Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Oxfam Hunger Map
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In the last year, international food prices have reached record peaks. In many countries, high food prices have contributed to unrest, instability, violence and increasing inequality and poverty. While volatile food prices impact everyone, the impacts vary across the globe with the poorest and most vulnerable people often getting the shortest end of the stick.
To shed more light on the impacts of food price spikes, Oxfam has created an interactive map of Food Price Volatility Pressure Points. This map shows the impacts of price spikes in some of the countries where food prices have complicated the lives of poor people and offers a chance to take action on to help address price volatility.
The map shows are areas that are highly vulnerable to price spikes, countries that have had extreme weather events contribute to global price hikes and places that have seen price spikes contribute to violence or unrest that has shaken the foundation of global stability. While this map alone does not tell the full story of how price spikes have impacted our world, it offers a global snapshot to give us a better understanding of what is happening in communities near and far.
Put this map on your website or blog
Copy and paste the code below to add this map to your own site.
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/articles/food-price-spikes
ShareThis Email this page Print this page
In the last year, international food prices have reached record peaks. In many countries, high food prices have contributed to unrest, instability, violence and increasing inequality and poverty. While volatile food prices impact everyone, the impacts vary across the globe with the poorest and most vulnerable people often getting the shortest end of the stick.
To shed more light on the impacts of food price spikes, Oxfam has created an interactive map of Food Price Volatility Pressure Points. This map shows the impacts of price spikes in some of the countries where food prices have complicated the lives of poor people and offers a chance to take action on to help address price volatility.
The map shows are areas that are highly vulnerable to price spikes, countries that have had extreme weather events contribute to global price hikes and places that have seen price spikes contribute to violence or unrest that has shaken the foundation of global stability. While this map alone does not tell the full story of how price spikes have impacted our world, it offers a global snapshot to give us a better understanding of what is happening in communities near and far.
Put this map on your website or blog
Copy and paste the code below to add this map to your own site.
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/articles/food-price-spikes
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
David "Honeyboy" Edwards: "Sweet Home Chicago" RIP
[David "Honeyboy" Edwards, the son of a sharecropper, the grandson of a slave and — for an extraordinary 80-plus years — the voice of the Delta blues, died Monday at his home in Chicago, said his longtime manager, Michael Frank. He was 96 and had been in declining health with heart problems.
Edwards picked cotton and pulled corn on Mississippi Delta plantations from age 9, living the hard life that the blues were created to address. As a young man, he hoboed across the South with a guitar on his shoulder, rode the rails, got thrown in prison for vagrancy and on various trumped-up charges and, along the way, made music with the founders of the art form: Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, Son House, Tommy McLennan, Sonny Boy Williamson and Big Joe Williams.]
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/obituaries/la-me-honeyboy-edwards-20110830,0,968212.story
Edwards picked cotton and pulled corn on Mississippi Delta plantations from age 9, living the hard life that the blues were created to address. As a young man, he hoboed across the South with a guitar on his shoulder, rode the rails, got thrown in prison for vagrancy and on various trumped-up charges and, along the way, made music with the founders of the art form: Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, Son House, Tommy McLennan, Sonny Boy Williamson and Big Joe Williams.]
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/obituaries/la-me-honeyboy-edwards-20110830,0,968212.story
Rick Parry Making Money the Old Fashioned Way: Insider Business Deals With Cronies
[BY AMAN BATHEJA
THE FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM
Since his first race for office more than a quarter-century ago, Gov. Rick Perry has emphasized his roots as a rural farmer.
Yet Perry's bank account no longer reflects those humble beginnings as his bottom line has soared in recent years, records show, thanks largely to a handful of real estate deals that critics allege were achieved through the presidential candidates' political connections...
While much of the scrutiny has focused on land deals Perry made while a statewide official, "real estate investor" doesn't properly capture all of his recent financial activity, just as "farmer" is too simple a description of Perry's earlier years...
Perry bought 10 acres of undeveloped land in 1993. That property drew interest from Michael Dell, a computer magnate who needed Perry's tract to connect his new home to municipal sewer lines. Dell took the property off Perry's hands for $465,000, more than triple what Perry had paid for it two years earlier. Perry reported a $342,994 profit on the sale in his 1995 tax return.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/29/2379942_p2/texas-gov-perry-became-a-millionaire.html#ixzz1WWR4s5tz
THE FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM
Since his first race for office more than a quarter-century ago, Gov. Rick Perry has emphasized his roots as a rural farmer.
Yet Perry's bank account no longer reflects those humble beginnings as his bottom line has soared in recent years, records show, thanks largely to a handful of real estate deals that critics allege were achieved through the presidential candidates' political connections...
While much of the scrutiny has focused on land deals Perry made while a statewide official, "real estate investor" doesn't properly capture all of his recent financial activity, just as "farmer" is too simple a description of Perry's earlier years...
Perry bought 10 acres of undeveloped land in 1993. That property drew interest from Michael Dell, a computer magnate who needed Perry's tract to connect his new home to municipal sewer lines. Dell took the property off Perry's hands for $465,000, more than triple what Perry had paid for it two years earlier. Perry reported a $342,994 profit on the sale in his 1995 tax return.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/29/2379942_p2/texas-gov-perry-became-a-millionaire.html#ixzz1WWR4s5tz
Monday, August 29, 2011
RepubliKKKans Kill Kids
[...To balance the budget, state lawmakers slashed funding for county health departments, and along with other federal cuts, it resulted in $55.6 million being cut this year from the health agency's $2.9 billion budget.
Already, 172 county health department workers have been targeted for elimination statewide. Some have already been laid off, left or switched jobs, including doctors, nurses and support staff.
Another round of layoffs will happen next month and raise those statewide totals, including 30 staffers in Orange County. Osceola County laid off 37 workers earlier this year, shrinking its staff to 200, and dozens more health workers will be let go next month in departments across Florida....]
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-health-department-layoffs-20110826,0,820970.story
Already, 172 county health department workers have been targeted for elimination statewide. Some have already been laid off, left or switched jobs, including doctors, nurses and support staff.
Another round of layoffs will happen next month and raise those statewide totals, including 30 staffers in Orange County. Osceola County laid off 37 workers earlier this year, shrinking its staff to 200, and dozens more health workers will be let go next month in departments across Florida....]
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-health-department-layoffs-20110826,0,820970.story
Sunday, August 28, 2011
"Killer python's (sic) owners get 12 years"
25 August '11 page A3: "Killer python's (sic) owners get 12 years," misusing the apostrophe to make the snake "own" the owners.
By doing so, the print edition, however, felt fine rewriting the rules of grammar, logic, and metaphysics by inverting possession.
Online headline actually grammatically correct: "Reptile-loving couple sentenced to 12 years in prison in killer python case."
Will wonders never cease?
[By Stephen Hudak, ORLANDO SENTINEL
7:40 p.m. EDT, August 24, 2011
BUSHNELL — A reptile-loving couple convicted of manslaughter for failing to protect a toddler from their pet python was sentenced today to 12 years in prison, but their lawyers believe jurors in the case were influenced by the verdict in the Casey Anthony trial.
"I don't think after watching one Central Florida accused child-killer walk free…that they wanted that to happen to anyone else accused (in a child killing) whether they fully believed the case was proven to them beyond a reasonable doubt or not," said J. Rhiannon Arnold, defense lawyer for Charles "Jason" Darnell.]
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-killer-python-sentencing-20110824,0,6052469.story
By doing so, the print edition, however, felt fine rewriting the rules of grammar, logic, and metaphysics by inverting possession.
Online headline actually grammatically correct: "Reptile-loving couple sentenced to 12 years in prison in killer python case."
Will wonders never cease?
[By Stephen Hudak, ORLANDO SENTINEL
7:40 p.m. EDT, August 24, 2011
BUSHNELL — A reptile-loving couple convicted of manslaughter for failing to protect a toddler from their pet python was sentenced today to 12 years in prison, but their lawyers believe jurors in the case were influenced by the verdict in the Casey Anthony trial.
"I don't think after watching one Central Florida accused child-killer walk free…that they wanted that to happen to anyone else accused (in a child killing) whether they fully believed the case was proven to them beyond a reasonable doubt or not," said J. Rhiannon Arnold, defense lawyer for Charles "Jason" Darnell.]
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-killer-python-sentencing-20110824,0,6052469.story
Food or Shelter?
Great Jumpin' Jehosaphat's ghost, has anyone thought that this happens to folks in A-Merry-Ca?
Anyone in political office?
Anybody?
Take the facts that mortgage companies intent on producing maximum profits created the last bubble: selling Adjustable Rate Crap, and qualifying buyers by fabricating higher income than people actually had.
Country Wide in particular failed to do due diligence by auditing the actual mortgages, and Bank of America now stands liable for damages after buying assets and liabilities. For those who preach the morality of all individuals taking care of themselves, hungry children creates a moral if not legal crisis.
Banks got trillions in bailouts, which saved the world economy.
Well whoop de do; hungry humans, especially children who need nutrition for brain development, need to eat or they die.
[Irish families are going without food in order to meet their spiraling mortgage costs as the recession grips.
The reality has been exposed by a letter writer to the Irish Times who revealed the full torment of his family’s situation.
Writing as MP Mac Domhnaill from Tralee, the man revealed how the cost of a $120,000 mortgage has left his family with nothing to eat but bread and cereal.
The writer described his family’s predicament as a new torment as he struggles to pay his lender.
He wrote of the "anxiety and pain” as his $1,000 a month dole payment is used to fund the mortgage.
The Sunday Independent reports that such cases are not unusual in modern day Ireland as calls grow for mortgage debt forgiveness.
The paper reports that there are currently up to 60,000 mortgage holders in arrears in Ireland.
Economist Morgan Kelly, the man who predicted the downfall of the Celtic Tiger, told the paper the Irish state ‘must move’ on mortgage debt forgiveness.
“There are measures the States must introduce to end the anguish of many ordinary Irish families”, said Kelly.] emphasis added
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Irish-families-starve-their-children-in-order-to-make-mortgage-payments-128552818.html
[Citigroup Inc. (C) and Bank of America Corp. (BAC) were the reigning champions of finance in 2006 as home prices peaked, leading the 10 biggest U.S. banks and brokerage firms to their best year ever with $104 billion of profits.
By 2008, the housing market’s collapse forced those companies to take more than six times as much, $669 billion, in emergency loans from the U.S. Federal Reserve. The loans dwarfed the $160 billion in public bailouts the top 10 got from the U.S. Treasury, yet until now the full amounts have remained secret.
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s unprecedented effort to keep the economy from plunging into depression included lending banks and other companies as much as $1.2 trillion of public money, about the same amount U.S. homeowners currently owe on 6.5 million delinquent and foreclosed mortgages. The largest borrower, Morgan Stanley (MS), got as much as $107.3 billion, while Citigroup took $99.5 billion and Bank of America $91.4 billion, according to a Bloomberg News compilation of data obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, months of litigation and an act of Congress.] emphasis added
http://blog.feedingamerica.org/2011/08/client-story-momi-from-las-vegas/
Anyone in political office?
Anybody?
Take the facts that mortgage companies intent on producing maximum profits created the last bubble: selling Adjustable Rate Crap, and qualifying buyers by fabricating higher income than people actually had.
Country Wide in particular failed to do due diligence by auditing the actual mortgages, and Bank of America now stands liable for damages after buying assets and liabilities. For those who preach the morality of all individuals taking care of themselves, hungry children creates a moral if not legal crisis.
Banks got trillions in bailouts, which saved the world economy.
Well whoop de do; hungry humans, especially children who need nutrition for brain development, need to eat or they die.
[Irish families are going without food in order to meet their spiraling mortgage costs as the recession grips.
The reality has been exposed by a letter writer to the Irish Times who revealed the full torment of his family’s situation.
Writing as MP Mac Domhnaill from Tralee, the man revealed how the cost of a $120,000 mortgage has left his family with nothing to eat but bread and cereal.
The writer described his family’s predicament as a new torment as he struggles to pay his lender.
He wrote of the "anxiety and pain” as his $1,000 a month dole payment is used to fund the mortgage.
The Sunday Independent reports that such cases are not unusual in modern day Ireland as calls grow for mortgage debt forgiveness.
The paper reports that there are currently up to 60,000 mortgage holders in arrears in Ireland.
Economist Morgan Kelly, the man who predicted the downfall of the Celtic Tiger, told the paper the Irish state ‘must move’ on mortgage debt forgiveness.
“There are measures the States must introduce to end the anguish of many ordinary Irish families”, said Kelly.] emphasis added
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Irish-families-starve-their-children-in-order-to-make-mortgage-payments-128552818.html
[Citigroup Inc. (C) and Bank of America Corp. (BAC) were the reigning champions of finance in 2006 as home prices peaked, leading the 10 biggest U.S. banks and brokerage firms to their best year ever with $104 billion of profits.
By 2008, the housing market’s collapse forced those companies to take more than six times as much, $669 billion, in emergency loans from the U.S. Federal Reserve. The loans dwarfed the $160 billion in public bailouts the top 10 got from the U.S. Treasury, yet until now the full amounts have remained secret.
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s unprecedented effort to keep the economy from plunging into depression included lending banks and other companies as much as $1.2 trillion of public money, about the same amount U.S. homeowners currently owe on 6.5 million delinquent and foreclosed mortgages. The largest borrower, Morgan Stanley (MS), got as much as $107.3 billion, while Citigroup took $99.5 billion and Bank of America $91.4 billion, according to a Bloomberg News compilation of data obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, months of litigation and an act of Congress.] emphasis added
http://blog.feedingamerica.org/2011/08/client-story-momi-from-las-vegas/
For Long Life, Drink Irish Whiskey
[One of America’s oldest citizens, still sharp as a tack, has claimed Irish whiskey is the key to her longevity.
The 103-year-old Marguerite Kuebrich told fifty of her closest friends that her Irish heritage also helps.
“No one knows how old they’re going to be,” Kuebrich said. “(But) I have no idea why I lived so long. I usually tell them it’s good Irish whiskey. I’m Irish and I’m proud of it.”]
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Irish-whiskey-key-to-long-life-says-one-of-Americas-oldest-citizens-128552608.html
The 103-year-old Marguerite Kuebrich told fifty of her closest friends that her Irish heritage also helps.
“No one knows how old they’re going to be,” Kuebrich said. “(But) I have no idea why I lived so long. I usually tell them it’s good Irish whiskey. I’m Irish and I’m proud of it.”]
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Irish-whiskey-key-to-long-life-says-one-of-Americas-oldest-citizens-128552608.html
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Just When I Thought I Had Things Figured Out
God, Goddess, Allah, or deity of your choice smacks the Earth down with a hurricane, Irene.
Who Knew?: I thought Switchfoot a country band
[For Jon Foreman, lead singer and songwriter for Grammy Award-winning band Switchfoot, inspiring people to action through music is a gift not to be taken lightly.
But writing songs and singing about hope is not enough for him, he said. It is partly the “faith without works is dead” theology. But to Foreman, it just seems disingenuous to sing about hope and not get involved.
For years, Habitat for Humanity has been one of Switchfoot’s favorite ways of putting their faith into action.
“There are a lot of great organizations doing great things for people, but one of the things I love about Habitat is it’s a way for people to connect with the heart of what we’re singing about, which is hope. A lot of organizations need money or need skill. Habitat will teach you how to swing a hammer, how to put up siding and put in sinks. I love that. With Habitat, you can directly connect with the organization with your sweat rather than pocket.”]
http://www.habitat.org/stories_multimedia/volunteer_stories/Vol_Switchfoot_July2011.aspx?tr=y&auid=9374118
"I want to spend the rest of my life alive."
But writing songs and singing about hope is not enough for him, he said. It is partly the “faith without works is dead” theology. But to Foreman, it just seems disingenuous to sing about hope and not get involved.
For years, Habitat for Humanity has been one of Switchfoot’s favorite ways of putting their faith into action.
“There are a lot of great organizations doing great things for people, but one of the things I love about Habitat is it’s a way for people to connect with the heart of what we’re singing about, which is hope. A lot of organizations need money or need skill. Habitat will teach you how to swing a hammer, how to put up siding and put in sinks. I love that. With Habitat, you can directly connect with the organization with your sweat rather than pocket.”]
http://www.habitat.org/stories_multimedia/volunteer_stories/Vol_Switchfoot_July2011.aspx?tr=y&auid=9374118
"I want to spend the rest of my life alive."
Cow Rescue: "This cow has been luckier."
[Once the animal rescue group, the fire service and the Army were stumped the obvious person to call was Joe Rogers. When everyone else failed the 79-year-old, Draperstown, County Derry pensioner wowed crowds as he used a milk-float to save a pregnant cow that was stranded down a ravine.
The Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), the fire department and even the Army could not figure out a way of rescuing the helpless pregnant animal trapped down the steep slope in Sperrins. However locals knew that Rogers would find an answer.]
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/How-a-Derry-pensioner-saved-a-trapped-cow-from-a-ravine-with-a-milk-float-128488953.html
The Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), the fire department and even the Army could not figure out a way of rescuing the helpless pregnant animal trapped down the steep slope in Sperrins. However locals knew that Rogers would find an answer.]
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/How-a-Derry-pensioner-saved-a-trapped-cow-from-a-ravine-with-a-milk-float-128488953.html
Friday, August 26, 2011
Women's Equality Day
This Women's Equality Day
What the heck do we tell our daughters?
Do we tell our daughters about the fact that despite many gains made for women’s (and mother’s) equality, women still don’t have equal pay for equal work and are now making only an average of 77 cents for every dollar that men make?NO!
We tell our daughters that we're fighting for all the daughters in our nation, on Women’s Equality Day.
Urge your U.S. Senator to support the Paycheck Fairness Act in honor of Women’s Equality Day today:
The Email Which Infected the World
Once again, do not open a file from someone you don't know.
[IDG News Service - "I forward this file to you for review. Please open and view it."
As a ploy to get a hapless EMC recruiter to open up a booby trapped Excel spreadsheet, it may not be the most sophisticated piece of work. But researchers at F-Secure believe that it was enough to break into one of the most respected computer security companies on the planet, and a first step in a complex attack that ultimately threatened the security of major U.S. defense contractors including Lockheed Martin, L-3, and Northrop Grumman.
The e-mail was sent on March 3 and uploaded to VirusTotal a free service used to scan suspicious messages, on March 19, two days after RSA went public with the news that it had been hacked in one of the worst security breaches ever.
Researchers at F-Secure, the company that discovered the message Monday, believe that it was very likely the message that led to the RSA compromise. If true, the finding sheds light on the kind of trickery, called social engineering by security pros, it takes to break into a major security company.
F-Secure antimalware analyst Timo Hirvonen discovered the e-mail message buried in the millions of submissions stored in this crowd-sourced database of malicious or potentially malicious files. VirusTotal lets computer users upload a suspicious file, say an Excel spreadsheet that might be infected, and have it scanned by over 40 of the world's top antivirus companies. In return for the free scan, the AV vendors get to examine the files, making the service a great way of learning about malicious software after the fact.
Hirvonen had been searching VirusTotal's database for the RSA attack file ever since RSA acknowledged that it had been compromised. The hackers had sent two different phishing e-mails to small groups of company employees over a two day period, but nobody outside of RSA and its parent company EMC knew the full contents of those messages. It wasn't even clear if they were included in VirusTotal's data.
RSA has released some details about the attack, but Hirvonen's find is a first look at just what it took to get an EMC employee to open that dangerous attachment.
"The e-mail was crafted well enough to trick one of the employees to retrieve it from their Junk mail folder, and open the attached Excel file," wrote RSA Head of New Technologies Uri Rivner in the April 1 blog posting that laid out most of what RSA has said publicly about the e-mail. "It was a spreadsheet titled "2011 Recruitment plan.xls."]
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9219519/Was_this_the_e_mail_that_took_down_RSA_?source=CTWNLE_nlt_dailyam_2011-08-26
[IDG News Service - "I forward this file to you for review. Please open and view it."
As a ploy to get a hapless EMC recruiter to open up a booby trapped Excel spreadsheet, it may not be the most sophisticated piece of work. But researchers at F-Secure believe that it was enough to break into one of the most respected computer security companies on the planet, and a first step in a complex attack that ultimately threatened the security of major U.S. defense contractors including Lockheed Martin, L-3, and Northrop Grumman.
The e-mail was sent on March 3 and uploaded to VirusTotal a free service used to scan suspicious messages, on March 19, two days after RSA went public with the news that it had been hacked in one of the worst security breaches ever.
Researchers at F-Secure, the company that discovered the message Monday, believe that it was very likely the message that led to the RSA compromise. If true, the finding sheds light on the kind of trickery, called social engineering by security pros, it takes to break into a major security company.
F-Secure antimalware analyst Timo Hirvonen discovered the e-mail message buried in the millions of submissions stored in this crowd-sourced database of malicious or potentially malicious files. VirusTotal lets computer users upload a suspicious file, say an Excel spreadsheet that might be infected, and have it scanned by over 40 of the world's top antivirus companies. In return for the free scan, the AV vendors get to examine the files, making the service a great way of learning about malicious software after the fact.
Hirvonen had been searching VirusTotal's database for the RSA attack file ever since RSA acknowledged that it had been compromised. The hackers had sent two different phishing e-mails to small groups of company employees over a two day period, but nobody outside of RSA and its parent company EMC knew the full contents of those messages. It wasn't even clear if they were included in VirusTotal's data.
RSA has released some details about the attack, but Hirvonen's find is a first look at just what it took to get an EMC employee to open that dangerous attachment.
"The e-mail was crafted well enough to trick one of the employees to retrieve it from their Junk mail folder, and open the attached Excel file," wrote RSA Head of New Technologies Uri Rivner in the April 1 blog posting that laid out most of what RSA has said publicly about the e-mail. "It was a spreadsheet titled "2011 Recruitment plan.xls."]
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9219519/Was_this_the_e_mail_that_took_down_RSA_?source=CTWNLE_nlt_dailyam_2011-08-26
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Hunger Strike in Pelican Bay Prison
Allowing prisoners to have wall calenders and wool caps in winter helped end these protests.
Really?
What danger could come from disallowing wall calenders?
Doing so only servs to dehumanize and oppress human beings.
Hunger strikes show there exists a limit to which human beings will not submit. Although different for limitsdifferent people, oppression breeds protest.
The power of collective action will overwhelm authoritarian oppression.
Attica, Attica, Attica!!!
[Last month, inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison launched a hunger strike to draw attention to their complaints of being unfairly held in extreme isolation at the Crescent City lockup.
Within three weeks, the prison hunger strike had become one of the largest in years, spreading throughout the state corrections system to involve thousands of inmates and sparking a legislative hearing scheduled for next week.
"We had up to 6,000 (prisoners taking part), including about 300 in Mississippi in our out-of-state facility half the country away, participating in this," said corrections spokesman Oscar Hidalgo.
When officials tried to tamp down the protest by moving 17 hunger strike leaders to the state prison in Corcoran, the inmate action spread.
"As soon as they got down to Corcoran, an additional 300 inmates at that institution went on the hunger strike," Hidalgo said.]
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/18/3845396/california-prisoners-make-inroads.html#ixzz1W4l4hR72
Really?
What danger could come from disallowing wall calenders?
Doing so only servs to dehumanize and oppress human beings.
Hunger strikes show there exists a limit to which human beings will not submit. Although different for limitsdifferent people, oppression breeds protest.
The power of collective action will overwhelm authoritarian oppression.
Attica, Attica, Attica!!!
[Last month, inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison launched a hunger strike to draw attention to their complaints of being unfairly held in extreme isolation at the Crescent City lockup.
Within three weeks, the prison hunger strike had become one of the largest in years, spreading throughout the state corrections system to involve thousands of inmates and sparking a legislative hearing scheduled for next week.
"We had up to 6,000 (prisoners taking part), including about 300 in Mississippi in our out-of-state facility half the country away, participating in this," said corrections spokesman Oscar Hidalgo.
When officials tried to tamp down the protest by moving 17 hunger strike leaders to the state prison in Corcoran, the inmate action spread.
"As soon as they got down to Corcoran, an additional 300 inmates at that institution went on the hunger strike," Hidalgo said.]
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/18/3845396/california-prisoners-make-inroads.html#ixzz1W4l4hR72
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
BrUUUUUUUce: "Local Hero"
"...A gypsy girl said drink this/ my hands lost all sensation/These days I'm feelin' alright 'cept I can't tell my courage from my desperation."
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Bruce Springsteen: "Tunnel of Love"
"The lights go out and it's just the three of us,
you and me and all of that stuff we're so scared of."
"It oughta be easy
oughta be simple enough
man meets woman and they fall in love
but the house is haunted
and the ride gets rough
you gotta learn to live with what you can't rise above"
you and me and all of that stuff we're so scared of."
"It oughta be easy
oughta be simple enough
man meets woman and they fall in love
but the house is haunted
and the ride gets rough
you gotta learn to live with what you can't rise above"
In the end, what you don't surrender the world just strips away
"...I ain't lookin' for prayers or pity
I ain't coming around searchin' for a crutch
I just want someone to talk to...
You can't shut off the risk and the pain
without losing the love that remains..
know you been broke and you been hurt
show me somebody who ain't
yeah, I know I ain't nobody's bargain,
need a little touch up and paint"
Reid Report: Dispelling Liberal Gloom
[I read the latest issue of TIME on the plane ride from New York to Florida. It’s worth picking up, not least of which for Fareed Zakaria’s latest essay, on why liberal doom and gloom over President Obama’s pragmatism is way off base.
Here’s the start:
The air is thick with liberal disappointment. In the days after the debt deal, liberal politicians and commentators took to the airwaves and op-ed pages to mourn the agreement. But their ire was directed not at the Tea Party or even the Republicans but rather at Barack Obama, who they concluded had failed as a President because of his persistent tendency to compromise.
As the New Republic’s Jonathan Chait brilliantly points out, this criticism stems from a liberal fantasy that if only the President would give a stirring speech, he would sweep the country along with the sheer power of his poetry. In this view, writes Chait, “every known impediment to the legislative process — special interest lobbying, the filibuster, macroeconomic conditions, not to mention certain settled beliefs of public opinion — are bt tiny stick huts trembling in the face of the atomic bomb of the presidential speech.”
Zakaria goes on to describe one incident, in which MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan went on a tear that Obama should “give such a speech,” only to have his expert panel nail Ratigan down on just what that speech should contain. The answer: let corporations repatriate their overseas profits. “So the great liberal dream is that Obama propose something that he has already proposed and fund it by giving multinationals a tax break,” Zakaria writes.
Zakaria takes on professional left disappointment in the recent debt deal, quoting New York Times writer Drew Western, a psychologist by training, who lamented that he has “no idea what Barack Obama believes on virtually any issue.” Apparently, Western has diagnosed the president with some deep, traumatic disorder that forces him to seek abysmal compromise at all costs. But as Zakaria points out, the only thing that appears to really afflict this president is pragmatism. And pragmatism in a president is not a bad thing.
It’s the short memory that fails to recall that a majority of Americans elected a pragmatist on purpose. With the country in economic flames in 2007 and 2008, Americans had the choice of a daredevil pilot or a Sully Sullenberger. You don’t land the plane on the hudson by giving thundering speeches and freaking out over the intercom.
Zakaria gives a short history lesson:
Obama passed a large stimulus package within weeks of taking office. Perhaps it should have been bigger, but despite a Democratic House and Senate, it passed by just one vote. He signed into law an unprecedented expansion of regulations in the financial services industry, though one that did not break up the large banks. He enacted universal health care, through a complex program modeled after Mitt Romney’s plan in Massachusetts. And he has advocated a balanced approach to deficit reduction that combines tax increases with spending cuts.
http://blog.reidreport.com/2011/08/fareed-zakaria-explains-it-all-liberal-obamagloom-off-base/#more-26193
Here’s the start:
The air is thick with liberal disappointment. In the days after the debt deal, liberal politicians and commentators took to the airwaves and op-ed pages to mourn the agreement. But their ire was directed not at the Tea Party or even the Republicans but rather at Barack Obama, who they concluded had failed as a President because of his persistent tendency to compromise.
As the New Republic’s Jonathan Chait brilliantly points out, this criticism stems from a liberal fantasy that if only the President would give a stirring speech, he would sweep the country along with the sheer power of his poetry. In this view, writes Chait, “every known impediment to the legislative process — special interest lobbying, the filibuster, macroeconomic conditions, not to mention certain settled beliefs of public opinion — are bt tiny stick huts trembling in the face of the atomic bomb of the presidential speech.”
Zakaria goes on to describe one incident, in which MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan went on a tear that Obama should “give such a speech,” only to have his expert panel nail Ratigan down on just what that speech should contain. The answer: let corporations repatriate their overseas profits. “So the great liberal dream is that Obama propose something that he has already proposed and fund it by giving multinationals a tax break,” Zakaria writes.
Zakaria takes on professional left disappointment in the recent debt deal, quoting New York Times writer Drew Western, a psychologist by training, who lamented that he has “no idea what Barack Obama believes on virtually any issue.” Apparently, Western has diagnosed the president with some deep, traumatic disorder that forces him to seek abysmal compromise at all costs. But as Zakaria points out, the only thing that appears to really afflict this president is pragmatism. And pragmatism in a president is not a bad thing.
It’s the short memory that fails to recall that a majority of Americans elected a pragmatist on purpose. With the country in economic flames in 2007 and 2008, Americans had the choice of a daredevil pilot or a Sully Sullenberger. You don’t land the plane on the hudson by giving thundering speeches and freaking out over the intercom.
Zakaria gives a short history lesson:
Obama passed a large stimulus package within weeks of taking office. Perhaps it should have been bigger, but despite a Democratic House and Senate, it passed by just one vote. He signed into law an unprecedented expansion of regulations in the financial services industry, though one that did not break up the large banks. He enacted universal health care, through a complex program modeled after Mitt Romney’s plan in Massachusetts. And he has advocated a balanced approach to deficit reduction that combines tax increases with spending cuts.
http://blog.reidreport.com/2011/08/fareed-zakaria-explains-it-all-liberal-obamagloom-off-base/#more-26193
Fair Food Movement; Coalition for Immokkaleee Workers
[Fair food agreements establish basic standards for wages and working conditions for farmworkers, and a complaint procedure to enforce their rights. Growers who sign on are obligated to treat their employees in accordance with these standards. Fast food and supermarket chains that sign on are obligated to do business only with growers that are complying with the standards, and to absorb increased costs: one penny per pound of tomatoes. Though the agreements haven’t stopped farmworkers’ jobs from being poverty jobs, both farmworkers on the East Coast tour say they have transformed their work conditions and reduced the intensity of their economic insecurity – especially since major growers Six L's and Pacific Tomato Growers signed on last fall...
“We’ve seen many changes already,” says Perez. “We can have shade now…we can have water now.” He recalls many times before last year’s agreements when his boss would flatly tell him the company hadn’t cut him a check for his work. Workers who tried to pursue their unpaid wages would eventually give up. Since the new agreements, “We have a voice in the camps. We can confront the manager, or we can make a complaint to the coalition” to force compliance. Oscar Otcoi, another Immokalee farmworker on the East Coast tour, says before the agreements managers were “treating you like a machine.” (Perez and Otcoi were both interviewed in Spanish.)
“Before I got involved in the coalition,” says Perez, “a boss would scold me when I was in the shade or drinking water,” even in 105 degree heat. “He would say, if you want a break, get on the bus and leave and don’t come back to work for me." Now workers are guaranteed breaks where they can sit in the shade and eat and drink water. “You don’t have to eat around pesticides anymore.” Whereas he and other workers regularly used to come into work sick in order to keep their jobs, now they can stay home when they’re too sick to work.]http://www.alternet.org/story/151985/why_won%27t_supposedly_progressive_trader_joe%27s_sign_an_agreement_not_to_sell_slave_labor_tomatoes_it_will_only_cost_a_penny_per_pound?akid=7420.203331.cgYN5w&rd=1&t=2
“We’ve seen many changes already,” says Perez. “We can have shade now…we can have water now.” He recalls many times before last year’s agreements when his boss would flatly tell him the company hadn’t cut him a check for his work. Workers who tried to pursue their unpaid wages would eventually give up. Since the new agreements, “We have a voice in the camps. We can confront the manager, or we can make a complaint to the coalition” to force compliance. Oscar Otcoi, another Immokalee farmworker on the East Coast tour, says before the agreements managers were “treating you like a machine.” (Perez and Otcoi were both interviewed in Spanish.)
“Before I got involved in the coalition,” says Perez, “a boss would scold me when I was in the shade or drinking water,” even in 105 degree heat. “He would say, if you want a break, get on the bus and leave and don’t come back to work for me." Now workers are guaranteed breaks where they can sit in the shade and eat and drink water. “You don’t have to eat around pesticides anymore.” Whereas he and other workers regularly used to come into work sick in order to keep their jobs, now they can stay home when they’re too sick to work.]http://www.alternet.org/story/151985/why_won%27t_supposedly_progressive_trader_joe%27s_sign_an_agreement_not_to_sell_slave_labor_tomatoes_it_will_only_cost_a_penny_per_pound?akid=7420.203331.cgYN5w&rd=1&t=2
Didn't We See This Movie Before?
W with Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Banks.
[It is unfathomable that yet another Texas blowhard governor has emerged as a front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination. The persistent appeal of the mythology of Texas as a model for the nation defies the lessons of logic and experience, and yet here we are with Rick Perry, a George W. Bush look-alike, as a prime contender to once again run our nation into the ground.
To begin with, Texas is not and never will be a model for the nation unless the other states discover similarly rich deposits of oil and natural gas that account for one-third of jobs and supply 40 percent of tax revenues within those states. If Texas energy receipts and jobs helped float Gov. Bush's reputation, they have been nothing short of miraculous for Perry's tenure. The price of oil rose from $25 a barrel when Lt. Gov. Perry replaced the newly elected President Bush to $147 in 2008 and has stayed at more than $80 a barrel since, to the dismay of anyone who has to buy gasoline.
In addition, thanks to breakthroughs in oil field technology that Perry had nothing to do with, there have been controversial new drilling techniques that have vastly expanded the exploitation of gas and oil reserves, producing many of the new jobs that the Texas governor claims. For a relatively ineffectual governor, in a state in which the part-time Legislature holds the power, to take credit for this job boom is as ludicrous as a Saudi prince bragging of his entrepreneurial skills as the source of royal wealth.
Unfortunately, the boom in the energy industry has not spread to those in the state stuck in less lucrative sectors of the economy. Texas remains tied with Mississippi for the largest number of workers earning wages equal to or less than the federal minimum wage.] emphasis added
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-scheer/the-biggest-little-hypocr_b_928935.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=081711&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BlogEntry&utm_term=Daily%20Brief
[It is unfathomable that yet another Texas blowhard governor has emerged as a front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination. The persistent appeal of the mythology of Texas as a model for the nation defies the lessons of logic and experience, and yet here we are with Rick Perry, a George W. Bush look-alike, as a prime contender to once again run our nation into the ground.
To begin with, Texas is not and never will be a model for the nation unless the other states discover similarly rich deposits of oil and natural gas that account for one-third of jobs and supply 40 percent of tax revenues within those states. If Texas energy receipts and jobs helped float Gov. Bush's reputation, they have been nothing short of miraculous for Perry's tenure. The price of oil rose from $25 a barrel when Lt. Gov. Perry replaced the newly elected President Bush to $147 in 2008 and has stayed at more than $80 a barrel since, to the dismay of anyone who has to buy gasoline.
In addition, thanks to breakthroughs in oil field technology that Perry had nothing to do with, there have been controversial new drilling techniques that have vastly expanded the exploitation of gas and oil reserves, producing many of the new jobs that the Texas governor claims. For a relatively ineffectual governor, in a state in which the part-time Legislature holds the power, to take credit for this job boom is as ludicrous as a Saudi prince bragging of his entrepreneurial skills as the source of royal wealth.
Unfortunately, the boom in the energy industry has not spread to those in the state stuck in less lucrative sectors of the economy. Texas remains tied with Mississippi for the largest number of workers earning wages equal to or less than the federal minimum wage.] emphasis added
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-scheer/the-biggest-little-hypocr_b_928935.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=081711&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BlogEntry&utm_term=Daily%20Brief
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Hunger in America
[More than 1 in 4 families with children did not have enough money to buy food in the past 12 months, according to a report released yesterday. That compares with about 1 in 6 for childless households.
Not having enough money for food has been a frequent worry for Ezell Johnson of the North Side since he began looking after his three young grandchildren about a year ago.
“We get by,” he said. “It’s scary.”
Johnson, 58, was injured on a construction job about six years ago and has been living on disability assistance. On a recent afternoon, he was among dozens who came to a Columbus park for free melons, peaches and fresh produce at a farmers market hosted by a Clintonville-area food pantry.
“We’re happy to see something like this out here. It helps.”
The report found that Ohio ranked 20th in the nation for food hardship and was home to seven of the 100 most troubled metropolitan areas; only California and Florida had more.]
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/08/12/hunger-stalks-ohio-families.html
Not having enough money for food has been a frequent worry for Ezell Johnson of the North Side since he began looking after his three young grandchildren about a year ago.
“We get by,” he said. “It’s scary.”
Johnson, 58, was injured on a construction job about six years ago and has been living on disability assistance. On a recent afternoon, he was among dozens who came to a Columbus park for free melons, peaches and fresh produce at a farmers market hosted by a Clintonville-area food pantry.
“We’re happy to see something like this out here. It helps.”
The report found that Ohio ranked 20th in the nation for food hardship and was home to seven of the 100 most troubled metropolitan areas; only California and Florida had more.]
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/08/12/hunger-stalks-ohio-families.html
Warren Buffett: Raise My Taxes Already
[Last year my federal tax bill — the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf — was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income — and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent.
If you make money with money, as some of my super-rich friends do, your percentage may be a bit lower than mine. But if you earn money from a job, your percentage will surely exceed mine — most likely by a lot.
To understand why, you need to examine the sources of government revenue. Last year about 80 percent of these revenues came from personal income taxes and payroll taxes. The mega-rich pay income taxes at a rate of 15 percent on most of their earnings but pay practically nothing in payroll taxes. It’s a different story for the middle class: typically, they fall into the 15 percent and 25 percent income tax brackets, and then are hit with heavy payroll taxes to boot.
Back in the 1980s and 1990s, tax rates for the rich were far higher, and my percentage rate was in the middle of the pack. According to a theory I sometimes hear, I should have thrown a fit and refused to invest because of the elevated tax rates on capital gains and dividends.
I didn’t refuse, nor did others.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html?_r=2&smid=tw-nytimesbusiness&seid=auto
If you make money with money, as some of my super-rich friends do, your percentage may be a bit lower than mine. But if you earn money from a job, your percentage will surely exceed mine — most likely by a lot.
To understand why, you need to examine the sources of government revenue. Last year about 80 percent of these revenues came from personal income taxes and payroll taxes. The mega-rich pay income taxes at a rate of 15 percent on most of their earnings but pay practically nothing in payroll taxes. It’s a different story for the middle class: typically, they fall into the 15 percent and 25 percent income tax brackets, and then are hit with heavy payroll taxes to boot.
Back in the 1980s and 1990s, tax rates for the rich were far higher, and my percentage rate was in the middle of the pack. According to a theory I sometimes hear, I should have thrown a fit and refused to invest because of the elevated tax rates on capital gains and dividends.
I didn’t refuse, nor did others.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html?_r=2&smid=tw-nytimesbusiness&seid=auto
War Kills Youngest US Soldiers
[SILVANA, Wash. — In a hilltop graveyard overlooking this Stillaguamish River village lies a young soldier killed in the infancy of the Iraq war.
Army Spc. Justin W. Hebert's story is sad and sadly unremarkable, a tragedy bound up in the tale of a grinding war that took young lives with grievous regularity. Nearly one-third of U.S. troops killed in Iraq were age 18 to 21. Well over half were in the lowest enlisted ranks.
For Hebert, the Army was an adventure. But it didn't last long.
Barely two years after he finished high school, exactly three months after President George W. Bush declared the end of major combat in Iraq and just four days after his 20th birthday, Hebert was mortally wounded in an insurgent ambush that may have been a setup by an Iraqi "informant."
It was Aug. 1, 2003. The war, according to the Pentagon's plan, was supposed to be over. Baghdad had fallen swiftly. But a new, more menacing phase of conflict was just beginning. An insurgency was in the making, and in its formative months it perplexed U.S. commanders and cost Hebert his life.]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/20/us-troops-in-iraq_n_932063.html
Army Spc. Justin W. Hebert's story is sad and sadly unremarkable, a tragedy bound up in the tale of a grinding war that took young lives with grievous regularity. Nearly one-third of U.S. troops killed in Iraq were age 18 to 21. Well over half were in the lowest enlisted ranks.
For Hebert, the Army was an adventure. But it didn't last long.
Barely two years after he finished high school, exactly three months after President George W. Bush declared the end of major combat in Iraq and just four days after his 20th birthday, Hebert was mortally wounded in an insurgent ambush that may have been a setup by an Iraqi "informant."
It was Aug. 1, 2003. The war, according to the Pentagon's plan, was supposed to be over. Baghdad had fallen swiftly. But a new, more menacing phase of conflict was just beginning. An insurgency was in the making, and in its formative months it perplexed U.S. commanders and cost Hebert his life.]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/20/us-troops-in-iraq_n_932063.html
Thursday, August 18, 2011
20% of US Children in Poverty
Good thing I've got rum when the news gets depressing.
Hey, I have enough to eat and poor people don't live in my apartment complex near by the happiest place on Earth!
USA, USA, USA, proud to be an American!
[A national study on child well-being to be published Wednesday found Nevada had the highest rate of children whose parents are unemployed and underemployed. The state is also home to the most children affected by foreclosures — 13 percent of all Silver State babies, toddlers and teenagers have been kicked out of their homes because of an unpaid mortgage, the study found.
Across the nation, the research by the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that child poverty increased in 38 states from 2000 to 2009. As a result, 14.7 million children, 20 percent, were poor in 2009. That represents a 2.5 million increase from 2000, when 17 percent of the nation's youth lived in low-income homes.
Recession hits hard
In the foundation's first examination of the impact of the recession on the nation's children, the researchers concluded that low-income children will likely suffer academically, economically and socially long after their parents have recovered.]
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44171347/ns/us_news-life/
Hey, I have enough to eat and poor people don't live in my apartment complex near by the happiest place on Earth!
USA, USA, USA, proud to be an American!
[A national study on child well-being to be published Wednesday found Nevada had the highest rate of children whose parents are unemployed and underemployed. The state is also home to the most children affected by foreclosures — 13 percent of all Silver State babies, toddlers and teenagers have been kicked out of their homes because of an unpaid mortgage, the study found.
Across the nation, the research by the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that child poverty increased in 38 states from 2000 to 2009. As a result, 14.7 million children, 20 percent, were poor in 2009. That represents a 2.5 million increase from 2000, when 17 percent of the nation's youth lived in low-income homes.
Recession hits hard
In the foundation's first examination of the impact of the recession on the nation's children, the researchers concluded that low-income children will likely suffer academically, economically and socially long after their parents have recovered.]
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44171347/ns/us_news-life/
18 August National Rum Day
[Ashley Strickland Special to CNN
Posted: 11:15 am EDT August 16, 2011
Updated: 11:26 am EDT August 16, 2011
(CNN) -- Start your engines for some rum-running - August 16 is National Rum Day!
Quench your thirst and partake in this sweet Caribbean spirit today. Made by distilling the byproducts of molasses and sugarcane, rum ends up the strong, silent type on the scale of alcoholic beverages.
The origins of the name "rum" are unclear and often disputed, but one thing everyone can agree on is that rum discovered its birthright on Caribbean sugarcane plantations in the 1600s. It soon became a favorite of pirates and the Navy; thirsty American colonials and the rest of the world soon followed.]
http://www.wftv.com/entertainment/28880921/detail.html?treets=orlc&tid=26513271874813&tml=orlc_12pm&tmi=orlc_12pm_1_10500108182011&ts=H
Posted: 11:15 am EDT August 16, 2011
Updated: 11:26 am EDT August 16, 2011
(CNN) -- Start your engines for some rum-running - August 16 is National Rum Day!
Quench your thirst and partake in this sweet Caribbean spirit today. Made by distilling the byproducts of molasses and sugarcane, rum ends up the strong, silent type on the scale of alcoholic beverages.
The origins of the name "rum" are unclear and often disputed, but one thing everyone can agree on is that rum discovered its birthright on Caribbean sugarcane plantations in the 1600s. It soon became a favorite of pirates and the Navy; thirsty American colonials and the rest of the world soon followed.]
http://www.wftv.com/entertainment/28880921/detail.html?treets=orlc&tid=26513271874813&tml=orlc_12pm&tmi=orlc_12pm_1_10500108182011&ts=H
Tea Party: Neither new nor original
Oh great, they want their God in my governemnt: their god hates fags and Muslims and contraception old white angry bearded dude in heaven.
Excuse me, I prefer my Jesus, the concerned about the poor and downtrodden Man of Peace.
[Our analysis casts doubt on the Tea Party’s “origin story.” Early on, Tea Partiers were often described as nonpartisan political neophytes. Actually, the Tea Party’s supporters today were highly partisan Republicans long before the Tea Party was born, and were more likely than others to have contacted government officials. In fact, past Republican affiliation is the single strongest predictor of Tea Party support today.
What’s more, contrary to some accounts, the Tea Party is not a creature of the Great Recession. Many Americans have suffered in the last four years, but they are no more likely than anyone else to support the Tea Party. And while the public image of the Tea Party focuses on a desire to shrink government, concern over big government is hardly the only or even the most important predictor of Tea Party support among voters.
So what do Tea Partiers have in common? They are overwhelmingly white, but even compared to other white Republicans, they had a low regard for immigrants and blacks long before Barack Obama was president, and they still do.
More important, they were disproportionately social conservatives in 2006 — opposing abortion, for example — and still are today. Next to being a Republican, the strongest predictor of being a Tea Party supporter today was a desire, back in 2006, to see religion play a prominent role in politics. And Tea Partiers continue to hold these views: they seek “deeply religious” elected officials, approve of religious leaders’ engaging in politics and want religion brought into political debates. The Tea Party’s generals may say their overriding concern is a smaller government, but not their rank and file, who are more concerned about putting God in government.] emphasis added
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/opinion/crashing-the-tea-party.html?_r=3
Excuse me, I prefer my Jesus, the concerned about the poor and downtrodden Man of Peace.
[Our analysis casts doubt on the Tea Party’s “origin story.” Early on, Tea Partiers were often described as nonpartisan political neophytes. Actually, the Tea Party’s supporters today were highly partisan Republicans long before the Tea Party was born, and were more likely than others to have contacted government officials. In fact, past Republican affiliation is the single strongest predictor of Tea Party support today.
What’s more, contrary to some accounts, the Tea Party is not a creature of the Great Recession. Many Americans have suffered in the last four years, but they are no more likely than anyone else to support the Tea Party. And while the public image of the Tea Party focuses on a desire to shrink government, concern over big government is hardly the only or even the most important predictor of Tea Party support among voters.
So what do Tea Partiers have in common? They are overwhelmingly white, but even compared to other white Republicans, they had a low regard for immigrants and blacks long before Barack Obama was president, and they still do.
More important, they were disproportionately social conservatives in 2006 — opposing abortion, for example — and still are today. Next to being a Republican, the strongest predictor of being a Tea Party supporter today was a desire, back in 2006, to see religion play a prominent role in politics. And Tea Partiers continue to hold these views: they seek “deeply religious” elected officials, approve of religious leaders’ engaging in politics and want religion brought into political debates. The Tea Party’s generals may say their overriding concern is a smaller government, but not their rank and file, who are more concerned about putting God in government.] emphasis added
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/opinion/crashing-the-tea-party.html?_r=3
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Only a Small Fraction of Millions Went to the Taliban
Most went to corruption: criminals, grifters, frauds and cheats, SNAFU, democracy at the finest.
[In a murky process known as "reverse money laundering," payments from the U.S. pass through companies hired by the military for transportation, construction, power projects, fuel and other services to businesses and individuals with ties to the insurgency or criminal networks, according to interviews and task force documents obtained by the AP.
"Funds begin as clean monies," according to one document, then "either through direct payments or through the flow of funds in the subcontractor network, the monies become tainted."
The conclusions by Task Force 2010 represent the most definitive assessment of how U.S. military spending and aid to Afghanistan has been diverted to the enemy or stolen. Only a small percentage of the $360 million has been garnered by the Taliban and insurgent groups, said a senior U.S. military official in Kabul. The bulk of the money was lost to profiteering, bribery and extortion by criminals and power brokers, said the official, who declined to provide a specific breakdown.] emphasis added
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_AFGHANISTAN_CORRUPTION?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-08-16-12-25-34
[In a murky process known as "reverse money laundering," payments from the U.S. pass through companies hired by the military for transportation, construction, power projects, fuel and other services to businesses and individuals with ties to the insurgency or criminal networks, according to interviews and task force documents obtained by the AP.
"Funds begin as clean monies," according to one document, then "either through direct payments or through the flow of funds in the subcontractor network, the monies become tainted."
The conclusions by Task Force 2010 represent the most definitive assessment of how U.S. military spending and aid to Afghanistan has been diverted to the enemy or stolen. Only a small percentage of the $360 million has been garnered by the Taliban and insurgent groups, said a senior U.S. military official in Kabul. The bulk of the money was lost to profiteering, bribery and extortion by criminals and power brokers, said the official, who declined to provide a specific breakdown.] emphasis added
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_AFGHANISTAN_CORRUPTION?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-08-16-12-25-34
Hope: "Polls show that disapproval of the Tea Party is climbing."
Lower in approval than atheists and Muslims and right wing Khristians (sic). What does one have to do to get noticed in blog world, become a islamo-fascist-atheist-Allah loving Muslim christian progressive socialist to get some heat?
Perhaps people finally found it absurd a bunch of angry white people--rolling on their Medicare paid for scooters, organized and bought and paid for by the Koch brothers, wanting to go back to whatever uneducated dream of some mythical glorious Golden Age of A-Merry-Ca by abolishing taxes and federal government--claimed to speak for America.
Teabaggin' lunatics.
[Polls show that disapproval of the Tea Party is climbing. In April 2010, a New York Times/CBS News survey found that 18 percent of Americans had an unfavorable opinion of it, 21 percent had a favorable opinion and 46 percent had not heard enough. Now, 14 months later, Tea Party supporters have slipped to 20 percent, while their opponents have more than doubled, to 40 percent.
Of course, politicians of all stripes are not faring well among the public these days. But in data we have recently collected, the Tea Party ranks lower than any of the 23 other groups we asked about — lower than both Republicans and Democrats. It is even less popular than much maligned groups like “atheists” and “Muslims.” Interestingly, one group that approaches it in unpopularity is the Christian Right.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/opinion/crashing-the-tea-party.html?_r=2
Perhaps people finally found it absurd a bunch of angry white people--rolling on their Medicare paid for scooters, organized and bought and paid for by the Koch brothers, wanting to go back to whatever uneducated dream of some mythical glorious Golden Age of A-Merry-Ca by abolishing taxes and federal government--claimed to speak for America.
Teabaggin' lunatics.
[Polls show that disapproval of the Tea Party is climbing. In April 2010, a New York Times/CBS News survey found that 18 percent of Americans had an unfavorable opinion of it, 21 percent had a favorable opinion and 46 percent had not heard enough. Now, 14 months later, Tea Party supporters have slipped to 20 percent, while their opponents have more than doubled, to 40 percent.
Of course, politicians of all stripes are not faring well among the public these days. But in data we have recently collected, the Tea Party ranks lower than any of the 23 other groups we asked about — lower than both Republicans and Democrats. It is even less popular than much maligned groups like “atheists” and “Muslims.” Interestingly, one group that approaches it in unpopularity is the Christian Right.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/opinion/crashing-the-tea-party.html?_r=2
Revenge of the Nerd
[IDG News Service - Logging in from a Smyrna, Georgia, McDonald's restaurant, a former employee of a U.S. pharmaceutical company was able to wipe out most of the company's computer infrastructure earlier this year.
Jason Cornish, 37, formerly an IT staffer at the U.S. subsidiary of Japanese drug-maker Shionogi, pleaded guilty Tuesday to computer intrusion charges in connection with the attack on Feb. 3, 2011. He wiped out 15 VMware host systems that were running e-mail, order tracking, financial and other services for the Florham Park, New Jersey, company...
Then, in September 2010, the drug-maker laid off Cornish and other employees, but it did a bad job of revoking passwords to the network. One employee, who was Cornish's friend and former boss, allegedly refused to hand over network passwords to company officials and eventually was fired because of this.
Using a Shionogi account, Cornish was able to log into the company's network from a public McDonald's Internet connection in February and fire up a vSphere VMware management console that he'd secretly installed on the company's network a few weeks earlier.
Using vSphere, he deleted 88 company servers from the VMware host systems, one by one.]
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9219260/Fired_techie_created_virtual_chaos_at_pharma_company?source=CTWNLE_nlt_dailyam_2011-08-17
Jason Cornish, 37, formerly an IT staffer at the U.S. subsidiary of Japanese drug-maker Shionogi, pleaded guilty Tuesday to computer intrusion charges in connection with the attack on Feb. 3, 2011. He wiped out 15 VMware host systems that were running e-mail, order tracking, financial and other services for the Florham Park, New Jersey, company...
Then, in September 2010, the drug-maker laid off Cornish and other employees, but it did a bad job of revoking passwords to the network. One employee, who was Cornish's friend and former boss, allegedly refused to hand over network passwords to company officials and eventually was fired because of this.
Using a Shionogi account, Cornish was able to log into the company's network from a public McDonald's Internet connection in February and fire up a vSphere VMware management console that he'd secretly installed on the company's network a few weeks earlier.
Using vSphere, he deleted 88 company servers from the VMware host systems, one by one.]
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9219260/Fired_techie_created_virtual_chaos_at_pharma_company?source=CTWNLE_nlt_dailyam_2011-08-17
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
"Michelle Bachmann: The Audacity of Nope."
[Michele Bachmann is a very new kind of American politician – one who seems to have nothing but contempt for politics and for her political opponents.
For Bachmann, and her Tea Party fellow travelers, there is only one RIGHT WAY and there is no longer any need to examine mature alternatives.
We can thank the Tea Party for the creation of this new kind of American candidate: a candidate who runs for government office whilst simultaneously hoping to completely dismantle all functioning democracy.]
http://www.irishcentral.com/story/ent/manhattan_diary/michele-bachmann-the-audacity-of-nope-127725688.html
For Bachmann, and her Tea Party fellow travelers, there is only one RIGHT WAY and there is no longer any need to examine mature alternatives.
We can thank the Tea Party for the creation of this new kind of American candidate: a candidate who runs for government office whilst simultaneously hoping to completely dismantle all functioning democracy.]
http://www.irishcentral.com/story/ent/manhattan_diary/michele-bachmann-the-audacity-of-nope-127725688.html
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Anger Management Much, Carlos Zambrano?
Good thing did not read Sat paper until Sunday, 8 runs on 5 dingers in 4 1/3 innings pitched. All in a day of work. Cleaning out your locker, bailing on the team, threatening retirement? Priceless.
Chicago Cubs IP H R ER BB SO HR PC-ST ERA
Carlos Zambrano (L 9-7) 4.1 8 8 8 0 3 5 77-50 4.82
http://64.246.64.33/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=chicagosports&page=mlb/scores/final/boxscore.aspx?GAMEID=30565
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/rosenblog/chi-cubs-must-cut-zambrano-now-20110814,0,7979341.column
Chicago Cubs IP H R ER BB SO HR PC-ST ERA
Carlos Zambrano (L 9-7) 4.1 8 8 8 0 3 5 77-50 4.82
http://64.246.64.33/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=chicagosports&page=mlb/scores/final/boxscore.aspx?GAMEID=30565
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/rosenblog/chi-cubs-must-cut-zambrano-now-20110814,0,7979341.column
Pope: Plans Dramatic Change: Firing Pedophiles First
Just kidding. His Holiness actually plans to restructure Irish Catholic Church.
[Pope Benedict is said to be planning some "dramatic" changes for the Irish Church, according to the influential Irish Catholic newspaper columnist David Quinn and leading Irish theologian Father Vincent Twomey.
Changes could include significantly reducing the number of dioceses and replacing most of the current bishops, reports the Irish Examiner.
Founder of the Catholic Iona Institute David Quinn reported in the Irish Catholic that "rumours" are circulating in Rome that the Vatican is planning a "radical restructuring" of the hierarchy in response to the sex-abuse scandal.]
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Pope-planningradical-changes-to-Irish-Catholic-Church-127679183.html
[A new report on the Donegal diocese of Raphoe will reveal that 20 pedophile priests sexually abused hundreds of children over a 40 years period. This report will detail another massive cover-up scandal within the Irish Catholic Church.]
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/New-report-on-Irish-Catholic-Church-reveals-further-untold-horrors-127574198.html
[Having abused young boys for over 30 years Father Eugene Greene had become so cocky that he lodged a complaint with the police when one of his victims attempted to blackmail him.
On December 20, 1997, Greene went to the police to make a complaint about the blackmail. After two years of investigations by local detectives Greene faced 115 charges relating to the buggery, gross indecency and indecent assault of 26 boys.]
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Pedophile-priest-so-cocky-he-went-to-police-when-threatened-by-victim-127574163.html
[Pope Benedict is said to be planning some "dramatic" changes for the Irish Church, according to the influential Irish Catholic newspaper columnist David Quinn and leading Irish theologian Father Vincent Twomey.
Changes could include significantly reducing the number of dioceses and replacing most of the current bishops, reports the Irish Examiner.
Founder of the Catholic Iona Institute David Quinn reported in the Irish Catholic that "rumours" are circulating in Rome that the Vatican is planning a "radical restructuring" of the hierarchy in response to the sex-abuse scandal.]
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Pope-planningradical-changes-to-Irish-Catholic-Church-127679183.html
[A new report on the Donegal diocese of Raphoe will reveal that 20 pedophile priests sexually abused hundreds of children over a 40 years period. This report will detail another massive cover-up scandal within the Irish Catholic Church.]
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/New-report-on-Irish-Catholic-Church-reveals-further-untold-horrors-127574198.html
[Having abused young boys for over 30 years Father Eugene Greene had become so cocky that he lodged a complaint with the police when one of his victims attempted to blackmail him.
On December 20, 1997, Greene went to the police to make a complaint about the blackmail. After two years of investigations by local detectives Greene faced 115 charges relating to the buggery, gross indecency and indecent assault of 26 boys.]
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Pedophile-priest-so-cocky-he-went-to-police-when-threatened-by-victim-127574163.html
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Facts Do Not Matter
Only the media narrative does.
[On the plus side: this OpEd from EJ Dionne is superlative. I don’t share his optimism, but he points out what strikes me as the key facet linking the Sherrod narrative to a much larger issue:
"The Obama team did not question, let alone challenge, the video. Instead, it assumed that whatever narrative Fox News might create mattered more than anything else, including the possible innocence of a human being outside the president’s inner circle."
The Facts Do Not Matter. While still folding like a cheap suit, at least the administration seems to have internalized (and fumblingly tried to act upon) this basic tenet of today’s media complex.]
http://lemkin.tumblr.com/post/861674622/sherroditus
[On the plus side: this OpEd from EJ Dionne is superlative. I don’t share his optimism, but he points out what strikes me as the key facet linking the Sherrod narrative to a much larger issue:
"The Obama team did not question, let alone challenge, the video. Instead, it assumed that whatever narrative Fox News might create mattered more than anything else, including the possible innocence of a human being outside the president’s inner circle."
The Facts Do Not Matter. While still folding like a cheap suit, at least the administration seems to have internalized (and fumblingly tried to act upon) this basic tenet of today’s media complex.]
http://lemkin.tumblr.com/post/861674622/sherroditus
Friday, August 12, 2011
Buffalo Springfield, Bonnaroo, 2011, "For What It's Worth"
"Hey, STOP, look around, see what's going down
Led Zeppelin and Neil Young on stage: When the Levee Breaks"
First, name me any other geetar gunslinger on Earth that ever went on stage to play lead with Jimmie Page?Only a man with no fear would do so.
Especially Neil with his rack of floor pedals, black Gibson guitar, and if you look close his old, tiny, brown Marshall Amp miked to run through stage speakers.
Do yourself a favor and buy and watch year of the horse dvd. Year of the Horse: Neil Young and Crazy Horse Live
True story.
Stopped in my local a few days after Katrina pounded New Orleans and someone played Zep cover of "When the Levee Breaks" and happened to stand next to a young bartender who moonlighted as a DJ while studying at Full Sail.
After my comment on the irony, she proudly said she never listened to Led Zeppelin.
Chilluns, if it were not so I would not tell anyone.
Jus' Sayin'.
PEACE!!!
Especially Neil with his rack of floor pedals, black Gibson guitar, and if you look close his old, tiny, brown Marshall Amp miked to run through stage speakers.
Do yourself a favor and buy and watch year of the horse dvd. Year of the Horse: Neil Young and Crazy Horse Live
True story.
Stopped in my local a few days after Katrina pounded New Orleans and someone played Zep cover of "When the Levee Breaks" and happened to stand next to a young bartender who moonlighted as a DJ while studying at Full Sail.
After my comment on the irony, she proudly said she never listened to Led Zeppelin.
Chilluns, if it were not so I would not tell anyone.
Jus' Sayin'.
PEACE!!!
The Who: "Another Tricky Day"
So I've posted these Who songs before but ain't no one listens to me nor reads this damn blog.
So bite my shorts, sayeth Bart Simpson.
Pete Townsend: "Empty Glass"
You'd hope someone would post the actual song they put in the title but song below, belower?, not bad but puhlease.
Can only find demo.
"Why was I born today, life is useless like Ecclesiastes say."
Can only find demo.
"Why was I born today, life is useless like Ecclesiastes say."
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Pfc. Gil I. Morales Del Valle, from Jacksonville, was killed Wednesday," 3 August 2011 in Wardack Province Afghanistan
[JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A local soldier was killed this week in Afghanistan.
The Army said 21-year-old Pfc. Gil I. Morales Del Valle, from Jacksonville, was killed Wednesday in Wardack province, near the capital city of Kabul.
Morales Del Valle was in a vehicle that was attacked by an improvised explosive device.
He and a 19-year-old soldier from Kansas were killed.
The soldiers were part of the 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, based in Louisiana.
Morales Del Valle joined the Army in 2010 and had been deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom since October.
During his time in the Army, he was awarded a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, the NATO Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon and the Combat Infantryman Badge.]
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/article/213837/3/Gil-I-Morales-Del-Valle-Was-Killed-in-Afghanistan (emphasis added)
Yes, the dead of Seal Team 6 remain American heroes as do the US Army chopper pilots, one of whom left a son who pled with US media to remember his Dad also.
Americans, a dead hero lies in the grave as any other who has left this mortal coil. To lionize the Seal Team 6 casualties and forget Del Valle obscures the true costs of war: bereaved family left behind.
Do you think families of Afghan dead treasure their heroes less?
To some in Afghanistan, the Taleban fighting to preserve their Islamic faith amount to equivalent of our American patriots at Concord and Lexington.
Meanwhile, a little piece of my heart dies with each American and Afghan civilian's death, blood spilled by the soul lacking President Cheney and his idiot stepson, Jr, with apologies to all honest idiots everywhere.
My dead tree edition of the Orlando Sentinel failed to identify , the dead kid from Kansas: Pfc. Cody G. Baker
[While the news of the Chinook helicopter downing in Wardak Province has dominated the airwaves, there have been other, unrelated troop losses in that same region.
Two soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom died Aug. 3, 2011, in Wardak Province, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when enemy forces attacked their vehicle with an improvised explosive device.
Killed in the attack were Pfc. Cody G. Baker of Holton, Kansas, and Pfc. Gil I. Morales Del Valle of Jacksonville, Florida.]
http://www.examiner.com/military-community-in-national/two-10th-mountain-soldiers-ft-polk-killed-wardak-province#ixzz1UhOJPn7T
The Army said 21-year-old Pfc. Gil I. Morales Del Valle, from Jacksonville, was killed Wednesday in Wardack province, near the capital city of Kabul.
Morales Del Valle was in a vehicle that was attacked by an improvised explosive device.
He and a 19-year-old soldier from Kansas were killed.
The soldiers were part of the 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, based in Louisiana.
Morales Del Valle joined the Army in 2010 and had been deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom since October.
During his time in the Army, he was awarded a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, the NATO Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon and the Combat Infantryman Badge.]
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/article/213837/3/Gil-I-Morales-Del-Valle-Was-Killed-in-Afghanistan (emphasis added)
Yes, the dead of Seal Team 6 remain American heroes as do the US Army chopper pilots, one of whom left a son who pled with US media to remember his Dad also.
Americans, a dead hero lies in the grave as any other who has left this mortal coil. To lionize the Seal Team 6 casualties and forget Del Valle obscures the true costs of war: bereaved family left behind.
Do you think families of Afghan dead treasure their heroes less?
To some in Afghanistan, the Taleban fighting to preserve their Islamic faith amount to equivalent of our American patriots at Concord and Lexington.
Meanwhile, a little piece of my heart dies with each American and Afghan civilian's death, blood spilled by the soul lacking President Cheney and his idiot stepson, Jr, with apologies to all honest idiots everywhere.
My dead tree edition of the Orlando Sentinel failed to identify , the dead kid from Kansas: Pfc. Cody G. Baker
[While the news of the Chinook helicopter downing in Wardak Province has dominated the airwaves, there have been other, unrelated troop losses in that same region.
Two soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom died Aug. 3, 2011, in Wardak Province, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when enemy forces attacked their vehicle with an improvised explosive device.
Killed in the attack were Pfc. Cody G. Baker of Holton, Kansas, and Pfc. Gil I. Morales Del Valle of Jacksonville, Florida.]
http://www.examiner.com/military-community-in-national/two-10th-mountain-soldiers-ft-polk-killed-wardak-province#ixzz1UhOJPn7T
Janis Joplin: "Cry Baby"
"All you ever gotta do is be a good man, one time to one woman. and that'll be the end of the road, baby."
"All you ever
"Let Them Eat Cake:" Nebraska US Senate Candidate Compares Poor Humans to "Scavenging Raccoons"
[Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, a frontrunner to win the GOP nomination against Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), compared poor people to scavenging racoons in a speech this week.
In a video captured by the liberal group, American Bridge 21st Century, Bruning makes the comparison as part of an elaborate metaphor originally focused on environmental regulations. He describes a requirement that workers at a construction project gather up endangered beetles by luring them into a bucket with a dead rat in order to release them elsewhere. But the plan is thwarted when hungry raccoons then eat them straight out of the rat-infested bucket. Which, according to Bruning, is a perfect image to illustrate how welfare recipients receive their benefits.
"The raccoons figured out the beetles are in the bucket," Bruning said. "And its like grapes in a jar. The raccoons - they're not stupid, they're gonna do the easy way if we make it easy for them. Just like welfare recipients all across America. If we don't send them to work, they're gonna take the easy route."]
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/nebraska-ag-jon-bruning-compares-welfare-recipients-to-scavenging-racoons.php?ref=fpb
Go Big Red!
In a video captured by the liberal group, American Bridge 21st Century, Bruning makes the comparison as part of an elaborate metaphor originally focused on environmental regulations. He describes a requirement that workers at a construction project gather up endangered beetles by luring them into a bucket with a dead rat in order to release them elsewhere. But the plan is thwarted when hungry raccoons then eat them straight out of the rat-infested bucket. Which, according to Bruning, is a perfect image to illustrate how welfare recipients receive their benefits.
"The raccoons figured out the beetles are in the bucket," Bruning said. "And its like grapes in a jar. The raccoons - they're not stupid, they're gonna do the easy way if we make it easy for them. Just like welfare recipients all across America. If we don't send them to work, they're gonna take the easy route."]
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/nebraska-ag-jon-bruning-compares-welfare-recipients-to-scavenging-racoons.php?ref=fpb
Go Big Red!
Ogden Nash: Marriage Advice
"To Keep your marriage brimming
with love in the wedding cup
when ever you're wrong, admit it
whenever you're right, shut up"
with love in the wedding cup
when ever you're wrong, admit it
whenever you're right, shut up"
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Foreclosure for "Rent Too Damn High" Guy
Too damn funny, not that one should generally find amusement in foreclosure.
[Jimmy McMillan, the man who ran for New York governor because "the rent is too damn high," is facing eviction from his Manhattan apartment.
McMillan told The Associated Press the landlord at his rent-controlled apartment complex wants to charge a new tenant more money and is trying to give him the boot because "my rent is too damn low."
He said he's told his lawyer to file a $70,000 counter claim. The case is currently pending in Housing Court.
According to court documents, building owner Lisco Holdings claims McMillan violated his lease because his apartment is not his primary address as required by rent-controlled rules.
McMillan said the Brooklyn address listed in court papers is his office.]
http://www.wftv.com/politics/28776139/detail.html?treets=orlc&tid=26513271874813&tml=orlc_12pm&tmi=orlc_12pm_1_10500208082011&ts=H
[Jimmy McMillan, the man who ran for New York governor because "the rent is too damn high," is facing eviction from his Manhattan apartment.
McMillan told The Associated Press the landlord at his rent-controlled apartment complex wants to charge a new tenant more money and is trying to give him the boot because "my rent is too damn low."
He said he's told his lawyer to file a $70,000 counter claim. The case is currently pending in Housing Court.
According to court documents, building owner Lisco Holdings claims McMillan violated his lease because his apartment is not his primary address as required by rent-controlled rules.
McMillan said the Brooklyn address listed in court papers is his office.]
http://www.wftv.com/politics/28776139/detail.html?treets=orlc&tid=26513271874813&tml=orlc_12pm&tmi=orlc_12pm_1_10500208082011&ts=H
Microsoft Fixes Ring of Death
[The vulnerability marked "CVE-2011-1871" brought back memories for Storms.
"This looks like the "Ping of Death" from the early-to-mid 1990s," said Storms. "Then, when a specially-crafted ping request was sent to a host, it caused the Windows PC to blue screen, and then reboot."
Two decades ago, the Ping of Death was used to bring down Windows PCs remotely, often as a way to show the instability of the operating system. "People would say, 'You're stupid to put your machines on the Internet," said Storms.
"My suspicion is that if this catches fire and someone writes a small attack tool and releases it, you could see [Windows PCs] blue screened at your local coffee shop," Storms said, talking about the possibility of crashing machines on a free Wi-Fi network.
Storms said it appeared that today's "Ping of Death" bug was a different vulnerability than Microsoft patched in its now-ancient OSes of the 1990s.]
The bug exists in Windows Vista, Server 2008, Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2, Microsoft said, but not in Windows XP or Server 2003.]
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9219022/Microsoft_patches_1990s_era_Ping_of_Death_?taxonomyId=17&pageNumber=2
"This looks like the "Ping of Death" from the early-to-mid 1990s," said Storms. "Then, when a specially-crafted ping request was sent to a host, it caused the Windows PC to blue screen, and then reboot."
Two decades ago, the Ping of Death was used to bring down Windows PCs remotely, often as a way to show the instability of the operating system. "People would say, 'You're stupid to put your machines on the Internet," said Storms.
"My suspicion is that if this catches fire and someone writes a small attack tool and releases it, you could see [Windows PCs] blue screened at your local coffee shop," Storms said, talking about the possibility of crashing machines on a free Wi-Fi network.
Storms said it appeared that today's "Ping of Death" bug was a different vulnerability than Microsoft patched in its now-ancient OSes of the 1990s.]
The bug exists in Windows Vista, Server 2008, Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2, Microsoft said, but not in Windows XP or Server 2003.]
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9219022/Microsoft_patches_1990s_era_Ping_of_Death_?taxonomyId=17&pageNumber=2
Monday, August 8, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Rick Santorum: Teachers Don't Teach Your Young Children
Puh-leeze, Mr. Santorum, early education a socialist plot? My kindergarten teaching friends have bought into a nefarious plot to indoctrinate kids into a socialist ideal? Sponge Bob Square Pants has become part of the conspiracy?
How long will you play to the lowest common denominator, the fears of humans, to demonize thoe they have elected if those not share your delusions?
[Perry, Ia. – Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum criticized early education programs on Tuesday as an effort to “indoctrinate your children,” adding that parents, not federal bureaucrats, must be responsible for the success of students.
During a town hall meeting attended by about 20 people at the Perry Public Library, the Pennsylvania Republican said Americans should demand that the educational establishment start meeting the needs of their children as individuals.
He said that if business people wanted to establish an educational system from scratch they would provide a product that was appealing to parents, and to some degree, to children, to maximize what parents wanted their children to be taught. But that isn’t happening, he said.
“It is a parent’s responsibility to educate their children. It is not the government’s job. We have sort of lost focus here a little bit. Of course, the government wants their hands on your children as fast as they can. That is why I opposed all these early starts and pre-early starts, and early-early starts. They want your children from the womb so they can indoctrinate your children as to what they want them to be. I am against that,” he said.]
http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/2011/08/02/santrorum-calls-early-education-programs-an-effort-to-indoctrinate-your-children/
How long will you play to the lowest common denominator, the fears of humans, to demonize thoe they have elected if those not share your delusions?
[Perry, Ia. – Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum criticized early education programs on Tuesday as an effort to “indoctrinate your children,” adding that parents, not federal bureaucrats, must be responsible for the success of students.
During a town hall meeting attended by about 20 people at the Perry Public Library, the Pennsylvania Republican said Americans should demand that the educational establishment start meeting the needs of their children as individuals.
He said that if business people wanted to establish an educational system from scratch they would provide a product that was appealing to parents, and to some degree, to children, to maximize what parents wanted their children to be taught. But that isn’t happening, he said.
“It is a parent’s responsibility to educate their children. It is not the government’s job. We have sort of lost focus here a little bit. Of course, the government wants their hands on your children as fast as they can. That is why I opposed all these early starts and pre-early starts, and early-early starts. They want your children from the womb so they can indoctrinate your children as to what they want them to be. I am against that,” he said.]
http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/2011/08/02/santrorum-calls-early-education-programs-an-effort-to-indoctrinate-your-children/
I Write Messages on $
Technically a felony but what life can you live without a few felonies along the way?
Political speech has high protection under the 1st amendment to the US Constitution.
Nevertheless, who can tell with this Supreme Court?
Blind Melon: "No Rain"
Don't cry, Little Bumble Bee girl, run free to become what you will. Find the other people who society considers freaks and dance.
Don't listen to the haters commenting on YouTube.
God bless you, bumble bee girl and Shannon Hoon: "...Richard Shannon Hoon (September 26, 1967 – October 21, 1995) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He was the frontman and lead singer of the band Blind Melon until his death from a cocaine overdose in 1995...
In Los Angeles, Hoon befriended his sister Anna's high school friend, Axl Rose. Rose invited Hoon to join him in the studio, where his band Guns N' Roses were recording their albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II. Hoon sang backing vocals on several of the tracks, including "The Garden" and "Don't Cry". Rose also invited Hoon to appear in the video for "Don't Cry..
The video for "No Rain" focused on a theme of the "normal" crowd versus the lonely outcast. It featured a young, pudgy girl played by Heather DeLoach in a bee costume tap dancing to unappreciative audiences who finally finds an entire crowd of people similarly dressed who welcome her. The video is often referred to as the 'Bee Girl'. Blind Melon went multi-platinum."
two members of U2 were born in Ireland
3. Only two members of U2 were born in Ireland
David Howell Evans, more commonly known as The Edge, was born in London, to Welsh parents. Garvin and Gwenda Evans moved to Malahide in Dublin when The Edge was aged 1. Adam Clayton, U2's bassist, was born in Oxfordshire, England. His family moved to Malahide in Dublin when he was 5, and he soon became friends with The Edge.
http://www.irishcentral.com/travel/IrishCentrals-top-ten-surprising-facts-about-Ireland-127086943.html
David Howell Evans, more commonly known as The Edge, was born in London, to Welsh parents. Garvin and Gwenda Evans moved to Malahide in Dublin when The Edge was aged 1. Adam Clayton, U2's bassist, was born in Oxfordshire, England. His family moved to Malahide in Dublin when he was 5, and he soon became friends with The Edge.
http://www.irishcentral.com/travel/IrishCentrals-top-ten-surprising-facts-about-Ireland-127086943.html
G' "N" R': "Don't Cry"
some of the imagery used to seem disturbing and perhaps of death.
"But that video remains so last century, Uncle Danny."
Prcissely, child, before Martine ,before my marriage, before your grandma passed, everything that taught me I have one life to live but many times to die, to die a little bit as each relation dies, after the first left for the last time andd before realizing Deborah could never stay for too long, before I raised my voice to her,each with a piece of my heart in their pockets.. Yet, it all taught me to have a big heart, to keeping on, living and loving, and learning like my ex brother in law usedd to say as preparing for my ext marriage.
"Um, you'll have to actually divorce before marrying again."
True, but they only charge $50 for the license andd $350 to file for divorce.
"Great"
But the larger point remains.
"Huh?'
Like when your grandma passed and it asked you if it hurt more when she passed. You said yes but you also had the blessing of having known her, to take a piece of her wit you.
Like for me when a wee lad still in WI...
"Great another story of ow ouw had to walk ten miles trough the snow to get to school."
We'll save that for anoter day, but went 15 miles barefoot through the blizzard But once in Sunday school, the teacher tolde me to sit down and not sing in church for a class song as she felt my voice too low. Moms marched right up to her and gave wwhat for, defending me.
For 47 years wavered between baritone and tenor but maybe now life has taught me to embrace my inner baritone.
---Warning, danger, 16 year old niece crashing and burning, rolling eyes- Regroup--
OK, like when in jr hi and barber kept the $10 mom gave even though I stood for a it waiting for change after his tip. Slunk back to the car but Moms made me walk back in and get the change but with reasonable tip.
"So look at life like learning and stand up for myself?"
Snap, girl you got it, kew you would after finding the Ramones on your own.
"Sweeeet
Saturday, August 6, 2011
In the beginning, God created the blues
And He heard that things good on Earth between Sea and Sky.
Then the blues got pregnant and begat Rock and Roll and all again became good.
Then R & R begat the Clash from which all good Punk flows.
Can I get an Amen, brothers and sisters?
Hallelujah.
I gots the vinyl.
Then the blues got pregnant and begat Rock and Roll and all again became good.
Then R & R begat the Clash from which all good Punk flows.
Can I get an Amen, brothers and sisters?
Hallelujah.
I gots the vinyl.
The New Conservative Coalition
Call 703-291-9010 if you want to "stop the government's (sic for apostrophe abuse) takeover of business after business."
So RepubliKKKans wanted General Motors and Chrysler to fail, go belly up, and put millions out of work. Cabron.
Like the Thing's great aunt Petunia said, some people will steal anything that ain't nailed down.
3. Hey cabron! (Hey dude)
So RepubliKKKans wanted General Motors and Chrysler to fail, go belly up, and put millions out of work. Cabron.
Like the Thing's great aunt Petunia said, some people will steal anything that ain't nailed down.
3. Hey cabron! (Hey dude)
4 Noble Truths
Kind of cool with Buddha and his 4 truths, 'ceptin' for #2, eschew attachments even to humans like with love, not even Agape love.
What good or fun or special righteousness does that confer?
As for the eight fold path, sure it only makes 1/3 of twelve steps but at best could ojnly do a couple, not maybe as 2 but a few like a "couple beers" in moderation, maybe one, mayhaps 3 or 4 0r more 'specally (sic) iffen I can't sleep.
Ain't insomnia, just the older I get the tireder I am and less I can sleep.
Oh well, every breath a prayer and moment a blessing.
Love, Lord above, now I try to trick myself with love.
And I want a tophat like Slash's;
What good or fun or special righteousness does that confer?
As for the eight fold path, sure it only makes 1/3 of twelve steps but at best could ojnly do a couple, not maybe as 2 but a few like a "couple beers" in moderation, maybe one, mayhaps 3 or 4 0r more 'specally (sic) iffen I can't sleep.
Ain't insomnia, just the older I get the tireder I am and less I can sleep.
Oh well, every breath a prayer and moment a blessing.
Love, Lord above, now I try to trick myself with love.
And I want a tophat like Slash's;
Red Molly - Old Dancing Fool
I'm an "Old dancing Foll," but maybe based on traditinal tune heard on...
Dang, I Did Not Coin RepubliKKKan
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=republikkkan
2006, long 'for I knew what a blog were or could become.
In 2011, I disagree that that amounts to an insult.
My little patch of dirt does pop up if you google the word.
"OMG!!!...I'm somebody now!"
2006, long 'for I knew what a blog were or could become.
In 2011, I disagree that that amounts to an insult.
My little patch of dirt does pop up if you google the word.
"OMG!!!...I'm somebody now!"
John Prine: "Voted for Eisenhower 'cause Lincoln won the war"
From back when real Republicans, not RepubliKKKans, existed.
Jimmy Kimmel: Gaga Goo Goo
Sorry, with a teacher as father, ought I spell that Gaga or Ga Ga?
Even google spellcheck can't spell spell check correctly as compound word.
Screw you, spellcheck, if I wanna spell humour by Brit' convention, I'm a gonna do it.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Taking one for the team, part quatro
Great Goldwater's ghost, gave $5 to Citizens Against Government Waste and now every damn mouth breathing KKKonservative group on earth calling me.
Lucky my new Medicare advantage plan gives me generic blood pressure meds 'cause found myself screaming at Wayne laPierre's, leader of the NRA, recorded voice telling me "THEY" be coming to take our guns.
Damn them, just wanted to become an agent provacateur 'cause my local Orlando Sentinel called CAGW a non-partisan non-profit, working behind the lines to get the scoop my local Tribune journalists ignored.
Just this afternoon got a call from Barnesville, GA, (770-450-0566) & sounded like a nice black lady from some damn conservative alphabet group, and had to politely ask them to put me on their do not call list.
Don't judge her nor me 'cause struggling in the 80's when kicked out of the nest, I took a job with FL Republican party doing fundraising calls. Hey, all God's chilluns gots to eat.
"Damn their eyes," Johnny Cash, from Sam Hall.
Lucky my new Medicare advantage plan gives me generic blood pressure meds 'cause found myself screaming at Wayne laPierre's, leader of the NRA, recorded voice telling me "THEY" be coming to take our guns.
Damn them, just wanted to become an agent provacateur 'cause my local Orlando Sentinel called CAGW a non-partisan non-profit, working behind the lines to get the scoop my local Tribune journalists ignored.
Just this afternoon got a call from Barnesville, GA, (770-450-0566) & sounded like a nice black lady from some damn conservative alphabet group, and had to politely ask them to put me on their do not call list.
Don't judge her nor me 'cause struggling in the 80's when kicked out of the nest, I took a job with FL Republican party doing fundraising calls. Hey, all God's chilluns gots to eat.
"Damn their eyes," Johnny Cash, from Sam Hall.
Targeted Email Attacks
Damn youse hackers.
[IDG News Service - The strange e-mails arrived in executives' inboxes around the same time that the Australian oil company was negotiating a deal with a Chinese energy company.
The e-mails had the same structure and format as those sent around the company and were baited with text that appeared to refer to a supposed continuing discussion between executives. The messages looked authentic from a nontechnical perspective, just part of normal electronic communication within a company.
But the corporate IT administrator felt something wasn't quite right. Upon closer examination, the administrator found the e-mails, while appearing to come from internal company servers, were actually coming from other domains not authorized to send e-mail for the company.
The e-mails contained a malicious link that would redirect the person who opened it to a website of another energy company whose Web pages had been hacked in order to deliver malicious software designed to steal data. Victims would have no indication they'd been attacked.
It became clear that hackers were on a campaign to find out more about the pending deal.]
[IDG News Service - The strange e-mails arrived in executives' inboxes around the same time that the Australian oil company was negotiating a deal with a Chinese energy company.
The e-mails had the same structure and format as those sent around the company and were baited with text that appeared to refer to a supposed continuing discussion between executives. The messages looked authentic from a nontechnical perspective, just part of normal electronic communication within a company.
But the corporate IT administrator felt something wasn't quite right. Upon closer examination, the administrator found the e-mails, while appearing to come from internal company servers, were actually coming from other domains not authorized to send e-mail for the company.
The e-mails contained a malicious link that would redirect the person who opened it to a website of another energy company whose Web pages had been hacked in order to deliver malicious software designed to steal data. Victims would have no indication they'd been attacked.
It became clear that hackers were on a campaign to find out more about the pending deal.]
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