July 2008 archive

Nancy Pelosi's Table reports that the Netroots Council of Elders is asking people to submit questions for Pelosi's “open” Q&A at Netroots Nation 2008 in Austin.

Please submits some questions for Pelosi to anwer at Netroots Nation.

Ask The Speaker!
Welcome to the Netroots Nation question submission page for the Saturday morning (July 19, 9:00am) keynote session “Ask The Speaker.” The event empowers citizens to engage America's current House Speaker in substantive discussion about current issues, the legislative process, and how citizens can participate in their government. Instead of simply giving a speech at a podium, Speaker Pelosi will be taking your questions and interacting with convention attendees. The 9 a.m. keynote will be moderated by Gina Cooper, Netroots Nation's Executive Director, and Jeffrey Feldman, author and blogger. But it all begins right now, right here, when you submit your questions and vote on questions submitted by others.

 

Go there Now and submit your own question or uprate others such as “Why is Impeachment Off the Table“.

or read more about Pelosi and Netroots Nation or find out more about impeachment

Sometimes the world is a perfect and mysterious place. Usually that little world is in my head but sometimes it is in my back yard and yours…..

Give It Away Give It Away

Give It Away Now

Feds’ closed-door deal could ease development

New Forest Service rules could let largest private owner convert land

By Karl Vick

Washington Post

MISSOULA, Mont. – The Bush administration is preparing to ease the way for the nation’s largest private landowner to convert hundreds of thousands of acres of mountain forestland to residential subdivisions.

The deal was struck behind closed doors between Mark E. Rey, the former timber lobbyist who oversees the U.S. Forest Service, and Plum Creek Timber Co., a former logging company turned real estate investment trust that is building homes. Plum Creek owns more than 8 million acres nationwide, including 1.2 million acres in the mountains of western Montana, where local officials were stunned and outraged at the deal.

Accounting Plan Would Allow Use of Foreign Rules



By STEPHEN LABATON

Published: July 5, 2008

WASHINGTON – Federal officials say they are preparing to propose a series of regulatory changes to enhance American competitiveness overseas, attract foreign investment and give American investors a broader selection of foreign stocks.

But critics say the changes appear to be a last-ditch push by appointees of President Bush to dilute securities rules passed after the collapse of Enron and other large companies – measures that were meant to forestall accounting gimmicks and corrupt practices that led to those corporate failures.

USA

Secretive Agency Under the Spotlight

Chief Tries to Repair CIA as Scrutiny Grows

By Joby Warrick

Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, July 5, 2008; Page A01  

Soon after accepting the post of CIA director two years ago, Michael V. Hayden set an unusual goal for his scandal-beset agency: virtual invisibility.

“CIA needs to get out of the news as source or subject,” he said in an internal memo to his staff in 2006.

Two years later, that goal is far from met, as Hayden has tacitly acknowledged. In a retirement ceremony last month marking the end of his military career, the Air Force general stressed the need for the agency to “stay in the shadows” while ignoring what he called the “sometimes shrill and uninformed voices of criticism.”

GAMES GONE WILD!

The creators of the PC-based game Married Women Harem: This is the Married Women Paradise Inn have been using a set of fake boobs to draw customers. The game display at a shop in Akihabara features a cardboard cutout of a woman in sexy lingerie with large silicone-filled breasts and a sign that reads, “Squeeze all you want.”

In another diversion that allows players to put the squeeze on, a Japanese arcade game called Sub Marine Catcher lets people try to catch live lobsters in a tank with an electric claw.

The Japan Toy Association gave out its first Japan Toy Awards, and the Trendy Award went to Bandai’s green pea pod, otherwise known as a synthetic edamame, that can be “squeezed repeatedly.”

Ryozo Kato, a 66-year-old former ambassador to the United States and a big baseball fan, was approved by club owners to become the next commissioner of Nippon Professional Baseball.

After much debate, the Japan Swimming Federation wisely agreed to let Japan’s swimmers use the new Speedo LZR Racer swimsuit at the Beijing Olympics, despite an existing contractual agreement to use Japanese-produced suits. The move came after dozens of world records fell to Speedo-clad swimmers.

ODDS AND ENDS

Puzzled authorities discovered the body of a headless cat at a high school in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

A 12-year-old boy died when he fell through a skylight following a rooftop math class at a Tokyo elementary school.

A manta ray was born at an Okinawa aquarium, making it just the second ray ever born in captivity. The first was born to the same set of parents last year, but the youngster died when its father chased it into the wall of the tank. Thanks, dad!

A 47-year-old man was put to death in Oklahoma by lethal injection for killing a Japanese exchange student with a firebomb 13 years ago. Terry Lyn Short threw a Molotov cocktail into his ex-girlfriend’s apartment in 1995, and the ensuing blaze killed 22-year-old Ken Yamamoto, who lived one floor above her.

The Japanese government has vowed to provide nearly $3 million to Cambodia for the UN-backed trial of Khmer Rouge leaders, according to the Japanese Embassy in Phnom Penh.

At the Group of Eight finance ministers’ meeting in Osaka, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda announced that Japan would donate up to $1.2 billion (about ¥129 billion) for two multilateral climate-change funds it plans to launch with the US and Britain.

On that note, an Environment Ministry report claimed that global warming has already damaged agricultural production, the coastal environment and public health across Japan, and will pose an even greater threat from 2020 to 2030. Well, that’s something to look forward to, I guess.

The Hokkaido Agricultural Research Center has started growing multicolored potatoes, which come in red, purple and yellow and are supposed to be healthier as well.

If anyone’s hanging around this holiday evening, I thought it might be fun to have a “battle of the best female vocalist” just for fun. I know it has nothing to do with the holiday we’re supposed to be celebrating, but I didn’t think a “patriotic funkaliscious” would go down to well with this crowd. LOL

My nomination for best female vocalist goes to k.d. Lang and here’s three reasons why.

Crying

It’s time to regain our liberty…