News Analysis: Sarah's Lapse of Facts

Ah, Sarah. We knew you were cooking something up. [I believe a free account on washingtonpost.com is necessary to view this].

Palin's editorial attacking President Obama's cap-and-trade plan is terribly misinformed and/or purposefully misleading. Unfortunately, in today's infopropegainment (one of my favorite Jon Stewart words) news style, Sarah Palin gets a lot of air time, and as much cannot be said of her opponents.

 First, some general points.

We must remember that this is a woman who does not believe that humans are causing global warming. Her arguments for further use of dirty energy sources is tainted by her inaccurate concepts.

It's also significant that Sarah Palin is building a base founded on controversial issues in what I consider to be her early campaigning for the 2012 Presidential Race. It is classic Republican campaign strategy to be against taxes (although their actual track record tends to suggest otherwise).

Let's break down her arguments, shall we?

"The Americans hit hardest will be those already struggling to make ends meet... So much for not raising taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 a year."

The Cap-and-Trade (TRADE, not TAX) plan generates $650 billion in federal funds over the course of seven years, $80 billion of which will be contributed towards middle-class tax cuts. [1]

"Job losses are so certain under this new cap-and-tax plan that it includes a provision accommodating newly unemployed workers from the resulting dried-up energy sector, to the tune of $4.2 billion over eight years. So much for creating jobs."

The proposal would create jobs in a new rapidly growing clean energy sector. The proposal promises that new jobs created will not be outsourced [2- pg 100]. Pew reports that between 1998 and 2007 job growth in the clean energy sector has progressed at nearly three times that of the economy in general -- even though the government has favored making financial contributions to fossil fuel energy over green alternatives [3- pg 3]. The report goes on to say that by giving clean energy a boost through President Obama's plan, new lasting jobs (this is significant because we know that fossil fuel is non-renewable) will be generated. This projection is supported by Pew's research on state energy programs. [3- pg 40-41].

"In Alaska, we are progressing on the largest private-sector energy project in history. Our 3,000-mile natural gas pipeline will transport hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of our clean natural gas to hungry markets across America."

Projected cost of the Alaskan Highway Pipeline project is over $20 billion and will not begin producing revenue until 2016 [4]. Obama's plan begins producing revenue in 2010. The pipeline plan will only further entrench our economy in an extremely harmful energy culture whose days are numbered. While natural gas is preferable to coal in emission levels, it still is not clean. Environmental impacts of actually building a 2,140 mile long pipeline to Canada and then distribution pipelines from there is yet to be determined.

"We can safely drill for U.S. oil offshore and in a tiny, 2,000-acre corner of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge if ever given the go-ahead by Washington bureaucrats."

The 2000-acres only refers to the land on which the rig supports actually touch the ground. The actual area affected would be much greater due to multi-directional drilling technology - "horizontal production wells" [5]. Plus, drilling crews need to build roads through the nature reserve to bring them to drilling sites, and then carry very heavy equipment along these roads which harms the ice shelf.

The Energy Information Administration reports that there is a 95% probability that ANWR contains 5.7 billion gallons of recoverable oil [6]; that would fuel the USA for less than a year at current rates.

Bottom line, Palin's arguments are simply inaccurate.

---

Citations:

1. Samuelsohn, Darren and Bravender, Robin. "Obama's draft budget projects cap-and-trade revenue." Scientific American. 02/26/2009. <http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=cap-and-trade-obama-budget>.

2. EPA FY 2010 Budget Overview -- <http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/asset.aspx?AssetId=757> [PDF]

3. The Pew Charitable Trusts. "The Clean Energy Economy." June 2009. <http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFiles/Clean_Economy_Report_Web.pdf> [PDF]

4. "Alaska Highway Pipeline". 2009. <http://www.jobmonkey.com/oilindustry/html/alaska_highway_pipeline.html>

5. "ANWR Arctic Technology". <http://www.anwr.org/techno/drilling.htm>

6. Energy Information Administration. "Potential Oil Production from the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge". <http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/analysis_publications/arctic_national_wildlife_refuge/html/execsummary.html>

---

Further Reading:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=cap-and-divident-not-trade

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/

http://environmental-economics.blogspot.com/2007/09/carbon-tax-cafe-standards-and-cap-and.html

Evil Trouser Wearing Women

BBC NEWS | Africa | Sudan women 'lashed for trousers' -- and Obama didn't even mention Sudan?

Is there nothing to be done about theocracies that brutalize their women? That is not a rhetorical question, I really wonder about the implications of doing nothing and also about the implications of interfering.

Still wondering whazzup that Prez O did not take one of the most cruel African regimes to task when he had the chance.

TY to Nick Kristoff for his FB post on this.

Every time ... Sweep before you Vacuum

If you sweep first you will then vacuum less. The benefits of implementing this tip are manifold:

Economic/Practical

• save money on vacuum bags, especially if you have furry animals around the house
  
• be more likely to notice and retrieve small items that have fallen to the floor

Health

• burn more calories
  
• subject your household members' nervous systems to less mechanical noise pollution

Green

• less bags used, therefore less energy and raw materials used to manufacture vacuum bags
  
• less energy used and pollution produced by shipping vacuum bags to stores
  
• less frequent (possibly carbon-burning) trips to the store to get vacuum bags
  
• less electricity burned due to reduced vacuuming time
  
• less waste produced because less bags in the waste stream
  
• your vacuum will last longer, saving additional materials, energy and waste

Mental and Emotional Health

• rhythmic activity is beneficial and therapeutic
  
• sweeping (like many other household "chores") can be enjoyed as an interlude that lends itself well to calm planning, letting suppressed thoughts and emotions surface, meditation or free-wheeling thought

Metaphysical *

• the act of sweeping one's path in front of one physically aids in keeping one's path through life clean and clear on the astral plane, which is something only you can do for yourself and which one gets better at with practice **

* look for a post some day soon on my decision to include metaphysical observations, learning and personal experience and theory in this blog

** I was lucky to have a dream once in which I was crossing a plane of light, on foot, deliberately and patiently and meditatively sweeping just in front of myself before taking the next step. This 5-second dream was actually a huge vision for me.

Father of the Year: Michael Rosen

Gotta love the Internet and the way one's local ties and virtual ties start to interconnect. Makes me think of spider web spokes connecting the center to the widening circles, and the outermost circle to the absolute center.

Some time ago, I signed up by means of serendipitous clicking for some East Village-oriented email announcement lists, and today received my first message from one of them pointing me to the relatively new blog of community resident Michael Rosen, who yesterday posted a powerful piece called "an Open Letter to the Fathers of my sons". So the spider had walked from beyond the edges of my tangible world out there in cyberspace, back to my very neighborhood.

As the mother of one daughter whose father multi-abandoned her (coming back between long a absences asking the child to once again open her heart to daddy), and another daughter who had a DNA contributor who never made the slightest effort to even meet her (while living only several blocks away)... I have special appreciation for what Michael Rosen and his family have done for seven young men in our neighborhood and for the work he has done/is doing now to write up his story and his insights, as well as to build a Web resource where folks can come for suggestions or to share their own stories.

One photo on Michael's site looked to me like it might be from the penthouse or roof of a building in which I know my younger daughter has visited a penthouse residence of a grade-school friend of hers. Sure enough, Michael mentions the name of his son Morgan, who is indeed Jude's friend... the spider had arrived at the very center of my life's web.

Snazzy Beans -- quick, easy, cheap

Ingredients:

1 quarter of a fresh ripe organic pineapple (use canned if you must)
1 can Whole Foods' "365" brand Organic Baked Beans with Onion and Maple
cooked brown organic rice

1. Trim and cube the pineapple
2. Put beans and pineapple cubes in a skillet, warm gently
3. Put on rice

4. eat & enjoy!

Upcoming Brooklyn Museum Exhibit: Yinka Shonibare

Art - Headless Bodies From the Bottomless Imagination of Yinka Shonibare - NYTimes.com

June 27.

The Women - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

The Women - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Shared via AddThis

Quote of the Day: Barack on Fatherhood

From the White House Blog:

On the 100th anniversary of Father's Day, the President writes a piece on fatherhood in Parade Magazine talking about his own life and highlighting the responsibilities all fathers must step up to:

In many ways, I came to understand the importance of fatherhood through its absence—both in my life and in the lives of others. I came to understand that the hole a man leaves when he abandons his responsibility to his children is one that no government can fill. We can do everything possible to provide good jobs and good schools and safe streets for our kids, but it will never be enough to fully make up the difference.

That is why we need fathers to step up, to realize that their job does not end at conception; that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one.

Music Break: Gipsy Lovers

Nashtastica explains

On the YouTube page for the video embedded in last post, YouTube member Nashtastica provides answers in a series of comments:

The ballots are perforated into two slips. First part includes the voters details including full name, fathers name, national ID number and so on. The officials check your ID and fill this part out before tearing off your half of the ballot (second part) for you to write down the name of your candidate and cast your vote. The first part is then kept by the official for future reference and in case of fraud investigation.

In this video the guy first goes through the second half of the ballots then fills out the personal details of the alleged voters in what appears to be the first half of the ballot as the other guy reads them out. I also heard the name of one of the candidates, Mohsen Rezai, 40 seconds into the clip. The context was unclear but it indicates that the clip in fact is related to this election.

This seems to have taken place in a relaxed environment which given the fairly quick announcement of the election results I assume took place before the election. The kid in the background towards the end of the video is talking about ice-cream!

And another piece of useful information is that a good majority of major voting stations are in mosques which happen to be where the Basij militia is based and they are pretty much in charge of everything there and needless to say they are fanatic supporters of Ahmadinejad. I was involved a few years ago as an independent monitor in a voting station that was a major mosque in Tehran and the process was laughable and shameful at the same time.

Fraud was widespread. I myself found a stack of blank ballots on the street on my way back home from that very voting station and returned it to the station. They wanted to annul that station but after some dispute and phone calls it was accepted. It pretty much highlights the fact that it is not the voters but the ones who count the votes who dictate the results. The process is highly inefficient and leaves plenty of room for both error and fraud.

Iranian vote-fixing? You decide.

I've been following, a bit haphazardly, the citizen reporting being done on Facebook and other sites. The reports and images being posted ought to be taken with a handful of salt because so much of the citizen reporting coming out of Iran is (by its very nature) unverified as to date and source. But I have, at the same time, deep admiration for the Iranians who take risks to get the word out to the rest of the planet. And many of the "rumors" posted to the 'Net have panned out to be true.

And I feel more strongly than ever that the Internet, regardless of the intentions of its inventors, has taken on a life of its own as the most remarkable social-evolution tool to date in human history, providing us with a reflection of our own nature (from heroic to hateful). Most of all, the 'Net offers the potential for people around the globe to inform and influence each other, hold the feet of leaders to the fire by means of publicizing what is actually happening, to transcend the limitations of nationalism.

Early on after the Iranian authorities announced Ahmadinejad's landslide victory, newscasters, reporters and analysts noted their skepticism about the official results. Inside Iran, the statements of leaders from the various factions are contradictory. Comments posted on the Internet from inside Iran and from expatriate Iranians are also of mixed opinion (though leaning very heavily towards the belief that fraud was committed).

But what about any evidence? I hadn't seen any presented by anyone. Just a sense that Mousavi actually took the popular vote and that the results were fixed.

But yesterday on Facebook I saw this video. (Apologies for the quality, because Facebook vids can only be seen by FB member; what you see here is a movie of the movie.)



I would love to hear from anyone who speaks Farsi, and especially from anyone in Iran who knows what the ballot looked like. It sure as shootin' looks like these men are working off a list of voters and pre-filling ballots.

Whether this is irrefutable evidence (what I want to believe) or an attempt to set someone up or simply fan the flames of protest, whoever shot & leaked this video has guts.

Journalist of the Day: Roger Cohen

A Jewish journalist from Brooklyn toughs it out in Tehran, writing an unforgettable piece published in today's NY Times while simultaneously protecting his own hide and helping those around him. Strong stuff.

Hero of the Day: David Rhode

Can you imagine being captured by the Taliban in November 2008 and a full SEVEN months later, still in captivity, having the presence of mind to scale a wall and escape?! ...

[New York Times reporter] David Rhode, who was kidnapped seven months ago near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, scaled a wall and fled to safety at a nearby army base.

Kudos to the Times for keeping the incident completely under wraps, and to other news orgs for cooperating with that request. If only the WSJ had done the same when Daniel Pearl was nabbed ...

Praying it ain't true

According to a liveblogging article on NIAC's site,

6:14 update: Through Facebook we have received news that Mir Hossein
Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Gholamhossein Karbaschi are under house arrest.

Six Minutes from Iran

This is likely 5 minutes and 30 seconds more reporting, by Lindsey Hilsum bless her soul, than you will see tonight on the average US tv station. (Hey, "digital" is not the only improvement we needed. How about "substantial" and "thorough" and "global"?)

Herbert broadens the view

... as a f/u to my last post pointing at Frank Rich's article, Bob Herbert reminds us that a rising tide of murderous extremism is hardly confined to white supremacist christians, and the language of hate does not only stem from Fox News and Limbaugh.

Whazzup, America? I honestly don't believe (contrary to many of my co-liberals) that guns are the problem. Why are we "up in arms"?! Has anyone tried to answer this critical question, since Moore's Bowling for Columbine?

American white-supremacy/fundamentalism

OK. I admit it. Frank Rich's article has me scared.

Iranian perspective on the election

Interesting interview of the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, on the English Al-Jazeera site:

The results of these elections have taken the world by surprise. Was there a failure here of the international media to guage Iran's affairs and sentiment?

Yes! That is what fascinates me most ever since coming to the US. When I wrote about students reading Lolita in Tehran, I was accused of saying Western literature is great. That is not what I was saying - I was saying people in Iran are taking these texts and analysing and seeing them in their own way - in a way the West doesn't.

The homogeneous picture of extreme belief where the majority of people believe in orthodox Islam which comes out of Iran is not true. Iran is a country of different ethnic minorities and different religions. Many of the Muslim minorities have been oppressed by the regime. This is not Islam - this is a state using Islam for power and we have to break this myth.

You've talked about and write about the importance of literature and culture in the fight for human rights and liberty in Iran and around the world. But is art, culture, literature ever going to be more powerful than religion? Is it enough to start a revolution?

If you look at it in the long term - yes it is. I never forget when Paul Ricoer, the philosopher, came to speak in Iran. He was an eighty-year-old but was treated like [the American rock star] Bon Jovi.

At one point the minister for Islamic Guidance said to him: "People like us [politicians] will vanish but you people will endure." That will always remain with me. We don't remember the king who ruled in the time of [14th century Persian poet] Hafiz, we remember Hafiz.

future mall

http://arieff.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/rethinking-the-mall/

no-pay gigs on craigslist.org

just a sampler from this morning's postings:

--Popular CEll Phone Blog Seeks Contributors
We are looking for individuals to blog about their current and past experiences with cellular devices and wireless carriers. This is a great opportunity for a new blogger, or an experienced blogger.

--Recording Studio Assistnat/Intern (Dumbo)
A professional recording and mixing studio is looking for a part-time intern/assistant. The position is unpaid.

--Camera man interested in taping celebritys for TV show?
Established TV show looking for Camera man who would be interested in taping a Television show with celebrity's in Manhattan. The show consist of a live band, host and celebrity's. Please send in your availability, if you have a camera or not, a little bit about yourself and a photograph. Looking for hungry camera man who wants to be in this business on a high level. No gimmicks. But a little work is involved.

--Seamstress for new clothing line
Hello, I'm Tracy. Iam looking for a seamstress who can sew Maternity clothing. This is a new clothing line I'am producing. The pay wouldn't come until later, so I'm looking for an eager, driven business person as well. My goals are to go far with my idea.

--Event Production Intern Needed for Tomorrow & Sunday!! (TriBeCa)
Fashion & Trade Event tomorrow and Sunday!!
We will need 1 and possibly 2 interns to help with the production of the event and setup and breakdown. You will be assisting the marketing manager and the event producer with any tasks needed. If you want to get some experience in event planning/production this is for you! Fashion students are also welcome! There will be 11-13 designers that you may be able to network with and maybe even speak to about future opportunities! (No promises!).

--Music Video Directors (Union Square)
All you need to participate is the will, the time, and the means to create a short music video and deliver it by the end of September. The style and content (barring illegal activity and porn) are entirely up to you. NO PAY for anyone (including the organizers), but lots of good vibes.

Answering the Writing Tutor Ad

OK. The only way I can deal with this process of seeking paying work in June 2009, is to turn it into words on paper. (Words on screen sounds just awful, doesn't it?)

I answered an ad on craigslist.org for a writing tutor. A guy who was brought up in India and who now works in the Financial District in downtown Manhattan as a software engineer, wishes to bring his written English from "quite good" to "like a native English speaker/writer."

Went to meet him yesterday. This would be for a couple of hours of work a week -- a fact that was pretty clear from his ad. The poor guy now has to wade through EIGHTY responses that he received within an HOUR of posting his little ad. Poor me had to sit there at my age, asking only $20 per hour, going over the top to qualify myself. Never mind being published since the age of 13, or the national writing award in high school, or the honorable mention from the press association, or fifteen nonstop years doing the sort of business and technical writing he is interested in perfecting. I am up against 79 other persons, some of whom quoted $10 per hour.

Quote of the day: Shovelin' the ____?

After the ceremony at which Obama announced his proposed expansion of Americorps ...

Mr. Obama and Mr. Clinton doffed their coats and ties to travel together to Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens to plant trees in a muddy riverside marsh. The two presidents seemed in good spirits and teased each other about their tree-planting ability.

“I think the president has pretty good shoveling skills,” Mr. Obama said after watching Mr. Clinton demonstrate the proper technique.

Benjamin Franklin on Jesus

"As to Jesus of Nazareth, my Opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the System of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupt changes, and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in England, some Doubts as to his divinity; tho' it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and I think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an Opportunity of knowing the Truth with less Trouble...."


(from a letter to Ezra Stiles, president of Yale University, about one month before Dr. Franklin's death)

Quote of the Day: George Burns

"Too bad all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxi cabs and cutting hair."

Heros: Judge White and Jose PadillaMaybe Hall of Shame: Obama Administration

A judge appointed by W himself seems disinclined to dismiss charges against Bush's White House counsel John C. Woo, for his determination that the rights guaranteed by our Constitution can be overriden by the executive branch.

In yesterday's New York Times:

Lawyers for the Obama administration struggled on Friday to persuade a federal judge here to throw out an unusual civil lawsuit against John C. Yoo, the former government lawyer whose memorandums on torture were used by the Bush administration to justify sweeping policies on detention and interrogation.

Despite their efforts, the judge did not seem inclined to dismiss the lawsuit, which was brought by Jose Padilla, an American citizen who spent more than three years in isolation in a military brig as an enemy combatant.

The judge, Jeffrey S. White of Federal District Court, explored the arguments of Mr. Padilla’s lawyers thoroughly, but he appeared to be skeptical of elements of the government’s argument.

In fact, Judge White, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, even told the government’s lawyers that Mr. Yoo’s 2001 memorandum stating that the constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures can be overridden was “a pretty scary position.”

Jose Padilla spent three years of his life locked up. Why is he a hero? This:

Mr. Padilla seeks monetary damages of just $1. His real goal, in this case and a number of others against other current and former United States officials, is a declaration from the government that his incarceration and harsh treatment were wrong.

“Plaintiffs seek to vindicate their constitutional rights,” the complaint stated, “and ensure that neither Mr. Padilla nor any other person is treated this way in the future.”

And a tentative Hall of Shame position for the Obama administration for trying to have this suit dismissed. "Tentative" only because the Times makes no note of any effort to get an explanation either from papers filed requesting dismissal, nor to contact White House spokespeople directly. All the article gives us on this point is:

President Obama has shown little interest in prosecuting officials of the previous administration, and it is not clear whether there will be a government-sponsored investigation of Bush administration polices.

Haiku to Claire

Gaelic girl, Scythian sword.
Born and bred to o'ercome all,
Fu dog at her heels.

There is no room for self-righteousness, O Ye Comfortable Ones

There are those in our country who are expressing denial, disbelief or, worst of all, self-righteousness regarding the awful plight of so many Americans. I have seen sentiments ranging from "You made your bed, you sleep in it" to "the reason jobs are being lost is because people believe Democratic scare tactics and are not spending money -- spend your money folks!" This is in utter blindness to the cold hard fact that so many of us have none to spend and cannot even pay the bills.

Today in my World Wide Meanderings I came across the full "Meditation XVII" by John Donne. This piece contains a very famous phrase, but is so beautiful it deserves a full read and then a mulling-over.

It gets to the crux of my own innate sense that what happens to one of us happens to all of us; that the mistakes made by one of us have been made by all of us; that where each one of us remains open to growth of understanding we each can bring all of us along; that where one of us remains willfully blind we none of us can see. Donne's quaint and beautiful Jacobean prose still resonates so powerfully, these 386 years after he quilled them:

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

Neither can we call this a begging of misery, or a borrowing of misery, as though we were not miserable enough of ourselves, but must fetch in more from the next house, in taking upon us the misery of our neighbours. Truly it were an excusable covetousness if we did, for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it. No man hath affliction enough that is not matured and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that affliction.

I and I

"Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.) "

-- Walt Whitman

What He Said

Frank Rich in Sunday's New York Times:

PRESIDENT Obama did not offer his patented poetry in his Inaugural Address. He did not add to his cache of quotations in Bartlett’s. He did not recreate J.F.K.’s inaugural, or Lincoln’s second, or F.D.R.’s first. The great orator was mainly at his best when taking shots at Bush and Cheney, who, in black hat and wheelchair, looked like the misbegotten spawn of the evil Mr. Potter in “It’s a Wonderful Life” and the Wicked Witch of the West.

Such was the judgment of many Washington drama critics. But there’s a reason that this speech was austere, not pretty. Form followed content. Obama wasn’t just rebuking the outgoing administration. He was delicately but unmistakably calling out the rest of us who went along for the ride as America swerved into the dangerous place we find ourselves now.

Worth reading the rest!

Obama Restores Worldwide Women's Health Services

Just days after President Obama took the oath of office, he reversed the "global gag rule." His executive order reversed the awful policy -- issued by Reagan, continued by Bush 1, overturned by Clinton, reinstated by Bush 2 on his first day in office in '01 -- that canceled US funding to women's health clinics worldwide if they so much as mentioned family planning methods as an option.

The global gag rule forced health clinics in developing countries - which often serve as the only source of birth control for the world's poorest women - to cut their staff, limit services, and sometimes close their doors entirely.


When Obama first launched his campaign, he surveyed his supporters asking what we would like to see him do as his first act as President. My answer was: Overturn the global gag rule that Bush reinstated on *his* first day in office. I feel like my wish came true and am SO grateful that my sisters around the world will be supported by our country in having control over their lives and their health, instead of having their biology rule their destiny and suffering from women's health issues with no local clinics to turn to. And we have rejoined the modern age, in recognition of the need for population control on our overtaxed Mother Earth.


Please consider joining me today in thanking President Obama for his swift action on behalf of women everywhere.

Inaugural B&W crepes

Creamy pale bananas and rich chocolate make this a perfect breakfast or snack this week, LOL.

Serves 2 banana & chocolate freaks. If you make this into 2 crepes like I did, they are humongous. But you'll still wish you had more.

-- a bar of Green & Black's Organic 70% cocoa.
-- 1 c organic unbleached white flour
-- 1 c + about 2T organic 2% milk (untested: substitute unflavored soy milk)
-- 1 egg from a happy, veggie hen (in my book, if the egg has the telltale "fertilized" bloodspot, that was a happy hen)
-- 3 organic bananas
-- decent cooking oil (do yourself a favor & avoid saturated fat, k?)

2. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg and add to it one cup of milk. Slowly add the cup of flour, whisking constantly, until the mixture is very smooth

3. Put half a bar of the chocolate into the top of a double-boiler. Add 2 T of milk. Over a gentle heat, don't forget while doing the below steps to keep checking it. It should just melt slowly, it should NOT simmer. Whisk occasionally.

4. Peel and slice the bananas. Heat up some oil in a frying pan to a nice high temp.

5. Toss the bananas around in the pan long enough to sear the outsides (to a toasty brown color, not charred!). Remove the bananas from the pan.

6. Heat up a 10-12 inch frying pan (or crepe pan if you have one) with a light coating of oil, medium heat. Pour half the batter in a spiral; tilt the pan to nearly cover the bottom. Let it sit over the heat until the top is dry and the edges are very slightly golden-brown. Flip with a spatula and let the other side heat for a minute or so. Slip it out of the pan onto a plate.

7. Spoon half of the bananas in a stripe near one side of the crepe. Roll it up. Generously drizzle the chocolate on it.

8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 for the second crepe.


If you have extra chocolate in the double-boiler, pour it over a peeled banana or some strawberries. Put them in the freezer for a bit, then move to the fridge.


Clean-up tip for the fried-banana pan (and for any kind of mess in a pan or on the stovetop): Put in about 1" of water, bring to a simmer, sprinkle baking soda over the entire surface of the water, simmer a bit more, sprinkle more baking soda and shut the heat off. It will clean up easily after it cools.

Tupac, do ya feel us today? Please pay us a visit

Come on come on
I see no changes. Wake up in the morning and I ask myself,
"Is life worth living? Should I blast myself?"
I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black.
My stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch.
Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero.
Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares? One less hungry mouth on the welfare.
First ship 'em dope & let 'em deal the brothers.
Give 'em guns, step back, and watch 'em kill each other.
"It's time to fight back", that's what Huey said.
2 shots in the dark now Huey's dead.
I got love for my brother, but we can never go nowhere
unless we share with each other. We gotta start makin' changes.
Learn to see me as a brother 'stead of 2 distant strangers.
And that's how it's supposed to be.
How can the Devil take a brother if he's close to me?
I'd love to go back to when we played as kids,
but things change, and that's the way it is.

(Come on, come on) That's just the way it is. Things'll never be the same.
That's just the way it is. aww yeah...


I see no changes. All I see is racist faces.
Misplaced hate makes disgrace for races we under.
I wonder what it takes to make this one better place...
let's erase the wasted.
Take the evil out the people, they'll be acting right.
'Cause mo' black than white is smokin' crack tonight.
And only time we chill is when we kill each other.
It takes skill to be real, time to heal each other.
And although it seems heaven sent,
we ain't ready to see a black President, uhh.
It ain't a secret don't conceal the fact...
the penitentiary's packed, and it's filled with blacks.
But some things will never change.
Try to show another way, but they stayin' in the dope game.
Now tell me what's a mother to do?
Bein' real don't appeal to the brother in you.
You gotta operate the easy way.
"I made a G today" But you made it in a sleazy way.
Sellin' crack to the kids. "I gotta get paid,"
Well hey, well that's the way it is.

We gotta make a change...
It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes.
Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live
and let's change the way we treat each other.
You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do
what we gotta do, to survive.

And still I see no changes. Can't a brother get a little peace?
There's war on the streets & the war in the Middle East.
Instead of war on poverty,
they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me.
And I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do.
But now I'm back with the facts givin' 'em back to you.
Don't let 'em jack you up, back you up, crack you up and pimp smack you up.
You gotta learn to hold ya own.
They get jealous when they see ya with ya mobile phone.
But tell the cops they can't touch this.
I don't trust this, when they try to rush I bust this.
That's the sound of my tune. You say it ain't cool, but mama didn't raise no fool.
And as long as I stay black, I gotta stay strapped & I never get to lay back.
'Cause I always got to worry 'bout the pay backs.
Some buck that I roughed up way back... comin' back after all these years.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat. That's the way it is. uhh

The At Long Last Death of William Zantziger

So now I find myself wishing that the Christian idea of some sort of final judgment is true. And hoping that Hattie Carrol's family breathes more freely and walks a bit lighter now.

This is what happened in 1963, a short stark write-up from the New York Times.


This is perhaps the best commentary on this "incident" among thousands upon thousands of similar "incidents" in the history of America (and of "civilization" in general):

Roasted Eggplant Soup

1. Start with The Stock.

2. Cut 1 or 2 eggplants (~1.5 lbs) in half, brush with oil, 450 deg. oven 20 minutes w/cut side up. 1 large red pepper (halved & seeded), 1 spanish or vidalia onion (halved, not peeled), brush with oil, add to oven at that 20 minute mark. Continue to roast all for another 20 minutes. Peel the onion, chop all veggies coarsely & throw into the stock. (Leave the skin on the eggplant.)

3. Cook it all for an hour, partially covered, low simmer, with a fresh sprig of thyme. Process in batches in blender or processor, until you see fine speckles (not completely smooth)

4. serve with fresh croutons & a dollop of homemade garlic mayo (standard or vegan).

YUM. Eat it and be transported.

Adapted from The Greens veggie cookbook.

Soup Stock

onion, black beans, garlic, chard stems & leaves, carrots, 8 c water, sauteed & then simmered to reduce to 6 c water, then smooshed in a sieve, stock retained & veggies headed for Staten Island Landfill (if no composting garden nearby).

Bush v. Cheney

Sherlyn Gay Stolberg has drawn an interesting juxtaposition of the differences between Bush's brand-new reflective, candid mood and Cheney's unflagging bombast.

The difference in tone, friends and advisers say, reflects a split over Mr. Bush’s second-term foreign policy, which Mr. Cheney resisted as too dovish. It also reveals their divergent approaches to post-White House life. Mr. Bush, who is planning a public policy center in Dallas, is trying to shape his legacy by offering historians a glimpse of his thinking, while Mr. Cheney, primarily concerned about the terrorist threat, is setting the stage for a role as a standard-bearer for conservatives on national security.

I wonder whether Cheney will find many adherents in the post-Bush/Cheney era. From what I've gleaned in my readings of Conservative analysis, well, "I don't really think many Conservatives are hitching their wagon to your star, Dick."

Let's see: Spend a trillion dollars fighting a war for the past six years (a war whose very premise collapsed within the first few months), engender a heretofore unknown depth of hatred towards our country making it difficult to negotiate any issue to our advantage, give no-bid contracts in the most astounding act of cronyism and insider illegality ever to companies to which you have strong ties only to have it uncovered that they are defrauding our country and wasting our money and doing a really bad job in many cases, and spread our troops so thin and abuse their willingness to serve to such a degree that our military power is teetering. And, a full seven years after 9/11, only a miniscule percentage of incoming shipping containers are inspected, the Federal budget is so shot they're gonna have to take police back off the streets and defund Homeland Security programs, and that immensely sad gaping hole in my beloved downtown Manhattan, a site that was an engine of American competitiveness, profitability, and power -- well, today, seven years later, it is .... a sad gaping hole!

Pardon me for shouting, but WHAT DID ANY ACTION CHENEY TRUMPETED AND INFLUENCED HAVE TO DO WITH (1) CONSERVATIVISM, OR (2) NATIONAL SECURITY?

Most Chilling Quote of 2008 Award: Dick Cheney

In an exit interview, when asked to reflect back on the decisions of the Bush/Cheney administration (starting the war in Iraq, using waterboarding on detainees, holding persons not charged with any crime in Guantánamo, and I'd use up all the space on the World Wide Web if I attempted to complete my list), our soon to be Ex Veep said:

“I feel very good about what we did,” the vice president told The Washington Times, adding, “If I was faced with those circumstances again, I’d do exactly the same thing.”

Man on Wire!!

If you don't know who Philippe Petit is, you should. If you know who he is and why he became quite well known 24 years ago, but you have never seen the story of how the hell he accomplished his brilliant "art crime", and/or have never seen the footage of that remarkable morning, see Man On Wire.

Preferably see it on the big screen while you can if you live within feasible distance of the two (yes, only two) theaters in the country where it is now playing. In downtown Manhattan, it's playing thru Thurs 12/25 several times a day at the Sunshine Cinema, and then through the 1st there will be two showings per day around lunchtime. It's also playing at the Opera Plaza Cinema in San Francisco.

Philippe Petit is my hero and that is not a facile declaration. When it comes to naming heros, I heed the Grail Knight telling me, "Choose wisely." Petit is a special soul on earth at this time. I speak not only of the dazzling beauty of his artform and his sheer guts and willingness to live life instead of simply attempting to avoid death for a bunch of decades. I am in awe of the sheer poetry of his beauty, his speech, his bearing, his being.

Quote of the day: What's Hard

From an interview in May 2008, "Tom Waits True Confessions":

Q: What’s hard for you?

A: Mostly I straddle reality and the imagination. My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane. Math is hard. Reading a map. Following orders. Carpentry. Electronics. Plumbing. Remembering things correctly. Straight lines. Sheet rock. Finding a safety pin. Patience with others. Ordering in Chinese. Stereo instructions in German.

Historical Figures: Edward Cave

An early bootstrapping publisher who, it seems, invented the periodical magazine format for distributing information. . From Wikipedia ...

The son of a cobbler, Cave was born in Newton near Rugby, Warwickshire and attended the grammar school there, but was expelled after being accused of stealing from the headmaster. He worked at a variety of jobs, including timber merchant, reporter and printer. He conceived the idea of a periodical that would cover every topic the educated public was interested in, from commerce to poetry, and tried to convince several London printers and booksellers to take up the idea. When no one showed any interest, Cave took on the task by himself. The Gentleman's Magazine was launched in 1731 and soon became the most influential and most imitated periodical of its time. It also made Cave wealthy.

Some info on The Gentleman's Magazine:

The Gentleman's Magazine was founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January, 1731. The original complete title was The Gentleman's Magazine: or, Trader's monthly intelligencer. Cave's innovation was to create a monthly digest of news and commentary on any topic the educated public might be interested in, from commodity prices to Latin poetry. It carried original content from a stable of regular contributors, as well as extensive quotes and extracts from other periodicals and books. Cave, who edited The Gentleman's Magazine under the pen name "Sylvanus Urban", was the first to use the term "magazine" (meaning "storehouse") for a periodical. The iconic illustration of St John's Gate on the front of each issue (occasionally updated over the years) depicted Cave's home, in effect, the magazine's 'office'.

Cave also had an eye for talent: he hired the young Samuel Johnson as a writer after Johnson had to drop out of Oxford (for lack of money).

Arabama

The NY Times today published a collection of blog entries from Arab countries:

The Skeptic, Egypt (elijahzarwan.net/blog)

A new day dawned in Cairo today. As it does every day.

And it started as it always does: with birds, schoolchildren and car horns. No national holiday here.

I’m looking forward to going out in the streets to hear the reaction. The best reaction I’ve heard so far: “Black Man Given Nation’s Worst Job.”

Bah humbug. I confess I’m moved.

Journalist of the Week Award:Pat Buchanan

Yup, you heard me right. Pat Buchanan . Here are some snips from "Where Did Bush Go Wrong?:

After losing control of the Senate and 30 House seats in 2006, the GOP is bracing for losses of six to nine in the Senate, and two dozen to three dozen additional seats in the House.

If the party “were a dog food,” says Rep. Tom Davis, “they would take us off the shelf.”

... Two-thirds of Americans now believe the Iraq war a mistake. Yet, all but a few Republicans backed the war. At the time of “Mission Accomplished!” in May 2003, the nation gave Bush a 90 percent approval rating, as his father had after Desert Storm.

... How many Republicans have repudiated the Bush Doctrine that got us into Iraq—the belief that only by making the world democratic can we keep America secure and free?

... In Afghanistan, we are entering the eighth year of war with victory further away than ever.

... These two wars helped to cripple the Bush presidency and end the GOP ascendancy. Yet, at the highest levels of the party, one hears no serious questioning of the ideology that produced these wars. McCain has pledged to stay in Iraq until “victory” and send 10,000 more troops to Afghanistan.

Nor have Republicans objected to the U.S. air strikes that have killed hundreds of Afghans, or the Predator strikes that have inflamed Pakistan or the helicopter raid into Syria that humiliated Damascus and enraged the population. If Republicans disagree with these policies and actions, their voices are muted.

... The GOP needs to confront the truth: The failure of the Bush presidency lies not in a failed execution of policy but in the policies themselves and the neoconservative ideology that informed them.

Yet, still, the party remains in denial, refusing to come to terms with the causes of its misfortune. One expects they will be given the time and opportunity for reflection soon.

“The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars but in ourselves.”

Battling our U.S.olipsism

Let us not forget: there is a rest-of-the-world, including places our country has made a mess of.... meanwhile the news today and tomorrow and next week will be only a slicing and dicing our own election results. Evening news anchors had nothing to say about any other part of the world the past few days... meanwhile a young Somalian girl was stoned to death for being raped!!!!, and children live like this in Sadr City (pic above is taken from this LA Times slideshow).

My Fellow Americans --
Everything Obama said on election night about unity, about the health of the whole depending on the health of its parts, applies to our entire human race. A quick check of an image of our Earth as seen from space will verify that, yup, still no lines are actually drawn on it dividing us from any other humans except in our own convenient way of thinking about things.

Let's work to stay informed about the condition of beings on the whole planet. And let's care about it. And do something about it. And talk about it. And insist it is taught in our schools, and sees some exposure in our television programming.

Kudos to Michigan Voters

The results are in. Michigan voters support Proposal 1—which would legalize the use of medical marijuana—by a margin of almost two-to-one.

63% of Michigan's voters say they supported the proposal, while 37% opposed.

Michigan will join 12 other states which have already legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes.

The proposal was supported by several organizations, including the Michigan Nurses Association. It was opposed by many health and law enforcement groups, such Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.

Police Lied about London's Sean Bell

From BBC News:

Police misled a pathologist into thinking Jean Charles de Menezes "vaulted" over a Tube barrier before being shot dead, an inquest has heard.

Dr Kenneth Shorrock was told the Brazilian jumped over a barrier before "stumbling" down an escalator.

The pathologist said he was given the wrong information during a "walk-through" with officers.

Mr de Menezes was killed in 2005 in south London by police who mistook him for a failed 21 July suicide bomber.

The Brazilian was shot seven times in the head at close range on 22 July 2005...

RIP Madelyn!!

Barack's grandma Madelyn Dunham passed yesterday, made my heart physically hurt for Obama. Can you imagine, losing the last caretaker of your youth, effectively he was orphaned YESTERDAY, and will likely be elected President of the United States TODAY.

I cannot fathom this. What a convergence of events. Big things happening in the Universe. He may be about to become OUR caretaker of sorts. Wow.

This is his grandma hugging him on his H.S. graduation. Grandpa Stanley standing next to him:



I know they're all cheering him from Heaven! I know they're surrounding him in an orb of incredible light. Mama Ann, Grandma and Grandpa are all fine, I just feel so RAW for the load Barack himself is called upon to carry at the moment. Perhaps one of those Purifying moments in life.

Millions and millions of just such loving hugs from all of us.

Let it come down, No, Wait

HuffPost has a great slideshow up called Tears for Obama (click on photo), tears of joy, awe, grief and relief over the course of this campaign. My heart anticipates rushing out in the streets some time around midnight, shouting with elation together with my fellow Manhattanites (probably 80% Pro-O). My head, though, admonishes me to be neutral, that anything can happen, to disengage the heart...

"Watching Obama accept the Democratic nomination, Times Square, August 28th"

London's Sean Bell

From BBC News:

A commuter who was sitting near Jean Charles de Menezes on a Tube train has told his inquest that police gave no warning before killing him.

Anna Dunwoodie said she believed officers were "out of control" and gave off a "sense of panic" before shooting.

She claimed that the innocent 27-year-old appeared calm as a gun was held to his head.

Mr de Menezes was killed in 2005 in south London by police who mistook him for a failed 21 July suicide bomber.

Ms Dunwoodie was sitting two or three seats to the left of Mr de Menezes when he boarded the train at Stockwell Tube Station, south London on 22 July 2005.

She told the inquest that, at the time, she thought the firearms officers pursuing Mr de Menezes were members of a gang.

He was shot seven times in the head at point-blank range after being mistaken for failed bomber Hussain Osman.

(Italics added.) Wow. I would think parents in families with Muslim-looking genealogy and Mulsim-sounding last names might identify enormously, these days, with parents of Black youth in the U.S. of A.

Kudos to Obama's staff AND ALL THOSE VOLUNTEERS!

The Washington Post reports today:

With one day to go, Democrat Barack Obama appears to have rebuffed recent GOP efforts to label him as "too liberal" or too big a gamble.

The new Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll puts Obama well out in front over Republican John McCain and finds that Obama has firmly reestablished his advantage on handling the economy, beaten back a challenge on taxes and has an edge in terms of perceptions about which candidate would better deal with an unexpected major crisis.

Job well done, y'all! Thanks from the rest of us who did not have the time or resources!

Yes on Prop. 1 in Michigan

Heart wrenching testimony to the need for legal medical marijuana:


TAH! to The Daily Dish

Syrian Raid Ripples

While the media feeds us a one-course meal of election news, over and over and over, who's minding the "Impact of US Policies" shop around the rest of the planet? Almost nobody. So between now and perhaps a week from now when election and post-election fervor finally starts to simmer down, I'll be sharing some spicy international dishes on this blog:

Dateline Nov 2, 2008, Damascus:

(Summary from the front page of Asia Times) The United States raid into Syria has upset every key actor in Iraq. The government, beyond being embarrassed at not being consulted, has come under even more pressure from Shi'ite parties not to sign a security agreement with the United States. The Sunni Awakening Councils are reconsidering their cooperation in fighting insurgents, while powerful tribes which virtually control the border are overnight turning anti-American. As for Syria, it has the power to cause havoc in Iraq.

Read Sami Moubayed's full article.

Obama and McCain Share a Hero

From David Margolick in today's NYT, Papa’s Gift to the Fire-in-the-Belly Crowd:

Robert Jordan is a left-wing radical, or was modeled after several of them. He palled around with terrorists, or at least people whom many Americans, of his era and beyond, so thought. His specialty is blowing things up for a cause. He is at minimum a socialist, someone so eager to spread wealth around that he’d lose his life to do it.

Robert Jordan is also honorable, steadfast, selfless, determined, stoic, generous, tolerant, courageous, conscientious, forgiving, altruistic, tender, wise, loyal, independent, taciturn, disciplined, dutiful, patient, exacting, empathetic, idealistic, introspective, charismatic and handsome. No wonder the beautiful Maria falls for him the first time she sees him, and the earth moves beneath the two the first time they make love.

Robert Jordan is the hero of Ernest Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” an American fighting Franco’s Fascists in the Spanish Civil War. And despite his radical roots, he’s a literary sensation during this election season. Senator Barack Obama told Rolling Stone that Hemingway’s novel, published in 1940, is one of the three books that most inspired him. As for Senator John McCain, few men, real or fictional, have influenced him as much as Jordan.

Iran and our next Pres

World Press points to an article, "US blowback in Iran's elections" by Hossein Askari in Asia Times that analyzes the possible influence of our Presidential election outcome on Iran's next election. *

In Iranian eyes, one candidate, Democratic Senator Barack Obama, believes in dialogue and peaceful resolution of conflicts. While the other, Republican Senator John McCain, is belligerent and endorses the military option. The leaders in Tehran see Ahmadinejad better positioned to tackle a president McCain, while a total break from Ahmadinejad would afford Iran the best opportunity for rapprochement with a president Obama. It is that clear cut.

... If there is a president McCain, there will be a second term for Ahmadinejad. If there is a president Obama, the next Iranian president will be a moderate, soft-spoken and Western-appealing individual, one who is not weighed down by Ahmadinejad's baggage and who can start afresh with the US and achieve favorable results for Iran with an Obama administration. In that event, the leader would come from Qalibaf, Najafi, Aref and Nahavandian.

The Supreme Leader and leading contenders in Iran will be watching the US presidential results as never before.

* Note: While the dateline of the article is Hong Kong, Askari is "professor of international business and international affairs at George Washington University" as noted at the end of the article.

worldpress.org -- required reading

I was so sad the day the print format of World Press magazine folded, several years ago, and on balance was so glad the day I discovered it had been resuscitated as an online publication. World Press organizes its content around a topic, and presents a selection of articles and analyses from around the planet on that topic, from all kinds of viewpoints.

The "news" put on our plates by American media outlets is phenomenally solipsistic, particularly around election time. Pop quiz for those who digest only the news available from American newspapers and TV: "What's happening in Iran? Czech Republic? Cambodia? Afghanistan, even?" I'd wager you have no clue. The better-informed among American-news consumers might be able to cite a sound bite, and that's it. (Note: I'm including myself in the huge group of Americans currently under-informed on world news.)

Are we even aware enough of international opinions on our ongoing election, and do we have any sense of the impact on our global relations of a President McCain vs. a President Obama? NOT. Instead, all available minutes of news-time on the US airwaves (TV being a much more solipsistic medium here than print) treat us to the SAME 40 minutes or so of today's actual news (and bullshit non-news) repeated over and over.

If you believe that it might be important, or at least interesting, to know what is being thought and said around the world, check out worldpress.org. And if you like what they do, consider sending them a donation!

Blog Title of the Day: Andrew Sullivan

The Dish sez "Holy Shit!" regarding the Kos poll that has McCain and Obama in a dead heat IN ARIZONA!!

Appalachian History: Every woman in my place is bound to feel blue too

Appalachian History: Every woman in my place is bound to feel blue too

"I get full o' good liquor, walk the streets all night,
I put my man out if he don't act right.

Wild women don't worry,
Wild Women Don't Get the Blues"

I've always loved that Ida Cox song, even used to have a "Wild Women Don't Get the Blues" bumper sticker, was happy to discover this article (and eclectic, well-researched, interesting blog!)

Obama Shining Knight for TV Networks

NYT reported yesterday that the "infomercial on behalf of Mr. Obama was a smashing ratings success on Wednesday night, proving to be more popular than even the final game of the World Series — and last season’s finale of “American Idol.”

Well, I'm surprised that the networks were surprised:

“I was shocked by the number Obama was able to draw,” said Leslie Moonves, the chairman of CBS. “It’s just a stunning number.”

On CBS, the infomercial was seen by about 8.6 million viewers, a number that topped the show CBS usually runs on Wednesday night at 8, “Old Christine,” which averages about 7.2 million.

But this is the part that is shocking:

On NBC, the disparity was even greater. Its regular show there, “Knight Rider,” has been averaging just under 7 million viewers. Mr. Obama pulled in 9.8 million for his half-hour special.

Seven million people watch Knight Rider? No accounting for taste, as they say.

Obama Devotion

At yesterday's drenched rally in PA, Obama shared this allegory:

John McCain has ridden shotgun as George Bush has driven our economy towards a cliff, and now he wants to take the wheel and step on the gas.

My fave pics of that rally this morning are in the NY Times:

by Doug Mills:



... and by Damon Winter:



And a sampler of The Closing Argument:

Pennsylvania, that’s what hope is about – the belief deep down inside us of us that we can do better than we’re doing right now, that there better days ahead, if we’re willing to work for it. If we’re willing to shed our fears and our doubts, if we’re willing to reach down deep inside us, when times are tough, when it’s cold, when it’s rainy, when it’s hard - that’s when we stand up, that’s when we reach for a better future. And if all of you are willing to be just as determined as you are today, if all of you go out on election day, if all of you get your friends and your neighbors, your co-workers, if you are determined to bring about a better America, then I promise you this, we will not just win Pennsylvania, we will win this general election and you can I together, we’re gonna change this country and change this world.

Spread Gen-We Like A Virus

How can an old lady like me get this out to everyone under 30? I can't. But if I am reaching even one person under 30, maybe you can help spread this message like a virus. The best I can do is sit here feeling somewhat exonerated for having lived a life in opposition to the version of the American Dream that my Boomer generation ended up pursuing after they forgot all about Peace Love and Woodstock....

Comment of the Day:

Michael Crowley posted this with the caption "America, 2008" on TNR:

[photo since removed from tnr.com -- it had depicted a small blond boy fist-bumping with Obama standing next to a limousine on airport tarmac]

A little ways down, "williamyard" comments in a perfect parody of the ignorant electorate who so irk me:

What's the big deal? The Terrorist fist-bumping yet another albino Negro midget? Tell me something I don't already know.

Let me guess: the albino Negro midget's father came from "Kenya"--as in the People's Republic of Kenya.

How many times has the albino Negro midget registered to vote? Four? Six? It's anybody's guess.

Ten-to-one he's connected with all that offshore money pouring into the Obama campaign.

Methinks the midget won't be so keen on fist-bumping the Terrorist once he finds out his taxes are doubling so William Ayers can have convicted Negro felons teach highschoolers how to perform forced abortions on their Christian mothers under portraits of Malcolm X and Timothy Leary.

I've tried to point all this out, time and time again, but the MSM has ignored me. Meanwhile, CBS infiltrates Sarah Palin's campaign staff and her favorability ratings start tanking. And you won't hear CBS reporting on Obama's plans to pardon Charles Manson, now, will you? Coincidence?

I read this morning that Ahmadenijad has taken ill...just a little over a week before the U.S. election. How conveeeenient.

Tampa Bay hides the "Devil" in its name, Nate Silver predicts they'll win 200 games, meanwhile every Beltway "expert" is now quoting Fivethirtyeight, and the "Rays" are in the World Series.

Connect the fucking dots, people.

Wanting to know/read more about/by williamyard, I clicked on his username and got a great late-night style laugh off this one:

No, the campaign is not about the issues. Nor should it be.

As we can all agree, if elected President, B. Hussein Obama will in short order appoint Cindy Sheehan Secretary of Defense and will.i.am Ambassador to Iran, and summarily enslave Hillary delegates and force them to paint the White House black. It's true, because I read it on the Internet.

Moreover, there is nothing in the United States Constitution that prohibits a phantom from becoming President; thus there's nothing to stop John McCain from revealing that he is in fact Casper the Friendly Ghost and that he has arrived to save America from the Illinois Infidel and appoint Joe Lieberman as our next Barney Rubble.

The GOP is already in talks with Major League Baseball to distribute Sarah Palin Bobbleheads at this year's Fall Classic.

You laugh. Once upon a time, you probably laughed at the Tampa Bay Rays. They exorcised the Devil, and now look where they are.

Laugh or cry: exactly how is McCain not Bush??

Fave Bloggers: Alex Pareene

I encountered Pareene for the first time today in my meanderings around the Web, and he instantly hit my list of Fave Bloggers.

Sampler, from "Wait, What's Up with ACORN?":

Matt Drudge, who controls your news with an iron opera glove, is leading today with the news that ACORN registered Mickey Mouse to vote. Ha ha ha. Honestly, what the hell's the deal with the ACORN story and why are right-wingers already clinging to it like guns and religion? Sigh. We'll try to explain.

What is ACORN??
An evil group that exists to organize poor people into a violent militia and overthrow the government via "voting." Or basically a lobbying group for low- and middle-income families, either one....

What do they do?
They started as a radical group dedicated to getting welfare recipients and underemployed non-welfare recipients together to demand socialist things like free lunches for kids and emergency room care. Now they lobby Democrats for terrorist things like raising the minimum wage and forcing the government to subsidize affordable housing. Also they organize voter registration drives....

What are my talking points for when crazy relatives argue that ACORN stole the election?
...More importantly, the election can't be stolen if it hasn't happened yet, and voter registration fraud does not explain in any way a double digit lead for a candidate in national tracking polls. Like, wtf, how are you making this argument, are you slow?...

Good Republicans (yes many do exist!)

Hero of the Day: Colonel Vandeveld; Villian of the Day: The Pentagon

The New York Times reports today that charges have been dropped against five Guantánamo detainees for lack of evidence, and that the prosecutor in all five cases has stepped down, "saying there were systemic problems with the fairness of the military prosecutions there":

The Pentagon’s decision to dismiss the cases comes after the former prosecutor, Colonel Vandeveld, said in a military commission filing that he had ethics questions about prosecution procedures for notifying the defense about information favorable to detainees. He called the procedures “appalling” and “incomplete and unreliable.”

The Pentagon earns Villian of the Day status because even without any charges pending against the detainees, they will not be released. (Friendly Combatant reminded me, "That's nothing new," but I still confer V of the D status on our military leaders and/or the White House officials giving them such directives).

Honorable mention award for Hero of the Day goes to Reprieve and to other organizations who are providing legal defense to Guantánamo detainees.

Laugh or cry: Comedy Central on Wasilla

Sullivan's face of the day

Pop quiz: Which man can you see being President of our United States? (Click entry title)

Appalachians for Obama

This is rather long but so sweet, I wish I knew who these folks were so we could all send them our thanks. Lyrics will scroll past at the end.



I love how she flicks a piece of popcorn to the dog every now & then ...

The Only Idea That Makes Any Sense

There may be a bailout plan that both Liberals and Conservatives could live with....

For the past week I have found myself wondering why nobody has been talking about saving the credit markets by means of making good on delinquent mortgages. This seems such an obvious fix, and I was gratified to see the idea written up by Jonathan G.S. Koppell and William N. Goetzmann ("The Trickle-Up Bailout") in today's Washington Post. I would think it an easier sell to Conservatives for the taxpayers to loan money to private citizens with real property as the collateral, as opposed to merely throwing freshly printed dollars at bad paper.

But there are two enormous additional benefits to the idea that are not mentioned in the article. First, by slowing or stopping the rate at which homes are being vacated, property values in American communities will stop hemorrhaging and perhaps even recover to some extent. Second, by taking action to prevent wide-scale homelessness and destitution as a result of the mortgage crisis, America would not only be in concordance with our fundamental sense of humaneness, but will also spare itself untold further costs, which I also have not heard considered in the ongoing debates.

A worker without a home is unlikely to hold his or her job for long and we will see unemployment costs rise. Families without anywhere to go will need shelter. Children dispossessed of their homes, with unemployed or severely financially distressed parents, need free school lunches, medical services, and, it is likely, more educational and psychological/emotional support from society at large.

Bail out Wall Street alone, and our next crisis will be a scenario reminiscent of the depths of the Great Depression, complete with caravans, shanty-towns and mass hunger. Loan money to homeowners, and not only are the taxpayers more likely to see some return on their money but we will avert to a huge extent the costs that nobody is talking about. And just maybe feel a lot better about our collective character as well.

And we were supposed to do What with Social Security?

Now let me get this straight --

Conservative Republicans have cried for years for that the American system of Social Security should be drastically altered to allow folks to "make their own decisions with their own money" and invest in the stock market rather than pay taxes into the kitty. I guess the idea is that if you make an unusually bad investment with your retirement money your eventual impoverishment in old age is your own damned fault and you can live in the dark and eat cat food.

And now we're being told that the taxpayers must bail out the markets or folks' pensions and retirement funds will be severely affected.

So, which is it? That taxes protect the right of our nation's elderly to live out their lives in decent conditions, or that folks have the right to choose, and will bear the responsibility of having chosen, their own investments?

And in other news ...

As the high drama in Washington consumes all available news bites today and the media feeds us their buy-in on the idea that we must bail out the credit markets (while doing next-to-nothing to keep Americans in their homes and their communities intact) ...

... I'd be surprised to see this rather startling, and refreshing, bit of news from Israel earn any air-time on American networks and cable news. The New York Times did give the story a few inches:

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in an interview published on Monday that Israel must withdraw from nearly all of the West Bank as well as East Jerusalem to attain peace with the Palestinians and that any occupied land it held onto would have to be exchanged for the same quantity of Israeli territory....

“What I am saying to you now has not been said by any Israeli leader before me,” Mr. Olmert told the newspaper Yediot Aharonot in the interview on the occasion of the Jewish new year, observed from Monday evening till Wednesday evening. “The time has come to say these things.”

He said that traditional Israeli defense strategists had learned nothing from past experiences and that they seemed stuck in the considerations of the 1948 war of independence.

Olmert was, of course, Prime Minister during the attacks on Lebanon in 2006 that resulted in severely under-reported (in the U.S., anyway) demolition of the country's infrastructure and the suffering of so many human beings. Since then, having stepped down after allegations of corruption launched a couple of investigations into his activities, he has apparently undergone a deep look into his own conscience and has begun to look reality in the face, without blinking this time.

“With them, it is all about tanks and land and controlling territories and controlled territories and this hilltop and that hilltop,” he said. “All these things are worthless.”

He added, “Who thinks seriously that if we sit on another hilltop, on another hundred meters, that this is what will make the difference for the State of Israel’s basic security?”

Having visited many parts of Israel and the West Bank in the mid-80s, I can report that most of the Israeli Jews I met just wanted to live in a peaceful two-state region, opposed the West Bank settlements, and were in favor of withdrawal from occupied territories. They themselves described the major political problem of their country to be the extent to which a minority of Right-wing religious extremists control the Knesset. One wonders when the people of Israel will finally take to the streets and demand Fairness For All and real movement towards peace. Perhaps Olmert's interview published Monday in Yehediot Ahronot can help ignite such a movement.

To my fellow tribesmen: L'Shanah Tovah. May this year 5769 be truly New.

To every human: Shalom.

Political Tidbit of the Day

... OK, it was really published yesterday, but I got a sad chuckle out of it. Jim Rutenberg in a straight news piece in yesterday's NY Times:

The Wall Street Journal posted an advertisement on its Web site 12 hours early that showed Mr. McCain proudly looking into the distance. “McCain Wins Debate!” read the text.

Ah, the state of U.S. politics. Perennially amazing to me is the gullibility (and, therefore, culpability) of the electorate who -- given that the amount of money such ads cost is only spent after market research into their effectiveness -- are swayed by such 3-word print-bites instead of watching the damned debate and deciding for themselves.

Journalist of the Day: re Mr Smith goes to Washington

The best article I've seen thus far explaining McCain's decision to land in D.C. (one can see the orange jumpsuit, the deck of the aircraft carrier, the Mission Accomplished banner ... oh, wait, that was that other macho American) and then pretend to have been acting in the interest of The People ...

Frank Rich in today's NYT. Warning, Rich is pissed. Perhaps not appropriate material for folks who prefer their politics air-brushed. Here's a sample:

The question is why would a man who forever advertises his own honor toy so selfishly with our national interest at a time of crisis. I’ll leave any physiological explanations to gerontologists — if they can get hold of his complete medical records — and any armchair psychoanalysis to the sundry McCain press acolytes who have sorrowfully tried to rationalize his erratic behavior this year. The other answers, all putting politics first, can be found by examining the 24 hours before he decided to “suspend” campaigning and swoop down on the Capitol to save America from the Sunnis or the Shia, or whoever perpetrated all those credit-default swaps.

To put these 24 hours in context, you must remember that McCain not only knows little about the economy but that he has not previously expressed any urgency about its meltdown. It was on Sept. 15 — the day after his former idol Alan Greenspan pronounced the current crisis a “once-in-a-century” catastrophe — that McCain reaffirmed for the umpteenth time that the “fundamentals of our economy are strong.” As recently as Tuesday he had not yet even read the two-and-a-half-page bailout proposal first circulated by Hank Paulson last weekend. “I have not had a chance to see it in writing,” he explained. (Maybe he was waiting for it to arrive by Western Union instead of PDF.)

Photo of the Day

The sheer beauty of carbon free energy.

Quote of the Day

The inimitable Tom Wolfe on the obsolescence of Wall Street:

The Exchange is already an anachronism, like Broadway. Everything is done by computer today. Hanging out on the Floor of the Exchange is like hanging out at OTB.

Read the rest of his Masterful answers to the question, "Where are the Masters of the Universe now?"