December 12, 2009 archive

Dec 12 2009

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

Now with World and U.S. News.  54 Story Final.

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Golf world reels as Woods takes ‘indefinite break’

by Greg Heakes, AFP

49 mins ago

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – After a slew of sex scandals forced celebrity golfer Tiger Woods to announce an indefinite break from the game, the sport’s big-wigs were left pondering Saturday the loss of their biggest breadwinner.

Woods stunned the golf world Friday by announcing a hiatus in professional play and admitting, for the first time, to being unfaithful to his wife.

The admission prompted a slew of statements of support from colleagues, but more tepid backing from some of his sponsors, which include Nike, Gillette, Accenture, AT&T and Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer.

Dec 12 2009

Copenhagen Ho!!!

The Climate Change summit in Copenhagen is off and running. The Climate Change deniers are going all the way to criminal trying to pretend that scientists debating science and tweaking models means something other than science being science. Climate Change opportunists are going supercritical in their efforts to use the issue as reason to corner the subsidies market for their cash cows. Climate Change Chicken Littles are streaking through the streets screaming hyperbolic inanities nobody in their right mind believes. It’s a regular Big Business these days, no matter where you may stand. Sad truth is that nothing effective can come of this kind of polarization. Which is the point of purposefully engineered polarization, of course.

So I thought it might be helpful to make note of a few observations and a few points of knowledge about where we are today and how we got here, in hopes of clarifying things if that’s possible.

Dec 12 2009

The Left Will Never ‘Win’…..Completely

And we are “ok” with that. Sorta. We ARE only human, after all. We want to “win” as much as the next guy. But at this point…just like in Afghanistan, lol, do we even know what winning is?

After all in the classic definitions, The Left winning would be full on Communism, lol. And I don’t think anyone really wants that!

For now, and for a good long time to come apparently, we on The Left know that the best we can do is influence the center, move the conversation and the Overton Window relatively slowly to the Left and make what Progress we are allowed to make by The Machine.

This is apparently yet another thing that the Centrist don’t get about the Left, we KNOW that there won’t be a Department of Peace, in the US of A. Not anytime soon. We know that the Rich will be allowed to prey upon the Lower and Middle Class, we know that there will be starving children in the richest Empire in history.

Our fight after all, is much bigger than politics. OUR fight is in truth a fight against the worst excesses of Human Nature, when it comes right down to it, when we get to the core of what we are fighting for. Can we EVER truly win that fight?

Dec 12 2009

Open Sky

Photobucket

Dec 12 2009

This Week in Health and Fitness

Welcome to this weeks Health and Fitness.

Lessons From the War Zone

One morning as a medical student on the surgery service, I learned about a patient who had been hemorrhaging on the operating table the night before. The intern who had assisted during the operation took great pains to describe every detail of the failed efforts of several senior surgeons and the final, ultimately lifesaving, maneuvers of the department chairman. “He came in and just got control of the bleeding,” the intern concluded, waving his hands as if the chairman’s work had involved magic.

Skip to next paragraph

“How did he manage that?” one of my classmates asked.

“He’s one of the best,” the intern answered matter-of-factly. “He was a surgeon in Vietnam.”

One of the results of the 80’s and 90’s violent carnage in NYC, ER Doctors, ER Staff, Surgeons and Paramedics got to be very good at what they do best, saving lives. The Wheel Turns.

As is now custom, I’ll try to include the more interesting and pertinent articles that will help the community awareness of their health and bodies. This essay will not be posted anywhere else due to constraints on my time and in January it will be coming to you from Paris, Fr. for awhile. Please feel free to make suggestions for improvement and ask questions, I’ll answer as best I can.

This is an Open Thread

Dec 12 2009

Destroy, Destroy, Destroy: the Obama War Against Pakistan

I want to start with great interview with Webster Tarpley  on Bonnie Faulkner’s show on KPFA. First a few things about Webster. He’s one of the more interesting minds (if you pardon that expression) writing and speaking about politics in the world. I’m impressed with erudition and he travels and knows the world very well. His flaw is that he builds a theory and then fits the facts to it. However, the theory he builds are very good and connect with the facts enough to make him very useful. He and Peter Dale Scott seem to understand what is going on as well as anyone. And Tarpley, who I disagree on a number of matters, did call the Obama fraud a fraud before anyone and thus I’m inclined to believe him — plus he wrote the definitive books on the Bush family and has put 9/11 in a firm historical context in his book 9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA.

If you listen to the interview you will see, as most of us here suspect, that we are not in Afghanistan to save Aghani women from harm or to bring democracy or even defeat the Taliban or even “get” Bin Laden and Al-qaida. It is much more interesting and complex than that.

Dec 12 2009

Santa Have You Seen My Soldier


Dec 12 2009

Alien Lifestyles and Common Bonds

1%er Biker Clubhouses are nothing like the TV portrays; at least in my experience. The people are warm, friendly and humorous.

Biker clubs are like dandelions in Michigan, whether or not you notice them, their members are everywhere. Still, though there are a few we are close to, the whole premise is incomprehensible to me. Not that they give one flying fuck what I think of their life choice, its their life not mine. But its natural when you really like someone to try and figure out just what makes them tick. They get that too.

You see, they see themselves as outlaws. They see their own as brother, and feel the bonding of being outside the mainstream America by common experience and interest.

The first thing that strikes me is the Rules. There are so many rules and commitments it makes State Legislation look like suggestions.

Let me see: You want to be “free” so pledge lifelong commitment to a group that enforces mandatory meetings, mandatory bar service, mandatory rides, mandatory settling of differences (ahem) with other groups. Your freedom includes taking off work whenever they say you must, being away from home and family a couple weekends a month, and showing up at least three nights a week to the Clubhouse???

To me, that’s not freedom, its just handing your will over to a smaller, stricter government that enforces its will, with, ummm, deadly force.

You may as well shave your head and join the Krishnas… its the same thing with better toys.

Dec 12 2009

Original v. Cover — #3 of a Series

Jumping Jack Pictures, Images and Photos

The featured number this week was released on May 24, 1968, and was referred to as “supernatural Delta blues by way of Swinging London” by Rolling Stone.  This song was hailed as evidence of the band’s return to their blues roots after the psychedelia of their preceding albums.  This hit reached #1 on the UK charts, #3 in the United States, and was the most played in concert of this group’s extensive and impressive repertoire.  

In 2004, Rolling Stone rated this song 124th on its list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.  In March, 2005, Q Magazine placed this superhit at #2 in its list of 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. VH1 placed it at #65 on its show “100 Greatest Rock Songs.”

So, without further ado, the featured original this week is the Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin Jack Flash.”  

Dec 12 2009

Original v. Cover — #3 of a Series

The featured number this week was released on May 24, 1968, and was referred to as “supernatural Delta blues by way of Swinging London” by Rolling Stone.  This song was hailed as evidence of the band’s return to their blues roots after the psychedelia of their preceding albums.  This hit reached #1 on the UK charts, #3 in the United States, and was the most played in concert of this group’s extensive and impressive repertoire.  

In 2004, Rolling Stone rated this song 124th on its list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.  In March, 2005, Q Magazine placed this superhit at #2 in its list of 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. VH1 placed it at #65 on its show “100 Greatest Rock Songs.”

So, without further ado, the featured original this week is the Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin Jack Flash.”  

Here’s the original version from 1968 by the Rolling Stones, along with a fascinating slide show:

George Harrison and Friends performed a great cover version at the Concert for Bangladesh, held on August 1, 1971 at Madison Square Garden.  Among the friends:  Leon Russell, Eric Clapton and Carl Radle.

“Jumpin Jack Flash” comprises about the first four minutes of this medley:

Here’s one of Johnny Winter’s many great renditions of this song, assisted by Dr. John on piano and vocals. Look for a bit of a surprise from 6:45 to 7:30 mark:

And for just a slightly different twist, check out this interpretation that includes the incomparable Aretha Franklin AND Keith Richards appearing with Whoopi Goldberg in video footage from the 1986 film, “Jumpin Jack Flash”:

Dec 12 2009

Tony Blair:

Tony, like our own leaders?, have found their excuses and justifications, they sound an awful lot like those of the bin Ladens and Saddam’s of this world!

“Iraq War was right even if there were no WMDs”

Dec 12 2009

The Considerate Taliban

A military affairs blogger has posted a bit of media research with some rather, shall we say, unlikely(?) results, RawStory reported Friday.

It seems that for at least this year, and probably for a few years previously, the Taliban have been playing their assigned role in the great war on terror to the letter and have been considerate enough to stand around in standardized production groups to be attacked and killed by unmanned aerial drones and US and Afghan ground troops.

Groups of not odd numbers like 29 or even 31 of them, but standing there waiting for their martyrizing missile strikes in groups of exactly 30.

Citing the Moon of Alabama blog, which made a similar argument this spring, Security Crank linked to 12 news reports of separate air strike incidents since the start of the year in which the number of Taliban or insurgent casualties was reported to be 30, in most cases citing US military officials.

Not 29, not 31. Thirty.

Load more