September 13, 2007 archive

Ripped from the headlines: Aljazeera~Sunni leader killed

  http://english.aljaz…

NEWS MIDDLE EAST
Blast kills Iraqi tribal leader 
A prominent Iraqi Sunni tribal leader, who has been working with the US against al-Qaeda in Iraq in al-Anbar province since last year, has been killed, state television reported.

Sattar Abu Reesha was reportedly killed by a roadside bomb outside his home in the city of Ramadi on Thursday.

Sheikh Reesha was leader of the Anbar Salvation Council, an alliance of clans that supported the Iraqi government and US forces in fighting al-Qaeda.

Last week, he met George Bush, US president, during a visit to al-Anbar

A Test of Leadership

This is a post on behalf of the Presidential candidacy of Senator Chris Dodd. I am not connected to the campaign.

The Washington Post reports:

Democratic leaders in Congress have decided to shift course and pursue modest bipartisan measures to alter U.S. military strategy in Iraq, hoping to use incremental changes instead of aggressive legislation to break the grip Republicans have held over the direction of war policy.

. . . “We’re reaching out to the Republicans to allow them to fulfill their word,” Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) said yesterday. “A number of them are quoted significantly saying that come September that there would have to be a change of the course in the war in Iraq.”

Let me be blunt, the Democratic leadership is either being extremely foolish or extremely cynical. They should know that accomodating Senate Republicans will do nothing to change course in Iraq, much less end the Iraq Debacle. If they do not they are being foolish. If they do, then they are being cynical. And foolishly cynical as no political or policy aim can be met by accommodating Senate Republicans.

Democratic Presidential candidates who are in the Congress have, not only an opportunity, but a duty to lead the Democrats in Congress away from this disastrous course and to an approach that can end the Iraq Debacle and make clear which political party wants to end the Debacle and which one wants to continue it.

In an interview last night with Keith Olbermann, Senator Chris Dodd eloquently explained what the stakes are in this Congressional Iraq Debate:

I urge you to watch this segment as Dodd demonstrates the qualities that will make him a great Democratic President, with a deep understanding of the true source of America’s greatness – our values. Of special note is Dodd’s discussion of his new book, Letters From Nuremberg, a collection of letters from his father, Senator Thomas Dodd, who worked with Justice Robert Jackson at the Nuremberg trials, which he describes as “epistles to this generation.”

Cultural Whiplash: ANTM & Led Zep

(Low culture fun from T&P without even a mention of a certain beleaguered pop princess)

Hat tip to Sarah van Schagen at Grist for this one. Hopelessly hooked I am! ‘specially after several of MTV’s season per day America’s Next Top Model marathons this summer. Well, according to Entertainment Weekly, it looks like Tyra, J., and Jay of ANTM are morphing into ANGM this season!  Strut this:

“The transportation was a ‘green’ car with biodiesel fuel. The house went green not only aesthetically but in terms of the way energy was used and in tips that we gave all of the girls in the house in terms of using water and electricity.” Drink it and turn it off, respectively, gals

Good on them.  Here’s the teaser for the 9th season:

Pony Party: Welcome to the Monkey House

Good morning!!

I hope those of you more familiar with DocuDharma will indulge me as I take a minute to explain what the heck a Pony Party is. 

Pony Parties should appear in the ‘Recent Essays’ section of your DocuDharma Front Page 3 times a day, 9 a.m., noon, and 3 p.m. Eastern.  They serve as open fora, so feel free to ‘pimp’ an essay, say hello, vent, or throw up a plethora of ponies and pooties.  Basically, the floor is yours. 

They appear in the essay column, and due to their frequency and the additional open fora that will appear on the Front Page (more on that later), are meant to scroll away.  So please, don’t recommend the Pony Party essay.  I know it’s tough.  We’re nice people, and we like to give acknowledgment.  Trust me, we won’t take it personally.  But you know who might?  The person who gets bumped off of the Recommended Essays list by a Pony Party.  Put yourself in his/her shoes.

The Morning News

From Yahoo News THE TOP STORY

Another powerful quake shakes Indonesia
By ANTHONY DEUTSCH, Associated Press Writer
16 minutes ago

PADANG, Indonesia – The second powerful earthquake in as many days shook western Indonesia Thursday, collapsing buildings in a coastal city and triggering tsunami alerts around the region. The latest quake was also felt in Malaysia and in Singapore where tall buildings swayed. It triggered at least one strong aftershock.

On Wednesday, a strong earthquake shook Southeast Asia, collapsing buildings, killing at least five people and injuring dozens in Indonesia. That tremor triggered a small non-destructive tsunami off the coastal city of Padang on Sumatra, the Indonesian island ravaged by the 2004 tsunami disaster. A tsunami warning was issued for wide areas of the region and nations as far away as Africa.

Thursday’s magnitude-7.8 quake rattled the same area of Sumatra.

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

The muses are ancient.  The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them.  Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward.  In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.

It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse.  Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets.  Others have been suggested throughout the centuries.  I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts.  And maybe there should be many more.

Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…

The Shock Doctrine — A Short Film by Cuaron and Klein

From the Harper’s Magazine website.

Alfosno Cuaron and Naomi Klein present a short film based on Klein’s book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.

At the end are options for viewing further video of Klein and her thesis.

The Shock Doctrine — A Short Film by Cuaron and Klien

From the Harper’s Magazine website.

Alfosno Cuaron and Naomi Klein present a short film based on Klein’s book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.

At the end, options are presented for watching further video of Klein and her thesis.

Beyond the Political Pleasure Principle

Midnight Cowboying – Osama Bin Laden: “War on Terror Has Jumped the Shark”

Kennebunkport, Maine  – Dissent was the word of the day last week when Osama Bin Laden received his copy of the script for his video released last weekend. After what was described as near total meltdown in his trailer on-location in Kennebunkport, Maine, Bin Laden at first refused to shoot the latest installment of the War on Terror.

“This is always what happens when a show fires its writers,” said a distraught BIn Laden, who has captivated the country’s fascination with his betrayal of a blood thirsty mullah. “I just knew when they let Karl Rove go, the quality of writing would just fall to the floor. I don’t know whose ratings are going to be worse, President Bush’s or ours.”

“Remember when Karl wrote that piece where I praised Kerry, like he was my best friend in the world and I wanted to basically get him a pony? America loved that episode. How else can you explain how a country would re-elect a cowboy who is afraid of horses?” Bin Laden continued, as make-up dyed his beard back to show quality black. “Man, I used to put the fear of God into Americans. Rove knew just how to push the audiences buttons, keeping them on the edge of their seats.”

Thank You, You Insufferable Bastards!

Just…….thank you!

To everyone who has worked so hard to make this place go and infuse it with such aw wonderful spirit. Countless people have commented today on how the blog…..feels! Nothing can replace that….and that is due to all of you who have been infusing madly away!

This DOES already feel like a very special place…and now we also have the people to fuel it with energy! How many people you ask?

Right now….540!

Special thanks go out to ek and OTB, of course….everybody now! Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!

But thanks to ALL of us, we want a special place….and we are ALL working our butts off to make this it! And there is no better feeling in the world than working hard for something you believe in and want to succeed! Well….except for stopping for the night and having a few beers and getting laid….

But that is always true!

So blessings….. and once again….thank you to all of you, “long timers” as well as all of you who have just come here for the first time!

Yay!

How to live with bitches

I hesitate writing this, because of the judgments passed on those who have too much, who need too much, who are not careful enough. But sometimes you just have to wallow in what you have and forget about the things you’re missing. Right now, I’m living the life of an animal maniac, in a household of five female dogs and two male dogs. I have three daughters living at home at this moment, too.

You think you can imagine chaos? I can describe it in granular detail more finely drawn than that pixelated image of God on your screensaver.

Why reclining, interrogating? Why myself and all drowsing? 
What deepening twilight! scum floating atop of the waters! 
Who are they, as bats and night-dogs, askant in the Capitol? 
What a filthy Presidentiad!

Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

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