Apr 20 2008

Docudharma Times Sunday April 20



In the streets there’s no wrong and no right

so forget all that you see

It’s not reality

It’s just a fantasy

Can’t you see

What this crazy life is doing to me

Life is just a fantasy

Sunday’s Headlines:DNA Tests Offer Deeper Examination Of Accused: Military medical malpractice: Seeking recourse: Iraqi cleric threatens ‘open war’: British dealers supply arms to Iran: Beijing gags anti-Western online anger: Tokyo offers free pizza to lure pensioners from their cars: Women in politics: Berlusconi lays into Spain’s ‘too pink’ cabinet: Paper is shut down after report on Vladimir Putin’s love life: Voters flee Zimbabwe’s state terror: Deadly clashes erupt in Mogadishu    

Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand

In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded “the gulag of our times” by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure.

The administration’s communications experts responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired military officers on one of the jets normally used by Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of Guantánamo.

To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as “military analysts” whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.

USA

DNA Tests Offer Deeper Examination Of Accused

Biological, Emotional States Scrutinized

Twenty years after DNA fingerprints were first admitted by American courts as a way to link suspects to crime scenes, a new and very different class of genetic test is approaching the bench.

Rather than simply proving, for example, that the blood on a suspect’s clothes does or does not match that of a murder victim, these “second generation” DNA tests seek to shed light on the biological traits and psychological states of the accused. In effect, they allow genes to “testify” in ways never before possible, in some cases resolving long-standing legal tangles but in others raising new ones.

Already, chemical companies facing “toxic tort” claims have persuaded By

courts to order DNA tests on the people suing them, part of an attempt to show that the plaintiffs’ own genes made them sick — not the companies’ products.

Military medical malpractice: Seeking recourse

Outrage over a recent spate of incidents spurs fresh efforts to overturn the Feres doctrine, a 1950 Supreme Court decision denying active-duty service members the right to sue over medical errors.

Minutes after routine surgery for acute appendicitis in October 2003, Staff Sgt. Dean Witt, 25, was being moved to a recovery room at a Northern California military hospital when he gasped and stopped breathing.

A student nurse assisting an understaffed anesthesia team tried to resuscitate Witt and failed. Inexplicably, Witt’s gurney was wheeled into a pediatric area. Lifesaving devices sized for children, not a 175-pound adult, proved useless, according to an internal

Middle East

Iraqi cleric threatens ‘open war’

Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr has threatened to wage “open war” on the Baghdad government if it does not halt operations against his supporters.

Moqtada Sadr said he was giving the government a “last warning”, and urged it to take “the path of peace”.

His statement came as Iraqi troops, with US and UK support, clashed with his forces in Baghdad and the south.

In August the cleric’s militia declared a ceasefire, pledging not to attack government or foreign soldiers.

“I’m giving the last warning and the last word to the Iraqi government,” Moqtada Sadr said.

“Either it comes to its senses and takes the path of peace… or it will be (seen as) the same as the previous government,” he added, referring to former President Saddam Hussein’s fallen regime.

“If it does not stop the militias that have infiltrated the government, then we will declare an open war until liberation,” he added.

British dealers supply arms to Iran

Customs probe reveals sanctions-busting sales of arms, missile technology and nuclear components

nvestigators have identified a number of British arms dealers trading with Tehran, triggering alarm among government officials who fear Iran’s nuclear programme may be receiving significant support from UK sources.

The probe by customs officers suggests that at least seven Britons have been defying sanctions by supplying the Iranian air force, its elite Revolutionary Guard Corps, and even the country’s controversial nuclear ambitions.

Officials say they are perturbed by the number of British dealers who appear to be trading with Tehran, despite a third round of restrictions being recently imposed by the United Nations on exporting arms and components to Iran. However, investigators argue that it is the generous riches being offered by Iran, not any shared ideology, that is seducing the dealers.

Asia

Beijing gags anti-Western online anger

Crackdown as China worries about the flare-up of nationalist passions in the run-up to Olympics

As Chinese nationalism flares across cyberspace, the government is growing concerned that passions could spill over into the real world, and that anger directed against foreigners could turn inward. Critics contend that Beijing has had a role in fanning the xenophobic sentiment to counter international condemnation of its crackdown on Tibetan rioters, but now Chinese officials appear to be trying to reduce the vitriol.

Chinese censors have quietly warned cyber-police and internet businesses to delete all information related to protests against Western policies, nations or companies that have proliferated in the wake of demonstrations surrounding the global Olympic torch relay and high-level calls to boycott the opening ceremony of the summer games in Beijing.

Tokyo offers free pizza to lure pensioners from their cars

By David McNeill

Sunday, 20 April 2008

Like many proud men, Seichi Koyama bristles when his driving skills are questioned. “I’m confident I can drive well,” he told Japanese TV, brandishing his clean licence and telling the viewing millions that he has never had an accident or been penalised.

It’s quite a claim, for Mr Koyama is 102 years old, and his licence was awarded more than 80 years ago.

Not all Japanese pensioners operate their cars as safely as Tokyo’s oldest driver. Last month, a woman in her 70s ploughed into a group of pedestrians, leaving a child in a coma, one of several horrific car accidents involving the elderly. Drivers aged 65 or over caused about 7,000 accidents in Tokyo last year, a two-and-a-half-fold rise in a decade. More than 1,000 pensioners die every year in driving accidents in Japan.

Europe

Women in politics: Berlusconi lays into Spain’s ‘too pink’ cabinet

Centuries-old prejudices were to the fore in the colourful Italian Prime Minister’s remarks about his counterpart in Madrid

By Katy Guest

Sunday, 20 April 2008

Sometimes, a week is a long time in politics. Other times, 350 years fly by and nothing seems to change. One of the following statements about women in politics was made in the 17th century by an unenlightened London satirist; the other was made last week by one of the leaders of the 21st-century free world. Can you guess which is which?

“[He] has formed a government that is too pink,” reads one. “That’s something we cannot do… because there is a prevalence of men in politics and it isn’t easy to find women who are qualified for government. Now he’s asked for it. He’ll have problems leading them.” The other imagines “the merrie Lawes by them newly Enacted, To live in more Ease, Pompe, Pride, and wantonnesse: but especially that they might have superiority and domineere over their husbands [and] cure any old or new Cuckolds…”.

Paper is shut down after report on Vladimir Putin’s love life

A NEWSPAPER that defied the Kremlin by reporting that President Vladimir Putin was planning to marry an Olympic gold medal-winning rhythmic gymnast half his age was shut down yesterday.

The closure of Moskovski Korrespondent, whose editor Grigori Nekhoroshev was forced to resign, was a sharp reminder of the perils of invoking Kremlin displeasure.

Rumours of a romance between Putin, 55, and Alina Kabaeva, 24, who is also an MP in his party, have been circulating in Moscow for months, but until last week no one had dared to print them.

The paper admitted there was no factual basis for its claim that Putin had already divorced Ludmilla, 50, his wife of 24 years, and would marry Kabaeva in June, shortly after standing down as president and becoming prime minister. It cited information from a party planner who claimed to be bidding to organise the lavish reception.

Africa

Voters flee Zimbabwe’s state terror

ALL across Harare yesterday, men, women, and children separated from their parents, including a boy of 12 with suspected malaria and a fragile 15-year-old girl, were hiding from a state-run terror campaign unleashed against Zimbabwe’s opposition.

Beaten and driven from their homes in the countryside and crowded townships in the reprisals that have followed President Robert Mugabe’s apparent electoral defeat three weeks ago, they made their way to the city by any means possible.

They came in their dozens, by bus, by train, by communal taxi. Such was one frightened man’s determination to escape that he walked for many miles with bare feet. Even those who did not need hospital care were still in pain days after their arrival from beaten, swollen limbs.

Deadly clashes erupt in Mogadishu

At least 20 people have been killed in renewed fighting in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, eyewitnesses say.

Ethiopian troops backing the interim government clashed with Islamic fighters in the north-east of the city.

Five Ethiopian soldiers, three government soldiers and civilians are reported to be among those killed.

Somalia has been wracked by violence since Ethiopia rescued the government in 2006, ousting an Islamist militia that had held much of the country.

Apr 20 2008

Obama Message Coopted by Pollution Front Group

($35 cool million spent to take us further down the rabbit hole – promoted by pfiore8)

The Astroturf Organization Formerly Known As ABEC has come out with a doozy of a first ad.

In the battle to protect our future, the alphabet list of astroturf organizations working to undercut a habitable tomorrow is an ever-growing soup.  Tracking the  $35 million+ associated with “Americans for Balanced Energy Choices provided easily full-time employment for some dedicated people.

Perhaps, these astroturfers felt some pressure.  Recently formed, just in time for Earth Day, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.

When you hear/see that term, think Clear Skies and other Bushisms … “Clean Coal” is a euphemism for Sort-of Less Dirty Coal, Somewhat Less Polluting Coal, Supposedly Less Deadly Coal.

What is impressive about ACCCE?   For me, two things:

1.  The amazing brazeness of transforming one astroturfing organization into the other, as if somehow those watching the “clean coal” mafia will be dumbfounded by the change.

2.  The brazeness of their advertising piggybacking on other’s work.

Notice anything about this?

“I believe …” … “We can …” Anyone notice a similarity with a current political campaign?

Now, I want to make sure that people don’t feel left out, after all there is another campaign on which this piggybacks.

“We will do this …”

Anyone notice a similarity with an effort to mobilize the public on global warming issues?

Brazen. No?

Grist covered this with ABEC is dead, but long live coal.  From that story, which covered an interview with ACCCE‘s President, Stephen Miller.  In an interview, Miller “lent his support to a cap on emissions.” Perhaps most terrifying, what do we think is the impact of that $35 million?

We’ve spent a lot of money on t-shirts, trucks, and advertising to affect the primary campaign, and it’s working.

T-shirts and sponsoring the Presidential debates clearly has influence on confusing the realities of Supposedly Less Deadly Coal.

Hat tip to Plutonium Page at DeSmogBlog.

Apr 20 2008

420

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

Celebrate it. I know, I know, everyday is 420, but today it is, uh, like, really 4/20, man. And it’s a full moon too. So light ’em up, listen to this tune and join me after the jump.

Let’s legalize it. For medicinal purposes. For recreational use. The war on drugs is just social control and a windfall for the prison industry:

“…in the federal system, about one out of every six federal inmates is in federal prison for marijuana. That’s a very large number. There are more people now in federal prison for marijuana offenses than for violent offenses.”

Eric Schlosser, author of Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market in the great Frontline presentation: Busted: America’s War on Marijuana

Today, especially, props to our favorite resident cannabis culture/war on drugs blogger, xxdr zombiexx.

Did you know:

  • Marijuana is the focus of the war on drugs. Why?

  • An American is now arrested for violating cannabis laws every 38 seconds.

  • Marijuana is likely the nation’s top cash crop.

It is hard to find reliable figures of marijuana use in the U.S. but estimates place regular users in the 10s of millions.

Prohibition does not work.

Legalize it. And let’s spend all the money wasted on the marijuana drug war on healthcare, education, and rebuilding our decaying infrastructure.

Learn more about marijuana and the history of its repression.

Learn more about activism to reform marijuana laws at NORML.

The drug war against marijuana not only prevents its widespread medicinal use, but also affects the widespread production of industrial hemp.

Learn about hemp here and here:

Hemp is cannabis grown specifically for industrial use and thus contains very low levels of cannabinoids (THC). The use of hemp dates back many thousands of years. Properly grown hemp has virtually no psychoactive (intoxicating) effects when consumed. With a relatively short growth cycle of 120 days, hemp is an efficient and economical crop for farmers to grow. Not only that, but health products containing CBD Rich Hemp Oil are thought to have some great health effects for the body.

Hemp is among one of the most productive and useful plants and is also very safe. The following materials can be made from hemp: paper, textiles, building materials, food, medicine, paint, detergent, varnish, oil, ink, and fuel. Unlike many crops, hemp can be grown in most locations and climates with only moderate water and fertilizer requirements. Where hemp is grown, it has become a valuable and environmentally friendly crop. Additionally, although all waste from growing cannabis must be disposed of sensibly, not all cannabis waste is hazardous and some of the waste product can be used as compost. Furthermore it is important to remember that different strains of the hemp plant have unique applications and uses. For example, some cannabis strains such as Wedding Crasher (you can Read more about Wedding Crasher at budbuddies.ca) are more well suited to people who are looking to feel uplifted. Other strains of marijuana can have a more relaxing effect.

Marijuana culture is mainstreaming. Let’s end the farcical and destructive prohibition of this weed.

I’m not, of course, advocating marijuana use for teens, but whether you’re a smoker or not, the draconian drug laws are not the way to help teens make better choices. Plus, for those who could get a great use out of the products for easing chronic pain and other ailments, allowing access by dispensaries (physical and online) would have great benefit. In fast in other countries like Canada this is already available – Read more here – and has helped many people live better lives.

Here endeth this little 420 diary.

Oh, and if I could only find it up north, I’d love to have one of my favorite beers, from an Atlanta, Georgia microbrewery, Sweetwater 420. Clink and puff. Peace.

Apr 20 2008

Iglesia ……………………………………… Episode 49

(Iglesia is a serialized novel, published on Tuesdays and Saturdays at midnight ET, you can read all of the episodes by clicking on the tag.)

Previous episode

Raised heart rate, shortness of breath, unblinking eyes, the unintentional and unavoidable rumbling rousings of the most primal and ancientest biological systems, (interesting in itself, under these circumstances) tunnel vision excluding everything peripheral to a small corridor bored through space by their eyes. Unquenchable interest. Unbidden but undeniable desire. Tingling.  

All momentarily disturbed by the movement through the instantaneously manufactured field of energy that was growing and solidifying in the twenty or so feet between their respective consciousnesses and genitalia by ….Rogers. Two double takes at the sight of two Rogers’s. Dual gaped mouths as one Rogers walked between them and approached and then sat down into the other Rogers. A small shared ratcheting back to ‘normality’ as a tea table appeared behind the  sudden singularity of Rogers. A snapped return to ‘their space’ as soon as was possible for the human mind. Simultaneous smiles. Synchronized sexual synapse firing, followed by all too human hesitation and awkwardness as a next step was, eventually, about to be required.

“Tea, anyone?”

From the hip, and without disconnecting their eyes this time, and utilizing the absolute minimal muscular movement and efforting required to perform the action, Iglesia flipped Rogers the bird.

His silent smirk of rebuttal went undetected.

“Iglesia,” she said. Music, he thought, as it swelled in his chest.

“Abe,” he replied. A sensation in the pit of her stomach she could not describe.

The mutually radiating, received, amplified, returned and resonating energy field demanded they be closer. They obeyed and walked towards each other until stopped by the fire pit between them. Iglesia, her proximity sense slightly less trained, stubbed her toe on the rocks and reflexively said “shit.”

It was the most heartrendingly adorable curse Abe had ever heard.

Apr 20 2008

In Praise of John McCain

Earlier this year I decided to take a break from the bullshit. This site and and a few others have been outposts of sanity in a medium literally choking in crap. Is it just me or has the level of all round mendacity reached the point where it all blurs into a numbing howl of white noise?

Anyway, as I understand it all opinions are welcome as long as nobody is intentionally trying to piss anyone off. If you’re looking for the same old screams about evil Republicans you won’t like this piece.

Why McCain? Simple, really. I absolutely cannot find anything to cheer about in the supine party. The folks who allowed George Bush to run America into the toilet, increase crime and income disparity along with a slew of evils look to capitalize on their cowardice and dishonesty and Bush’s horrific record. Count me out.

Meteor Blades and a commendable group of folks are doing their best to raise consciousness about the environment in this venue and others, including the ‘Good Ship Lollipop’. The mountain of plastic does not seem to be diminishing, however. Meanwhile, visibility in many Chinese cities is about 100 meters and their chunk of the planet is an environmental disaster zone.

Tibet and Nepal existed for most of the 20th century as mystical backwaters where disenchanted Westerners could go for six weeks or seven years and feel ‘holy’. The locals existed for the most part as props in this narrative, surviving in a state of abject poverty where infant mortality and preventable childhood diseases were the norm. Has China fucked over Tibet? Without a doubt. Is that the main issue about the Olympics? Not in my book.

Out of Iraq? You’re fucking kidding me. Everyday for the next four to eight years the majority of Americans who drive cars will put a key into the ignition of a two-ton chunk of steel powered by fossil fuels America doesn’t have. When Americans start driving environmentally friendly vehicles that do not use oil; or start taking the bus or transit I’ll start taking all the claims about ‘getting out of Iraq’ seriously. Not until.

Outrage over Tibet and the Olympics, however, may finally lead to some serious discussion about the scope of the environmental challenge China faces and the international communities’ solutions to this problem. Freezing China out or vilifying the government might make some feel good, but the reality as it was explained to me yesterday by one Chinese lady is that most Chinese are much more interested in owning their first home or car than any environmental concerns.

Self-interested American consumers see the world the same way. Bullshit promises to leave Iraq while America is still dependent on oil choke the airwaves and are parroted by supporters of both Dem candidates. I can think of countless reasons to criticize McCain but thirty trillion dollars worth of oil says America is staying in Iraq no matter what; and that McCain is telling the truth about America’s and the west’s hypocritical posturing over energy, oil, war and foreign policy.

Go McCain!

Apr 20 2008

Help Shirley Golub unseat Nancy Pelosi!

Shirley Golub is running against Nancy Pelosi in the California-8th June primary.  She has produced a radio ad calling the Speaker of the House of Representatives what she is: a coward.

Let’s help her get this ad on the air.  Go to the following web site:

http://www.shirley08.com/donat…

And donate what you can.  Pelosi has been a disaster as Speaker.  She has been among the biggest obstacles to impeachment, has allowed funding for the occupation of Iraq to continue unfettered, and failed to enforce Congressional subpoena power.  The coward needs to go, lest her cowardice and complicity in the crimes of the Bush regime further drag down the Democratic Party.

And while we’re at it, let’s help Cindy Sheehan as she seeks to unseat Pelosi.

http://www.cindyforcongress.org

The only way we can get Democrats (and every other representative) in Congress to listen, to do as they’re told, is to put the fear of something greater than the shrub and his gargoyle into them: electoral defeat.  This is a proven tactic; Iowa’s Leonard Boswell, one of the most shameless Bush dogs in the House, signed onto Robert Wexler’s impeachment efforts after fellow bootlicker Al Wynn lost his primary race in Maryland to challenger Donna Edwards.

So let’s give Shirley Golub a hand up, and send a message to Nancy Pelosi that cowardice and complicity shall be punished at the ballot box.

Apr 20 2008

Need something a little sexy?

Apr 20 2008

Who could have predicted that the Iraqi’s would RESIST, Mr. Bush?

The candy and flowers that you envisioned, thrown at your feet as you walked through the streets of Baghdad as the Savior of the Middle East and the Man your Daddy never thought would amount to anything has turned to shit and dead bodies thrown at your feet, you incompetent dolt.  

Not only did you turn the tide from fighting the REAL terrorists in the War against Terror, you decided you were such a damned fine cowboy that you could pull our troops and fight the War for Oil instead.  

Incompetence be thy name.

Not only did you screw the pooch by your warmongering, balls to the wall (not your balls, of course) ridiculous attempt to make YOURSELF look like the bestest President since Abraham Lincoln, you bought into the lies and spin that was placed in front of you on a Silver Platter by the boot-licking-psychotic-thinking cronies that had your ear.  

Arrogance be thy name.

From AP:

Anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr threatened a new uprising Saturday if U.S. and Iraqi forces persist with a crackdown against his followers.

The statement, which was posted on his Web site, accused the U.S.-backed government of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of betraying the movement and the Iraqi people.

“So I direct my last warning and speech to the Iraqi government to refrain and to take the path of peace and abandon violence against its people,” al-Sadr said in the statement. “If the government does not refrain and leash the militias that have penetrated it, we will announce an open war until liberation.”

Remember, a couple of weeks ago when you once again tried to make your LEGACY less than just “THE WORST PRESIDENT IN HISTORY?” by sending your lapdog al-Malaki into Basra to take on those insurgents?  

Yes, GW, we know that was at your insistance.  No one would be stupid enough to send the Prime Minister into a Palace in the fighting zone to personally conduct the battle.  Al-Malaki must have gotten an extra billion or two transfered to his Swiss bank account in order to go along with such a fool hardy plan to save YOUR LEGACY.  Or was it more?  Oh well.

The cleric ordered his fighters to stand down in late August. But the truce has been severely strained by crackdowns against his Mahdi Army militia in Baghdad’s Sadr City and the southern city of Basra.

“Do you want a third uprising?” al-Sadr said in the statement.

He also evoked a comparison with Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-dominated regime, which widely suppressed Iraq’s majority Shiites.

“Despite our freeze of the Mahdi Army, our initiatives to defuse the tension and our calls for peaceful protests and strikes, after all these negotiations and concessions, you are becoming arrogant and adopt the policies of Saddam who used to ban Friday prayers, close the clerics’ offices and resort to assassinations,” he said.

The lifting of the Sadrist cease-fire could jeopardize recent security gains. The military considers the truce one of the pivotal factors behind a sharp decline in violence, along with a Sunni revolt against al-Qaida in Iraq and an influx of some 30,000 U.S. troops.

Mr. Bush, is it pure evil that guides you or is is simply your inability to say a few simple words, due to your psychosis and ego?  Can you not simply say “I was wrong” and begin to make things right?  

I know you cannot and I know you never will.  Fifty years from now when the history books are written on the charred ashes from the world you tried to destroy for your own ego’s sake, they will say of you this one thing.  

Incompetent.

Apr 20 2008

I’m A Member of Moveon.org & A Terrible Bowler

Photobucket The topic below was originally posted in my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal and x-posted at The Wild, Wild Left, Out of Iraq Bloggers Caucus, The Independent Bloggers Alliance, The Peace Tree and World Wide Sawdust.


As many of you know by now, The Huffington Post reported yesterday that Senator Clinton slammed the activist organization Moveon.org at a fundraiser in February:

“Moveon.org endorsed [Sen. Barack Obama] — which is like a gusher of money that never seems to slow down,” Clinton said to a meeting of donors. “We have been less successful in caucuses because it brings out the activist base of the Democratic Party. MoveOn didn’t even want us to go into Afghanistan. I mean, that’s what we’re dealing with. And you know they turn out in great numbers. And they are very driven by their view of our positions, and it’s primarily national security and foreign policy that drives them. I don’t agree with them. They know I don’t agree with them. So they flood into these caucuses and dominate them and really intimidate people who actually show up to support me.”


You can read their entire post by clicking here where audio of Senator Clinton’s remarks is also provided. I’m hardly the first blogger to post about this and surely won’t be the last. Many across the progressive blogosphere venting about Clinton’s rhetorical cluster bomb against the Democratic Party’s activist base are far more articulate than me. Nevertheless, I feel compelled to hit back on behalf of this movement I proudly call my own.


I first became aware of Moveon.org when they stood up for the Constitution and supported censure over impeachment during the Monica Lewinsky scandal a decade ago. I was delighted such a movement sprang from the toxic bile of Ken Starr’s witch-hunt. Do you remember Senator Clinton how we advocated for censure as a means of “moving on”?


We were your allies against the racist and misogynist “right wing conspiracy” represented by Richard Mellon Scaife that you now sit down with to exploit racial divisions. So to paraphrase James Carville, attacking us is “an act of betrayal” that resembles Judas. Anyway, that was the beginning of the netroots movement.


After 9/11 Moveon.org was an oasis in a dessert of reactionary enablers that included Hillary Clinton in the lead up to the Iraq War. Sadly, Clinton even echoed the administration’s lies about connections between Saddam Hussein and al quaeda! Not only did Clinton fail to read contrary arguments about weapons of mass destruction in the mere ninety page National Intelligence Estimate, she also on the Senate floor said this on October 10, 2002:

“He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including Al Qaeda members, though there is apparently no evidence of his involvement in the terrible events of September 11, 2001.”


Well, nice that Clinton said “apparently no evidence’ about Saddman and 9/11 but she implied there might be and the rest of the statement was an outright lie. Yet the only contrition Clinton expressed for years was “if I only knew then what I know now” while her Senate colleagues from 2002 Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, John Edwards and John Kerry eventually redeemed themselves for their transgressions by honestly acknowledging their mistakes. Clinton couldn’t even do that until recently and yes that angered Moveon.org members like me.


Furthermore, Clinton lied about Moveon’s “opposition” to Afghanistan. Indeed she was echoing Karl Rove propaganda about the Democrats and Afghanistan. There was no organized opposition to America’s response in Afghanistan by Moveon.org. Speaking for myself, I knew there had to be a military response to 9/11 but for damn sure I didn’t trust the Bush Administration to do it skillfully and retain the international community’s good will. And yes I worried about the loss of innocent life, largely women and children, who would lose their lives while nothing was accomplished. Sadly, that is what has come to pass.


Moveon.org members are my brothers and sisters. Fellow patriots and activists mobilized to reverse America’s homicidal/suicidal foreign policy and grotesque erosion of civil liberties. They represent the core of the people powered social networking netroots movement determined to make America the best America it can be. It’s rather like a large extended virtual family that has moved beyond Moveon.org and is really a decentralized community. We coordinate to raise money, phone bank and canvass on behalf of causes larger than ourselves.


Like all families, individual members of Moveon.org and the netroots as a whole don’t always agree about tactics or which candidates to support. For example, I didn’t think the “Betraus” ad last fall was very smart. Previously, I had intense email debates with other bloggers about my support for John Edwards. I had posted a heartfelt endorsement of Edwards and some Obama supporters I enjoyed email correspondences with over the years hit me hard.


On the bigger picture though we’re on the same side even as squabbles happen over how to best achieve the objectives we share. Once Edwards dropped out I put my disappointment aside because I sensed Obama’s candidacy better represented the sensibilities of this movement I’m a part of than Clinton.


I also hunger for our netroots movement to achieve critical mass beyond white liberal computer literate activists to better combine with organized labor and more effectively fight on behalf of wage earners. We’re making substantial progress in that direction as the movement has grown so fast. And yet not fast enough. Hence, it’s easy to become frustrated.


But Moveon’s movement is my movement and I’m in it for the long haul no matter what happens in 2008. The netroots people powered movement is fighting to take the Democratic Party from predatory moneylenders, warmongers and corporatists and push our country towards progressive reform. A tough ongoing struggle waged against powerful interests.


These interests include the incestuous relationship between the corporate media and the military industrial complex as exists between NBC and General Electric. And if you think the recent performance of moderators Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous during the Clinton/Obama debate and the perverse reactionary values of ABC’s parent company Walt Disney are a coincidence, I have bridge in my hometown of Brooklyn I’d like to sell you.


Senator Clinton’s whining about activists like myself who are informed, passionate and motivated to fight the madness that war mongering enablers like her supported is quite revealing. Her whining about funds raised online “like a gusher of money that never seems to slow down,” is even more revealing. Clinton receives contributions by the banks and credit card companies “like a gusher” and supported predatory bankruptcy legislation in 2001. Big money contributors that support Senator Clinton benefit from laws that destroy the lives of families on the financial abyss whenever a loved one suffers from an expensive medical calamity.


Moveon.org’s money doesn’t come from insurance companies, HMOs, Halliburton, Bechtel, BlackWater USA, K-Street lobbyists, banks, credit card companies or other war mongering corporatist predators. Hence, this “gusher of money” is beyond the comprehension of Clinton and Washington insiders such as James Carville. This money comes from regular folks giving what they can even as we too struggle with our groceries bill, energy costs and mortgages. Yet they call us elitists?


There is also the lie about our “intimidating” her supporters at caucuses. Listen up: I subscribe to something Howard Dean has said many times, that it would be far better for this country to have a 100% voter turnout even if Republicans win. I’ve registered all kinds of people to vote who don’t share my beliefs and so have many dedicated activists who also belong to Moveon.org and make our voices heard in the progressive blogosphere.


I don’t own a gun or attend religious services. Nor do I wear a flag pin. Neither does military veteran and Virginia Senator James Webb. I’m also not a good bowler. Admittedly, I am “bitter” about the direction of my country. But I’m as good an American as you are Senator Clinton. And yes I’m a member of Moveon.org and will give another $25 to Senator Obama today. Anyone care to join me and help raise money like a gusher? If so, click here.

Apr 20 2008

“The human heart cannot heal itself.”

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

During the fall of 1996, my wife, Holly, came down with a fever approaching 102.

She was in bed for a few days and when she didn’t seem to be recovering, her mother took her into the emergency room (we hadn’t gotten together yet).

The doctors ran tests, pronounced it a bad flu, and sent her home.

Less than 24 hours later, her mother walked into her living room to find Holly lying on the couch, incoherent and utterly delirious.

Her fever was now over 105.

She had developed scabs on the palms of her hand and the bottoms of her feet.

She was unable to stand, talk or even make eye contact.

And by the time they arrived at the hospital this time, she was in a coma…

Holly was diagnosed with Endocarditis, which is “an inflammation of the inner layer of the heart” (and, incidentally, its what killed puppeteer Jim Henson years before).

In my wife’s case, her outgoing aortal valve was infected and prolapsed, meaning every time her heart pumped… bad blood leaked into her system.

(Possible point of interest: my wife is a “marfanoid”, which in any other of my diaries would be the start of some inappropriate rant of a distinctly sexual and alien nature, but in this case means, unbeknownst to her, she was prone to heart problems from birth.)

What followed, medically, was MASSIVE antibiotics.

What followed, personally, was phone calls summoning her family to Los Angeles with the very real possibility that she was about to die.

Clearly, she didn’t.

She came to consciousness three days later, then spent a full month in the hospital (and another three at home) recovering physically, learning to walk again (due to atrophied muscles), and growing her hair back (it all fell out due to the antibiotics).

But I need to rewind to the hospital for a moment…

After she recovered and before she was discharged, her team of doctors debated how quickly to crack her chest, open her up, and replace her bad aortal valve (with one from a pig heart). Of the five doctors, four wanted to do it right away, but the last argued for restraint. This doctor felt since she had gone through so much already, why not let her go home and get better… then do the surgery when she was more fully healed.

The other four physicians were not pleased.

Standard procedure was to do the operation ASAP and there was also a possibility, with the bad valve still in her chest, that ANOTHER infection could arise.

Escaping endocarditis once is a amazing, twice… doesn’t happen.

Beside… one way or another… the valve replacement HAD to happen.

See, the heart is not a regenerative organ, so damage now its damage forever.

The prolapse would always exist.

“The human heart cannot heal itself,” she was told over and over.

Still, the lone doctor held fast, putting her reputation on the line and… she WON, allowing Holly to be discharged, delaying further trauma, including the many inches long scar that was destined to traverse her chest for the rest of her life.

I was reminded of the above as I pushed people to go see her performance in Minneapolis tonight and during that “wifepimp” I jokingly goaded people to yell what I do whenever I go to a gig and watch her play live: “Take off your top!”

Because, see, there is no scar.

About a month after we re-met (we actually went to high school together), I accompanied Holly to a procedure (called a T.E.E.) designed to determine how much of the prolapse (and therefore the leak) still existed. The probe was sent down her throat, the whatever-the-heck-you-call-it was activated, then… the technician stared dumfounded.

No leak. No prolapse.

Her heart had… somehow… inexplicably… healed itself.

I relate this saga at this political moment because I’m reminded that MIRACLES do happen (and electing ANY Democrat… not to mention an African-American Democrat… President of the United States will be nothing short of a MIRACLE), but they do require a little nudge from us mortals. They require us to have faith and courage… like the one doctor who stuck her neck out… and they require unwavering patience.

I know I have this faith and courage and patience.

I also know this thing we dream WILL eventually happen.

But faith is easier for me than most… I’ve seen a miracle first hand.

Apr 20 2008

Milwaukee Moratorium: Spring sorta sprung

Just so you know it doesn’t snow year-round in Milwaukee, Friday’s Iraq Moratorium vigil was our largest rally since the first one in September, with 80 people of all ages on the four corners of downtown’s main intersection at rush hour.

It was very spirited, with large student contingents from Fratney Street Elementary School and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Progressive Students organization, and a few high schoolers, too.  Iraq Veterans Against the War, Peace Action Wisconsin, Veterans for Peace and Kids for Peace were all represented, with lots of creative signs.  A dog urging “Bones, not bombs” also joined us.

Flags, signs, banners, music from a boom box and a return of the chaing gang — Bush, Cheney and Rice in their prison suits — all added to the upbeat atmosphere.  Fifty degree weather, the warmest in months, didn’t hurt either. Huge positive responses from passers-by who honked their horns, waves and yelled encouragement, with rarely a discouraging word.  After a long, cold, dark winter of monthly vigils, this was rejuvenating.



The UW-Milwaukee contingent.

More reports about other actions are beginning to trickle in to the Iraq Moratorium website

Apr 20 2008

Pony Party: The Bostonians

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

A man who pretends to understand women is bad manners. For him to really to understand them is bad morals.

Henry James

For Nocatz…..

Cats and monkeys; monkeys and cats; all human life is there.

Henry James

It is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance… and I know of no substitute whatever for the force and beauty of its process.

Henry James

P, Masslass, Victory Coffee, and I met in Boston for a DD girl get together. Special thanks to OTB for getting us the t-shirts. We would have loved to have had you join us.

Yes boys you were invited. Yes, we talked about all of you. In a joyous and admiring tone. Not one negative vibe invaded our evening despite the fact that once we started arguing, we did not all agree.

The girls thought I would be taller. I am short. And VC had a hard time picturing me as anything other than a cat. Naturally, I took that as the highest of compliments. We also picked up a stranger, a nice woman who was attending my conference. I saw her the next day and said,”I hope you didn’t think my friends and I were too crazy, we’re truly harmless.” She told me she enjoyed herself. Nurses tend to be ever so slightly nutty when taken off their work place leashes. Never. Never go drinking with a group of young nurses. You will be under the table. Engineers, at least engineering students, tend to think of themselves as being wacky hombres, nursing student can generally match them.

It was like meeting with old friends. No awkward moments, just glee.

Here we are!

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You can see our wonderful t-shirts in this second photo. I think I really want another one, with the eyes, they look good on a t-shirt even though when they move they give some of us headaches here.

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We were probably pretty loud, but we were in a busy spot at “Legal Test Kitchen” off in a corner. Alcohol was consumed, but not so much that we couldn’t walk. I am not sure how late we were out but at my first 0800AM session the next day, I was gripping a giant coffee like it was my best friend.

What did we talk about? Our first conclusion: everybody who participates at Docudharma is unbelievably smart. I never took AP classes in high school but I can imagine thinking I was clever and then landing in an entire class of clever folks and being gently humbled.

Everybody who writes here has a unique voice, an interesting voice, a powerful and worthy voice and we are all amazed by it. I never doubted that this was my home but meeting the girls, and hearing them echo some of my sentiments but the bow on the package.

We love the Docudharma men! Part of the reason we do is that they seem to have no problems adjusting to a blog full of rowdy, strong willed, passionate women. If they do have difficulties adjusting, they mask it rather well. Yes, while we swoon over OPOL, he is not the only one we look forward to reading. Ek really should be a newspaper reporter, probably just a reflection of the mediocrity of our print media.He is a gem, even if he insists he is simply a fiction character. Rusty’s clarity in identifying what is wrong and why we are angry is so finely written, he is a pamphleteer. Don’t doubt our admiration for you Dharma men, we might disagree with you from time to time, but we all think you are wonderful writers.

A few things we are puzzled about: do you pronounce the boss as “Buddy” or “Boody”. Is ek supposed to be e.k. or ek?

We do wish that skrp wrote more, what an incisive mind. Same with Jess, I have met her in person, sharp intellect, writes on angles I can’t even imagine.Robyn is a powerful voice.I do wish OTB, NL, and RiaD could have come they seem to have such generous spirits. Hint. Hint to VC, she hides her light too much. She is the future, I am the past.

Hey 73, we did talk about sports! Turns out P actually likes them but hates the corporatization of them. We might have to work a little harder on the hockey thing but she is not as resistant as I imagined.

And we argued. We waved our hands and pounded the table a bit. P loves the constitution, all those Neo-Cons who claim they do, need to try have a conversation with her and not feel a wee bit shamed. I admitted my attachment to it is not as strong as the other three, a direct consequence of being a Canuck, I think. One interesting thing, we often hit upon similar themes but used distinctly different language to describe it. We do see the world through different prisms, all equally valid, but symptomatic I think, of our life experiences. The personal really is political and vice versa.

Many times people in the blog world say that in person the characters you meet are inventions. My experience was the opposite. The girls were exactly as I imagined, just more so. I would urge all of you not to pass on a get together with your fellow Dharma folk, you won’t be disappointed.

I am starting to think the Boss, might just be Merlin.

If I left out critical parts of our conversation, VC, P, and Mass will be happy to fill you in.

My only wish, that we in Dharmaland could have out own mini “Netroots Nation”, I think it would be fascinating, joyous and productive. Believe me we really did talk with zest about all of you, so if names weren’t mentioned here, know that you we very much a part of our dialog because all of you are valued, admired, and adored.

Please don’t rec pony party, hang out, chit chat, and then go read some of the excellent offerings on our recent and rec’d list. Or better yet write something!

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