from mainstream professional journalistic sources,
with colorful but occasionally cranky commentary.
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"News that's not known, or not known enough," from mainstream professional journalistic sources, with colorful but occasionally cranky commentary. |
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Finally, a really good excuse
"We are modified worms swimming on our backs, descended from an early equivalent of a brine shrimp which, for some long-forgotten reason, turned over."Now there is a preternatural excuse for confusion and stupidity if I ever saw one.
Too scary to be true?
This is such a terrible story -true & terrible. Such a waste of beautiful human life. This is only a small example of what our government will do to anyone who speaks out against it. Scary. Too scary to be true? Believe it!
I'm still alive
If not for my good decent like minded INTERNET friends, I too would feel like Layla's Arab woman blues ALL the time instead of just part of the time. 90% of the time I feel and know my future is shit! The world can't go on like this much longer, and we're all gonna die because of the rotten action of a small group of murdering fascist bastards who want to rule the world. It's that 10% I keep hanging on to. I try to focus on that part of the poison pie. It's the only thing that keeps me alive and kicking. Watching those folks saying ''Oh my God we're alive, I can't believe we got out of that house alive after the storm/bombs made it fall on us'' ... Over and over every day I'm seeing scenes like this that make a person take a step back and for no reason and for every reason in this crazy fucked up world, say over and over and over again ... I'M ALIVE and maybe the sun will shine on me today! You have my thoughts -- you have my heart -- you have my life. What else do U want? I thought of leaving you tonight. I tip toe down the hall, in the middle of the night. But you caught me, and you stopped me said I didn't have the right, All the while you knew I wouldn't put up a fight. All the time you knew I'd never see the light. Repeat chorus... You have my thoughts -- you have my heart -- you have my life. What else do you want? What else do you want?
No shortage of tax dollars, or embezzlement thereof
Seems to me, in twenty years internet access will be a remarkable luxury in a world where water is wealth and books and pens and non-radioactive food are rarities.At least some portions of the future are unpredictable, even for the best minds. That in itself can be a comforting fact in dark days such as these. The current fairly open net itself is abhorrent to much of the rich and corporate. Too easily and cheaply accessible And the more people who get online, the more difficult it may become for the powerful to turn back the net clock. It could even be that 20 years from now we can all of us access the net in our heads, with no extra gear whatsoever. Merely a certain type of mental training might be required (all the necessary electronics would be external to us). I won't go into the technological details of this possibility here As for the scarcities of which you speak At present however, in places like America, as true costs go lower, industry simply widens its profit margins, or else hides the extra money elsewhere, via accounting tricks, rather than passing the savings along to the rest of us. And then has the gall to raise their prices still further, almost every year! Grr! And politicians funnel our tax dollars into the pockets of their rich corporate friends for war gear or other wholly idiotic stuff, then complain about a shortage of money to fund something like universal healthcare. I'm actually closer to done than you might expect! Ha, ha. Unfortunately, the final 10-20% of such a page's editing is usually the most time-consuming.
Full-blown fascism
Welcome to full-blown fascism! Now you know what it looks like in action.
Guilt equilibrium
The Neo-Libs are as guilty as the Neo-Cons.
Wouldn't it be great?
There are people who understand that some behaviors like invading the personal space of others, refusing to accept that someone will not interact with them, and being unable to listen to others are unacceptable socially. The people I've met like this know that something is wrong but are unable to change the behavior. They are not grandiose but rather very, very unhappy with themselves and their lives. Medication and therapy can't modify the behavior in the people I've met. It's not Asperger's Syndrome. I don't know if there is a name for it. I thought Chris was talking about these desperately unhappy people who spread misery rather than the people in love with themselves who spread misery until I got to this line, "That somehow missed these lessons and cannot understand why anyone would not like them or even hate them." Wouldn't it be great if some of the names mentioned had developed this version? Much worse for the individuals, of course, but safer for the rest of us.
Criminal cops on candid camera
Dishonor
As a Korean vet, I at one time would have been outraged at Terry J. Powell for posing as a medal of honor recipient. But since we have Bush posing as a "Commander-In-Chief" I can't seem to care much anymore.
Everyone's political football
Would you please pass on the following web address to Herb Ruhs, MD.? There is a Part 1 and a Part 2 to complete the whole article. Pat Tillman as everyone's political football Thank you.
Promises unkept
I absolutely agree... The Democrats won congress on promises they are not keeping .
For the children
This looks to be the clearest and most concise presentation around of how US Republicans brought about the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
I've been recommending similar moves to folks for years now: to get a domain name while they're still available. If they can think of nothing better, a domain name based on their human name. I've been suggesting to parents to get them for kids, and to teenagers to get them for themselves, early on. If I weren't so strapped for cash I'd probably already have bought up domains with the names of my niece and nephews, just for safekeeping until they want them (or the present risks diminish). At some point laws might be changed so that you always enjoy priority for a domain based on your actual name. But then there's the gray area of rich celebrities or corporate trademarked names (like Harry Potter) being identical or similar to your own At some point your own domain name could be crucial for lots of things, such as reputation, credibility, and employment opportunity. If you're "Kerri Jones" and someone decides to ruin you online, it'd make it far easier if they could start by buying "kerrijones.com"...
War on the terror of drugs
to track community’s meth, cocaine use Our soldiers are unequipped, Medicare patients don't get help if they get secondary illnesses, and this is where our might go. At least it's not being implemented. Yet.
Part 1, A Dangerous ratcheting up of (recycled) accusations
Again, I feel the need to use my own reason and logic to try to make sense out of a lot of confusing reports and accusations related to Iran. Up to now I’ve mainly emphasized that Iran is not some “boogeyman/boogey-country” but just a country like all other countries with its own unique history and culture, geographical location and neighbors, resources and interests, etc. At the same time I’ve noticed that there has been a great deal of propaganda about Iran and accusations that have NOT stuck. However, now the accusations are really escalating, and they can’t be ignored. Has Iran ventured into disregarding international conventions? www.fair.org/index.php?page=3037 This is a Feb. 2, 2007 article that DOES try to be fair which matters a lot to me. Why should I bother to read slanted and biased articles full of loaded words? I also like the way this article starts. It begins with this advise: “Don’t assume the White House (WH) is telling the truth.” Good. Then, the article goes on to CBSABCNBC (the mainstream media) reports along with a New York Times (NYT) “unnamed sources” as usual article. The accusations www.antiwar.com/porter/?articleid=11450 This is an Aug. 15, 2007 article that discusses the notion that attacks on US troops by Shiite resistance groups rose significantly in July indicating a “surge” in Iranian assistance From these two articles and others indicating that Iran and the al-Sadr resistance fighters would not be allied, the answer to whether Iran has ventured into disregarding international conventions seems likely to be NO. However, Iran does seem to be supporting those that might be called the “collaborators” with the US, something like the Vichy officials in France in WWII. That would make me wonder what the Iraqi Shias think about that. www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=12926 To further understand what Iran may or may not be doing, it seems necessary to better understand the resistance movement in Iraq. Another article by Gareth Porter dated May 28, 2007 points out that Sunni resistance fighters in the Anbar province of Iraq are in favor of working with the Shia al-Sadr group. Also, this article says there was a massive demonstration mounted by the al-Sadr organization in Najaf on April 9, 2007, with some Sunnis also attending, where a united front was emphasized by the demonstrators carry Iraqi flags rather than pictures of al-Sadr or other Shiite symbols. This article also mentions that the Sunnis understand that al-Sadr is NOT a pawn of Iran and that al-Sadr doesn’t like the Iranians nor the SCIRI (alternatively SICI and the Badr corps) which this article indicates was created by Iran and supported by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The 1st article says some weapons originally given to the Badr corps (? by Iran) possibly are now being bartered and sold to others, and this was viewed as a relatively small problem. Of course, now Bush is preparing to declare Iran’s IRGC a “terrorist” group (BBC, Aug. 15, 2007). I guess this indicates that Bush is now “accusing” Iran of supporting the very corps of fighters that is collaborating with the US as though that corps is also part of the resistance. Is this a US double-cross, Bush too ignorant to understand this, or is Bush just figuring that no one else can figure this out?
Government workers, intellectuals, and businessmen
Oh and that went so, so badly.
Ya...With bomb blasts nearly every day that kill hundreds. Real good.
Which had nothing to do with us in Vietnam. This was a reaction to Norodom Sihanouk, who was corrupt to the max.
Yep, many of whom fled to this country with a good part of Vietnam's wealth. Typical corrupt republican types. Actually there are more than a few "government workers, intellectuals, and businessmen" in this country that I would like to see in prison camps and would not be terribly upset if they perished. And we know who they are, don't we. In short, the area did a fair job of taking care of itself since we left and it is now recovering from decades of war. Funny how that works out sometimes.
From burning Montana
Drove past a small tent city with several very active helicopter fields where I saw five birds on the ground. It is all very exciting, if not annoying but we really have the pricey seats, good view and maximum safety. Hence the joy at air you can't see. The local news headline today was about the firing, or whatever, of the Undersheriff (funny sound to that title). The story seemed to say it was all about the Sheriff working thirty straight days with little sleep. So the Undershirt, no Undersheriff gets fired and the Sheriff gets sent for mandatory vacation in the middle of a huge local disaster Must make sense to someone.
Abbas's ear
Abbas & Haniyeh would face close election race
Which is why Condi is apparently still whispering in Abbas's ear that Hamas should be excluded.... (a one party election, they could win THAT!). If you read this, you will see where the next assassination attempt is likely to be.
And Bush, of course, is only pissed off because the oil bill didn't go through, and he may not deliver what he promised his friends when he went into this war. The oil bill is the first thing he always mentions.
The end is near
As the drama increases I'm almost fading away as I ponder what the next phase of my life will entail. I still protest, write letters, fight for my causes and help where I can but I'm almost disconnected, like I'm standing on a train watching the bright lights coming towards me. But there's an energy building in me. My mind is switching from American everyday life to pre-survival mode. I have found that more of my friends are feeling the same way. We're pondering long periods of time without "cash' or gadgets or electricity. We're thinking about building small, safe communities and freeing ourselves from the larger world around us. It's probably escapist in nature, no matter how comforting in thought. The reality is that the world is about to stare hell in the face. I'm wondering... "Am I ready?" Almost... I'm almost there.
Maybe it's happening
In 'Hysterical shrinking America the guilty' I wrote about my hope foreigners would do such things, to prevent America from cutting its own throat, metaphorically speaking (as we citizens seem unable to pressure Bush-Cheney much). Maybe it's happening! There is a potential downside though: if rich foreigners were to come to believe that Bush-Cheney were actually threatening them or their wealth in some scary way, and the foreigners were too restricted in political options (or simply gave up all hope on America) they might simply yank their investments from us, and strangle us that way. Such a divestiture could hurt us much worse than an oil embargo like that of the mid-seventies. A fear of foreign investments
That's all I seek
You've taken it as intended. I'm hoping that should Ron Paul make it into the Presidency that his leanings would be tempered by the consensus so as to be a much more watered down version. I'm not so enthusiastic regarding the banishment of the IRS and the FED, not to say that would not be a good thing but I am very interested in returning to a more Constitutionalized (is that a word?) government. Change from the monstrosity that it is now to a more controllable Gollum. That's all I seek. And now, it's time for a hug-a-rama... Everybody!!! grab your neighbor!!!
Growing up
Eventually we learn from these encounters and to respect the feelings of other people and to take them into account when dealing with them. And not to necessarily judge them by it. After all, this could have something to do with our own personality. If we are lucky, someone will take us aside and in form us just why we evoke such a response in some (and sometimes most) people. We then grow and learn and our inter personal relationships mature and we gain humility and the ability to be humble. However there are those who have never learned this. That somehow missed these lessons and cannot understand why anyone would not like them or even hate them. They have acquired such a magnanimous view of themselves that the very idea that anyone would hate them or what they do is totally foreign to them. Can't people see how totally perfect they are??? Such is the case with Bush, Rove and Cheney and their followers. A complete self-admiration society. Each a groupie of the other. So they blame those who do confront them and become defensive The truly sad and scary part is, that with our continued "political correctness" by family, friends and associates
I was driving through Winter Park on my way to a camera store. Through, not the most posh section, but one right up there. Older houses in what is known as "Old Winter Park". I could not believe it. It seem as if every other house was up for sale and those not fore sale were for rent. Even a few under construction but nearly complete were for sale and people do not build in this section to sell, they build to live there. If anyone thinks that the economy is just fine, they must be on some heavy hallucinogens.
What about Bob?
I only got one call yesterday! It sounded like Bob but he was selling Health Insurance for $49.95 a month.
Skyscrapers' end
I wonder what would turn up if we could get some of that stuff in those boxes tested. My belief is that many weeks previous to the big event Men (MOSAD) dressed as workers got in those buildings when that power outage was said to have happened and planted explosives in the right places, not your usual TNT with charges but something more disgusting, NEW and deadly. Then they were set off with outside devices. Ask any IRA expert how this could have been done. All the cameras in both towers were either confiscated or destroyed, another clever little good luck charm for the cabal. Bush and his cronies could have stopped a lot of the conspiracies by simply having experts come out and saying that the buildings had some help coming down with bombs, but then they would have to answer where the bombs were made and who really made them, They would have to have given evidence to an outside investigation team, and that would never happen. I'm sure 99% if not all of the firemen and police force of NY city know there were bombs in the towers, but fear is playing heavy on their minds.
Where's that Republican "accountability" now?
We made the mess, you get to clean it up!
If this is what makes it to the internet
More right-wing insanity from Family Security Foundation (the group that proposed Bush as President-for-life) by Philip Atkinson, Family Security Foundation
Pregnant with toxic fumes
From chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/5067803.html: "Officials said air-quality tests in the neighborhood for asbestos and other contaminants were negative. City environmental officials said 57 air samples near the building tested negative for asbestos since the fire." ... but 103 other samples tested positive, 7 pregnancy test kits indicate the air is pregnant with toxic fumes and the 3 fireman sent to test for radioactivity now glow in the dark.
Colon blow
Well... there really is a colon blow.
Libertarians' blind spot
Americans' pain
And to make matters still worse, those sexually shrinking American men are becoming ever more impotent as well (their sperm counts dropping faster than those of others). Mounting environmental toxins and dropping nutritive value in food are combining to make sperm counts for men worldwide steadily drop-- effectively tilting males everywhere towards being less male and more female each and every day. Hysterical shrinking America the guilty
It appears they left out one reason in their list: the extraordinary mounting stress and injury being inflicted upon the population by ever more extremist Republican policies.
Our entire political establishment is complicit
I hope that I don't anger you
I hope that I don't anger you, I am not sure regarding your response to KC, I didn't connect the dots where he lost his privilege, but hey, it's your website. I like this web site, have liked it from the start. That's the first reply of yours that has caused me to stop, sit back and say "Huh???" So, I've not really been "Off the wagon", I just got hit with some perspectives that I could not reconcile and had to regroup to see if my premise was reasonable. I feel that it is and I am going to stand by it, Ron Paul would/could be the catalyst to return us to where we need to be. If his stance is too severe, then it will be decided in the next election, but I sincerely feel, if we do get to vote once more, if we do not return to center, we will not be there again. Love,
Just a quick reply, your response to KC seemed out of character for the patience, wisdom and consideration that I've grown to appreciate in your replies. That's all...
"Deported" from Israel
Government: Darfur refugees will be refused entry into Israel PM aide: AG Mazuz okayed deportation of African refugees This is the follow up story, and the next one is about the fact that this may be illegal (but who cares about THAT in Israel? International law is for the others. African Refugees / Expulsion to Egypt may contravene int'l law (Of course, if one takes the NYT's line that these are "illegal African migrants", it doesn't sound bad at all.....) The HaAretz story is much more detailed that the one in the Guardian, and tells of an AP photographer seeing one refugee in Israel tied to a chair, and of 30 being killed in Egypt by the police.... it also said the most of those being "deported" from Israel are from Dafur. The government on Sunday said it would turn away refugees fleeing Darfur and seeking asylum in Israel, after it deported to Egypt for the first time almost 50 refugees that escaped the war-torn region. Let's start calling a spade a spade, and maybe even questioning what all those Holocaust museums are teaching if this is the way Israel behaves to those who need sanctuary!! An government official said Egypt has agreed to treat the Darfur refugees well, but acknowledged it might send them back to Sudan. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the press. Egyptian riot police violently cleared a refugee encampment in central Cairo in 2005, killing nearly 30 people.
Paranoid upper crust
I can tell you exactly why the Democrats "caved". The same reason they supported (tacitly) McCarthyism. Because they are paranoid. It's the upper crust (both right and left) who, way back when, were absolutely convinced that Khrushchev was going to come over and personally take their TV, car and first born male child. They're now convinced that Bin Laden and all the Islamic clerics will come over and bomb their house, school, play ground etc. etc. and force them to wear scarves and prey to Mecca three times a day. The religious right aren't paranoid because they are sure that "God is on their side" so they will win in the end. If I did not know better, I would swear that insanity is contagious.
Riddle me this
If this is true, and I do not know either way, what are they talking about, and why?
Wow, you are genius(es)! Yes, because the Colonel's beard is pure white, he is venerated as an oldster and he is inscrutable because he went to his grave without revealing the secret of the Eleven Herbs And Spices. (From Neal Stephenson's sci-fi novel, "The Diamond Age", which is fun stuff.)
Long life and good health
Assalamu Alaykum, Marie, I am not your enemy; far from it. It is evident that we understand our world in different ways and I am not trying to convince you that I am right and you are wrong. I wrote my ideas, plainly and simply, and I am not going to repeat myself. If you think I am pro-American and anti-Iranian, I can only reiterate that I am not. I have been corresponding within this web-site for some time, and I think the site hosts can attest to this fact.
My previous life taught me to perceive patterns where others may not. I try to express my perceptions of the meaning of geopolitical events within the context of my former life. Most often, unfortunately, my perceptions remain reasonably, but not exactly, accurate. Some day soon we may lose our choice to believe in peace, but that day is not yet upon us. Until then, I wish you and your family long life and good health. Salaam and good-bye.
Prefect perdiction
Yes, I guess it wasn't hard to infer what I was implying. I notice my prediction skills are better than my spelling. You could say my perdiction was prefect. But I hope you don't.
Quick wits
Money under the mattress
Yeah, we wouldn't want people putting their money in their mattresses now, would we. Wow!
By comparison
More then bush anyway.
Flights of fancy
I forgot that the middle of the road in this country is right of the shoulder and on the slippery slope of the ditch. I want to move :-(. Still, isn't there some large contingency of the Republican party in the closet on social issues that just don't want to pay their taxes? I was thinking maybe he would split with them. Then, if there was an actual anti-war liberal running as an independent at the same time (say a Howard Dean?), I was thinking that perhaps the strategic argument that keeps voting Democrats voting for these so-called Democratic candidates, "If you vote Nader, Bush will win," would vanish and the prospect of an actual alternative's viable chances might cause a groundswell at the polls from the silent majority of non-voting pro-labor anti-globalempirical Citizens. That was what I was thinking. I am amazed I still posses the faculty for these flights of fancy.
Medi-don't-care
The article says there's a technicality in a law somewhere that protects Medicare beneficiaries from being charged for what Medicare refuses to pay in regards to mistakes But what about the rest of us? Private insurers will almost certainly leap onto this new loophole to avoid paying bills (that's been their top priority for years now: avoiding paying bills)
Involved
Hillary was involved in all the key decisions and the decision making process in the Clinton administration.
When a skyscraper burns
Betcha it doesn't collapse on its own! It was heavily damaged on
Journalism vs propagandism
for Justice Department in anthrax case
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