May 2008 archive

May 08 2008

Updated – Over 100,000 Dead In Burma: Why We Need To Change

ITN News UK is reporting that experts predict the death toll in Burma will be over 100,000:

This is bolstered by the military junta’s own estimates:

The Burmese military says it believes 80,000 people died in the one district of Labutta in the Irrawaddy delta, which bore the brunt of the storm.

That figure would imply an overall death toll for Cyclone Nargis well above 100,000 people.

link: http://www.abc.net.au/news/sto…

And yet the authorities in Burma have put up roadblocks to international assistance, including receiving relief supplies and – more vitally – disaster workers as the situation on the ground deteriorates.

It’s time for us, all of us, to start changing the way we do business.

May 08 2008

Pony Party, muy malo

From the “You did what……why???? department…..

According to this Yahoo!News story, Clint Straatman, a PE teacher at Minico High School in Rupert, ID, took a Mexican flag from a student…

because “white kids” might have hurt the 16-year-old.

¡Malo!

But wait…..it gets better…..

He said he put it in a garbage can because he had no place else to keep it.

¡Muy, muy malo!

Camelo had brought the flag to school, as did other students, in celebration of Cinco de Mayo….

May 08 2008

Of spirit

It may sound trite, but it is true, and is at the forefront of my mind these days:

Be careful what you wish for – you might get it.

I did a piece the other day that got a lukewarm reception. I have to wonder whether anyone wondered WHY I blogged that.

It wasn’t because it was representative of a normal day on the air, a normal topic selection…not at all.

That was precisely what it WASN’T.

More below.

May 08 2008

The March Of The Hillemmings



Onward to West Virginia! After duping fewer of the “white niggers” in the Hoosier state into believing that she is some sort of brawling, beer drinking, elbow wrestling, blue collar ‘one of them’ the bitter and recalcitrant monster that is Hillary Rodham-Clinton moves the goalposts one more time. The non-elitist who just happens to be worth somewhere in the neighborhood of at least $ 109 million dug around in the sofa cushions in order to lend her never ending crusade another $ 6 million and change in order to remain solvent while the operatives work their chicanery and try to strong arm, sweet talk, cajole and bribe those superdelegates into getting with the fucking program and throwing in the Clinton restoration – when will those fuckers get it that Tracy Flick 2008 is entitled to the presidency goddammit?

May 08 2008

Docudharma Times Thursday May 8



So say goodbye it’s Independence Day

It’s Independence Day

All down the line

Just say goodbye it’s Independence Day

It’s Independence Day this time

Thursday’s Headlines: Hilary Clinton’s strategy of last resort: FBI Backs Off From Secret Order for Data After Lawsuit: Iran offers nuclear deal but refuses to stop enrichment: Israel: From independence to intifada: Tibetan woman carries Olympic torch to the top of Everest: US trains Pakistani killing machine: Violence in Zimbabwe Disrupts Schools and Aid: Why South Africa will never be like Zimbabwe: Putin ever present as Medvedev becomes president: Sebastien Loeb’s long hair and stubble causes more of a row than Max Mosley:  

Fears rise over Burma aid delays

Burma’s leaders are facing growing international concern over their reluctance to accept foreign aid, days after the devastating cyclone.

The UN says its planes carrying vital food supplies cannot enter because they still do not have permission to land.

But the regime has now given permission for at least one US aid flight to land in the country.

A US diplomat has said conditions are “horrendous” and warned the death toll could top 100,000 if they worsened.

Teams reaching some of the worst-hit areas have described harrowing scenes.

Some aid workers reported bodies rotting in the fields and desperate survivors fighting over food and water.

Support disaster relief in Myanmar (Burma)

May 08 2008

Muse in the Morning


Pains

The Damage Done

Aches and pains

of muscles and bones

of nerves and organs

are bearable

when old injuries

to the psyche

have been soothed

when the twinges

of a fragile confidence

the throbbing

of squandered initiative

and the millions of stings

that punctured

a too slim veneer

of self-esteem

have been given

tender care

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–March 4, 2008

Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…

May 08 2008

Congressional Developments

There are 3 Congressional actions we need to keep our eye on today and in the near future-

  • FISA Compromise
  • FEC Appointments
  • Occupation Funding

May 08 2008

The Stars Hollow Gazette

I found it quite amusing to watch the reverse MSNBC meltdown last night.  It was New Hampshire all over again.

What these Beltway Butt Kissing Access Whore Media MORANS don’t get is that people don’t buy their bullshit anymore.  Eight years (at least) of continuous cognitive dissonance has taught them better.

It’s objectively true.  Disregarding the disintegrating broadcast audience it in fact takes many many more impressions to achieve the same sales effect- ask any ad buyer.  We are resistant, which is why viral marketing is such a big deal.

But it’s not just their credibility, these dying Dinosaur Dolts have dumbed down their job so that any Hair Sprayed Made Up MORAN pretty enough to read a teleprompter and stupid enough to charge less than your ELITIST ULTRA-RICH SALARY can get the same ratings.  What makes you better than the next Faux Noise Bimbo?

Sucks to be an actor when Hollywood for the Ugly goes all pretty on ya.

So you’ve outsourced your own employment.  You deserve to be extinct.

We all get cable TV and we watch it every night.  We remember when you re-work the same tired (do you think he looks it?) old plot lines substituting Jamie Sommers for Steve Austin and even having the same tired old B-List uncle cousins of the Producers in the same stinking old parts.

The reason you hate hippies is you’re unhip.  You’re ugly.  You’re just outcasts who haven’t gotten over High School so you’ve formed your own kool kidz klub (initials intentional).

Well good luck with that.  You’re being hoist by your own latte drinking life styles you chauffeured cell phone chattering chumps.

The average person graduates High School and understands things better than your 7th grade schoolyard gossip stories.

But Wait!

May 08 2008

bloons

bloons!        

May 08 2008

Pentagon puts the squeeze on ‘supporting the troops’

And so it begins:

(Bloomberg)– The U.S. Army won’t be able to pay soldiers beyond June 15 unless Congress approves $108 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or authorizes a funds transfer, a Defense Department official said.

If the supplemental spending legislation isn’t enacted by then, the Pentagon will be forced to seek congressional authority to use money designated for other services to fund the Army payroll, department spokesman Geoff Morrell said.

Pentagon budget officials briefed congressional staffers about the funding crunch earlier today, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates addressed the issue in a letter to lawmakers yesterday, Morrell said at a Pentagon briefing.

If those Democrats in Congress don’t knuckle under move quickly, we’ll just have to quit paying the troops.

 

May 08 2008

Pony Party: Spring Cleaning

When I used to watch a lot more TV I really liked to see the TLC station’s home improvement shows like Trading Spaces.  There was another show called Clean Sweep that always impressed me.  For those that haven’t seen it…   The Clean Sweep crew would show up at someone’s house where they would show us two rooms crammed full of junk.   With barely enough room to walk through.  And I would gawk at all that stuff and think I would never let my place get that bad.   The CS team would completely clear the rooms and then a designer and carpenter would come in and paint and redo the rooms with closet organizers and lableled bins, furniture, etc. and turn it into a functional space again.  Meanwhile the couple would be out on their lawn with all their piles of stuff.  The host and a professional organizer would then help them sort through all of it to Keep, Sell or Trash.  The organizer guy (with a cute Australian accent) would lay out a little section of tarp and allow them to keep only what could fit on it.   Then the homeowners go through excruciating distress trying to part with grandma’s treasures and all the unused wedding gifts they received…etc.   After they sort through it, they hold a yard sale.  What isn’t sold is donated to a charity.   In the end, the host brings them back into their house to see the new rooms: pristine and decluttered.  They are always stunned and delighted and most of them cry.   Sometimes I cried too.    

May 08 2008

NPR – Talk of the Nation – Veterans Court, Buffalo NY

5-07-08, NPR’s Talk of the Nation had a followup to a previous NPR Report on this, a Veterans Court setup in Buffalo NY. I previously did a post on the first report, and that report can also be found at todays Talk of the Nation site page, in the link below.

Vets in Legal Trouble Find Help in Buffalo Court

Talk of the Nation, May 7, 2008 ยท Earlier this year, Robert Russell, a judge in Buffalo New York, decided to address the increasing number of veterans he saw entering the criminal justice system. Russell established a special court that considers the experience of war before sentencing and helps former soldiers find treatment.

Guests:

Hank Parowski, project director for Buffalo City Court

Libby Lewis, NPR’s national desk correspondent {who put together the first report}

Tom Berger, national chair of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Substance Abuse for Vietnam Veterans of America

This link brings up the NPR Player to listen to report

And an Update to the Conditions found at the Fort Bragg Army barracks that returning Afganistan and Iraq Military personal were living in:

Army Secretary: barracks repairs to cost $248 million

Army Secretary Pete Geren said today that the military will commit $248 million to repair dilapidated barracks around the world.

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