Pony (Tea) Party

So I told pfiore8 last week that I’d take a couple Pony Parties for her, and I just now got around to reading the FAQ — and what’s this?

Be prepared, this is NOT a tea party!

Hey Budhy, what if I want it to be a tea party?!?

Please do not recommend a Pony Party when you see one.  There will be another along in a few hours.

We can have ponies at my tea party…
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But I can see potential for problems. For those who “enjoy vigorous debate,” we may need to provide substitute china (that stuff can get expensive)…
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and we’ll have to make sure the tea isn’t too hot, to make sure no one gets hurt … but no ice cubes in the iced tea, because ouch. Come to think of it, maybe plastic cups are too risky…

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That’ll work!

(This is an open thread. Although I’ll talk tea, if you want…)

Subduing the Corporations: Part I – Infernal Machines

(Checking in from beautiful south of France and bon soire… couldn’t help but notice this essay so had to promote… – promoted by pfiore8)

This has been a long time coming, and it is here now. — Cormack McCarthy, “The Road”

Powerful corporations now dominate the governments of the world. Their global empires extend across all continents and supersede all nominal forms of government. Although most people believe them to be marvelous cornucopia of enticing goods and services, there is a growing understanding among informed individuals that something has gone badly wrong. The collective activity of the multinational corporations is not bringing us an earthly paradise. Instead, it is bringing us environmental devastation, growing inequality, endless war, and the curtailment of freedoms.

This essay explains the necessity of subduing the corporations and returning them to a politically subservient role in which their efficiencies can be harnessed to the public good rather than pernicious institutional aggrandizement. In my view, the struggle between the networked people of the world and ruthless, malignant corporations will be the defining conflict of this century. Part I of the essay states the case for action.

 

Why shouldn’t corporations run the world? After all, businesses excel in the management of resources in countless industries, and they have avoided many of the pitfalls of despotic and inefficient governments. Privatization and Globalization are at the height of their worldwide popularity. Why not give more political power to these ostensibly successful institutions. Here is why:

1. Corporations have no morals. Corporations have neither the interest nor the ability to order the affairs of mankind according to ethical principles. Their primary motivation is to maximize economic returns, and they will do this by any means that provides the highest risk-adjusted net present value, even if this involves the construction of slave ships, crematoria, or cluster munitions. They will bribe government officials, blackmail critics, punish whistle-blowers, and poison their customers, if those are necessary paths toward attaining their goals. They are cold-blooded, remorseless profit machines, yet their extraordinary mastery of modern propaganda enables them to project a beneficent image that belies these ugly traits.

2. Corporations externalize costs. Because the accounting measures for profitability of a corporation are narrow in scope and short-term in time span, corporations have powerful incentives to shift costs from themselves to society. Dumping toxic wastes, polluting the air, pumping out CO2, injuring workers, and endangering customers are all costs that corporations may choose to export to the people of the World.

3. Corporations cannot manage conflicts. Although corporations often compete keenly within their own industries, they have no means of resolving political conflicts among segments of society. With growth and profitability as their only metrics of success, they have no mechanisms for addressing disputes pertaining to justice, liberty, or environmental sustainability. Indeed the concept of the “common good” is entirely beyond the charter of a corporation.

4. Corporations reward destructive character traits. Most corporations are authoritarian hierarchies that award power to individuals that bring an obsessive-compulsive mission focus and energy to their jobs. In any other social context, this degree of OCD behavior would be considered pathological, but in the modern corporation, it is considered exemplary. The ideal corporate “workaholic” will sacrifice everything to complete his assignment: family, friends, health, and ethics. Indeed, a key criterion for promotion of managers in most corporations is discreet confirmation of the candidate’s willingness to sacrifice to achieve corporate goals. An institution that rewards sociopathic behavior develops a sociopathic character, and this has been dramatically displayed in the conduct of corporations like Enron and Halliburton.

5. Corporations have tunnel vision. The narrow focus and obsessive concentration of the corporation’s “mission” blinds it to broader concerns. Moreover, ferocious dedication to achieving a profit goal often leads to deliberate disregard of more important principles. The arms industry, for example, benefits directly from promoting aggressive and militaristic behavior among governments.

6. Corporations have succession problems. Like most authoritarian institutions, corporations often stumble when a competent leader is replaced by a less capable successor. The unprincipled and jungle-like internal politics of most corporations favors the emergence of leaders who win power by any means necessary, and these individuals are not always the most skillful managers. They are often simply the survivors of bitter and ruthless political struggles. When such ruthless people assume control, they typically aggravate the malignant tendencies of the corporation.

Malignant global corporations are enormous infernal machines, institutional time bombs concealing the deadly potential for societal disruption, war, and environmental ruin. Yet these institutions have been increasingly successful in immunizing themselves from governmental and societal constraints. The evils of unchecked corporate dominance of World society are increasingly evident with each new revelation of their misconduct. How much more damage must the people of the World withstand before we confront this growing danger? The next part of this essay describes how a growing revolt against malignant corporations is taking shape on the Internet, and how this Netrevolt can disarm and reprogram these infernal machines.

Faux Fights and Leadership [UPDATED]

Since so many essayists and commenters are interested in the activities and consequences of people espousing ideology of false patriotism, dominionism, fundamentalism and other -isms, I thought I’d play with the principles a bit and explore what can be done to counteract the effects.

The framework of a preferred paradigm that I’m using is that of embracing the classic Roman virtues. Don’t remember them?  You’re not alone.

While there are many systems and classifications of virtues, I am going to refer solely to the Roman-defined virtues to avoid an overly lengthy and needlessly complicated presentation.  However, as far as I have been able to ascertain, any well-defined listing of socioculturally significant virtues is applicable to the following relationship of using virtues as a criteria by which to evaluate leadership attributes.

A caveat for those of you who aren’t familiar with my posts:  I am very dyslexic, myopic, and arthritic.  I re-read my posts and most often continue to edit them for wrong words, poor grammar and unclear sentences after I post. I appreciate it when readers point out errors, and I do my best to make posts works-in-progress which reflect commenters’ participation and contributions.

There are many scholarly texts which outline characteristics of cults and attributes of members. This isn’t a post to regurgitate or criticize those foundational works. I include them here to distinguish between genuine leadership and subliminal and detrimental group influence which morphs into group-speak, propaganda, social behavior norms and voter behavior.

Essentially, the things that most people look to cults to fill are factors of socialization:

  • Clear rules of membership
  • Delineation of US and OTHERS
  • Reward system for compliance
  • Punishment and threat of shunning/ostracism for noncompliance
  • Clear normative values

This post originally was going to compare the attributes of cults with today’s two major political parties in how they court voters, but I’m now going to hijack my own essay and speak to leadership values. Keep the attributes of cults handy in looking at attributes NOT to reward, enable or use in selecting political candidates.

My own education and academic career – what little of it there is – revolves around the study of leadership, albeit confined to that in healthcare settings.

I am going to generalize some of the qualities to that of the concept of leadership per se.  Your mileage will vary, so please take away what is useful, and save the rest as bird cage liner or fodder to ponder another day.

I come at leadership characteristics and qualities from a pragmatic point of view.  If a leader can only lead in the abstract sense, then I don’t tend to find it useful.

Some of the characteristics of effective leaders – those who are able to affect the targeted and desired changes with the least amount of resistance or impediment, are those who demonstrate the following:

Consistency:  they don’t act in unpredictable and surprising ways, unless that is their usual mode of operation.

Congruency:  they act according to the values they espouse, and the target behaviors they set for others

Visibility and Accessibility or MBWA:  the old management by walking around style is always in evidence.  They seek out members of the group they lead – either all of them or representative samples.  They listen, they ask questions, depending on the work, they may try it, they solicit feedback, and they communicate in accessible face to face venues.

Honesty and Transparency: they deliver progress reports which include negative information.  They deliver news accurately, in context and comprehensively.

Reward desired behaviors liberally:  there is a little cognitive psychology in evidence.  Behaviors, acts and benchmarks that move toward the desired targets are praised, rewarded and highlighted.  Negative behavior and active resistance is ignored.

Value contributions:  they actively seek out and pay attention to the contributions of their team members/constituents/followers

Own Failures and Limitations/Give Away Successes:  they take full responsibility for failures and setbacks, and they give full credit to others for successes.

External appearances are deceiving:  they rarely present self-conscious fashionable or glamorous appearances.  They tend to be the work horses in organizations.  They show up, listen, take note, contribute to the success of the organization, and they work diligently by placing the success of the organization ahead of their own personal gain.

It’s this last that is being lost in the US.  Those people now are often shunted aside for the younger/wealthier-appearing/smoother-talking/connected person.  And it’s showing in the treatment of workers, in the quality of work overall, and in the falling behind in competition of US centered businesses.

What’s the point?

You can use these qualities to rate the presidential candidates for leadership attributes and likely leadership in the White House. You can use them to evaluate candidates for any position of responsibility and leadership. You can use them to work on your own progress as a leader.

If you used a Likert scale of 0 = does not exhibit, 3 = sometimes exhibits, and 5 = consistently exhibits to measure each of the candidates, who takes top honors?

Apply the criteria to Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell, etc. See any patterns emerging?

One ready reference that uses many of these characteristics is Jim Collins in his work, Good to Great.

One concept that he emphasizes is getting the core values right.  What are they?

In the case of the office of president of the US, they are simple: supporting and defending the Constitution. It’s critical that you can say what the core values are of any activity that is important to you: work, school, hobby, elected representative, civic group, social group, entertainment, spirituality, commerce, etc. When you do something, “just because” or you allow yourself to make an uninformed choice, you run much higher risks – whether it’s in something small, as in the flavor of your coffee, or something huge, as in the course of cancer treatment or whether or not to choose resuscitation in the case of your heart stopping. And if it isn’t already obvious, it also applies to group choices, as in the selection of a president – for a country or for a local parent teachers association.

Why?

If you don’t know what qualities are important to you for a given situation, you cannot choose a leader who emulates and supports those values, even when the leader is yourself.

Take Aways

To evaluate any candidate for leadership, use the following criteria to rate on a scale from never exhibits to consistently exhibits:

  • Consistency
  • Congruency
  • Visibility and Accessibility
  • Honestly and Transparency
  • Reward desired behaviors liberally
  • Value Contributions
  • Own failures and limitations
  • Share/Give away successes
  • Outward appearances are deceiving

Use the criteria in your individual lives.  Evaluate people by these leadership characteristics in all situations other than crises. (Crisis management calls for very different skill sets used for very short term purposes – say, for example, evacuating everyone in immediate danger from a fire.) Use them to select your candidate of choice at the voting booth. Use them to help move the progressive values system forward.  Use them to highlight the failures and limitations of the current occupants of the White House.

And now back to my original post – about using the classic virtues to fight against fighting faux values that the Republicans espouse: the definition of marriage, the criminalization of women’s health choices, the criminalization of everything that fringe dominionist fundamentalists oppose, etc. When you use the attributes of genuine leadership, the faux issues are exposed as being flase to fundamental values and virtues.  They don’t have applicability or relevance.  You can use a classification of virtues by which to evaluate the importance and relevance of a political party’s espoused values. 

For example, family values can be defined as those which support the growth, development of its members and which support the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Where a platform or an agenda item interferes with these fundamental attributes for constituents, it fails the test of relevance, genuineness and necessity. And that’s the public message – the sole message – which progressives can use to defeat the propaganda of the right wing machine.

It fails the test.

Gay marriage bans fails the test of equal right.

Abortion limits fail the test of individual health choices and the recognition of the professional and confidential nature of the physician patient relationship.

Sanctions on anyone based on a sexual orientation or gender orientation fails the test of equal opportunity and equal rights.

And so on.  Once a clear barometer of acceptability and failure is established and used consistently, the progressive agenda will be easier to establish, will be a clear territory claim, and will be easier to advance as well as to defend.

Pre-emptive war and aggression fails the test (OK Armando and other experts, take it from here).

It passes the test.

Place the progressive agenda items here. TBD, as academics love to proclaim.


Classical virtues

First a definition from The Free Dictionary:

Noun
1. cardinal virtue – one of the seven preeminent virtues
virtue – a particular moral excellence
natural virtue – (scholasticism) one of the four virtues (prudence, justice,  fortitude, and temperance) derived from nature
supernatural virtue, theological virtue – according to Christian ethics: one of the three virtues (faith, hope, and charity) created by God to round out the natural virtues

 

  •   Auctoritas – “Spiritual Authority” – The sense of one’s social standing, built  up  through experience, Pietas, and Industria.
  •   Comitas – “Humour” – Ease of manner, courtesy, openness, and friendliness.
  •   Clementia – “Mercy” – Mildness and gentleness.
  •   Dignitas – “Dignity” – A sense of self-worth, personal pride.
  •   Firmitas – “Tenacity” – Strength of mind, the ability to stick to one’s purpose.
  •   Frugalitas – “Frugalness” – Economy and simplicity of style, without being miserly.
  •   Gravitas – “Gravity” – A sense of the importance of the matter at hand, responsibility and earnestness.
  •   Honestas – “Respectability” – The image that one presents as a respectable member of society.
  •   Humanitas – “Humanity” – Refinement, civilization, learning, and being cultured.
  •   Industria – “Industriousness” – Hard work.
  •   Pietas – “Dutifulness” – More than religious piety; a respect for the natural order socially, politically, and religiously. Includes the ideas of patriotism and devotion to others.
  •   Prudentia – “Prudence” – Foresight, wisdom, and personal discretion.
  •   Salubritas – “Wholesomeness” – Health and cleanliness.
  •   Severitas – “Sternness” – Gravity, self-control.
  •   Veritas – “Truthfulness” – Honesty in dealing with others.

Notice, though, that this is merely a listing of classic Roman virtues.

There are many other notable systems of prescribed and proscribed virtues. But for utility, I am limiting the discussion to these, as many are referenced in the qualities and characteristics of leadership above.

If we as a society used this framework of preferred or desired characteristics by which to measure our elected representatives, the congruence of legislation with the Constitution, and used the classic virtues to measure the overall “meta” success of US society, would this not be more useful than continuing on the current path of divisiveness, class separation, socioeconomic disparity and faux morality being used as a disguise to install theocracy in government?

Iraq: The Failure Of Activist and Netroots Leadership

Chris Bowers writes:

If our vote totals on key pieces of legislation are actually going backward in Congress, then no one in the Democratic field is successfully leading on Iraq in Congress. Good leadership isn’t just about proposing legislation (which all current members of Congress have done), sending out press releases announcing how you will vote beforehand (which a couple of candidates did this time), exhorting your colleagues in Congress to vote a certain way (which at least Dodd has done among current members of Congress running for President), and then casting the right votes (which pretty much everyone does now, even though none of the Senators running for President did so last year). Successful leadership is actually causing the debate to bend in your direction, and gathering support where none previously existed. According to this criteria, when it comes to the impact of the 2008 Presidential field on the Iraq fight in Congress, no one has done that. To varying degrees, they all have tried-or at least made it look like they were trying-but no one has succeeded.

I think that is a fair criteria for all of us. And by that criteria, I think it is fair to say that the leaders of the Netroots have utterly failed. It is ironic that Bowers criticizes people like Chris Dodd (for his post is really a pushback against Dodd’s little surge in the Daily Kos straw poll while his preferred candidate, Bill Richardson, had a meltdown) for their efforts in Congress without even considering his own failures and that of the other leading Netroots lights, like Move On. Interesting use of blinders there. More.

Over at daily kos, the top rated diary says:

The MoveOn ad worked. It worked very well, indeed.  That’s what has them so scared and angry.

Let’s look at the results that MoveOn.org accomplished with their ad. MoveOn says that their $142,000+ expenditure yielded them something on the order ofb $500,000 in contributions in just one day.  Measured simply on the financials, the ad was a good move by MoveOn.org.

It was a good move FOR Move On apparently. Played for suckers yet again. As for Move On’s success in the Iraq debate in Congress, see Bowers. Move On’s support for the Iraq Capitulation bill in the Spring and its strategy of ratcheting up the pressure on REPUBLICANS in the Summer have been abject failures. But no matter, it ran a stupid ad, became fodder for the GOP, and then raised a lot of money. Very successful, in its way, has been Move On. Barnum knew what he was talking about.

Consider however, if the activists had joined Feingold, Reid, Dodd and the Out of Iraq Caucus in adopting and agitating for the only strategy that can work on Iraq – the not funding strategy. Suppose we had jointly and tirelessly urged our representatives, from the begining of the year, to sign the pledge?

Dear Mr. President:

We are writing to inform you that we will only support appropriating additional funds for U.S. military operations in Iraq during Fiscal Year 2008 and beyond for the protection and safe redeployment of all our troops out of Iraq before you leave office.

More than 3,600 of our brave soldiers have died in Iraq. More than 26,000 have been seriously wounded. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed or injured in the hostilities and more than 4 million have been displaced from their homes. Furthermore, this conflict has degenerated into a sectarian civil war and U.S. taxpayers have paid more than $500 billion, despite assurances that you and your key advisors gave our nation at the time you ordered the invasion in March, 2003 that this military intervention would cost far less and be paid from Iraqi oil revenues.

We agree with a clear and growing majority of the American people who are opposed to continued, open-ended U.S. military operations in Iraq, and believe it is unwise and unacceptable for you to continue to unilaterally impose these staggering costs and the soaring debt on Americans currently and for generations to come. . .

Where might we be on this fight? Sadly, we did not. We have not led on this issue. The Netroots has been an utter failure this year.

Pony Party, the Piano

Animation:  The Piano

Pootie:  The Piano

Mozart:  The Piano Sonata C Major K.330 3rd Movement

Please don’t feed the ponies…

Without further ado, the floor is yours.

~73v

The Morning News

The Morning News is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News THE TOP STORIES

1 U.S. snipers accused of ‘baiting’ Iraqis
By PAULINE JELINEK and ROBERT BURNS, Associated Press Writers
34 minutes ago

WASHINGTON – Army snipers hunting insurgents in Iraq were under orders to “bait” their targets with suspicious materials, such as detonation cords, and then kill whoever picked up the items, according to the defense attorney for a soldier accused of planting evidence on an Iraqi he killed. Gary Myers, an attorney for Sgt. Evan Vela, said Monday his client had acted “pursuant to orders.”

“We believe that our client has done nothing more than he was instructed to do by superiors,” Myers said in a telephone interview.

Myers and Vela’s father, Curtis Carnahan of Idaho Falls, Idaho, said in separate interviews that sworn statements and testimony in the cases of two other accused Ranger snipers indicate that the Army has a classified program that encourages snipers to “bait” potential targets and then kill whoever takes the bait.

2 Myanmar monks defy threat of military force
By Aung Hla Tun, Reuters
46 minutes ago

YANGON (Reuters) – Hundreds of monks marched towards central Yangon on Tuesday in defiance of a threat by Myanmar’s ruling generals to send soldiers in to end the biggest anti-junta protests in 20 years.

About 2,000 monks and ordinary people marched out of the Shwedagon Pagoda, the former Burma’s holiest shrine and the symbolic heart of a growing campaign against 45 years of unbroken military rule.

Some were waving the bright red “fighting peacock” flag, the emblem of the student unions that spearheaded a mass uprising in 1988. That rebellion was eventually crushed by the army with the loss of an estimated 3,000 lives.

3 Fukuda elected Japanese prime minister
By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 51 minutes ago

TOKYO – Yasuo Fukuda, a quiet compromiser who has promised to bring stability and moderation to Japan’s tumultuous political scene, was elected prime minister by the lower house of parliament Tuesday.

Fukuda garnered 338 votes in the lower house, many more than the 239 needed for a majority. His closest competitor was Ichiro Ozawa, the leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, with 117 votes.

The vote guaranteed Fukuda’s installment as Japan’s next leader.

From Yahoo News Top Stories

4 Iraq premier: U.S., Iraq share same goal
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and TAREK EL-TABLAWY, Associated Press Writers
13 minutes ago

NEW YORK – Iraq is the “tip of the bayonet” in the fight against terror, the country’s premier said Monday, stressing that the same group responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks was behind the destruction of the minarets of a revered Shiite shrine last year in his country.

Those “who destroyed the towers of the (World) Trade Center are the same as those who blew up the (Golden Mosque) in Samarra and carried out the bombings of hotels in Jordan and Algeria,” Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said. The U.S. and Iraq share the same enemy, he said.

The event was held on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly a day before al-Maliki is to meet with President Bush. The Shiite politician has come under great criticism from many in the United States for failing to meet a series of benchmarks for progress on the political and economic fronts.

5 Bush to focus on Myanmar not Iran in U.N. speech
By Tabassum Zakaria, Reuters
1 hour, 4 minutes ago

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – President George W. Bush is set to announce new U.S. sanctions against Myanmar over human rights as the annual U.N. General Assembly gathering of world leaders gets under way on Tuesday.

Bush is one of the first speakers on a list that later features Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and diplomats will be watching to see if the leaders of the two bitterly hostile countries cross paths or exchange words.

But despite the United States leading efforts for more U.N. sanctions against Iran to curtail its nuclear program, Bush will only make a brief mention of Tehran in his speech, the White House said.

From Yahoo News Most Popular, Most Recommended

6 American Home Mortgage faces inquiry
By STEPHEN BERNARD, AP Business Writer
Mon Sep 24, 6:28 PM ET

NEW YORK – American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. bounced property tax checks for some Maryland homeowners, local and state officials said Monday, and they have demanded an explanation from the bankrupt mortgage lender and servicer.

The Maryland Commissioner of Financial Regulation filed an inquiry with American Home Mortgage on Friday. Melville, N.Y.-based American Home Mortgage has five days to respond to the letter, said Joseph Rooney, the deputy commissioner for Maryland’s financial regulator.

Officials in New York and Washington state are also looking into bounced checks there.

Mortgage servicers typically collect property tax payments each month with a borrower’s mortgage payment. The property taxes are then placed in an escrow account and held until property tax bills are due. Because they are placed in an escrow account, funds should always be available to make the payments.

7 New week, new low for dollar
By MATT MOORE, AP Business Writer
Mon Sep 24, 4:31 PM ET

NEW YORK – The dollar failed to rally Monday, dropping to a new record low against the euro and a 15-year low against five other major currencies as investors continued to act on last week’s larger-than-expected interest rate cut and economic data on August consumer spending and home sales expected this week.

The Federal Reserve’s half-point interest rate cut last week to 4.75 percent came in response to market turbulence in the U.S. and elsewhere amid the subprime mortgage crisis. Investors this week will be looking for signs that U.S. inflation is under control. The market is also hoping that readings this week on demand for U.S. durable goods, the housing market and consumer spending power will show that the U.S. economy isn’t heading for recession.

“The Fed is not going to respond once with interest rates and call it a day,” said David Gilmore, a partner at Foreign Exchange Analytics in Essex, Conn. “It’s very likely that there’ll be a series of rate cuts.”

8 Nationstar halts U.S. loans
By Tim McLaughlin and Michael Flaherty, Reuters
Mon Sep 24, 12:16 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Nationstar Mortgage, the subprime unit of Fortress Investment Group LLC (FIG.N), said it is no longer accepting new loan applications from brokers, a signal the lender is winding down operations.

Nationstar’s decision to stop all wholesale originations became effective on Friday, according to its Web site. Fortress was not available for comment.

Nationstar is the latest in a series of U.S. lenders that have stopped taking loans from independent mortgage brokers, citing problems with underwriting quality and outright fraud.

From Yahoo News Most Popular, Most Viewed

9 Long strike could cost GM billions
By TOM KRISHER, Associated Press
45 minutes ago

DETROIT – If the United Auto Workers strike against General Motors Corp. lasts longer than a week or two, it could cost GM billions of dollars and stop the momentum the company was building with some of its new models, according to several industry analysts.

A strike of two weeks or less would not hurt GM’s cash position and would actually improve its inventory situation, Lehman Brothers analyst Brian Johnson said Monday in a note to investors. But a longer strike would be harmful, causing GM to burn up $8.1 billion in the first month and $7.2 billion in the second month, assuming the company can’t produce vehicles in Mexico or Canada, Johnson wrote.

Initially, the strike wouldn’t have much impact on consumers because GM has so much inventory, the analysts say. The company had just under 950,000 vehicles in stock at the end of August, about 35,000 less than at the same time last year.

From Yahoo News Most Popular, Most Emailed

10 In sex life of jumping spiders, size matters
by Marlowe Hood, AFP
Mon Sep 24, 1:57 PM ET

PARIS (AFP) – From post-coital cannibalism to love at first sight, the sex life of the African jumping spider is full of surprises, according to a new study.

But none is more unexpected than this, say researchers who studied the blood-gorging Evarcha culicivora up close and personal: while virgin females are attracted to meatier mates, a bit of experience sees them switch to smaller partners.

In this and other ways, the jumping spider, native to East Africa, is in a class of its own when it comes to sex, according to a study in the current issue of the scientific journal Ethology.

From Yahoo News U.S. News

11 The “New” Homeland Security Math
By AMANDA RIPLEY, Time Magazine
1 hour, 23 minutes ago

Over the summer, Congress passed and the President signed a new homeland-security law called, “Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act.” Finally, homeland security has been rationalized, we were told. The new law would fix the way money gets distributed so that the states at a greater risk of terrorism received a larger proportion of money, just as the 9/11 Commission had wisely recommended. After the bill was passed, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi bragged that a Democratic Congress had done what the Republicans could not.

But the Congressional Research Service (CRS), in a report released last Friday and obtained by Time, has concluded that the new formula does not live up to its billing. A close look at the math shows that rural, less-populated states like Alaska and Wyoming may still end up with a disproportionate share of the total money.

From Yahoo News Science

12 Runoff blamed for jump in deformed frogs
Associated Press
Mon Sep 24, 11:08 PM ET

WASHINGTON – The growing number of deformed frogs in recent years is caused at least partly by runoff from farming and ranching, new research indicates.

Nitrogen and phosphorous in the runoff fuel a cycle that results in a parasitic infection of tadpoles, resulting in loss of legs, extra legs or other deformities, according to researchers led by Pieter Johnson of the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Their findings are being published in this week’s online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

13 Germs taken to space come back deadlier
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer
Mon Sep 24, 9:01 PM ET

WASHINGTON – It sounds like the plot for a scary B-movie: Germs go into space on a rocket and come back stronger and deadlier than ever. Except, it really happened.

The germ: Salmonella, best known as a culprit of food poisoning. The trip: Space Shuttle STS-115, September 2006. The reason: Scientists wanted to see how space travel affects germs, so they took some along – carefully wrapped – for the ride. The result: Mice fed the space germs were three times more likely to get sick and died quicker than others fed identical germs that had remained behind on Earth.

“Wherever humans go, microbes go, you can’t sterilize humans. Wherever we go, under the oceans or orbiting the earth, the microbes go with us, and it’s important that we understand … how they’re going to change,” explained Cheryl Nickerson, an associate professor at the Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at Arizona State University.

14 Archaeologist takes 2nd look at cannon
Associated Press
Mon Sep 24, 8:59 PM ET

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – An archaeologist is taking a second look at a small cannon found by fishermen off the Virginia coast more than two decades ago in hopes of determining how it got to the bottom of the ocean – and who left it there.

Rod Mather, a professor of maritime history and underwater archaeology at the University of Rhode Island, has studied the 25-square-mile area surrounding the site where the cannon was found the past two summers.

Some historians believe the 4-feet-long, 300-pound cannon, which was loaded when it was found 24 years ago, is an English cannon from the 1580s, making it one of the oldest English artifacts ever found in the Americas.

From Google News U.S.

15 Bush waves his veto pen
By Maura Reynolds and Richard Simon, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
September 25, 2007

Bush warns against catchall spending plan. But a $23-billion Senate water bill appears to have sufficient support to overturn a veto, testing the president’s resolve on spending disputes.

WASHINGTON — President Bush warned Monday that he would use his veto pen to thwart any congressional attempt to force his hand by passing a catchall spending bill.

The fiscal year ends in days, and Congress has not completed work on any of the 12 spending bills it is supposed to pass by Oct. 1 to fund government agencies, Bush noted during remarks to business leaders visiting the White House. One way Democratic leaders may try to secure the funding they want is by lumping the bills together into a trillion-dollar omnibus bill.

16 Court reverses detainee ruling
By Josh White, Washington Post via The Boston Globe
September 25, 2007

WASHINGTON – The new Court of Military Commission Review has ordered a military judge to reopen the terrorism case against a 20-year-old Canadian accused of killing a US serviceman in Afghanistan, ruling that the judge’s decision earlier this year to dismiss the case was in error.

In a 25-page opinion issued last night, a three-member panel of the court decided that judges in military commissions can determine whether terror suspects are “unlawful enemy combatants” and are therefore subject to trial. A judge at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, ruled June 4 that Omar Khadr’s case could not go forward because a military tribunal had merely determined he was an “enemy combatant” and because the judge believed he could not make such a determination of “unlawful” status.

The review court agreed that the military tribunals, known as Combatant Status Review Tribunals, did not determine whether Khadr was an “unlawful” combatant, a key distinction that US law mandates for such cases to go to trial. But the court ruled yesterday that trial judges can hear evidence on a detainee’s combatant status and therefore can proceed with the trials.

From Google News World

17 U.S. criticizes lockup of Musharraf’s rivals
By Griff Witte, The Washington Post via The Seattle Times
Tuesday, September 25, 2007 – Page updated at 01:20 AM

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – After keeping quiet for much of the year as Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf suppressed domestic opposition, the United States on Monday issued an unusually harsh rebuke to the government for locking up key political rivals ahead of next week’s election.

“The reports of arrests of the leadership of several major Pakistani political parties are extremely disturbing and confusing for the friends of Pakistan,” said the statement issued by the U.S. Embassy here. “We wish to express our serious concern about these developments. These detainees should be released as soon as possible.”

Tasneem Aslam, spokeswoman for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, responded that the United States should stay out of the matter. “If the U.S. Embassy is confused, it would be well advised not to make such statements,” she said.

18 Putin eyes stability in government shake-up: press
AFP
2 hours ago

MOSCOW (AFP) – Maintaining stability as President Vladimir Putin prepares to leave office was the focus of his much-anticipated government reshuffle, Russian newspapers reported Tuesday.

The minimalist reshuffle on Monday, which came 12 days after Putin nominated little-known finance official Viktor Zubkov as prime minister, saw just three new appointments out of the 23 ministerial posts.

Most of the heavyweights in the cabinet maintained their portfolios.

“The authorities did not dare radically change the government’s structure, remembering 2004 when such an administrative reform paralysed the government for half a year,” the Vedomosti daily wrote.

19 Iraq suicide bomber kills 25 at Shiite-Sunni meeting
Forty are injured in the Baqubah attack, including two U.S. soldiers. The death toll is expected to rise.
By Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 25, 2007

BAGHDAD — As top Shiite and Sunni Muslim leaders broke their fast together in a symbolic show of unity Monday, a suicide bomber struck in their midst, killing as many as 25 people and injuring 40 in the turbulent city of Baqubah.

The attack apparently targeted Diyala provincial and tribal leaders who are part of U.S. efforts to forge an alliance against Sunni extremists, who once controlled large parts of the city 35 miles northeast of the capital.

Gov. Raad Tamimi was injured in the blast, which killed the Baqubah police chief, Brig. Gen. Ali Dilayyan, and other senior officials, Iraqi security officials said.

20 Nigerian militants vow further attacks
By George Osodi, AP via USA Today
Posted 1d 13h ago

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) – A Nigerian militant group whose attacks have slashed crude production in Africa’s oil giant apparently announced an end to its voluntary cease-fire on Sunday and vowed a fresh campaign of violence in the restive southern petroleum region.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta denied persistent rumors and press reports that its leader had been arrested in Angola, saying in an e-mailed statement sent to journalists that the news was a Nigerian government disinformation campaign.

The group had announced a voluntary cease-fire after the May inauguration of President Umaru Yar’Adua, saying it would allow time for negotiations. But the militants called off the truce Sunday, saying talks had failed.

Pony Party, the piano

Animation:  The Piano

Pootie:  The Piano

Mozart:  The Piano Sonata C Major K.330 3rd Movement

Please don’t feed the ponies…

Without further ado, the floor is yours.

~73v

Muse in the Morning

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
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…

State of the Onion XI

Art Link
Eggstraction

On the Borderlands

The land
on the border
is fertile
The people
are kind
gentle
content
for the most part
until of course
the patrol comes by
to force everyone
to move to one side
or the other
That causes
great turmoil
on the borderlands
so sometimes
we move
the border
when they aren’t looking

–Robyn Elaine Serven
–March 3, 2006

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!

Bush Admin to Shoot Endangered Wolves

An urgent plea was just sent to a colleague from the National Resources Defense Council:

Tell the Bush Administration to Protect Gray Wolves!

We must stop the Bush Administration’s plan to declare open season on the wolves of Greater Yellowstone and central Idaho. If this plan is approved, Wyoming and Idaho intend to begin exterminating hundreds of gray wolves — by aerial gunning and other cruel methods — while they’re still on the endangered species list.

Link.

The signatures on earlier NRDC petitions helped to delay the hunt.  Now, the Bush Administration had moved to release the hunters by changing the wolves’ ratio to the surrounding animal populations as a way to bypass their endangered species designation. 

More below the jump…

The colleague who sent me this posted a warning last January with the reasons behind the Bush Admin’s decision.  The NRDC petitions delayed the outcome at that time.  Now the Bush Administration has moved the goal posts and has changed the rules of the (big) game (hunt) by reducing the numbers needed on the opposing team .

Here’s an excerpt from NRDC petition letter:

I strongly oppose your proposal to give states a license to kill wolves in areas where big game populations are below targeted levels. This change to the 10(j) rule could lead to the killing of hundreds of wolves, reversing the welcome gains in recovery of this magnificent species in the Greater Yellowstone and central Idaho regions.

I am especially outraged that your proposal would empower states to begin killing wolves before they are taken off the Endangered Species list. Clearly, such killing will impact the wolf population. Yet, your Environmental Assessment fails to make the case that mass killing will not set back  wolf recovery.

Full letter here

The letter is pre-set up.  All you have to do is add your email and contact info.  The NRDC website has made it easy.  Here’s the link to the NRDC page.  They need signatures asap. 

Midnight Cowboying – Why I’ve Sided with Iran on the Nukes

There comes a time when you finally got to put on the other shoe and give it a whirl for a mile or two. Abstract reasoning, the crux of international diplomacy, has left the Bush Administration as quickly as a preacher caught in the whorehouse. Some question if it was ever there, with choices like Bolton for the UN or Baker actually defending Saudi Arabia against survivors of 9-11. But as we enter the era of regional power nuclear proliferation, we must stop for a second and be rational for moment. I come here to praise Iran, not to bury them.

Iran, if you will remember, have brought us great advancements in the science of math to astronomy, though they went under the banner of Persia back then. While their flag and traditions have evolved into modernity, they are among the oldest cultures who still have their base memes intact. Remember, it was the Zoroasters that came and told the Jews of ancient Israel that Christ had been born, but of course now they want to send them bombs.

Which brings me to my point, mutual assured annihilation. Though Russia, under the guise of the Soviet Union, and the USA had their nuclear moment as superpowers, the evolution of the atomic age has now passed down to regional powers. Recently, Pakistan and India had their nuclear moment, but they stood down and were later loosely united by the smiting power of an earthquake. Though the Kashmir question has not been fully resolved, recent bus travel across the border tells the tale that atomic power will not be the final judge, jury and executioner.

The torch of Pandora has now been passed to the regional powers in the seas of sand. But currently, the only regional power to have a nuclear arsenal is the Israel. See, the paradigm of mutual assured annihilation only works if both sides are armed with weapons they know they cannot use because it assures their total destruction. Since Israel is the only holder of said weapons, Iran is assured of only their complete annihilation. So of course they reserve the right to acquire nuclear weapons to assure their preservation, or Israel must disarm. Those are the only two real options here.

I find it ironic that we went to Babylon to find out what the rest of the world already knew, that Saddam didn’t have jack. In fact, due to problems in acquiring replaceable parts, the basics of any modern conventional army, he was no more than a paper tiger. Of course, the current administration knew this, because they had the receipts, but they were on a mission to rid the Middle East of nuclear weapons. I have often wondered why we did not stop in Israel, and check on their atomic weapons, which we also have the receipts for.

So my question is, why the double standard? The atomic power paradigm only works if both sides know they cannot use their weapons, which is why they got them in the first place. Why are we against the Iranian right of self preservation? Or why are we not asking Israel to disarm? I prefer the latter for the record, for Jesus would be rather sad if we turned his Holy Land into a parking lot, and I would hate to see that guy cry.

————–


Top 5 Favorite Things:

1) Death on your finger
http://image.bayimg….

2) Divide by zero
http://bp0.blogger.c…

3) How things change
http://sd4.sd-lj.si/…

4) New found respect for Woody Guthrie
http://www.woodyguth…

5) A True Bad Ass
http://www.clarynove…

——-

Ye Olde open thread.

US Snipers Use “Bait” to Attract Kills