Apr 15 2008

Ethanol-Biodiesel-No water

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

Is it real or is it not.

I can tell you igniting a 2 liter coke bottle full of this stuff was scared me away from ever doing that again.  I can also say the process can not be acheived with simple tap water.  The water will in fact bubble and break down into HHO even with only a twelve volt battery connected to stainless steel pipe within a pipe electrodes.  This does leave a heavy brown residue (eeewww, I drink this crap?) after five minutes of operation.

Stan though acheives his breakthrough by electronics.  A frequency and voltage combination even a specific waveform needed to make the whole process work.  I have not found it, not yet.  And is there some justification for the “zero point” concept.  Is it an empty quest for a perpetual motion machine?  I tend to think every generation has it’s assholes like J.P Morgan.  J.P. funded the work of Nicola Tesla who is little known but was in fact the father of the alternating current system we use today.  Nicola’s dream was free energy for all, J.P. wanted an electric meter to charge people with it.

Here is another link related to power from water.  This theory uses ultraviolet light and advanced math to model atomic transition states in water.  Water as it turns out is more complex than just H2O

http://www.blacklightpower.com…

Last up is Eugene Mallove an MIT cold fusion researcher who died under strange circumstances.

http://www.pureenergysystems.c…

Conventional science training gives us Laws, and these laws say this or that is the way it is and that is it.

Then we have lawyers, whose job it is to tell you what the law says.

I have always been a free spirit, looking at man observing that he does not obey his own laws.  Fuck the laws, I’m going to the lab.

20 years in R&D only tells me we can measure things better, fabricate things better and that the biggest obstacle to progress are the control freak assholes who insist on making a profit from it.

Apr 15 2008

“May Day! May Day! May Day!”

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

MAKE MAYDAY A “NO PEACE, NO WORK HOLIDAY”!

The following was written by Jack Heyman a longshoreman who works on the Oakland docks


Longshoremen to close ports on West Coast to protest war

While millions of people worldwide have marched against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and last week’s New York Times/CBS News poll indicated that 81 percent believe the country is headed in the wrong direction – key concerns being the war and the economy – the war machine inexorably grinds on.


Amid this political atmosphere, dockworkers of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union have decided to stop work for eight hours in all U.S. West Coast ports on May 1, International Workers’ Day, to call for an end to the war.


This decision came after an impassioned debate where the union’s Vietnam veterans turned the tide of opinion in favor of the anti-war resolution. The motion called it an imperial action for oil in which the lives of working-class youth and Iraqi civilians were being wasted and declared May Day a “no peace, no work” holiday. Angered after supporting Democrats who received a mandate to end the war but who now continue to fund it, longshoremen decided to exercise their political power on the docks.


Last month, in response to the union’s declaration, the Pacific Maritime Association, the West Coast employer association of shipowners, stevedore companies and terminal operators, declared its opposition to the union’s protest. Thus, the stage is set for a conflict in the run up to the longshore contract negotiations.


The last set of contentious negotiations (in 2002) took place during the period between the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the invasion of Iraq. Representatives of the Bush administration threatened that if there were any of the usual job actions during contract bargaining, then troops would occupy the docks because such actions would jeopardize “national security.” Yet, when the PMA employers locked out the longshoremen and shut down West Coast ports for 11 days, the “security” issue vanished. President Bush then invoked the Taft-Hartley Act, forcing longshoremen back to work under conditions favorable to the employers.


The San Francisco longshore union has a proud history of opposition to the war in Iraq, being the first union to call for an end to the war and immediate withdrawal of troops. Representatives of the union spoke at anti-war rallies in February 2003, including one in London attended by nearly 2 million people, the largest ever held in Britain. Executive Board member Clarence Thomas went to Iraq with a delegation to observe workers’ rights during the occupation.


At the start of the war in Iraq, hundreds of protesters demonstrated on the Oakland docks, and longshoremen honored their picket lines. Without warning, police in riot gear opened fire with so-called less-than-lethal weapons, shooting protesters and longshoremen alike with wooden dowels, rubber bullets, pellet bags, concussion grenades and tear gas. A U.N. Human Rights Commission investigator characterized the Oakland police attack as “the most violent” against anti-war protesters in the United States.


And finally, last year, two black longshoremen going to work in the port of Sacramento were beaten, Maced and arrested by police under the rubric of Homeland Security regulations ordained by the “war on terror.”


There’s precedent for this action. In the ’50s, French dockworkers refused to load war materiel on ships headed for Indochina, and helped to bring that colonial war to an end. At the ILWU’s convention in San Francisco in 2003, A. Q. McElrath, an octogenarian University of Hawaii regent and former ILWU organizer from the pineapple canneries, challenged the delegates to act for social justice, invoking the union’s slogan, “An injury to one is an injury to all.” She concluded, “The cudgel is on the ground. Will you pick it up?”


It appears that longshore workers may be doing just that on May Day and calling on immigrant workers and others to join them.


May Day protest


WHEN: 10:30 a.m., May 1, followed by a rally at noon.


WHERE: Longshore Union Hall, corner of Mason and Beach (near Fisherman’s Wharf)

.

WHAT: March to a rally at Justin Herman Plaza along the Embarcadero.


FOR MORE INFORMATION:  May Day!**ILWU Homepage**Transport Workers Solidarity Committee  or call (415) 776-8100.

A CALL TO ACTION ALL OUT ON MAYDAY TO STOP THE WAR!

At the start of the Iraq War in 2003, many working people were opposed to the invasion. Now the overwhelming majority want to end the war and withdraw troops.

Yet, both major political parties continue to fund the war.

Marches and demonstrations have not been able to stop the war. The Longshore Union (ILWU) will stop work for 8 hours in every port on the West Coast on May 1st.

This action shows that working people have the power to stop the war.

Don’t work on May 1st – MAKE MAYDAY A “NO PEACE, NO WORK HOLIDAY”!

*Stop the war!

*Withdraw the troops now!

*No scapegoating immigrant workers for the economic crisis!

*Health care for all!

*Funding for schools and housing!

*Defend civil liberties and workers’ rights!


MAKE MAYDAY A “NO PEACE, NO WORK HOLIDAY”!


Port Workers’ May Day Organizing Committee

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT:


Contact ILWU President Robert McEllrath With A Letter Of Support For The Longshore Caucus’ Resolution To Use International Workers Day To “Stop Work To Stop The War”


Date: 29 Mar 2008

From: Clarence Thomas

Via New York City Labor Against The War

As a result of an important action taken at the recent International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) Caucus, Longshore workers will stop work during the first shift in opposition to the war in Iraq, on May 1, 2008.

They will also use this occasion to acknowledge International Workers Day to express labor solidarity concerning issues and challenges that confront workers.

This war has cost more than 4,000 American lives and 29,000 have been seriously injured. It has been estimated that 1 million Iraqis have lost their lives, untold have been injured and 4 million have been displaced in this illegal and amoral war and occupation. The war is costing $435 million per day.

So far, $526 billion has been expended on the war. The daily amount spent on the war could enroll 58,000 youngsters in Head Start or provide health insurance to 329,200 low-income children.

We’re writing to ask you to contact ILWU President Robert McEllrath with a letter of support for the Longshore Caucus’ resolution to use International Workers Day to “stop work to stop the war”. Please ask other organizations to do the same.

Robert McEllrath, ILWU President

1188 Franklin Street

San Francisco, CA 94109

(415) 775-0533

(415) 775-1302 FAX

Your support in spreading the word of this historic action is very important.

In Solidarity,

Clarence Thomas

National Co-Chair

Million Worker March Movement

And there’s MORE:

Mail Carriers Vote 2 Minutes Of Silence On May Day To Oppose The War

April 11, 2008 New York City Labor Against The War

Postal letter carriers in Greensboro voted to observe 2 minutes of silence at 9:15 a.m. on International Workers Day – Thursday, May 1, 2008 – to express their opposition to the war in Iraq.

Their workplace action is in solidarity with the ILWU longshore workers, who are shutting down all West Coast ports for 8 hours on May 1st in opposition to the war. The vote took place on April 3 at their regular membership meeting in Greensboro.

The action by Greensboro Branch 630 of the National Association of Letter Carriers is also in solidarity with San Francisco Branch 214 letter carriers and the American Postal Workers Union in the New York Metro Area and San Francisco, who earlier voted to pause for 2 minutes of silence on that day to oppose the war.

The APWU locals, whose members work around the clock, plan to observe the period of silence at specific times on all three shifts.

And still MORE:

New York Faculty/Staff Union Supports ILWU Anti-War Work Stoppage

April 11, 2008 New York City Labor Against The War

The following anti-war resolution was adopted unanimously at the March 27 delegate assembly of the Professional Staff Congress, AFT Local 2334 at the City University of New York.

Whereas, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union has voted to stop work and shut down all 29 West Coast ports for the full 8-hour day shift on May 1st, in protest against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan; and

Whereas, this historic decision to use the power of their contract to close the ports represents one of the most powerful forms of labor action a union can take to demand an end to the war; and

Whereas, the Professional Staff Congress/CUNY has, since the start of the war in Iraq, called for an end to the war and a reordering of national priorities so that funding is available for education, healthcare, jobs and other human needs; and

Whereas, it is especially important that CUNY students, faculty and staff have an opportunity to discuss the meaning of a powerful labor action to end the war, given the intense military recruitment our students face and the direct effect of the war budget on CUNY funding and contracts; and

Whereas, the PSC has embarked on the most intense phase of our fight for a fair contract; and

Whereas, the ILWU has expressed the hope that its decision will be a “clarion call” to the rest of labor; and

Whereas, the March meeting of the Hunter PSC chapter voted to hold an outdoor event/teach-in against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan on May 1st in solidarity with the ILWU work stoppage and with the theme of mobilizing labor’s power against the war; therefore be it

RESOLVED that the PSC send to the ILWU a message of solidarity on the occasion of their historic initiative for workers’ action against the war, and as part of this effort, be it further

RESOLVED that while the priority for PSC organizing during the next two months will be the drive to reach a good contract settlement, PSC chapters that vote to undertake a campus event or teach-in on May 1 in solidarity with the ILWU action will be supported in

doing so; and such actions should reach out as broadly as possible to students and the community and should contribute to building the union campaign for a good contract.

A big Tip of the Hat goes out to Brother ‘Nam Vet Thomas Barton, over at Military Project – G.I. Special and Traveling Soldier who passed on the above information in his lastest G.I. Special Newsletter, I just did abit of extra highlighting and added a few links!

What say folks, will You MAKE MAYDAY A “NO PEACE, NO WORK HOLIDAY”!

Take the Day Off, have a Planned Action to show your Solidarity with the Longshoreman and Support For The Troops, Real Support “Bring Them Home Now, And Take Care Of Them When They Return!!”

Apr 15 2008

A Progressive Novel

I turned forty-one last year.  I am fairly certain, in biological terms, I’m on the downhill slope of life.  But I still feel magic in the world.

As I get older, I’ve come to understand that magic is different for all people.  We all have to find our own sources.  You know it when you see it come into your life.  It is the moment you spend totally immersed in nature.  Or perhaps, when you saw the one you love stand somewhere up the aisle.  Saw your child born.  The sources are different and many.  You know them.  You have felt them.

I have been a writer since I was a young lad.  It was always a source of magic for me.  I did not realize what it meant to be a writer for many, many years.  Did not know I even belonged to that particular limb on the evolutionary tree.  But from earliest memory, it has given me joy to put thoughts on paper (or now, as the world has turned – to transmit thoughts to the realm of electronic data).  I published hand-drawn newspapers.  Wrote silly stories.  Dealt with life through poetry.  Was a second-rate journalist for short periods of time.  Found the joy of writing for political blogs.  And finally came to write a novel.

This week is a magical one for me.  My second novel has been published.  It is quite a feeling, to hold the product of your labor, as many of you know.  And I want to share it with as many human beings as possible.  I started blogging at Daily Kos, and from there drifted to the Booman Tribune, and My Left Wing, and Political Fleshfeast.  As I look at all the sites now, I’m kind of sad to see that the blogging left is sort of splintered out.  But I’m setting out to share this book with every person I can.  So I come here.  I’ve been meaning to come anyway.  So many old familiar faces.  And I feel the blogs of the left are a good place to share this piece of my work.  I hope you don’t mind.

I heard a commentator on the radio (I honestly forget the source) a few months ago, speaking of a decline in American literature, of the willingness or ability of authors to write novels with a political message.  There was mention of The Grapes of Wrath and To Kill a Mockingbird.  Perhaps a mention of The Jungle.  How novelists used to be able to take on weighty subjects.  To write with a perspective on the world.  But how things have been twisted in the modern world of American literature, so that if you write about political topics today, and your work has a distinct point of view on the topic, your writing is considered “preachy.”  It is frowned-upon.  Authors must cover-up their politics with story.  With metaphor.  With allegory.  Because if you allow your politics to bleed too clearly through, you are risking commercial disaster.

Well, I’ve got nothing to fear from commercial disaster.  I have started pretty far down the wrung as an author.  Skinny Berry is just another step up the ladder.  But it is definitely written with a viewpoint.  A viewpoint that many in the progressive blogosphere have been brave enough to embrace.  I’m proud to share the book with the world.  With you.

I’ll be writing a weekly e-Newsletter to publicize the book.  I’ll share it with you below.

Cool regards,

BostonJoe

My Second Novel is Born

If you are getting this e-mail, then you are fortunate enough (or perhaps unfortunate enough) to be on my ever growing list of e-mail contacts.

I’m writing with news that I have recently given birth to my second novel, “Skinny Berry.”  It was born into this world officially on April 7, 2008 (though, as I will explain below, some scheming corporation actually leaked my humble novel early), and weighed in at a 1 pound and 1 ounce.  No.  It was not premature – that’s what novels weigh – and its gestation period lasted about three years, if you must know.  And I did the birth all natural, without narcotics or other pain inhibiting medications – with the exception of a few beers along the way.  Yes.  Drinking responsibly is okay when birthing a novel.  And the novel – she is beautiful.  Author and novel have been resting comfortably on the couch.

I’m not complaining, but birthing a novel is hard.  And still, the hardest part is yet to come.  We all want our novels to grow up to be on the New York Times’ Bestseller List.  Or to be an Oprah’s Book Club selection.  Or snapped up by Universal and made into a big-budget movie.  Pulitzer?  Oh – even I cannot think this.  It’s a legal-thriller.  Grisham-esque.  Maybe a twist of Crichton.  No Pulitzer.  But the point is – as the novel and I relax for our first weekend home together – we dream of greatness.  And for a novel, that means getting out into the hands of readers.

So this is my e-newsletter.  Week One.  I’m going to try to do this weekly.  Keep you posted on the behind the scenes story of “Skinny Berry.”  Let you watch the novel grow.  I’m just a proud parent really.

So here are the baby pictures:

The trade paperback direct from my publisher (they are wonderful people so I definitely encourage your patronage to them).

Here’s a cute one (an e-download for the techie in your life – and well suited to the reader on a tight budget).

Here’s one where the book is being held by a rich uncle.

And here is one with the book in the clutches of the evil empire (more later).

And who can forget Powell’s.

All right.  On to the newsy stuff.  And general BS.

Dunbar’s Number and Spam

For those of you who have had the fortune (or misfortune) of listening to me blather on for a while over a beer, you have probably heard me talk about “Dunbar’s Number.”  It is one of those concepts that has lodged firmly in my brain, mostly because it is a good excuse for me to cover my own failing memory.  Dunbar’s Number is a theoretical number (about 150) suggested by a British anthropologist which represents the upper limit on the number of inter-personal relationships a human creature can effectively maintain.  The basic idea is that we evolved as tribal-social animals capable of sustaining close relationships within a relatively small group of people.  So, in theory, trying to maintain close inter-personal relationships above the Dunbar Number is like swimming upstream.

I’m way over 150 people with the e-mail list I have these days.  The wonders of technology.  So I’m definitely in violation of Dunbar’s Number, when I try to write you a personal note about my book.  But this is not SPAM.  This is an actual e-newsletter.  I am a real person telling you real (or in some cases heavily exaggerated) anecdotes about producing and selling my novel.  I had more fun writing the e-newsletter for my first novel than about anything I did  –  and I absolutely loved hearing from you all.  So don’t hesitate to write back, if you have a mind to.  This is interactive.  Art is interactive.  I’m convinced.

Still, should you want to get off this e-mail list, by all means, just drop me a note and I will take you off.  On the other hand, if you want to share this with people on your own e-mail lists, please do so.  I mean, it’s not a Nigerian inheritance letter, and it won’t enhance your sex life in any way (if it does – you should seek professional help immediately), but I think it may still have some merit – if we are thinking of Karma and such things.  So pass it along.

e-Newsletter Contest

For those of you who were loyal readers of the “Direct Actions” e-newsletter, you will recall periodic contest giveaways.  The response was actually quite good.  And very entertaining.  So the “Official ‘Skinny Berry’ e-Newsletter Contest” will be a recurring event.

The first contest will encourage fast readers.  To enter, you need to send me an e-mail with 1) enough information to indicate you have read the book, and 2) detailing your favorite character and why you loved (or hated) them.  The first entry I receive for each character will win.  One entry per person.  Please put “Week One Contest” as the subject of your e-mail.  This contest may take a few weeks, as the book isn’t even in stores, so order up and send in your entries.  Those who have read advanced copies are, obviously, not eligible.

With this first contest, I’d like to offer a special prize.  Winners will receive one free copy of “Skinny Berry,” signed and dedicated however you want, and a photocopy of my rendition of how your favorite character looks (yes – I’m that demented – I actually know what most of the main characters look like in great detail).

Evil Corporations: GenAgra and Amazon

You will have to read the book to understand the particular evil of GenAgra.  But it’s not only fictional corporations that are greedy bastards – apparently.

The publishing industry has undergone some pretty dramatic changes in the past decade – from what I can understand, as someone starting at the very bottom, looking-up.  Like the changes in the music industry, technology has opened up impressive new ways for individuals and small companies to create and distribute the products of their artistic expression.  Little people can gain access to a global audience.  It is amazing.  Last year, for example, I was contacted by a friend (a Korean national) whom I had not seen for more than twenty years, to tell me he had come across “Direct Actions” while he was perusing the Internet at his bank job in Mumbai.

This model of distribution was not quick to gain acceptance from the more traditional mode of book distribution.  I had to fight like heck to get my first novel accepted into brick and mortar stores.  But just let something have a little success, and watch the corporate folks come running.

Amazon.com is a corporate giant.  Close to $15 Billion in revenue in 2007.  In March of this year, Amazon’s BookSurge (a print-on-demand division within Amazon) started contacting other print-on-demand publisher’s listing on Amazon and demanding that they sign contracts to start using BookSurge, or lose the ability to sell with Amazon.  Imagine your grocery store telling food manufacturers that they had to package their products with the grocer’s new packaging division, or their products could no longer be sold in the store.  It sounds kind of anti-trust-ish to me.  I’m sure better lawyers than I will be looking at that.  But Amazon is so big, they may get away with it.

Bottom line.  I’m encouraging people to buy from other sources.  Until the issue is resolved, or the Internet implodes or is replaced by an intricate system of carrier pigeons exchanging messages for us all.

And despite all this.  My book is still available at Amazon (at least for the time being).  And they actually released it a number of days before my publisher released the book (go figure).  Some of you who bought “Direct Actions” from Amazon even got notice of the new book before I knew it was out, as they directly marketed to you.  Big Brother.  I’m telling you.

Marketing Skinny Berry

This is going to be a long, slow road.  At least that is what I’m thinking.  The day job has been busy.  That is good fodder for future legal-thrillers.  But it means selling “Skinny Berry” will be all the harder.  Still, together with a number of you who have already shared wonderful ideas, I’ve got a few cool things that are in the planning stages.  I’m not ready to spill details at this point.  But I’ll keep you posted.

I hope to have a few events scheduled shortly – so that I can get a chance to see some of you again in person.  Ideally, we’ll get a copy of “Skinny Berry” into the hands of a thousand or so people by the summer reading season.  Perhaps you will see a fellow fan with a copy of the happy yellow novel at the beach.  And you can tell them you are an insider.  A reader of the Official “Skinny Berry” e-Newsletter.  Ah, the dreams we authors have for our newly birthed novels.

You Die-Hard Fans

If you’ve made it this far, there is no other explanation.  You are a die-hard fan.  And I’m grateful.  Thanks.  If you’d like to help out in trying to get “Skinny Berry” to the widest possible audience, I’m going to list a few suggestions.  You can undertake some, all or none of these suggestions.  Any little bit you do is appreciated.  And please tell me about your efforts via e-mail so I can thank you in future editions of the Official “Skinny Berry” e-Newsletter.

1.  Forward the e-newsletter to anyone who you think might be interested.  Drop your personal note to friends and family at the top and spread the word.  E-mail is incredible.  I actually helped that guy in Nigeria get his inheritance.  I kid you not.

2.  Write a review at Barnes and Noble and Amazon and wherever else you find the book.

3.  If you are a blogger, write a review, or post, or whatever.  I’m willing to send review copies to anyone with a decent readership – to get the word out.  I’ll be blogging about the book where I can.

4.  Media contacts – if you have any – I’m certainly open to give them access.  From one major radio appearance on a morning drive show in Saginaw, Michigan, I still get strangers two years later who mention they heard about me and my first book.  It is amazing.  I’ll follow up on any potential contacts you have.  Shoot me an e-mail.

5.  Word of mouth.  Obviously, it’s a good thing.  Maybe the best thing for a book like this.  So, if you like “Skinny Berry” (and “Direct Actions” for that matter), tell other people about it.  If you find new readers who are interested, get their e-mail and we’ll get them on the Official “Skinny Berry” e-Newsletter list.

6.  Spread the book around.  Sales are appreciated, naturally.  But if you can’t afford to buy your buddy a copy for his birthday, even lending your copy out isn’t a bad thing.  The more people who read it, the more chance it may break through to a wider audience.

7.  I’m happy to sign copies and dedications.  I’m quite sure we’ll have a number of signing events throughout Michigan.  But for those of you who are more remote, I’ll be happy to personalize a copy for the cost of postage.  (Heck for most of you who are friends – I may even cover postage one way).

8.  If you are outside Michigan, but interested in setting up an event, contact me.  If we can find a suitable location and ensure a fair turnout, I’ll probably make myself available.  Again, let me know your thoughts, and we’ll talk.

9.  The Faberge Shampoo Marketing technique.  Never fails.  You remember the commercial?  Right?  “So I told friends, and they told two friends, and so on and so on and so on.”  God I’m getting old.

10.  Your own idea here.  If you have a creative way to help this novel get read, let me know.  I’ll share it with others in the next episode of the Official “Skinny Berry” e-Newsletter.

Thanks for reading.  We’ll see you soon (I hope).

And remember.  In selling books, it is all about the cookies.  For those of you who do not understand “the cookies” because you missed out on the Official “Direct Actions” e-Newsletter – we’ll fill you in as time goes on.

Best,

Terry Olson

Author

“Skinny Berry”

tjayolson (at) hotmail.com

Apr 15 2008

Get This Through Your Heads

So, Bush last week admitted complicity in his administration’s policy of torturing people. Earlier, the Associated Press revealed that Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, John Ashcroft, and George Tenet were also complicit. Donald Rumsfeld was implicated as far back as July of 2005, and Alberto Gonzales’s already known complicity didn’t prevent him from being confirmed as this nation’s chief law enforcement officer, even earlier in 2005. Just over a month ago, Bush ignored the advice of “43 retired generals and admirals and 18 national security experts, including former secretaries of state and national security advisers,” and vetoed a bill that would have forbade the U.S. from engaging in torture, and Republican nominee-to-be John McCain supported his doing so. None of this is a surprise. At the risk of being cynical, none of it really matters, except for the historical record, because no one who is in the position of being able to do anything about it seems so inclined.

We are a nation that tortures people. The White House decides what forms of torture can be used, and Congress, which hasn’t overridden Bush’s veto, played its part by giving Bush tacit approval to continue doing so. And no leading Democrats mention that maybe violating international and moral laws ought to disqualify those responsible from holding public office. No leading Democrats ever supported impeaching the torturers. No leading Democrats talk about possible war crimes implications. No leading Democrats talk about holding the torturers legally accountable, once they leave office. Of course, no one will be surprised if Bush blanket pardons everyone, before he leaves office, and only impeachments would negate his ability to thus immunize them from prosecution. But Jack Balkin says the 2006 Military Commissions Act “effectively insulated government officials from liability for many of the violations of the War Crimes Act they might have committed during the period prior to 2006,” so it’s probably a moot point, anyway. And Marty Lederman is skeptical of the idea of a Department of Justice prosecuting people whose behavior was given legal clearance by a previous Department of Justice, so it’s probably a moot point, anyway- twice over.

We are a nation that tortures people. The outrage over last week’s revelations reveal that people still don’t understand that fact. We are a nation that tortures people. Outrage over further revelations of that fact will similarly reveal that people still won’t understand that fact. We are a nation that tortures people. It is no longer about this criminal administration or any criminal individuals working within it, we are a nation that tortures people. It’s now institutional. To address that fact, to do anything about it, will require levels of outrage far exceeding the outrage directed at one administration or the criminals working within it. We are a nation that tortures people. Until our ostensible progressive leaders, until we, as a nation, decide to do something about that fact, it will simply be a part of who we are. We are a nation that tortures people. The people responsible for that fact get away with it because no one and nothing will stop them from getting away with it. We are a nation that tortures people.

Apr 14 2008

Sen. Chambliss on the record; torture is fine! Let’s put them ALL on record.

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

(Cross posted from DailyKos)

There has been a flurry of torture items on the Recommended Diary list this week (If you missed them, incredible outpourings in Troutfishing’s series, here, here, here, and here,  and clammyc’s piece, as well) We are all sickened and outraged (see OPOL’s great diary) and left feeling shame and horror, and maybe overwhelming helplessness, too.

Here is a chance to do something to shame those who have known about it, allowed it, and still do not stop it. If enough of us care, and raise our voices in outrage, we can make them feel pressured to do something to stop Bush and Cheney from torturing in our names.

This won’t have much commentary from me, as I think the email I received in response to one I sent Senator Saxby Chambliss’ office (through the wonderful ACLU action page demanding a special independent prosecutor to investigate torture) pretty much speaks for itself.

(All emphasis in the email copied below is mine.)

     ~ACTION ITEM BELOW~

Dear Mrs. Lockwood :

Thank you for your letter regarding the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) interrogation program and the appointment of a special counsel. It is good to hear from you.

The CIA’s high-value terrorist detention and interrogation program has been helpful in disrupting terrorist operations and saving lives.  

The program is a crucial pillar of U.S. counterterrorism efforts and the largest source of insight into al- Qa’ida for the United States and its allies.

Reporting from these former CIA detainees has prevented numerous terrorist attacks, such as the West Coast Airliner Plot which sought to replicate the hijacking of airplanes and crash them into buildings on the West Coast of the United States .

One of the key tools in the Global War on Terror has been the information we have gleaned from the terrorists themselves.  Detainees who have been in the inner circle of al- Qa’ida  and occupy some of the most important positions in al- Qa’ida  have information that cannot be obtained from any other source. Detainees have confirmed that al- Qa’ida continues to work on operations against the U.S. and its allies.  

In the past, the CIA was authorized to use waterboarding as an enhanced interrogation technique under specific circumstances and with specific approval. Out of the 20,000 plus detainees in the custody of the U.S. Government, the CIA has held less than a hundred detainees throughout the history of its program. Of these, only three high value detainees- Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, Abu Zubaydah , and Abd al- Rahim al- Nashiri were subjected to waterboarding .  This was under circumstances where the detainees held timely and critical knowledge about al- Qa’ida’s operational plans to attack America and kill our citizens.   The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, of which I am a member, has thoroughly reviewed this program’s history, continues to monitor the CIA’s interrogation methods and has found it both legal and effective.  

Recently, highly sensitive information became public regarding the existence and destruction of videotapes of early interrogations.  At the time, the CIA informed its Congressional oversight committees of the existence of the tapes and of their subsequent destruction.  The videotapes were used as an internal check on the interrogation program and were later destroyed after it was determined that there were no legal impediments to doing so and to protect the interrogators and detainees’ identities.  

The Director of the CIA, General Michael Hayden, has been forthright with Congress and is cooperating fully with the ongoing investigation being conducted by the Department of Justice.

If you would like to receive timely email alerts regarding the latest congressional actions and my weekly e-newsletter, please sign up via my web site at: www.chambliss.senate.gov .   Please let me know whenever I may be of assistance.

Notice he includes the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in his blanket answer condoning torture. He acknowledges that they are all aware of the President’s CIA torture program.

I wonder how the rest of the Select Committee feels about that? Are they comfortable with the whole world knowing that THEY KNOW ABOUT BUSH’S ILLEGAL TORTURE PROGRAM AND HAVE ALLOWED IT TO CONTINUE?

ACTION ITEM AS PROMISED

As Senator Obama has said, “Nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices, calling for change”.

Flood their offices with emails. Today. Ask each one, since they all know about the CIA torture program, if they personally approve of the United States engaging in acts of torture, including sexual torture like documented sodomy and child rape, as well as murder? If they do not approve of torture, will they each, as individual human beings, go on record and speak out? Getting their replies on the record, (for posterity if you will), would be useful.

At least when someone writes the history of the decline of the United States and they get to the chapter on Moral Degradation, they’ll know who facilitated it by allowing acts of torture to be authorized by the President, and his administration.

On the record.

I’d like to feel we could shame at least some of the Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee into speaking out, publicly and on record denouncing torture as the war crime and crime against humanity that it is.

Below, the members of that body, and links to their contact websites.

The pictures are included so that all may know them.

######################

Members of the

Senate Select Committee on Intelligence,

Photobucket

Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)

Photobucket

Senator Chris Bond (R-MO)

Photobucket

Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN)

Photobucket

Senator Richard Burr (R-NC)

Photobucket

Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)

Photobucket

Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI)

Photobucket

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)

Photobucket

Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE)

Photobucket

Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT)

Photobucket

Senator Carl Levin (D-MI)

Photobucket

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

Photobucket

Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)

Photobucket

Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL)

Photobucket

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV)

Photobucket

Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME)

Senator John Warner (R-VA)

(No picture available)

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)

Photobucket

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR)

Apr 14 2008

I Look For The Light Through The Pouring Rain

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

We, most of us anyway, come here everyday writing essays commenting and discussing ideas I think with a singular but lofty goal in mind.

To try to effect some positive change on the world we find ourselves in. Mostly on the political landscape of America and it’s effects on the larger world, to try to find some way that the lives of people can be bettered. To try to reclaim the perceived original visions that created America.

To try, each in our own way but with help from each other, to find and give birth to a so far elusive meme, a ripple, that will be so irresistibly powerful that it will spread across our world like a tsunami wiping clean all opposition in its path, take down the most powerful fascist elements ever to gain power in America, and bring about a simple idea for the foundation of society – the valuing of people over money and power.

Yesterday NLinStPaul wrote about Power and in comments I reiterated an idea that came to me about a year ago after it became obvious that the Democrats, with six or so months behind them of a Congressional majority, through passage of the Iraq supplemental funding bill last spring, made it bluntly clear that they were going to do nothing but be enablers of the Bush/Cheney regime and that all of the campaign rhetoric that led to their winning that majority in November 2006 was nothing more than empty sloganeering and deception to garner votes.

I commented in her essay that I think that people already have the power to achieve what we come here to to do, but that we forget that we have that power.

I think that if enough people turned democrats away at the door during the campaigning leading to November and said “come back when you guys have done what you were elected to do last time” and you’ll have my vote… they would do it, because they would be afraid of not winning in november.

It would be the people turning the tables and fearmongering the democrats to make them do what the people want them to do.

It would also scare the hell out of the corporations who are now shifting the bulk of their donations to democrats, because they think that people will vote for democrats out of fear of republicans.

Leverage = power. Dangle the carrot. It’s not that complicated, is it?

If the Democratic leadership were quaking in terror of not winning in November, if they really believed they might lose their Congressional majority and not win the presidency, they might actually start thinking: “Hey wait a minute, these people really want us to defund and end the Iraq occupation, repeal the MCA, and charge Bush and Cheney with war crimes. Fuck – we can win in November! All we have to do is do what we were hired in 2006 to do.”

NL responded this morning by asking me, I think, for some expansion on  the idea. She said…

I’d like to talk to you about this a bit more… cause I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I really respect your opinion, but I’m having difficulty with the idea that my vote is leverage at this point.

I contacted Senator Klobuchar when she voted to extend FISA because I thought that was a critical moment. She had just been elected in the 2006 sweep and I believed in her.

At the time, I thought the best way to get us out of Iraq was to impeach Bush/Cheney. My practical side worried that if congress pulled the plug on funding, these idiots would do something REALLY stupid (ok, I guess that’s an understatement), so I wanted them out of office and someone in who might have a chance of getting us out of the war.

When the whole FISA thing came up, I agreed with John Dean. They had just announced to the world that they had committed an impeachable offense. And dared us to do anything about it. I know they had committed all kinds of other crimes, but this one they didn’t even try to obfuscate.

When, instead of starting impeachment hearings, congress voted to extend FISA (and my newly elected senator vote FOR the extension), I knew all was lost because with those votes, they were now complicit in the crime.

I was outraged. And so I wrote to Klobuchar about it and told her I couldn’t vote for someone who supported breaking the law. And as I said above, I got a f’ing form letter back basically justifying her vote and telling me to “trust her, she knows better.” My vote doesn’t matter to her.

So I told my friends about what she had done. They all supported her in her election. NONE of them knew about her vote. And when I told them, they just shrugged it off.

Klobuchar isn’t running this November. But in 2010, unless I see a big turnaround from her, I won’t be voting for her.

This November my choices are:

Al Franken running for the first time. He talks about getting out of Iraq, but I’m not so sure I buy it – anyway no record to hold him accountable for.

Rep: Betty McCollum running unopposed. She’s real tight with Pelosi though, so I have serious problems with her. I can threaten not to vote for her. But she’s in no matter what I do.

So you see, I don’t feel like I have much leverage with my vote this time around. Any thoughts?  

And as usual NL’s response triggered some attempts in my own mind at clarifying what I was trying to get across.

In my own mind I see the problem as being really two problems, or if you prefer as one problem but with two aspects to it.

#1 How to force the democrats to do what they were hired to do in 2006.

#2 How to live, reasonably happily with ourselves, in spite of the moral and ethical collapse of the U.S. government.

I don’t pretend to have all the answers anymore than you or anyone else, but I think that the idea is much simpler that it might appear.

First, on the level of numbers, if we can somehow convince enough people to threaten the democrats with such a drastic loss of support between now and November unless they do what needs to be done that it will be blindingly obvious that the only way they can retain their Congressional majority and win the presidency is by doing those things, then we will have prevailed. 1) would be achieved. We will have turned the tables on Democrats who are fearmongering with the confidence that people will give them their votes simply because they are more afraid of Republicans than of Democrats, who so far, are confident that they will win in November without having had to do anything that people want them to do, and without paying any political price for it. Basic logical deduction I think makes that obvious to everyone. It’s a simple numbers calculation.

But there is a big but to that, and I think it is the one that causes some anxiety.

What if, individually, we do this, we refuse to vote for ANY democratic candidate unless and until the Democratic controlled congress delivers on what they were elected to do in 2006………. and not enough other people do the same to make it an effective threat? This possibility I think is what engenders a feeling of powerlessness. The Democrats will win, and nothing will have changed.

Will we then have tried in vain, since not enough others did the same to force the change?

No. I don’t think so.

I’ve seen quite a few comments and essays lately with people telling stories of friends or relatives who voted for Bush once, or twice, or who voted Republican all their lives, who now say that this year they will not vote for any Republican.

At the very least, and here is where we come I think to the nut of the problem, I will not, after November, be defending myself for having supported people I knew were going to screw me. I think I can do at least as well as the people who are turning on the Republicans.

In other words, I can achieve #2 all by myself.

I need your help to achieve #1.

I’ll be happy either way.

Day after day I’m more confused

But I look for the light through the pouring rain

You know that’s a game that I hate to lose

Now I’m feeling the strain

Aint it a shame?

(Chorus)

Oh, give me the beat boys and free my soul

I wanna get lost in your rock and roll

And drift away

Give me the beat boys and free my soul

I wanna get lost in your rock and roll

And drift away

Beginning to think that I’m wasting time

I don’t understand the things I do

The world outside looks so unkind

I’m counting on you

To carry me through

(Chorus)

And when my mind is free, you know melody can move me

And when I’m feeling blue, the guitar’s coming through to soothe me

Thanks for the joy that you’ve given me

I want you to know I believe in your song

Your rhythm and rhyme and harmony

You’ve helped me along

You’re making me strong

Apr 14 2008

breathisngststill breathes no more

I HAVE LOVED ALL OF YOU

Apr 14 2008

Four at Four

  1. The Washington Post reports Rising food costs unravel schools nutrition initiatives. “Sharp rises in the cost of milk, grain and fresh fruits and vegetables are hitting cafeterias across the country, forcing cash-strapped schools to raise prices or pinch pennies by serving more economical dishes. Some school officials on a mission to help fight childhood obesity say it’s becoming harder to fill students’ plates with healthy, low-fat foods… This year, the U.S. Agriculture Department is giving schools $2.47 per lunch to serve free meals to children from the poorest families, up from $2.40 last year, a 3 percent increase. In the same time, milk prices rose about 17 percent and bread nearly 12 percent… The average cost of preparing and serving a school lunch runs from about $2.70 to $3.10, according to the School Nutrition Association.”

    This is just the begining of the impact on the food crisis here in the Unite States. Worldwide, Spiegel reports on The fury of the poor; people are dying before our eyes. “Around the world, rising food prices have made basic staples like rice and corn unaffordable for many people, pushing the poor to the barricades because they can no longer get enough to eat. But the worst is yet to come… Food is become increasingly scarce and expensive, and it is already unaffordable for many people. The world’s 200 wealthiest people have as much money as about 40 percent of the global population, and yet 850 million people have to go to bed hungry every night.”

    Meanwhile, The New York Times reports Despite tough times, the ultrarich keep spending. “We’re trying to spend on what we feel is important,” one said.

Four at Four continues below the fold with stories about greenhouse gas emissions, “The Madness of Ben Bernanke”, and 1,300 fired for desertion in Iraq.

  1. The Guardian reports the Developing world ‘dismayed’ by lack of leadership on greenhouse gas emissions from rich nations. “Developing countries, including China and India, are unwilling to sign up to a new global climate change pact to replace the Kyoto protocol in 2012 because the rich world has failed to set a clear example on cutting carbon emissions, according to the UN’s top climate official. Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said too many rich countries, including the US, had failed to take the action needed to convince the developing nations to sign up to a deal in Copenhagen next year that could help to stabilise global emissions.”

    While here in the United States, the Los Angeles Times reports Global warming has a new battleground: coal plants. “Every time a new coal-fired power plant is proposed anywhere in the United States, a lawyer from the Sierra Club or an allied environmental group is assigned to stop it, by any bureaucratic or legal means necessary… The plant-by-plant strategy is part of a campaign by environmentalists to force the federal government to deal with climate change.” The Bush years have been, perhaps, the most destructive ever for not only the United States, but the world.

  2. Spiegel reports on The Madness of Ben Bernanke.

    The dollar is in a tailspin, the trade deficit is growing and a recession is on the horizon. The American way of life is in serious danger. But the head of the Federal Reserve keeps on pumping easy credit into the system — a crazy policy that will worsen the crisis…

    Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke have more in common with the big cat entertainers Siegfried & Roy than any of us can be comfortable with…

    [But] Greenspan and Bernanke too have lost their magic touch…

    The credit-financed consumer boom of recent years is coming to a painful end. Today’s American Way of Life has no chance of surviving the coming years undamaged. The virus will continue to ravage its way through the financial system.

    In yet another indication the U.S. economic meltdown is far from over, The Guardian reports the Fourth-largest US bank resorts to emergency fundraising. “Wachovia, is raising $7bn through emergency fundraising as the subprime mortgage crisis in the US continues to reverberate through the banking sector. Wachovia is raising the funds through public offerings of common and convertible preference stock after incurring a surprise $350m loss in the first quarter of 2008 compared with $2.3bn in profit a year earlier.” But who will buy the shares?

  3. Finally, news from Iraq where the LA Times reports Iraq security forces fire 1,300 deserters. The “soldiers and police officers… refused to fight Shiite Muslim militias during the recent government crackdown… A spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Abdul Kareem Khalaf, … said most of the desertions occurred in Basra, where 921 police officers and soldiers were fired. The other deserters were from Kut, the capital of Wasit province and the scene of intense fighting in the days immediately after the launch of the Basra operation… More than 600 people, most of them civilians, have died since Maliki launched his offensive. The worst fighting has occurred in Sadr City.”

    And in Baghdad over the weekend, the AP reported a U.S. airstrike destroyed a U.S. humvee. “An Apache helicopter has accidentally destroyed one of its own armored vehicles in Baghdad… Two soldiers and three civilians were wounded.”

Apr 14 2008

Now! Just for you! Your own $3-trillion shopping spree!

We asked recently what you would rather have than a war.

Now, from Brave New Films, an easy, amusing way to make those choices:

The occupation of Iraq will cost $3 trillion, America’s most expensive conflict since WWII.

Can YOU spend that money better?

Here’s your chance to go on a virtual $3 trillion shopping spree and prove it!

Browse our online store, fill up your cart, click the checkout button, and send virtual gifts to everyone you know.

A private island fortress? Healthcare for all? Anything you can imagine, and if you can’t find it, add it yourself!

Watch the video, then load up your cart here.  

Apr 14 2008

France urging EU countries for a global initiative on food security

Biofuels are of increasing interest as an alternative to fossil fuels.  This pure image allows industry, politicians, the World Bank, the United Nations and even the International Panel on Climate Change to present fuels made from corn, sugarcane, soy and other crops as the next step in a smooth transition from oil to a not yet defined renewable fuel economy.  But, at what price?

From BBC News:

Agriculture minister Michel Barnier said Europe could not remain passive and leave the situation to the markets.

He said producing biofuels, a key part of the EU’s plans to tackle climate change, was a “crime against humanity”.

The reason?  Land that could be growing food for human consumption is being used to raise biofuel crops to replace oil.

The European Union has set a target of providing 10% of its fuel for transport from biofuels by 2020, which its own environment advisers have said should be suspended.

There are fears that the use of farmland to grow crops for biofuels has reduced the scope for food production.

The European Commission said on Monday that there was no question at the moment of the target being dropped, as work was currently under way to implement it in a sustainable way.

In plain English, they are saying that “biofuels” better describes the corporate industrial interests behind the transformation from food crops to fuel crops.  You know, corporate profits.

The EU is well aware of the risks of soaring food prices and, only last week, Development Commissioner Louis Michel warned of the crisis leading to a “humanitarian tsunami” in Africa.

France will take over the presidency of the EU in July and, in a statement on Friday, four ministers made it clear that the violent response to price rises in Haiti could easily be replicated in 30 other countries.

Protests because of a big increase in the cost of rice have led to a number of deaths in Haiti as well as the fall of the government.

This is probably obvious to those of us that have taken on the ideal of fighting poverty, but hunger results not from scarcity, but poverty.

The world’s poorest already spend 50 to 80 percent of household income on food. It gets worse when high fuel prices push up food prices. Now, because food and fuel crops compete for land and resources, both increase the price of land and water.

Mr Barnier told French radio on Monday: “We cannot, and we must not leave food for people… to the mercy of the rule of the market alone and to international speculation.”

He is proposing four ideas:

Production of more and better food to enable Europe to respond to the food challenge

To bring together the efforts of various member states to help developing countries rebuild their agriculture

To redirect public development aid towards the agriculture sector

To ensure that poorer countries do not become the victims of the World Trade Organization’s Doha round of negotations.

Last week, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote to Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, whose country holds the presidency of the G8 industrialised nations, calling for a “fully co-ordinated response”.

He proposed urgent short-term action to tackle immediate hardship and a medium-term response in trade and agriculture.

We all want an alternative to oil and coal based products for our energy needs, but it is truly looking as though biofuels are not the answer and are perhaps just another bad use of resources that could be better put to use in the fight against poverty.

I know there is a lot of effort going into fuel cell technology at this time, and hopefully hydrogen burning fuel cells will make more sense as an alternative to coal and oil.  

In the meantime, I would hope the EU is able to make sense of the “food or fuel” debate and put a plan into action before we begin to see food riots everywhere.

Apr 14 2008

Focusing the Outrage

If you’ve read my posts you know I’m no fan of Barack Obama, and that I have a distinct tendency to display copious amounts of Righteous Indignation.  There’s a reason for that, but there is always a danger in creating outrage fatigue, so today I’m going to try to help put it all into perspective.

Yes, there is indeed a method in my ranting.  If you read down to the end of my entry about Obama’s purge of anti-war delegates in California, the answer lies there.

Fortunately, this latest outrage by the Obama campaign has a somewhat happy ending; all of the delegates purged from California’s bloc seem to have been reinstated.

The people who got good and ticked off about this sorry spectacle didn’t just complain about what had happened to them, allowing resentment and disillusionment to fester; they allowed their anger to motivate them to do something about their situation.  Overnight, the Obama campaign offices in California were flooded with e-mails and messages undoubtedly left on voice mail, demanding that the delegates be reinstated or a reasonable explanation given for why they were removed.

In the end, having no explanation for the purge anyone would buy, the Obama campaign had no choice but to reinstate the delegates.  This is but one example of how righteous anger served to motivate people to apply the needed pressure on a politician to do the right thing.  Another for consideration is the defeat of Maryland Representative Al Wynn by Democratic primary challenger Donna Edwards.  His defeat sent a signal to one of the most stubborn Bush Dogs in the House, Iowa’s Leonard Boswell (and, by extension, all the so-called ‘Blue Dogs’): get with the program, or you’re next.

Boswell, facing his own primary challenge from Ed Fallon, belatedly signed on to efforts by fellow Democrat Robert Wexler to begin the impeachment process against the shrub and his gargoyle.  It is in response to voter anger, taken out at the polling locations, that got Boswell to pay attention to what his constituents are demanding.  Does anyone think an otherwise loyal Bush Dog would have changed his tune on impeachment if he hadn’t seen how strong voter resentment is, if the people hadn’t risen up and voted a bum out?

Finally, I give you this article from Black Agenda Report as proof of how Righteous Indignation served to get Barack Obama to reinstate his anti-war speech on his campaign web site in 2003.

After calls to Obama’s campaign office yielded no satisfactory answers, we published an article in the June 5, 2003 issue of Black Commentator effectively calling Barack Obama out. We drew attention to the disappearance of any indication that U.S. Senate candidate Obama opposed the Iraq war at all from his web site and public statements. We noted with consternation that the Democratic Leadership Council, the right wing Trojan Horse inside the Democratic party, had apparently vetted and approved Obama, naming him as one of its “100 to Watch” that season. This is what real journalists are supposed to do — fact check candidates, investigate the facts, tell the truth to audiences and hold the little clay feet of politicians and corporations to the fire.

Facing the possible erosion of his base among progressive Democrats in Illinois, Obama contacted us. We printed his response in Black Commentator’s June 19 issue and queried the candidate on three “bright line” issues that clearly distinguish between corporate-funded DLC Democrats and authentic progressives. We concluded the dialog by printing Obama’s response on June 26, 2003. For the convenience of our readers in 2007, all three of these articles can be found here.

The lesson to be learned here is that outrage, used as a motivator for action, works.  If Barack Obama can be made to do as the Progressive Movement dictates, so too can Hillary Clinton, and so therefore can Congress.  As Mickey Z. of Smirking Chimp points out:

How about some good old-fashioned anger, rage, and passion? (Che sez: “If you tremble with indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine.”) Let’s forget hope and aim for vision, clarity, strategy, courage, and finally: some goddamned results. “Creativity comes from trust,” sez Rita Mae Brown. “Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work” (as they say in South Florida: bingo).

So whenever you see a report about politicians preaching change but preserving the status quo behaving badly, don’t get discouraged, don’t get disillusioned, and above all, don’t give up.  Yes, get angry.  Get good and outraged.  Let that serve as your motivation to get up and do something about the evils visited upon us all by a corrupt system, force those we pay with our tax dollars to work for us.

If Hillary Clinton, John McCain, or Barack Obama say or do something fundamentally stupid on the campaign trail, get a hold of your media outlets and demand that they report it.  Flood their offices with telephone calls, e-mails, and letters, until they pull their heads out of their asses.  If your representatives in Congress, in both the House and the Senate, pass bad legislation or look as though they’re going to, do likewise.  Better yet, in addition to that, gather about two or three dozen of your closest friends — the ones willing to get beaten up, tazered, sent to jail — and march on down to their offices and stage a sit-in.  Don’t let yourselves be corralled into “safe”, out of the way “free speech zones”.  Free speech doesn’t need zones, places kept well out of sight and earshot of the powerful.  Get up in their faces and make them pay attention to you, make them do as they’re told.  Remember, these people work for you — NOT the other way around.  And if all that doesn’t get them to pull their heads out of their asses, you can always pull together and get them voted out.

While we’re on the subject, there’s no reason why we cannot apply similar tactics to the corporate media.  Remember, these whores only report what is in their bosses’ best interests to report.  Unless we make the punditry report the truth, and on a regular basis, how is the rest of the nation to know what’s going on?  So yeah, send out those e-mails and telephone calls.  Put those postal delivery workers on a good weight-lifting routine with those bags they carry.

Do these things on a regular basis, and there may yet be cause for optimism about our country’s future.  Let your outrage be focused like a laser beam, and aim it squarely where it needs to be.

Apr 14 2008

Godzilla?

Maybe it’s because I’m at the northern Oregon coast, right now, but this article caught my eye:

Scientists listening to underwater microphones have detected an unusual swarm of earthquakes off central Oregon, something that often happens before a volcanic eruption – except there are no volcanoes in the area.

Scientists don’t know exactly what the earthquakes mean, but they could be the result of molten rock rumbling away from the recognized earthquake faults off Oregon, said Robert Dziak, a geophysicist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Oregon State University.

There have been more than 600 quakes over the past 10 days in a basin 150 miles southwest of Newport. The biggest was magnitude 5.4, and two others were more than magnitude 5.0, OSU reported.

On the hydrophones, the quakes sound like low thunder and are unlike anything scientists have heard in 17 years of listening, Dziak said. Some of the quakes have also been detected by earthquake instruments on land.

The usual pattern for earthquakes is that there will be a major jolt, followed by smaller ones. The usual pattern is not happening, here.

Scientists hope to send out an OSU research ship to take water samples, looking for evidence that sediment has been stirred up and chemicals that would indicate magma is moving up through the Juan de Fuca Plate, Dziak said.

Or maybe for a giant fire-breathing lizard?

Load more