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Serenity... Sharing A Story...Open Thread Version
On today's home page, Karen urges us to "Tell Me A Story" and to share what we've learned from our stories.
Yesterday, after her family sat and watched movies together, they reminisced about books that made a difference in their lives--stories that caused them to learn, grow, or react to tough times differently. Those themes have provided richness in their lives that has helped them transcend adversity.
Whereas, Karen spoke to you of the novels from which they've been able to learn, I want to share with you a wonderful tv series (Firefly) and movie (Serenity) that has spoken to my family in the way that King Arthur spoke to Karen's family or the way that Star Wars spoke to a whole generation and showed us the ultimate battle between good and evil.
The name is very easily misunderstood. Firefly... and Serenity.... But the stories they tell are interesting, meaningful, and quirky-- even as they fight the wars of good over evil too. The battle is between the powerful (but evil) establishment and those who fought against it, but lost.
The following excerpt was cut from the pilot episode but it gives an overview of the background story.
The victorious alliance was spreading its control further and further though out the galaxy...
Those who fought for independence and had so bloodily lost had no choice but to live by alliance law.
Some never would. Those few found themselves drifting, flying to the furthest reaches of the galaxy...where the alliance might not control their lives...
And the clip below is the theme song. Give it a listen...
Karen pointed out in her thread how King Arthur may have lost the battle, but won the moral war. In Serenity (Firefly), they lost the battle, as you can see, but as you watch the series, you can discover if they have won the moral war.
Now that you've seen a little background info for Serenity and Firefly, I will try to explain in more detail what it is that is meaningful about this movie to my family, especially to my daughter and my husband who are not 'into politics' but yet they can understand the message that's contained in this movie.
The series has war, torture, prostitution, spying, and oh so much more in the plot. But the loyalty, humor, friendship within the characterization are just as important as the series of actions that form the plot. The name of the ship, "Serenity" is of course an oxymoron, but that only adds to the movie's color. And the movie has lots of color!
Within Firefly and Serenity, the unexpected often occurs. Good may not be as good as we've been taught and bad may not always be as bad either. There are many twists and turns that make you question the traditional interpretation of what makes people or governments good or evil. And with each story, in Firefly, the lessons learned becomes a story upon itself, worthy of watching and retelling.
I have to admit, it's difficult to describe the nature of Firefly/Serenity without giving away it's secrets and plots. But I will comfortably say that each show is a quest (for something) and that the interactions of the characters, the humor, the passion, the nuttyness, all combine to give great entertainment but also to force you to question your beliefs of what makes good good or evil evil.
And thus, Karen's message to us on the Home Page was to learn from our stories and to share that knowledge with others, I encourage you and your family to give Firefly and Serenity a watch and see what stories and lessons you might glean from the film media as well.
Afternoon, peeps...
Tres cool thread. Who couldn't use a little Firefly and Serenity?
Makes me share this thought re: gleaning depth via art form. I have found myself lately connecting with lyrics to music of all kinds on almost a spiritual level, even songs I've been listening to for years.
Almost like a major layer of the onion got peeled away, even though I thought I had reached the middle of said onion.
Can a royal flush beat a paradigm?
Eye think knot.
Afternoon, monkey!
I too am spending more time listening to the words in songs and discovering more meaning within their lyrics. Sometimes, I get frustrated with myself for not having noticed the deeper meaning earlier because so often I get lost in the rhythm, the beat, or the harmonies.
Like you are doing with the music, monkey, I feel like I catch little pieces of deeper meaning in this movie but also in real life too.
I have been thinking of the people who were around age 8 or up when 9-11 happened and later the war. Those two events have altered their reality. And because they were not already attuned to Vietnam, Watergate, JFK, Nixon, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the cold war, all that is within their personal knowledge is the video of the plane flying into the towers and the Pentagon and a long war as a result. Many of this generation will have friends who will die in Iraq or be sent home with extreme mental or physical disabilities.
It's how their view is seen through a different set of lenses.
It's sort of weird, the messages and the hardships that this generation sees and will face as a result of two stolen elections, terror attacks, and a criminal administration and lazy, corrupt government.
CIA Holocaust Claims Twenty Million Victims
Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy
March 9, 2008The world's number one terrorist organization, the CIA has committed heinous acts of terrorism abroad, murdering critics of US foreign and domestic policies and has done it on behalf of an increasing tiny, privileged American elite. This elite is a tiny one percent which owns more than the combined wealth of the remaining 95% [See: the L-Curve]. On behalf of this tiny, privileged base, the CIA has placed itself above law and supervision. The CIA's war on the world has claimed an estimated 12 million to 20 million victims, far more than the best estimates attributed to Adolph Hitler's 'Holocaust' of World War II.
A war of plunder waged by the CIA on much of the world has been called the Third World War because many of its victims are chauvinistically, imperialistically, termed "third world". Given the magnitude of these CIA atrocities, we may, indeed, consider this panoply of terrorist acts a world war waged by privilege upon those who are less privileged, a war waged by the rich on the poor, a war of aggression by those who have against those who are without.
The official history of the CIA is dull reading. But one would not expect an official document of the US government to reveal the early connections between the CIA and Yale's notorious Skull and Bones society; one would not expect the US government to reveal the nature of CIA backed coups in Chile to its role in the notorious Bay of Pigs debacle. One would not expect an official document to detail the role played by the CIA in the Iran/Contra affair. One would not expect a sanitized government version of the CIA to reveal how the CIA creates and support death squads that have resulted in a holocaust not seen since the Third Reich. >>>cont
http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m41851&hd=&size=1&l=e
CIA Mission: Prop Up Right Wing Extremists and Elites; Suppress Everyone Else
Insider Trading 911 Krongard, Shattuck (#40)
Secrets of the CIA, Parts 1 - 7
The Secret Government
According to Think Progress, Tucker Carlson just got CANCELED!
HAHAHA!
Hiya Rossi, go check out my art blog.
I Rock.
I haven;t been able to sit through a kids movie since the Princess Bride.
I will however, volunteer to watch 300 again. And again. Them too, they lost the battle, but won the war.
BTW, you can watch the entire Firefly series for free here
http://www.fancast.com/tv/Firefly/11202/watch-it/on-fancast
MORE ON THE MARINE PUPPY THROW VIDEO:
"If this is something legitimate, it's one of the most egregious acts of animal cruelty I have ever seen, if not the most," said Dr. Matt Mickas, chief of Community Practice Services at WSU's veterinary college.
He said it did not appear fake to him, because of the way the animal went slack by being held from the neck......
"To me, the sound on the YouTube clip sounded like a puppy in distress — the same sound we hear when the puppies come into the hospital," Mickas said.
Link to the above news article:
http://heraldnet.com/article/20080303...
There is a site that is an open forum about the validity of the video ..if you wish to discuss it further with others who are concerned about it.Here is the link..
www.puppythrow.weebly.com
SURPRISE!!!
DOUG FEITH, IN HIS NEW BOOK, BLAMES POWELL OF IRAQ DISASTER:
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A former Pentagon official who played a key role in planning the US-led war in Iraq has written a new book accusing former top diplomat Colin Powell, the CIA and other colleagues of botching the invasion and occupation of Iraq, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.
ADVERTISEMENT
Douglas Feith, who served as under secretary of defense for policy until 2005, alleges that Powell as secretary of state "downplayed" the degree and urgency of Iraq's threat but was never willing to openly oppose the invasion, the Post wrote.
Feith castigates Powell for failing to secure support from France and Germany for the war and to win Turkey's approval for US military movements on its territory, saying it amounted to a lack of effort and commitment, according to a copy of the manuscript obtained by the newspaper.
Feith is a total a*****e.
We just got back from seeing/hearing Chick Corea and Gary Burton, so music is soothing our souls too.
The NeverEnding Story: Age Editorial
What we owe to those we send to fight our wars
March 10, 2008
http://www.theage.com.au/news/editorial/what-we-owe-to-those-we-send-to-fight-our-wars/2008/03/09/1204998279234.html
Chick Corea and Gary Burton?!!
WOW
Karen said:
Feith is a total a*****e.
@@@@@@@
Are the Bushies low-down dirty, dogs or what? Here is Feith pointing the finger of blame at the only sane person in the administration WHO ADVISED THEM AGAINST THE WAR/INVASION...
About Feith, I think there is quote from a general or a CIA person who said that Feith was the stupidest man that he had ever encountered in Washington DC.
HOUSE CHAIRMAN BUTTS HEADS WITH ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:
299,585 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Have Gone to the VA for Medical Treatment:
At a federal court hearing of a class action lawsuit brought by Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who allege inferior treatment from the VA, a high ranking VA official revealed 299,585 veterans of the "war on terror" had gone to the VA for medical treatment as of September 30, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/36pv7f
Hiya Rossi, go check out my art blog.
Hey girlfriend gotta download Yahoo chat, sorry I have not had a chance, got Mum in hospital till I don't know when, she cracked a bone in her pelvis when she had a fall, so everything is crazy here, trying to get to hospital every day, students coming in and students leaving this house is chaos at the moment, will get to your art blog when I get home from hospital today, I hope.
Catch you soon.
Darn it all, it is pissing me off no end, when they keep saying Hillary won Texas when she didn't.Maybe they think that if they keep saying it enough it might become a reality, like her losing the nomination, but if they say she is winning it long enough it will become another reality. WANKERS.
Woman earns Silver Star in Afghan war
By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer
Sun Mar 9, 1:11 PM ET
CAMP SALERNO, Afghanistan - A 19-year-old medic from Texas will become the first woman in Afghanistan and only the second female soldier since World War II to receive the Silver Star, the nation's third-highest medal for valor.
Army Spc. Monica Lin Brown saved the lives of fellow soldiers after a roadside bomb tore through a convoy of Humvees in the eastern Paktia province in April 2007, the military said.
After the explosion, which wounded five soldiers in her unit, Brown ran through insurgent gunfire and used her body to shield wounded comrades as mortars fell less than 100 yards away, the military said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080309/ap_on_re_as/afghan_silver_star
Obama Endorsed by Rolling Stone
http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com
See display of political candidate magazine covers
Wexler has made another video and the impeach petition has bumped up with more signatures -
232,218 signers
And counting ... the war in Iraq will end up costing the US more than $US3 trillion, according to a Nobel prize-winning economist who has attempted to tally the enormous cost of the conflict.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23355914-2,00.html
Wake-up call ... the little girl used in the ad that kept alive Hillary Clinton's White House dream has turned out to be a supporter of Barack Obama and is planning to make a revenge ad with her idol.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23356686-5012572,00.html
Hi all...
I'm around but swamped. (Got a last minute assignment so until I get that under control, I will not be posting as much.)
Dana Perino “Under Strict Instructions…To Not Talk About The Dollar”
Friday’s White House Press Briefing included two economic advisers to discuss the volatile economic situation here in the US, though they were careful to not paint to dire a picture. Obviously, with crude oil trading at record levels and OPEC releasing a statement blaming the price on the weakness of the American dollar, the media might be expected to ask a question or two. However, White House Spokesperson Dana Perino was not having any of it.
Q I’d like to follow up on their refusal to talk about the dollar, if I could. I mean, we’re in a kind of a bad situation here, when OPEC says the reason for $105 or $106 a barrel of oil is the falling value of the dollar — and you won’t address that issue. Where do we go to find out who is right?
MS. PERINO: Well, as he just said, the Treasury Secretary is where you go to talk about the dollar. It’s a longstanding policy that predates this administration, and I’m not going to change it today. But Treasury can talk about it.
Q I don’t expect you to change it, but I do expect you to be able to say whether OPEC is completely wrong about this, or whether there is at least something to their claim that the dollar is responsible for the high price of oil right now.
MS. PERINO: Wendell, I’m under strict instructions, and have been from the beginning, to not talk about the dollar, and I’m not going to get fired to satisfy your question.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/03/11/dana-perino-under-strict-instructionsto-not-talk-about-the-dollar/
Hillary Clinton is signaling to her supporters that "anything goes" by not forcefully repudiating racially tinged comments from a prominent surrogate, Democratic rival Barack Obama's campaign strategist charged Tuesday.
The Obama campaign arranged a conference call to repudiate comments from Geraldine Ferrarro, who told a California newspaper, "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position." Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson, who just last week forcefully called for Obama to fire an adviser who called Clinton a "monster," said only that the campaign "disagree[d]" with Ferraro, who had not apologized for the remark as of Tuesday afternoon.
"When you wink and nod, you're sending a signal to your supporters that anything goes," Obama chief strategist David Axelrod said, referring to the Clinton campaign's tepid response. Noting that Ferraro was a member of Clinton's campaign finance committee and had raised money for her presidential campaign, Axelrod said she "ought to be removed from those positions."
Axelrod said Ferrarro's comments were part of a "pattern" of negative attacks aimed at Obama. He pointed to Clinton's former New Hampshire co-chairman Bill Shaheen, who questioned whether Obama ever sold drugs; supporter Rober Johnsen, the founder of Black Entertainment Television, who raised the specter of Obama's past drug use; and Clinton's own "unwillingness" to "definitively" shoot down rumors that Obama was Muslim in an interview this month.
Drawing a distinction with how Obama's campaign handled the dust-up after foreign policy adviser Samantha Power slipped up with her "monster" comment (she resigned the next day), Axelrod said Clinton is all-but encouraging these negative attacks, which he called part of an "insidious pattern."
The Clinton campaign established near-radio silence Tuesday as the controversy over Ferraro's comments intensified. For the first time in more than a week, the Clinton campaign did not schedule a daily press call, and the campaign had released nothing addressing Ferraro's comments. As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, team Clinton apparently had only officially spoken four words on the matter:
"We disagree with her," spokesman Howard Wolfson told Politico's Ben Smith.
The press office did not respond to RAW STORY's or the Hotline's requests for further comment.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Obama_camp_accuses_Clinton_of_signaling_0311.html
Hi all,
Haven't seen or maybe I've missed any comment on the Elliot Spitzer situation.
What the heck????
He's supposed to be one of the good guys. I really admired him as NY's attorney general. He really did some great work at keeping people/companies accountable.
I am so disappointed. Was it the sex? Was it the thrill? What the hell?
Prominent NY lawyer questions whether the Spitzer
scandal was politically motivated:
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Lawyer_questions_whether_Spitzer_was_set_0311.html
I have to admit, I had the same thought.
However, that does not make up for the fact that he was paying a prostitute for whatever it was he was paying her for.
He and David Vitter should talk.
I am sick of all of them, republican and democrat.
Why is morality just too damn much to expect of our public officials?
And why the hell is it every time they get caught, their WIVES stand there beside them clutching to them? How freaking SICK is that?
Atleast she wasn't wearing a leopard print low cut dress. E. Ghad.
If that was my husband I would kneecap his ass right in front of God and everybody.
Good guy? He is no better than our own diapered whoremonger legislating and preaching against the very things he does himself when he thinks no one is looking.
He lost all right to claim it was 'politically motivated' when he got caught doing 'unsafe things' to a hooker.
He deserves whatever he gets.
Christy,
I think the wives should form a (NWWSBTMFOS Club) "No, We Won't Stand Behind That M.F. on Stage Club."
Knee-capping them is too good!
I feel sorry for those women! And people who go into politics and create laws, or people who claim to be anti-corruption, had better start LIVING BY THE SAME LAWS!!!
I'm sick of it.
Carol,
I can not really accept the argument that it was politically motivated. I'm curious if laws were broken in order to 'catch him' ie illegal spying and wiretapping but other than that, I think the guy got caught breaking the law. And he got caught doing something pretty bad and immoral to his wife.
If I were his wife, it would be worth the jail time to Bobbitize him. (Especially after making her stand on stage with his cheating, law breaking...)
Re: Spitzer
The difference is crystal clear.
The Republicans are on impeachment probe immediately, re: Spitzer.
The Democrats are spineless and wavering, re: W's destruction of the Constitution.
Are the Democrats even worth supporting anymore, given their inability to get things done?
Getting past the Spitzer thing...
Fallon has resigned. This is quite important and will likely get missed by the media.
Remember when KO did a show on the TIMING of the terror alerts? What about the timing of
McGreevey and Spitzer?
It's pretty apparent now that they have been tapping every Dem they can make a story out of.
This week should be all about Obama as the presumptive nominee. But won't be.
In August2004, it should have been all about Kerry v Bush, but it wasn't. McGreevey was THE story for over a week.
THIS is our reality. Those who DO have weaknesses and proclivities that can be exploited will be used to undermine the overall PARTY and its nominee.
The GOPs allies didn't buy control of most broadcast media in the 80s and 90s for nothing.
After Cunningham and Foley and Craig, they are absolutely going to pull every trick at their disposal to tear down the Dem party before Nov.
~~~
Good comments too
sparrow Author Profile Page said:
Getting past the Spitzer thing...
Fallon has resigned. This is quite important and will likely get missed by the media.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
NPR burned up at least 15 minutes on Eliot Spitzer today on All Things Considered. We have become a country of voyeurs!!!
REPUBLICAN HATE SPEECH (this didn't make NPR today)
Rate:
891 ratings
Views: 121,333
Comments: 3,547 Favorited: 140 times Honors: 3 Links: 5
MORE ON SALLY KERN:
Friend--
I’m writing to you with some absolutely incredible news.
Last Thursday, we sent you a video featuring Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern’s anti-gay tirade. In less than one week, over 500,000 people have watched it on YouTube and thousands more have left comments all over the blogosphere asking that the speaker be identified. We didn’t mention her name before because we didn’t want to give her more grist for the mill. But now everyone, from CNN to Perez Hilton, is listening--and many of them are asking how they can fight back.
It’s time Sally Kern -- and every public official who applauds her hate speech -- hears from us. Tell her that you’ve heard enough. We’ve written an open letter to Sally Kern, and we need everyone who’s listening and who cares to add their signature.
You know what’s even more unbelievable than the overwhelming online response we’re witnessing? The fact that her words inspired a standing ovation from her colleagues in a Republican caucus meeting yesterday.
The spotlight is on -- this is our moment. Sign our letter, and make sure everyone you know who feels passionately about equality signs it too. We need to make sure Sally -- and anyone in office who shares her dangerous viewpoint -- knows what we have to say.
Thank you for keeping up the fight during this important moment.
LTE from Friend of a Friend re. Spitzer
Subject: Eliot Spitzer
Dear Editor,
I am so relieved to learn that Eliot Spitzer, governor of New York and once the scourge of unconscionable Wall Street swindlers, has been nailed in a sex scandal. God forbid that this nation should ever pillory and prosecute politicians responsible for unnecessary and murderous wars, widening domestic social disparities, ongoing environmental degradation, and a precarious economy. This is truly a great country.
Yours truly,
Joe Martin
http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com
Sally Kern obviously is very interested in the gay lifestyle. She is, should we say, obsessed with it. Where there's smoke, there's fire.
Adm. Fallon resigning making war with Iran more likely
RED FLAGS!!!!!
Source: Yahoo News
By ROB HARRIS, Associated Press Writer
Tue Mar 11, 2:45 PM ET
MANCHESTER, England - A city police chief who led an investigation into charges that Britain cooperated with secret CIA flights to transport terrorism suspects without formal proceedings has been found dead, his deputy said Tuesday.
Manchester Chief Constable Michael Todd, 50, was found dead in Snowdonia, about 240 miles northwest of London, Deputy Chief Constable Dave Whatton said. He had been missing since going out for a walk Monday during his day off.
Whatton said the body, which was found Tuesday afternoon, had not yet been formally identified but he believed it was Todd.
He said a coroner's inquest would investigate the cause of death and did not give any further details.
Read more:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080311/ap_on_re_eu/britain_police_death
Great, the only party in the USA that matters at all (hint: NOT the Democrats), wants me exterminated.
NMP
Sally Kern may be another Mann Coulter. You never know. There are too many of those reactionary trans "women" around.
If that was my husband I would kneecap his ass right in front of God and everybody.
I think the wives should form a (NWWSBTMFOS Club) "No, We Won't Stand Behind That M.F. on Stage Club."
Knee-capping them is too good!
Hell yes, I'd cut the bloody thing of and pickle it.
March 12, 2008
Arkansas Woman, Left in Cell, Goes 4 Days With No Food or Water
By ADAM NOSSITER
A woman was locked for four days in a tiny holding cell in a northern Arkansas courthouse, forgotten by the authorities and left without food or water, the local Sheriff’s Department said Tuesday.
The woman, Adriana Torres-Flores, 38, a longtime illegal immigrant from Mexico, slept on the floor with only a shoe for a pillow, and with nothing to drink except her own urine, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. There was no bathroom in the cell.
A bailiff had apparently forgotten that he placed Ms. Torres-Flores, a mother of three, in the cell last Thursday, and simply left her in the empty courthouse, in Fayetteville, over the weekend, said the chief deputy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Department, Jay Cantrell. A snowstorm meant that there were far fewer people than usual working at the courthouse on Friday.
“He just flat forgot about her,” Mr. Cantrell said, adding that the bailiff, Jarrod Hankins, had been placed on administrative leave, having been on the job a few months. “It was just a horrible mistake,” Mr. Cantrell said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/us/12jail.html
Geraldine Ferraro is a has been who has literally nothing to offer. Her recent Op-Ed in the Times, defending the right of the Super delegates to steer the election to Hillary, was one of most arrogant and offensive pieces of political spin I have come across in this election cycle.
Hillary is only still a factor in this race because of the support of women. If she were a man, and not the spouse of a womanizing ex-President, her campaign would be regarded with the same degree of indifference as was Joe Lieberman's in 2004.
On Spitzer, his behavior strikes me as deliberately self-destructive, as if inviting his own downfall.
Also on Spitzer, I am more than a little suspicious of the Federal Government's interest in this case. Given what we now suspect went on in Alabama, I wonder if this wasn't a GOP hit job.
Spitzer has been using hookers for atleast 6 YEARS. He has been living as a hypocrit for all that time.
If it was a political hit job, he not only supplied them the gun but he loaded it for them himself. More like political suicide.
Whatever happens Spitzer is no Seigelman. That governor was actually INNOCENT.
I didn't realize that he had been frequenting hookers for that long.
Ironically, my initial reaction to this story, while watching footage of the press conference, was: why would any man married to a woman as lovely (and smart!) as Silda Wall Spitzer have an interest in hookers? What is that about?
I don't buy completely into Jung's worldview, but I do think that the more we over-emphasize "the light", the more enticing "the darkness" appears. And sexuality is one of those areas where this enticing darkness often emerges. That's why, in age, I so much prefer the middle way to the pursuit of either extreme.
Speaking of hookers and Johns (no pun intended), with the mini-series based on David McCullough's wonderful "John Adams" about to be aired on HBO, let me also recommended its companion volume, "1776".
In "1776", McCullough dispassionately documents how utterly American the oldest profession is - and how, where the Colonial army went, their camp followers, including prostitutes, were sure to follow.
Honestly, the level of absurdity that has been reached in our political system, accompanied by the grotesque hilarity of the mainstream medias ability to present it, coupled with the nations overall inability to group-think, leaves me chuckling to myself most of the time, and not in a good way, but more in a "Cuckoo's Nest" kinda way.
My favorite part of the Spitzer story to date is that he checked out of the Mayflower Hotel at 12:02 on February 14th... Valentine's Day!
Let's don our amateur psychobabble hats for a moment, shall we?
He was 2 minutes into Valentines Day when the guilt made him leave! bwahaha....
Question now is, where did he stay that night from 12:02 until he appeared on television the next morning.
Wonder what he got Mrs. Spitzer for Valentines Day (or if she knows she's even gotten it yet!)
Yeah, I'm nuts, but so's this country.
Happy Hump Day
"..but I do think that the more we over-emphasize "the light", the more enticing "the darkness" appears. And sexuality is one of those areas where this enticing darkness often emerges."
I think that is exactly it.
To me, the worst part of this story is not even Mrs. Spitzer, it is all the hookers and johns he put away. I mean really, how DARE he...? They sit in jail for the very same sin he is guilty of.
Sorry Matthew, but I can't watch the thing about battlefield prostitutes. I used to know a Vietnam Vet who openly and laughingly joked about how he was buying little girls in Vietnam.
And his ass is now in jail for child molestation.
Oh how he used to brag about what $5 American could get on a battlefield in Nam. How mothers would sell their daughters to him.
It was because of him, I realized what MONSTERS we must appear to be to them.
And how many of those monsters live in our own homes? How many of those monsters would let those girls be stoned to death while they just smile and keep right on being monsters?
KARL ROVE IS BUSY CASHING IN ON HIS WHITE HOUSE YEARS BY BEING ON THE SPEAKING CIRCUIT AND CHARGING LOST OF MONEY. AT THE SPEAKING APPEARANCE IN THIS VIDEO, ROVE RECEIVED $40,000.
THE AUDIENCE HAS MANY ANTI-WAR ACTIVISTS IN IT AND IT IS VERY ROWDY AND TENSE; ROVE IS NEARLY HECKLED OFF THE STAGE.
OMFG!
The Brit they found dead, the one heading the rendition investigation.
He went for a 'walk'... and'fell'....'off a cliff'. According to Raw Story.
He fell? Off a cliff?
Ummm. Excuse me, but my b*llshit meter just maxed out.
Spitzer resigning.
I just sent this to one of the best HUD managers in the country. My Mommy.
What a bunch of dirty b*stards.
HUD E-Mails Refer to Retaliation
High-Level Officials Wrote of Punishing Philadelphia Housing Director
By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 12, 2008; A03
After Philadelphia's housing director refused a demand by President Bush's housing secretary to transfer a piece of city property to a business friend, two top political appointees at the department exchanged e-mails discussing the pain they could cause the Philadelphia director.
"Would you like me to make his life less happy? If so, how?" Orlando J. Cabrera, then-assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, wrote about Philadelphia housing director Carl R. Greene.
"Take away all of his Federal dollars?" responded Kim Kendrick, an assistant secretary who oversaw accessible housing. She typed symbols for a smiley-face, ":-D," at the end of her January 2007 note.
Cabrera wrote back a few minutes later: "Let me look into that possibility."
The e-mails, obtained by The Washington Post, came to light as a result of a lawsuit provoked by HUD's decision last September to strip the Philadelphia Housing Authority of as much as $50 million in federal funds. In December, it declared the agency in violation of rules that underpin its ability to decide precisely how it will spend federal housing funds. Kendrick was the official who formally notified the authority that she had found it in violation.
HUD has argued publicly that this decision was not related to the demands by HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson that Greene turn over a $2 million vacant city lot to Kenny Gamble, a friend of Jackson's. HUD officials have said that Greene was not punished for his defiance.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR2008031102800_pf.html
This really makes me wonder wtf happened in New Orleans. They STOLE public housing completely untouched by Katrina and bulldozed those people right into the streets.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - A woman being held as an illegal immigrant spent four days forgotten in an isolated holding cell at a courthouse with no food, water, or toilet, authorities and the woman said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080311/ap_on_re_us/forgotten_in_courthouse
SNIP...
The sheriff said Hankins, a bailiff for two months, simply forgot about Torres-Flores.
"He's a broken man right now," Helder said.
Hankins was placed on administrative leave with pay Monday pending an investigation. His mother said Monday he was too devastated to comment.
HE is 'broken'. HE is 'too devastated'.
WOW. Let's all just pray for HIM then. Poor HIM.
OMG! I can't take anymore today. I am going to paint something before I throw up.
OK one more.
Three people upset that a news crew was reporting on the arrest of a relative attacked the television reporter and yelled racial slurs at her and a photographer, authorities said Tuesday.
The family members, all white, began yelling and charged at black WSPA-TV reporter Charmayne Brown while she was standing in the street near the family's home in Union, said news director Alex Bongiorno.
Brown was punched in the head, and black cameraman Ti Barnes was also struck as he tried to pull family members off Brown, Bongiorno said. A video of the attack shows Brown, who wasn't seriously injured, defending herself.
"I think she's more affected by the verbal abuse than the physical abuse. She's really shaken up," Bongiorno said.
The fight was taped by a white crew from a second television station. They were not attacked.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/12/charmayne-brown-black-re_n_91133.html
They have it on video.
Christy
Mine is just about to max out too.
And as for the black crew being assaulted and white crew NOT being assaulted, I am pretty sure that Cubans, Koreans, and other "chosen" Republican minorities would get the white treatment had they been there.
I'm putting my CodePink membership on the line, by supporting a war against South Korea. Sending the likes of Reverend Moon and John Yoo to f*ck American society up (not to mention negotiating a free trade agreement without the knowledge of the American people) is nothing less than an act of WAR.
And mind you, Reverend Moon is NOT acting as a private citizen, and certainly NOT acting for himself.
He has been taking orders from his home government, which has a vested interest in killing off American anti-war protesters, to avoid the fate of South Vietnam.
Pentagon Report on Saddam's Iraq Censored?
Source: ABC News
ABC News' Jonathan Karl Reports: The Bush Administration apparently does not want a U.S. military study that found no direct connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda to get any attention. This morning, the Pentagon cancelled plans to send out a press release announcing the report's release and will no longer make the report available online.
The report was to be posted on the Joint Forces Command website this afternoon, followed by a background briefing with the authors. No more. The report will be made available only to those who ask for it, and it will be sent via U.S. mail from Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Virginia.
It won't be emailed to reporters and it won't be posted online. Read the report's executive summary HERE. .
Asked why the report would not be posted online and could not be emailed, the spokesman for Joint Forces Command said: "We're making the report available to anyone who wishes to have it, and we'll send it out via CD in the mail."
http://blogs.abcnews.com/rapidreport/2008/03/pentagon-report.html
http://abcnews.go.com/images/Politics/Saddam%20and%20Terrorism%20Redaction%20EXSUM%20Extract.pdf
SALLY KERN (OK) IS CALLING OUT THE ATTACK DOGS
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is sorting through nearly 7,000 e-mails that were sent to a state lawmaker after she said homosexuality is a bigger threat to the United States than terrorism.
Comments by Rep. Sally Kern, recorded several weeks ago but placed on the Internet site YouTube only late last week, have caused a national outcry, resulting in more than 500,000 hits on the Web site.
A fellow lawmaker contacted the OSBI on Monday and suggested that agents go through the e-mails, some of which might be threatening, OSBI spokeswoman Jessica Brown said.
Kern said Monday that she had not received death threats. On Tuesday, she said, "It's changed," but she did not elaborate.
Brown said Tuesday, "There are a lot of e-mails to the representative that say, 'You ought to die,' rather than, 'I am going to kill you.'
"I wouldn't characterize them as death threats," she said.
BAGHDAD — U.S. authorities in Baghdad have received five severed fingers belonging to four Americans and an Austrian who were taken hostage more than a year ago in Iraq, officials here said today.
The FBI is investigating the grisly development, and the families of the five kidnapped contractors have been notified, American officials said on condition of anonymity because only Washington officials are permitted to publicly discuss the matter.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/30129.html
HERE IS THE ORIGINAL ANTI-SALLY KERN VIDEO DONE BY THE VICTORY FUND; (BTW there are over 700,000 signed up at the Victory Fund website condemning Kern's speech.)
Bush to Sidestep Congress on Iraq Pact
Truthout's Maya Schenwar reports, "As the Bush administration heads into months of negotiations with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on the future of US troops in Iraq, it aims to stretch the bounds of executive power to unprecedented lengths."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031208A.shtml
The wages of sin are getting better all the time.
"Kristen" has made the NY Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/nyregion/12cnd-kristen.html
Obermann on Ferraro - Hillary
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23601329#23601329
Ready on
Hillary Clinton And Laura Bush: Ready On Day One
Fewer Know Number of US Deaths in Iraq
SHAMEFUL
WASHINGTON — Fewer people know how many U.S. troops have died in the war in Iraq, even as public attention to the conflict has gradually diminished, a poll showed Wednesday.
Only 28 percent correctly said that about 4,000 Americans have died in the war, according to a survey by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.
That's down from last August, when 54 percent gave the accurate casualty figure, which was about 3,500 dead at the time. In previous Pew surveys dating to 2004, about half have correctly given the rough figure for the approximate number of deaths at the time.
In the new poll, around a third said about 3,000 U.S. troops have died while about one in 10 said 2,000 deaths. Fewer overestimated the number of casualties: about a quarter put the figure close to 5,000. >>>cont
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/12/fewer-know-number-of-us-d_n_91211.html
"All the Money You Make Will Never Buy Back Your Soul"
By Ron Jacobs
Recently, the Boston Globe reported that the Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) had set up an offshore company to hire close to half of the men and women working for KBR in Iraq as contractors. According to the report, this enables KBR to avoid paying social security, unemployment insurance and other taxes.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19518.htm
Another war. Another time. An army and civilians abandoned and forgotten.
The Secret Army of the CIA
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C8E9CF33-39DA-4A9A-A199-93BA8A17FE04.htm
Well, well well...
Did yall know that old bigot Sally Kern has a GAY SON whom she has disowned?
"I find it hilarious that Salacious Sally is such a bigot. Her son Jesse was the biggest queen on the campus of OBU in the mid-90’s. Twice he almost was expelled for making inappropriate advances in the library toilets. When he wasn’t cruising the toilets he was in the glee club and a piano major"
http://www.queerty.com/sally-kern-scrubs-gay-son-20080312/
Oh, that is deep.
Hey, I was in the Glee Club in college. Let's not be casting aspersions on Glee Clubs. Most of the guys I remember were straight - but I also remember a number of closeted gay men (this was the mid-70s).
In fact, if I had to do it all over again, I would have passed up football in high school, and become involved with the theatre program. If you want to meet women, you have a much better shot while doing musicals than in a men's locker room...
Banks to Seize Carlyle Capital Assets
NEW YORK — The likely liquidation of Carlyle Capital Corp.'s remaining assets sent the fund's shares plummeting more than 90 percent Thursday and rattled stock markets around the globe. It was also a high-profile setback for private equity fund Carlyle Group.
Carlyle Capital said late Wednesday that it expected creditors to seize all of the fund's remaining assets _ investment-grade mortgage-backed securities _ after unsuccessful negotiations to prevent its liquidation.
Its shares, which went public at $19 a share in July and traded at $12 just last week, tumbled 93.6 percent to 18 cents on the Euronext exchange.
"Although it has been working diligently with its lenders, the company has not been able to reach a mutually beneficial agreement to stabilize its financing," Carlyle Capital said in a statement.
Carlyle Capital said it has defaulted on about $16.6 billion of its debt as of Wednesday, and the rest is expected to go into default soon. About $5.7 billion of the defaulted debt has been sold, the Carlyle Group said Thursday. Spokeswoman Emma Thorpe said she couldn't say what has been done with the rest.
The Amsterdam-listed fund shook financial markets last week after missing margin calls from banks on its $21.7 billion portfolio of residential-mortgage-backed bonds.
Carlyle's troubles have amplified fears that billions of dollars of depressed mortgage-backed securities will flood the market, reducing their value even further. The Dow Jones industrial sank more than 200 points, following indexes in Asia and Europe lower.
The sell-off would mark a huge defeat for the Washington, D.C.-based Carlyle Group, one of the largest private equity firms in the world. Carlyle Capital, registered in Britain but managed by New York-based executives, was the first of its 55 funds to go public.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/13/banks-to-seize-carlyle-ca_n_91301.html
President Bush let his inner adventurer out while discussing the state of the war in Afghanistan with military and civilian personnel. While those in Afghanistan detailed the logistical and diplomatic problems via teleconference, the President took a much more whimsical approach to their mission. Via Reuters:
"I must say, I'm a little envious," Bush said. "If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed."
"It must be exciting for you ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks," Bush said.
Meanwhile, over 40 Taliban insurgents were killed in a battle in Southern Afghanistan, and six Afghani civilians were killed in a suicide bombing aimed at an American convoy.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/13/bush-envious-of-soldier_n_91455.html
The man.
Is insane.
God help Us.
The man.
Is insane.
God help Us.
He's a friking Pycho, to bad he did'nt think it would be adventurous, and romantic confronting danger, when he was AWOL during the Vietnam War, Maybe if we ask him nicely he will make up his time on the front line in Iraq, do you think?
He's a friking Pycho,
ooops Psycho
Great comment on the Spitzer debacle, from someone in Florida, via Kristof's blog:
“So the governor of New York is just another big-spending liberal. Imagine, $4,300 for one night with a lady. Any self-respecting fiscal conservative would find a willing partner in an airport men’s room and save a few bucks.”
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/your-comments-on-my-spitzer-column/#comment-34617
Bush sings Green Green Grass of Home
Kayakbiker at http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com
Excruciating, & Bush doesn't know the history.
Way too ironic.
Dollar hits new low vs. euro today...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23629106/
Gas prices sustain record run
Motorist group survey shows average fuel prices at another all-time high
http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/14/news/economy/gas_prices/index.htm?cnn=yes
Oil prices retreat from record $111
As the dollar tanks, investors seek safety in commodities, bringing down the price of crude from its record last session.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/14/markets/Oil_prices.ap/index.htm?postversion=2008031407
monkey
Well, it's the same motorist groups that have consistently voted Republican, because they wanted less emissions regulations for their internal combustion engines for more power.
It didn't help that the Democrats have treated motorists like dirt, especially in the state with the most motorists, California.
FERRARO QUITS THE CLINTON CAMPAIGN AFTER MAKING CONTROVERSIAL REMARKS ABOUT OBAMA:
Former New York Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro has quit her position on Hillary Clinton's campaign finance committee after stirring up a flap over whether Barack Obama leads Clinton in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination because of his skin color.
Ferraro, the massively-defeated Democratic nominee for vice president in 1984 who went on to lose two U.S. Senate primaries in her home state, has for many years been seen as something less than a political asset to her own campaigns or those of contenders she supports. Over the past 24 hours, she has illustrated why this is so with unsteady and at times bizarre attempts to defend her claim that "if Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."
When she was called out for seeming to suggest that the front-runner for the Democratic nomination was benefiting from a sort of electoral affirmative-action program, Ferraro became defensive, telling a California reporter that, "Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this (Obama) campaign down and says let's address reality and the problems we're facing in this world, you're accused of being racist, so you have to shut up... Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?"
Secret Service Agents caught LYING.
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_8552359
I have always wanted to know, with the open treason going on in our White House, at what point does the Secret Service become part of the conspiracy to defraud our people?
That secret service thing is disgusting.
And these people say Clinton sullied to White House with his cigar.
Please.
They have made a mockery of everything about the White House and the presidency. Everyone around this man is a fraud.
new thread header on main page--not necessarily the good news...
I think we are all SO DISGUSTED it is hard to even be here anymore. The disappointment and shame is so acute, even republicans are starting to consider the consequences for once.
It gets worse every day. He is openly INSANE, and the press is still playing so many games with reality that most people do not even realize how seriously F*CKED we are.
Seen the stock market lately? OMG! I am so glad I do not have stocks or I would be suicidal by now. I'm a cash type of girl. And considering the withering dollar, I'm just as screwed as everyone else.
I still love the United States Constitution, and I hope george w bush and ALLLLLLLL his cronies and enablers roast in hell.
Forgiveness should only be granted for those wise enough to ask it. Everyone else should rot in prison.
To the HAGUE with duh leader and his little dick too! For war crimes.
Every day that goes by with them walking around free is an insult to our intelligence, our humanity, and every foundation of law we could lay.
He is insane. This is going to get worse before it gets better. We all know he WILL attack Iran.
God damn you Nancy Pelosi. You too, will roast with them. May your name live forever Ms. Pelosi. Traitor.
The United States Constitution will live forever, as well. In our hearts, minds, and dreams. It will rise again from nothing. From ashes.
There is not an army they can muster that can take that away from US.
Pass this link on
http://www.movieforumz.com/showthread.php?t=90969
It is the movie Sicko, for free.
You may have to download their player, but it works great and is also free. Just click the link that says 'movie'.
If they can watch it from their comps that easy, they will probably watch it. It will keep people focused on the issues of healthcare.
Pass it on.
Four held nude in jail seek damages
Doug Guthrie / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- Justin Anderson was 21 when he hit a stop sign in 1999 outside Saginaw and was arrested for drunken driving. When he objected inside the Saginaw County Jail to police questions about a missing girl, jailers threw him naked into a solitary confinement cell called "the hole."
He wasn't the only one nude in the jail. For years, Saginaw County deputies had a policy of stripping prisoners they deemed uncooperative.
Officials said they ended the practice in 2001. Four years later, U.S. District Judge David M. Lawrence made it official, deeming the policy unconstitutional in a ruling that had an impact on jails statewide.
Today, Lawson is expected to preside over the start of a jury trial to determine whether Anderson, two other men and a woman arrested for misdemeanor, nonviolent infractions deserve money for psychological harm they suffered for similar treatment."I considered it a form of rape," said Anderson while waiting for a jury to be selected Thursday.
"They accused me of killing a girl and burying her in a cornfield. I had no idea what they were talking about, so I started yelling that I was here for drunken driving, not murder."
Neither side disputes the jail policy of stripping uncooperative prisoners -- and if they refused, using force, chemical sprays and scissors to remove clothes.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080314/METRO/803140351
For misdomeanors. For treason and war crimes, not so much.
Clinton's Mississippi Republicans
http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/mysterypollster/2008/031208.htm
Bush intervenes to settle dispute over smog rule
EPA agrees to weaken important part of new pollution regulations
Fri., March. 14, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agreed to weaken an important part of its new smog requirements after being told at the last minute that President Bush preferred a less stringent approach, according to government documents.
They show tense exchanges between the EPA and the White House Office of Management and Budget in the days before the smog air quality standard was announced Wednesday.
Changes directed by the White House were made only hours before the agency issued the regulation. The late activity forced the EPA to delay the announcement for five hours.
-snip-
Defending Bush actions
The White House defended Bush's action.
"This is not a weakening of regs (regulations) or standards," White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said Friday. "But it was an effort to make the standards consistent. There's no question we have an interest in how federal regs impact communities."
Fratto said the new standards are the "most stringent smog standards in history" and that communities will have a hard time meeting them. He described the area where Bush intervened as 'a technical matter' and said he acted on the advice of the Justice Department.
The White House's involvement was first reported by The Washington Post.
Susan Dudley, head of OMB's Information and Regulatory Affairs, alluded to Bush's involvement in a last-minute memo to EPA chief Stephen Johnson.
'Consistent with administration policy'
"The president has concluded that consistent with administration policy, added protection should be afford to public welfare by strengthening the secondary ozone standard and setting it to be identical to the new primary standard," she wrote. It should not be weaker or stronger than the human health standard, the OMB insisted.
Although the memo was dated Thursday, it was faxed to the EPA on Wednesday, hours before the agency announced the rule. Parts of the memo were included in the rule's preamble posted on the EPA Web site.
"Never before has a president personally intervened at the 11th hour, exercising political power at the expense of the law and science, to force EPA to accept weaker air quality standards than the agency chief's expert scientific judgment had led him to adopt," said John Walke, clean air director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, a private advocacy group. "It is unprecedented and an unlawful act of political interference."
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23631398/
Greg Palast has connected the dots between Spitzer's end and his war against Wall Street.
http://www.gregpalast.com/elliot-spitzer-gets-nailed/
Eliot Spitzer was going after predatory lenders. And the Emperor's Club owner was an IRS enrolled agent. Spitzer WAS SET UP!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021302783_pf.html
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2008/03/alleged-emperor.html
Spitzer’s NY bank alerted the IRS of his activities with legally required Suspicious Activity Reports, prompting the investigation that brought him down.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/nyregion/12legal.html?_r=1&ref=washington&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin
Christy said:
I think we are all SO DISGUSTED it is hard to even be here anymore. The disappointment and shame is so acute, even republicans are starting to consider the consequences for once.
March 14, 2008 2:01
~~~
Yes Christy, it's so disgusting it's more than hard to even be here anymore.
Gas=3.29. Stocks, bonds, 401k's lost 1/2 their value (retirement funds), jobs gone. I have too many friends who are jobless or have takena job for less $$$ than they can live on.
Food>>>up
I just don't know how we can keep surviving until Jan. 09 and even then Help will not be on the way until at least a year or so after that.
I just don't know.
It just is really bad.
(PS. I have been awol from DCP cuz of extra work hours. (very unexpected))