No Quarter!

Jane over at Firedoglake has a post up disagreeing with Matthew Yglesias and Kevin Drum's argument that we should give in a little on the First Amendment issue around not allowing the Ten Commandments to be posted in Government buildings. I am repeating what I posted to her comment section here because I think it is horribly important that we not lose sight of the fact that this is a fight over life and death and not just something as simple as to whether you can or should be able to post the Ten Commandments in a public place. Here is my comment to her post:

I agree. Both Matt and Kevin are obviously smart and well read but both are suffering from the delulsion that there is some tolerance on the other side and that letting them have their way on the small battles will strengthen our position on the bigger ones. The root of the delusion is the assumption that we are dealing with rational people and that is not true. We are dealing with, for all intents and purposes, insane whackos who are absolutely convinced that they are 100% right. They are not prepared to reconcile or negotiate their position and it is foolish for us to approach them thinking otherwise. If we give in to them on anything, regardless of its apparent importance, we will only encourage them and justify their intolerance. Remember folks, if they weren't concerned that there are still laws against murder and judges that will enforce them they would kill you in cold blood and leave you bleeding in the street. If you don't agree with them completely and without question they do not consider you human. Always remember this and you may survive. Never forget that Hitler was, for lack of a better term, "Fundamentalist Christian" and he used his beliefs to justify the execution of millions of Jews on the basis that their beliefs conflicted with his own. These people have taken the tolerant and loving teachings of Jesus and turned them into an intolerant, hating and poisonous cult they do not respect any other belief or religion and if you let them turn our country into their idea of a theocracy we and the rest of the world are in for a "world of shit" I kid you not. Don't give an inch.

Bull Shit Alert

Catching up on the paper last night after getting in from the airport and I happened upon an article in the AJC by one Thomas Sowell on why you shouldn't be bad mouthing Wal-Mart for low wages and employment practices. Evidently he is also published on Townhall and if you want to read the whole article you can find it yourself as I won't lower myself to link to those kinds of sites. I've quoted a chunk below so that you can get the drift of his so-called argument. It is the biggest piece of crap I have read in many a moon. He talks about market driven wages but fails to mention that a recent study by the Bureau of Labor shows that Wal-Mart pays on average much less than the average retail worker gets in this country. The average retail hourly wage is $12.28 and Wal-Mart's is $9.68. Don't miss also that competitor CostCo's average wage is $16.00 per hour. He also fails to mention that only about half of Wal-Mart's employees are covered by health insurance and that a great majority rely on Medicaid for healthcare. He also skips over the predatory pricing and the union busting as well. I wonder how often Sowell even shops at Wal-Mart? Do you think he wheels his SUV or maybe his Lexus into the parking lot a couple of times a week to refresh his supply of Cheetohs and RC? Then maybe he just goes by savor the soul numbing, life force sucking ambience.
If perchance you are stupid enough to believe the Wal-Mart myth about always low prices you might be surprised if you would do some actual comparisons with Target or Costco. With the exception of what are known as "loss leaders" you will find the prices at both of the other stores competitive if not cheaper on name brands. The quality of the sore brands at the other stores is much better as well and also competitively priced. Not only that, you will find that shopping at someplace that actually pays a living wage a whole lot more rewarding when you realize that the person stocking the shelves and checking you out is probably able to to afford health insurance and food for their family.

Should people be paid according to what they "need" instead of according to what their work is worth? Should they decide how big a family they want and then put the cost of paying to support that family on somebody else?

If their work is not worth enough to pay for what they want, is it up to others to make up the difference, rather than up to them to upgrade their skills in order to earn what they want?

Are they supposed to be subsidized by Wal-Mart's customers through higher prices or subsidized by Wal-Mart's stockholders through lower earnings? After all, much of the stock in even a rich company is often owned by pension funds belonging to teachers, policemen and others who are far from rich.

Why should other people have to retire on less money, in order that Wal-Mart employees can be paid what the New York Times wants them paid, instead of what their labor is worth in the marketplace? After all, they wouldn't be working for Wal-Mart if someone else valued their labor more.

Nor are they confined to Wal-Mart for life. For many, entry-level jobs are a stepping-stone, whether within a given company or as experience that gets them a better job with another company.

Working, Working

Once again making a living is getting in the way of blogging. Back from Boston and looks like a week of no travel coming up. Maybe we will have a chance to catch up on what's going on.

Get a Life

I really need to get a life. Here I am in Boston for a couple of days...its 10:15 and I have just gotten into the hotel from the airport. Thursday and Friday last week Minneapolis and the previous two weeks in Lyon, France. It's only May and I have 60,000 miles on Delta/Air France/KLM. TSA totally turned my bag upside down. A very careful packing job was to no avail and I unpacked a jumble of shirts, socks and underwear a few moments ago. Atlanta was gorgeous over the weekend and I just zombied. Called Mom and that is about all. This is no life for a 55 year old fart.

Speaking of Hell

Continuing from the last two posts...Jane over at Firedoglake is making note of one of the prime contributors to our current walk through hell. Jack Welch. As usual she does a thorough job.

Can I Start Crying Yet?

As the mother closed her tear drained eyes she squeezed the tiny hand one last time. Never again would that little face bring bright sunshine and the glow of unbridled love into her life. If only her two jobs had brought in enough money for some health insurance maybe the cancer would have been discovered soon enough to treat.

Today in the NY Times:

After spending more than $4.5 billion on screening devices to monitor the nation's ports, borders, airports, mail and air, the federal government is moving to replace or alter much of the antiterrorism equipment, concluding that it is ineffective, unreliable or too expensive to operate.

Change the details and repeat this scene how many thousands of times? The impact of this administration will echo across the centuries. The negative karma and bad juju generated by Bush and his cronies will stain humankind forever.

More Mother's Sons

Another tragic milestone greeted the mothers of the United States today. Seven American mothers learned that their child had been sacrificed for George Bush's arrogance and stupidity. Today after seven U.S. troops were murdered in Iraq in the last 48 hours the U.S. death toll in Iraq crossed the 1600 mark and now rests at 1602.

Sneak Attack

Just in case you are not aware of it...the fascists in charge of our country are about to take another big bite out of your personal liberty. Hidden away as an added bonus in the Supplemental Appropriations Bill for Iraq and Afghanistan is a nifty little thing called the The RealID Act and there are some charming little details.
One section of the bill prohibits the federal government from accepting state driver's licenses or other ID cards that don't meet certain "minimum document requirements." These include a digital photo, machine-readable technology, and "physical security features designed to prevent tampering, counterfeiting or duplication." States will also be required to demand certain documents from applications, including "evidence of lawful status" in the United States. And states will be required to retain paper copies of those documents for seven years, or digital copies for 10 years.
What does this mean you may ask? If your state isn't ready within three years to issue this compliant ID you won't be able to board a flight, take a train, enter a federal courthouse or any other Federal building if you use your state-issued driver's license as identification.
Use a little imagination and you will begin to see that even though it may be issued by the states this is in reality a national id and all states and the government will have access to the data. This means your every movement and action will be available for anyone who wants to know it. If you think that this data will be safe because it is in the government's hands you are forgeting ChoicePoint, LexisNexis and the fact that CitiBank, MNBA, etc. are the government for all intents and purposes.

"The simple answer is that it gives the government greater ability to control the actions of private individuals. It has generally been the view in this country that one of the core aspects of personal freedom is to be free of government control."
"Identification is a form of coercion. It's a way someone says you can't do what you want to do unless you prove who you are." The Village Voice

Finally, just for fun, the bill includes another cheery little fascist measure granting the Secretary of Homeland Security “the authority to waive…all laws such Secretary, in such Secretary’s sole discretion, determines necessary to ensure expeditious construction of the barriers and roads” claimed to be vital to national security. No courts are allowed “to hear any cause or claim arising from any action undertaken, or any decision made, by the Secretary of Homeland Security” in this process, nor to order any relief for damages incurred by the exercise of the Secretary’s authority.

Watch the Other Hand

Just like a magician distracts you with one hand while doing the trick with the other the Bush gang is doing the same with Social Security. This has been dawning on me for a couple of weeks but something that Big Media Matt said yesterday while guest hosting TPM distilled the vague uneasiness I have been feeling

Once a program becomes the narrow concern of a minority of the population -- and not just any minority, but a minority that can't afford lobbysists, doesn't enjoy access to the media, is socially isolated from the American elite, etc. -- it gets squeezed out in favor of programs whose constituents do enjoy those things. There's no flailing here.
-- Matthew Yglesias

If you believe Bush and company are trying to save Social Security you are a fool. They are trying to set it up to be dismantled, not necessarily by them, but by some future administration. This latest shift to indexing is basically an attempt to turn it into a welfare program where only the lowest income folks get full benefits. This is very subtle but today Social Security is recognized and accepted as a social insurance program where you pay in expecting to reap the benefit in your retirement. There is no stigma of welfare or of a "dole". If they succeed in changing it into a welfare like program it will be set for some later administration to present the old "welfare queen and Cadillac" argument and down it goes. The people depending on it will not have the power or resources to fight back. The GOP will have finally succeeded in destroying FDR's greatest legacy, which they have been trying to do ever since it was created. No one seems to be focusing on the fact that by reducing the benefit of the less needy you reduce their overall concern for the program as it means less to their overall retirement security. They aren't going to be nearly as upset if just a small percentage of their potential retirement is threatened. It is only the small, powerless and voiceless minority for whom Social Security will be their only source of income when they retire that will suffer. It is a very subtle but vilely cruel game they play and if we let them get away with it we should all be ashamed. If you think I am mistaken reflect a moment on the outrage you have heard surrounding the giant cuts in Medicaid and food stamps in the latest Federal Budget.

Christian Reform

The Farmer over at Corrente has a timely post and extensive piece of a an article by Robert Parsons A Call for Reformation and Revival. It adds some context to the discussion Jane at Firedoglake and I have had on introducing the Bible as a text for study in literature and how it is just a ploy to get the Bible in schools and there is absolutely no intent to actually study the Bible. The intent is to cherry pick the parts that support Christian reform and advocate bringing down the wall between church and state. It's a lengthy post but worth reading if this subject interests you. I find something at the end of the post quite revelaing and worth quoting and that is a quote from The American Covenant by Marshall Foster.

The Bolding/highlighting is mine
If you see God as ruling the earth:
1. Your commission is to subdue the earth and build Christian nations through evangelizing and discipleship.
2. You see Christian culture to be the only acceptable culture and you see all others as aberrations.
3. All of God's world is holy and every activity in life is a religious activity to be seen as a spiritual work for God.
4. Reformation is expected.

If you see Satan as ruling the earth:
1. You must just concentrate on saving souls from this evil world.
2. You see Christian culture as a counter-culture, a persecuted minority in an evil world.
3. Church activity is primary and spiritual, while worldly pursuits are secular and to be dealt with only as a necessity.
4. Reformation is impossible and suspect, since things must get worse before Christ returns.

Think carefully about the implications of the above statements. There is no compromise and no recognition of other cultures and beliefs. If you don't believe as they believe you are evil and deserve nothing.
Be warned that the latest talk about activist judges and how not allowing the conservative judges Bush has selected to be confirmed are an attack on Christians is just the beginning. There are legal briefs in front of the Supreme Court arguing against the separation of church and state. This is deadly serious folks. The theocrats think this is their time and that with a sympathetic president and a majority in congress they can finally push the country back towards a theocracy.

Jesus' iPod

WIth all the stuff about Bush and his purported iPod you knew it was only a matter of time before Mark Morford ripped it. Sorry if you have seen it but I am just catching up.

The iPod and Jesus -- it just makes sense.

After all, Jesus was a rebel. Jesus was the Original Liberal. Jesus was a devoted pacifist and a badass egalitarian and his best friends were all whores and dissidents and freethinkers and miscreants, artists of every shape and size and haircut and of course, were he walking around today, Jesus would be pretty much loathed and ostracized if not outright hacked to bits by the Christian Right. "Goddamn hippie liberal tree hugger," they'd sneer, waving scythes and Bibles. "What the hell?" Jesus would say.

Teach it All or Not at All

Jane over at Firedoglake has a great post up on a movement to start use the Bible in teaching literature. Jane obviously has better credentials than I for discussing this but I have been raised in the south and know a little about religion and the effects the Bible has when it is introduced into polite society. Besides, I have been virtually silent for almost two weeks and this is one of my favorite subjects.
First and foremost, when talking about the Bible, especially when it is associated with Southern Baptist, Church of God, Assembly of God and all of the other offshoots of fundamentalist southern Christianity do not ever presume to allude to the fact that the Bible is not the absolute, unadulterated WORD OF GOD. Begin a discussion at any other point without a firm acceptance of this “absolute truth” and you are lost.
If you try an explain that while in many ways an excellent collection of ancient parables and stories it really didn’t just spring into existence from the mouth of God in 1611 A.D. when it was first published but actually was an often wildly inaccurate translation of Hebrew and Greek writing from 900 B.C to around 120 A.D. There is no manuscript of the Old Testament older that the 9th century B.C. We do know, however, that all of these writings were collected and declared Holy Scriptures by the Rabbinical Conclave in Palestine shortly before 100A.D. We also know that the Christian Bible was compiled by a Catholic Council in Carthage in about 300 A.D. That was when some of the controversial books like the Shepherd of Hermas and the glorious Gospel of Saint Thomas were left out. It’s a hoot to know that the Christian Bible is composed of Jewish writings that reject Jesus and Catholics who are reviled as the Scarlet Woman of Revelation.
So anyway, to get back to the point about the Bible used as literature and whether it is a good idea, I agree with Jane that if you teach it in its historical perspective and the puerile with the rest then maybe some good might come of it. I actually have no expectation that this will happen as this is just another method, like intelligent design, to get the Christian bias into the schools. No way will they ever teach the Bible straight up just like they won’t believe it is not the direct word of God.
It’s like this…the Bible is a collected work of ancient writing full of parables, allegory, myth, mysticism and just plain fiction that requires a working knowledge of mythology, linguistics, theology, history, philosophy and archaic language to interpret at all credibly. Probably someone like Jane’s father could be trusted to teach a course but I would doubt anyone with lesser background. Additionally, there should be prerequisite courses in comparative religion, philosophy eastern and western not to mention history. If you just turn over this dangerous book to a bunch of relatively ignorant and uneducated peasants to use their superstition, petty jealousies and greed to interpret and use as they see fit…guess what you’ve got American Fundamentalism. This is exactly what happened when you started mass printing Bibles. A lot of ignorant and uneducated people now had what everyone says is the “ultimate” authority with which to justify their basest desires and worst prejudices and that is exactly what is happening. If you haven’t noticed a lot of these people are horribly afraid that there are people out there who are having a better time than they are and that there are people who are not afraid of things that are new and different and who embrace life warts and all. They want everybody to be disgusted at their sexuality and afraid of life like they are and cower from they joy of life lived. If you had given the Bible to Taoists or Buddhists which are basically pacifist and tolerant you wouldn’t have nearly the problems we have today. The Bible is militaristic and chauvinistic when literally understood and is being used by these fanatics to justify a campaign, that doesn’t recognize compromise, to make it the only belief permitted in the world. The Bible is not an evil book but in the wrong hands it is horribly dangerous. You only have to look closely at Christianity today to understand the problem.
Read the following carefully and repeat it often when you get confused about Christianity. It is a key to understanding.

Christianity is a religion about Jesus not the religion of Jesus.

update: I meant peasants not pheasants. fixed it

Stupid is as Stupid Does

The people in the Bush administration are now obviously convinced we are utter morons and that they can tell us absolutely anything and not be challenged. Not only that, they think we can’t remember what we had for breakfast this morning and couldn’t possibly remember what stupid lie was parroted by Bush just a week ago.
Bush the Stupid tells us one week that Treasury Bonds are just so many paper IOUs and worthless and the next week is telling us they are the safest of investments. The longer we let this crap go on the worse it will get. At some point it will get so outrageous that we will be too embarrassed to point it out fearing that everyone will think we are pedantic for doing so. I have no doubt that this latest bullshit will be ignored my the main stream as well. Our lack of outrage and silence of the taxpayer funded “Let’s Destroy Social Security Tour”has pushed their belief over the edge. Brad DeLong explains the fuzzy math very well so I don’t have to.

The "build a nest egg" part... The "invest in Treasury bonds" part... Let's mosey on over to the Federal Reserve and look at the safest long-term investment the U.S. Treasury offers: the twenty-year inflation-protected TIP:
FRB: H.15--Selected Interest Rates, Web-Only Daily Update--April 28, 2005: Inflation-indexed: 20-year 1.83 1.86 1.87.
What the Federal Reserve is telling us is that the 20-year TIP is currently providing a real yield of 1.87% per year. What Bush is not telling you is that, under the Bush plan, if you divert $1000 from your Social Security to private accounts, that amount is clawed back--charged to an account associated with your normal Social Security benefit, that amount is then compounded at 3% per year plus the rate of inflation, and then after you retired deducted over time from your normal Social Security benefit.
If you are 45 and if Bush's plan were available today...
Follow George W. Bush's advice, divert $1,000 into your private account, invest it in TIPS, and at the 1.85% per year interest rate you will indeed by able to collect an extra amount worth $10.11 a month in today's dollars when you retire at 65...
But the clawback would reduce your normal Social Security benefit by $14.16 a month. You're $4.05 a month behind.
"Building a nest egg." Feh!

Winkleidis?

Someone must have a name for it. I’ve been out of the country for a couple of weeks and what with work and WiFi problems have been pretty much isolated from the internet and the blog world. Sitting here on a Saturday morning and trying to recover the ebb and flow of the net over the last two weeks is very strange. Quite a bit has happened and a lot of insightful comments but it is all passed now and anything I might add would be old hat. Gives one a strange sense of helplessness and/or out of control feeling. I can pitch right in, which I will do soon, but it will not remove the feeling of loss or lost opportunity. I did manage one post with the Blackberry but it wasn’t very rewarding somehow. Anyhow, I was wondering if anyone might have a good name for the withdrawal of the internet and the blogs for an extended period. Webenvy, netloss, blogified, blogidosis? Maybe something circumspect like winkleidis?

WAP Only

Well the WiFi in the hotel has gone away so I am reduced to finally getting around to trying to blog from the Blackberry. The plans for the weekend have thus gone south. Off and on rain have even put wandering aimlessly out. I've taken pictures of everything at least twice anyway.I did go out and have the obligatory baguette avec jambon et grueyere.
If you ever get the chance to visit Lyon and you like food you will enjoy yourself immensely. Try to stay in the old city section Vieux Lyon and you will have literaly hundreds of good places within a 10 minute walk. Lyon is considered by many to have the best food in France which I can't argue with.
You do have to be a little careful with literal translations though. One of notes on the menu the other night noted that the salad Lyonaisse was available with "donkey snouts" in season. I haven't figured out what that really is yet but I am sure it is quite tasty.
I did go out and walk the open air food market that appears along the Sohne on Saturday. For a food lover like me it like a dream. Ultra fresh fruit, vegetables, poultry, meat, local cheeses and, of course bread. Did I mention the fresh flowers, fish. People shopping up a storm. Very french. Ok now let's are if I can post this little test.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.

Dazed and Confused

No I haven't bailed on the blog. I am 100% against the wall on this gig. 12 - 14 hour days, still jet lagged and otherwise fragged. My only input has been the only Enlish TV availble CNN international and I am pretty sure the next segment will be on what he ate for breakfast when he was a Nazi. Basically, 24x7 Pope.
I leave the country for a few weeks and Anthrax winds up on the cover of Time and you haven't publicly hanged DeLay yet. Bolton's not in prison, Bush is not impeached and you haven't castrated Wolf Blitzer. Come on folks get with the program.
To tell you the truth I think I am becoming numb. You know it's plan don't you. They will keep raising the bar of outrageous and each new level hardens us a little more. Pretty soon nothing will shock us, Nothing they can do will stir us to action. We will have been shocked into apathy. Their most potent tool against humanity is apathy and they will do everything they can to encourage and strengthen it.
I am going to have to do something to restore my sense of rightness it is gettin way to easy for me to gloss over the bad news with a "What a shame."
Any suggestions? Wait I've got it -- shock treatment--to restore my sense of outrage.
Imagine a full length Playboy centerfold of Ann Coulter! If that doesn't kick the outrage up a notch or two, I'm dead and no one has told me.
Bon Nuit!

Safe and Sound

Safe and sound in Lyon. Paris was sunny but it is chilly and raining here. New hotel this trip. In the old part of the city right on the river Sohne in the historic section. Passable with all the normal ammenities including wireles internet. Not as ritzy as the Radisson but has some charm being in in a rennovated 16th century building. I think I will be able to survive for a couple weeks no problem. Arriving on Sunday means pretty much everything is closed including the restaurant in the hotel. If I want to eat dinner it will be a walk in the rain and not until 730pm when any restaurant opening will open. Might be a pack of crackers and a beer from the mini bar for big bucks.
On a side note.. there were a lot of folks in desert camo in the Atlanta airport and quite a few civilian contractors on their way to Iraq. Depressing...most are so young and surpisingly quite a few young women. Evidently from CNN it has not been a good weekend either. Damn the SOBs.

That'll Show Us Complainers

Dan Froomkin says concering the Screw up Your Retirement and Default on the Debt roadshow in Kirtland, Ohio

And, after mounting criticism that the White House has been shattering presidential precedents, wrapping Bush in a bubble and possibly even violating free-speech rights by keeping dissenters out of Bush's so-called public events, the Bush team is trying something new today.

For today's event, the White House has eliminated any pretense that the events are open to the public, instead making it clear that the events are invitation-only.

Do you think we taxpayers are still paying for the event? Do you you think they have the balls to charge us for something we have no access to?

Cell Phone Hell

This is a PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT -- Cell Phone numbers are about to be released to telemarketers and if you don't relish the idea of having your cell ring constantly for nothing you can go here and register your cell number in the Do Not Call Registry.
It is simple - just enter your number (or up to three) and your email and then ack the email they send to confirm and you should be protected.
Thanks to Susan at Surburban Guerrilla for the tip.

Book Meme

Jane over at Firedoglake passed the "book meme" (not really a meme) on to me. Since having her mad at me is most assuredly a bad thing I am herewith answering the call. After I have some time to stew I may change my mind but I have to catch a plane.

You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?

The Book – On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are by Alan Watts was the most important book I have ever read and it started me on a path of discovery that is still underway. It is truly a dangerous book.


Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Being a fictional character myself I have had not only crushes but torrid love affairs with dozens of other fictional characters. Most memorable probably being Maureen Johnson Long from Heinlen’s Time Enough for Love and To Sail Beyond the Sunset. Then again, Menolly the Harper from Anne McCafferty’s Pern series was special as was The Rowan from the Anne’s Talents series.

What are you currently reading?
Dropping Ashes on the Buddha by Stephen Mitchell – about the teachings of Zen Master Seung Sahn

The last book you bought is:
Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver bought it on a whim in the Atlanta Airport and loved it. Didn’t know who Barbara was then but look forward to reading more.

The last book you read:
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

Five books you would take to a deserted island:

The Dragon Trilogy by Anne McCafferty for fun
Time Enough for Love by Heinlen because I never tire of reading it.
In My Own Way by Alan Watts for inspiration
Precision Nirvana by Deane Shapiro for mental maintenance
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones since it is the best collection of Zen writings I know

Something to Dwell On

I always try and find something to "Dwell On" when I am faced with long flights. This is usually something I stumble upon whilst aimlessly wandering web. It also has to be something that Jano or Alan Watts would define as a "synchronicity" something that intersects my path in a meaningful way. Today, I found it at The Heretik which I try and visit regularly for inspiration and almost always a laugh. It's about creativity and is concerning the work of Mihalyi Csikszentmihayli.
Flow: The Psychology Of Optimal Experience and Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention According to the Heretik both are must reads for people interested in creativity. Both are supposedly written for non-academic readers.

Csikszentmihayli is the architect of the notion of Flow in creativity. People enter a flow state when they are fully absorbed in activity during which they lose their sense of time and have feelings of great satisfaction. Csikszentmihalyi describes flow as "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost."

Mihalyi's elements of Flow are:
1. There are clear goals every step of the way.
2. There is immediate feedback to one’s actions.
3. There is a balance between challenges and skills.
4. Action and awareness are merged.
5. Distractions are excluded from consciousness.
6. There is no worry of failure.
7. Self-consciousness disappears.
8. The sense of time becomes distorted.
9. The activity becomes autotelic (something which is a end in itself).

I will write these on a card and put them in my pocket. I will eventually memorize them and can ponder them for the 8+ hours to Paris tomorrow. I will probably even run them over and over while I listen to whatever shows up on the iPod and see if synergy results. These nine elements are very Zen and I can feel that, right now, they are important to me. This is what Alan and Jano meant when they talked about synchronicity. You have to have to be open to them and recognize them when they pass but that you can't have any purposeful search for them. You just have to let them appear and accept them. We'll see.

Lest We Forget

"According to the UN, roughly three billion people do not have access to safe sewers,
1.5 billion lack clean water, 1.25 billion don't have minimally adequate housing, one billion
have no health care, and a half-billion don't get the minimum daily caloric requirement.
An unknown but very large number are illiterate. Among the world's poorest fifth,
between 30,000 and 40,000 children under five die each day from malnutrition and infection;
another 180 million barely hang on. The UN estimates that all these needs could be met,
at a basic level, for a yearly expenditure equal to 10 percent of the U.S. military budget
-- or slightly less than Americans and Europeans spend annually on pet food and ice cream."
-- George Scialabba, "Fiddling with Nature", The American Prospect, June 3, 2002, p. 37.

What to do With All The Poor Kids?

Look likes Bush and company have slipped us another one! Somehow I missed this. Last month Congress authorized a new "pre-enlistment program" for the Pentagon to insure there was sufficient cannon fodder for whatever devilment George wants to stir up next.

A young man who is at least 14 years old and has a parent's permission can enlist in the U.S. military, but will not report to duty until he reaches the legal age. The future soldier agrees to remain "physically and mentally fit" and to undergo annual physical examinations at the Military Entrance and Processing Station (MEPS). In exchange, the government provides him a $10,000 sign-on bonus that is paid in yearly installments of $2,500 until the age of 18, at which time any remaining balance is given to the recruit.

While waiting to report to duty at 18, the new recruits are paid a modest stipend and allowed access to funds granted veterans for education. Because combat duty is a requirement of enlistment, the program is currently open only to young men, and it has been authorized for only three years, so Congress will have to renew the program again in 2008.

This is so wrong and on so many levels that I am not sure where to start or just throw up my hands in disgust. Poor kids, minorities, kids with stupid parents are the target of a governement that just doesn't give a shit. I am absolutely sure that they see this as a win win in that they not only get more young blood to murder and rid the streets of all that trash.
The Pentagon response is evidently one of "Other countries have been recuiting kids for years--we are just leveling the field."

Thanks for Corrente for the lead.

Not So Good

Paul Krugman is starting a new series of articles on health care and the first is worth reading. I get so tired of trying to explain to other Americans that, in spite of what they think, the American health care system is not so hot and getting worse.
Krugman notes:

Finally, the U.S. health care system is wildly inefficient. Americans tend to believe that we have the best health care system in the world. (I've encountered members of the journalistic elite who flatly refuse to believe that France ranks much better on most measures of health care quality than the United States.) But it isn't true. We spend far more per person on health care than any other country - 75 percent more than Canada or France - yet rank near the bottom among industrial countries in indicators from life expectancy to infant mortality.

People don't believe me when I tell them that the United States ranks 41st in the world in infant mortality and that U.S. women are 70% more likely to die in childbirth than those in Europe.

Masters

No activity here. All the time is either at Augusta National and the Masters or commuting there. Fabulous day today without rain. Going to be a major finish with Woods challenging DiMarco and Bjorn lurking...Sleep required now.

Don't Need 'Em

Jane over at firedoglake highlights something I too have been wondering. Why do so many liberal/progressive bloggers read the right wing whacko bloggers and then proceed to get into pissing contests with them? This question arises as a result of a bit of insightful discussion over at Jenniebee on the continuing jousts between left and rightwing bloggers. I, for one, haven’t got time to waste on any of these sites and I actually get cranky when one of the blogs I do frequent links to LGF or Freeper or similar without warning me. I resent them getting a hit from me unknowingly.
It is really an environmental thing. I am already so far from the true path in my thoughts and behavior that I cannot afford the additional psychic poison inherent in reading anything posted on these sites. If I really want to focus on fear and ignorance I can predict what they are going to say on any particular subject anyway. So why bother? I can absolutely guarantee that it will not agree with my thinking. It will not change my mind or philosophy which, by the way, I have spent 55 years refining. Contact with these minds is what I call Dharma Poison. In Star Wars it is known as the Dark Side. These sites are full of fear driven hate. Contact with this environment is inimical to a positive mental force and must be avoided wherever possible. Don’t misunderstand what I mean by these statements. These folks have all the right to believe what they will and write as much and as often as they wish. I don’t have any desire to restrict their ability to communicate anymore that I want them to restrict mine (which they would do in a heartbeat).
Somewhere, someone illustrated the difference between belief and faith to me and I think it applies, at least to some degree, in this discussion. Picture two individuals, one a fundamentalist Christian and the other a student of Zen, caught on a rock in a storm swollen stream as the water comes higher and higher. It is obvious that it is just a matter of moments before they will drown as there is no sign of rescue. Suddenly, the Zen student smiles and jumps into the stream and is immediately swept downstream. The Christian grips the rock ever tighter and drowns as the water quickly rises.
Belief is holding on to the rock no matter what and faith is letting go and letting the stream take you where it may.
How do I get new ideas? I get them from reading the thoughts of others who look for solutions and understanding in the same ways I do. I read and communicate with people who have demonstrated an ability to think with reason and compassion. I read people who demonstrate faith in progressive ideas and how they can be applied to the problems of the world. I communicate with the jumpers.

Saturday Random iPod 10

I was feeling left out.. so here is my contribution to wasted bits.

1.The Emperor's New Clothes...Sinéad O'Connor
2.Octopus's Garden...The Beatles
3.Sleeping Bag...ZZ Top
4.Hay Unos Ojos...Linda Ronstadt
5.Armageddon...Areosmith
6.Chain Of Fools...Aretha Franklin
7.Che gelida manina (La Bohéme)...Pavarotti
8.Dentro Un Altro Si...Il Divo
9.Sign O' The Times...Prince
10.Sugar Sugar...Wilson Pickett

In Wonkette's Defense

Jane at firedoglake presents a well deserved defense of Ana Marie Cox at Wonkette. Steve Gilliard is way out of line in his comments and should apologize. Ana may get a little blue and joke about ass-fucking and boozing but that does not mean that she should be discounted as a responsible, intelligent and able blogger.
Besides that she is a redhead and to paraphrase Mark Twain....Redheads are descended from cats and like cats need no excuses. Then again maybe that was Heinlen. Whatever!

Update: fixed typos

Every Death Remembered

While everyone focuses on the death of Pope John Paul let's keep in mind that not everyone dying is a celebrity and that their deaths are just as significant, if not more so, than the Pope's. The Pope will be prayed over and discussed at length and truly and faithfully missed. It is very important that these deaths, another result of Bush's dance with the devil, be remembered for the tragedy they are.

Acute malnutrition among Iraqi children aged under five nearly doubled last year because of chaos caused by the US-led occupation, a United Nations expert said yesterday.

Jean Ziegler, the UN Human Rights Commission's special expert on the right to food, said more than a quarter of Iraqi children do not have enough to eat and 7.7% are acutely malnourished - a jump from 4% recorded in the immediate aftermath of the US-led invasion

Oh! and let's not forget our 1535 brothers and sisters who haave made the ultimate sacrifice for Bush's ego. If you too are dying a little with each one then hope that the world turns right side up soon.

If I know the Goddess like I think I do then I can't even imagine the punishment in store for Bush, Rumsfeld, Rove, Wolfowitz and company...

Mirror, Mirror

There has been a lot of discussion since the election about what the Democratic Party had to do about losing the election. I've posted several things myself including some ill thought out ranting and four letter words. A few days ago I came across an article by Daniel Goldberg in the New York Times talking about how all the leading candidates for the Democratic Presidential nominee were signed on as "National Security Democrats", are insisting that we have to get more in tune with war mongering and pre-emptive war. Wrong!

What must change are the perceptions of those that voted Republican in the last two elections. They are the ones who are misguided and have fallen for the lies either because they don't want to believe the truth or they are just uninformed. The left shouldn’t back down on its fundamental beliefs in equal opportunity, human rights, fairness, protecting our environment, compassion and peace. These are necessary if the world is to survive. So, what has to happen? How do we change the perceptions of the misguided? Not through confrontation and not through force or lies. We, instead let them change themselves.

An important concept in Zen training is meikyo which may be translated as "clear boundary" or "spotless mirror". Through Zen we seek to become perfect mirrors, clear reflections of nature and its processes. What we on the left need to do is hold the mirror up to the right and show them the results of their choices. Hold up the mirror to DeLay and demonstrate that he and his actions are what they voted to continue. Hold up the mirror to the Bush hypocrisy and lies and the lies of his minions. Hold up the mirror to the lawlessness and the disregard for the rule of law. Hold up the mirror to torture. Hold up the mirror to the war deaths and even more so the casualties and lifetimes of misery and disability. Hold up the mirror and show the uninsured children, American children going hungry, America's working poor and the quiet desperation of millions of unemployed Americans. Hold up the mirror to death and misery in Africa. Hold up the mirror to the destruction of our environment and quality of our lives. Hold up the mirror to it all. Not all will look and some that do won’t see but what they want to see. There are, I believe, enough decent people that are just not seeing through the smoke and dazzle and who just need some help seeing the truth.

Shen-hsui a Zen monk says,

The mind is like a bright mirror standing;
Take heed to always keep it clean,
And allow no dust to ever cling.

Control Not Life

Professor Jaun Cole over at Informed Comment has another of his insightful comments up. It is really not one you can break apart and should be read as a whole. In spite of the previous sentence I am going to extract two paragraphs because they almost capture the article in whole.

And that is why the Iraq war is the perfect symbol for the anti-abortionists. Colonial conquest is always a kind of rape, but now the conquered country must bear the fetus of Bush-imposed "liberty" to term. The hierarchy is thus established. Washington is superior to Baghdad, and Iraq is feminized and deprived of certain kinds of choices.

And that is also how the Schiavo case makes sense in the end, because the religious Right feminized Michael Schiavo, made him into the pregnant woman seeking an "abortion," and wished to therefore deprive him of choice in the matter. If hierarchy is gendered, then the persons over which control is sought are always in some sense imagined as powerless women. Powerful non-fundamentalist men and uppity Third World countries that won't do as they are told are ultimately no different from feminist women seeking an abortion. All must be subdued, in the view of the Christian Right.

It is about hierarchy, power and control. It is not about life.

No Surpise Here

firedoglake points to a study from the University of Georgia that confirms something that I have thought for quite some time. The operative phrase is below:

Homophobia is apparently associated with homosexual arousal that the homophobic individual is either unaware of or denies.

Greetings from Hell

Here is the Chimp's statement on Terri's death.

Today millions of Americans are saddened by the death of Terri Schiavo. Laura and I extend our condolences to Terri Schiavo's families. I appreciate the example of grace and dignity they have displayed at a difficult time. I urge all those who honor Terri Schiavo to continue to work to build a culture of life, where all Americans are welcomed and valued and protected, especially those who live at the mercy of others. The essence of civilization is that the strong have a duty to protect the weak. In cases where there are serious doubts and questions, the presumption should be in the favor of life.

Fuck you George from Carla Fay Tucker.
Rot in Hell from the 150+ people executed in Texas while you were governor.
Eat Me! from the 1500 plus American dead in Iraq
Fuck Off from the 10,000 plus wounded and disabled in Iraq.
Kiss my Ass from the millions of people that stem cell research might help.
We will meet you in Hell from the 100,000 Iraqi "liberated" so far.
There is a special place in Hell for Georgie boy and his minions and I have already volunteered to be a host. And guess what! Jesus has volunteered to be my assistant.

Living Will Time

As a public service I am providing a link to a site that can provide guidance and the actual forms necessary for you to have a “living will” otherwise known as an AHCD (Advance Health Care Directive) or you can Google your own. Now I wouldn’t have even thought of this just a week ago but now that we have seen what legions of insane, fanatical, jumped-by-Jesus born-again idiots and right-to-lifers can do to the world; I think it is a necessary thing.

While these hypocrites are killing and wounding thousands of our own soldiers and killing and maiming untold numbers of Iraqis and Afghans they are rabidly praying and threatening judges and whoever disagrees with them with death for not allowing a once vital human, now vegetable, die with dignity. We now have clear evidence that these rabid evangelicals and congresspersons and right-to-life Bushys, without a shred of true spirituality, ethics or even commonsense, will have no problem, whatsoever, in deciding exactly what needs to happen to you or your loved one’s body regardless of the law, if they think otherwise or they can make a buck.

All you have to do is fill out the simple form and designate an agent, This can be your spouse, parent or an informed friend that you trust to make health care decisions for you. After filling out the form make a bunch of copies and sign them in the presence of a couple witnesses who understand the importance of what is happening. Keep one in your personal file and if you have an attorney give them one as well. It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to spread a few more around among some trusted friends and family either.

Do this now, regardless of how well you might feel or you just might find yourself the unwitting player in a political shit storm and have a bunch of psuedoreligious whackos saying prayers over your helpless ass while threatening your loving wife or husband with murder if they interfere.

I cannot tell you how damn serious this is. There is a giant black cloud over this country and a horde of hypocrisy soaked, rapture fearing, misguided and sanctimonious zealots are trying to force their beliefs down everyone else’s throat. If you don’t want this bunch telling you how to enter the next phase of existence or even stopping you from entering it according to your desires, seriously consider the AHCD. Remember, these people don’t care if you are Zen Buddhist Wiccan Hedonist free thinking sinner who has his or her own ideas about what heaven and hell should be or just a moderate Christian who wonders what has happened to your religion. Hell, they wouldn’t care if your Jesus Fucking Christ his ownself. Once they latch their hypocritical claws on to you and start praying your pleasant trip to Nirvana will turn to shit and the pigs will eat it.

Trust me on this.

Thanks to Mark Morford for the link and the idea.

Lying Again

The Chimpster lied again yesterday in Iowa. I quote:

"By the way, we don't have a trust in Social Security. It's called, pay-as-you-go. See, some people think there's a Social Security trust where we've taken your money, and we've held it for you, and then when you retire, we give it back to you. No, what happens is we take your money, we pay money out for the promises for those people who have retired, and if we've got anything left over, we spend it on things other than Social Security. That's just the way it works. It's been working that way for a long period of time. And what's left are a pile of IOUs, paper."

He is telling the world that the extra money we have been into Social Security which, in turn, has been invested in Treasury Bonds is worthless. Does the world not realize that the bonds they are buying from out government are worthless? Why isn't the mainstream press calling the president on this?

Smelling the Coffee

John Danforth is waking up. This op-ed in the New York Times should be a message to the Republican party. Here is a highlight"

I do not fault religious people for political action. Since Moses confronted the pharaoh, faithful people have heard God's call to political involvement. Nor has political action been unique to conservative Christians. Religious liberals have been politically active in support of gay rights and against nuclear weapons and the death penalty. In America, everyone has the right to try to influence political issues, regardless of his religious motivations.

The problem is not with people or churches that are politically active. It is with a party that has gone so far in adopting a sectarian agenda that it has become the political extension of a religious movement.

When government becomes the means of carrying out a religious program, it raises obvious questions under the First Amendment. But even in the absence of constitutional issues, a political party should resist identification with a religious movement. While religions are free to advocate for their own sectarian causes, the work of government and those who engage in it is to hold together as one people a very diverse country. At its best, religion can be a uniting influence, but in practice, nothing is more divisive. For politicians to advance the cause of one religious group is often to oppose the cause of another.

He's Happy!

I didn’t really expect to see him again. It hasn’t been that long and most people never get the chance at all. It was on my daily walk this morning, on the usual route which takes me by the giant Baptist church, when I was surprised to notice someone in the parking lot apparently waxing a Humvee. As I came closer I thought the person looked familiar and closer still the recognition kind of washed over me like a bad chill. Sure, I knew him, but it wasn’t from this lifetime but from the last and again another a few cycles further back.
But I was committed -- Nothing to do now though—too close to ignore—and frankly to dangerous to be rude.
“Morning” I said. “Morning” he responded pleasantly enough.
Curiosity wouldn’t let me keep walking though. There had to be a pretty good reason why the Devil himself was standing in a dark parking lot in an Atlanta suburb. I had to ask.
”Pardon me, but what brings you here this morning? From our last two meetings, that I remember, it doesn’t bode well for me.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “No trouble for you this time…besides… I kind of owe you a favor or two for your help those times.”
See-- the first time we had crossed paths was a good 400 years ago or so when I got burned at the stake for witchcraft and more recently was when I was hung from an oak tree in South Georgia for being black and in the wrong place.
“Owe me?”
“Oh Yeah…you helped me lead quite a few souls to Hell on both occasions and they were especially good ones…I always like hypocrites best.”
“Oh well, my pleasure I guess. Not looking for my help again?”
“No, I have more than enough help right now…this compassionate conservatism was a really good idea. Matter of fact, I’ve had to put on an extra shift these last few years and the way it’s going I might have to add staff again. It’s not that I need help recruiting, mind you, it's the damned processing that’s causing the bottleneck. You know…I thought I had lost a major battle when people began to accept the death with dignity idea but thank “You Know Who” that’s all going down the tubes. There is nothing better for me than a lot of people suffering needlessly…causes all kinds of desperation and desperation is my game.”
“Then I guess you are kind of keen for the wars in the Middle East?” I asked.
“They’re OK as far as they go.” He said. “There is some pretty good torture and innocent suffering going on and that’s good for me but the balance is all wrong, for all its worth. There are just too many innocent souls dying, especially children, and that is hurting the numbers. You know it takes torturing several hundred innocent people to offset one child killed needlessly...but you take what you can get.”
“I see, well I really have to go and I know you must have some important business as well.” I said, well realizing that I was really pushing my luck standing here with Scratch himself.
“Right” he said. “The “Don’t Starve Terri” bus from Florida is just coming up the road and I have to count heads.”

No Way-No How!

Over at Mahablog Maha is discussing the marketing of the candidates for 2008. He mentions the so called "National Security Democrats" and how all the front runners are in this camp. He references Matt Taibbi in the New York Press and has the following quote.

In the midst of all of this, the Democratic Party is preparing its shiny new 2008 position on Iraq and terror. Described in Goldberg's New Yorker article, the political plan is centered around a new faction that calls itself the "National Security Democrats" (a term coined by that famous liberal, Richard Holbrooke) and is led by revolting hair-plug survivor Joe Biden. The position of the "National Security Democrats" is that the party should be "more open to the idea of military action, and even preemption" and that the Democrats should "try to distance themselves from the Party's Post-Vietnam ambivalence about the projection of American power." Additionally, the Democrats ought to reconsider their traditional stance as an opposition party and learn to embrace Republican heroes like Ronald Reagan. ...

It would be easy to dismiss the Biden revival as a cheap stunt by a discredited party hack with all the national appeal of the streptococcus virus, except for one thing. Biden's "national security" camp includes all four of the expected main contenders for the Democratic nomination—Biden himself, Hillary Clinton, Indiana senator Evan Bayh, and John Edwards. New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, another outside contender, is also a member of this camp. We are going to be hearing a lot about "National Security Democrats" in the next three years.

I can't tell you what a bad idea this is. I am not sure how we change the electorate but I can tell you that becoming war mongers is not the right way. We on the left know this with all our hearts. We know with reason and compassion we can do better than the other guys. We just have to figure out how to show the majority that moral values are not just abortion and gay marriage but about jobs,healthcare and peaceful resolutions to the worlds's problems. I for one will not vote for anyone that supports the concept of right through might and that threats of violence are the answers to today's problems. No way no how.

Update: edited for spelling and format

They're Kidding, Right?

Here is a link to an article by a philosophy professor in Florida that is very dis-heartening. Now that the main stream media are under Rove's thumb they are turning on the last opportunity for young people to actually learn and validate, repudiate, or modify what they have learned. Evidently this movement in Florida is just one of many similar ones initiated by conservative David Horowitz’s.

Here is a snippet:

Philosophers have a long tradition of questioning conventional norms and popular beliefs. Socrates was accused by the mob for being unpatriotic because he didn’t believe war with Sparta and the poorly planned Sicilian invasion were good ideas. As it turned out, he was right and they were wrong. Athens was demolished. He was promptly executed on trumped up charges, “Corrupting the Youth” and “Atheism” (gee, that sounds familiar!). In other words, Socrates was found guilty for being a critic of society, which made him an “enemy of the state.”

The intended goal of this bill is to allow students the opportunity to express FOXTV lies or misinformation, and their conservative views, in the classroom without teachers getting in the way. If the teachers challenge their Limbaugh or Hannity views, then the teacher will be sued, tarred & feathered and thrown into prison in the name of “Academic Freedom.” Oh, and let’s not forget the Hemlock

Worth Repeating

James Wolcott lists the "statement of principles" from the Free Inquiry website. I think they are worth repeating. They match my sentiments, more or less, though I resist putting myself in the "Secular Humanist" pigeonhole. I can and do resonate with their principles on the whole. This whole recent affair around the "Culture of Life" and bullshit that it is propogating has served to remind me why I have drifted so far from the religion of my childhood. It has become embarrassing. I can remember when it wasn't so and it is a little saddening to know that so many people today have taken what is fundamentally a humanist and very Zen teaching of Jesus and twisted it into a hateful and intolerant disease.

Anyhow here they are:

* Our best guide to truth is free and rational inquiry; we should therefore not be bound by the dictates of arbitrary authority, comfortable superstition, stifling tradition, or suffocating orthodoxy. We should defer to no dogma - neither religious nor secular - and never be afraid to ask "How do you know?"
* We should be concerned with the here and now, with solving human problems with the best resources of human minds and hearts. If there is to be meaning in our lives, we must supply it ourselves, relying on our own powers, observation, and compassion. It is irrational and ultimately harmful to hang our hopes on gods, the supernatural, and the hidden, which arise out of imagination and wishful thinking. It is pointless - and often dangerous - to push aside human intelligence to reach for some flimsy veil of alleged truths.
* We must be committed to moral principles, which are derived from critical intelligence and human experience, and we must pursue positive ideals. We should therefore observe the common moral decencies: integrity, humanitarianism, truthfulness, trustworthiness, fairness, and responsibility. This means caring for one another, being tolerant of differences, and striving to overcome divisive parochial loyalties based on race, religion, gender, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, creed, or class.
* Constitutional democracy is the best known means for protecting the rights of all people to form worldviews and live out their commitments in a free and mutually respectful way. Governments should promote open societies, ensure universal human rights, and be secular, having no bias against any religious or non-religious group.
* We should strive to bring about a genuine world community and nourish an appreciation for global ethics and our planetary interdependence.
* Secular humanism aims to bring out the best in people so that all can achieve fullness in life. Thus we must strive to realize personal potential, maximize creative talents and artistic expression, and choose joy and hope over despair, guilt, and sin.

Reason and Compassion

Lindsay over at Majikthise has done an excellent job of distilling the talking points we on the left should be using around this whole "Culture of Life" vs "Culture of Death" thing that is evolving around the tragedy of Terri Shiavo.
It boils down to valuing reason over emotion and recognizing that there are practical limits to everything. We can make positive changes to our world but we have to reasonably measure the effects of our actions and put our limited energy to work where it will do the most good. It means taking the emotion out of the process and replacing it with reason and compassion.

Keep the Faith

Mark Morford's column this morning is not a happy one. He has zeroed in on something that has been riding on the edge of my conciousness for a while and I just didn't take the time or energy to ferret it out. Here are a few snippets but, as usual, he is always worth reading in the whole.

"Just look around. No one anywhere, not priests, not nuns, not healers or mystics, not Christians, not pagans, not Repubs or Demos or Libertarians, no one anywhere in this country is saying, hey, doesn't it feel like we're entering into a new era of health and healing and positivism and spiritual rebirth? Aren't our schools just teeming anew with eager students who seem to be getting smarter and more articulate? Isn't the air getting cleaner and aren't we proud of our government for protecting the health of future generations by pushing for more natural foods and signing on to the Kyoto Treaty and advocating antitoxin regulations and by protecting our forests and improving school textbooks and revolutionizing the hideous national health care system?"
<>
"There's a reason for that. We are not headed for light. Not yet, anyway. The coming years are not going to be about friendship and repaired foreign relations and a sense of our shared humanity, about equality and sexual freedom and a renewed sense of human rights. To believe this is to believe in fairy tales almost as insidious and hopeless as evangelical Christians who are right now stuffing themselves with Cheez-Its and pink wine and praying for Armageddon."

As Mark says a little further on, about all one can do is stoke up the Karmic fire, radiate as much positive force as you can and pray to the goddess that she helps you dodge the biggest turds that are screaming our way.

Good Tools for Free

Via Corrente The Cost of Iraq War site is worth a visit. It shows comparisons of how much is being spent on yhe disister in Iraq to what could be spent on lots of issues. One example, health insurance for kids: around 95 million kids could be insured for what Iraq has cost us. Or we could have funded global hunger programs for 6 years for what we have spent so far in Iraq. Or, we could have ensured that every child in the world was given basic immunizations for 52 years. There are some very sobering numbers there that you can use.
SOme of the tools on the site allow you to localize the numbers for you state or city. These local impact numbers can be a valuable weapon for charts and graphs for local presentation.
Two other highlights at related sites:
Local Cost Of Iraq War and The President's Budget: Impact on the States

Thanks for the heads up RDF.

Same Old Liars Different Lies

Did you ever wonder where all the money is coming from to maintain the fight to keep Terri Schiavo alive? It must have taken hundreds of thousands of dollars so far. The Schindlers are not wealthy. So how do they do it? Gilgamesh's Diary over at KOS has the answer and guess what? It is the same old bunch of whackos that funded the witch hunt of the Clintons. Yep--Scaife, Coors et al.

Out of Touch

The latest ABC News poll(PDF) around the Schiavo flap is pretty conclusive. The GOP is out of touch with America and not just marginally.

Removal of feeding tube

Support 63
Oppose 28

Federal Intervention

Support 35
Oppose 60

Appropriate for Congress to get involved?

Appropriate 27
Not Appropriate 70

Reason political leaders are trying to keep Shiavo alive

Concern about Shiavo 19
Political Advantage 67

Can anyone say "Overstepped"?

Smelling the Coffee

Steven Roach of Morgan Stanley has some interesting views on the current state. The article is worth a peruse.

Tipping points are a great concept, but virtually impossible to identify ahead of time -- let alone when they are occurring. It is only with the great luxury of hindsight that we can look back and know that the proverbial bell has rung. In my view, March 16, 2005 could end up in the running as a possible tipping point for America. Suddenly, the US has taken on a very different aura in an increasingly unbalanced world: The confluence of a record current account deficit, a disaster from General Motors, and yet another new high for oil prices all speak of an increasingly precarious role for the global hegemon. World financial markets have barely begun to sniff that out.

The article highlights something which has become fairly apparent to me. Our "elected" officials AKA the Bushies are setting the United States up for a fall. I am truly concerned that this coming fall will not simply be a recession buta full blown collapse of everything we are currently taking for granted. How long can we expect the rest of the world to finance our party? How long before we come to the point that we realize that we cannot expect the world to continue to invest in our country while we do not? Oil is reaching new highs, the current account deficit is at a record and foreign banks are beginning to realize that the dollar is not such a good investment.

Pelosi Speaks

Washington, D.C. -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement on Congressional involvement in the Terri Schiavo case:

"The case of Terri Schiavo is a sad and tragic situation. Congressional leaders have no business substituting their judgment for that of multiple state courts that have extensively considered the issues in this intensely personal family matter. The actions of the majority in attempting to pass constitutionally-dubious legislation are highly irregular and an improper use of legislative authority.

"Michael Schiavo is faced with a devastating decision, but, having been through the proper legal process, the decision for his wife's care belongs to him and to God.

"This rush to exploit a personal tragedy is not fair to those involved and will not create good policy."

Enough Said!

Constitution? What Constitution?

It really just heaps on the disgust. That in order to pass this Bill of Attainder for Schiavo which is specifically prohibited in the Constitution (Article 1, Section 9) that they just threw out the rules and passed it without a quorum. They have now seriously flawed the separation of powers guaranteed by the Constitution and done it by suspending the rules of the House. These guys know absolutely no bounds and no one is going to challenge them -- that's the sad part.

Bastards

Digby says

By now most people who read liberal blogs are aware that George W. Bush signed a law in Texas that expressly gave hospitals the right to remove life support if the patient could not pay and there was no hope of revival, regardless of the patient's family's wishes. It is called the Texas Futile Care Law. Under this law, a baby was removed from life support against his mother's wishes in Texas just this week. A 68 year old man was given a temporary reprieve by the Texas courts just yesterday.

Those of us who read liberal blogs are also aware that Republicans have voted en masse to pull the plug (no pun intended) on medicaid funding that pays for the kind of care that someone like Terry Schiavo and many others who are not so severely brain damaged need all across this country.

Those of us who read liberal blogs also understand that that the tort reform that is being contemplated by the Republican congress would preclude malpractice claims like that which has paid for Terry Schiavo's care thus far.

Those of us who read liberal blogs are aware that the bankruptcy bill will make it even more difficult for families who suffer a catastrophic illness like Terry Schiavo's because they will not be able to declare chapter 7 bankruptcy and get a fresh start when the gargantuan medical bills become overwhelming.

And those of us who read liberal blogs also know that this grandstanding by the congress is a purely political move designed to appease the religious right and that the legal maneuverings being employed would be anathema to any true small government conservative.

Those who don't read liberal blogs, on the other hand, are seeing a spectacle on television in which the news anchors repeatedly say that the congress is "stepping in to save Terry Schiavo" mimicking the unctuous words of Tom Delay as they grovel and leer at the family and nod sympathetically at the sanctimonious phonies who are using this issue for their political gain.

I am so absolutely disgusted over this that I am speechless. If there is a Hell they are preparing a special place for Bush, DeLay and their ilk.

Sad State of Affairs

Yeah, I am still on Central European Time but I am getting a lot of backed up reading done. Still, I kinda wish I hadn't stumbled on this fact over at Roachblog
As noted, when I was doing my stint in the 60's and 70's, the North Vietnamese were the worst nightmare when it came to being a POW. I even went to a special school in California that simulated being captured by the North Vietnamese to sort of teach you what to expect. Now it turns out that 114 Americans died while in captivity there. That's the whole long bloody war. Bad, yes, but nowhere near as appalling as the fact that 108 have died while in American custody during the Iraq adventure.

I Have Escaped

Whilst I am still shell shocked by a 21 hour travel nightmare I am, in fact, back from France after four weeks. The client decided they needed a few more weeks of preparation before opening their checkbook again. Suits. I may even get to a day or so of the Master's now.
Let's hope that the blog will have a little more activity now that I will have full Internet access and some time to surf and write.

BTW. If I don't remember later, I want to tell you how mad I am at Delta for suddenly changing my seat from an aisle (which was specifically requested and granted) to the center seat in the center section for the 9 hour flight from Paris to Atlanta. Is this the gratitude for the loyalty over the years? Do you expect to keep the loyalty this way? I might expect to be treated this way if I were only an part time traveller but I am a Platinum Medallion and have been pretty much every year for 20 years. Thanks.

Nurse Ratchet Spins

How is Karen honey going to spin this?

"The two terrorists died while in American custody of self inflicted wounds. Valiant attempts to revive them were in vain even the direct transfusions of cherished American blood."

"Two known Al Qaeda suspects committed suicide today in Afghanistan rather that reveal the exact location of the upcoming dirty bomb attack on some midwestern American town."

"Interupted while plotting another cowardly terrorist attack on America, two Al Qaeda suspects where killed by a 19 year old Army reservist while she was on routine patrol. Military police specialist Christy Lee White from Denton, Texas said she saw saw the two men drawing pictures of Idaho in the sand and knew right away they were planning an attack using Weapons of Mass Destruction on her country. Christy is soon to be transferred to Iraq for duty at the Abu Ghraib prison where she hopes to apply the lessons she as learned so well in Afghanistan."

I give up.. I obvioulsy don't have the "God Given" talent of Madame Hughes.

The real story from The New York Times

Two Afghan prisoners who died in American custody in Afghanistan in December 2002 were chained to the ceiling, kicked and beaten by American soldiers in sustained assaults that caused their deaths, according to Army criminal investigative reports that have not yet been made public.

. . . The attacks on Mr. Dilawar were so severe that "even if he had survived, both legs would have had to be amputated," the Army report said, citing a medical examiner. The reports, obtained by Human Rights Watch, provide the first official account of events that led to the deaths of the detainees, Mullah Habibullah and Mr. Dilawar, at the Bagram Control Point, about 40 miles north of Kabul. The deaths took place nearly a year before the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Among those implicated in the killings at Bagram were members of Company A of the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion, from Fort Bragg, N.C. The battalion went on to Iraq, where some members established the interrogation unit at Abu Ghraib and have been implicated in some abuses there.

Arctic Refuge Alert:-2k Acre Footprint Scam

From Daily KOS
There are several excellent diaries over at Kos on this issue. I am just trying to increase it's presence.

The vote on the FY 2006 Budget Resolution that will contain language authorizing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is due on Wednesday. Several excellent and informatative diaries have been posted during the last couple of days concerning this issue.(Links below for talking points.) What's been missing our discussion is the "2000 Acre Footprint Scam" described in this month's editon of the Audubon Society magazine (March/April 2005)page 16: "There's a catch, of course. The 2,000 acres don't have to be contiguous.."

Fodder for Letters to everyone;

From the National Wildlife Federation:

1. The 1.5 million acre coastal plain where oil drilling is proposed is the most biologically productive part of the Refuge.

2. The Refuge is home to thousands of calving caribou, denning polar bears, roaming grizzlies, and rare muskoxen.

3. Northern pintail ducks, mallards, tundra swans and white fronted geese are among the many migratory species known to inhabit the coastal plain during the year.

4. According to the US Geological Survey and the oil industry, it would take at least a decade to tap any oil from the Refuge.

5. 95% of Alaska's Arctic coastal lands are already available for oil exploration including the National Petroleum Reserve (the size of Indiana).

6. Refuge oil will make no difference in prices at the pump. The amount of oil would be such a small percentage of daily world oil production that it would have no effect on the globally established price of oil.

7. Audubon Society: The impact of the drilling operations would extend far beyond the 2,000 acres stated in the law. Road building, gravel pit excavation, and pipelines would create a spider web of encroachments on the entire coastal Refuge.

Nurse Ratchet

I think it is very telling, on some level, that the Bush malAdministration is bringing back Karen "Ratchet" Hughes and to the State Department no less. In spite of the lying, torture, war, voter suppression and general thuggish behavior they think all of their problems are merely public relations issues. How do you deal with a group of people that believe that it is just a matter of public perception with respect to the 1513 dead American soldiers and thousands of maimed. These people believe that with the right spin the entire global disaster that they have created is not a problem. Raising "Lipstick on a Pig" to new levels and guess what...we get to pay for it. Such a deal.

Stars Fell on Alabama

From the Gadsden Times
Half of Alabama public school students now in poverty

The percentage of Alabama public school students living in poverty has crossed the 50 percent mark for the first time, according to the state education officials.

The Alabama State Department of Education released more than 1,200 "report cards" Thursday rating the state's 1,529 public schools. The reports show that 50.7 percent of Alabama's students receive free or reduced-price meals at school, an indicator of poverty.

Excuse me but why in the hell is Bush spending millions of dollars flying around the country doing staged/scripted "Town Hall Meetings" on the non crisis of Social Security?
Forget I asked that I already know the answer.

Paying to be Lied To

In an article in The New York Times today details what many of us have known for some time. We are paying to be lied to by the government. I have known for some time that much of what I see on various news shows etc. is slanted toward what the mis-adminsitration wants me to believe but this in depth article details just how pervasive the practice is and how completely we are being deluded.
Quote:

Under the Bush administration, the federal government has aggressively used a well-established tool of public relations: the prepackaged, ready-to-serve news report that major corporations have long distributed to TV stations to pitch everything from headache remedies to auto insurance. In all, at least 20 federal agencies, including the Defense Department and the Census Bureau, have made and distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past four years, records and interviews show. Many were subsequently broadcast on local stations across the country without any acknowledgement of the government's role in their production.

Can we have some outrage heew? It is bad enough that we are being lied to by our elected officials but do we have to pay for it as well? What happened to the fourth estate that now we have to question everything we hear or see? We cannot take a thing we see or hear on the MSM at face value and must question everything. We have granted the media the use of our radio and TV spectrum to perform a public service and instead we are fed a steady diet of propoganda at our expense. This is a crime...and there is no other way to define it.

No Compromise

Jonathan Chait has an excellent article over at The New Republic with an insightful look at the “deeply disingenuous” effort by the conservative right via Bush and company to destroy Social Security. The article is well worth the read.
What it boils down to is that not only is Social Security a retirement program it is an insurance program that protects everyone from being left destitute should they become disabled and unable to work or suffer radical decrease in income. It spreads the risks of life across the whole society and in turn provides a safety net for the entire society. They key point, however, is that the truth of the whole discussion is that this is really not about Social Security and whether private accounts are a worthwhile adjunct but an ideological battle over what the conservatives see as an unwarranted government intrusion into private business.
The hard right Republicans know that this complete control over all three branches of government will not last. This is their best chance to destroy Social Security or at minimum get the wedges in to start the process.
Everyone needs to recognize that there are ways to privately augment their income during retirement via IRA’s and 401Ks, etc. but that they are subject to the whims of the market nd income. It is also true that the lowest income members of our society don’t have a spare nickel to invest in a Roth and that the current Social Security program is their only hope. Take it away and they will wind up, at some point, both destitute and homeless, a burden on their family or society or just die a slow and miserable death in some way.
I also know that it is only my current earning capability that is allowing me to sock away a little extra and that these earnings could disappear tomorrow either through my employer going bust or by simply becoming disabled. Private accounts are not going to address this if Social Security goes away. There will be no “income of last resort” as is represented by Social Security today. I am pretty sure I won’t have to live on Social Security alone but there are millions that will and are.
There is talk on the left of compromise and alternative proposals. This is a very large mistake as it does not recognize that this is not about how to “save” social security but how to destroy it. Compromise on this issue by the left is a recipe for disaster because nothing will get enacted and signed by Bush that doesn’t meet the goal of setting the stage for the destruction of Social Security. Compromise on this issue is consigning millions of middle and low income to a future of destitution. Plain and simple. The Republicans are trying and succeeding, with the help of the MSM, to keep the argument away from the stark truth that the goal of this administration is to destroy the program and they will not be happy until they do. Chait’s article goes into much greater detail and I hope it gets as much distribution and discussion as possible.

I Am On My Own I Guess!

Crikey!

In a two-paragraph letter dated March 7, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice informed U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan that the United States "hereby withdraws" from the Optional Protocol to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The United States proposed the protocol in 1963 and ratified it -- along with the rest of the Vienna Convention -- in 1969.

The protocol requires signatories to let the International Court of Justice (ICJ) make the final decision when their citizens say they have been illegally denied the right to see a home-country diplomat when jailed abroad.

What this says to me is that Bush nd Company are more concerned with preserving their ability to imprison, torture and murder foriegners suspected of not agreeing with the United States than they are with protecting the rights of American citizens detained in foriegn countries. Since I spend a lot of time outside the U.S. this, for some silly reason, is causing me some concern.

was this treaty ratified by Congress? If it was can Bsuh withdraw without Congressional approval? Just asking.

What Constitution?

The following quote from Mr. Bush taken directly from the Whitehouse transcript is very telling...

"Some in our country think that Social Security is a trust fund -- in other words, there's a pile of money being accumulated. That's just simply not true. The money -- payroll taxes going into the Social Security are spent. They're spent on benefits and they're spent on government programs. There is no trust. We're on the ultimate pay-as-you-go system -- what goes in comes out. And so, starting in 2018, what's going in -- what's coming out is greater than what's going in. It says we've got a problem. And we'd better start dealing with it now. The longer we wait, the harder it is to fix the problem."

Bush is basically telling us that he is going to default on the Social Security Trust Fund. This trust fund was specifically created at the urging of Mr. Greenspan to specifically address the upcoming situation where SS income will be overtaken by expenses.
As Josh Marshall points out this is very close, if not blatantly flaunting his oath of office where he promises to uphold the Constitution. There is the sticky little article about government debt. The 15th Amendement, Section 4 reads:

"The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned."

Can someone tell me why this statement has not caused outrage? I am stuck in France and only have access to CNN International but I would have thought that this kind of baldfaced lie would have received some kinds of MSM coverage. Do people not remember Greenspan's statements back in 1983 that recommended the intentional creation of a surplus in the Social Security collections?
How have we fallen so far? I sincerely think this is grounds for impeachment.

French Labor

Interesting day yesterday. French tranport workers struck for the day which shut down the metro and buses for the day. In a town where the bulk of the population uses the public transport it was a zoo. Cabs were refusing to even drive in the traffic and we were quite lucky to even get one from the client back to the hotel. As far as I can tell the strike was to make the 35 hour work week more flexible. Which means everyone want s to work more not less. I sure hope another strike doesn't happen in the next two weeks...I'll jus tstay inthe hotel if it does.
Back to work but it is Friday so I might get some blogging done over the weekend.

Welcome FireDogLake to the BlogRoll

Welcome Jane to the BlogRoll. Jane publishes FireDogLake as is a most welcome addition to out family.

More Disgust from the GOP.

Nathan Newman has the scoop on the disgusting peice of trash being pushed by Rick Santorum (PA). It guts the minimum wage system, turns the tip-worker into a slave and encourages sweatshops to proliferate. I'm too sleepy to elucidate but you can read all about here at the Nathan's.
What have these people got against those just trying to earn enough not to starve. They're touting this as a pro labor bill.

Consumer Protection - Republican Style

There is an excellent post over at DailyKos by Maryscott OConnor that has promoted from the diaries that is a must read for those interested in the so called "Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection" Act. This bill deals primarily with Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies. These are the two options available to most individuals as the Chapter 11 variety is more complex and costly and usually reserved for business. The Kos posting covers it in detail but I want to highlight for effect what is happening, to who and by whom.
Various Democrats have been putting potential amendments forward that are designed to protect the most vulnerable consumers and the issues of predatory lending and loopholes for wealthy individuals. Maryscott OConnor ‘s post goes into far greater detail on each of the amendments and has done some excellent research. I am just going to hit the high spots in the hopes that you will go and read the entire ugly story outlined my Maryscott OConnor. Pay special attention to Amendment 42, the smoking gun.

Sponsored by Sen. Schumer (D), Amendment 42 -To limit the exemption for asset protection trusts. In other words to limit the protection afforded to wealthy individuals that put their assets in a “Wealth Protection Trust” which are available in five states to anyone regardless of residence.

Every Republican voted against it. They were joined by Democrats Nelson(NE), Johnson, and Carper.

Durbin Amendment. 49 - Protect employees and retirees from corporate practices that deprive them of their earnings and retirement savings when a business files for bankruptcy.
Every Republican voted against it. They were joined by Democrat Nelson

Durbin Amendment. 38; To discourage predatory lending practices.
Every Republican voted against it. They were joined by Democrats Nelson(NE), Johnson, and Carper.

Nelson (FL) Amendment 37; To exempt debtors from means testing if their financial problems were caused by identity theft.
Every Republican voted against it. They were joined by Democrats Nelson(NE), Johnson, and Carper.

Dayton Amendment 31.; To limit the amount of interest that can be charged on any extension of credit to 30 percent.
Every Republican voted against it. They were joined by 19 Democrats. We assume the amendment was poorly written.

Corzine Amendment 32; To preserve existing bankruptcy protections for individuals experiencing economic distress as caregivers to ill or disabled family members.
Every Republican voted against it. Democrats Baucus, Bingaman joined Nelson(NE), Johnson, and Carper Every.

Kennedy Amendment 28.; To exempt debtors whose financial problems were caused by serious medical problems from means testing.

Kennedy Amendment 29; To provide protection for medical debt homeowners.

All Republican Senators voted against these amendments.
Democrats voting against Amendment 28 were Biden, Carper, Johnson and Nelson(NE).
Democrats voting against Amendment 29 were Bingaman, Carper, Johnson and Nelson(NE).

Akaka Amendment 15; To require enhanced disclosure to consumers regarding the consequences of making only minimum required payments in the repayment of credit card debt, and for other purposes.
Every Republican Senator voted against this amendment. Joined by Democrats Baucus, Biden, Carper, Johnson and Nelson(NE).

Feingold Amendment 17; To provide a homestead floor for the elderly.
Every Republican voted against it.

Durbin Amendment 16, As Modified.; To protect service members and veterans from means testing in bankruptcy, to disallow certain claims by lenders charging usurious interest rates to service members, and to allow service members to exempt property based on the law of the State of their pre-military residence.
All Republican Senators voted against.
Democrats Baucus, Biden, Byrd, Carper, Johnson and Nelson(NE) joined them.

Do you get the sense here?
Protection for the elderly – Repubs NO
Medical disaster relief – Repubs NO
Service men and Women – Repubs NO
Consumer Protection - Repubs NO
Protection from Usury – Repubs NO
Help victims of Identity Theft – Repubs NO
Protect Retirees from Corporate Thugs – Repubs NO

Protect Credit Card Companies – Repubs – YES
Screw the Consumers – Repubs YES

Now let me see?? The biggest single contributor the Republican party?
MNBA – the biggest credit card company. Fancy that.

I hope this encourages you to read the entire post over at KOS.

Expanation and Excuses

I know some of you(the few that stop here periodically)are wondering at the woeful lack of activity on this and the livejournal of the same name.
Welllll...The typical workweek here in Lyon is up at 5:30 in time for a run through the rain locker, and a bowl of 19 Euro cereral (that's about $24) and on to the Metro at 7:30 for the journey to the other end of Lyon. Then a bus to the back gate of the client's sprawling facility. Meetings with the client all day until 1800 or so then back to the hotel by about 1930. Then if the strength is still sufficient find someplace for a reasonable dinner which usually takes a couple of hours. A quick dinner is not in the language here. Back to the hotel and collapse. Repeat.
Couple this with a spendid French cold and the fact that Internet access goes for 5 Euro per half hour or 15 Euro for 24 hours (that's $7 and $20 more or less) and you have several excuses. Cold and snow this weekend have allowed some slack this weekend so I am trying to catch up both with my reading and writing and other work. I will try and do better but I have at least 3 more weeks on this stint and the way things are going it will only be the first of several more trips.
Lyon is a lovely city, the people, in general, are polite and friendly, not to mention very tolerant of my atrocious French. Some are even beginning to understand my southern accent.
We only have the BBC and CNN in English on the TV and the endless repitition wears thin very quickly. I have purchased a kettle so that I can make tea and coffee in the room and I broke down yesterday and bought some instant soup. Those that know in real life will know what that means.
Anyhow, please excuse the dearth of activity and do check back periodically as I am pretty sure I will survive this and return to my normal level of writing and posting.