(great story that, again, tells us how BushCo does that thing it does so well… destabilize the world and make profits… – promoted by pfiore8)

Turkey is ready to invade and not over any US resolution .

If you don’t know who Joseph Ralston is, then George Bush is likely very happy. Because Joseph Ralston is the former NATO Supreme Commander George Bush appointed to prevent America’s exploding crisis with Turkey from happening. 

Except the general was gone. Just yesterday I wrote that Ralston quit suddenly on October 5th. Yet, there were inconsistencies in the few accounts I could find.

I was stunned to discover that Ralston actually quit in frustration months ago. Bush didn’t tell anyone and didn’t replace Ralston. Bush just pretended Ralston was working to end PKK attacks against Turkey all along. In part, no doubt, to avoid questions about Ralston’s other job.

Details below…

It’s one thing to discuss what’s taking place in Northern Iraq. It’s another to talk about why. To do that, we need to understand the story of Joseph Ralston and his sojourn in Iraq on behalf of the United States government, the Kurds, Turkey and the Lockheed-Martin Corporation.

Bush appointed the former NATO Supreme Commander Ralston to be his special mediator working with Turkish, Iraqi, US and Kurdish authorities to end PKK incursions into Iraq in May, 2006. Ralston is a retired general who now works for a high-powered firm that includes former Clinton defense officials. Ralston didn’t make a dent in ending PKK terror in Iraq and Turkey. Seems General Ralston did sell a lot of Lockheed planes to Turkey about the same time.

Lockheed, of course, approached the Turkey sales job like professionals. Bush not so much…

How serious was Bush about ending the PKK threat? Not very.

According to some, the process had been doomed right from the beginning. Assuming his job last year Ralston, who lives in the distant Alaska state, had no constant office or staff directly reporting to him. In his part-time job, he had been working on an on-and-off basis with State Department and Pentagon officials who were already dealing with Turkish matters.

Ralston lasted longer than his Turkish counter-part

Oct 11, 2207
Ralston and his Turkish counterpart, retired General Edip Ba?er, met several times between last fall and March this year in an effort to develop an anti-PKK strategy of tripartite cooperation among Turkey, Iraq and the United States, but this mechanism has never become effective, causing frustration in Ankara.

  The Ankara government fired Ba?er in May after he vocally expressed his frustration and replaced him with senior diplomat Rafet Akgünay. But Ralston and Akgünay never met face to face.

  In his last public appearance in Washington in early July Ralston said he would resume his work after the Turkish general elections on July 22, but this did not happen.

  Sources here said that Ralston had failed in his efforts to urge the Washington administration to apply larger pressure on Iraqi Kurds who control northern Iraq to take measures against the PKK.

  Top Turkish military officials and diplomats in on-the-record remarks have accused Iraqi Kurds of providing the PKK with shelter, arms and logistics.

Here No Evil: Both Fox and the Wapo ran identical stories. Both papers buried the announcement.

Bush officials tried to pretend as recently as October 3rd that Ralston was still on the job.

Commenting on news reports about retired U.S. General Joseph Ralston’s resignation from his post as the special coordinator for countering terrorism, Tom Casey, a Department of State spokesman, said Monday that there was no change in the status of Ralston. “His status hasn’t changed and we look forward to him continuing his efforts,”…

Fact is: Ralston walked out the Bush job in frustration months ago:

The United States, which considers the PKK a terrorist organization, has said repeatedly that it wants to help Ankara and Baghdad, as well as the Kurdistan regional government in northern Iraq, to solve the problem.

The Bush administration appointed a special envoy to deal with the matter a little more than a year ago. But the envoy, retired Gen. Joseph W. Ralston, resigned last month, frustrated with the Iraqis’ lack of will to act against the PKK. Colleagues say he was also troubled by Washington’s reluctance to put more pressure on the Iraqis – especially the Kurdistan government, which is privately sympathetic to the PKK’s goal of an independent Kurdish state.

“The argument that we have [too many] troubles in Iraq for our forces to start fighting the PKK is a valid one, but we don’t have to fight them,” the former senior U.S. official said. “We can help the government arrest people.”

Why would Bush keep the PKK around?

…Washington has its own considerations in northern Iraq, where it has indirect links with Iranian Kurdish dissidents in the mountainous Iraq-Iran border area through the PKK. It would like to use the Iranian Kurds against the Tehran regime at the right time, and a Turkish operation in northern Iraq would seriously dent the alliance…

Kurd oil and the PKK are central to Bush’s attack on Iran. We know Ralston wasn’t the only unhappy military man working for Bush in Iraq. And it would be unfair to lay all of the problems in Northern Iraq at his door. But the Ralston scandal is at the very center of the crisis with Turkey; and some folks wish Ralston would just go away.

America’s Top Negotiator with the Kurds, Turkey and the PKK quit working for Bush three months ago because he couldn’t get his job done. Now the wheels are coming off. It’s another story of greed and incompetence. No staff, no office, no support. Smoke and mirrors from Bushco. Ralston did, however, did secure an additional deal for Lockheed-Martin before walking away from the Bush mess.

Will the MSM pick-up the Ralston story?

Cross-posted on Daily Kos.

I’m going about my nightly survey of Blackwater news for today’s Four at Four and I’m reading a background story by Robert O’Harrow Jr. and Dana Hedgpeth in the Washington Post, ‘Building Blackwater‘ about how the company became so large and lucrative, and at the end of the piece there is this passage. Erik Prince, Blackwater CEO and owner, is showing the WaPo reporters, around his “7,000-acre facility in North Carolina known as Blackwater Lodge and Training Center.”

At the center’s original lodge, he proudly pointed out a stuffed bobcat, a wild turkey and a beaver that he recalled killing. The lobby of the Blackwater headquarters resembles a ski lodge with a twist: The front doors feature barrels from .50-caliber machine guns. Inside, a glass showcase displays replicas of guns used to assassinate presidents.

Holy Zarquon’s Singing Fish!

Yes. I’m certain Prince has this collection for a reason — it’s freakin’ scary. For most people, it would just be an eccentric collection, but then most people do not command a large mercenary army. If the U.S. Congress does not stand up now and shut this mercenary CEO down now, then say good bye to the United States of America.

A couple of weeks ago, Naomi Wolf asked Blackwater: Are you scared yet? If you were not worried after you read her diary, then you might want to reconsider.

More from the WaPo article:

Democrats in Congress could not have been clearer how they view Blackwater during a packed oversight hearing last week. The company, lawmakers said, operates as an out-of-control, mercenary force.

As Prince drove around the grounds of his property Monday, six days after the hearing, he still fumed at the accusations…

Prince had become more voluble about his business, but he grew frustrated when pressed about exactly who can hold his growing Blackwater empire accountable. When it comes to his contractors, he said, there’s only so much he can do. It’s up to the Justice Department and the Pentagon to enforce criminal infractions.

In the end, he said, Blackwater is always ultimately answerable as a business to its government customers.

“We’re open honest Americans trying to do a good job,” he said. “If they don’t like what we’re doing then” — he snapped his fingers — “cut off that revenue steam right now.”

Prince is right. Tear up the contracts and shut down Blackwater right now.

Howdy, I seem to be full of questions tonight so I figured I’s pose them to the group and see if anyone has practical knowledge or experience they’d like to share with the group.

1. How often should you change the oil in a farm tractor? 
1a. How do you test the hydraulics to know whether you need to add more fluid?
1b. How often should commercial sized mower blades be sharpened?

2. When establishing a driveway how far down should you dig before compacting and adding crusher run?

3. Besides pruning how does one revive old apple trees in a small orchard?

4. Any tips on growing grapes?  The vines are established but I don’t want to kill them by doing the wrong thing.

5. If you have added a sun room to your home recently did it involve pouring a pad, small foundation, or set posts?  How long did it take you?

6. Heating a barn, I was thinking of using a wood pellet stove to heat the barn or a portion of it.  Has anyone used one of these?  If so do you think it would be a good solution?

7. Old rock retaining wall, I’ll be repairing one and it was originally done with concrete, not mortar, so I’m concerned that pointing it out with mortar will not work correctly.  Should I tear it all down and start from scratch? 

8. Truck owners, feedback on the model of your trucks and your opinions on them will be appreciated.  I have a V-6 but am looking for something with a larger bed and stronger engine.

9. Improved the efficiency of your windows lately?  What kind did you get and how do you like them.  I’ve had good luck with Hurd windows so far.

10. Waterproofing masonry in the basement.  There is a small leak coming through the poured cement walls in the basement on very wet days.  Besides digging a french drain is there a product that actually works from the inside that would seal the leak?  I’ve used some products before that didn’t really do the trick.

11. In-Floor heating system, do you have one?  Does it leak?  Is it efficient?

12. On-demand water pump, water heater, have one?  Do you like it?

13. Added a bathroom recently?  What was the overall bill?  How long did it take you?

14. Irrigation, about 4 acres of land will be used for organic gardens, both fields slope down to opposite sides.  I’d like to put in a hand pump or solar pump to provide the right amount of water.  How much water would be required?  What type of pumps should I look for?

15. Organic fertilizers, what ones have you used?  Which ones worked well?

16. Propane powered cordless tools, have any?  Do you like them?

17. Wind power, there will be an opportunity to set up a wind turbine, I’m a little confused on how the energy is stored and used however, any practical tips would be welcomed.

Thanks freaks!

Not much to say about this. Except that assholes will be assholes.

San Francisco Chronicle:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday carried out his promise to continue to veto gay marriage bills.

The Republican governor turned down a measure by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, that would have lifted the state’s ban on same-sex marriages by defining marriage as a union between two persons, not just a man and a woman.

Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar Leno bill in 2005.

I pose this as a direct challenge to the community: can you persuade me to support the recently vetoed bill to expand S-CHIP?  Support for this bill, and for an attempt to override the President’s veto, is nearly universal here.  Despite that, I intend to challenge the community to justify this to me. 

It is not truly important for you to bother to do this.  I am only one person, and few people share my opinion.  Further, whether or not you agree with me, this is very advantageous political theater, and undermining it by seriously questioning its foundations has disadvantages.  That being said, I’ll make my case, and I’ll even give you reason to believe you can succeed in converting me.

My objection to the S-CHIP expansion has nothing to do with actually expanding S-CHIP.  Generally speaking, as most of you know, I oppose government expansion and spending.  But in this case, I honestly don’t care.  Providing more health care to children, particularly poorer children, is enough of a good that I’m willing to accept the bad of more government for it, under the right circumstances.  If the government is going to spend one more dollar, I think this is a good place to spend it.  I believe that it genuinely benefits American society.

In this case, I am simply horrified at the way we intend to pay for it.  We intend to pay for this expansion of S-CHIP by increasing the federal tax on cigarettes from $0.39 to $1.00, an increase of over 150%.

My first objection is that there is simply no moral case that I can fathom why smokers and smokers alone should bear the costs of our providing more health care to children.  I have not yet seen anyone so much as attempt to make one, so I will assume this to be true.  Of course, if you want to argue that the moral responsibility for this is solely that of smokers, I’ll listen.

My second objection is that this is something which will cause significant harm to primarily poor Americans, and which will not achieve hoped-for benefits.  This case is more detail-specific.

The first contention is that smokers inflict a high financial cost on society, our government, and our health care system.  Therefore, increasing their financial costs is deserved.  But the data does not support this.  Economic studies have shown repeatedly that smoking decreases overall health care costs in the long term.  In addition, we also can determine that smokers bear 77% of all smoking-related costs directly, leaving less than one quarter of the costs of smoking to be borne by other entities. 

The remaining 23% of smoking-related costs are borne by the public.  But those costs are offset by currently enacted cigarette taxes and the Master Settlement Agreement between tobacco producers and state governments, which provides over $206 billion to offset public costs.  Meanwhile, the Congressional Research Service determined in 1994 that cigarette taxes already offset the public costs of smoking.  In 1994, the average pack of cigarettes in America cost an additional $0.50 in state and federal taxes.  Today, those taxes are $1.46 for the average pack.  Which means it is safe to say that smokers already pay quite a bit more than their actual costs to the public.

Even if that wasn’t true, this much worse fact is: this is a tax on poor people.  This data is not in dispute.  Nearly one third of Americans below the poverty level are smokers, compared with less than a quarter of those above the poverty level.  Over half of all smokers are from households in the bottom two quintiles of income.  And this is not only an indicator of current smokers, but of future smokers: children whose families earn less than $20,000 a year are 90% more likely to start smoking than children whose families earn more than $50,000.

Further, tobacco taxes are literally the most regressive form of taxation possible to fund S-CHIP expansion.  This led The Tax Foundation to conclude that “no other federal tax hurts the poor more than the cigarette tax.”  Their study demonstates that the costs for the poorest 20% of taxpayers of an increase in the tobacco tax would be $249 a year, while for the wealthiest 20% of taxpayers, the costs would be $291.  Compare this to an increase in the income tax, which would cost the poorest 20% of Americans $7 a year, and the richest 20% $1,277.

The most often cited reason why increasing tobacco taxes is considered a good thing is because it ostensibly reduces smoking.  Yet, that data is deeply suspect.  As I diaried here before, cigarette taxes in Washington State, which has the third highest cigarette tax in the nation, resulted in an overall increase in tobacco sales.  Doubling the cigarette tax over the last decade has not reduced the overall number of smokers in America – 50 million Americans smoked then and smoke now. 

It is hard for me to imagine the argument that can trump this data.  Clearly, tobacco tax increases have already exceeded the public costs of smoking.  Clearly, there are severe limits to the ability of tobacco tax increases to decrease smoking.  And clearly, this is an extraordinarily regressive tax which will mostly affect the poor, and effect the poor a great deal.  We are suggesting nothing more than helping more poor children by making millions of poor Americans much poorer.  But I have been wrong before.

I was recently persuaded to support hate crimes legislation.  I was a lifelong opponent of such laws.  It is my belief that there is nothing at all worse about a crime based on bias than a crime based on greed or anger.  But it was pointed out to me that many hate crimes are not considered crimes at all.  Tucker Carlson can casually state that he beat up a gay man for making a pass at him.  If that was an excuse for a beating, then tens of thousands of men in bars across America would be being pummelled as I write.  But in too many places, those assaults are not considered “crimes”.  And hate crime laws can be an important act of changing that, and bringing justice to those who would otherwise get no justice at all.

So, give it a shot.  Explain to me why this bill is something worth fighting for, instead of something that does nothing more than to make me be ashamed to be a Democrat.

I’ve been buzzing all day about Al Gore winning the Nobel prize!
I went to Google news and found he’s been the Dominator today, but at the bottom I found Sri Chinmoy!

Al Gore / Nobel Prize  3,499 news articles
Obama v Clinton  344 news articles
Astronauts  1148
HIV drug  276
Armenia/Turkey Vote  2118
Putin v US / Nuclear treaty  1,350
Bhutto/Musharraf Powersharing  615
Latin American Free Trade  298
Sri Chinmoy Died  175

I have a tin box that I keep special things in and one of them is a little red heart pillow from Sri Chinmoy.
I got it from a Persian Sufi named Hossein Foruzani who got up to go for a 5 AM run along Lake Washington with Sri Chimnoy.  I went to see Sri Chimnoy at Kane Hall, University of Washington.  He was carried in on a pillow by his entourage, and played God-inspired flute and painted spontaneously. 

(inspired by Sri Chinmoy)

Forty-Six
My blue-red heart shall face ignorance-base,
My blue-red heart shall face.
My green-white life shall fly
in oneness-sky,
My green-white life shall fly.
Sri Chinmoy (divinely inspired poem)

I read about Sri Chimnoy in the New York Post, which if I’m not wrong is a tabloid, and also the New York Times.

More about the wierd Sri Chimnoy, from the New York Times:
. born in India
. used strenuous exercise and art to spread message of world harmony and inner piece
. died at a concert
. was able to power lift pickup trucks
. lifted Muhammad Ali and Sting
. said he drew 16 million “peace birds”
. slept only 90 minutes a day
. wrote 1500 books, 115,000 poems, 20,000 songs, 200,000 paintings, gave 800 peace concerts
. advocated seemingly impossible physical challenges
. was an inspiration for Olympic sprinter Carl Lewis
. was guru to John McLaughlin and Mahavishnu Orchestra (a name he came up with) as well as Roberta Flack!
. had more than 7000 disciples when he died
. came from Bangladesh to NYC and worked as a clerk at the Indian consulate
. swam the English channel
. ran a 3100 mile race every year
. began lifting weights after a knee injury and lifted schoolhouses, airplanes and pickup trucks
. He also lifted Jesse Jackson, Eddie Murphy, Susan Sarandon, Yoko Ono, Desmond Tutu and Richard Gere as well as 20 Nobel Laureates and a team of sumo wrestlers, not to mention Sid Caesar and a (reformed) headhunter from Bornea.
. He lifted a Democrat (Representative Gary Ackerman) and a Republican (Representative Benjamin Gilman) at the same time, possibly his most amazing feat.
. Condolence letters were sent by both Mikhail Gorbachev and Al Gore.

The Dark Side of Sri Chimnoy, from The New York Post:

. He was just a “creepy Queens guru”
. he ran a “cult”
. he cased “disturbing personality changes” in members
. he ordered dreamy-eyed female followers to engage in exploitive sexcapades
. he summoned them for extended sex romps
. he ordered them to have sex with other women while he watched
. he paid for one’s abortion after he got her pregnant
. he was called “vindictive” by Carlos Santana, who jumped ship in 2000, and said, “He told all my friends not to call me ever again, because I was to drown in a dark sea of ignorance for leaving him.”
. he brainwashed people, according to cult deprogrammer Rick Ross
. he had a disciple who drowned in his own bathtub trying to perfect a stunt to impress him for a circus
. he had followers who tried to get attention by breaking records such as for underwater juggling, piggyback riding and balancing a pool cue on one finger
. he airbrushed pictures to exaggerate his weight-lifting prowess, according to his former photographer
. He died while waiting to hear if he’d won the Nobel Peace Prize for his “ceaseless efforts” with the United Nations (Chinmoy led a meditation group at the U.N. building). He didn’t.

(photo by D. Grieser)

I hate to break it to you guys, but pinche tejano has been breached… and it’s hysterical…

here’s his front page piece at pff

[http://www.political…]

and the repartee is great! enjoy…