Instant Messaging

The thrust of John McCain's presidential propoganda seems to be that he thinks president Bush is wrong, but that his policies should be maintained.

Isn't that akin to arguing the captain of the Titanic was wrong, but that his speed, timing, and direction were wise actions to be emulated?

Another democratic nail in the rule of law's coffin

This Bush-pandering FISA bill that just passed the Senate marks democrats like Ms. Pelosi and Barak Obama as betrayers of the rule of law:


Details here


The American people gave Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid a clear mandate to end the war in Iraq and punish the law breaking of the Bush administration, but they have decided to forge on with a plan of endless appeasement that is sickening to behold. America is turning into a banana republic led by criminals and seems to be swirling the drain.

Maybe we need to start tarring and feathering cowardly politicians again?

How much proof do you need?

For years climate scientists have been telling us the earth is warming due to man-introdued greenhouse gasses. They told us the global average temperatures would start rising and it did. They created climate models that predicted extreme water conditions, more pronounced droughts and more violent storms. These things have been coming to pass.

They warned the polar ice was melting, and that as it melted the reflective ice would be replaced with heat-absorbing darker water and that this would create a "feedback loop" which would accelerate the pace of the warming.

Scientists are now saying...

"It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year.

Source"

Making predictions based upon observations is what you'd expect from theories that are reliable.

Even more than that the basic science boils down to this...

Carbon is dark, like coal or tar, and like them it absorbs heat well. You can confirm this by walking barefoot on sunny pavement and contrasting that by walking barefoot on sunny cement.

What these Exxon/Mobil hirelings are trying to confuse is that elementary science. You can expose the silliness of their arguments by taking your shoes off at any sunny parking lot near you. You can also think about Venus if it is nighttime. Venus is further from the sun than Mercury, yet hotter. It is so because it has an atmosphere in a state which scientists refer to as "run away global warming".

Time is short and as humans squabble over the last vestiges of a lifestyle that is killing us, a much larger problem goes unnoticed. It can only be addressed with international unity of purpose. It can only be addressed when governments tax that which generates carbon to fund that which does not. While I fear nuclear power for its waste and meltdowns and proliferation of dangerous weaponry, I prefer it to planet-wide destruction and am willing to support it because it doesn't put carbon in the atmosphere.

I will also support wind power and solar power and any other project that generates power without carbon.

This must be a priority. The evidence says so.

Neil Young

Along with Bruce Springstein and the Dixie Chicks, Neil Young will be remembered by me as an artist that spoke out unequivocally about the abuses of the president Bush.

This video begins, "Let's impeach the president for lying":



Here is a link to a Billboard interview with Mr. Young:

Bernard Shakey

Blackwater

What do you suppose would happen if some state hostile to the U.S., say Iran, were to use a sovereign fund to hostilely take-over ownership of Blackwater?

I do believe Blackwater is going to be the problem that keeps on giving.

By Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, USA (Retired)

This report tells the largely untold human story of what happened to detainees in our custody when the Commander-in-Chief and those under him authorized a systematic regime of torture. This story is not only written in words: It is scrawled for the rest of these individuals' lives on their bodies and minds. Our national honor is stained by the indignity and inhumane treatment these men received from their captors.

The profiles of these eleven former detainees, none of whom were ever charged with a crime or told why they were detained, are tragic and brutal rebuttals to those who claim that torture is ever justified. Through the experiences of these men in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, we can see the full scope of the damage this illegal and unsound policy has inflicted - both on America's institutions and our nation's founding values, which the military, intelligence services, and our justice system are duty-bound to defend.

In order for these individuals to suffer the wanton cruelty to which they were subjected, a government policy was promulgated to the field whereby the Geneva Conventions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice were disregarded. The UN Convention Against Torture was indiscriminately ignored. And the healing professions, including physicians and psychologists, became complicit in the willful infliction of harm against those the Hippocratic Oath demands they protect.

After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts, and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.

The former detainees in this report - each of whom is fighting a lonely and difficult battle to rebuild his life - require reparations for what they endured, comprehensive psycho-social and medical assistance, and even an official apology from our government.

But most of all, these men deserve justice as required under the tenets of international law and the United States Constitution.

And so do the American people.

More...
And More...

Why doesn't this matter to "Law and Order" Republicans?

In what ways does this abuse make the US safer?

Can we fight for democracy abroad and let it lapse at home?

McSame

One thing I'll say for YouTube is that it is getting harder and harder for politicians to be outright full-throated hypocrites without getting caught.

The I-word for POTUS

On Tuesday, June 8th, 2008 Representative Dennis Kucinich introduced 35 articles of impeachment against the president Bush.

Details here

It seems long overdue, particularly with presidential pardons and lessons not learned in Iraq.

Hedges

Christopher Hedges has a new book out called Collateral Damage which tries to make war "real" for our TV-obsessed culture. Christopher has been a reporter for a long time and covered war zones for a long time and seems to have an earnestness in his message for mankind. He hinted at this in his previous book, I don't believe in Atheists, when he said the world would survive if People stopped believing in God, but not if they stopped believing in Sin (to paraphrase).

War is not a moral "slippery slope" so much as it is a mosh pit of depravity to be leapt into.

You can read an article by Christopher called, "What it really means when America goes to war" to get a sense of the work.

Given Christopher's background I expect it to provide a human touch to war's gloss. We need that badly, and I am reminded of this every time I watch the toothy shellac-heads playing journalists on TV.

War is not a game, or a sport, or lowest of all entertainment. It is sometimes necessary, but always evil and it brings out the worst in our best. Unfortunately the converse is not true and our worst are sinking down.

Lewis Black Attack

Wet that whistle and ring that bell

Here is my attempt at a song which can be sung at an anti-war protest rally. I went for simple and churchy. I also went for lyrics that put a little personal responsibility into the mix.


The lyrics are...

If we don't bring them home, they will stay.
If we don't bring them home, they will stay.
If we don't bring them home, they will stay and stay.
Let's bring them home, bring them home, bring them home.


We've been stuck in Iraq, far too long.
We've been stuck in Iraq, far too long.
We've been stuck in Iraq, with no plan to get back.
Let's bring them home, bring them home, bring them home.


Here is the melody (MP3 format)

Download

It starts on middle C.

A song that stays like a US soldier in Iraqi

The latest delegate odds

Now that Oregon and Kentucky have spoken, it is time to update the delegate math...

Barak Obama has 1656 pledged delegates and 306super delegates for a total of 1962delegates.

Hillary Clinton has 1498 pledged delegates and 279 super delegates for a total of 1777 delegates.

Democratic candidates need 2026 delegates to win the nomination.
Obama therefore needs 64 more delegates (1962 + 64 = 2026).
Hillary needs 249 more delegates (1681 + 249 = 2026).

There are 302 available delegates. Obama needs 21.19% of them and Hillary needs 82.45% of them.

Hillary says she is staying the course, so it is on to Montana and South Dakota.

Source: CNN Delegates 2008

Hamas as victim

When a Grad Katyusha rocket fired by Hamas lands in an Israeli shopping mall and injures 90 people why isn't that news?

The Western media has become one-sided in its' portrayal of violence with respect to Gaza, painting a simplistic view of Israelis as oppressors and Palestinians as victims even when Hamas targets civilians.

Can you imagine what the U.S. response would be if Canada fired a rocket into a mid-western shopping mall?

And yet the Israelis' respond with little-more than precision strikes.

It is a safe bet that if a Palestinian civilian is harmed in response to these acts of war it will be deemed news and possibly an outrage.

The new numbers

Hillary blew Barak Obama out in West Virginia hitting the target of 66% of the vote, which is a remarkable total.

But, Barak did win some delegates and that changes the math...

Hillary has 1,444 pledged delegates and 273 super delegates for a total of 1717 delegates. She now needs 307 of the remaining 432 delegates to win. That is 71% of the total.

Barak has 1,600 pledged delegates and 282 super delegates for a total of 1882 delegates. He now needs 142 of the remaining 432 delegates to win. That is 32.87% of the total.

You will notice that Hillary clobbered Barak in West Virginia and yet the bar becomes even higher for her going forward (from 66% to 71%). Every little drop in Obama's delegate bucket makes Hillary's odds worse, but all the votes are not yet counted.

Next up are Kentucky and Oregon.

Errol Morris' new film

In the pudding

Due to rising oil prices, gas prices, food prices, and unemployment rates, people in Maine have been seeking welfare in greater numbers (up 10% in 2008).

This means Republicans are now responsible for increasing the size of government, spying on Americans, over-turning state initiatives, embroiling us in a costly foreign occupation, and increasing the welfare roles.

The chasm between what Republicans spout and what they deliver grows deep and wide.

More delegate math

Now that North Carolina and Indiana have spoken, it is time to update the delegate math...

Barak Obama has 1584 pledged delegates and 252 super delegates for a total of 1836 delegates (Source).

Hillary Clinton has 1415 pledged delegates and 266 super delegates for a total of 1681 delegates (Source).

John Edwards has 18 pledged delegates.

Democratic candidates need 2024 delegates to win the nomination.
Obama therefore needs 188 more delegates (1836 + 188 = 2024).
Hillary needs 343 more delegates (1681 + 343 = 2024).

3535 delegates awarded so far (1836 + 1681 + 18).
There are 4049 total delegates (Source).
There are, then, 514 delegates remaining.

There are 221 pledged delegates left, ranked in descending delegate order below:

Puerto Rico has 55 delegates and votes on June 7th
Oregon has 52 delegates and votes on May 20th
Kentucky has 51 delegates and votes on May 20th
West Virginia has 28 delegates and votes on May 13th
Montana has 16 delegates and votes on June 3rd
South Dakota has 15 delegates and votes on June 3rd
Guam has 4 delegates and votes on May 3rd

This means there are 293 super delegates remaining (514 - 221)

Now that we have the updated info we can look at the updated odds.

Obama needs 188 of the 514 remaining delegates, so he needs 36.58% (an improvement of 6.8% since last check) of the total to win the nomination (188/514).

Hillary needs 343 of the 514 remaining delegates, so she needs 66.73% (a drop in the odds of 8.06% since last check) of the total to win the nomination (343/514).

Hillary has never achieved those kinds of pledged delegate numbers in this race. The closest she has come to that is in American Samoa where she grabbed 2 of the 3 delegates for 66.66%.

She is finished whether or not she admits it.

To this point Barak Obama has spent $158,509,856 to defeat Hillary Clinton (Source).

To this point Hillary Clinton has spent $108,862,564 to not defeat Barak Obama (Source)

That means that democratic candidates have spent $267,372,420 to choose a nominee.

That's incredible, isn't it?

From the horse's mouth

I am tired of people saying they "misspoke" and getting a free pass.

Think and hope

Hillary's 3am ad projected the message, "Fear to vote for Obama". Her late Pennsylvania ad seems designed to scare Americans about the past:




Here is Bill Clinton speaking about that kind of message: