question

is this going to create MORE of a stir than this

now this is interesting

American Family Wants Asylum in Finland
1 day ago
HELSINKI, Finland (AP) — An American family with three small children has applied for political asylum in Finland, immigration officials said Friday.
The five family members came to Finland on Tuesday from Germany, said Minna Serradj from the Directorate of Immigration.
"It's very unusual for a U.S. citizen to apply for asylum," Serradj said, declining to give details in line with a policy to protect asylum seekers. "I don't remember when we last had Americans applying."
Serradj declined to comment on local media speculation that the parents possibly were seeking to escape serving in the U.S. armed forces in Iraq..............

stop by and say hola to

an unrepentant communist

finally a light bulb went off (in my otherwise empty dome)

our government WANTS organizations like blackwater around. the us military has certain codes and rules and laws they must abide by. they are held accountable. gangs like blackwater DO NOT have rules and laws nor are they held accountable. it's PERFECT!

now iraq may say they are going to kick blackwater OUT. they may even THINK they are kicking blackwater out. they will not be. perhaps a few men will be sent home. no one knows how many are over there to begin with. they'll ALWAYS be there. why, because WE don't want them out and after all, iraq is now OUR country

Iraq Probe of U.S. Security Firm Grows
Blackwater, Accused of Killing 11 on Sunday, Cited in Earlier Deaths

By Joshua Partlow and Sudarsan RaghavanWashington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, Sept. 21 -- Iraq's probe into a deadly shooting by Blackwater USA in Baghdad last weekend has expanded to include allegations about the security firm's involvement in six other violent episodes this year that left at least 10 Iraqis dead.
The incidents include the killing of three guards at a state-run media complex and the shooting death of an Iraqi journalist outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Brig. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, chief spokesman for the Interior Ministry. Iraqi officials say these violent encounters have made them increasingly frustrated with Blackwater's conduct in Iraq, but the government backed away Friday from its attempt to expel the company. Blackwater has said its guards acted appropriately in the weekend incident, but it did not respond to requests for comment Friday on the other episodes cited by Khalaf. ...........

i drive back and forth to work

(amendment 9/30/2007: i have been gently reminded, i also have a TON of pens, most of which are anchored in my bun AND several little ketchup bottles in my handbag)
to the grocery store, to my dad's house, to the half door, to an occasional restaurant, a movie theater, a lecture at a local college or university, to a friend's house. perhaps i'll go here or there every once in a while, but i don't travel that much. i usually carry a bit of makeup with me. some butts, some mints, an extra pair of sox, my digital camera, my mp3 player, my knitting, a book, lots of pens, some money (not a lot). in my car i have extra shoes, boots, water, cds, some yarn, a denim jacket, a wrap (as in if it's cold out, it goes around my body), books, a magazine on women with tattooes that i am in, three GIANT rats seatbelted in the back seat along with their friend, little teddy (remind me, around the holidays to tell the festive tale (or is it tail) of the three christmas rats). i know i have more in that car, i just can't think of ALL of it right now.
i drink a LOT of coffee. two big gulps every morning at dunkin'. i am currently listening to some leon russell. i'm currently reading: gertrude bell: queen of the desert, shaper of nations by georgina howell. i watch lots of television. i write. i don't sleep very much at all (usually averaging 3 hours a night) but i am USUALLY in bed BY 8:00 each night. as i said, not sleeping. i don't like violence. i have never even gotten a traveling traffic ticket (i have gotten two PARKING tickets in my whole life. ONE was not justified). i pay my taxes and i'm honest. i don't build bombs in my basement or plot to bring the united states down. i knit.

it's NOT your bid-nez to find these things out about me UNLESS #1) i tell you (which i just did) OR #2) you suspect me of being something i'm NOT and get a warrant to spy on me

otherwise BUTT out. you aren't entitled to MY life. it's MINE

Collecting of Details on Travelers Documented
U.S. Effort More Extensive Than Previously Known

By Ellen NakashimaWashington Post Staff Writer
The U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials.
The personal travel records are meant to be stored for as long as 15 years, as part of the Department of Homeland Security's effort to assess the security threat posed by all travelers entering the country. Officials say the records, which are analyzed by the department's Automated Targeting System, help border officials distinguish potential terrorists from innocent people entering the country. .................

i was mindin' my own bid-nez

not having that great a day. did a little grocery shopping at the stop & shop which just made it worse. there was some trouble in the line i picked (NO, NOT with me). it was horrid. i was standing there forever. it never fails.

then i walk outside to my car and i see the MOST WONDERFUL THING EVER (well almost)

a big fat HUH?????????

Asked about lack of political progress in Iraq, he said, ``Part of the reason why there's not this instant democracy in Iraq is because people are still recovering from Saddam Hussein's brutal rule. Sort of an interesting comment, I heard somebody say, `Where's Mandela?' Well, Mandela's dead because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas.''

(-from king george of course, who else?)

something you have to watch

the video is at the link below. it is in no way shape or form EASY to hear OR watch. the worse part is the couple's 13 year old son is filming it AND their younger son is also in the room.

'he beat me down to nothing'..........

please never, NEVER let this happen to you.
(it HAS a GOOD ending by the way. i'd also like to give a GIANT SHOUT OUT to the judge in this case. i missed his name but man, he's my kind o' dude)

Domestic Abuse Up Close: Man Beats Wife, Forces Their Son to Film It (VIDEO)



Posted by Amanda Marcotte at 2:00 PM on September 20, 2007.

This segment portrays how justified abusers feel about their behavior.


This post, written by Amanda Marcotte, originally appeared on Pandagon.
Here's an interesting video that I grabbed from Echidne. Warning: It's really distressing -- in part, it's a video a man made his son take of him beating his wife. What's fascinating is it really shows how justified abusers feel about their behavior. The end part is interesting, too, since they interview the judge on this case.

land of the free

and home of the brave - well it USED to be

The People Who Assaulted a Gold Star Father on September 15th

Submitted by davidswanson

Here are photos of members of "Gathering of Eagles" who assaulted gold star father Carlos Arredondo in broad daylight in Washington, D.C., on September 15, 2007, throwing him to the ground and kicking him.

Account of what happened from Arredondo's wife By Mélida Arredondo:
Carlos Arredondo, 47 year old father of two sons, arrived in the nation's capitol on Monday, 09/10/07 to share a memorial he has made to honor for his eldest son, Alex. Carlos has visited thirty of the United States with the traveling memorial to his son Alexander. Lcpl. Alexander S. Arredondo, USMC was killed on 08/25/04. He was 20 years and 20 days old. The memorial consists of a casket, poster- size photographs of Alex when he graduated from boot camp, before his second tour in Iraq, lying in state at his wake, and a photo of Alex with his younger brother Brian.
Saturday, September 15, 2007 consisted of first a rally, a march towards the capitol and then a die-in. Carlos pulled the memorial along the march route approaching the rotunda near the capitol building. Several of the marchers requested for him to speak about the memorial where a crowd gathered around him. After finishing, several people walked with Carlos as he pulled the memorial. Several pictures of Alex dressed in his blues were attached to the display. ......

well call me closed minded

but i sure as shite am NOT comfortable with this:

Dubai Agrees To Acquire 20% Stake in Nasdaq Market
3 Mideast Nations Seek Major Stakes in West

By Tomoeh Murakami TseWashington Post Staff Writer
NEW YORK, Sept. 20 -- Middle Eastern governments announced a series of billion-dollar deals Thursday that would give them stakes in financial institutions at the heart of Western capitalism, raising concerns in Washington about sensitive foreign investments.
Under a complex three-way deal, the stock exchange owned by the government of Dubai would acquire a 19.9 percent stake in the Nasdaq Stock Market, becoming the first government in the Middle East to own a substantial interest in a U.S. exchange.
Separately, Carlyle Group of the District said it was selling a 7.5 percent share of its general ownership to an investment group owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, which like Dubai is part of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates. The Qatar Investment Authority, a government investment fund, said it bought a 20 percent stake in the London Stock Exchange. ......

you know what?

i didn't see the ad. it wouldn't have bothered me either way though. am i the ONLY one here who is seeing this irony? two words for y'all

SWIFT BOAT

perhaps i would have taken a different tactic than move on. perhaps not. i know that it's NOT petraeus i'm angry at (first and foremost). i know it's NOT HIS fault we're in iraq (and katrina victims are still suffering and our children are uninsured and our rights are being fritted away)..........
why such a furor now? why not then? why isn't there a furor for us BEING in iraq period? why are we still there?

MoveOn Unmoved By Furor Over Ad Targeting Petraeus

By Perry Bacon Jr.Washington Post Staff Writer
A few weeks before Army Gen. David H. Petraeus's much-anticipated testimony on Iraq, the leadership of MoveOn.org, the Internet-based liberal group that has rallied its 3 million members around the country to oppose the war, decided on a change in strategy.
Rather than making another appeal to moderate Republicans to join Senate Democrats in passing an antiwar resolution, they would take on the credibility of Petraeus himself. Their weapon, they decided in conjunction with Fenton Communications, its Washington-based public relations firm, would be an ad in the New York Times that provocatively played off his name with this question in large letters: "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?" ........

and i just came across this from echidne of the snakes

Correct me if I'm wrong here. But by my calculation, more U.S. senators (72) voted today to condemn a newspaper ad attacking Gen. Petraeus than voted yesterday (56) to lengthen the time off troops get from the frontlines in Iraq, thereby reducing individual soldiers exposure to actual attacks. Am I missing something, or is that about right?

how much more right could THAT be?

sad songs

songs that are sad to me. this by no means is complete. they're only what i thought of this morning (so far). the songs may not have been written by the artists listed by them. it's THEIR version that is the saddest to me.
do you have any?

1,000 miles from nowhere – dwight yaokam
a change is gonna come – sam cooke
angola – ry cooderdisorder – system of a down
avalon - bryan ferry & roxy music
cry on – tracy nelson and mother earth
don’t dream it’s over – crowded house
glory box – portishead
hallelujah – jeff buckley
hurt – johnny cash
i can’t make you love me – bonnie raitt
i don’t know where i stand (i just picked this one – but there are TONS) – joni Mitchell
i get out (or ANY of the songs on her mtv unplugged release) – lauryn hill
i’d rather go blind – christine perfect* (can anyone WITHOUT LOOKING IT UP tell me who christine perfect became?)
farewell to tarwathie – judy collins
i’m so lonesome i could cry – hank Williams
louise – leo kottke
luca (my name is luca) – Suzanne vega
nothing takes the place of you – toussaint mccall
now that the buffalo’s gone (or MANY others)– buffy sainte marie
somewhere over the rainbow – israel kamakamiwo’olemadame george – van morrison
stars – janis ian
strange fruit – billie holiday
sunday and sister jones – roberta flack
suzanne (or MANY others) – leonard cohen
sweet jane – cowboy junkies
the messiah will come again – roy Buchanan
white man’s melody – cyndi lauper
who knows where the time goes – fairport convention OR judy Collins

hey ms currier

unlike people with a penis (p-wap), YOU get a choice in life! be happy dear. YOU can do ONE of two things.

YOU CAN EITHER BE A MOTHER
orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
YOU CAN BE A DOCTOR

seems like you are NOT ALLOWED to be both. at least to the national board of medical examiners

Judge: No extra break for lactating exam taker
Student sought time to pump baby's milk
By Felicia Mello, Globe Correspondent
Harvard medical student and new mother will not be permitted to take extra break time to pump breast milk during her licensing exam to become a doctor, a judge ruled yesterday.
On Sept. 6, Sophie Currier of Brookline sued the National Board of Medical Examiners, arguing that the board violated her constitutional right to breast-feed by denying her more than the 45 minutes of rest periods allotted to all test takers. She also accused the board of gender discrimination.
Currier, who has a 4-month-old daughter, must pass the exam before she can graduate and begin a residency program at Massachusetts General Hospital in the fall.
In a three-page opinion, Norfolk Superior Court Judge Patrick Brady said Currier could still find a way to expel her milk during the test or on regularly scheduled breaks.
"The plaintiff may take the test and pass, notwithstanding what she considers to be unfavorable conditions," Brady wrote. "The plaintiff may delay the test, which is offered numerous times during the year, until she has finished her breast-feeding and the need to express milk."
Brady also ruled that the private board could not be considered a state agency, a requirement for proving at least one of Currier's claims.............

i did read about the farmers in india

committing suicide in huge numbers. they kill themselves because they took loans out to buy 'special seeds' for their land (it's not JUST monsanto by the way). they are having (not all mind you but lots) trouble paying back the loans. they are desperate.

i didn't know that MAY also happen in iraq. thanks to the intervention of that great democratic fair unbiased lawful nation, the united states of king george and his crony court jesters. jesters like paul bremer and his order 81

what are we doing? have we no shame? have we no compassion? have we no SOUL?????????

Why Iraqi Farmers Might Prefer Death to Paul Bremer's Order 81
By Nancy Scola, AlterNet
Anyone hearing about central India's ongoing epidemic of farmer suicides, where growers are killing themselves at a terrifying clip, has to be horrified. But among the more disturbed must be the once-grand poobah of post-invasion Iraq, U.S. diplomat L. Paul Bremer.....

............What Order 81 did was to establish the strong intellectual property protections on seed and plant products that a company like the St. Louis-based Monsanto -- purveyors of genetically modified (GM) seeds and other patented agricultural goods -- requires before they'll set up shop in a new market like the new Iraq. With these new protections, Iraq was open for business. In short, Order 81 was Bremer's way of telling Monsanto that the same conditions had been created in Iraq that had led to the company's stunning successes in India.
In issuing Order 81, Bremer didn't order Iraqi farmers to march over to the closest Monsanto-supplied shop and stock up. But if Monsanto's experience in India is any guide, he didn't need to.
Here's the way it works in India. In the central region of Vidarbha, for example, Monsanto salesmen travel from village to village touting the tremendous, game-changing benefits of Bt cotton, Monsanto's genetically modified seed sold in India under the Bollgard® label. The salesmen tell farmers of the amazing yields other Vidarbha growers have enjoyed while using their products, plastering villages with posters detailing "True Stories of Farmers Who Have Sown Bt Cotton." Old-fashioned cotton seeds pale in comparison to Monsanto's patented wonder seeds, say the salesmen, as much as an average old steer is humbled by a fine Jersey cow.
Part of the trick to Bt cotton's remarkable promise, say the salesmen, is that Bollgard® was genetically engineered in the lab to contain bacillus thuringiensis, a bacterium that the company claims drastically reduces the need for pesticides. When pesticides are needed, Bt cotton plants are Roundup® Ready -- a Monsanto designation meaning that the plants can be drowned in the company's signature herbicide, none the worse for wear. (Roundup® mercilessly kills nonengineered plants.)
Sounds great, right? The catch is that Bollgard® and Roundup® cost real money. And so Vidarbha's farmers, somewhat desperate to grow the anemic profit margin that comes with raising cotton in that dry and dusty region, have rushed to both banks and local moneylenders to secure the cash needed to get on board with Monsanto. Of a $3,000 bank loan a Vidarbha farmer might take out, as much as half might go to purchasing a growing season's worth of Bt seeds.........

i thought jim hightower was writing a satirical piece

he wasn't. this is FOR REAL. this is the listing in google (THREAT. note the word THREAT)

NAIS - National Animal Identification System
The threat of a foreign animal disease outbreak in the US is real. NAIS is a modern, streamlined information system that improves response to disease ...www.usda.gov/nais/ - 40k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

i'm sorry mr hightower for thinking you were joking (i only WISH you were)

U.S. Government's Plan to Protect You From Terrorist Livestock

By Jim Hightower, Hightower Lowdown. Posted September 19, 2007.

A friend of mine tells a story about the political demise in the 1950s of an entrenched Oklahoma state representative, whom we'll call Elmer Goodenuff.
Rep. Goodenuff, who chaired the ag committee, had been in office so long that he'd grown tight with the capitol crowd, but he had lost touch with the folks back in his rural district. Thus, when some supermarket lobbyists asked him to sponsor a bill requiring that all egg producers be regulated by the state and have to pay an egg-grading fee, he saw no problem with the measure. It was for the public's health, the lobbyists told him. His constituents, however, did have a problem with it. In those days, many small farmers made their spending money by selling eggs fresh out of their chicken yards -- yet here was ol' Elmer hitting them with a bureaucratic rigmarole and a fee that would make their little egg stands more trouble than they were worth. It turns out that the supermarket lobbyists' real agenda had been to get rid of all these bothersome mom-and-pop competitors...........

.............It is, to say the least, intrusive. NAIS would compel all owners of such animals to register their premises and personal information in a federal database, to buy microchip devices and attach them to every single one of their animals (each of which gets its very own 15-digit federal ID number), to log and report each and every "event" in the life of each animal, to pay fees for the privilege of having their location and animals registered, and to sit still for fines of up to $1,000 a day for any noncompliance.
This is Animal Farm meets the Marx Brothers!...........

yes

there ARE people who study things such as this. THIS WHAT? are you sitting down?

BAR FIGHTS

AND he won a prize for it!

we'll have to import some of those glasses to the us

British professor wins prize for bar-fight research

Rowdy bars may no longer be quite as dangerous thanks to a British professor who won a criminology prize on Wednesday for his work showing how injuries from broken glass can be reduced.
Jonathan Shepherd, a face surgeon and professor at Cardiff University, won the Stockholm Prize in Criminology with his research into bar fights and glass-related injuries.
"Professor Shepherd's crime prevention work involved the development of strategies for preventing serious injuries in connection with violence in bars and nightclubs," a statement announcing the prizes said.
His work compared drink glasses and the different ways they shatter and has "led pubs in the UK to use the glass that causes far fewer injuries," the statement said.
He shared the prize with US professor David Olds, from the University of Colorado, who has developed methods to prevent child abuse.........

scary dude

(hey bud, i think there are too many people like YOU out there)

Rep. Peter King: There are "too many mosques in this country”
New York Rep. Peter King, a prominent House Republican, said there are “too many mosques in this country” in a recent interview with Politico. “There are too many people sympathetic to radical Islam,” King said. “We should be looking at them more carefully and finding out how we can infiltrate them.” King is the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee. And as an outspoken advocate of strong anti-terror measures, he has been unafraid to ruffle some feathers in his drive to protect the homeland. .................

the more i know about them

the more afraid i become. this is just SO WRONG in each and every way
what's the word i'm looking for nefarious?

Where Military Rules Don't Apply
Blackwater's Security Force in Iraq Given Wide Latitude by State Dept.

By Steve Fainaru Washington Post Foreign Service
Blackwater USA, the private security company involved in a Baghdad shootout last weekend, operated under State Department authority that exempted the company from U.S. military regulations governing other security firms, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials and industry representatives.
In recent months, the State Department's oversight of Blackwater became a central issue as Iraqi authorities repeatedly clashed with the company over its aggressive street tactics. Many U.S. and Iraqi officials and industry representatives said they came to see Blackwater as untouchable, protected by State Department officials who defended the company at every turn. Blackwater employees protect the U.S. ambassador and other diplomats in Iraq. Blackwater "has a client who will support them no matter what they do," said H.C. Lawrence Smith, deputy director of the Private Security Company Association of Iraq, an advocacy organization in Baghdad that is funded by security firms, including Blackwater. ...........

wtf?????????????????

how the hell did they allow this to fall through the cracks. i am SO angry.

and 'THEY' (the republicans in this case) claim those who oppose this ugly unjust immoral and illegal war don't support the troops. WTF?????????????????
not only can't they come home, they can't even get decent leaves

Longer Leaves for Troops Blocked
Senate Bill Short of 60 Votes Needed

By Shailagh Murray and Jonathan Weisman Washington Post Staff Writers
Senate Republicans yesterday rejected a bipartisan proposal to lengthen the home leaves of U.S. troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, derailing a measure that war opponents viewed as one of the best chances to force President Bush to accelerate a redeployment of forces.
The proposal, sponsored by Sens. James Webb (D-Va.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), failed on a 56 to 44 vote, with 60 votes needed for passage -- a tally that was virtually identical to a previous vote in July. A last-minute campaign by the Defense Department and the White House to kill the measure won over Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), an influential voice on defense policy who had voted with Webb and Hagel in July. ............

i am 100% POSITIVE there IS freedom of religion in the military

as long as that religion is the SAME as the powers that be (so to speak) praise the lord!

Military Sued Over Religious Freedom
By JOHN MILBURN, Associated Press Writer
PDT FORT RILEY, Kan. (AP) --
A soldier whose superior prevented him from holding a meeting for atheists and other non-Christians is suing the Defense Department, claiming it violated his right to religious freedom.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., alleges a pattern of practices that discriminate against non-Christians in the military. It was filed Monday to coincide with the 220th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution.
The lawsuit names Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Maj. Paul Welborne as defendants.
According to the filing, Spec. Jeremy Hall, a soldier assigned to Fort Riley's 97th Military Police Battalion, received permission to distribute fliers around his base in Iraq for a meeting of atheists and non-Christians.
When he tried to convene the meeting, Hall claims, Welborne stepped in, threatening to file military charges against Hall and block his reenlistment.
Attempts to reach Welborne through an Army spokesman weren't immediately successful.
Mikey Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which is helping Hall with his lawsuit, said it is the first of many.......