March 2009 archive

Mar 29 2009

Bill Moyers Journal: Economy, March 27

Bill Moyers-James Thindwa

James Thindwa, whose campaign for economic fairness for working people in Chicago has brought him up against the city’s powerful political establishment and corporate giant Wal-Mart.

“”Your average person is getting up every day to go to work, and to care for a family, doesn’t have a lobbyist in Washington. They don’t have a lobbyist in the city council. They don’t have a lobbyist at the state legislature. The community organization gathers facts for them. They call meetings. They invite people to come. They invite elected officials to come, attend those meetings, so that they can listen to the community’s grievance. It makes for participation.””>>>>Read Transcript & Watch

Mar 29 2009

Late Night Karaoke

Things Just Are

Mar 29 2009

So. How does this grab ya? w poll

so. I am thinking of this… “yelling louder.”  My hub is the musician, not me but…  maybe there’s some metaphor… can we not just increase the volume (“yell louder”)  but also adjust the balance, the bass/treble, the equalizer (ha)? So I have this one little idea that has been hatching for a while now, but it is still embryonic. Im asking for your input & feedback, and also I am not a lone wolf type at all, I prefer  team style…. I don’t have “ego” in this (much),  please feel free to tell me it just sucks…lol.

My proposal is basically this:

A new weekly series (yes at the orange) to follow (piggyback) the Valtin Crew’s  new Sunday Round Up Series…. Mine to be an ACTION Diary (sorta).

Mar 29 2009

The Weapon of Young Gods #45: Demasiadas Revelaciones

I had always been good in a crisis. Siempre he aceptado el caos. I mean, I’m used to it by now-becoming el tranquilo ojo del huracán was essential en mi familia-pero esa día, Díos mio, was really pushing it. I had been taking turns at Lisa’s bedside with Mámi, because the overdose and associated chingada of the previous twenty-four hours had calmed down enough for Miguel and Apá to go back to work at something like the normal time that morning. When mi hermano came to get me for my next shift, though, I couldn’t do it. The idea of spending another hour scared shitless and mumbling “ay cabrona, ¿cómo podría hacer esto?” to my unconscious sister when she still had those pinche tubes up her naríz was just too much, so I told Miguel I needed a break, and got the fuck out of there. I fled, just like the night of mi cumpleaños when things got too crazy.

It had been bastante fácil to float over to mi troquita and just drive wherever, away from the hospital parking lot and back home up El Camino Real. My head was crammed with nine months of ugliness, and I knew that the only way to drain it was to tell somebody. So I called Roy-the one person who I thought I could count on for secrecy, if he could handle demasiadas revelaciones without cracking-and dragged him up to the place where it all happened. La colina, mi refugio. Where the quiet and calm had always been so soothing, but had since become as oppressive as the July heat that was waiting for us both up there.

Previous Episode and Previous Pertinent Episode

Mar 28 2009

Alaska’s Redoubt Volcano, Night Pictures:

New nighttime photos show Redoubt power

Dramatic new pictures taken overnight from across Cook Inlet show the explosive power of Redoubt volcano’s latest eruption. The volcano erupted four times in eight hours starting late Friday afternoon, with the most recent explosion at 1:20 a.m. today. Ash is moving north and west, and isn’t expected in Anchorage. Slide Show

Mar 28 2009

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 European protesters march in G20 rallies

By DEAN CARSON, Associated Press Writer

20 mins ago

LONDON – Thousands of people marched through European cities Saturday to demand jobs, economic justice and environmental accountability, kicking off six days of protest and action planned in the run-up to the G20 summit next week in London.

In London, more than 150 groups threw their backing behind the “Put People First” march. Police said around 35,000 attended the demonstration, snaking their way across the city toward Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park. Protest organizers said they wanted leaders from the world’s top 20 economies to adopt a more transparent and democratic economic recovery plan.

Brendan Barber, who heads an umbrella group for Britain’s unions, told assembled protesters in London’s Hyde Park that the G20 needed to “take actions to lay the foundation for a better world.”

Mar 28 2009

A Trip Down the Memory Hole

I have started writing compulsively again. In the past, I have had periods of time when I was consumed by an idea, or more likely, by a whole set of ideas, and I would write obsessively, but it has been quite some time since the last episode.

Over the course of the past month or so, I have been living through extended periods of lucid thought, recalling past experiences in great detail, essentially reliving the times and moments and places and people from various periods of my life. Often, the memories cut across time, linked not by time or place, but by the flow of thematic connections and relations. Also, there is a strong kinship with the concept expressed in the title of (1) Borge’s short story “The Garden of Forking Paths,” if you can imagine.

This stream-of-consciousness can be triggered by almost anything: a picture, a word, a phrase, a bit of music. I have let these memories flow, twist, and turn and only when they have subsided did I sit down to write a few notes, with the notation “DKos” on the top, providing just enough information for me to re-trigger the flow at a later time. I have twenty or thirty of these short notes stacked on my desk, none of which have actually become diaries.

The following diary, a nearly verbatim transcription from last night (Friday), started out as one of those short notes subsequent to an overwhelming series of detailed memories. As usual, I got my 5×8 yellow legal notepad and was about to start writing a note when I realized I couldn’t remember the initiating thought which had launched the thread. Oh well. I restarted the DVD I had been watching before this event triggered…and immediately put it on pause. One flash view of the first image on the screen brought it all back in all its flooding glory.

Mar 28 2009

The Absurd Possibilities of Post Bush America

The future lays before us. That has never been more true than now! (LOL)

We are balanced on the brink of two very distinct futures. A future determined by the Ruling Class, or a future determined by the other 7 billion of us.

War, Energy, Climate Crisis, the financial industry, redefining “the economy,” the broad spectrum of Human Rights issues vs the rights of corporations to exploit and oppress “workers” and/or “consumers.” The next four years are critical in determining which future we will have. Which future our children and grandchildren will have. People Power or the Corporate power of the Ruling Class. It is up to us to decide.

We are on the verge of breakthroughs in either technological or social change on every one of these issues. The majority of voters in America agree with most if not all of the Progressive Agenda on all of those issues.

So what is holding us back? What is stopping us from implementing all of these various breakthroughs?

Republicans, the Democrats who cater to and enable them and a broken Press Corpse. The Military industrial Complex, the Financial Overlords and the CEO’s and shareholders of the Oil and Insurance industries.

In other words, the Ruling Class. A tiny percentage of the planet’s population who hold the economic and political power of the world by, ultimately, the force of arms and bribery. (We like to call them Campaign Contributions here in the US of A.)

That’s right, they have the guns, but we have the numbers…but they have the will and we have the numbness, too. They are by nature, attracted to power. We are by nature, attracted to love, comfort and cable. And so, we leave them to run the world, while we just try to hang on, be left alone, and make it through another day.

All we want is to be left alone. But can we really afford that luxury with these two possible futures hanging in the balance?

We have the technology, the opportunity (after the Bush debacle) for massive change, and a President who is sympathetic and can, under the right circumstances, be worked with.

All we lack is the will to make a stand. We will never have a better chance.

Mar 28 2009

A step forward!

In an effort to derive some direction and a way forward to accountability, on March 20, 2009, Colleen Costello of the World Organization for Human Rights USA, Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Jamil Dakwar of the American Civil Liberties Union, spoke before the Inter-American Commission Human Rights, in  Washington D.C.  The issue:  “Accountability for Violations of Human Rights in the United States.”

Colleen Costello laid forth the details of our torture, including the waterboarding of Sheik Khalid Mohamed, our detention systems, renditions, and secret prisons.

Michael Ratner spoke with passion concerning the many obstacles confronting our efforts to achieve accountability, including some of the “legal” ones put in place by the Bush Administration, such as the Military Commissions Act, a lack of habeas corpus and how all efforts, thus far, have been thwarted by the Obama administration.  That Sen. Leahy has called for a “truth commission” with immunity provisions, but would not lead necessarily to criminal prosecutions.  He spoke with a sense of urgency and there truly is one, in terms of the U.S. statute of limitations on torture, we have a window of one and half years to prosecute.  Moreover, Ratner pointed out that an Executive Order banning torture can easily be reversed by the next President and thus, accountability is the only conceivable way to assure that the U.S. is no longer a party to torture.  One of the panel members of the IACHR reminded Ratner that there was no statute of limitations on the torture in international terms.

Jamil Dakwar spoke concerning the difficulty in obtaining documents because of the “state secrecy” stance, and that they (the UCLA) were able to obtain some documentation through the Freedom of Information Act.

Also speaking was Lewis Amselem, Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States to the Organization of American States (OAS).  He spoke about the immediate steps of President Obama to end torture, close down Guantanamo, close CIA prisons by his Executive Orders.  He went on and on about these accomplishments without really confronting the issue of accountability.  

A Sarah Paoletti, Division of the Legal Clinic, University of Pennsylvania, also spoke briefly.

In the proceedings, and at the conclusion various members of the IACHR, i.e., Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Commissioner of the CIDH, asked what the Commission could do.  Santiago A. Canton, Executive Secretary of the CIDH, spoke and asked that documents be produced to the Commission, as well as any cases that have been brought for trial on torture.

The entire video may be seen here.  It is about an hour long and very worth while seeing.  (Home)

Also, written complaints filed with the IACHR will be posted here.

Mar 28 2009

fuel-efficient 40-foot hybrid mass-transit bus

Fisher Body Bus

Fisher Body to build the Fisher GTB-40 bus, a 40-foot ultralightweight hybrid that boasts twice the fuel efficiency of current hybrid buses.  It uses a lightweight, nitrogen-strengthened stainless steel unibody; has no traditional engine for propulsion; and relies on Swiss-made batteries to drive motors for each wheel. The buses are half the weight of other hybrid and diesel models.

A small diesel engine powers a generator that keeps the batteries charged longer. Energy from the brakes is captured for reuse. Automotive News

also posted

Mar 28 2009

Obama Overdrawn And Sinking Over Economy?

Crossposted from AntemediusReal News – March 28, 2009

Obama held hostage by PPPIP

Pepe Escobar: If Geithner’s plan does not work, the President sinks



President Obama’s destiny – more than his foreign policy decisions – will be sealed by how he deals with the US financial crisis, argues Pepe Escobar.

The verdict of top economists on Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s new PPPIP (Public Private Partnership Investment Program) has not been auspicious.

Some speak of taxpayer rip-off while Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman foresees a “lost decade of zombie banks”.

The President has been trying to appease Wall Street while at the same time appeasing America’s anger directed at anything bank bailout-related.

On a global level the Chinese have made it known their patience with America’s addiction to debt has limits.

The upcoming G-20 meeting in London is bound to discuss more radical steps, while back in the US some already dream of a new saviour, post-Geithner.

Geithner’s Treasury $500 Billion to $1 Trillion Plan to Purchase Legacy Assets PPPIP Whitepaper is here (.PDF)

Mar 28 2009

Obama Overdrawn And Sinking Over Economy?

Real News – March 28, 2009

Obama held hostage by PPPIP

Pepe Escobar: If Geithner’s plan does not work, the President sinks



President Obama’s destiny – more than his foreign policy decisions – will be sealed by how he deals with the US financial crisis, argues Pepe Escobar.

The verdict of top economists on Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s new PPPIP (Public Private Partnership Investment Program) has not been auspicious.

Some speak of taxpayer rip-off while Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman foresees a “lost decade of zombie banks”.

The President has been trying to appease Wall Street while at the same time appeasing America’s anger directed at anything bank bailout-related.

On a global level the Chinese have made it known their patience with America’s addiction to debt has limits.

The upcoming G-20 meeting in London is bound to discuss more radical steps, while back in the US some already dream of a new saviour, post-Geithner.

Geithner’s Treasury $500 Billion to $1 Trillion Plan to Purchase Legacy Assets PPPIP Whitepaper is here (.PDF)

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