Modern Republicans Hypocrites

Look, let's just state facts: Modern Republicans are Hypocrites and the media elite are its useful pawns. Let's not focus on the fact that the fascist Bush Regime is using its Unitary Executive, otherwise known as a dictatorship, to impede on even more of our civil liberties.

The New York Times reports on something WE ALL KNEW was going on, and it's treason. The White House leaks hurtful information, lies to the NYT about WMD and plants other stories. Well that is, of course, ok.

Bush said himself after 9-11 that we were following all avenues of the terrorists, including their funding. Just as they, of course, know we are tapping their phones, listening to messages and email. DUH.

Larry Johnson, a former CIA operative has been blogging about this over at TPM and he is so right. The White House leaks valuable information to the War on Terror for political gains, nothing is even said about it in most media outlets; the NY Times writes about something Bush said he was doing and somehow that is treason.

…I guess Bush and Cheney decided that leaks to the New York Times were no longer kosher when their go to girl, Judith Miller, got canned. Of course, Judy wasn't the only member of the now "traitorous" New York Times to benefit from White House largesse. Doug Jehl published a piece on August 2, 2004 that exposed an Al Qaeda informant:

The unannounced capture of a figure from Al Qaeda in Pakistan several weeks ago led the Central Intelligence Agency to the rich lode of information that prompted the terror alert on Sunday, according to senior American officials.

The figure, Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, was described by a Pakistani intelligence official as a 25-year-old computer engineer, arrested July 13, who had used and helped to operate a secret Qaeda communications system where information was transferred via coded messages.

A senior United States official would not confirm or deny that Mr. Khan had been the Qaeda figure whose capture led to the information. But the official said ''documentary evidence'' found after the capture had demonstrated in extraordinary detail that Qaeda members had for years conducted sophisticated and extensive reconnaissance of the financial institutions cited in the warnings on Sunday.

The White House also used the New York Times to spread lies about the state of Iraq's nuclear weapons program. Remember the September 8, 2002 piece by Michael Gordon and Judith Miller? They reported that:

More than a decade after Saddam Hussein agreed to give up weapons of mass destruction, Iraq has stepped up its quest for nuclear weapons and has embarked on a worldwide hunt for materials to make an atomic bomb, Bush administration officials said today.

In the last 14 months, Iraq has sought to buy thousands of specially designed aluminum tubes, which American officials believe were intended as components of centrifuges to enrich uranium. American officials said several efforts to arrange the shipment of the aluminum tubes were blocked or intercepted but declined to say, citing the sensitivity of the intelligence, where they came from or how they were stopped.

The diameter, thickness and other technical specifications of the aluminum tubes had persuaded American intelligence experts that they were meant for Iraq's nuclear program, officials said, and that the latest attempt to ship the material had taken place in recent months.

And who can forget that Vice President Cheney instructed his Chief of Staff, the intrepid Scooter Libby, to leak misleading portions of the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate to the New York Times' Judith Miller. NPR's David Greene reported that:

Former vice presidential aide Lewis Libby, indicted for leaking a CIA agent's identity, has testified that any classified information he may have leaked to a reporter was authorized by President Bush through the vice president. The claim is included in court documents released Thursday.

Libby told a grand jury that classified information he may have leaked to a New York Times reporter was authorized for use by President Bush, acting through Vice President Dick Cheney. Lewis is awaiting trial on charges that he lied to the grand jury, which was investigating the leak of the agent's identity to the media.

We should also remember that the New York Times was not the only friendly outlet for planting "news". White House officials turned to Time Magazine and the Chicago Sun Times in shopping information about Valerie Plame, an undercover CIA officer. For this White House, leaking classified information that damages national security is okay as long as it can be used to save the President's political reputation.

President Bush crying about "leaks" to the New York Times is like listening to former Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss complain about sexual promiscuity. Sorry George, we ain't buying your song and dance.

EXACTLY

The New Kids on the Block

There is something going on in the world cup that is mirrored in sports in general. It seems that it is a trend in sports that spans time:

Ditching experienced players for the promise of youth.

I think what makes the world cup so unique, is how drastically it has failed, and that should be a lesson for other sports.

What am I talking about? Holland Striker Ruud Van Nistelrooij was recently substituted for Dirk Kuyt. Kut is a popular young striker who scored 22 goals for Feyenoord Rotterdam in the Netherlands’ National League. But scoring some goals in the Netherlands does not qualify you for starting instead of Nisterlrooij who has not only a record of scoring goals in international competition for Holland, but also for Manchester United.

Yes, Nistelrooij has not played well, but in a win or you're out scenario, you want one of the best strikers in the world, one who has scored again and again against the best competition in the world on the field. What sense does it make to sit him? And this was proven right by a sub-par, or at least sub-Nisterlrooij even at 70% performance by Kuyt. With Nisterlrooij in the game, Holland scored against Portugal when it had the man advantage. Plus his experience, calms a Holland team in such a ridiculous game.

The same is happening to Nisterlrooij and Man U, who was upset because Louis Saha had been starting in front of him. Again I agree with Nisterlrooij. Saha is a great talent who will score goals. But right now, day to day, I want the player I KNOW will score goals and will MINIMIZE mistakes. I don’t want Saha, nor Kuyt making inexperienced mistakes on the world stage.

France got lucky. Franck Ribéry has been awful. If you could point to a reason, France had struggled in what should have been an easy group stage, the play of Ribéry was to blame. Vikash Dhorasoo, 10 years old and not the French fan favorite, had played much better than Ribéry. Of course Ribéry goes and has a great game against Spain, but I still contend the proven player and especially day to day if I were a European Club Team, I am not sure the young talented Ribéry has what it takes to be successful every day.

In England there are similar calls. Calls to replace David Beckham with Aaron Lennon or Michael Carrick. Lennon and Carrick have played well, and have great upsides especially coming off the bench. How do you replace the first Brit to score in 3 different World Cups? The only player to show any ability to create real scoring chances for himself and other players on a regular basis. (Steven Gerrard has been good, but not particularly steady all the time. And Frank Lampard has been particularly disappointing).

Yes, Becks is not the player he was, his defending has not been great, (although much better than expected and compared to the duties of comparable superstars, Riquelme and Ronaldinho, Zidane, etc who do not defend at all). Yes he doesn’t move as well.

But Beckham adds an element that no other player in the world can do. Maybe because I don’t live in England, I don’t remember his glory days well, but right now, he is playing well. Not great, his crosses at times have been poor. But most teams' crosses 3/4ths of the time are. It’s the ability to add that cross, to bend in such a way that NO one else can that makes him so special.

You don’t take that off for any possibility of good play, especially unproven talent.

As you get older, (in sports time, I would start to be over the hill or at my prime) you realize that experience and knowledge of the sport will often take you farther then pure talent and opportunity of youth.

One of the few teams that were able to successfully make such a change was Mexico. The Mexican coach brilliantly brought on youthful players to challenge the Argentine side in a way no other team had. But the team he put on the field was specifically tailored toward Argentina. And he kept the true experience and star of his team, Rafael Marquez.

Christianity Forced Down Your Throats

Christianity Forced Down Your Throats

This sort of thing is why people become frustrated with Religion. I think it's great if your religion actively educates your actions daily… so much so that you wear it on your sleeve.

Some of the kindest, most progressive people I know are religious. I think living as best we can in the lessons of great people, often religious people who have walked before us, just makes the most sense.

But when we follow these people, we are also conscious that while they were wise and understood the way, no one imperfect person knows how to get there.

So here's an article from the Nation, which actually follows an article I once read in the Washington City Paper about the Washington Redskins following the same path:

Hiring just practicing Christians. Lets put it a step further, evangelical Christians.

The article is written by someone who clearly doesn’t follow Baseball as they point to the fact that the Rockies are just 500 baseball. But that is an over-achievement for this team. However the point is taken, that they have not actually WON anything.
This article can be found on the web at The Nation

The Rockies Pitch Religion
[posted online on June 2, 2006]
In Colorado, there stands a holy shrine called Coors Field. On this site, named for the holiest of beers, a team plays that has been chosen by Jesus Christ himself to play .500 baseball in the National League West. And if you don't believe me, just ask the manager, the general manager and the team's owner.

In a remarkable article from Wednesday's USA Today, the Colorado Rockies went public with the news that the organization has been explicitly looking for players with "character." And according to the Tribe of Coors, "character" means accepting Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior. "We're nervous, to be honest with you," Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd said. "It's the first time we ever talked about these issues publicly. The last thing we want to do is offend anyone because of our beliefs." When people are nervous that they will offend you with their beliefs, it's usually because their beliefs are offensive.

As Rockies chairman and CEO Charlie Monfort said, "We had to go to hell and back to know where the Holy Grail is. We went through a tough time and took a lot of arrows."

Club president Keli McGregor chimed in, "Who knows where we go from here? The ability to handle success will be a big part of the story, too. [Note to McGregor: You're in fourth place.] There will be distractions. There will be things that can change people. But we truly do have something going on here. And [God's] using us in a powerful way."

Well, someone is using somebody, but it ain't God. San Francisco Giants first baseman-outfielder Mark Sweeney, who spent 2003 and 2004 with the Rockies, said, "You wonder if some people are going along with it just to keep their jobs. Look, I pray every day. I have faith. It's always been part of my life. But I don't want something forced on me. Do they really have to check to see whether I have a Playboy in my locker?"

Then there is manager Clint Hurdle and GM O'Dowd. Hurdle, who has guided the team to a Philistine 302-376 record since 2002, as well as fourth or fifth place finishes every year, was rewarded with a 2007 contract extension in the off-season. Hurdle also claims he became a Christian three years ago and says, "We're not going to hide it. We're not going to deny it. This is who we are."

O'Dowd, who also received a contract extension, believes that their 27-26 2006 record has resulted from the active intervention of the Almighty. "You look at things that have happened to us this year. You look at some of the moves we made and didn't make. You look at some of the games we're winning. Those aren't just a coincidence. God has definitely had a hand in this." Or maybe the management that prays together gets paid together.

O'Dowd and company bend over backward in the article to say they are "tolerant" of other views on the club, but that's contradicted by statements like this from CEO Monfort: "I don't want to offend anyone, but I think character-wise we're stronger than anyone in baseball. Christians, and what they've endured, are some of the strongest people in baseball. I believe God sends signs, and we're seeing those." Assumedly, Shawn Green (Jew), Ichiro Suzuki (Shinto) or any of the godless players from Cuba don't have the "character" Monfort is looking for.

Also, there are only two African-American players on the Rockies active roster. Is this because Monfort doesn't think black players have character? Does the organization endorse the statement of its stadium's namesake, William Coors, who told a group of black businessmen in 1984 that Africans "lack the intellectual capacity to succeed, and it's taking them down the tubes"? These are admittedly difficult questions. But these are the questions that need to be posed when the wafting odor of discrimination clouds the air.

Get The Rest of the Article at the Nation

Bush’s Failures: Destroying World Economy?

The BBC 2 television station aired a program about the fall of the dollar and the effects on Britain, Europe and the world. Without boring everyone with economics, the dollar is over priced because Bush took a $281 billion surplus into a $2 TRILLION Deficit. An amazing feet by itself but giving away all this money to rich people has more effects than just bankrupting America.

The dollar, which was strong because of the Clinton economy, is now over valued as a world currency. Propped up to keep Chinese economy flowing and at the behest of European bankers scared of the competitive disadvantage European goods will have as their currency continues to climb, the Dollar is still continuing to fall.

Rising gas prices and inflationary pressures have forced the US Bank to continue raising interest rates to fight inflation. This could cause the dollar to fall further. If it falls too quickly it could cause a collapse of the world economy that requires the US consumers and a solid dollar to function.

Add this to the list of Bush’s disasters. While the revaluing of the dollar will be good for export oriented industries, and is much needed, European bankers know their economies cannot bear the grunt of this decline. Furthermore, such declines will hurt Chinese and most developing countries' economies.

In short, we are heading for a huge collapse of the financial system, the destruction of the dollar as a world currency and the fall of American interest in another sector of the international system.

That would be quite the accomplishment for Bush, a world recession with millions of poor suffering around the world. And simply because the greedy bastard could not have the fiscal responsibility that the Republican Party claims to have. Make no mistake, despite what the corporate media tells you, it's not congressional spending that is causing the deficit. Does anyone think the American government is doing too much for the American people?

No, the endless tax cut after tax cut for the already filthy ridiculous rich and the ending of the Paris Hilton Luxury Tax, etc. etc. is responsible for the impending world economic crisis.

WATCH THE VIDEO IMPORTANT

I am not a conspiracy theorist. I have always considered myself pragmatic above all else but after watching the 2000 election my cynicism and suspicions about Bush and Washington went through the roof.

How could we allow so many people to be disenfranchised? Why were the Democrats so silent? These questions will probably never be answered.

But this program by Newsnight, a BRITISH report about the election, found PROOF that Republican state officials deliberately disenfanchised 22,000 BLACK VOTERS.

Let me state that again. On this video is proof that 22,000 American Black Citizens were wrongly disenfranchised from voting. The NAACP has filed a lawsuit, but not much else can be done. This is America?

Take 14 minutes from your life to see the most comprehensive proof of Bush stealing the 2000 election against Gore, and why Black people still are not allowed to vote in America.

My Birthday

I know what you are saying to yourself: what should I get the boy that has too much stuff already?

A good question, so first let me say, POST CARDS. I LOVE POST CARDS.

If you feel like getting me more, which I whole heartedly suggest not, I have this handy dandy list

AMAZON WISH LIST

As you can tell, it is also on the side of the website as well

Atrios: Republcian Cowards

From Atrios
Great

"The willingness to send others off to die for a misguided war because you wet your pants after 9/11 is called "cowardice" not courage."

The War on the Middle Class: Higher Education No Longer Affordable

The bankrupting and destruction of opportunity for the middle class predated the Bush administration. It has been a feeling and an undercurrent, a feeling that propelled a small Arkansas Governor into the White House on the platform of “it’s the economy stupid;” and appealing to the “forgotten middle class,” because he felt their pain. President Clinton was the master of touching upon our feelings. Opportunies for us and especially for our children are slipping away, becoming the prerogative of the wealthy.

If American University, George Washington, and Georgetown offer any clues, all three of these universities, in OUR nation’s capital are basically inaccessible to the middle class and positively impossible for the poor. The cost is just to much.

To attend, you have to take out huge amounts in loans. I started my adult life $60,000 in debt to the federal government. A figure that grew because one of Bush’s first policies was to cut my financial aid. To make it worse, he has focused on cracking down on repayment of those loans. The Government refuses to accept that I am a student and thus not having to repay my loans as I am not working, because my university is not in the US. (We won’t get into the fact that the Bush Education Department doesn’t want to recognize foreign universities and the irony of that).

The AP is reporting that as Americans, we are starting our Adult lives in debt and it is continuing to follow us through life. To make it worse, we work longer hours then any people on earth, have less time for recreation, take less time for vacation, spend less time with our families and almost always die in debt. The bankrupting of the middle class and the enrichment of the über-wealthy has been continuing for sometime. Bush has made it worse.

2 of 3 college grads go into debt

By Devlin Barrett, Associated Press

Nearly two of every three undergraduate students are going into debt to go to college, owing an average of more than $19,000, most often to the government.

Among a dozen states sampled, New York students averaged the largest loans, while those in Oregon and Minnesota were most likely to have borrowed.

About 65 percent of students who graduated in the 2003-2004 school year did so after getting student loans, according to the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics.

For students who took out loans, the average debt was $19,202. Of that sum, $17,022 came through federal loan programs.

The agency focused on 12 large, medium, and mid-sized states, but did not compile enough data from the other 38 states to create reliable statewide averages.
The figures show:

• New York had the highest average loan amount, $20,838. Georgia and Minnesota followed. Of the dozen states studied, those with the smallest loan average were Nebraska, Delaware and California.

• In Oregon and Minnesota, three of every four undergraduates got loans. Officials in both states said that was due to budget cuts.

State dollars "are covering less and less of the cost of higher education, and we've had several years of double-digit tuition increases," said Melinda Voss, spokeswoman for the Minnesota state college and university system.
This is not an accident, nor is it just something that has happened. It has happened because the Bush administration has put more financial demands on states while giving them less aid. No Child Left Behind, to deep Medicare cuts, all these financial obligations to its citizens has fallen to States. And Higher Education has suffered because of it. According to the College Board, private lending for student loans has exploded in the last decade, jumping from $1.3 billion in 1993-1994 to $10.6 billion in 2003-2004. Government lending for that year was $56.8 billion.

The biggest change, though, may be in the cost to take out government loans.

A general trend of historically low interest rates is ending, and the new government loans will have a fixed rate of 6.8 percent. If rates keep rising, students with the old variable rate loans could end up paying as much as 8.25 percent.
I think what is interesting about these states is how diverse this list is. Overall we see how the middle class is suffering. Figures for the 12 states:
• California: 56.4 percent of undergraduates taking out student loans, $17,266 average total loans, $15,259 average federal loans.
Connecticut: 62.4 percent, $17,990 average total loans, $17,143 federal loans.
Delaware: 56.1 percent $16,473 total, $12,946 federal.
Georgia: 65.4 percent, $20,767 total, $18,505 federal.
Illinois: 63.2 percent, $18,788 total, $16,594 federal.
Indiana: 61.1 percent. $19,112 total, $17,566 federal.
Minnesota: 76.3 percent, $20,312 total, $16,406 federal.
Nebraska: 71.8 percent, $16,200 total, $15,373 federal.
New York: 67.2 percent, $20,838 total, $17,603 federal.
Oregon: 76.5 percent, $17,772 total, $16,641 federal.
Tennessee: 70.9 percent, $19,949 total. $17,852 federal.
Texas: 64 per cent, $18,508 total, $16,624 federal.
All states: 65.6 percent, $19,202 total, $17,022 federal.

US Soccer vs. Ghana, The Refs, and the Rest of the World

There may be nothing more offensive to the rest of the world then the words “US Soccer Team.” Time and again the US soccer team has had to tread uphill against odds being stacked against them simply because they wear the United States jersey.

Today the US could not climb back from a referee's gift at the end of the first half when Ghana was rewarded with a penalty shot after two players battled for a header and the Ghanaian went down.

The British commentators, who usually delight in US failure, were noticeably shocked by the call, repeating it throughout the game. Towards the end, the British commentator even started making snarky remarks about the Ghanaian players falling down and getting free kicks. At one point, saying “somehow I think he will be fine,” about a Ghanaian forward who went down without the US player touching him.

The US should not even be in this situation but in their last game, the best defensive player and best mid-fielder were not allowed to play due to obviously dubious red cards in the Italy game. Cards that were also laughed off by commentators, once again not of American descent, but British commentators that could not believe they were being sent off.

It was always going to be a tough road to get out of the group. Without Koller (as I mentioned in this post about the US v. Czech game and after the US Italy Game post) and Baros, the Czech Republic really had no shot against Ghana, a good team, nor Italy. But full squad this team probably would have went through to the next round. Ghana showed they were a good side after recovering from a first game loss and playing well today despite all the flopping. And Italy always had a good team albeit not a great team.

Certainly our group was the 2nd hardest, arguably the hardest as the four teams in our group were better then the 3 top teams in Group C. I don’t necessarily agree, I think Group C was harder, but I took the BBC booth commentator’s point to heart.

We wouldn’t have been in the Group if we had been seeded instead of Mexico… which we looked much better than. Mexico was the 8th seeded team even though we beat them in all rounds of qualifying and advanced much further in past tournaments… somehow they still managed to be seeded.

The thing is, this is not new. Anti-US bias was seen at the Olympics, where the Basketball officials decided it was not fair that the US gets to play with NBA players and called games horribly. (Not to mention that they set up the Olympic rules of the game specifically to disadvantage US basketball, with wider lanes and 3-point lines closer than in American High School Level basketball).

I understand that US foreign policy sucks. As an American I am as offended if not more, that George Bush is our president. And I support any opposition to his policies. But politics should never invade sporting events.

One of the things I like most about sports is that it is supposed to be an even playing field. Everyone has an equal chance. As an umpire and basketball referee, it really gets under my skin when that is undermined by a clear bias from referees time and time again. Sure, every team sometimes feels they just cannot get a call. But this world cup, the past world cup and every time the US steps onto the Basketball court, could actually be shown as a step by step guide on how to influence a game by official referees.

It bothers me because the thing that makes sports so unique and so wonderful is that while the world is so inequitable with the game rigged against the majority of the world, sports is supposed to be impartial.

And to sully that with these displays, disrespects the game, the purity of sport and the teams the US faces.

Wal-Mart Jews, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THEM?

Wal-Mart Jews, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THEM?

So the New York Times does this “feel good” piece about how Jews have followed Wal-Mart’s expansion. This little snippet gives you an idea of the cutsey attitude the reporter had toward this:

Wal-Mart has transformed small towns across America, but perhaps its greatest impact has been on Bentonville, where the migration of executives from cities like New York, Boston and Atlanta has turned this sedate rural community into a teeming mini-metropolis populated by Hindus, Muslims and Jews.

It is the Jews of Benton County, however, who have asserted themselves most. Two years ago, they opened the county's first synagogue and, ever since, its roughly 100 members have become eager spokesmen and women for a religion that remains a mystery to most people here.

To the Jews that followed, Wal-Mart, and to the people who think this article is a “cute” story of the changing fabric of society; the sort of clash of civilizations that makes us all feel good in our stomachs, I say:

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?

These people work for a company that suppresses human rights, enslaves the poor around the world with subhuman wages, and helps children work. AND THEN THEY GO TO SYNAGOGUE ON SATURDAY AND PRAY FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE?

How can you go to Synagogue, read the Torah, understand the charge that we are given as a people and then work for a company in direct opposition to those values?

I think it speaks to a larger issue about the loss of morality at the core of modern Judaism. When we as Jews stop connecting our actions with our values, then we lose the very essence of ourselves.

Jewish Hallacha (sorry, I'm not sure about the English transliteration) says that ALL Jews, including past, present and future converts alike, were at the receiving of the Ten Commandments to the Jewish People. It is an allegory for saying that we all chose the special path and the obligations of being Jewish. Our souls’ purpose, therefore, is to live a life dedicated to promoting peace and social justice.

There are many ways to do it… I certainly do not have the sole answer on how to do it, but I know working for Wal-Mart is the exact opposite of that….

To quickly show this isn’t hyperbole, here is a quick list of some of Wal-Marts offenses. First, is yesterday’s post on Wal-Mart Could raise wages.

But go to Wal-Mart Watch or Wake Up Wal-Mart and of course the The Wal-Mart Movie for more information

As compiled by the Progressive Report:

The average supercenter worker makes $8.23 an hour. At that low wage, according to a new report put together by Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the average Wal-Mart store would leave taxpayers in a community stuck picking up about $420,750 per year, including in part about "$36,000 a year for free and reduced lunches" for the kids of Wal-Mart families; "$108,000 a year for children's health insurance costs; $42,000 a year for Section 8 housing assistance; and $125,000 a year for federal tax credits and deductions for low-income families." As an example of the size of the problem, look to Georgia, where "Wal-Mart had more employees depending on state health-insurance assistance than any other major employer in the state." In California, a study showed that in 2002, Wal-Mart workers relied on 50% more taxpayer-funded health care per employee than those at other large retail stores, with taxpayers subsidizing more than $20 million worth of medical care.

THE WAL-MART EVICTION: At an average of 200,000 square feet, the typical Wal-Mart Supercenter is the size of 100 three-bedroom homes. As a result, the stores displace existing homes and entire neighborhoods. Families who want to keep their homes "have few options against a corporation that plans to spend an estimated $12 billion this year on construction and renovation."

MADE IN…CHINA?: Sam Walton's biography was titled "Made in America." These days, "Made in China" would be a more accurate name. Far from the all-American image the corporation likes to portray, Wal-Mart's "imports from China have grown so large - $13 billion - that Wal-Mart is putting American factories out of business." "This is no longer a U.S. flagwaving company," Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) said. "This is a company which sells Chinese goods because they are cheap, because they [the Chinese] manipulate currency to the disadvantage of American producers." In an unusual move this week, Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, actually "held its annual board meeting in China…with top managers taking a closer look at a market whose potential they think could rival the United States."

Wal-Mart pays workers wages that often fall below the poverty line, and keeps roughly one-third of its entire workforce on a part-time schedule, so as to restrict workers' access to health benefits. He also mentioned nothing of the various lawsuits Wal-Mart faces for worker abuse, nothing about Wal-Mart's use of undocumented workers, and nothing about the company's controversial practice of locking workers in stores and not providing them with work breaks. That silence may have been bought by Wal-Mart's recent decision to ratchet up political contributions "primarily to Republicans."

THESE ARE NOT JEWISH VALUES no matter which way you try to slice it… and rather than being some sort of cute article about cultural clash, this is really just a very sad sad story. What sort of Jews are these people?

Wal-mart is the Devil: FINALLY THE PROOF

This Reuters via Raw Story, states that Wal-mart could easily pay their employees more WITHOUT having to raise prices.

Wal-mart claims that paying their employees a remotely fair wage ( let alone a living wage) would cost their competitive edge. COSTCO has proven otherwise for years, but here is, finally, the definitive proof.

Wal-Mart could hike pay and keep prices low: study
By Emily Kaiser

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT.N) could significantly increase employee wages and benefits without raising prices, and still earn a healthy -- albeit smaller -- profit, research released on Thursday concluded.

The Economic Policy Institute study comes as the world's biggest retailer faces a barrage of criticism from labor unions, politicians and community activists, who say it pays poverty-level wages and drives competitors out of business.

…They concluded that if Wal-Mart reduced its profit margin to about 2.9 percent, where it stood in 1997, from the 3.6 percent margin it recorded last year, that would free up some $2.3 billion to pay workers without raising prices. That works out to just under $2,100 per non-managerial employee, the researchers calculated.

They noted that rival Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST.O) posted a profit margin of about 2 percent in 2005. The study did not mention Target Corp. (TGT.N), Wal-Mart's biggest competitor in the discount sector, which reported a 4.7 percent profit margin for last year.

In a telephone interview, Bivens said his research was aimed at refuting "outsized" claims that Wal-Mart saved consumers hundreds of billions of dollars and that its margins were so thin that it simply could not afford to pay employees more without forcing low-income consumers to foot the bill.

"I always thought that they had really, really tight profit margins," he said. "They're really a microcosm of the U.S. economy. They are very, very good at generating income, but it needs to be spread out more equitably."

His research refuted many of the findings from the Global Insight study released last year regarding how much money Wal-Mart saved consumers.

Jim Dorsey, a spokesman for Global Insight, said the research firm stood by the accuracy and methodology of its study, which was independently reviewed.

…"We will treat the findings of this study with the same amount of skepticism as other statements made by labor leaders who oppose us," Wal-Mart spokesman Kevin Thornton said. "We are proud of the economic impact we have on communities -- from the job opportunities we provide, to the money we save working families, to the tax revenue we generate, to the contribution we make to local charitable organizations," he added.

Thornton said Wal-Mart's average full-time wage is $10.11 per hour, and the retailer does market analysis to ensure its wages are competitive. He noted that Wal-Mart offers 18 different health care plans that cost as little as $11 per month in some areas.

That’s because they factor in corporate execs who make significantly more than regular retail employers. If they only calculated store employees, health care would be much less affordable.

Bivens and Bernstein concluded: "Wal-Mart does a lot right. It has expanded productivity by being more efficient and leaner than many other companies. Many of the benefits shoppers accrue from Wal-Mart's expansion could be preserved even if the retailer had to meet the expectations of its critics regarding fair worker compensation."

funny how a little music can brighten your day

While reading Jordan's post about the Shakira video, I thought I'd share my own story. Last week was an unusually hellish one for me and after coming home from work on Friday, the only thing I wanted to do was bake. (I know, it's oddly feminine and stereotypical, but baking is therepeutic for me. Besides, I didn't have money for a father's day gift). Well, I ended up dropping the egg carton and destroying any hope I had for a stress free evening. After cleaning about a dozen broken eggs from my kitchen floor, I turned on my computer and lo and behold, discovered that the bonnaroo festival was being streamed live! Tom Petty is by far my favorite performer and there he was, performing for me in my living room (the internet rocks!). And I have to say my stress just melted away. So here's to music and the calming effect it brings to any situation.

Check out http://blueroom.att.com/events/bonnaroo.php for highlights from the festival.

I Love People

I was looking for the new Shakira video to "Hips Don't Lie" because the song is just so damn catchy. Anyway I found this video on YouTube. I just love it. It constantly cracks me up...

All these people made movies to the new Shakira song, and this person compiled all of them. That is just excellent.

People are just funny, and wonderful, all that swirls around this world and all that could get us down, but something about a catchy tune just lifts everyone's spirits. And watching them dance you just can't help but smile and laugh...

Watch at least a third of the way in, there is a little cute kid and this older guy dancing. It's great.

We Were Robbed

I know that soccer, (and yes, I dare call it something other than the English term for it even though I think it's ironic that the US gets hell for calling it soccer and yet all these European countries that quibble over words in an attempt to keep their languages “pure” have no problem using the English word for the game) is not our most popular sport. It is probably not even our 4th or 5th favorite sport, but that does not mean that we should be punished for it. (In fact all of us play the game basically up until we are 13 or 14, and then move on to Ameican Football, while our women keep playing it. But it is not like we are unfamiliar with the game).

4 years ago we were stopped from beating Germany by a referee who was apparently personally offended that the US was dominating Germany. So offended was he that he felt obligated to decide every call, even ones that were obviously not close, in favor of Germany.

Today the referees were only marginally better. The send off of the Italian Player, Daniele De Rossi was a no-brainer, look at Brian McBride after that challenge, a cheap-shot elbow to the head opened him up.

And yet this referee sent off Pablo Mastroeni on a sure yellow, but a red… that was ridiculous. Eddie Pope’s two yellow were possibly even worse. On the last one he got part of the ball, didn’t follow through with the second leg and had his studs down, what exactly was the send off for?

To make it worse, DaMarcus Beasley scored a goal after coming on in substitution in about the 75th minute or so. IT WAS A GOAL, but they waved it off because McBride was in an offsides position. But it is only offside, if the player is making a play or involved in play… HE WAS NEITHER. Beasley's shot was not going to be played by McBride, had it been it could have been disallowed…But he didn’t thus it was a goal.

Even so, the US still did its side proud. We out played Italy at every part of the game. We showed initiative throughout. Especially in the first part of the game when it was still 11 vs. 11, the US controlled the pace and looked the better side. Italy’s goal came on a beautiful set piece, but other than that they had no sustained attack.

After the 2 send offs, it was 10 vs. 9 with the US only having 9 players they really showed their metal. The persevered over the odds and the so called Italian “dominance,” that according to most commentators should have easily supplied a finishing goal.

But time and time again the US put on a clinic in holding their defensive lines. And the only real chance for Italy was discarded by fabulous goal keeping by Keller.

We deserved better then the 1-1 tie, but it is a testimate to their willingness to win that the US is still alive at this stage. All we can do is win our last game and know we played our all.

The next game against Ghana is no gimme. Ghana looked strong against the Czech Republic, but they were without arguably their two best players, Milan Baros and their top goal scorer Jan Koller who had 43 goals in 69 games. In World Cup qualifying he had 9 goals in 8 games. He scored the first goal against the US, and controlled a lot of the game.

Ghana will be no push over, and with Pope, arguably the US best defender and without Mastroeni, our best defensive midfielder, it will be a test. But we can be proud after this game because WE WERE ROBBED.

What Industries Do These People Work For?

What Industries do these people work for?

Consulting for campaigns is not big money. Oh they over charge, even Democrats underpay actual staff, but it's not like you can have 2 homes, cars and have your significant others not working on Democrat money, (as my consultant boss wanted to do and how I observed other consultants) so the Big money is in Corporate sponsorship.

We won’t get into the fact that Democratic Campaigns pay their staff next to nothing while consultants, pollsters and media firms get the majority of the budget. Staffers cannot even afford health care. DEMOCRATIC STAFFERS HAVE NO HEALTH CARE.

This is from RealNews.org which does great work. Please go to their site, and check out their work.

■ Genetically-modified (GM) food, crops, and organisms. Democratic-associated consultants regularly work for industry groups and prominent firms battling any kind of restrictions or labeling on GM products. One brilliant stroke was to get farm bureaus and farmers to become the chief public advocates of GM, allowing the companies to take a back seat. All this work has clearly paid off. “The GM people are where they want to be,” says Ronnie Cummins, national director of the Organic Consumers Association. “They got their way – there’s no labeling, no safety testing, and the White House has threatened countries that would require labeling or safety testing. Now they are only trying to stop [individual U.S.] counties from banning GM.” Adds Cummins: “You can see the incredible influence Monsanto and the biotech industry had in the Clinton and Bush Administrations. They’ve been able to get genetically-engineered crops planted on one out of every seven acres in the United States, by taking away the consumer’s right to know, and taking away farmers’ rights not to grow GMOs. By deception and coercion they’ve won the battle so far. They announced their policy, called it laissez faire, back when Quayle was vice president – that genetically-engineered foods would not have to be safety-tested or labeled. That basic policy continued through Clinton and Bush Jr, and likely would have continued if Gore had been in there.”

■ Big PHARMA. “With the prescription drug bill, the key provision is that the government does not have the right to negotiate prices with the pharmaceutical industry,” says Robert Weissman, co-director of the corporate accountability group Essential Action and editor of Multinational Monitor. “That position is not sustainable in the long run, but the industry wants that to last as long as possible. It will always be worth it for them to throw more money at it, with the billions of dollars at stake. Internationally, they want to extend patents globally to maintain and extend monopoly protections in developing countries – they’re pushing for the bilateral and regional trade agreements the United States is negotiating around the world.” And the net effect? “People who need medicines can’t get them because the prices are too high, so they suffer and sometimes die as a result,” Weissman says. “Big PHARMA’s global strategy is to try and maintain a worldwide price that will price-gouge those able to afford the drug and leave a lot of people out.”

■ Credit issuers. Helping large credit issuers block measures designed to protect consumers from misleading practices that can lead to an inescapable cycle of growing debt. “In 2003, the industry’s main goal was to preempt for all time state laws regulating the credit and privacy area,” says Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (USPIRG). “They put together the Partnership to Protect Consumer Credit. That was a financial industry front group. In 2005, the next main thing they sought was the bankruptcy bill, following an eight-year campaign. The bankruptcy bill was designed by the credit card companies to make it harder and more expensive for consumers to file for a fresh start bankruptcy and instead puts them in a five year debtors’ prison. Their third goal is to ensure that no consumer bills pass.” (It’s worth noting that as First Lady, Hillary Clinton opposed the bankruptcy bill and persuaded President Clinton to veto it, but as a senator, she voted for it.)

■ The spread of gambling, and its social toll. Most of the key backers of so-called Indian gaming are not Indian at all. “These groups are often funded by other gambling interests, and often are playing one tribe against another,” says Rev. Tom Grey, who heads the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling. “Gambling has a corrosive, corrupting influence on both parties. The Clintons saw Native American gambling as a feeding trough. It was easy money.” It was made easier because Native Americans were a traditional constituency of the Democratic Party, unlike the Republicans, whose recent involvement with gambling on reservations lies at the heart of the explosive Abramoff-DeLay influence peddling scandal. Among the many other issues touched on below are (1) so-called “free trade”–pushing trading partners, including the European Union, to lower their health, environment and safety standards on all manner of products, from chemicals to finished goods, in the name of unfettered trade, and (2) Wal-Mart – helping this increasingly dominant corporation win a publicity war through a host of techniques, from aggressive tactics to the adoption of measures that soften the company’s image.

Sliding into Dictatorship

Alternet.com has this piece about how the US is becoming a police state. I know that as Americans, we like to believe that this could never happen in our country but this is obviously not the case. Bush's unitary presidency doctrine that Scalia, Thomas, and now Roberts, Scalito, and Attorney General Gonzolez all believe to be a doctrine is in effect...but what is it?

DICTATORSHIP. The unitary presidency is a legal belief that power, especially in wartime, should preside in the executive branch This has been tried before. It is called Nazi Germany, Communist Russia, Fidel Castro’s Cuba, etc... To believe that power should reside in the presidency is just sick. It goes against the wise decision of our founders that there should be equal responsibility for governing among co-equal branches.

So, Alternet is right to highlight this slide into Dictatorial America. To be fair, there have been times in our historical past where rights may not have been as extensive, but we live IN THE PRESENT and must be vigilant, especially with our current president, that such a thing could occur.

Top 10 Signs of the Impending U.S. Police State

By Allan Uthman, Buffalo Beast. Posted May 26, 2006.
http://www.alternet.org/story/36553/

1. The Internet Clampdown
One saving grace of alternative media in this age of unfettered corporate conglomeration has been the internet. While the masses are spoon-fed predigested news on TV and in mainstream print publications, the truth-seeking individual still has access to a broad array of investigative reporting and political opinion via the world-wide web. Of course, it was only a matter of time before the government moved to patch up this crack in the sky.

This is very scary, and according to this piece, Rummie has a plan to regulate this if need be. With the telecommunications industry putting millions of dollars into lobbying on Capital Hill to end net neutrality and start charging/regulating the internet more, we need to be careful.

2. "The Long War"
This little piece of clumsy marketing died off quickly, but it gave away what many already suspected: the War on Terror will never end, nor is it meant to end. It is designed to be perpetual. As with the War on Drugs, it outlines a goal that can never be fully attained -- as long as there are pissed off people and explosives. The Long War will eternally justify what are ostensibly temporary measures: suspension of civil liberties, military expansion, domestic spying, massive deficit spending and the like. This short-lived moniker told us all, "get used to it. Things aren't going to change any time soon."

3. The USA PATRIOT Act
Did anyone really think this was going to be temporary? Yes, this disgusting power grab gives the government the right to sneak into your house, look through all your stuff and not tell you about it for weeks on a rubber stamp warrant. Yes, they can look at your medical records and library selections. Yes, they can pass along any information they find without probable cause for purposes of prosecution. No, they're not going to take it back, ever.

This one is very scary…

4. Prison Camps

This last January the Army Corps of Engineers gave Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root nearly $400 million to build detention centers in the United States, for the purpose of unspecified "new programs." Of course, the obvious first guess would be that these new programs might involve rounding up Muslims or political dissenters -- I mean, obviously detention facilities are there to hold somebody. I wish I had more to tell you about this, but it's, you know... secret.

I read an interesting thing that said there is a problem in viewing democracy as a bunch of laws rather than a set of values and norms. So we vote and think, hey, we have a functioning Democracy, no more questions need to be asked. But Democracy requires citizen participation, independent media for oversight and a free exchange of ideas. Do we have any of these things? We don’t even have free and fair elections. And that is just sad.

5. Touchscreen Voting Machines
Despite clear, copious evidence that these nefarious contraptions are built to be tampered with, they continue to spread and dominate the voting landscape, thanks to Bush's "Help America Vote Act," the exploitation of corrupt elections officials, and the general public's enduring cluelessness.

In Utah, Emery County Elections Director Bruce Funk witnessed security testing by an outside firm on Diebold voting machines which showed them to be a security risk. But his warnings fell on deaf ears. Instead Diebold attorneys were flown to Emery County on the governor's airplane to squelch the story. Funk was fired. In Florida, Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho discovered an alarming security flaw in their Diebold system at the end of last year. Rather than fix the flaw, Diebold refused to fulfill its contract. Both of the other two touchscreen voting machine vendors, Sequoia and ES&S, now refuse to do business with Sancho, who is required by HAVA to implement a touchscreen system and will be sued by his own state if he doesn't. Diebold is said to be pressuring for Sancho's ouster before it will resume servicing the county.

Because it is a unitary Presidency, Bush can do what he wants:

6. Signing Statements
Bush has famously never vetoed a bill. This is because he prefers to simply nullify laws he doesn't like with "signing statements." Bush has issued over 700 such statements, twice as many as all previous presidents combined. A few examples of recently passed laws and their corresponding dismissals, courtesy of the Boston Globe:
--Dec. 30, 2005: US interrogators cannot torture prisoners or otherwise subject them to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.
Bush's signing statement: The president, as commander in chief, can waive the torture ban if he decides that harsh interrogation techniques will assist in preventing terrorist attacks.
--Dec. 23, 2004: Forbids US troops in Colombia from participating in any combat against rebels, except in cases of self-defense. Caps the number of US troops allowed in Colombia at 800.
Bush's signing statement: Only the president, as commander in chief, can place restrictions on the use of US armed forces, so the executive branch will construe the law ''as advisory in nature."

7. Warrantless Wiretapping
Amazingly, the GOP sees this issue as a plus for them. How can this be? What are you, stupid? You find out the government is listening to the phone calls of US citizens, without even the weakest of judicial oversight and you think that's okay? Come on -- if you know anything about history, you know that no government can be trusted to handle something like this responsibly. One day they're listening for Osama, and the next they're listening in on Howard Dean.

8. Free Speech Zones
I know it's old news, but... come on, are they fucking serious?

I cannot agree more… it's fucking disgusting.

9. High-ranking Whistleblowers
Army Generals. Top-level CIA officials. NSA operatives. White House cabinet members. These are the kind of people that Republicans fantasize about being, and whose judgment they usually respect. But for some reason, when these people resign in protest and criticize the Bush administration en masse, they are cast as traitorous, anti-American publicity hounds. Ridiculous. The fact is, when people who kill, spy and deceive for a living tell you that the White House has gone too far, you had damn well better pay attention. We all know most of these people are staunch Republicans. If the entire military except for the two guys the Pentagon put in front of the press wants Rumsfeld out, why on earth wouldn't you listen?

10. The CIA Shakeup
Was Porter Goss fired because he was resisting the efforts of Rumsfeld or Negroponte? No. These appointments all come from the same guys, and they wouldn't be nominated if they weren't on board all the way. Goss was probably canned so abruptly due to a scandal involving a crooked defense contractor, his hand-picked third-in-command, the Watergate hotel and some hookers.
If Bush's nominee for CIA chief, Air Force General Michael Hayden, is confirmed, that will put every spy program in Washington under military control. Hayden, who oversaw the NSA warrantless wiretapping program and is clearly down with the program. That program? To weaken and dismantle or at least neuter the CIA. Despite its best efforts to blame the CIA for "intelligence errors" leading to the Iraq war, the picture has clearly emerged -- through extensive CIA leaks -- that the White House's analysis of Saddam's destructive capacity was not shared by the Agency. This has proved to be a real pain in the ass for Bush and the gang.
It’s a slippery Slope, and we need to stop this backslide into dictatorship.

Victims of a Holocaust that Aren’t Jewish, Israel’s Dilemma?

There should be no question about what Israel should do…it should take these victims in. “Just as you were slaves in Egypt,” Israel must stand against genocide and for protecting its victims at any cost if it is to stand for anything.

TEL AVIV - Shlomo Reisman remembers vividly from his childhood the visage of Jewish refugee kids after World War II. They sneaked into pre-state Israel illegally, defying a ban by the British authorities.

"They came here without anything," says Mr. Reisman. "Without underwear, in shorts, with torn shoes."

Now, a new group of refugees is slipping into the country illegally - a mix of Muslims and Christians from a country that's officially at war with Israel. But the 230 Sudanese refugees that have arrived are landing in an Israeli jail. As Israel decides what to do with those who have fled what the US has described as a "genocide," Reisman says the government should be mindful of Jewish history.

"In principle, the state of Israel and the Jewish people who have known discrimination ... should give asylum to people who are being persecuted," he says. "Given our history, the Jewish people must show mercy toward persecuted people."

That sentiment is part of an emerging debate in Israel over whether the Jewish state has a moral obligation to release from jail the refugees fleeing Sudan's civil war and genocide.

On Monday, Israeli human rights groups plan a demonstration outside Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Jerusalem residence. They have already petitioned the Supreme Court on behalf of the refugees. And by the end of the week, the government must submit to the court a plan to grant judicial hearings for the refugees.

The flow of refugees to Israel has picked up over the past six months since 27 Sudanese asylum seekers were killed late December in clashes with Egyptian police at a sit-in demonstration at a UN refugee agency office in Cairo.

I am not one of those Jews who believes everything Israel does is correct or inherently better than other countries. But I am also not one of those lefties who have such contempt for Israel it blinds them to the truth of its state, and its pros and cons, especially juxtaposed to the Nations around it.

There is simply not enough criticism on Islamic Nations and the treatment of other Muslims.

"I wasn't protected by the UN in Egypt. I was afraid that my visa had expired and they would take me back to Sudan," says Deng, a Sudanese refugee who paid $600 to a Bedouin guide to sneak him into Israel from the Egyptian Sinai desert. He received the money from friends living in Australia. "I was expecting to be protected. I am a refugee."

The treatment has raised concerns among some Israeli Holocaust scholars. Avner Shalev, chairman of Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust museum and memorial, recently appealed to Mr. Olmert on behalf of the refugees.

"As members of the Jewish people, for whom the memory of the Holocaust burns, we cannot stand by as refugees from the genocide in Darfur hammer on our doors," he wrote referring to the Nazi Holocaust, when 6 million Jews were killed.

That comparison is a sensitive one in Israel, which absorbed hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors during the first decades of its existence.

"We are not sending anyone back to Darfur," says Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mark Regev, a son of Holocaust survivors who took umbrage at the World War II association.

Like the Sudanese, Albert Khaleb furtively crossed into Israel by night. Only he did it more than 60 years ago, walking two nights straight from Damascus to Tiberias via the Golan Heights. But he has little sympathy for the Sudanese.

"I don't know who they are," says Mr. Khaleb. "We need to be wary of them. They know they're coming to an enemy country and they're liable to be expelled."

Why We Should Not Be Ashamed of the US Effort

Yes, the US Men’s Soccer team lost 3-0 to the Czech Republic today, but we lost to according to FIFA the best squad in Europe. In qualifying for the World Cup they scored a staggering 37 goals.

When we got the draw with these teams we knew getting to the knock out stage would be a great accomplishment. Played over and over I suspect each time there would be 3 new teams to qualify each time. We have to worry about Koller injury as much as Czech Republic, as we need the Czech Republic to win out.

As coach Bruce Arena pointed out, it was never in the plan to win this game. To steal a point would have been great, but the next two games were the key to our success.

Even if we made it through to the next round, #1 ranked Brazil was the next game.

That being said we have a lot to be proud of.

The US controlled the pace of the game, and easily held the majority of the possession. The Czech Republic were not able to sustain possession, only scoring on US mistakes.

Mistakes that can be corrected. 2 of the goals were allowed because of the extreme youth on the backline. Pope was marvelous but Onyewu who didn’t have any squad to play for last year showed his youth making not technical mistakes but experiential mistakes. Especially on the first goal by Koller’s header where he went to a spot instead of marking the player.

Arena rightly called out Beasley and Donovan who un-chararistically shrank before the occasion. 4 years ago at 20, they were marvelous on the world stage and today they were just horrible. Beasley looked slow and messy and Donovan was just non-existant.

The US game is simple, work hard, make good passes build slowly, and have Beasley or Convey beat people on the outside, crosses to cause havoc; with McBride being the classic finisher.

In the final 3rd, the US looked awful they did everything right but beat people to get good shots. That can be corrected.

The US should hold its head up. First off, the Czech Republic is a good team that took advantage of US mistakes.

The US controlled the tempo of the game and built well.

And finally and ironically; THE US PLAYS THE GAME THE WAY IT IS MEANT TO BE PLAYED. It sort of ironic that it takes the Americans to show the world how to play the game of football or (soccer).

We do not flop, roll around, fake injuries. We play hard nosed, football, working hard to win balls, playing fair and building attacks. When we are fouled we get up and keep playing.

NONE OF THE BULLSHIT that is a shame on the English leagues and all across Europe that makes watching games sometimes unbearable.

In that sense, I am most proud of the US for showing the rest of the world how the game is SUPPOSED to be played, even in a brutal loss.

Valerie Plame Wilson CIA Leak Affiar Short Video

Valerie Plame Wilson Affair in a Short Video

I know I myself am a often confused by the whole leaking and Valerie Plame Wilson CIA Leak Case. So this video by Think Progress (a great site) is a short easy way to understand it.

http://thinkprogress.org/2005/11/16/smears-lies-videotape/

Basically Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, and Dick Cheney leaked the name of a CIA agent to Robert Novak and other reporters in retribution for her husband Ambassador Joseph Wilson’s article that he researched the claim on yellow-cake from Africa and found it to be false.

But in the process they may have unraveled a CIA agency that was responsible for stopping the flow of nuclear weapons to places such as Iraq and IRAN.

Go to the video… get the whole thing.

Al Gore on Fresh Air on NPR

Al Gore on Fresh Air on NPR

Al Gore has a new movie out “The Inconvenient Truth.” By now I am sure you have heard of it. GO SEE IT.
That said, also listen to this interview on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross. She has an excellent interview as usual. But Al Gore is just wonderful. He is measured, well spoken and just makes a lot of sense. It was so comforting and very somber at the same time.

These pictures according to scientific study is:

This is what Florida would look like if Greenland melted or broke up and slipped into the sea, or if half of Greenland and half of Antarctica melted or broke up and slipped into the sea. Sea levels worldwide would increase by between 18 and 20 feet.

Sport

I love sports. I love just about all sports, Cricket, Rugby, American Football, Sumo Wrestling, pretty much if there is a competition, I am a fan of it.

So many people ask me why, why do I love sports so much? Why do I live or die by the Eagles?

There are so many reasons. First off, I think the joint competition. There is something pure about people coming together to work towards a goal (or even a person). And the competition, the you versus them, us verse them, me versus me, it really moves the soul.

With so many things in life without rules, people are always looking for hard and fast rules in a world without them. Like religions sports have defined boundaries, pre-set rules so unlike life its fair (at least in theory). The rules for competition are clearly stated and thus a rough framework for them. That is why we react so badly to cheaters.

Anyway the World Cup is on, and this Nike ad reminds me of what I love about it.

The U.S. and the World Cup

I am very excited about the World Cup. Anytime we come together as a world community for the sake of competition I am a fan. Even if the competition is frustrating because of all the diving and pulling, which often threatens to ruin it, somehow the competition on the field always wins out.

I am even more excited about this year's US team. Although we have one of the hardest groups, this year could be a good staging ground for the next World Cup when I think we have a good chance of actually winning.

Ghana is one of the best teams in Africa and is an emerging power. The Czech Republic is ranked 2nd by FIFA and is easily the best team in Europe. Italy is a traditional power and ranked a respectable 14th by FIFA. They are expected to win the group.

The runner-up has to face Brazil. So even if the US can emerge from this group they have a tall test ahead.

But the US (ranked 4th by FIFA) has a good mixture of experience and youth. These younger players can use the tough grouping to gain needed experience and hopefully propel us onto the international stage. Eddie Johnson and Landon Donovan are turning into premier goal scorers. Experienced defensive players like Eddie Pope and 24-year-old Oguchi Onyewu really represent our team well.

With the waning power of Brazil in the last 4 years, the US will have a good chance to go for the Cup.

But for now I am just enjoying the build up. Living in England, the birthplace of Football (Soccer), is exciting.

I also love these ads, which I've posted below. This one of the Brazilian team is just so cool. I am just sorry it is for Nike.

Republicans Coming to the Light

First reported on the Stephanie Miller Show, Republicans are slowly awakening to the fascist regime they have supported and are starting to raise their voices. They are just as appalled as the rest of us that Bush has driven the US into the ground, endangered the world and forced two countries into Nuclear States in direct threat to America.

Republican Doug McIntyre Right-Wing Radio Host has had enough:

"So, I’m saying today, I was wrong to have voted for George W. Bush. In historic terms, I believe George W. Bush is the worst two-term President in the history of the country. Worse than Grant. I also believe a case can be made that he’s the worst President period."

Oh it gets better:

"But in the months and years since shock and awe I have been shocked repeatedly by a consistent litany of excuses, alibis, double-talk, inaccuracies, bogus predictions, and flat out lies. I have watched as the President and his administration changed the goals, redefined the reasons for going into Iraq, and fumbled the good will of the world and the focus necessary to catch the real killers of September 11.

I have watched the President say the commanders on the ground will make the battlefield decisions, and the war won’t be run from Washington. Yet, politics has consistently determined what the troops can and can’t do on the ground and any commander who did not go along with the administration was sacked, and in some cases, maligned.

It was the wrong course. All of it was wrong. We are not on the road to victory. We’re about to slink home with our tail between our legs, leaving civil war in Iraq and a nuclear armed Iran in our wake. Bali was bombed. Madrid was bombed. London was bombed. And Bin Laden is still making tapes. It’s unspeakable. The liberal media didn’t create this reality, bad policy did."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

He continues HERE.

06-06-06

As you know, today is 666. As a Jew, the whole thing is sort of funny. I mean, we don’t believe in Christ, so the rise of the Anti-Christ is not that menacing.

As I understand it, the devil in Judaism is just an Angel of G-d. An angel put on earth to tempt us as humans; through tests we can become the person we are meant to be. But all that is evil is not the sign of the devil, but rather, our actions and our responsibility.

Furthermore, we don’t believe in Hell or that there is some sort of competition between an Angel and G-d. G-d is not this person, fighting battles. G-d is an all knowing, loving presence that has given us guidance to be the best people we can be, and our reward (if there is one) is uncertain.

Not wanting to miss the fun of 666, I went to see the Omen today. It was a good movie, and interesting. More interesting is British Channel 4’s television show about the making of the original the Omen movie in 1976. It's sort of creepy how many things went wrong during the making of it. For example, just to name a few: a plane crash, planes struck by lightening, dogs becoming inexplicably violent, the death of an animal handler, the death of Gregory Peck’s (the lead) son, and a bombing by the IRA of the hotel the crew stayed at; creepy shit. The crew started changing how the film was made because they believed the film was cursed.

All of which made we want to know more about 666 so I went to the best source, Wikipedia:

The Number of the Beast is mentioned in the Book of Revelation of the Christian New Testament and has long been accepted to be 666 or, in some cases, 616. The meaning of the number is debated. In some interpretations of Christian eschatology the “Beast” is believed to refer to a being controlled by or equated with the Antichrist, whereas some scholars, such as Dr. Delbert Hillers and the editors of the Oxford & Harper Collins translations, contend that the number is a code for the Roman Emperor Nero,[1] a view that is also supported by the Roman Catholic Church.[2][3]

The most prominent occurrence of the number is found in the New Testament, where Revelation 13:16-18 states:

“Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell who does not have the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom: let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number. Its number is six threescore six.”

The Greek manuscripts render the phrase as “χξϛ´”, which is 666 in Greek numerical form, or, as in the Codex Alexandrinus, literally “six hundred and sixty-six”, “ἑξακόσιοι ἑξήκοντα ἕξ”. Other early Greek copies including the Oxyrhynchus papyri show the number of the beast to be 616, “χιϛ´”, instead of 666. ι and ξ can be similar in appearance and one may be an erroneous copy of the other.[citation needed] Historians continue to argue which was the original.[4] English translations usually give the number as 666.

FINALLY: Rolling Stone Puts 2004 Election Fraud Front Page

I am not a conspiracy theorist. Republicans and the corporate media would like you to believe that if you believe the 2004 election was stolen you might as well be wearing a tin foil hat.

But the facts belay just common sense, and a cursory look at the election leads you to believe that at the very least serious questions about the legitimacy of our democracy.

Rolling Stones has an article about “Was the 2004 Election Stolen?” where they thoughtfully and well researched laid out the case for that the 2004 election was stolen.

GO BUY THE MAGAZINE. It’s not out here, but I will get it when I can. Support this magazine, show that Americans are interested in their democracy, and if enough people buy it, the corporate media will not be able to ignore it anymore.

Also you can find a good article by tunesmith at Daily Kos which goes over the Salon article trying to refute the Rolling Stone magazine and some more facts. It’s a great article because it basically goes over the attacks against the 2004 election being stolen and why they are wrong. And they are by someone who clearly WANTS to believe the 2004 election was not stolen.

But despite the media blackout, indications continued to emerge that something deeply troubling had taken place in 2004. Nearly half of the 6 million American voters living abroad(3) never received their ballots -- or received them too late to vote(4) -- after the Pentagon unaccountably shut down a state-of-the-art Web site used to file overseas registrations.(5) A consulting firm called Sproul & Associates, which was hired by the Republican National Committee to register voters in six battleground states,(6) was discovered shredding Democratic registrations.(7) In New Mexico, which was decided by 5,988 votes,(8) malfunctioning machines mysteriously failed to properly register a presidential vote on more than 20,000 ballots.(9) Nationwide, according to the federal commission charged with implementing election reforms, as many as 1 million ballots were spoiled by faulty voting equipment -- roughly one for every 100 cast.(10)

The two most popular responses to this type of talk:
1) Where is the consorted effort with the black coats? There need not be one agency with coordinated attacks to be election fraud. In truth it was perpetuated by a few individuals who believed that Bush should be President at any cost, even if that meant subverting a Democratic vote.

People like Ken Blackwell who as Secretary of State was responsible for holding an election and as head of Bush’s Reelection in Ohio getting the president elected.

Where did Blackwell learn to steal elections? Well guess who he worked for in 2000, that’s right Katherine Harris.

Here is what Blackwell was able to do:

The reports were especially disturbing in Ohio, the critical battleground state that clinched Bush's victory in the electoral college. Officials there purged tens of thousands of eligible voters from the rolls, neglected to process registration cards generated by Democratic voter drives, shortchanged Democratic precincts when they allocated voting machines and illegally derailed a recount that could have given Kerry the presidency. A precinct in an evangelical church in Miami County recorded an impossibly high turnout of ninety-eight percent, while a polling place in inner-city Cleveland recorded an equally impossible turnout of only seven percent. In Warren County, GOP election officials even invented a nonexistent terrorist threat to bar the media from monitoring the official vote count.(11)

....But in the battle for Ohio, Republicans had a distinct advantage: The man in charge of the counting was Kenneth Blackwell, the co-chair of President Bush's re-election committee.(43) As Ohio's secretary of state, Blackwell had broad powers to interpret and implement state and federal election laws -- setting standards for everything from the processing of voter registration to the conduct of official recounts.(44) And as Bush's re-election chair in Ohio, he had a powerful motivation to rig the rules for his candidate. Blackwell, in fact, served as the ''principal electoral system adviser'' for Bush during the 2000 recount in Florida,(45) where he witnessed firsthand the success of his counterpart Katherine Harris, the Florida secretary of state who co-chaired Bush's campaign there.(46)

This is the crux of the Argument and is really the point.

But what is most anomalous about the irregularities in 2004 was their decidedly partisan bent: Almost without exception they hurt John Kerry and benefited George Bush. After carefully examining the evidence, I've become convinced that the president's party mounted a massive, coordinated campaign to subvert the will of the people in 2004. Across the country, Republican election officials and party stalwarts employed a wide range of illegal and unethical tactics to fix the election. A review of the available data reveals that in Ohio alone, at least 357,000 voters, the overwhelming majority of them Democratic, were prevented from casting ballots or did not have their votes counted in 2004(12) -- more than enough to shift the results of an election decided by 118,601 votes.(13) (See Ohio's Missing Votes) In what may be the single most astounding fact from the election, one in every four Ohio citizens who registered to vote in 2004 showed up at the polls only to discover that they were not listed on the rolls, thanks to GOP efforts to stem the unprecedented flood of Democrats eager to cast ballots.(14) And that doesn’t even take into account the troubling evidence of outright fraud, which indicates that upwards of 80,000 votes for Kerry were counted instead for Bush. That alone is a swing of more than 160,000 votes -- enough to have put John Kerry in the White House.(15)

2) Why did the person the hurt the most not acknowledge them, Sen. John Kerry and the DNC?

Because they are POLITICAL cowards. (I would never call someone who served this nation a coward, Kerry clearly has brass ones when serving this country that I could only dream of) They believe that it would alienate voters and make them look crazy, if they were to acknowledge what we all know to be true.

Consultants, whom I used to work for, believe that challenging the election would do more harm then good, because the media would portray them as “out of the mainstream” as ridiculous a notion that is to challenge the results, and even worse, we may not WIN the fight.

But that does not change the facts because the DNC is to scared to call out the obvious errors, nor does the fact that John Kerry who is running for President in 2008, who has said there was problems with the election, saying that he is focused on the future discount that he probably should be President now. (not to say he deserves it, as I am not one of his biggest fans)

Any election, of course, will have anomalies. America's voting system is a messy patchwork of polling rules run mostly by county and city officials. ''We didn't have one election for president in 2004,'' says Robert Pastor, who directs the Center for Democracy and Election Management at American University. ''We didn't have fifty elections. We actually had 13,000 elections run by 13,000 independent, quasi-sovereign counties and municipalities.''

GO READ THE WHOLE THING BY PICKING IT UP AT A LOCAL RETAILER

Al Gore on SNL

SO SO TRUE:

“Homer Kills Off Nukey Blair”

“Homer Kills Off Nukey Blair”

This was the headline in the British Newspaper the Daily Star. It is just too funny. According to this article Blair’s ambitions to create more nuclear power plants to curb the effects of global warming is being hurt by Homer Simpson.

I don’t want to get into too much the pros and cons of nuclear power as I just don’t have a real answer. On one side is a valid argument that nuclear power is an answer today to meet our power demands while not adding to the crisis of Global Warming. Further the technology today is not what it was 30 even 10 years ago, they produce less nuclear waste and are safer.

On the other side, I was not alive in the mid to late 1970’s when nuclear power almost destroyed many American communities, endangered major cities, and in Russia actually did melt down. Cancer resulting for the 1987 meltdown at Chernobyl was felt all the way west as the Scandinavian countries.

Plus there is still no good way to handle and dispose of nuclear waste.

A real debate is needed to way these issues and make an environmentally sound decision that still supports our power needs.

But this article is just funny. In the article this according to Greenpeace Jean McSorley, “The way the programme has stressed how the industry operates has had an impact on modern culture. There is now a whole generation of people who think the nuclear industry is a laughing stock. Homer Simpson has had quite an effect.”

That’s just funny.

Tom Friedman is a Putz

As an International Studies major at American University in DC and now at SOAS (London School of Oriental and African Studies) I am forced to endore Thomas Friedman's blatherings about the world scene. When you read his books you are shocked that this is actually a text book and not science fiction. While I have heard good things about his new book The World is Flat, basically he is full shit.

So this compilation of quotes by FAIR, Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting is just brilliant.

Apparently, the Iraq war, the war he supported is just 6 months from turning the corner. Unfortunately for Friedman, his crack analysis, these 6 months have been happening for the past 3 years.

I guess he didn't realize people can keep track of these things. The best part about it, he uses basically the same words over and over.

Seriously how do these peoiple still have credibility when they are always so wrong?

Go to FAIR for the whole thing:

"The next six months in Iraq—which will determine the prospects for democracy-building there—are the most important six months in U.S. foreign policy in a long, long time."
(New York Times, 11/30/03)

"What I absolutely don't understand is just at the moment when we finally have a UN-approved Iraqi-caretaker government made up of—I know a lot of these guys—reasonably decent people and more than reasonably decent people, everyone wants to declare it's over. I don't get it. It might be over in a week, it might be over in a month, it might be over in six months, but what's the rush? Can we let this play out, please?"
(NPR's Fresh Air, 6/3/04)

"What we're gonna find out, Bob, in the next six to nine months is whether we have liberated a country or uncorked a civil war."
(CBS's Face the Nation, 10/3/04)

"Improv time is over. This is crunch time. Iraq will be won or lost in the next few months. But it won't be won with high rhetoric. It will be won on the ground in a war over the last mile."
(New York Times, 11/28/04)

"I think we're in the end game now…. I think we're in a six-month window here where it's going to become very clear and this is all going to pre-empt I think the next congressional election—that's my own feeling— let alone the presidential one."
(NBC's Meet the Press, 9/25/05)

"Maybe the cynical Europeans were right. Maybe this neighborhood is just beyond transformation. That will become clear in the next few months as we see just what kind of minority the Sunnis in Iraq intend to be. If they come around, a decent outcome in Iraq is still possible, and we should stay to help build it. If they won't, then we are wasting our time."
(New York Times, 9/28/05)

"We've teed up this situation for Iraqis, and I think the next six months really are going to determine whether this country is going to collapse into three parts or more or whether it's going to come together."
(CBS's Face the Nation, 12/18/05)

"We're at the beginning of I think the decisive I would say six months in Iraq, OK, because I feel like this election—you know, I felt from the beginning Iraq was going to be ultimately, Charlie, what Iraqis make of it."
(PBS's Charlie Rose Show, 12/20/05)

"The only thing I am certain of is that in the wake of this election, Iraq will be what Iraqis make of it—and the next six months will tell us a lot. I remain guardedly hopeful."
(New York Times, 12/21/05)

"I think that we're going to know after six to nine months whether this project has any chance of succeeding. In which case, I think the American people as a whole will want to play it out or whether it really is a fool's errand."
(Oprah Winfrey Show, 1/23/06)

"I think we're in the end game there, in the next three to six months, Bob. We've got for the first time an Iraqi government elected on the basis of an Iraqi constitution. Either they're going to produce the kind of inclusive consensual government that we aspire to in the near term, in which case America will stick with it, or they're not, in which case I think the bottom's going to fall out."
(CBS, 1/31/06)

"I think we are in the end game. The next six to nine months are going to tell whether we can produce a decent outcome in Iraq."
(NBC's Today, 3/2/06)

"Can Iraqis get this government together? If they do, I think the American public will continue to want to support the effort there to try to produce a decent, stable Iraq. But if they don't, then I think the bottom is going to fall out of public support here for the whole Iraq endeavor. So one way or another, I think we're in the end game in the sense it's going to be decided in the next weeks or months whether there's an Iraq there worth investing in. And that is something only Iraqis can tell us."
(CNN, 4/23/06)

"Well, I think that we're going to find out, Chris, in the next year to six months—probably sooner—whether a decent outcome is possible there, and I think we're going to have to just let this play out."
(MSNBC's Hardball, 5/11/06)

Go to FAIR they do good stuff