Not only are we fighting over here - we're winning!

....and we're rooting for you Jase.

I have made up my mind to make a list of the people the corpratocracy attacks. Gore, with no return for him, and Dean to start. These are the people I'm going to support.

That is thrilling news Jase. I talked to a client of mine in London last night and he said Blair is floundering, so if that's true and the French and Holland voted down the EU (Corporate) Constitution, there is a fight on their hands. I love to hear you are winning.

Obama (Aug. 4, 1961, Honolulu) is jumping on the "get Dean" bandwagon. Obama has Pluto squaring his Mars, for power a Pluto Conj. beats a Pluto square to Mars. Dean just has to hang in there and we should take names of the Dems who have dissed him in public. If they disagree they can make a private phone call, but it's pretty suspect when they make it public and looks like those type of Dems are on the take.

From the Congress.org

Subject: Here's an idea: how about attacking Republicans?

To: Sen. Joseph Biden

June 8, 2005

What's wrong with you? When Harry Reid says that Alan Greenspan is a hack, Democrats should not utter the word "Greenspan" without "hack" following in its wake. Instead they cower and apologize. Similarly, when Howard Dean says -- in the context of arguing that election day be a holiday so that working people can vote -- that a lot of Republicans have never done an honest days work, he's only telling the truth. Need examples? How about Richard Mellon Scaife? Or the scions of the Walton fortune, or the Mars fortune? How about standing up for someone who stands up for us for a change?

Philadelphia , PA

Ethics Standstill Could Let DeLay Coast for a Year
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/060905Y.shtml

http://tinyurl.com/8slrg

Kaptur alerts colleagues of unfolding scandal

Miss Kaptur [D-OH], during a statement on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday night, said "there is a major political scandal that is unfolding in the state of Ohio."

Democrats such as Miss Kaptur and U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown of Lorain say the latest scandals mirror problems in Washington and even call into question the results of the 2004 presidential election.

Mr. Brown, a former Ohio secretary of state, said the situation in Ohio mirrors problems in Washington.

"I've watched up close the arrogance of [Republican House Majority Leader] Tom DeLay," he said, "and I see the way Taft, and Blackwell, and Petro … and those folks run the state government."

Democrats say there is still more ground to be covered in investigating problems in Ohio, including a look at the 2004 presidential campaign.

Mr. Noe, whose attorneys told authorities two weeks ago that $10 million to $12 million of the state's assets were missing from the coin fund, is facing multiple investigations, including a federal probe into whether he laundered money into President Bush's re-election campaign. The Republican contributor was considered a Bush "pioneer" because he raised at least $100,000 for Mr. Bush's campaign.

"I think the George Bush campaign raised a lot of illegal money in Ohio," Mr. Brown said. "That puts the election in some question. I know these people stop at nothing and I know their incompetence kept a significant number of people from getting to vote."

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/6/8/91629/48549

U.S. Outburst at OAS Meeting: Chavez and the Bolivian Crisis

Well, the Germans don't seem to be afraid of the
"truth"...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20050608-095942-4588r

See what the rich do with their money? Madonna
sets up Kabbala Hotel...

http://www.thisislondon.com/til/jsp/modules/Article/print.jsp?itemId=19193278

http://www.cnn.com/

Should the Patriot Act be renewed?

New device invented allowing you to see your
Guardian Angel...

http://english.pravda.ru/printed.html?news_id=15616

Tseka, thanks, yes, saw your post (below) and also agree with you.

Garry, don't know if you saw my post in the last thread responding to your post ...

------------

Marta
i don't know if you will find this here as a new thread has begun...i am in complete agreement with you and am concerned. WE the people need to be running things and never be giving our power away to the paternalistic...this is what got us where we are today and not just in our government. if you look, wanting someone else to make it all go away, amke it better has taken its toll on health care as well. We thought in the 50's science was gonna fix it...

i am watching south america and mexico with great interest at the moment.

Judi Gemini,
The trouble with non-corporeal mentors (NCM) is that they don't offer information without being asked first! The ministers of the Chapel are two very psychic people who converse with NCMs all the time but if they don't ask the specific question, they won't be told. They are the sweetest people and it wouldn't have occured to them to ask their usual NCMs if the fundamentalist christian group in the next building over (who periodically were obnoxious, but seemed harmless) had a loony member out to burn the place up.
Sometimes NCMs give hints such as the day that Diana's apartment was robbed while she was at work. Her NCMs were saying stuff like: "Wouldn't it be fun to wear all your jewelery today?" "Have the folks at work seen all your interesting gemstones yet?" She didn't ask them what was going on and lost everything of value; and that was in a gated complex!
The message that Rev. Button and Rev. Mae got when they asked "Why did this have to happen?" was that the two of them (especially Rev. Button 70+ yrs old) didn't need the hard work of the Chapel upkeep and newsletter anymore and the rest of the congregation needed to move on and do their own work. [Fortunately, they can still freelance.] It was sad to loose all the original art, photo albums of her travels, mementos, gifts, and books that had been inside.

Pat C, great post on Bolivia! thanks ...

Messages from the powers that either be or want to be, the Bilderberg Group

"The feeling of enough-is-enough wasn't limited to the European Bilderbergers wary of Bush's Hitler-like delirious proclamations of regime changes worldwide. Haass had pointedly told Richard Perle during a Saturday night cocktail party that the Bush administration has over-estimated its ability to change the world. Haass, according to several sources at the conference is reported to have stated that regime change can be attractive because it "is less distasteful than diplomacy and less dangerous than living with new nuclear states." However, he noted, "There is only one problem, it is highly unlikely to have the desired effect soon enough."

This is the complete article

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/060705Estulin/060705estulin.html

More Fiore: Pain Man (medical pot)

http://www.sfgate.com/comics/fiore/

Thank you for the article. I posted on another site that Dr. Dean was the voice calling out in the wilderness. We have no one but Dean with the courage and strength to speak for us. Damn, I love that man. Please go to the DNC site, you can get there through Atrios or Hoffmania and print the "for a mail in". Send what you can, even $5.00 checks will be cashed and write on it "THIS IS IN SUPPORT FOR HOWARD DEAN". Sally, I said before, I found this site and don't understand a fraction of what all you talk about but I get your spirits. I was just floored you called Dean our Franklin or his forerunner. Thank you again.

Analysis

Depleted, it ain't! So-called depleted uranium, that is!

By Bob Nichols
Project Censored Award Winner & Online Journal Contributing Writer

Download a .pdf file for printing.
Adobe Acrobat Reader required.
Click here to download a free copy.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Red State of Delusion, May 31, 2005—The term "Depleted Uranium" is misleading, on purpose.

So-called "depleted uranium" (DU) results from making hydrogen bombs. The CIA tries to deceive us all, all the time. They have succeeded for 55 years. George Lakoff blows the lid off the "Big Lie" about uranium weapons use.

Processing natural uranium removes about half of the bomb making material. It is then called "depleted uranium" by the powers that be, because it can no longer be used to make H-Bombs; but it is used to make uranium bullets, shells, land mines and regular bombs instead.

The so-called "depleted uranium" is 88 percent as radioactive as the original uranium. There is a huge amount, about 1.5 billion pounds, of "depleted uranium" at H-bomb factories in the US.

The word depleted does not mean the uranium is safe or okay to use, it means it has been used to make H-Bombs, that's all.

A less deceptive name would be George Lakoff's "Radioactive Weaponry."

Or "12 percent depleted uranium;" but Lakoff's term "Radioactive Weaponry" better describes what the US military is currently widely using in Iraq and Central Asia.

Copyright by Bob Nichols.

Bob Nichols is a Project Censored Award Winner and lives in Oklahoma where 20 percent of the people cannot read. He is a contributor to Online Journal, AxisofLogic.com, DissidentVoice.com other online publications and the "San Francisco Bay View" newspaper. Nichols is a former employee of the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant. Nichols can be reached by email at bob.bobnichols@gmail.com.

Jase....keep on with the good fight!
Pat C....what a good idea to keep that list...Al Gore should have been president, and I want to live long enough to find out the story of why he gave in so fast, as did Kerry, also the rightful president . I think they were both looking at something pretty awful.

Re the Howard Dean support...YEH! I am so disappointed that the top Dems havent sensed the change....and Limbaugh goes right on trashing all the Dems, and no one protests....Limbaugh (I posted this on the last thread) last said that "Democrats don't work anyway"....anyway, check out Media Matters for all the latest crap they thugs are spewing... http://mediamatters.org/

Jill, thanks for the feedback on the church burning, and the whole thing strikes me as just amazing! I channel a lot for myself, and often things that are just inexplicable come true. I think that we just don't know and just can't see the grid holding all of this in place....but a fascinating story...

Sally....that was brilliant, calling Dean our Franklin....you seem to be quite tuned into the early years before the revolution....can you post something when you have time about the Sons of Liberty? I think the internet will function as the pamphleteer, Tom Paine...

I Want You for the US Air Force (BUT, You Had
Better Believe in Jesus)

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=584680

Sharon

You may like this article...

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/586154.html

Thought you all might be interested in participating (I received this via e-mail):

Hello,

I'm writing to ask you to join me in signing a MoveOn PAC petition demanding real answers from President Bush regarding the "smoking gun" Downing Street Memo.

To help get the truth about why we invaded Iraq, please sign this letter today.

http://www.moveonpac.org/tellthetruth/

The Downing Street memo is called a "smoking gun" because it contains the minutes from a British cabinet meeting in July of 2002, 6 months before the war began. During that meeting high ranking British officials reported that the Bush administration admitted it was already determined to invade Iraq, and was "fixing" intelligence about WMD's to justify the war.

This, of course, contradicts everything President Bush has told us about how he chose war as a last resort, and made that decision because he thought he had solid intelligence about the Iraqi WMD threat.

Bush has refused to even respond to the memo, but after Tony Blair's visit this week the pressure is really building. Representative John Conyers of Michigan is gathering 500,000 signatures and comments from American voters to take directly to President Bush at the White House gates and demand real answers. Please sign today and help get out the truth.

http://www.moveonpac.org/tellthetruth/

Thanks!

(They had well over 300,000 signatures when I signed just a moment ago)

Sally...that Bilderberg article is incredible:
Tempers boiled over momentarily when a French Bilderberger raising his voice told Kissinger that "an attack on Iran will escalate out of control." According to sources working for the CIA and the special unit of the US Army charged with protecting the US delegation at Rottach-Egern, both the CIA and the FBI are in open revolt against the Bush White House.

What is so terrifying about the Iran theatre of operations is that according to our deep sources, both of whom belong to the Bilderberg Group, there are two alternative dates set for the invasion. The earliest possible date would be the "deadest of summer" sometime in August and the other alternative is the late fall campaign. It substantially confirms the information provided by Scott Ritter, the ex-Marine turned UNSCOM weapons inspector, who stated that "George W. Bush has `signed off´ on plans to bomb Iran in June 2005." Ritter goes on to say that the June date suggests that the US and Israel are "in a state of readiness."
More:http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/060705Estulin/060705estulin.html

Perhaps the Bilderderg consolidation of power is a good thing in disguise.
It's the lead-up to control, when enthusiasm is at its highest, that people seem to do the right things to get what they want. I think once the power is seized, they start making more mistakes.

USA Criminals

A US law, called the Logan Act, states explicitly that it is against the law for federal officials to attend secret meetings with private citizens to develop public policies. Although Bilderberg 2005 was missing one of its luminaries, US State Department official John Bolton who was testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the American government was well represented in Rottach-Egern by Alan Hubbard, assistant to the president for economic policy and director of the National Economic Council; William Luti, deputy under secretary of defence; James Wolfensohn, outgoing president of the World Bank and Paul Wolfowitz, deputy secretary of state, an ideologue of the Iraq war and incoming president of the World Bank. By attending Bilderberg 2005 meeting, these people are breaking federal laws of the United States.
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/052405Estulin/052405estulin.html

Sally
I just finished reading onlinejorunal's article on the Bilderberger Group you posted. It certainly fleshed out much of what we've been discussing.

That 'they' can decide if and when the world shold pay a "UN tax" that is applied at the barrel (of oil) is astonishing enough.

I had a conversation with a like-minded friend recently whom i consider to be well informed both in politics and history. He told me that he didn't care if Bolton got into UN as it would just hasten it's demise. My jaw dropped, then he raised his eyebrows and told me that -we who envision co-operative association between nations and peoples are just being used..it's the old "peace bomb" ploy all over. What we hear is not what exists. The UN was hijacted long ago if it ever really served people...they all need to go WTO, world bank, IMF. -Well he got my attention. And this article gives his words weight.

Thanks for bringing us your pearls of wisdom.

Sorry..............
Richard Perle does NOT represent me!!!!!!!!!
Does South America DO the Bilderberg? I didn't see any reference in the article ( scanned quickly)
The Northeast coast of Brazil is one of my desirable spots according to astrodienst!
Very interesting; if scary article!
PQ

Tseka,
That was my thought exactly as I was reading the B article
Maybe Bolton should be put in as ambassador to the UN.
But then that leaves us with ***hs.
Last 2 years there was nothing, no hint of the discussions, out of the bilderberg. Aren't the 2 Americans that shared the info this year the new "deep throats"?
For sure we all need to pay attention !!!
PQ

PatQOP at the bottom of that page is Part I of the story and at the bottom of that is a list of participating countries, and I believe all are representated. The list changes from year to year, but Brazil is a part of the Bilderbergs.

Closer to home and onto Ohio with her gentle rolling hills, rich but peaceful farms and valleys, family values in every church, love, prosperity and "whoops" greed abide. More on Ohio, one of the red state jewels.

Pendergast Machine, Tammany Hall, Tea Pot Dome, Watergate - scandals all. Some years a hard working political thief just can't catch a break.

As an interlude between Michael Jackson's trial and the Run-away-Bride, I give you OHIO

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/9/20378/31121

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE, WE ARE AT 375,000 SIGNATURES ON REPRESENTATIVE JONH CONYER JR'S PETITION TO PRESIDENT BUSH ON THE IRAQ WAR!!!!

WE ARE ALMOST THERE FOLKS, JUST HANG ON!!!

Woo hoo!!!

we love you how - ward, oh yes we do (c'mon ! everybody, sing!)

i think hd's crazy like a fox. like, no doubt, many of you, i've followed this non-story story and have sussed out the thinkers on dkos for democratic cw for their take.

some bemoan his apparently having not learned the lesson of the iowa scream. i however happen to think he knows as well as anyone that the media is a stacked deck, so, cripes, what's the point of gussying up the message?

in addition: repubs have for years raised red meat to new levels. not that i advocate being pointlessly nasty, but i do think the time's long past to take off the gloves, and stop freaking out when those on our side risk losing the miss manners seal of good papkeeping.

lastly, dean'd bringing it home fundraising-wise. we're still being beat here by the gop (well, duh), but he's at record performance level for off year, out-of power party. word is, state-level party officials are delighted with him. this is an inside the beltway / outside the beltway matter, and that strikes me as pure genius.

i love what i learn here from all of you more than the infrequency of my posts would otherwise indicate. in particular, pat c, thank you for sharing among other things, your note to biden (WHAT a BLOWHARD), and the bit on the ohio fundraising scandal, and scandal is exactly the right word for it: this story is growing long overdue legs, and you do a service to help maintain our awareness of it. keeping my fingers crossed that the downing street memo matter similarly receives the attention it more than deserves.

best to all.

Poor conspiracists. I feel sorry for the Bildbergers. They are going to very ashamed of their stupidity when they meet God/Godess. Oh crap you mean we were supposed to help people? Woops. You mean this whole elite thing was just a load of BS and we were just vectors of the world ego? Doh! Oh well, looks like in the future they will have to behave themselves. So silly. Its all very silly really except for the shame of being so untrue to ourselves. As to Howard, well he does have an anger problem, but he is a very good darkness reflector. Hes reflecting all the DNC's lies and BS back at them. And how they pretend to care about the working man and then sell out to the corporate interests. The truth is they only sold themselves out. Wait till they find out. Maybe some of them will shame themselves into doing what their hearts tell them to. They wont do it unless people like Dean and all of his followers stick it to the man by exposing him. We need to stop denying the lies these people tell us. We cant give up our power to this load of crap. Its our resposbility to make government accountable. The people and the people alone are responsible for what government they get and what government they tolerate. Sticking it to the man consists of showing him what an arrogant asshole he really is. Exposing the lie, there is no where to hide. You cant hide from yourself you know, well not forever anyway. Forever just waits till we get it. Frankly Im sick of us not . being ourselves. Its a real drag. So to those of you in the trenches, keep up the good fight. Keep exposing the lie, keep telling the truth, keep reflecting the darkness back to its source. Oh and don't forget to own it, its your darkness. It belongs to us all. The tao says know the white, stick to the black. Get sticking.

Damn, mr. kite, my singing sucks!!! =(

Know thy enemies....

http://www.opednews.com/new%20american%20century.htm

More on PNAC

http://buddhistpeacegroup.org/pnacprecursor.html

133 schmucks...in aphabetical order

http://buddhistpeacegroup.org/pnac/alphabetizenames.html

Here is my favorite name on the list of 133.

"Fukuyama Francis"

Here is the history behind these jokers...

http://www.topplebush.com/article1_recpres.shtml

Condi is on Charlie Rose 11:15 EDT - the usual
b.s. She is something else...

Thanks for the article on the way the future looks for Jews, wv (it's also interesting to me that you read Haaretz regularly). Of course no one knows what the future will bring but I like to think that people from various world religions will meld into a more mature, evolved world spirituality. The remnants of the religions that are left will have a special and sacred place in the scheme of things as well as great respect for each other. I think much of the extraneous stuff will fall away and we will just be one great big OM (organization of mankind?). That is my hope anyway. So, the future of Judaism doesn't matter in that sense. In another sense, it will never completely die because like all great world spiritualities it has power & truth. Also, the very committed Jews -- not the violent ones --- like the very committed Catholics and Muslims, are having very large families and raising them in a world filled with sacredness and learning. I think that many of these families/children will be gentle and have respect for all.

That was so lovely Sharon.

LADIES & GENTLEMEN, WE HAVE HIT 400,000 SIGNATURES!!!

YOU HEARD RIGHT, 400,000 SIGNATURES!!!

http://www.moveonpac.org/tellthetruth/
"We've achieved 80 % of our 500,000 goal (400,220)!"

This is as of Friday, June 10th, 2005 @ 12:41 AM EST

100,000 signatures left, and it will be time to rock and roll!!!

Sharon, having big families is an affront to our planet at this time....how mankind has choosen to ignore the laws of math just blows my mind, and I attribute NO gentle spirit you so rightly seek to the push for Catholic, Jewish or Muslims to have big families - I think it of MY SIDE HAS MORE FAITHFUL THAN YOUR SIDE (even if they starve to death for it). Think of the poverty in SA....it is SICKENING!!!!! We have finite resources.....and then you add the anti abortion crowd...there is NO gentle spirit I can see.

That gentle spirit of world harmony is a wonderful vision....but OMG....it is like the painting of Jesus with all the lambs lying down with the lions on the cover of The Watch Tower pamphlets...NOT IN THIS WORLD!

Mr. Kite....Biden is not only a blowhard but he has a weird rictus of the mouth....a facelift????

I'll say it again...Limbaugh is the one getting away with murder on dems, and playing nice like we are in kindergarten is not going to cut it. But the dems also know who rules the airways, and they know they will get nailed down the road...so they are trapped in their own doodoo of not enough backbone. Yehhhhh Howard...

"As to US assertions that Iraq possessed bombs, rockets and shells for poison agents, unmanned aerial vehicles for delivering biological and chemical weapons, nuclear weapon materials, sarin, tabun, mustard agent, precursor chemicals, VX nerve agent, anthrax, aflotoxins, ricin and surface-to-surface Al Hussein missiles, not one has so far been found. One vial of Strain B Botulinum toxin is found in the domestic refrigerator of an Iraqi scientist. It is ten years old. Hans Blix comments, "They wanted to come to the conclusion that there were weapons. Like the former days of the witch hunt, they are convinced that they exist. And if you see a black cat, well, that's evidence of the witch."

-- From David Hare's new play, Stuff Happens

"After Downing Street" by William Rivers Pitt

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/060905X.shtml

WRP also links to the newly formed organization, "After Downing Street Coalition" a growing network of activist groups pressing for media coverage and executive/congressional accountability for Iraq. This isn't going to go away for Bush and Co. Not this time.

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/

--

Oh, and more speculation in Ohio -- A friend here has observed that the high level GOP cronies have dumped a portion of their ill-gotten, coin-generated funds into various "charity" organizations. Now, suppose those "charity" organizations are proven to be Right-Wing "Christian" churches or their related organizations? The scandal explodes even more, and Separation of Church and State comes back into focus, BIG TIME.

There are several big political developments that I would like to call attention to. I have not posted in some time due to my busy life, but I felt that these things were worth mentioning.

I)

http://www.nbc5i.com/news/4572168/detail.html
nbc5i.com - News - Governor Signs Abortion Bill At Fort Worth Church

Look at the quote in bold text on the right side of the page. Texas Governor Rick Perry, in signing an anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage bill IN A CHURCH (I might add) makes the following statement about homosexuals:

"Texans have made a decsion about marriage and if there is some other state that has a more lenient view that Texas then maybe that's a better place for them to live."

Make no mistake. This rhetoric amounts to saying "If you don't like it, then leave." Let's imagine for a moment that these words were directed at another minority group, say blacks, or Jews, or women, or disabled people, or veterans, or whomever... There would be a public outcry the likes of which we have never seen in this country.

As bad as the rhetoric has been with regards to gay people and gay-bashing, this is a BIG escalation in my view. The subtext of the remark carries with it the implication that certain groups can and should leave the state or face removal by force in the not-too-distant-future. In Nazi Germany, this kind of rhetoric was the first step towards the idea of eliminating certain groups of people altogether.

II)

http://forward.com/articles/3294
Forward Newspaper Online: Political Response to Air Force Allegations Divided Along Party Lines

You will have to register at the site to view this article.

This article deals with the response to the religious persecution of Jews and other minorities by evangelicals and other Christians in the US Airforce Academy. Republicans have killed two measures aimed at curbing religious descrimination within the academy.

I think every Jewish Republican needs to read this article. The Republicans are finally showing their true colors. One must keep in mind that their evangelical base is anti-Semitic at its core, despite their professed support for Israel. (They support Israel in order to bring about the apocalypse so that they can then kill all the Jews.)

I have always maintained that gay-bashing is just a warm-up for the real targets: the Jews. This has been the case for every instance of widespread gay-bashing in every civilization throughout the last 2000 years. American Jews (and I myself am Jewish) ought to be VERY concerned. YOU'RE NEXT!!!

Travieso, more sickness from your home state!
Texas governor suggests gay veterans should leave state
Gay groups demand Perry apologize
By STEVE KOVAL | Jun 8, 10:55 AM

Texas Gov. Rick Perry suggested that gay veterans unhappy with the proposed anti-gay constitutional amendment should move elsewhere.

"I'm going to say Texas has made a decision on marriage and if there's a state with more lenient views than Texas, then maybe that's where they should live," the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Perry said Sunday.

Perry's comments were in response to a question during a news conference about what he would tell gay war veterans returning from Iraq.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a group for gays in the military, today joined calls by the Lesbian & Gay Rights Lobby of Texas for Perry to apologize.     
SLDN's Sharra Greer demanded an immediate apology from Texas Gov. Perry.)

"More than 66,000 lesbian and gay veterans make their home in Texas," said Sharra E. Greer, SLDN’s director of law and policy. "Their service has defended the freedom of every Texan, including Governor Perry. The governor’s remarks dishonor their service and he should immediately apologize. We should be thanking these brave men and women, not asking them to leave."

Col. Paul W. Dodd, a retired Army Chaplain and SLDN honorary board member who now lives in Texas, said in a statement, "Gays and lesbians have defended our country since the American Revolution."

"Governor Perry’s remarks were outrageous and offensive and do not reflect the views of fair-minded Texans who value the service of our men and women in uniform. It is past time that those who fight for freedom abroad be afforded those same liberties here at home," Dodd said.

boy...Dave and I posted the same thing at the same time....

time to meditate on everything I don't know and sure as hell don't understand ....

"a weird rictus of the mouth".

Sounds awful.

I read that to Judi. Thank God Perry's polls are down here. Of course, if you know Austin, we are a very Blue county. All liberals in the Southwest eventually find their way here.

Anyway, Kinky Friedman said some really interesting thing the other day in a local rag. He spoke of the "Austinization" of Texas. I think he has a point. Where Houston used to be all Red, the last election saw many Blue precincts as well as Blue counties in the South (where I grew up). I hope this is a change that will come true.

And by the way, we huge the largest gay pride parade ever last week-end. It was wonderful!!!! Maybe Uranus is waking us up. It's about time.

Gay homophobe, lil Rickie Perry, needs to take care of its own backyard. Remember its scandal from last year? http://www.drizzten.com/cgi-bin/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=393

Tired of playin' this lethal game year after year, decade after decade, century after century...

I hear ya, Joanna.

I've been thinking....as usual.

This one world government is impossible to establish. It's a pipe dream that no one in history has made manifest, and not from lack of trying. Let them wear themselves out. control always escapes the grasp...that's what makes it what it is..an attempt to reign something in, harness a force. Something's got to get loose in order for control to be achieved. And if it is, I doubt that it can be maintained. The latin word "contra" meaning "against" is part of the word's derivation.
They're all sitting around with fake smugness on their faces masking fear, gorging themselves on rich food with all kinds of diseases lurking in their bodies. The warriors have long abandoned them.

Man has always escaped the traps he creates. That's probably why they are created in this world of contrasts. To experience that ecstatic moment of breaking free.

Global Warmin' Is Fer Idjuts
Exxon writes America's energy policy, BushCo chops up emissions reports. Is there any hope at all?
- By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Friday, June 10, 2005

Like anyone is the slightest bit shocked.

Like anyone is the slightest bit appalled anymore by the breathtaking litany of utter BS oozing forth from the White House these days, this time about how one of BushCo's top oil-lovin' henchmen has been hacking away at countless scientific reports for over two years, editing them at will, all to downplay the effects of emissions on global warming.

His name is Philip Cooney, and he has zero scientific training whatsoever and was formerly the "climate-team leader" (read: top flying monkey) and a lobbyist at the American Petroleum Institute, the largest trade group representing the oil industry. He is now chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the group that helps devise and set the nation's environmental agenda; Cooney's cuts and edits of scientific emissions and global warming reports often made it into final White House policy.

Isn't that just the cutest thing? Aren't you just, like, yawning with ennui at the bitter repetition of it all? At how savagely and biliously common these stories have become?
(more)
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2005/06/10/notes061005.DTL&type=printable

mr. kite, so lovely to hear from you, (you sound much better?!)
Sally, Obama has gotten deluged with reminders of who his constituency is (myself included), we'll see if it helps, it did after the Condi vote.

Chris: I loved your post! There is only so much "turning away from self" that a body (in this case, the "dems") can take before rage forces the pendulum to swing the other direction. Here's hoping everyone has appropriately thanked Chairman Dr. Governor Dean for being our catalyst.

Steve Bell slams Bush

http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,7371,1503594,00.html

"our" Nancy Waterman is not only an incredible astrologer, but an excellent political stategist (yay, Nancy! you go!): http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1843523

VERY interesting, informative and intriguing posts today!

On another note --
My mind tends towards unbidden speculation. I read or hear something in the news, and suddenly another, remembered report jumps into consciousness and my mind connects the two.

Today's spontaneous speculation revolves around the Catholic Church. Historically (I'm just in my mid-40s, so the history I refer to is short!), the Catholic Church did not overtly involve itself in public policy. As a child in Sunday Mass, I remember occassions on which special collections were taken for people in other countries (Latin America?) who were particularly hurting, but never was US (or state) public policy ever mentioned. (Additionally, the Catholic Church and the fundy crosstians were religious ENEMIES. Remember that?) In the 80s or 90s, my Dad began joining anti-abortion demonstrations and his voting pattern changed from Dem to Repug due (I believe) to this one issue. Though it seems to me this scandal has been going on for 20 years now, the subheadline states "More than a third of the costs have occurred in the past three years."

Never in all my teenage and adult life do I recall the Catholic Church being actively involved in politics.

Until the 2004 election.

This morning's newspaper tells me the US Catholic Church's tab for payout for sexual abuse suits has now topped $1 Billion. At the end of the article, it says, "However, the church avoided one financial hit: A feared widespread boycott by donors never happened...the number of donors has fallen in the past few years, but THE AMOUNT CONTRIBUTED OVERALL HAS HELD STEADY."

I'm speculating whether "the committee who really runs things" is propping up the church in exchange for vote-influencing sermons and rhetoric? (It certainly wouldn't be the first time a nation's government colluded with the Catholic Church. The Church used to name the kings, didn't it?)

By definition of course, speculation means "I don't know." My mind is just making this connection. I tend to believe my mind in these cases, physical proof or no physical proof.

Any reactions/responses to this idea?

JM, this statement strikes me:

"Man has always escaped the traps he creates. That's probably why they are created in this world of contrasts. To experience that ecstatic moment of breaking free."

I think there's profound truth to it.

...and I love the "...all kinds of diseases lurking in their bodies." Eeuw!! COOTIES!

Sorry. That was me at 3:28.

Hot and overcast in Washington DC...seems appropriate

http://www.nbc4.com/wxcam/1200708/detail.html

Yeah, Lori,

We all have diseases lurking. It's the great equalizer. And I was thinking maybe it is one thing that prevents us from being too powerful. It humbles us.
I think their act is so transparent.

But of course, I cherish my mythological warrior who is immune to weakness and disease, full of strength and glory, completely unafraid, and it ain't them!

Just a couple more days till Mars exits Pisces and on into Aries. Maybe we'll catch a glimpse of that brave hero riding through.

Joanna,

I have heard that rumor for years, and I think its true. People and friends of friends who work at the capital say that it it true. I would love another Spokane mayor scandal to break out. Another republican hypocrite to show America this is not the party of the "moral".

On Thursday June 16, 2005, Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member of House Judiciary Committee, and other Democratic Members will hold a Democratic hearing to hear testimony concerning the Downing Street Minutes and the efforts to cook the books on pre-war intelligence.

 
On May 1, 2005 a Sunday London Times article disclosed the details of a classified memo, also known as the Downing Street Minutes, recounting the minutes of a July 2002 meeting of Prime Minister Tony Blair that describes an American President already committed to going to war in the summer of 2002, despite contrary assertions to the public and the Congress. The minutes also describe apparent efforts by the Administration to manipulate intelligence data to justify the war. The June 16th hearing will attempt to answer the serious constitutional questions raised by these revelations and will further investigate the Administration's actions in the lead up to war with new documents that further corroborate the Downing Street memo.

Directly following the hearing, Rep. Conyers, Members of Congress, and concerned citizens plan to hand deliver to the White House the petition and signatures of over a half million Americans that have joined Rep. Conyers in demanding that President Bush answer questions about his secret plan for the Iraq war.

 
WHAT: Democratic hearing on Downing Street Minutes and Pre-war intelligence

WHEN: Thursday, June 16, 2005, TIME TBD

WHERE: LOCATION TBD

WITNESSES: Joe Wilson, Former Ambassador and WMD Expert; Ray McGovern, 27-year CIA analyst who prepared regular Presidential briefings during the Reagan administration; Cindy Sheehan, mother of fallen American soldier; John Bonifaz, renowned constitutional lawyer and co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org.

For details on time and place and for downloadable flyers promoting the rally, please watch the top of this website: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org

washingtonpost.com
Public Broadcasting Targeted By House
Panel Seeks to End CPB's Funding Within 2 Years
By Paul Farhi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 10, 2005; A01
A House subcommittee voted yesterday to sharply reduce the federal government's financial support for public broadcasting, including eliminating taxpayer funds that help underwrite such popular children's educational programs as "Sesame Street," "Reading Rainbow," "Arthur" and "Postcards From Buster."
In addition, the subcommittee acted to eliminate within two years all federal money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting -- which passes federal funds to public broadcasters -- starting with a 25 percent reduction in CPB's budget for next year, from $400 million to $300 million.
In all, the cuts would represent the most drastic cutback of public broadcasting since Congress created the nonprofit CPB in 1967. The CPB funds are particularly important for small TV and radio stations and account for about 15 percent of the public broadcasting industry's total revenue.
Expressing alarm, public broadcasters and their supporters in Congress interpreted the move as an escalation of a Republican-led campaign against a perceived liberal bias in their programming. That effort was initiated by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's own chairman, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson.
"Americans overwhelmingly see public broadcasting as an unbiased information source," Rep. David Obey (Wis.), the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, said in a statement. "Perhaps that's what the GOP finds so offensive about it. Republican leaders are trying to bring every facet of the federal government under their control. . . . Now they are trying to put their ideological stamp on public broadcasting."
But the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on labor, health and human services, and education asserted that the panel was simply making choices among various worthy government programs, and that no political message was intended.
The subcommittee's action, which came on a voice vote, doesn't necessarily put Big Bird on the Endangered Species List. House members could restore funding as the appropriations bill moves along or, more likely, when the House and Senate meet to reconcile budget legislation later this year. The Senate has traditionally been a stronger ally of public broadcasting than the House, whose former speaker, Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), waged a high-profile but ultimately unsuccessful campaign to "zero out" funding for the CPB a decade ago.
The cuts nevertheless surprised people in public broadcasting. In his budget sent to Congress in February, President Bush had recommended reducing CPB's budget only slightly.
Several denounced the decision by the panel, which has 10 Republicans and seven Democrats, as payback by a Republican-dominated House after years of complaints from conservatives who see liberal bias in programs carried by the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio. Broadcasters noted, for example, that the 25 percent cutback in next year's CPB budget was a rollback of money that Congress had promised in 2004.
PBS, in particular, drew harsh criticism in December from the Bush administration for a "Postcards From Buster" episode in which Buster, an animated rabbit, "visited" two families in Vermont headed by lesbians. And programming on both PBS and NPR has come under fire in recent months from Tomlinson, the Republican chairman of the CPB, who has pushed for greater "balance" on the public airwaves.
A spokeswoman for NPR, Andi Sporkin, directly blamed Tomlinson for yesterday's action, saying, "We've never been sure of Mr. Tomlinson's intent but, with this news, we might be seeing his effect."
Tomlinson did not return calls seeking comment. In a statement, he said, "Obviously, we are concerned [by the cuts], and we will be joining with our colleagues in the public broadcasting community to make the case for a higher level of funding as the appropriations measure makes its way through Congress."
John Lawson, the president of the Association of Public Television Stations, a Washington-based group that lobbies for public broadcasters, called the subcommittee's action "at least malicious wounding, if not outright attempted murder, of public broadcasting in America." He added, "This action could deprive tens of millions of American children of commercial-free educational programming."
Rep. Ralph Regula (R-Ohio), the subcommittee's chairman, said the cuts had nothing to do with dissatisfaction over public radio or TV programs. "It's pretty simple," he said in an interview. "The thinking was, there's not enough money for everything. There are 'must-do,' 'need-to-do' and 'nice-to-do' programs that we have to pay for. [Public broadcasting] is somewhere between a 'need-to-do' and a 'nice-to-do.' "
The subcommittee had to decide, he said, on cutting money for public broadcasting or cutting college grants, special education, worker retraining and health care programs. "No one's out to get" public broadcasting, Regula said. "It's not punitive in any way."
In fact, none of the Republican members of the subcommittee publicly denounced public radio or TV funding at yesterday's markup. Public broadcasting drew supportive statements from Obey and Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.).
Regula suggested public stations could "make do" without federal money by getting more funding from private sources, such as contributions from corporations, foundations, and listeners and viewers.
But the loss of $23.4 million in federal funds for children's educational shows -- which PBS calls its "Ready to Learn" programs -- could mean the elimination of these programs, said an official at Alexandria-based PBS who asked not to be named because the network still hopes to regain the funding. PBS's revenue totaled $333 million in fiscal year 2004.
The Ready to Learn group includes "Sesame Street," "Dragontales," "Clifford" and "Arthur," among others.
The House measure also cuts support for a variety of smaller projects, such as a $39.6 million public TV satellite distribution network and a $39.4 million program that helps public stations update their analog TV signals to digital format.
Small public radio stations, particularly those in rural areas and those serving minority audiences, may be the most vulnerable to federal cuts because they currently operate on shoestring budgets.
"This could literally put us out of business," said Paul Stankavich, president and general manager of the Alaska Public Radio Network, an alliance of 26 stations in the state that create and share news programming. "Almost all of us are down to the bone right now. If we lost 5 or 10 percent of our budgets in one fell swoop, we could end up being just a repeater service" for national news, with no funds to produce local content.
Stankavich, who also runs a public radio and TV station in Anchorage, said public radio is "an important source of news in urban areas, but it's life-critical in rural areas," especially in far-flung parts of Alaska unserved by any other broadcast medium.

More on this abomination....contact your
Congressperson...PBS is one of the last things
we have left. Don't let them take it away.

http://www.apts.org/news/house_cuts.cfm

Thanks Sally and Judi Gem. The great thing is that it isn't really a fight anymore. Everyone is very aware of what's going on and it is the War that has made it very clear. The Live8/G8 movement going on over here is very much coming from the people and not government. Europeans are demanding a Europe made in the people's image and are refusing to be dictated to.

Even B* has to go along with this - how can he not? He isn't as strong as we are.

This is taken from Noam Chomsky's book, 'Understanding Power':-

'The United States was not founded on the principle "the people" ought to rule - thats' freshman Civics, it's not what happened in history. If you look back at the actual record, you'll find that the founding principles of the Founding Fathers were quite different.

Keep in mind that the Founding Fathershated democracy - Thomas Jefferson was a partial exception, but only partial. The principles were rather nicely expressed by John Jay, the head of the Constitutional Convention and the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. His favourite maxim was, "The people that own the country ought to govern it"- that's the principle on which the United States was founded. The major framer of the Constitution, James Madison, emphasised very clearly in the debates at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 that the whole system must be designed, as he put it, " to protect the minority of the opulent from the majority" - that's the primary purpose of the government, he said.

Now, Madison had a kind of a theory behind that, which was that the "minority of the opulent" would be elevated Enlightenment gentlemen, who would act like some kind of ancient Roman republicans of his imagination - benvolent philosopherswho would use their opulence to benefit everyone in the country. But he himself quickly recognised thatthat was a serious delusion, and within ten years he was bitterly denouncingwhat he called the "daring depravity of the times" as "the minority of the opulent" were using their power to smash everyone else in the face.

In fact, still in the 18th century, Madison made some insightful comments, about the interactions between state power and private power. He said, we've designed a system in which the "stock jobbers" (what we today call investors) are simply using state power for their own ends-we thought we were going to create a system which would put enlightened gentlemen in control so that they would protect everyone from the tyranny of the majority, but instead what we've got is gangstersin control using state power for their own benefit.'

This statement was made sometime between 1989-1996.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Not only does it apply to the United States but the whole of the western world since 1945. We have never had the power but we have always had the real power. The 'elite' are terrified of the tyrrany of the majority - whether they are the "blue elite" or the "red elite" they are still the elite playing out their turf wars and wanting us to take sides and do their fighting for them.

The United States does not belong to these elites, it belongs to you.

The United Kingdom does not belong to Tony Blair, the Queen, the Tories or the Lib Dems - it belongs to me and 60 million others.

The United Kingdom, France, Germany and the other 22 countries do not belong to faceless oligarchs in Brussels - it belongs to the people of Europe.

The great thing is all we have to do is recognise it and recognise that the real power was, is and always will be in our hands and there is not a damn thing that the elites can do about it - they know it and they're doing they're best to make sure that we don't. No voting machines, vote rigging, misappropriated funds or biased referendums can stop humanity once it wakes up.

Too late.
The game is up.
We know.
We're awake.

Maybe GWB and his ilk are here to help us wake up to the reality of our own power and consciousness by showing us the inherent weakness of the structures we live under and the tyranny that we perpetuate in smaller ways. I know that on a much smaller stage I can be just as stupid as GWB and have been destructive or bullying and pretended that it just wasn't the case because I'm just not like that. I'm one of the good guys. No, I'm just as nasty, selfish, vindictive, egotistical and hypocritical as anyone else. Now that I have accepted that it no longer threatens me. I have learnt to love my darkness - it has taught me a lot.

Well, thanks George, Tony, Adolf, Ariel and all the other 'enlightened gentlemen' - I've learnt my lesson. You can go now.

Hmmm....

Guantanamo Bay or Sesame Street?

I know what I'd prefer my money to be spent on.

Mr Hooper's store!

Bravo, Jase. Magnificent.

Now I can go catch my zzzzz's.

I'm thinking, Trav, that the necroporns' "gay issue" elastic for the manufacture of breathless outrage jes ain't got much snap anymore except to a little sliver of the ameriCO neurotic population. Blessed Be.

While I'm at it, has anyone else noted the vast national attn & money & time & consciousness the mega-narcissistic acting-out necroporns take up in this country? ...in other words, 25/8. Imagime the same resources & attn spent on the raising of the consciousness & the--at least friendly--serving of one another thruout the World. Imagine what might be the possibilities of biounits & human becomings transforming into human beings. We don't even know what THAT is as yet! All our time is taken up with wicked nonsense.

Religious institutions are religio-middlemen controller scams imo. Nobody needs 'em. They dys-member a person's wholeness by inserting themselves where they do not belong... for big bucks, too. ;O)

Excellent 04:07 PM post, Jase! Very insightful.

RIGHT ON, JoannaOregon. Far too much money and time wasted with inconsequentials!

Indeed, I have found in my own life that if I try to be in any sort of religious (or even just "spiritual") group or particular line of thinking, I lose the connection I otherwise feel flowing inside myself...the connection to the...divine? or whatever we may choose to call it.

http://gnn.tv/articles/761/Exclusive_Bush_Wanted_To_Invade_Iraq_If_Elected_in_2000

Two years before 9/11, candidate Bush was already talking privately about attacking Iraq, according to his former ghost writer

Houston: Two years before the September 11 attacks, presidential candidate George W. Bush was already talking privately about the political benefits of attacking Iraq, according to his former ghost writer, who held many conversations with then-Texas Governor Bush in preparation for a planned autobiography.
“He was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999,” said author and journalist Mickey Herskowitz. “It was on his mind. He said to me: ‘One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.’ And he said, ‘My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it.’ He said, ‘If I have a chance to invade….if I had that much capital, I’m not going to waste it. I’m going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I’m going to have a successful presidency.”
Herskowitz said that Bush expressed frustration at a lifetime as an underachiever in the shadow of an accomplished father. In aggressive military action, he saw the opportunity to emerge from his father’s shadow. The moment, Herskowitz said, came in the wake of the September 11 attacks. “Suddenly, he’s at 91 percent in the polls, and he’d barely crawled out of the bunker.”
That President Bush and his advisers had Iraq on their minds long before weapons inspectors had finished their work – and long before alleged Iraqi ties with terrorists became a central rationale for war – has been raised elsewhere, including in a book based on recollections of former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill. However, Herskowitz was in a unique position to hear Bush’s unguarded and unfiltered views on Iraq, war and other matters – well before he became president.

More...

..............

http://suitcaseman.gnn.tv/blogs/6710/911_News_is_Out

from the files
911 News is Out

Lee Hamilton, vice-chairman of the 911 commission, was on Washington Journal, on Thursday, May 26, 2005, on C-Span, to discuss government progress in following 911 commission recommendations, and he took some interesting questions from callers. Brian Lamb, founder and president of C-Span, was the host.
One caller wanted to know why WTC 7 was not mentioned in the report. Hamilton said that there were a lot of very difficult decisions to make about what to include and exclude. He said there was a “horrendous amount of material”. He said the commission needed to emphasize the towers, where the loss of life occurred overwhelmingly. He said, if corrections are made, and something like 911 happens in the future, that is how they can save the most lives, so some things were left out of the report. Hamilton said he could not recall if WTC 7 was discussed in some of the annex materials or not, but the report itself had to focus on the primary targets.
Another caller asked about Norman Minetta, the secretary of transportation, who was in the operations center in the white house with Cheney on 911, and who testified that a young man came in and announced to Cheney that the plane was fifty miles out, then later, thirty miles out, and when the plane was ten miles out, said to Cheney, “do the orders still stand?” and Cheney said, “Of course the orders still stand, have you heard anything to the contrary?” The caller wanted to know why Cheney knew and Rumsfeld, Bush, and the military did not?
Lamb said to Hamilton, “How often do you get these types of questions about conspiracy?” And Hamilton said, “we are still arguing about the assassinations of Abe Lincoln and JFK”, that September 11th was one of the most traumatic days in the history of our country, that the commission took their best crack at it, that it was ordered by the statute to tell the story of 911, and they did the very best they could, but that it was a dynamic situation. Hamilton said that information continually comes up, and there was a lot of suspicion about what they did and did not find. About Cheney, Hamilton said that communications between the white house and the president was not as good as they would have liked. He said that the vice-president was in the operations room and was in charge in a sense and was in communication with the president as quickly as possible. Hamilton said “they did find a flaw in the communication problem”.

More....

...................

http://www.gnn.tv/

Jase
Your comments mirror my conversation this morning with my son! He citing same history and people as you...

I have been saying for years that B*** is the sacred clown, the salish word is unpronouncable but the sioux word heyhoka sits easily in my mouth. The contrary- These are ones who show us the face of who we are, the uglyness inside, where greed carries us, they magnify the image so none can turn away fron their personification of the truth...they are allowed any tool even murder to awaken us! Of course to be sacred one must be aware of the path he has chosen which is doubtful in the case of B*, never the less he is fulfilling the function.

Well tseka, he certainly has danced backwards. He has done that very well, and I think he knows he's doing it.

Great comparison!

Jase...thanks for posting that piece on the founding fathers, it is so right on. And your comments on self, well ....yeh! We all are that way...the difference being some of us 'get it' and some of us DON'T...lol.
Just yesterday when my friends said 'what's going to happen with these thugs' I kept saying, the seeds of their destruction are right in their own structure...it will be brought down by the sheer hubris which is the seed of their destruction.
Lori, thanks for putting words to my unconscious knowledge that religious organizations WILL put 'finis' to the spirit flowing within....

wv...DRAT those necroporns (JoannaOregon, you always are the most pointed in your language, LOL)....attacking PBS, even tho it is already shafted by its new necroporn leaders....sounds like this is part of what they've cooked up to destroy a public educational program which is one of the last best bastions against the decaying structure of education in this country....or even the concept of public anything...health, education, arts...all goes under the ax with these slash and burn attitudes. the better to crank out lots of igoramuses who will be the dragon teeth of the dictatorship which COULD be next on the agenda....is that what we fear the most? Well, these boys have all the tools to create it.

Judi, just want to respond to you very briefly. The way I like to look at it is that many people (like myself & many, many friends and relatives) either have not had children or have only 1 or 1-2, and this somehow balances out those who have large families.

A bill just introduced in Congress would take away the right of cities and towns across the country to provide citizens with universal, low-cost Internet access.
Giant cable and telephone companies don’t want any competition -- which might actually force them to offer lower prices, higher speeds and service to rural and urban areas.
U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) -- a former telephone company executive -- has introduced a bill (HR 2726) that would let cable and telecom companies shut down municipal and community efforts to offer broadband services.
You can stop this outrageous bill. Send a message to your representative now.
Next, forward this message to everyone you know ...
No less than the future of all communications is at stake. In a few years, television, telephone, radio and the Web will be accessed through a high-speed internet connection. Low-cost alternatives to telephone (DSL) and cable monopolies are emerging across the country, as cities, towns, nonprofits and community groups build low-cost "Community Internet" and municipal broadband systems.
Companies like SBC, Verizon and Comcast have been introducing laws state by state that would prohibit municipal broadband, undercut local control and prevent competition. But we've been fighting back -- and winning.
An alliance of public interest groups, local officials, high-tech innovators and organized citizens have defeated anti-municipal broadband measures in nine of the 13 states where they've been introduced this year.
What the industry couldn't pass in the states, they're trying to push through in Washington. Sessions' bill -- the "Preserving Innovation in Telecom Act" (an Orwellian title if there ever was one) -- would prevent state and local governments from providing "any telecommunications service, information service or cable service" anywhere a corporation offers a similar service.
Congressman Sessions worked for telephone giant SBC for 16 years, and his wife currently serves as a director of Cingular Wireless, an SBC subsidiary. SBC and its employees have been Sessions' second-biggest career patron, pouring more than $75,000 into his campaign coffers.
We can stop this legislation and send a clear message to Congress that local communities -- not the giant telephone and cable companies -- should determine their own communications needs. But you must act now.
Please send a letter opposing HR 2726 -- and forward this message to everyone you know, asking them to do the same.
http://www.freepress.net/action/sessionsbill
Onward,
Josh Silver
Executive Director
Free Press
http://www.freepress.net
P.S. For all of the latest news on Community Internet and municipal broadband, visit the Free Press Web site at
http://www.freepress.net/communityinternet.
P.P.S. Want to get more involved in bringing Community Internet to your hometown? Join the Free Press Action Squad at
http://www.freepress.net/action/squad/signup.php.

Sharon, unfortunately, it doesn't balance out...look at China...and we have 6 billion people on earth, like a giant virus which keeps doubling (which is why I said do the math)....there needs to be a conscious effort (which religions fight like crazy) to control population. Anythng else is just typical of how we live now....we overspend our incomes......of course, a good world wide famine which is probably coming fairly soon will take care of a lot of this.

When Peace Is The Enemy

Ten Deadly Enemies of Humanity in America

By Dr. Charles Mercieca

06/09/05 "ICH" - - Every dictionary describes enemy as “one hostile to another; one who hates another; a foe; an adversary; an antagonist; a hostile force, army, fleet, or the like.” The enemy’s goal is to destroy anything that comes in the enemy’s way that would prevent such an enemy from the achievement of set goals and purposes. Hence, any person or group that performs actions that are detrimental to our environment, to our very own life may be viewed as our deadly enemy.

Destructive Intent of American Corporations

Regardless as to whether or not Americans as a whole perceive it, we may single out the ten deadly enemies of the American people and of all people of all nations as a matter of fact. These are ten American largest corporations whose product is virtually lethal. They put in danger not only the people who work for such industries but also those who are directly or indirectly affected by their deadly products. They are all linked to wars and they all view peace as their outright enemy since peace would eventually render their product obsolete.

This means, they would not cease embracing their Satanic God, known as the never-ending-accumulation of wealth and money. These top deadly enemies make billions of dollars annually on the premise that the end justifies the means. To this end, they employ psychologists to study the mood of the people and to come with advertisement proposals so as to present their product deceitfully to the people. They want the American people either to accept it by all means or, at least, to remain indifferent about it. There is only one thing they do not want absolutely, namely, to see people openly critical against their deadly product.

more...

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9095.htm

Sharon, one of the reasons the Catholic church is against birth control is the desire to have as many catholics in the world as possible....a family with 13 children would take 13 unproducing adults to equal it out. Most countries aren't rich enough to do this, and these kids end up starving to death in the streets ....it is criminal. And I know a LOT of people who grew up in families with a minimum of 9 kids....that might have worked in 1660 to 1860 (but don't ask a native american if that worked) when white europeans spread like a virus....I've done the genealogy, and you have no idea how many people that generated in a couple of hundred years. Poverty is widespread in this country, and that is one of the reasons. It just doesn't balance out at all.

History carries no guarantees

A Democratic Revolution in the Muslim World?

By Abid Ullah Jan

06/08/05 "ICH" - - Propagators of the US lies for invading Iraq have come to claim that the time since the Iraqi elections on January 30, 2005 has been the most dramatic moment the Middle East has known in 30 years and more. They call it a magical transformation. Other sham elections under occupation in Afghanistan and Palestine are presented to have inspired one of those magical transformations in consciousness like those that happened in 1776 or 1848 or 1989 — where almost anything seems possible.

The promoters of war, whose justification of destroying WMD has been quickly switched to installing democracy, hardly wait to understand that history carries no guarantees. Weaknesses in the democratic and liberating spirit of the American Revolution of 1776 took more than 200 years to turn the US into the most tyrannical regime in human history. Elsewhere it might not take even this long to reveal the intrinsic weaknesses of the governing system being imposed on others. Remember, the French Revolution? It didn’t take much longer to sour into the guillotine, the Terror and the military dictatorship of Napoleon.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9086.htm

Forrmer CIA Director calls for Iraq Withdrawal

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9087.htm

Of 3,643 Republicans serving in the state legislatures, only 44 are minorities, or 1.2 percent. In the Congress, with 274 of the 535 elected senators and representatives Republican, only five are minorities - three Cuban Americans from Florida, a Mexican American from Texas and a Native American senator originally elected as a Democrat.
'President Bush's home state leads the way. Texas, with a minority population of 47 percent, has 106 Republicans in the state legislature, but there are 0 blacks and 0 Hispanics among them,' Sperling writes.
I know Dean was answering a question which was about Asian-American voting patterns...I don't think the Republicans who shopped this story can be too happy to let this story go much further.

Maybe they might want to rethink this Dean 'gaffe' thing.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/6/10/151244/547

Group shot of the Republican Congressional Black Caucus.

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/06/all-black-republicans-in-congress.html

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0610/dailyUpdate.html
Terror allegations disappear from court filing

Different affidavit in Lodi father-son case given to media than used for court.

Judi Gem, this cracked me up:
"of course, a good world wide famine which is probably coming fairly soon will take care of a lot of this."

but then, my sense of humor tends towards darkness.

I got very caught up in the idea of saving the earth for a number of years. Then I realized the earth has been here for eons, is very strong, very powerful, and we may be able to wound her but we do not have the power to destroy her.

We do, however, have the power to destroy ourselves, individually and collectively. And perhaps we will.

If so, we'll all be dead and our earthlives won't matter anymore.

I fall in neither camp of the population control (or not) discussion above. Judi, I just wanted to share my amusement with you! I think you also have some dark sense of humor. Is that true? (or was this statement simple clear-eyed practical truth?)

I wonder if perhaps the world has the means to comfortably sustain us all. But we'd need to redefine the term "comfort" and redefine "necessity," I think.

It's true there's plenty of starvation to go around, even in our "wealthy" nation.

Don't forget -- just to add a bit to this rather strange population control discussion going on -- that during the earlier centuries (1600-1800 was the time frame mentioned) that many people fought for their existence on farms and such. So the more kids they had, the more ranch hands, etc. they'd eventually have to keep the place going when the folks got older. It was a matter of survival and perhaps not necessarily some evil religious plot.

Anyway, that thought just occured to me.

You're absolutely right, Jonathan. I wonder if that were the purpose today -- basic survival, really, basic sustenance of life -- this would be a non-issue? I once fantasized about apprenticing myself to an Amish community for a year so I could learn survival skills. Of course, I'd probably only be allowed to do the "women's work" so I wouldn't learn about farming, etc., so much. Now THERE'S a community that's relatively untouched by our goings on and who will know how to survive if things ever really break down!

These days, I think certain groups want to promote population growth so there is plenty of cheap labor.

I'm wondering, Jonathan, why you refer to the population control discussion as "rather strange?"

Shiela Jackson Lee is my hero!!!! I love her. Go to Rawstory and Buzzflash and read what happened this afternoon!! Disgusting! Republicans arbitarily shut down a committee investigating the Patriot Act and SHUT OFF THE MICROPHONES!!! When I go to Houston at the end of the month, I think I must send her a card of thanks. Shiela, DO US PROUD!!!

I referred to it as rather strange only because I'm not quite sure how the conversation started or why the posters at AW are having it. That's all. It is fascinating, though, to think about it. And, having no plans to procreate in the near future, the potential over-population of the World hadn't really cross my mind recently!

:-)

Jonathan, if you had read all the posts you would have understood it....I was commenting on Sharon's post about 'large families' in the Jewish, Muslin and Christian worlds and seeing that as a big negative. Sharon was explaining what she meant, and I am taking it down the road of politics. So why would you think this was a 'strange' discussion?

Population control IS politics....both good and bad. Both 'sides' (whoever they may be) will have their reasons for wanting or not wanting to control population (anti abortionists for one, corporations, military, all need cheep labor). And of course this country during the colonial years had plenty of children (many women paid with their lives) born in it to help on the farms, but mostly a great percentage of them died in flu/typhoid epidemics, which is why there were also slaves and indentured servants - of which my great grandfather was one. We forget that life is always very hard....if you aren't a part of the monied elite. If anyone still thinks there isn't a difference in the problems of the rich and the poor, think about it this way....would you pick for reincarnational purposes of karma :being a black mother in the Sudan, feeding your dying children boiled leaves and grasses, or a rich GOP white male corporate CEO eating strawberries and cream from a silver dish?

Exit strategy: Civil war

The plan is an exact replica of an extreme right-wing Israeli plan to balkanize Iraq - an essential part of the balkanization of the whole Middle East

By Pepe Escobar

Against all odds, a national liberation front is emerging in Iraq. Washington hawks may see it coming, but they certainly don't want it. Many groups in this front have already met in Algiers. The front is opposed to the American occupation and permanent Pentagon military bases; opposed to the privatization and corporate looting of the Iraqi economy; and opposed to the federation of Iraq, ie balkanization.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9099.htm

Lori....black humor is always about a form of truth...I was doing both. A sort of cosmic black humor!

Lori...and black humor explanation about famine...all it would take is one big new Krakatoa....ash in the atmosphere....dimmed light....no crops. Storage of grain would last a while...but then, what if the genetically modified crops which Monsanto has been pushing suddenly fail? The corporate food producers have made it illegal to grow crops form harvested seed....they have pushed out variety in corn, wheat, etc, and made it dangerously 'mono' culture...because that is what sells. What if a virus invades those crops and kills ALL of them off, like Dutch Elm trees got killed off a century ago...although no one was EATING them...I am sure everyone on this board could think up scenarios based on our current circumstances.

And also, WV pointed out to me that Sharon's original post was in reply to him about the article in Haaretz on the Jews moving to India and marrying Muslims...which I was NOT replying to...only about having huge families.

Well what do you expect, Uranus conj. my Mercury....I go off unexpectedly on tangents!

http://www.birdersunited.com/latest.htm#minnesota

I apologize if I've offended anyone by not having the time to read this increasingly length post. Having not had the time to read the posts and the many links, the conversation did seem strange.

So shoot me!

Oops. Meant to write "thread" and not "post" in that first sentence.

Sorry.

Hey....the brouhaha on capital hill is rally fun stuff....Bedlam in the Capital!!! Time to wipe those nice smiles off the faces of the Dems and let some 'real' show thru.

And famines, part deux...

Irish Potato Famine...1847-49 ....remember that one? all because it was a one crop country. And because the English refused to help....the Irish, after all, were vermin,
Killed millions of the vermin!!!

Sort of like how we (Bush) are treating starving black people.

Ban! Bang!

Whoops...didn't have time to write the 'g' on my Bang...

Jonathan ..... you didn't offend me...although I am not 'everyone'....

If you try harder, you might be able to.

Well, as Pat QOP pointed out to me, irony and humor often don't come across well without the body language...!

No, no, Jonathan, no one will shoot you. I was simply curious about your description. (to tell the truth, I missed the thing about Jews moving to India and marrying Muslims! Just saw later posts)

Judi Gem, you are just on fire. Your mind is freaking me out right now, there's SO much in it! (haha, just teasing you; but truly, as you said, it's VERY active!) Also, I think the seeds Monsanto sells are genetically modified so that the fruits of those seeds will produce STERILE seeds; so the farmers MUST buy more seeds from Monsanto in order to grow more food next year. (Can anyone verify this? Am I right or wrong?) But you're right, too, that they also sell GMO seeds and then sue anyone who grows crops from seeds not bought from them, that have the GM signature in it. Like a farmer in Canada w/in last couple years or so, whose crops were contaminated by drift! Nice. Great racket if you can get it! haha (not)

Meanwhile, Denver Post business section reports today that the # of millionaires worldwide has increased to 8.3 million people. Out of a world population of 6 billion (that's correct, isn't it? I really apologize for being such a slacker when it comes to verifying facts. I'm no journalist! haha, no wait! maybe I am! hahaha!)
That's .0014% of the world population. AND they control 25% of the world's resources! NICE! Another great racket if you can get it...

Judi Gem, no thanks, I don't care for the Sudanese mother NOR the white crosstian Rethug. Guess I'll just stick with my own working-class background self and see what happens.

Meanwhile,

Today with tr Mars on the Malefic fixed star Sheat (29 Pisces) squaring tr Mercury the Sheat hit the fan in Congress and Rep Sensenbrenner acted with total tyrant behavior the Rethugs are good at. But with that Mars to Mercury it was all caught on C-Span and it is gonna be all over the place if we are smart and spread the word about Sesenbrenner's illegal actions. I believe the Rep opened the doors to hell for himself and his party. Randi Rhodes was all over this story today. Anyone else listen to her? She had on Sheila Jackson Lee and Gerald Nadler who
Sesenbrenner dismissed.

We all need to stay in the NOW!

Pat C,
Re: High speed cable monoply..............
I have had a problem with Verizon. They falsly sold me a long distance plan a year ago. It was supposed to be 54.99 total, including call waiting caller ID, &. conference calling. I checked on it the first few months & it worked fine.........
But then they added the basic cost on top of that, while I was away for a month getting my son and again having to go to Fla. for my Stepfather's memorial service. By Dec. they had blocked my long distance service, even to the point of not allowing collect calls to my daughter! The PUC in the state told me I had other choices, & I was waiting to see who would get MCI.............then made a payment plan, with Verizon. ( I don't think it has been resolved yet about Quest or Ver. buying out MCI. I got Working Assets for my long distance calls & they have been great............but Verizon blocked my line again, including calling W A & cancelling my service!!!!!!, when my son got pneumonia and I was late with all payments. At that point I just said "screw em" I'll pay when i can, & am using a phone card .
Thius week I actually received a letter from them
"Dear VALUED CUSTOMER" & trying to sell me the same bogus plan all over again.
By contrast....the local Internet Provider, owned by the computer teacher at the local middle school, turned me off yesterday, I called and said "I'll put a check in the mail" so they turned it right back on!!!!!!
There aren't enough hours in the day to keep up with everything, especially since it seems I have to do the work of other people as well as my own! The dish TV people who wrote up the order wrong ( 1 hour of my time!) The hospital billing office who billed me for 8 months after my insurance co had already paid! ( 1 hour per month) They are making us all crazy & have to GO!
But it was a good day......I think I have interested the Children's Discovery Museum in Bangor in carrying my Down East through 2 centuries, Paper doll book in their gift shop. They might like a Native American and a Downeast boy too.
PQ

Lori....it seems to come and go with all of us...times we are up, times we are down, times we are on fire....all aspects that are happening. As Bhakti has pointed out, the aspect for the sheat (LOL) hitting de fan has taken place, and the party may start rolling...perhaps 'my mind being on fire' is only a reflection of this thing going on with everyone. Hopefully it will have a life of its own....

(No)sensenbrenner has apparently pulled this before....hope he is knocked out by his own microphone.

Oh Gee the other part of the story was.........VERIZON came to wire up the library for DSL the other day!
We have had free service until 1999 because of an overcharge in the state.
PQ

Fasten your seat belts, strap on your helmets and get ready for Mars going into Aries!

Or saddle your stallion, whichever you prefer.

Pat QOP, yup, it is now the corpratocracy instead of bureaucracy spinning and spinning. It's not my cup of tea.

Regarding your artwork, that's such good news for you! Congratulations Pat. I hope to see your paperdolls in stores. I use to love paperdolls.

jm, how do you see it playing out?

Pat Q....I noticed the other day that SBC had sent out notices that if you are in a certain income level, you could get 20% off your bill...and I wondered if you qualify for low income plan?

I get my long distance with SBC..unlimited callling , for $20/mo. I am sure they checked my records before giving it to me...LOL...I don't call THAT much to anyone. I realize you have to deal with what is available in Maine, but it seems to me there must be some Fed regulation about low inoome users.

I am wondering: does anyone else feel this energy? Like an out of control escalator to hell? LOL...one can only hope the conthugs feel that way also.

Well, every time Aries gets kicked off, I get a blast of energy and enthusiasm. A BIG one. For me there is also a great joy with a hard edge of determination and relentless tension. Muscles get taut and heat rises. With Aries, I get the feeling that it all really can happen. And that we can get what we want. Whether we do or not, doesn't matter. It's the initial thrust that Aries brings. And hope. Confidence. Bravery. Urgency. Belief in capability.
Undauntedness. (At it's best).

I always think of seed germinating. It has always astounded me how one could crack the earth seeking light. That's the king of force I associate with Aries. The more we harness and direct the force, the more we can realize our potential. I also think of the rams when they butt heads and the sound is so magnificent you can hear it all across the valleys and plains.

I think the Aries energy is particularly strong now because of that last powerful eclipse, the Mercury retrograde, and the North Node in Aries. With Jupiter in Libra and The South Node we have the classic me or you, us or them battle. Because of the NN, I feel it is time for a victorious self. That means autonomy. I am my own boss. I make my own decisions. I direct my own life. I think we will be thinking about this, and hopefully seeing a glimmer of light through this blanket of oppression.

It will also square the last of Saturn in Cancer, so it might bring us the courage to think about stepping out from the safety of the womb, and into the adventure of life with joyous anticipation. Especially with Saturn in Leo next, trining Pluto. We are supposed to be more adult now (LOL) that Saturn has matured us a bit.

The Mars will trine Pluto which could mean some inspiration.

Of course, we could very well be quarreling, But hopefully not drawing blood, since that is already happening.
I think the Iran fantasy war is an issue. The people do not want it. Will we prevail?

Any one have any ideas? Mars will also be going retrograde soon, so there is a lot happening.

I only feel an undercurrent of....agitation? Not good nor bad, just there (and I suppose it could manifest in any way!) But then, transiting Jupiter is w/in 1 deg of opposing my moon, then will conjunct my sun, while Pluto retros to my asc and will trine Uranus after going direct again. I've been noticing me being more, uh, mouthy and fearless relative to how I was in the past. I'm not good at separating current energies from my personal transits, and my chart is such that there's almost always something going on for me that way.

It's fascinating how we all experience the same thing in a unique way.
Since everything in fire kicks off my huge grand fire trine, I tend to get a little enthusiastic.

Great post, Jase. Embrace the shadow.

Travieso Shiela Jackson Lee is one of my favorite creatures too. I want her at the front of my wagon train.

There is quite a dramatic recording on C-Span tonight at 8:15 and 11:23 EST. Zogby and Conyers, Sheila Jackson Lee and friends v.s. Sensenbrenner (sp?) (R-WI) on GITMO.

Tempers were flaring all around me this week. The planets are scorching.

JM, Lori...I have Mars at 8 Aries, and Jupiter has been in opposition. Now with the 'go ahead' motion, looks like I am feeling it. But this is, for me, an on again off again thing every month - two weeks ago I did't even have enough energy to post.....and since you have said or someone said that Mercury moved into Aries, it makes sense that I am now on fire....but Sheat! must have had its influence also. For me Tr. Uranus is now conjuncting the midpoint between Uranus Natal and Sun/Saturn Natal. 8th house.....

The facade of civility from Dems MUST crack soon...because it is only a facade......

The wind is blowing again here, and the fog is in...it is a San Francisco spring....winter!

off topic again, but I just went and re-registered for the Zogby poll research project...will be doing polls when they have them up. It was fun in the past...

I remember John Zogby confidently saying that Kerry would win, as all the poll data showed that result. He did it on the Daily Show.

I think that is even more evidence that the Diebold affect was in effect.

Judi, I have Mars in Libra and I am totally on and off. Probably the Jupiter in Libra for you is contributing to that see saw since Libra does that to maintain balance. When the energy goes, I take a nap, when it comes, I try with all my might to stay out of trouble.

One thing I was thinking, the Downing Street petition is being delivered with this Mars entrance. Some potential there. I've stopped looking at hoped for outcomes with each event since I think an accumulation of a million small efforts will do the trick.

I've been disappointed in dKos on a number of issues in the past months --- actually since the election in November. Later, I felt it was moving too far to the center... goodness knows it has not been anti-war, probably because of Markos' time in the service. Now there is a HOT thread over at Liberal Street Fighter about not only what's going on at dKos but with the Democratic Party period. Here's the link if you're interested.

http://liberalstreetfighter.com/ee/index.php?/trifecta/comments/push_push_in_the_bush_not_about_george/

Now that I've had dinner and my brain is working again.........
Some observations of the day.
A. Howard Dean was right. Rich Reppugs never worked a day in their lives.
The American Express Financial Investment Company was closed ( Fri. afternoon )
B. The lovely, kind, little man in the bell bottomed jeans who has chosen to work for the state legal aid agency, at a probable low salary, was slaving away in his office with an inadequate airconditioner rumming, trying to manifest a refund to me from the IRS. ( He had a bumper sticker on his office wall "Don't blame me I voted with the majority")
C. The people over at the Children's Museum were working very hard!
D. If the rest of us starve...who will harvest the crops so the millianaires can eat????????????????

And sheat is right! My Jupiter is 28 pices!
After I left for Bangor at 7:30 am, the Dr, called Eric and would have admitted him to the hospital in Bangor, IF I HAD BEEN HOME TO DRIVE HIM THERE! In fact my workshop was about 3 blocks from the hospital! What a nightmare!
Now he is going to try to grim it out 'till weds.
Bumble Bee Tuna let him go from his job, ( possible Osha problem with that cleaning fluid????)
And the supervisor at the workshop, upon hearing the story, handed me a card with his trusted lawyer friend's number, and urged me to follow up!
Judi Gemini,
I have frequently had my irony and humor, taken at face value...while standing with someone who can see boith body language and facial exp-ressions!!!!
One last thing. Who reads the posts under the articles on Smirking Chimp?? They're very smart, but tend to be cynical and negative. I'm going to try to encourage them to lend positive thought to changing things.
PQ

That's right JM, like wolves nipping at the body of some large beast and finally bringing it down. From all sides, so that the large beast doesn't know what flank to defend...

Judi Gemini, you go girl. I really respect your activism. Actually, I really respect all the activism and participation of all on this site.

Wonder what Sensenbrenner's astrological data is?
And Sheila Jackson Lee? Will research.

Bhakti, Amen brother!

John Conyers and Deep Throat

Deep Throat was the anonymous source who helped Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein break the Watergate story. For the past 30 years the identity and in some cases the very existence of Deep Throat has been called into question until Mark Felt recently revealed himself to be the mystery man.

There have been many opportunities for eager reporters to bring down the current White House occupant, but no one in the corporate media seems to want the job. At the end of 2000 Greg Palast, an American reporter working for the British press, revealed that Florida Governor Jeb Bush had removed thousands of eligible voters, most of them black, from the voter registration rolls, thereby stealing the state for his brother George W.

~snip~

Bob Woodward is now managing editor at the Washington Post. While he cut his teeth on the dethronement of a criminal presidency, he is now in bed with another criminal presidency. Woodward wrote Bush at War with the full cooperation of the Bush White House. Trusted by Bush, Cheney, Rove and company, Woodward now perfectly fits the definition of a compromised journalist.

http://blackcommentator.com/141/141_freedom_rider_deep_throat.html

The Scourge of Militarism: Rome and America
By Chalmers Johnson
Friday 10 June 2005

The collapse of the Roman republic in 27 BC has significance today for the United States, which took many of its key political principles from its ancient predecessor. Separation of powers, checks and balances, government in accordance with constitutional law, a toleration of slavery, fixed terms in office, all these ideas were influenced by Roman precedents. John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams often read the great Roman political philosopher Cicero and spoke of him as an inspiration to them.

Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, authors of the Federalist Papers, writing in favor of ratification of the Constitution signed their articles with the name Publius Valerius Publicola, the first consul of the Roman republic.

The Roman republic, however, failed to adjust to the unintended consequences of its imperialism, leading to a drastic alteration in its form of government. The militarism that inescapably accompanied Rome's imperial projects slowly undermined its constitution as well as the very considerable political and human rights its citizens enjoyed. The American republic, of course, has not yet collapsed; it is just under considerable strain as the imperial presidency - and its supporting military legions - undermine Congress and the courts.

However, the Roman outcome - turning over power to an autocracy backed by military force and welcomed by ordinary citizens because it seemed to bring stability - suggests what might happen in the years after Bush and his neoconservatives are thrown out of office.

Obviously, there is nothing deterministic about this progression, and many prominent Romans, notably Brutus and Cicero, paid with their lives trying to head it off. But there is something utterly logical about it.

Republican checks and balances are simply incompatible with the maintenance of a large empire and a huge standing army. Democratic nations sometimes acquire empires, which they are reluctant to give up because they are a source of wealth and national pride, but as a result their domestic liberties are thereby put at risk.

These not-particularly-original comparisons are inspired by the current situation of the United States, with its empire of well over 725 military bases located in other people's countries; its huge and expensive military establishment demanding ever more pay and ever larger appropriations from a supine and manipulated legislature; unsolved anthrax attacks on senators and newsmen (much like Rome's perennial assassinations); Congress's gutting of the Bill of Rights through the panicky passage of the Patriot Act - by votes of 76-1 in the Senate and 337 to 79 in the House; and numerous signs that the public is indifferent to what it is about to lose.

Many current aspects of our American government suggest a Roman-like fatigue with republican proprieties. After Congress voted in October 2002 to give the president unrestricted power to use any means, including military force and nuclear weapons, in a preventive strike against Iraq whenever he - and he alone - deemed it "appropriate," it would be hard to argue that the constitution of 1787 was still the supreme law of the land. ... more of course..

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/061005M.shtml

Pat QOP

Whenever you are trying to get an explanation
or something fixed, speak to a Supervisor, get
his/her name, write down what they say as back up
or record conversation if possible.
NEVER talk to a person who can't say 'YES".

Joanna -

You sounded a little blue in your post above.
Remember, we are Spiritual Beings on a Human
Journey. So the only obligation you have is to
yourself.
Don't let the buggars get to you. SCROOM!
Follow your own path.

I checked the emphemeris & it looks to me that Mars in retrograde at approx. 23 Taurus at the end of Sept. I didn't see Mars going retro in Aries, JM. I could have missed themthing, though.

No, Sharon. You didn't miss anything. I didn't specify. To me, September is soon. Right on the heels of the Aries transit.

Sensenbrenner: 6/14/43, Chicago, Ill. Noon time chart. 13 Virgo rising. Neptune at 29 Virgo! Big t sqr today between transiting Mercury, Transiting Mars and his natal Neptune.

Natal Venus/Pluto conjunct at 5 and 7 Leo and about to be hit by transiting Saturn. Transiting Neptune is now transiting his So. Node and Vx at 17 and 19 Aquarius.

Natal Sun/Saturn conj. in now being squared by transiting Pluto. And transiting Saturn in Cancer is now sitting on top of his natal Jupiter at 26 Cancer . The Jupiter is strong there, but I'm not sure it will withstand Saturn.

One thing for sure, he eats too much. That's not in the chart. That's just what the camera reveals.

Soooo many sanctimonious old farts running around wheezing flatulance (sp?). Must be hard to sit in Congress these if you have asthma.

Whoops! Transiting Pluto now OPPOSED to his natal Sun/Saturn conjunction.

LOL, Beasley. Remind me not to go in there after their lunch break.

OMG, SENSENBRENNER is a week younger than I am....Newt Gingrich is about 3 days after Sensless....and Ollie North is a week ahead of me...what a nest of vipers I have been surrounded by.....oooohhhh...I hope that doesn't mean anything!

OMG part II...PatQ...I didn't kow what you meant by the post on American Express....wouldn't you know the last stuff I have held in an IRA is 4 mutual funds with THEM....you've inadvertently (or vertently) awakened me to further fiancial bad news! But I'll be selling those next week.....I just searched and saw they're in trouble in New Hampshire...

I was just looking at the 2 charts on the AW front page for Repubs and Dems....and thought, hmmm...there is this feeling of fraud in business dealings in that chart! sure nough.

Jo...when's your birthday? thanks for the liberalstreetfighter web site..dKos was often so ..... well, what you said works for me...

Nest of vipers?

Not to worry. They're probably choking on the last bat they ate.

I'm thinking of making a movie after my novels are done:

Homo Erictus meets the 400 Lb. Viper

Thank you for your concern, wv... Blessed Be.

See what you all think of this site... a good one.

http://unitedforpeace.org

I've gotten so much from this site since November 2004 when I discovered it! It's my home base in cyberspace - where I connect with the world.

I do, however, branch out (a great many times through the links provided here), and have just happened onto a page that gives a bright ray of hope in these sometimes dim times. So I'd like to share it with all of you....

http://home.nyc.rr.com/twolostmoons/our_new_direction.htm

Hope this isn't too long :)

OUR NEW DIRECTION

An overview of the dramatic changes to world civilization, by Tony Wicks

INTRODUCTION

As incredible as it may seem to many people, humanity on Earth is in the process of an evolutionary change in how we experience life. We are to become a galactic civilisation, interacting positively with the many star system civilisations in our galaxy and universe, and indeed other universes. It is our true destiny to change from a society based on fear and competition, to one based on love, peace, and harmony. The current chaos is merely part of the quickening change.

We live in an invisible universe (often referred to as spiritual realms, or Heaven) as well as the visible universe which is the only part most people believe exists. The real truth has been hidden from us so we would eventually remember and discover who we really are, great immortal beings of universal knowledge and wisdom, closely connected to our physical brothers and sisters in space, and those in the spiritual realms. Unfortunately many governments, religions, and philosophies have been manipulated to keep much of the truth from us so others could retain power and control. The past retaliation to so-called terrorist attacks in the USA (September 11, 2001) and other places around the globe, will, in time, be shown to be some of the final attempts to keep us under control. However, it is time for a great change to be experienced by world populations, who mainly want peace, despite what is presented to us by a manipulated mass media.

Many people feel “something is about to happen”, but because much of the current change is in the invisible universe, before manifesting in the visible universe, it is difficult to comprehend at first. We have actually been part of a grand “experiment”, having agreed at a higher level of understanding to be here in these exciting “end times”, the end of one civilisation, and the beginning of a new one, known as the Seventh Golden Age, that we will co-create.

more.......

Judi,

bd is 13th

Okay, I just saw a clip of the Sessneberger tirade. Oh my God!!! This is true fascism, no denying it!!!

On weekend nights I work pedicabs downtown(taxi people around town in bikes with a carriage in the back). Anyway, some tourist were bitchin' about The "liberals" in Austin.

So when I stopped at their hotel and they got out I said,"When you finally gain total control of my government, please don't torture me like you do the muslims in Abu Graib, just shot me."

"I wish you no ill will," said the young guy.
"No, but you vote for people who do...so they can do it for you," I said.

Well that shut them up. These conservatives think they own this country and think that they can strutt their sh** around. Well, Helen Reddy had it right "I am strong, I am invincible....I'm not woman but you get the idea.

Anyway, the other cabbies were giving me "high fives" and laughin'. Hey if no one else is going to put these people in their place, I will!!!

“A journalist,” observed George Bernard Shaw, “is someone who cannot distinguish between a bicycle accident and the end of civilization.”

Wondeful posts here. Thank you all.

Here is the vidio of Chairman silencing Democrats at a hearing on the Patriot Act by cutting the microphones.

http://tinyurl.com/d5qwo

Beasly,
I'm a sister btw.
Thanks for the Senseless info. Asteroid Achilles 588 is currently transiting at 29 Sag which would fill out the T-square into a Grand Cross. He was certainly cross. And hopefully that achilles heel went up his bum into his big mouth. Forever.

Does anyone in LA have the time to protest against * in front of the CM at the Michael Jackson trial? It's where all the TV cameras are. Some genius at DU thought this up. Great idea.
We missed doing that for the circus in FL with Shavio. Where is Brad Pittjolina now? Oooo, Russell Crowe was arrested here in NYC. Missed that opportunity, drat.

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/4415.html

There was a point, in the late 1990s, when conservatives would frequently whine about "scandal fatigue." Every time they picked up the paper, they'd say, there'd be another controversy surrounding Clinton's White House. They insisted it was time to elect a Republican to help give the country a break after years of constant outrages.

Most of these so-called scandals were utterly void of any substance. Whitewater was meaningless, while investigations into Travelgate and Filegate were pointless. Nevertheless, by way of comparison, I'd like to point out what we've learned about the Bush White House — not since January 2001, but from just this week.

The Bush White House let a former lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute re-write a government report on global warming, editing out scientific conclusions he didn't like.

Bush's Interior Department offered to overpay a wealthy Republican donor for oil and gas rights on Everglades land that the government apparently already owns, overruling the advice of career officials.

More...

links within

From the same site...

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/

Shocking! Stunning! New poll shows Americans like religion
Posted 9:03 am | Printer Friendly
Guest Post by Morbo

A poll released last week revealed, once again, that Americans like religion.

In results that surprised absolutely no one, a solid majority of Americans told pollsters they consider faith important. Another key finding, that people in Western Europe are less religious than Americans, also restated the obvious.

The poll, conducted by the Associated Press and a Canadian polling group called Ipsos, surveyed attitudes toward religion in 10 countries. Several U.S. media outlets breathlessly reported the results as if they were somehow surprising. One headline I saw read, "AP Poll: Religion Key in American Lives." What's next: "Sun Rises in East"?

The AP seemed to think it was news that 39 percent of Americans believe religious leaders should try to influence elected officials. The AP noted that this figure is "notably higher than in other countries."

But this is not news. Polls always show that Americans are more religious than the residents of other Western nations and more likely to tolerate religious groups meddling in politics. What is news is that 61 percent of Americans say religious leaders should not try to influence elected officials. This is news for two reasons: one, the number has increased over the years and two, the finding undercuts the common Religious Right claim that Americans want more intervention in their lives from conservative clerics.

read more »

Judi G,
Re: American Express financial consultants. Sorry I wasn't more clear. On the Main Street in downtown Bangor on a Fri. afternoon,EVERYONE WAS BUSY WORKING.......running lunchonets, antique shops, window and wall treatments shops, Kids museum, legal help to the poor, etc......................................
But the establishment ( very elegantly decorated...) that makes investments for the wealthy was CLOSED! ( I should say dormant because there was a man there, looking bored, who didn't know where the legal aid office was
( different worlds!) Their clientel is all off boating or golfing for a long weeekend! I don't think it was a sign of difficulty with the business.
By contrast...........as a child...I remember that ALL the shops in my hometown ( 99% small businesses) closed down on Weds. afternoon. They could earn enough money in 4 1/2 days 9-5 to afford everyone a 1./2 day off in the middle of the week, to live relax whatever!
Travieso...
Good for you!!!!!!! I hope they GOT it! We all need to take a lesson from Howard Dean!
I was also appalled and sickened, by the NEW Repug headquarters ( "Taking back our country! " a precinct, a town , a county, at a time.) It's on the most heavily traveled intersection in this area!! We voted heavily for Kerry here!
They are out for blood!
PQ

bhakti,

Ooooo. I hadn't thought of asteroids. That's really interesting. The problem for me is that these neocons always seem to get noncoverage. They may be suffering, but we don't hear about it, and they consider themselves above all laws.

Frightening...

Serpents in the Garden

http://www.rense.com/general66/serp.htm

Travieso....Bravo for speaking up!

When confronted with those kinds of remarks, I have a hard time saying anything coherent - writing I can, but finding my tongue is more difficult, so I will remember that line you used about voting for people who will do their dirty work!

The most painful thing I continually endure are the remarks of my friend who started the charity which I have worked for for free for 20 years, a woman who has bought and sold homes for me in the past, who said to me at lunch 2 days ago 'those damn democrats are ruining everything"...one of her sons is a democrat, also! The poor one who works in the child welfare system and adopts hispanic crack babies (3). Not her son who is a developer who works for a huge conglomerate (and on the Complete Home Make Over show as a contractor) and lives in a huge house and belongs to the golf club.

QOP and Judi, thanks for the kudos. Judi, I'm hoping that most americans are getting tired of the Busheviks. It looks like the polls are reallly bad for them.

Keep it up Judi!!!

WV...serpents in the garden... "extra-constitutional continuity-of-government," ....it is starting to be quite clear what I have feared from an unconscious level. And why, from 9/11 on, I knew 'our' people were involved.

My comment about the vipers seems closer to the truth...and I only meant that those men had been born the same timeframe and year as I was.

Pat C....the scandel fatigue...great post...it is the enduring principal that those who accuse others of some crime are in fact doing the same themselves.

Pat C.....thanks for the video link to the hearings, didn't have time to watch all of it, but slid the slider to the last 1/3 of the hearing and found I had landed on Sheila Jackson Lee and viewed Senselessburger having his snit....OMG....OMG....is all I can say.....that happened about 10:20 am when it was gaveled down....certainly there must be a chart erected for that time....I am sending the video to everyone.

I was working in Washington when Reagan came to Office. I was invited to a luncheon at the DOE that was a platform to present Reagan's new policy to shrink the size of the Federal government. A very jovial man introduced himself to the audience of primarily lawyers as a representative of Shell Oil. He informed us that the administration's new policy for fuel distribution during a time of emergency would change from the job of the Army to that of private industry. In other words Shell Oil et al. The jovial representative was unmoved by the objections from the energy lawyers in the room. The policy was changed.

On another occasion I attended a hearing for the new finance exec for the Reagan administration. He was kind enough to openly announce that all the public support programs were going to be drastically cut. When one of the Democratic Senators, shocked, told him "You can't do that, we'll have people rioting in the streets!". The new finance exec replied, "We'll just declare Marshall Law.".

Judi gemini, yes. That's exactly the tactic they have been using all along.

Charity begins at home.

The rule learned along the way : the cheaper you charge the more the client wants. Stop being a victim and stop working for those who vicitimize. Better things will come along when closing doors.

BTW $100 a 45 min-1hr session is my rock bottom price. I earn sometime 10x that and I'm taken for lunch too! I see it as cosmic paypack for all the hard work done gratis when I was paying my dues. Money comes in when it equals the value felt within. I am no spendthrift and live a very simplistic life rich in art, beauty, good company (AW!!), and peace of mind. Content with what I own and it pares down all the time as the inner fills up. The money is a mirror-magnet to self-effort done in alignment with intention. The two wings of the bird.

After 911 all kinds of asshats called playing me with the chartiy card. I told them if they could afford cheap, tacky 911 souveniers sold on Fulton St then they certainly can find the money for a class act. They found the money alright and offered me more than I asked for!!

Thanks judi, for spreading the info. I keep thinking I can't be shocked, but I'm wrong. Somehow I just don't get use to it.

Some of the posts upthread mentioned the aspects Senselessbrenner had, but I can say the Moon entered Leo and Mercury square Mars .

Mars is going to go retrograde (23 Taurus) on the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction (of May 2000, 22 Taurus) Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions (called the Grand Chronocrators by the ancients,) happens every 20 years and sets a 20 year tone to the world. This is the last Jupiter/Saturn conj. in an earth sign for 200 years. The earth series began in Virgo in 1801, slipped back into Fire in 1821, another slip into Air in 1980. This Jupiter/Saturn cycle is "The Great Mutation" being the last conjunction in earth for 200 years, we are witnessing the end to a social and political period, resulting in literally a World Wide choas which will give way to a new birth when Jupiter/Saturn begans its 200 year progress into Aquarius and Air signs. It is truly an epochal period of time.

Read all you can find on the negative of Earth Signs because that is often what you see revealed when coming to the end of anything. Think of an end to a job or marriage or even a natural end to a life, don't you often see the worst of the relationship or the worst of a body (as prior to death) We are witnessing the culmination of the worst of the human race right now. Greed, selfishness, cruelty, abject poverty, dismissing science, etc. The last time the Grand Conjunction was in Taurus was 1940 moving into Capricorn early in 1961.

Now before Taureans reading this go off in spasms of defensiveness, remember we all have Taurus somewhere in our charts, and I am speaking of the "collective" in the world, not of the individual and in astrology, the teeming masses are more inclined to exhibit the worst and not the best. My assumption would be that before the next conjunction in 2020 a world wide dialogue will start to take place and we move toward more humanitarian and global ideals.

The world will not be going back, we will be moving forward to our next "collective" experience. Keep moving toward the positive because there will be positive again. These are exciting times with the end of the earth signs, the Venus Eclipse (Transit) Taurus ruled by Venus, the feminine within us all will rise, and we get to watch people like Sensenbrenner make fools of themselves. (the conservatives, in their minds, get to watch Howard Dean) One way or the other there will be enough "fools" for everyone to enjoy.

Here is what Maya DelMar says about Monday.

"This is a big day, and moon in Virgo helps us to pay attention. Sun opposes Pluto today to mark the midpoint of a power cycle which began last December 13. At the same time, Moon opposes Uranus to open Pandora’s box. Both Sun and Moon opposing outer planets indicate a feeling of entitlement, a kind of lawlessness. At the same time, Uranus, the planet of surprises, is powerfully stationery-retrograde in the heavens.

The Sun-Pluto conjunction which is culminating now began December 13, the day the U.S. Electors voted. This followed the Sagittarius New Moon which was opposite the current Gemini New Moon. Oppositions means illumination.

Many crucial events occurred then, and during the following few days. A few examples are:

The U.S. military “played” war games in China simulating an invasion of Iran,
Congress passed the legislation to start the “Real ID” process by requiring that states surrender drivers’ license and birth data rights to the federal government,
Bush signed a huge intelligence overhaul which set in place militarized states,
Step-ups in the violence in Iraq, Palestine, Haiti, in U.S. prison torture, and in the spread of GM food,
Bill Moyers was fired from his PBS program because the U.S. accused him of being too “left-wing.” There was much more. We are halfway through that cycle today.
Don’t make yourself a target today. Watch out for wilfullness and unkindness in yourself. Conscious consideration is the key phrase. Cooperation in an important endeavor can work. And be prepared for surprises."

Re: Senslessburger chart....I ran a chart for the CSPAN time of 10:20 AM when Senseless finished his speech and walked off! Blew my mind (he is a week younger than I am, so I am familiar with the planetary placements) to see that the rising sign of the Gavel Down chart was exactly 17 Leo...which is 'our' NORTH NODE for that time period in 1943...he was, apparently, right where he was supposed to be...doing what he did at THAT MOMENT (and what will that MEAN?)....and the T.Moon was at 00Leo49....(my N.MC/VENUS)...and the NORTH NODE of the gavel down chart is in the 9th house of government! With Saturn/Moon - and the moon is associated with the public,-conjunct in the 12th house, this is just an amazing revelation...I am hoping it is alsof a new breakthru)....

I should add to the NorthNode placement above that Neptune is conjuncting the south node of the natal nodes for Senseless (and me); it is conj. the 7th house cusp of the gavel down chart....the house of the 'partner'.....deception? spiritual truths? OIL...? looks like the Dems at the hearing are the 7th house .....

Wow judi. Wow.

It looks like Monday and Tuesday are real humdingers. Here is a bit from Daykeppers Journal for Tuesday.

"We are experiencing this vibrational shift which might distort our reactions. Especially noticeable is the release of our assertive energy. Today it picks up the healing—but often disruptive—energy of Chiron.

Juno in Taurus is important today. Juno is the good wife. She is associated with both partnership and victimhood. (When we give our power away to a partner, we open ourselves to abuse.) New awarenesses of abuse may arise now. The usual obstacle, fear of diminishing security, may prevent action to counter it. However, with courage to declare independence, healing is possible now.

Basically, the dictum of this moon phase is to move into truth as you see it. Remember that “the truth shall set you free.”

The degree of this Moon corresponds with Benetnash, the last star in the Great Bear (aka Big Dipper). This fixed star is known to have a destructive influence. Its name means “hired mourners,” and experience has shown that under its influence many human lives are to be mourned. Calamities caused by weather, catastrophes, or accidents are commonly associated with Benetnash. This quarter moon itself certainly has the potential for any or all of those possibilities.

Furthermore, in the chart set for Washington DC, this Moon is in the 8th house of crisis, of birth and death. In the U.S. chart it is in the 3rd house of short travel, and opposes Neptune in the 9th house of long-distance travel."

Have any of the wonderful astrologers done a chart on Conyers hearing coming up this week?

I am going off to my Iyengar yoga class (my teacher is his student) and this is about core strenghening and small shifts to realign the body....perhaps that is what we need in this country from our side.

I remember that one of the things I heard from Karl Pribram (he was on the board of a communications workshope program I was in) back in the 1980's (he was one of the men who mapped the human brain) was that the yogis 2500 years ago had said essentially what he and others discovered later...the brain is a holograph...(the internet is our current brain) and each of us is looking at the 360 degree globe projection from one degree - our own. When you add it all together, you get the projection of the group mind. We HAVE to be awake to see the projection!!!!!! Yeh! to the yogis....they knew this 2.5 millenia ago....and despite the ubiquitousness of the internet, only a small portion of the world is seeing the projection....all the more reason to be involved on many levels in what gets projected! Looks like Neptune is activating the nodes of those in middle Leo!

No, Pat C., not yet, but they will; trust me they will. I can't wait.

Pat C....thanks for this:
Don’t make yourself a target today. Watch out for wilfullness and unkindness in yourself. Conscious consideration is the key phrase. Cooperation in an important endeavor can work. And be prepared for surprises."

I mean it....I am often the one to stand up and get shot down ....happened in all my jobs. A psychic once said that I led my men into battle and was the first to go....so I am working (and today to help my repub friend I posted about upthread) for the benefit of people who cannot help themselves...I'm co operatin, I'm co operating! Will put my attitudes aside for now....

If Howard Dean speaks for you please sign this petition

http://www.petitiononline.com/Dean/petition.html

Also, if you click on the action alert at the top of Kos' page today, you go to a piece where Feinstein and Biden are called Vichy Democrats. I think that is an absolutely perfect appelation for dems of their ilk.

Me too Beasley.

Man, I hope those numbers jump on the Dean petition.

Yes judi, I want to remember that too.

http://home.nyc.rr.com/twolostmoons/our_new_direction.htm

I thought that this, fantastic as it sounds, is so interesting. There are elements in it that really resonate for me. It combines bits and pieces of what I have read about for so long, as well as my own instinct that the earth will only unite when we are visited by an ET civilization which will expand us on every level. Regarding NESARA and the forgiveness of all debt, it reminds me that money & fear of lack (a la Sally's post about the negative of Taurus) is the basis of much of our fear (mine anyway). And, as far as all fantastic scenarios presented here, it does seem to coincide with the Mayan prediction (only 7 years away), the Cayce prediction of the earth turning tropical, and, remember that some of what Jules Verne and HG Wells wrote about did come true?

Read it if you haven't and, thanks, Kristi, for posting it.

http://home.nyc.rr.com/twolostmoons/our_new_direction.htm

Interesting how this correlates with the
spreading Christianity...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/print.php?url=/releases/2003/05/030507080958.htm

And Travieso, bravo from me, too. Sounds like you have an interesting job that keeps you in shape. Judi G and Pat C, sounds like you guys have done interesting and important activist work in the past. And, Bhaki, you're a grand role model for being a self-advocate and for having impecable self-esteem.

Gentle
Tread lightly upon this earth, seeing, understanding but never
imposing. Thoughtful, independent, be gracious in victory and defeat. Free of possessiveness, so ease of mind sweetens relationships. Like the scent of a rose the untroubled spirit imparts a lasting fragrance

Thanks Sharon, It's my Mars in Aries in the 5th house. What can I say, I love anything physical....But, it also makes me say outburst that I had the other day.

Do any of you think that this Shiela JAckson Lee/Strenbenner(sp?) even will have play in the major media? I haven't seen anything on CNN or MSNBC.

It just seemed so horrible and so fascist the way that that repug from Wisconsin behaved.

June 10, 2005
Losing Our Country
By PAUL KRUGMAN

Baby boomers like me grew up in a relatively equal society. In the 1960's America was a place in which very few people were extremely wealthy, many blue-collar workers earned wages that placed them comfortably in the middle class, and working families could expect steadily rising living standards and a reasonable degree of economic security.

But as The Times's series on class in America reminds us, that was another country. The middle-class society I grew up in no longer exists.

Working families have seen little if any progress over the past 30 years. Adjusted for inflation, the income of the median family doubled between 1947 and 1973. But it rose only 22 percent from 1973 to 2003, and much of that gain was the result of wives' entering the paid labor force or working longer hours, not rising wages.

Meanwhile, economic security is a thing of the past: year-to-year fluctuations in the incomes of working families are far larger than they were a generation ago. All it takes is a bit of bad luck in employment or health to plunge a family that seems solidly middle-class into poverty.

But the wealthy have done very well indeed. Since 1973 the average income of the top 1 percent of Americans has doubled, and the income of the top 0.1 percent has tripled.

Why is this happening? I'll have more to say on that another day, but for now let me just point out that middle-class America didn't emerge by accident. It was created by what has been called the Great Compression of incomes that took place during World War II, and sustained for a generation by social norms that favored equality, strong labor unions and progressive taxation. Since the 1970's, all of those sustaining forces have lost their power.

Since 1980 in particular, U.S. government policies have consistently favored the wealthy at the expense of working families - and under the current administration, that favoritism has become extreme and relentless. From tax cuts that favor the rich to bankruptcy "reform" that punishes the unlucky, almost every domestic policy seems intended to accelerate our march back to the robber baron era.

It's not a pretty picture - which is why right-wing partisans try so hard to discredit anyone who tries to explain to the public what's going on.

These partisans rely in part on obfuscation: shaping, slicing and selectively presenting data in an attempt to mislead. For example, it's a plain fact that the Bush tax cuts heavily favor the rich, especially those who derive most of their income from inherited wealth. Yet this year's Economic Report of the President, in a bravura demonstration of how to lie with statistics, claimed that the cuts "increased the overall progressivity of the federal tax system."

The partisans also rely in part on scare tactics, insisting that any attempt to limit inequality would undermine economic incentives and reduce all of us to shared misery. That claim ignores the fact of U.S. economic success after World War II. It also ignores the lesson we should have learned from recent corporate scandals: sometimes the prospect of great wealth for those who succeed provides an incentive not for high performance, but for fraud.

Above all, the partisans engage in name-calling. To suggest that sustaining programs like Social Security, which protects working Americans from economic risk, should have priority over tax cuts for the rich is to practice "class warfare." To show concern over the growing inequality is to engage in the "politics of envy."

But the real reasons to worry about the explosion of inequality since the 1970's have nothing to do with envy. The fact is that working families aren't sharing in the economy's growth, and face growing economic insecurity. And there's good reason to believe that a society in which most people can reasonably be considered middle class is a better society - and more likely to be a functioning democracy - than one in which there are great extremes of wealth and poverty.

Reversing the rise in inequality and economic insecurity won't be easy: the middle-class society we have lost emerged only after the country was shaken by depression and war. But we can make a start by calling attention to the politicians who systematically make things worse in catering to their contributors. Never mind that straw man, the politics of envy. Let's try to do something about the politics of greed.

E-mail: krugman@nytimes.com

Ah Krugman. He is a treasure.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=584&e=2&u=/nm/20050611/pl_nm/dean_dc

Democratic leaders back Dean, don't want 'wimp'

Democratic National Committee leaders embraced feisty party boss Howard Dean on Saturday and urged him to keep fighting despite a flap over his blunt comments on Republicans.

After a meeting of the DNC's 40-member executive committee at a downtown hotel, members said Dean was doing exactly what they elected him to do -- build the party in all states and aggressively challenge Republicans.

"I hope Governor Dean will remember that he didn't get elected to be a wimp," said DNC member Gilda Cobb-Hunter, a South Carolina state representative. "We have been waiting a long time for someone to stand up for Democrats."

Dean took fire from Republicans and some Democrats earlier this week for a series of recent comments, including calling Republicans "pretty much a white, Christian party" and saying they "never made an honest living in their lives."

Some Democrats in Washington, including party congressional leaders and several potential 2008 White House candidates, distanced themselves from Dean's comments and called them mistakes.

But in a series of interviews DNC members backed the former Vermont governor, known for his fiery rhetoric during his failed 2004 White House run, and said they knew what they were getting when they elected him in February as chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

"Howard Dean is going to be much more aggressive, much more outspoken and much more of a risk-taker outside the Beltway than any chairman has been. We knew that," said Alvaro Cifuentes, chairman of the DNC Hispanic caucus.

"We have to get our politics out of Washington. We cannot continue to be held captive by party leaders who I respect but who have to play their own local politics," Cifuentes said, calling congressional Democrats "timid" and the flap over his comments "mostly a Beltway play."

More....

........................

A tale of two newspapers...these were posted on Salon.

As reported by the Associated Press:
Sixteen private American security guards are under investigation for shooting at U.S. Marines and Iraqi civilians during a three-hour spree west of Baghdad, the military said Thursday.

The Marines said the 16 Americans and three Iraqi contractors were arrested and held in a military jail for three days after spraying small arms fire at Iraqi civilians and U.S. forces from their cars in Fallujah late last month. There were no casualties.

Marines spokesman Lt. Col. Dave Lapan said Marines reported seeing gunmen in several late-model trucks fire near civilian cars and on military positions.

Three hours later, another Marine observation post was fired on by gunmen from vehicles matching the description of those involved in the earlier attack, Lapan said.

U.S. forces later detained the contractors without incident and held them in a military jail for three days. The American contractors are thought to have left Iraq, the military said. A Naval Criminal Investigative Service inquiry is under way.

As reported by The Guardian:
A group of American security guards in Iraq have alleged they were beaten, stripped and threatened with a snarling dog by US marines when they were detained after an alleged shooting incident outside Falluja last month.

"I never in my career have treated anybody so inhumane," one of the contractors, Rick Blanchard, a former Florida state trooper, wrote in an email quoted in the Los Angeles Times. "They treated us like insurgents, roughed us up, took photos, hazed [bullied] us, called us names."

A Marine Corps spokesman denied that abuse had taken place and said an investigation was continuing. According to the marines, 19 employees of Zapata Engineering, including 16 Americans, were detained after a marine patrol in Falluja reportedbeing fired on by a convoy of trucks and sports utility vehicles. The marines also claim to have seen gunmen in the convoy fire at civilians.

The security guards claim the shooting incident was a case of mistaken identity. A spokeswoman for the company told the LA Times that the guards had fired warning shots into the air when an unidentified vehicle approached their vehicle as it passed through Falluja, but had not fired at any marines.

Mark Schopper, a lawyer for two of the contractors, told the newspaper that his clients, both former marines, were subjected to "physical and psychological abuse". He said they had told him that marines had "slammed around" several con tractors, stripped them to their underwear and placed a loaded weapon near their heads.

"How does it feel to be a big, rich contractor now?" one of the marines is alleged to have shouted at the men, in an apparent reference to the large sums of money private contractors can make in Iraq.

This was posted over at DU regarding CA special election by Aaanold
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=245x8162

This was posted over at DU regarding CA special election by Aaanold
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=245x8162

Sweet Jesus, I Hate Bill O'Reilly...have some fun

http://www.sweetjesusihatebilloreilly.com/index.html

Thursday, 9 June 2005, 4:37 pm

The following is a transcript of a document leaked to the media concerning the build up to the Iraq war. It concerns a discussion in early 2002 between the UK Ambassador to the US and then Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.

Importantly the following document appears to confirm the thrust of the allegations made concerning the so-called "Downing Street Memo", namely that the Bush Administration had already made up its mind to go to war against Iraq
CONFIDENTIAL AND PERSONAL

British Embassy Washington

From the Ambassador

Christopher Meyer KCMG

18 March 2002

Sir David Manning KCMG

No 10 Downing Street

IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN: CONVERSATION WITH WOLFOWITZ

1 Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, came to Sunday lunch on 17 March.

2 On Iraq I opened by sticking very closely to the script that you used with Condi Rice last week, We backed regime change, but the plan had to be clever and failure was not an option. It would be a tough sell for us domestically, and probably tougher elsewhere in Europe. The US could go it alone if it wanted to. But if it wanted to act with partners, there had to be a strategy for building support for military action against Saddam. I then went through the need to wrongfoot Saddam on the inspectors and the UN SCRs and the critical importance of the MEPP as an integral part of the anti-Saddam strategy. If all this could be accomplished skilfully, we were fairly confident that a number of countries would come on board.

3 I said that the UK was giving serious thought to publishing a paper that would make the case against Saddam. If the UK were to join with the US in any operation against Saddam, we would have to be able to take a critical mass of parliamentary and public opinion with us. It was extraordinary how people had forgotten how bad he was.

4 Wolfowitz said that he fully agreed. He took a slightly different position from others in the Administration, who were focussed on Saddam's capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction. The WMD danger was of course crucial to the public case against Saddam, particularly the potential linkage to terrorism. But Wolfowitz thought it indispensable to spell out in detail Saddam's barbarism. This was well documented from what he had done during the occupation of Kuwait, the incursion into Kurdish territory, the assault on the Marsh Arabs, and to his own people. A lot of work had been done on this towards the end of the first Bush administration. Wolfowitz thought that this would go a long way to destroying any notion of moral equivalence between Iraq and Israel. I said that I had been forcefully struck, when addressing university audiences in the US how ready students were to gloss over Saddam's crimes and to blame the US and the UK for the suffering of the Iraqi people.

5 Wolfowitz said that it was absurd to deny the link between terrorism and Saddam. There might be doubt about the alleged meeting in Prague between Mohammed Atta, the lead hijacker on 9/11, and Iraqi intelligence (did we, he asked, know anything more about this meeting?). But there were other substantiated cases of Saddam giving comfort to terrorists, including someone involved in the first attack on the World Trade Center (the latest New Yorker apparently has a story about links between Saddam and Al Qaeda operating in Kurdistan).

6 I asked for Wolfowitz's take on the stuggle inside the Administration between the pro- and anti- INC lobbies (well documented in Sy Hersh's recent New Yorker piece, which I gave you). He said that he found himself between the two sides (but as the conversation developed, it became clear that Wolfowitz was far more pro-INC than not). He said that he was strongly opposed to what some were advocating: a coalition including all outside factions except the INC (INA, KDP, PUK, SCIRI). This would not work. Hostility towards the INC was in reality hostility towards Chalabi. It was true that Chalabi was not the easiest person to work with. Bute had a good record in bringing high-grade defectors out of Iraq. The CIA stubbornly refused to recognise this. They unreasonably denigrated the INC because of their fixation with Chalabi. When I mentioned that the INC was penetraded by Iraqi intelligence, Wolfowitz commented that this was probably the case with all the opposition groups: it was so
7 Wolvowitz was pretty dismissive of the desirability of a military coup and of the defector generals in the wings. The latter had blood on their hands. The important thing was to try to have Saddam replaced by something like a functioning democracy. Though imperfect, the Kurdish model was not bad. How to achieve this, I asked? Only through a coalition of all the parties was the answer (we did not get into military planning).

ENDS

Finding a purpose in everything

There is a picture here of a flag with Bush's
picture on it stuck in a pile of dog dodo...
sorry it doesn't show up here...

It seems some witty Germans are using piles of doggie doo to make a statement, by claiming them in the name of President Bush. Preemptive Karma has the...er, scoop:

Police in Germany are hunting pranksters who have been sticking miniature flag portraits of US President George W. Bush into piles of dog poo in public parks. Josef Oettl, parks administrator for Bayreuth, said: "This has been going on for about a year now, and there must be 2,000 to 3,000 piles of excrement that have been claimed during that time."

The series of incidents was originally thought to be some sort of protest against the US-led invasion ofIraq. And then when it continued it was thought to be a protest against President George W. Bush's campaign for re-election. But it is still going on and the police say they are completely baffled as to who is to blame. "We have sent out extra patrols to try to catch whoever is doing this in the act," said police spokesman Reiner Kuechler. "But frankly, we don't know what we would do if we caught them red handed." Legal experts say there is no law against using feces as a flag stand and the federal legal experts say there is no law against using feces as a flag stand and the federal constitution is vague on the issue.

Good story, better late than never.....
http://villagevoice.com/blogs/bushbeat/archive/000964.php

Dean was Right

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/printer_061105Z.shtml

This is what happened in Germany so many years ago. People just wanted to live their lives, while fascists just wanted absolute power.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/061105E.shtml

 The New Blacklis

Spurred on by a biblical injunction evangelicals call "The Great Commission," and emboldened by George W. Bush's re-election, which is perceived as a "mandate from God," the Christian right has launched a series of boycotts and pressure campaigns aimed at corporate America - and at its sponsorship of entertainment, programs and activities the Christers don't like.

There's one big problem: Nobody at the national level is tracking these Christer censorship and pressure campaigns in a systematic way, to quantify them or assess their impact, so that strategies to defeat them can be developed. "People for the American Way used to track this stuff, but they stopped doing so systematically in 1996. We at Political Research Associates would love to do it," says Berlet, "but we don't have the resources. Groups like the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute or Americans United for Separation of Church and State could easily do this sort of work. But none of us has the money to do it, because nobody wants to give it. There used to be three major journalists writing about this stuff - Sara Diamond, Russ Belant and Fred Clarkson. But none of them could make a living doing it, and they've all dropped out of the game."

Unless Hollywood, and the entertainment and broadcast industries, all want to live through an epoch of increasing content blackmail and blacklists, the wealthy folks who make a lot of money from those industries better wake up and start funding intensive and systematic research on the Christian right and its censorship crusades against sexual subversion and sin in the creative arts - or soon it will be too late, and the "theocratic oligopoly" of which Martin Kaplan speaks will be so firmly established it cannot be dislodged.

That should have been Blacklists, and unfortuantely the little "snips" do not come out because I used this < kind of bracket around them. My apologies folks. You can go to the link and get the whole story anyway.

WV...the story on how the rightwing fundy Xians have mobilized thru Donald Wildemons Family Focus group to pull support from all gay/lesbian/transgender groups which are supported by corporations who advertise tv shows they deem 'immoral' probably explains why I (and all the other people I know) aren't working in advertising! There is NO work...
   Martin Kaplan, director of the Norman Lear Center at the Annenberg School of Communication at USC, calls the new Christer offensive a drive toward "theocratic oligopoly. The drumbeat of religious fascism has never been as troubling as it is now in this country," adding that "e-mails to the FCC are more worrisome to me than boycotts" in terms of their chilling effect.

There is nothing quite so disgusting as the moral majority....smirking. The New McCarthyism..

and at yoga today, during shavasana (spelling?), the end of the session, for the first time since I started doing yoga, suddenly a full blown movie appeared in my field of vision and it played until the end of the session. but if I was to tell you WHAT it was, I would be arrested by the thought police. YIKES!

Pat C....I see you also posted the story...I had gotten it from WV by email....

The London Times comes through with more goodies for us to corroborate the DSM!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1650822,00.html

MINISTERS were warned in July 2002 that Britain was committed to taking part in an American-led invasion of Iraq and they had no choice but to find a way of making it legal.

The warning, in a leaked Cabinet Office briefing paper, said Tony Blair had already agreed to back military action to get rid of Saddam Hussein at a summit at the Texas ranch of President George W Bush three months earlier.

The briefing paper, for participants at a meeting of Blair’s inner circle on July 23, 2002, said that since regime change was illegal it was “necessary to create the conditions” which would make it legal.

This was required because, even if ministers decided Britain should not take part in an invasion, the American military would be using British bases. This would automatically make Britain complicit in any illegal US action.

more...

Some good talking points...

http://www.newsforreal.com/

I think I read on DU that Blair can be tried at The Hague, but not Bush, because Blair and the UK signed some treaty or something. I feel sorry for Blair if he ends up being the fall guy for Bush. (But not all that sorry!) I'd really like to see Bush tried in an international court. I think hoping people who think Delay is a great guy will impeach Bush - might be too much of a dream. This was an international crime, and Bush should be tried just like the Nazis and Milosevic! I also have a fantasy about Saddam having a whale of a trail, putting all of this (and many more secrets you know he knows) on the table.

Something to Ponder...

http://216.198.243.200/passage11/Forecast.htm

wv, I particularly like this part -

"

The end of 2006 carries a brand of optimism to which we all must aim: Jupiter aligns with Mars and Mercury on 12-12-2006 in Sagittarius in what is known as a 'stellium' of three planets in one spot: 5-7 degrees Sag, or fixed star Antares - the heart of the Scorpion. That is grand: we will actually stand and fight for what is right. December 20th actually puts SIX planets on the new moon in Sagittarius, with Pluto in the galactic center, which bodes well for the quest a year later, when Jupiter will have caught up with Pluto. We will test and explore the universal truth to its core. More than one wise sage or philosopher will emerge from the faceless crowd. Leadership will announce itself at the end of 2006 and take over in 2007. The great outdoors, vast spaces, freedom, liberty, cross-cultural exchanges, international and space travel will be main themes of the next year. More of this later!"

Sharon, it is nice to se optimisim...very Jupiterian!

That's a very interesting site wv. Thank you for posting it.

Thank you, Judi.

I was talking to my cousin today. It's her birthday and she is 74. I have seen her do SO MUCH growth and change in her life. She is now teaching meditation, has a new "family" of friends she acquired in the last 3 years who gave her a great surprise party, she is a volunteer who participates in teaching a values program to kids... Her meditation school is called Brahma Kumaris. They believe in the golden age. You would be surprised, Judi (or maybe not), how many people there are like us in the world. The critical mass will shift and we will make it happen. I definitely am a believer.

My cousin also shared with me her recipe for dealing with people who send anger, criticism, irritation her way. She tells them "that's ok, I give you permission to be angry, it's your choice." And she doesn't become engaged. Yes, it takes practice! I am not very good at it but I intend to practice.

Judi, I, like you, am a realist, but I also think you're a visionary like me. That's why I grab on to these prophetic and astrolgical teachings that reinforce my vision :-) Don't you feel it coming? The truth is going to burst through one way or another.

A Happy & Healthy Birthday to our Dear Jo. It is a pleasure to know you and partake of your wisdom, eloquence, inner beauty and graciousness. You are much appreciated here. May your wishes come true. Wishing you a peaceful, beautiful and fun day.

Mars is going to go retrograde (23 Taurus) on the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction (of May 2000, 22 Taurus) Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions (called the Grand Chronocrators by the ancients,) happens every 20 years and sets a 20 year tone to the world.
Read all you can find on the negative of Earth Signs because that is often what you see revealed when coming to the end of anything.

Straight from the "bulls mouth"!

Earth, if s/ he is satisfied sexually and has a situation gratifying to his need for material stability, will generally stay in relationships, that would drive the other types ( fire air water ) wild. Because s/he bases his reality on what is in front of her/him, the fact that the partner is physically present means that a relationship exists. At the same time the subtler nuances escape her/him; and often the partner does as well. On the other hand the "unconscious intuitive" side will sometimes erupt as a fascination for someone who embodies life, vitality and chaos,which of course brings chaos into her/his own carefully ordered life. Often the fascination will be for a religious or spiritual movement of some kind, and this is one of the stranger expressions of inferior intuition: an intense and sincere but gullible religious fervour. Here the unconscious intuitive search for meaning in life is structured and crystallised by the senses into dogma, which attempts to define God, put spiritual reality into concrete form, and translate the numinous into sacrosanct objects- an adherance to the letter of the law, in other words, and obliviousness to it's spirit. The Spanish Inquisition is a good example of INFERIOR INTUITION breaking through a heavily sensation oriented culture: the rigorous and fanatical coercion of belief into one structure, outside which any individual is a heretic, who must be physically destroyed, admirably exemplifies the ugliest face of inferior intuition.
Most witch hunts- whether conducted by 17th cent. Puritans a band of 20th cent. Puritans wearing the mask of excess "realism" or a band of "old ladies" of both sexes impelled to shove the Xtian message down the throats of poor benighted heathans, neighbors, and friends, - smack of inferior intuition projected upon an appropriate scapegoat.
From "Relating" Liz Greene. first published 1978

Jdudi G,
I just saw your post re: SBC. What is that? I do have low income rates for electricity and phone, which have to be renewed yearly, in the fall, when I apply for heat assistance.
( in case I've won the lottery or something).
What Verizon did when I took that "Freedom Plan" in May , is set aside my basic rate of $10. per month and boosted it to
$25. but saying the plan was all inclusive! I do use a lot of long distance with the kids in NY, cousins in Phila. and Mother and Brother in Fla., not to mention most calls I make are in-state long distance, because Milbridge has almost no commerce or services. Working Asdsts gives me 2 free calls to Wash DC per week to the Senators, but Verizon ( owns the lines) blocks them too! Nasty!
PQ

June 12, 2005
Don't Follow the Money
By FRANK RICH
THE morning the Deep Throat story broke, the voice on my answering machine was as raspy as Hal Holbrook's. "I just want you to remember that I wrote 'Follow the money,' " said my caller. "I want to know if anybody will give me credit. Watch for the accuracy of the media!"

The voice belonged to my friend William Goldman, who wrote the movie "All the President's Men." His words proved more than a little prescient. As if on cue, journalists everywhere - from The New York Times to The Economist to The Washington Post itself - would soon start attributing this classic line of dialogue to the newly unmasked Deep Throat, W. Mark Felt. But the line was not in Woodward and Bernstein's book or in The Post's Watergate reportage or in Bob Woodward's contemporaneous notes. It was the invention of the author of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "Marathon Man" and "The Princess Bride."

This confusion of Hollywood's version of history with the genuine article would quickly prove symptomatic of the overall unreality of the Deep Throat coverage. Was Mr. Felt a hero or a villain? Should he "follow the money" into a book deal, and if so, how would a 91-year-old showing signs of dementia either write a book or schmooze about it with Larry King? How did Vanity Fair scoop The Post? How does Robert Redford feel about it all? Such were the questions that killed time for a nation awaiting the much-heralded feature mediathon, the Michael Jackson verdict.

Richard Nixon and Watergate itself, meanwhile, were often reduced to footnotes. Three years ago, on Watergate's 30th anniversary, an ABC News poll found that two-thirds of Americans couldn't explain what the scandal was, and no one was racing to enlighten them this time around. Vanity Fair may have taken the trouble to remind us that Watergate was a web of crime yielding the convictions and guilty pleas of more than 30 White House and Nixon campaign officials, but few others did. Watergate has gone back to being the "third-rate burglary" of Nixon administration spin. It is once again being covered up.

Not without reason. Had the scandal been vividly resuscitated as the long national nightmare it actually was, it would dampen all the Felt fun by casting harsh light on our own present nightmare. "The fundamental right of Americans, through our free press, to penetrate and criticize the workings of our government is under attack as never before" was how the former Nixon speech writer William Safire put it on this page almost nine months ago. The current administration, a second-term imperial presidency that outstrips Nixon's in hubris by the day, leads the attack, trying to intimidate and snuff out any Woodwards or Bernsteins that might challenge it, any media proprietor like Katharine Graham or editor like Ben Bradlee who might support them and any anonymous source like Deep Throat who might enable them to find what Carl Bernstein calls "the best obtainable version of the truth."

The attacks continue to be so successful that even now, long after many news organizations, including The Times, have been found guilty of failing to puncture the administration's prewar W.M.D. hype, new details on that same story are still being ignored or left uninvestigated. The July 2002 "Downing Street memo," the minutes of a meeting in which Tony Blair and his advisers learned of a White House effort to fix "the intelligence and facts" to justify the war in Iraq, was published by The London Sunday Times on May 1. Yet in the 19 daily Scott McClellan briefings that followed, the memo was the subject of only 2 out of the approximately 940 questions asked by the White House press corps, according to Eric Boehlert of Salon.

This is the kind of lapdog news media the Nixon White House cherished. To foster it, Nixon's special counsel, Charles W. Colson, embarked on a ruthless program of intimidation that included threatening antitrust action against the networks if they didn't run pro-Nixon stories. Watergate tapes and memos make Mr. Colson, who boasted of "destroying the old establishment," sound like the founding father of today's blogging lynch mobs. He exulted in bullying CBS to cut back its Watergate reports before the '72 election. He enlisted NBC in pro-administration propaganda by browbeating it to repackage 10-day-old coverage of Tricia Nixon's wedding as a prime-time special. It was the Colson office as well that compiled a White House enemies list that included journalists who had the audacity to question administration policies.

Such is the equivalently supine state of much of the news media today that Mr. Colson was repeatedly trotted out, without irony, to pass moral judgment on Mr. Felt - and not just on Fox News, the cable channel that is actually run by the former Nixon media maven, Roger Ailes. "I want kids to look up to heroes," Mr. Colson said, oh so sorrowfully, on NBC's "Today" show, condemning Mr. Felt for dishonoring "the confidence of the president of the United States." Never mind that Mr. Colson dishonored the law, proposed bombing the Brookings Institution and went to prison for his role in the break-in to steal the psychiatric records of The Times's Deep Throat on Vietnam, Daniel Ellsberg. The "Today" host, Matt Lauer, didn't mention any of this - or even that his guest had done jail time. None of the other TV anchors who interviewed Mr. Colson - and he was ubiquitous - ever specified his criminal actions in the Nixon years. Some identified him onscreen only as a "former White House counsel."

Had anyone been so rude (or professional) as to recount Mr. Colson's sordid past, or to raise the question of whether he was a hero or a traitor, the genealogical line between his Watergate-era machinations and those of his present-day successors would have been all too painfully clear. The main difference is that in the Nixon White House, the president's men plotted behind closed doors. The current administration is now so brazen it does its dirty work in plain sight.

In the most recent example, all the president's men slimed and intimidated Newsweek by accusing it of being an accessory to 17 deaths for its errant Koran story; led by Scott McClellan, they said it was unthinkable that any American guard could be disrespectful of Islam's holy book. These neo-Colsons easily drowned out Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, both of whom said that the riots that led to the 17 deaths were unrelated to Newsweek. Then came the pièce de résistance of Nixon mimicry: a Pentagon report certifying desecrations of the Koran by American guards was released two weeks after the Newsweek imbroglio, at 7:15 p.m. on a Friday, to assure it would miss the evening newscasts and be buried in the Memorial Day weekend's little-read papers.

At other times the new Colsons top the old one. Though Nixon aspired to punish public broadcasting by cutting its funding, he never imagined that his apparatchiks could seize the top executive positions at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Nor did he come up with the brilliant ideas of putting journalists covertly on the administration payroll and of hiring an outside P.R. firm (Ketchum) to codify an enemies list by ranking news organizations and individual reporters on the basis of how favorably they cover a specific administration policy (No Child Left Behind). President Bush has even succeeded in emasculating the post-Watergate reform that was supposed to help curb Nixonian secrecy, the Presidential Records Act of 1978.

THE journalists who do note the resonances of now with then rarely get to connect those dots on the news media's center stage of television. You are more likely to hear instead of how Watergate inspired too much "gotcha" journalism. That's a rather absurd premise given that no "gotcha" journalist got the goods on the biggest story of our time: the false intimations of incipient mushroom clouds peddled by American officials to sell a war that now threatens to match the unpopularity and marathon length of Vietnam.

Only once during the Deep Throat rollout did I see a palpable, if perhaps unconscious, effort to link the White House of 1972 with that of 2005. It occurred at the start, when ABC News, with the first comprehensive report on Vanity Fair's scoop, interrupted President Bush's post-Memorial Day Rose Garden news conference to break the story. Suddenly the image of the current president blathering on about how hunky-dory everything is in Iraq was usurped by repeated showings of the scene in which the newly resigned Nixon walked across the adjacent White House lawn to the helicopter that would carry him into exile.

But in the days that followed, Nixon and his history and the long shadows they cast largely vanished from the TV screen. In their place were constant nostalgic replays of young Redford and flinty Holbrook. Follow the bait-and-switch.

Robert Fisk watches The Kingdom of God (movie) in Beirut, Lebanon. It seems the Lebanese of all religious persuasions, loved the film for its historical accuracy. I'll try to get the link.

Fisk re Ridley Scott's The Kingdom of God

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/story/jsp

I was just watching CSPAN replay of Jun 4 Dan Rather speech at the IRE conference (Investigative Reporters & Editors - IRE.org) and he recounted the Colson story ( Frank Rich's piece called Don't Follow the Money recounts it).
If you haven't seen this, it is wonderful...and Rather breaks down at the end of his speech, I believe, because he is so moved by what is happening to the country. He did say the thing he feared most was that people don't understand what the 1st Amendment actually means...his emphasis was on asking the question....do the American people UNDERSTAND what is happening now?.....and the story he told about his first job and first report of a house fire which turned out to be murder and arson on a black family by a powerful local white man totally made the parallel point about this administration.

Frank Rich is right....the Nixon guys were secretive....these Rovian manuevers are so blatant because they have such POWER that they don't believe they need to hide anything....which Rather also said in an oblique way.

the erosion of education is having a real effect on us as a nation.

Sharon, thanks....your cousin is wise...on an energy level, when one engages 'into' an exchange, energy is emitted from the challenging person and hooks into the victim ....so by refusing to engage, they are unable to 'cord' you. A good thing to remember .....sometimes on an energy level, people are so loaded with cords from others that there is nothing left of them. It is also important to see if you have cords which you can discern - women usually get them into the heart chakra...and remove them.

Hope some other saw the Rather video....

Beasely, the link to the Fisk article is gone...page not found error...

Yes, yes, Sally. The Jupiter/Saturn conjunction. Thank you so much for this information. I didn't know about the 200 years.
Mars will be in Taurus for almost 7 months. Should be interesting.

Another interesting thing is the next J/S conjunction occurring at O degrees Aquarius. A good kick-off to all the Aquarian energy ahead, and immediately following that convergence of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto in Capricorn. Air following all that weight and density.
Thanks again for the connecting thread.

>>One way or the other there will be enough "fools" for everyone to enjoy.<<

Excellent. I need some good entertainment.

While reading comments on Daily Kos today, especially those wondering why Rupert Murdock (owner of Fox T.V.)is allowing his London Times to print leaked docs about the run up to the Iraqi war (including the now infamous Downing Street Minutes/Memo) very damaging to both Bush + Blair (as these leaked docs have verified their determination to start the war long before it was supposedly decided) something really clicked in my brain....

I now firmly believe that the old line U.S. eastern establishment/British upper class group has really had it up to here with Bushco's religious extremism, heavy-handed cruelty, utter incompetence, and delusional stupidity, which has produced such horrificly bad results in Iraq, the exploding U.S. deficits, the middle east generally, hatred of America (+ probably more critically), American companies and products, that it is now threatening the very foundations of the Anglo-Saxon/old guard European-Jewish power/banking elite (please no accusations of anti-Semitism, as I am Jewish, but first + foremost a geo-political realist!).

People in this group (surely including George H.W. Bush himself) will not sit idly by much longer and watch this group of sexually conflicted,
dry drunk/delusional/borderline-insane/religious fanatic/utterly incompetent/crypto-fascists (mostly from the American midwest, far west, and sunbelt states, except for renegade "W") screw up their hold on the real (i.e. economic/geo-political) power which has enabled them to effectively (and relatively quietly in a low-key and essentially unchallenged manner) rule the planet since the heyday of the British empire.

I believe the decision to unseat Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice/Gonzalez et al has already been signed off on as a matter of principle, and now it is just a matter of timing, and precisely the way in which their demise will be allowed to play out in the public arena.

While reading comments on Daily Kos today, especially those wondering why Rupert Murdock (owner of Fox T.V.)is allowing his London Times to print leaked docs about the run up to the Iraqi war (including the now infamous Downing Street Minutes/Memo) very damaging to both Bush + Blair (as these leaked docs have verified their determination to start the war long before it was supposedly decided) something really clicked in my brain....

I now firmly believe that the old line U.S. eastern establishment/British upper class group has really had it up to here with Bushco's religious extremism, heavy-handed cruelty, utter incompetence, and delusional stupidity, which has produced such horrificly bad results in Iraq, the exploding U.S. deficits, the middle east generally, hatred of America (+ probably more critically), American companies and products, that it is now threatening the very foundations of the Anglo-Saxon/old guard European-Jewish power/banking elite (please no accusations of anti-Semitism, as I am Jewish, but first + foremost a geo-political realist!).

People in this group (surely including George H.W. Bush himself) will not sit idly by much longer and watch this group of sexually conflicted,
dry drunk/delusional/borderline-insane/religious fanatic/utterly incompetent/crypto-fascists (mostly from the American midwest, far west, and sunbelt states, except for renegade "W") screw up their hold on the real (i.e. economic/geo-political) power which has enabled them to effectively (and relatively quietly in a low-key and essentially unchallenged manner) rule the planet since the heyday of the British empire.

I believe the decision to unseat Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice/Gonzalez et al has already been signed off on as a matter of principle, and now it is just a matter of timing, and precisely the way in which their demise will be allowed to play out in the public arena.

Really sorry about the double posting; I feel like such a hog when that happens!!

Really sorry about the double posting; I feel like such a hog when that happens!!

That would be great, Grizzly. A clean sweep.

Bhakti, that was good advice about money and self worth. It is particularly important to me, and I love being reminded.

Nancy, that is an absolutely wonderful post at DU. The rephrasing is so good. So rational and confident. Why aren't we in charge? Or are we?

...On the other hand, as a Leo I probably subconsciously crave the extra attention. I'm going to sleep now, honest!

That's the question I always ask with Aries...Who's in charge here?

Aliens from outer space?

Mentally ill sexual perverts masquerading as leaders?

My mother? (dead... although that's no guarantee)

My father? (also dead)

My boss? (don't have one)

God?

You?

Me?

Sharon,

Thank you for your very kind words... my granddaughter created a beautiful wallpaper for my birthday, it's a day early, but that way I can enjoy it for an extra day... actually I may leave it up forever! She made a collage of my fav Zen drawing and wrote several little poems to me, thanking me for this and that... needless to say my desk is wet from the tears of joy!

Re your comments to Judi Gemini re realism and visionary... we must trust that we will overcome this fascist regime. It will not be tomorrow, but the day will come. Meanwhile, I am reclaiming my life and giving more time to the positive. We have all the information we need to understand the present regime and as Sally says, many past ones are not what we thought they were. It is regrettable is it not, that Dan Rather could not find his backbone when he had power... that he could not call a spade a spade then? He allowed them to discredit him... and he handed over his personal power. Now he preaches to the converted. We could probably give HIM information! Sad, sad. E&P has a poll out that indicates confidence in newspapers and TV is definitely declining... yes, Sharon, I believe there are lots of folks out there who see the world as we do... Judi G., going to teach my grands some yoga this summer and get back to it myself... left it over a decade ago when I could not find a teacher, out-of-body experiences were overwhelming... well, we'll give it another try.

tseka, you asked last thread about personal astrology for this coming August... well, tPluto will exactly oppose my nSun, tUranus will exactly conjunct my Desc and there are a few other aspects that get my attention. But as always, I'm not clear as to what they mean personally... so I'll take it as a wake-up call --- make sure my relationships are current and that my own 'house' is in order...

namaste

Follow the money and Ohio & Fla. politics...............................

TeenScreen's top promoter: Laurie Flynn

In Ohio, Flynn told members of Congress: "We have been fortunate to work with Mike Hogan, PhD, director of the Ohio Department of Mental Health, chair of the President's New Freedom Mental Health Commission, and a member of our National Advisory Council. In February 2002, Commissioner Hogan initiated a statewide TeenScreen effort by soliciting five county mental health boards to be part of a pilot program. Over the next 10 to 18 months, the development of these screening sites was supported by staff at the TeenScreen Program as well as through a grant of $15,000 from the Department of Mental Health to each mental health board who is participating in the pilot program (Cuyahoga County, Clermont County, Butler County, Stark County, and Wayne/Holmes Counties)."

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/060705Pringle/060705pringle.html

WASHINGTON - Ohio Congressman Bob Ney is animated and cheerful, determined to show the latest Capitol Hill scandal - a juicy saga that includes questionable golf trips, millions of dollars in lobbying fees and supposed backroom deals - hasn't gotten the best of him.

http://www.centralohio.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/B8/20050612/NEWS01/506120302/1002&template=B8

How many times did Bush go to Ohio during campaigning??????
PQ

ANd does anyone have a chart for Ohio? Fla. is Pices ruled b Neptune!
PQ

"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment
insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of
that party again in our political history.
There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do
these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional
politician or businessman from other areas.
Their number is negligible and they are stupid."

----President Dwight D. Eisenhower, l952-----

My prediction: the "leaked" (ha-ha) UK articles & memos lead to the release of Saddam- something that Bush et. al WANT to happen. In fact, Rumsfield tried to make a deal with Saddam on his last visit which "offered" him his release, but Saddam refused on the given conditions. They're gonna get the soldiers out of Iraq & into Iran & Syria within the year/ WITH a draft.

WHAM!!! You go Peg! I think you're on a very hot trail.

The leak that changes minds...

The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link attachments:
Shortcut to: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-1650565_2,00.html

I'll tell ya what Pat C, we the people are always one step behind these SOBs, and until we either quit playing their games or get to the heart of the puppetmastery, they're gonna continue to be the chessmasters. Bush, being the pawn that he is, has been a wonderful asset to them and now we're going to spend the next year or so fighting over whether he'll be impeached or not??? What idiots we have become.

* 'Toon: Memogate Unravels. http://www.internetweekly.org/images/bush_memogate.jpg

I am astounded by the patience of Conyers. I have watched him and tried to help him for years. Hi is such a calm and steadfast human being in the face of continual blocking by the nocons, disdain from them, and blacl out by the msm. He just continues. I just love him and respect him on a very deep level.

Peg, it seems we are at least one step behind the puppet masters. We are after all trying to live "normal lives" with the belief that we have the right to do just that. Maybe, maybe Americans are finally relearning that freedom is by no means free, and it does actually require constant attention and effort.

Wonderful cartoon Joanna. I've noticed poor Tony Blair's (tongue placed firmly in cheek) expression. I think he really does firmly dislike Bushco.

BTW, HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL THE WONDERFUL GEMINI AW'S! (-: I>o

Judi Gemini,
Sorry about that. I copied it, but don't know how I could get the copy onto the screens of Astroworld. Don't have enough technical knowledge.

Today, another election takes place in a different district of Lebanon... an area where the Opposition Party is very strong. Beirut's election was somewhat lack luster, very low turn out, and the Opposition Party won. The South voted for the Syrians and Hezballah ( no surprise, there). Now the Chouf area, where Walid Jumblatt & Co. have their strong hold.

I suspect more of the simmering same in Lebanon. Nothing totally resolved, business as usual, fifedom's as usual, but sunshine and the beaches, the mountains as usual. Nobody want's Lebanon, they want Syria. I think the only thing to be wary of is *sh's policies. And, of course, the Israeli's have always coveted parts of Lebanon.
Not all Israeli's, but the one's who are quite zealous. Pluto is Sag is the age of zealotry.

Sorry, that was my post at 1:43 above

Jo....you mentioned the out of body experiences, etc....I had an awful lot of crazy stuff happening to me when Pluto crossed my ascendant, and I didn't do yoga then, but wish I had....I didn't take meds, but I did try to find out why it was happeneing by pursuing whatever I could read....hard to explain. Probably not appropriate to talk about here...but as if crazy entities kept flying into my psychic space (looking like the Janus faces combined with a kite!) and laughing at me, trying to goad me....I remember when they finally left, some years later....I knew the entities had gone forever and hadn't 'won'.
Happy birthday for tomorrow...may not be able to post tomorrow with work and babysitting...your grand child who made you the wallpaper is a dear.

One more thing on Rather. I was very attentive to the question of what happened with him....he assiduously avoided ANY reference to the powers above him who made those decisions and his own thing in accepting blame he said many times...'NO WHINING, NO EXCUSES".....but there was a clear space which was walled off in him about 'B** admin". This is what I have seen in everyone dealing publically with them....the walled of HOLE....on an energy level, walled off and untouchable. Why, I ask? It is something very terrible. The only way Rather was able to make an allusion to his experience was to retell the first story he investigated in which the local power guy had murdered severl black people and covered it up. someone else asked him if he was concerned that Mary Mapes had been fired and he had kept his job....but he only said he still supported Mapes and always had. I just am sure there is another level of blackmail going on here. He said he didn't agree with the conclusion of the panel but accepted the conclusion. Perhaps he was trying to save what was left of his reputation. Perhaps he knows that being a sacrifical lamb was not the best move for his effectiveness in the future....what he DID say was that the American people UNDERSTOOD what was happening.....and he was really emphasizing that phrase.

There is just more to this story than we know. But I sense that we will KNOW what that other level is sooner than later. Just my psychic take on it.

Jo...nothing bad came from my experiences with the entities and transits...instead, I was rid of much that was holding me back. We should all try to look at what looks like awful transits as an opportunity to understand ourselves and the universe in a more productive and spiritual way.

Oh...and also, Rather stated when questioned about WHY he had stuck to his story about the Air National Guard and B*, he said, because I BELIEVED IT. He never refuted it, he only said he accepted the concusion of the panel ...and said several times thru out the speech...NO WHINING, NO EXCUSES.
I am even more convinced in thinking about this that something else is going on. I would say, NO SACRIFICAL LAMBS. That won't work in this current climate....but he REALLY did emphasize several differnt times that he KNEW that the MAJORITY of the American people were aware of the truth.

Grizzly, and Bush is a part of those Anglo/Saxon elite - born New Haven Conneticut. His family came here to Texas for the oil in the 1930s.

Major oil until the 70s was eastcoast dominated because all the big oil companies were centered to New York, Chicago, Etc.

To me, Bush is a continuation of that British upper-class that still has such a hold on our country. I feel that the upper crust gave the "commoner" this very fake and "sacherrin"(Spelling?) "Cookie-cutter" Protestant piety (evangelical fundamentalism) to keep the people in their place and to make sure that they were not potential "ammo" in a true revolt against the elite.

But, I agree with you. I feel that the same eastcoast elite are going to be eaten by the monster they created.

That's my two-cents

Something Rotten in Ohio - Gore Vidal...

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Something Rotten in Ohio - Gore Vidal...

The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link attachments:
Shortcut to: http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/views05/0609-21.htm

More on Coingate and its ties to W AND Jeb.....
http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/scoops/Lemme.htm

Oh, and Grizzly, I think your assessment was right on. Whenever the * media lapdogs start "leaking" damaging info, you can suspect that the proverbial "jig" is up.

namaste all and great posts everyone!!! This is the best site on the entire 'net!!!
love to all beings
G

sorry, I missed it before..........

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JO!!!!!!!!

(I'm sure you'll treasure that wallpaper forever.)

Travieso,

Thanks for your insightful (as always) post. I do know a bit about W's upper class WASP background, including Andover, Yale, Skull & Bones, the family "cottage" at Walkers Point (named after grand-dad I believe) in Kennebunkport, Maine (an absolutely stunning ocean front location, better than these robber-barons deserve, for sure!) etc.

In my opinion, I think that the "establishment", "management", the "elites", (or whatever we choose to call this group) gave the nod to W in 2000 as the Repug contender because they probably believed he would just be a sane, calm, non-threatening, non-controversial caretaker type of Pres., looking after their business interests as he presided over some sort of traditional establishment oriented center-right govt. similar to that of his dad.

They must now be REALLY nervous about how he turned out: the economy is one step away from free-fall, the Chinese own us as a result of holding so much of our debt, the military is truly demoralized and nearly decimated, the U.S. is despised throughout most of the countries on the planet,
we are well on our way to becoming a single party, quasi-police state, theocraticly ruled oligarchy, etc.

It is so hard for me to even begin to imagine what is REALLY going on behind the scenes in the various power centers, but if I had to guess, I would suspect that a loose and rather amorphous, ad hoc confederation of old money WASPs, newly minted high tech billionaires, the thinking part of the retired and active-duty military establishment, highly disgruntled, patriotic ex-CIA + FBI officers, influential CEOs of U.S. mega corporations with big exposure to intl. markets (think G.E., I.B.M., etc.), are one way or another now at least in principle committed to W's demise, and are trying very hard to figure out exactly what do to next to achieve this.

At this point I would be actually happy and relieved to temporarily go back to the days of a Bush 41 type regime, and therefore buy some time to prepare for and deal with the realities and inevitable difficult changes to the U.S. economic landscape looming on the horizon thanks to these @#%#$@!

Stripping Bush and Rumsfeld of Impunity...

http://www.progressive.org/july05/roth0705.php

Oh Garry, just an amazing article! Thank you so much for posting it. Investigative reporting lives.

Amnesty International's Reoport on the Excess
of Executive Power

http://web.amnesty.org/library/print/ENGAMR510632005

I want to chime in here and agree that this is the best site on the web. Wonderful astrology, and wonderful posters!

Thank you everyone!

Haven't read the Coingate stuff yet but I wanted to share my thought that I find it hard to believe that Dubya et al. could do what they've done to the country without the support of his father and the illuminati. He doesn't have that much power! I think they must have been controlling things all along; after all, if that's what they've done all these years, why would they stop with Dubya and let he & his cronies take charge.

What do you all think?

Just letting you all know, I just posted my latest article on a new thread.

American Militarism

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