Cut Him Off

All I can say is..It is about damn time! Senator Harry Reid is cranking up the rhetoric on funding the Iraq debacle. In this story from the AP Reid says he will be moving to cut off funding competely if Bush doesn't respond positively to the latest supplemental funding bill. Bush has threatened over and over to veto it and Deadeye Dick followed up the veto threat yesterday with more threats. "It's time the self-appointed strategists on Capitol Hill understood a very simple concept: You cannot win a war if you tell the enemy you're going to quit," Excuse me Dicky but they are not "self appointed" they were elected by the people of the U.S. to get us the hell out of Iraq and the sooner the better.

The time for mincing around is long past and it is long past time to have our troops out of the civil war we have created in Iraq. Just a reminder...in the first full month since the "surge" has been implemented, Iraq fatalities have reportedly increased, with 1,861 Iraqis losing their lives in March alone. During that same period, 87 American soldiers were killed. In the last nine days alone, 20 American soldiers have died.

This is not a time for negotiation, capitulation or even compromise. It is time for Congress to step up and assert itself as an equal branch of government that has responsibility under the Constitution to conduct oversight and control the flow of money. It is going to be a long ugly and partisan battle but it one that is absolutely necessary. The majority the Democrats hold in Congress is fragile and the GOP has made it clear that they will support Bush and his war. The battle the Dems have to fight will be as much a public relations as anything else. It is not going to be pretty but this is "gut check" time and it is time we begin the end of this war.

Tit for Tat?

It is looking more and more like the capture of the British sailors is payback for the U.S. raid back in December on the Iraqi group in Arbil. MeteorBlades at Kos has the full story and links but it is looking like Bush's new policy of trying to target Iranians the U.S. believes are interfering in Iraq are having some nasty consequences. This is just another example of the completely incompetent foreign policy at the hands of Bush and his team. One has to wonder how many more of these little "incidents" it will take for Bush to pull the trigger on his threats to whack Iran.

Nothing Special

Having some weird problems this morning with the laptop. Keeps shutting down svchost.exe because of an unhandled exception. Seems to finally be working ok after several restarts. We shall see. Might have some issues with the automatic update it did last night. Charging ahead.

Big time thunderstorms this morning in Rockford. Woke me at 4 with the thunder. So I am up and going by 5am. If you are east of here looks like the weather is going to be iffy in the heartland all day. Looks like an ideal day for tornadoes so keep a look out.

Monday Morning is Airport Time

Hello Monday morning. I hope every one had a great weekend. We got a little drought relief here in Atlanta yesterday that was most welcome both for the moisture and the wash down of some of the pollen.
Rushing around this morning getting packed and set for another week on the road. This time it is Rockford, IL which is about an hour and half west of O'Hare. Looking at the weather forecast I get to experience winter again. The lows are supposed to be in the mid twenties this week in Rockford and the highs only in the forties. Going to miss the Atlanta weather this week. Bummer!

More here tonight from the hotel as right now I have to get a couple of reports done and emailed before I head to the airport. Going to be strange today as I always fly Delta and just sort of robot through the airport. Today I am having to fly American so I will have to think. Believe it or not the round trip airfare on Delta (coach) to and from Chicago was $1300! (Final Four gouging). I found First class seats on American for $598 r/t with a little shopping around. Thank you American I'll just add a few points to the ones I got for the Beijing trip last year.

Later Folks.

Anna Lee's Gazpacho

Sumo over at Sumo Merriment has initiated Cheesecake Friday and since she is doing dessert I will find other recipe's to share. Here is one from a wonderful Dutch cook Annalies, who has a nice little lunch cafe here in Roswell. This is a simple cold soup originally from Spain and there are hundreds of variations. I like this one because it is simple and with the chopped vegetables added after, has some tooth to it. Since spring is here and summer is coming quickly this is a great summer meal starter to have on hand in the fridge.

In your food processor bowl,
1 nice large clove of garlic
1 tsp of salt
1 T of dry basil or 3 T of fresh Basil
1 tsp Tobasco
3 T of red wine vinegar

Pulse a few times to chop the garlic then add 2 28 oz cans of Italian plum tomatoes. (If you don't have a big enough processor then divide it.) I use the chopped or crushed tomatoes . Process until smooth then add half of the following ingredients reserving the other half to add after processing and process again until smooth.
2 stalks of celery chopped finely
1/2 a green pepper chopped finely
1/2 a cucumber seeded and chopped finely
1 green onion chopped finely
Add the final half of the chopped vegetables and chill for a few hours. You can then adjust the salt, Tobasco and vinegar to your taste. This will keep refrigerated for 3 or 4 days. Serve cold with a dollop of plain yogurt or sour cream and a nice sprinkle of chopped Italian parsley.

For a little variation try adding a 3 or 4 chilled, peeled and steamed shrimp to each bowl when served or even a few nice lumps of crabmeat. Another variation that is cheap and adds protein... just use canned beans like pinto, cannelloni, black or red/kidney and rinse them well in a colander. Add a few table spoons to each serving and you are almost complete nutritionally. If you are concerned about nutrition adding some canned or frozen 'niblets' corn that has also been rinsed will complete the nutritional profile. Enjoy!

Note: there are some who think a few table spoons of good olive oil in required in gazpacho in order to balance the acidity and to add 'mouth feel'. Try it both ways and see which you prefer.

Note 2: not all canned tomatoes are equal. I prefer Red Pack crushed with puree and Hunt's organic crushed with puree. Muir Glen is not bad and neither is Progresso but the later is a little watery.

Wow! Thirty Four Years

Today was my 34th wedding anniversary. Yep, Thirty four years. I can't say it has all been perfect but on balance it has been pretty good. Madam Monk has pretty much given up trying to turn me into her vision of a spouse and now recognizes that I am about as domesticated as I am going to get. From my perspective she is still the woman I married though her insistence on perfection has mellowed over the years.
At this point in a marriage, except for the major anniversaries , you do the nice mushy card and take her out for a nice romantic dinner. Tonight we went out to a new place VG Bistro and had a very nice dinner. Madam had the lamb chops and I had the duck confit cassoulet which was marvelous. This place has undergone several complete changes since we first moved here 25 years or so ago. VG Bistro used to be Van Gogh's which was preceded by Cashin's and even earlier the "Sun Grove".
All in all a pleasant evening.
Another highlight of this day is that it is Monk's mother's 79th birthday. Happy Birthday Mom!

The Hits Keep Coming

Is there any part of our government that has not been poisoned by Bush? It seems like everyday we get a new revelation of 'bad faith" on the part of someone that is supposed to be watching out for the American people. How long is it going to take the next Administration, which will be Democratic, to cut all the cancer from this worm eaten joke of a government?

A senior Bush political appointee at the Interior Department has repeatedly altered scientific field reports to minimize protections for imperiled species and disclosed confidential information to private groups seeking to affect policy decisions, the department’s inspector general concluded.

The investigator’s report on Julie A. MacDonald, deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks — which was triggered by an anonymous complaint from a Fish and Wildlife Service employee and expanded in October after a Washington Post article about MacDonald — said she frequently sought to reshape the agency’s scientific reports in an effort to ease the impact of agency decisions on private landowners.

Springtime In Atlanta

Just a couple of pictures from my walk about the yard at lunch to prove that spring has definitely sprung here in Atlanta. The lack of rain in the last week or so has created a terrible pollen crisis for many with the daily pollen count of over 5000 per cubic meter (over 200 is considered high). No relief in sight rain wise for the next few days either so all the folk coming into town for the Final Four better be prepared for the worst if they suffer from allergies. It bothered me the first two days but since that time not a bit.

The dogwood tree pictured I planted over 20 years ago when we first came to Atlanta and the pic doesn't really do it justice. The azaleas are always brilliant but seem especially bright this year. Spring in Atlanta is it its prettiest as the whole city is covered in dogwood, cherries, redbud, and azaleas all blooming at the same time.

Serious Changes

Looks like it is my day to depress everyone. This is really just a follow on to the previous posts of the day. The outlook for the average American is getting worse daily. The need for a revolution is stronger today than yesterday. If we continue to let the corporations and the wealthy drive this country we will have no one but ourselves to blame. Some serious changes need to be made and it is we that have to make them.

Income inequality grew significantly in 2005, with the top 1 percent of Americans — those with incomes that year of more than $348,000 — receiving their largest share of national income since 1928, analysis of newly released tax data shows.

The top 10 percent, roughly those earning more than $100,000, also reached a level of income share not seen since before the Depression.

While total reported income in the United States increased almost 9 percent in 2005, the most recent year for which such data is available, average incomes for those in the bottom 90 percent dipped slightly compared with the year before, dropping $172, or 0.6 percent.

The gains went largely to the top 1 percent, whose incomes rose to an average of more than $1.1 million each, an increase of more than $139,000, or about 14 percent.

The new data also shows that the top 300,000 Americans collectively enjoyed almost as much income as the bottom 150 million Americans. Per person, the top group received 440 times as much as the average person in the bottom half earned, nearly doubling the gap from 1980.

Bye-Bye Circuit City

I have found another company that will never see another penny from me. Circuit City. I am a firm believer in competition in the marketplace and have witnessed over and over again companies that can compete in marketplaces where their cost structure is not the lowest and therefore can't complete on price alone. It's done with a razor focus on quality and customer service and you can't do it on the cheap. It takes energy and well trained and loyal employees that know that they will share in the success of the company and understand how important they are to the success or failure. Circuit City management is making a huge mistake and like I said above will not have me darken their door again. I know what I would experience if I did. There would be uninformed, un-engaged and uncaring zombies on the sales floor that could care less if I left a satisfied customer. They could care less if I had made, with their assistance an informed purchase.

Bye-Bye Circuit City!

A new plan for layoffs at Circuit City is openly targeting better-paid workers, risking a public backlash by implying that its wages are as subject to discounts as its flat-screen TVs.
The electronics retailer, facing larger competitors and falling sales, said Wednesday that it would lay off about 3,400 store workers_ immediately - and replace them with lower-paid new hires as soon as possible.

The laid-off workers, about 8 percent of the company's total work force, would get a severance package and a chance to reapply for their former jobs, at lower pay, after a 10-week delay, the company said.

UPDATE: Circuit City Chief Executive Officer Philip Schoonover was paid $8.52 million in fiscal 2006, including a salary of $975,000.

Call to Action

I want to thank Steve Bates of Yellow Doggerel Democrat for pointing out the text of speech titled A Time For Anger, A Call To Action, delivered last week by Bill Moyers at Occidental College in Los Angeles. As is usual for Bill Moyers it is brilliant and should be read by everyone concerned with the state of our nation today. While I found the entire speech extremely enlightening there was one section that I will share with you here. Maybe it will inspire you to read the whole thing.

We are talking about nothing less that a class war declared a generation ago, in a powerful polemic by the wealthy right-winger, William Simon, who had been Richard Nixon's Secretary of the Treasury. In it he declared that "funds generated by business... must rush by the multimillions" to conservative causes. The trumpet was sounded for the financial and business class to take back the power and privileges they had lost as a result of the Great Depression and the New Deal. They got the message and were soon waging a well-orchestrated, lavishly-financed movement. Business Week put it bluntly: "Some people will obviously have to do with less... .It will be a bitter pill for many Americans to swallow the idea of doing with less so that big business can have more." The long-range strategy was to cut workforces and their wages, scour the globe in search of cheap labor, trash the social contract and the safety net that was supposed to protect people from hardships beyond their control, deny ordinary citizens the power to sue rich corporations for malfeasance and malpractice, and eliminate the ability of government to restrain what editorialists for the Wall Street Journal admiringly call "the animal spirits of business."

Looking backwards, it all seems so clear that we wonder how we could have ignored the warning signs at the time. What has been happening to working people is not the result of Adam Smith's invisible hand but the direct consequence of corporate activism, intellectual propaganda, the rise of a religious literalism opposed to any civil and human right that threaten its paternalism, and a string of political decisions favoring the interests of wealthy elites who bought the political system right out from under us.

To create the intellectual framework for this revolution in public policy, they funded conservative think tanks that churned out study after study advocating their agenda.

To put muscle behind these ideas, they created a formidable political machine. One of the few journalists to cover the issues of class, Thomas Edsall of the Washington Post, reported that "During the 1970s, business refined its ability to act as a class, submerging competitive instincts in favor of joint, cooperate action in the legislative area." Big business political action committees flooded the political arena with a deluge of dollars. And they built alliances with the religious right - Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority and Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition - who gleefully contrived a cultural holy war that became a smokescreen behind which the economic assault on the middle and working classes would occur.

From land, water, and other resources, to media and the broadcast and digital spectrums, to scientific discovery and medial breakthroughs, a broad range of America's public resources have been undergoing a powerful shift toward elite control, contributing substantially to those economic pressures on ordinary Americans that "deeply affect household stability, family dynamics, social mobility, political participation and civic life."

What's to be done?

The only answer to organized money is organized people.

Again:

The only answer to organized money is organized people.

And again:

The only answer to organized money is organized people.

It is horribly easy to get frustrated with the state of our nation. Goddess knows that I have struggled with despair since the election in 2000. It has been very difficult to maintain a positive attitude about America and everything that is happening. It is chilling and frightening to see how far we have gone astray in just such a short time and what kind of damage we have wrought upon the world. It is even more disheartening to see the scope of work needed if we are going to put it all right and put ourselves on the right track again.

It would be very easy as I approach my sixtieth birthday to sit back and let someone else worry about the future and despair on a daily basis about everything that I see going wrong and worse. Somehow though, when I get too comfortable, I get sent a message like this speech by Bill Moyers that reinvigorates my desire to make a difference and not let the world pass me by. I may have only a relatively few years left but I can still communicate and while I may not see the fruits of my labor I will know that I did what I could to make the world a better place. So as Steve so rightly says. "We have a world to save!"

Don't Worrry, Be Happy

I'm not an economist but it sure looks like Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, is smoking the same stuff as Bush and Cheney with respect to understanding the reality around him. The Federal Reserve chairman said Wednesday that he did not expect the escalating problems in the mortgage lending business to spread to the rest of the economy, but noted that the Fed had given itself the “flexibility” to adjust interest rates should the outlook change for better or for worse.

Seriously, here we are with a war that has cost us more than $400 Billion so far and what's worse 90% of that $400B is on the credit card. Why should we worry that all during this horribly expensive war Bush has been giving the corporations and wealthiest in this country massive tax cuts? Don't forget to add to that increasing oil costs plus a crashing real estate market that has over $600 billion in sub prime loans rapidly going bad not to mention a growing list of existing homes sitting on the market. According to good old Ben we shouldn't worry about it everything, is going to be OK.

Sorry Ben but I'm worried. Sooner or later the Chinese are going to want to be paid back for financing Bush and Cheney's little war and there are only so many defaulted home loans the market can bear. There are only so many unsold houses sitting on the market before the home construction industry collapses and thousands and thousands of workers are on the street. There is only so much elasticity in the average household budget to absorb ever increasing energy costs and the concomitant rising costs of food and virtually everything else. No, sorry Ben, but the light I see at the end of the tunnel is a train.

This is Civil War

This is what Bush and his minions want Americans to support?

Off-duty Shiite policemen enraged by massive bombings in the northern town of Tal Afar went on a revenge spree against Sunni residents there on Wednesday, killing at least 45 men execution-style, police and hospital officials said.

The policemen began roaming the town's Sunni neighborhoods on foot early in the morning, shooting at Sunni residents and homes.

A senior hospital official in Tal Afar said at least 45 men between the ages of 15 and 60 were killed with a shot to the back of the head and four others were wounded. He spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.

Police said dozens of Sunnis were killed or wounded, but they had no precise figures. The shooting continued for more than two hours, the officials said.

I think not.

Historic Vote Just Now

An absolutely historic vote just occurred in the U.S. Senate. By a vote of 50 - 48, the Senate rejected the Cochran amendment to strip out the Iraq troop withdrawal timetable language from the Supplemental appropriation. Here is the 411: The Senate just approved withdrawal timetable language for the first time. This means that both the House and Senate feel the war in Iraq needs to be limited and that our troops need to come home and they are using the power of the purse strings to try and make that happen.

The bill is not perfect. It's still non-binding, but it is a critical and symbolic vote to change the course of the war. The Senate bill will go to a conference with the House bill that passed last week.

Lieberman and Mark Pryor from Arkansas voted with the Republicans, of course. GOP Senators Oregon's Gordon Smith and Nebraska's Chuck Hagel voted with the Democrats.

The bill will be conferenced in committee but will, in some form, wind up on Bush's desk to sign or veto. He has already said he will veto it so when he does he will be the sole supporter of and endless war in the Middle East.

Still There Different Day, More Death for Nothing

While we are all focused on the latest Rovian symptoms...this time the DOJ and Abu Gonzales we should not overlook the fact that the civil war in Iraq is charging ahead which is arguably the worst Rovian symptom there is.

BAGHDAD — Two nearly simultaneous truck bombs _ including one detonated by remote control _ ripped through markets in Tal Afar on Tuesday, killing at least 48 people and wounding dozens, police said, as violence surged outside the Iraqi capital.

A mortar attack in the Sunni-dominated Dora neighborhood of Baghdad killed four people, including two children, a woman and a man _ the second deadly mortar attack on the enclave in three days. A suicide car bomber exploded his payload near Ramadi, killing 10 people, and two other attackers detonated explosives-laden cars in Baqouba, killing three policemen.

The attacks in Tal Afar, the second in four days, occurred about five minutes apart at popular markets in the northern and central parts of the city, 260 miles northwest of Baghdad.

At least 48 people were killed and 103 wounded, police Brig. Abdul Karim al-Jubouri said.

All for nothing.

Madder and Madder

While we have seen evidence of this continuously since the faux election and most recently in the missive not to talk about polar bears this just really frosts me.

Bush administration officials throughout the government have engaged in White House-directed efforts to stifle, delay or dampen the release of climate change research that casts the White House or its policies in a bad light, says a new report that purports to be the most comprehensive assessment to date of the subject.

Researchers for the non-profit watchdog Government Accountability Project reviewed thousands of e-mails, memos and other documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests and from government whistle-blowers and conducted dozens of interviews with public affairs staff, scientists, reporters and others.

What, other than to protect their buddies in the oil and gas industry, does the White House hope to gain? What about the following oath says lie, distract and otherwise misinform the people of the United States about the most serious threat the nation and world will ever face?

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

I was too disgusted to watch the inauguration...did anyone check to see if Bush's fingers were crossed? Do you think Bush has even ever read the Constitution? Do you think he has even read the first sentence? It might be fun to have Helen Thomas ask him to repeat the first sentence of the Constitution and the next press conference.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

If he can recite it he sure as hell doesn't understand it. [bold is mine]

Yep, A Milestone

I haven't posted on the House Iraq funding bill from last week because frankly I wasn't sure exactly what to make of it. From everything I was reading it distilled into two possibilities, one it was a mistake to spend so much energy on something so flawed and toothless or two it was a milestone of Democratic leadership in the House. The more I read over the weekend and today it seems I really must settle on the "milestone" side.

E.J. Dionne argues today for the milestone option:

"The vehemence with which the president opposed it made it clear to a lot of people that this was a change in direction and that it was significant," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee....But the president's uncompromising language and his effective imposition of an April 15 deadline for the funding bill -- after that date, he said, "our men and women in uniform will face significant disruptions" -- may solidify Democratic ranks without rallying new Republican support.

....With most counts showing Senate Democrats needing only one more vote to approve the call for troop withdrawals next year, antiwar pressures are growing on Sens. John Sununu (R-N.H.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Norm Coleman (R-Minn.). All face reelection next year, as does Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), who is already seen as leaning toward the withdrawal plan.

The thing is that even though the bill is completely flawed and doesn't go nearly far enough in getting the troops home it is more symbolic than functional. If just one of the wavering GOP Senators votes for the bill then it will say to the nation and the world that America is through with Iraq and it leaves Bush isolated. This will be especially true if he follows through on his veto threat. It will then be George Bush alone withholding the much need arms, armor and support the troops so desperately need. He will truly be alone in his ownership of this debacle.

About Time

I was pleased to see Zbigniew Brzezinski's take on the "war on terror" lie/misdirection in this op-ed in today's Washington Post. We need more and more credible people questioning this propaganda.

The "war on terror" has created a culture of fear in America. The Bush administration's elevation of these three words into a national mantra since the horrific events of 9/11 has had a pernicious impact on American democracy, on America's psyche and on U.S. standing in the world. Using this phrase has actually undermined our ability to effectively confront the real challenges we face from fanatics who may use terrorism against us.

The damage these three words have done -- a classic self-inflicted wound -- is infinitely greater than any wild dreams entertained by the fanatical perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks when they were plotting against us in distant Afghan caves. The phrase itself is meaningless. It defines neither a geographic context nor our presumed enemies. Terrorism is not an enemy but a technique of warfare -- political intimidation through the killing of unarmed non-combatants.

But the little secret here may be that the vagueness of the phrase was deliberately (or instinctively) calculated by its sponsors. Constant reference to a "war on terror" did accomplish one major objective: It stimulated the emergence of a culture of fear. Fear obscures reason, intensifies emotions and makes it easier for demagogic politicians to mobilize the public on behalf of the policies they want to pursue. The war of choice in Iraq could never have gained the congressional support it got without the psychological linkage between the shock of 9/11 and the postulated existence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Support for President Bush in the 2004 elections was also mobilized in part by the notion that "a nation at war" does not change its commander in chief in midstream. The sense of a pervasive but otherwise imprecise danger was thus channeled in a politically expedient direction by the mobilizing appeal of being "at war."

I recommend you read it all.

I wish I were sanguine about the possibility that there is anything that will change the use or effect of this phrase. The right has decided that we will have the GWOT at that it will perform as an effective fnord for the foreseeable future. I'm afraid, as they say,'it's a done deal'. I'd be interested, however, if anyone has any ideas about how to undo some of the damage this simple phrase has wrought upon our nation and the world. Left to it's own devices it is going to poison the dialog in this country for a very long time.

Dog Food

It is going to be very interesting watching the advertising for dog food in the next few months as different companies try to convince consumers that theirs is best. Everybody in the world now knows that virtually all dog food in the universe is made by the same company in Canada.

Reminds me of something that happened years ago when someone removed the label from their cat food can and found another label underneath for some store brand of tuna meant for humans.

Oh, and don't forget the recent peanut butter saga where it was revealed how many brands are actually made by some company here in Georgia.

Oh My Goddess!

Remember me mentioning that my conference in DC was at the same hotel that CPAC was at... the Omni-Shoreham. That was where the Coultergiest made her abysmal 'faggot' comment about John Edwards. It just dawned on me that I may have slept in the same bed that she had. I think I am going to be sick.