Clinton, Obama Coal Comments Criticized by Environmental Group

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

In a press release I received today, Friends of the Earth Action criticized both leading Democratic presidential candidates for their recent anti-environment, pro-coal comments.  

Senator Hillary Clinton expressed enthusiasm for coal and failed to condemn mountaintop removal during an interview yesterday on West Virginia Public Radio.  Today, Senator Barack Obama delivered a speech in West Virginia advocating so-called “clean coal” as a solution to global warming.

Both are wrong.

These comments raise serious questions about whether the Democratic candidates are as committed to clean energy as they claim to be,” Friends of the Earth Action President Brent Blackwelder said.  “Coal is not clean-period.  And it is especially dirty and damaging when it is mined through the mountaintop removal process, in which mountains are literally blown to pieces, wiping vast swaths of nature off the map and polluting valleys, streams and rivers.”

Presidential candidates’ parroting of coal industry talking points raise questions about their commitment to clean energy; Clinton even equivocates on mountaintop removal

In her interview, Clinton said “coal fits in very importantly” to America’s energy future, arguing that “the challenge is how we are going to continue using coal” and using the coal industry’s misleading term “clean coal” to discuss proposed carbon capture and sequestration technology, which has not yet been proved to be technologically feasible or commercially viable.  

When asked about the devastating practice of mountaintop mining, Clinton expressed concern but then attempted to frame the issue as a choice between an “economic and environmental trade-off,” which demonstrated a fundamental lack of understanding of the issue.

Hillary Clinton:

I am concerned about it for all the reasons people state, but I think its a difficult question because of the conflict between the economic and environmental trade-off that you have here. I’m not an expert. I don’t know enough to have an independent opinion, but I sure would like people who could be objective, understanding both the economic necessities and environmental damage to come up with some approach that would enable us to retrieve the coal but would enable us to do it in a way that wouldn’t damage the living standards and the other important qualities associated with people living both under the mountaintop and people who are along the streams. You know, maybe there is a way to recover those mountaintops once they have been stripped of the coal. You know, I think we’ve got to look at this from a practical perspective.

More here on Clinton’s speech on coal.

Dr. Brent Blackwelder and FoE Action reject Senator Clinton’s attempt to hide behind jobs:

“This jobs angle is so phony.  Coal production in the U.S. has increased in the past 50 years but coal jobs have dropped more than 80 percent.  This is not helping local economies.  Mountaintop mining in particular harms the communities where the mining takes place, which tend to be the most impoverished communities in Appalachia.

We need to envision a new healthy green economy for West Virginia, one in which we conserve energy and transition to clean energy alternatives, including solar and wind.  It’s time to cut the coal.”

In his speech today in West Virginia, Obama advocated “investing in renewable sources of energy, and in clean coal technology, and creating up to five million new green jobs in the bargain, including new clean coal jobs.”  And his record leaves much room for improvement.  Obama has worked closely with the coal industry in the past, supports coal subsidies and repeatedly uses the inaccurate term “clean coal” in his communications.

Barack Obama:

Instead of fighting this war, we could be freeing ourselves from the tyranny of oil, and saving this planet for our children. We could be investing in renewable sources of energy, and in clean coal technology, and creating up to 5 million new green jobs in the bargain, including new clean coal jobs. And we could be doing it all for the cost of less than a year and a half in Iraq.

Remarks for Senator Barack Obama

Dr. Blackwelder names the problem: Jusst being better than McCain ain’t good enough in this time of crisis.  

“These candidates need to stop pandering and start being leaders,” Blackwelder said.  “We’re in the midst of a global warming crisis and we need a president who will push for real solutions.  The Democratic candidates’ plans are better than the anything we’ve seen from John McCain, but being better than McCain is not enough.  Our planet faces a crisis the likes of which it has never seen.  Where is the bold leadership our planet is calling for?”

Let’s tell Obama and Clinton that we care about our planet! Coal is not clean -period.  Instead of fighting each other on petty, personal issues, put the planet first, because if we have no planet, no one gets to be President.

Four at Four

  1. According to the Washington Post, al-Qaeda still is impervious to spies after a decade at war with west.

    A decade after al-Qaeda issued a global declaration of war against America, U.S. spy agencies have had little luck recruiting well-placed informants and are finding the upper reaches of the network tougher to penetrate than the Kremlin during the Cold War, according to U.S. and European intelligence officials.

    Some counterterrorism officials say their agencies missed early opportunities to attack the network from within. Relying on Cold War tactics such as cash rewards for tips failed to take into account the religious motivations of Islamist radicals and produced few results.

    Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, officials said, al-Qaeda has tightened its internal security at the top, placing an even greater emphasis on personal and tribal loyalties to determine who can gain access to its leaders.

    Alain Chouet, former chief of the security intelligence service of the DGSE, France’s foreign spy agency, said it can take years for informants to burrow their way into radical Islamist networks. Even if they’re successful at first, he said, new al-Qaeda members are often “highly disposable” — prime candidates for suicide missions.

    He said it might be too late for Western intelligence agencies, having missed earlier chances, to redouble efforts to infiltrate the network. “I think you cannot penetrate such a movement now,” he said.

    At the same time, those agencies have made their task harder by blowing the cover of some promising informants and mishandling others.

    One name: Valerie Plame. So, it’s fitting that today, according to The Hill, Scooter Libby was disbarred in District of Columbia. “Libby, whose presidential pardon last year was a touchstone for Bush administration critics, was ejected from practicing law by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. The D.C. court cited Libby’s 2007 conviction for lying to a grand jury and federal officials investigating the identity leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson.”

  2. The Los Angeles Times examines if A new Great Depression is possible. “There are vast differences between the 1930s and today. U.S. unemployment reached 25% during the Depression; last month it was reported at 4.8%. The international industrial economy was a shambles in the ’30s. Today it is coming off a global boom.”

    “I’ve been asked many times whether we will have another Great Depression,” said David M. Kennedy, a Stanford University history professor and the author of Freedom From Fear, a Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the Depression and World War II. “My standard answer is that we won’t have that one again — I’d be surprised to have one of that seriousness and duration. But that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t have a catastrophe we haven’t seen before.” …

    The Fed’s recent actions were “a temporary palliative” to the fundamental problem in the economy, which is the rapid fall in home prices and its ripple effect on mortgage bonds and other securities, said Barry Eichengreen, a professor of economics and political science at UC Berkeley. “You have to reorganize the system, but the discussion about that has only begun.”

    The Huntington Herald-Dispatch reports that Obama links war and economy. At the University of Charleston, West Virginia, Sen. Barack Obama spoke to a standing room only crowd of 600. “Obama said it is crucial citizens do not overlook the war’s impact on the American economy. ‘At a time when we’re on the brink of recession, when neighborhoods have ‘For Sale’ signs outside every home and working families are struggling to keep up with rising costs, ordinary Americans are paying a price for this war,’ he said. ‘When you’re spending over $50 to fill up your car because the price of oil is four times what it was before Iraq, you’re paying a price for this war.'”

    Reuters adds Obama says Iraq war drag on economy. “Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Thursday said the $500 billion cost of the Iraq war is a drag on the U.S. economy and attempted to lay some of the blame for it on Republican rival John McCain. ‘How much longer are we going to ask our families and our communities to bear the cost of this war?’ the Illinois senator asked in a speech… ‘No matter what the costs, no matter what the consequences, John McCain seems determined to carry out a third Bush term,’ Obama said.”

Four at Four continues below the fold with stories on the Pentagon’s divisions over Iraq, China’s suppression of protesters in Tibet, methane detected outside our solar system, global coal shortages, and wind-powered computers.

  1. The Los Angeles Times reports the Pentagon is divided on Iraq strategy. “Inside the Pentagon, turmoil over the war has increased. Top levels of the military leadership remain divided over war strategy and the pace of troop cuts. Tension has risen along with concern over the strain of unending cycles of deployments. In one camp are the ground commanders, including Gen. David H. Petraeus, who have pushed to keep a large troop presence in Iraq, worried that withdrawing too quickly will allow violence to flare. In the other are the military service chiefs who fear that long tours and high troop levels will drive away mid-level service members, leaving the Army and Marine Corps hollowed out and weakened.”

  2. The Guardian reports China admits shooting Tibet protesters. According to Xinhua, the state-run news agency, Chinese forces had shot and wounded four “rioters”. “The Dalai Lama today offered to travel to Beijing for talks on the crisis.” “Officials also issued a wanted list of 12 people caught on security camera footage during the unrest. They said 170 people had surrendered to police… The government claims 16 died in the unrest in Lhasa – including three protestors who allegedly jumped from buildings while fleeing police – while Tibetan exile groups say the tally is closer to 100 when other provinces are included, mostly because of the crackdown.”

    The New York Times adds In Tibetan areas, parallel worlds now collide. “For farmers whose lives in this traditionally Tibetan area revolve around its Buddhist temple, an aluminum smelter that belches gray smoke in the distance is less a symbol of material progress than a daily reminder of Chinese disregard… In Tibet and the neighboring provinces of Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan, Tibetans live in closer proximity than ever with the Han, who have flooded in with a wave of state-driven investment. But they occupy separate worlds. Relations between the two groups are typically marked by stark disdain or distrust, by stereotyping and prejudice and, among Tibetans, by deep feelings of subjugation, repression and fear.”

  3. The New York Times reports Stuff of life (but not life itself) is detected on a distant planet.

    Astronomers reported Wednesday that they had made the first detection of an organic molecule, methane, in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system and had confirmed the presence of water there, clearing the way for a bright future of inspecting the galaxy for livable planets, for the chemical stuff of life, or even for life itself.

    Under the right conditions, water can combine with organic chemicals like methane to make amino acids, the building blocks of life as we know it. While the presence of these chemicals was not a big surprise and while the planet in question – in the constellation Vulpecula – is too hot and massive for living creatures, the result left astronomers elated at their improving powers of celestial discernment.

  4. This may actually move the U.S. toward renewables? The washington Post reports Coal can’t fill the world’s burning appetite. “Long considered an abundant, reliable and relatively cheap source of energy, coal is suddenly in short supply and high demand worldwide. An untimely confluence of bad weather, flawed energy policies, low stockpiles and voracious growth in Asia’s appetite has driven international spot prices of coal up by 50 percent or more in the past five months, surpassing the escalation in oil prices. The signs of a coal crisis have been showing up… Meanwhile mining companies are enjoying a windfall… Expensive or not, coal is almost always dirtier to burn than are other fossil fuels. Although its use accounts for a quarter of world energy consumption, it generates 39 percent of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions.

  5. The Guardian reports Wind power urged for computers. “The world’s computing power should be moved from desktop computers and company servers to remote outposts where renewable energy such as wind and solar power is abundant, according to a Cambridge University computer expert. With carbon emissions from computing set to rise rapidly in the coming decades, he said his idea could significantly reduce the contribution made by computers to climate change. ‘There’s something very special about computing power which is very different from heating your house,” said Prof Andy Hopper. “Computing power can be moved around the world and can be done anywhere in the world where the energy is available.’

“These are not the blacks you’re looking for.”

Um, I’m sorry. There seems to be some kind of mistake.

When we talked about being open to having… what do you call them… “African-Americans” in leadership positions we were talking about the OTHER KIND.

The “ain’t no big thang” kind.

You know… happy black folk!

‘Cause we’re not so interested in the we-were-dragged-here-to-pick-your-underwear, had-to-fight-tooth-and-nail-not-to-come-with-a-bar-code-on our asses, had-to-brave-being-hung-like-laundry-and-stripped-of-our-flesh-by-water-hoses-just-to-get-vote, we’re-still-not-thrilled-to-see-you-dating-our-daughters, most-likely-to-be-accused-of-stealing-that-Honda, left-to-suck-dirt-and-water-during-that-inconvenient-hurricane-black-people.

See, there are facts associated with all the above that we’re just not ready to deal with.

In addition, we’d like to avoid anyone with the SUPPORT of the get-paid-less-than-everyone-else, can’t-drive-in-the-suburbs-without-getting-the-full-police-cruiser-with-the-flashing-lights-in-the-rear-view-mirror-treatment, won’t-be-seen-on-network-television-after-nine-pm, do-those-people-swim-anyway? black people, because they say some things about us that we also say about them… say openly in coffee shops and across dinner tables and on radio programs broadcast over public airwaves, but their saying them about us feels icky and so… not so much.

And one other thing, while we’re totally “down” with appropriating the language of… reveling in the athletic achievement of… stealing the cultural elements of music and dance from… locked-up-more-than-any-other-color-of-people, three-time-more-likely-to-be-given-the-death-sentence, one-third-less-likely-to-get-the-apartment-rented-to-them black people, but we insist that when they vote for OTHER like-pigmented folk its “tribalism” whereas when we elect forty-three white-as-three-hole-punch Presidents… its reasoned political practice.

Big apologies if there was any confusion ’bout that.

Congressional races round 2: New York

continuing through the alphabet

NY has 29 representatives: 23 Democrats and 6 Republicans (5 of whom are on the DCCC list

Filing deadline is July 17, primary is Sept 9

District: NY-01

Location Eastern Long Island

Representative Tim Bishop (D)

First elected  2002

2006 margin 62-38

2004 margin 56-44

Bush margin 2004 2,000 votes out of 300,000

Notes on opponents In 2004, William Manger raised $1.3 million to Bishop’s $1.9 million; in 2006, Italo Zinzi raised $300K to Bishop’s $1.1 million

Current opponents Lee Zeldin

Demographics 32nd highest income (median = $62K),

Assessment Safe

District: NY-02

Location Central Long Island

Representative  Steve Israel (D)

First elected  2000

2006 margin 70-30

2004 margin 67-33

Bush margin 2004 45-53

Notes on opponents Neither raised much

Current opponents None declared

Demographics 11th highest income (median = $71K)

Assessment Safe

District: NY-03

Location More of central Long Island, especially the south shore

Representative Peter King (R)

First elected  1992

2006 margin 56-44

2004 margin 63-37

Bush margin 2004 52-47

Notes on opponents In 2004, Blair Mathies raised $200K to King’s $500K; in 2006, David Meijas raised $900K to King’s $2 million

Current opponents None declared

Demographics 12th highest income (median = $71K), 84th fewest Blacks (2.1%)

Assessment On the DCCC list , but we need a candidate!

District: NY-04

Location Western part of southern Long Island (i.e. close to NYC)

Representative Carolyn McCarthy (D)

First elected  1996

2006 margin 65-35

2004 margin 63-37

Bush margin 2004 44-55

Notes on opponents In 2004, James Garner raised $300K to McCarthy’s $1.7 million.  In 2006, Martin Blessinger raised $100K to McCarthy’s $1.4 million

Current opponents None declared

Demographics 20th highest income (median = $67K)

Assessment Safe

District: NY-05

Location Northern part of western Long Island, and part of Queens

Representative Gary Ackerman (D)

First elected  1983

2006 margin unopposed

2004 margin 71-28

Bush margin 2004 36-63

Notes on opponents No money

Current opponents None declared

Demographics 22nd fewest veterans (6.7%), 7th most nonWhite, nonBlack, nonLatinos (mostly Asians, who are 24.5% of the population)

Assessment Safe

District: NY-06

Location Southeastern part of Queens, NYC

Representative Gregory Meeks (D)

First elected 1998  

2006 margin unopposed

2004 margin unopposed

Bush margin 2004 15-84

Notes on opponents NA

Current opponents None declared

Demographics 17th fewest veterans (6.2%), 5th fewest Whites (12.8%), 12th most Blacks (52.1%), 26th most  most nonWhite, nonBlack, nonLatinos (including 6.1% multiracial), 6th most Democratic

Assessment Safe

District: NY-07

Location Some of Queens, some of Bronx, NYC

Representative Joseph Crowley (D)

First elected  1998

2006 margin 84-16

2004 margin 81-19

Bush margin 2004 25-74

Notes on opponents Neither raised money

Current opponents None declared

Demographics 19th fewest veterans (6.4%), 38th fewest Whites (27.6%), 35th most Latinos (39.5%),  28th most  most nonWhite, nonBlack, nonLatinos (12.8% Asian), 27th most Democratic (tie with NY08)

Assessment Safe

District: NY-08

Location West side of Manhattan, part of lower Manhattan, southern Brooklyn

Representative Jerrold Nadler (D)

First elected 1992

2006 margin 85-14

2004 margin 81-19

Bush margin 2004 27-72

Notes on opponents In 2004, Peter Hort raised $140K to Nadler’s $850K

Current opponents None declared

Demographics 9th fewest veterans (5.1%), 38th most nonWhite, nonBlack, nonLatinos (11% Asian)

Assessment Safe.  

District: NY-09

Location Odd bits of Queens and Brooklyn, NYC

Representative Anthony Weiner (D)

First elected  1998

2006 margin unopposed

2004 margin 71-29

Bush margin 2004 44-56

Notes on opponents No money

Current opponents None declared

Demographics 28th fewest veterans (7.1%), 25th most nonWhite, nonBlack, nonLatinos (14% Asian)

Assessment Safe

District: NY-10

Location A V shaped portion of Brooklyn, NYC

Representative Edolphus Towns (D)

First elected  1982

2006 margin 92-6  (! and his opponent was a Republican!)

2004 margin 91-7 (!)

Bush margin 2004 13-86

Notes on opponents No money

Current opponents None declared, although there is a primary challenger

Demographics 27th lowest income (median = $30K), 11th fewest veterans (5.3%), 8th fewest Whites (16.2%), 9th most Blacks (60.2%), 3rd most Democratic

Assessment You’re kidding, right? He might lose a primary, though

District: NY-11

Location Central Brooklyn, NYC

Representative Yvette Clarke (D)

First elected  2006

2006 margin 90-8

2004 margin NA

Bush margin 2004 13-86

Notes on opponents No money

Current opponents None declared

Demographics 26th most in poverty (23.2%), 4th fewest veterans (4.1%), 25th fewest Whites (21.4%), 12th most Blacks (58.5%), 4th most Democratic

Assessment Safe

District: NY-12

Location Bits of Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn (this one won a ‘contest’ for most convoluted map of a district)

Representative Nydia Velazquez (D)

First elected  1992

2006 margin 90-10

2004 margin 86-14

Bush margin 2004 19-80

Notes on opponents No money

Current opponents None declared

Demographics 19th lowest income (median = $29K), 3rd fewest veterans (4.0%), 25th fewest Whites (23.3%), 24th most Latinos (48.5%), 18th most nonWhite, nonBlack, nonLatino (15.9% Asian), 15th most Democratic

Assessment Safe

District: NY-13

Location Staten Island and a bit of Brooklyn, NYC

Representative Vito Fosella (R)

First elected  1997

2006 margin 57-43

2004 margin 59-41

Bush margin 2004 55-45

Notes on opponents In 2004, Frank Barbaro raised $400K to Fosella’s $1.1 million; in 2006, Stephen Harrison raised $100K to Fosella’s $1.6 million

Current opponents Steve Harrison , who ran in 2006; Domenic Recchia.

Demographics Not unusual on what I track

Assessment On the DCCC list . superribbie ranks this as the 34th most vulnerable Republican seat.  We can win this one!

District: NY-14

Location East side of Manhattan, and western Queens

Representative  Carolyn  Maloney (D)

First elected  1992

2006 margin 84-16

2004 margin 81-19

Bush margin 2004 24-74

Notes on opponents neither raised much

Current opponents None declared

Demographics 15th fewest veterans (6.0%)

Assessment Safe

District: NY-15

Location Mostly Harlem, NYC, but also bits of Queens

Representative Charles Rangel (D)

First elected 1970

2006 margin 94-6 (! against a Republican)

2004 margin 91-7

Bush margin 2004 9-90

Notes on opponents No money

Current opponents  None declared

Demographics 12th lowest income (median = $28K), 3rd most in poverty (30.5%), 6th fewest veterans (4.6%), 9th fewest Whites (16.4%), 37th most Blacks (30.5%), 25th most Latinos (47.9%), tied for most Democratic

Assessment Safe

District: NY-16

Location South Bronx, NYC

Representative Jose Serrano (D)

First elected  1990

2006 margin 95-5 (!)

2004 margin 95-5 (!)

Bush margin 2004 10-89

Notes on opponents The same guy ran twice, with no money

Current opponents None declared

Demographics Lowest income in the USA (median = $19K), most in poverty (42.2%), 2nd fewest veterans (3.9%), fewest Whites (2.9%), 45th most Blacks (30.3%), 15th most Latinos (62.8%), tied for most Democratic

Assessment Safe

District: NY-17

Location Northern  Bronx, a bit of Westchester, but mostly Rockland county, the part of NY on the west side of the Hudson

Representative Elliot Engel (D)

First elected  1998

2006 margin 76-24

2004 margin 76-22

Bush margin 2004 33-67

Notes on opponents No money

Current opponents  None declared

Demographics 44th most Blacks (30.4%)

Assessment Safe

District: NY-18

Location Southern Westchester (just north of NYC)

Representative Nita Lowey (D)

First elected  1988

2006 margin 71-29

2004 margin 70-30

Bush margin 2004 42-58

Notes on opponents Richard Hoffman ran in 2004 and 2006, and raised less than $100K each time; Lowey raised about $1.5 million each time

Current opponents None declared

Demographics 19th highest income (median = $69K).

Assessment  Safe

District: NY-19

Location Northern suburbs and exurbs of NYC, bordering on NJ, a little of PA, and CT

Representative  John Hall (D)

First elected  2006

2006 margin 51-49

2004 margin NA

Bush margin 2004 54-45

Notes on opponents In 2006, Hall ousted Sue Kelly, with $1.6 million to her $2.5 million

Current opponents Kieran Lalor

Demographics 24th highest income (median = $64K)

Assessment Somewhat vulnerable. On the DCCC list , superribbie ranks this as the 15th most vulnerable Democratic seat.  However, Lalor looks like a nut job, so if there’s no better opponent….Several people have rule out running, see the WIKI

District: NY-20

Location Eastern part of northern NY, mostly around Albany

Representative Kirsten Gillibrand (D)

First elected  2006

2006 margin 53-47

2004 margin NA

Bush margin 2004 54-46

Notes on opponents In 2006, Gillibrand ousted John Sweeney, raising $2.5 million to his $3.5 million

Current opponents Sandy Treadwell, Richard Wager, John Wallace, Michael Rocque, possibly John Sweeney

Demographics 38th most Whites (93.4%)

Assessment Vulnerable.  On the DCCC list , superribbie ranks this as the 8th most vulnerable Democratic seat.

District: NY-21

Location Albany, Troy, Schenectady and points west of there

Representative  Michael McNulty (D) retiring

First elected  1988

2006 margin 72-20

2004 margin 71-29

Bush margin 2004 43-55

Notes on opponents No money

Current opponents The Democrat is Tracey Brooks ; no declared Republican

Demographics Not unusual on what I track

Assessment On the DCCC list , superribbie ranks this as the 41st most vulnerable Democratic seat. On the other hand, if no Republicans run, it’s safe

District: NY-22

Location If you picture where NY bends to the west, you’ll have the 22nd. Borders PA, includes Poughkeepsie (NYC exurb) in the east and Binghamton and Ithaca in the west

Representative Maurice Hinchey (D)

First elected  1992

2006 margin unopposed

2004 margin 67-33

Bush margin 2004 45-54

Notes on opponents No money

Current opponents  George Phillips, Bruce Layman

Demographics Not unusual on what I track

Assessment  Safe

District: NY-23

Location Northernmost NY, bordering Canada and VT

Representative John McHugh (R)

First elected  1992

2006 margin 63-37

2004 margin 71-29

Bush margin 2004 51-47

Notes on opponents In 2006, Robert Johnson raised $160K to McHugh’s $750K

Current opponents Mike Oot

Demographics  8th most rural (65.3%),

Assessment Long shot

District: NY-24

Location Rome, Utica, and Geneva, near Lake Ontario

Representative Michael Arcuri (D)

First elected  2006

2006 margin 54-45

2004 margin NA

Bush margin 2004 53-47

Notes on opponents In 2006, this was an open seat; Arcuri raised $2 million and his opponent $1.5 million

Current opponents None declared

Demographics Not unusual on what I track

Assessment Slightly vulnerable. On the DCCC list ; superribbie ranks this as the 38th most vulnerable Democratic seat. Of course, with no opponent, it’s safe

District: NY-25

Location From Lake Ontario east to Syracuse

Representative  Jim Walsh (R) retiring

First elected  1988

2006 margin 51-49

2004 margin Unopposed by Democrats

Bush margin 2004 48-50

Notes on opponents In 2006, Dan Maffei raised $900K to $1.8 million for Walsh

Current opponents Dan Maffei is the Democrat, no announced Republicans

Demographics Not unusual on what I track

Assessment Highly vulnerable.  On the DCCC list . superribbie ranks this as the second most vulnerable Republican seat. And, if no one runs….it’s a gimmee!

District: NY-26

Location Just south of Lake Ontario, east of Lake Erie

Representative  Tom Reynolds retiring

First elected  1998

2006 margin 52-48

2004 margin 56-44

Bush margin 2004 55-43

Notes on opponents Jack Davis ran in 2004 and 2006. In 2006, he raised $2.4 million to Reynolds’ $5 million; in 2004, $1.4 million to $2.5 million

Current opponents Democrats: Jon Powers

Alice Kryzan .  Reynolds just announced his retirement, and Davis is considering running again, as well

Demographics 55th most Whites (92.3%)

Assessment On the DCCC list ; superribbie ranks this as the 27th most vulnerable Republican seat

District: NY-27

Location South and east of Lake Erie, including Buffalo

Representative Brian Higgins (D)

First elected  2004

2006 margin 79-21

2004 margin 51-49

Bush margin 2004 45-54

Notes on opponents In 2004, this was an open seat and Higgins beat Nancy Naples, each raising about $1.5 million.  In 2006, Michael McHale raised little

Current opponents None declared

Demographics Not unusual on what I track

Assessment Somewhat vulnerable. On the DCCC list .  But, again, no opponent, so….

District: NY-28

Location The shores of Lake Ontario, a long, narrow strip

Representative Louise Slaughter (D)

First elected  1986

2006 margin 73-27

2004 margin 73-25

Bush margin 2004 36-63

Notes on opponents Neither raised money

Current opponents None declared

Demographics 48th lowest income (median = $32K)

Assessment Safe

District: NY-29

Location Most of the part of NY that borders PA

Representative Randy Kuhl (R)

First elected  2004

2006 margin 51-49

2004 margin 51-41

Bush margin 2004 56-42

Notes on opponents In 2006, Eric Massa raised about $1.5 million, as did Kuhl

Current opponents Eric Massa

Demographics 30th most Whites (92.5%), 51st fewest Latinos (1.4%)

Assessment Vulnerable. superribbie ranks this as the 14th most vulnerable Republican seat

Short Takes: Obama, APA, & Omar Khadr

Arch-neocon William Kristol and the New York Times seem bent on shoving their racial swiftboating tactics down our throats. Kristol was forced to issue a partial retraction after writing a story that claimed Barack Obama lied when he said he wasn’t present at a sermon by his pastor Jeremiah White that purportedly blamed blamed “the ‘arrogance’ of the ‘United States of White America’ for much of the world’s suffering, especially the oppression of blacks.” Kristol and the right-wing want to paint Obama as a racial extremist, or someone who cynically manipulates racist extremists, and this to frighten white Americans.

Of course, Obama was never at such a sermon. And frankly, it wouldn’t have mattered if he were. Obama spoke his piece on the anger of black America the other day, in a well-received speech on the impact of racial divisions on the United States. While I think Wright’s comments weren’t “divisive” — comments Obama felt he had to disavow — nevertheless, he said they were understandable, given the history of slavery, Jim Crow, and other racial discrimination. And that’s more than any other U.S. politician would give towards the validation of black rage, much of it, as Obama pointed out, directed impotently at misplaced or non-powerful targets, or turned inward.

+++++++++++++++

Noted bioethicist and physician, Steven Miles, comments favorably on my analysis of the APA’s new resolution language concerning a ban on psychologist participation in torture in Bush’s prison gulag abroad:

Valtin is correct. The February 22 APA statement entirely conforms to current US policy of lip service in public and war crimes in private.

Go read his entire comment.

Meanwhile, the American Psychological Association continues to do the dirty work for the Department of Defense. In past week, APA has been lobbying heavily to change the language of California State Senator Ridley-Thomas’s resolution calling for California health-care professionals, including psychologists, to not work in the anti-human rights sewer that is Guantanamo, and other such prisons where torture and prisoner abuse has occurred. APA apparently was successful in getting the language of the resolution changed. Instead of an outright ban in participation at torture sites, the resolution now calls for non-participation only in interrogations that involve torture or abusive treatment.

This sounds good, but in reality it is a significant weakening of the resolution, rendering it all but meaningless. For one thing, it leave health care workers, and psychologists, especially, who staff the Behavioral Science Consultation Teams or BSCTs at Guantanamo and elsewhere, working in sites that do not allow basic human rights, such as habeas corpus. It also, as a recent article by intelligence and ethics experts Jean Maria Arrigo, PhD and David DeBatto (U.S. Army Counterintelligence Operative – ret.), point out in a recent article:

Many institutional factors combine to defeat APA principles on interrogation in national security settings under the Bush Administration….

In intelligence operations, information is passed to participants strictly on a “need to know” basis. Inasmuch as the February 2008 Modification prohibits psychologists from “knowingly planning, designing, participating in or assisting in the use of all condemned techniques,” it is a simple matter to withhold morally relevant information from psychologists and to provide cover stories….

APA leadership knows what it’s doing in sending lobbyists around the country, weakening any resolution, bill, or determined effort to stop the psychological presence at DoD and CIA torture sessions. This keeps the APA in the good graces of Pentagon and intelligence agency high echelon. It also destroys whatever claims APA has to being an organization that stands for anything progressive, or even represents the beneficent practice of psychology in America.

Representatives of Physicians for Social Responsibility / Los Angeles, who along with the American Friends Service Committee have worked with Ridley-Thomas on the resolution, assure me that there is still time to change the language of the resolution. But while that means the resolution can be made stronger, it can also be weakened even more. And there’s no sign that APA will further ignore this legislative initiative in California, which if it passes would be a serious black-eye for the Pentagon and Bush’s torture apologists.

+++++++++++++++

Meanwhile, in Guantanamo itself, Omar Khadr, now 21 years old, but 15 when Special Forces arrested him in Afghanistan, had his trial at the hands of the Pentagon’s phony tribunal system postponed indefinitely by a judge, while the defense finally gets a chance to look at the “evidence” the government has against Khadr. Some of this evidence is exculpatory.

For instance, the U.S. has maintained that young Khadr was the only person left alive inside a house when a grenade was used to kill a U.S. Army Sargent. But now we know otherwise:

Last month, the testimony of a soldier identified only as “OC-1,” accidentally released to the public, showed that another fighter was alive inside the Afghan compound where the 2002 firefight took place and a grenade was thrown at U.S. soldiers, killing one of them. Until last month’s revelation, it had long been assumed that Mr. Khadr was the only person alive inside the compound, and so must have thrown the grenade. Mr. Khadr now faces multiple charges in connection to the incident, including murder.

The U.S. officer’s diary, snippets of which were made public this week, confirms the OC-1 account that another fighter was alive….

“I remember looking over my right shoulder and seeing [edited out by government] just waste the guy who was still alive. He was shooting him with controlled pairs…” the officer writes, referring to bursts of gunfire.

The Globe and Mail article goes on to describe the political circumstance surrounding the decision to put Khadr on trial, while another article on the case at Adelaide Now details new charges concerning the treatment of Khadr in U.S. custody.

Omar Khadr was a minor for his first three years at Guantanamo. But after his arrest in July 2002, he was held at Bagram, Afghanistan, where he suffered the standard American abuse: hooding, threatened with dogs, water poured over him. But there were other threats:

“On several occasions at Bagram, interrogators threatened to have me raped, or sent to other countries like Egypt, Syria, Jordan or Israel to be raped,” Khadr said in the document.

He said interrogators told him at one point that the Egyptians wound send “Soldier No. 9” to rape him….

“While my wounds were still healing, interrogators made me clean the floors on my hands and knees. They woke me up in the middle of the night after midnight and made me clean the floor with a brush and dry it with towels until dawn, carry heavy buckets of water,” he said.

Later at Guantanamo, Khadr said an Afghan with a US flag on his pants threatened to send him back to Afghanistan unless he cooperated, telling him: “They like small boys in Afghanistan.”

Omar said in his recently released affidavit that he said whatever he could think of to stop the brutal interrogations, in which he was shackled for hours at a time, and not allowed to use a bathroom, to the point he urinated on himself. Until a Canadian judge refused access to Khadr by Canadian intelligence officers, because conditions at Guantanamo failed to meet the criteria of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canadian interrogators failed to intervene to stop any abuse. They were there, in part, to try and get the teenage Khadr to implicate Canadian torture rendition victim Maher Arar, among others, proving that Bush’s “war on terror” torture campaign is an international affair.

Also posted at Invictus

Short Takes: Obama, APA, & Omar Khadr

Arch-neocon William Kristol and the New York Times seem bent on shoving their racial swiftboating tactics down our throats. Kristol was forced to issue a partial retraction after writing a story that claimed Barack Obama lied when he said he wasn’t present at a sermon by his pastor Jeremiah White that purportedly blamed blamed “the ‘arrogance’ of the ‘United States of White America’ for much of the world’s suffering, especially the oppression of blacks.” Kristol and the right-wing want to paint Obama as a racial extremist, or someone who cynically manipulates racist extremists, and this to frighten white Americans.

Of course, Obama was never at such a sermon. And frankly, it wouldn’t have mattered if he were. Obama spoke his piece on the anger of black America the other day, in a well-received speech on the impact of racial divisions on the United States. While I think Wright’s comments weren’t “divisive” — comments Obama felt he had to disavow — nevertheless, he said they were understandable, given the history of slavery, Jim Crow, and other racial discrimination. And that’s more than any other U.S. politician would give towards the validation of black rage, much of it, as Obama pointed out, directed impotently at misplaced or non-powerful targets, or turned inward.

+++++++++++++++

Noted bioethicist and physician, Steven Miles, comments favorably on my analysis of the APA’s new resolution language concerning a ban on psychologist participation in torture in Bush’s prison gulag abroad:

Valtin is correct. The February 22 APA statement entirely conforms to current US policy of lip service in public and war crimes in private.

Go read his entire comment.

Meanwhile, the American Psychological Association continues to do the dirty work for the Department of Defense. In past week, APA has been lobbying heavily to change the language of California State Senator Ridley-Thomas’s resolution calling for California health-care professionals, including psychologists, to not work in the anti-human rights sewer that is Guantanamo, and other such prisons where torture and prisoner abuse has occurred. APA apparently was successful in getting the language of the resolution changed. Instead of an outright ban in participation at torture sites, the resolution now calls for non-participation only in interrogations that involve torture or abusive treatment.

This sounds good, but in reality it is a significant weakening of the resolution, rendering it all but meaningless. For one thing, it leave health care workers, and psychologists, especially, who staff the Behavioral Science Consultation Teams or BSCTs at Guantanamo and elsewhere, working in sites that do not allow basic human rights, such as habeas corpus. It also, as a recent article by intelligence and ethics experts Jean Maria Arrigo, PhD and David DeBatto (U.S. Army Counterintelligence Operative – ret.), point out in a recent article:

Many institutional factors combine to defeat APA principles on interrogation in national security settings under the Bush Administration….

In intelligence operations, information is passed to participants strictly on a “need to know” basis. Inasmuch as the February 2008 Modification prohibits psychologists from “knowingly planning, designing, participating in or assisting in the use of all condemned techniques,” it is a simple matter to withhold morally relevant information from psychologists and to provide cover stories….

APA leadership knows what it’s doing in sending lobbyists around the country, weakening any resolution, bill, or determined effort to stop the psychological presence at DoD and CIA torture sessions. This keeps the APA in the good graces of Pentagon and intelligence agency high echelon. It also destroys whatever claims APA has to being an organization that stands for anything progressive, or even represents the beneficent practice of psychology in America.

Representatives of Physicians for Social Responsibility / Los Angeles, who along with the American Friends Service Committee have worked with Ridley-Thomas on the resolution, assure me that there is still time to change the language of the resolution. But while that means the resolution can be made stronger, it can also be weakened even more. And there’s no sign that APA will further ignore this legislative initiative in California, which if it passes would be a serious black-eye for the Pentagon and Bush’s torture apologists.

+++++++++++++++

Meanwhile, in Guantanamo itself, Omar Khadr, now 21 years old, but 15 when Special Forces arrested him in Afghanistan, had his trial at the hands of the Pentagon’s phony tribunal system postponed indefinitely by a judge, while the defense finally gets a chance to look at the “evidence” the government has against Khadr. Some of this evidence is exculpatory.

For instance, the U.S. has maintained that young Khadr was the only person left alive inside a house when a grenade was used to kill a U.S. Army Sargent. But now we know otherwise:

Last month, the testimony of a soldier identified only as “OC-1,” accidentally released to the public, showed that another fighter was alive inside the Afghan compound where the 2002 firefight took place and a grenade was thrown at U.S. soldiers, killing one of them. Until last month’s revelation, it had long been assumed that Mr. Khadr was the only person alive inside the compound, and so must have thrown the grenade. Mr. Khadr now faces multiple charges in connection to the incident, including murder.

The U.S. officer’s diary, snippets of which were made public this week, confirms the OC-1 account that another fighter was alive….

“I remember looking over my right shoulder and seeing [edited out by government] just waste the guy who was still alive. He was shooting him with controlled pairs…” the officer writes, referring to bursts of gunfire.

The Globe and Mail article goes on to describe the political circumstance surrounding the decision to put Khadr on trial, while another article on the case at Adelaide Now details new charges concerning the treatment of Khadr in U.S. custody.

Omar Khadr was a minor for his first three years at Guantanamo. But after his arrest in July 2002, he was held at Bagram, Afghanistan, where he suffered the standard American abuse: hooding, threatened with dogs, water poured over him. But there were other threats:

“On several occasions at Bagram, interrogators threatened to have me raped, or sent to other countries like Egypt, Syria, Jordan or Israel to be raped,” Khadr said in the document.

He said interrogators told him at one point that the Egyptians wound send “Soldier No. 9” to rape him….

“While my wounds were still healing, interrogators made me clean the floors on my hands and knees. They woke me up in the middle of the night after midnight and made me clean the floor with a brush and dry it with towels until dawn, carry heavy buckets of water,” he said.

Later at Guantanamo, Khadr said an Afghan with a US flag on his pants threatened to send him back to Afghanistan unless he cooperated, telling him: “They like small boys in Afghanistan.”

Omar said in his recently released affidavit that he said whatever he could think of to stop the brutal interrogations, in which he was shackled for hours at a time, and not allowed to use a bathroom, to the point he urinated on himself. Until a Canadian judge refused access to Khadr by Canadian intelligence officers, because conditions at Guantanamo failed to meet the criteria of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canadian interrogators failed to intervene to stop any abuse. They were there, in part, to try and get the teenage Khadr to implicate Canadian torture rendition victim Maher Arar, among others, proving that Bush’s “war on terror” torture campaign is an international affair.

Also posted at Invictus

Where Is The Line?

Is there a line anymore? Who determines the line? Is the fact that the folks who claim to determine the line, like Faux News, are the ones who usually cross it relevant?

To wit: Is John McCain senile?

This is at least the fourth time that McCain has asserted a direct Iran/al Qaeda connection.

Is he too senile to be President? Or is he just incredibly stupid? EVERYONE who knows anything about Iraq knows that Iran would not train and equip Sunni insurgents/Al Qaeda. But especially if you buy into the alleged existential threat that the Republicans peddle that includes Iran trying to take over Iraq, they would be training the very folks who would be insurgents against them! After five years of this crap, the Republican fear mongering lies have woven such a ridiculous net of lies, that they can’t even keep them straight in their own heads.

Especially the senile ones, like John McCain.

He calls it a slip, but says he is the best qualified….after ‘slipping’ four times.

Asleep ‘at the switch’ of the Straight Talk Express. Best qualified indeed.

Photobucket

As Bill Maher said recently

“We’re one terrorist attack away from John McCain rising in the polls by ten points because people think he’s tougher. Of course he’s not tougher about the war, he’s dumber about the war … because he thinks that by keeping troops in the heart of the Muslim world, that’s gonna help the war on terror.”

In this semi-post Rovian era (as if he doesn’t still have a hand in, ha!) where all semblance of decency and integrity has been decimated and nuked and buried, where the politics of personal destruction is now the norm, where DO decent people draw the line in trying to defeat a political opponent? How far do we go in trying to defeat yet another delusional, Mad Republican Bomber?

While folks around the blogosphere tie themselves in knots fighting over which Democrat should get the nomination, this angry, unstable, OLD man who either has no idea what is going on in the world he is supposed to protect us from, or is losing it mentally…..has taken the lead over both of the Dems in the latest polls. To the point where alleged Democrats say they will vote for this warmongering wanker.

Let’s just hope that when we get a nominee, they devote the same energy to defeating this disaster waiting in the wings as they are spending on cannibalizing their own Party. Oy.

Couldn’t protest? Join me here anti war video

Cross posted at KOS

This was meant to be posted yesterday but unfortunataly Youtube was down for maintenance, so here it is a day late.

I couldn’t be in D.C. today, I imagine that was true for most of you. My solution was to put together a quickie anti-war video. Follow me below the fold for part what this war has meant. Feel free to add you own comments, this is a protest after all.

The morning of 911, I went to my front porch and hung the flag. By noon every house had a flag waving in solidarity and defiance. George Bush had the opportunity in that moment to change the world, to move us toward peace. We, he had the world behind him and he could have led them just about anywhere. He could have honored the 3000 dead by ending terroism forever. But he didn’t, he used 911 for the basest of human pursuits.

We talk a lot about how the war has devasted this country, what we have lost and it is a lot, not the least of which was our innocence. But there are others who suffer far more everyday. Suffer the deaths of not 3000 or 4500 or even 150,000 as when we dropped the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Iraqis have suffered the deaths of 1.2 to 1.3 MILLION of their countrymen, loved ones and friends. 3 million of them have been driven to other countries as refugees. Countries who are not equipped to provide for them. There are few prospects for work or rebuilding a life. There are another 2.5 million who are refugees in their own country with no where to go. Those who could leave left long ago, the last walking out of Iraq. I believe it is about 325 miles from Baghdad to the Syrian border though what is largely a waste land. How desperate must you be to make that walk?

5.5 million refugees and more than half of them are children under the age of 12. Refugee children are at the greatest risk. They may or may not have a custodial parent for protection or subsistance. Many of those children won’t survive and those who do will have had their lives interrupted in a significant way.

Best guess number is upwards of 8 million Iraqis are dead, maimed or a refugee. Iraq’s prewar population was between 24-25 million altho truly accurate numbers are impossible to come by. That number represents about a dozen of our least populous states. Can we even imagine?

We have destroyed the cradle of civilization, laid waste a country who was no treat to us. Salted the land with DU, something that will kill and maim thousands more Iraqis every year for generations to come.

What good is democracy to them now?

George Bush is a war criminal, he has done the unspeakable and now stands beside Pol Pot as a mass murderer of innocents.

It was important to me to be in D.C., I had a mission and it was to hand out printed memorials from the IGTNT diaries to those who watch and do not do. Because of family issues it was impossible for me to attend and OPOL stepped up in my stead to fulfill  my mission, I can not thank him enough.

Here is the Video. Word of warning, had some problems with the volume of the audio, not got the hang of my new toy yet.

Economic News: Things You Should Know

(10 am – promoted by ek hornbeck)

I thought that with all the discussion regarding the US economy recently, and after the Bear Stearns fire sale to J.P. Morgan, it might be a good time to look at what is going on in America, overall.

Now, remember!  Presnit Bush sez that we are in a bit of a rough patch, but that all the leading indicators show a robust economy!  Or somes such drivel.

Unemployment Claims Surge In Latest Week

New filings for unemployment claims rose more than expected last week, matching the highest level since 2005, according to a report released Thursday by the Labor Department.

According to the report, 378,000 people filed for unemployment for the first time in the week ended March 15, up 22,000 from a revised 356,000 reported in the previous week.

The 378,000 reading, which is subject to revision, matched the number reported for the week ended Jan. 26. New jobless claims last exceeded that number on Oct. 1, 2005 when they hit 385,000.

A consensus of economists polled by Briefing.com had expected to see initial jobless claims to rise by 4,000 to 360,000.

The level of new jobless claims can be used as a recession indicator. “I think it confirms that we’re in a recession, or at least in a period of negative growth,” said Ethan Harris, chief U.S. economist for Lehman Brothers.

Have you ever noticed that since the Bush administration has come into office (Thanks again, SCOTUS!) that when a number is adjusted, it is always worse than when first reported?  Coincidence, I’m sure.

Speaking of leading indicators, while I’m sure Presnit Bush has been getting some insider information that, no doubt is classified due to possible use by terrorists to fly hang-gliders into the front doors of neighborhood banks, some actual experts disagree.

Leading Indicators In 5th Straight Drop

The Conference Board’s measure’s down streak is longest since 2001.

An indicator of the economy’s future performance fell for the fifth straight month in February, the first time that has happened since 2001, according to a report released Thursday.

The index of leading U.S. economic indicators issued by The Conference Board, a business research group, fell 0.3% to 135 last month, extending the 0.1% decline logged in January. The decline was in line with economists’ expectations, according to a consensus compiled by Briefing.com.

The decline is “certainly reflective of a very slow economy,” said Ken Goldstein, an economist at the Conference Board. “But we still have strong fundamentals.”

The index has not declined for five consecutive months since 2001, when it fell from 114.3 in October of 2000 to 112 in April 2001. The National Bureau of Economic Recession said the nation’s economy went into recession from March through November 2001.

Yet, do remember that the fundimentals are still strong!  Therefore, when Bushie tells us that we ARE NOT in a RECESSION right now, you will need to use your own judgement.

Bushie says UP, I say DOWN.  If you get my drift.

A Slice of Pizza Gets Pricier

Rising wheat prices are pushing up costs for baked goods, and foods from muffins to pizza are getting more expensive.

Pizzeria owner Joe Vicari shakes his head as he prepares to rip open a 50-pound bag of flour for another batch of dough.

“That’s 37-bucks. $37. I couldn’t believe it!” says Vicari.

Since opening Mariella Pizza in mid-town Manhattan 30-years ago, Vicari, says he has never experienced such a jump in the cost of his ingredients.

“I can’t even believe how much the flour [goes] up. When I see the bill I can’t believe it, that’s too much,” says the veteran pizza maker, who emigrated from Sicily. Only four weeks ago, Vicari says, he was paying just $16-a-bag for Gold Medal brand flour, which at $37-a-bag now seems more golden than ever.

Vicari struggles with the thought of raising the price of a slice, which he lifted to $2.50 only a few months ago due to an increase in cheese costs.

“Over here people come to buy pizza, working people. How much [am] I going to raise the pizza now?” asks Vicari. “Somebody come in here for two slices, and I take $5. I feel very, very bad for the person.”

But, he concedes, if flour rises a few dollars more, above $40-a-bag, he probably will pass along the higher expense to customers.

The cost of cereals and bakery products climbed at an annual rate of more than 9% last month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, compared to a rise in the overall Consumer Price Index during the past 12 months of 4%.

Yikes!  Prices more than double in one month!  Flour?  Staple food ingredient that is used, like, more than any other staple food ingredient.  

Get used to eating cheeseless pizza baked directly on a plate.  Or something.

Now for the GOOD NEWS!

Gas Prices Edge Lower

Average price of a gallon of regular continues to pull back, according to motorist group survey.

The nationwide average price of gasoline continued to head lower Thursday, according to a survey conducted for the motorist group AAA.

The average price for regular unleaded fell slightly to $3.275 a gallon, down from $3.279 Wednesday, according to AAA’s Web site. That’s down a full penny from the record high of $3.285 reported on Sunday. The average price-per-gallon of diesel fuel continued to rise, hitting a record high of $4.033.

Regular was $3.032 on average at this time last month and $2.564 a year ago, according to the AAA. Diesel was $3.454 a month ago, and $2.744 at this time last year.

Remember when $2.744 per gallon seemed obscene?  Ah, the good ol’ days!

Dollar Gains Against Euro

Greenback strengthens following a smaller-than-expected interest rate cut and news of mortgage-related writedowns by a major European bank.

The dollar was up versus the 15-nation euro Thursday as regulators halted trading in IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG, which reported more mortgage-related write-downs.

The euro bought $1.5443 in morning European trading, below the $1.5613 it bought the night before in New York and well off its all-time high of $1.5904 set Monday.

The dollar dropped to 99.59 Japanese yen from 100.00 yen the night before, above its 12-year low of 95.77 set on Tuesday. The British pound drifted lower to $1.9817 from the $1.9849 it bought in New York the night before.

James Hughes, a currency analyst at CMC Markets in London, said the dollar’s rise was helped by the three-fourths of a percent rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank on Tuesday, but said markets are keenly aware that more rate cuts could in fact weaken the dollar and push the euro back upward.

“That smaller-than-expected rate cut by the Fed on Tuesday continues to trouble some investors and has helped lend some support to the greenback over the past 36 hours, but consensus remains that further softening of monetary policy will be seen in the U.S. and this sentiment could well initiate a resumption of selling pressures on the dollar as we approach the weekend break,” he said.

There are lots of things going on behind the scenes, so each day will bring new information concerning our financial realities.  

Remember, keep your eyes and ears open and be vigilant.

What are you and me gonna do about Iraq?*

(Noon – promoted by ek hornbeck)

They’ll discuss it in Detroit.

They’ll write letters in Cornwall, Ct.

They’ll march in Duluth, rally in White Plains, and vigil in Cincinnati.

And they’ve been getting arrested in San Francisco.

Friday is Iraq Moratorium #7, and people across the country are marking it in dozens of different ways, from rallies, marches, protests, vigils to individual actions to call for an end to the war and occupation.

There’s even been a bit of civil disobedience by people willing to make arrest to make their point.

It all fits (as long as it’s non-violent) under the umbrella of the Iraq Moratorium, a loosely-knit national grassroots movement to end the war and bring the troops home.

The Moratorium truly is bottom-up, not top-down.  Its website lists planned actions (about 90 so far this month and 800 since it began in September), and reports, photos and videos of previous events.

It is observed on the Third Friday of every month, when people are asked to do something, individually or collectively, to show that they want the war to end and the troops to come home.

That can be as simple an action as wearing a button or black armband to work or school, or as dramatic as getting arrested — and a whole lot of things in between.

This month, because of the fifth anniversary of “shock and awe” on  March 19, and the observance of Christian Holy Week, Iraq Moratorium events have spread out during the week.

The official Moratorium day is Friday, which is also Good Friday, so some observances will have a religous theme.

The Pike’s Peak Justice Coalition will take part in Pax Christi’s Way of the Cross/Way of Justice procession in downtown Colorado Springs.  

A Hartford, CT “Lamentation and Protest” will begin with an interfaith prayer service, followed by a silent procession to the federal building, where marchers will pile stones bearing the names of victims of the Iraq war.  Church bells will ring in a number of communities in Massachusetts to mark Moratorium observances.

If you want this war to end — as you must, if you’re reading this post –please do something on Friday.  If you’ve already taken some action this week to protest the war, do one more thing on Friday.  If you’re traveling or home for the holidays, wear a button and talk about the war with your seatmate or family.

Or, if nothing else, give a buck to the Moratorium or some other peace group working to end this insanity.

It does matter.  

Doing something beats the hell out of doing nothing.

Try it and see for yourself.

*(I know it’s “you and I,” but thought this diary would get at least one extra comment if the headline had a grammatical error).  

Updated – Tibet: China Admits Protests Spreading After Footage Aired

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

…And Gordon Brown steps in to fill the Western void.

First, the footage. After this was aired on CTV in Canada and then picked up by other Western news outlets, China has formally admitted that the protests have spread outside Lhasa:

China has admitted for the first time that anti-Beijing protests have spread outside the Tibetan Autonomous Region, as security is ratcheted up.

Xinhua news agency reported huge damage to government buildings and shops after riots in Sichuan province on Sunday.

And officials said 24 people had been arrested after demos in the Tibetan city of Lhasa, and 170 protesters had surrendered to authorities.

Hundreds of troops have been seen pouring into Tibetan areas.

link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asi…

The Dalai Lama gave a press conference earlier today, reiterating his intention to resolve the conflict peacefully, while reminding folks that he cannot unilaterally stop these protests (full video of the press conference can be found on the Dalai Lama’s website, here: http://www.dalailama.com/page…. ).

The Dalai Lama specifically stated that he is “…not seeking Tibetan independence, but preservation of Tibetan culture.” He summed up the rhetorical back-and-forth between himself and the Chinese government (live blogging his comments – my apologies for any minor errors):

I think a hundred times, a thousand times I have repeated these things, so sometimes I jokingly tell people my side one mantra which to recite “we are not seeking independence, we are not seeking independence”. This is my mantra which I repeat a thousand times on my rosary. Then the Chinese government side has their mantra, “Tibet is part of China, Tibet is part of China” which they repeat a thousand times. But the world isn’t too convinced, is it?

In the middle of these dueling choruses worthy of Gilbert & Sullivan stepped in British Prime Minister Gordan Brown:

Mr Brown took the Commons by surprise when he informed MPs that Wen Jiabao, the Chinese Prime Minister, had told him in a telephone conversation yesterday that he was ready to enter into a dialogue with the Dalai Lama, provided that he did not support the total independence of Tibet and that he renounced violence.

Downing Street said that the Dalai Lama had already satisfied both conditions in recent statements and that Britain believed that conditions were in place for talks to resume between Beijing and Tibet’s spiritual leader.

snip

During their conversation, for which diplomats on both sides had prepared for several days, Mr Brown also called on China to show restraint in Tibet. He told Mr Wen of his intention to meet the Dalai Lama.

The formal reaction from China was one of dismay, however. China’s Foreign Ministry urged Britain to understand the Dalai Lama’s “true face” and offer him no support, the Xinhua news agency reported. A ministry spokesman said: “China is seriously concerned about the message. As we have repeatedly pointed out, Dalai is a political refugee engaged in activities of splitting China under the camouflage of religion.”

link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/t…

Any good operetta needs its villian, and China it trying to cast the Dalai Lama in that role.

Meanwhile, the situation on the ground remains uncertain as western journalists and international observers are still denied access to the areas where the protests are occuring.

Please keep all sides of this conflict in your thoughts, prayers and meditations.

UPDATE: On a topic that is near and dear to the heart of every blogger – evidence. With so many conspiracy theories, and smears, and misinformation floating around the blogosphere lots of us insist on it. Links. Facts. Videos. Expert analysis and testimony.

When asked to provide such evidence to back up their claims of a conspiracy theory that the Dalai Lama and his “clique” organized these current protests in Tibet, Chinese authorities could provide none of this evidence that we, as bloggers, demand:

China says a group it calls the “Dalai clique” organised protests that turned into a riot in Tibet’s capital Lhasa last week that killed at least 13 people and which spilled over into parts of its western provinces.

But during an hour-long news conference, its Foreign Ministry spokesman declined to elaborate on who that group includes or how such a plot went undetected by China’s intelligence organs in a region that the Communist government tightly controls.

“As the investigation unfolds, relevant authorities of China will release evidence in due course,” Qin Gang said.

Qin did not say how China could be certain the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism who has lived in exile since a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule, was behind the unrest if the investigation has not yet concluded.

link: http://www.reuters.com/article…

If China is so upset that the Dalai Lama is “winning the PR battle with the West”, maybe they should reconsider tossing around conspiracy theories that wouldn’t meet the turnip test on any reputable blog.

Pony Party, Spring

Happy Spring, Purim, Mouloud (Islamic recognition of the birth of the Prophet), and Maundy Thursday!!

 

Lines Written In Early Spring by William Wordsworth

I heard a thousand blended notes,

While in a grove I sate reclined,

In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts

Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link

The human soul that through me ran;

And much it grieved my heart to think

What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,

The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;

And ’tis my faith that every flower

Enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopped and played,

Their thoughts I cannot measure:–

But the least motion which they made

It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan,

To catch the breezy air;

And I must think, do all I can,

That there was pleasure there.

If this belief from heaven be sent,

If such be Nature’s holy plan,

Have I not reason to lament

What man has made of man?

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