Beautiful Morgana in the imagery of this article, like a mourning highlands poem. You can almost feel something of the Banshee in this article.

I couldn't help but notice the 29 mutable signs on the 4 very powerful corners of the chart (1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th) I have to say that 8 times out of 10 when there is a death you can almost always find those 4 corners occupied by the 29th degree of mutable, fixed or cardinal signs. With the Sun and Moon in a square to Pluto (the sign of death) and those ending Mutable degrees on the angles, it feels like the Banshee could be riding, the chart looks for all the world like a warning. Wonder what and who, great article.

Wonderful Morgana, Sally's so right on... the sound of the banshee... the 29 degree --- of expiation...

riding from the hospital with hubby this early evening, just before dusk, the moon was starting to rise... like a giant white cotton ball... I've seen it bright orange, but never pure white and so looming large on the horizon...

some folks are talking about the 29th of March... what do you think? full moon portend something there? with the 29?

Thank you Morgana, for your moon musing... and Sally, for your eloquent comment on Morgana's piece... namaste

Speaking of dark, very dark secrets, I suggest anyone whith the time and inclination take a look at Salon's top of the page article. The Abu Ghraib Files, is very interesting.

Lovely music Morgana, event though it is such a dark tale.

Vanity Fair. Yes. Also Harpers on Impeachment.

Commentary on the TV news Anderson Cooper...so take it with a grain of Cooper...the Commander in Cheat's cabinet floundering, exhausted...done in.

Bird Flu data is chilling....

Does anybody know about using rainwater for drinking water. Has anybody tried that? How does one purify it?
I am storing water in large gallon jugs, but just wondered if anybody had ideas about rain water?

Last time I was thinking like this was during the Lebanese Civil War.

Morgana your article is wonderful! Thanks.

I have just been granted during this synchronous eclipsed Virgo Moon a metasocial vision.
During said eclipse I opened myself to write in poetic format some of what was beginning to be revealed -- see "Eclipse Dream" at http://people.lulu.com/blogs/view.php?user_id=38353 libramoon's observatory

The later revelation resulting from my parsing of that poem was about understanding the lie of the economic theories of history that I had grown up being taught. Because, ultimately, life is not about economics -- theories of scarcity which have us fighting amongst ourselves in fear of being without. Life is about a journey toward understanding who we are. Vocation is about dharma, sacred works that reveal our true selves and our true roles in the grand scheme and mundane community.

Sorry if I'm coming off too "woo woo" but I am talking about revealed truth, in the sense of my living through the exigencies of experience over and over, learning as I am able to take in the gestalt of synthesis.

The point is, when we look to teachings of economics, hierarchies, dualities, we miss most of the picture. We do not need to be slaves to wages to pay for the stuff we give ourselves instead of our dreams. Ultimately the necessities can be easily arranged for if that is a few hours of focus, while the rest of the day can be enjoyed free of economic concerns. Ultimately we are much better served spending our energies as our individual natures intend so we may all benefit from the diversity of creation rather than chaining ourselves to miserable semi-existences based on stockpiling wealth, so easily devalued or spoiled.

Peace,
libramoon

Beasley, there are several ways to purify water. You can boil it, you can strain it over charcoal and you can buy purifing tablets at a sporting good store (they sell them for campers) Rainwater would be purer than say river or creek water but I would not trust it to be pure, so I would purify it, the tablets to do that are not expensive.

Jo. A couple of interesting things about the 29th, on this eclipse Mercury is at 18 Pisces (retrograde) on the 29th the Asc. is at 18 Pisces. The first time I looked at today's eclipse chart I thought the Moon in the 12th and both Sun and Moon squaring Pluto in the 3rd and Virgo on the Asc, there would be a scandal (already known to the parties involved) to once again rock Washington and the US. With this eclipse Mercury falling on the Asc. of 3/29 I think we will know what that scandal is within 5 days, 5 weeks or 5 months of the 29th eclipse.

"Ultimately the necessities can be easily arranged for if that is a few hours of focus, while the rest of the day can be enjoyed free of economic concerns. Ultimately we are much better served spending our energies as our individual natures intend so we may all benefit from the diversity of creation rather than chaining ourselves to miserable semi-existences based on stockpiling wealth, so easily devalued or spoiled."

Amen to that libramoon.

Thank you for your comment Sally... lots to chew on there...

Oh, Morgana Soulspeak! Many thanks for this treasure.

At my local young democrats meeting tonight, almost everybody seemed on edge. Myself included. Things feel dark, like in ominous dream just before you wake up. This lunar event feels like the darker side of the Moon card from the Tarot.

Dave! Dave! Where you been, man, and how are you doing? Just great to hear from you. And I do agree with that strange set of sensations that seem to be lurking about.

Thank you very much for the rain water info. I'm thinking of getting a rain barrel. A fancy one with mosquito netting, blah, blah.

Sporting goods store. Of course! That's the link...campers. A thousand blessings!

Thanks Morgana - such an ancient feeling I get from your words - like we've all been here before!
I too have been feeling considerable 'angst' energy - quite strong very early this morning, and again around noon (NZtime)
Beasley - as far as rainwater collection, it really depends on where you live. Here in NZ, I grew up drinking only rainwater - and lots of people in this area are still on catchment by choice. Very little polution here (away from the city) because of the large amount of surrounding oceans, so nobody treats their water with anything. I fill up all my water bottles everytime I go to my parents house - it tasts SO much better.
In Hawaii though, some people in affected areas do treat the water they collect because of the volcanic emissions.

Morgana, you are a true poet of the soul. Your words are always so very moving and meaningful. Thank you for sharing them with us again.

Beasley,
On the Bird Flu, I'm actually not all that worried about the flu itself. As I recall, Nancy, Pallas and Sally have all talked about the astrology behind it. There is the potential for a pandemic this spring, and again at several points over the next few years, though nothing on the sweeping, devestating scale of the 1918 flu at the close of World War I, which claimed millions of lives. (Not too much Neptune involved, Pallas?)

Like everything else, I can't help but see the talk as hype coming out of Washington, as more manipulation and scaremongering from a criminal administration in which the Secretary of Defense stands to earn millions from scare-sales of an ineffective drug, produced by a company that he once headed. It would also be yet one more rather timely distraction from Bush and the GOP's ever-mounting troubles.

To be honest with you, it's what this country's corrupted government and our mega-hype-prone media does **in response** to the first couple of human instances of the Bird Flu on American soil that concerns me more. With a media machine that can make a riotous spectacle out of anything from O.J. Simpson's trial, to a previously unknown bride in Florida who came down with a case of "cold feet" at the chapel doors, a bird flu pandemic has the real potential to be manipulated into widespread, utter chaos. Now, think about whom that would serve?

The panicked responses to the perception of "winged death" literally perched on the neighbor's tree peering into one's bedroom window will be far more damaging and destructive to people than this flu ever will be on its own.

Precaution is warranted, of course. I don't suppose that I'd go out of my way to clean up geese dung, or the dung of other birds any more quickly than usual. And I do read about very much heightened concerns in various homeopathic circles:
http://www.perelandra-ltd.com/AB1473/webpage.cfm?WebPage_ID=1683&DID=8

As Sally, Pallas and others here and elsewhere have been saying for so long, however, it's good to be prepared. Not just for bird flu, but for any possible event that may come to pass.

About the flu, they could say anything was the bird flu and how would anyone know, even the docs. I went back to try and find famous people who died in the 1918 pandemic and not one national politician, I thought that odd.

Shylurker,

I've been around. I still read this site. Just doing my thing. I was elected precinct chair in my neighborhood last week. I'm quite proud of this accomplishment, so as you can imagine, campaigning has been taking up a great deal of my time lately.

Yeah, in regards to the feel of things, there's definitely something strange in the air. My psychic senses are somewhat less "perceptive" compared to others on this board and elsewhere, so if I can sense that something is not right, then something is definitely not right.

I should say that I am very concerned about the upcoming solar eclipse with Pluto stationing on the center of the galaxy. Everybody should pay attention in the next few weeks.

I hope you are well shylurker! Same for everyone else.

Peace, hope, and strength to you all.

Sally and Neo,

My grandmother whom I'm named for (and of course never met) died in the 1918 flu. Actually I never even knew her name, but one day when I first began this spiritual journey, I was attending a healing session and someone saw a woman in spirit standing behind me and described her. I went home and described what I had been told, to my father, and he became very upset. It was his mother, my grandmother who was with me. I thought that it was rather nice to know of her and lovely that she stayed with me.

But back to the subject. Neo. I have the MAP book and I'm just a bit acquainted with Perelandra. Always wanted to take a couse in using the product, which I have the impression is a very fine product.

Several times I've thought of the Millenium computer bug hype when everything was supposed to crash, and the West Nile Virus hype about 10 years ago, which also was supposed to be a deadly epidemic. Birds also were carrying that (a man made virus to kill - likely made by the US govt) and in fact there were several dead birds in the back of my property at the time. But it did not become the massive virus they talked about.

To be sure, so far this is affecting birds, it's all over Europe and Greece, Turkey, Asia, Eastern Europe too - and it will be coming here. Birds are dying. Cats and wild animals who eat birds are contracting it and dying. Fortunately very few people are dying.

Mostly it seems children are very affected - you'll note that in places where there are chickens and such running loose, or pets of children, the children have contracted it, but the mother and parents don't.

There is a major epidemic - among birds so far.
So don't feed them, or pick up bird feathers - or let your cat out, especially if she's a birder.
There's a question of whether chicken should be eaten after the Avian flu hits the region. Some are saying as long as its thoroughly cooked, it would kill the flu. I'd rather opt out of that.

But, fortunately the world is being very careful to eliminate infected stock, and quarantine those few people who have become infected.

Frankly, I don;t feel that there's going to be anything like the 1918 flu or a major epidemic affecting people, but then again I'm writing this on Mercury Rx; and I'm one of those people who never takes flu shots - nor do I get the flu, mostly as Perelandra sugggests, I'm rarely in large groups of people, or in an office where the same air is being circulated and people are sneezing on you,or around little children who bring home their classmates illnesses.

I'm surprised no-one has suggested masks, the kind dentists wear - and I think that would be a good idea, but I don't think America is going to be decimated by Avian flu. It's likely TB is going to be more prominent as a result of illegal immigration.

I'm thoroughly enjoying this ecllipse & Full Moon... feel surrounded/filled with a delightful Moonlit energy. It such a wonderful time to just let go.

Flues... I'm always very suspicious of govt flues or any other govt dis-ease. The US/UK govts were completely uninterested in the AIDS epidemic, remember? For ten years they had no interest. No... that's not right. They NEVER had any interest. Flues smooze. Bah. Humbug. Neptune... also the energy of deception. Chicken Little... oh, chickens. Chicken birds. Chicken people. ;O)

Moon energy... Radiant Dark

Pardon if this has already been covered, but does anyone have astro info on Sen. Russ Feingold? Any thoughts about the rest of the lame congress finally following in his footsteps? Or will he have to take on the establishment single handedly?

The Parasites of God

By Charles Sullivan

Have we become so indoctrinated by the language of empire that we can no longer see the disconnect between these acts of terror and the non-violent teachings of Christ? Why are so many who call themselves Christians worshiping the parasites of god and empire, while shunning and betraying the genuine article?

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12336.htm

Eric Margolis: Canada, Get Out of Afghanistan:

Since time immemorial, when great emperors went to war, they summoned contingents of their vassals and tributaries to their standards. So it was in Afghanistan, and then Iraq, when the U.S. decided to invade those nations and demand its allies join the so-called "war on terrorism."

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12327.htm

US Monitoring Israel's Iran Options :

The Pentagon is looking into the possibility of Israel launching a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. In the past months there were several working-level discussions trying to map out the possible scenarios for such an attack, according to administration sources who were briefed on these meetings.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12337.htm

Morgana, Luna's Dark Face got the chills up the spine going. Perhaps its authenticity resonated, or perhaps your style. (That's unimportant, your message is NOT!) The "wake-up" call has been sirened. So many are feeling it -- not only on this board.

Like Joanna, i believe we need to grab this energy and use it to transform ourselves individually. For we will all be transformed in the coming days. I would rather it be my choice than be FORCED by circumstances. At least, i pray that's possible.

Good advice on the water, Sally.

karen

West Nile Virus was/is carried by mosquitos, not birds. It would kill birds. However, with nosy tabloid Corp News who will run a story to death to the point will tell you what a victim's inside looks like, there were never names of WNile victims. That's how I knew it was phony. And we never hear about it anymore, been replaced with another virus.

We all need to be aware, cautious with a 360 degree POV, but the Henny Penny (great name for the Bird flu) attitude just reinforces the fear and then the Neobrats win their violation of our mind space.

GW and his rat pack of sociopathological ugly pruny old war geezers self-entitled arrogant fratboyz can lick my red and orange Code Alert psychedlic boots. They will never stop the joy in my life. I ride the subways and teach in the inner city and people are beautiful and good. We are all one in the ocean of conciousness. Get rid of fear in your life. That is the true enemy to knowing your Self and the Self of All. Root it out of your individual psychology and you will not feel it as intensely for the world. Even Neocons are part of the light, in the form of a$$hats that is.

Way to go, Dave! Precinct chair--you set a great example for the rest of us.

Over at dailykos.com, Kos has posted a list of 21 Dem senators whom you woulda thought would have supported censure of the president--because they did just that during Clinton's ordeal with the vast right-wing conspiracy. Mebbe they been co-opted.

And it's a great comfort to know Kat-Killer himself once recognized the president too is ruled by the laws of our land: "I will have no part in the creation of a constitutional double-standard to benefit the President. He is not above the law. If an ordinary citizen committed these crimes, he would go to jail." He made the statement, according to Kos, during the Clinton administration. I guess it's no longer operational.

Russ Feingold - March 2, 1953, Janesville, Wisconsin Noon chart) Russ is a little banty rooster, he likes to keep things stirred up with his Mars/Uranus/Chiron T-square. His Mercury is at 29 Pisces and his Mercury/Mars mid-point will be activated by the March 29 Solar Eclipse, Russ is not going to keep his mouth shut to make the "Dems" in Congress feel comfortable, he simply is not. His Mars is in Aries and those people are not afraid of a fight and they don't back down.

I have a friend who is pretty high up in the Dem party's powers that be and I asked him about the possibility of Feingold for about a year (I liked the fact that he voted against the war and the Patriot's Act.) My friend said "no way, he has no money, no name recognition (that is changing) no organization behind him, but still I like Russ.

A member of Political Astrology (Yahoo group owned by Judy Johns) has posted the following data for Russell Feingold: Mar 2, 1953, 9:27 PM, CST, Janesville, WI.. She cites Astrodatabank as the source with a Rodden Rating of AA (Birth Certificate).

bob

Talk about things coming to light....

The Abu Ghraib files
279 photographs and 19 videos from the Army's internal investigation record a harrowing three months of detainee abuse inside the notorious prison -- and make clear that many of those responsible have yet to be held accountable.

Editor's note: The 10 galleries of photo and video evidence appear chronologically in the left column, followed by an additional Salon report on prosecutions for abuse and an overview of Pentagon investigations and other resources. The nine essays accompanying the photo galleries were reported and written by Michael Scherer and Mark Benjamin. Photo and video captions were compiled by Page Rockwell. Additional research, reporting and writing for "The Abu Ghraib Files" were contributed by Jeanne Carstensen, Mark Follman, Page Rockwell and Tracy Clark-Flory.

By Joan Walsh

Print EmailFont: S / S+ / S++

The human rights scandal now known as "Abu Ghraib" began its journey toward exposure on Jan. 13, 2004, when Spc. Joseph Darby handed over horrific images of detainee abuse to the Army's Criminal Investigation Command (CID). The next day, the Army launched a criminal investigation. Three and a half months later, CBS News and the New Yorker published photos and stories that introduced the world to devastating scenes of torture and suffering inside the decrepit prison in Iraq.

Today Salon presents an archive of 279 photos and 19 videos of Abu Ghraib abuse first gathered by the CID, along with information drawn from the CID's own timeline of the events depicted. As we reported Feb. 16, Salon's Mark Benjamin recently acquired extensive documentation of the CID investigation -- including this photo archive and timeline -- from a military source who spent time at Abu Ghraib and who is familiar with the Army probe.

http://salon.com/news/abu_ghraib/2006/03/14/introduction/

Feingold Accuses Democrats of 'Cowering'

Mar 15 7:20 AM US/Eastern

By LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON

bbe9ac6d7553@news.ap.org Wisconsin Sen. Russell Feingold accused fellow Democrats on Tuesday of cowering rather than joining him on trying to censure President Bush over domestic spying.

"Democrats run and hide" when the administration invokes the war on terrorism, Feingold told reporters.

Feingold introduced censure legislation Monday in the Senate but not a single Democrat has embraced it. Several have said they want to see the results of a Senate Intelligence Committee investigation before supporting any punitive legislation.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/03/15/D8GC0DC01.html

This site is not for the squeamish but at least it reveals more graphic truth about the horrific Iraq assault by... well, they cannot correctly be called "men" as that suggests some maturity & not fat violent gray-haired old infantbots with tiny lil peepees, who kill, kick, scream, pinch, punch, sock, powie-zowie, no matter if they're wearing cowboy boots n' hats or space boots n' lasers... than can be found in recent newspapers. One s/b aware tho, naturally, it's very uncomfortable...

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20060307213028458

Feingold Blasts Dems Who 'Run and Hide'
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031506Z.shtml

Wisconsin Senator Russell Feingold accused fellow Democrats on Tuesday of cowering rather than joining him on trying to censure President Bush over domestic spying."Democrats run and hide" when the administration invokes the war on terrorism, Feingold told reporters.

SPIEGEL ONLINE - March 15, 2006, 10:54 AM
URL: http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,405947,00.html

Africa's New Ocean

A Continent Splits Apart

By Axel Bojanowski

Normally new rivers, seas and mountains are born in slow motion. The Afar Triangle near the Horn of Africa is another story. A new ocean is forming there with staggering speed -- at least by geological standards. Africa will eventually lose its horn.

Geologist Dereje Ayalew and his colleagues from Addis Ababa University were amazed -- and frightened. They had only just stepped out of their helicopter onto the desert plains of central Ethiopia when the ground began to shake under their feet. The pilot shouted for the scientists to get back to the helicopter. And then it happened: the Earth split open. Crevices began racing toward the researchers like a zipper opening up. After a few seconds, the ground stopped moving, and after they had recovered from their shock, Ayalew and his colleagues realized they had just witnessed history. For the first time ever, human beings were able to witness the first stages in the birth of an ocean.

PHOTO GALLERY: HIGH-SPEED GEOLOGY IN AFRICA

Interesting edition of the "Progress Report"

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/apps/nl/newsletter2.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=917053

wv, WOW!

Published on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 by the Daytona Beach News-Journal (Florida)

Has Fear of Terrorism Become A Convenient Excuse for Racism?
by Pierre Tristam

Khalid Abdul Muhammad was one of those Nation of Islam demagogues who won himself his 15 puddles of fame in 1993 when, in a speech to a New Jersey college audience, he called for genocide against whites, called Jews "bloodsuckers," railed against the Pope and had some bile left over for homosexuals. It was an Exxon-Valdez-size toxic spill onto America's multicultural ecology, where rumors of perfect rainbows had been premature anyway. For the media, here was a chance to stick it to the other side, to turn the tables and show how blacks do racism -- all the while missing the larger picture: The racial shoals of the new century weren't going to be black and white. Not predominantly so, at least. They were going to be brown, the brown of immigrants: Latin American, Arab, South Asian.

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0314-21.htm

From Salon

Democrats run and hide -- literally -- from censure resolution
It seems that the senator has a point.

With George W. Bush's approval ratings wallowing in the 30s -- he's at 34 percent in new polls from Harris and CBS -- Russ Feingold is wondering how low Bush has to go before Senate Democrats will be willing to stand up to him on national security. As he watched members of his party distance themselves from his censure resolution this week, Feingold told Fox News: "I'm amazed at Democrats, cowering with this president's numbers so low. The administration just has to raise the specter of the war, and the Democrats run and hide."

They were strong words, but they don't seem to have shamed anyone into action. So far as we can tell, not a single Democrat in the Senate has offered to support Feingold's resolution, which would censure the president for engaging in a program of warrantless spying and then misleading the country about it. To the contrary, many of Feingold's Democratic colleagues are seeking distance, saying that anything like censure ought to await the outcome of an investigation that's never going to happen.

The Washington Post's Dana Milbank got a close-up look at the bobbing and weaving around Feingold's resolution by watching senators as they arrived for the Democrats' weekly caucus lunch Tuesday. The portrait that he paints isn't one of a party emboldened: Barack Obama said he couldn't comment on Feingold's resolution because he hadn't read it yet. Ben Nelson said he didn't have enough information. John Kerry suggested that he was in too much of a hurry to stop to comment, then stood silently as he waited to get through a security checkpoint.

What about the woman who would be president? Milbank writes: "Hillary Rodham Clinton brushed past the press pack, shaking her head and waving her hand over her shoulder. When an errant food cart blocked her entrance to the meeting room, she tried to hide from reporters behind the 4-foot-11 Barbara Mikulski."

Clinton's press spokesman told reporters to ask the senator about Feingold's resolution after lunch. And they might have, except that Clinton -- and a lot of her colleagues -- slipped out a back door instead.

-- Tim Grieve

Dark energy indeed. Has anyone else noticed that people are either nice, friendly and gentle or rude, insulting and obnoxious. Not really much in the middle. Also, the younger generations are becoming very bold, without regard for anything or anyone, much worse then in the past.

As far as the solar eclipse and the 29th. Abramoffs trial begins that day.

Lately I have been getting impressions of an a* being disquised as a suicide. Or a suicide being disquised as an a*. Abramoff???

And with the ratings of the rez being near freezing, gas prices beginning to soar, indictments and subpeonas on the horizon, anything can happen here. Desperate men do desperate things.

Israel and Iran are of great concern as well as India. Too many hotheads with catastrohic capabilities in their hands.

And when I was doing a card reading on Dumbass, the 5 of swords, 5 of cups and 5 of pentacles all showed up as well, also the wheel, the devil and death cards played large roles.

Not worried about bird flu for a year or so, that's when we will see human to human exposure. It's man made and will mutate soon.

Has Beverly posted lately? I'm hoping her new job is going well.

About rainwater...did you know that where the multinationals have gone into control water (I am talking of South America) and charge the peasants for what used to be free, they have EXPLICITY FORBID THE NATIVES FROM COLLECTING RAINWATER?

I think that was what caused the rebellion - that and the fact that they were charging people 1/3 of their daily incomes for WATER! Water which had been free previous to Bechtel ......and of course, the rebellion worked, and last month, the cours overturned this horrendous control of a natural resource.

Again, the words used from my channeling from the pendulum last month....for Washington DC

First - Volcano (DEMS erupt in SENATE) ....Mar 25
then -Earthquake (Dems in Congress undo game of Repubs - April 14)
then -Tsunami. (June -Dots connected in world domination by Xian Republicans, Carlyle and energy corporations. B*, Ch* and entire Cab* imp****ed. ) NeoBuckeye's dream come true?

These are not earthchanges, they are the political rather than the physical landscape changes. Given the toal absence of Dems from the political discourse, these things seem to me absurd. But that eclipse has happened, and perhaps the waking up has begun.

Libramoon...I hear you...only it has taken me forever in life to get your point....I realize that it is treue! .

Yesterday I heard Al Franken say 'a tsunami of democrats in 2006'
Today, NOT ONE WORD ON THE 'CENSURE' BY FEINGOLD MENTIONED IN THE SF CHRONICLE.

How's that ''free press'' thing work again?

George Bush headed into my old stompin' grounds in Central New York. A local reporter, Scott Rapp of the Syracuse Post-Standard, files these dispatches: http://www.syracuse.com/news/updates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/syr_poststandard/archives/2006_03.html#121006

10:30 a.m. from the gymnasium at Canandaigua Academy: “When I checked in for my press credential (I was assigned to cover the protests and activities outside the high school while the president spoke), I was not allowed to leave the high school auditorium. That’s where I am now. You check in, go through a metal detector...and the press was escorted by 3-4 secret service/police types to a cordoned off area. We are not allowed to speak to anyone in the general public. I can’t go outside the building. Once you’re allowed in, you’re not allowed back out....

11:10 a.m.: "Security is so tight you have to get a escort to go to the bathroom...I tried to interview two guys in the bathroom...Said they couldn’t talk...

12:20 p.m. at the conclusion of President George Bush's speech: Following the speech, the security crew insisted on letting all the public out first. They would not allow the media out. We are ringed by security. Possibly all the people we want to talk to, may be gone before we get out...

At 12:42 p.m... 24 minutes after the president finished speaking...everyone is continuing to file out. And all the local press continues to be corraled and held at bay behind this roped off area by volunteer/plainclothes security force...Certain national press types, are being allowed to circulate around the room. Local press and television folks are not being allowed ... some media people are hot under the collar as they watch others being interviewed...and we're not being allowed to. This is not right. Meanwhile, everyone is being allowed to file out. I asked one of the security guards why I couldn't talk to anyone and was told it was "a directive from the White House..."

I guess when you have hand-picked seniors on stage saying how great Medicare has been working for them and a hand-picked audience from George's ever-dwindling base, then you've got to keep the only people not hand-picked--the local media--the hell away from them. Someone might play Toto and pull aside that ratty curtain away from the Wizard.

http://www.blah3.com/article1897.html

Geez...I live in the most left city in the country besides Boston, and STILL there is not one word in the SF Chronicle web site or newspaper. I knew a new publisher had taken over and that he was more conservative, but since this is a monopoly city, I am worried now...NOT ONE WORD!

Is Saddam next on the "heart attack" list?

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/march2006/150306saddamsilenced.htm

Worldwide poultry info is here.
http://www.poultrynews.org/

A Question...what was the path of this eclipse? I remember the one in which the path arced over Eastern Euorpe, presaging the bombing of Serbia (any resemblance to what Bush did to Iraq seems to me to be NOT THE SAME, but I am sure there are people who do equate it with what Bush has done.) Of course, that path also arced over the Middle East, also. What was the path of this one? Is there a web site which will show it?

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Congressman_writes_White_House_Did_President_0315.htmlCongressman writes White House: Did President knowingly sign law that didn't pass?

RAW STORY
Published: Wednesday March 15, 2006

Print This | Email This
Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) has alleged in a letter to White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card that President Bush signed a version of the Budget Reconciliation Act that, in effect, did not pass the House of Representatives.

Further, Waxman says there is reason to believe that the Speaker of the House called President Bush before he signed the law, and alerted him that the version he was about to sign differed from the one that actually passed the House. If true, this would put the President in willful violation of the U.S. Constitution.

The full text of the letter follows:

The Eclipse path. click on the pics to get a larger version

http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/OH/image1/LE2006Mar14-Fig1.GIF

Is this the new scandal?

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Congressman_writes_White_House_Did_President_0315.html

Sorry for the duplication. I didn't refresh before I posted.

Cybear,

Don't forget that the generation coming of age now are the eldest of the Pluto in Scorpio group (1984-1995). You will see extremes of all sorts with them, and there's zero middle ground. It's all or nothing.

Well, Morgana, after I read your article I was trying to articulate my reaction and then I read Sally's and KiwiJean's responses. They said it better than I can. Thank you so much.

Beasley, back in the days when I camped (for weeks at a time back-packing in the woods) we carried an empty gallon jug and a small bottle of Chlorox. If we used river water we added three drops of Chlorox to one gallon of water. (That is the ratio I remember. Please doublecheck.) Shake well. Instant chlorination. We considered rainwater and springwater pure then, but I wouldn't assume that now. (The earth and air were not so polluted then.)

Speaking of the mood, the atmosphere, I'm not the quickest to pick up on that, but this is unmistakeable. On CNN the other night some pundit or other was saying that the economy is so great (rah, rah) that he can't understand why people are so dissatisfied. (Duh.)

Who posted that info about selling water in South America? My gosh, that is carrying greed beyond cruel and into insane.

BTW, if Bush's approval rating keeps dropping it will soon reach the level of his moral intelligence.

That's a good one Barbara!

* Latin America & Asia are at last breaking free of Wash's grip - The US-dominated world order is being challenged by a new spirit of independence in the global south http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329434467-103677,00.html

aw and Order: CI takes on Abramoff this coming Sunday.

SLAYING OF SECRET SERVICE AGENT HAS DETECTIVES SNIFFING AROUND LOBBYIST, CONGRESSMAN AND INDIAN CASINOS --The brutal beating murder of a female Secret Service agent in her home has Detectives Logan (Christopher Noth) and Barek (Annabella Sciorra) sniffing around the many clients of her husband Jay (guest star David Alan Bashche), a well-connected lobbyist who is working both for and against an unpopular tribal Indian gaming casino on Long Island. But the detectives want to know why the victim's husband hid their laptop and shredded files soon after discovering her body -- and his curious dealings with a slippery congressman widen the police investigation to include more hidden crimes. Jamey Sheridan and Courtney B. Vance also star. TV-14 V
http://www.nbc.com/Law_&_Order:_Criminal_Intent/

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/03/15/national/w133829S29.DTL

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she and former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor have been the targets of death threats from the "irrational fringe" of society, people apparently spurred by Republican criticism of the high court.

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter joked earlier this year that Justice John Paul Stevens should be poisoned.

Worry is not limited to the Supreme Court. Three quarters of the nation's 2,200 federal judges have asked for government-paid home security systems, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said this week...

Hi Barbara....I was going to mention the clorox think also and forgot....And I posted the posts with no name, which I didn't notice untill WV asked about it...but what happened this morning while I was online is that the power went out again...it must have wiped out the cache which remembers my name. Google water wars in Bolivia to see the whole story.

When I got to my drawing atelier this morning, we were all out of sorts...the model kept squirming and couldn't settle down....it wasn't until almost 12:30 that the energy seemed to change....

Morgana, a very beautiful piece....

OMG>>>>

AUDIO - US Senate candidate says Elton John worthy of death...speaks of Mary Cheney

by PageOneQ

Last week, the press reported that Merrill Kaiser, a Democratic candidate United States Senate from Ohio, believes that homosexuality should be punishable by death. Kaiser’s opposition for the Democratic nomination is US Rep. Sherrod Brown.

PageOneQ has obtained a portion of an audio interview in which Kaiser says that singer/performer Elton John should be put to death and insinuates that the same should happen to Mary Cheney, the daughter of Vice President Richard B. Cheney.

The Edge Show, a growing podcast with over 4,000 weekly listeners, conducted the interview. (to hear the complete show, click here)

Here is the transcript of the portion of the show in which Kaiser speaks of superstar and out gay man Elton John. The original recording of the transcribed text is here in MP3 format.http://pageoneq.com/news/2006/edgeshow_031506.html

Morgana,
Sally said it so well I wont even try! ( Being more visual than verbal.......) I also got chills reading Luna's Dark Face.
But in my own life, I feel lighter than I have for a while!
Luna approaching my N Jupiter in the 10th & trining scorpio moon in 6th ( mutuakll reception w cancer pluto in the 2nd.) sextiled my sun in 12 & mars in 8th. opposed my neptune in 4th. it is activating my earth & water trines.
However I am completely broke! Can't even pay my utility bills until April 3rd. So I called them all to beg a
stay of execution. ( pictured the lights turned off & no phone, no internet, whileI am trying to boot up free- lance work! ) THEY WERE WARM& KIND LIKE I HAVEN'T HEARD IN 20 YEARS! THE PEOPLE HAVE "GOT IT"
Hi, Jo & Dave nice to have you contributing again!
And ave thanks for being politically active!
On the Dark side:
"Loki the Trickster roils the seas embodied in Mercury Rx.secrets once lost in darkness come to light."
just heard on CNN that a SPECIAL INDEPENDANT INVESTIGATION TEAM has been chosen to look into the Iraq situation!!! James Baker 3 & Lee Hamilton!
Oh pleeeeeze! "Fool me once , uh fool me again????
Baker is a prime Carlyle player I think Hamilton is involved too!
libramoon..... YES..........Life is about a journey toward understanding who we are. Vocation is about dharma, sacred works that reveal our true selves and our true roles in the grand scheme and mundane community.
If I have to do it under the bed while eating tuna so be it!
PQ

Steve Bell's view of what happened in Palestine
yesterday...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/0,,337484,00.html

Bhakti

I think you're right:
"West Nile Virus was/is carried by mosquitos,"

but how come birds were dying from mosquitoes.

Definitely West Nile Virus was another bio-warfare disease made by us, (apparently aimed at the West Nile inhabitants - duh - I wonder who that could have been -) and there was blowback. There's no question it was our man made disease as Senator Leahy slipped that out on the floor of the Senate.

I wouldn't doubt for a minute if I was told Henny Penny flu was another manufctured disease. Maybe meant for North Korea as it seems to have started in Asia ? And perhaps a more successful attempt at a means of delivery: birds.
But some genius didn't figure on all birds catching it and spreading it - after all, chickens are not thought to fly around the world.

There's an irony to this.

If canaries/birds are to be the signal
of poison in the coal mine - what does the death of birds world wide mean to the earth?

Once more I have checked the SF Chronicle web site and there are NO stories about the CENSURE.....

Would you all check your news sources locally and see if you see anything?

Pallas 1800 said, "if canaries/birds are to be the signal of poison in the coal mine, what does the death of birds worldwide mean to the earth?"

Stunning question.

Also this reminded me that Gloria Steinheim once said that in human societies, women are like the canaries in the coal mine.

Climate changes may be irreversible folks. See this: http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article351135.ece

Pallas, Linda Goodman claimed that the birds woke the trees in the spring. What if they were not here to wake them.

Pat Sharp. . .sending abundant white light your way. . .including a request for some financial abundance. I'll bet it comes!

karen

I like Feingold, and I know that many delegates to the 2004 democratic caucuses noticed him and liked him - and even mentioned "watch him, he's going places".

But with the times bob posted for his birthdata,
Feingold natally has South Node in the 10th house
conjunct MC and Pluto.

At the March 29th eclipse Saturn is in his 10th house at the midpoint of his relocated MC/South Node. What a shame.

This url does work to sign Feingold's petition.

http://www.progressivepatriotsfund.com/page/petition/censure0306

You know, I was no fan of Nader's, but, he predicted what was going to happen if Bush got in
and all he said has come to be.

Hi, I'm a lurker but I don't usually have anything to add to the excellent and eduational posts here. Al Gore predicted what would happen too. Actually he's been predicting the current ecological crisis for a generation . He's also been far more vocal and passionate about what to do about the mess we're in.

Have you heard what Bush's latest immigration worker plan is?

To allow Mexican immigrants to come into the country to work for 6 years (after which they're supposed to voluntarily go home) , and to SUBSIDIZE AMERICAN EMPLOYERS WHO HIRE THEM , WITH YOUR TAXPAYER DOLLARS, purportedly to tempt employers to hire the ones he allows in to work for $5.15 instead of the illegal ones who work for $5.15.

Sounds more expensive to the American Taxpayer to me..in other words we'll be paying the FICA, SS and whatever taxes, duh- so he's robbing the treasury once again, for whaaaaat?

Well welcome GoldenSilence.

Speak up more often.

"He's also been far more vocal and passionate about what to do about the mess we're in. "

what does he say to do?

At this point I will not vote or work for any democrat...but I would write in Al Gore's name and work for him.

Pallas, I also assume you won't be voting for any repubs either?

Karen,
I am confident it will change very soon. My time has been so commandeered for the last 2 weeks, I have scarcely been able to think & had to spend money eating out, because all my surfaces were covered with dust or dropcloths! But ther house looks GOOD & I can now get to work.
Just watched Apocalypse Cow part 2, ( Want safe beef go to Japan but it wil cost you $70.00 Canadian) followed by a short on factory raised chickens.................. . ( Free Speach TV) No wonder chicken tasts so lousy! When I was a child, my Aunt raised chickens, while my Uncle was overseas with the service. It was my job to pluck the quills out of the skin.
Later on we ate chickens from Vineland NJ, raised by Italian Immigrants. A friend & I went down & bought 9 of them in the late 60's, to raise at her house. We conveyed them in the back seat of my brand new Buick Skylark! A success we weren't!
I'm considering trying it again. ( At least for the eggs!)
Saturay 8 pm on Link TV "Highjacking Catastrophy"
The Selling of America!
PQ

If you type in http://www.progressivepatriotsfund.com it will take you to Feingold's website. Scroll down to the "petition" to sign up.

mercury R...not Feingold's site. But it can take you to the petition.

Thanks Barbara for you chlorine/water info.

Now I have to decide how polluted rain water is in Princeton, NJ. Bleeeeahhhh.

If climate change is indeed permanent, the question becomes what we can do to mitigate the damage and perhaps slow it down to the point where humanity can at least have a fighting chance to adapt to it over the long term.

Of course, before we can even do that, the oil-guzzling corporatists run amok must first be permanently broken and banned from ever returning to authority and influence. "Business as usual" cannot long continue if we are to save ourselves and save our planet.

Astrologically speaking, we've got about 30 to 40 years, all of which really ought to be "action time" to prepare ourselves, our civilization and implement genuine, long term solutions to deal with the global environmental crisis. Enough with the last-minute crisis management stuff. The hour is already late!

What am I basing my forecast on? There are several aspects leading up to the point, but specifically, the Uranus(Virgo)-Pluto(Pisces) Opposition of 2046-48, the culmination and harvest of the "seeding" of environmental awareness that took place back when Uranus and Pluto conjoined in Virgo in the late 1960s. Pisces deals with storms, spirit and the world as a whole, so imagine what happens when Pluto transits that sign. Now toss in the challenging aspect to Uranus. The Uranus-Pluto opposition itself can be interpreted as a "sudden death" of sorts -- an immediate and unavoidable transformation.

In short, I think the environment is our greatest and most urgent concern. But with Uranus involved down the line, who knows? We could find a way to control the Carbon Dioxide, stave off a runaway greenhouse effect, and even restore the ice caps by 2047, only to see half the North American continent suddenly smothered by the Yellowstone Supervolcano and the world itself plunged into a brand new ice age. But certainly doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to do something to save ourselves and our world.

My other prediction is, if we're not too careful, the uplifting of humanity's spirit and prelude to the Age of Aquarius that many of us hope for when Pluto comes to Aquarius in 2025, will end up being instead, an uphill battle for our own survival as a civilization. But I guess our situation then depends upon what we do (or don't do) in the next 10 years.

Neo,

according to the linked article , the ice is melting decades ahead of time ... now.

I'm always awed by your look ahead to 2045 and 2025 - the privince of youth - but something in you gives you the long view. I can remember being
18 and thinking a woman I had seen was over the hill because she was 28 LOL!

_____

Anybody know of anything going on with Prince Charles or that icon of warmth Queen Elizabeth?

Yesterday's eclipse hit them both -
squaring Charles' natal Jupiter in Sag at 29 degrees and his Uranus in Gemini opposition.

Eclipse opposed Elizabeth's Uranus 27 Pisces.

Along the same lines,

I have thought of former Prime Minister Sharon on and off for the past couple of weeks.

On Feb 8, 2005, a little more than a year ago I wrote an article for Astroworld, "Shepherds and
Peacemakers".

At the end of the article I wrote:

"One fly in the ointment of this chart is that Saturn rising is in Sesquiquadrate to Uranus in the 8th. , which may be indicative of a sudden sharp and shocking loss of one of the participants, further indicated by Vindemiatrix, the Star of Widowhood on the 4th house Cusp.

Another annoyance is the resistance of the terrorists indicated by Pluto Mars (hidden army) in the 6th. The Pluto/ Mars is semisquare Chiron in Capricorn. They just don't want to let go of the old wounds. And underhandedly will continue to try to urge more hatred and violent actions especially in the young. Some of it they will succeed at, and some they won't. Many of the young people will be pleased with this transformation ( Pluto trining the 10th house North Node) not only for themselves but for their own children.(Pluto rules the 5th house)

This chart says this agreement has a good chance of success if it is not derailed by the death of one of the participants ."

_____

The March 29 eclipse at 8 Aries hits Ariel Sharon's 12th house Jupiter at 7 Aries and his
Ascendant at 11 Aries. It will be a blessed relief and release if they unhook him from the machines and let him go.

Pallas, being brought up in a commonwealth country, I have rather a fond feeling for QE2. I have seen her several times in person. She is tiny in stature but her internal discipline must be immense. The last time I saw her (early 90's) she was walking in a procession, uphill, in sweltering heat, wearing a very heavy ceremonial maori cloak. It must have been terribly uncomfortable for a woman of her age. And even when a protestor threw something at her, she never skipped a beat. People I know who have met her, say she is hardworking, intelligent and very gracious.
Now, on the other hand, her son is a whole other kettle of fish.

As to her whereabouts, she is in Australia at the moment - she opened a new section of the Sydney Opera House the other day, and opened the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne yesterday. The Games are a really big deal in this part of the world.

Last week, in passing,I noticed on the front page of one of those scandel rags a story about Camilla cheating on Charles. Could that be it?

Beasley, Treat the rainwater!!!!
In 1979, on synthroid for a goiter.........I swallowed radioactive iodine for a test, &walked out of my apartment to go to the hospital There was a strange low lying mist, over the fields. ( 3 mile island day!) Less than 2 years later a biopsy showed a pre-cancer condition & I had to have my thyroid gland removed!
I was in Mt Laurtel NJ, south & east of Princeton & in a direct line east of 3 mile island.! Time has proved that they had no measurment of the radioactivity that was released that day!
In the event of as crisis I will need more than canned tuna under my bed. Dried dessicated pig thyroid tablets
keep me on my feet & functioning normally, on a daily basis. I have read that kelp,
( bladder wrack/ plentiful supply right down the road; Is that why the fates brought me to Maine? )
boosts the thyroid & metabolism.........but in the absence of the gland itself will kelp help? Or do I look to my farmer friend who raises pigs?
I have decided to grow some medicinal herbs this year, Tseka; any suggestions?
PQ

Hello all, just checking in to say this:
on this eve of St. Patrick's Day, let's raise a green beer in toast to the patron saint himself, in hopes that his spirit might help us drive the "snakes" from our GOVERNMENT!!!(of course, with apologies to REAL snakes, who perform a useful function in controlling the rodent population...)

Garry, 'ERIN GO BRAGH!

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

http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=1173954&tw=wn_wire_story

Jessica Simpson snubs Bush

Concerned about politicizing her favorite charity, singer-actress Jessica Simpson on Wednesday turned down a invitation to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush, a snub that left Republicans dismayed.

The apparent final word that Simpson would be a no-show at a major Republican fund-raiser with Bush and congressional leaders on Thursday night came after a day of conflicting reports from her camp and organizers of the event.

The blond star of the film "The Dukes of Hazzard" still plans to visit Washington on Thursday to lobby members of Congress on behalf of Operation Smile, a non-profit venture offering free plastic surgery for disadvantaged children overseas with facial deformities.

People close to Simpson said she declined a request to appear that same evening at the gala fund-raiser of the National Republican Congressional Committee -- even after she was offered some private face time with Bush -- because Operation Smile is a non-partisan group.

More....

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

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/15/AR2006031502297_pf.html

Bush to Restate Terror Strategy

President Bush plans to issue a new national security strategy today reaffirming his doctrine of preemptive war against terrorists and hostile states with chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, despite the troubled experience in Iraq.

The long-overdue document, an articulation of U.S. strategic priorities that is required by law, lays out a robust view of America's power and an assertive view of its responsibility to bring change around the world. On topics including genocide, human trafficking and AIDS, the strategy describes itself as "idealistic about goals and realistic about means."

The strategy expands on the original security framework developed by the Bush administration in September 2002, before the invasion of Iraq. That strategy shifted U.S. foreign policy away from decades of deterrence and containment toward a more aggressive stance of attacking enemies before they attack the United States.

The preemption doctrine generated fierce debate at the time, and many critics believe the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq fatally undermined an essential assumption of the strategy -- that intelligence about an enemy's capabilities and intentions can be sufficient to justify preventive war.

In his revised version, Bush offers no second thoughts about the preemption policy, saying it "remains the same" and defending it as necessary for a country in the "early years of a long struggle" akin to the Cold War. In a nod to critics in Europe, the document places a greater emphasis on working with allies and declares diplomacy to be "our strong preference" in tackling the threat of weapons of mass destruction.

More...

Beasley, what Pat Sharp posted about radioactive iodine, etc. prompts me to write this, though I'm likely stating the obvious--when you filter water through charcoal, or add chlorine, or boil water--what you are doing is killing good old-fashioned germs. If the water is polluted with radioactivity or metals then the above methods won't help at all.

If you build a nice little still (good for other beverages, too) and distill your water, that would remove the metals.

Pat, if you are thinking of raising chickens, please consider bantams. Most full-sized breeds of chicken have been bred so long for meat or egg production that they are almost as brainless as turnips and don't look after themselves very well. Like turkeys--wild turkeys are pretty smart, but tame turkeys will actually drown in a heavy rain.

Bantam roosters call the flock when they find food, and bantam hens protect the chicks. They are pretty, too.

This one's for Sally.

What happened to Kansas?

Many in south-central Kansas are mourning the death of Christian Peacemakers Teams member Tom Fox, who was found dead last week near Baghdad. It is painful to experience the loss by violence of someone we know or, in the case of Fox, know of. In many ways, Fox was "one of us"; he was working for peace in a dangerous place.
Because of the circumstances of his murder, the report brought to me feelings of outrage and anger along with the sadness. He was doing courageous work trying to help bring an end to war. His death is heartbreaking. So are the deaths of the 2,300-plus fellow American men and women killed in our war, and the deaths of an estimated 70,000-plus Iraqis, including 3-month-old children, 80-year-old women and 16-year-old boys. Tragic is the death of the ghost detainee who dies while being tortured in U.S. custody -- just as Fox was tortured by the people who eventually murdered him.
The list of the horrifying consequences of our use of war as a foreign policy tool is long and includes more than 85,000 wounded human beings, as well as the spending of our tax money equal to the cost of four-year public university scholarships for nearly 12 million students.
It takes courage to stand up and make a statement to end the use of war. Stand up here in Wichita and make clear your opposition to this war. Join with others Saturday to mark the third anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Starting at 11 a.m., we will gather at Minisa Park, 13th and Jeanette, and walk the mile to the Peace and Social Justice Center of South Central Kansas, 1407 N. Topeka, for the rally and vigil that start about noon.
HORACE SANTRY

Executive director Peace and Social Justice Center of South Central Kansas

Wichita

Wichita Eagle--

http://tinyurl.com/pubbb

Water wars!
This article is about the Halliburton failure to provide pure water to our troops (why do they hate our troops?) as they were contracted to do. ALSO, in a box on the right-hand side, down just a bit, are links to other articles, including one about people killing each other in Kenya over water and a water conference being held in Mexico. Go see:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HALLIBURTON_CONTAMINATED_WATER?SITE=KPUA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

I apologize in advance, this is a long link, but it links to an hour + clip from a direct-to-dvd movie called "Loose Change", that could be the 9/11 revealing that Sally spoke of awhile back.....it's on google video via Netscape, so you might want to save it to your desktop and open it from there.

http://keyword.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=loose+change&page=1&offset=0&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3Dbb366e67f52e0708%26clickedItemRank%3D3%26userQuery%3Dloose%2Bchange%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fvideo.google.com%252Fvideoplay%253Fdocid%253D-5137581991288263801%2526q%253Dloose%252Bchange%26invocationType%3D-%26fromPage%3DnsBrowserRoll%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&

There is a guy named Tom Arthur over on Salon who posts these almost every day. In the midst of all the horror, I find them helpful.

Jay Leno: “They said on the news tonight that US spy satellites are being used to track infected birds for the bird flu. Well, they worked so well in our hunt for Osama bin Laden.”

Jay Leno: “Well, in the next few months, the US will close the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. I understand they are going to sell the whole operation, lock, stock, and barrel to the Motel Six Corporation. The new slogan, ‘We’ll leave the leash on for you.”

Jay Leno: “An analyst says that killing this port deal has hurt our standing in the Muslim world. Oh my God! I’d hate to see anything take away from our current title of the ‘Great Satan.’”

Jay Leno: “A former White House domestic policy adviser – and that’s a big job, a guy named Claude Allen, arrested and charged with theft. He works right under the President in the White House. He was shoplifting at a Target store. And of course, President Bush was shocked. He said, ‘What? Republicans don’t shop at Target! What are you talking about?”

"South Korean Prime Minister Lee Hae-Chan ... has offered to resign after he was criticized for playing golf instead of overseeing the government response to a railway strike. Imagine that, a government official doing nothing in the face of a natural disaster. Thank god that could never happen here. Actually, Lee Hae-Chan is a Korean name, it means FEMA." --Jay Leno

Jay Leno: The first episode of the Sopranos on Sunday was “pretty shocking, Tony was shot by Uncle Junior. Of course, they said it was an accident because he was senile and didn’t know it was Tony. An old bald guy accidentally shoots his friend. Where do they get these wacky stories?”

David Letterman: “Are you all excited about March Madness, the big NCAA college basketball tournament? Here’s how it works. It starts at 65, then 64, then 32, then 16. It’s just like Bush’s approval rating.”

David Letterman: “There’s a guy who used to be Bush’s domestic policy adviser, Claude Allen…he is now charged with defrauding a department store. And when Bush heard about this, he was stunned, he was shocked. He had no idea he had a domestic policy adviser.”

“Top Ten Signs The Government Is Running Out Of Money:
10. State dinners are at IHOP.
9. Country renamed United States of Ditech.com.
8. Had to fire Laura’s sexy Dominican gardener.
7. Witness protection program now issues informants a fake mustache. 6. For ten bucks you can punch Rumsfeld in the stomach.
5. Bush’s awkward call to Mrs. Milosevic asking if
he’s in Slobodan’s will.
4. The original Constitution is on eBay.
3. NSA can only afford to tap phones during off-peak hours.
2. Price of a stamp is now two grand.
1. Cheney was spotted strolling into a bank carrying his 12-gauge.”

Pat...Leno ended up haveing to call watcher who was offended by his joke about Cheney....

UGH.http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11831317/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4812352.stm

Quenching Mexico City's thirst

As Mexican President Vicente Fox prepares to open the 4th World Water Forum, the BBC's Claire Marshall looks at the severe water problems facing Mexico City.

With a population of more than 20 million people, and dwindling water supplies, the Mexican capital is a stark example of the severe water supply issues facing many of the world's rapidly-developing mega cities.

The parched ground crunches beneath your feet as you walk through the Texcoco area on the outskirts of the city. The bleached, cracked terrain stretches out in all directions. Nothing can grow here.
It is very difficult to imagine, that just 70 years ago, this area was filled with water. This was one of five lakes that used to enrich the Mexico City valley.
Today, in a prime example of what more than a century of water mismanagement can do, they have all but disappeared.

Population growth, the over-exploitation of subterranean aquifers, and a failure to recycle limited water supplies have turned a once-fertile region into a barren desert.

Many of Mexico City's inhabitants get by on just one hour of running water per week.
And, most people consider the city's tap water to be undrinkable - though water officials say it is now safe to drink - so Mexico has become the second-highest consumer of bottled drinking water in the world.

More...

Kiwijeanie Jeanie & Pat

My comment, "that icon of warmth" refers to an article I wrote at the time of Charles & Camilla's wedding in the archives here at:
http://www.astroworld.us/archives/000489.html#000489

When we found Queen Elizabeth's behavior somewhat odd, with reference to the wedding.

Pat,

I haven't checked their charts lately, but the activation of Uranus in all their charts shows something shocking and upsetting (Uranus) on the eclipse, so I suspect it to be more than a little hanky panky which has become quite customary for the Royals.

The 24 Virgo eclipse fills in a T square for Charles - and I wonder about his health.

In any case later in the day, I'll take a look.

_____

Bush is going to give a speech about "his" foreign policy of pre-emptive war on whomever he
deems a terrorsit country?

Of course Rice and Bush and the party kool-aid drinkers like Bolton, have been talking up the
dangers of Iran - the drumbeat.

Without question that should be enough to impeach him. But who will stop them?

IF he attacks Iran, he'd better prepare to face Chinese and Russian soldiers in the field.

Apparently he's trying to get Israel to attack Iran, because the US's army is just not capable of another war: tired, understaffed, unmotivated for Bush's oil wars. I hope they don't fall for it.

Is there the faintest hope that the democrats in
Congress will say something, anything to oppose/stop this bastard when Mercury goes direct on the 25th?

I'll look, but I dont have my hopes up.

Pallas, I love your contributions to this site and I look forward to visiting every day because there are so many intelligent and knowledgeable people here. Sorry it took me so long to respond to your question. I just caught up on the posts. To answer your question about what Gore has done or suggests to do I would like to remind everyone of the book he wrote in 1992, EARTH IN THE BALANCE. It is full of suggestions which range from government initiatives (in both national and international areas) to private sector actions. He was instrumental in acquiring Current TV and in developing its format which is aimed at young adults and which promotes viewer interaction. Viewers are invited to send their own videos on subjects they want to cover and last month they were invited to make commercial ads, so it isn't strickly one kind of production (like straight news, or entertainment, etc.) The viewer generated content is about 30% of the on-air fare.

Current TV just received two bronze Telly Awards which have been around for 27 years. They honor outstanding local, regional and cable television commercials and programs, and the best video and film productions. The judges are advertising and production professionals who are at the top of their fields. Current TV was launched only seven months ago.

He has also travelled the world giving speeches in the last few years at international business, economic and science conferences as well as confronting the Bush Administration's policies in a series of speeches since 2003 ranging from how our Democracy is being destroyed to how Bush lied us into the war in Iraq to what is wrong with the media. His latest speech was on Martin Luther King's Holiday and he spoke out against the warrantless spying as well as the Constitutional crisis we are in.

The MSM has ignored his speeches or tried to continue to savage and ridicule Gore so it's difficult to get his messages. Nevertheless, he has stayed quite active and involved in finding solutions to the things he sees are wrong in the world.

Ah yes, "what is happening in Kansas" Even my sister said the other day in relation to KU beating Texas on the road to the final 4 "you know, we are kind of getting sick of Texas."

Part of the disillusion with this administration and government right now is the Jupiter/Neptune square. That aspect is a "savior" aspect, it's the kind of aspect that you can be sure God is speaking to you and you alone, it's also the aspect of expanded goodness and dreams (people give fortunes away to TV Preachers and charletons under this aspect) It's also the aspect where we want to see the goodness of ourselves as a world, and the goodness of our God no matter who that God is to us. We don't want to see hell, fire and damnation and we don't want to see wars in the name of God, we want to see peace. For the Christian religion, they will be looking again at the New Testament and checking to see if our government is looking.

blood in the sands...

US Launches Biggest Iraqi Air Assault Since Invasion

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/3/16/105516/026

If these madmen are not stopped we are in serious, serious, deep sh*t.

Pallas, I posted on one of the other threads about what will happen in the event that fiendco and freinds attack Iran.

CNN press conf....Scotty, I'm B*'s bitch, defending the fiend and trying to justify attacking Iran....It's a coming and it's a coming fast.

Our world will not be the same after this year if these madmen are not stopped.

What the !@#$ is going on with the Dems?

I'll say it again....Bush is evil incarnate and he is the Anti-Christ of our time. I am not a xian. Anti-Christ means anti-light and anti-life.

Wake up christians! B* is doing everything that the your bible teaches against. That my friends is what your devil/satan wants. How easily the sheeple are decieved. B* is not a "messenger of god" as some would believe, he rides on the wings of chaos and darkness. And he is surrounded by protectors, which include most of the US politicians. UN_#^$&!%@believable!

Pallas, this came up today (coincidence or synchronicity regarding our exchange?).

[snip]
Former Vice President Al Gore is drumming up interest in his upcoming environmental documentary by screening it for movie theater owners at their annual convention in Las Vegas.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=filmNews&storyID=2006-03-15T082643Z_01_N15235552_RTRIDST_0_FILM-GORE-DC.XML

Gore vouches for "Truth"
Wed Mar 15, 2006 3:26 AM ET
By Tatiana Siegel

LAS VEGAS (Hollywood Reporter) - Former Vice President Al Gore is drumming up interest in his upcoming environmental documentary by screening it for movie theater owners at their annual convention in Las Vegas.

Gore, an environmental advocate and self-described recovering politician, fielded questions from attendees after Monday's screening of "An Inconvenient Truth," a cautionary chronicle of global warming that premiered to favorable reviews at the Sundance Film Festival in January. It will be released on May 26 by the specialty division of Paramount Pictures.

"What we have found about this movie is (that) the word-of-mouth gets people to come in and see it and bring others to come see it," Gore said.

The film's marketing team will take a page from "The Passion of the Christ" and "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe" and target the faith-based groups that helped make those pictures box office hits. Gore said Paramount also will pursue environmental and business groups to boost awareness of the Davis Guggenheim-directed documentary.

"There are a lot of organizations gearing up to get people into your theaters and to get this set of facts out there," Gore added. "What people see in the comfortable venues that you offer can have a tremendous impact. We hope that you will keep that in mind as you think about this movie."

Cybear...'none' of the people did anything about the incardceration of the Jews, homosexuals, Romanian gypsies, Poles, Latvians, Lithuanians....or Russians ....so I am not counting on anything happening much now (SF Chronicle STILL DOES NOT HAVE REPORT ON FEINGOLD/ HARKIN CENSURE.)

Sometimes evil is just evil and powerful. and it has the momentum. And it demands a battle. That is where we stand, demanding a battle...but not in Iran/Iraq/Afghanistan....here at home.

Sally, that 'god is talking to ya' aspect seems to be working for me. My pendulum work has been coming thru clearly when I listen. I sat down at my table this morning and noticed this note I had written on Monday...it said 'you will have a new client in 3 days"....and last evening found that a former boss from an agency in SF who is now in Cleveland had sent an email asking if I could do some work. If I hadn't read the note this morning, I wouldn't have remembered anything except that which I had remembered: the work I did for the Navy in Jan which I never head a word about was going to be completed by me starting at end of the week. The email AFTER the one from Ohio was from the architect: the NAS work has the go ahead....

Pat PQ...the story of your thyroid event is chilling. That view of 3 mile Island thru the mist....that was such a pivotal experience for all of the nation, and you were there in the middle. As for the kelp...I took it for a long time after I stopped taking thyroid (whole, NOT Synthroid...you can't stop taking Synthroid if you don't have a thryroid gland). But kelp and the dessicated thyroid supplement (pig? Lapin? I was told mine was rabbit hormones ) are mainstays. And the kelp I was taking was from Maine. Iodized salt of course. But honestly, I don't know what else without the gland itself. Goiter is pretty common in areas where there is no contact with the sea....I think you chose a good place to go to.

GoldenSilence....thanks for the Gore article...I like the man, I respect what he has done and is doing. He is a spiritual person who hasn't forgotten that he is spiritual, I believe. I know from reading a New Yorker article in 2000 that he is passionate about his investigation and writing on the environment and many other things...he was always passionate about the internet!

I can't tell you how sick I am of people who disdain scholarship and wonks....without them....we'd all be feudal serfs to the ignorant lords.

thanks Goldensilence.

I've caught some of Gore's speeches on C Span but not the MLK day one.

If only had spoken with that passion and anger before - but then again, with fixed voting machines and chads- and the mafia cabal in opposition, would it have been any different.

I don't know where his tv station is - or how to get it - can you give some directions?

Thank you again.

Pallas, unfortunately it's on cable and satellite, but you can get it online. I don't watch it much since it's geared for a much younger audience (I'm rapidly approaching my second Saturn Return) and I prefer to read my news online.

http://www.current.tv/

http://www.current.tv/google

Remember Al Gore serves as a Senior Advisor to Google, inc. in case you wanted to know the connection between Current TV and Google.

Senator Tom Harkin has come out in support of
Feingold's resolution of censure:

http://www.tomharkin.com/

capitol switchboard number where you can ask operator to connect you to any house member or any senate member - if their line is busy then you can ask for someone else.

Capitol Switchboard

202 224 3121

GOP Again Bids to Take ANWR

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031606J.shtml

The Senate is prepared to vote on a budget bill Thursday that includes a measure to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling - just as the region suffers through one of the worst oil spills in history.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/15/AR2006031502318.html

Bet on a Bet but Not on a Ballot
By Richard Morin, Washington Post

It's easier to rig an electronic voting machine than a Las Vegas slot machine, says University of Pennsylvania visiting professor Steve Freeman.

That's because Vegas slots are better monitored and regulated than America's voting machines, Freeman writes in a book out in July that argues, among other things, that President Bush may owe his last win to an unfair vote count.

We'll wait to read "Was the 2004 Presidential Election Stolen? Exit Polls, Election Fraud, and the Official Count" before making a judgment about that. But Freeman has assembled comparisons that suggest Americans protect their vices more than they guard their voting rights, according to data he presented at an October meeting of the American Statistical Association chapter in Philadelphia.

How to Steal an Election

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2006/03/16/GR2006031600213.html

The trouble with Kansas is stupidity!
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/14109047.htm

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

I'd like to address this to the poster who keeps writing about no news of Feingold's resolution in the San Francisco Chronicle but that person never signs their name - so I can't.

Barbara Boxer and Feinstein have not come out in support of the resolution.

Why don't you just call their offices and tell them to -

Here's a good report of someone's call to Harry
Reid's office (I wasn't as polite)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2515315

Capitol Switchboard

202 224 3121

The real horror is that blandly evil, our votes & vote-counting just somehow shifted to necroporn "private" grasp without even so much as a by-your-leave from the Peoples. Therefore, nobody s/b surprised about the results.

Jill G, yes I do agree Kansas is seemingly stupid but the above article isn't about Kansas, it's about Missouri. Kansas City is divided between two states, one is Kansas and one is Missouri and that article was about Missouri

Pallas, DKOS has Boxer standing with Feingold, Feinstein not yet. DKOS has a good piece on it

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/3/16/91111/4734

Make your voices heard!

Man I hope Gore throws his hat in the ring for 2008, it would be so fitting.

Sorry Sally,
My in-laws are living in Wichita (3 hours from K city)and can't move because of the money. That story is typical of the area.
I did find a useful links site with something for everyone[from left computer sites to an African book store to left computer sites]. Just click the links key here.
http://www.brechtforum.org/

Good Goddess, that retro Mercury! I meant to write that it listed International sites too! phooey

Feingold call wiretappin an impeachable offense

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,188122,00.html

Fiore - Thank You NeoConMen...

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

I didn't mean to suggest that water purifer tablets would remove radioactive waste from water, It was more an illustration of the wind/air pattern in that area. They have since installed moniters at the plasnt that hopefully they can still afford to keep up!

I take Armour thyroid.so that is pig, not rabbit. My friend is going to ask her butcher what happens to that gland.
Also trying to get my brother on the job,. He is an equine reproducive physiologist. How differerent could the endocrinolgical system be between a horse & a pig? Human?
I also had that experimental radiation treatment to eliminate tonsils as a baby! That must have done it because I swallowed gallons of ocean water as a child, with my water trine, stayed in the water all day! & we
always went to the Jersey shore for at
least a month

Cybear, I'm with you......Operation Swarm!!! *&^%$#@!@!! Evil Oinks! The WH LINE WAS VERY BUSY TODAY!
Do they really think that will make us forget his 33% approval rating ( Pew ) Or the reasons he has caused the tratings to drop that low!
PQ
BTW.the text has sprawled horizontally. First time since I upgraded to OS X ;is it my compiuter or the site?

Pallas...that ISN"T the point....it is about the news media. And it is me, Judi Gemini....mercury is obviously retrograde, and I think I explained that the power outage sttripped my cache of its settings for my name, and didn't know it until WV told me. I have been signing my name. I even asked if other would check to see if their local papers were talking about this...no one has answered me except you, and you missed the point.

Heya JudiG, San Jose Mercury News ran with Feingold on the front page. Or so says my husband I didn't see it.

Let's see. Today I called Feinstein, Levin, Kerry,Durbin, and Rockefeller's offices.

thanks Morgana. I didnt know about Boxer.

Kerry's asst (I think it was)named Jan, said she was going to mark me down as "opposed" - and I went ballistic.

We have only one power. The democrats want to turn Congress into democrats in November.

They need us to vote.

I have been telling them come November, if they dont stand up for Feingold now, I'll sit home in November on my ass and not vote.
As long as they want to be republican lite, let the republicans have it. The aides didn't sound happy.

The same things go for Specter and the republicans. They're afraid of losing Congress - so the answer is if they dont censure Bush, you wont vote for a party that is destoying the Constitution and has no respect for the rule of law.

Asshole democrats don't realize what they have - and the only way to make them realize it is to tell them you will sit on your ass come November and not vote at all. Talk about Bush ignoring the citizens' will - what the hell are the democrats doing?

Daily Kos - "The "angry bloggers" that your consultants warn you about are "angry" because .... We're the ones who you will ask to vote for you in upcoming elections. We're the ones you will send fundraising emails too. We're the ones you rely on to get out the vote. ....
And we'll keep urging you, day after day, to side with the rule of law and not the lawbreaker. So come on, citizens, let's remind the Senators of their oath, and let's get more than five Senators to save our Constitution."

Judi,

I find it very frustrating not to know who is posting...and I understand your merc retro problem

But if you want that newspaper to cover Feingold - why not call them up and harangue them? or ask why they are not covering it and tell them how outraged you are.

Anyway that's what I would do - and obviously do, do. You could ask the editor why he's not covering this major news - you could tell him you'll stop getting the paper ....

Here we go - REthug John Boehner calling Feingold
more interested in the safety of the terrorists than security at home. Same old saw, if you're not with me ,, you're a terra ist.... Tomorrow he gets a phone call from me. That bullsh t won't work anymore. Impeach Bush or your're against the
Constitution,

Sorry, I didnt put that together properly.

The answer to the John Boehner types is: "Impeach
Bush or you're against the Constitution"

turning the tables on them and making them the unpatriots.

Lou Dobbs poll needs HELP BIG TIME

Do you believe that there is a meaningful difference between the Republican and Democratic parties representing us in Washington? yes/no

50 50 so far

www.loudobbs.com

Poll: Should Smirky be censored for illegal eavesdropping?
http://www.turnto10.com/politics/8060958/detail.html

Pat, I didn't think you suggested purifer tablets would remove radioactivity--not at all. Your posts are always clear and enlightening. Just wanted to clarify my own remarks.

Once again you are taking this too far with me, Pallas. All I asked was for others to check their papers....what I do with mine is my business. I appreciate the input, but did you think I haven't thought of it? As for the Chronicle, I will let them go on just to see how long it takes...thanks Morgana, for the Mercury News info. It will also be interesting to see what they do now that they have been sold to McClatchy. I am going to ask my Reuter's friend in SF what is going on with the Chron. I suspect it is the new, conservative, publisher. I just paid for a year's subsscription...I will pull it soon if something doesn't happen.

Unfortunatiely, I am also trying to juggle two big and significant jobs right now, so I may just disappear .... this is the first work I've had in a long time, and I am down to almost no money.

Pallas, I voted in the Dobbs poll, and it seems to me that it's pretty accurate. Given the refusal of Dems to stand up for the Constitution or for our rights, where's the difference? Faint-stein is one of my senators, and I don't see much difference between her and the despicable AH-nold, and while Boxer is talking a good game, she still isn't doing it for me in any significant way; her support of Feingold seems calculated rather than honest.

Seems to me extremely few of them are doing anything to warrant our support. I mean, I despise what is happening to our country, but am of the opinion that the whole system has to change. I want representative democracy, not a 2-party system that locks out any other opinion. If we're seeing the disintegration of the current world view (now thru 2012 as so many very knowledgeable people on this board and elsewhere have pointed out) what's the point of supporting someone who doesn't represent you once they're elected?

We might as well be working locally to make our individual communitiesas whole and healthy as we can so there will be good models of what a strong society can be instead of wasting time working for people who refuse to work for us. They're almost all empty suits who sell themselves to the highest bidder anyway.

Morgana...this is interesting...McClathcy is unloading their papers after buying Knight Ridder....and look who is buying them:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/03/16/BUG6VHOO661.DTL

Judi What good news! I hope the sale goes thru!

The only activity planned in Maine for the 3rd anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, ( that I'm aware of)_
PQis a forum at UMaine Farmington, on mutual self sustainability, collaborative food growing, alternative energy etc.
There doesn't seem to be much political momentum on a National scale. I think we've opted out!!!
There is a Democratic challenger to Snowe's Senate seat, who is pretty solid. Organic Farmer, worked in Tom Andrew's office, and has a very liberal feminimn viewpoint! Hope she wins the Dem primary!
PQ

Sally, when your friend high up in the Dem party says Feingold has no support, did he/she mean no support from beltway insiders? From the DLC or Dem establishment? If so, I like Russ even more. I worked in Wisconsin on his reelection in 04, along with helping Kerry. If he keeps building his grassroots support outside WI he can run as an outsider (from the inside). I've had it with the go along to get along Dems.

Baraka

I absolutely agree with you. Unfortunately there's no third viable party in site. Too bad
Dr. Dean is aligned with the dems now. He's be perfect for the leadership and founding of a viable third party I think - and it wouldn't take him long to raise the funds. That's one of the problems: the millionaires and lobbyists and high cost of running has to be gotten out of the govt.
and campaigns. Advertising should be contributed by the tv stations for free. That would put an end to the money influence.

"Seems to me extremely few of them are doing anything to warrant our support. I mean, I despise what is happening to our country, but am of the opinion that the whole system has to change.......... what's the point of supporting someone who doesn't represent you once they're elected?"

I wonder what Dean and Feingold could do together in terms of building a new movement?
Astrologers, is there any synergy between them?

I see the rabid right fundies are practicing the art of christlike forgivness - NOT!
http://articles.news.aol.com/movies/article.adp?id=20060316134009990006&ncid=NWS00010000000001
--------
The Georgia Senate on Thursday nearly unanimously defeated a resolution that would have honored the actress' charity work in the state.

libramoon, I just read your poem. Lovely!
----
Enchanted forest?
smoke curling upward
gingerbread cottage in the woods
--------------
And freaky too in a sense - on eclipse night I too had a vision of being an old woman in a cottage in a magical wooded area.

I had the strangest day today in terms of dates, old/new connectivity - went to a funeral of the most wonderful loving lady who died suddenly on the eclipse. Connected with several childhood friends which was great. And the stone church where the service was held had it's foundation stone laid 81 years ago to the day. And I learned that the beautiful roof woodwork in the church was done by the family who owned the land that my dad now has.

Nuclear Bunker Buster Bombs against Iran?: This Way Lies Madness

By Stephen M. Osborn

The "bunker buster" is a cute sounding name for a nuclear horror. Air bursts are horrible enough, doing incredible destruction through heat, shock and high initial radiation. The fallout from an air burst is registered around the world. A surface or subsurface burst is even deadlier and more long lasting.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12363.htm

Is Another 9/11 in the Works?

By Paul Craig Roberts

If you were President George W. Bush with all available US troops tied down by the Iraqi resistance, and you were unable to control Iraq or political developments in the country, would you also start a war with Iran? Yes, you would.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12366.htm

This post, dear Astroworlders, is probably going to make you think I'm older than God, but I'm not. (Really.)

Anyhow, I once worked for a national news publication that sent local reports to headquarters & received national reports from headquarters via teletype. Teletype operators were instructed by management to make all transmissions terse--to forgo all "frills" such as "thank you", "please", etc. because they were billed by time.

In my little office I overruled that, because typed communication lacks the tone of voice / facial expression that adds so much meaning to communication. It is so easy to take offense or to send the wrong message when the courtesy cues are absent.

We were all very fast typists, and the addition of "if you can", or "thanks" , or "sorry" or even little personal notes, did not cost, but actually saved the company money. We began to know each other and communications were smoother.

I have thought of that often here, because everyone is so courteous and misunderstandings are so few.

But we still need to keep in mind how easy it is to misinterpet a typed message compared to a face-to-face communication.

from Morgana's article above:

"... Terrible power is brought to bear with Pluto's embrace at the Nadir, the dark hour focal point of the Full Moon Night, the T square whose arms stretch between the dark faced Luna and the Sun."

Want to see what that kind of power looks like?
Checkout Maryscott's diary at dKOS... WARNING: GRAPHIC PICTURES...

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

We have been told repeatedly that the United States is a "Christian nation," founded on "Christian principles."

We have been told repeatedly that George W. Bush is a "man of faith," a "born-again Christian."

In other words, under orders from a self-styled Christian head of state, the world's most powerful "Christian nation" just started a "massive air assault" on Iraq. DROPPING BOMBS is how I understand that phrase. Apparently it MIGHT not mean that.

The "Christian" head of a "Christian" state has authorised a week of a war consisting of MASSIVE, systematic terrorising, disfigurement, dismemberment and murder of human beings... with bombs.

This week's rationale:"...to root out insurgents near a town where recent violence raised fears of civil war."

Praise Jesus, the missiles are flying, Hallelujah.

Much more http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/3/16/142347/548

That's just the beginning though, before the summer's come and gone... we will be bombing Iran... here's two pieces I highly recommend:

More, Meaner and Faster

by Charles H. Featherstone

"... At the same time this is all happening, it will be decided that the reason the whole duh-mocracy in Iraq thing failed was because Iran meddled. It’s all Teheran’s fault. The bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites, its governmental installations, the infiltration of commandos to commit acts of terrorism by blowing stuff up and killing people, will all be part of a general war against the Shia of the Middle East. There may also be joint Israeli-American attacks on Hizbullah in Lebanon. The air campaign against Iran will last anywhere from four days to two weeks, and it will go well (from a Pentagon standpoint, not an Iranian or human one). The US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps will lose few planes, and no one will really care how many Iranians get killed. (Europe is learning not to care about the welfare or even shared humanity of Muslims – funny how valuable all this nonsense about a handful of dumb cartoons may end up being). After all, about the only things Americans can really do well anymore is bomb stuff from the air. Over and over again, for the last nearly 40 years, we have shown just how well we’ve mastered this economically worthless skill. So well, in fact, that we are a nation mainly of bombers or wanna-be-bombers, a tiny few perched in actual cockpits while many dream and practice at computers of actually doing the evil deed. (And that makes us different from the Muslims we condemn exactly how? Because we don’t blow ourselves up while we do it? Because we’ve leveraged very expensive high technology to do it?)

I don’t expect many US troops to actually cross Iranian borders. In fact, the attack on Iran may be part of a general evacuation of American troops from Iraq, part of the "Iraqization" process and how Team Bush "helps" the Iraqi military cope with the civil war. The goal will not be to unseat the Iranian government. It won’t even be to really eradicate Iran’s nuclear program. It will simply be to show the world that the US of A is still strong, still mighty, still matters, that no one f**ks with the United States of America, that we can still beat up on people who make us mad. That various American administrations have to try to keep "teaching" that lesson time and again to the world at large pretty well means it isn’t really true and that most everyone in the world who isn’t an American (along with a few Americans) knows this.

But I’m fairly convinced that, for political reasons, an attack on Iran will be for the Bush people what the invasions of Laos and Cambodia were for the Nixon people – an expansion of the war as political eyewash to cover the defeat and justify a withdrawal. It will still be a murderous, foolish and pointless expansion, but it will be in aid of a general retreat, and not part of any "new phase" of "The Long War." The whole point of the never-ending war on whatever to begin with was to create and sustain permanent Republican rule, and it has more or less blown up in Karl Rove’s and George W. Bush’s faces. I think the rank-and-file GOP recognize a loss when they see it, and are maybe fearing for their political futures. But nationalism and militarism, in this context, are Republican problems at least back to the 1950s and possibly all the way back to the 1890s (and maybe even the 1850s and 1860s). Republicans have never learned to square the circle of their mistrust of government power to set minimum wages and hand out groceries to the poor with their confused mishmash of love of country, love of executive power and love of the military (and whatever war it is waging at the time). In the era of the Cold War and beyond, American nationalism and militarism became a kind of mystical religion for the GOP. However, like any form of idolatry, it offers peace and comfort for the soul but fails utterly to deliver, while the molech at the center of all its demonic practices – the executive presidency – angrily demands more young victims, more burnt offerings, and more treasure to feed its insatiable appetite. As pointless as the invasion and occupation of Iraq has been, I don’t expect the GOP faith in their idol to change much, though dreams of world conquest and management will likely be tempered, at least for a while. (That’s my hope, anyway.)

http://tinyurl.com/pzs89 Lew Rockwell

2nd piece:

March 16, 2006
Is Another 9/11 in the Works?

by Paul Craig Roberts

http://www.antiwar.com/roberts/?articleid=8713

Arrrrrrrgh!
http://www.canofun.com/cof/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=17791

judiGem, that article you posted about the McClatchy/Knight-Ridder fiasco (it is a SHAM) and the possible buyout of the unloaded newspapers by that Burkle fellow, if true, would be wonderful, wonderful news.

What's so rotten about the McClatchy buyout of Knight-Ridder is that the shareholder who pushed so hard for it will be lucky now if he breaks even on the deal. Stocks for both companies were significantly down after the sale. So the long legacy of hard work and commitment to journalistic integrity of the collective Knight-Ridder entity was destroyed in an instant by one man's insatiable greed. I know, I shouldn't be surprised. But I am always appalled, though I realize that as long as materialism reigns supreme in this country, these things will happen.

One of those papers so unceremoniously dumped by McClatchy is my hometown Akron Beacon Journal, which has actually long been a keystone in the Knight legacy of progressive journalistic excellence. I was rather concerned that we were about to lose one more left-leaning, truth-seeking media entity entirely to some piggish, Murdochesque, NeoConMan tycoon. Or worse, a Sun Myung Moon or Pat Robertson "Christian" hyper-zealot of the type that have become all too powerful during Pluto's transit of Sag. Maybe, for once, neither scenario will be the case.

Oh God! The last time I couldn't sleep was Sept 10 2001!
Glad you are out there, I didn't know you back then......this is unbearable!
Madelaine Albright is an evil pig! Her Father taught Condesleeza!
I didn't even watch the news tonight because I had 3 lengthy phone calls!
AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!
PQ

I didn't realize I was repeating you Shylurker X 10!
PQ

Happy St. Pat's everybody--see my earlier post about today!!!
Meanwhile, here's yet ANOTHER link about my most grating pet peeve......

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2006/03/16/GR2006031600213.html

Headline over at MSNBC News at the moment sez Smirky is going to hep out the Irish peace process. Since everything he touches gets destroyed, I guess we can kiss that goodbye.

It definitely feels like we're living in Arrrrrrgh-dom, does it not PatQOP?

And Happy St. Pat's Day to you, too, Garry!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/16/AR2006031602430_pf.html

GOP Irritation At Bush Was Long Brewing

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone, we can sure use the Luck of the Irish this year and I'm sending this to all of you and buy yourself a lotto ticket somewhere, (just one)

AN IRISH FRIENDSHIP WISH

May there always be work for your hands to do;

May your purse always hold a coin or two;

May the sun always shine on your windowpane;

May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain;

May the hand of a friend always be near you;

May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

THEY NEED LETTERS

http://mediamatters.org/items/200603160010

1998: Matthews proposed censure of Clinton, demanded historical footnote;
2006: Matthews questions if censure of Bush is "even legal or not"

Summary: Chris Matthews claimed that "there's a big question about whether it's even legal or not in the Senate" to censure President Bush, as Sen. Russ Feingold recently proposed, over Bush's authorization of warrantless domestic surveillance. But Matthews said something very different about the issue of censure in the context of former President Bill Clinton, at that time taking credit for first promoting the idea of censuring Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky controversy: "I'm not bragging, but I believe I was the first person to talk about the notion of censure because nobody else talked about it."

More...

http://mediamatters.org/items/200603160002

Count the falsehoods: Sammon discussed 2000 election recount on C-SPAN's Washington Journal

Summary: On C-SPAN's Washington Journal, Washington Examiner senior White House correspondent Bill Sammon claimed that the U.S. Supreme Court halted the Florida recount in the 2000 presidential election by a 7-2 margin; and that a study of the 2000 presidential vote in Florida, commissioned by a consortium of major media outlets, "concluded essentially that [George W.] Bush would have won even if the Supreme Court hadn't stopped the counting." Both of these statements are false

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NY Times Editorial

March 17, 2006

Time for Facts, Not Resolutions

We understand the frustration that led Senator Russell Feingold to introduce a measure that would censure President Bush for authorizing warrantless spying on Americans. It's galling to watch from the outside as the Republicans and most Democrats refuse time and again to hold Mr. Bush accountable for the lawlessness and incompetence of his administration. Actually sitting among that cowardly crew must be maddening.

Still, the censure proposal is a bad idea. Members of Congress don't need to take extraordinary measures like that now. They need to fulfill their sworn duty to investigate the executive branch's misdeeds and failings. Talk about censure will only distract the public from the failure of their elected representatives to earn their paychecks.

We'd be applauding Mr. Feingold if he'd proposed creating a bipartisan panel to determine whether the domestic spying operation that Mr. Bush has acknowledged violates the 1978 surveillance law, as it certainly seems to do. The Senate should also force the disclosure of any other spying Mr. Bush is conducting outside the law. (Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has strongly hinted that is happening.)

The Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees should do this, but we can't expect a real effort from Senator Pat Roberts, the Intelligence Committee chairman, or Senator Arlen Specter, chairman of the Judiciary Committee. They're too busy trying to give legal cover to the president's trampling on the law and the Constitution.

When the Republicans try to block an investigation, as they surely will, Senator Harry Reid, the minority leader, should not be afraid to highlight that fact by shutting down the Senate's public business, as he did last year. This time, though, Mr. Reid needs to follow up. The first time Mr. Reid forced the Senate into a closed session, Mr. Roberts said he would keep his promise about an investigation into the hyping of intelligence on Iraq. But Mr. Roberts continues to sit on that report.

The nation needs to know a great deal more about the domestic spying. How many people's calls and e-mail were tapped? How were they chosen? Was Mr. Bush planning to do this until the war on terror ended — that is, forever? The public should be asking why members of Congress are afraid to make those important and legitimate queries.

With so much still unknown about the domestic spying, the censure resolution merely allows the Republicans to change the subject to fairy tales about Democratic leaders' trying to impeach Mr. Bush. They are also painting criticism of Mr. Bush as unpatriotic. That's tedious nonsense, but watching Mr. Feingold's Democratic colleagues run for cover shows how effective it is.

polls show Democrats have a 17 point lead over Repugs...

what are they going to do with it?

THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 2006

AMERICAN KADIMA

What America needs is Kadima.

The new political party founded by Ariel Sharon instantly and permanently transformed the politics of Israel. To say the United States could profit by a similar shake-up is an understatement.

Here are three figures who might make a new political landscape: John McCain, Russell Feingold and Colin Powell. These are smart people, people of integrity and people with tremendous leadership ability. Any one would make a fine president.

And I think the case can be made that they -- along with perhaps a few others, such as Wesley Clark, Chuck Hagel and Olympia Snowe -- owe it to their country to destroy the two-party system.

First of all, I think it is unlikely that McCain can get the Republican nomination in 2008. Barring an even more dramatic political meltdown of the Bush administration, the party establishment will anoint an heir (Condoleezza Rice or Jeb Bush, perhaps) and bring them through the primaries with a devastating combination of infinite cash and vicious Karl Rovean machinations.

http://www.creators.com/opinion_show.cfm?columnsName=csa

Follow-up

March 14, 2006

on mccain

ever since i did my little american kadima thing, people have been ragging on me re:mccain, and mccain himself seems intent on showing that they're right to do so, evincing a sudden extrme enthusiasm for the bush administration. it would take a lot lot to get me to stop respecting john mccain, and what i don't think people understand is how oppositionally he views himself. it's worth saying that the rest of the republican field is jumping ship as fast as possible. but it is typical of mccain that he mobilizes in your support when your poll numbers go radically bad. that said, i just do not think in his right mind he can continue the kissup, and i'm praying that he comes to realize that there's no real future for him in the republican party. yo russ feingold was beautiful yesterday, and how you could listen to that and then not even want to bring the censure to a vote is beyond me.

March 14, 2006 in politics | Permalink

The above columns are by Cripsin Sartwell at

http://eyeofthestorm.blogs.com/eye_of_the_storm/2006/03/on_mccain.html

From Capitol Hill Blue

Capitol Hillbillies

Republicans mount drive to legalize domestic spying

By Staff and Wire Reports
Mar 16, 2006, 18:39

Four Republican senators sought Thursday to legalize use of the National Security Agency to spy on American citizens.

One of the bill's chief sponsors, Sen. Mike DeWine of Ohio, said the bill requires the president to go to court as soon as possible to get approval for wiretapping and other forms of monitoring.

"It does not ... give the president a blank check," DeWine said, while authorizing "a limited, but necessary, program."

The proposal came under immediate criticism from advocacy groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU said in a statement that the bill would allow "Americans' phone calls and e-mails to be monitored for 45 days without any court oversight and makes court review after that period optional" _ in violation of the Fourth Amendment's guarantees against unreasonable searches.

"Congress cannot approve an illegal program when so many questions remain unanswered," said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU's Washington legislative office. "When the rule of law has been broken by anyone, especially a president, the proper response is a full and independent investigation."

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/printer_8268.shtml

After reading Nancy Pelosi poopoo'd the censure I took a page from Pallas' play book and fired off emails to the whole lot of them Dem's that I will vote Green if they don't get off their butts and standup. I've had enough of them weak kneed lilylivered wimps, which also includes my Congresswoman, and so goes my contributions...get it Dems?!

Honest Legal Advice for Your Local Elections Officials.

by LandShark (Paul Lehto, an attorney) at Democratic Underground 3 16 06

CASE CITATION:
http://www.mssc.state.ms.us/Images/HDList/..%5COPINIONS%5CCO26470.PDF

Tattoo these Three to your local elections officials, courtesy of the Mississippi Supreme Court opinion Debra Waters v. James "Danny" Gnemi, ordering new elections. (call these the Three Sisters if you like):

1. "Any expense or burden such compliance {with strict procedures} creates is trivial when compared to the value of the goal of maintaining our Republic."

2. "Integrity of our government can be no greater than the integrity of elections which put our government officials in office."

3. "It is therefore the duty of every {elections official} to endeavor to comply with the election statutes regardless of the personal inconvenience it may create."

THE FULL QUOTED PARAGRAPH IS BELOW, FROM THE CONCLUSION OF THE 43 PAGE OPINION, ORDERING A NEW ELECTION WITHOUT DIRECT EVIDENCE OF FRAUD BECAUSE IMPROPER PROCEDURES WERE FOLLOWED **THAT PREVENTED** CANDIDATES AND THE PUBLIC **FROM KNOWING** WHETHER OR NOT IMPROPRIETY OCCURRED.

Note that the Mississippi Supreme Court specifically held that they were NOT saying that fraud occurred via elections officials, but nevertheless because the opportunity to detect it was removed, extraordinary remedies like new elections were warranted. The Mississippi Supreme Court concluded their opinion by quoting itself from 1983, showing it's continuing relevance to this 2005 opinion:

"Although there is a strong public policy in attempting to preserve the will of the electorate as reflected by the tabulation of all of the votes, we take this opportunity to remind throughout the state that they invite election contests, uncertainty and the opportunity for fraud by failing to pay close heed to the election statutes whether they be mandatory or directive. Any expense or burden such compliance creates is trivial when compared to the value of the goal of maintaining our Republic. Integrity of our government can be no greater than the integrity of elections which put our government officials in office. It is therefore the duty of every registrar to endeavor to comply with the election statutes regardless of the personal inconvenience it may create." Waters v. Gnemi, 907 So. 2d 307, 336 (Miss. Sup. Ct. 2005) (citing Riley v. Clayton, 441 So. 2d 1322, 1328 (Miss. Sup. Ct. 1983).

In the Waters case, reconsideration was denied August 4, 2005, and a motion for clarification of opinion was denied August 25, 2005 (filed by Waters' counsel). At this point it is not being appealed anywhere and is as "settled" as relatively new case law is. But keep in mind that the best language was ripped out of a 1983 Mississippi case.

the most truthful thing The New York Times editorial printed today was:

"The Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees should do this, but we can't expect a real effort from Senator Pat Roberts, the Intelligence Committee chairman, or Senator Arlen Specter, chairman of the Judiciary Committee. They're too busy trying to give legal cover to the president's trampling on the law and the Constitution. "

What was the name of the AW'er who first posted:

"Are you for the Constitution or against it?"

because that is the exact question that should be posed to Roberts and Specter, the obstructionists
to the rule of law over the resident.

Capitol Switchboard

202 224 3121

From Capitol Hill Blue

The Rant
Republicans say Bush's arrogance is his downfall
By DOUG THOMPSON
Mar 17, 2006, 00:01

Sit down with a Republican member of Congress, party leader or political strategist and you hear a recurring theme: President George W. Bush has gotten too big for his britches and needs to be taken down a notch or two.

"The White House has been non-responsive and arrogant," admits South Carolina GOP Senator Lindsey Graham, who adds that he and fellow Republicans "put up with it when things are going well" but says "problems rear their heads when things are not going well."

Bush's arrogance goes way back. This salute to a TV cameraman is from his term as governor of Texas.
And things are not going well for the troops at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Public opinion polls show Bush's job approval and popularity ratings in free fall, especially among Republicans. A new poll by Pew Research says 70 percent of Americans feel the President went into the Iraq war without a clear plan. More than half feel he lied about his reasons for invading the country.

"This President has a political tin ear," says Minnesota Republican Senator Norm Coleman, normally one of Bush's strongest supporters. "He needs to shake up his staff and those around him."

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/printer_8275.shtml

Senate OKs budget with Arctic refuge drilling provision
Louisiana Democrat backs it after GOP adds hurricane aid

- Zachary Coile, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Friday, March 17, 2006

Washington -- The Senate narrowly passed a budget resolution Thursday that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, setting up another showdown in Congress this year over the most fought-over piece of land in America.

Republican leaders approved the measure 51-49 after securing the vote of Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat, by offering up to $10 billion in projected revenues from drilling in the Alaskan refuge and in offshore waters to rebuild the hurricane-battered Gulf Coast.

But the chances of opening the refuge to oil drilling are still uncertain. House Republican moderates who oppose drilling believe they have the votes again this year to block the provision from being included the House budget as they did in late 2005.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/03/17/MNG0RHPS3C1.DTL&type=printable

Bush picks governor of Idaho to head Interior

- Peter Baker, Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post
Friday, March 17, 2006

Washington -- President Bush named Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne as the new secretary of the interior Thursday, choosing a popular Western Republican with Washington experience and a disputed environmental record to oversee the nation's parks and public lands and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

If confirmed, Kempthorne would succeed Gail Norton, who announced her resignation this month at a time when her department is tied up in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. Kempthorne, 54, a two-term governor who served in the Senate in the 1990s, presumably should have little trouble winning the approval of his former colleagues.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/03/17/MNG0RHPSBD1.DTL&type=printable

States win suit to stop new EPA regulations

By Mark Johnson, Associated Press Writer | March 17, 2006

ALBANY, N.Y. --A federal appeals court on Friday sided with 14 states including Massachusetts and stopped the Environmental Protection Agency from going forward with new regulations opponents say would lead to more air pollution from the nation's power plants and factories.

The new rules would have allowed older power plants, refineries and factories to modernize without having to install expensive pollution controls.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington ruled the EPA's changes violated the language of the federal Clean Air Act, and that any such change can only be authorized by Congress. Fourteen states and a number of cities, including New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., sued to block the change in October 2003.

"Public health wins," said Peter Lehner, the top environmental lawyer for New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who led the suit for the states. "This is a major health issue in the United States."

Lehner said the decision will apply to about 800 power plants and up to 17,000 industrial factories nationwide and will help reduce pollution emissions blamed for as many as 30,000 U.S. deaths annually.

The court "is upholding the words and purpose of the Clean Air Act as well as EPA's historical interpretation of the act," Lehner said.

In her decision, Judge Judith Rogers noted the EPA's proposed changes stood in contrast to its past practices following the federal law.

Industry groups, however, said the decision would do little to help air quality.

"The decision is a step backward in the protection of air quality in the United States," said Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, a Washington-based group representing several power-generating companies. "What is it the environmental community thinks they've won? They've won the ability to place roadblocks in front of energy efficiency projects. This is terrible news."

The suit was filed by New York, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

A spokesman for the EPA did not immediately return a call for comment.

What GAO Found
United States Government Accountability Office
Why GAO Did This Study
Highlights
Accountability IntegrityReliability
March 1, 2006
FISCAL YEAR 2005 U.S. GOVERNMENT FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Sustained Improvement in Federal Financial Management Is Crucial to Addressing Our Nation’s Financial Condition and Long-term Fiscal Imbalance
Highlights of GAO-06-406T, testimony before the Subcommittee on Government Management, Finance, and Accountability, Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives
GAO is required by law to annually audit the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government.
The Congress and the President need to have timely, reliable, and useful financial and performance information. Sound decisions on the current results and future direction of vital federal government programs and policies are made more difficult without such information.
Until the problems discussed in GAO’s audit report on the U.S. government’s consolidated financial statements are adequately addressed, they will continue to (1) hamper the federal government’s ability to reliably report a significant portion of its assets, liabilities, costs, and other information; (2) affect the federal government’s ability to reliably measure the full cost as well as the financial and nonfinancial performance of certain programs and activities; (3) impair the federal government’s ability to adequately safeguard significant assets and properly record various transactions; and (4) hinder the federal government from having reliable financial information to operate in an economical, efficient, and effective manner.
For the ninth consecutive year, certain material weaknesses in internal control and in selected accounting and financial reporting practices resulted in conditions that continued to prevent GAO from being able to provide the Congress and American people an opinion as to whether the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government are fairly stated in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Three major impediments to an opinion on the consolidated financial statements continued to be (1) serious financial management problems at the Department of Defense, (2) the federal government’s inability to adequately account for and reconcile intragovernmental activity and balances between federal agencies, and (3) the federal government’s ineffective process for preparing the consolidated financial statements. Further, in our opinion, as of September 30, 2005, the federal government did not maintain effective internal control over financial reporting and compliance with significant laws and regulations due to numerous material weaknesses.
More troubling still is the federal government’s overall financial condition and long-term fiscal imbalance. While the fiscal year 2005 budget deficit was lower than 2004, it was still very high, especially given the impending retirement of the “baby boom” generation and rising health care costs. Importantly, as reported in the fiscal year 2005 Financial Report of the United States Government, the federal government’s accrual-based net operating cost—the cost to operate the federal government—increased to $760 billion in fiscal year 2005 from $616 billion in fiscal year 2004. This represents an increase of about $144 billion or 23 percent. The federal government’s gross debt was about $8 trillion as of September 30, 2005. This number excludes such items as the gap between the present value of future promised and funded Social Security and Medicare benefits, veterans’ health care, and a range of other liabilities, commitments, and contingencies that the federal government has pledged to support. Including these items, the federal government’s fiscal exposures now total more than $46 trillion, representing close to four times gross domestic product (GDP) in fiscal year 2005 and up from about $20 trillion or two times GDP in 2000. Given these and other factors, a fundamental reexamination of major spending programs, tax policies, and government priorities will be important and necessary to put us on a prudent and sustainable fiscal path. This will likely require a national discussion about what Americans want from their government and how much they are willing to pay for those things.
We continue to have concerns about the identification of misstatements in federal agencies’ prior year financial statements. Frequent restatements to correct errors can undermine public trust and confidence in both the entity and all responsible parties. The material internal control weaknesses discussed in this testimony serve to increase the risk that additional errors may occur and not be identified on a timely basis by agency management or their auditors, resulting in further restatements.

www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-406T.

To view the full product, including the scope
and methodology, click on the link above.
For more information, contact Jeffrey C. Steinhoff or Gary T. Engel at (202) 512-2600.

http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4065

White Knights

Knight Ridder’s Washington bureau has distinguished itself with cutting-edge reporting on everything from Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction to coal mine safety. Sadly, many of its best efforts have been ignored by the national newspapers and the networks. New owner McClatchy says it admires the work and wants it to continue in a merged bureau.

More…

This and the above is a link from Jodi - read
and weep...

The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link attachments:
Shortcut to: http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d06406thigh.pdf

What's up with the Dems? Well, Jo, I can't find it but there was a nice little (very short just a few sentences), droll comment over at DU a few days back about the Dems keeping their stores of powder dry. Got the most, driest powder ever known to humankind. Keepin' it dry and keepin' it safe to use some day for somethin' or other.

From another Sally on Starlight news, I chuckled and had to share this with all of you..

Sally Says:
March 17th, 2006 at 12:22 pm

George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld are flying on Air
Force One. The President looks at the Vice President, chuckles, and says,
“You know, I could throw a $1,000 bill out the window right now
and make somebody very happy.”

The Vice President shrugs and says, “Well, I could throw 10 $100
bills out the wi ndow and make 10 people very happy.”

Not to be outdone, the Secretary of Defense says, “Of course,
then, I could throw 100 $10 bills out the window and make a
hundred people very happy.”

The pilot rolls his eyes and says to his co-pilot, “Such arrogant
asses back there… Hell, I could throw the three of them out the
window and make 56 million people REALLY happy!”

Well Morgana, THIS Sally thinks the joke is hilarious, thanks for the lift.

You know Shylurker for the first four years I asked myself "what is wrong with the Republicans" The last two years I've been asking "whats wrong with the Democrats?" I think we are going to have to try to get our mind around the fact that neither party is interested in anything but their own agendas and friends. I think they have long abandoned the principles of the Constitution and the country, we are just beginning to see that clearly. The Dems are well aware their money comes from the same "jug" and are barely keeping up the facade of the "opposition party." They do not know who they are or what they stand for and they think we don't either. In a way I understand it, after all, I care more about what my family, friends and business colleagues want from me or think of me than I care about the opinions strangers might have of me and so do they. Our mistake was letting them think over the decades that they didn't work for us. They of course, don't have to work for us so maybe the revolution should be against how our taxes are spent. I don't know, but the Dems really aren't any better than the GOP, at least not this group of Dems

Sally, totally agree ... both parties are just actors on a stage to keep the facade of a "democracy" alive so they can continue to skin us alive and steal our hard earned tax dollars. Make no mistake about it. We need new PARTIES and we need to get rid of this two-party system and create a system where power is shared between all parties based on their representation. No more of this "winner take all". It's rife with cronyism and horsetrading as in ... ok, we're taking the next 8 years and then you get 8 years then we'll give you 4 ... look how easy ... and their corporate masters then know what the game plan is and fund them accordingly.

Do y'think, Cap'n Sally, Dems might notice this? According to a poll of rank-and-file members of the party, Feingold's approval rating went from 22% to 52% following his Censure move.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-hamsher/no-surprise-polls-show-_b_17477.html

After reading Nancy Pelosi poopoo'd the censure I took a page from Pallas' play book and fired off emails to the whole lot of them Dem's that I will vote Green if they don't get off their butts and standup. I've had enough of them weak kneed lilylivered wimps, which also includes my Congresswoman, and so goes my contributions...get it Dems?!

Posted by: Morgana on March 17, 2006 05:31 PM

I read the article too and typed out a long email to Pelosi (shame on her) but even though I filled in all the required fields (including name of first born and blood type), the email would not go through because they "could not determine if I was a constituant or not". (I'm an Amercian...isn't that enough to qualify?!). ANYWAY Morgana, you must be doing something different to get off emails to all the Dems...what?

Poll: Lou Dobbs wants to know if you believe Congress will do what it takes to ensure our borders are secure and address illegal immigration? (Now, keep a straight face.):
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/

Lurking Lovi, ( I love the handle), anyway
I got the same response that she can't personally reply, I don't care if she replies I want her to listen, and act upon what she is hearing from Americans everywhere, she's supposed to be a leader. Here are some phone #'s and addresses to her office, I'll spend a dime calling too.

District Office - 450 Golden Gate Ave. - 14th Floor - San Francisco, CA 94102 - (415) 556-4862
Washington, D.C. Office - 2371 Rayburn HOB - Washington, DC 20515 - (202) 225-4965

Funny thing I can't get to her other websites they never load and timeout. Gee wonder why that is...?

Shy, sorry I cracked up.

That was a good one, Morgana!

On an entirely different note, does anyone else feel the intensity of this Scorpio Moon? I always seem to pick up very deep vibes from the Moon when it is in Scorpio. From Natal Lunar Scorpios as well. But then, that's all the time. Maybe I'm just really in tune with the energy?

But this time, just after the Full Moon, it somehow seems a bit stronger than usual.

Sally, a friend of mine who is Irish told me that the "luck of the Irish" formerly meant bad luck. And when you look at the tragic history of Ireland, that certainly makes sense.

I said to her, "But your luck changed when you came to America." And it did, because now "luck of the Irish" means good luck.

Hmm, I have heard that Ireland is a Taurus country (which certainly seems to fit.) Wonder how their chart meshes with the USA chart. Pretty well, I expect.

Anyhow, happy St. Pat's Day.

I sure hope Beverly checks in soon. Anyone heard from Beverly?

All praise Barbara Lee! Her resolution banning permanent bases in Iraq has passed the House. See georgia10's 5:58:07 entry on dailykos.com. Just went up. Who knows if it will remain as passed and who knows if those who believe they are above US law will abide by it if it sails through untouched, but at least she got it out there. Remember how they vilified her when she opposed the Iraq Attack, the "Patriot" Act, etc? She has Ron Dellums' old House seat and is filling his shoes quite cofortably. (I'm an unabashed admirer of Ron Dellums. Oh, you already noticed. Sorry.)

Shylurker,

You'll be glad to know that Oakland, California convinced Ron Dellums to run for Mayor in the next elections! I have no doubt that he'll win.

I love him too. Now Oakland has Barbara Lee, Barbara Boxer and Ron Dellums. Are we lucky or what?

This is a San Francisco Chronicle story from last October, but you can check out that I'm telling the truth.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/07/MNGB1F45LD7.DTL

Dellums to run for election as Oakland mayor
Jim Herron Zamora, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, October 7, 2005

OAKLAND -- Former U.S. Rep. Ron Dellums ended months of speculation today and announced he will run for election as Oakland mayor next year in a move that shakes up the race to succeed Jerry Brown.

Dellums' announcement came after months of urging by community activists, including a drive by independent volunteers who collected about 8,000 signatures begging the former congressman to run for office in his hometown. He credited that network with helping him make his decision.

Goldensilence, he's the best!

Someone named free_belmont just posted this, The 23rd Qualm over at DU:
"Bush is my shepherd; I dwell in want.

"He maketh logs to be cut down in national forests.

"He leadeth trucks into the still wilderness. He restoreth my fears.

"He leadeth me in the paths of international disgrace for his ego's sake.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of pollution and war, I will find no exit, for thou art in office.

"Thy tax cuts for the rich and thy media control, they discomfort me.

"Thou preparest an agenda of deception in the presence of thy religion.

"Thou annointest my head with foreign oil. My health insurance runneth out.

"Surely megalomania and false patriotism shall follow me all the days of thy term,

"And my jobless child shall dwell in my basement forever."

Good news, in terms of the innocents of Iraq. According to mcjoan who posted at 7:00:56 over at dailykos.com, that Swarmer thing was another catapulting of the propaganda. I've got my fingers crossed this is true. Do go see.

(I surely am being chatty this evening. I think I'll go knit or something. Embarrassing myself.)

It's amazing that in South America the newest leaders seem to be all about taking care of the people. How did they accomplish that? Probaby because there isn't that much of a wealthy class?

I love that 23rd Qualm, Shy. Can't wait to share it.

shylurker, international bbc this morning had a discussion as to whether this new 'offensive' was for propaganda to boost his domestic image - they specifically made note of george's super low approval ratings currently, and that no one on the ground had reported as much opposition as there was in Fallujah.

Someone above mentioned the latest Pew Research
Report (poll) on the resident, which can be seen here:

http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=271

the whole report is worth reading, but actually the part I most enjoyed was when they asked 710 people to give a one word description of gwbush.

Here are the results. I am not making it up:

29 incompetent
21 idiot
17 liar
8 ass
7 jerk
6 pResident

And the democrats don't want to call for censure impeachment? what's wrong with this picture?

"Republicans Block Funding For Port Security, Disaster Preparedness"

I guess this means you can call your republican congressperson and tell them you saw their vote on
Friday against funding for port security and disater preparedness, therefore you understand they're for the terra-ists and against America.

:D

Hi..was at my daughter's Irish Pub party tonight (any excuse for a party, but her husband is Irish, 3rd generation (some PUB...there were about 12 children under 11 years old in a mini jumpy in the garage).) Speaking of weird things, the neighbor across the street popped in...she works for a local supermarket chain as a checker...has been there a long time, even though she is only about 40....she walked into the garage where all the guys were hanging out...and came running back in, and said to my daughter...Hey...that is Joe *** down there! He used to BAG for me years ago! Joe * is my son in law's BOSS!
Kiwi...I agree with you, radical changes happened for me with that eclipse. Mine are all about work.

I didn't know about the 'luck of the Irish' being a negative, but it makes sense given the history.

And ps...if you get a chance, try a drink called the Mint Kiss! mmmmmm....peppermint schnaps, Baily's Irish cream and a squeeze of Hershey's chocolate syrup! that is quite the luck of the Irish...the guys were making things more to their liking...Car Bombs....don't ask. Guiness and way too many straight whiskeys for me...

Looks like we'll be going back to an agrarian society:

Brazil started growing products to be turned into ethanol in 1975 to be used in their cars instead of oil/gas. Next year, after 32 years they will be completely oil independent. They won't need it.

We don't have 32 years.

Just for information, I'm posting how corn is turned into ethanol. I'm wondering if little stills could be made for the individual farmers.
Might be wise to buy farmland now while it's cheap.

"HOW IS ETHANOL MADE?

The majority of the ethanol in the U.S. is made from corn, but it can also be produced from other feedstocks such as grain sorghum, wheat, barley, or potatoes. Brazil, the world's largest ethanol producer, makes the fuel from sugarcane.

Ethanol can be made by a dry mill process or a wet mill process. Most of the ethanol in the U.S. is made using the dry mill method. In the dry mill process, the starch portion of the corn is fermented into sugar then distilled into alcohol.

The major steps in the dry mill process are:

1. Milling. The feedstock passes through a hammer mill which grinds it into a fine powder called meal.

2. Liquefaction. The meal is mixed with water and alpha-amylase, then passed through cookers where the starch is liquefied. Heat is applied at this stage to enable liquefaction. Cookers with a high temperature stage (120-150 degrees Celsius) and a lower temperature holding period (95 degrees Celsius) are used. High temperatures reduce bacteria levels in the mash.

3. Saccharification. The mash from the cookers is cooled and the secondary enzyme (gluco-amylase) is added to convert the liquefied starch to fermentable sugars (dextrose).

4. Fermentation. Yeast is added to the mash to ferment the sugars to ethanol and carbon dioxide. Using a continuous process, the fermenting mash is allowed to flow through several fermenters until it is fully fermented and leaves the final tank. In a batch process, the mash stays in one fermenter for about 48 hours before the distillation process is started.

5. Distillation. The fermented mash, now called beer, contains about 10% alcohol plus all the non-fermentable solids from the corn and yeast cells. The mash is pumped to the continuous flow, multi-column distillation system where the alcohol is removed from the solids and the water. The alcohol leaves the top of the final column at about 96% strength, and the residue mash, called stillage, is transferred from the base of the column to the co-product processing area.

6. Dehydration. The alcohol from the top of the column passes through a dehydration system where the remaining water will be removed. Most ethanol plants use a molecular sieve to capture the last bit of water in the ethanol. The alcohol product at this stage is called anhydrous ethanol (pure, without water) and is approximately 200 proof.

7. Denaturing. Ethanol that will be used for fuel must be denatured, or made unfit for human consumption, with a small amount of gasoline (2-5%). This is done at the ethanol plant.

8. Co-Products. There are two main co-products created in the production of ethanol: distillers grain and carbon dioxide. Distillers grain, used wet or dry, is a highly nutritious livestock feed. Carbon dioxide is given off in great quantities during fermentation and many ethanol plants collect, compress, and sell it for use in other industries.

View Ethanol Today magazine's "Technical Connections" series on the steps of the ethanol production process."

PS...just trying to lighten things up a bit...this has all been way to upsetting, the stuff happening this week.

Neo...thanks for that info on McClatchy....I sure hope Ron Brulte does get to buy the papers....a lefty liberal buys out a rightwinger....think it will happen? Or will it be like what is happening in Arizona and some other states...Air America stations are being purchased by rightwingers who put on another Xian station. .and kick Air America out of town. Sometimes, as in AZ, there are already something like 12 of them!

PS...just trying to lighten things up a bit...this has all been way to upsetting, the stuff happening this week.

Neo...thanks for that info on McClatchy....I sure hope Ron Brulte does get to buy the papers....a lefty liberal buys out a rightwinger....think it will happen? Or will it be like what is happening in Arizona and some other states...Air America stations are being purchased by rightwingers who put on another Xian station. .and kick Air America out of town. Sometimes, as in AZ, there are already something like 12 of them!

PS..just tryng to double post.....and succeding.

Pallas, a friend in MI told me that their are laws just waiting to be passed against ALTERING gasoline engines to run on vegetable oil or ethanol....he knows a number of local autoshops who are doing it for customers, but says it will be made illegal...one more way the oil industry has of keeping its supremecy. I will send him your post and get feedback.

It cannot and will not last, judiGem. The Oil Industry has reigned supreme for a very long time. But it's fate was sealed almost as long ago, with the triumph -- albeit a temporary one -- of corporate greed and short-term, profit-motivated growth over sustainability and long-term prosperity.

Realizing that oil is a finite resource (though I guess it actually took Hubbert to point it out to them), you'd think these people would have long ago figured out a way to stretch out planetary oil reserves for as long as possible, over a time spanning hundreds, if not thousands of years with abundant mass-transit options and high-efficiency MPG standards that would seemingly have progressed to many times more than what they are today.

Do you realize that the average auto engine today is about as fuel efficient as the combustible auto engines of the 1930s and 1940s? With some minor fluctuation, MPG has improved very little over the years, and in fact, decreased in the 1970s and 1980s -- in direct defiance of just about every other technological trend of progress and advancement! Think about TVs, Radios, Refridgerators, assembly lines and other machinery that have dramatically evolved over the past 50 years. Yes quality and "planned obsolescence" is another matter, but those factors aside, virtually every other item of technology but the automobile engine has experienced some major break-through transformation or another.

We've gone from giant computers that literally took up an entire block's worth of building space, to portable devices such as laptops, cellphones and handheld blackberrys that can process an exponentially greater amount of information in a mere fraction of the time. Meanwhile, car designs have largely changed for comfort; engines remain essentially untouched for decades. If engines and MPG standards evolved as much as computer processor speeds and hard drives have come since the 1970s, all cars today would be running on extremely small -yet-powerful engines that would get 1,000 MPG from a couple of quarts of gasoline.

Tell me that's not a conspiracy. Of course, efficiency would be little fun for the oil profiteers, who seem to very much delight in extracting as much oil as possible from the ground as if there were no tomorrow (and eventually, for them, there won't be). "Profit NOW!" is their mantra. But their greed will be their downfall, and oil becomes increasingly scarce. If they continue to try and profit from growing scarcity while marginalizing legitimate competing alternatives, they themselves will be marginalized as people increasingly desperate for alternatives find away around or through a corporate dinosaur.

Pallas,

I was the one who posted here about "The Constitution: Are you for it or against it?"

Then you gave us a great idea to put it on postcards which started a whole new round of activism and I made a post about it on my blog, thanks!

Our latest one is quite simple and to the point:
"Had Enough?"

Ran across this sticker again tonight:
"Clinton took Liberties
Bush is taking YOURS"

And I liked this one:
"Jesus Is A Liberal
(Now what was your point?)"

Shez

I have often thought of making up a postcard
in large red letters that says:

HAVE YOU NO SHAME?

and sending it to idiot of all stripes....

Poll on ANWR needs your attention

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7065544 /

Regarding ethanol, my husband is an energy consultant by profession and says it takes too much petrolium to produce ethanol for it to be a viable alternative. I've heard others say that too. So, unless there is another way to process it, there has to be a better way. I haven't researched it lately but remember googling it up 2 years ago when he made that statement, and it seemed that he was right. In fact, he even had a discussion with Howard Dean about it about hearing him tout ethanol in a speech.

I have a little theory about Anwar: I think those in the know; like Stevens maybe, know of a new gold vein. They can't go barging into a National Park to dig/pan/acid wash, for gold as long as its a National Protected area. They could use oil drilling as a cover activity!
I don't credit any of them with being overly bright, but the scientists HAVE SAID that it will take 10 years an only provide a smakl percent of the oil we will need!
Surely that is easy enough to understand??????
I received a survey from the DNC, to be filled out & sent back. Anyone else get one?
The questions are meant to answered with numbers from 1 - 10 but I am going to write a paragraph for each question. Any input from this board???Let me know.
PQ

Sharon...the ferries on SFBay run on used oil from Krispy Kreme....making the whole place smell like donuts. This is from a friend in MI
http://running_on_alcohol.tripod.com/id1.html

they now can pull up to a McDonalds and buy their USED COOKING OIL..........and burn it in engine............BUT I think if you were following that vehicle, all you would think about is.........'DO YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT" ?

I think is what I was talking about was...that E-85 Engines, are designed to run on bio-matter which is ethanol as well as grease from veggie oil.........

BOTH Ford and GMC have had these E-85 engines for a couple of years ...........this is a START TO GET AWAY FROM OUR DEPENDANCE OF OIL...........but I eally think the answer is Fuel Cells...the ONLY BY PRODUCT OF IT IS WATER............

Could the by product of Krispy Kreme be bad?
I want a recipe for making my own biodiesel. the car is set up to run on it. A woman I talked to while waiting for car repairs, said they drove on biodiesel year round when they lived in California, but here in Maine the car does better on diesel fuel through the winter, & you can switch back & forth without a cleaning!
( a service station attendant at a Hess station put gasoline in my car once & it just stopped running 5 miles down the road, had to be towed away & steam cleaned (Hess paid for it!)
PQ

Without Any Planning,
Can We Keep Growing?

By Nicholas von Hoffman

Nary a night passes on CNN that Lou Dobbs, the cable network’s advocate for the frightened middle-class masses, doesn’t let go with a blast against the “illegal-alien invasion.” He is not alone in his opinions.

Liberals suffering from political neuropathy may cringe, but many a head nods in agreement when he tells his viewers “an obscene alliance of corporate supremacists, desperate labor unions, certain ethnocentric Latino activist organizations and a majority of our elected officials in Washington works diligently to keep our borders open, wages suppressed and the American people all but helpless to resist the crushing financial and economic burden created by the millions of illegal aliens who crash our borders each year.”

The only reason Mr. Dobbs doesn’t have a far wider following is that he is confined to CNN, a cable network that may never gain a large audience as long as it keeps people like Wolf Blitzer, the yapping wart of broadcast journalism, on the air for hours every day.

http://www.observer.com/20060320/20060320_Nicholas_von_Hoffman_opinions_vonhoffman.asp

Abortion Ban Will Test
‘Moderate’ Republicans

By Joe Conason

Whatever else may be said about the august legislators of South Dakota, who have arrogated unto themselves the decision of every woman in that state as to whether to continue a pregnancy, they have accomplished something that could prove important to the entire country. Long before the repercussions reach the U.S. Supreme Court, their law criminalizing abortion may finally bring a measure of candor into this controversy.

Such honesty will not be welcome among those who have sought to placate the religious right without arousing the moderate majority. But the passage of the South Dakota bill, soon to be imitated in dozens of other states, should at last require every one of those politicians to explain why he or she believes that rape and incest demand exceptions to the anti-abortion rule.

For anyone who really believes that from the moment of conception every fetus becomes a human being, with the same inalienable rights as any other person, there can be no moral distinction in cases of rape or incest. When pregnancy results from a brutal crime, the perpetrator is not the fetus but the rapist. Yet many supposedly pro-life politicians still insist on that exception, despite its rejection by the Catholic hierarchy and Protestant fundamentalist theologians.

http://www.observer.com/20060320/20060320_Joe_Conason_opinions_conason.asp

Hello Shylurker!

Your concern about my new job is touching. I can't really say if I am comfortable with it yet because the training is very intense and it will take another week or two to get up to speed. When I got home Thursday night, I sat down on the couch and cried my eyes and heart out from physical (my hands) and emotional pain from constantly being watched and having instructions continueously thrown at me.

I can say this for sure though.....I will keep looking for something better.
~~~~~~~

Bob Woodward was mentioned on the ABC hourly radio news yesterday and only caught his name and now details. Does anyone know what is going on with him that might bring this kind of spotlight in the news?

Also, does anyone know the current status of Randi Rhodes deposition from Kacki Company (something like that). They are suing her for 10 million dollars. I love her! She has such a strong ability to put things together and deliver them in the most interesting, entertaining and honest way. I wonder if "they" are trying to shut her up.

Jo, It is such a treat to read your words of wisdom again!

Howdy yourself, Beverly - hope you and yours are well...

couple of things burning up the keyboards today...

checkout US Civilian Inmate Labor Prison Camps

http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/r210_35.pdf

ARBEIT MACHT FREI?

and Truthout has an article by Nat Parry - Bush's Mysterious 'New Programs':

"... Only a few independent journalists, such as Peter Dale Scott and Maureen Farrell, have pursued what the Bush administration might actually be thinking.

Scott speculated that the "detention centers could be used to detain American citizens if the Bush administration were to declare martial law." He recalled that during the Reagan administration, National Security Council aide Oliver North organized Rex-84 "readiness exercise," which contemplated the Federal Emergency Management Agency rounding up and detaining 400,000 "refugees," in the event of "uncontrolled population movements" over the Mexican border into the United States.

Farrell pointed out that because "another terror attack is all but certain, it seems far more likely that the centers would be used for post-911-type detentions of immigrants rather than a sudden deluge" of immigrants flooding across the border.

More http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022306C.shtml

other biggie is it looks like the White House had it's own contractors for peeking into the lives of dissidents or whomever... one tied to Abramoff - Josh Marshall has the story at Muckraker, but my fav Lauren Rozen at war and piece had it first and here's her link (if you are reading her, please do... she's wonderful, and quick --- beats the boys by a yard!)

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/003857.html

...worth a read...and the 81 page paper with link at the end ....

LRB | Vol. 28 No. 6 dated 23 March 2006 | John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt

The Israel Lobby
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt
For the past several decades, and especially since the Six-Day War in 1967, the centrepiece of US Middle Eastern policy has been its relationship with Israel. The combination of unwavering support for Israel and the related effort to spread ‘democracy’ throughout the region has inflamed Arab and Islamic opinion and jeopardised not only US security but that of much of the rest of the world. This situation has no equal in American political history. Why has the US been willing to set aside its own security and that of many of its allies in order to advance the interests of another state? One might assume that the bond between the two countries was based on shared strategic interests or compelling moral imperatives, but neither explanation can account for the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the US provides.

Instead, the thrust of US policy in the region derives almost entirely from domestic politics, and especially the activities of the ‘Israel Lobby’. Other special-interest groups have managed to skew foreign policy, but no lobby has managed to divert it as far from what the national interest would suggest, while simultaneously convincing Americans that US interests and those of the other country – in this case, Israel – are essentially identical.

Since the October War in 1973, Washington has provided Israel with a level of support dwarfing that given to any other state. It has been the largest annual recipient of direct economic and military assistance since 1976, and is the largest recipient in total since World War Two, to the tune of well over $140 billion (in 2004 dollars). Israel receives about $3 billion in direct assistance each year, roughly one-fifth of the foreign aid budget, and worth about $500 a year for every Israeli. This largesse is especially striking since Israel is now a wealthy industrial state with a per capita income roughly equal to that of South Korea or Spain.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/print/mear01_.html

on a lighter note: Spring is here in Carolina, and it is breath-takingly beautiful... plum trees are spectacular as are the Japanese Cherry... daffodils and thrift and azaleas are poppin... our little town is sooo pretty... the universe sent a wonderful horticulturist our way - he talked the City gov't into beautifying all the little islands between the ingress and egress streets... (we were a village before the Civil War, afterwards the County seat... so streets were planned at a time when they were done properly - parallel and perpendicular! not like the circles we have in Charleston!) anyway, he even talked them into extending the planting into the economically deprived areas (slums, for you politically incorrect :-) --- guess what happened? The absent landlords did a little painting, and those fortunate enough to own their little cabins, spruced them up and it is wonderous! But don't even think about moving here, we have locked the gates --- the fundies are planning to move about 10,000 voters into SC and we sure don't want them here...

Anyway, I bet your neck of the woods is beautiful too... so get out and forget Dubya and the bombs for a little while, breath in the glorious air (not the pollen!) and pretend it's 1999... ahhh, that feels better. Namaste

Jo, what do you mean "you've locked the gate?" your town won't accept any more people? It does sound lovely, how big a town is it? My grandmother was born in SC and then moved to Texas soon afterward (in the 1800's) She was born in Darlington, is that town still there?

"For anyone who really believes that from the moment of conception every fetus becomes a human being, with the same inalienable rights as any other person, there can be no moral distinction in cases of rape or incest. When pregnancy results from a brutal crime, the perpetrator is not the fetus but the rapist. Yet many supposedly pro-life politicians still insist on that exception, despite its rejection by the Catholic hierarchy & Protestant fundamentalist theologians."

And the woman Being is where in all this?!? Alas... a mere incubator... a machine... Inject sperm parts & get out a fully assembled war/work fodder. So sayeth the hole-y violent geezers...

Sally, you know I'm joking... we don't have a gate to lock... Yes Darlington is still on the map, but I daresay you would not recognize it, as it now is gateway to Myrtle Beach and The Strand as they call it... nothing little about Darlington now... NASCAR there too... I'm in Aiken at the Carolina Georgia border... in what they call the Sand Hills... at the Savannah River... Aiken is not even little anymore, but growing more than I want it to - of course we can't control that, can we? I think we're about 26,000 now, within the City of course, and I'm outside, in the country. Of course I really don't want to lock the gate --- maybe run some of the fundies off and import some liberals... how's that sound? look us up http://www.aikenchamber.net/

Joanna,

They're not content with overturning Roe v. Wade they're out to deny contraception period... check this out - from the Agonist

House GOP Bans County Health Clinics From Providing Birth Control

Submitted by Roy Temple on Thu, 03/16/2006 - 6:18am.

Yesterday, during debate on HB1010, the budget for the Departments of Health and Mental Health, House Republicans voted to ban county health clinics from providing family planning services.

So the GOP has finally come clean that they are opposed to contraception. They used to argue that they opposed family planning because Planned Parenthood played a role. But now the GOP has targeted family planning provided by the county health clinics. Their action is a direct attack on women's access to traditional family planning services.

The amendment, offered by Rep. Susan Phillips (R-Kansas City) removed "voluntary choice of contraception, including natural family planning" as one of the permissible services that county health clinics could provide with state funding.

A few weeks ago when I wrote about Governor Matt Blunt and Senator Jason Crowell's opposition to birth control, some Fired Up! readers thought I was surely exaggerating. But now the GOP's real agenda of making family planning more difficult has been laid bare for all to see.

*http://www.firedupmissouri.com/gop_bans_birth_control

google "One More Soul" ---

pop those chillun out --- "be fruitful and multiply"

right! then use them as cannon fodder and bomb all those brown babies...

Mercury Rx seems to affect me in a different way from most (no, my nMerc is not Rx)... I process a lot of old stuff (reflection?) and can't stop writing... or talking :-) This was is a dilly, maybe because of the recent full moon, Morgana?

I don't have the good sense to get embarrassed Shy...

Adding to your thoughts, Joanna... I wrote this some time ago, and while chasing dust bunnies just now... ran across it:

If... the Creator-god is ALL good [the word 'god' some say is derived from 'gud'] if 'He' is all good... then where resideth evil? Not in god or 'man' (who after all, was created in HIS image)... but in 'woman'... right?

So much for rational thought... see what evil it has wrought!

Evil can exist ONLY in dualism... in categories... in 'opposites' ... not in the ONE.

We were 'all one'... then some rationalist, said, no... we are ALONE... but, from the 'feeling' perspective we are both... alone and al/one.

Your Chamber site is just beautiful Jo, isn't there an Aiken Georgia too, or does this just spill over into Georgia? 26,000 isn't bad and it is lovely. I heard about the fellow who wants to make South Carolina all Fundie and is moving a ton of people there what a waste of Southern Genteel living. If you don't have gates you might want to think about getting them.

I went to a laundrymat this morning to wash some large bathroom rugs and there were a couple of guys there (doing the same thing) one was black and one was Jewish. Oh wow, what a conversation, neither liked this administration or Israel. Both of them were ranting about the Zionists and the fundamentalists of all religions and the necessity to ban together to fight what was happening. They had the entire laundrymat gathered around, they had facts and talking points down. It was great.

This was on the front page of Pravada yesterday. What is going to happen in the US before the 2008 election.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x695774

Interesting that other countries are openly admitting the US had something to do with 9/11

Sounds like wonderful conversation Sally...

Just a few decades ago one could find little out of the way grocery stores, with a wood burning stove in the center, and the farmers would all gather round and discuss politics and the weather and whatever... all gone now, with convenience stores and cable tv running all the time... and people barely nodding to each other as they grab their bottled water or beer, pay for the gas and speed away...

Sally you're thinking of North Augusta, which is in SC, across the river from Augusta Georgia. There's not an Aiken in Georgia... that I know of anyway...

y'all enjoy the day... namaste

Sharon,

The program I watched about Brazil' change over to sugar cane fuel showed that the by-product was burned and used as the fuel-energy for the process- so there was no need to run the stills or smashers of the cane by oil or gas.

Perhaps your husband would be interested in how they're doing it. I'm sure it could be googled, but there's also a program on I think it's CNN but it might be msnbc that they're playing late at night when they have nothing else to put on.
The owner and manager of the still/refinery are showing how it's done - they use sugar cane rather than corn. there are acres and acres of sugar cane growing as far as the eye can see and all along the highways. They do use alcohol as part of the process.

Although I am wondering how all that sugar burning will affect the environment...apparently no study has been done yet.

In Connecticut all gas by law has about 10% ethanol and has for more than 10 years.

Sally,

your post above:
This was on the front page of Pravada yesterday. What is going to happen in the US before the 2008 election.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x695774

When you posted some time ago about the "govt" moving many operations to Colorado, the same thing occurred to me - but not that it would be Detroit. Wash dc - and with one fell swoop he'd be getting rid of congress too.

I don;t think the muricans would fall for it though - not anymore.

Isn't it a funny coincidence that when dumbo's ratings fall to 32/34 percent some polls say, that there's a big action seen in Iraq that hasn't been seen since the start of the war? And commentators have mentioned that. the jig is up -

Pallas, on Hawaii before the sugar mills were closed, they used to use the bagasse (fibrous material waste after the juice was extracted) to fuel the generators that produced electricity to run the sugar mill, with any excess power generated going to the islandwide grid. The mills are closed now, but they are still using the generator to create additional electricity for the island, but importing coal as fuel.

There was a story on CBS News within the last
month about Miami collecting all the used cooking
oil from restaurants to add to the gas that runs
the bus sytstem.

here is a three year old story from Ohio

Friday, October 18, 2002
Biodiesel fuel drives school buses

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alternative made of cooking oils, soybeans

By Dave Niinemets
Enquirer contributor

ALEXANDRIA - Would you like fries with that bus ride?

Students in the Campbell County and Kenton County school districts just got a breath of fresh air, courtesy of an alternative, edible and environmentally friendly fuel in their school buses.

Starting this week, the districts began using biodiesel fuel made from vegetable oil, soybeans and cooking oil from restaurants.

Kenton County and Campbell County are two of only four districts to get state funds - $9,000 and $8,000, respectively - to pay for the fuel produced by Griffin Industries in Butler, Ky.

The product is not yet used in Ohio or Indiana, but Griffin Industries officials are in Columbus this week pitching the product at a meeting of school districts. The only areas where the biodiesel fuel has become prominent are in Las Vegas, Nev., and New Jersey.

The other school districts to receive funds for the Griffin biodiesel are Marshall and McLean counties. Murray State University and East Kentucky Power Co-op in Winchester are also receiving money from the same funds.

The fuel can be used exclusively to run buses 100 percent with no petroleum added, but it's expensive. Regular diesel is $1.20 per gallon, biodiesel $1.98 per gallon.

According to Jim Conway, vice president of sales and marketing for Griffin Industries, the biodiesel fuel does not produce the same smell as diesel fuel. He said many believe it smells like popcorn or French fries. He said the type used in school buses is typically still 80 percent diesel fuel but produces a neutral smell.

The cost is offset by money received from the Kentucky Division of Energy through a program administered by the Kentucky Clean Fuels Coalition. "We are excited to be a part of this innovative project," said Mike Dawson, director of transportation for Campbell County Schools. "This is a program that is beneficial to the students and to our environment."

"They're trying to get some cleaner exhaust and see how the buses perform," said Tom Bach, transportation director for Kenton County Schools.

According to Melissa Howell, KCFC executive director, the program will displace about 45,000 gallons of standard diesel.

"Based on the amount of diesel replacement, 150 pounds of particulate matter, 160 pounds of sulfur dioxide, 200 pounds of hydrocarbons and 1,800 pounds of carbon monoxide will be kept from the air in Kentucky," said Ms. Howell.

The use of biodiesel fuel by school districts is new, Ms. Howell said, but TANK and Metro buses and the Kenton County Public Works department have been using the fuel for several years.

A key benefit to switching to the new fuel is that buses will not have to be modified to use it.

It can be used by a standard diesel engine.

"We are very pleased to be one of the six test entities for this product in Kentucky," said Chris Gramke, communications director for Campbell County Schools. "This is an exciting new product that is environmentally safe and will benefit students and community by reducing pollution."

The grant money is a trial period to see if districts like the fuel. It should last about three months for each district.

Mr. Bach said Kenton County's 132 buses use about 35,000 gallons of fuel per month.

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

WV,

do they put it directly into the tank, or what?

you answered my question... thanks

Kiwijeanie,

yes, that's what they were talking about - burning the leftover sugar cane for energy - seems to me that Hawaii could tool up and be producing major fuel with the old sugar cane fields withhin a coupe or three years and then would be a major supplier.

If I was a person living there, or in anyplace where cane used to be grown (cause then you know it's possible, I would be going around finding out if any of those old cane mills could be bought for pennies - then get together a bunch of people with a few dollars to buy it, plant cane, and start producing.And quickly before the oil people do it. Could always get a consultant from Brazil -

they're still growing sugar cane in Florida...but one of the complaints is that the burning of the cane produces this fine black silt/dust that is
carried for miles making roofs black and so on - don;t know if that;s true or not.

there's is some guy in the midwest that can turn a motor into one that processes cooking oil - trouble is there are no gas stations that millions of cars could fill up on cooking oil...and anyway cooking oil is really expsensive isn't it?

Once stations would be established to pump sugar cane the price I would think could go way down.

Interesting thoughts to ponder.

Any business people here?

Well, if you collected the used oil from all the fast food places and other restaurants, it would not be expensive...

Hey Pallas, wanna start a business? When you return from Paris, of course :-)

Pallas, I seem to remember that you had expressed interest in global seismic activities.
An island just north of NZ erupted Friday. Some escaped, but one man from the dept of conservation is presumed dead.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10373361

Oh my Sally and Pallas,

I had not read the post at DU yet about the Pravada article but since I live just outside of Lansing only an hour & 1/2 from Detroit this scenario has worried me for some time now. And basically MI is a blue state, I'm sure the Neocons find that fact and the largest Arab population, plus the auto unions, (and the offices of Rep John Conyers Jr. calling for impeachment and Levins office located there) to be an extremely attractive target. Factor in the Great Lakes and Canada being a further isolation/barrier it's a perfect location for a dirty bomb or any bomb. Godd/ess help us all.

:D

Yes, Jo, that's where my mind is going. But we need Kiwijeanie to find out how much one of those closed sugar mills would cost...then we could all be owners of AW New Fuel Company. :) That's called being at the beginning of the industry.

And didn't Dole stop growing pineapples in Hawaii - prolly good growing land for sugar cane too.

All it takes is a little positive thinking and the heart and mind of an entrepreneur :) Anyone who does it is going to be ahead of the crowd --and if this is 2006 - it could prolly be producing by 2009....maybe just in time. As oil runs out - gas stations might be going bankrupt or want out..or they could be talked into filling one or two tanks with sugar cane fuel....

Gotta think ahea
ddddddddddddddd
ddddddddddddddddd
I've already decided that my next car is going to be one of those flex cars,,,,but I love my great big old car and have thought of having it fixed for cooking oil :)

Shez,

don't worry - I doubt it would be Detroit...much more likely dc since the cabal hates those pesky
congresscritters -

glad you could use my slogans :)

Kiwi,

I'm not terriffic at geography - but what comes to mind is this is the same platelets that are moving and adjusting involved in the tsunami and as the earth's crust adjusts,and the earth actually tilted after the tsunami, the magma at the earth's core rolls/moves setting off the volcanoes.

they say the earth itself has not stopped vibrating from that tsunami.

The Scotsman

Anti-war protesters join forces across the world

TENS of thousands of anti-war protesters from across the country are expected to join a demonstration today to call for British troops to be pulled out of Iraq.

Union leaders, MPs and anti-war activists will address a rally in London's Trafalgar Square following a march. The protest, to mark the third anniversary of the start of the conflict, is being organised by the Stop The War Coalition, CND and the Muslim Association of Britain.

Demonstrations against the continued presence of US and British troops in Iraq will be held in 200 cities across the world, including Basra, Baghdad, New York, Madrid, Rome, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto and Dublin.

In Sydney, protesters dressed up as George Bush carrying the Grim Reaper's scythe and chanting "End the war now!" and "Troops out!".

Lindsey German of the Stop the War Coalition said: "A solution to the chaos caused by illegal war in Iraq will only be possible when the occupying foreign armies have all been removed."

http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=429692006

Want news about the antiwar marchers today... well don't get it from ABC... check out the UK --- the Stop the War organization has a list of sites for marches --- across the planet:

http://www.stopwar.org.uk/march20/events.asp

from The INDEPENDENT, 14 March 2006:

"Britain is pulling 800 troops out of Iraq in a move described by the Defence Secretary, John Reid, as the "end of the beginning". The timing of the announcement could be intended to take pressure off Tony Blair as he faces a difficult week over Labour opposition to his reform agendaand a mass protest in London at the weekend in favour of pulling troops out."

Check out their website for alternative to Corporate Media and reports from Iraq... http://www.stopwar.org.uk/

Here's something thought provoking -

The next time you hear a politician use the word "billion" in a
casual
manner, think about whether you want the "politicians" spending your
tax
>> money.
>>
>> A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising
agency
>> did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one
of its
>> releases.
>>
>> a.. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
>>
>> b.. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
>>
>> c.. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
>>
>> d.. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
>>
>> e.. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the
rate
>> our
>> government is spending it.

The farcical end of the American dream

The US press is supposed to be challenging the lies of this war

By Robert Fisk

Mr Welshofer, it transpired in court, had stuffed the Iraqi General Abed Hamed Mowhoush head-first into a sleeping bag and sat on his chest, an action which - not surprisingly - caused the general to expire. The military jury ordered - reader, hold your breath - a reprimand for Mr Welshofer, the forfeiting of $6,000 of his salary and confinement to barracks for 60 days.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12395.htm

To bleed and to die in the dust

By Charles Sullivan

Ask yourself: Does the president behave like a servant of the people; or does he resemble an emperor? Ask the same question of Bill Frist, Hillary Clinton, and all of our so called public servants. Who do their policies benefit? Who is working for whom? Do they live like you? What kind of health insurance do they have? How do their benefits compare to your own? Do they have money worries? Are their children getting killed in Iraq? How do their retirement pensions compare to your own?
.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12394.htm

WV,

must be a litle serendipity here... I posted at Salon a little over two weeks about $1 trillion dollars... that's the amount the war in Iraq is reported to be costing to date... my figure for $1bn is a little different than the ad firm... I got mine from physics site online, close enough for horsehoes though...

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

One trillion dollars! Can you even count that high?

One billion seconds is equivalent to 31.7 years...

One trillion seconds of ordinary clock time = ( 1012 sec)/( 3.16 x 107 sec/yr) = 31,546 years!

31,546 years would pass before you could drop a dollar every second to spend one trillion dollars...

one thousand years ago the Romans ruled the world...

18,000 years ago (from the timeline I have been developing for decades):

They carved female figures out of bone and stone, and they decorated cave walls with magnificent images of animals. The high point of their culture comes with the harshest period of the ice age, around 18,000 years ago. It was soon after the beautiful cave paintings of Lascaux in southern France (15,000 B.C.E.) and at Altamira in northern Spain (between 15,000 and 12,000 B.C.E.) were created. Man had clearly become a very skilled communicator and artist.

18,000 years ago, we were living in caves!

35,000 years ago, modern humans came into existence (according to SCIENCE, not fundamentalists)

So, folks... if we dropped a dollar every second from the time homo sapiens sapiens emerged until today, we would have spent the amount of money the war in Iraq has cost.

[above is non scientific opinion proffered by a raging angry human]

Well I for one remember the burning of the cane fields in Hawaii....and it isn't pleasant. Speaking of global pollustion and pollustants.

Those sugar can factories and land were long ago turned into other busineesess. Coffee in some cases...don't know the rest.

Barbara, can you get a hold of Rescue Remedy? It comes in a cream also, but you can rub that on your hands (and arnica oil also) and take the rescue with you to work in bottled water....take a sip every 15 minutes....if they allow you to actually have water...sounds awful that you would be so exhausted....the Rescue will allow you to work thru the pain and see the blocks removed to your learning.

There's an author on C Span 2 - Book tv named Jeff
Faux who has written a book called " The Global Class War. Try to catch it when played again.

It's not what you think.

The Class War is between "The Party of Davos", which are "the global elite" - the Multi Nationals and their CEO's against the working people, all the rest of the citizens.

He described what is happening and what is going to happen so well.

Globalization was Reagan's idea, Bush 1 began it, and Clinton delivered it in the form of NAFTA. The elite, the corporations who are no longer have fidelity to their national origin, benefited as did the bankers and politicians at the top.

Then the corporations, The Party of Davos, that were American and now which are global broke their social contract with America.(and with other countries) The social contract is jobs, healthcare,wages and so on.

One of the things he said is that America backs up the party of Davos which is the multi national corporations, with their army and power because
the party of Davos has no army. "Never forget, when the CEO of G.E. walks in the room, the 6th fleet walks in behind him".

"Now economists like Volker and Warren Buffett are saying the elite are out of control-severed from what is good for America - no longer care - and within the next four years there will be severe ramifications.

Meanwhile the political party which should be taking leadership against all of this was co-opted by their agreeement to take part from NAFTA down and sold out their own base-labor, the middle class, and the working man whose jobs are being outsourced. The standard of living of the American people, not the elite Davos party, has been steadily declining and will get worse until there are "political ramifications".
>>>>>>
This is a big simplification of all he said and he says he names names in his book - like Hillary.
I think political ramifications means people out in the streets like what we saw today in France. And he talks about the national debt, China, Japan, Canada, immigration, - fascinating. I'd like to hear it again. He explained what is happening and the ramifications so clearly.

Now the offshoring of professional jobs, medical, xray, technical is diminishing the middle class -
he said " we can't get the toothpaste back in the tube, but there are other solutions - such as not aa 19th century economic system but a 21st century one."

C Span 2 Book tv

Poll needs help: Do you support the Iraq Attack?
www.pasadenastarnews.com

Protect Democratic Underground
Posted by Eric J in MN
Added to homepage Sat Mar 18th 2006, 09:38 AM ET

Fox News spends millions promoting the Republicans. It doesn't have to register as a political organization.

But under a bill HR 4900 from Congressman Tom Allen (D-Maine), supported by Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), website owners who spend over $10,000/year would have to register with the federal government.

Phone them and ask why website owners (including the owners of DU) shouldn't have the same rights as Fox News.

Nancy Pelosi
(415) 556-4862 (SF)
(202) 225-4965 (DC)

Tom Allen
(207)-774-5019 (Maine)
(202)-225-6116 (DC)

More at:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/3/16/191640/672

Discuss this topic (36 responses)

Very interesting column by George Will of the Wash. Post this morning: "Bleakness In Iraq"
Are these usually delusional pompous right wing pundits finally being dragged by W's toilet bowl level poll numbers kicking and screaming into the "reality based community"? {what a 'quaint'
concept for this misadministration "reality"!)...

...or just perhaps at least some of they are still semi-lucid enough to recognize the current (and surely soon to get even significantly worse) debacle these neo-lunatics have created in the Middle East by arrogantly rejecting the pre war advice of just about every legitimate geo- political/military expert on this always difficult region.

Why am I not surprised? -- Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, candidate for Ohio governor aligned with White Supremacists, NeoFascists.

Blackwell, incidentally, is African-American, thus illustrating his breathtaking total lack of integrity in pursuit of power. This deceitful man would sell out his own mother if it meant a chance to get ahead.

--
Why did J. Kenneth Blackwell seek, then hide, his association with super-rich extremists and e-voting magnates?
by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
March 10, 2006

The man who stole the 2004 election for George W. Bush -- Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell -- has posted a picture of himself addressing the white supremacist ultra-right Council for National Policy (CNP). He then pulled the picture and tried to hide his participation in the meeting by removing mention of it from his website, kenblackwell.com.

First discovered by a netroots investigator (uaprogressiveaction.com), Blackwell's photo at the CNP meeting was found on Blackwell's website on Monday, March 6. Then it mysteriously disappeared.

Blackwell has ample reason to hide his ties to the CNP. When the Free Press investigated the CNP and its ties to the Republican Party, Chip Berlet of Political Research Associates told the paper that the CNP included "a former Ku Klux Klan leader and other segregationist policies." Berlet emphasizes that these "shocking" charges are easy to verify.

Berlet describes CNP members as not only traditional conservatives, but also nativists, xenophobes, white racial supremacists, homophobes, sexists, militarists, authoritarians, reactionaries and "in some cases outright neo-fascists."

Some well-known figures affiliated with the CNP include Rev. Jerry Falwell, anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly and the Rev. Pat Robertson. But its the lesser-known CNP mainstays that are more indicative of the organization's politics. They include:
Richard Shoff, a former Ku Klux Klan leader in Indiana.
John McGoff, an ardent supporter of the former apartheid South African regime.
R.J. Rushdoony, the theological leader of America's "Christian Reconstruction" movement, which advocates that Christian fundamentalists take "dominion" over America by abolishing democracy and instituting Old Testament Law. Rushdoony's Reconstructionalists believe that "homosexuals . . . adulterers , blasphemers, astrologers and others will be executed," along with disobedient children.
Reed Larson, head of anti-union National Right to Work Committee.
Don Wildmon, TV censorship activist and accused anti-Semite.
Lieutenant-Colonel Oliver North, Major General John K. Singlaub and other principals from the Iran-Contra Scandal.
Investigative reporter Russ Bellant, author of OLD NAZIS, THE NEW RIGHT AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY;THE RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT IN MICHIGAN POLITICS; and THE COORS CONNECTION, told the Free Press that the "membership of the Council comprises the elite of the radical right in America."

Blackwell is not the only Ohio Republican with ties to white supremacists, according to Bellant. He found ties between Senator George Voinovich and members of fascist groups formerly from Eastern and Southern Europe living in the Cleveland area.

In 1997, the Free Press disclosed that then-Republican Speaker Pro Tempore of the Ohio House, William G. Batchelder, was listed as a member of the little-known and highly secretive cabal, the CNP. Bellant told the Free Press in 1997, "the CNP is attempting to create a concentration of power to rival and eventually eclipse traditional centers of power in the U.S." Batchelder's wife Alice sits on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and was recently considered for the U.S. Supreme Court.
--

Much more...
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2006/1848

Excellent article NEO!

* Iraq & the Nuremberg Precedent ...These days, the Nuremberg Trial is chiefly remembered for the prosecution & punishment of individuals for genocide. Equally important at the time, however, was the focus on wars of aggression. Thus, the first sentence of Justice Jackson’s opening statement: “The privilege of opening the first trial in history for crimes against the peace of the world imposes a grave responsibility.”

Crimes against peace & the responsibility for them were defined in Article 6, the heart of the Charter of the IMT: “The tribunal…shall have the power to try & punish persons who…whether as individuals or as members of organizations, committed any of the following crimes...(a) Crimes Against Peace, namely, planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances…”

The desire was not only to punish individuals for crimes but to set an international moral & legal precedent for the future. Indeed, before the end of 1946, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted Resolution 95 (1), affirming “the principles of International Law recognized by the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal & the judgment of the Tribunal.” And, of course, the UN Charter forbids armed aggression & violations of the sovereignty of any state by any other state, except in immediate self defense (Article 2, Sec. 4 & Articles 39 & 51).

Invoking the precedent set by the US & its allies at the Nuremberg trial in 1946, there can be no doubt that the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a war of aggression. There was no imminent threat to US security nor to the security of the world. The invasion violated the UN Charter as well as UN Security Council Resolution #1441.

The Nuremberg precedent calls for no less than the arrest & prosecution of those individuals responsible for the invasion of Iraq, beginning with President George W Bush, VP Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, former Secretary of State Colin Powell & former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.

Those who still justify the invasion of Iraq would do well to remember the words of Justice Jackson: “Our position is that whatever grievances a nation may have, however objectionable it finds the status quo, aggressive warfare is an illegal means for settling these grievances or for altering these conditions.”

And, for those who have difficulty visualizing American leaders as defendants in such a trial, Justice Jackson’s words again: “...(L)et me make clear that while this law is first applied against German aggressors, the law includes, & if it is to serve a useful purpose it must condemn, aggression by any other nations, including those which sit here now in judgment...This trial represents mankind’s desperate effort to apply the discipline of the law to statesmen who have used their powers of state to attack the foundations of the world’s peace & to commit aggression against the rights of their neighbors.”

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/031506a.html

* Iraq & the Nuremberg Precedent ...These days, the Nuremberg Trial is chiefly remembered for the prosecution & punishment of individuals for genocide. Equally important at the time, however, was the focus on wars of aggression. Thus, the first sentence of Justice Jackson’s opening statement: “The privilege of opening the first trial in history for crimes against the peace of the world imposes a grave responsibility.”

Crimes against peace & the responsibility for them were defined in Article 6, the heart of the Charter of the IMT: “The tribunal…shall have the power to try & punish persons who…whether as individuals or as members of organizations, committed any of the following crimes...(a) Crimes Against Peace, namely, planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances…”

The desire was not only to punish individuals for crimes but to set an international moral & legal precedent for the future. Indeed, before the end of 1946, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted Resolution 95 (1), affirming “the principles of International Law recognized by the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal & the judgment of the Tribunal.” And, of course, the UN Charter forbids armed aggression & violations of the sovereignty of any state by any other state, except in immediate self defense (Article 2, Sec. 4 & Articles 39 & 51).

Invoking the precedent set by the US & its allies at the Nuremberg trial in 1946, there can be no doubt that the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a war of aggression. There was no imminent threat to US security nor to the security of the world. The invasion violated the UN Charter as well as UN Security Council Resolution #1441.

The Nuremberg precedent calls for no less than the arrest & prosecution of those individuals responsible for the invasion of Iraq, beginning with President George W Bush, VP Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, former Secretary of State Colin Powell & former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.

Those who still justify the invasion of Iraq would do well to remember the words of Justice Jackson: “Our position is that whatever grievances a nation may have, however objectionable it finds the status quo, aggressive warfare is an illegal means for settling these grievances or for altering these conditions.”

And, for those who have difficulty visualizing American leaders as defendants in such a trial, Justice Jackson’s words again: “...(L)et me make clear that while this law is first applied against German aggressors, the law includes, & if it is to serve a useful purpose it must condemn, aggression by any other nations, including those which sit here now in judgment...This trial represents mankind’s desperate effort to apply the discipline of the law to statesmen who have used their powers of state to attack the foundations of the world’s peace & to commit aggression against the rights of their neighbors.”

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/031506a.html

Thanks so much for letting us know how you are doing, Beverly. Seems to me that whenever I change jobs the first week is just exhausting. I'm hoping you'll be able to get into a more reasonable routine this next week and things will be much better for you.

From CS on Salon:

911 Eyewitness

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3498980438587461603&q=9%2F11+eyewitness

Is the American Press still Free?

Eyewitness Website

This was the title of a controversial presentation at a prestigious press club in Tokyo, Japan, Tuesday, March 14. The New York Times Tokyo Bureau Chief, Jim Brooks, said that he couldn’t attend an official press function about 9/11 or he would be fired. Coincidentally, the Reuters Bureau chief, Daniel Sloan, was also a strong opponent to the event being held, but he and Brooks were voted down by international members and the event was able to go ahead.

911Eyewitness was screened during dinner for 50 international journalists at the Tokyo, Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan and received tremendous applause.

Was this meeting the reason that the 911 Eyewitness site was hacked? Did this screening for influential journalists trigger a retaliatory attack on the news website?

Are the evildoers getting worried about the scientific analysis of controlled demolition presented in 911Eyewitness?

Could this line of inquiry be the weak link that they have no debunking defense against?

Long-standing FCCJ member Benjamin Fulford, former Tokyo Bureau Chief for Forbes Magazine, chaired the discussion about 9/11 evidence. He talked about his own personal epiphany after researching the evidence available on the net. He challenged the international press to do their own investigations to determine whether the bloggers have scooped the mainstream press on the true story behind the terrorism of Sept. 11, 2001.

Those in attendance were virtually unanimous in agreement that controlled demolition brought down the towers after watching 911Eyewitness.

The lone vocal critic who labeled 911Eyewitness analysis featuring Newton’s Laws of Science as “propaganda” was quickly silenced by additional testimony from ex-MI5 agent David Shayler, stating 9/11 was an inside job, streaming from the internet on Google’s video site.

The evening was a resounding success for 9/11 truth.

Japan is currently buzzing with numerous magazine articles on 9/11 and may prove to be a key ally in the fight for truth. Stay tuned for more…

Note: This morning we got the site operational again after it was brought down by hackers on the 14th. Coincidence that it was not available to the Conference?

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_rob_kall_060318_who_s_screwing_ameri.htm

Who's Screwing America's Female Democrats?

Women, Who make up the Majority of the Democratic Party, are being Stabbed in the back, by a Few Senate Leaders, a Governor and a whole bunch of spineless Women's Organizations.

Democratic women are about to be stabbed in the back. It started out as a plan by Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid and Ed Rendell. They saw that Bob Casey, jr., son of a former PA governor, polled well against Santorum. So they made up their minds that THEY would decide who would be the Democratic candidate to run in the 2006 PA senate race.

There's one problem with that. Casey, like his father, is anti-abortion, anti-embryonic stemcell. That's a big problem. This race will be the most closely watched election in the nation. The right wing democrats who have been sabotaging the integrity, values and leadership of the Democratic party are dying to claim that a Casey win proves that the way for Democrats to win is to oppose abortion-- to oppose the woman's right that was fought for for decades.

If Casey wins, this could be the most damaging, most devastating thing to impact upon women's rights in decades. It could be, and will be horrible.

It doesn't matter that Santorum is a loser, than any decent candidate can kick his butt, including good candidates who back women's rights.

It doesn't matter that Casey has a track record of having a big lead and then losing in a competitive race.

It doesn't matter that the choice of Casey in this race has put women's rights on the line.

Regardless, some of the biggest names in the Democratic side of the senate have come to PA to support and raise money for Casey-- Hillary, Barrack, John Kerry. They're all doing their share of the effort to sabotage the rights of women.

Now here's what I don't understand. The women's rights advocacy groups appear to be doing nothing. Like Jews in the Warsaw ghetto, they are hoping that Casey will not screw them, even though he has already said that he supported Alito. It's hard to understand why they have not spoken out against Casey and for either one of the two pro-women's right candidates who are running. I'm supporting one of those candidates-- Chuck Pennacchio-- because I desperately, passionately, intensely, teeth grittingly want to get rid of Rick Santorum and I don't think Casey can or will do it. I think Pennacchio has a much better shot.

I don't understand why the women's organizations-- National organization of Women N.O.W. or NARAL are not out there, telling their members in PA and all over the USA and the world to contribute to Pennacchio's campaign. I don't understand why these women's organizations aren't telling Rendell and Schumen and the DSCC (democratic campaign committee) how they are outraged that they would even consider betraying women, who make up over 60% of the Democratic party in PA, by running a candidate who doesn't fully support women's rights.

More...

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article352175.ece

Are the IED’s based upon a FBI design?

The claim is a man who infiltrated the IRA on behalf of the British security services was taught to build infrared IED’s by Poppy’s FBI. The IRA then shared their knowledge with other terrorist groups.

Independent [UK]

... The claim – if true – threatens a new political storm over how and why FBI officials and MI5 operatives conspired to supply deadly bomb-making equipment to the Provisional IRA in the early 1990s, mechanisms the paramilitary organisation later shared with Palestinian fighters.

Today in Iraq the same technology is being used by insurgents to kill and maim British and American soldiers.

Six months ago, when The Independent on Sunday first broke the story, the Secretary of State for Defence, John Reid, was forced into a humiliating retraction.

For weeks his officials had claimed that bombs which killed eight British soldiers in separate attacks in Basra had been supplied to foreign fighters by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

Our story showed that the technology, far from being new, had in fact first been used in Newry, Co Down, in 1992 to murder a policewoman and maim her male colleague.

Kevin Fulton, a former soldier who infiltrated the IRA on behalf of the security services, made an astonishing claim: that he had flown to New York, met FBI and MI5 agents and was given money to buy an infra-red device to be used to set off IRA bombs.

The security services – already successful in preventing radio-signal bombs – believed that by supplying the equipment they could then introduce counter-measures.

“They knew the IRA was looking at the technology. By supplying the equipment, they thought they could stay one step ahead of the IRA,” Mr Fulton told the IoS yesterday.

Following our article in October, an investigative journalist from the American magazine Atlantic delved deeper. And in an article to be published next week, Matthew Teague claims FBI sources have confirmed Mr Fulton’s trip to the United States. “I was satisfied with Fulton’s story after checking it with FBI sources. I also had a record of Fulton’s stay at a New York hotel at the time he said he was there,” Mr Teague said. He said the article had already sparked a wave of interest before it hit the news-stands and he was aware of a number of senior American politicians who were waiting for publication before raising the issue in Congress.

The IoS has also spoken to a republican who was a senior IRA member in the early 1990s. He confirmed that Mr Fulton had introduced the IRA to the new technology and that the IRA shared this with “like-minded organisations abroad”.

Mr Fulton currently lives in hiding in England and is taking legal action against the MoD, insisting he should receive a soldier’s pension. A former member of the Royal Irish Rangers, he infiltrated the IRA after being recruited directly from the regiment by the shadowy army outfit the Force Research Unit, which ran agents inside loyalist and republican organisations.

Mr Teague says Mr Fulton answered “no comment” to claims that he had been responsible for 11 murders while working as an agent and that he had been given carte blanche to kill by his handlers.

Yesterday Mr Fulton refused to comment on those claims again, but asked about his New York arms-buying trip, he said: “I have been in touch with representatives of some senior American politicians in the past few days and I’ve told them that I am willing to travel back and appear before Congress if necessary.” ...

Well Happy Anniversary everyone!
I feel like a paranoid conspiracy theorist today, after watching MSM this morning with all the Right wing heavys. Chalabi is now the Deputy Minister of Iraq??????? It's a real Shock & Awe Attack!!! ON US!
OH & the pRez has come back from Camp David EARLY to talk to his "chillens" timed so the fundies are home from Sun AM church!
I did watch Shock & Awe on Link TV last night ( the one that happened ion B aghad 3 years ago. I think that may be wghat is wrong woth the Democrats ?
And after my encounter with the local "inbred, 60 IQ, local inhabitant in the market last night. "The deficit started 8 years ago & is Clinton's fault.!!!"
NO MENTION OF ANY PEACE DEMONSTRATION IN AMERICA AT ALL! NOT EVEN CSPAN!!
Can't get the google video. I suppose I could download flash..but..at this point I have to reconnect my old computer, install the new ( used ) mosdem & try to figure out how to work Eric's digital camera! (FOR ME!, TO INCREASE MY INCOME . )
Subject change.
Where were you when WWII ended? Do you remember that day?
PQ

It's ok Pat, you already know what is shown in that video.

.........

From Teapot Dome to Gale Norton

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031906Y.shtml

Kelpie Wilson writes that as the Teapot Dome scandal of Warren G. Harding's presidency was one milestone in the history of American resource piracy, the tenure of Gale Norton as Secretary of the Interior is surely another. Gale Norton's timely exit on the heels of the Abramoff scandal that implicates top Interior Department officials could mean that she is worried, but it is not likely that she will face any prosecution for her giveaways to industry.

* Iraq war protesters: 'Our soldiers must come home now' - The third anniversary of the US-led war in Iraq drew tens of thousands of protesters -- shouting chants of "Stop the War" and calling for the withdrawal of troops -- in demonstrations across the globe. More than 7,000 people marched thru downtown Chicago in one of the largest protests in the US, saying the war diverts money from domestic needs & demanding the US pull out of Iraq. http://www.cnn.com/

Since their number estimates would, I imagine, be rather... um, conservative, there were probably 3 or 4 times that many.

"...giveaways to industry." Hahahahaaaa... a nebulous diffuse huge-sounding term for a few pink supremacist bipedal (mebbe) malebots, that are prosecutable, destroyable, & lock-upable. ;O)

http://agonist.org/

Gretchen Morgenson writes in today's Times:

"You're seeing a destruction of book values at some of these companies (like Dell, Intel, and the like)," Mr. Hickey said, referring to the difference between a company's assets and its liabilities. "There's been a lot of earnings shown, and yet it hasn't gone out in dividends and doesn't show up in the balance sheet. Their shareholders are growing poorer."

Why? Options grants to executives, that's why. Here's a more concrete example:

In the last two fiscal years, Dell has earned a total of nearly $6.6 billion. During that same period, Dell's shareholder equity has gone from $6.3 billion in 2004 to $4.1 billion this year, a decrease of 35 percent. While Dell has shown earnings growth, the value of what Dell's shareholders own at the end of the day has declined. Remember that sucking sound H. Ross Perot used to talk about?

Options grants are the financial equivalent of the bubonic plague or a slow but lethal financial weapon of mass destruction. In the name of rewarding 'executive performance' Wall Street has destroyed more wealth than most bear markets. All options grants do is suck wealth out of corporations silently, like a bank robbery no one knows about. Until options are a required cost (not voluntary) on the balance sheet it won't get any better.

You are right Pat C, I am overeudcated at this point!

Just watched a documentary on Louise Dahl Wolfe - Painter of Light; Bazaar photographer for 28 years, & wife of Michael Wolfe. She discovered Lauren Bacall as a high school student and photographed her for the magazine whioch led to the first Hollyhwood movie with Boghart rest is history. Wonderful artful pictures.
Now a doc on a Lithuanian immigrant in Syracuse NY
PQ

more info on Brazil's ethanol story

DATELINE ARCHIVES

March 15 2006

Brazil's Sweet Revolution
At the risk of repeating what's become something of a global mantra of late, oil is running out and most of what's left is in what's euphemistically described as "unstable parts of the world" - code for the Gulf, the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia. Meanwhile, anyone with any sense is on the great search for alternative fuel sources - and one high-profile contender to have emerged is ethanol.
That said, some nations appear to have a lot more sense than others. While ethanol production could provide a serious lifeline for Australia's struggling sugar cane industry, but a lack of political will here in Australia has prevented us from "filling 'er up," as it were, with alcohol. Brazil, by contrast, has spent decades overcoming political, scientific and economic hurdles and now, it is leading the ethanol revolution. And, as Ginny Stein found out when she went there, the Brazilians would like to export their miracle cure to the rest of the world.
22:52 mins
At the risk of repeating what's become something of a global mantra of late, oil is running out and most of what's left is in what's euphemistically described as "unstable parts of the world" - code for the Gulf, the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia. Meanwhile, anyone with any sense is on the great search for alternative fuel sources - and one high-profile contender to have emerged is ethanol.
That said, some nations appear to have a lot more sense than others. While ethanol production could provide a serious lifeline for Australia's struggling sugar cane industry, but a lack of political will here in Australia has prevented us from "filling 'er up," as it were, with alcohol. Brazil, by contrast, has spent decades overcoming political, scientific and economic hurdles and now, it is leading the ethanol revolution. And, as Ginny Stein found out when she went there, the Brazilians would like to export their miracle cure to the rest of the world.
22:52 mins

http://news.sbs.com.au/dateline/index.php?page=archive&daysum=2006-03-15#

Pat C

Thanks for the link to the 9-11 flick - facinating! Further back up what I already suspected.

Joanna you are absolutely correct about the numbers being understated... I posted the following notes lates last night at Salon:

Want news about the antiwar marchers today... well don't get it from ABC... check out the UK --- the Stop the War organization has a list of sites for marches --- across the planet:

http://www.stopwar.org.uk/march20/events.asp

from The INDEPENDENT, 14 March 2006:

"Britain is pulling 800 troops out of Iraq in a move described by the Defence Secretary, John Reid, as the "end of the beginning". The timing of the announcement could be intended to take pressure off Tony Blair as he faces a difficult week over Labour opposition to his reform agendaand a mass protest in London at the weekend in favour of pulling troops out."

Check out their website for alternative to Corporate Media and reports from Iraq... http://www.stopwar.org.uk/

on edit: MSNBC has report and slide show

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11887714/

and for the troops... this diary at dKOS will make you cry

They were soldiers once...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/3/18/184113/630

Pics from London Peace March

police say over 100,000

http://www.bornagainmaganda.net/gallery/v/march0306/

March in San Francisco

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tortfeasor/sets/72057594084997753/

article on San Francisco march here

http://kcbs.com/pages/16506.php

more pics at Yahoo http://tinyurl.com/neph9

Photos of Huge Police presence at Pittsburgh Peace Parade.

by Yellow Canary

Sat Mar 18, 2006 at 08:38:48 PM PDT

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/3/18/223848/425

NYT Book Review on 'American Theocracy,' by Kevin Phillips

Clear and Present Dangers

Phillips .. identifies three broad and related trends — none of them new to the Bush years but all of them, he believes, exacerbated by this administration's policies — that together threaten the future of the United States and the world.

...

The United States has embraced a kind of "petro-imperialism," Phillips writes, "the key aspect of which is the U.S. military's transformation into a global oil-protection force," and which "puts up a democratic facade, emphasizes freedom of the seas (or pipeline routes) and seeks to secure, protect, drill and ship oil, not administer everyday affairs."

...

On the far right is a still obscure but, Phillips says, rapidly growing group of "Christian Reconstructionists" who believe in a "Taliban-like" reversal of women's rights, who describe the separation of church and state as a "myth" and who call openly for a theocratic government shaped by Christian doctrine.

...

the national debt — currently over $8 trillion — is only the tip of the iceberg. There has also been an explosion of corporate debt, state and local bonded debt, international debt through huge trade imbalances, and consumer debt (mostly in the form of credit-card balances and aggressively marketed home-mortgage packages). Taken together, this present and future debt may exceed $70 trillion.

The creation of a national-debt culture, Phillips argues, although exacerbated by the policies of the Bush administration, has been the work of many people over many decades — among them Alan Greenspan, who, he acidly notes, blithely and irresponsibly ignored the rising debt to avoid pricking the stock-market bubble it helped produce. It is most of all a product of the "financialization" of the American economy — the turn away from manufacturing and toward an economy based on moving and managing money, a trend encouraged, Phillips argues persuasively, by the preoccupation with oil and (somewhat less persuasively) with evangelical belief in the imminent rapture, which makes planning for the future unnecessary.

[no link - behind NYT subscrip wall]

A Sad Day: for Rachel Corrie

March 18th, 2006 | Posted in Rachel Corrie

By Starhawk

March 17, 2006

Yesterday was a sad day. The third anniversary of the death of Rachel Corrie, crushed by a bulldozer in Rafah, in the Gaza strip. All day the sky glowered, dark and oppressive, while from time to time drenching showers rained down, as if nature herself were weeping.

Three years since Rachel was killed; three years since we opened fire on Iraq. Three years ago, I was in the West Bank, running down to Gaza to support the team that was with Rachel, back to Nablus to support my friend Neta Golan as she gave birth to her first child, back to Rafah to support the team that was with Tom Hurndall another young ISM volunteer, when he was shot by an Israeli sniper. Yesterday, I was cleaning mouse shit out of my own pantry, hearing Neta on the radio as I drove down to the city in the pouring rain, talking about the Israeli raid on the police station in Jericho, where she had gone to try once again to intervene in the violence.

Three years. The war in Iraq devolves into one of those tragedies where most of the players end up dead. The Bush administration, although discredited in every meaningful way and low in the public opinion polls, still has enough power to avoid impeachment or censure, threaten Iraq, to press Congress to legalize its illegal spying, pack the Supreme Court with justices likely to overturn Roe vs. Wade. There’s a lot to weep for, or perhaps, scream about.

But today, what I’m thinking about in the rain is that a play about Rachel Corrie, based on her writings and emails, entitled Rachel’s Words, has been ‘indefinitely postponed’ by the New York Theater Workshop, under pressure from some elements in the Jewish community.

I’m sad as a Jew. Even though we go to great lengths to separate Israel and its actions from Judaism and Jewishness, for all the best political reasons, even though I’m far more a Pagan than a Jew in my practice, I was born and raised as a Jew. Jewish ritual and thought and education formed my character and way of being in the world. Jewish ideals are of social justice and intellectual freedom and pride in being a nation of stubborn survivors of oppression.

more http://tinyurl.com/rc89w

Dear Garry,

Thanks for the link to the documentary "Loose Change." There was a great deal there that was totally new to me, especially about the gold under buildings four and five and several of the alleged hijackers still being alive and verified.

Everyone should see this film and share it with everyone you know including your reps and senator. As the reviews state, it is far better and more direct in it's detail than Moore's "Farenheit 9/11."

The military can "voice over" and create fake communications! The cell phone calls from the planes were all made up! One call identified himself to his own mother saying "Hi Mom, this is John Doe. My gosh! I suppose the immediate stress of the situation could account for this???

I checked their website and found that on last Tuesday they received over 20,000 hits in that day alone. I wonder if it has something to do with the release of the film (if just recently) or if people are sincerely waking up or becoming suspicious of the lies they are being told. Check it out. It's interesting.
http://www.loosechange911.com

What I don't understand is why our Congress people are as dumbed down as the American people seem to be. From the 2,000 hits above, even more so. Why don't they have an inner spark of inquisitiveness that might allow them to question what they are being told. Why supposed facts are in conflict. Such as the families of 9/11 have. Their desire for a trustworthy and truthful government should be enough to ignite a little curiosity. Afterall, that is what they are in D.C. to do.

You're certainly welcome wv.

Beverly, mysterious isn't it?

http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?emx=x&pid=70198

Iran and the Irrationality Factor

Ira...[fill in the letter of your choice]

Connecting the Dots, Bush-Style

As readers flee news on the printed page for an on-line life and classified ads head out the door for Craigslist and points west, the Washington Post became just the latest major newspaper to announce significant staff cuts. With fourth-quarter revenue down 3% from the previous year, eighty jobs -- 9% of the Post's newsroom –- are to be shed in the next twelve months. According to the New York Times, Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie, Jr. "said other cost savings could come from having foreign correspondents cover broad topics -- terrorism, say -- rather than cover specific countries, thus allowing for the elimination of some [Post] foreign bureaus."

This, of course, is the route that the TV news followed long ago, shedding foreign bureaus like so much flaky skin. Anyone who loves his or her daily dose of news in print should be dismayed at the thought of news bureaus abroad closing. It's just another way in which American isolation is likely to increase, as our bubble world, so prized by the Bush administration, continues to morph into something more permanent.

On the brighter side, though, assigning more reporters to "broad topics" might have an unexpectedly salutary effect. After all, one of the strangest aspects of the news in the Bush years has been its unwillingness to connect regional or global dots. In most cases, foreign reporting has consisted of stories about only one country (at most two) at a time.

Not so long ago, we lived in a world that the media regularly told us was being connected in ever more complex ways -- think of all that reporting on globalization in the 1990s. But for the last several years, "just disconnect" might have been the reigning news motto. If you read about the Iraq War, you get Iraq, and generally little else. No Turkey, no Israel, few Syrians, no Saudis, nor Egyptians. Reports on our little Afghan war give you Afghanistan, but certainly nothing about the fighters that, according to Syed Saleem Shahzad of Asia Times on-line, the resurgent Taliban, based in Pakistani border areas, has been sending to Iraq for training in the new ways of guerrilla warfare. (Think: IEDs and car bombs.) You would never know from stories in the American press that Iran bordered Afghanistan, or that both India and Russia have complex interests and connections there. And forget about the ‘Stans of Central Asia.) Why exactly this has been so, I leave others to analyze. That it has left our major papers strangely demobilized when it comes to offering us a picture of our world and so in an unequal contest with the Bush administration is hard to deny.

More....

Disaser of a Cyclone headed toward Austrailia

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/cyclone-stronger-than-tracy/2006/03/20/1142703246021.html

* Message delivered - There's no mistaking the political statement in V for Vendetta, in which the hero is also a terrorist.

V for Vendetta is the boldest political statement against [rez regime] since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Even Michael Moore wldn't prescribe bombing govt facilities as a cure for dubious leadership. A futuristic setting in England doesn't disguise the film's rabid intent.

James McTeigue's movie will be branded as irresponsible, even dangerous, by some viewers, altho if the past in any indication, the ones who don't see it will yowl loudest. All those knee-jerk critics need to know is that the film's hero is a terrorist.

V for Vendetta audaciously proposes that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter, & the difference between good/evil is mostly semantic. ... http://www.sptimes.com/2006/03/16/Weekend/Message_delivered.shtml

Evil is as evil does Joanna, and it comes in many disquises. Bombs are evil.

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/zeese.php?articleid=8722

March 18, 2006

A Powerful New Voting Block Emerges
The Antiwar Movement Becoming a Political Force That Cannot Be Ignored

by Kevin Zeese

A new national poll shows that a near majority of voters either strongly or somewhat agree with a pledge not to vote for pro-war candidates. This makes the antiwar movement's potential impact on elections larger than pro-gun, anti-abortion, or anti-gay marriage voters. Politicians will have to pay heed to this new political force.

More...

yes, Joanna,

a fine article... with a large does of truth. The colonists who rose against Britain were 'terrorists' by BushCO's label... the Iraqi 'terrorists' are mainly 'insurgents' --- opposed to the occupiers... as were the French during WWII...

the word 'evil' is 'live' spelled backwards...

and the word itself is a label...

now deeds... those must be judged on their own. at least in my humble opinion.

that should read 'dose' not 'does' --- just words, labels, right :-)

fr. Blackboxvoting.Org
http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-bin/forums/board-auth.cgi?file=/1954/19673.html

excerpt;
Posted on Saturday, March 18, 2006 - 09:33 pm:

Emery County Clerk Bruce Funk has been running elections for 23 years. He was quite content with his optical scan system. The state of Utah thought otherwise: On Dec. 27, Funk took delivery on 40 Diebold TSx touch-screen machines, part of a statewide directive.

"I had concerns about Diebold," says Funk, "but I thought, 'If the state is going to mandate it, then I guess they'll assume responsibility if anything goes wrong.'"

Not so. He soon learned that he will be responsible but the state will decide what election system will count the votes.

"You're going to hate my guts on Election Day"

Funk's concerns escalated when he heard a particularly unusual statement by Diebold sales rep Dana LaTour.

"Some of you are going to hate my guts on Election Day," she said to the assembly of elections officials. Later, another Diebold representative named Drew was asked what LaTour meant when she said "Some of you are going to hate my guts..."

"We're going to have problems on Election Day, and we're just going to have to work through them," he said.

Failures right out of the gate

Shortly after Funk received his "brand new" TSx machines, Diebold helped him do acceptance testing. Two of the 40 machines promptly failed the test. Diebold arranged to take them away.

The remaining machines showed several defects -- crooked paper feeds that jam, memory card bay doors that wouldn't close, parts getting stuck, coming loose, falling off.

Taking a closer look

Funk thought it might be a good idea to take a closer inventory.

He booted each machine up to check the battery. Some of the machines were marked with little yellow dots, and he got to wondering about that, too. He studied the screen messages, and noticed something very odd.

Most machines had about 25 MB of memory available, but some had only 7 MB of free memory left. One had only 4 MB of available memory. For perspective, the backup election file generated by the Diebold TSx is about 7.9 MB. Now why would brand new voting machines have used-up memory?

Time to get a more in depth evaluation

This prompted Funk to seek an evaluation. He asked Black Box Voting to help him analyze his voting system.

After several consultations, Black Box Voting determined that the nature of the problems in Emery County might be systemic and might be national in scope. Therefore, we arranged for and underwrote the services of Harri Hursti and Security Innovation, Inc.

Neither Funk nor Black Box Voting were prepared for the depth and breadth of the problems discovered. Based on these discoveries we will begin with a series of articles followed by concise, but more formal reports.

Beverly, I think JudiGem's remedy above must have been directed to you, rather than to me.

I am sending good thoughts your way.

Kiwijeanie, are you ok? (That post about a monster cyclone headed toward Australia is what prompted this.)

Thanks for asking Shy, but it's nowhere near here. Have not really paid much attention to the news today, but I notice its center is between New Caledonia and northern Queensland at the moment. Here's an isobar graphic (if you know how to read it) showing the east coast of Australia, and NZ as well as New Caledonia & Fiji. The really tight concentric circles on the middle left side is the hurricane.
http://www.metservice.co.nz/default/index.php?alias=swpacificmslanalysislatest

We are located south of the hurricane belt - quite a bit south west of this particular system - sometimes we get the very edge of a storm from time to time but usually not too bad.

ooops, I meant to say we are south-East of this hurricane

Poll: Should Snarly step aside before Smirky's "term" ends?
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060319173009990004&ncid=NWS00010000000001
Oh, do go vote.

Thanks for the response kiwijeanie. Whew.

Brother Cybear, did you start this? :)

http://www.fuh2.com/

Fine website for those who research...

* The Rick A Ross Institute for the Study of Destructive Cults, Controversial Groups & Movements. http://rickross.com/

G'morning, everybody. G'morning Jo! I just glanced at a very recent pic of the bushaholic. Sure has aged! ;O) And it has this huge red rash on the rt side of its neck. It'd be cosmic justice to be DU poisoning imo... but it probably isn't.

Hey all,
This is off topic a bit.. I have a friend who is officially moving today--been with us for a month and is now going to take up residence at our fixer-upper farmhouse starting this afternoon. He's (and we) are hoping that the new location without the distractions of his past (in storage) and bringing only the most necessary and important things with him, will give him a new lease on life and most importantly--help him focus on finding a really good job with benefits. He's a political activist, vegan old soul who has been through a great deal in his life--been living in awful conditions prior to our stay with us, barely subsistance and no love companion in life.

What kind of astrology/chart would cover a question like this (i.e. will this move improve his situation dramatically for job/life?)
If anyone cares to take a stab-relocation chart/horary? I'm not educated in astrology enough to figure this out.
Data: Birth 10/13/56 2 PM, Phoenix, AZ
Relo: 10/20/06 (this afternoon sometime)
Aspers, PA
I apologize if I am not supposed to ask a question like this in the forum, but I am SO hoping this will be the answer for him.

Sorry- I should have checked my data in case I was off. 1955 is the year of birth. For anyone who helps, thanks.

ANy further posts from me will be on topic, promise.

Hi Suji-whoops,

Try going to this page on www.astro.com where there are Frequently Asked Questions about travel astrology.

http://www.astro.com/faq/fq_fh_ac_trav_e.htm?lang=n

astrodienst can calculate charts for different places. astrodienst link is on the right-hand side of Cap'n Sally's main page. Scroll down just a bit.

the voices from guantanamo and the lawyers are doing a panel or group meeting all afternoon today on c-span. I figure they will play it again tonight.
It is shocking. Heartbreaking. Hearing what I am hearing from these poor people makes my blood boil.

Barbara, Thank you....I would have completely missed Judi's message without your note just above.

Judi G, Thank you for the suggestions. I took the liquid Rescue Remedy the night I cried so hard. Also I rubbed the cream on a bruise on my middle finger and of course it always helps but am extremely reluctant to apply it to my whole hands. Have NO arthiritis, just completely sore muscles in all my fingers, wrists, (both hands) forearm and upper arm (right).

I believe my reluctance to apply liberally is that I am afraid of becoming immune to the healing effect. That can happen. Hopefully the situation will change in a another week or two.

In the meantime, am soaking a lot in Epsom Salts and pampering myself.

I took 8 drops of Cherry Plum last night and need to lay-off the remedies for a while.

Dedacherry my husband and I were talking this morning about how the MiLai massacre and the Time Magazine cover with the Vietnamese children running naked down the street burning from USA'ian Napalm the whole tide of the American People turned, maybe this will have the same effect. I hope so everyone should be able to see through the governments deceptions and spin at this point in the game. You'd think anyway.

Morgana reminds us in her very insightful article above that time is running out... that we need to wake our younger sisters...

a most wise suggestion... for something wicked this way cometh... indeed...

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

Madison.com

The Capital Times

Two of the country's bigger pharmaceutical companies Merck and GlaxoSmithKline have developed and proven the safety of a vaccine that prevents a common sexually transmitted disease called human papillomavirus (HPV). Strains of HPV are known to cause cervical cancer in early adulthood. The vaccine needs to be administered to girls before they become sexually active, which is an average age of 17. And therein lies the rub for the religious base of the Republican Party that George Bush and company have installed in crucial posts in the health department. That base and George W. Bush himself steadfastly adheres to the proposition that kids need to practice abstinence. In their eyes, anything from promoting the use of condoms to giving young girls vaccinations against sexually transmitted diseases only encourages promiscuity among young people.

full article here:

http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/column/index.php?ntid=76898&ntpid=0

F.Y.I. Everyone,

Terri Gross will be interviewing Kevin Phillips about his new book "American Theocracy" on the Tuesday, March 21st show.

Beverly... bless your heart & my heart goes out to you.

(((Beverly))) so sorry to hear the job is so stressful that it's making you sick! thinking of you, Beverly...

Beverly, last July, 6 months after working an art/agency job for 9 days straight with about 4 hrs of sleep each night, I had ruined my right arm....it just never got any better. The large muscle of the lower arm, near the elbow crease, was painful and I had lots of trouble doing things without pain.

My ex came from NYC, and my 4 yr old granddaughter adores him....well, I think it was about July 4, Caitlin announced to us all in the kitchen that she 'loved GPA more than Grandma"....and walked over to me and BIT me on the arm, hard, right at the point of where the damage must have been. (Criminy's...it is HAILING OUTSIDE RIGHT NOW)

to make a long story short, the pain in my arm went away! It never hurt again (after her teeth maks and the bruising from same disappeared. The only thng which really hurt me was GPA laughing and saying ...DId you hear that GMA? She loves me and not you.

That might explain why we aren't married...

and gee...do you think my granddaughter might have been 'guided' to bite me in the one place which relieved all the pain? Maybe she was an accupuncturist in another life...! (this is the long way of saying that if it doesn't disappear in 6 months, do some accupuncture...!

or you could send your granddaughter to visit Bev, Judi :-) just kiddin'

btw, wanted to tell you earlier what a sweet story that was about your grandson being worried about you... enjoy them... they grow quickly!

http://blogs.cjb.net/DonJohn/
http://blogs.cjb.net/BJ/
http://blogs.cjb.net/KC/
http://blogs.cjb.net/Sentra/
http://blogs.cjb.net/Greta/
http://blogs.cjb.net/Anja/
http://blogs.cjb.net/domain/
http://blogs.cjb.net/ALINA/
http://blogs.cjb.net/pakngah/
http://blogs.cjb.net/mahdoum/
http://blogs.cjb.net/tedley/
http://blogs.cjb.net/kochen/
http://blogs.cjb.net/wellwisher/
http://blogs.cjb.net/batygool/
http://blogs.cjb.net/VN/
http://blogs.cjb.net/ramses78/
http://blogs.cjb.net/cozum/
http://blogs.cjb.net/okan17/
http://blogs.cjb.net/annaleabellavickanisa1/
http://blogs.cjb.net/abadir/
http://blogs.cjb.net/danielp/
http://blogs.cjb.net/ross
http://blogs.cjb.net/tagebuch/
http://blogs.cjb.net/telefonsex/
http://blogs.cjb.net/legolas/
http://blogs.cjb.net/kordistan/
http://blogs.cjb.net/6c/
http://blogs.cjb.net/foxygirl/
http://blogs.cjb.net/mladizec/
http://blogs.cjb.net/guusje/
http://blogs.cjb.net/matheusjas/

Hello everyone, i am looking forward to sunrise and the three planets visibility. what are some of the aspects that we can see with this planetary 'right of orbit' and astrology?
ALSO, has anyone (other than me!) received any phony/con-type emails, regarding winnings of lotteries, jobs/positions representing someone overseas?
Ya' see guys, I AM the curious type, I just had to respond to them-I just had to see what's up-and---ya' know what?--they GOT THEIR S--T down to
a science! They GOT GAME---CON GAME!
Watch out, and if a phone number is supplied-try to call it, call the "O" in that country, get directory assistance to FIND it. have fun--I did!
hanna_banana
GOT GAME----
CON GAME.

xevenbem http://wmqxcvco.com bylqoakh wqkqubao szkznutb [URL=http://vdvbeqai.com]kbulheyn[/URL]

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