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How many WW3s can dance on the head of a pin?
How many WWIIIs can dance on the head of a pin? When the pinhead is Dumbya Bush, every war he wants to start is WWIII:
From Australia's ABC in May 2006:
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Excerpt: Mr Bush told the CNBC television network the revolt of passengers on the hijacked flight 93 on September 11, 2001, was the "first counter-attack to World War III".
He said he agreed with the description by David Beamer, whose son Todd died in the crash, in a Wall Street Journal commentary last month the act was "our first successful counter-attack in our homeland in this new global war -- World War III".
Mr Bush said: "I believe that. I believe that it was the first counter-attack to World War III. |
From the President's lips, October 2007:
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Excerpt: "But this -- we got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel. So I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon." |
Mr. President, please finish your first WWIII before you start another one.
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A President in possession of his marbles doesn't use World War III as a rhetorical flourish or veiled threat. But that crack, like most of the evidence of Bush's insanity, was barely mentioned in the mainstream media ...
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Helen & Harry
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New Times meets the new times
On day 2, Democrats see change in Mukasey| |
Excerpt: While Whitehouse and several other Democrats said Mukasey's new answers were disappointing, they did not indicate that they will oppose his confirmation. A committee vote on Mukasey's nomination could occur as early as next Thursday, with a full Senate confirmation vote likely by the end of the month. |
Fool me once: Roberts ok
Fool me twice: Alito ok
Fool me thrice: Mukasey another ok
Will they ever learn???????????
* * *
Breathtaking abuse of Constitution
Although this is a rather lengthy article I call it to your attention (if you are already aware of it disregard) because it is a chilling account that appears to be occurring all over the country but little noticed. And the Senate Intelligence Committee is advancing a further disgraceful cave-in to the Administration.
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For publishing the piece you've sent, the paper's editors have been jailed. We're on it, and we'll keep an eye open for further developments.
But I have to say with a sigh, I'm struck by the paper's headline, "Breathtaking abuse of Constitution". This is "breathtaking" to the Phoenix New Times because it's happening to them, a big media corporation, but is it "breathtaking" on the scale of America's recent rush to fascism? At least the victims of government abuse in this matter have the means to get their side of the story out and the money to fight back.
* * *
As for Roberts, Alito, and Mukasey, et al, I don't think the Democrats in the Senate are being fooled. They know what they're doing and who they're voting to OK. It's we the people being fooled.
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Take a number and get into the lobotomy line
by Cassandra
| Oct. 20, 2007 |
Re Just like Nancy Pelosi
I pray for the leaders of the world as a group: if there is a hereafter they'll need it, and if Someone caused one or more to change their mind/s, the world might make it. But I have quit praying for the complacent followers. They need lobotomies, not epiphanies.
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Helen & Harry
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Ketchup and Mustard color design
by Kevin Good
| Oct. 20, 2007 |
I have noticed a new posh, polish panache in this website’s design. Scrolling panes and an UNK icon in my favorites list.
When did Harry start wearing makeup?
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Ah, you make me chuckle. We've been using less ketchup and more mustard for the past month or so, and we're still trying to add sauerkraut and relish.
Hope you like the little Unk icon in the address bar. I can only see the Unk icon in Mozilla, the browser we usually use. No little logo comes through in the much more popular and godawful Internet Explorer, at least not in the eight-year-old version of IE we're occasionally using. Can folks out there with newer versions of IE see the Unk?
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Really simple syndication
I just went through your site looking for an RSS feed and found your RSS-esque page. I think we've covered how un-tech-savvy I am. I only discovered RSS feeds and news aggregators a couple months ago, and now I'm so glad I did.
I got really frustrated when I tried to do something with BlogLines, and I tried a couple other 'popular' aggregators I couldn't figure out how to work. But I really like the one I'm using, NewsGator. I guess this doesn’t address anything you’d have to do to switch from HTML to RSS code (or ‘whatever’), but I think RSS feeds definitely have benefits and could help drive traffic to your site, and/or make regular readers out of occasional readers (I don't have a website to paste your feed into and check; I have to go to your site). To me, html and xml all look like a bunch of <///^*&>[+! ; )
Spend 10 minutes and you should be able to figure NewsGator out. Set up a profile, add a few basic websites/newspapers (BBC, LA Times, NYTimes). Then you click on your 'my feeds' (and you can customize folders), and it displays feeds as they come in. You can read all or some, and click on the 'mark these as read' to get them out. You can also 'clip' them into a folder to save/read/link to later. You can also customize your clipped folders. There’s also various options for display (headline, summary, full text). I end up clipping and posting links in categories, since I can't keep up on a day-to-day basis. But once I work within my categories, I end up with posts like this. Even if you don't start an RSS feed of your own, you should be able to use Newsgator to help in your compilation.
Anyhow, I realized the other day I hadn’t been checking your site lately, and I figured this was why. I think a growing number of people are using feed aggregators to help save time in visiting websites and finding the new material. It helps in delivery, consolidation, and referencing material. That’s my 2 cents in any case. I’ll scroll back through the past week or so of your postings now…. ; )
Two intro to RSS/xml sites I found:
http://rss-feeds-introduction.blogspot.com/
http://www.xul.fr/en-xml-rss.html#building-feed
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If you don't know either HTML or RSS, then sure, I imagine either one looks like gobbledygook, but HTML made instant sense to me. It took me twenty minutes or so to teach myself enough HTML to put Unknown News online in 1999. I've learned a few new tricks since then, but the basics were a snap.
RSS is ... different. I've probably spent five or six hours over the past few years trying to understand RSS, in three different very frustrating attempts. And in addition, we've had two readers try to take me by the hand and tutor me through whatever it takes to set up an RSS feed. I've made very little headway and the tutoring didn't take and I've lost all interest in the subject. It's like trigonometry to me -- so frustrating that merely mentioning it tightens my tummy muscles and makes my forehead fold.
I clicked the NewsGator link you suggested, and immediately recognized it -- I've been bewildered on their pages in the past. If I have a few minutes this weekend, I'll click the other two intro links you've suggested, but I am seriously not optimistic. The whole topic is frustrating to me, but I love ya and I promise, all the frustration that comes across in this reply is with RSS, not with you.
Oh, and if you're dropping in less often (or if some folks fade away completely) because we don't have a real RSS feed, I promise I'll never take it personally. But occasional readers might find our daily page easier for quick catch-ups.
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Helen & Harry
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Punk kids
Too young to drive, but old enough for life in prison| |
Excerpt: In 1988, the US Supreme Court ruled that juveniles aged 16 and under at the time of their crimes could not be sentenced to die. In 2005 this ruling was broadened to cover all minors, under the argument that they did not have the necessary maturity to be fully responsible for their acts. |
I'm sure there are those on the right that would love to change this. After all their just "punk kids" and "deserve what they get."
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Chris M.
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"Make a buck" culture
by Marshall S.
| Oct. 20, 2007 |
Living paycheck to paycheck gets harder| |
Excerpt: The calculus of living paycheck to paycheck in America is getting harder. What used to last four days might last half that long now. Pay the gas bill, but skip breakfast. Eat less for lunch so the kids can have a healthy dinner.
While economists debate whether the country is headed for a recession, some say the financial stress is already the worst since the last downturn at the start of this decade. |
Yes, but Exxon profits are through the roof, and isn't that all that matters in our "make a buck" culture?
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It's rare but always appreciated when mainstream media briefly notices life here in the real world.
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Helen & Harry
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Dialogue for
Friday, Oct. 19, 2007
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The predatory rich
by Herb Ruhs, MD
| Oct. 19, 2007 |
Please understand, the predatory rich aren't just attacking you, they are after your children and grandchildren too.
* * *
Ask yourself, would I fight foreign troops on my soil?
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Any nation that gives its elite enough power to enslave that nation has chosen to learn from an experience that they would rather not have had.
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After arranging to sell our government to the highest bidder through unregulated campaign contributions to a concentrated corporate media, how could we have not imagined that organized criminals bought it?
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Now we finally understand that "mission accomplished" meant that Bush's friends were set up to make untold billions by looting the US treasury under cover of war. No other result mattered.
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Why should it matter why a child lacks medical insurance?
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Our dysfunctional human family is the cause.
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Herb Ruhs, MD
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Ruthless and vicious
by The Canadian
| Oct. 19, 2007 |
Re Iran, Israel, and the whole Middle East
is locked and loaded and ready to go
2009? I am more focused on the tail end of 2007 and beginning of 2008. I do not like predicting as I am not tight enough in the loop anymore to ascertain probabilities. There is a great deal of saber rattling and bluster from all belligerents, but the message of impending war is being communicated frequently and intensely by many people in powerful places.
You already know my POV. I think circumstances are extremely tense and "the center is not holding". Most of what I've written to you about in the past is happening more or less as I suggested it would. I continue to believe that we are on the brink of a vicious expansion of the Middle East war. When it happens, it will NOT be like Iraq and Afghanistan. This one will be ruthless and vicious as it will become a clash between 2 very different world views; between 2 powerful creators of ideologies of which neither will give an inch.
This one will not be about oil, this one will be about control of the future. Think how many people died the last time 2 powerful ideologies clashed.
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I think about the possibilities that there might be a 2009, just to cheer myself up. |
Essential to our national security
by JR Mooneyham
| Oct. 19, 2007 |
To maintain national security, US policies should
continue to promote
open exchange of research| |
Excerpt: Extreme measures to curtail the flow of essential information or people would significantly disrupt advances that are critical to U.S. military and economic security. Meeting the challenges of future technological or biological threats depends upon developments that can only come from long-term academic research. ...
...both the security and scientific communities agree that losing our leading edge in science and technology is one of the greatest threats to national security. Unnecessary or ill-conceived restrictions could jeopardize the scientific and technical progress that our nation depends upon. |
By now everyone should know: if something's essential to our national security, Bush and his Republican rubber stamps are probably doing the very opposite thing. After all, only they and their super-villain backers benefit from terrorist attacks and never-ending war.
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Early intervention dramatically improves outcomes for new dialysis patients
Ah -- yet another report detailing how universal healthcare would save lives and reduce suffering among innocents (for the earliest intervention you can get comes from free or low cost access to services). I've seen literally hundreds of these covering just about every aspect of health you can imagine. But it seems apparent to pay for universal healthcare we'd have to drastically reduce our spending on killing and torturing worldwide. Unfortunately, many Americans would rather brag on how devastating our weapons are, than how healthy or educated our kids might be.
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New report: private/public insurance mix is
most practical way to achieve universal coverage
As I'm an "insured" American citizen presently getting awful healthcare and losing my vision, while simultaneously paying huge bills (maybe $600 this month alone, and looking at $6000 next month), I have trouble reading this report. But I get the impression it's a political effort to divert public debate away from the roaring successes (compared to the US patchwork system) full or near full government funded healthcare in other industrialized nations are, and have been for decades now. The stats alone tell the story: Americans are getting ever sicker and poorer and even stunted growth-wise compared to those other peoples. Plus, folks who move here from other countries tend to deteriorate health-wise afterwards. Crap! Our current "private/public insurance mix" sucks!
* * *
Lifers as teenagers, now seeking second chance| |
Excerpt: In December, the United Nations took up a resolution calling for the abolition of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for children and young teenagers. The vote was 185 to 1, with the United States the lone dissenter.
Indeed, the United States stands alone in the world in convicting young adolescents as adults and sentencing them to live out their lives in prison. According to a new report, there are 73 Americans serving such sentences for crimes they committed at 13 or 14. |
Usually at least Iran joins with Bush and the Republicans on issues like this. But apparently this was even more than Iran could stomach.
Lazy uninvolved parenting
Former Bush administration policy experts say the goal has always been war with Iran
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Excerpt: Then came the moment that would lead to an extraordinary battle with the Bush administration. It was an average morning in April, about four weeks into the war. Mann picked up her daily folder and sat down at her desk, glancing at a fax cover page. The fax was from the Swiss ambassador to Iran, which wasn't unusual -- since the U.S. had no formal relationship with Iran, the Swiss ambassador represented American interests there and often faxed over updates on what he was doing. This time he'd met with Sa-deq Kharrazi, a well-connected Iranian who was the nephew of the foreign minister and son-in-law to the supreme leader. Amazingly, Kharrazi had presented the ambassador with a detailed proposal for peace in the Middle East, approved at the highest levels in Tehran.
A two-page summary was attached. Scanning it, Mann was startled by one dramatic concession after another -- "decisive action" against all terrorists in Iran, an end of support for Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, a promise to cease its nuclear program, and also an agreement to recognize Israel.
This was huge. Mann sat down and drafted a quick memo to her boss, Richard Haass. It was important to send a swift and positive response.
Then she heard that the White House had already made up its mind -- it was going to ignore the offer. Its only response was to lodge a formal complaint with the Swiss government about their ambassador's meddling. |
And Congress will give their total approval of course. It is obvious this country has become Israel's lap dog and licks up their sh*t saying "Yummy Yummy" the whole while. But if you think Russia and China and Europe will stand by and do nothing, you have not been paying attention.
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Russia's Putin : "Iran is not afraid" of US, Israel "Believe me"| |
Excerpt: Support amongst US allies for a War On Iran is thin, at best, and the United States closest Iraq War ally, Australia, recently pledged to not support any military action on Iran. France has also retreated from a 'pro-war' position on Iran, as has the United Kingdom. |
What was that we use to say when we were kids ?? "Yah..You and whose army ??" Bullies usually get little or no support for their actions. If Israel's "military adventure" into Lebanon is any example, they will be the first to turn tail and run once things get hot. Begging for a cease fire.
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Energy-rich Caspian becomes center of U.S.-Russia power struggle| |
Excerpt: In 2001, Iran deployed a warship and fighter jets as a warning to Azerbaijan, which had sent vessels to explore for oil for British Petroleum along the southern Caspian oilfields. Azerbaijan, which depends on Russia for energy transit routes, had agreed to forge a separate deal with Putin in which those two nations divided a part of the seabed. A similar deal was struck with Kazakhstan. In both cases, Iran was excluded from the negotiations. |
Imagine that. And we so much wanted to be fair about it....NOT. With Iran out of the way we can negotiate with who is left. How convenient.
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Maine middle school to offer the pill| |
Excerpt: The plan, offered by city health officials, makes King Middle School the first middle school in Maine to make a full range of contraception available to students in grades 6 through 8, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. |
I'm no conservative by a long shot... but I not too sure about this. One of my pet peeves with both sides of the aisle is that parents these days do not seem to want to take responsibility for being parents. It's like children are nice to have as long as there is no work involved. The education of kids is not just for the schools, it starts at home.
What has this got to do with "The Pill" you may ask ??? Sex education is one of the primary subjects parents need to talk to their kids about. This smacks of.."Well we'll just let them get the Pill and not worry about it." Lazy uninvolved parenting. No wonder we have such screwed up kids. Or rather it's a wonder more of them aren't screwed up.
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Well, I don't know what you'd propose to combat the problem of lazy, uninvolved parenting. The solutions usually proposed tend toward the draconian.
But here's an easy, practical, very cost-effective solution to the problem of teen pregnancies. Free contraceptives ought to be available not just to middle schoolers, but to anyone who wants 'em. No questions asked except maybe, "Any allergies?"
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Helen & Harry
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What sanctions did
by Kathy Fisher
| Oct. 19, 2007 |
Huge strike hampers French commute
No chance of Americans ever doing this!
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Is the United States killing 10,000 Iraqis every month? Or is it more?
I just know we're going to pay for this dearly. Can't you just fell the pain of their tormented souls?
For those of us who have not given up and taken the blue pills of chosen ignorance this is a living hell this place they call earth.
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My little take here before you all read this.
Before any soldiers ever set foot in Iraq there were 'The Sanctions.' Unfortunately again thanks to the media and newspapers most American idiots rely on for their disinformation, they do not know how seriously this crippled the Iraqi people. Imagine no AC in hospitals, flies infesting the corridors, not enough sterile gauze or sterile soap products, shortages of all medicines and any basic equipment, no parts for ambulances so when they break down they are left unusable. Now I'm just skimming the surface here.
But the ten years of sanctions basically killed a civilized way of living for Iraqis. I can't say exactly how many died because the numbers are still growing as I write this and yet still today I hear Americans talk about these poor people like they were living in the stone age under Saddam and that we saved them!
It is insane how dumbed down Americans are. They are truly the ones in the dark age of knowledge. And I wonder as I ask the rhetorical question, ''Are they satisfied being so ignorant?'' I really think they most of them are!
The same thing is happening with Iran. No, not sanctions! There are no sanctions on Iran as of yet, although BUSH has called for them, but I'm sure that won't happen, not this time! The sheer ignorance and lack of any glimmer of curiosity to find out just how educated and sophisticated Iranians are today is almost null and void! Most Americans couldn't careless, it's as if they want to be fed more lies and propaganda. It's so convenient for them to believe what they're told.
What did they think sanctions were/are? No tea? No sugar? No Jell-O for desert? I bet that's what most thought it was about! Go to your room without supper and don't come out till you want to cooperate...
What could AmeriKKKans have known about the Iraq sanctions?: Part II
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I share the frustration, luv, but it always comes down to the money-driven media. Most folks aren't surfing the web for news -- they don't have the time, they don't have the interest, or they don't have the web. And they shouldn't have to.
People should be able to be informed the same way my old man was, when I was a kid. He read a newspaper four or five days a week, and he watched the evening news instead of talking to his kids at dinner. And for all the shortcomings of media, even back then, he was fairly well informed of world events. Cuz the news back then included some news.
These days, the filler and bullsh*t have taken over, by corporate design.
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Helen & Harry
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Is that the connection?
Re Iran, Israel, and the whole Middle East ...“This too is related to Middle East politics -- Islamic Extremists.”
WHOA -- what is that all about? On my map Kosovo is in Serbia which is in Europe and was part of the former Yugoslavia.
Also, as I wrote in my piece called The Database, Part I -- “the US proxy wars in the former Yugoslavia were also fought to gain the spoils of war from that resource filled area. Kosovo itself has the richest mineral resources in all of Europe west of Russia. At the same time new markets would be opened up.” The other reason mentioned was the US effort to end communism. As far as I can tell, these reasons still basically stand. The Russians and Americans are still rivals and both want as much control of Kosovo’s riches and strategic location as they can get. If Kosovo remains a part of Serbia, then the Russians have the most influence. If Kosovo gains independence then the US gains the most influence. Thus, we see Russian efforts AGAINST Kosovo gaining independence and US efforts FOR Kosovo’s independence.
SO, where’s the Middle East connection? The Albanians in Kosovo are mostly Sunni Muslims and there are Sunni Muslims in the Middle East -- is that it? OR, maybe it is related to oil and sending it through Kosovo to the Mediterranean Sea for the European markets. Turkey now has the Bosporus for tankers and a pipeline doing this job, but by sending oil through Kosovo (and through Macedonia and Albania), tankers carrying twice as much as the ones going through the Bosporus could be used. So maybe the US wants that or Israel wants to get this job. Who cares about Turkey? Is that the connection?
OR, maybe “Cheney’s” Halliburton and its former subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) have benefited related to Kosovo. KBR did the feasibility study for the pipeline to go through Kosovo. However, it seems that it has also been involved in the building and the operation of US bases in Macedonia and Kosovo including one very huge one in Kosovo -- Camp Bondsteel with over 300 buildings begun in 1999 when NATO went into Kosovo (NATO aerial bombings and missile strikes killed 9,000- 10,000 Albanians). For very low wages, it’s been the Kosovo Albanians doing the work for KBR. Of course, KBR has also been busy in Iraq overcharging the US military and serving contaminated food and water to the troops, and in Mar. 2007 Halliburton, now being investigated, decided to move to Dubai, UAE and sell off scandal-ridden KBR -- see halliburtonwatch.org. Is that the Middle East connection?
As for “Islamic extremists” (why the loaded phrase?), are Kosovo’s Albanians (92% of the pop.) now extremists? What have they done? Let’s see. Wikipedia says that in 1945 Kosovo was made an autonomous region/province within the republic of Serbia then part of Yugoslavia, but they didn’t really have autonomy. Then in 1974 they gained a President and Premier and a seat in the Federal Presidency making them a de facto republic in the Yugoslav federation. So in the 1970s an Albanian nationalist movement began and pursued their full recognition as a republic. In 1981 Kosovar Albanian students organized protests with the same goal. The protests were “harshly contained” by the Yugoslav and Serbian governments. Then, in 1990 the autonomy of Kosovo was revoked back to the earlier status, but Milosevic kept Kosovo’s seat in the Federal Presidency and used it for his own supporters. Then, Albanian schools and the medical care system were shut down. Albanians started a non-violent resistance movement and organized a parallel system of education and healthcare. Then, with the ending of events in Bosnia and Croatia, the Serb government started relocating Serbian refugees into Kosovo while expelling Albanian families from their homes to make space for the refugees. Finally, in 1995 Albanians organized the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in order to seek independence with funding and training from the CIA -- I guess this makes them “extremists” after 50 years of non-violence.
Of note, since 1999 Kosovo has been administered by a UN Mission with NATO forces. After a UN draft resolution for “supervised independence” was thrown out on July 7, 2007, Kosovo Albanian leaders have proposed declaring unilateral independence for Nov. 28, 2007, an action the UN would overrule.
Currently, Kosovo has one of the most under-developed economies in Europe and was the poorest province in Yugoslavia. Electric power supply is unreliable and unemployment remains around 40-50% of the labor force.
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Marie K.
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Just like Nancy Pelosi
We pray for Bush every day. That God will give this creep what he deserves.
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We're opposed to torture, on principle, so we'll have to root against your prayers.
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Between the lines
Marines urge caution on MRAP fielding| |
Excerpt: Marine commanders in Iraq are asking the Pentagon to slow down deployment of IED-resistant vehicles in order to give them more time to figure out how best to employ the heavily-armored trucks, a top Corps official Wednesday. |
Read between the lines: We want to use the money appropriated for MRAP's for other needs.
* * *
Skintight spacesuit a good fit for Mars
Golly Gee!!! Just when I thought they couldn't come up with another BOONDOGGLE. American ingenuity to the rescue.
* * *
Army to continue forcing soldiers to remain on active duty
I guess, of course, we can bomb Iran off the map and not need manpower to invade and occupy it. And Iran is coming soon?
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Wig
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Dialogue for
Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007
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On the apparent paradox of big things with no witnesses
by Herb Ruhs, MD
| Oct. 18, 2007 |
Time sanitizes truth. As professional investigators well know, the period just after a crime holds forth the opportunity to reveal the truth, but with each passing hour, day, week, month, year, decade, that possibility becomes increasingly remote to the point of impossibility. ... MORE ...
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Herb Ruhs, MD
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Ben update
by Cassandra
| Oct. 18, 2007 |
Re How 'They' become 'They'
Apparently one can work minimum wage for about 25 hours a week and still apply for SS Disability. Ben's doctor recommended he try again. He should only be turned down once more; most people get approved on the third application if they're terminally ill.
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"Most people get approved on the third application if they're terminally ill." What infuriating words to remember, in this "Christian nation" where untold thousands, probably tens of thousands, die every year for lack of medical care. |
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Helen & Harry
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Iran, Israel, and the whole Middle East
is locked and loaded and ready to go
by The Canadian
| Oct. 18, 2007 |
The game is running its final diplomatic course. ... MORE ...
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Your observations are always appreciated.
So where do you see things in, say, 2009? My gut sees about a 50/50 chance that the Middle East will be a smoldering ash heap and America will be under coast-to-coast lockdown.
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Helen & Harry
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Blown hot air
Re Peak oil vs global warming
I too remember having oil fired "blown hot air" heat on our house. I also remember my father having to "futz" with the darn thing every winter after it had set unused all summer. All the "gunk" and dirt from the tank would foul up the the unit and it would have to be pulled apart and cleaned.
My aunt and uncle lived in Cleveland on the west side in a house built in the 20s. They originally had coal fired heat. I remember the coal bin in the front basement area. They later converted to natural gas and my aunt used the old coal bin to store canned goods. I don't think people used oil much in the city as gas was usually already piped into the house and there may have been restrictions on the domestic use of oil for heat. But in the country quite a few people converted their old coal fired furnace, especially water or steam, to oil. It was cleaner than coal and the retrofit was fairly straight forward.
The school I attended in the country originally had coal fired heat but was then converted to oil.
Now it is simply a lot more cost effective to use a gas fired on demand hot water heating system. They are small and very efficient. About 80 percent and greater. This is also true of gas hot water.
Despite what the power companies would like you to believe, electric heat is one of the most expensive ways to heat a house or apartment. Except for a geothermal heat pump. These are still popular here in Florida, but not nearly as much as they once were. Speaking of apartments, I believe most of the older city units up north are either oil or gas fired hot water or steam with a central boiler. I guess at the time it was considered the least expensive way to do it rather than have a separate unit in each apartment and electric heat was not very common.
PS: Of course in the appropriate area, solar is the way to go.
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... I did like sitting my ass in front of the heat vent on cold winter mornings. It was better than roasting my cheeks at the fireplace... |
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Helen & Harry
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Amazing breakthrough regarding validity of male sex fantasies
by JR Mooneyham
| Oct. 18, 2007 |
Other breasts drive women wild
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Excerpt: The bizarre findings showed women who were exposed to other breasts experienced rocketing sexual desire and a massive increase in sex fantasies. |
So maybe there's a logical reason after all behind men's fantasies about lesbian behavior and threesomes involving two women! Ha, ha.
* * *
Nobel economics winner says not to trust market forces
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Excerpt: "Societies should not rely on market forces to protect the environment or provide quality health care for all citizens, [Eric Maskin], a winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize for economics said on Monday.
"The market doesn't work very well when it comes to public goods," "Markets work well with goods that economists call private goods" like cars or other consumer durables...But there are many other sorts of goods, often very important goods, which are not provided well through the market. Often, these go under the heading of public goods," he said. |
The point raised in the article is straight out of my own college Economics 101 class from decades back. And it's pretty simple and straightforward. But somehow the average American can't seem to grasp the concept.
* * *
Specter: No retroactive immunity for telecoms
Question: Isn't Specter the guy who tricked us before on something important? By doing exactly the opposite of what he said in public? And as that's the definition of hypocrisy -- and hypocrisy appears to be the prime directive for Republicans these days -- we pretty much have to assume that's the case now. Right? That away from public scrutiny he's actually working to give the telecoms not only retroactive immunity, but much, much more. Yikes!
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Your memory matches mine. Numerous times Arlen Specter has been the voice of prudence before a big vote, saying exactly what sane people want to hear -- like in this case. And time and time again, when it came time to actually cast his vote, Specter has voted the opposite of his lofty words. So now, along with Democratic chiwawa Patrick Leahy, Specter is saying he "won't entertain [immunity] without knowing what the telecoms did." Signed, sealed, delivered: That means Specter will vote for immunity. |
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Helen & Harry
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The US military follows the US Constitution
by Happy Office Worker
| Oct. 18, 2007 |
Re Many in the US Military think Bush and Cheney are out of control, says Der SpiegelSorry, but this is all daydream stuff. Bush and Cheney are insane, and that's obvious to anyone who's not. But for practical reasons, the military is trained to follow orders, not to question orders. The buck doesn't stop there, never has, and never will.
Actually that's 100% wrong. The US military is trained to follow the constitution, not blind orders.
For an interesting read on the dilemma of determining what is and what isn't a lawful order, read here: LINK
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I, uh, don't mean to sound all pissy here, but I was referring to the real military in the real world.
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Helen & Harry
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Dialogue for
Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007
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How 'They' become 'They'
by Cassandra
| Oct. 17, 2007 |
Yesterday someone I'll call 'Ben' started a conversation with me. At one point he said, 'Don't get me wrong, I love Hispanics, I speak fluent Spanish'. Hoping to stave off a 'They' conversation, I said 'I have family from Latin America'. But he went on.
Ben has cancer and had to quit his full time job. He got evicted and is staying with a friend. To be considered disabled a person cannot work at all, even if one has a terminal illness. To get any type of medical care, to eat, to have a home, one must have an income or a fall-back: family or friends who will support you completely until you've been turned down the first two times and they decide that yes, you really are disabled. It can take years. They dying part doesn't help in the decision.
Ben doesn't have a fall-back. He was a foster kid. He's in his early thirties and working 15 to 20 hours a week for minimum wage to help pay the bills while he's staying with a friend. So he went to apply for food stamps. Because of the hours he works, he qualifies for thirty bucks a month. He overheard a woman saying in Spanish that she had lost her job when they discovered her Social Security number was a fake so she was going to try to get food stamps. It seems like they'd discover her lack of a SS number at a government agency, but Ben was furious.
I don't know if Ben is someone who usually thinks of 'They' with a capital 'T', or if it was just that he was sick from chemotherapy and worn out. He seems like a sweet young man. I'll never know, because I live in the building from which he was evicted.
The thing is, Ben doesn't realize he is just a step away from becoming a part of 'They' himself. Once he is completely unable to work due to the chemo, he'll be considered a lazy bum on welfare -- if he lives that long -- even though he's paid into Social Security since he was a teenager. And he's already part of a 'They'. He's very obviously and openly gay, and I think anyone who talks to him for a moment knows it.
Peak oil vs global warming
by Margaret B.
| Oct. 17, 2007 |
Oil peak or peak oil?| |
Excerpt: The United States consumes about 21 million barrels of petroleum every day. About 85 million barrels a day is produced in the entire world. The US thus consumes about a fourth of the supply, even though it has only 5 percent of the world's population. |
It blows *my* mind that millions of homes on the East Coast are heated in the most fucktarded fashion possible: they burn oil. each house has a furnace and a big oil tank. wow. when the price of oil hits $100 per barrel, (in 10 years, $200, in 20, $400) what are these people going to do?
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Excerpt: The US only produces about 7.5 million barrels a day, so it has to import some 13 million. the geniuses in the White House have so alienated some US suppliers, like Venezuela, that Caracas is planning to sell nearly half of its over 2 mn. b/d to China rather than selling it all to the US. |
Hugo's Revenge. He is still pissed about our support of the attempted coup. Now he wants to fuck over the U.S. in the most full and complete manner by cutting off our oil supply from Venezuela. Who can blame him? Bush is such an asshole, and the people working for him are even worse -- they should be in prison, not running a country.
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We had oil heat in the house I grew up in, and even then, I remember finding the whole arrangement bizarre: Once a year in the autumn, a tanker truck would pull up in front of our house -- the same kind of big ol' tank trucks that bring gas to gas stations, complete with 'Shell' logo on the truck -- and the driver would carry his hose into our front yard and pump hundreds of gallons of oil into the tank under the grass ...
Mostly I was freaked out by the danger of fire or explosion -- there was nothing to stop anyone from unscrewing the pipe's cap and dropping a lit match into our oil tank. But also I remember from all those years ago, everything about the arrangement, from the driver's clothes to the scent to the spills on the lawn and the blackened filters in the furnace in our basement, everything was so yicky dirty.
Just a memory. None of what I've just typed is particularly pertinent to anything, but dang me, I sure do prefer other heating systems we've had in apartments since I grew up.
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America goes to the movies
by Angry Annie
| Oct. 17, 2007 |
It's the same question you've asked before, but the frustration is starting to get me down too ..
How do we rouse the American people to the dangers of fire in a burning theater? The smoke, the flames are everywhere, and still people relax in their seats watching the movie.
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I don't know the answer, Annie. Most of the people won't listen to anything unless it's from an "official source" -- government or media, if anyone can tell the difference. If America is a movie theater in this analogy, I guess I'd say the audience only wants to watch the big screen, so when we shout "Fire!" they just tell us to shush.
And it'll sound sad to say this, but honestly I have almost nothing in common with the people just watching the show. Saving them is not my top priority. But I really would like to save the theater ...
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Helen & Harry
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Twofer of fun: money vs. gold
by Hazel Burke
| Oct. 17, 2007 |
Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson gave a speech today. Somehow a nugget of truth leaked out! Which may be a first for the Bush Administration.
This is crucially important to understand because it tells us a bit more about how the government perceives the housing bubble -- which therefore tells us that they will go to extremes to "fix" the problem they created:
Paulson warns of damage to come| |
Excerpt: The housing downturn would "continue to adversely impact our economy, our capital markets, and many homeowners for some time yet", predicting further declines in home construction. "The ongoing housing correction is not ending as quickly as it might have appeared late last year." ...
The Treasury secretary said the US economy remained "healthy and diversified" and would continue to grow. "But let me be clear. Despite strong economic fundamentals, the housing decline is still unfolding and I view it as the most significant current risk to our economy. The longer housing prices remain stagnant or fall, the greater the penalty to our future economic growth." |
Let *me* be clear: the final sentence is the key:
"The longer housing prices remain stagnant or fall, the greater the penalty to our future economic growth."
So, "they" consider the problem that must be "solved" is to make home prices rise again. That is critical for "them". But the home price bubble resulted from easy lending and excess global money supply and drove up home prices far beyond what is *affordable* on average, to Americans!
So how can the Bush Administration make home prices rise even *more* without causing incomes to rise even more than that -- to catch up on affordability?
1) A fall in the price of the U.S. dollar, relative to other currencies, which would make U.S. real estate prices seem cheap to foreign investors and immigrants.
2) Inflation affecting the prices of everything else, including wages, so that over time laborers can once again afford to buy homes the old fashioned way, with down payments and all that stuff.
Clearly, Paulson is looking to the Fed to create more asset bubbles...and that will require lowering interest rates by a lot...until house prices stop falling.
Bingo!
Now look at Steve Saville's latest article, which I think tells us what to do (not all at once, but over the coming months and maybe the next year or two or three):
Commodities and the crack-up boom| |
Excerpt: "but governments and their central banks have gone so far down the inflation path that turning back is no longer an option" |
Get that in your head: the government cannot turn back, they must continue to create asset bubbles or else the whole system would collapse before the current group of politicians leave office!
The entire article is excellent, especially the Ludwig von Mises quote.
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Hazel Burke
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Reality enema
by Kathy Fisher
| Oct. 17, 2007 |
Can you still work after you begin to collect Social Security Retirement?| |
Excerpt: The simple answer to this question is that you may work while receiving Social Security retirement benefits. However, although you are allowed to work while you receive retirement benefits, your work activity may have an effect on how many months per year you may receive a cash retirement benefit. ... |
What a sad joke this is! They want us to live in poverty. How the fuck is Leon going to live on what they allow him to make!
If he wants to cut his hours at Read Auto Parts he will still make too much. If he works a few hours a day no one will want to hire him and if he does we'll never be able to live on what he makes. HOW INSANE!
I don't understand this. How in the hell do some people get a monthly pension check plus a Social Security check and not run into this problem?
So you pay into the system for forty plus years and then when it's time to get some of it back they tell you you can't earn what you need and what you've been earning to survive just basically get by (no frills!) and if you make more than the allowed amount you have to pay it back AND when you find out what that amount is you find out that it's far less than what you need to pay your bills and just live decently not high but just get by... What kind of shit is this?
You know, it's as if they want people out of their homes and on to the streets. Or better yet just never collect at all. NO JUST GIVE INTO THE FAILED SYSTEM AND NEVER ASK OR EXPECT ANYTHING BACK. Now that's good training to make us all be good little sheeple.
Yet the free loading politicians have a guaranteed retirement package which doesn't dictate how much they can live on. Isn't that special! The funds are never tapped for them. Yes there's always plenty of money left for them.
There's no deal here to be made. You can't settle for a some of the money like a pay off and tell them to stick the rest up their asses and go to hell. You can't tell them you'll continue working just so long as they stop taking it out of you. NOPE!
I knew this was a scam from the get go but when you actually see it in print then and only then do you realized just how bamboozled we have all been. All I can say is that there's going to be a lot of folks getting paid under the hat.
I have not shown this to Leon yet but when he reads it, I assure you he
going to be mad as hell.
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Oh Kathy, cripes, it sounds like you're screwed six ways from Wednesday. Wish I could offer more than a hug and a shake of my head.
Our assumption here has always been that we'll be working full-time until the day we die. And if our health goes while we're still alive so we can't work, we'll just walk halfway across a big bridge. We say it to each other as a joke, but really it's true:
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Helen & Harry
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Illumination in bits and pieces
by Herb Ruhs, MD
| Oct. 17, 2007 |
We are only white, brown, black, red or yellow on the outside. Inside we all look alike.
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"By their fruits ye shall know them." By that standard the war in the Middle East is a war of extermination waged by militarily strong White Christian nations against militarily weak Dark Muslim nations. Deja Crusade.
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Those who would seek peace first need to seek justice.
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Anyone visiting New Orleans as a tourist has the blood of ethnic cleansing on their hands.
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Some enslave others with violence.
Some enslave themselves to avoid violence.
Some struggle to avoid slavery.
Some struggle to free others.
All want their children to be free.
We differ in how to achieve this common goal.
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Herb Ruhs, MD
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Non-denial denial
Re Blackwater mercenaries disarmed US soldiers at gunpoint
I had my doubts this actually happened until I read Blackwater's non-denial denial.
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SirJ
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Smears
by JR Mooneyham
| Oct. 17, 2007 |
Gossip more powerful than truth, researchers say
Note that Republican smear campaigns depend heavily upon this phenomenon.
Money changes hands
US buying loyalty of 'concerned' Iraqis| |
Excerpt: One [Sunni sheik] mentions weapons, but the general insists: "I can give you money to work in terms of improving the area. What I cannot do - this is very important -- is give you weapons."
The gravity of the war council in a tent at the US forward operating base at Camp Assassin is suspended for a few moments as one of the local Iraqi leaders says jokingly but knowingly: "Don't worry! Weapons are cheap in Iraq." |
This used to be known as bribery. Sooner or later this policy will come back to bite us.
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Wig
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The old college try
by Anon Ymous
| Oct. 17, 2007 |
Re Swiss elections use quantum cryptography for election security
Nothing is 100% safe.
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Abso yup lutely true. Traditionally, of course, there's been a reasonable effort to have votes honestly counted, and we're big believers in tradition.
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Helen & Harry
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Statuesque
by Kathy Fisher
| Oct. 16, 2007 |
Ex-Mexican leader's statue felled| |
Excerpt: Opposition protesters in Mexico have torn down a bronze statue of the former president, Vicente Fox, just hours after it was erected. |
It warms my heart to hear about things like this. Any statues of Bush we could topple?
The "little guy" gets his ass kicked |
