sure we all make a mistake now and again

BUT THREE IN A ROW?

opec apec?
(oprah uma?)

austria australia?

walking into the men's room when you're a women?
not being able to find your way off of a podium?

king george is a royal CHUMP or is that CHIMP
Dazed Bush forgets what country he's in, what summit he's at
David Edwards and Nick Juliano
.
President Bush's trademark struggles with the finer points of public speaking were on full display Friday, when he thanked his "Austrian" hosts for inviting him to this year's "OPEC" summit.
The "Language Mangler-in-Chief" was in Australia attending the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit. Along with misidentifying his host country and the name of the summit, Bush struggled to leave the lectern, trying to exit the stage the wrong way.
"Thank you for being such a fine host of the OPEC summit," Bush said to Australian prime minister John Howard. He quickly corrected himself, "APEC summit," and joked Howard "invited me to the OPEC summit next year. (Such an invitation would be impossible because neither the US or Australia are members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.)..........

more time?

more time? when are we going to stand up en masse and say NO. fuck NO

we defeated hitler, mussolini AND whoever the hell the emperor of japan was in far less time than we've spent in iraq. plus we were JUSTIFIED in world war ii. we were NEVER justified in invading a country who didn't attack us, didn't threaten us, had NOTHING to do with 9/11 and on and on and on.

NO MORE TIME. GET US OUT.
(how many more times are we going to allow THEM - king george and his court - to say, 'we need MORE time in iraq? how many more lives of OUR men and women and THEIR men and women are we willing to give up? me, NO MORE)

Petraeus Disappointed At Political State of Iraq
General's Letter to Troops Praises Progress on Security

By Michael Abramowitz and Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writers
In a preview of his report to Congress next week, Gen. David H. Petraeus yesterday expressed disappointment in the lack of progress toward political reconciliation in Iraq. Administration officials said he wants to return to Washington for another assessment in six months to allow more time for Iraqi politics to catch up with what Petraeus regards as rapidly improving security conditions.
Writing to his troops, the top U.S. commander in Iraq emphasized that violence there had diminished in eight of the last 11 weeks. But while "many of us had hoped this summer would be a time of tangible political progress," Petraeus said in a letter addressed to "Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, and Civilians" serving in Iraq that "it has not worked out as we had hoped.".......

cause of the day

the childhood goat trauma foundation

i guess i won't be going to vegas any time soon

i had no idea about the mayor. how could someone who wants brothels (GIANT ONES at that) on every street corner be elected? sure, women are just for f**king after all aren't they?
holy shite! what ARE the citizens of vegas thinking?

Vegas Mayor Threatens to Kill N.Y. Times Columnist After Anti-Sex-Trade Column
Posted by Wolfrum
This post, written by Wolfrum, originally appeared on Shakesville
Remember the scene in the movie "The Untouchables" where Al Capone, as played by Robert DeNiro, brutally murders a lackey with a baseball bat in order to prove a point?
For Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, the scene was obviously how he views the real world.
"I have no use for him. I'll take a baseball bat and break his head if he ever comes here," Goodman said of New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, after Herbert's column "City as Predator."
The point the mayor wanted to prove? That if some N.Y. columnist wanted to shine a light on the sex trade and prostitution business of Las Vegas, he'd murder them with a baseball bat.
But the sex trade and prostitution business of Las Vegas desperately needs a light shined on it, and Herbert did a fine job of doing just that.
"City as Predator"
There is probably no city in America where women are treated worse than in Las Vegas.
The tone of systematic, institutionalized degradation is set by the mayor, Oscar Goodman, who told me in an interview that the city would reap "tremendous" benefits if a series of "magnificent brothels" could be established to cater to johns from across the country and around the world.
"I've said there should be the beginning of a discussion of that," said Mr. Goodman, a former defense lawyer for mobsters who unabashedly describes his city as an adult playground where "anything goes -- as long as you don't go over the line."
Most of the lines in Vegas have long since .......

a sad state

indeed

U.S. Deports Parents of Dead Soldiers

By Domenico Maceri, New America Media.
One tenth of the U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq have been immigrants. But not all of their parents have qualified for green cards

Three years after U.S. Army Private Armando Soriano, 20, died fighting in Haditha, Iraq, his father is facing deportation. Soriano is now buried in Houston, Tex., his hometown, where his parents, undocumented workers from Mexico, are currently living.
Before his death Soriano had promised his parents he'd help them get green cards. He only succeeded partially before losing his life. Although his mother was able to obtain a green card, his father did not qualify and is on the verge of being deported.
Enrique Soriano, Armando's father, is not the only person to have lost a son or daughter in the Iraq war and face deportation. There are more than three million people born in the U.S. with parents who came into the country illegally. Those born in the U.S. are automatically citizens and have all the rights and duties enjoyed by Americans. That includes military service with the possibility of losing one's life.
Losing a son or a daughter is always tragic. To try to compensate the families the U.S. government makes efforts to help. In the case of individuals with family members needing immigration help, officials assist them to obtain green cards. That's what happened with Soriano's mother. But in spite of governmental flexibility, certain rules prevent some people from qualifying...........

the girl who writes the blog from baghdad

is no longer in baghdad. she and her family finally left (after packing and unpacking MANY times in the past).

she and her family HAD a home. now they don't. they also don't have to be afraid of bombs or being rousted by masked men in the middle of the night.


Baghdad Burning
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Leaving Home...Two months ago, the suitcases were packed. My lone, large suitcase sat in my bedroom for nearly six weeks, so full of clothes and personal items, that it took me, E. and our six year old neighbor to zip it closed.Packing that suitcase was one of the more difficult things I’ve had to do. It was Mission Impossible: Your mission, R., should you choose to accept it is to go through the items you’ve accumulated over nearly three decades and decide which ones you cannot do without. The difficulty of your mission, R., is that you must contain these items in a space totaling 1 m by 0.7 m by 0.4 m. This, of course, includes the clothes you will be wearing for the next months, as well as any personal memorabilia- photos, diaries, stuffed animals, CDs and the like. I packed and unpacked it four times. Each time I unpacked it, I swore I’d eliminate some of the items that were not absolutely necessary. Each time I packed it again, I would add more ‘stuff’ than the time before. E. finally came in a month and a half later and insisted we zip up the bag so I wouldn’t be tempted to update its contents constantly.The decision that we would each take one suitcase was made by my father. He took one look at the box of assorted memories we were beginning to prepare and it was final: Four large identical suitcases were purchased- one for each member of the family and a fifth smaller one was dug out of a closet for the documentation we’d collectively need- graduation certificates, personal identification papers, etc.............

.........I wonder at how the windows don’t rattle as the planes pass overhead. I’m trying to rid myself of the expectation that armed people in black will break through the door and into our lives. I’m trying to let my eyes grow accustomed to streets free of road blocks, hummers and pictures of Muqtada and the rest…How is it that all of this lies a short car ride away?...............

some news on the bees

BUT FIRST, the lyrics to one kick ass song by joe strummer and the mescaleros:
Lord, there goes Johnny Appleseed
He might pass by in the hour of need
There's a lot of souls
Ain't drinking from no well
locked in a factory
Hey - look there goes
Hey - look there goes
If you're after getting the honey - hey
Then you don't go killing all the bees
Lord, there goes Martin Luther King
Notice how the door closes when the chimes of freedom ring
I hear what you're saying, I hear what he's saying
*Is what was true now no longer so
Hey - I hear what you're saying
Hey - I hear what he's saying
If you're after getting the honey - hey
Then you don't go killing all the bees
What the people are saying
And we know every road - go, go
What the people are saying
There ain't no berries on the trees
Let the summertime sun
Fall on the apple - fall on the apple
Lord, there goes a Buick forty-nine
Black sheep of the angels riding, riding down the line
We think there is a soul, we don't know
That soul is hard to find
Hey - down along the road
Hey - down along the roadI
f you're after getting the honey
Then you don't go killing all the bees
Hey - it's what the people are saying
It's what the people are saying
Hey - there ain't no berries on the trees
Hey - that's what the people are saying, no berries on the trees
You're checking out the honey, baby
You had to go killin' all the bees

Study Points to Virus in Collapse of Honeybee Colonies

By Juliet Eilperin Washington Post Staff Writer
Scientists yesterday identified a virus as one of the likely causes of the recent wave of honeybee colony collapses across the country.
The study, co-authored by researchers at Pennsylvania State University, Columbia University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and several other institutions, suggests that the Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV) helps trigger the mysterious condition known as colony collapse disorder, which destroyed about 23 percent of U.S. beehives last winter. The paper is being published today in the journal Science.

i work for

an insurance company/financial institution. what does THAT have to do with the patriot act you say? PLENTY is what i have to say. yes, it even spills over onto us. we had to make a HUGE overhaul on our systems by a certain date (this year) in order to comply. well, the whole industry did (if you sell certain products). agents have to be 'anti-money laundering' certified (we have no captive agents, so these are ALL agents in the biz, as i said, IF they sell certain products) is it a good idea? well yes in theory and to a certain degree. NOT to the degree they've stated. it cost the industry. sure i don't want money going to terrorists. i also think common sense should prevail. i'd also like to state ALL financial institutions etc HAD anti-money laundering rules and regulations in place LONG BEFORE the patriot act.

that's neither here nor there. we MUST adhere and follow our constitution. we cannot step on it or spit on it or tear it up. we cannot allow our freedoms to be eroded. how hard is it to get a warrant? if you're the type of people who would be seeking a warrant for 'suspected terrorists' i have a gut feeling it would NOT be hard at all to get a judge to sign one. let's keep america free, ok?

Judge Invalidates Patriot Act Provisions
FBI Is Told to Halt Warrantless Tactic

By Dan Eggen Washington Post Staff Writer
A federal judge struck down controversial portions of the USA Patriot Act in a ruling that declared them unconstitutional yesterday, ordering the FBI to stop its wide use of a warrantless tactic for obtaining e-mail and telephone data from private companies for counterterrorism investigations.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in New York said the FBI's use of secret "national security letters" to demand such data violates the First Amendment and constitutional provisions on the separation of powers, because the FBI can impose indefinite gag orders on the companies and the courts have little opportunity to review the letters........

how can one think we are 'winning'?

winning? doing a good job? helping the people of iraq? saving the united states from terrorists (by being in iraq that is)? bringing 'democracy' to the middle east? delusional. insanity. evil. lying. oil. millions displaced. thousands of us dead. tens of thousands of them dead. no no no

Gen. Rorschach and the Iraq-Shaped Inkblot

By Dana Milbank
Which of the following best characterizes the situation in Iraq?
a. Impressive, effective and satisfactory?
b. Worrisome, alarming and weak?
If you chose (a), congratulations -- you are supported by Gen. James Jones and his commission studying security in Iraq. And if you chose (b), well, you are also supported by Jones and his commission, who presented their report to the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday.
"Our overall evaluation is that real progress has been achieved," Jones told the senators, and then he qualified that judgment with words such as "uneven," "unsatisfactory," "overly sectarian" and "failed."........

artist of the day

(let me just say, i am NOT easily impressed). wow his work is AMAZING

phil hansen

Daudi
3-2007
Graphite on Starbucks cups.
30" x 20"
x`




and of all places, i found out about him on cnn: With YouTube, artist needs no gallery
video of his work and an interview




By Valerie Streit





Phil Hansen would not consider himself a performance artist, though time-lapse videos capturing his artistry in action have generated a lot of buzz online.


His most viral Web video, "Bruce ," which he submitted to CNN via I-Report, has been viewed more than 3 million times on YouTube, Break and MySpace combined.
In "Bruce," Hansen dips his hands in black paint and karate chops the canvas, forming an image of martial arts film legend Bruce Lee.
"I have not shown in a gallery," Hansen says. "It will happen eventually . . . but I have had a lot more publicity."
For now, Hansen hosts his own virtual gallery on his Web site, which includes a live studio cam.
The 27-year-old works from the basement of his brother's home in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota. Mostly self-taught, Hansen learned the basics in high school. He did attend art school, but he dropped out, opting to pursue his own technique instead. To pay the bills, he works full time as an X-ray technician at a trauma hospital (he plans to cut back his hours in November).
Hansen says he found that still photographs did not always do his work justice. With video as an ally, he started experimenting with speed, narration and the process itself. He discovered that art can be more than just a means to an end, and that the art-making process can sometimes be more engaging........

even MORE humor

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

every once in a while i like to present a bit of humor

Overheard in Australia, Bush tells minister 'we're kicking ass' in Iraq
John Byrne

..........Upon his arrival in Sydney Wednesday, Deputy Australian Prime Minister Mark Vaile "inquired politely" about his stopover in the war-torn country.
"We're kicking ass," Bush said..........

i guess tom cruise

wasn't able to 'counsel' the youngsters who took their own lives. of course he doesn't believe in that type of medication. he thinks (as does his 'religion') one can be TALKED OUT of mental illness or mental instability. we all know what i think of tom cruise and his 'religion'

on the other hand, i think our children, in general, are over medicated. i didn't know so many a d d kids existed in the universe much less america. it's just easier to medicate so they shut up

on the OTHER hand, if a child genuinely needs help she or he should get it. therapy OR medication OR both

Suicides Rose as Prescription Use Declined
Study: Child Antidepressant Warnings Coincided With Increase

By Shankar Vedantam Washington Post Staff Writer
Warnings from federal regulators four years ago that antidepressants were increasing the risk of suicidal behavior among young people led to a precipitous drop in the use of the drugs. Now a new study has found that the drop coincides with an unprecedented increase in the number of suicides among children.
From 2003 to 2004, the suicide rate among Americans younger than 19 rose 14 percent, the most dramatic one-year change since the government started collecting suicide statistics in 1979, the study found. The rise followed a sharp decrease in the prescribing of antidepressants such as Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil after parents and physicians were confronted by a barrage of warnings from the Food and Drug Administration and international agencies..........

this isn't news

in that we already know this (or SHOULD know this). no matter how many denials that come out of the mouths of the court of king george, we can read between the lines.

just because we cannot see the coffins of our men and women being unloaded off of cargo planes OR the bodies of iraqis littered all over the streets doesn't mean our people and their people aren't dying

Experts Doubt Drop In Violence in Iraq
Military Statistics Called Into Question


By Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writer
The U.S. military's claim that violence has decreased sharply in Iraq in recent months has come under scrutiny from many experts within and outside the government, who contend that some of the underlying statistics are questionable and selectively ignore negative trends.
Reductions in violence form the centerpiece of the Bush administration's claim that its war strategy is working. In congressional testimony Monday, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, is expected to cite a 75 percent decrease in sectarian attacks. According to senior U.S. military officials in Baghdad, overall attacks in Iraq were down to 960 a week in August, compared with 1,700 a week in June, and civilian casualties had fallen 17 percent between December 2006 and last month. Unofficial Iraqi figures show a similar decrease..........

and then there is this:

Iraqi Army Unable To Take Over Within A Year, Report Says
Breakup of National Police Is Urged


By Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writer
Iraq's army, despite measurable progress, will be unable to take over internal security from U.S. forces in the next 12 to 18 months and "cannot yet meaningfully contribute to denying terrorists safe haven," according to a report on the Iraqi security forces published today.
The report, prepared by a commission of retired senior U.S. military officers, describes the 25,000-member Iraqi national police force and the Interior Ministry, which controls it, as riddled with sectarianism and corruption. The ministry, it says, is "dysfunctional" and is "a ministry in name only." The commission recommended that the national police force be disbanded..........

this should be on the front page

of every paper in america EVERY DAY. along with pictures of our men and women coming home in coffins, with limbs missing and worse

torture in the name of freedom? when others do it they are savages and subhuman. when we do it, we're protecting ourselves from terrorists. everyone knows (including schoolchildren), the information one obtains from a tortured victim is NOT RELIABLE. they will say anything, they will agree to anything, to make the torture stop. yes, i did that. yes, he or she was my comrade.....

we are a supposedly free nation. we have laws and rules and we abide by international laws as well. hmmmmm, let's just say we're SUPPOSED to.

i know the cia and other organizations have done horrid things under different presidents, including democratic ones. i don't believe they've ever achieved the level of evil they have under king george though.

will congress then the senate grow some stones and bring charges against this regime? it must stop

is this the legacy we want to leave our children?
History Will Not Absolve Us
Leaked Red Cross report sets up Bush team for international war-crimes trial

by Nat Hentoff
If and when there's the equivalent of an international Nuremberg trial for the American perpetrators of crimes against humanity in Guantánamo, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the CIA's secret prisons, there will be mounds of evidence available from documented international reports by human-rights organizations, including an arm of the European parliament—as well as such deeply footnoted books as Stephen Grey's Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture Program (St. Martin's Press) and Charlie Savage's just-published Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy (Little, Brown).
While the Democratic Congress has yet to begin a serious investigation into what many European legislators already know about American war crimes, a particularly telling report by the International Committee of the Red Cross has been leaked that would surely figure prominently in such a potential Nuremberg trial. The Red Cross itself is bound to public silence concerning the results of its human-rights probes of prisons around the world—or else governments wouldn't let them in. ..............

i knew what the outcome of the avery doninger case would be

i was horrifed. i knew it would turn out that way because of the bong hits for jesus case. i've been closely following this. it is unbelievable high school students do NOT have the same rights others do.

please check out the INCREDIBLE coverage of the WHOLE case at

cool justice report. it's a great blog. not only have they been covering the doninger case, but all sorts of other connecticut news and cases (enfield goings on, billy smolinski). PLUS an occasional posting on connecticut's literary scene (yes connecticut DOES have a literary scene). you'll have to seek out the articles on cool justice. there are MANY on ms doninger. it's worth it
one of the postings: How Paula Schwartz Shows Good Faith, Clean Hands

Burlington student files federal lawsuit against school

by News Channel 8's Darren Duarte
Burlington (WTNH) _ A high school senior is taking her free speech case to a federal court after she was barred by the school from holding any student office.
Avery Doninger began her senior year at Burlington High School with a bit of trepidation as her legal battle with the school continues.
"I was a little worried you know, seeing if you know seeing if I would if the administration was going to be a little hard on me compared to what they normally would be, but I really didn't run into any administrators today so that was okay," said Avery.
Avery was barred from running again for class secretary after she posted an angry blog from home about administrators who canceled a popular school event. She tried to get an injunction that would allow her to remain class secretary. ........

a celtic harp terrorist on a washington state ferry?

well NO but he can't continue to play (after more than 17 years) due to 'security' reasons

Harpist on Port Townsend-Keystone ferry silenced after 17 years

By JEFF CHEWPENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. -- David Michael's Celtic harp has been silenced after more than 17 years of soothing ferry passengers traveling between Port Townsend and Keystone on Whidbey Island.
"They shut me down for exactly the same thing they hired me for 32 years ago," said Michael, who unsuccessfully negotiated last week for a contract with a ferry system lawyer.
"This is like being kicked in the solar plexus."
Michael, 55, who moved to Port Townsend in 1990, gave up his volunteer performances aboard the Klickitat on Aug. 13.
Washington State Ferries officials had received two complaints from passengers saying that they had to abide by security measures while Michael did not.
Michael was notified that he had to comply with both security and for-profit policies.........

am i odd

(well of course the answer to that is YES i am). but i actually LIKE the sound of this

Soy sauce gets the scoop on ice cream

Soy sauce is such a staple of the Japanese diet that now it's even being put on ice cream.
A Japanese company has made a surprise hit by creating a special blend for ice cream -- said to taste a bit like caramel.
Yamakawa Jozo, established in 1943 and based in the central city of Gifu, said it has sold nearly 6,000 bottles of the soy sauce for ice cream since January, with daily orders picking up to between 70 and 80 a day.
"We didn't expect this product would become so popular as we worried soy sauce and ice cream were too much of a mismatch and people wouldn't accept it," said company president Akio Yamakawa.
The special sauce is brewed more than eight years in wooden barrels blended with sweet rice wine and starch syrup.............

i've cooked down balsamic vinegar with a bit of maple syrup or unrefined sugar in it so it becomes thick and gooey. i've used that on fruit (well that's not new. italians do that all of the time) and over pound cake. i'll bet that wouldn't be bad over ice cream either.

jerry, it IS unacceptable

what would 'your kids' say?

Lewis Drops an Anti-Gay Slur on Telethon

ah, NOW we get to some nitty gritty

one of THE main reasons king george and his court invaded iraq. no, it wasn't because they were responsible for 9-11. no it wasn't because they were threatening us. no, it wasn't because they had wmd. if you think it was ANYTHING other than black gold (at the number one position) you are sadly mistaken

how DARE we dictate who gets what, when and where to another country
Missteps and Mistrust Mark the Push for Legislation


By Joshua PartlowWashington Post Foreign Service
IRBIL, Iraq -- Two weeks after the United States launched an ambitious security plan for Iraq, then-U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad issued an enthusiastic announcement about progress toward an Iraqi oil law, a key American goal.
"This is a significant political achievement," the Feb. 27 statement began. "Under the approved law, oil will become a tool that will help unify Iraq and give all Iraqis a shared stake in their country's future."
But Iraq's oil law was far from approved. And as negotiations dragged on during the spring and summer, the inability to devise a means to divide the spoils of the world's third-largest oil reserves had instead torn Iraqis further apart. Khalilzad's hands-on efforts for the law are now seen by many Iraqis as inspiring a swell of Arab nationalist opposition and as one of many stumbles on the legislation's dismal journey.
"This was a very bad move by the Americans to push for this law," said Issam al-Chalabi, a former oil minister. "Now it looks like . . . the Americans are after oil -- they will bring their Exxons and Chevrons and they will control our oil again."...........