June 2009 archive

Jun 14 2009

The Party of NO, is Fighting for the Status Quo

In case you haven’t noticed, there is a Talking Point War, developing around the “validity” of the Public Option.

There is very much at stake in this inevitable War of Words — not least of which is YOUR Future Health, Wealth, and peace of mind.

Of course, the forces of the Status Quo, will do everything within their Financial Power, to convince you that a non-profit “Public Option” in Health Care — is against your best interests!  That it is anti-American! … That a Public Option is somehow an “inferior” product.  (says who, btw?)

Just don’t buy what their selling, because really it’s someone else’s “best interests” that those Talking Point warriors, really have in mind:

Beware of Big Business’ next “Bait and Switch”!  

(Whether it be some amorphous “co-op” idea, or some other shiny object, like promising to finally “play nicely now”.)

Jun 14 2009

Chaos and Violence In Iran: UPDATED

In the tense aftermath of Iran’s fiercely contested presidential election between the incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and reform candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi . . .

احمدي نژاد در مقابل مير حسين موسوي Pictures, Images and Photos

the Associated Press is reporting that . . .

according to Iran’s Interior Ministry, the final count from Iran’s presidential election gave 62.6 percent of the vote to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and 33.75 to Mir Hossein Mousavi, “a former prime minister who has become the hero of a youth-driven movement seeking greater liberties.”

Ahmadinejad only got 62 percent of the vote?  Those slackers who “counted the votes” for him obviously didn’t count them with enough enthusiasm.  Government hacks counting the votes for Saddam Hussein always gave him at least 95 percent of the vote.  Government hacks counting the votes for Ferdinand Marcos always gave him at least 98 percent of the vote.  Government hacks counting the votes for Idi Amin always gave him at least 150 percent of the votes.      

Ahmadinejad only got a feeble 62 percent of the vote, but that was plenty good enough for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei . . .

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Pictures, Images and Photos

who is urging Iranians to unite behind Ahmadinejad.  He told the nation that  Ahmadinejad’s “landslide win” over reformer Mousavi in Iran’s presidential election was a “divine assessment” and a “real feast”.

Jun 14 2009

Moyers on Gun Violence 6.12.09 and………

BILL MOYERS: Finally, you know by now that in our nation’s capital on Wednesday, an elderly white supremacist and anti-Semite is alleged to have walked into the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum with a rifle and killed a security guard before being brought down himself. 88 years old!

You will know, too, of the recent killing in church of Dr. George Tiller, one of the few doctors in the country still performing late term abortions. It was evidence that violence works. His family has now announced that his Kansas clinic will not be reopened………..Rest Found Here

Jun 14 2009

He is their Obama

crossposted at http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

   We were ROBBED in Bush v Gore 2000. The Supreme Court was the Supreme Council for one ruling. We were told to stop counting and declare George W. Bush President, and so it was.

   Imagine if Obama v McCain was this election and the SCOTUS robbed us again, what would you have done?

   It is like that in Iran everyday, and now more than ever.

   After viewing the farce that is Democracy in Iran over the past few days I think it is very important that Americans who believe in an open Democracy fully support Iranians who want the same for themselves.

   Therefore, I invite you to offer your full support for the Iranians who voted for candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi and the hopes of the next generation of Iranian “Change”!

   This is what winning hearts and minds is all about.

   People around the world who want a more Democratic society should be fully supported by Americans no matter where they are from or what their faith is. This is even more true in cases where elections are rigged and the will of the people are suppressed by the powers of a status quo that lacks empathy for the people they wish to control.  

Jun 13 2009

Stand By / Bodhisattva

Saturday speed blogging… reading… after almost finishing up with my morning chores and getting the old man out the door to a gig, I sat down to see if I could catch up with whatever I’ve missed the last few days. Not counting the “disputed” Iran vote, Palin vs Letterman, and countless other (often pointless) headline grabbers.

Cant take it. Hit a wall.

Please go read  Worthington, who is close to sainthood, if you ask me.

Meanwhile, you can follow my crumbs.

Also last night or today, read DD’s best… Winter Rabbit, Robyn, NightProwlKitty, and everybody else, as much as I can. 🙂

Jun 13 2009

You guys need to see this

Youtube’s limited run of the film ‘Home’ is ending this weekend.  

Do yourself a favor and take the time to watch (preferably full screen).  

Your understanding of our world, and our place in it, will never be the same.

Update: if you are having trouble viewing the embedded video, go here (h/t Lady Libertine).

Home Project

Jun 13 2009

New York’s Circus McGurkus

cross-posted from The Dream Antilles

Dr. Seuss had it right about the New York Senate in If I Ran The Circus.

The plot summary of Dr. Seuss’s classic story:

Behind Mr. Sneelock’s ramshackle store, there’s an empty lot. Little Morris McGurk is convinced that if he could just clear out the rusty cans, the dead tree, and the old cars, nothing would prevent him from using the lot for the amazing, world-beating, Circus McGurkus. The more elaborate Morris’ dreams about the circus become, the more they depend on the sleepy-looking and innocent Sneelock, who stands outside his ramshackle store sucking on a pipe, oblivious to the fate that awaits him in the depths of Morris’s imagination. He doesn’t yet know that he’ll have to dispense 500 gallons of lemonade, be lassoed by a Wily Walloo, wrestle a Grizzly-Ghastly, and ski down a slope dotted with giant cacti. But if his performance is up to McGurkian expectations, then “Why, ladies and gentlemen, youngsters and oldsters, your heads will quite likely spin right off your shouldsters!”

Jun 13 2009

Kucinich 1, Corporate Boss 0.

Jun 13 2009

Dark Soul- Chapter Three

Happy Saturday and welcome the chapter three of “Dark Soul”. This is a serialization of a novel the Dog has written. There is a big difference between writing political commentary and writing fiction. Both have their own learning curve and the intent of posting this is to get some feed back, if anyone has any.

If you are coming to this series for the first time, you can find the previous chapters at these links:

Dark Soul – Chapter One

Dark Soul – Chapter Two

This novel is only being posted here at Docudharma.  

Jun 13 2009

On The Costs Of Care, Or, You Don’t Want Every Item On This Menu

I don’t know if you’ve been thinking about it, but the costs of long-term care have been on the mind of some friends of mine lately.

For reasons that we won’t go into here, they are in the process of pricing long-term care at care facilities…and yesterday afternoon, we had a chance to have a look at the “menu” of services (the facility’s term) that can be purchased at this particular location.

If you are facing this issue in your own family, if you are a taxpayer thinking about how we plan to fund long-term care in the future…or if, one day, you expect to be old yourself…this conversation will surely matter.

Jun 13 2009

damn. “they” strike again.

Humans are amazing. It’s not just that we never ever seem to learn from past mistakes, but that we, in our chosen collectives; ie religious/ ethnic racial political blocs, exempt ourselves from our respective contributions to the epic failures of this first decade in this new century.

I fear, the truth is that the fault, dear Democrats/progressives/liberals, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves . . . if we are underlings.

cross-posted at Daily Kos

Jun 13 2009

Docudharma Times Saturday June 13

“We’ve got a lot of rebuilding

to do … The good news is – and it’s hard for some

to see it now – that out of this chaos

is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast,

like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house

– he’s lost his entire house –

there’s going to be a fantastic house.

And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch.

” (Laughter) -President Bush, touring hurricane damage,

Mobile, Ala., Sept. 2, 2005




Saturay’s Headlines:

Judgment day: broke California faces shutdown at Arnie Schwarzenegger ‘s hand

Japan’s Generation XX

Leading Muslim cleric killed in suicide bomb attack in Lahore

Latvia cuts pensions, salaries to avoid bankruptcy

Spanish Civil War bodies exhumed

In Mosul, Iraqi army not ready to take over from U.S. forces

How close is Iran to a bomb?

A Mexican Cartel’s Swift and Grisly Climb

Iran Election In Dispute as 2 Candidates Claim Victory

Ahmadinejad Official Leader, But Mousavi Alleges Fraud

By Thomas Erdbrink

Washington Post Foreign Service

Saturday, June 13, 2009

TEHRAN, June 13 — A pivotal presidential election in Iran ended in confusion and confrontation early Saturday as both sides claimed victory and plainclothes officers fired tear gas to disperse a cheering crowd outside the campaign headquarters of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.

With votes still being counted in many cities, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was leading by a 2-1 ratio in early returns, according to Iranian Interior Ministry officials. But Mousavi’s supporters dismissed those numbers, saying the ministry was effectively under Ahmadinejad’s control.

North Korea says it will ‘weaponize’ its plutonium



Associated Press

11:55 PM PDT, June 12, 2009

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea vowed on Saturday to embark on a uranium enrichment program and “weaponize” all the plutonium in its possession as it rejected the new U.N. sanctions meant to punish the communist nation for its recent nuclear test.

North Korea also said it would not abandon its nuclear programs, saying it was an inevitable decision to defend itself from what it says is a hostile U.S. policy and its nuclear threat against the North.

The North will take “resolute military action” if the United States or its allies try to impose any “blockade” on it, the ministry said in a statement carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.

The ministry did not elaborate if the blockade refers to an attempt to stop its ships or impose sanctions.

North Korea describes its nuclear program as a deterrent against possible U.S. attacks. Washington says it has no intention of attacking and has expressed fear that North Korea is trying to sell its nuclear technology to other nations.

USA

Permanence Eludes Some Katrina Victims

Many Still Live in Trailers, Rentals

By Spencer S. Hsu

Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, June 13, 2009

GULFPORT, Miss. — James Johnson can look across a grassy field here and see acres of empty pastel “Mississippi cottages,” each house an architect’s vision of how government can provide safe, low-cost and permanent housing to families made homeless by Hurricane Katrina nearly four years ago.

At 74, Johnson would like nothing better than to move one of the nearly 700 vacant cottages onto his land, where he now lives in a temporary trailer provided by the government. The cottages — with picturesque white fences and wide front porches — are designed to be set on a permanent foundation and can withstand winds of 150 mph.

Johnson’s daughter helped him apply for a cottage, but the request to the state has gone nowhere.

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