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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 !
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 prosec