July 26, 2009 archive

Congressional Recess Action – It Is A Good Thing They Are Coming Home!

Okay, so there is a lot of consternation about the apparent willingness of the Congress to recess prior to having a health care reform bill from each house finished. The usual doom and gloom birds have been circling and crying that the public option is doomed, we have lost just because the Congress is going to miss a very tight deadline put forth by the president. The Dog would like to point out a couple of things and suggest a course of action.  

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

Now with World and U.S. News.

1 First results due Monday in Iraqi Kurd election

By Tim Cocks and Shamal Aqrawi, Reuters

Sun Jul 26, 11:28 am ET

ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) – Preliminary results of elections in Iraqi Kurdistan, widely expected to keep two ruling parties in power despite an unprecedented opposition challenge, will be announced on Monday, Iraq’s electoral commission said.

Kurdish opposition groups are complaining of violations in Saturday’s parliamentary and presidential vote, the first time Kurds have directly elected a leader of their mostly autonomous region, but voting officials say the poll was largely sound.

Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) said the preliminary results would come on Monday evening, according to a statement from the government’s media center.

Intricate Webs

When stress approaches, I used to get rather severe migraines.  Since I was often stressed, this was definitely not pleasant.

The migraines retreated after I transitioned.  But I still get headaches, though not as severe nor with the attendant visual disturbances the migraines came with.  The headaches I get nowadays are mostly of the sinus variety and are connected with allergies, it appears.

But sometimes I do still get stressed.

My strategy now is to try relaxing with my art program, rather than curl up in a dark place with a hot compress.  Mostly it works.

I decided to share what I created the past couple of days just in case someone else might find them useful in relieving some stress.

There are fourteen graphics inside.  Be forewarned.

Clicking on the graphics will open larger versions in a new tab.

The Media gladly enables Canadian Strawmen, while silencing Real Doctors

The President gave a compelling prime time Press Conference last week mostly about Health Care Reform — the most pressing Issue of our time, and what was the lead story for the next several days?

The merits of Public Option competition?

The plight of 14,000 citizens losing their Health Insurance each day?

No, the lead story was the President’s take on the arrest of his friend — on the emotionally charged “wedge issue” of Racial Profiling. A worthy discussion, no doubt —

But what about the issues of Health Care Reform?  What about that Debate?

Of course the Media has been failing to have a Real Health Care Debate for some time now …

ABC Censors Obama’s Longtime Doctor, Dr. Scheiner

CIA pressued Britain to cover up its use of torture

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…


The CIA has been secretly pressuring the British Government to help it cover up its use of torture, documents filed in the High Court have revealed.

The documents, to be discussed at a hearing this week, suggest that the UK authorities did everything they could to accede to the CIA’s wishes while at the same time trying to conceal the fact they were talking to the agency.

It is the latest twist in the saga of Binyam Mohamed, 30, the Ethiopian UK resident released from Guantanamo Bay in February after seven years in US captivity.

Binyan Mohammed was the guy who wasn’t waterboarded, but had his genitals mutilated instead.  That’s right, the United States sliced up this guy’s penis.  Here’s a little background on the guy:

US Military Releases Devastating Arctic Global Warming Satellite Images

UK Guardian – The Observer, Sunday 26 July 2009

Revealed: the secret evidence of global warming Bush tried to hide:

Photos from US spy satellites declassified by the Obama White House provide the first graphic images of how the polar ice sheets are retreating in the summer. The effects on the world’s weather, environments and wildlife could be devastating

Satellite images of polar ice sheets

Satellite images of polar ice sheets taken in July 2006 and July 2007 showing the retreating ice during the summer.

View image full size (opens new window)

60-70% of stock volume is “Ficticious”. One way or the other, we’re screwed

     Crossposted at Daily Kos

hat tip to Inky99 who covered this first in his diary Stock market “Rally” is bogus, volume in market “ficticious”. I thought this subject was so pertinent it need to be expanded on.  

   From Bloomberg News, Joe Saluzzi, on July 6th, 2009


Saluzzi:     ” The volume that you see during the day right now, somedays as high as 12 million across all three exchange, is ficticious. It’s not real, okay. I’m gonna say that 60-70% of this volume that you see coming across, it’s volume, but it’s done by what is called high frequency traders. These are machines. The biggest machine wins the game.”

    More on how we are totally screwed one way or the other below the fold.

Imperialist Aerial Bombing of Iraq Going on 100 Years

There is not a single Iraq citizen alive who hasn’t lived through a period of aggression from imperialist nations.  That aggression goes back well over 100 years, but particularly since the beginning of the oil ages spurred by the Industrial Revolution. Air attacks on Iraq started nearly 100 years ago, not long after the capability for air attacks was created.

I find it amazing that a century after the first attacks on Arabs to gain control of their oil, it is still happening.  Discounting the horrendous death toll of innocent humans, it would seem the cost of such an agenda cannot possibly justify the means.  Counting the horrendous death and devastation toll, it is impossible to justify.

How can we as a people have believed that this current imperialist attack in the Middle East would have been for a different motive than nearly 100 years ago?    

There is ample information on the internet regarding the British occupation of Iraq and Iran in the early twentieth century.  The history is well documented and even made famous by the “Lawrence of Arabia” mainstream bullshit that rivals the treatment of Native Americans in early TV and radio.  

Prior to the current imperialist nation, our own United States, previous imperialist nation Britain occupied Iraq starting in 1917, and claimed they were their for “Full sovereignty” to Iraq, that’s what the British falsely claimed more than 80 years ago.  Sounds a little familiar doesn’t it.  In fact, the British imperialists believed that control of Mesopotamia (Iraq) would safeguard British oil interests in Persia (Iran).  Somewhat familiar but we lost Iran and need to get it back!

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2…

Here we are almost a century later and we’re still talking about insurgencies and Fallujah.

“In 1920, an insurgency broke out in the area of Fallujah, where Sheikh Dhari killed a British officer, Colonel Leachman, and cut rail traffic between Fallujah and Baghdad. The British advanced towards Fallujah and inflicted “heavy punishment” on the tribe.  The Royal Air Force, with Churchill’s support, bombed rebellious villages and dissident tribesmen in Iraq.  Churchill urged the employment of mustard gas, which had been used against Shia rebels in 1920.”

Fuck ya, use mustard gas.  Teach Saddam how to do it for future purposes. Then we can put the blame on him and go on back in there.  People killed, no matter.  That’s the name of the game. The world is not a pretty place so deal with it.  

Wow, 89 years ago and those bastard insurgents in Fallujah were fucking with imperialist plans.  And they didn’t even have access to nuclear bombs because, as I recall, they weren’t fucking invented yet.  So I can understand why they didn’t call it the “Global War on Terrorism” back then.  That would have been a hard wood to saw.   But then again, the British imperialists made no bones about it, they were there for the oil and anyone that got in their way would be killed, along with whatever civilians might be there.  That seems a bit familiar as well.  

“These assertions ignore the deeply-felt hostility to decades of colonial and semi-colonial rule by the Western powers, who long plundered Iraq’s oil reserves. During World War I, Mesopotamia was occupied by British forces, and it became a British mandated territory in 1920. In 1921, a kingdom was established under Faisal I, son of King Hussein of Hejaz and leader of the Arab Army in World War I. Britain withdrew from Iraq in 1932, but British and American oil companies retained their grip over the country.”

We should have known, we American people.  Of course not just American people, all people.  Especially the British, WTF is up with them?  They’ve been thru this shit, why didn’t they stop it?  They frigging started it.  Is the brainwashing of all peoples through government and corporate propaganda that effective?  There were many who did know why we were attacking Iraq and Afghanistan.  Their warnings went unheeded by the masses.  The masses are conditioned now with the TV, internet, cell phones, all the gadgets necessary to keep their minds away from reality.  There are still millions, including many progressives, who believe we are “right” by being in Afghanistan.  Blows my mind because their reason isn’t the hard line, “we are the world power, we deserve to control the world resources” of the Neocons, but rather a belief in the war on terrorism.  

There is no other way to put it, this Global War on Terror (GWOT), is a fabrication by western elites, to continue pillaging the natural resources of the earth for their own benefit.  The game is more complicated now of course, but the goals are the same.  It’s very simple when you look at the history of imperialism.  It’s been going on a long time folks, thousands of years really, so isn’t it time to wake up and accept the evidence?  

Sunday music retrospective: A bit of Bagdad

Showtime at the Bagdad Gas and Oil Cafe



I Am Calling You



Brenda, Brenda

Reflections on my experience getting a Ph.D. in Communication

For four years I attended graduate school at the “Department of Communication” of The Ohio State University.  This is something of a reflection upon what it means to have an advanced degree (in my case, a Ph.D.) in “Communication,” and especially upon what it means not to have any sort of employment gained from it.

“Holder Joins Conyers in Demanding Action”

David Swanson this morning…

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers has called on Attorney General Eric Holder to open a criminal investigation into the misdeeds of former president George W. Bush and former vice president Richard B. Cheney.

Holder, in turn, has now called on Conyers to open impeachment proceedings against former head of the Office of Legal Council Jay Bybee, now a judge in the Ninth Circuit.

Conyers, in response, has demanded that Holder open a complete investigation of 14 different areas of criminal enterprise and appoint an independent counsel, offering a list of eight possible candidates.

Holder, in reply, has insisted that Conyers reissue all of the subpoenas his committee has failed to enforce over the past two and a half years and use the Capitol Police to enforce them at once.

In response, Conyers’ office has issued a new report on the need to weed out corruption and undo politically motivated prosecutions by the U.S. Department of Justice.

This morning, the attorney general remarked at a televised press conference, “Chairman Conyers proposed five months ago to extend to 10 years the statutes of limitations on crimes allegedly committed under the previous administration. Introducing a bill might be a way to begin making that happen. Just an idea. I’m no expert.”

Surprisingly, John Conyers removed a large Easter bonnet that had been disguising him, stood up in the back of the room and shouted: “Mr. Attorney General, the former vice president of the United States confesses to authorizing torture every time he leaves his house. You are required by law to indict him. Are you waiting for Marc Rich’s permission?”

Rage on the Airwaves

Bill Moyers Journal, July 24 2009

BILL MOYERS: There was another voice heard on health care this week — the voice of anti-abortion crusader Randall Terry, the founder of Operation Rescue. At a news conference in Washington, Terry warned that violence could come if, in the end, health care reform includes coverage for abortion services………..Rest of Transcript Here

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