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Bush to America: SHOP
ABQ John wrote:
It's the Friday after Thanksgiving where America gets up early to rush to the stores to buy dangerously unsafe Chinese goods to exchange with each other in a month on Christmas Day. How many Americans were up half the night planning this early morning strategy? Sadly, it was probably more than half of America.
After all, this is the Bush Administration meme: "To Hell With the War in Iraq, America Just Go Shopping.” It's what America has become:where we don't know and don't care how or when we are going to pay for what we've done. Live for today and worry about it tomorrow. Here in New Mexico we call it "Manana" - just worry about it later.
Hey, I love shopping, too. But I am not a big fan of throwing money away. I want to see value for my money because I work too damn hard to get my money. And I just don't see the value in illegal occupations of sovereign, foreign nations.
I guess I'm not "down with the GWOT.” This so-called "Global War on Terror despite all its good intentions, it is being mishandled so severely that it now has no substance to it. This administration declares the GWOT to be a noble thing such as the war on poverty, the war on drugs, or the war on crime. I know it's hard to believe that this administration would have anything but good intentions but it is turning America into a crime-ridden, drug-using impoverished state. Because there is no "Global War on Terror" and the Bush administration knows it. So why are we in Iraq? The only war there is a civil war and our American troops are in the middle of it. Our presence there is an illegal occupation of a sovereign nation. There is no winner in an occupation: only occupation or not. Same in Afghanistan where the question arises again: Why are we there? Poppy production continues to grow at break-neck speed: each year's harvest is better than the last. So why does this administration commit billions of dollars and the resources of the greatest military on the planet to these areas?
The answer is simple: Some in this administration are not waiting for manana. They are amassing their fortunes today while the opportunities are the low lying fruit and are ripe for the picking. If you criticize these folks, you are labeled a troop hater. If you don't give in to their extortion practices, you are not supporting the troops. Never mind the total cost of this Middle Eastern folly to be over 2 Trillion dollars. And just forget the missing pallets of billions of cash dollars missing and unaccounted for. Halliburton, Blackwater and the oil companies' profits have reached unseen gains. And the presidents and CEO's of these companies get million-dollar bonuses while America doesn't know how it's going to pay for heating oil and gasoline. I can remember someone saying "It's my job to worry about it. It's your job to go about your business." Wow - what a pearl of wisdom rolling off the lips of "the decider.”
On this Black Friday, let's keep one thing in mind America: nothing to see here - move along now. And dammit - Buy Something !
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I must be the other half, since I never participate in Black Friday.
The only gifts I am giving this year will be those I painted.
I am so finished with Christmas.
ABQ, happy Thanksgiving! I hope you had a good one. NM was great last year. I still have to get out & do a balloon ride some time.
***
What is most frightening about this year's economic morass is that the dollar is in free-fall. With the Fed cutting interest rates to try and shore up the housing debacle they helped create in the first place, the dollar is an even less attractive investment - T-bills have a horrendous rate of return (lowering the interest payments on our national debt is so short-term when the dollars they're denominated in are worth less and less).
China wants to move its investments to a more stable currency and OPEC is once again talking seriously about denominating oil in euros instead of dollars (the Apocalyptic horse that brought on OIF). Let's bomb Iran to shut them up of that idea. (/sarcasm)
The US multinationals (even mid-size companies are multinational these days) don't want to repatriate their profits, because the currency exchange is killing them. Meanwhile, the foreign multinationals, who are eager to profit off comparatively wealthy American consumers, aren't hesitating to take all that dollar profit right back into their home currencies, where the exchange rates are greatly fattening their bottom lines.
Large American investors, invididuals and corporate entities alike (think retirement plans) are past the hedge-fund and REIT craze and are now looking for their next "hit" to keep up their high. There's a lot of liquidity in the market right now, too much, too many people who waited too long to invest for retirement and are now frantically looking to hit it rich and cash in with a very short time frame. So what do they chase? Gold, and oil, and foreign companies. With their fat returns generated off the falling dollar as people move to other, more stable, "currencies". Resulting in yet a further flight from the dollar and a further fall.
So when does America realize that all those pieces of paper they carry around (or the chips of plastic that refer to some electrons bouncing around in cyberspace) are worth only what the "faith and trust of the US government" can provide?
Last I checked, our government wasn't too faithful or trustworthy.
As Black Friday dawns, the Tulalip Casino and Mall in Washington state has been open since midnight, to lure flocks of bargain-shopping Canadians. Given the sunken dollar, they will be seen lumbering back to the parking lot with heavy bags from Nordstum and Movado.
Here's Doug Tarnapol, from Free Expression blog, with a special Black-Friday e-mail...
First-rate stuff...
What Would Jesus Buy?€: As Holiday Buying Frenzy Begins, New Film Tracks Anti-Consumerism Gospel of Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping
Happy Black Friday. Keep shopping -- don't worry about the global warming effects of mass-produced, globally distributed pointless products, losing jobs in America, Wal-Mart killing independent stores, sweatshop/slave-labor produced products. It's Christmas season, after all. Burn all that electricity to compete with your neighbor; Jesus will want all of us for a sunbeam once the Rapture comes....
Reverend Billy's website
Here is the story Kayakbiker did on Reverend Billy at Mall of America, just before Christmas two years ago:
(Reverend Billy/Mall of America)
Also click on my name later to see Zombies hit Nordstrums.
15th Annual Buy Nothing Day/Black Friday - Downtown Zombie Ride & Protest! Westlake Center, November 23rd @ 12:30 pm (The day after Thanksgiving)
25% of the world's population consumes over 80% of the world's material resources and owns over 80% of its wealth.
Although people today are, on average, four-and-a-half times richer than our great-grandparents were at the turn of the century, Americans report feeling "significantly less well off" than in 1958. This is because in our empty consumer culture we are always told that we need just one more thing to be happy. As long as you are buying your happiness, it's always going to be just out of your reach, always one more purchase away. This capitalist and consumer society sets unrealistic body image and wealth standards and plummets people into unrecoverable debt and depression, all the while funding multi-national corporations that violate worker's rights and trade agreements and further perpetuate global warming. With "Black Friday" being the biggest shopping day of the year, it's the perfect time to wake people up with a little zombie street theater.
Come make a stand against this cycle by waking up shoppers to what consumerism and a capitalist society does to ourselves, communities, workers, and the world!
Please come in your zombie garb and bring your bicycle. We will ride throughout the busiest streets downtown in a slow moving critical mass style swarm that will be comfortable for all people and riding styles.
If you are in need of a little zombification, please show up a bit early (around noon) and we'll help you out, as several people within the DIY community have been good enough to donate some face paints for just this very purpose! Also, I will have some BUY NOTHING patches for people to adorn their bags/backs with, so that the cause is evident.
Primo economic diary at Docudharma by Jerome a Paris, posted yesterday at Daily Kos, linking globalization to world economic woes and Black Friday mentality
http://www.docudharma.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=61FCD4D55A71BBA89D42F3F0B0C441F4?diaryId=2485
In my morning reading (will search links if discussion ensues)
Re the dollar - noted that Airbus is laying off workers, since Boeing planes are cheaper. American individual and governmental habit of living on borrowed money is hurting everyone everywhere. It's not sustainable!
Also noted that the French and other European worker strikes are tending to have a nil effect, as there is a growing mentality of dog-eat-dog and individual greed vs caring about the greater good of society.
This again can be linked to globalization.
Banks Gone Wild
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/23/opinion/23krugman.html?ex=1353474000&en=39c968f2aaa2b8c0&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
They were high on greed
I still don't like it woz, no matter how small
You have already voted! Here are the results so far:
John Howard 54% (6459 votes)
Kevin Rudd 40% (4820 votes)
Neither 2% (308 votes)
I'm voting for someone else 3% (363 votes) Total votes Total of 11950 votes
20,000 Brain Injuries Left Off
Iraq Wounded List
At least 20,000 U.S. troops who were not classified as wounded during combat in Iraq and Afghanistan have been found with signs of brain injuries, according to military and veterans records compiled by USA TODAY.
The data, provided by the Army, Navy and Department of Veterans Affairs, show that about five times as many troops sustained brain trauma as the 4,471 officially listed by the Pentagon through Sept. 30. These cases also are not reflected in the Pentagon's official tally wounded, which stands at 30,327.
HIDDEN WOUNDS: Marine didn't recognize signs of brain injury
The number of brain-injury cases were tabulated from records kept by the VA and four military bases that house units that have served multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
One base released its count of brain injuries at a medical conference. The others provided their records at the request of USA TODAY, in some cases only after a Freedom of Information Act filing was submitted
ofhttp://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2007-11-22-braininjuries_N.htm
Wiretap Issue Leads Judge to Warn of Retrial in Terror Case
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107K.shtml
Eric Lichtblau reports for The New York Times, "A federal judge warned Tuesday that if the government did not allow lawyers to review classified material on possible wiretapping of an Islamic scholar convicted of inciting terrorism, she might order a new trial for him
Pak Nukes Already Under US Control: Report
By Times Of India
In a stunning disclosure certain to stir up things in Washington's (and in Islamabad and New Delhi's) strategic community, the journal Stratfor reported on Monday that the "United States delivered a very clear ultimatum to Musharraf in the wake of 9/11: Unless Pakistan allowed US forces to take control of Pakistani nuclear facilities, the United States would be left with no choice but to destroy those facilities, possibly with India's help."
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18752.htm
I must be the other half, since I never participate in Black Friday.
The only gifts I am giving this year will be those I painted.
I am so finished with Christmas.
November 23, 2007 11:59 AM
@@@@@
Normally I wouldn't be buying that much of Christmas because I can't afford much.
BUT.....
KMART is having a sale today and tomorrow. I just bought some ultra cheap Christmas lights (made in China LOL) - $5 for 20 feet.
I am going to make a PEACE sign with the lights and put it in my window. If I have enough tape , I could spell out the word PEACE or PEACE ON EARTH.... this would take a lot of tape... I got this idea from the Paul-heads at You Tube...
HILLARY'S PEOPLE KICKING OUT A CODE PINK PROTESTER DURING A SPEECH:
We won't be shopping this year. Hubby's side feels broke. (Hey. I'm ok with this. Since I have always hated the whole commercialization of xmas.)
And with my family, we all donate into a hat. Then we write down charities for it to go to. Then one person draws the name out of the hat and that's where it goes. Last year, as joke against me, my sister put in "The RNC".
Thank god it went to a homeless group instead of the RNC.
Of course this year if anyone puts in DCCC it could be seen as a joke too.
Last year, as joke against me, my sister put in "The RNC".
Hell sparrow that was evillllll.
Want to work for impeachment?
Here's an idea via a d-kos diary.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/11/23/134745/95
CALIFORNIA PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS ATTEMPT TO CENSURE SEN. FEINSTEIN AT CALIF. DEM. MEETING (Courage Campaign)
Bah Humbug!
"A Matter Of Conscience"
I haven't read the blogs yet because I'm going out to vote - our Federal Election tonight. If John Howard's fear campaign of this past week, works, he's here for another 3 years. Hopefully this is a very good sign. If this doesn't work, I need more practice. Obviously.
Bugger! Ok - the picture is available here - for anyone who can actually post a pic. Sorry sparrow - good instructions - and maybe there should be no spaces.
Once more
If this doesn't work - and I don't expect it will - gotta get more positive. Last try.
:((
http://flickr.com/photos/12601921@N03/?saved=1
ok - abq John - apologies for not responding to your header here. I intend to do so after I go and do my very best to toss Howard on the rubbish dump. Election day here today.
Since we've also talked a lot about the media and corporate control, I thought you'd be interested in this article.
Murdoch controls Sun's political backing
November 24, 2007 - 10:24AM
Rupert Murdoch has told a parliamentary inquiry that he has "editorial control" over which party The Sun and News of the World back in an election and what line the papers take on Europe.
But the News Corporation chairman said he took a different approach with his other national newspapers in the UK, The Times and Sunday Times. While he often asks what the Times and its Sunday sister are doing, he never instructs them or interferes, he told the House of Lords Communications Committee.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Murdoch-controls-Suns-political-backing/2007/11/24/1195753345807.html
Kenny G spotting
not clear, but all witnesses agree it was him
saw this guy downtown
The Feds raid a private coin/certificate manufacturer. Of course this business supports Ron Paul who is getting lots of free advertising. I am not quite sure what crime was committed: the owner of the business was not counterfitting U.S. money - he was just making his own money and private coins...
SPEAKING OF MONEY!!! New figures on campaign fundraising: Hillary has raised over $90 million dollars for her campaign, most of it coming from large contributors (Fat Cats). The money people (mostly Republicans) are betting on a Democrat for president... and it's Hillary. Can you say "TRIANGULATION"????
Woz,
There should be no spaces. Also, I prefer photobucket over flicker for the ease of use.
Woz,
Email heading your way.
Bought nothing today. However, did take a long road trip to Hearst Castle.
Before writing William Randolph Hearst off as another Rupert Murdoch of his day, I learned a new interesting fact about him:
Hearst had a good shot at the Democratic presidential nomination of 1904. But his radical platform killed his chances. What was his radical platform?
- Give women the vote.
- Establish minimum wage for all working Americans.
- Establish national healthcare.
The Democratic Party of 1904 was a conservative one of southern white racists (who are today's Republicans), and this was too much to take for them.
The guide (employed by California Parks Dept.) also told me that the building of the opulent castle did serve to create and maintain jobs during the Great Depression era.
Regarding W's call to spend to save the economy:
What kind of voodoo economics is he preaching? Doesn't he realize that his Moonie benefactors (AKA South Korea and Taiwan) got their economic clout through high savings rates, and it's even truer of his other buddy Japan?
Ralpheh
CodePink is feared by both Republicans and DINOs. They'll crack down hard on them over the upcoming months and years.
Hearst is also the reason weed, I mean hemp, is illegal.
Damn him.
Christy
That's why we have HempFest
Got to defeat the madness someday
Ralpheh
CodePink is feared by both Republicans and DINOs. They'll crack down hard on them over the upcoming months and years.
Leave a comment
@@@@@@@@
Hillary has absolutely NO IDEA how to handle hecklers: they are not in her script, so she just plows ahead, strenuously, awkwardly speechifying and ignoring the most obvious thing in the room - a person who disagrees with her. At least Bill could think on his feet - Hillary can't. I have seen at least three videos of Hillary confronted with hecklers and she has failed every time.
BTW - If Hill can't handle a Code Pink heckler, I can't image her handling a contentious cabinet meeting... it won't be in the script....
Here is an exchange between Obama and a grumpy questioner at a town hall meeting in Iowa. At You Tube this video was billed as "OBAMA SHOUTS AT OLD LADY". In this version you don't see the woman's question (which had to do with terrorism). This was not scripted or planted; I thought Obama did well, tried to address the question and didn't lose his cool. But you can judge.
I've learned that no matter how much you earn, it's never quite enough. And our overspending continues. And through that, the banks' executives, boards and shareholders get richer.
rossi - exit polls showing a swing to Labor. Counting starts here, Vic and NSW in 10 minutes.
woz
Sending the best wishes your way. Australia deserves MUCH better than Howard and the Liberals.
Christy
Hearst also hated modern art, and considered Picasso total trash.
Yayyyyy!!!!!! It looks like our PM John Howard will very likely lose his seat!!! How do you PM all over the place with no seat? Yes!!
Thanks Ally. It's so much better than 2004 - that was too depressing to watch. It's still stressful.
Ally, there has been some disgusting advertising and fear mongering by the PM's party. Some believe it. Right now, although only 34% of the vote counted, it seems there are enough seats change hands to form a new Federal government.
CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT IN AUSTRALIA!!!!! Still counting to happen, but there are plenty of seats that are definitely won - the win has been declared, but of course the government won't concede just yet.
Prime Minister: Kevin Rudd
Deputy Prime Minister: Julia Gillard
If Howard loses his seat, he'll go down in history as the 2nd incumbent Prime Minister to lose his seat. It's on a knife edge right now.
It's official. John Howard concedes defeat.
If Howard loses his seat, he'll go down in history as the 2nd incumbent Prime Minister to lose his seat. It's on a knife edge right now.
November 24, 2007 6:03 AM
Yay woz and rossi!
Is this due to their support of Bush?
More than that sparrow - domestic issues were following American - including letting our hospitals and health care go to the dogs. No one was impressed with Howard's support for Bush.
Howard has lost his seat. This probably pleases him because he won't have to take a seat on the opposition benches. He won't have to go to work. And resign. The people resigned him.
Industrial relations was possibly the biggest issue. Wages and conditions have evaporated for the past 11+ years of Howard rule.
Howard's association with Bush certainly did him no favours.
Congrats Aussies.
What an excellent day for your country. That is wonderful.
And Ally, I also think most 'modern art' is trash.
That is how I learned about him keeping the hemp industry down, I was actusally more interested in his art collection.
It was wierd though, because when I learned about the hemp thing, that was the first time I think I first understood how someone very powerful can really basically bribe the US Government to do their bidding.
Two down, one more thug left to go down
Ahhhhhhhh shit Howie you lost your seat,
Making history ... Mandarin-speaking one-time farm boy Kevin Rudd will be Australia's next prime minister after leading his Labor party to a landslide victory in the 2007 federal election.More
Hey woz did I hear correctly, did labour win all of Tasmania?
Now we just have to see where he leads us.
Industrial relations was possibly the biggest issue. Wages and conditions have evaporated for the past 11+ years of Howard rule.
Howard's association with Bush certainly did him no favours.
Right on woz
I love it when a staunch ally of the Bush administration goes down in flames.
Torchlight Trilogy
An Iraqi couple were beheaded in front of their children by their cousins because the man wore Western-style trousers.
Three suspected al Qaeda militants, including two sisters, beheaded their uncle and his wife, forcing the couple's children to watch, according to Iraqi police.
The killing came because the school guard Youssef al-Hayali was considered an infidel because he did not pray and wore western-style trousers.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=496048&in_page_id=1770
Australian PM And Top Bush Ally John Howard Loses Election
New PM Promises Withdrawal From Iraq
AP | ROHAN SULLIVAN | November 24, 2007 09:06 AM
Conservative Prime Minister John Howard suffered a humiliating defeat Saturday at the hands of the left-leaning opposition, whose leader has promised to immediately sign the Kyoto Protocol on global warming and withdraw Australia's combat troops from Iraq.
Labor Party head Kevin Rudd's pledges on global warming and Iraq move Australia sharply away from policies that had made Howard one of President Bush's staunchest allies.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20071124/australia-election/
YAY!! for woz! YAY!! for RossiAnn!!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2338229
Woo, hoo!
EElizabeth Kucinich: My Husband Would "Absolutely" Consider Running With Ron Paullizabeth Kucinich:
Kucinich, Dean, + Biden on: Peak Oil, Ron Paul, + 9/11 Truth
I just read the most facsinating thing...
The Mystery of the Rosetan People
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-rock-positano/the-mystery-of-the-roseta_b_73260.html
"Lo and behold, there is an almost perfect correlation between Americanization and heart disease death rates. "
Very interesting.
Woo, hoo!
======
Definitely Woo,Hoo! otter. Can sleep well tonight
woz said:
If Howard loses his seat, he'll go down in history as the 2nd incumbent Prime Minister to lose his seat. It's on a knife edge right now.
November 24, 2007 6:45 AM
@@@@@@
HALLELUJAH!!!!!!
THE WINDS OF CHANGE ARE A-BLOWIN'!!!!
Sleep well?
You are not sleeping at all it looks like!
Party Party Party.
Rumors have been flying recently that Tucker Carlson could soon be on the way out at MSNBC. In a report that aired this morning on NPR, Phil Griffin, a senior vice president at the cable network, described Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as part of the MSNBC "brand". Asked whether Mr. Carlson was also part of that brand, Mr. Griffin replied: "He is right now."
Not exactly a vote of confidence.
http://www.observer.com/2007/msnbc-hedges-carlsons-future
MEOW!
Someone was speaking of hemp - my Republican uncle sent me this article about ND farmers who are suing re its cultivation
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/491/north_dakota_farmers_sue_DEA_hemp_ban
My uncle said "makes sense"
I have MySpace and FaceBook pages for fun and am learning alot more about photography & web design that way. One woman in Texas was depressed so I decided to send her an antiwar slideshow. Then I realized it wasn't the person I thought. Luckily she wrote back that she loved it and sent this:
General Sanchez just won't let up on Bush!
I hope people listen - this guy was there.
Congrats to Australia for getting rid of one of
"Bush's allies"
Good example for Canada, France, Mexico and
Germany, who caved, as were Italy and Spain
who did not.
I hear Japan has some stirrings against the
hard right.
US Blames Iran-Backed Group for Baghdad Bombing
Reuters
Saturday 24 November 2007
Baghdad - Iranian-backed militants were behind a bombing that killed 13 Iraqis at a Baghdad pet market, the U.S. military said on Saturday, raising concerns that Shi'ite militias might be switching tactics.
U.S. military spokesman Rear Admiral Gregory Smith said it appeared the Shi'ite militants wanted Friday's bombing, the deadliest attack in Baghdad in two months after a lull in violence, to look like the work of al Qaeda.
Most big bombings that cause mass casualties are blamed on Sunni Islamist al Qaeda.
Shi'ite militias, many of which the military says are backed by Iran, are more commonly accused of sectarian killings and kidnappings rather than what the U.S. military calls "spectacular," or large-scale, bomb attacks aimed at civilians.
US Navy Steps Up Fuel Deliveries to Gulf Forces
By Stefano Ambrogi
Reuters
Friday 23 November 2007
London - The U.S. military has stepped up chartering of tankers and requests for extra fuel in the U.S. Central Command area, which includes the Gulf, shipping and oil industry sources say.
A Gulf oil industry source said the charters suggested there would be high naval activity, possibly including a demonstration to Iran that the U.S. Navy will protect the Strait of Hormuz oil shipping route during tensions over Tehran's nuclear programme.
The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC) has tendered for four tankers in November to move at least one million barrels of jet and ship fuel between Gulf ports, from Asia to the Gulf and to the Diego Garcia base, tenders seen by Reuters show.
It usually tenders for one or two tankers a month to supply Gulf operations, which include missions in Iraq.
The MSC, asked for comment, confirmed the tenders and said there was nothing abnormal about current requirements in the Gulf, where it has a large military presence and which is home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.
Mortars Hit Baghdad Green Zone
By Waleed Ibrahim
Reuters
Thursday 22 November 2007
Baghdad - Al Qaeda militants killed at least eight members of a neighborhood police unit in southern Baghdad on Thursday, raking them with machinegun fire from a stolen Iraqi army vehicle, police said.
Separately, police said insurgents fired 10 mortar bombs at Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone just before dusk, in attacks coinciding with Thanksgiving.
A Reuters witness said he saw what appeared to be a body hanging from a damaged minibus in the zone, which houses the U.S. embassy and many government ministries. Police said there were casualties, but had no details.
The spike in violence ran against the trend of a sharp drop in attacks in recent months.
Al Qaeda in Iraq militants opened fire on a neighborhood police patrol in the Hawr Rajab area of Baghdad, a mainly Sunni Arab area, approaching in at least one of two Iraqi army "humvees" they stole after shooting at least two Iraqi soldiers.
A good summary of the Neo-Cons in the Bush administration and the Project for the NEw AMerican Century:
That poster - that's what I thought the turkey was looking for.
November 23, 2007 11:59 AM
V said:
__________________________________________________________________________
Of course Bushco is happy to see the dollar in a free fall. A cheap/weakened dollar allows Bush's irresponsible spending seem less grotesque. It doesn't bother him. It will be the millions of Americans in the future (our children) who will have to clean this mess up. As it is, the super rich will continue to profit from the dollar's devaluation as they buy other investment vehicles which will allow them to avoid further devaluation of their wealth. Their children, on the other hand, will see their estates continue to grow in value while the monies they pay back to the national debt will not be as hard earned (in a sense, it will be monetarily equal, but less cumbersome for them) as the money that most others use to repay the loans. A perfect example of the rich protecting the rich.
Deep Harm has an excellent call for impeachment diary at Kos.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/11/24/144816/10
Regarding the "No shopping" thing. It sounds to me like cutting off your nose to spite your face. In the end it will hurt you more than it hurts the companies or Bush.
However, if your reason for not shopping is to avoid the credit card, then that's probably for the better! Then you get to mess with Bush, the banks, and the corporations.
Excellent video ralpheh. Did anyone ever ask why the twin towers seemed to actually implode upon themselves? I'd have expected the rubble to be spread over a hundred kilometres or more.
This type of activism made it past the media blockade.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/23/couple-wearing-protest-shirts-first-through-the-door-on-black-friday
Need a really great stocking stuffer? Check these out. I am getting one for all my employees.
http://www.beachblogger.net/store/money_stamp.html
Thanks Oncall. I think I'll get the $$ stamper.
sparrow, I know that it's not much, but I do boycott stores that are owned by the big multinational greedies. I have so little to spend, but I feel much better knowing that I gave nothing at all to the biggest vandals of our beautiful island state.
I've chosen a small family owned supermarket where I email an order once a fortnight and they deliver for free. They are slightly more expensive than the big ones, but I accept that. I'd rather they have my few dollars. I've found that it completely wipes out impulse buying because I don't have to go to the bigger supermarkets at all. So, I put that into the once a fortnight shopping. Works for me. And with no car, I don't need the fuel vouchers.
Same goes for our biggest corporate enemy of Tasmania's ancient wilderness and forests. Even if they have what I really, really need/want. I refuse to give them 5 cents. They don't know it, except for my letters to our local and national papers.
Why the Australian election results are important. (A diary at Kos.)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/11/24/13487/630
I try to shop the small stores too Woz. I agree it's important to do what you feel is necessary to support small business owners. But my comment was more in reference to the idea of making things so bad that Bush looks foolish. Because basically, Bush and his buddies are not going to suffer--it's us. So yeh...find a way to support locally.
woz and kangaroo
Congratulation on a job well done - not only putting the Labors in power, but kicking Howard out, PERIOD!
(I know, I know, neither of you live in Bennelong, but still... :) )
I did read on another blog that Bennelong is 40%+ Asian (as opposed to 2% when Howard first took office in the 1970s), making Howard's nativist politics less palatable for his constituents.
Ally - yes. Bennelong has changed over the past 11+ years. There are a lot more young families and baby-boomers there now. And fewer super-conservative-right-wing-wealthy folks. It's the younger cosmopolitan voters and baby-boomers who Maxine McKew met with and listened to. Howard is so out of touch with real, everyday people.
Howard has presided over the biggest budget surpluses in the Nation's history. However (the opposition didn't even voice this in the campaign), he has also presided over the biggest personal/family debt and the biggest foreign debt in our history. He was also treasurer over this nations monetary interest rate of 22%. That's how out of touch Howard is. He thought that we were dumb enough to vote for him last time over fiscal policy and terra-hysteria. We'd surely do it again.
And just to make absolutely certain he pledged billions of bribe dollars (of taxpayer funds) to the poor - again. Voters still haven't forgiven him for conning them last time.
Oh - yeah - that and the fact that the ALP had an incredibly loose-canon leader.
Howard was sworn in as Australia's treasurer in 1977. He has done nothing for any minority group, except his own. His own minority group have had their taxes cut and cut and cut, with the shortfall to be picked up by those of the middle and poorer classes.
Uh-oh. Trouble.
MOSCOW — Russian authorities arrested former world chess champion Garry Kasparov on Saturday and sentenced him to five days in prison after he helped lead a protest against President Vladimir Putin that ended in clashes with police.
Kasparov, one of President Vladimir Putin's harshest critics, was charged with organizing an unsanctioned procession of at least 1,500 people against Putin, chanting anti-government slogans and resisting arrest, court documents said. His assistant said he was beaten during the demonstration.
At the hastily organized trial, two police testified that they had been ordered before the rally to arrest Kasparov.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20071124/russia-protest-march/
Another tasering (in Utah after a speeding ticket...)
this is after the tasering in Canada that killed a fellow
and the tasering in Florida of the student asking some good questions.
Perhaps there needs to be federal regulation of tasers - they seem dangerous and a form of cruel and unusual punishment...
I post this letter to the Age newspaper, in its entirety.
Woz and Rossian
Not sure what time of day but am celebrating with you!
Click on my name and join the party, if you wish.
Reportedly, the internet (MySpace, Google, YouTube etc.) played a big part in the Australian election, with major changes in Executive and Legislative segments
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4284601a28.html
Just as it is in American politics, changes don't happen overnight. The coalition controls the Senate until June 30, 2008.
2008 Presidential Election Weekly Poll
www.votenic.com>
Results Posted Tuesday Evening
http://www.votenic.com/
OH MY GOD!
Forecast: U.S. dollar could plunge 90 pct
A financial crisis will likely send the U.S. dollar into a free fall of as much as 90 percent and gold soaring to $2,000 an ounce, a trends researcher said.
"We are going to see economic times the likes of which no living person has seen," Trends Research Institute Director Gerald Celente said, forecasting a "Panic of 2008."
"The bigger they are, the harder they'll fall," he said in an interview with New York's Hudson Valley Business Journal.
Celente -- who forecast the subprime mortgage financial crisis and the dollar's decline a year ago and gold's current rise in May -- told the newspaper the subprime mortgage meltdown was just the first "small, high-risk segment of the market" to collapse.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Business/2007/11/19/forecast_us_dollar_could_plunge_90_pct/4876
I am deeply deeply disturbed again.
Please someone tell me that CAN NOT happen...?
I feel sick.
Costello to the Liberal Party – Up Yours.
Filed under: leadership — Possum Comitatus @ 12:20 pm
As Howard stated last night, he accepts full responsibility for the electoral drubbing.
Today, Costello guarantees that it will indeed be John Howard that accepts responsibility for the electoral fallout, as well as those members of the Liberal Party that voted to keep Howard as leader. In fact, the only person that won’t be having anything to do with the aftermath of this particular train wreck will be Peter Costello himself.
By announcing his retirement to the backbench today and declining any further leadership position within the Opposition, Costello understands well the full gravitas of his decision. The party chose Howard against his advice, Howard lost just as Costello told him he would, now the party that didn’t listen to him can clean up the damn mess themselves.
Pete’s taking his bat and ball and going home and flicking the bird at the party that refused to listen to him.
So now the leadership contest for the most undesirable position in politics begins - and it is the undesirability of the Opposition leadership, the poison that accompanies the position that guarantees the fight will be bitter. When the spoils of defeat are so small, the battle will always be fierce.
This leads to the question of which sad old face of a defeated regime will become the first lamb sent to the slaughter. This leader of the Opposition will become the public face of a party that is about to receive the full force of ALP political retribution.
Downer will very likely be forced to resign in disgrace over AWB, Andrews will be persecuted for his negligence, Hockey will be slapped around when the government releases the true statistics of Workchoices and Abbott will be taken to task over a anything he’s touched in the last 6 years. Whoever accepts the mantle of Leader of the Opposition for the first term of the Rudd government is going to be smashed to smithereens.
http://possumcomitatus.wordpress.com/2007/11/25/costello-to-the-liberal-party-%e2%80%93-up-yours/#comments
Christy,
Of course it can happen, and probably will, cuz just when you thought the Bush presidency couldn't damage America any worse, it always does.
We are so f*cked.
Karen, can you email me please?
I don't have your addy anymore, address book was wiped clean.
Are there alot of happy people?!
Kangaroo
That was one of the blogs listed on a list I found of Australian left and right blogs. I mentioned your blog over at ours, where we were talking about your elections. Let's hope our nation is able to do the same!
Christy
I have been trying to warn people about the dollar for three years and no one would listen. I know because I (used to) travel. That guy may be overstating it somewhat but we can't keep living on borrowed money, individually or collectively. Too many people were banking on the paper value of their houses and borrowing against it. Too many banks were getting rich loaning money to people who couldn't pay it back, not caring, as they immediately turned around and sold the mortgages anyway. Too many people were buying real estate to "flip" at a profit without even living in it, sometimes before it was even built.
The system needs to change, but it's too bad innocent people (like the poor) will be the ones hurt worst. It's a little late to panic and buy gold. The Asian meltdown in '92 was a 60% loss in currency value and it's taken all this time to partially come back up. South American countries were having inflation in the high double digits not so long ago.
Look at Think Progress
Back to back on the scroll...
White House ‘pessimistic’ about Afghanistan war.
AND
U.S. lowers bar for political success in Iraq.
That though is my problem you see...
I don't personally live on any borrowed money nor credit.
I pay CASH for everything.
What the government does in my name I can not control.
If gold is not the answer, I would say it is a damn fine time to invest in ART then.
Nefertiti anyone? Just playing. Maybe when I am starving.
Lucky for me though, what is hanging on my walls is actually more valuable than the walls.
I never trusted the stock market. Too many mirrors filled with smoke.
Wow! I am sure a Congressional investigation will ensue IMMEDIATELY!
Anything to keep thier minds off the spreading Alaskan Corrupt Bastards scandal . Or Iraq. Or AfghanistaN. Or the fall of our dollar. Or Habeus Corpus. or torture.
Talk of Efforts to Fix Matches Rattles Pro Tennis
As the venerable Davis Cup finals begin Friday in Oregon, tennis is mired in a widening gambling scandal in which at least a dozen ranked players have said they have been asked to throw matches or have heard of similar approaches to others.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/sports/tennis/25tennis.html?_r=1&ex=1353646800&en=cca4d9d35868162a&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&oref=slogin
We must know who has cporrupted PRO TENNIS, or else we are all culpable!
Or something like that.
Presidential Politics:
It looks like the Republican Party is complete disarray; They do not have a front-runner; the polls keep changing etc..
The latest polls of Iowa, New Hampshire and national, all have different results:
Iowa:
Romney 1
Huckabee 2
Giuliani 3
(Giuliani is tanking in Iowa - he has gone from around 30% to around 15%)
New Hampshire:
Romney 1
Giuliani 2
McCain 3
National
Giuliani
Fred Thompson (LOL the Law and Order effect!!!)
McCain (the "I know his name" effect!!!)
Rumsfeld Torture Case Thrown Out In France
PIERRE-ANTOINE SOUCHARD November 23, 2007 09:14 PM EST
PARIS — A Paris prosecutor has thrown out a complaint against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for torture in Iraq and at the U.S. military detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, a lawyer for one of the four groups that filed the case said Friday.
The prosecutor dismissed the case on the grounds that Rumsfeld benefits from immunity, said attorney Patrick Baudoin, president of the International Federation of Human Rights. The organizations that brought the complaint have asked the prosecutor to reconsider.
The complaint was filed Oct. 25 during a visit by Rumsfeld to Paris.
Prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin said Rumsfeld is covered by the immunity accorded to heads of state or government and foreign ministers for acts during their time in office, according to a letter seen by The Associated Press. The French Foreign Ministry advised the prosecutor's office in the matter, the letter said.
Rumsfeld's one-day visit last month was enough time for the European and American human rights groups to take advantage of a French disposition by which people suspected of torture can be prosecuted in France if they are on French soil.
The complaint said that Rumsfeld, in his former position as U.S. defense secretary, "authorized and ordered crimes of torture to be carried out ... as well as other war crimes."
It cited documents including memos from Rumsfeld, internal reports and testimony from former U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski _ the one-time commander of U.S. military prisons in Iraq.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20071123/france-rumsfeld/
Archbishop of Canterbury just piled on.
So... I guess this means God was NOT on our side all along? Go figure.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2937068.ece
Iraqi Government Nullifies Kurdish Oil Deals
by Ammar Karim
Sat Nov 24, 5:57 AM ET
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq's oil ministry has declared all crude contracts signed by the Kurdish regional authorities with foreign companies null and void, a government official said on Saturday.
"The ministry has nullified all contracts signed by the Kurdistan Regional Government," the official told AFP, asking not to be named. "They will not be recognised."
The government in Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdish region has signed 15 exploration and exportation contracts with 20 international companies since it passed its own oil law in August, infuriating the Baghdad government.
Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani has in recent weeks angrily denounced the Kurdish authorities for signing the contracts before the national parliament approves a new oil and gas law, declaring them "illegal".
The government official said the minister had now gone further and nullified all the contracts and had warned the foreign companies involved that they would be blacklisted.
"Minister Shahristani had warned companies who sign contracts without taking the advice of the oil ministry that the ministry would ... blacklist them from any future deals with Iraq," the government official said.
"The minister had told them the oil ministry in Baghdad is the only institution authorised to sign oil contracts before the approval of the oil law."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071124/wl_mideast_afp/iraqoilkurds
Moussaoui judge questions government
By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press Writer Tue Nov 20, 6:55 PM ET
McLEAN, Va. - A federal judge expressed frustration Tuesday that the government provided incorrect information about evidence in the prosecution of Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and raised the possibility of ordering a new trial in another high-profile terrorism case.
At a post-trial hearing Tuesday for Ali al-Timimi, a Muslim cleric from Virginia sentenced to life in prison in 2004 for soliciting treason, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said she can no longer trust the CIA and other government agencies on how they represent classified evidence in terror cases.
Attorneys for al-Timimi have been seeking access to documents. They also want to depose government witnesses to determine whether the government improperly failed to disclose the existence of certain evidence.
The prosecutors have asked her to dismiss the defense request. The government has denied the allegations but has done so in secret pleadings to the judge that defense lawyers are not allowed to see. Even the lead prosecutors in the al-Timimi case have not had access to the information; they have relied on the representations of other government lawyers.
After the hearing, the judge issued an order that said she would not rule on the prosecutors' motion until the government grants needed security clearances to al-Timimi's defense lawyer, Jonathan Turley, and the lead trial prosecutor so they can review the secret pleadings.
Brinkema said she no longer feels confident relying on the government briefs, particularly since prosecutors admitted last week that similar representations made in the Moussaoui case were false.
In a letter made public Nov. 13, prosecutors in the Moussaoui case admitted to Brinkema that the CIA had wrongly assured her that no videotapes or audiotapes existed of interrogations of certain high-profile terrorism detainees. In fact, two such videotapes and one audio tape existed.
Moussaoui, who had pleaded guilty to terrorism charges, was sentenced to life in prison last year. Because Moussaoui admitted his guilt, it is unlikely that the disclosures of new evidence would result in his conviction being overturned.
Turley, al-Timimi's defense lawyer, praised Brinkema for taking a skeptical view of the government's assertions in addressing al-Timimi's case.
"We believe a new trial is warranted," he said in a phone interview. "We are entirely confident that there are communications that were not turned over to the defense. These are very serious allegations."
Al-Timimi challenged his conviction in 2005 after revelations that President Bush had authorized the National Security Agency to conduct certain types of domestic surveillance without a search warrant. Turley contends that the program is illegal and that any evidence obtained from such surveillance should have been turned over to defense lawyers.
He is confident that al-Timimi, a prominent U.S. Muslim cleric who was known to keep close ties with radical Saudi clerics would have been a target of the surveillance program.
Brinkema made no rulings during the brief, 20-minute hearing in Alexandria, but her displeasure at the government was apparent. Prosecutors did not have the opportunity to speak during the hearing, except to note their appearance for the record.
Al-Timimi, a born U.S. citizen from Fairfax, was convicted after prosecutors portrayed him as the spiritual leader of a group of young Muslim men from the Washington area who played paintball games in 2000 and 2001 as a means of preparing for holy war around the globe.
After Sept. 11, they said, al-Timimi told his followers that the attacks were a harbinger of a final apocalyptic battle between Muslims and nonbelievers and exhorted them to travel to Afghanistan and join the Taliban to fight U.S. troops.
Several of his followers admitted that they traveled to Pakistan and received training from a militant Pakistani group called Lashkar-e-Taiba, but none actually joined the Taliban.
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Alexandria declined to comment Tuesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071120/ap_on_re_us/terror_paintball
NMP, Christy...
The art market is actually tanking right now, mainly because all the hedge-fund superstars no longer have oodles of cash to dump indiscriminately on horrendous modern art, and the upper middle class cashed out more equity from their houses than they're even worth anymore.
US companies with a strong international presence will do well (although watch for them to invent ways to avoid repatriating profits). I expect a fair amount of "garage sale price" buyouts of promising American companies by foreign investors/companies who are able to leverage the currency exchange to get good prices. That will eventually prop up the real estate and banking sectors as well (until we turn around and realize our office space and banks are owned by foreign companies!!). Precious metals will keep climbing and alternative energy remains a popular item & solid play...although I expect a lot of speculative hot air to temporarily deflate the oil & gas bubble once oil is repriced in euros instead of dollars (not if, but when).
Emerging markets and foreign companies that do not have a heavy American exposure will do very well. Cash investments like T-bills will continue to do very poorly as long as this administration is dead-set on devaluing the dollar (to save on suffocating national debt payments and more).
What sucks is it seems we've passed the point of no return...things don't seem all that bad right now, but by the time the next guy takes the throne in 2008, it will be too late to stop the dollar's crash and the repricing of oil and the foreign flight away from dollar-based investments. What great timing, and I'm only half sarcastic, by the current admin, to gild your parachute until the day you walk away from it all.
I'm glad I left money in overseas bank accounts. It's getting a nice interest rate too.
Justice Department Awards Ashcroft $52 Million Contract
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112507Y.shtml
John P. Martin and Jeff Whelan reported in The Star-Ledger of Newark that the Department of Justice awarded former Attorney General John Ashcroft a $52 million contract, "among the biggest payouts reported for a federal monitor," to help the US Attorney's Office in New Jersey monitor leading manufacturers of knee and hip replacements.
V
Ever thought of starting your own investment newsletter? There is alot of money in that too. I get ads from them all the time and the funny thing is - those Mann-related sites that think liberals hate America all encourage investments that rob America.
The Insatiable Consumer: Nothing Can Stop the American Shopper
Department of Justice awarded former Attorney General John Ashcroft a $52 million contract, "among the biggest payouts reported for a federal monitor," to help the US Attorney's Office in New Jersey monitor leading manufacturers of knee and hip replacements.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
WHAT ON EARTH IS A "FEDERAL MONITOR"??? I THOUGHT IT WAS THE JOB OF THE F.D.A. OR H.H.S. TO "MONITOR" HEALTH PRODUCTS...
BTW: Does Ashcroft have stock in any of the companies he is "monitoring"???
Yes it's outrageous (Ashcroft) and note just upthread a bit that the French judge threw out the case against him (Ashcroft) for torture.
What is the world coming to ..
How about a hip replacement for (the very unhip) Ashcroft?
John Ashcroft sings his own composition "This Mighty Eagle"
John Ashcroft collage
http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/funnypictures/ig/100-Funny-Pictures/Ashcroft-Porn-Pictures.htm
PS possibly not work-friendly unless you know everyone does not have superoptic vision
NMP
The Asian meltdown was in '97-'98. Indonesians crashed first, then it spread - the South Koreans got clobbered when a Kia investment in Indonesia went sour (and since megacorporations own the entire economy in South Korea, one bad megacorporation can crash the whole country). China and Taiwan, run more by small businesses, were relatively unscathed.
In any case, the "winners" of the Asian meltdown were neoliberal corporations like Toyota and Samsung (and the nouveaux-riches class), and the losers were the everyday working class.
Ally
You're right. I was in Thailand in '92 and it was 24 baht to the dollar and went back in '97 right after it crashed and got 64 baht to the dollar. Now I think it's 30 or so - Henry is headed there and the baht had improved against the dollar just since he'd last checked - by 4 baht.
In '97 I got a ring with 4 saphires for $50.
... yet still, no visible show of mass outrage from the citizens in the home of the brave.
Land of the Freaked
Land of the Freeped
People still shopping but spending less
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/business/26cnd-retail.html?hp
trading downscale (Walmart) vs upscale (Nordstrom)
people in other countries are borrowing dollars to purchase currencies with higher yields / on the rise against the dollar, figuring the dollar is sinking fast and hasn't hit bottom
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aWMXWN6PFHa4&refer=home
this must be like in Germany under Hitler when it took a wheelbarrow of marks to pay for a pair of shoes
.. yet still, no visible show of mass outrage from the citizens in the home of the brave.
=====
A nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.
Mohatma Gandhi
Probe Into Iraq Contract Fraud Centers on Camp Arifjan
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112407G.shtml
Robert H. Reid, The Associated Press, says, "The flashy Laila Tower office building in this wealthy oil capital is a world away from the mean streets of Baghdad. But the US government says they are linked by a web of fraud and bribery that stole millions of dollars provided by American taxpayers to support US combat troops in Iraq."
Amazing MSM newspaper commentary today here!
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/340904_focusimpeachment25.html
with this graphic - right in the newspaper!
NMP- Great graphic. Will be happy when it's for real.
Ron Paul Supporters Promise To Terrorize The Skies With Scary, Scary Blimp »
November 25, 2007 01:51 PM
The Ron Paul campaign is gearing up to escalate its battle to destroy the U.S. Constitution in order to save it and to otherwise bugger our imaginations with rampaging insanity by taking the fight to the skies! Pictured, at right, is the Paulites latest atrocity: an artist's concept of what would be the Ron Paul Blimp! The Dread Zeppelin! La dirigible unintelligible! It will float from town to town, and, if the description the Paul supporter behind this idea...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/11/25/ron-paul-supporters-promi_n_74007.html
How can you disagree with these votes when compared to Hillary Clinton?
MILITARY COMMISSIONS. RP NO.....HC YES
PATRIOT ACT 1.. RP NO ..........HC YES
PATRIOT ACT 2. .RP NO ..........HC YES.
IRAQ WAR.. .RP NO.........HC YES
WAR WITH IRAN. .RP NO.........HC YES.
WIRETAPPING. .RP NO.........HC YES
INCREASED AID TO ISRAEL. RP NO.....HC. YES
EMINENT DOMAIN..RP..NO.........HC.. NV
NAFTA.........RP..NO...........HC..YES
CAFTA.........RP..NO...........HC..YES
IMF...........RP..NO...........HC..YES
WORLD BANK....RP..NO...........HC..YES
WTO...........RP..NO...........HC..YES
NORTH AMERICAN UNION..RP..NO...HC..?
NATIONAL ID....RP..NO..........HC..YES
IMMIGRANT DRIVERS LICENSE..RP..NO..HC..YES
Woz
Yeah - it kind of blew my mind seeing it right there in the MSM newspaper - even more than the story itself. It has more graphic impact - pictures worth 1000 words etc.
There might be individuals for whom this is a fairly new idea, believe it or not, and the graphics might stick with them moreso than words - a new association. Even if they don't agree - the idea. Powerful.
Ron Paul starting to worry anyone yet? the independant voters, and disallusioned democratic voters, because he is sure as hell starting to worry me.
Levin Says Democrats Won't Block Iraq Troop Funding
Source: Bloomberg News
Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said Democrats won't cut funding for U.S. troops in Iraq even as attempts to set a goal for a withdrawal are blocked by Republicans.
``We're going to fund the troops,'' Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said today on the ``Fox News Sunday'' program. ``No one's trying to undercut the military.''
Two Republican supporters of the current strategy in the war, Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John McCain of Arizona, accused Democrats of ignoring military commanders and the success brought about by the addition of about 30,000 U.S. troops earlier this year.
Democrats on Nov. 16 fell seven votes short of the 60 necessary to move forward with a $50 billion funding measure that would have set goals for removing U.S. troops from Iraq. With President George W. Bush threatening to veto any legislation that would put restrictions on the U.S. presence there, Democratic leaders said they may wait until next year to act on military funding requests. Bush is seeking about $190 billion to pay for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aEF6zN0Rnkas&refer=us
Kangaroo
RON PAUL is a Libertarian therefore isolationist, socially with some tendencies to protect the individual, and fiscally conservative. He makes some good points but is not appropriate for our country. I would sooner vote for Hillary Clinton than Ron Paul, and would never vote Republican, in any case.
Ron Paul has some good points but for the wrong reasons. He is rated only 67% by the ACLU (points gotten for habeus corpus and Patriot Act positions only and opposes death penalty and would repeal most federal drug laws and would legalize hemp, medical marijuana and liberalize drug laws) - Here he believes it is up to the individual what he or she put in their bodies. He believes in no federal ID card but state ID card ok; that it is best to follow the Constitution, no signing statements.
Yet Ron Paul is rated 0% by NARAL and has voted consistently to limit a woman's right to choice. He has consistently voted against a woman's right to choose. This is where his Libertarianism breaks down and the government is allowed to control the body of the individual.
He favors small government and opposes welfare, Medicare and social security and that the federal government should have no role, only the states. He is against affirmative action and voted no on grants for black and Hispanic colleges.
He believes 'don't ask don't tell' is good policy for gays in military and wants to ban gay adoptions, as well. He opposes hate crimes legislation.
He believes creationism should have a voice in schools, and that homeschool diplomas should be given parity with regular school diplomas.
Despite his belief in small government, he believes they should fund abstinence-only sex education and supports tax credits for Christian schools. He supported vouchers for private and parochial schools. He supports a Constitutional amendment for school prayer. He is rated 76% by the Christian coalition.
He protects corporations by not letting stockholders vote on CEO perks. He says big oil profits are ok but not subsidies. He voted no on raising CAFE standards (environment). He voted no on Kyoto protocol. He voted no on prohibiting drilling in ANWR and voted no on increasing Amtrak funding.
He says US has no moral authority for US action in Darfur, says US has no moral role to eradicate slavery in Sudan, says Israel should not be pressured to give up land for peace. Does not believe in spreading our values by force (traditional nonintervention policy), so is not a neocon.
He voted yes on Cuba travel ban, voted no on money to IMF for 3rd world debt reduction, voted no on normalizing relations with China, believes foreign aid more harmful than helpful. Does not believe in WTO or UN. China trade should not be contingent on human rights.
No on NAFTA CAFTA, no on US/Aust Free Trae, no on US/SIngapore free trade, no on US/Chile free trade, yes on withdrawing from WTO.
Due to isolationism, not labor support.
He opposes DC gun ban, wants to ease purchase/registration of firearms, decrease gun waiting period - this is part of supporting the Constitution 4th amendment, according to him, though some say that was for allowing militias to form only.
He believes socialized medicine and managed care won't work, and opposes universal health coverage, he wants to abolish federal Medicare, leave it to the states.
He would let military chaplains pray all they want, eliminate FBI and Homeland security and he voted YES on continuing military recruitment on college campuses.
He believes it is federal duty to provide missile defense so Star Wars is fine, and would be one of the only things the federal government did, which is why he doesn't believe in taxes.
He wants no amnesty, but believes it's impractical to round up 12 million illegals and ship them out. He voted YES on building a fence along the Mexican border. He is rated 100% by FAIR, indicating a voting record restricting immigration.
He believes in the right to organize; but no special benefits for unions. He is against a minimum wage. He voted no on increasing it recently. He voted no on restricting employer interference in union organizing.
He encourages young people to opt out of social security and start personal retirement accounts allow investing in one's future and voted NO on strengthening the Social Security Lockbox, just like Bush.
He would immediately work to phase out the IRS, like Grover Norquist.Voted YES on retaining reduced taxes on capital gains & dividends. Voted YES on making the Bush tax cuts permanent. Voted YES on Tax cut package of $958 B over 10 years. Voted YES on eliminating the Estate Tax ("death tax"). Voted YES on eliminating the "marriage penalty".Voted YES on $46 billion in tax cuts for small business. He would overhaul income tax; end capital gains & inheritance tax.
He does not believe in Fairness Doctrine: no equal time if morally objectionable.
Hey All,
Kids are back in their dorm rooms and so I spent the evening at Busboys and Poets, becoming pissed off once again.
Andy ran a panel discussion on the resistance movement in Iraq, with Haifa Zanganga, author of City of Widows: An Iraqi Woman's Account of War and Resistance and Steve Connors and Molly Bingham, makers of the documentary Meeting Resistance. We had seen the film a few weeks ago and listened to Steve and Molly answer the questions they said always came up: Is the Surge working (answer: No). Should Iraq be partitioned to end ethnic strife? (answer: No) Is Iran behind the insurgency (answer: No), etc. etc.
Haifa also read an excerpt from her book, about how Iraq is full of widows, and how they must earn money to survive. Here is a quote from the Afterword of her book:
"What the occupiers have failed to see is that Iraqis who have committed acts of resistance are not terrorists. We are a people willing to risk our lives defending our homes, families, ways of life, history, culture, identity and resources. We do not hate Americans, though we loathe their government's greed and brutality, and are willing to defend ourselves against it. We simply believe that Iraq belongs to Iraq."
Once again I came away convinced that we must ALL help to spread the truth about the invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation, and we must combat the propaganda with actual facts.
Here's one: One in six Iraqis has been killed or displaced. Think about your family. What would you do if that statistic was true in your neighborhood?
Here is Clinton's mixed record
http://www.ontheissues.org/Hillary_Clinton.htm
The trailer for Meeting Resistance:
http://meetingresistance.com/trailer.html
NMP
Ron Paul (especially on gays in the military, abortions, etc.) is proof that the so-called libertarians (capital L or otherwise) are closet conservatives at best, and NEOLIBERALS at worst.
Neoliberals all deserve to burn in hell, if there is one.
Here is an article about why Ron Paul rings a bell in this country
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/23/AR2007112301299_2.html
mixed bag, but bringing back some traditional elements a la Goldwater that some miss, or have never known because they're young
A mainstream candidate will probably prevail in each party but hopefully the Kucinichs, Gravels, Pauls etc. will have some of the best of their ideas/ideals influence the large party platforms
It will happen - that is the value of the diversity of small parties but the sad part is the large ones always prevail
still our hope in America is always to influence the platform
Remember - we have the electoral system and our time zones go from east to west - so alot of us tend to wonder if our votes count, esp if submitted via Diebold
That said, we have to put on some pressure at times - too bad we're the little people (as opposed to corporations)
Ally
Well neoliberals believe in a dog-eat-dog world and it's cruel.
Christy
Re: paying cash for everything
Good for you.
I only use credit cards for things that REQUIRE credit cards (such as car rentals).
I've never forgiven the banking industry since they took me to the cleaners at the turn of the millennium. They were the only ones with jobs where I lived then (San Francisco) but they flouted the city's anti-discrimination laws to deny me jobs that I was perfectly qualified for. They were more than happy to pile me interest after interest, when I had extended unemployment because of THEM.
San Francisco is proof that even the best of civil rights ordinances are no more than a worthless piece of paper, if those that actually matter (i.e. banks) refuse to honor them. And of course, California is an at-will state thanks to the reactionaries down south... so you can be fired for any reason, including illegal ones.
big old article on a decade of John Howard .. very informative
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2217016,00.html
Ally
Well someone like Ron Paul certainly couldn't help you with a situation like that.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/11/25/215142/06
An article on the theoretical pairing of both Ron Paul AND Dennis Kucinich
NMP
Neoliberals are why I have a boycott on South Korea, where a hardcore neoliberal, President Roh, can be easily labeled "Communist" because he's not right-wing enough. (The only thing "commie" about him is his soft stance on North Korean nukes.)
We're talking about a country where nobody dares to mess with Samsung, because it's such an "asset" to the nation's economy. After all, if No. 9 Kia could bring the economy down in 1997, messing with No. 1 Samsung WILL destroy it.
Unfortunately, the US is looking more and more like South Korea.
NMP
Even W thinks Roh is not right-wing enough. Roh never went to W's Crawford ranch.
Fortunately for W and Samsung, and unfortunately for the masses of both the US and South Korea, Roh's likely successor will come from the Republicans' puppet party. I fully expect to see him show up at Crawford, riding in W's Ford pickup truck.
The South Korean secret free trade agreement must be shut down - are the Dems in Congress up to it?
Ally
I was around the day Roh came to Seattle - he was on his way to Guatemala, as was Putin, to try to score as an Olympic site. Article says that same day he headed here, there was a big demo in S Korea against the trade agreement
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2003768213_skored30.html President Roh Welcome to Seattle
NMP
I know that Cindy Sheehan and Medea Benjamin went to Seoul to join the protests (and also protest a new US army base) about a year ago.
But the protesters are a whole bunch of Commie sympathizers (and so are all trade unionists). At least that's what they say - both in Seoul and in Koreatowns across the US.
NMP
Thanks for sharing the editorial.
I'll also never forget that the Korean community in the Puget Sound issued an official statement supporting the gay marriage ban nationwide.
Well Ally,
I knew some Korean women who bucked that trend - came from very conservative families but that didn't stop them!!!
NMP
Good for them! We need more Margaret Chos.
Back to the Korean neoliberals, I found through Wikipedia that the big conglomerates (Samsung, Hyundai, etc.) are fighting their government's toothless human rights commission, because its rulings (which are pro-women, pro-foreign migrant worker, and pro-gay, among other things) are supposedly anti-business.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_South_Korea
Another reason why I hate neoliberalism - and why I am not buying the Korean conglomerates' products.
In fact, I don't know of any Korean corporation that offers domestic partner benefits to American employees. The Japanese corporations may have similar culture back home, but are far more LGBT friendly in the States (that even includes fellow neoliberal Toyota).
Ally
You inspired me to go to YouTube and watch Margaret Cho and I am.
RON PAUL is a Libertarian therefore isolationist, socially with some tendencies to protect the individual, and fiscally conservative. He makes some good points but is not appropriate for our country. I would sooner vote for Hillary Clinton than Ron Paul, and would never vote Republican, in any case.
Thanks nmp, for the info, but until you all elect the Democratic and Republican nominees for President, I am still nervous, after 2000 and 2004 nothing would surprise me.
Kangaroo
My husband just told me Australia's economy is booming and the new Prime Minister speaks fluent Mandarin.
Ours can't even speak fluent English, and I am nervous too. The front-runners seem anointed by the press or so many people only go on name familiarity but know little about issues or positions. & they are always close enough to each other, within the margin of error, that cheating is very possible.
Our system is rigged, I think.
Laughing here nmp. I shouldn't be laughing because it's true!! And yes, Rudd lived for several years in China. I can't remember whether he was employed by the Australian government or the Chinese government. When introduced to any dignitary from China, he welcomes the person in Mandarin. You can see the light come to their eyes and warm smile.
Perhaps he'll be able to address international concerns over human rights in China. I'm certain that the government in China will hold him in high esteem over his competence in their language. There are also the global warming problems that will arise. He's certainly the right man for the job, if a little conservative for my thinking. And not Green enough. But then I'm a little left of the left usually and Greener than your average.
My gosh - I will be glad to see the end of this year. I don't know if I can handle any more illness or death. As I mentioned a while back, my mum died on the 12th October. And now on the 26th October, my eldest sister, who lived with Mum so she wouldn't have to move, died this morning. We are shocked because we've never seen Marlene so healthy and happy.
The 6 remaining siblings are almost too shocked to take it in. But the saddest thing of all, is our 24 year old niece, Shannon. She has lost the two most important, most loved, women in her life. Her mother was gone before she was through grieving for her nanna. We all love her, but we can never fill the gigantic holes in her spirit left by her grandmother and her mother.
Come on 2008!
that's 26th November - not October - just seems like it was a lot shorter time.
Deepest sympathies, woz...
Thanks monkey. I'm in a state of utter bewilderment about all that's happened in the past 6 weeks. And now, I'll go and get some sleep.
Sen. Trent Lott to resign
NBC News: Minority whip would leave Senate before end of the year
BREAKING NEWS
NBC News has learned that Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., the minority whip is in the midst of informing close allies that he plans to resign his senate seat before the end of the year. It's possible a formal announcement of his plans could take place as early as today.
Lott's office initially denied that he he would step down, but subsequent requests for information about his plans went unanswered.
While the exactly reason Lott is stepping down before he finishes his term is unknown, the general speculation is that a quick departure immunizes Lott against tougher restrictions in a new lobbying law that takes effect at the end of the year. That law would require Senators to wait two-years before entering the lucrative world of lobbying Congress.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21973397/
Ron Paul starting to worry anyone yet? the independant voters, and disallusioned democratic voters, because he is sure as hell starting to worry me.
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It is worrying me and saddening that almost all of the attention, debate, discussion, the energy and the excitement is NOT on the Democratic side of the race but on the Republican side. Paul is energizing the Republican and bring new voters into the systems. Paul is generating new sources of money.
Hillary, with her planted questions, scripted townhall meetings and censored videos, has stifled any discussion or debate on the Democratic side (exactly what George Bush has managed to do for the entire for the past 6 years).
The latest polls show that Paul is moving up - between 6% and 8%. Some said that he had polled 10% in New Hampshire.
For about the 40th or 50th day in a row the top rated/viewed political video at You Tube is not Hillary or Obama but Paul......
Ron Paul has some good points but for the wrong reasons. He is rated only 67% by the ACLU (points gotten for habeus corpus and Patriot Act positions only and opposes death penalty and would repeal most federal drug laws and would legalize hemp, medical marijuana and liberalize drug laws) - H
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"only" 67%??? What is the rating for Hillary by the ACLU? For supporting the Patriot Act, not voting against Mukasey, etc...
Woz,
I am so sorry for your loss. What a terrible blow.