We'll never claim to be fair and balanced, just honest and trustworthy
October 16, 2007

9/11 Changed Nothing (More)
By Blogenfreud for Agitprop

Heard this yesterday - at least somebody's talking about it:

Warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens is often defended as a necessary security measure in a post-Sept. 11 world. But NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says the administration's push for expanded surveillance powers actually began months before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Haven't seen this on memeorandum yet (unless I missed it) ... what the hell is going on?  Anyone else seen coverage?

In other Orwelllian news, it turns out Verizon caved in to the Bushies and gave them whatever phone records they wanted:

Verizon Communications, the nation's second-largest telecom company, told congressional investigators that it has provided customers' telephone records to federal authorities in emergency cases without court orders hundreds of times since 2005.

The company said it does not determine the requests' legality or necessity because to do so would slow efforts to save lives in criminal investigations.

Can we impeach them now?

Al Gore 2.0
By Phil in NY for E-News Daily

U.S. - Al Gore has already told his faithful he's not going to run in 08'. However, we hold on to the dream that he will step from the mist. If he doesn't run, and most likely he won't, what are the chances that the candidate he endorses for president will go up in poll numbers?

Hillary is pretty much out, as she has yet to meet with him on environmental issues. The other two have. Now Al Gore could shock us all, and just go with the candidate who's doing the best. This is something I hope doesn't happen.

If he endorses John Edwards say, do you think he will have a shot at the nomination, as so many of us respect Gore and his politics?

Paper or plastic ...
By Sheri Rouse for Ain't That Sherific!

I was thinking about posting this yesterday, but never got around to it. I decided I would tackle it today.

Robert and i have been truly getting more into the recycling habit. We already use our city's fabulous curbside recycling, and have been thrilled and amazed at the reduction in our trash. We used to be able to fill 2 large bins to the brim with trash and sometimes add an additional one. Since we have focusing on recycling and getting the kids into the habit, we have only have a fraction of one bin taken to the curb each week. It still shocks me each week as we roll that half empty bin to the street. I think it is important to take a look at what you are using and recycle everything possible.

I have also began washing nearly all loads of laundry on cold and making a concerted effort to use less water when brushing teeth, washing dishes, and showering. I have reduced the amount of water in the kid's bath and limited Dustin's shower time as well. They haven't noticed, and my water bill has gone down also.

I am replacing all my light bulbs with the squiggly ones when they burn out. I really like the compact fluorescent and if you get the right ones, it doesn't look like a science lab in your house.

We have also began to use canvas totes while shopping. I am forgetful, so it doesn't always happen, but I am working on it. I have done a little research and people seem to disagree on whether paper or plastic is best, here is something interesting I found . . .

Some more facts about these two products may help us to answer this age-old question:

  • Plastic bags were first introduced in 1977 and now account for four out of every five bags handed out at grocery stores.
  • Paper sacks generate 70 percent more air and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags.
  • Paper bags are made from trees, which are a renewable resource. Most plastic bags are made from polyethylene, which is made from crude oil and natural gas, nonrenewable resources.
  • 2000 plastic bags weigh 30 pounds, 2000 paper bags weigh 280 pounds. The latter takes up a lot more landfill space.
  • It takes 91 percent less energy to recycle a pound of plastic than it takes to recycle a pound of paper. It takes more than four times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does to manufacture a plastic bag. Energy to produce the bags (in British thermal units): Safeway plastic bags: 594 BTU; Safeway paper bags: 2511 BTU.
  • Paper is accepted in most recycling programs while the recycling rate for plastic bags is very low. Research from 2000 shows 20 percent of paper bags were recycled, while one percent of plastic bags were recycled.
  • Current research demonstrates that paper in today's landfills does not degrade or break down at a substantially faster rate than plastic does. In fact, nothing completely degrades in modern landfills due to the lack of water, light, oxygen, and other important elements that are necessary for the degradation process to be completed.
  • Incineration can decrease the quantity of plastic and paper bags. However, incineration causes air pollution and creates ash which has to be landfilled.
So, Paper or Plastic? Neither. I choose reusable totes. If I don't throw it away it doesn't matter what it is made of, how long it takes to degrade, how much energy is used to make it or recycle it. I leave no footprint in the landfill or in our resources. AND , I just found out I get to ask for a discount for each reusable bag I use at Meijer. Gotta like that.

 

Why is this building exploding?
By Human for Carbon Paper

Approximately 200 architectural and engineering professionals know why. This video is a presentation by Mr. Richard Gage a member of the American Institute Architects and a designer of some huge buildings in his own right. More and more, educated professionals are coming to the conclusion that the Official 911 Conspiracy Theory is false. Engineers, Architects and Pilots are sounding the Alarm Bell. A Bell that needs to be heeded.

If you are one who just would like the truth, you owe to yourself to watch this and other videos and material. Before another attack. Before thousands die. And maybe millions. After all. We all know who really does have Weapons of Mass Destruction. Be Forewarned. Be Forearmed.
Please listen to Mr. Gage's presentation at the University of Manitoba.
Mr. Gage is the founder of http://www.ae911truth.org/

 

Blast His Ass!
By TUA for The Future Was Yesterday

I just learned that some slimy four legged thing in San Francisco, is throwing in the towel.
"This last week, I've found that my heart just isn't in it anymore." Well goodness gracious! Call the Paramedics! That's never happened to a blogger before.

His name is Kvatch (I did say he was from San Fran, right?). He and I don't get along too well at times, but I never did intend to marry him, so the hell with how we get along. So......... He has a box full of comments beneath his farewell post, telling him how good he's been, how good he is (Like he needed to be reminded of that!), and he'll be missed, blah blah blah.

I left him a comment too. I turned the flame thrower on, adjusted it to "cook Froggie's ass", and went from there.

He's too good, too needed, to be worrying about his damn head right now. It's not like it's a vital organ, anyway! So here's what I'm asking:

Go over there, and leave his comments smoldering. Each and every three of you that always reads this thing.

He's burnt out, or is burning out. But I say one thing without the slightest humor: He's too good, and too important to our cause, to lose. We simply can NOT afford to let this happen.

Go over there, sandblast his balls, threaten to run over frogs on purpose, threaten to catch them and donate them to labs staffed with SUV drivers who release A/C coolant into the atmosphere "because it's damn fun." Threaten to put his ass in a jar filled with sleepy frog stuff. Don't be the least bit afraid of reminding him the first person he's quitting on is himself.

But don't let one of the best give up.

Thanks,

TUA

The Federal Government And Marijuana
By Larry Sadler for Let's Talk


DEA Mary McElderry is concerned more with the money made by those selling marijuana, than those that benefit from the drug used to help with an illness that other drugs seem not to help.

In California and other States, the people have voted and the States have made Medical Marijuana legal for use with certain illness. The Federal government looks at the sell and use very differently and are putting a stop to such sell and use.

Should the Federal government over step what the States have ruled legal?
 
 

Krugman: Gore Derangement Syndrome
By TomCat for Politics Plus

...What is it about Mr. Gore that drives right-wingers insane?

Partly it’s a reaction to what happened in 2000, when the American people chose Mr. Gore but his opponent somehow ended up in the White House. Both the personality cult the right tried to build around President Bush and the often hysterical denigration of Mr. Gore were, I believe, largely motivated by the desire to expunge the stain of illegitimacy from the Bush administration.

And now that Mr. Bush has proved himself utterly the wrong man for the job — to be, in fact, the best president Al Qaeda’s recruiters could have hoped for — the symptoms of Gore derangement syndrome have grown even more extreme.

The worst thing about Mr. Gore, from the conservative point of view, is that he keeps being right. In 1992, George H. W. Bush mocked him as the “ozone man,” but three years later the scientists who discovered the threat to the ozone layer won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In 2002 he warned that if we invaded Iraq, “the resulting chaos could easily pose a far greater danger to the United States than we presently face from Saddam.” And so it has proved... [emphasis added]

Inserted from <NY Times>

Guess what else Al Gore is right about?

 

Shrieking harpy shrieks on
By JJ for Unrepentant Old Hippie

Something's gone horribly awry for the assholosphere when an opinion piece on the Schip/Frost debacle in that bastion of liberal moral relativism, the Wall Street Journal, has this to say:
"...But the Internet mob leapt to some dubious conclusions and claimed the Frost kids shouldn't have been on Schip in the first place. As it turns out, they belonged to just the sort of family that a modest Schip is supposed to help..."
Engage Brain Before Shooting Off Mouth (or keyboard).

That's the new graphic on Malkin's site, so it doesn't look like she's leaving this alone. There was a point where it could have all quietly gone away, but she seems determined to ignore the First Law of Holes and scrape out a new low. On the weekend she declared that an "unsolicited" email she received from someone claiming to be a neighbour of the Frosts makes her case that the Frosts are undeserving of Schip assistance. An unsolicited email -- the very definition of the term "incontravertable evidence". Check it out:

"They’re good people. Terribly misguided, pathetically leftist buffoons, but still good people. It was a terrible accident and Bonnie is quite beat up with guilt over the events. Lots of neighbors pitched in to cook meals and help out… Bonnie works half time doing freelance editorial work and Halsey, an incredibly disorganized lovable goofball, just can’t seem to hold down a proper job or, when he’s tried, to run a proper company. He’s a millwork carpenter and does great work installing custom interior and exterior trimwork and cabinetry. He should be making great money but can’t get out of his way…

…Still, we make choices, right? They have three vehicles - a nice new volvo SUV, a Suburban, and his F250 Ford Pickup work truck, a nice house, and all four kids go to private school. Not sure where the money comes from, but they don’t make all that much. Should they be the poster child for S-CHIP? Heck no…."

Yeah, and I receive equally credible unsolicited emails about how I can increase the size of my penis (length and girth!). "Leftist buffoons"? Who the fuck talks like that, other than wingnut bloggers? You have to hand it to her though, she knows how utterly brainless her readership is and doesn't shy away from exploiting it.

Meanwhile, the Democrats have a new little face for Schip, a 2-year-old with heart problems. While the Frosts were working class, this little girl's family is less well-off. Her father invites the loonysphere to dig all they want, as he has $67 in his bank account. Unfortunately, if there's a single Red State commenter out there with $66 in his bank account, the shriekfest will be on and the shit will fly again. Because strangely, a lot of the right-wing outrage about this situation has been about hating anyone who's perceived to "have more" -- something not usually thought of as a conservative characteristic... Or is it?

Hello Dolly!
By Tengrain for Mock, Paper, Scissors


(AFP/White House/File)

“Whar’s yer damn llama?”

The REAL Rudy: Radios
By John Good for Left in Aboite

Rudy Giuliani is running for office on how he handled 9/11 and here we have proof positive that firemen were killed because his administration did not fix the long-standing (since 1993!) problems with the radios.

This Brave New Films investigative report calls attention to four key questions about Rudy's handling of the broken radios from firemen's families and experts:

  • Why was nothing done to improve FDNY radio performance for seven years after a clear need was demonstrated in the 1993 World Trade Center attack?
  • When new radios were finally ordered, why did the city block other companies besides Motorola from bidding on the contract?
  • Once Motorola was given the contract, why did its cost jump from $1.4 million to $14 million?
  • Why were these new radios never tested?

The families of the firefighters who lost their lives on 9/11 deserve answers to these questions. We call on a full, public investigation to uncover the facts behind the Giuliani administration’s pre-9/11 emergency preparation. Please go HERE to sign this petition

Verizon, like AT&T, illegally gave the government YOUR phone records
By John Aravosis for AMERICABlog

Surprise!

Verizon spied on your phone records too! Without a court order! Simply because the government said "give em to us."

Why didn't Verizon go to court and demand a court order to release your private phone records, like the law says they need? Oh, let's have a look at how the Washington Post characterized what Verizon told them:

The company said it does not determine the requests' legality or necessity because to do so would slow efforts to save lives in criminal investigations.... Verizon and AT&T said it was not their role to second-guess the legitimacy of emergency government requests.
Yes, it's not Verizon's and AT&T's role to follow the law - the law that was set up specifically because of fears of government spying - and require the government to show up with the court orders that are required under the law. No, not Verizon's and AT&Ts job at all, that one. (Funny, but if a woman is being stalked by some pervert who's threatening to rape or kill her, and she calls Verizon or AT&T, they're not going to give HER the perv's phone records or identity because that would be wrong. Interesting that their overriding interest in saving lives only applies to some lives, apparently.)

So basically, what Verizon and AT&T have just said, is that they will turn over any of your private phone records to the government any time the government wants, with no court order whatsoever, in violation of the law, provided that the government say it's really really really important.

What country do we live in?

A country where we have no privacy.

To quote Frank Rich, we're all "good Germans" now. We're all to blame. Well, not all of us, but certainly the Democrats in the Senate who can't find a testicle between them to stand up to this ongoing outrage. The Senate Intelligence Committee is getting ready to pass legislation tomorrow or Thursday granting AT&T and Verizon immunity for illegally spying on you. Why? Because George Bush, Mr. 28% in the polls, threatened them that they'd better.

In particular, the problem in the Intell committee is most likely Feinstein, Bayh, Mikulski and Nelson - Democrats who don't have a very big backbone, and then wonder why we we're mean to them. But what about on the Senate floor? Why doesn't a Democratic Senator object to the legislation, put a hold on it? Sure, they'd have to have a filibuster vote, and we might lose, since so many other Dems are wimps too, but let's put it on the record, who supports domestic spying in violation of the law, let's at least get a vote count so we know who the enemy is. (And would it kill the Senate leadership to finally require some kind of legislative loyalty from the Democratic caucus? Any at all?) Now is one of those times when Senator Feingold's acts of courage would be most welcome.

The House, fortunately, isn't planning on passing the immunity provision. But, if the Senate does, then the decision goes to a House-Senate committee (called a conference) where they iron out the differences between the House and Senate bills. If the House holds firm, these bastards aren't given immunity. If the House caves, they are.

Folks, you have no privacy any more. And worst yet, your government doesn't care, your politicians don't care. And far too few Democrats care either. Every week we see stories about millions of records being let go to the public in such-and-such computer database. And what do we hear from the Democrats in Congress, from our Democratic leaders in Congress? Nothing. Well, at least from the Senate side.

Let's revisit Verizon's absurd defense again:
"Public officials, not private businessmen, must ultimately be responsible for whether the legal judgments underlying authorized surveillance activities turn out to be right or wrong -- legally or politically," wrote Wayne Watts, AT&T's senior executive vice president and general counsel. "Telecommunications carriers have a part to play in guarding against official abuses, but it is necessarily a modest one."
Yeah, um, a few points here. First, if private businessmen want to assume the responsibility as caretakers for our most private information, because they want to make a few trillion bucks, then those private businessmen had better learn the law and actually take care of our personal information. For Verizon to say that it's just too blond and dumb to understand complicated things like throw weights "legal judgments" (you can almost hear them titter in their letter as they flip their hair) is beyond bizarre. First off, you're freaking lawyers - you're getting paid half a million a year to make those complicated legal judgments. Second of all, and more importantly, there wasn't really a legal judgment here to be made. You weren't given a court order, that little document you're required to have before releasing your customers' most personal information. So the legal judgment necessary was this:
Did the government give us the court order required for us to release this information? No.
Pretty complicated legal judgment there.

Oh yeah, and don't forget what we've been learning the past few days. It looks like Bush's domestic spying on your phone records and your phone calls started BEFORE September 11. In fact, it started his first week on the job. That means it had nothing to do with September 11, even though that's what he's always said. That would also mean that Verizon and AT&T wouldn't have a leg to stand on in the court of public opinion if in fact they were approached before September 11 to turn over your private phone records to the government like you were some kind of common criminal, or East German citizen.

But let's not let the Republicans off the hook. The gun nuts ought to be going ballistic right about now. But they're not. The government can violate any privacy law it wants, provided it says it's really really really important. Would that include compiling databases of gun owners? Uh yeah. I'm certain such lists must exist after September 11. But the gun lobby that normally goes nuts over such things hasn't said boo. The right wing is just as complicit in accepting the diminution - the repeal - of our freedoms. And nobody, outside of you guys, even cares.

They're all good Germans now.
(More on AT&T's illegal spying here.)

Shut It Down!
By Betmo for Life's Journey

"As this administration as well as the elected Democratic congress has ignored our constant pleas to end the Iraq war and deal responsibly with domestic issues here at home. A few fellow bloggers and myself have proposed a nationwide work stoppage on October 17,2007. We encourage all working people to call in sick or whatever excuse that may be had to make an economic impact in hopes of bringing attention to the Iraq war and other important issues facing the United States today."

shut it down!

Be the change ...
By Carol for Carol for Peace

Do you think that you affect the world by being who you are and doing what you do?

I do. I think that we all add to this soup that we call the world. There are a few unsavory flavors, but my oh my, the broth is scrumptious and most of the ingredients are heavenly. Even those unsavory bits seem to bring out the best in other parts.

Thinking about Gandhi when he said "we must be the change we wish to see in the world", I contemplate what I want to see.

I would like a world where:
  • people care about each other and about all living beings
  • we don't call each other names or do anything intentionally to cause pain to others - physical or psychological
  • we know that there is enough - and we don't need to have more than enough while others live in need
  • we take care of the earth
  • there is joy and singing and dancing and celebrating
  • we know there is time to go slowly enough to listen to each other, to be kind, to notice what is going on within and without
So Gandhi calls me to be these qualities that I want in the world. I can't make anyone else do it (at least I've been unsuccessful so far) - and I can be a challenging study even for myself.

It's time to get dancin'!
"I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him."
- Booker T. Washington
"Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music."
- George Carlin

Want Some Ice Cream?...
By Sumo for Sumo Merriment

This looks icky! But I'm sure it is an appropriate depiction of his Monkeyness. He should be very careful where he travels...there are countries that love to eat monkey brains. It would be an improvement.

Well...you know this primate has lots his marbles because he vetoed the Schip funding for the little kiddies...the lying Christian sack of monkey pebbles! Really could a man be more reviled than this lump of flesh? I've turned him off of the TV several times in the last two days because I just couldn't stomach his face or voice...I want to throw something at the TV really badly.

But in other news...Mr. Sumo is doing well and waiting for his next appointment for another examination that he has to undergo every 3 months now. I've been tired from working so I haven't blogged or read any much either. I'm just a dull bulb right now it seems. I don't know why I tortured myself today...but I watched a little of John Williams on Fox Noise and he was yammering on about Rush and the phony soldier story. Seems the left has made this all up and are stirring the evil pot of vexation again on ol' Limpballs who most certainly does not deserve the kind of treatment he's getting. I'd like to give Rush a treatment he'd never forget on the end of my foot...sigh...what a fat ass he is...just no other way to describe him.

I hope to energize myself out of this stupor I find myself in and start blabbing about how the world is so screwed up because of Bush and his idiot cronies and advisers. A lot of blood on those hands...hope they are found to be in contempt in the world court of opinion. They so need to be held accountable...in my lifetime.

Thank you all for your kind concern and good wishes...while I haven't replied very well to my comments lately...I was touched by peoples caring and continuing to check on me even though I wasn't blogging. It is a better world for you people being in it...thank you!

Limbaugh Jealous Over Loss of Nobel Peace Prize to Gore?
By Ron Chusid for Liberal Values

Perhaps Rush Limbaugh is so upset about Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize since he was also nominated for the award, as I reported in in February. The nomination was made by the Landmark Legal Foundation according to Landmark President Mark Levin for his for his “nearly two decades of tireless efforts to promote liberty, equality and opportunity for all humankind, regardless of race, creed, economic stratum or national origin.”
It’s hard to imagine anyone saying the above with a straight face about Limbaugh. Pensito Review  believes that Limbaugh was behind his own nomination:

For starters, it appears that Limbaugh de facto nominated himself. The nomination went out under the letterhead of “his lawyers” at the Landmark foundation, a rightwing nonprofit for which Limbaugh is an unpaid adviser. (Landmark’s donors include relatives of Richard Melon Scaife, the Pittsburgh heir and newspaper publisher who funded the Arkansas Project, a smear campaign against the Clintons that served as the prototype for what we now know as Swiftboating.)

Landmark’s president, Mark Levin, is a snarling, unappealing ideologue who made his name in the 1990s as a Clinton-basher on cable news. Levin is a Rush acolyte and wannabe who, despite having a voice that would curdle milk, has his own talk show.

Levin and Landmark are Limbaugh’s lapdogs. Even if the idea for the stunt didn’t come from Limbaugh himself, it was done with his approval and, more than likely, guidance.

They also note that this nomination should not be taken as having any real meaning:

Nominations for the Prize may be made by a broad array of qualified individuals, including former recipients, members of national assemblies and congresses, university professors (in certain disciplines), international judges, and special advisors to the Prize Committee. In some years as many as 199 nominations have been received. The Committee keeps the nominations secret and asks that nominators do the same. Over time many individuals have become known as “Nobel Peace Prize Nominees”, but this designation has no official standing.

Regardless of who nominated Limbaugh, Gore won the vote. This time there weren’t any legal maneuvers available to block the person with the most votes from winning as occurred with Florida’s electoral votes in 2000.

Click here to comment on this Blog World Report