March 8, 2008 archive

bioTrekker, Showing You can Drive an RV and Still be Green

Thinking about that retirement RV or just wanting to take the family on the road, but worried about gas prices?  Maybe a green RV is right for you.  The baby boomer retiree explosion may very well provide the buyers market to make green RV’s a common site on our nations highways.

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Cross posted in EENR.

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

1 Bush explains veto of waterboarding bill

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer

35 minutes ago

WASHINGTON – President Bush said Saturday he vetoed legislation that would ban the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods such as waterboarding to break suspected terrorists because it would end practices that have prevented attacks.

“The bill Congress sent me would take away one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror,” Bush said in his weekly radio address taped for broadcast Saturday. “So today I vetoed it,” Bush said. The bill provides guidelines for intelligence activities for the year and includes the interrogation requirement. It passed the House in December and the Senate last month.

“This is no time for Congress to abandon practices that have a proven track record of keeping America safe,” the president said.

Marking some grim milestones in March

From our friends and colleagues at the Iraq Moratorium:

Sometime in the next few weeks, the 4,000th American service member will die in Iraq. Coalition deaths in Iraq reached 4,000 last August, but Americans focus on American casualties. Even approximate numbers of Iraqi deaths are estimates, so we will never learn when the millionth Iraqi is killed–and it may well have happened already.

On March 19, this unjust and unjustifiable war will enter its sixth year! Kids who were in first grade during the 2003 invasion will be entering Junior High this year, more than half their lives spent with the horror of war constantly in the background.

March 21, the Third Friday of this month, will mark the seventh Iraq Moratorium Day, a day to interrupt our normal routine and speak out against this senseless bloodshed and the damage it is doing to our country. Politicians and talking heads on TV speak calmly of the occupation lasting another decade–or another hundred years–or they try not to talk about it at all.

Many of us will be taking part in protests around the 5th Anniversary of the start of the war. It begins with some courageous Iraq Veterans Against the War holding Winter Soldier hearings March 13-16. Some Iraq Moratorium vigils will be held on Wednesday, March 19, this month to highlight the anniversary of the war’s start, and to link up with other protests called by United For Peace & Justice and a broad range of individual anti-war groups. Some will continue on the Third Friday as usual. Check the listings at IraqMoratorium.org for an action near you.

March 21 is also Good Friday, the religious holiday marking when the man many of us know as The Prince of Peace was killed by Roman soldiers occupying Judea.  Some of us will wear a button or black armband to services to remind others of the need to speak out and to act to end the war. In a growing number of towns, especially in New England, local churches will ring their bells at noon in observance of the Iraq Moratorium.

As we have said from the beginning: It’s got to stop! We’ve got to stop it!

So do something on March 21 to keep this issue on the front burner — and to turn up the heat.

If you’re traveling for Easter, or on spring break from school, take the Iraq Moratorium with you wherever you go.  Wear a button or a black ribbon.  Talk to your family about the war.  Find an event in the community you’re visiting. Send an email or write a blog post. Make a donation to a peace group.  But do something to mark the day. (You’ll find a list of activities and ideas for individual action on our website .)

Finally, if you can, please make a contribution to keep this grassroots, volunteer effort going and growing.  We operate on a shoestring.  American taxpayers spend as much on the Iraq war in four seconds as the Iraq Moratorium spends in a year.  Every dollar you can spare will go to immediate and effective use in the cause of peace.

Donate here.

In closing, we thank you for all you are doing to end this catastrophic war.

5 Years of Horror and Madness in Iraq

March 19th marks the 5th anniversary of the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq.  This debacle is costing us ,upwards of two trillion dollars, nearly four thousand American lives so far, and a million or so Iraqi lives.  

As-My-Country-Lay-Dying

Army Asked to Probe Duty Standards

Yesterday, 3-07-08, I quickly posted this about a Breaking story on Redeployment of injured, physically and mentally, Iraq and Afgan Vets.

I’m bringing an update to that post hopefully as a way to place preasure on the Pentagon and Congress to carry through with Spec. Bryan Currie, 21, of Charleston, S.C. request, through the Army legal channels, for the Court of Inquiry to investigate top generals at Fort Carson; Fort Drum, N.Y.; and Fort Hood, Texas.

Clinton, McCain and Obama and Lifetimes of Experience

Hillary Clinton denigrated Obama’s lifetime  when she said:


I think that I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House. I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002,” Clinton says.

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On Docudharma and Blogging……..or, Welcome New Users!

Howdy Folks! It seems like there are a lot of new faces on the board, which is of course wonderful! So it seems like a good time to restate a few things and give folks a chance to ask any questions they may have, as well as perhaps clear up any misconceptions of what we are all about.

The most important thing about Docudharma is this: We are a community blog, we are what the community makes us, and the community is what individual posters make it. In other words, this blog is EXACTLY what YOU make it into. The more you participate, the more YOU decide what Docudharma is. We welcome wholeheartedly each of you contributing just as much as you want, and shaping the community into what you want it to be.

There are admins here to settle conflicts etc., but we have very few rules,  we try to keep as light a touch as is possible, and that has meant that there are very few conflicts!

Our ethos?

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Art shamelessly stolen from Ink In Our Veins

Another motto we like: Don’t start no shit, and there wont BE no shit!

Anti-public- corruption-compliance

Anti-public-corruption compliance is the latest global buzzword and it may be take in the literal sense.  Compliance with corruption that is not in the public interest.

The US had Enron which begat Sarbanes-Oxley.  Hegelian dialectic at it’s best, problem, reaction, “solution”.

End the Age Of Genocide Now.

It is not enough to simply have ‘good’ people or experienced people in Washington.  Without fundamental change Rwanda and Darfur are going to happen again and again. If a candidate can deliver on that change, I don’t care if their name is Clinton or Obama.  But neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama are wonks on conflict and genocide, so if they’re going to make proposals you and I should be asking very earnestly where these ideas originate.

The TaleMaster 8….News

This little tale started itself about a dozen years ago. It was originally a couple of pages, a  background for a D&D character. Then came a dream or three which added so much more. Life & Death interfered for many years. I’ve begun dreaming of this tale again, recently. This will eventually be a book, I hope.

the rest of the TaleMaster

So please, go get yourself a tall cold beverage, adjust your reading glasses and settle into your comfy chair and join me in the City of Colours…

drgngrl

“Almost home ” he thinks, gazing northward from the bowmost point of the barge. He sits just above the clear blue water watching the mountain grow before his eyes. Focusing closer in, he watches the team of oxen on the last stretch of the journey patiently pulling the vessel. He turns and scans the deck.  

Can we apply to the Hague now?

I’m so pissed.  If you want a well thought out essay, it’s not this one.  

Since the Commander and Thief has vetoed banning waterboarding, can we please ask the Hague for help?

Bush vetoes bill banning waterboarding

CIA needs this kind of ‘valuable’ tool to prevent attacks, Bush says in this AP article

I call bullshit!

President Bush said Saturday he vetoed legislation that would ban the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods such as waterboarding to break suspected terrorists because it would end practices that have prevented attacks.

Pony Party: Memphis in May

Got nothing to do during the first week of May? Consider the Beale Street Music Festival. It actually is NOT on Beale Street but on the grounds of Tom Lee Park. It isn’t strictly a “blues festival” either, probably because it didn’t make enough money so there are pop and rock acts.

Have a look at the line up here. I am planning to see  the following for certain: Keb’mo, Pintetop Perkins, Michael Franti, Aretha Franklin. In general how it works is that there is a smaller “Blues tent” and I have rarely seen a bad performer there. There is a stage with music that is retro/classic/R&B ( think middle aged people)and a stage for young people that generally showcases local rap/rock/whatever groups.

It always rains or it is unseasonably hot and you get a sun burn, and by the third day it has a nasty smell. Beale street is always a zoo beyond zoos during the festival. Traffic which is not bad in Memphis as a rule is horrible, parking will be expensive.

However, if you were interested in coming, I have a floor you could crash on. In the past I have seen great performances from: Chaka Khan, Jerry Lee Lewis, Preston Shannon, B-52s, Parliament, John Legend, Black Crowes, a bunch of bluesmen/women I was not familiar with.

I will also treat for ribs and/or BBQ and drag you to a local tourist spot.

You don’t even really have to hang out with me the whole time because I am on the geeky side and I don’t actually live in Memphis but a quick drive in.

Please don’t rec pony party, hang out and chit chat and then go read one of the excellent offerings on our recent and rec’d list.

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