~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~ ~♥~ Pony Party is an Open Thread. Please don’t wRECk the pony. ~♥~ ~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~Ω~
July 2008 archive
Jul 24 2008
Pony Party
Jul 24 2008
Docudharma Times Thrusday July 24
Obama
Gives Speech
in
Berlin
Pundits
Hold a
Whine Festival
China Presses Grieving Parents to Take Hush Money on Quake
By EDWARD WONG
Published: July 24, 2008
HANWANG, China – The official came for Yu Tingyun in his village one evening last week. He asked Mr. Yu to get into his car. He was clutching the contract and a pen.
Mr. Yu’s daughter had died in a cascade of concrete and bricks, one of at least 240 students at a high school here who lost their lives in the May 12 earthquake. Mr. Yu became a leader of grieving parents demanding to know if the school, like so many others, had crumbled because of poor construction.
Plan Would Use Antiterror Aid on Pakistani Jets
By ERIC SCHMITT
Published: July 24, 2008
WASHINGTON – The Bush administration plans to shift nearly $230 million in aid to Pakistan from counterterrorism programs to upgrading that country’s aging F-16 attack planes, which Pakistan prizes more for their contribution to its military rivalry with India than for fighting insurgents along its Afghan border.
Some members of Congress have greeted the proposal with dismay and anger, and may block the move. Lawmakers and their aides say that F-16s do not help the counterterrorism campaign and defy the administration’s urgings that Pakistan increase pressure on fighters of Al Qaeda and the Taliban in its tribal areas.
USA
‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy is reexamined
Lawmakers review the 1993 law that prohibits gays and lesbians from openly serving in the military.
By Vimal Patel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 24, 2008
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is being harmed by prohibiting gays and lesbians from serving openly, a congressional panel was told Wednesday, the first time lawmakers have examined the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy since the law was passed in 1993.Opponents of the policy told a House Armed Services subcommittee that it is hurting the military by barring the enlistment of otherwise qualified people and requiring the discharge of highly trained personnel who have publicly acknowledged their sexual orientation.
Several recent polls show that Americans are significantly more accepting of allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly, and the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, has said he would work to repeal the law. His expected Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, has said the policy should be maintained.
Jul 24 2008
Muse in the Morning
 Muse in the Morning |
and may the good man find peace.
May he who has peace become free
and may he who is free make others free.
–ancient, traditional prayer of India
Phenomena VI: praying
 Sun
|
Jul 24 2008
Why the push to failure?
Cross posted on
The Economic Populist –
A Community Site for Economics Freaks and Geeks
Failure in war can be a bad thing. Failure in business can be a personal loss, and in some instances a detriment to the economy. With the recent calamity hitting the two largest mortgage lenders, not to mention other large American business concerns, it seems to a select few that failure is indeed a viable and good option.
A gamble with very high stakes is being openly promoted by adherents to a free-market orthodoxy. These individuals, gaming on anger and the perceived loss of utility of these given enterprises, are pushing the public onto this wager.
Jul 24 2008
The Stars Hollow Gazette
You know I’m sorely tempted to promote. It’s the kiss of death a midnight essay is- Fredo! Instead I’ll tell you about some other games we play in my club.
When we were meeting in Niagara Falls there were just the 2000 of us which we considered quite a come down from our previous strength. My future Executive Vice President, Vicki, saved my ass at least twice.
The first time was when she invited me to be part of the kool kidz klub and told me about the hole in the wall dive across the street from the Convention Center (at a 90 degree angle from the empty mall) that served the most delicious Porterhouse steaks (sorry vegetarians, I eat meat).
But the second time was this-
At Closing Ceremonies we were in some kind of open un-Air Conditioned Amphitheater. For Officers- Black Tie.
As the speeches droned on my delegation melted outside where at least there was a breeze and there was nothing at all I could do about it. I HAD to be there.
I must admit I was disappointed when Vicki slipped away, but I couldn’t blame her. It was horrible and she had no reason to stay. She wasn’t even my exec yet, I had someone who was outside with the rest.
Instead she came back with armfuls of cold (and very expensive) water for everyone who was left.
I’ll never forget that day.
Later on resignations opened up a spot. I went to Vicki with no expectations that she would even consider my request, but instead she taught me how to dance in front of a crowd and even today I’ll meet up with her and her husband and we’ll chat about all the good times.
Vicki cares about people. She rewards the team.
That is politics.
Jul 24 2008
Sponsors Matter – 23 July 2008
I guess this is Episode I or Volume I or whatever. I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m well past outrage. That tank ran empty a ways back. I had hopes for Obama and the Constitution but I guess I’m just stuck with an over-fondness for basic human rights. Meanwhile, the propaganda machine goes on spewing its excrement everywhere and it’s gotten so that you just can’t avoid it anymore. Bottomline, like we used to say back in the day, there is some shit I will not eat!
I volunteered in an earlier response to an FP essay today to record O’Reilly tonight and compile a list of his sponsors with contact info. The idea is that we can share that input to output our feelings to the Uhmerican and otherwise corporations that pay Fox News Corpse and its deviant trolls to display their ignorance and arrogance whilst spewing their excremental effluence. (Run that one by BillO for translation.)
So, apologies for missing the first set of commercials (I’ll be taping the 11:00 re-run and will UPDATE if someone out there can pass along the secret of how to do that.) The commercials went like this:
8:12 EDT
DirectTV directtv.com
ExxonMobil exxonmobil.com
BMW bmwusa.com
Capital One capitalone.com
Keep reading and writing and calling, please:
Jul 24 2008
The Green Paradox
I’ve sat down to write a followup of “The Green Desert” many times now. My apologies that my schedule has prevented me from devoting the proper time needed to organize my thoughts.
But a good thing has happened as a result of this delay – time has passed and our overgrown lawn is even more beautiful and/or unruly, depending on your point of view. Many many more flowers (and weeds) have bloomed. And most germane to the discussion, many many more honeybees have arrived.
Jul 24 2008
Real News: Who Is The Real Obama? (3 Short Videos)
June 11, 2008 – Will The Real Obama Please Stand Up?
Aijaz Ahmad: Obama’s economic speech – Will Obama shift the economy away from big oil and arms?
With the democratic nomination under his belt, Senator Obama is riding high on invigorated public support. The task of effectively distinguishing himself from Senator McCain now lies ahead of him. Senior News Analyst Aijaz Ahmad explained to the Real News Network’s Senior Editor Paul Jay that while Obama’s candidacy itself is historic, Obama will still have to show the US public whether he will concentrate on bolstering the economy, or will, like McCain, prioritize oil/ military spending.
Jul 23 2008
Four at Four, at Five
Special guest host? Nah, It’s just me.
Special edition? You bet. We’re in Central time now, folks.
Welcome to the Four at Four, at Five (Four Central).
-
Even though he faces arrest after being accused of genocide, Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir held a rally for himself in Darfur, in which he danced on top of his desk.
With an international indictment looming over him on charges of genocide, Mr. Bashir returned to the scene of his alleged misdeeds in Darfur – on an uncharacteristic charm offensive.
It was here in El Fasher, on the same airport tarmac where Mr. Bashir was blessed by a hundred elders leaning on canes Wednesday morning, that rebels blew up government planes in 2003, kicking off a conflict that would claim 300,000 lives and perpetually threaten to destabilize an entire region in the heart of Africa.
…
But on Wednesday, Mr. Bashir didn’t seem to be feeling too guilty. He was all about peace, development and pleasing the crowds. The minute he stepped off the plane in El Fasher, a white dove was thrust into his hands.
Mr. Bashir threw the bird toward the sky. It flapped a few times, but didn’t really fly. -
A major collision between a barge and a tanker has closed the Mississippi River in New Orleans, as roughly 400,000 gallons of fuel spilled into the water.
The river, a major shipping route between the Midwest and Gulf of Mexico, could be closed for days during the cleanup, the Coast Guard said Wednesday.
More than 30 ships already are queued up along the river, waiting to pass through the closed zone, Coast Guard Petty Officer Jaclyn Young said. -
President Bush is set to sign the housing bill after all, backing off his promise to veto the bill over portions of the bill that he decided he didn’t like. He heeded advice from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who warned him that saving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was too urgent a need to veto and make Congress go back to work.
-
Hurricane Dolly hit Texas as a category 2 hurricane, before being quickly downgraded to a category one storm. The storm missed most oil rigs, but has still left about 61,000 people in southern Texas without power and will likely cause wind and water damage.
Jul 23 2008
They are all our children
This is going to be an essay about racism. So if you’d rather not read about that subject or discuss it, I’d suggest you check out the other fine essays on this blog.
It has, however, been suggested that those of us for whom this is an important topic should just move over. I wanted to share some of my personal and professional experience to explain why I won’t do that.
One of the many reasons I loved Molly Ivins is that we shared some significant things in terms of our background. Both of us were raised in East Texas. One of the first things I ever read of Molly’s was an article in Ms. Magazine about her journey out of dysfunctional conservatism (sorry, no link. I’ve looked and can’t find it online). Molly said that as a child, she was told to drink only out of the public water fountain labeled for “whites” because the one for “coloreds” was dirty. In all her childhood innocence, she noticed that the colored water fountain was actually cleaner due to lack of use. It was as a result of this kind of experience that she saw, for the first time, that she was being lied to. Recognizing racism was the beginning of opening her eyes to the way the world really works.
I had a similar experience while going to a conservative christian college with very few black students. I was blessed to be befriended by one of the only African American women attending the school. One day, as we were walking across campus, she said, “Sometimes I just get sooo tired of only seeing white faces around here.” It was like someone hit me over the head with a brick. That was the first time I caught a glimpse of what the world looks like through black eyes and I’ve been curious about it ever since. It was my journey to understand racism that eventually opened my eyes to the political and religious lies I had been told all my life.