and... That's always a good idea..and...er..ah....
Anyway! Here's something nice(and not surprising) in a corporate-tastic kinda way. It seems the Discovery Channel has decided it's better to censure the Bushco years from those pesky things like truth, torture and not rock that corporate bootlicking boat. Joining with the elite myth makers at ABC(The Path To 9-11), NBC("Mann" Coulter's Fav), Faux News and the rest of our "Liberal Media". That Dang truth has such a "Liberal" bias.

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Discovery Channel Drops Plans To Air ‘Taxi To The Dark Side’ Because It Is Too ‘Controversial’

Taxi to the Dark Side, a documentary about an innocent Afghan taxi driver tortured to death by U.S. officials at Bagram Air Base, has received wide critical acclaim since its debut in April at the Tribeca Film Festival. The New York Times’s A.O. Scott said, “If recent American history is ever going to be discussed with the necessary clarity and ethical rigor, this film will be essential.”
Director Alex Gibney agreed to sell the rights of Taxi to the Discovery Channel because executives convinced him they would “give the film a prominent broadcast.” Now, however, Discovery has dropped its plans to air the documentary because the film is too controversial.

SWEET!
The Discovery Channel: My winner of The Weekly Corporate Toady Award.
Link.
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Midday Video | Free Hugs

This one is worth repeating: Music is "All the Same" by Sick Puppies:



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Iranian Sisters To Be Stoned To Death?

This is what fundamentalism, of ANY religion will do for you.
-
Two Iranian sisters accused of "adultery" are set to be stoned to death after the husband of one of them produced a video showing them in the company of other men.

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Jon Stewart On The Faux New's Rove Hire

I'm still not sure why Stewart brings conservatives on often. Is he a secret conservative? Is it part of his contract? They already have that Republican Channel Faux News and a death grip on the corporate channels(CNN, etc.), and when does Fox hire Rove's White House Boyfriend Jeff Gannon? Are there odds being given yet?

"Can you hire a felon? Or is that -- no, that's Libby. ... Could Libby get a job there too?"

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Global Warming | Voicing Reason On The Lieberman-Warner CISA

Fix or Ditch the Lieberman-Warner Global Warming Bill.

It is time for voices to speak up, to call on your Senators to ensure that Lieberman-Warner follows the basic Global Warming platforms of the Democratic Presidential candidates (80% by 2050; 100% auction) or it does not leave the Senate.

After years of ignoring global warming, the U.S. Senate is finally considering legislation to cap greenhouse gas pollution. Unfortunately, the Lieberman-Warner bill being advanced by Senate Democrats lavishes up to $1 trillion on industries responsible for global warming, and in return asks for reduction targets well below what scientists say are necessary. If this is the best Senate Democrats can do, the world is in trouble.

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Help Dennis Kucinich

Dennis Kucinich is a great progressive and avowed Liberal. Right now he's being outspent by the (never)Right-wing and corporate interests by 5-1 to prevent him from being re-elected to office. If you have a bit of money to give go here and help Dennis out.
Watch:


The man has introduced articles of impeachment for Darth Cheney, that's easily worth a few of your extra bucks right there.
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Something Different For The Super Tuesday Overloads

I'll be keeping up with the Super Tuesday voting and results like every other politically aware American. I won't be blogging about it(unless something monumental happens) because I don't have the time and resources of many other bloggers, especially the A-listers. For updates and realtime feedback of results as they happen, here's a good place to start, and here, here, and of course here. As for me I'll throw up something completely different. William S. Burroughs on that wonderful human attribute the written word:















Photo.

"..In the beginning of WRIT- TEN history. It is generally assumed that spoken word came before the written word. I suggest that the spoken word as we know it came after the written word. In the beginning was the word and the word was God and the word was flesh ... human flesh ... In the beginning of WRITING. Animals talk and convey informa- tion but they do not write. They cannot make information available to future gener- ations or to animals outside the range of their communication system. This is the crucial distinction between men and other animals. WRITING. Korzybski, who developed the concept of General Semantics, the meaning of meaning, has pointed out this human distinction and described man as ‘the time binding animal’. He can make information to other men over a length of time through writing. Animals talk. They don’t write. Now a wise old rat may know a lot about traps and poison but he cannot write a text book on DEATH TRAPS IN YOUR WAREHOUSE for the Reader’s Digest with tactics for ganging up on digs and ferrets and taking care of wise guys who stuff steel wool up our holes. It is doubtful if the spoke word would have ever evolved beyond the animal stage without the written word. The written word ist inferential in HUMAN speech. It would not occur to our wise old rat to assemble the young rats and pass his knowledge along in an aural tradition BECAUSE THE WHOLE CONCEPT OF TIME BINDING COULD NOT OCCUR WITHOUT THE WRITTEN WORD. The written word is of course a symbol for something and in the case of hieroglyphic language writing like Egyptian it may be a symbol for itself that is a picture of what it represents. This is not true of an alphabet language like English. The word leg has no pictorial resemblance to a leg. It refers to the SPOKEN word leg. so we may forget that a written word IS AN IMAGE and that written words are images in sequence that is to say MOVING PICTURES."
-William S. Burroughs

Link. William S. Burroughs sound files.
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Corporate Press | Lapdogs

This pretty much sums it up. Here's that Liberalcorporate media in all it's glory:



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Got A Job For Hire? Hire A Hero!

If you're an employer throw away that dated "support our troops" sticker on your car and make a pledge to actually DO something. Hire a vet, hire a hero:

Hire Heroes USA.

"There are men and women out there who feel they are only approached to be put on a pedestal or used as props. If you want to thank a veteran for their service, offer them a job. Give them a chance to apply their skills, work ethic and values to the civilian workforce. Let them have the opportunities to take care of their families. They’re not looking for sympathy; they just want to contribute to the society they fought for. If you are a veteran with a disability from any branch of the military who is returning from Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom, Hire Heroes USA is here for you."

-- Sgt. Justin Callahan, 10th Mountain Division

Linked.
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It's True And It's Hard To Get Past

The really big thing that's hard to forget or forgive.














Link and linked.
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Check Out | The Real News Network

This looks like it may have a lot of possibilties. The Real News Network claims to be completely free of the corporate/government in-breeding of cable news and the print media. Easier said than done, but it's viewer funded, and anything that tries to break free of the worse than useless corporate news dinosaurs has to be a good thing. At least in the beginning. Watch clip:



Link.

The Real News YouTube link.
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The Death Of Ernie Pyle

A photo of legendary World War II reporter Ernie Pyle shortly after he was killed by a Japanese machine gun. Like most people I didn't even know this picture existed.

This photo provided by Richard Strasser, perhaps never before published, shows famed World War II war correspondent Ernie Pyle shortly after he was killed by a Japanese machine gun bullet on the island of Ie Shima on April 18, 1945. Pyle, 44, had just arrived in the Pacific after four years of writing his popular column from European battlefronts. The Army photographer who crawled forward under fire to make this picture later said it was withheld by military officials.

Link.
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Blogroll Amnesty Day - Just Under The Wire

I know I'm coming in on this at the last minute but I want to throw it in even in a Blog drive by with just hours to spare. Skippy and Company are giving us Blogroll Amnesty Day today. The idea is to list smaller Blogs that we read often to give them credit. I don't really think there's many smaller Blogs than me. If someone does have one smaller than mine and would like to be linked from me by all means let me know.

Actually Pam has a nice list to get you started. Most of these are a daily stop for me:

I'll throw up a some Bloggie links I like tomorrow.
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The "Yes We Can" Video

Black Eyed Peas frontman and Bob Dylan's son Jesse have put out this star studded video for Barack Obama:



Linked from C&L.

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That Reagan Myth

Digby tells us about the real Reagan legacy. A lot of us already know this but maybe she can wake up our punditry and media.
--

Ronnie's Playbook

"..(McCain especially should really dial the Reagan worship back. He's older than Reagan was when he ran, and we now know that Reagan's delightfully optimistic daffiness was probably the result of early symptoms of Alzheimers.).."

Link.
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Two Clips | Clinton And Obama

Just a quick drive by to feed the Blog. Here's two videos, the first is what I think contains one of Hillary Clinton's best lines of the night. It also contains what I thought was one of her most false statements. The best line was(paraphrasing), "It took a Clinton to clean up after the first Bush and it will take another to clean up after this one!". The false statement(and silly) was the one about it doesn't matter who you are in this country you can raise that money and be elected President. Anyway here's the vid:



Here's what I thought was one of Barack Obama's best lines. Regarding Iraq and Bush's escalationsurge Obama said(paraphrasing), "they've set the bar so low it's buried in the sand." Watch:


These are our candidates. There's others I'd have preferred but I can support Clinton, Obama also. I think either one will try to repair a lot of Republican damage in every area of government. The best part is the Republicans will all be shrieking "rule of law!", "Rein in the executive!" as soon as either Obama or Clinton is in office. So that should take care of all those un-limited executive powers quickly.

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My Space = Christian Bigots?

Well isn't this special? I've heard MySpace finally started tightening up their site to protect against pedophiles, etc., but apparently wingnut christians can get sites they don't like shut down on My(Jesus)Space.
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MySpace deletes hacked Web site for atheists and agnostics

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Rules To Study Or Live By

Pretty good rules

immaculate heart college art department rules


1. Find a place you trust and then try trusting it for a while.
2. General duties of a student: pull everything out of your teacher, pull everything out of your fellow students.
3. General duties of a teacher: pull everything out of your students.
4. Consider everything an experiment.
5. Be self-disciplined. This means finding someone wise or smart and choosing to follow them. To be disciplined is to follow in a good way. To be self-disciplined is to follow in a better way.
6. Nothing is a mistake. There is no win and no fail. There is only make.
7. The only rule is work. If you work it will lead to something. It’s the people who do all of the work all the time who eventually catch on to things.
8. Don’t try to create and analyse at the same time. They’re different processes.
9. Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It’s lighter than you think.
10. “We’re breaking all of the rules. Even our own rules. And how do we do that? By leaving plenty of room for X quantities.” - John Cage.

Helpful hints: Always be around. Come or go to everything always. Go to classes. Read anything you can get your hands on. Look at movies carefully often. Save everything, it might come in handy later.

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The Great Freeze | Grand Central Station

This is pretty cool. From ImprovEverywhere.com, over 200 people freeze in place on cue in Grand Central Station in New York.


It's best to go to the YouTube site and full screen the video.
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Morning Video

Thanks to C&L for this gem. Bettye LaVette with the old Bernie Taupin/Elton John "Talking Old Soldiers":



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Debate Moment From Work

I hope everyone caught at least a few minutes of CNN's Democratic debate last night. I remembered to turn the tv on for it at about 8:30 so I missed a bit. Both sounded very progressive-at least in the debate format. It looks as if eight years of dumbya, and Edwards, Kucinich and the Netroots have pushed their sails left. I thought Obama edged out a small win but they both did really well with no slash and burn rhetoric. As always Firedog Lake has excellent coverage as well as many of the other political Blogs.

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