Another One Bites the Dust: The Dutch Government (Parliament Coalition) Collapses over the issue of staying in Afghanistan Saturday morning.  

The Dutch had been scheduled to end their participation in NATO’s mission in Afghanistan in August of 2010, with their troops to be out by December, but had been asked to stay longer.  Concerns over the Dutch budget deficit, which meant that either tax hikes or spending cuts were looming, doomed the coalition led by Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s government.

“I unfortunately note that there is no longer a fruitful path for the Christian Democrats, Labor Party and Christian Union to go forward,” Balkenende, who leads the center-right Christian Democrats, told reporters.

Balkenende wanted to extend the Dutch troop deployment in the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan past an August deadline, but Deputy Prime Minister Wouter Bos’s Labor Party opposed any extension.

http://www.reuters.com/article…

Parliamentary elections to form a new government could be held by the summer, but establishing a functional coalition between 4 or 5 parties to get a majority may take some finangling.

The Dutch have been participating in NATO’s Afghanistan occupation since 2006, and have lost 21 troops out of about 2000 deployed.

~Why the Excise Tax Sucks~

In the current Senate version of the Health Insurance Reform Bill, the funding mechanism is being called an “excise tax,”   and it is currently designed to be applied to HEALTH INSURANCE BENEFITS

There’s  4 major things wrong with the Senate version of the bill:

1.  This so called excise tax, which is regressive, hurting lower wage workers more than higher wage earners.

2.  The lack of a public option to provide a guaranteed alternative to the vampire blood sucking of private for profit insurance , and therefore, the lack of universal coverage-   this means insurers are guaranteed to have a rotating pool of “excludables,” perpetrating the caste system and the medical access lottery of the damned.

3.  The lack of universal health care coverage for all, which, aside from the moral implications, therefore still provides a mechanism for all the things wrong with the current cannibalistic system to continue.

4.  The Democrats in the Senate being unable, so far, to be willing to change the suckitudinalness and go for some serious reconciliation with the House.

Today, we’ll look at reasons to get rid of the excise tax.

Dianne Feinstein is doing a Pombo on the Endangered Species Act, with an Amendment to gut it in an upcoming Democratic “Bipartisanship Enhanced” jobs bill.  

Like Salmon ?  Too bad !  McClintock’s in on it, too.

Hey, this even makes the Kansas City Star.  Everything’s up to date in Kansas City.   Dead silence at a certain other “Democratic” blog.

http://www.kansascity.com/400/…      Feinstein plan would loosen Endangered Species Act to pump more water    2/11/2010

Yes, our northern CA based Sen. DiFi thinks Billionaire Business Water Brokers in Kern County of Southern CA Who Donate To Her Campaign Are More Important Than Salmon.  So Does Tom McClintock.  

She intends to put an amendment that says we can ignore the Endangered Species Act, onto the upcoming jobs bill to let more water be pumped out of the Sacramento- San Joaquin Delta.   Why does this matter ?  Because at certain times of the year, the nursery fish need the water to swim and feed in.   And the West Coast salmon runs are at the brink of going away. Forever.

{{{  “This came as a bit of a shock that she did this,” said Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif.

He represents California’s North Coast, which has been hurt by two years of bans on commercial salmon fishing stemming from collapsing salmon stocks.

“If this were to go through, it would have a devastating impact on Northern California and other jobs and other economies in the state,” Thompson said.  }}}

Where the hell have you been, Blue Dog Rep. Thompson ?   Didn’t you notice the real reason so many people up here in northern CA 04  DIDN’T WANT Carpetbagging Tom MCCLINTOCK of Southern CA pimping for these Southern CAL business sharks to take water out of Norcal and kill off our agriculture and wildlife ?    He’s running the exact same playbook that former Republican Rep. John Doolittle ran with Dick Cheney and the suckerfish up in the Klamoth river drainage.  

Bye, Bayh, Missed American Pie

Took My Donor to the Levee, but the Levee was Dry

Them Good Ol Boys of WellPointe were drinkin’  whiskey and rye

Singing “this’ll be the day that they die

This’ll be the day that they die !”

Did you write the book of gov

And do you have faith in God above

If the Gruber tells you so

Do you believe in Rock n Roll

Can an excise tax save your mortal soul

Can you teach Max Baucus how to dance, real slow ?

Well, I know that you’re in cahoots with him

’cause we saw you dancing in the Finance Cominn

You both kicked off your shoes

Man, we hate those Anthem Blue Cross Blues

There was a lonely teenage sickly buck

with a pink Korman ribbon but no pickup truck

With no insurance she ran out of luck

The day, the patient died

I started singing

Bye, Bayh, Missed American Pie

Drove my donation to the levee

But the legislation was dry

Them Bad Ol Dems were drinkin’ whiskey and rye

And singin,’ “this be the day that it dies

this will be the day that it dies”

Now for 10 years, WE’VE BEEN ON OUR OWN

And profits grow green on a rolling bone

But that’s not how it used to be

When the Candidate sang for the king and queen

In a coat he borrowed from Howard Dean

and in a voice, that came from you and me

Oh, and while the WellPointe CEO was lookin’ down

The Cigna stole his thorny crown

The courtroom was adjourned

No verdict was returned

And while Obama read Sunstein’s book

The Gang of 4 practiced in throwing hooks

And we sang dirges in the dark

The day, the health reform died.

And we were singing

(those of us still alive)

Bye, Bayh, Missed American Pie

Drove my donor to the levee but the water’s too high

Them Bad Ol Dems were making bills for nigh

And singing “This will be the day that it dies

This’ll be the day that it dies”

Helter skelter winter in a summer swelter

The birds & fish flew away without ESA shelter

Eight miles high, and falling fast

The rain fell mercury tainted on the grass

The Feinstein tried for a forward pass

With the Pombo on the sidelines about to cast

Now the half time air was sweet perfume

while Billy Tauzin played a marching tune

We all got up to dance

Oh, but we never got the chance

’cause the Insurance execs tried to take the field

The lobbyists refused to yield

DO YOU RECALL WHAT WAS REVEALED ?

The day, the music died

We started singing

Bye, Bayh, Missed American Pie

Drove Our Constitution to the Levee

But the Levee was Dry

The Supreme Court Boys were drinking Money and Lies

And singin’ “this will be the day that they die

this will be the day that they die.”

Oh, and there we were all in one place

NASA’s been outsourced, no more lost in space

with no time left to start again

So come on, Evan, make yourself nimble, make yourself quick

Call those industry donors, light your candlestick

‘Cause your Senate Seat’s the Devil’s only friend

Oh, and as I watched him on the stage

My hands were clenched in fists of sage

No Creator born of ocean’s shell

Could break that spirit’s spell

As the smoke wafted high into the night

To light cleansing smoke in a clear blue site

I saw Satan frown in stymied might

The day the Donations Died

We are singing

Bye, Bayh, Missed American Pie

Drove my warrior to the levee

And the levees were high

The good old boys are running faster and high

Singin’  this will be the day that I ride

This will be the day that We Ride

I met a girl who sang the blues

And I asked her for some Happy News

She said Evan Bayh quit and turned away

I went down to the sacred bores

Where I’d heard like music years before

But the lobbyists cried the music wouldn’t play

And in the streets, the children screamed

The lovers cried, the poets dreamed

Not a word by Wellpointe spoken

The Insurance Industry might be broken

And the 3 Senators that we admire the most

(and it’s not Collins, Holy Joe, and Olympia- they’re toast)

They caught the last train for the coast

The day, that Bayh went bye

And we are singing

Bye, Bayh, Missed American Pie

Drove our hopes to the levees and heaved a big sigh

Those lobbyist boys, are feeding ’em whiskey and rye

Singing “this will be the day WellPointe dies

This could be the day WellPointe dies.”

__________

http://motherjones.com/kevin-d…

So why did he quit so suddenly? His official statement says he’s frustrated with the Senate because there is “too much partisanship and not enough progress – too much narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving……

that’s pretty much Marc Ambinder’s take: “He wanted to be POTUS and came to hate the Senate and liberal activists. He wanted no mas.”

Once a year, IF the weather conditions are just right, the best surfers in the world are on 48 hour standby to be called to a spot off the coast just to the south of San Francisco, in the middle of winter.  That area is called Pillar Point, and it’s a nondescript area of cliffs with a little sand beach in Half Moon Bay, CA, which hold a great secret offshore and around the corner- MONSTER waves.    There they will brave the icy cold waters, rocks, and literally the Biggest Surfable Waves in the World, to be towed out into the ocean on jetskis, past the rocks, and try to surf back in on waves up to 25 feet tall, without getting killed.

That’s Mavericks.  

That time is now.

http://cbs5.com/sports/maveric…

You can try to watch a live stream of the contest online here, it’s cutting in and out on me.

http://www.ustream.tv/maverick…

Here’s a link to a photogallery of surfers and the waves, so you can get an idea of how large they are:

http://www.maverickssurf.com/b…

HIGH SURF WARNING ! SPECTATORS HAVE JUST BEEN INJURED, GET OFF THE BEACH NOW AND GET BACK FROM THE CLIFF EDGES !   per the twitter feed on the live stream site.

Remember, Mother Nature is not nice here in CA.  Respect the ocean.

Off the Spanish coast, today was a very good day to be sailing the BMW Oracle USA 17 trimaran, which overcame a funky start with penalties and an early jump to the lead by the Swiss boat Alinghi, to win the 1st round of the America’s Cup.  

The Oracle USA-17 won by 15 minutes and 28 seconds on the 40 nautical mile racecourse, reaching an incredible 22 knots of speed, about 3 times the air windspeed over the Mediterranean, which was very light.  At the end of the first 20 mile turnaround point, the Oracle USA-17 had not only caught up to and passed the ploddering Swiss Alinghi, but had a whopping 1,200 meter lead of nearly a mile.

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/in…

Oracle, bankrolled by Silicon Valley billionaire Larry Ellison, zoomed into the starting box with its windward and centre hulls out of the water and Spithill (note: Jimmy Spithill, the Aussie captain of the Oracle USA-17) steered straight at Alinghi. The Swiss wanted to sail in front of Oracle, but didn’t have enough speed and both boats had to tack. Oracle raised a protest flag, and the umpire in a trailing boat concurred.

That meant Alinghi, funded and steered by Swiss biotech billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, had to perform a 270-degree penalty turn at some point in the 64-kilometre race.

Spithill somehow stalled Oracle over the line early with less than 15 seconds before the starting gun, and Alinghi sprinted off the line. Oracle had to go back and restart, putting it well behind.

Given that these 2 triple carbon hulled sailboats, with sails a big as a jetliner’s wing, might be roughly equal to each other in speed, (because wind conditions vary, the boat that goes “faster” on a relatively calm day may not actually be the faster boat if that other boat goes faster on a day with a good stiff breeze with better manueverability, and the other boat can’t be steadied nor steered as well, or worse, it falls apart )  which one ultimately succeeds is going to come down to how the sailing crew can make the thing respond to the unexpected, and do things like tacking (turning.)

So far, in calm conditions, this looks very good for Oracle USA-17, especially since pre race hype seemed to imply Alinghi, being Swiss, had that European engineering cachet of superior speed.  But will she hold together if they go out in a real wind and not a hamster fart ?

Photos of the race may be seen here:

http://www.daylife.com/photo/0…

The next round of the America’s Cup is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb 16, depending on wind and wave conditions.

Why America’s Cows Need Your Voice at the USDA by Feb 16 To Stop GMO Alfalfa !

High quality, high protein Alfalfa is one of the primary food sources for dairy cows, especially in winter, with cows eating about 50 lbs or more of dry feed per day, or about 3% of their body weight of around 1500 lbs.  In return for munching all that feed, and drinking lots of water, (25 to 50 gallons)  a dairy cow can produce anywhere from 5 to 8 gallons of milk per day, depending where she is in her lactation cycle, about 56 lbs a day, or over 2,300 gallons a year or 19,825 lbs per year. (A cow’s production is typically measured in hundredweights, or units of a hundred lbs of milk, about 12.5 gallons.)

Organic dairy farming has seen tremendous growth in the last decade, with the number of organic dairy farms increasing by 79% from 2002 to 2007.  Ag land used for organic production on those dairy farms increased by 83% over the same time. Organic milk and cheese is becoming more and more popular, especially for people and children with allergies and auto immune conditions who can’t tolerate regular milk.  The 3 states with the highest number of dairy farms are Wisconsin, New York, and Vermont.  The price of milk production per hundredweight for those three states for organic dairies was about $29, $32, and $34 dollars cwt for the year 2009.  Prices, alas, for organic milk haven’t been keeping up, neither has it been for conventional milk in the past year, and dairy farms are losing money. http://www.cattlenetwork.com/D…

Now, Monsanto threatens to put the nail in the coffin, by deliberately contaminating their feed supply with GMO Alfalfa, destroying the ability of organic dairy farmers to provide non GMO food for their herds.

http://www.cornucopia.org/2010…

Late last year, the USDA released a court-ordered Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on Monsanto’s new genetically engineered Round-up Ready Alfalfa. A federal lawsuit, led by the Center for Food Safety and joined by The Cornucopia Institute and other plaintiffs, was won in 2007 compelling the USDA to conduct their first-ever environmental impact statement on a genetically engineered (GE) crop, alfalfa.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the USDA’s assessment approves of releasing a new genetically modified crop into the environment, despite the known risks this version of alfalfa poses to organic livestock agriculture.

Public comments are being accepted until February 16. Please let the USDA hear your voice. A broad coalition, composed of both organic and conventional farmers, is opposing Monsanto’s RR Alfalfa and the USDA particularly needs to hear from those involved with organic agriculture.  

http://www.dairyfarmingtoday.o…

What’s different about organic farms?

A specific set of farming practices makes milk and other foods eligible for “certified organic” status. On organic dairies, cows must receive feed that was grown without the use of pesticides, commercial fertilizers or genetically-modified ingredients. They are not treated with supplemental hormones and are not given certain medications to treat illness. If they are given medication, then they must permanently leave the milking herd. They also must have access to the pasture.

Many of the same practices are utilized by conventional dairy farmers, as all farmers make the welfare of their animals and environmental stewardship top priorities.

But if Monsanto has its way, all Alfalfa grown in the United States, and eventually the world, WILL BE Genetically Modified to resist herbicides, being “Roundup Ready.”   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R…   Why should you care ?  Because Alfalfa is a huge crop,  ranked 4th in production, and it is pollinated by bees.  Did anyone ask the bees if they wished to eat this ?  And this would force every alfalfa planting in the nation to eventually be cross contaminated against the will of of the consumer, the organic farmers, and anyone else who doesn’t want to be forced to consume genetically modified products nor force animals to eat massive quantities of them.  

A British Court of Appeals has ruled against the Foreign Secretary David Milliband, that the British government can no longer refuse to disclose what MI5 knew about the torture of Binyam Mohamed while in US custody, according to an article published today in the Guardian UK.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl…

UK Foreign Secretary Milliband concured with the ruling only because of previous disclosures in a US Court, which would then preserve the “control principle” of one country doesn’t turn loose intelligence without the cooperation of the other, if they share intelligence.

“The foreign secretary spoke last night to Hillary Clinton. He stressed to her that the court had strongly supported the control principle and would have agreed with HMG [her majesty’s government] had it not been for the Kessler judgment in the US court last December, which had effectively disclosed the material in the seven paragraphs.

An MI5 officer known only as Witness B is being investigated by the Metropolitan police over his alleged role in questioning Mohamed incommunicado in a Pakistan jail.

Mohamed was detained in 2002 in Pakistan, where he was questioned incommunicado by an MI5 officer. The US flew him to Morocco, Afghanistan, and Guantánamo Bay, where he says he was tortured with the knowledge of British agencies.

The 7 paragraphs that the British Government were trying to hide are below, below the fold.  As noticed by commenters under another story at FDL, there are 2 dates.  The date in the Guardian story says 17 May 2002 in the first paragraph.  The date in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office dot gov dot uk site, has the date as 17 May 2001, with a disclaimer that “we have alerted the Court to a typographic error.”  

Oh, those pesky typos. What’s a year, here or there ?   ask Bush & Cheney.