Ah, another weekend is upon us. No trips to Canada this weekend, so I think I’ll spend the day at a pay phone, calling up Republicans and saying “praise Allah, the party is on for Tuesday. Death to the infidels!” Now, if I can just find my Farsi-English/English-Farsi dictionary.
first? yeah! Happy Saturday!
Little typhoon is coming this way. May hit Sunday or Monday.
damn you!:mad:
Hi Sean. :banana:
I had just synced the time clock on the computer to be here at 5.
my anti-virus scans at five so i came right here to be first but nooooooo! anyway i go sleep enjoy the link from post #2 :yawn:
Thanks for the link. 😆
Sleep in well.
Good morning/ evening
Wasssup ?? :gate::omg::jason:
These minute men are great they dress up in their Red White and Blue and then bigot bigot bigot .. they are on c-span :barf:
Is an occupation by a buch of spupid idiots any better than an occupation by some starving Mexicans ?? Stupid idiots being the 30% or is that 29% maybe 28%:gate::omg:
Oh, I get it now, Kong. Genius! That’s a good one, man. Cleverly insinuate hell with well, for a sleepy-time farewell. Maybe I’m just crazy. I dunno.
It looks like Richardson and Schwarzenegger are not going to let the feds federalize their guard troops to protect the border.. The people employing those guard troops must be really happy. Arizona on the other hand is going along with the idea.. there guard troops must not have anything better to do.
Why do all these Republicans remind me of people I saw in newsreels from Germany in the late 1930’s .. strange..
:yawn:Well, this crazy bloggster’s hittin’ it.
Nighty night Travis
Some one mentioned yesterday that there were more counter demonstrators than Minutemen.. Indeed that would appear so.
Only the new guys are in color and not black and white (like their thinking.
Fred re #9 and #10, I so agree, but I worry for my husband, who is a wee bit too republican still after all these years, although he NOW and his family votes Dem NOW but even still they say such fascist statements. :nod::-(
These guys haven’t gotten to the point where they wear the party armband on the party shirt either. They do wear the party hat and in some cases the whole flag..
The Republican way where when the only tool you have at your disposal is a hammer every problem looks like a nail.. I guess the same thing happened with the Irish and the Italians a hundred years ago.. To bad the indians didn’t have assault rifles and explosive belts the situation in the border states might be quite different today.
The good thing about these guys is that it divides the Republicans between the ignorant bigot rethug citizen and the greedy rethug corporatist.
With family in a boarder state (Michigan) they security is pretty petty, bossy, and annoying.
I was in Montana a couple of years ago and all the border consisted of was some pylons but no fence. Some ranchers owned property in both the US and Canada and the county roads all crossed over the border just like they do between Kansas and Colorado. You could tell where the border was because the road maintenance was much better on the Canadian side.
All though the speech there was this good looking reddish blond babe standing behind the speaker who appeared to be talking to herself.. She was wearing a badge so she must have been the US park service security person probably talking to the couple of Blackhawks with Vulcan cannon circling just out of view.
andwhat about Point Roberts in Washington? what a headache :doh:
Now there are more park police than either Minutemen or counter demonstrators.. the Hey Hey what you know ( insert phrase here) has got to go chant has certainly come a long way since the 1960’s.
The border is kind of like the Interstate system and truck check and weigh stations.. If you use the main roads you have have to stop and be checked, if you don’t you may go though a bridge but its free sailing. That’s why its so difficult to police.. Three thousand miles of border with guard towers every half mile isn’t going to work.
so is money well spent on the border?
Most border security is all for show.. So as long as they don’t spend a lot it probably makes people feel better..The locals mostly know its a joke.. The South West is even worse because the border is quite literally mostly in the middle of no where with no roads, The infrastructure improvements needed to enforce immigration across the border would be really expensive to build and even more expensive to maintain.
Now that WJ has come one the border security issue is the topic and the ignorance of the callers from all three sides of the fence shows though. A political solution by threatening Fox to get his act together is probably the only solution and no one has said a thing about that yet.
since the border is a sieve, we (?) need to look elsewhere for terror
Until the buses in El paso start being blown up by suicide bombers on a regular basis I wouldn’t even worry about terror across the boarder. if you can’t ship it in in a container its not going to be brought across the boarder by an immigrant.
you are right, a car or person is not bringing in something that’s not alreaedy here. Containers are the key.
Many say close the Mexican border…I say close ALL borders FIRST!!!! then.
ARREST!
IMPEACH! (format by KevinM)
VIGILANCE!
Lets do some math.. The US Mexico border is about 1800 miles long so with a guard tower every half mile that’s 3600 guard towers … Two men to a tower that’s 7200 men per shift or 21,600 troops for three shift operation. Now typically a combat unit is about 20% active combat personnel so we would need about 100,000 guard troops for police and support. Throw in another 10,000 or so for roving patrols and flying helicopters.. Then you have to maintain the roads and communications systems. Add in vehicles and aircraft and you have more people and equipment involved in patrolling the boarder than there are in the army. Iraq is costing 2 billion a day so patrolling the border would cost about the same if not more.. What was the cost of these immigrants again.
please GW,get blowjob so we can impeach :fustrate:
Lets see there are about 12 million illegals who are such a burden because they use resources. Now we have 45 million American people living in poverty and 55 million uninsured. One question to ask is the 12 million part of that 45 million ?? If not then the illegals are just the tip of the iceberg.
Fred, you put it succinctly — and I will be using it to assist me in debate/battle tomorrow — but No Worries they will only know you as a blogger name Fred:wink:
:fist:
ARREST!
IMPEACH! (format by KevinM)
VIGILANCE!
take care of the poor?! why should ‘Christian Republicanx’ care about them? :fustrate:
:rofl2:King Kong re #32 :rofl2::rofl2:
Druid, war,lying, and heartless haven’t worked.
Please bush maybe a good BJ might “Set You Free”
JERK :jerk:
:fist:
:fu:bush
ARREST!
IMPEACH! (format by KevinM)
VIGILANCE!
According to Wickipedia there are 325,000 troops in the entire US national guard about 50,000 of which are in IRAQ.
National guard enlistments are down like 20% over the last three years.
Do we have to declare a war on Mexico before the government can federalize every states national guard to police the border ??
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Guard
“Set you free” :rofl2:
So just the Mexico border would cost about 600 billion a year to police add in Canada which has about twice the length of border thats another 1.2 trillion so policing the border will cost more than the current federal budget.. Could this account for the fact we are not doing anything about this ?? I’m sure the rethug tax payers wll love to pay for this.
All these actions of bush are CRAZY and as I read “Bush on the Couch” it confirms this:!:
If I had the power…
I feel …”Gore, you are our only hope.” Fiengold or stein (sp) as VP.
— Hillary, u blew it (no pun — kinda — intended):rofl2:
:evil:bush & :evil:horde administration
ARREST!
IMPEACH! (format by KevinM)
VIGILANCE!
good pun, though.
i guess he’s (Marc) not gotten my candy package, yet.
King Kong, dare I Ask what package? Or is he just in need to stuff his suit again.
the candy had some WEIRD names and desigbes.
Totally Taiwan,
OHHHHHHHHHHHHH, it must be late and the only package I think of is also what Randi talks of about how the liar even lied about what is in his pants.
(sorry Fred:wink:)
…and on that note I go to close down home for the night (for me)
:evil:minion bush
ARREST!
IMPEACH! (format by KevinM)
VIGILANCE!
It’s time on Sat.night to go out. 881
881 = bye bye in Chinese
King Kong 😉 😎 Have a great time:!:
Ooooh. Marc let’s the f-bomb loose – at least on the podcast.
The other brilliant idea was to use technology to solve this problem ( if it is really a problem). Use UAV’s and lasers, and land mines and people detectors. The problem is what do you do when you detect someone or a lot of someones crossing the border. You still have to have boots on the ground at some point in this scenario. Land mines typically have blown off lots of kids feet in Afghanistan, If you blow up some Texas ranchers prize bull you will never hear the end of it..
A AC130 gun ship attack would probably sooner or later kill off some minutemen or blow up a lost school bus..
I remember something like $5000 an hour to fly a Black hawk helicopter.. and $8000/hr to fly a C130 and even more to fly a UAV because you need satellite up links and ground control centers..
pjsauter, I heard it too, but I thought I heard it wrong until I checked in here and saw many had heard it……:cool:
Yep, it came across on the KTLK stream as well.
I don’t believe that the stream has the five second delay in it and the profanity issue only is valid for content that is broadcast so anything can go over the Internets ( for the moment at least)
I have noticed a delay on the stream, more than 5 seconds. When Quiet Girl blogs the show she is listening on the radio and will blog about topics and guests before I hear them.
Well, they tape it, so they don’t use the delay – they bleep it (if there’s a delay, they have to use the dump button, and then you just get a silent gap).
isi, when you stream the show, you computer buffers a chunk of it – like 30 seconds or more, depending on your settings, so that’s why there’s a long delay.
Streaming is not synchronized so two computers using the same DSL modem connection could be five seconds or more apart. It depends on all the routes the packets take from the provider to you.
Oops, neurons were misfiring! Forgot for a moment the show was taped.
Good morning all – 😀 interesting discussion this morning on the length and vulnerability of the US/Mexican border. Really does seem like the prospect of a “solid wall of protection” is an unlikely dream to say the least…
It was pretty amazing how many people listening to WJ thought the minute man had the right idea. I’m sure they sold the war on drugs in the same way and we all know that it has been a great success.. at enriching private prison operators and the CIA clandestine operations budget.
fred I fly the American Flag (draped with a black sash flying) but now I want to also fly the Mexican Flag, the more they (we Americans?) want to take the borders — AND EVEN BLOCK THE WATER HOLES.
If they murder…..?
:fu::evil:minion bush and 👿 horde of bush
ARREST!
IMPEACH! (format by KevinM)
VIGILANCE!
Corey Deitz:
isi re #60 :rofl2: and it even was taped :rofl2:
(I listen on KTLK, too, last night)
and G’Day to Isi and Susan Joy (although I am closing down home and collecting animals…:yawn:)
and to ALL a G’Day
that’s an interesting article – I was a little vague on FCC regulations and what constitutes and indecency. Though the “Community standards” thing is kind of vague – the idea of taking these on a “case by case basis” sounds like it leaves room for bias on how this is enforced…
Lets do some more math .. 7% interest on 7 trillion dollars is 450 billion dollars so with 160 million working Americans that adds up to $ 2800 per year per tax payer add in a federal budget of 2 trillion or 12,500 per year per tax payer each tax payer will have to pay on the average 15,300 dollars in federal taxes just to pay for the existing budget and the interest on Bushes debt. If you want border protection I’m sure we can add that in too.
fred, and great succinct info and when I said “Sorry Fred” it was my weak attempt at humour since I mentioned the “R” word (Randi) :rofl2:
In Tokyo, the New Trend Is ‘Media Immersion Pods’
Randi is usually quite informative but since the middle of last year you get ten minutes of new info and three hours and fifty minutes of rant and repetition.
Once again I seem to be fading away just when “The Gangs All Here” :(:yawn:
But feeding rats for now…
With the trend to a smokeless workplace and a smokeless play place too the Tokyo cafe sounds like it wouldn’t quite fit in if the low oxygen atmosphere has anything to do with the mood.
Maureen Dowd today:
I think rant and repetition serve a useful purpose.
I think the thugs policies are not so much against terrorism but to protect themselves and their corporatist pals from a lynch mob that comes from within. When government gets in trouble with its constituents it get quite paranoid about overthrow from either a coup or a revolution so they make it look like they are all knowing to keep the populace at bay.
The thugs have mastered the Gerbils idea of if you repeat a lie enough times it becomes the truth. I am not convinced that repeating the truth 200,000 times makes it any more or less truthful. By this time I would imagine that 90% of Randi’s audience is “the choir”. We have been there and done that .. need some ideas not just more and more information as to what is wrong. We have more than enough to fix and few ideas as to how to get from here to there.
George Bush goes to a primary school to talk to the kids to get a little
PR. After his talk he offers question time. One little boy puts up his hand
and George asks him his name.
“Stanley,” responds the little boy.
“And what is your question, Stanley?”
“I have 3 questions. First, why did the USA invade Iraq without the support
of the UN? Second, why are you President when Al Gore got more votes? And
third, whatever happened to Osama Bin Laden?”
Just then, the bell rings for recess. George Bush informs the kiddies that
they will continue after recess.
When they resume George says, “OK, where were we? Oh, that’s right question
time. Who has a question?” Another little boy puts up his hand. George
points him out and asks him his name.
“Steve! ,” he responds.
“And what is your question, Steve?”
“Actually , I have 5 questions. First, why did the USA invade Iraq without
the support of the UN? Second, why are you President when Al Gore got more
votes? Third, whatever happened to Osama Bin Laden? Fourth, why did the
recess bell go off 20 minutes early? And fifth, what the hell happened to
Stanley?”
LOL! I’m passing that one around :rofl2:
Poor Stanley.. I hope the press is keeping track of their people so if any begin disappearing one can tell in time to do something about it. When a major anti bush newspaper suddenly has a bunch of layoffs one has to wonder where the displaced journalists went .
So, I wonder if the imigration plan that Bush is pushing will have the effect of providing him a bunch of new recruitments for his wars. :paranoid:
Great article isi! I will be in Tokyo for graduate classes tomorrow…maybe I’ll track the place down after class! 🙂
Even though there’s a trend towards smoke-free work places, you can still be accosted by smoke in nearly all coffee shops and bars and half the restaurants. There are even signs on the sidewalks in Tokyo telling people to not smoke while walking becuse it’s rude, but nobody listens.
Ok, that’s my 2 cents worth for tonight…talk with you all later!
:gate:
fred, I wait “…with bated breath” any directions or ideas?
I write, I write, and I write — that’s why I say not much on this blog. I protest but nothing like down south protests we use to do in the 80’s (or even 70’s) (even as a baby (but not now) and pre-teen in the 60’s)
I do not go to certain (most) stores — especially like Wal-mart and Winco — Staples and others I always ask and also let them know that as a customer I demand recycled things — up and down CA since we have family (he) in LA and I will tell MANY :)))) since I lived and went to school there also…and soooooo much more. I have had since the 2000ce elections “IMPEACH BUSH, SAVE AMERICA” — and am adding in 2006ce another IMPEACH Bush sign which will make 3. I also work on local issues PLUS HAVING TO WORK 😮 And…more
I think it is time to take back my/our
America:!: GRRRRRRR:growl:
(any errors Oh Well…to tired to look up)
Any more :idea:?
ARREST!
IMPEACH! (format by KevinM)
VIGILANCE!
Wankers late to the party: Joe Scarborough, Maureen Dowd [who still lies about Clinton and Gore], Lou Dobbs, the list goes on and on. Where were these bastards when it was obvious in 2000 that an incompetent drunk was being maneuvered into the most powerful position on earth? Now that he’s in free-fall in the polls, and its safe to be oh so brave, pardon me if I’m underwhelmed.
Oh, and speaking of wankers, check out the Q&A in Sunday’s Times with Tim Russert, who is pathological about not answering questions about his mother. What was she, an axe murderess or something? Truly bizarre.
Happy Mothers Day, Tim.
I am gone :yawn:
Rats are happy, so are ex-strays, strays are fed and happy (one I even got to stay in for now) :billcat:, teenage monster-pup asleep, and now me :yawn: (hubby :love: is down south again and probably awake as I go to sleep :wink:):yawn:
…and to ALL a happy play day 😎
cresttwo, I don’t like the fact that Maureen Dowd dumped on Gore and Kerry. But, if she says something I agree with, I am pleased. But, she has consistently gone after the Bushes. She spreads it around. I don’t have any illusions that she won’t go after the democratic nominee again. Same with Frank Rich. But, at least more often than not they are critical of the Bush administration.
PJ => that’s a GREAT idea!! FUN – you gave me a belly laugh this a.m.
Happy Saturday!
so I want the rapture to come and take all these damn wing-nuts out of here. I may even start praying for it.
Maybe if enough Americans wrote to Putin.. well that would be similar.. to bad that technique doesn’t discriminate very well.
A man was driving down a country road one dark night when there was suddenly the ringing of bells, then this blinding light followed shortly by the sound of trumpets then everything went black.. Later the man woke up in the hospital and was convinced he had been raptured but was extremely worried because god didn’t keep him. The hospital staff wondered if they should tell him he drove out in front of a train.
“ruptured”?:rofl2:
Maybe we could try what happened on that episode of Six Feet Under – drive around with a truckload of inflated sex dolls, and let them scatter to the wind. Then maybe they’ll think the rapture is upon us, and jump out into traffic.
“ruptured” I really have no idea of what you could be talking about..hehehe Being raptured in that manner the term splattered might be more appropriate.
:rofl2:
I’m goin’ to Alberta St :knit:
PJ do you have any voice recognition software to tell if Mishna is Svetlana?:joe:
I’m pretty sure that Svetlana is Mishna:nod:
hey everyone…checking in from Baltimore…where, man, this convention is huge, and so not anything that Im even vaguely interested in…but if one could harness the power of warhammer geeks towards politics, we would have made a huge step towards taking back this country! A few of ’em saw my liar button and gave me the thumbs up…but these people tend to be upper middle class disenfranchised punks who are rebelling in some way, and direct all of their energy to this hobby. Alot of soldiers do this too. The parents sitting round the parents room are sort fo stogdy and old-ish and reading novels…..and, as always, Im aghast at how unhealthy and huge people are when y ou see so many in one place. I guess this isnt a very athletic passtime, but it seems like people are really uncomfortable and strggling to move around and breathe…and eating the $5 hotdogs that are the only thing offered…there is a McDonalds across the street and then you have to walk further to get fruit or anything green. I opted for a NY pretzle and then am hoping that I can find something real…or an apple from home. I feel sick if I eat all that fried and fatty food.
Its a tremendous fantasy world and the people seems to be very interested in piercings, greasy hair, costumes that are sorta like Lord of the Rings, and, at the same time, buying these models that cost ALOT!!
So, Will is in a bad mood and Im afraid that hes not being as nice as he could to Ben….Ben is just the most easygoing person and lets things roll off his back, but I dont think its right to be snippy….
I hope Will perks up.
Hes got a model in competition for painting and there is alot of art stuff going on…so, we’ll see how it goes. Will is here for the art part and Ben is more into the competition and playing of the game….
Im gonna drag myself over to the aquaraium now just to have gotten out when the sun is shining!
Sbluefox- Im pretty sure that Mishna is Svetlana….not really my favorite character on the show, but shes growing on me.
I cant wait to hear last nite’s show…listened to quite a bit from the week in the car last night…
For anyone who didnt see it from my middle of the night post last night, Dowd is up on RIPCoco.
Why is it that this new phone spying thing is polling Ok with most American people?…Chris Matthews was on something like the Today show yesterday saying that the polls will even out like everything else to be half anf half.
How can anybody think this is OK?
What country do we live in?
I am mortified!
How the WP poll on phone taps was rigged
http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/05/12/bush-league
Mark dropped the “Fuck” Bomb at around 11PM pst, so apparently he’s safe. I have been on the local public radio in the early morning a time or two; word bombs get tossed frequently. It is before a certain time, I guess. (I thought it was 11PM, but an earlier post stated 6AM to 10 PM.)
KTLK and KLSD and the Phoenix station KPHX all have live weekend programming while KKZN in Denver has vitamin info-commercials on all day both days.. I feel slighted..but then there is always the Internets.. The Phoenix station has some rather strange Saturday programming.
:rofl2: i’ve already laughing uncontrollably over Jim’s german national anthem… and now this image….. :rofl2:
Markets around the world plummeted Friday as the U.S. dollar went into freefall.
The American currency’s near collapse followed several weeks of declines, which has seen the dollar lose 7% of its value against the euro, yen, and the pound,in the last month alone. The dollar index (weighted against a number of currencies) has fallen to its lowest level since October 1997. The relentless selling has failed to cause even the shallowest of corrections. Friday’s announcement by the Trade Department of a 5.6% fall in the trade deficit for April, coming in at $62 billion against analysts expectations of $67 billion, failed to arrest the slide.
The dollar rout has unnerved global stock markets with major falls being recorded in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. London’s FTSE 100 fell 129.90 or 2.15% to 5,912.10. The Paris-based CAC 40 at 5,150.45 was down 112.49 or 2.14%. The German DAX fell 138.44 or 2.29% to 5,916.28. The Amsterdam Exchanges index was off 11.79 or 2.53% at 455.09. In Sweden the OMX Stockholm 30 index fell 29.71 or 2.85% to 1,013.69. The Swiss SMI shed 143.17 or 1.77% to 7,954.10.
In Asia Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended the day down 260.36 points or 1.54% at 16,601.78. The Hong Kong Hang Seng fell 238.93 or 1.39% at 16,901.85.
Middle East markets, where the week ends on Thursdays, suffered one of their worst weeks ever. Most Mideast currencies are pegged to the dollar which means the value of stock investments held by foreigners has been plummeting in line with the U.S. currency. The Dubai stock market shed 14.35% for the week, while the Abu Dhabi market gave up 10.49%. Market analysts fear the stock meltdown may feed into the propery sector which is overblown, particularly in Dubai. Emaar, the emirate’s largest property developer lost 22.8%, more than a fifth of its value, over the week.
more…
http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=9b6a1c22154c3bcf
Peter Sellers double bill – Saturday, May 13
I Love You, Alice B. Toklas (1968): 3:45 & 7:30 – very good 35mm print
plus
The Party (1968): 5:35 & 9:20 – EXCELLENT 35mm print!!!
New Beverly Cinema
7165 Beverly Blvd.
L.A., CA (1 block w. of La Brea)
$7 general
$6 students
$4 seniors and kids
The investors and traders were sending a message to Bush on Friday: Spy on us and we’ll crash your economy. Back off!
The lack of coverage of the dollars problems by the M$M is rather disturbing.. I think the congress knows more than they are admitting to . The tax cuts last week were to pump more dollars into the pockets of the rich while they leave the rest of us to swim for it.
I think Svetlana may be Iris Bahr. I think she’s brilliant, whoever she is.
http://www.irisbahr.com
Yeah Fred, the hippies have taken over AAR Phoenix! :jesus: I LOVE it! :fist: I didn’t like Dr. Mike Newcomb at first because he’s sooooo sappy with the ultra patriotism. But he’s so unabashed about it and so over the top with it, he’s grown on me and now I think its funny because righties get so mad about it. He’s the station manager now and I like the new AAR Phoenix better than the old. I can see it becoming a little like KBOO in Portland. They have been plugging local showings and get togethers of political films and protests and are generally locally oriented when the main Air America programming isn’t on. Jeff Farias, produce,r has a great show on the weekend and is also a musician and very active round here.
hey everyone…so I should be rooting for Wall Street to put some pressure on Bush re spying? Interesting twist to things 😕
I was doing the Internet version of channel surfing and came in the middle of some religious program on the Phoenix station.. Then the saturday talk guy came on and got yelled at for the religious program..It was most confusing.. I knew the old AAR station got purchased by some fundies but didn’t quite expect to hear what I did.
The dollar’s problem s may put the Walton’s down the crapper.. Prices of imports may skyrocket and there isn’t much we still make here.. Hopefully the price of food won’t go up radically.
The Student Loan Swindle:
http://www.counterpunch.org/nader05132006.html
Democrat wingnut in Alabama
Today’s Democratic party in Alabama – “white supremicists represent!” That’s scary irregardless if he has a real chance to get into office, man oh man.
The Dem party machine in Colorado has come up with a few like that guy in Alabama.. They don’t want to spend party money so only the rich run for office and rich people seem to be the same nut cases all over the world.. unfortunately for the rest of us.
I was kind of alarmed at how many of our financial service companies are owned by non American entities. Dubi being one.. If things get really bad it will be most difficult for the typical American to do anything about there debt collection practices. I would hope the new dem congress would shut off their water but after the bankruptcy bill.. :jason::gate::omg:
:banana:happy ending in a massage parlor!:jerk:
:fire:im going home later sheeple!
I think somebody noted this but WFMU has another post on AARadio up.
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2006/05/air_america_vs__1.html
Interesting fact: WFMU was the first outlet for Air America. Tom Sharpling who writes for the TV show “Monk” and has his own radio show, provided a time slot for Sam Seder’s pilot airing of Majority Report in February 2003.
http://www.garagecomedy.com/show/events/wolf.jpg
mystery pic.
WikiThePresidency
Could someone tell me what the deal is with the ponies over on Atrios’ blog? Maybe it’s a generational thing. I’m clueless. 😉
Ponies.
I think it came from covering the White House press gaggle. Some of the posters at Atrios, especially the one called Holden, wanted a journalist to ask a pointed question. If that heppened it would be like getting a “brand new pony”. Thus, the pony figurines popping up when they strike gold, so to speak.
Of course, I could have this misinterpreted because it is a bit of an inside joke.
Thanks, Webhubble, sounds plausible to me.
:banana::banana::banana:
Karl Rove Indicted on Charges of Perjury, Lying to Investigators
By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t | Report
Saturday 13 May 2006
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald spent more than half a day Friday at the offices of Patton Boggs, the law firm representing Karl Rove.
During the course of that meeting, Fitzgerald served attorneys for former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove with an indictment charging the embattled White House official with perjury and lying to investigators related to his role in the CIA leak case, and instructed one of the attorneys to tell Rove that he has 24 hours to get his affairs in order, high level sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said Saturday morning.
Robert Luskin, Rove’s attorney, did not return a call for comment. Sources said Fitzgerald was in Washington, DC, Friday and met with Luskin for about 15 hours to go over the charges against Rove, which include perjury and lying to investigators about how and when Rove discovered that Valerie Plame Wilson was a covert CIA operative and whether he shared that information with reporters, sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said.
It was still unknown Saturday whether Fitzgerald charged Rove with a more serious obstruction of justice charge. Sources close to the case said Friday that it appeared very likely that an obstruction charge against Rove would be included with charges of perjury and lying to investigators.
An announcement by Fitzgerald is expected to come this week, sources close to the case said. However, the day and time is unknown. Randall Samborn, a spokesman for the special prosecutor was unavailable for comment. In the past, Samborn said he could not comment on the case.
The grand jury hearing evidence in the Plame Wilson case met Friday on other matters while Fitzgerald spent the entire day at Luskin’s office. The meeting was a closely guarded secret and seems to have taken place without the knowledge of the media.
more
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051306W.shtml
——————
I would have hoped for treason charges .. darn it anyhow.
Holy Crap! :santacool:
from webhubble’s link above:
:priest:
re: Franken – didn’t he plunk down a ton of $$$ when the initial investor turned out to be a fraud? that should count for something in my book.
Jason Leopold/Truthout, what a scoop!
And, Fred, thanks!
Milestone:
My teenager just left for his Junior Prom – tux and all. 😥 my “baby” is growing up.:cool: (mixed emotions here).
Let’s just hope that the NSA scandals (I hope Tice doesn’t get offed over the weekend) and the Dukestir stuff are the gifts that keep on giving. I’d hate to see these assholes be able to cut Porky Rove and get some kind of a rebound out of it. You know their minions in the media will be pushing that story for all they can get out of it (and spinning it as “criminalizing politics,” and “energizing” the Konservative base).
Still, it seems like the only thing that could screw this up is nominating Hillary.
D-8 throws weight behind Iranian pursuit of nuclear energy
——————————————————————————–
Big News Network.com Saturday 13th May, 2006
A one-day summit of eight majority Muslim nations has ended with a statement of support for the development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
The statement was warmly welcomed by one of the Muslim leaders at the summit, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
President Ahmadinejad, seemingly emboldened by the Bali declaration, thanked fellow D-8 member nations for their support.
I would like to take this chance to thank member states of the D-8 for committing themselves to defend the peaceful use and the development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, which has been enshrined in the Bali declaration,’ he said.
The Bali declaration agreed members should cooperate to develop alternative energy sources, including the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
more
Malaysia, Pakistan, Turkey, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Egypt. a very very troubled group…Known for some very very poor populations
—————–
Our susposed pals in the area are taking sides and its not our side.
Fitzmas! :santacool:
I hate what might be in store for Air America with this Randy Michaels in the mix. Even though I don’t listen to Franken, lots of other people do, and I want Randi to stay where she is along with Janeane and Sam and Malloy. It’s an eclectic group of folks and I want to continue to hear progressive women on the radio.
Hey that’s great, FK. So, did he give Ms. LaFave a nice corseige?
I like Sam, and if Janeane keeps the shrieking down, she’s not bad. Dump Springer, for sure. I can live w/o Al, but Marc needs to be on the network, not just KTLK. And please, don’t add the Young Turds.
I don’t think I would jump to many conclusions about AAR in NYC until they say something.. This is too much like gossip. Wait until something appears in a radio publication.
the dukstir isn’t spilling the beans yet, is he? I thought I’d read that he kinda likes prison life so he wasn’t ratting on his fellow cronies.
Wow, Jason Leopold is way ahead on the Rove Story!
No one else is reporting it.
If he’s right, what a scoop! :banana:
LOL, pj!
Yep, 5 tiny white roses to be worn on the wrist or pinned to the dress depending on the style of the gown. We sprung for a Limo with a group of other parents as the Prom is 50 miles north and the last thing we need is kids on the highway.
Sounds like fun. I never went to one of things, myself.
Scary stuff 😯
Is the high school having their PROM at some nice place or in the school gym ?? Ours was in the gym and while it was nice .. you can only do so much with mercury vapor lamps.
So now if the presidork tells a company that it can break the law that’s perfectly ok too ?? When is someone going to stop this c*.
Hey that’s great, FK. So, did he give Ms. LaFave a nice corseige?
Comment by pjsauter — May 13, 2006 @ 5:17 pm
What’s good for cleaning Dr Pepper and spittle off monitors?
:rofl2::rofl2::rofl2:
You sure it’s spittle, Kevin?
the prom is at a nice Hotel. I was surprised actually. They usually hold it in the gym. Heck, here, the last principal didn’t even allow dances, except the Prom – southern evangelical baptist.
interveners are bootstrapping the argument
By the way, speaking of phone companies…
a certain one of them is distributing a revised Code of Conduct to its employees this month. I may or may not have read it yesterday. The timing smells a little funny, but I think it’s just coincidental.
The sharing of personal phone records is a violation of the code. However, another section of the code requires the company to comply with all governmental investigations.
Apparently we have a conflict here. I’m pondering whether or not to pursue this issue next week, mostly because I doubt I would get a straight answer out of anyone in the first place.
:fu:
You sure it’s spittle, Kevin?
Comment by pjsauter — May 13, 2006 @ 6:08 pm
Spittle, drool, whatever. I know you’re not going somewhere else with this.
:jerk:
The presidork can classify his lunch menu top secret.. It should just be whether AT&T allowed phone monitoring without a court order. It should not make any difference what or who ordered the wire tapping they broke the law if they allowed it without a court order.
Ouch.
I don’t know Kevin what were you watching on the monitor when you got spittle on it ??..The picture is not really 3D you know.
well that would be a nightmare….. how’d you live with that….
Wow, look at all this stuff…Rove indicted…(yes, it’s not quite what I hoped for either, though I knew Fitz would come through with SOMEthing…) A plea for Marc having a regular slot…my choice, if some show had to go is get rid of Springer. But I think he’s popular??? I don’t know. I like Sam Seder but I’d rather save Al Frankin than the Majority Report (if a choice had to be made). Though I know Al is going to leave the show to run for office anyway, isn’t he?
According to bloggers at DU
Op-ed News and TPM now has the story!!!!!!!!!
about Karl going DOWN.. Did the M$M ever have anything about him telling the White house he was going to be indicted ??
I believe that’s why Franken moved back to where ever so he would be resident to run for the senate in 2008. I doubt that with all the lunches put on by the lobbyists and his ‘friends” he would have time to bring us three hours of radio a day too.
:bong:
You have to be careful bringing :bong: onto the blog Krista. everyone else ran for it.
Well then we get it all to ourselves! :alc:
:fu::spank::banana::jason::jerk::bow:
:nixon:
hey! I could smell it all the way over here 😆
Did the M$M ever have anything about him telling the White house he was going to be indicted ??
Comment by fred — May 13, 2006 @ 6:34 pm
I just watched the CBS Evening News while enjoying dinner, and they didn’t mention it.
They DID, however, while covering the NSA story mention that CIA-director nominee Michael Hayden had apparently advised the Bushies against mass surveillance of private citizens’ domestic calls. He feared it would prove to be illegal. I thought that was interesting.
But enough about Karl Rove and the NSA. I know what you people REALLY want…
CRUELLA WATCH!:omg:
From Saturday’s St Petesrburg Times.
http://tinyurl.com/jvgvp
I would think that the national Repigs would get a better return for their investment by throwing most of their money into races they are actually competitive in, as opposed to this one. Harris will get some funding from the party, but she’ll probably have to get most of it on her own.
Dole’s spin is the Repigs handing Harris a Band-Aid after they all took turns throwing her under the bus.
Enjoy your Saturday night, everyone. I need to run to the store for some :40:
Read that WFMU article. :fu: Traitor!
From what I gathered, that Ed Schultz backer took over the WLIB conteract. The result will be to thrust that fat redneck on in the 3-6 timeslot. Randi! What is the possibility of AAR getting a new station?
Hostile takeover! That’s America, baby! Get used to it!
Go KPHX!
:omg:Bye, lurker!
Andy Borowitz — Bush Demands That Iran Halt Production of Long Letters
At the White House, aides said that writing a letter of such length to President Bush, who is known for his extreme distaste for reading, was the most provocative act Mr. Ahmadinejad could have possibly committed.
You know this doesn’t have to be a joke…this could be true…and I can picture pundits on TV saying things like “it shows a great deal of disrespect to the president, this is obviously a plot by the intellectual liberal elite plants in Iran to try to belittle Mr. Bush”
Crooks and Liars Video :banana:
You are posting in a dated spot, AMV.:fire:
Garafolo and Seder didn’t evolve into good radio people?:omg:
:fu: You snarky traitor!
I like Sam… 😮
One may not like JG, but she does excellent radio.
I’ll listen to it when it’s on :tongue:
“Philosophical Differences”
Does Property Destruction = Eco-terrorism?
by Mickey Z; May 11, 2006
When the FBI arrested several members (sic) of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) in early 2006, it came as no surprise that much of the corporate media rejoiced. A fine example is an editorial that appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer at the time. The ELF’s alleged actions, the editors pronounced, challenged “society’s ability to conduct itself peacefully” and demonstrated “arrogant, vicious thinking.” Most notable is this declaration: “There’s no philosophical difference between approving the torching of a large new home on Camano Island or the targeting of the tallest towers in Manhattan.”
For the sake of argument, let’s assume the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is correct in all of the above statements. What then, is the “philosophical difference” between the targeting of the tallest towers in Manhattan and the dropping of white phosphorous on babies in Iraq and why isn’t the corporate media setting aside space to ponder that question? Much is made of FBI claims that the ELF and ALF (Animal Liberation Front) represent the greatest domestic threat today but in the land that never apologizes, anything goes in the name of waging war on a tactic (terror).
Bringing it closer to home, one can only wonder if the Seattle Post-Intelligencer perceives factory farming as a challenge to “society’s ability to conduct itself peacefully”? Do the editors believe the morally bankrupt and scientifically fraudulent institution of animal experimentation demonstrates “arrogant, vicious thinking” or is such a label reserved only for official enemies?
Some will support ELF methods while others will strongly denounce them. In order to make such a determination, however, we need facts not hyperbole and fortunately, not all corporate media outlets issued a blanket condemnation of the ELF. Dean Schabner of ABCNews.com explained that the “majority of the postings on the ELF Web site have maintained a commitment to avoiding injury to people, even those responsible for the projects they oppose.” Schabner added: “They believe that the damage being done to the Earth by pollution, logging, mining and development must be stopped or the planet is doomed. They hope that by destroying property they can inflict enough financial damage on companies and individuals to make them stop their environmentally harmful practices.”
Whether we agree or disagree with the ELF mission and/or tactics, at least ABCNews.com offered a more rounded description of the leaderless group. In an informed society, this is precisely how citizens can form educated opinions.
Mickey Z. is the author of several books, most recently “50 American Revolutions You’re Not Supposed to Know” (Disinformation Books). He can be found on the Web at http://www.mickeyz.net.
Some will support ELF methods while others will strongly denounce them. In order to make such a determination, however, we need facts not hyperbole and fortunately, not all corporate media outlets issued a blanket condemnation of the ELF. Dean Schabner of ABCNews.com explained that the “majority of the postings on the ELF Web site have maintained a commitment to avoiding injury to people, even those responsible for the projects they oppose.” Schabner added: “They believe that the damage being done to the Earth by pollution, logging, mining and development must be stopped or the planet is doomed. They hope that by destroying property they can inflict enough financial damage on companies and individuals to make them stop their environmentally harmful practices.”
Also, they make it seem as though this group is just doing these things for the hell of it, for no rhyme or reason. You never hear about the damage that polluters do, or all of the other things that may justify extreme action. The whole story is presented in a very one-sided manner. Although the media WILL present both sides of the story, say, with terrorism…well you know, look at pollution as a form of ecoterrorism, because that’s what it is.
:billcat:Hey, s’up, sheeple? You know what I’m sayin’?
Quiet Girl just put this up at
Maron Fans for those who are interested:
Indeed!! It’s a Maron double header over at the Maron Fans page!
I just uploaded Thursday’s and Friday’s show. go and have a listen of the funny! for anyone who is going to see Marc in Las Vegas, can you please take pictures?
also, if anyone has photos of meeting Marc (even during the Sedition days) i’d much appreciate a copy to put up on the page.
please send me a message or leave a comment is you would like to have your photos on the page. thanks everyone!!
enjoy Sheeple!!
-Jenn from Maron Fans
S’up Travis, I’m hearin’ ya :jesus:
Hey, that’s cool. I’m kinda empty in the photo department of Marc, though.
I have to get a refill:40: Um, yeah…just a sec.
Hey, man, I said it would only take a second!:mad:
Oh, you’re:oops: back. Oops
Nothing but a bunch of anti-American communists here.:omg:
Yeah, your the leader in the top poster’s list, too. So, they’re comin’ for ya first. HA ha!:tongue:
don’t fret, I’m still here… :40: with my corrupting commie tree-hugging pagan hippiedippie ways
“we must hang together or we shall assuredly hang separately…”
I’m listening to Led Zeppelin…is anything good streaming?
It’s OriyGawn, Kitzhaber.:omg:
I don’t know. A while back Krista gave me a link to some college station. Let me find it.
Yeah, sure, whatever that means.
OK, found it http://kanm.tamu.edu/home.php
joinam! Sounds like a socialist stooge to me.
http://www.joinam.org
The college station of College Station, how cute 🙂
KANM – 99.9 FM Cable
Student Services Bldg
1236 TAMU
College Station, TX 77843-1236
.
:fist: Yay progressive Oregon websites
Oh, I get it now. Texas A$M! I didn’t know. Sorry:doh: I was just spreadin’ the word from Krista
:no: never never do it again. Um, ok, what did you do now???
you know, I have an idea, I’d like to do a cartoon strip with emoticons
I might have to invent some new ones in the process, of course… but that could be fun :nod::omg:
Joe Trippi! :fustrate:
ok, there’s the stream. FINally
So this guy was Howard Dean’s campaign manager?
Yes! I despised Dean during the early days of the campaign. I wanted Kucinich. Anyway, I saw how the DNC went after Dean, abd with Kucinich’s demise, Dean looked more attractive. How did the Dems get stuck with KerryY
Good question, I never quite figured that one out… that didn’t work out too well, now did it 🙁
New Hampshire went big for Kerry. Who does the DNC want for ’08? Hillary?
:omg::fu:
It does seem to look that way…:omg:
sounds like a Malloy rerun on AA, Thom Hartmann is on radiopower
Shock and Awe-
the sun was settin’ on a golden photo op.
back in the days of mission accomplished:nod:
Neil Young trippin’. That’s where I’ve been
Malloy is going off.:omg:
that sounds fun :nod:
yeah, I have Thom Hartmann, he’s talking about Hillary and Rupert
Tyger Thom!:omg:
My favorite tune on the living with war album is Lookin’ for a leader.
Anybody see Obama on Conan yesterday?
Here’s Tyger Thom:
The Socialistic bourgeois want all the advantages of modern social conditions without the struggles and dangers necessarily resulting therefrom. They desire the existing state of society, minus its revolutionary and disintegrating elements. They wish for a bourgeoisie without a proletariat. The bourgeoisie naturally conceives the world in which it is supreme to be the best; and bourgeois Socialism develops this comfortable conception into various more or less complete systems. In requiring the proletariat to carry out such a system, and thereby to march straightway into the social New Jerusalem, it but requires in reality, that the proletariat should remain within the bounds of existing society, but should cast away all its hateful ideas concerning the bourgeoisie.
Oh, and the restless consumer is good, too:nod:
Is Neil Young championing Obama? (Looks that way to me.)
no, I didn’t see Obama…anything interesting there?
There wasn’t much of a consumer class when the above words were written, however…
Hmm. I dunno. He dropped Obama and Powell in that song Lookin’ for a leader. Also “a woman”, so that could mean Mrs. Clinton. Ambiguous, maybe.
yeah, that sounds like Thom. That, and the last ancient days of sunlight (which sounds like an L.Ron Hubbard book)
:tinfoil:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinfoil_Hat_Linux
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hushmail
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category: Cryptographic_software
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superencryption
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Steganography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deniable_encryption
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_switching
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibboleth
http://www.vanish.org/
Is Obama considering a run in ’08? Last I heard he had said no, but things change…
* Vote Democrat at the federal level
* Vote GREEN at the state and local levels
It was fun to watch the two on stage, though. The show was in Chicago. I wonder if Kristen saw it live. I think she goes by painting girl on the marc maron blog. Anyway:40:
:omg:Americanviewer!:peace:
“What do we do, Malloy?”
https://proxify.com/
I have not listened to the new Young album. Just heard references to Obama.
Actually, Tyger Thom’s book on peak oil is probably a good one. I probably agree with 85% of what Tyger Thom is about. Ancient Sunlight is a mystical, new agey name, though.
“A.N.V. for Vendetta…”
Obama is a freshman senator. I love hjs podcast. But IMHO 08 is too early for him .
Hey Travis! 🙂
It’s about peak oil? Wow, I had no idea. Yeah, the title is very off-putting.
Obama is lame!
Hey Hong Kong King Kong 🙂 And Americanowviewer
Kong, what’s goin’ on? Yeah, I went sorta crazy this morning.:rofl2:
Obama is a very good speaker and charismatic, but seems to be a DLC Dem..I say goodspeaker because he’s very charming but doesn’t seem to answer direct questions. I think he’s played it pretty safe in the senate so far, and Dems who “play it safe” don’t really appeal to me at this point
That was very well stated, SJ. I feel somehow conned when I hear him speak. DLC creation.
:V:
#
Obama is a very good speaker and charismatic, but seems to be a DLC Dem..I say goodspeaker because he’s very charming but doesn’t seem to answer direct questions. I think he’s played it pretty safe in the senate so far, and Dems who “play it safe” don’t really appeal to me at this point
Comment by Susan Joy — May 13, 2006 @ 11:48 pm
###
Obama is “the only one” and doesn’t want to blow it: once “critical mass” is achieved in the Senate, then you may someday hear the words “I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear…”
travis, I’m just holding tight and waiting for a typhoon to hit. Getting som laundy done and some noon time :40:
Just like sociopathic Bill Clinton.
hey Susan. Has your day been a good one?
Hey, man, you’d play it safe too if you were in his shoes. His captivating speech at the convention in ’04 left me amazed:eek: Way more riveting than Kerry’s stuff…”reporting for duty”:tongue:
laundry? :omg: Do I have to do that sometime soon??? Eeeek
Well I liked him the night of the convention too! He hadn’t shown much then, though.
actually you know who I liked at that Dem convention…Al Sharpton 🙂 It shocked the shit out of me, but he was good!
and all the news could say about Sharpton was that he went long. :doh:
…Dems who “play it safe” don’t really appeal to me at this point
Comment by Susan Joy — May 13, 2006 @ 11:48 pm
###
That’s why now is a ripe time for alternative parties to rise. Dissillusioned Republicans should at least vote Libertarian, and dissillusioned Democrats should vote Green to get back to their traditional Liberal/Progressive roots. At the lower levels, make the 2 major parties court you by voting for alternative party cadidates, like the Green Party candidates in your state running for Governor, Mayor or state assembly.
However, the only game in town at the federal level is DEMS and GOP: in the name of balance, vote DEMS for US Congress.
All this assumes that we will still have elections by the time we reach November, and not be fully transformed into a cristofascist neocon death-cult police state…
Obama…Sharpton…Colbert:
http://tinyurl.com/qywfw
Hey, Nicki, do you know of any cool places to stay for a few days in Oregon? Maybe some place like this http://www.metoliusriverresort.com/
Just as there is too much power concentrated in the hands of a few mega-corporations, too much power is concentrated in the hands of a few (two) political parties.
I didn’t kill it
:jason:
I’m feeling very mellow :40:
:tinfoil:
:tinfoil:
:tinfoil:
:tinfoil:
:tinfoil:
Ditto, except my head started to hurt from all the :40:
oh I never let it get to that point
actually the music is mostly what’s mellowing me, I just used the :40: emo because it looks cute
:bong: I’m switchin’….if only I could ever find that secret stash:mad:
Figuratively!!!!!! Like the thousands of mistakes thing
What? Yeah…I-I have to rest for while.:oops:
awww, poor Travis ❗
:fire:
ahh the old times.
I need some insight on this: Why do so many progressives trash Al Sharpton? His presidential platform was terrific….
I agree. Al Sharpton garnered a bad reputation, though, from the Tawana Brawley thing some years ago, and at one point in NY at least he was a divisive character. He seems to have gotten his act together though. People change…
he was one of the few, if not the only person, talking like a TRUE liberal at the Dem convention. I’ll never forget that. He sounded angry and fed up and talked about real issues that mattered to people.
Being divisive is not necessarily a bad thing. I heard some Democratic Socialist type on the Majority Report throw out the slogan that Sharpton was self-promoting (and so forth). Of course, he is far more principled than 99% of Democratic office holders.
If opportunism and self-promotion is a crime of Sharpton’s, then we better look to every other freakin’ politician, because they’re all guilty of it. I don’t think he should be singled out in this regard. Besides, ALL New York politicians want to be Hollywood Stars…Chuck Shumer, my gosh!
Besides Kucinich (and Sharpton) another candidate whose program was fairly progressive was that of Wesley Clark’s
Clark wasn’t bad. I think he plans on running again.
Clark was no hero during the awful war on Yugoslavia, though. Scary stuff!
I’m not up on that…I don’t know much of his personal history…
I bet Mishna does not play the character of Svetlana. Odds are that it is Iris Bahr, who does an assortment of stage characters including a Moscovite named Svetlana.
You do know about Clinton’s war on Serbia, don’t you?
For King Kong and other Fans in Taiwan…
Hey, I have been meaning to do this for a while. I am a fellow Marc Maron fan living in Taiwan (in the central part). I am interested in getting into contact with other like minded fans.
Mh10_6@yahoo.com (mh10_6)
Later!
Oui…didn’t know Clark was involved, alright I knew he was in the military, that makes some kind of sense
Imperial Crusades: Iraq, Afghanistan & Yugoslavia
Imperial Crusades: Iraq, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair is CounterPunch’s scorching new chronicle of the last decade of war, from Clinton’s assault on Yugoslavia to Bush Jr’s wars on Afghanistan and Iraq.
Snowman? You should hang out here, then, we’re all fans…
more dirty war stories 🙁
The Top 10 Reasons
This War SUCKS!
ONE
Has anyone thought about the peculiar logic behind NATO’s “peace
mission” in Kosovo? They dragged the warring parties to some two-bit pastry shop called Rambouillet, held a gun to their heads, and said, “If you don’t sign our peace deal and allow us to protect ethnic group #1, then we’re going to bomb and kill ethnic group #2!” After arm-twisting the Albanians into signing a deal that they didn’t believe in, we carried out our threat. We bombed the Serbs on behalf of the Albanians, assuming, like Dr. Evil, that everything would go to plan. No contingency planning at all. For example, no plan on how to counter the obvious and natural reaction of the Serbs to take all of their Tomahawk-inspired fury out on a totally defenseless Kosovar population. NATO’s reply? “They were going to do it anyway.” In fact, CIA leaks show that Clinton was warned that bombing could spark mass ethnic cleansing…
http://www.counterpunch.org/topten.html
wow, that’s a helluva reason #1
THREE
Trying to bring the Serbs to heel by making them suffer won’t work; these people have too much practice at suffering. After their army was slaughtered by the Turks at the Battle of Kosovo Field in 1389, things started getting a little bit rough for the Serbs. Though many Serb uprisings were brutally suppressed, the Serbs slowly drove the Turks out, eventually “liberating” Kosovo in a series of blood-drenched battles. In 1914, the Serbs were overrun by the Central Powers.The Serbs lost one-fourth of their population during the war; two-thirds of its male population between the ages of 15 and 55 perished. World War Two was even worse. After being overrun by a Nazi blitzkrieg, the Serbs found themselves at the mercy of the Nazis’ Croat puppet regime, the Ustashe, who killed over a million people in death camps so horrible they repelled even the SS. Meanwhile, the Serbs somehow managed to pin down eight divisions of Nazi infantry, the Italians, a Bosnian Muslim SS Division-and wage a bitter civil war against fellow Serbs. In all, one-fourth of the Serb population died during WW II. Toss in a respectable number of dead Serbs since the wars in Croatia and Bosnia started earlier this decade, and you get the idea: bombing will not scare these people.
it’s the usual thing, governments making war in foreign parts never consider the history of the people involved…
July 26, 1999
Dear Madam Justice Arbour:
Re William J. Clinton et al.
According to press reports, investigators for your Tribunal have been uncovering shocking evidence of war crimes in Kosovo. The list of reported massacres of civilians, including children, appears to grow longer and more hideous with each day of NATO’s occupation.
As you are no doubt aware, NATO leaders have been using this evidence to justify their bombing campaign of Yugoslavia. We find the chronological logic of this claim impossible to accept, since the atrocities now being reported and cited in justification of the attack all happened after the bombing started on March 24. Furthermore, nobody seems to doubt that they were provoked by the bombing itself, even if, putting NATO’s case at its strongest, the attack only provided an excuse for the massacre of ethnic Albanians left defenceless by the withdrawal of the international monitors. But there were doubtless a combination of factors involved in crimes against civilians in Kosovo — the extent and nature of which, of course, remain to be established — including predictably brutal anti-guerilla war tactics aimed at rooting out KLA fighters, as well as revenge for the massive bombing of Serbian civilians by the KLA’s NATO allies. And we know that civilians died from NATO’s own bombs (along the Prizren-Djavkovica road on April 15 and in Korisa on May 15 for two admitted examples).
The point we want to make is that, whatever the explanation, most of these crimes would not have been committed and most of the victims would be alive today if not for NATO’s bombing. Nothing remotely like this had occurred in the three years of civil conflict that preceded the war, and nobody is saying anything like it would have occurred but for NATO’s belligerence. . .
Have you ever heard, say, Randi Rhodes go off on Clinton for orchestrating the war on Serbia?
that really is interesting. I knew this was happening but was weak on a lot of the details
That is because the M$M would not report on what was going on.
well isn’t that sweet of them, protecting our delicate sensibilities from these things :omg: (that’s one of the actual neocon arguments about not giving war info on TV actually)
Aren’t you reading
Manufacturing Consent?I wasn’t as into politics during the Clinton years as I am now, actually, except for certain issues…I’ve learned a lot over the past four, five years
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Herman%20/Manufacturing_Consent.html
yes…I did start reading it
propaganda is one of my main interests in politics, I want to know all the details of how it works
Recall that the anti-Viet Nam War movement started during the presidency of Democrat Lyndon Johnson. The New Left, of which I am a child of (in a sense).
Chomsky and Herman are good sources for learning about propaganda.
yep. LBJ and then Nixon
Propaganda, American-style
by Noam Chomsky
Pointing to the massive amounts of propaganda spewed by government and institutions around the world, observers have called our era the age of Orwell. But the fact is that Orwell was a latecomer on the scene. As early as World War I, American historians offered themselves to President Woodrow Wilson to carry out a task they called “historical engineering,” by which they meant designing the facts of history so that they would serve state policy. In this instance, the U.S. government wanted to silence opposition to the war. This represents a version of Orwell’s 1984, even before Orwell was writing.
In 1921, the famous American journalist Walter Lippmann said that the art of democracy requires what he called the “manufacture of consent.” This phrase is an Orwellian euphemism for thought control. The idea is that in a state such as the U.S. where the government can’t control the people by force, it had better control what they think.. The Soviet Union is at the opposite end of the spectrum from us in its domestic freedoms. It’s essentially a country run by the bludgeon. It’s very easy to determine what propaganda is in the USSR: what the state produces is propaganda.
That’s the kind of thing that Orwell described in 1984 (not a very good book in my opinion). 1984 is so popular because it’s trivial and it attacks our enemies. If Orwell had dealt with a different problem– ourselves–his book wouldn’t have been so popular. In fact, it probably wouldn’t have been published. . .
I know a lot about framing and how political language is used already, but I’m sure there’s much more to learn specifically
well, Orwell did awaken a lot of people to some very important ideas, even if they were imperfectly written about… I tell you it was an eye-opener for me when I first read it, what, in High School?
See, a lot of this is instinctive with me. I always somehow knew that governments did this.
David Barsamian interviews Edward Herman 1993
Barsamian: In Beyond Hypocrisy, you quote George Orwell from his essay “Politics and the English Language.” “In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible. … Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer, cloudy vagueness.” What is the relationship between politics and language?
Herman: That pretty well captures it. The politicians are trying to please an awful lot of people. They therefore are really opportunistic users of language. In a country like the United States the press is not doing a very good job. The use of Orwellian language has been allowed to proliferate. If you had a really first class media, an adversary media, a really good one, the use of Orwellian language would be under real constraints. When they talk about “collateral casualties” and “self-defense” in bombing Iraq, an honest media would attack this with frenzy and with a lot of laughter, too. But they accommodate very well to language that is supportive of the ongoing establishment. So Orwellian language can be effective.
Barsamian: You also comment in your preface that, “Media collaboration with the government in fostering a world of doublespeak is essential, and this collaboration has been regularly forthcoming.” Given the political economy of the media and the propaganda model that you outlined in Manufacturing Consent, can you realistically expect anything else?
Herman: No, you can’t.
Barsamian: So aren’t you beating a dead horse, in a sense?
Herman: Yes, you’re beating a dead horse. But most people aren’t aware that the horse is dead. In a brainwashed society I certainly think the constructive role of the critical intellectual in America is very easy, because the media and the government are doing terrible things and they’re very vulnerable. But the public is not informed of this. It’s our function to call these things by their right names. The fact that this scene is so blatant makes it extremely easy for us to do devastating work. It’s easy. But the problem is it’s very hard to get it across. Access is very limited. But nevertheless I still think it’s very useful to keep pointing these things out and to show the contradictions on issue after issue and to explore them. The hope is that we will be able to reach people, new people as well as people whose biases we’re merely supporting. But this educational function is fundamental.
Barsamian:
You say that Beyond Hypocrisy is about doublespeak. Is that a term from Orwell’s 1984?
Herman: I think he talks more about “doublethink,” the ability to hold two contradictory ideas in your mind at the same time.
Chomsky encourages people to read other things by Orwell, including his account of the Spanish Civil War, and the original forward to Animal Farm. Chomsky always says that 1984 was not realistic; that a real totalitarian society could care less about private thoughts.
Fascinating…I think it’s true that we have to keep calling things by their true names and make people aware of these kind of things. I go on a rampage everytime I hear some of this kind of political speech – which is nearly every day – and I’m always pointing words/terms out to people to show them what’s being done.
WEll 1984 was somewhat of a sci fi novel, so it is going to stretch things…and what is scarier than your private thoughts being known? Makes a good novel
Let’s face it, 1984 is most people’s introduction to this kind of thing. From there they can go on to Chomsky, but at least it piques people’s interests (at least it did mine)
September 18, 2003
Wesley Clark for President?
Another Con Job from the Neo-Cons
By WAYNE MADSEN
Let it never be said the neo-conservatives are not persistent. That’s why they must be rounded up by the FBI and charged with violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statutes. But let’s save that issue for another time.
The latest trick of the neo-cons is running retired General Wesley Clark for President as a Democrat. But not just any Democrat — a “New Democrat.” The same bunch that are pushing Joe Lieberman’s candidacy are obviously hedging on their bets and want to have Clark in the race as a potential vice presidential candidate (to ensure their continued influence in a future Democratic administration of Howard Dean, John Kerry, or Dick Gephardt) or as a “go-to” candidate in the event that Lieberman stumbles badly in the first few Democratic primaries next year.
The “New Democrats” (neo-cons) are as much masters at the perception management (lying) game as their GOP counterparts (Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and Donald Rumsfeld). Clark’s presidential candidacy announcement in Little Rock is one warning sign. This city is a sort of “Mecca” for the neo-con Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) and its main nurturers, Al From and Bruce Reed. It was from Little Rock where the DLC propelled a little known governor named Bill Clinton into the White House. And although Clinton did not turn out exactly as conservative as the DLC hoped for, his support for globalization and selected use of U.S. military power abroad were neo-con keystone successes.
:omg:
I am going to read Chomsky though, believe me!
Yes. He really fucked us over in certain ways. He also screwed up the relationship between the FCC and the free airwaves. He’s not a liberal.
Yeah! Malloy just got done reading 1984. I got a lot out of it–as a dystopian novel.
Some people say that Brave New World comes closer to the mark than does 1984. SOMA me, baby!
I read Brave New World ages ago. It was frightening…
Chomsky considers this to be a classic study:
Politics and the English Language
George Orwell
(May 1945)
Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it. Our civilization is decadent and our language — so the argument runs — must inevitably share in the general collapse. It follows that any struggle against the abuse of language is a sentimental archaism, like preferring candles to electric light or hansom cabs to aeroplanes. Underneath this lies the half-conscious belief that language is a natural growth and not an instrument which we shape for our own purposes.
Now, it is clear that the decline of a language must ultimately have political and economic causes: it is not due simply to the bad influence of this or that individual writer. But an effect can become a cause, reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an intensified form, and so on indefinitely. A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. The point is that the process is reversible. Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step toward political regeneration: so that the fight against bad English is not frivolous and is not the exclusive concern of professional writers. I will come back to this presently, and I hope that by that time the meaning of what I have said here will have become clearer. Meanwhile, here are five specimens of the English language as it is now habitually written.
These five passages have not been picked out because they are especially bad — I could have quoted far worse if I had chosen — but because they illustrate various of the mental vices from which we now suffer. They are a little below the average, but are fairly representative examples. I number them so that I can refer back to them when necessary:
1. I am not, indeed, sure whether it is not true to say that the Milton who once seemed not unlike a seventeenth-century Shelley had not become, out of an experience ever more bitter in each year, more alien [sic] to the founder of that Jesuit sect which nothing could induce him to tolerate.
Professor Harold Laski
(Essay in Freedom of Expression )
2. Above all, we cannot play ducks and drakes with a native battery of idioms which prescribes egregious collocations of vocables as the Basic put up with for tolerate , or put at a loss for bewilder .
Professor Lancelot Hogben (Interglossia )
[…]
wow, ok
you’re really giving me a lot of interesting reading tonight!
Orwell’s original forward to Animal Farm:
THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
This book was first thought of, so far as the central idea goes, in 1937, but was not written down until about the end of 1943. By the time when it came to be written it was obvious that there would be great difficulty in getting it published (in spite of the present book shortage which ensures that anything describable as a book will ‘sell’), and in the event it was refused by four publishers. Only one of these had any ideological motive. Two had been publishing anti-Russian books for years, and the other had no noticeable political colour. One publisher actually started by accepting the book, but after making the preliminary arrangements he decided to consult the Ministry of Information, who appear to have warned him, or at any rate strongly advised him, against publishing it. Here is an extract from his letter:
I mentioned the reaction I had had from an important official in the Ministry of Information with regard to Animal Farm. I must confess that this expression of opinion has given me seriously to think … I can see now that it might be regarded as something which it was highly ill-advised to publish at the present time. If the fable were addressed generally to dictators and dictatorships at large then publication would be all right, but the fable does follow, as I see now, so completely the progress of the Russian Soviets and their two dictators, that it can apply only to Russia, to the exclusion of the other dictatorships. Another thing: it would be less offensive if the predominant caste in the fable were not pigs. [It is not quite clear whether this suggested modification is Mr … ‘s own idea, or originated with the Ministry of Information; but it seems to have the official ring about it – Orwell’s Note] I think the choice of pigs as the ruling caste will no doubt give offence to many people, and particularly to anyone who is a bit touchy, as undoubtedly the Russians are.
This kind of thing is not a good symptom. Obviously it is not desirable that a government department should have any power of censorship (except security censorship, which no one objects to in war time) over books which are not officially sponsored. But the chief danger to freedom of thought and speech at this moment is not the direct interference of the MOI or any official body. If publishers and editors exert themselves to keep certain topics out of print, it is not because they are frightened of prosecution but because they are frightened of public opinion. In this country intellectual cowardice is the worst enemy a writer or journalist has to face, and that fact does not seem to me to have had the discussion it deserves.
Any fairminded person with journalistic experience will admit that during this war official censorship has not been particularly irksome. We have not been subjected to the kind of totalitarian ‘co-ordination’ that it might have been reasonable to expect. The press has some justified grievances, but on the whole the Government has behaved well and has been surprisingly tolerant of minority opinions. The sinister fact about literary censorship in England is that it is largely voluntary. Unpopular ideas can be silenced, and inconvenient facts kept dark, without the need for any official ban. Anyone who has lived long in a foreign country will know of instances of sensational items of news – things which on their own merits would get the big headlines – being kept right out of the British press, not because the Government intervened but because of a general tacit agreement that ‘it wouldn’t do’ to mention that particular fact. So far as the daily newspapers go, this is easy to understand. The British press is extremely centralized, and most of it is owned by wealthy men who have every motive to be dishonest on certain important topics. But the same kind of veiled censorship also operates in books and periodicals, as well as in plays, films and radio. At any given moment there is an orthodoxy, a body of ideas which it is assumed that all right-thinking people will accept without question. It is not exactly forbidden to say this, that or the other, but it is ‘not done’ to say it, just as in mid-Victorian times it was ‘not done’ to mention trousers in the presence of a lady. Anyone who challenges the prevailing orthodoxy finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness. A genuinely unfashionable opinion is almost never given a fair hearing, either in the popular press or in the highbrow periodicals…
This is totally right on. Yes. I think I remember reading it, but I don’t have Animal Farm anymore….
Orwell never published the original forward. It was found among his papers long after his death.
Censorship in every aspect of the media. Downright creepy, and yet it’s something we’ve lived with our whole lives
In the words of Chomsky, It goes back to Adam.
It just amazes me how people either don’t believe they’re being censored, or they believe it’s a GOOD thing
Yeah… as long as people were around this is going on. No surprise there.
Speaking of propaganda and con jobs, have you looked at #13?
I skimmed it, and read some of it
I think there are one or two letters I still have to read
That doesn’t sound very promising.
I like the pictures. 🙂 🙂
no, you don’t understand. I like to “save things.” I purposely leave things unread in things I really love so I can see something the next day
It’s kind of how I make things last! It actually means I’m hooked on it! I learned this technique a long time ago with books that I couldn’t put down, I wanted to keep the experience going.
you have NO idea how much I love these. I’m serious.
it’s like this amazing universe I slipped into (I’d say m ore but this is a public blog)
still there?
🙁 come back
NickiNickiNicki
ok, I want to say something but I better not say it here. I’ll write to you. Trust me, this is special. And the video. And YOU.
No!!!! :omg:
Nicki come back
I was trying to find some more Orwell stuff. Go ahead and erase the last few posts. I didn’t leave mad. Hell. If you don’t like something…:rofl2:
Huh? What’s so special?
I think I just saw Gore on SNL, but I’m not sure
I was trying to find stuff that Alexander Cockburn wrote about Orwell. He hates Orwell, considers him a snitch.
NickiRose re #170 :love: and Susan Joy re #171 :love:
ARREST!
IMPEACH! (format by KevinM)
VIGILANCE!
:doh:
Who said the “L” word?
oy vey
i’ll tell you what I love! Chomsky! I’ve opened my mind tonight.
um….yeah. That’s it.
So, we are both eco-terrorist sympathizers.
yes, that too. I expect to be taken away by morning. I always cause all sorts of trouble :alc:
Did you find a key or did you have to force it open:jason:Hey, if an eco-terrorists burned down my business, I’d be pretty damn pissed.:mad: Those people are crazy.
Well, I really don’t know much about them, though.
my AIM away message says “causing all kinds of trouble” and it’s not kidding :omg:
Not just any business is targetted.
I remember hearing about some ELFs (Environmental Liberation Front) burning a car dealership, ’cause they sold Hummers or somethin’
Spiking trees, ruining logging equipment…that sort of thing.
Oh, and GM is yanking the biggest of those toys off the market because less than 100 were sold last year. Ha ha!
I didn’t say I supporting trashing car lots. Elves are not centrally organized.
That sort of direct action is a waste. If you get caught it’s bye-bye to you for a while. Nope. Not good. Im sure there’s better stuff that one could do to please all sides. Maybe.
I knew some people in Eugene who got busted for wreaking havoc on car lots. Big prison terms.
I participate in some ecological organizations like Riverkeeper, I don’t do anything like that. I gave tours at the NY botanical garden to educate the public, and we do work with cleaning the Hudson. That’s how I operate.
Anybody see The Weather Underground docu-drama?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343168/
not me…
Oh well, more Orwell:
Orwell’s defenders always look to contextualize Orwell’s shortcomings in a historic moment. Whatever his infraction, he was a victim of circumstance—times were different then, and, for example, Hitler was looking really good for a minute there. Orwell never meant that his books should be employed to stultify schoolchildren.
And yet that’s what “Animal Farm” is—an educational missile aimed at any healthy impulse towards reform. The argument that “Animal Farm” is a generalized indictment of totalitarianism is simply unsupportable by the text or any existing presentation of the text. Rather, the intelligence of the pigs as opposed to the stupidity of the other animals, and the ultimate hopelessness of revolution, renders “Animal Farm” a de facto endorsement of the status quo.
Orwell, with his master understanding of propaganda, did not accidentally exclude Germany, Italy and Japan from his allegory. He knew that he was writing against the East, for the West. But the assertion that the Cold War was won by the arms race, as fueled by the enemy–out–there equation of “Animal Farm,” is as undemonstrable as it is unconvincing. Because the manufacture of weapons is far less expensive in a Communist state, it’s more probable that the U.S. participation in the arms race delayed the inevitable collapse of a Soviet Union facing the superior economic model of the West.
My friend wrote a book about the Weather Underground.
I never liked Animal Farm much…and I never agreed with what my teacher said it symbolized (I still remember my 8th grade literature class). I thought IT didn’t even know what it symbolized
Coolness! What’s it called?
Druid, throw (I know how to spell it:mad:) it down. We know you’re there.:paranoid: come on.
The Way the Wind Blew
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1859841678/103-9423894-5977423?v=glance&n=283155
06(June)06, 06ce
now what hell did I just raise?
I just am furious yet frightened regarding the Wire Taps. But mostly :growl::mad: yet 😎
So people who did things at times will just disappear one day, I guess. I get strength from Led Z.
And now my “stream” disappeared. Bah HumBug:!:
ARREST!
IMPEACH! (format by KevinM)
VIGILANCE!
another book for the book list – I don’t know much about the Weather Underground
Animal Farm was a silly book. We had to read it in high school. The BBC recently serialized it on the radio. But the original forward gave insight towards western censorship, and so forth.
Oh yeah. Druid…I’ve been listening to Led Zeppelin today…it must be that kind of day
Don’t waste your time reading about them. Rent the DVD about them, if you must. A gang of petty bourgeois adventurists, they were.
that I will..
NickiRose, re #358 I will be getting that book:wink:! Your friend huh? But “Bless the Beasts” also :love::!:
ARREST!
IMPEACH! (format by KevinM)
VIGILANCE!
Hey! I’m already almost halfway up the top posters list, I’ve only been posting here for maybe a month, isn’t that cool? :nixon:
Travis, I wrote a long statement, then just saved it to perhaps oneday use — 😉 :rofl2: I am toooo much of a literalist and think only the truth be told, then I stop. I still have your blogspot 😉
:fist:
ARREST!
IMPEACH! (format by KevinM)
VIGILANCE!
:omg: Oh, nooooo, noooo, NOOOOOOO!!! I killed:jason: Giajinda! I’m so sorry.:-( It wasn’t premeditated, I promise.:roll:
NickiRose , I might rent that also. 🙂
Cool. I look forward to that future day.:wink:
I knew him in Berkeley. Cops keyed on him there, so he moved to Olympia.
I bumped Gia off the top poster’s list:doh::fustrate::spank:
I have to hit the hay before I mess-up anything else. Later.
goodnight. Hey, I pulled an all-nighter. I guess it’s morning, yay!
hehe, and I fooled my body, it thinks it’s not tired :eek::joe:
Gypsy gave up on us, too.
I knew David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam…and that’s about it for famous people for me!
NickiRose, a person I knew, knew 😉
they will all return….three o’clock in the afternoon when I’m sound asleep :nod:
Susan Joy 😮 :jason: and now you expect to sleep? Pleasant dreams 😉
Um, before I go… Happy Mother’s Day, sheeple!:knit:
😉 Describe him.
::raises hand:::: Ooooo…I know…
travisdem_04, ahhhhh so sweet. I also say it to Mother Earth Happy Mother’s Day
Save The Earth:!:
ARREST!
IMPEACH! (format by KevinM)
VIGILANCE!
:pent: sounds like a plan
yay, I now read EVERYTHING in this periodical I got in the mail
:joe::omg::bow::fist::nod:
Danu demands to come in NOW:!:
We can’t say no to Danu… :
wow, looking at this blog, there’s stuff here I want to cut and paste and save