Mrs. Peacock in the Conservatory with the Thread.
October 2008 archive
Oct 13 2008
Docudharma Times Monday October 13
I Think That Those In The Other
Party Are Beginning To See That Big
Black Abyss
Today is the one year anniversary of Docudharma Times
Thank you for your support and encouragement.
Britain Props Up Banks as Fed Leads Funding Effort
By MARK LANDLER and KATRIN BENNHOLD
Published: October 13, 2008
WASHINGTON – After a whirl of emergency weekend meetings on both sides of the Atlantic aimed at rescuing the global financial system, Britain began propping up three banks Monday with taxpayer funds while the Federal Reserve and three European central banks announced that they will offer financial institutions unlimited dollars to ease the banking crisis.Before markets opened in Europe, a statement from the Federal Reserve in Washington said that it, along with the Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank would provide funds at a fixed interest rate in advance of each operation “against the appropriate collateral in each jurisdiction.”
Under ‘No Child’ Law, Even Solid Schools Falter
By SAM DILLON
Published: October 12, 2008
SACRAMENTO – Prairie Elementary School had not missed a testing target since the federal No Child Left Behind law took effect in 2002. Until now.
The school, perched on a tidy, oak-shaded campus in a working-class neighborhood here, has moved each of its student groups – Hispanics, blacks, Asians, whites, American Indians, Filipinos, Pacific Islanders, English learners, the disabled – toward higher proficiency in recent years.Over all, the number of its students passing tough statewide tests had increased by more than three percentage points annually, a solid record.
USA
Pentagon divided over John McCain
His military experience, while seen as an asset, makes him a less likely pushover for top brass, and he has long been a critic of Defense spending. But some welcome the prospect of sweeping reforms.
By Julian E. Barnes, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 13, 2008
WASHINGTON — For decades, the nation’s military officer corps has identified steadfastly with the priorities and values of the Republican Party. So the brass should be reveling in the presidential campaign of John McCain.Yet, in a culture that typically prefers one of its own, many are wary of the Vietnam War hero.
McCain, a former Navy officer and prisoner of war, would arrive in the White House with more military experience than any president since Dwight D. Eisenhower. But he also would bring a long congressional career as an outspoken critic of the Pentagon — prone to harsh assessments of its spending practices, weapons programs and military leaders.As a result, defenders of some of the Pentagon’s biggest weapons systems are worried that if McCain is elected, he will order sweeping changes, killing a number of big-ticket programs. Perhaps unlike other civilian leaders, McCain would be able to draw on his experience and knowledge of the military to reject the advice of generals and admirals.
Oct 13 2008
Muse in the Morning
 Muse in the Morning |
A Transition through Poetry XXVIII
Art Link Bleeding
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Oct 13 2008
Realizing the Mission Statement
I’ve been doing a bit of research to understand the mission of Docudharma (gotta love that name!) and I happened on the wiki which gave the number one goal as to (paraphrasing) bring the power back to the people through the Congress, as a counterweight to the power of the Executive, which we can all agree has become excessive.
In that light, I’d like to harp on one of my pet “projects”, which happens to line up with the goals and objectives of the group who sponsors the website www.thirty-thousand.org.
Please follow me across the jump to get to the full (full?) flowering of this rant.
Oct 13 2008
So My Mother Turns Eighty and I want a Divorce
And I gave her the bums rush just this morning. She is slipping into the early stages of dementia and has about a year left of sight due to macular degeneration. I have decided that she is on her own financially, spiritually and can you fix my computer for me. It is after all Armageddon times and the Biblical passages about brother against brother, father against son until man exists no more just might manifest into reality.
Oct 13 2008
Star Wars
Picture this: Thousands of warriors, clad in jaguar skins and the feathers of birds of paradise, armed with atlatls and obsidian-studded clubs, move steadily through a rainforest toward a distant cluster of pyramids and temples. Like every warrior on the eve of every battle in all of human history, they wonder if they will survive the coming fight. Some of them probably think about the circumstances that had brought on the war in which they have found their generation cast, and perhaps a few of them even consider the part they are playing in the greater socio-cultural drama unfolding in northern Guatemala in the 7th century CE.
Join me, if you will, in the Cave of the Moonbat, where tonight’s historiorant centers around those quarrelsome city-states of the Classical Maya. On this Columbus Day (a/k/a 7 Muluc 12 Yax), I invite you to take a break from Republican vileness and winking wannabe-veeps, and join me for a tale of the first Star Wars – a struggle between ancient Mesoamerican superpowers punctuated by some very recognizable story lines and subplots…
Oct 13 2008
Not Columbus Day: Baracoa, The Beginning
cross-posted and updated from The Dream Antilles and NION
The Church In Baracoa, Cuba
Across the Caribbean from desde Desdemona is Baracoa, a small town inaccessible by land from before 1500 (when Colombus first landed there in 1492) until the 1960’s. In 1512 Baracoa was the first Spanish settlement in Cuba. It’s like Macondo. The lush forest of the Sierra Maestre and El Yunque, the tallest peak in Cuba, tower over the town. The town is nestled against the warm ocean. North of town is Maguana, a beautiful, white beach, shared by tourists and occasional foraging pigs.
Join me in Baracoa. We can celebrate Not Columbus Day together.
Oct 13 2008
Terrorist Videos From the Right and the Left
Also available in teal.
I was browsing the ‘net looking for political videos when I saw a couple that use fear to try to sway opinion. The first, from the political right, is a McCain campaign ad against Barack Obama.
None of what is in the ad is even remotely true; it uses fear and lies to try to cement in the minds of voters that because the Democratic presidential candidate has an Arab-sounding name, he must therefore be a terrorist or someone with ties to terrorists. The second ad is a creation of the left, used against Republican John McCain.
Now, most if not all of what is in this video is undeniably true; McCain supports and promotes the lies and imperial policies of the Bush-Cheney regime, and his dictatorship would continue them on what perhaps would be an even larger scale. Nevertheless, the video still uses fear in an attempt to dissuade voters from casting their ballots for McCain.
Webster’s Dictionary defines terrorism thus:
the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion
Just some food for thought. Enjoy Columbus Day.
Oct 13 2008
On the possibility of calling a general strike
Original article, titled The General Strike and the “Communist Party” by Ted Grant (originally published in Militant (July 1971)) via the Ted Grant archives:
The possibility and the problems of a general strike are coming up for discussion among advanced militants in the trade union movement all over the country. Even ordinary trade unionists not particularly active in the trade union and Labour movement, in response to the economic and political situation, are raising the question in their factories and workplaces, and union branches. Resolutions are coming before union conferences.
Oct 12 2008
Major New Torture Archive Gives 1st Peek at SERE SOP
The National Security Archive and Washington Media Associates have introduced a major new research resource, as part of their new website, TorturingDemocracy.org. The Torture Archive, which appears at the site along with timelines related to torture, a discussion guide, various interviews, and the documentary, “Torturing Democracy” itself, is described as “the online institutional memory for essential evidence on torture.”
Drawing upon work already done by the ACLU, Center for Constitutional Rights, the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), and various journalists, the Archive intends to “bring together all these materials in digital formats, organize and catalog them for maximum utility and access, and publish them online in multiple packages including a comprehensive searchable database.” NSA/WMA describe their intentions thusly: