Well, if all goes as planned, I’m going in for about a half a day today, and then I’m heading for Syracuse. I was thinking of heading down to the Dominican Republic for a little “relaxation,” but my Cialis prescription has my wife’s name on it, and if I have to go through airport security, it’ll be obvious that I’m “packing.” So, I guess my wife’ll just have to be stuck with me for a few days.
I hope to hit the road by 1:00 or so, which will hopefully get me home before dark (depending on how rainy it is up that way, I guess). Let’s hope the traffic gods are kind to me. I need to average 62 miles per hour door to door to make the trip in six hours (yes, I have the whole thing plotted out on a spreadsheet, and I printed out twenty seven eight-by-ten color maps with circles and arrows and turn-by-turn directions on the back of each one; it’s kinda like a statin analog gps system), including stops (which I try not to make, except for a gas stop somewhere in PA, which I won’t need to do if I fill up here, ‘cuz my Hyundai, though unfortunately not a hybrid, gets a shade over 40 mpg on the highway).
Have a good day, and I’ll see y’all later (if not sooner).
Haven’t posted here in a long time , good morning. :joe:
Ron Wyden announced this afternoon that he has placed a “hold” on the telecommunciations legislation just passed by the Commerce Committee until clear language is included in the legislation that prevents discrimination in Internet access.
From his floor statement (in an e-mail to me):
Mr. President, the major telecommunications legislation reported today by the Senate Commerce Committee is badly flawed. The bill makes a number of major changes in the country’s telecommunications law but there is one provision that is nothing more than a license to discriminate. Without a clear policy preserving the neutrality of the Internet and without tough sanctions against those who would discriminate, the Internet will be forever changed for the worse.
This one provision threatens to divide the Internet into technology “haves” and “have nots.” This one provision concentrates even more power in the hands of the special interests that own the pipelines to the Internet. This one provision codifies discrimination on the Internet by a handful of large telecommunications and cable providers. This one provision will allow large, special interests to saddle consumers and small businesses alike with new and discriminatory fees over and above what they already pay for Internet access. This one small provision is akin to hurling a giant wrecking ball at the Internet.
The inclusion of this provision compels me to state that I would object to a unanimous consent request to the Senate proceeding with this legislation until a provision that provides true Internet neutrality is included. . . .
The large interests have made it clear that if this bill moves forward, they will begin to discriminate. A Verizon Communications executive has called for an “end to Google’s `free lunch.'” A Bell South executive has said that he wants the Internet to be turned into a “pay-for-performance marketplace.” What they and other cable and phone company executives are proposing is that instead of providing equal access for everyone to the same content at the same price, they will set up sweetheart arrangements to play favorites. Without net neutrality protections, this bill is bad news for consumers and anyone who today enjoys unlimited access to all of the Net’s applications, service and content.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/28/20337/0262
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:banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:
:banana::banana:Hey LJ hows it going ??:banana::banana:
Dems Introduce ‘Patriot Corporations for America Act’ to Fight Outsourcing
The Patriot Corporations for America Act was officially announced today by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and a number of cosponsors. Schakowsky spokesman Ben LaBolt told BuzzFlash the proposal is “a tool to fight against outsourcing and plant closings” by encouraging companies to keep their money and jobs in America.
The bill will “close loopholes and provide incentives to invest in the U.S.,” LaBolt said. Revenues gained by killing the loopholes will be used to fund the program, which will be enforced by the Department of Labor. It also promotes worker conditions and benefits.
With 90% of Americans worried about losing their employment because of outsourcing, “the issue of job losses is a compelling one,” LaBolt said. Rep. Schakowsky is “reaching out to members of Congress whose states have been affected by job losses,” including her own, Illinois, which has lost hundreds of thousands of jobs.
http://www.buzzflash.com/alerts/06/06/ale06079.html
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Now if they would just nationalize a few to make their point..
:banana::banana::banana::crap::crap::crap::mad::shock::eek::yuck:
OK
How long can Wyden hold this??Bush will not read it?
Maybe Rep. Jan Schakowsky could do a fillerbuster on Lou Dobbs to get this passed:omg:
Israel forces tighten Gaza grip
Israeli ground forces are massed at the northern border with Gaza, intensifying an assault on the territory sparked by the capture of a soldier by militants. Palestinian witnesses said Israeli tanks had crossed the border into Gaza near the town of Beit Hanoun, but Israel has not confirmed this. On Wednesday, Israeli forces entered southern Gaza amid air strikes.
On the West Bank, Israel has detained more than 25 ministers and lawmakers from the Hamas-led government.Among those held after the raids in several separate towns were at least eight cabinet ministers, Palestinian officials said. In the West Bank town of Qalqilya, the Hamas mayor and his deputy were taken into custody.
(clip)
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, of the governing Hamas party, criticised Washington for giving approval to the Israeli incursion. Mr Haniya said Washington had “given the green light to aggression” and called on the United Nations to step in to prevent an escalation in violence. A spokesman for US President George W Bush has said Israel has a right to defend itself and the lives of its citizens. ..(more@link)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5127556.stm
==============================
:rant1::rant1::eek::yuck::mad::omg: 🙁
Heavy rains lead to two deaths
117-mile stretch of Thruway closed as central New York sees massive flooding and power outages
Staff and wire reports
Last updated: 5:50 p.m., Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Two truckers were killed today when they drove into a chasm cut into Interstate 88 in Binghamton by drenching rains that flooded homes, closed roads, cut power and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people across upstate New York.
The state Thruway Authority has closed a 117-mile stretch of Thruway between Rotterdam and Syracuse after flooding left large sections of the highway impassable.
The eastbound and westbound lanes between Exit 25A in Rotterdam and Exit 34A in Syracuse will remain closed until noon Thursday.
Westbound traffic is being diverted at Exit 25A and eastbound traffic is being detoured at Exit 34A.
Thruway officials made the decision amid National Weather Service predictions that water levels will continue to rise until early Thursday morning. The two truckers — one headed east, the other west — separately drove their trucks into the 25-foot deep hole about 6:20 a.m., said State Police Lt. Robert Galletto Jr. It was raining hard at the time of the accidents and it was not clear if the truckers even saw the break, which created a jagged tear across the highway.
“All four lanes were washed out,” Galletto said.
The highway was closed between exits 8 and 13 because of the gap created by Carrs Creek in Sidney. The truckers’ names were not immediately released.
The deluge that washed out the nation’s capital earlier this week and is blamed for four other deaths cut across upstate New York Tuesday and today. Though flood warnings were posted from the Catskills to the Adirondacks, the heaviest-hit area was around Binghamton. A house was reported floating down the rain-swollen Susquehanna River near the city today and whole villages to the north in rural Delaware County were cut off by flood waters. Rescue workers were searching for a vehicle washed away in Kortwright Creek; it was unclear if there was anyone in the missing vehicle.
“We have significant flooding throughout the county,” said Delaware County planning director Nicole Franzese. “… Widespread power outages, bridges washed out, roads washed out, the National Guard was operating all night.”
Tuesday’s rainfall was the most ever received in a 24-hour period at the Binghamton airport, said National Weather Service meteorologist Theodore Champney. A total of 4.05 inches fell during the day, breaking the former one-day record of 3.57 inches set on June 11, 2001, Champney said.
About 300 people were being cared for at a Red Cross emergency shelter set up at Binghamton University after the Susquehanna, Chenango and other rivers flooded. College officials said they expected more evacuees to arrive throughout the day. More homes were evacuated a few hours to the north, near the Mohawk River. A small bridge in Charlotteville in Schoharie County was closed and floodwaters had risen to the bottom of at least one other area bridge.
Broome County emergency services director Michael Aswad reported a series of gas explosions in vacated homes in the town of Conklin, just south of Binghamton. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
http://tinyurl.com/ml3gj
==========================
The morning traffic report maybe PJ should go to Florida
:eek::yuck::fustrate::shock::billcat:
I think Reich talks and Riley dozes off ..All Riley can say is uhh ok.. uhh interesting..uhh that’s to bad. They should broadcast from some Shelter some where .. Someone would probably get in his face..:mad::shock::paranoid:
Not much good news nowadays :barf: It seems if they mess with everybody’s Internet access it would be like playing catch with a hornets nest??? :doh:
nationalize a few and put a few in jail and put a web cam on them ,a day in life of a corp. shit bag 😡
Pennsylvania is a lot closer to DC than LA is maybe the people displaced by this flood will solve our problem for us.:gate::omg::jason:
The problem with the telecoms is that the people are ticked off at the lack of action on the part of the government anyhow so they may take the problem of net neutrality into their own hands and then we would have no net access..or telephone service.. or cell phone service.. or cable TV.. Maybe then Americans would get into the streets.. Nawww.. wishful thinking.. 🙁 :shock::omg:
Christian Malard on with Mark ,We need to just blow them all to hell (Palestinians).:growl:
Shit. Looks like a trip through PA and NY couls be a real pain in the ass today. I hope 81 through Binghamton is open. This dam here in Montgomery Co., MD is just about to overflow. It’s seeping water, but the water is starting to recede. Unfortunaltely, more heavy rain and t-storms forecast for this afternoon.
Hey there, LJin. Good to see ya.
Yeah PJ it looks like you will have to get back to NY via Nevada today.:eek::roll: or maybe you could visit Kat for the weekend..:hubba:
They know better than to take there TV machines they would have time to look around and see that there being anally raped and no KY not even a pat on the shoulder:omg:
Yeah, I dunno. Could be a real hassle. I hope it doesn’t take me 12 hours to get home.
Hi there PJ sounds like the trip could be :billcat: be safe!!!!!
So if I want to hear talk about doing something about the Busheviks on AAR I have to stay up all night ??:eek::omg:
Susan’s reaction to OB’s comments about pandering to the Fundies on yesterdays blog sounded good to me :spank::fustrate::paranoid::billcat:
I was talking about Mark R. not marc M.
Christian Malard was just on saying that Israeli forces should just blow them away.
Most “real” Christians are democrats. The main line churches usually use the New testament in the bible not the old testament with interpretation.
It amazes me that if 70 some percent of the US says its christian that most people on the left in the blogispher have no clue..
I was confused.. there are to many M* around..
I was sort of hoping Putin would come to the rescue of the Palestinians.. and fix the rapture crowds problem at the same time. ( insert emo of mushroom cloud over Israel here).. All this is going to do is make IRAN go back into the nuclear weapons business in a more concerted manner.
They(rapture crowd)could all run into the hot zone and think there being raptured as there hail bob shoes melt:evil:
Plus, the Maryland Rail Commuter system is called MARC!
One thing you will never hear is how many Nukes Israel has!!
You know, AAR’s massive fucking-up by Danny Goldberg is reflected this way: not even ONE new host since the opening has been developed by AAR. When Thom Hartmann was unavailable to sub because his dad passed on, there was NO ONE to come in and make use of the time.
Goldberg couldn’t even put anyone in the time slot of Satellite Sisters, AND bumped off Malloy, and as a result, there are Republican talking points running then because a couple of them are conservatives. Where the hell is the back bench? Is Marc being asked to sub in any of these vacation slots?
Broome County: – STATE OF EMERGENCY
Most roads closed. Interstate 81 closed between Binghamton and Pennsylvania border.
At least two Bridges have collapsed in Sydney causing two deaths.
Shit. I hope they get that open, or I’m pretty much screwed.
Peter B Collins and Peter Werbe subbed for Hartman two days this week. Heide has been trying to sort of fly his local program. She just hasn’t learned how to rant properly.:omg::tongue:
Marvin is on vacation this week so today we have Big Eddy in for Jay.. :roll::roll::eek::yuck:
So Mr. Obama, would you shut the fuck up about religion. Thank you.
Comment by Susan Joy — June 28, 2006 @ 7:07 pm
Suzie!!!! :love::love::love:
Religion is an opiate. If it is your opiate of choice, enjoy, but don’t force it down my throat or try to make me pay for yours. There’s a lot to like about Obama, but this isn’t it.
Shit. I hope they get that open, or I’m pretty much screwed.
Comment by pjsauter — June 29, 2006 @ 6:51 am
Happy swimming, PJ.
Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.
:rofl2:
Today’s St Petersburg Times has a really goofy-looking picture of Bill Nelson alongside a thought-piece about the FAILED flag-burning amendment that he did not have the courage to vote against. I’ll see if I can find it online and post it after work.
I’m still not voting for Katherine Harris, though.:fu:
I just don’t wanna be like those two truck drivers that couldn’t see the 25 foot hole they were about to drive into, or have a dam break and wash me into a gorge. Looks like things are starting to clear up, but more rain forecast for the day.
:crap: The last Thursday of the month, the manufacturing grilling session by management ( translated Thursday manufacturing meeting) and the laser secretary has run out of toner..:crap::crap::crap: I guess I will print this c* upstairs and hope that secretary is working..
Blog with you all later..:shock::tongue:
Later fred have fun:banana:
Morning Evening All :yinyang:
right-o! They talk about Iran like it’s a lone country over there wanting nukes, never mentioning Iran’s perceived threat of Israel.
Pj, this does not look like a good travel day for you, oh my. Maybe you can leave work even earlier than anticipated. have a very left leaning brother :love: in Bethlehem should something happen to you along the way and you need to make a detour. How many more days do you have, btw? You haven’t been posting your countdown.
Did anyone else see Olbermann last night? He did a slap-down on the “exposed” banking thing as well as worked over Faux news and O’Reilly’s falling ratings. :banana:
Well, I don’t want to get to the PA/NY border too soon, as I’m hoping they’ll have I-81 open by then. I also don’t want to drive in the dark too much. Unfortunately, conditions look crappy every way I can go (unless I go via Nevada, as Fred suggested). If I try for a western route, I have to go where the dam is about to break in MD. If I go east, I have to go through construction and tunnels in Baltimore, plus around Philly, and then either up through Binghamton, or over to the east, which is even worse. So, we’ll see. 37 to go, counting today.
i find what the gop is doing to the nyt truly frightening.
Robert Scheer: A Disgraceful Attack on the New York Times
and in case you didn’t read this piece (like me) I’ll post it.
Joe Conason: Staying the Course, Without a Map
I wish more of us on the left would support Countdown with Olbermann .I miss it lastnight but it reruns in the morning now that MSNBC is being redone some are saying JoE and RiTa may be going Dan Abrams is General Manager of MSNBC now!!
Oh and olbermann said his ratings are up 37% which is cause for another :banana:
with ratings going in that direction, can’t imagine they’d pull it, lj. but then again, there’s the danny goldberg phenomenon. :rant1:
pj, have you seen gore’s film yet? Your predicament was predictable (is that a song??) I’m serious about the bethlehem thing if you get stuck. big bro is a great guy and moving to Ithaca this summer!
Please have a safe journey home. :gate:
Ciao!
Good Morning Seditionists. :joe:
Shit PJ, I wasn’t able to get over 28mpg with my bran new Elantra even on a long trip. I loved how the salesperson that sold me the car said the car got “great” gas mileage at 28mpg and I just told her it was no big deal, they’ve been doing that since the late seventies. I guess all the suv’s that everyone owns has lowered peoples expectation of good gas mileage.:jerk:
Hmm PJ, I’m a little worried about your drive, it sounds really bad over there. Can you take a train?
27 june 2005 – the tea lounge, wow! When’s Marc going to go LIVE again?
Gee, my Elantra gets about 22 strictly on stop and go around town. On the highway with the cruise control set at 70 and the a/c off, I got 40.8 mpg last trip. When I’m home, I fill up the tank about once a month.
What about a fourth Friday of the month live MM show? :fire:
The Seditionits want to interact.
Here is what I wrote to Mucky Muck McCain.
Dear Senator McCain,
I am extremely disappointed and frankly, pretty angry at your vote against regular folk like me on net neutrality. It’s quite obvious that you are a special interest whore since you have taken $44,250 from telecom pacs. This, along with your vote for the bankruptcy bill shows how incredibly out of touch with your constituency you are. You have no clue what it means to be poor and struggling in this country and you are constantly throwing insurmountable obstacles in the path of the poor and middle class. If actions speak louder than words then you have no interest in representing the people of Arizona and every interest in representing special interests and corporate welfare.
Ron Wyden said it best in his floor speech.
1. …Mr. President, the major telecommunications legislation reported today by the Senate Commerce Committee is badly flawed. The bill makes a number of major changes in the country’s telecommunications law but there is one provision that is nothing more than a license to discriminate. Without a clear policy preserving the neutrality of the Internet and without tough sanctions against those who would discriminate, the Internet will be forever changed for the worse.
This one provision threatens to divide the Internet into technology “haves” and “have nots.” This one provision concentrates even more power in the hands of the special interests that own the pipelines to the Internet. This one provision codifies discrimination on the Internet by a handful of large telecommunications and cable providers. This one provision will allow large, special interests to saddle consumers and small businesses alike with new and discriminatory fees over and above what they already pay for Internet access. This one small provision is akin to hurling a giant wrecking ball at the Internet….
I hope all that special interest money lets you sleep at night.
Well, I don’t have the elantra anymore. I’m driving a Nissan and it’s been pretty good. The ac in it kicks ASS! And I have no payments. I will NEVER buy a new car again!
I am listening to last night’s Malloy Show with Laura Flanders. How the fuck did the SCOTUS rule in favor of that scoundrel DeLay’s gerrymandering scheme?
OUT IN THE STREETS! 50 million people. Bring this motherfucker down!:omg:
Coup in 2000! Yes. The Democratic Party stood down.
:fu::omg::mad::fu::40::40::40::fu::fu::jason::jason::sheep::sheep::rabbi::nixon::peace:
In January Prime Minister Olmert made clear that, “We firmly stand by the historic right of the people of Israel to the entire Land of Israel. Every hill in Samaria and every valley in Judea [the West Bank] is part of our historic homeland.” This is the same, in reverse, as Hamas’s historical claim to the whole of mandate Palestine, which the West believes makes them unsuitable for governing. Moreover Olmert doesn’t stop at theory: “Israel will maintain control over the security zones, the Jewish settlement blocs, and those places which have supreme national importance to the Jewish people, first and foremost a united Jerusalem under Israeli sov ereignty.”
In other words, in violation of international law, the Oslo Accords, and the Road Map, Olmert has clearly stated that he will incorporate the largest settlement outposts in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, into Israel proper, and re-draw the map to include an Israeli presence on the eastern side of Palestine in the Jordan valley. Any state that results from this exercise will be cut into several sections, with no control over its borders or its international and trade relations or its security—it will have no sovereignty. In no way does this constitute recognition of a Palestinian state.
The majority of Israel’s political establishment, including the governments of Sharon and Olmert, have spent many years preventing the emergence of a two-state solution through expanding settlements, the Separation Wall, a system of racist settler roads, gateways, and tunnels, which have resulted in two people living separate and unequal lives within the Occupied Territories themselves. Indeed, this was the conclusion of EU diplomats in Jerusalem in a suppressed report leaked before Christmas, as well as a more recent report by UN Human Right Special Rapporteur John Duggard last month. Israeli peace activists such as Jeff Halper from the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions are quite clear that “the two-state solution is now dead.”
So Israel violates all three of the conditions set by the “Quartet”(the U.S., EU, UN, and Russia) to the Palestinian Authority—yet you’d have to search long and hard to find Western politicians voicing public condemnation of these policies. Although the Palestinians are not the perpetrators but the victims of countless violations of international law, it is they who are now suffering a sanctions regime perpetrated by Israel, the U.S., and EU—a regime which is sending the Palestinian economy into freefall. It is they who are now targeted by a Western attempt to destabilize their democratically elected government. On February 14, the New York Times reported that senior officials in the U.S. State Department were discussing with Israeli officials the best ways to “destabilize the Palestinian government so that newly elected Hamas officials will fail and elections will be called again.” They discussed Israel withholding tax revenues which it owes to the Palestinian Authority, and which provide the Palestinians with a major source of revenue, and conditions being placed on Hamas to ensure that Western aid stopped flowing.
Anybody listen to Cockburn on Laura Flanders show last night? Estelle from Florida!:omg: What a mindless rant!
Bleak outlook on the situation, Cockburn. “Not a chink of light in the situation.”
Call Bush. Demand he orders Israel to withdraw.
Call McCain…
Call Gordon Smith…
Call Shumer…
Congress…
Organize. Take it to the streets!
Thank you for blogging with me.:fu:
Goyette is talking about net neutrality.
http://www.1100kfnx.com/
I hardly ever remember to listen to Laura Flanders.
:yuck::barf: Goyette’s on a radio station that has Michael (Wiener)Savage.
Well, that guy was sure on the payroll. “not worried about telecommunications gouging consumers” His voice didn’t sound particularly convinced. He won’t be on the payroll much longer if he doesn’t sound more confident. :jerk:
good letter kp.
here’s the Olbermann clip on the NYT I mentioned #36, if you’re interested.
Goyette is playing it now. but it’s probably almost over
WASHINGTON – The economy sprang out of a year-end rut and zipped ahead in the opening quarter of this year at a 5.6 percent pace, the fastest in 2 1/2 years and even stronger than previously thought.
The new snapshot of gross domestic product for the January-to-March period exceeded the 5.3 percent growth rate estimated a month ago, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. The upgraded reading — based on more complete information — matched economists’ forecasts.
The stronger GDP figure mostly reflected an improvement in the country’s trade deficit, which was much less of a drag than previously estimated.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13611277/
========================
:rofl2::rofl2::rofl2::rofl2::rofl2::rofl2::fu::fu::fu::fu:
Kristapea, I love your sweet talk approach to Mc Cain:
“It’s quite obvious that you are a special interest whore since you have taken $44,250 from telecom pacs.”
Well, that’s straight talk all right!
Reminds me of the letter from the school marm to the Governor in Blazing Saddles: “Which just goes to show that you’re the biggest ass hole in the territory!”
There are no worse media-concocted phonies in this country than Giuliani and McCain.
Road to Map to Starvation
What’s Next for the Palestinians?
By WILLIAM HUGHES
The topic under discussion was grim – “The Politics of Starvation: The Humanitarian Crisis in Palestine.” In Room SC-6 of the U.S. Capitol, the Council for the National Interest (CNI) authored a public forum, the 18th in a series over the last few years, dealing with Middle East issues, and in particular, the Israel-Palestine Question. The two presenters at the standing-room- only event on June 23, 2006, were Tim Rothermel, a former UN chief of its Development Program to the Palestinian people (UNDP); and Ms. Laila El-Haddad, a Palestinian journalist and mother from Gaza. She is a graduate of the Kennedy School of Government at both Harvard and Duke U. Ms. El-Haddad has reported for Aljazeera Satellite Network, Pacifica Radio, UK Guardian Unlimited and also BBC World Service. She also maintains a popular blog.
Since January, 2006, the Israelis have been tightening the screws on the Palestinians, because they dared to elect a government dominated by members of Hamas. (3) Beside additional border closings and constant harassment of civilians at check points, the Israelis’ targeted killings of victims has also greatly accelerated. After May 31, 2006, when Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert spoke to a mostly servile U.S. Congress, the Israeli Occupation Army (IOF) slaughtered 32 Palestinians, including 10 children. Olmert said he has “deep regrets” about the operations of the IOF, but that the lives of Israeli citizens were “even more important,” which sounded like a line out of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.” As a result of some of the arbitrary IOF’s border closings, essential food items for “765,000 Gazans” have been seriously “delayed” and even put in jeopardy.
“The humanitarian outlook for the occupied Palestinian territory has become extremely bleak. It is expected to worsen dramatically in the coming months,” said Rothermel. He underscored that since the Hamas victory at the polls in January, Israel has halted its “transfer of the Value Added Taxes and custom taxes it is obligated to pay, amounting to half of the Palestinian Authority’s budget.” Along with this measure, “Western donor funding for Palestinians,” has been suspended as well. “With the fall in revenue to the Palestine Authority (PA), the salaries of over 150,000 civil servants have for the most part not been paid since March. And these civil servants, in turn, directly support some one million other Palestinians or a quarter of the population in the West Bank and Gaza. And the majority of these civil servants are the doctors and nurses, school teachers, police officials and municipal employees whose services provide the backbone of a functioning civil society,” Rothermel emphasized.
The affable Eugene H. Bird, CNI’s President, since 1994, opened the proceedings by saying the Israel-Palestine Question “was central to resolving the U.S. war on terrorism.” He said that over “60 percent” of the American people want Israel to be held “more accountable” for its reckless actions and that the present federal administration has “no idea what they are doing.” As for the U.S. Congress, he said, “It should be ashamed of itself.” Rafi Dajani, executive director of the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP), served as moderator for the nearly two-hour program. . .
http://www.counterpunch.org/hughes06272006.html
Does anybody here give a flying fuck at what is going on with our government’s approval in the Occupied Territories? Oh, I guess there is more pressing problems….
:fu:
As the first protest singer to rise from the streets of anti-war and WTO protests and get a major worldwide distribution deal, I felt compelled to explain that today’s Dylans, Ochses, and Neil Youngs are here, but they’re being silenced by an industry that has for years derived its profits from kiddy porn and dreamy boys.
Just two days after my article came out, MTV, which has refused to play anti-war videos even by the biggest stars, published an article addressing the need for political consciousness in mainstream music. In a flourish of Bush-like hubris, one of the country’s chief purveyors of military recruitment ads to youth posted the article, “Where Is the Voice of Protest in Today’s Music?” The webpage boasted an Army video game in the bottom right corner. (MTV, by the way, refuses to air anti-war ads produced by organizations like Not In Our Name and Win Without War.)
Steven Smith-Said
The stage for ethnic cleansing in the Occupied Territories is approaching end game status. Has any of the AAR hosts brought this up recently?
Riley did.
Springer…:fu:
SEDER…
Elliot…
Randi does not talk about Israel as a rule.
We have the chance to change the situation if we act. Otherwise, it will be over for the Palestinians.
“Where were you when the Palestinians were left to starve, amidst mass transference of their population?”
Do something!
The Insulting Logic of Tel Aviv
Killing a Nation to Rescue a Soldier
By RON JACOBS
I am so tired of hearing Tel Aviv complain that certain Palestinian factions do no represent Israel’s right to exist. While some certainly may have this opinion, even Hamas leaders have stated that the fact is that Israel does exist. Meanwhile, Israel is once again waging a military campaign against he Palestinians that, in essence, is just one more battle in its attempt to prevent Palestine from ever existing again. Of course, Washington defends these acts by insisting that Israel has a “right to defend itself,” which seems to mean that its military forces can do whatever the hell they want. This also implies that the Palestinians really don’t have that same right.
If the true goal of the current Israeli military actions in Gaza is to rescue the Israeli Defense Forces recently taken prisoner, than there is no logic to the military destruction of Palestinian power plants. Not when those power plants provide forty-two percent of the electricity to the Palestinians. There is no logic in invading Gaza to retrieve one soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces, especially when such an action is more likely to lead to the soldier’s death. There is no logic in intimidating the president of Syria by buzzing his home with warplanes, especially if the reason for such an act is to retrieve one soldier in the IDF.
From where I sit, that soldier appears to have become one more pawn in Tel Aviv’s attempt to destroy forever the Palestinian hope of a homeland. Like expansionist armies everywhere, the foot soldier is never more than a pawn in the game of the rulers. Whether that soldier is being sent to give his life in battle for the power and profit of a few or whether he is kidnapped and held for ransom, that soldier is never more than a pawn. If Tel Aviv was truly only interested in saving the life of the corporal from France, they would negotiate some kind of prisoner exchange. This is what the Palestinian forces have offered and this is all they want. . .
http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs06292006.html
Film
Kings and Extras: Digging for a Palestinian Image
07-05, Wed.
6:30pm
The Palestine Center
Direction:2425 Virginia Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20037 Foggy Bottom Metro Stop
Contact: Palestine Center (202) 338-1958 info@palestinecenter.org
: The Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development and the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, at Georgetown University are pleased to present their annual summer film series:
Voices of Palestine: Summer 2006 Film Series
Wednesday, 5 July 2006 | 6:30 p.m.
“Kings and Extras: Digging for a Palestinian Image”
Director: Azza El-Hassan / Palestine, Germany 2004 / 62 min.
Location:
The Palestine Center
2425 Virginia Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20037
Foggy Bottom Metro
The films of the PLO Media Unit, created to show a self-determined image of Palestinian reality, went missing during the Israeli invasion of Beirut in 1982. In a “road-movie” from Palestine to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, the director Azza El-Hassan follows the contradicting and confusing clues as to the whereabouts of the lost archive. The increasingly absurd search finally leads her to a martyr’s graveyard, where the films are said to be buried. The film reflects the situation in the Middle East – a failed revolution, the problematic relationship with the Arab neighbors, and the question of a Palestinian identity today.
This annual summer film series highlights recent documentary and feature films from and about Palestine that explore the social, cultural and political complexities of Palestinian life and identity. All films are screened at The Palestine Center and begin promptly at 6:30pm. All films are in English or have English subtitles. Attendance is free and open to the public. Registration is not required; however, seating is limited. Directions and Parking Information. For all other inquiries, contact Jessica Robertson Wright, The Jerusalem Fund Cultural Coordinator, at (202) 338-1958.
For Immediare Release:
Palestinians active in non-violent struggle against the illegal Israeli annexation barrier were taken from their homes in the West Bank last night. This happens at a time when media attention is focusing on the taking of one Israeli soldier by Palestinians, and the mass-taking of 64 elected Palestinian representatives last night.
Israel took 2 Palestinians from Bil’in and 1 from Beit Ummar – villages active in the struggle against the annexation barrier.
The Israeli military took 28 year-old Yousef Abu-Marya from Beit Ummar, Hebron region.. He has been active in non-violent resistance in that region in the past two years and is a member of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Ummar. The Committee has recently been organising non-violent actions in the area that try to gain access for Palestinian farmers to their farm land after it has been is closed off by settler violence, or closure by the Israeli military.
In Bil’in, father of three, 29-year old Ahmad Katib (the brother of Mohammed Katib, one of the organisers of the weekly non-violent demonstrations against the apartheid barrier in the village) was taken by the army. Abdullah Abu-Rahme, from the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bil’in said that another villager, Ayad Burnat, was being held hostage in order to pressure the family into “giving up” his brother Mujahid who they want to get hold of for reasons that were unclear.
Musa Abu-Marya, a member of the Popular Committee in Beit Ummar does not believe that they arrested Yousef for security reasons, but to continue a policy of threatening and arresting Palestinian peace activists. “They don’t like what we are doing in the Hebron region,” he said.
Arresting activists or threatening them with arrest or violence is not a new Israeli policy. It has often been used as a scare tactic against Palestinians active in non-violent struggle against the various forms of Israeli occupation in their daily lives.
For more information call:
Musa Abu-Marya: 0545-838 925
Abdullah Abu-Rahme: 0547-258 210
ISM Media office: 02 297 1824
The New York Times Whitewashes the Israeli Takeover of East Jerusalem
by Patrick O’Connor; April 18, 2006
Despite a practiced guise of objectivity, the US corporate media’s reporting on Israel/Palestine is dominated by the Israeli narrative. An April 16, 2006 feature article by Steven Erlanger, The New York Times’ Jerusalem Bureau Chief, “Jerusalem, Now” in the Times’ Sunday Travel section (http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/04/16/travel/16jerusalem.html) exemplifies how seemingly professional journalistic standards can mask insidious biases and misinform readers. Erlanger, guided around Jerusalem by Israelis, omits Israeli violence, stereotypes Palestinians, whitewashes Israeli settlements and covers up Israeli efforts to take over East Jerusalem. “Jerusalem, Now” is among the most political and one-sided mainstream US news articles on Israel/Palestine published in the last year.
In “Jerusalem, Now” Erlanger repeatedly notes his effort to remain above the fray – “I try to see it through various lenses”, “I try to see Jerusalem as a place where both armies and souls contend”, “I try to see the barrier from both the Palestinian and the Israeli points of view”, etc..
However, Erlanger simultaneously provides clues that Israeli perspectives will dominate. He notes three times that he was guided around Jerusalem by Israelis whom he quotes and paraphrases – “Avi Ben Hur, the American-turned-Israeli-turned-guide”, “Avner Goren, an archeologist and guide”, “Eilat Mazar, an archaeologist.”
Israelis in Erlanger’s article are human beings holding professional jobs. In contrast, he never even names a single Palestinian. Erlanger’s Palestinians are an undifferentiated mass with “ramshackle” shops on dusty, garbage-strewn streets where they play soccer, and labor. They are enraged and “hate”, “militants” who carry out “suicide bombings”, “riot” and open fire on an Israeli kindergarten, and trudge “through the dust or the mud” at an Israeli checkpoint designed to “prevent a terrorist” attack.
American journalists frequently rely on Israelis to explain Palestinian realities. In Erlanger’s March 19 story, Israeli analyst Yossi Alpher furnishes the article’s misguided thesis that Hamas’ election victory is comparable to the Iranian revolution. Similarly, in Thomas Friedman’s one-sided April 12 Times column, Friedman quotes extensively two Israelis’ opinions of Hamas’ electoral victory, while citing no Palestinian views. Over the past five years, the Times has published 3.4 op-eds by Israeli writers for every op-ed by a Palestinian writer. Over the same period, the top five US newspapers published 2.5 op-eds by Israelis for every op-ed by a Palestinian…
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=10117
Nonviolent Resistance in Palestine
by Patrick O’Connor; October 17, 2005
The fact that thousands of Palestinians and hundreds of Israelis are together employing nonviolent tactics similar to those of the US civil rights movement and the South African anti-Apartheid movement would come as surprising and welcome news to most Americans. Americans are largely unaware of the struggling but vibrant grassroots nonviolent movement in Palestine, because the US corporate media prefers a simple, flawed story of Palestinian terrorist attacks and Israeli retaliation.
In the US media, Palestinians generally aren’t allowed to speak for themselves or to articulate their historical narrative. Israelis, however, are permitted to speak, to explain the Israeli experience and even to explain about Palestinians. As a result, the Israeli story is known in the US while Palestinians are dehumanized.
The reporting by the New York Times, often cited as the standard for US media, typifies the problem. The Times publishes daily news articles on Israel/Palestine, including countless articles about armed Palestinian resistance. However, the New York Times and the US media more generally almost never report on what 99.5% of Palestinians have done every day of their lives for the last 38 years, nonviolently resist Israeli occupation.
Over the last three years the New York Times has published only three feature articles on Palestinian nonviolent resistance. This despite the fact that Palestinians have conducted hundreds of nonviolent protests over the last three years throughout the West Bank against Israel’s construction of the Wall on Palestinian land, and despite the fact that the Israeli army killed nine Palestinian protesters, wounded several thousand protesters, harassed and collectively punished villages that protested, and arrested hundreds of protesters, including nonviolent protest leaders. . .
http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=8950§ionID=1
:pent:
Ok, a lot to read, let me start…
:billcat:PJ Travel Update: :billcat:
PJ left deecee at about 12:30 and is now past Binghamton in the home stretch to Syracuse. :banana::nixon:
He said there were a couple of slowdowns but roads were OK, so I guess a lot opened up during the day. 77 outside of Binghamton is closed, though. Still quite a mess east and south of here, though 😯
:banana: Siggy is bored as hell and just waiting for Daddy to come home because I am NO fun whatsoever when it is so :rant1: hot & humid and he doesn’t get to go anywhere. 🙁 Between the thunder boom booms & the damn 4th of July boom booms, the poor dog is a nervous wreck:(:paranoid: But there should be one very happy doggie in this house in about an hour or so:tongue:
I’m sure PJ will post later on about his travel adventures.
Adios for now, Amigos!:alc::peace: :banana:
Mrs.PJ
a/k/a Raging Granny
:pent:=Devil’s Hoofprint.
Devil’s Hoofprint in the Venus Flytrap.:omg:
Um, not really…
I dunno, then does that mean the sex is good? Cause it is….
The pentagram has long been associated with the planet Venus, and the worship of the goddess Venus, or her equivalent. It is also associated with the Roman Lucifer, who was Venus as the Morning Star, the bringer of light and knowledge. It is most likely to have originated from the observations of prehistoric…
Flytrap!:omg:
As a Libra, Venus is my ruling planet. So that figures. I know the pentacle has many associations in different cultures, but I didn’t hear about the Venus thing.
hehe, yes Venus flytrap indeed 😉
Morning Angel:omg:
If morning echo says we’ve sinned
Well, it was what I wanted now.
And if we’re the victims of the night
I promise you I won’t be blinded by light
Just Call Me Angel of the Morning
::omg:
Touch my cheek before you leave me baby.
Just call me angel of the morning morning
Just touch my cheek before you leave me baby
Merilee Rush I believe? Cool…
Morning Star. :pent: Emblem of the Morning Star. Trap me, baby!:omg:
oh yes, I’ve got you right where I want you… hehe..:pent:
Morning Star: the bringer of light and knowledge. [I’ll bring more than that. I mean the other kind of knowledge.]
Yes, I know, you do bring knowledge of all kinds. Tell me…the footnotes in that bible, did you mark that up before you sent it to me?
I meant carnal…:omg:
Were they referring to th apocalypse? Corrupted system?
yes, I know you bring that too… 😎
I saw the notes about the Beast within corrupted System. And a personal note to me at the start of the book – but there were also interesting pencil notes, I was wondering if those were recently put in there as well or if you took notes a long time ago…
Sam is talking about the spreading crisis in the Middle East. triggered by the invasion and occupation. Not a peep about the Israeli attack on Gaza and the related roundups. C’mon Sam! Is it AIPAC?
I swear they keep certain topics off limits and give the radio hosts a “don’t talk about” list or a “be careful about” list… :omg:
I must confess that I bought the Jerusalem New Testament used at Powell’s Books.
:jesus:
There’s a remark “you may die but keep the face and you will be rewarded” LOL, you MAYYYY die???
Actually, SEDER did a fine job defending Palestinians once when he had that Harvard lawyer on–what the fuck is his name? [Clown Dershowitz.] Janeane comments on the Palestinian situation frequently.
It is good that SEDER is concerned with Iraq, given the US’s role in bringing the crisis about. On the other hand, we are equally responsible for what is going on in the Occupied Territories. Where is the commentary on that, Sam?
I mean “keep the faith”. Oh!!!! I’ve got an idea for a cartoon for NW and I’m going to work on it. It’s around the NR/Asbury Park possible connection theme. I’ll write something around that theme too
Anything about morning bliss, traps, and the fun kind of sinning, then they are my underlinings. Otherwise…
Have you shown anyone your work in the latest NW?
I meant to, haven’t yet…
oh, except Judy, I sent her the scan of the cartoon and the article
There’ll be no strings to bind your hands
not if my love can’t bind your heart.
I’m old enough to face the dawn.
I have been a bit of a recluse of late. I have not received a lot of feedback. I think you made the issue. A whole new dimension.
mmmm keep talking about that stuff ….traps and morning bliss… this girl on the Left just got a whole lot sexier 🙂
we.. my heart is bound…
I noticed that there wasn’t any feedback in the NR group on My Space…I thought it was a great issue (not just my own stuff, either, though I am proud of that)
:omg::nixon::rabbi::rofl2::love::omg::joe::joe::joe:
I want to use the Springsteen postcard image either as a cartoon or collage mixed with drawings, not sure, but with NR images placed (or drawn, not sure) around it…hinting (ok MORE than hinting) That NR was in Asbury in the 80’s…kind of think it would be funny if he was really young and still had that “hair” and that chain in his ear…
Talk about Israel, Sam.
I was in Asbury in the 1980s. I already told you that.
For your purposes, what number did Reggie Jackson wear when he played for the Yankees?
“I’m Twisted Sister!”:omg:
Out as many CIA agents as you can! Fuck those killers!:fu:
I’m not sure…what was it, 44 I think?
You will find out when you visit Norwalk.
oh yes, you’re supposed to tell me what to look for there.
:rofl2::rofl2::pent:
:tongue:
You were the sole contributor. :knit:
Any interesting packages today?
nothing today. Oh! Guess what song I just put up on my profile? :pent:
did you tell me a little while back that you were sending me a revised edition of the latest NW?
The Roman goddess of love and beauty, but originally a vegetation goddess and patroness of gardens and vineyards. Later, under Greek influence, she was equated with Aphrodite and assumed many of her aspects. Her cult originated from Ardea and Lavinium in Latium. The oldest temple known of Venus dates back to 293 BCE, and was inaugurated on August 18. Later, on this date the Vinalia Rustica was observed. A second festival, that of the Veneralia, was celebrated on April 1 in honor of Venus Verticordia, who later became the protector against vice. :omg:
Her temple was built in 114 BCE. After the Roman defeat near Lake Trasum in 215 BCE, a temple was built on the Capitol for Venus Erycina. This temple was officially opened on April 23, and a festival, the Vinalia Priora, was instituted to celebrate the occasion.
Trap me in that Temple!
I have not sent that yet. #6?
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House voted Thursday to end a quarter-century offshore drilling ban and allow energy companies to tap natural gas and oil beneath waters from New England to Alaska.
Opponents of the federal ban argued that the nation needed to move closer to energy independence and insisted the gas and oil could be taken without threatening the environment and coastal beaches. They said a state choosing to keep the moratorium could do so.
The measure was approved 232-187.
But the bill’s prospects in the Senate were uncertain. Florida’s two senators have vowed to filibuster any legislation that would allow drilling within 125 miles of Florida’s coast. Other senators from several coastal states also have strongly opposed ending the drilling restrictions.
http://tinyurl.com/qwz9k
=======================
Rape rape pillage pillage ONK ONK Squeal Squeal..:crap::eek::yuck::rant1::nixon::peace:
She’s my patron Goddess in her many forms. And yes, I have singled you out and you’re in my secret garden
WTF! Hall of Fame vs. Hall of Fame.
Schilling against Glavine. OMG:omg:
Flytrap me!
Issue #6?
Ah, that’s better.
I thought you told me you had a revised version of the last issue? Or did I hear wrong?
6 is the Halloween issue? I have that 😉
In Greek mythology, Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty and sexual rapture.
I have not copied it yet. Heatwave here.
oh wait, no, that’s 4.
No. That was number 4. Shannon interview. Pre-election stuff.
there’s no rush. I was just wondering if you actually told me that
The mysterious visit to CT. That was #6. Filmmakers’ interview.
ok, then I do need 6, as well as 1, 2, and 3
so I have to wait to read 6 to get info on what to look for in CT? :omg:
Her festival is the Aphrodisiac which was celebrated in various centers of …
No. It means that a package I sent a long time ago has not arrived.
awww
Kant said that there was a secret mechanism in the soul which prepared direct intuitions in such a way that they could be fitted into the system of pure reason. But today that secret has been deciphered. While the mechanism is to all appearances planned by those who serve up the data of experience, that is, by the culture industry, it is in fact forced upon the latter by the power of society, which remains irrational, however we may try to rationalise it; and this inescapable force is processed by commercial agencies so that they give an artificial impression of being in command.
the trick is to understand that we have that side of us. Once we do we can learn to control it. If we don’t acknowledge it, it controls us.
Hurray Mrs. PJ for the update! :banana:
I assume he arrived home by now a-ok. Was checking the blog to be sure the :gate: followed him home.
Have a great weekend Siggy. (and you, too, pj & the missus!)
:love:
Time to go…
bbbbbbbbbbbbbb
goodnight Nicki…
Talk about Israel, Nichols. You jerk!
Some pressure,, asshole!:fu:
You know, I really feel bad about the Palestinians, but my country is the one that’s disintegrating at the moment.
Here’s more alarming news about Ol’ Triangulatin’ Hillary, in case you needed it:
http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/06/whistleblowers_.html#more
She doesn’t even have the guts to support whistle-blowers. I’m telling you, I smell a deal between the Clintons and the Bushes; it really fits together, and I’m no conspiracy theorist.
So cresttwo, do you think my letter was too harsh?:paranoid: I almost mentioned seeing him at Katz’ Deli Mothersday Morn but thought better of it.
Get that head out of the sand,, c2. Stop deluding yourself.
Get your disintegrating country to stop arming Israel to the teeth and providing political and diplomatic cover. It is our rsponsibility to stop this slam into war and destruction.
:pent::spank:
:pent::omg:
:bow:
hehe
No response, c2? I threw down the gauntlet.
I may have put the wrong street address…15 instead of 10…:omg:
sdsfsfsfs my keyboard was freezing
eh? wrong street address in that package that never showed up?
:bow::rofl2:
Yes. ZIP instead of address, perhaps. Somewhere in the Manhattan North postal system.
Heartsville is 10530 :love::omg:
check myspace mail :omg:
I know it is. I glitched it, perhaps.
I’m sorry… was that the one with issue 6?
Everything else was correct, so it will arrive sooner or later.
I’ll let you know as soon as it does
Turn me on, Baby!:omg:
We interupt this program for:
PJ- glad you made it home safely.
My Dad will be driving into NY tomorrow from Danville PA.
:billcat:
I only had to drive from Mount Hood to McMinnville. Under interesting skies
PJ Re 133 Glad you made it home okay
:banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:
ENJOY
Pj’s home! Any adventures on the road? I really like driving in crappy weather. I feel all protected in my little comfort bubble with the nastiness beating against the window.
stupid brand new computer is having problems playing youtube videos!
Before it is to late:
YEA:banana:LJinOregon#1:banana:YEA
😉
It is not the immediate human conditions created by this strike that are monumental. Those conditions are, of course, bad enough. No lights, no refrigerators, no fans through the suffocating Gaza summer heat. No going outside for air, due to ongoing bombing and Israel’s impending military assault. In the hot darkness, massive explosions shake the cities, close and far, while repeated sonic booms are doubtless wreaking the havoc they have wrought before: smashing windows, sending children screaming into the arms of terrified adults, old people collapsing with heart failure, pregnant women collapsing with spontaneous abortions. Mass terror, despair, desperate hoarding of food and water. And no radios, television, cell phones, or laptops (for the few who have them), and so no way to get news of how long this nightmare might go on.
But this time, the situation is worse than that. As food in the refrigerators spoils, the only remaining food is grains. Most people cook with gas, but with the borders sealed, soon there will be no gas. When family-kitchen propane tanks run out, there will be no cooking. No cooked lentils or beans, no humus, no bread – the staples Palestinian foods, the only food for the poor. (And there is no firewood or coal in dry, overcrowded Gaza.)