Feb 01 2008

Can You Help? NOLA’s 9th Ward Needs Us!

Cross Posted from DailyKos

hat-tip to kj & NightProwlKitty!!!

A group of bloggers over (here) at Docudharma have been actively writing about NOLA after Hurricane Katrina and we have decided to do a week-end marathon fund-raiser for the 9th Wards’ N.E.N.A. (Neighborhood Empowerment Network Association)

Kossacks/Dharmaniacs came to the rescue when Pretty Bird Woman House needed help.  

And for that you are all superstars in my book-no matter who you’re voting for!!!

Now, New Orleans Ninth Ward needs our help, and this is more of a reminder than anything else, since the needs are ongoing.  Who is NENA, you ask?

The Lower Ninth Ward Neighborhood Empowerment Network Association (NENA) was established in the aftermath of Katrina to play a lead role in rebuilding New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward.

Organized and controlled by residents of the Lower Ninth Ward, NENA addresses not only the immediate recovery needs created by the storm’s destruction, but also the institutional neglect and disinvestment that plagued the neighborhood long before Katrina. NENA works with current Lower Ninth Ward residents, displaced residents living in other parts of New Orleans, and the broader diaspora who want to return to the neighborhood.

Photobucket

NightProwlKitty wrote a diary entitled “I’m not waiting on the government to give me nothing” in which she quoted something that moved me so deeply….

James Ackerson, 36, is nearly done repairing his home several blocks from the 17th Street Canal. He filed a claim with the Corps but wasn’t distressed to hear that the judge dismissed the case.

“It don’t mean much to me,” he said. “I’m not waiting on the government to give me nothing.”

kj wrote a diary entitled, “Eyes on the Prize” after she had called and spoke with NENA’s president over the phone….

I called and the woman who answered the phone later told me she was President of Lower Ninth Ward Homeowner’s Association. She was handling the phones while everyone else went to lunch. I’m still a little bit overwhelmed by our conversation, so this essay will be brief. I was told that the majority of the people NENA helped were senior citizens. We exchanged emails and plan to stay in touch. I thank everyone who blogs on this issue, it’s because of you that I made this simple phone call.

This is what has inspired me to write to all of you asking for help in making donations.  This is possibly one of the most worthy causes, since our government has given the fine people of the Gulf Coast so much grief after loosing so much.

NENA’s priority needs are:

1.) Building Materials: nails to studs to wire.

2.) Money

3.) Gift Cards from: Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, Win Dixie Food Stores, Dollar General, Family Dollar  

Please, let’s do what we can for NENA!

You can send personal checks to:

NENA

PO Box 3920

New Orleans, Louisiana 70177

Or you can donate online through Donate.net & GlobalGiving.com

NENA in the news: from The Nation:

…Though a lot of outside organizations are here, locals lead most of the efforts. I asked Linda Jackson, a member of NENA, how the community felt about the assistance pouring in from around the world, and she replied in her whispery voice, “They’re stunned. They never thought the world would reach out the way they did. I’m not going to say that it makes up for [the initial, official Katrina response], but the help that we’ve been given from throughout the US and the world, it makes us work that much harder. We say: You know what, if these people can come down here and take off of work, drop out of school for a couple weeks, there’s no way, there’s just no way we can have a negative attitude. These people feel this way, that’s something worth fighting for. And that’s what we’re doing at this point.”

Other Very Important NONPROFIT GROUPS you can donate to:

— TheShared Housing of New Orleans program matches people seeking places to live with homeowners who do not want to move to nursing homes and need companions. Call (504) 896-2575 or visit sharedhousingofneworleans.org.

— Global Green USA, 841 Carondelet St., a resource center for environmentally friendly building products, is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Thursdays, noon to 8 p.m.

— Nonprofit Central, a resource collaborative for nonprofit organizations in greater New Orleans, is open at 1824 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. Services include use of office space and equipment, office support and more. Most services are free. E-mail [email protected] or call (504) 491-7190.

— The Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations keeps a directory of its 850 member charities. Visit www.lano.org or call (225) 343-5266.

— The governor’s Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation supports long-term family recovery and provides assistance to citizens in need through a network of Louisiana charities and nonprofit agencies. Call (877) 435-7521 or visit www.louisianahelp.org

— Family Resources of New Orleans, 817 N. Claiborne Ave., provides a community housing resource center, including pre- and post-purchase counseling, foreclosure prevention, credit rehabilitation and first-time homebuyer training. Call (504) 822-8520 or visit www.familyresourcesofno.org

— Modest Needs provides grants of up to $1,000 to help people meet unexpected and potentially catastrophic expenses. Visit www.modestneeds.org

— Operation HOPE provides free financial counseling and services by telephone regarding banking, credit, debt, insurance, budgets and other issues. Call (888) 388-HOPE or visit www.operationhope.org

— Good Will Institute Hospice, 620 Oak Harbor Blvd., Suite 201B, Slidell, is the only freestanding nonprofit hospice in St. Tammany Parish. It provides adult hospice and pediatric palliative care services to all terminally ill persons. Referrals can be made by calling (985) 781-4730.

So there you have the first diary of a marathon week-end fund-raiser.

Feb 01 2008

This Historic Winter

The Democratic Party won, last night. The Republican race is growing increasingly acrimonious, with Mitt Romney yesterday accusing John McCain of using “Nixonian tactics,” while, by contrast, debate host CNN and others headlined the comity displayed by Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. This is great for the Democratic party, and helpful to both candidates.

As Senator Clinton said, in the debate itself:

So we have differences both at home and around the world, but, again, I would emphasize that what really is important here, because the Republicans were in California debating yesterday, they are more of the same.

Neither of us, just by looking at us, you can tell, we are not more of the same. We will change our country.

Big Tent Democrat concurs:

From the moment they walked out on the stage, an African American and a woman, the Democrats won. Whomever wins the nomination, whomever wins the election, Democrats won. And America won.

He referred to Eugene Robinson’s comment, during the post-debate analysis, that the most electrifying moment came when the two candidates simply walked out on the stage. This is a new America and a better America. I remember the electricity in 1984, when Walter Mondale chose Geraldine Ferraro as his running-mate; those at the San Francisco convention said it was palpable. Everyone knew the ticket was doomed to lose to media darling Ronald Reagan, but having a woman on a major party’s ticket was an achingly long-overdue revolution. That same year, Jesse Jackson won five primaries or caucuses. He won 13 in 1988. Even with the nation regressing, under the Reagan Administration, the Democratic Party was courageously moving forward.

This year makes the advances of 1984 seem trivial. Big Tent also referenced the withdrawal statement of John Edwards, when he announced he was getting out of the way of history. For all the subtle and not-so-subtle strains of racism and misogyny that have bubbled up, this past month, this nation will never look back. The next time there is a serious candidate who is African American and/or a woman, it won’t even be an issue. That will be the greatest legacy of this historic winter.

Feb 01 2008

17 Veterans committed suicide A DAY in 2005

cross posted from sanchopress.com

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories…

CBS News’ investigative unit wanted the numbers, so it submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Defense asking for the numbers of suicides among all service members for the past 12 years.

Four months later, they sent CBS News a document, showing that between 1995 and 2007, there were almost 2,200 suicides. That’s 188 last year alone. But these numbers included only “active duty” soldiers.

CBS News went to the Department of Veterans Affairs, where Dr. Ira Katz is head of mental health.

“There is no epidemic in suicide in the VA, but suicide is a major problem,” he said.

Why hasn’t the VA done a national study seeking national data on how many veterans have committed suicide in this country?

“That research is ongoing,” he said.

So CBS News did an investigation – asking all 50 states for their suicide data, based on death records, for veterans and non-veterans, dating back to 1995. Forty-five states sent what turned out to be a mountain of information.

And what it revealed was stunning.

In 2005, for example, in just those 45 states, there were at least 6,256 suicides among those who served in the armed forces. That’s 120 each and every week, in just one year.

OUR GOVERNMENT, OUR VA AND OUR DOD SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES.

Feb 01 2008

My Big Fat Candidate Lobotomy

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

Something is wrong with me. I am not feeling the whispering winds of engulfing unity.

The rhetoric of change has not hit me yet. Perhaps I doubt it is really coming. See it is nothing personal against the two Dem candidates, they might be fine people. Right now they are in the courting phase and whichever of them wins will continue the courting right up until they win, if they win. But whoever does win won’t be calling you in the morning to reminisce about what a good time they had last night. The have advisers and experts, and the advisers and experts like the system. They think it works great primarily because they don’t actually know anybody who might possibly be considered an average American or even an American who isn’t average, just in the process of getting royally fucked.

What nobody running for office wants these days is this….

They don’t even want a peaceful evolution. Whoever becomes the Dem candidate wants just enough change to make it look like they stand for something. The Dem candidate still wants you to be above all a consumer, not a citizen. Once in office, they don’t really want your “input” just in case you start asking for uppity things. What happens if you ask for something that isn’t for you, that goes against your self interest, something for your kids, or something for something you don’t even know? Won’t that be complicated.

We already know that whoever becomes the Republican candidate wants fascism with a velvet glove and an increased limit on the credit cards. John McCain wants to make sure your kids in kindergarten will have a war to fight in and Mitt Romney wants to force us all to give hand jobs to his corporate friends on a daily basis, as if giving up pensions and decent health care just wasn’t enough tribute. The future for your kids with those two is either a uniform or a bar code on their forehead.

I am not even saying we are fucked. I am fundamentally undecided on that issue. Besides, it is arrogant to make proclamations. For all I know, the rapture really will come and sweep up the annoying people, and we might be able to advocate for something grander than change. I do know this: conventional wisdom is not wisdom. Perhaps, the greatest thing ordinary folks like myself can to is to learn how to think, and in everyday conversations, to encourage those I come in contact with to ask questions. The problem with Americans is that nobody really urges them to ask questions probably because elites are afraid that the biggest problem is that Americans are not stupid. They aren’t afraid of an undifferentiated mob, they are afraid of a thoughtful one. And thoughtful mobs are not necessarily all interested in unity either.

Unity these days is being linked in popular mainstream dialog with silly notions about a post partisan landscape in which our differences are no big deal.

I don’t want unity myself. I want to argue. Sometimes I wonder if progressives, out of the boxers, and independent thinkers are all concerned they might not like one another or agree on everything and that might prevent the creation of a coherent vision. I am not sure there is a coherent vision. And we all have issues on a personal level, we just cannot compromise on. Even if we did all belong to an easily defined movement, there is nothing wrong with realizing one has to take a holiday to go work on projects that might not be getting the priority we think it should. Sounds contradictory doesn’t it? Because change is contradictory, ideas spawn ideas that seem impossible. We think we know what change we want only because we can clearly see what we don’t like. Maybe we don’t know yet.

I am more interested in democracy and what it might end up meaning than a candidate and I don’t see those who have strong feelings about one or the other as being partisan, we don’t even truly know what being partisan in the electoral process means any more because the choices are too narrow. They aren’t choices.

By the way, the lobotomy feels just fine. An easy post op recovery.

Feb 01 2008

Pony Party, Phone-it-in-Friday

We’re all about thinking outside the box today…

Sure, it’s outside the box….but it’s sooooooo wrong:

recharge your batteries….literally…

for those who want to think outside the ‘outside the box’ box…

and a twofer…’cause who doesnt love eddie izzard…and legoes…

Feb 01 2008

Hillary’s most important endorsement yet!

In the past weeks, Hillary Clinton has gained many important endorsements. While her backers have bemoaned the fact that endorsments they – and she – feel that she is owed, endorsements such as those of Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, have gone to Barack Obama, my own Congressman, the indefatigable Barney Frank, has endorsed her candidacy, we would do well to remember that she also has the endorsement and unqualified support of the last decent President this country had, in those halcyon days before the Chimp d’ Etat.

But this latest endorsement makes the most compelling statement yet.

On the jump……….

   Elections turn on this sort of thing. Momentum builds, and with Tsunami Tuesday on the horizon, it is my fervent hope that whenever we listen to Hillary on the stump, from this day forward, we will consider her words, her passion, her drive, and her committment in the context of this vitally-important endorsement.

  Life, you see, is full of surprises.

  To the Hillary supporters, this is your watershed moment. This is the endorsement you have been waiting for; the one that should, by rights, propel your candidate to the exact place which she rightfully belongs.

  Cue Taylor Marsh. This will be a great day for her radio show, of that I have no doubt.

  This is it. This is, or by rights should be, the endorsement that should make all the difference for Hillary Rodham Clinton.

                      Pop a cork.

Feb 01 2008

Docudharma Times Friday February 1

This is an Open Thread: Can you feel it coming in the air tonight

Friday’s Headlines: NFL Pulls Plug On Big-Screen Church Parties For Super Bowl: Clinton seeks to upstage Obama in Hollywood debate: Three Japanese prisoners executed:  Oscar boost for Kazakh filmmakers: Comics to teach Germans about Nazis: Iraq’s revival boosted as oil production rises to 2.4m barrels a day: Ex-SAS in ‘coup plot’ vanishes from prison : Talk of Independence in a Place Claimed by 2 Nations

Kurds’ Power Wanes as Arab Anger Rises

BAGHDAD – As a minority group in Iraq, the Kurds have enjoyed disproportionate influence in the country’s politics since the ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003. But now their leverage appears to be declining as tensions rise with Iraqi Arabs, raising the specter of another fissure alongside the sectarian divide between Sunnis and Shiites.

The Kurds, who are mostly Sunni but not Arab, have steadfastly backed the government, most recently helping to keep it afloat when Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki lacked support from much of Parliament.

With their political acumen, close ties to the Americans and technical competence at running government agencies, the Kurds cemented a position of enormous strength. This allowed them to all but dictate terms in Iraq’s Constitution that gave them considerable regional autonomy and some significant rights in oil development.

NFL Pulls Plug On Big-Screen Church Parties For Super Bowl

For years, as many as 200 members of Immanuel Bible Church and their friends have gathered in the church’s fellowship hall to watch the Super Bowl on its six-foot screen. The party featured hard hitting on the TV, plenty of food — and prayer.

But this year, Immanuel’s Super Bowl party is no more. After a crackdown by the National Football League on big-screen Super Bowl gatherings by churches, the Springfield church has sacked its event. Instead, church members will host parties in their homes.

Immanuel is among a number of churches in the Washington area and elsewhere that have been forced to use a new playbook to satisfy the NFL, which said that airing games at churches on large-screen TV sets violates the NFL copyright.

Clinton seeks to upstage Obama in Hollywood debate

The 2 Democrats are congenial but point to differences between themselves, and the Republicans, in last debate before Super Tuesday vote.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton sought tonight to derail some of the momentum behind rival Sen. Barack Obama in their final debate heading into the coast-to-coast balloting Tuesday that could determine the Democratic presidential nomination.

Seated onstage at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre, the two main surviving Democratic contenders struck a congenial tone as they drew distinctions not only between themselves but against whoever emerges as the Republican presidential nominee.

The debate was the first head-to-head showdown between the two since former Sen. John Edwards suspended his own campaign Wednesday, reducing the field of candidates to a historic juncture: The Democratic nominee is all but certain to be either a woman or an African American.

Asia

Three Japanese prisoners executed

Three prisoners have been executed in Japan, the authorities have announced.

The three convicted murderers were hanged at separate prisons, according to a justice ministry spokesman, who declined to give further details.

Human rights groups are critical of the secrecy surrounding executions in Japan, one of the few industrialised countries to retain the death penalty.

Names of those executed are not usually published, and relatives are only told after the hangings have taken place.

Oscar boost for Kazakh filmmakers

An Oscar nomination for a film made in Kazakhstan is allowing filmmakers there to showcase their talents – and recover from the embarrassment of the comedy film Borat, writes the BBC’s Natalia Antelava.

“I can’t wait to get to LA,” beams Gulnara Sarsenova. She straightens the extravagant sunglasses that cover half of her face and turns her attention to the film set.

It is a dark room, where two actors are rehearsing a scene from her new project, a psychological thriller about murder and love in modern day Kazakhstan.

For her home country Kazakhstan, Gulnara’s upcoming trip to Los Angeles is a huge deal.

Europe

Russia seeks extradition of shipping magnate in UK

· Oligarch accused of £250m tanker deals fraud

· Demand may worsen crisis in diplomatic relations

James Lewis, Rob Evans and David Leigh

Friday February 1, 2008

The Guardian

The Kremlin is demanding the extradition of another Russian oligarch who has fled to England, the Guardian has discovered.

Moscow claims Yuri Nikitin has swindled £250m from his country’s shipping fleet. Whitehall sources confirm that an arrest request has been sent to the home secretary in London, but has not so far been acted on.

The Russian embassy will not comment on the case and a Home Office spokesman said: “We will neither confirm or deny this.”

Comics to teach Germans about Nazis

By Tony Paterson in Berlin

Friday, 1 February 2008

Comic books land in German classrooms today to help schoolchildren learn about Hitler and the Nazi persecution of the Jews. Entitled The Search, the cartoons are similar in style to the Tin Tin books, but their subject matter includes Hitler’s rise to power and the horror of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.

The comic strip has been produced by the Dutch-based Anne Frank Centre, and relies heavily on drawings by the Dutch artist, Eric Heuvel. It will be used during history lessons for pupils aged 13 to 16 in Berlin and the state of North Rhine Westphalia from today, the end of the week that marked the 75th anniversary of the Nazi Party gaining power.

The comic tells the story of a fictional Jewish family called Hecht who initially think: “Nobody will vote for the Nazis because they talk such rubbish.” Their story begins in 2007 with Esther Hecht telling her grandson Daniel of her parents’ arrest by the Nazis at the beginning of the Second World War and their subsequent deportation to Auschwitz with a neighbour called Bob.

Middle East

Iraq’s revival boosted as oil production rises to 2.4m barrels a day

Oil production in Iraq is at its highest level since the US-led invasion of 2003, reaching 2.4 million barrels a day, thanks largely to improved security measures in the north.

The country’s Oil Ministry will shortly invite international oil companies to bid for contracts to help Iraq to boost output at its investment-starved “super-giant” oilfields. Production is expected to pass the prewar level of 2.6 million barrels by the end of the year, and Hussain al-Shahristani, the Iraqi Oil Minister, told The Times that he expected production to reach six million barrels a day within four years.

The International Monetary Fund predicts that Iraq’s economy, boosted by rising oil revenues, will grow by more than 7 per cent this year, compared with 1.3 per cent last year.

Bomb kills 14 at pet market in Baghdad

BAGHDAD – A bomb struck a popular pet market in central Baghdad on Friday, killing at least 14 civilians and wounding nearly two dozen, police said.

The blast occurred about 10:20 a.m. as the al-Ghazl market was crowded with shoppers during the weekly bazaar.

Police and hospital officials said 14 people were killed and 22 were wounded, making it the deadliest bombing in the capital in weeks.

The market, which has recently re-emerged as a popular venue as security has improved, has been struck several times since the war started.

Africa

Ex-SAS in ‘coup plot’ vanishes from prison

A former SAS officer accused of planning a failed coup in West Africa has disappeared from Zimbabwe’s maximum security prison. Fears were growing last night over the fate of Simon Mann.

The Old Etonian had lost an appeal against extradition to the West African state of Equatorial Guinea, the oil-rich dictatorship which accuses him of recruiting mercenaries to overthrow its president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

Mann was jailed in Zimbabwe in 2004 when 67 mercenaries arrived in Harare on a Boeing 727, allegedly en route to Equatorial Guinea. Mann, who met the group at Harare airport, served four years for trying to buy illegal weapons, allegedly for the operation.

Israeli embassy in Mauritania attacked

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania – At least one gunman opened fire on the Israeli Embassy in Mauritania Friday, setting off a battle with guards that wounded one person, according to Israeli officials and witnesses.

The Israeli ambassador to the northwest African nation said the wounded person was a Mauritanian who lived nearby and no embassy employees were hurt.

Two witnesses told The Associated Press that the attack had been carried out by a group of men who shouted “God is Great!” in Arabic before opening fire on the embassy around 2 a.m.

Mauritanian officials issued no immediate comment.

Latin America

Talk of Independence in a Place Claimed by 2 Nations

SAN ANDRÉS, Colombia – Down the road from a neighborhood here called the Hill, where reggae blares out of weathered houses and parishioners sing hymns in English at the First Baptist Church, President Álvaro Uribe recently inaugurated a hospital with a decidedly Colombian name: Amor de Patria.

That translates as “Love of the Fatherland” for the English-speaking descendants of African slaves who inhabit this Caribbean archipelago, as if they needed a sharp reminder that they must be loyal to distant Bogotá.

But many Raizals, as the English speakers here are known, feel loyalty neither to Colombia, a Bush administration ally, nor to Nicaragua, a supporter of President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. Nicaragua has claimed San Andrés in a bitter territorial dispute, and while the two countries press their cases, a nonviolent separatist movement is growing increasingly vocal here.

Feb 01 2008

A Question Of Care: Military Malpractice?

Marine’s Cancer Misdiagnosed?

The family of Marine Sgt. Carmelo Rodriguez says military doctors misdiagnosed his skin cancer. Now, as Byron Pitts reports, they wants the U.S. government held accountable for his untimely death.

(CBS) Carmelo Rodriguez was dancing with his niece just last year. By all accounts Rodriguez, a 29-year old, loved life, his family and the Marine Corps. He was also an artist, a father, and a part-time actor. He once appeared with Katie Holmes in a scene on the TV series Dawson’s Creek.

An image of Sgt. Rodriguez with his Marine buddies in Iraq in 2005 shows him as a fit, gung-ho platoon leader.

Feb 01 2008

What are you reading?

The regular list

If you like to trade books, try BookMooch.

cfk has bookflurries on Weds. nights

pico has literature for kossacks on Tues. nights, but it’s on hiatus

What are you reading? is crossposted to docudharma

Same stuff as last week….

the boy would live forever by Fred Pohl.  In the Gateway series.  Fun.

Statistical models: Theory and practice by David Freedman.  Delves into the details of models, without getting overly mathematical.  

The politics of congressional elections” by Gary Jacobson ….nicely geeky

Alexander Hamilton  by Ron Chernow.  Barely started, but it is already impressive (as is the subject)

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet.  Interesting novel about 12th century England

The Art of Mathematics by Bela Belobas.  Interesting, easily stated math problems. For slow solving.

Note: I won’t be around much today, but will check in when I can

Feb 01 2008

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

The muses are ancient.  The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them.  Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward.  In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.

It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse.  Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets.  Others have been suggested throughout the centuries.  I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts.  And maybe there should be many more.

Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…

The poem below was a last minute addition to I am a Human Being, which was written for National Coming Out Day, 2005.  There was a minor change to it made before the second performance and that version was presented here on the date given.  It’s purpose was as a warning to the audience about the nature of the content.  The poem does refer to the art.

Art Link

Body

The Body

Some people call it

pornography…

people who quite probably

think my existence is

pornography personified.

But it’s just a bunch of

blood red dots on a

yellow background

a stark symbolization

of much of my life

I say to them (to you?)

eliminate war, the worst obscenity,

from my tv news, from the planet,

from existence, from conception

and then we’ll talk

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–October 28, 2005

I know you have talent.  What sometimes is forgotten is that being practical is a talent.  I have a paucity for that sort of talent in many situations, though it turns out that I’m a pretty darn good cook.  🙂  

Let your talent bloom.  You can share it here.  Encourage others to let it bloom inside them as well.

Won’t you share your words or art, your sounds or visions, your thoughts scientific or philosophic, the comedy or tragedy of your days, the stories of doing and making?  And be excellent to one another!

Feb 01 2008

CIA now a venture-capital firm, funding tech start-ups

I found this over at Kos the other day and wanted to spread the word.  Nobody else seems to be.

Turns out the CIA has now created a venture-capital arm, whereby it provides venture capital to high-tech start-ups whose enterprises might, uh, “benefit” the CIA.  

I am not making this up.

The company has the downright cutesy name of In*Q*tel.

They have a very nice website.  You can submit YOUR business plan and maybe get lucky!

Here is their “aim”:


Launched by the CIA in 1999 as a private, independent, not-for-profit organization, IQT was created to bridge the gap between the technology needs of the Intelligence Community and new advances in commercial technology. With limited insight into fast-moving private sector innovation, the IC needed a way to find emerging companies, and, more importantly, to work with them. IQT, as a private company with deep ties to the commercial world, is able to attract and build relationships with technology entrepreneurs outside the reach of the IC. In fact, more than 75 percent of the companies that IQT works with had never done business with the government before partnering with IQT.

Similar to a corporate strategic fund like those found at Intel Corporation, Motorola and Disney, IQT operates for the strategic – rather than financial – benefits to its customers in the IC. IQT targets its technology engagements based on a deep understanding of the challenges of our Intelligence customers to deliver solutions that will provide strategic advantage to the mission of intelligence.

To best serve its customers, In-Q-Tel plays multiple roles:

A technology accelerator, fostering development and introduction of technologies needed by the Intelligence Community

A capabilities builder, helping nascent commercial technologies mature into commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) products the government can buy

An idea lab and forum for innovation, providing the Intelligence Community with insight and access to both new technologies and leading innovators and thinkers

A strategic investment firm, investing in companies and helping build businesses into reliable providers for the Intelligence Community …

Not for profit?  Are you kidding me?  How could this NOT be for profit?  

Or is the CIA now a charity, just trying to make the world a better place …?  A more profitable place, perhaps, for these deserving little mom-and-pop shops, such as this one called “Electro Energy”:


Electro Energy focuses on the development and ultimate commercialization of a concept for a bipolar nickel-metal hydride (BP Ni-MH) rechargeable battery. Since its founding, Electro Energy has developed and owns both the patented design of BP Ni-MH batteries and the patented production process for their manufacture. Electro Energy has produced and delivered prototype BP Ni-MH batteries for the U.S. Army (field radios and silent watch applications), NASA (satellites), Partnership for a New Generation Vehicle (hybrid vehicles), NAVAIR and U.S. Air Force (F-18 and F-16 Aircraft), National Institute of Health (NIH) (heart assist pumps), and the Department of Energy (DOE) (distributed energy and power quality), that have demonstrated performance advantages over existing technologies.

EEI’s fundamental bipolar packaging design is now being applied to other battery systems. Working with In-Q-Tel, EEI is extending this technology to lithium battery chemistry. The technology addresses a broad market mix including government and defense applications, power tools, distributed and directed energy applications, aerospace and automotive industries.

So let me get this straight.  The CIA is now using taxpayer money to provide venture capital to firms that will produce new forms of technology that will benefit (provides profits to) the power tool and automotive industries (among others)?  

Should the CIA really be in the corporate welfare business?  I thought that’s what the Department of Homeland Security was all about …

It does indeed seem like what Mussolini called fascism:  “Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power”.

If this isn’t the merger of corporate and government power, I sure don’t know what is.  

Does this bother anybody else?    

Feb 01 2008

Apocalypse Now

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

Be careful what you ask for.  I wanted a mission, and for my sins, they gave me one.  Brought it up to me like room service.  It was a real choice mission, and when it was over, I never wanted another.

“Your mission is to proceed up the Impeachment River on Daily Kos.  Pick up the trail of RePug lies, war crimes and treason, follow it and learn what you can along the way.  When you see Madame Speaker’s complicit hackery, expose it by whatever means available, and Terminate her Speakership.”

nancy pelosi

I got terminated instead.  But I still wanted a mission, and for my sins, they gave me another one.  Brought it up to me like room service.  It was another real choice mission.  

“Your mission is to proceed up the Warmongering Hackery River.  Pick up Colonel Kurtz’s trail, follow it and learn what you can along the way.  When you see Colonel Kurtz’s warmongering hackery, expose it by whatever means available, and Terminate It.”

I was going to the worst place in the world and I didn’t even know it yet.    Months away and thousands of Bullshit Express campaign miles later, it was clear that Colonel Kurtz’s Bullshit Express snaked through America like a main circuit cable–plugged straight into Hell.

Brace yourself America, Colonel Kurtz wants us to crawl along the edge of a straight razor.  For a hundred years. That’s his dream.  That’s our nightmare.  America the Snail.  Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight razor:

iraq

For a hundred years.

In the interests of clarity, I have translated Colonel Kurtz’s stump speech into plain English so every American will understand what he’s really saying:

Horror has a face, and you must make a friend of horror.  Horror and moral terror are your friends. When I had no campaign money left and had to hitchhike to my campaign appearances, I wanted to tear my teeth out.  I didn’t know what I wanted to do.  And I want to remember it.  I never want to forget it. I never want to forget.  And then I realized . . . like I was shot . . . like I was shot with a diamond . . . a diamond bullet right through my forehead.  STAY IN IRAQ FOR 100 YEARS!  And I thought: My God . . . the genius of that. The genius.   The will to do that.  Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure.

100 years in Iraq.  I’m not sure that’s . . . oops, Colonel Kurtz isn’t quite finished sharing his perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, and pure vision of America’s endless war against terrorism. . .

We must kill them.  We must incinerate them.  Pig after pig.  Cow after cow.  Village after village.  Army after army.

Hey asshole:

War is terrorism

Um.  Can SOMEONE in the corporate media talk to this guy?  You know, actually interview him, so voters will know he’s a batshit insane lunatic?  How about it, Tweety?  

Hey, man, you don’t talk to the Colonel.  You listen to him.  The man’s enlarged my mind. He’s a poet-warrior in the classic sense.  I mean sometimes he’ll… uh… well, you’ll say “hello” to him, right? And he’ll just walk right by you.  He won’t even notice you.  And suddenly he’ll grab you, and he’ll throw you in a corner, and he’ll say, “do you know that ‘if’ is the middle word in life?

 

Thanks, Tweety.  I didn’t know that.  That demonstrates strong leadership, in a psychopathic sort of way.  But I do know THIS:

As President Bush gave his last State of the Union address to Congress, Democracy Corps and Greenberg Quinlan Research conducted a large scale survey in the Republican battleground of the most competitive 40 Republican-held House seats.  Democrats start off even with Republicans (45 to 46 percent) in a challenging battleground that Republicans won by a 10-point margin in the past two elections. These named long-term incumbents are at only 46 percent on average, and are behind in the most competitive 20 seats.

And THIS

A few months ago, there was a spate of retirement announcements among House Republicans, but it wasn’t too big a deal. The announcements were a little early, but the numbers were in line with normal turnover that happens in practically every cycle. But what started as a modest trend is starting to look like an exodus. At this point, House Republican incumbents are fleeing from the House as if it were on fire. In all, there are now 28 House Republicans who will not seek re-election (about 14% of the House GOP caucus) – including five retirement announcements in five days.

RePugs, RePugs, RePugs, your heroes in Congress are cutting and running, your presidential candidates are clawing each other’s eyes out around the clock, but don’t lose heart.  Your Permanent Republican Majority has crashed and burned here, but Republicans are still admired in the Reddest State of all.  Speaking of Hell, The Gipper has been watching all your crashing and burning from down there, and just sent a message to all of you regarding your future prospects up here . . .

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