That time of year.

It's dern near Christmas time again folks and I'm still kicking,
praises be to Allah or whatever its name is. It's usually around
abouts now that you start hearing a lot flap-jack about what's it all
mean to ya. Well, I ain't one of them reason-fer-the-season types, so
I just like to ponder the idear in real secular-like way. Now you'll
hear a lot about consumerism and the death of American moral
superiority and the way the almighty lifted his protective shield from
this nation cuz we went and became all tolerant of heathens and
whatnot. But personally I reckon it comes down to this; there ain't
much time in this breakneck, cut-throat all around neck damaging world
what we live in, to take the time and recognize the value of the
people in our lives. Maybe if you can't find another reason to get
into the spirit of things, you can just go and remember that we all
could use an excuse to remind the people that populate our own little
worlds that, in the end they still matter. That seems to me reason
enough for the season. But then, that's just me ain't it.

Here's a Thought...

I was watching a documentary today on alien
abduction. They asked the question, if the stories aren't true, why
would someone invent such an unpleasant experience? The show had it's
token skeptic who offered her opinion. She thinks there are
psychological benefits to believing in aliens, particularly the we-are-
not-alone factor. And that got me thinking; why do we seem so
desperate to believe in existence of a superior inteligence? It may be
that it answers a fear that is new to us; fear of our own technology.
In periods past we had other models to hold up to our own epoch.
Ancient man was at the mercy of nature and hence the gods. Even the
ages that directly preceded our own - particularly the Enlightenment -
were in large part an attempt to recapture the glory of past
civilizations. But with the onset of the atomic and digital ages we
have entered a world for which there is no precedent. It seems
possible that much of our attraction to the idea of technologically
advanced aliens lies in the idea that someone, somewhere has survived
this intellectual awkward phase. For perhaps the first time in
history, humans have the sense that their technology can destroy
civilization if not the world. Some people react to this by assuming
civilization is evil and that it's destruction is more or less god's
plan. But god is only a comfort to those who are preparing for death.
Perhaps in this life-centric culture belief in a technological
superior being can serve the same function as the spiritual kind. But
then that begs an archetypal question; if aliens did not exist, would
it be neccessary for man to invent them?

Final Round - Education

Obama takes a kind of cheap shot at McCain by slipping in a campaign advisor's off-handed remark. John was sounding a lot like a Democrat (which is good since it'll piss off his base), but then said NCLB was a good idea. Boo on both accounts.

@ The Ballad of Joe the Plumber

Apparently Joe the plumber is the only person voting in this election. At least that's the way it sounds the way they keep talking to the guy.

Final Round - "Herbert Hoover"

Is is just me, or does McCain talk about Hoover like he knew him?

Final Round - The Bottom line (thus far)

McCain is not going to score any points with independents so long as he keeps treating "that one" like he's an uppity pre-teen.

The Final Round - Obama talking about Drilling

Judging by the look on his face, Barak is wondering why the hell he has to answer this same question the same way three times. Maybe because McCain keeps acting like this is the only debate in the election. Is it deliberate or a senior moment?

The Final Round - VP

Nice segway Obama!! After McCain mentions Palin and her backing of autistic problems, Obama points out that if you want to study the problem you might not want to freeze spending.

The Final Round - VP's

"American's have gotten to know Sarah Palin." Sure, John, and their scared sh*tless!!!

The Final Round - The Nasty Question

McCain takes the opportunity to paint himself as a victim. Obama responds that Americans don't care if they feel victimized, but does not respond to John's assertion that not taking public money and doing town hall forums is a lie. Round could go to McCain, but then he cites a "negative" ad being an attack on his healthcare plan. Obama comes back mentioning the "terrorist" and "kill him" speech. Then repudiates it, not in so many words. Round Obama (?).

The Final Round

It's a little sad to see McCain wait until less than 30 days before the election to finally challenge the notion that he's not George Bush.

The Final Round - Here's a thought

I wonder if they had a meeting over who gets to wear the red and who gets the blue tie.

The Final Round

Only a few minutes into it and McCain has already regurgitated the same arguments he did last time. Where are our jobs going to go? Ireland, obviously!!'

The Final Round

McCain should have used Visine. McCain's looking grumpy and blinking an absurd amount.

The Final Round

Uh-oh. McCain is already getting nasty.

The Final Round

Buying mortgages McCain? Sounds like what you agree with Obama here.

The Final Round

Nice set...it looks like an episode of the Apprentice.

Slowing Down

I had to work on Govenor's Island today. We filmed a
company retreat and team building extravaganza for DOITT. Lots of tug
of war and egg relays and other such honkey entertainment my poor
producer (an african American) simply couldn't understand. Not only
were such things alien to her, i found that she, and nearly all pf the
locals we spoke with had never even been there. I tried to explain
some of the historical significance of the place but it was totally
lost on them. To make myself feel better I wandered aimlessly around
old New Amsterdam. And what was my reward for doing what so few New
Yorkers do by simply slowing down a bit? A fife and drum corp. That's
right. Walking up an entirely random street I heard them playing and
went to investigate. They happened to be on Stone St which is
apparently one of the last cobble stone streets in the city. Let that
be a lesson (re)learned. If you want to get any joy out of something,
it's better just to slow down.

God Speaks on the GOP!!!

Jesus' opinion of the GOP has finally been revealed!!!!

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/08/28/gustav-threatens-gop-convention-plans/

Thoughts on Georgia

Dear Frubie,

I wanted to get your opinion on the Russo-Georgian war. Western
opinion seems to generally absolve Georgia of all but the most minimal
responsibility, and levels against Russia the old expanionist
aggressor charge. However, it seems to me that Georgia is paying the
price for an outrageously foolish military adventure against the
former super-power. New powers, or in this case resurgent ones, tend
to be more than a little self-conscious of that power. The first
American historical parallel that springs to mind is Santa Anna firing
on the Alamo. As we recall the response was a bit more than uneven. I
suppose I'm wondering, is it not within a nation's rights to utilize
its full powers when handed a caus belli against a declared foe on a
silver platter? Or, to put it another way, was Russia's response
really that surprising?

Your friend,
DJ Yummy Mummy

Here's a Thought...

Gen X turned out to be a bit of a bust didn't it? I mean, we were supposed to be the 1st generation worse off than our parents. But really, can you think of anyone worse off than our parents? None of my friends knocked up their girlfriends at the age nineteen, for a start. Sure, some of them did later but not at nineteen. I also don't know anyone that's been forced to feed their children a vile mixture of mashed potatoes, cheap ground beef and Veg-All (if you don't know what that is consider yourself blessed) and try to pretend it’s health food. All we've got is 10% unemployment and that's affecting the boomers more than us anyway. Maybe in a way, the Gen-X moniker was a blessing in disguise. Maybe, devoid of expectations we've been able to do more or less what we’ve wanted to. After all, why not? We were screwed anyways. Weren't we?

Russia, Georgia and who's to blame

I'm gonna try to take a second and put some perspective on this whole Russo-Georgian hullabalu. Most of the American press wants to paint the Georgians as the victims. Now, I'm not saying the Rissian response wasn't a little over-reactive (understatement) but let's try not to forget the part played by Georgia's rock-stupid government. The Russians have made perfectly apparent they're distaste for Georgia's westward leanings. By attempting their ill-concieved (huge understatement) military adventure against a region protected by Russian troops the Georgian government had served their country up on
a platter. Imagine if the Cuban missile crisis had happened during the Russo-Afghan war. A bellicose right-winger in power and the enemies ally bogged down in a destabilizing middle east war? Sound familiar?
What do you think Reagan would have done? Especially if the Russian response would have been minimized. While I don't condone military aggression in any form, I also don't think the Georgian government should be so easily forgiven for giving the Russians such a convenient excuse to destroy their country.

Iraq demands 'clear timeline' for US withdrawal

Fascinating how the Bush administration continues to try to spin their
strategic failures. Even though the Iraqi leaders have come out with
what amounts to an endorsement of Barack's demand of a defined time
table for withdrawl, Bush still tries to spin it. "A timeline?
Wouldn't dream of it. Now, a horizon? That's a horse of a different
color."

http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_6775/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=XOO7KXJ6

Testies

Testing

Testing

one two

...three?

Here's a question...

Why did I think Poncho Villa looked like Ule Brenner?

New York Post

Is it a sign of the times? Violence increasing in Brooklyn & indeed
around the city. Might it be an effect of the overall pessimistic view
of the economy?

http://m.nypost.com/ms/p/nyp/nyp/view.m?pid=23907&storyid=119849

African VooDoo Downpour

I've seen some interesting shit in my day, but yesterday was
exceptional by any standard. It was summertime in the park, hot,
sweating, sun-burning summer and I had to work in it. Typical. Not
that I wasn't having fun from time to time. The event was summer stage
in Central Park, a nice little affair, if you don't have to lug
hundred pound spools of audio cable across astroturf lawns that seem
to bleed clay into rain puddles.

Incase you're not familiar with Summer-stage, its a grand tradition of
free concerts by artists so obscure only the snobby-est of the snob-o-
legensia, the intellectual high priests of whatever art they happen to
worship - in this case of course, it would be music - only they would
know who they were actually listening to. In other words, classic New
York.

This Saturday, June 28th, the acts were billed as Afro-beat, which is
unfortunate since those of us who were once proto-snobs turned cynics
will tend to hear a term such as Afro-Beat and think in terms of white
suburbanites in Afrika Boombata costumes playing the djembe. But this
was genuine at least. Real Africans from real African countries. And
this is where it got weird, man - real weird. These cats were the real
deal, born and bread in a land so old even their ghosts have lost
count of the ages. The place where voodoo comes from, if you dig my
jive. Not that I believe in any of that. However, cynic or not, I make
it a policy to respect the super-natural, because, as the saying goes,
you never know.

The acts were fine, lots of dancing and the sound man laid on the hand
drums a little too hot in my humble opinion, but they were otherwise
good. Then it came, the last act. The act from Mali. There wasn't
anything too special about them it seemed, aside from the skies
momentarily clearing when they too the stage. Strange, too be sure,
but not too strange. And they went through their act with little to
nothing of interest to note. Until the last song that is.

It was typical of what you'd expect if you knew nothing of African
popular music, as I did and do. Lots of rhythm and poly-layered
voices, singing only god (and people who speak Mali) knew what. As
they got to the end, the rhythm picked up, more beats, more dancing.
One of the men launched into the sort of gyrating routine that must
have scared the pantaloons off old Europeans. It built - more drums,
more dancing. The kind of free-form musical experience hippies across
the white world have been trying to emulate without success. Then it
it hits a crescendo, the men's face look entranced and fierce, two
women take the stage to join them and the sky opens up. Wind whips at
the tent I am working under. The rain falls in sheets on the dancing
men, the dancing crowd and picks up intensity with the music and it
occurs to me that this must be what they meant by voodoo.

It takes a while for the rain to stop after the music ends. I figure
maybe there was an element in that dance that was meant to bring on
the rains in lands where there is none. To do it in New York was
simply overkill.

Grand Juries Become Latest Abortion Battlefield

In an interesting twist on the old anti-abortion tactics, pro-lifers in Kansas are using voter petitioned Grand Juries to try to indict a late-term abortion provider in the state. According to the NYT, social conservatives have used the technique with limited success against porn and adult toy distributors. And I say limited in the sense that the only thing they've done is stigmatize a few stores to the point where they closed all together. Is it just me, or does the whole thing smack of base harassment? I think it's interesting to note that the one of the first politicians quoted was a local Republican bemoaning the abuse of an otherwise useful populist tool.

Begin forwarded message:

Date: June 17, 2008 1:13:44 PM EDT

Subject: Grand Juries Become Latest Abortion Battlefield

Source: NYT > U.S.

Author: By MONICA DAVEY

Under an 1887 statute, Kansans gathered signatures to demand that a grand jury investigate an abortion clinic.

Read more…

Obama ridicules McCain's plan to tap offshore oil

McCain is voicing his support for new off-shore exploration, which is a nice sounding plan if you don't take into account the 10-15 years it generally takes for such explorations to really start producing. So if Mac isn't really trying to help us working stiffs at the pump, who's he playing to? Could it be...Satan - I mean, Big Oil? Oh Mac, when the Straight Talk Express get derailed? From Rueters:Obama ridicules McCain's plan to tap offshore oil.

Jun 17 01:05 PM US/Eastern

Democrat Barack Obama Tuesday accused White House rival John McCain of "posturing" as the Republican, tapping voters' anxiety about sky-high fuel prices, called for offshore oil drilling.In a speech later in the Texas oil capital of Houston, the Arizona senator was to call for a 27-year-old moratorium on offshore exploration to be lifted -- reversing his own support for the ban when he ran for president in 2000.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080617170525.dr2mgy4w&show_article=1

Hooray for the Sac (ramento)!!

Today is a great day in the realm of civil rights. Finally, as the cliche goes, gays have earned the unquestioned right to be just as miserable as the rest of us. Marriage, that oft desired (and then rejected as soon as the parties have come to their senses) sacrament will not only be legal in the Bear Republic, but marriages performed in other states will protected. Now lets see how the Oral Roberts crowd deals with this. Hee...Oral. Funny name for an anti-gay crusader...

Begin forwarded message:

Date: June 17, 2008 1:25:54 PM EDT
Subject: California gays, lesbians marry legally
Source: Reuters: U.S.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California performed its first legally recognized same-sex weddings on Monday and opened its doors to gay and lesbian couples from around the country, a move likely to challenge other states that define marriage as between a man and a woman.

What? Me Worry?

All of us "progressives" (i.e. non-communist supporters of the lower and middle classes) sure are happy to see Democrats in such a strong position. But that doesn't mean we've got nothing to worry about. Take this article, published originally in the Nation and reposted by CommonDreams.org. It's been in the news for months that corporate money was being drawn from the Republicans to the Democrats seemingly by osmosis. Fortune even listed Hillary as being the top recipient of any candidate of any party at the start of the primaries. However, this is the first article I've seen that asks the question of what this will cost us. How good can it be to have the Dems as deep in corporate pockets as Neo-cons? 

Begin forwarded message:

Date: June 10, 2008 1:27:08 PM EDT

Subject: Bluewashing: Corporate Money Tries to Buy a Democratic Race

Source: CommonDreams.org » Headlines07

We all know about greenwashing, the term activists developed to describe deceptive corporate practice of claiming that self-serving policies and harmful products are somehow good for the environment. Well, perhaps in this year of political change, when polls suggest that Democrats ranks will swell in the House and Senate, it is time to come up [...]

Read more…

This is why...

I've never had a problem with Israel's existence. What I can't stand
is the still flouted myth that Israel is the victim in the on-going
crisis. The following report by Reuters clearly shows masked men
attacking Palestinians in the West Bank, apparently coming from one of
the quasi-legal settlements in the occupied territories. While it is
not the official policy of Israel, clearly it is the policy of some of
the Israeli people to drive all Palestinians off of their land.

In case the video doesn't work, the link

Bruno blasts Paterson's proposed school tax cap -- Newsday.com

This is interesting. After finding himself in the awkward position of
being a Republican resisting a tax break, big Joe Bruno of the NY
Senate managed to find a rhetorical loophole to wriggle through.
Newsday reports that Bruno opposed the governor's plan "to cap at 4
percent yearly increases in school property taxes, saying he wants to
cut them, not slow their growth. "

Well isn't that convenient? Let's see how that one plays with the press.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/state/ny-stprop135725211jun13,0,7817258.story

This is amusing. :S

This is the kind of thing that drives me batty. When the Mayor is
demanding a minimum 7% cut in all city services, a judge, who is
little more than a well connected lawyer, would have the audacity to
do this?!?

From the WSJ:

"Checks and Judicial Balances
June 14, 2008; Page A10

Here's a weekend daydream: What if on Monday, you walked into work and
gave yourself a raise? That's what happened in New York this week,
when a state judge ordered the Governor and state legislature to pony
up bigger paychecks for him and the rest of his judicial friends. It's
the perfect plan – if only it weren't for that inconvenient detail
about separation of powers.

The ruling, by New York Supreme Court Justice Edward Lehner, commands
the state Senate and Assembly to pass a pay raise for judges in the
next 90 days – and make some provision to retroactively compensate
them for the lean years. The four plaintiffs in the suit suggested
$600,000 each would do the trick. Multiplied out for the entire New
York Judiciary, that would put New York taxpayers on the line for $700
million.

New York Governor David Paterson was unamused. Only the state
legislature has the power to set judicial salaries, his office rightly
pointed out in a statement. The judge's decision "flies in the face of
the state constitution."

There's more where that came from. Still pending before Judge Lehner
is a separate suit brought by New York State Chief Judge Judith Kaye,
who has retained New York attorney Bernard Nussbaum to sue the
Governor and legislature for a raise for all 3,000 New York judges.
Judge Lehner will thus be expected to rule in a case in which he is
effectively a plaintiff, and in which he is also judging a complaint
by his judicial superior.

The suits are necessary, say the judges, because legislators will
raise their salaries only when they also raise their own, a fact which
has left paychecks unaltered for a decade. That, in Judge Lehner's
words, represents an "unconstitutional interference upon the
independence of the judiciary." After a decade of inflation, judges
say their salaries have been effectively cut – something which is
prohibited by law.

At those rates, they say they now make less than what's pocketed by
first-year associates at big law firms. But few would consider their
salaries fodder for Oliver Twist. Chief Judge Kaye makes the most, at
$156,000 a year, while others earn about $136,700. By comparison,
Members of the U.S. Congress now make $169,300 a year. A memorandum of
law filed on behalf of Governor Paterson and state Assembly Speaker
Sheldon Silver in Judge Kaye's case notes that judges are already
extremely well paid relative to the state workforce.

We have some sympathy for the judges, most of whom could make far more
in private life. But then they also have extended tenure. To attract
better people to the bench, we'd be willing to swap higher pay for
term limits. New York judges may have a legitimate complaint about
salary erosion, but they are exceeding their own legal authority by
asserting the right to overrule the elected branches and set their own
pay – about as basic a legislative function as one can imagine.

Most judges choose their robes not for the salary but for the honor
and significant authority, and, dare we say, the chance to serve the
public. The hours are good, the work is interesting and they don't
suffer the indignities of work life that are routine for the first-
year associates whose salaries trump theirs. That, as they say, is
priceless."

The indispensable lady

Supporters of Hil should take some heart even after her apparent loss, because for at least the next two months, Hillary Clinton will own the Democratic party.  It was the inevitable outcome of such a long and bitter race that whomever came out as the loser would still be in an indispensable position. Hil is now the key to uniting the party. The press knows it, Obama knows it and you can bet your sugar cookies she does too. The question will be, what will give-em-hell Hillary do with this window of opportunity. For no matter what happens, you can be assured she will come out with one hell of a consolation prize for her monumental efforts.

- S. Frog

With a system like this...

This country was built by immigrants. But with a falling dollar, high unemployment and sky-rocketing food and fuel prices, will any of them still think its worth it? Now the New York Times gives them something else to ponder. In a story that sickens as much as it shocks, they report on an African immigrant who died while in custody. He was fighting to have his green card application re-evaluated, fell after his complaints of illness were apparently ignored and was left for 20 some-odd hours as he lapsed into a coma from massive head trauma. And while all this was going on, neither his lawyers, nor his family were notified?!  Since when did we become a third world country?! This is the kind of thing you'd assoicate with the communist bloc not the high and mighty land of the free. The longer this year goes on the more convinced I am that we, to put it mildly, are screwed.

Read all about it:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/nyregion/05detain.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

I know this is wrong but...

I love the idea of "Neo Nazi soccer hooligans."

Follow the bouncing link…
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL058731820080505?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Hep me Evo!! Say it aint so!!

Oh noes!! My be-sweatered presidente!! How could it come to this?! Evo Morales, my all time favorite sweater queen is faced with the prospect of his country disintegrating before his eyes?

From Al Jazeera:
Polls open in Bolivia regional vote

Voters are going to the polls in a regional referendum [on autonomy] dismissed as illegal by Evo Morales, Bolivia's president.

Read More...

Disorganized thoughts on Kosovar Independence

This is surprising to me. Although I'm not sure why. Kosovo is now independent. When the bombing started, under President Clinton, it was viewed by many people, myself included as a half-assed gesture. Push button war-making at it's worst. But now history is proving the nay-sayers wrong. Milosevic was ousted, and now the Kosovar's are independent. I remember arguing that the only way to stop the ethnic cleansing was to put troops on the ground. But compare the outcomes of this push button war and the war in Iraq and you begin to feel it was not so spineless after all.

The question this situation now begs is the very reasonable one coming out of Moscow; what will this mean to other seperatist movements? Further, how will Muslim sepratists look on this? Will it enflame their already ferverent belief that the Christian world will never recognize their rights? This can, and most likely will, further undermine the stability of the basic unit of power for the past few centuries; the nation-state.

Is that in fact what we are seeing in this epoch? First the dissolution of Empires, then the eroision of the nation-state itself? That's perhaps a bit of a drastic assumption. The ethnically homogeneous nation states, like France and Germany are probably not in any great danger of collapse in the near future. It is in the post-imerpial states where the dissolution is occuring. And this is perhaps not an entirely bad thing, particularly in Europe. The benefit of being part of a major power, i.e. military and industrial organizing capacity, has become of little benefit on the continent. However, this does still bode ill for the post-imperial states outside of Europe. The precident it sets can and will only embolden those sepratist movements that are still threating to destablize an already unstable world.

Ann Coulter Supports Hillary?!?

This got me thinking. Why do the conservative media and the Republican candidates keep acting like Hillary is the presumptive nominee? Also, why does the (so-called) liberal media seem to have a bias against her?



On the first point, I reasoned that it is most likely out of necessity. Since Conservatives have no real standard bearer, they are attempting to use anti-Clinton sentiment as a rallying point. The logic being, if they cannot inspire social conservatives on their issues then they can use their presumed hatred of the name Clinton, and Hillary in particular, as the next best thing. The question is going to be, how much does the conservative movement actually hate Hillary? If the behavior of conservative pundits and strategists is to be believed, then quite a lot. However, since neither group can really claim to have their finger on the pulse of their audience that remains to be seen.

The second point is a bit more dubious. Why, after only winning two primaries outright, has the media proclaimed Obama to have the momentum each time, while Hillary's numerous wins have always been presented in a less glorious light (the AP's announcement that Hillary "claims" a win in Florida was one example)? While most ardent Hillary supporters I have spoke with chalk it up to the press simply not liking the woman (or her being a woman, depending on how militantly feminist the person I was speaking with was), I think the answer is simpler than that. I think, from the standpoint of the press, that Obama is simply a more interesting story. Hillary's run for president surprised no one. It was speculated, it was assumed. In short, it was yesterday's news. Hill, like McCain, has been in the press' gun sights for a very long time. As far as news people are concerned, old news is bad news. Obama, a new face who is camera friendly, no history in the press, etc, etc, simply makes for better copy.

All in all, I think that if Hillary can weather this level of apathy to and abuse of her narrative, there is no reason why she can't win in November.