Iglesia ……………………………………… Episode 31

(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

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“I can most definitively assure you,” Rogers said, “That I am neither God nor Mohamed. Just a humble” smirk “servant, here to assist you in whatever small way I possibly can, within my meager abilities” smirk.

She was very proud of herself for not trying to punch him again, when he did that smirky thing he did. She looked down and saw that she had barely spilled any of her tea when she restrained herself, too.

She was almost positive now that the Indian accent was fake. It was just too stereotypical to be real.

She crossed her arms and cocked her hip and stared bullets at him.

“I don’t suppose you will tell me how you do that ….disappearing transparent thing you do, since you know I will kick the living shit out of your ass when I figure it out. I have to admit that’s some serious fuckin Fu you got there.”

“On the contrary! Quite a considerable part of my duties will be instructing you in that very same….Fu? ….that your very competent and spirited attacks were unable to defeat. And may I venture to say that it speaks very highly for your fighting spirit that your first inquiry was concerning how defeat my modest abilities. Not for instance, why your head does not hurt, or indeed, why you are here undergoing these rather strenuous exercises in the first place?”

She sat down on the delicate little tea chair and rubbed her head. It still didn’t hurt, dammit.

“Yeah….well this sure ain’t the Heaven I heard about in Sunday School, I gotta say.” She sat back and gave him her very best stare. For a long time. Everyone flinched when she whipped that one out. He never even blinked. She stood and walked over to him and poked him again, still solid, still felt like anyone she had ever had occasion to poke. She took his hand and bent his finger back….and back, and back until the top of it was touching the back of his hand. She could still feel the bones in it when she traced it with her other hand. Feel where they should have broken, but instead just kind of stretched without getting any longer or any weaker, as she found out when she wiggled the finger back and forth and felt resistance.

He smirked.

She seethed…and then went back and sat down and poured a fresh cup of tea. But she didn’t drink it.

“As you can see, and as you have demonstrated to yourself at great and laborious length,” a sigh this time, instead of a smirk. If anything it was even more infuriating. “the rules that you are used to, that you have existed within for your entire ‘life,’ in fact nearly everything you know, are not applicable here.”

“This is indeed not the Heaven you were taught of in your rustic youth. That Heaven, or a form of it, too be strictly accurate… does exist here, or in close proximity at least. But I doubt you will be visiting it any time soon. In your present form you would….disturb…the residents.” A bite of cake a sip of tea, a short version of the smirk….she just stared. “Yours is a special case,” he continued “a very special case indeed. You now exist in a place that is currently outside of anything that could be considered ‘normal space,’ and you have been brought here for a very specific purpose.”

More staring.

“I must say, you are quite a most extraordinary person! It seems we have chose well.” Stare. “Is there nothing you wish to ask me?”

“Yeah.”

Stare.

“Where did you get that piece of shit suit?”

.

Kick Out The Jam Bands

You know, I read Victory Coffee’s post and it totally hurt my heart. I almost went emo on you.

Then, I realized, I’m 43 years old and I got no fuckin’ excuse.

SO what do I do? See, I totally RELATED to that post:

This whole place is sick.  War is right.  Torture is legal.  Love is hate.  Shame is pride.  God is fear.  This is the world I’ve walked in to?  I don’t know if I should vomit or cry.  I’d sleep it off again but this time my bed is gone.

Fuck the elections and fuck the superbowl.  I don’t give a shit.  Impeach the war criminals, throw out the complicit congress and start this over right.  This is beyond surreal.  Should I be knocking on people’s doors and shaking them or something?  Maybe kick over their TV while I’m at it?  What exactly are you supposed to do in this situation anyways?

So? What’s the answer?

Ultimately? The answer to the angst of the individual, regardless of the fact that I happen to share it to a crippling extent…I ain’t got it. I can’t lie to you.

But..in the short term?

Just for now?

Create headspace. Break off and unwrap.

In other words:

You know the vibe.

It’s on below the fold.

From de wiki, mon:

A Jam band (or Jamband) is term coined in the early 1990s to describe a musical group whose albums and live festival performances relate to a fan culture originating with the 1960s group Grateful Dead and continued in the 1990s by Phish and other similar bands. The performances of these bands often feature extended musical improvisation over rhythmic grooves and chord patterns and long sets of music that cross genre boundaries.

Okay, we know what it all MEANS.

We know who started it all, and we know what the major shift in that space time continuum was.

I spent two days on the polo fields, in a pup tent, with the woman who was my lover at the time.

Without that event, would the artificially-inclusive term “jam band” have been necessary?

Open question, but at the end of the day, not particularly relevant….

because, some fucking where, it’s always 4:20.

I’ve been particularly clear about what I think is the temporary solution:

fellowship.

“You told me, “God made the World.'”

“No, no!” Harshaw said hastily. “I told you that, while all these many religions said many things, most of them said, ‘God made the World.’ I told you that I did not grok the fullness, but that ‘God’ was the word that was used.”

“Yes, Jubal,” Mike agreed. “Word is ‘God'” He added. “You grok.”

“No, I must admit I don’t grok.”

“You grok,” Smith repeated firmly. “I am explain. I did not have the word. You grok. Anne groks. I grok. The grass under my feet groks in happy beauty. But I needed the word. The word is God.”

Jubal shook his head to clear it. “Go ahead.”

Mike pointed triumphantly at Jubal. “Thou art God!”

Jubal slapped a hand to his face. “Oh, Jesus H. – What have I done? Look, Mike, take it easy! Simmer down! You didn’t understand me. I’m sorry. I’m very sorry! Just forget what I’ve been saying and we’ll start over again on another day. But – ”

“Thou art God,” Mike repeated serenely. “That which groks. Anne is God. I am God. The happy grass are God, Jill groks in beauty always. Jill is God. All shaping and making and creating together – .” He croaked something in Martian and smiled.

That having been said…do you need a miracle? I’m doing my best….

In fact..I’m bouncin’ round the room.

But anyway…..

I just thought I’d stir it up…

and then send me on my way.

never thirst

Harry Truman’s calculated overreaction!

In a stunning display of shameless political calculation, President Harry Truman angrily threatened a Washington Post music critic for panning a performance by Truman’s daughter, Margaret. As reported by the New York Times, Margaret Truman Daniel openly admitted that her father’s fame helped get her concert gigs, and she had already performed before audiences of more than ten thousand, while millions had listened to her on the radio. When she performed at Washington’s Constitution Hall, in December 1950, she thought she had performed well.

But Paul Hume, the music critic of The Washington Post, while praising her personality, wrote that “she cannot sing very well.”

“She is flat a good deal of the time,” Mr. Hume added, concluding that she had no “professional finish.”

Incensed, President Truman dispatched a combative note to Mr. Hume, who released it to the press.

“I have just read your lousy review,” it said in part, adding: “Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you’ll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below!”

In the ensuing uproar, reporters pressed Mrs. Daniel for her reaction to her father’s letter. “I’m glad to see that chivalry is not dead,” she told them.

Because it’s well-known that President Truman lacked basic human emotions, his attempt to use his daughter to score political points based on sympathy was much criticized in Democratic blogs.

Video – Despotism and Democracy

BenFranklinoval2 lett

“A Republic – if you can keep it” – Ben Franklin

“This is a 1946 educational video made by Encyclopedia Brittanica, teaching us what Despotism is. In a mere 10 minutes, this video will open your eyes if they’ve been shut. It explains how societies and nations can be measured by the degree that power is concentrated and respect for the individual is restricted. It’s stunning how well it portrays the current world, in it’s simple and somewhat corny style. If anybody is in doubt about where we are heading, or even where we have come since WW2, this is the video they should be seeing.”

Thanks to Aswin at http://aswin.stumbleupon.com/

I look forward to your comments, below.  

Kick Out The Jam Bands

You know, I read Victory Coffee’s post and it totally hurt my heart. I almost went emo on you.

Then, I realized, I’m 43 years old and I got no fuckin’ excuse.

SO what do I do? See, I totally RELATED to that post:

This whole place is sick.  War is right.  Torture is legal.  Love is hate.  Shame is pride.  God is fear.  This is the world I’ve walked in to?  I don’t know if I should vomit or cry.  I’d sleep it off again but this time my bed is gone.

Fuck the elections and fuck the superbowl.  I don’t give a shit.  Impeach the war criminals, throw out the complicit congress and start this over right.  This is beyond surreal.  Should I be knocking on people’s doors and shaking them or something?  Maybe kick over their TV while I’m at it?  What exactly are you supposed to do in this situation anyways?

So? What’s the answer?

Ultimately? The answer to the angst of the individual, regardless of the fact that I happen to share it to a crippling extent…I ain’t got it. I can’t lie to you.

But..in the short term?

Just for now?

Create headspace. Break off and unwrap.

In other words:

You know the vibe.

It’s on below the fold.

From de wiki, mon:

A Jam band (or Jamband) is term coined in the early 1990s to describe a musical group whose albums and live festival performances relate to a fan culture originating with the 1960s group Grateful Dead and continued in the 1990s by Phish and other similar bands. The performances of these bands often feature extended musical improvisation over rhythmic grooves and chord patterns and long sets of music that cross genre boundaries.

Okay, we know what it all MEANS.

We know who started it all, and we know what the major shift in that space time continuum was.

I spent two days on the polo fields, in a pup tent, with the woman who was my lover at the time.

Without that event, would the artificially-inclusive term “jam band” have been necessary?

Open question, but at the end of the day, not particularly relevant….

because, some fucking where, it’s always 4:20.

I’ve been particularly clear about what I think is the temporary solution:

fellowship.

“You told me, “God made the World.'”

“No, no!” Harshaw said hastily. “I told you that, while all these many religions said many things, most of them said, ‘God made the World.’ I told you that I did not grok the fullness, but that ‘God’ was the word that was used.”

“Yes, Jubal,” Mike agreed. “Word is ‘God'” He added. “You grok.”

“No, I must admit I don’t grok.”

“You grok,” Smith repeated firmly. “I am explain. I did not have the word. You grok. Anne groks. I grok. The grass under my feet groks in happy beauty. But I needed the word. The word is God.”

Jubal shook his head to clear it. “Go ahead.”

Mike pointed triumphantly at Jubal. “Thou art God!”

Jubal slapped a hand to his face. “Oh, Jesus H. – What have I done? Look, Mike, take it easy! Simmer down! You didn’t understand me. I’m sorry. I’m very sorry! Just forget what I’ve been saying and we’ll start over again on another day. But – ”

“Thou art God,” Mike repeated serenely. “That which groks. Anne is God. I am God. The happy grass are God, Jill groks in beauty always. Jill is God. All shaping and making and creating together – .” He croaked something in Martian and smiled.

That having been said…do you need a miracle? I’m doing my best….

In fact..I’m bouncin’ round the room.

But anyway…..

I just thought I’d stir it up…

and then send me on my way.

never thirst

Obama is like Chocolat

Before anyone starts slinging the “R” word around, this is not about that. So get your pointed little cursor off of the Hide Button and have a read.

The film Chocolat begins in a church…

Opening lines from the film “Chocolat”

Once upon a time, there was a quiet little village in the French countryside, whose people believed in Tranquilité – Tranquility. If you lived in this village, you understood what was expected of you. You knew your place in the scheme of things. And if you happened to forget, someone would help remind you. In this village, if you saw something you weren’t supposed to see, you learned to look the other way. If perchance your hopes had been disappointed, you learned never to ask for more. So through good times and bad, famine and feast, the villagers held fast to their traditions. Until, one winter day, a sly wind blew in from the North…

I’m not going to spoil it in case you haven’t had the pleasure, but I will include some of the themes of this fine piece of film making directed by Lasse Hallström and written by Joanne Harris (novel) and Robert Nelson Jacobs (screenplay).  

Chocolat is a not “just” the simple story of a mysterious woman and her daughter that appear in a small French village in 1959.

Chocolat begins with the arrival in a tiny French village of Vianne Rocher (Juliette Binoche), a single mother with a young daughter, on Shrove Tuesday just before Lent. Vianne moves with her daughter into a disused bakery to open a chocolate shoppe

Later we learn that Vianne’s Grandfather, a young pharmacist, had traveled to Central America to study the medicinal properties of certain natural compounds. (Hence, the healing and soothing effects of the wares in the Maya Chocolat Shooppe)

His adventure took a turn he did not expect. One night, he was invited to drink unrefined cacao with a pinch of chilli.   The very same drink the ancient Maya used in their sacred ceremonies.

The Maya believed cacao held the power to unlock hidden yearnings and reveal destinies.  Against all advice, he married her.  The tribal elders tried to warn George about her.

             

She was one of the wanderers.

             Her people moved with the North Wind…

             from village to village…

             dispensing ancient remedies…

             never settling down.

When he realizes that Vianne intends to open a chocolate shop in place of the old bakery, thereby tempting the churchgoers to over-indulgence, Reynaud’s disapproval increases. As it becomes clear that the villagers of Lansquenet are falling under the spell of Vianne’s easy ways and unorthodox opinions, to the detriment of his own authority, he is quick to see her as a danger.

Yep, trouble right here in River City.  Chocolate, more tempting than pool by far.  Slowly a few folks try her Cocoa concoctions, angering the Mayor who re-writes the village priest’s sermons to demonize her.

I’ll  stop here other than to say Johnny Depp, the leader of a pack of River Rats, shows up and the Mayor doesn’t like him either.

I will tell you that it is chock full o’ metaphors. Separation of Church and State, Authoritarianism, The Schism between Science and Religion, and a host of other dichotomies that when seen through the right kind of eyes will remind you of the current mess we are in.

The film ends as it begins, in the village church..

The young priest speaks on his own for the first time without the editing of the Mayor. He ad libs…

I’m not sure what the theme of my homily today ought to be.

               Do I want to speak of the miracle…

               of our Lord’s divine transformation?

               Not really, no.

               I don’t want to talk about His divinity.

               I’d rather talk about His humanity.

               I mean, you know, how he lived his life here on Earth.

               His kindness.

               His tolerance.

                Listen, here’s what I think.

               I think we can’t go around…

               measuring our goodness by what we don’t do.

               By what we deny ourselves…

               what we resist and who we exclude.

              I think we’ve got to measure goodness…

               by what we embrace…

               what we create…

               and who we include
.

This to me exemplifies the Obama Movement we are now witnessing.

Inclusion

 not Black V. White

       Young v. Old

         Man v. Woman

           Straight v. Gay

Include everyone (well, not everyone, BushCheneyCorp and their enablers should be excluded, shunned and kicked out of the village.)

Now I will tell you the ending of Chocolat….everyone is happy.

The End

           

*whimper* (Updated)

Straight from the pages of Haaretz, Israel’s oldest daily newspaper.

Twilight Zone / Cut short By Gideon Levy

Here’s a short excerpt:

And to all Israelis, al-Adam says: “Our neighbors are not the Europeans or the Americans. You are our neighbors and we have to watch out for one another. We’re living here and not hurting anyone. For years I brought up my children to live together [with Israelis], telling them we have to live together, and now they don’t believe me anymore.” The farmer says these things while standing amid the ruins of his land, which he had worked and nurtured for two years, having transformed the rocky ground into fruit orchards and fields of vegetables and grains. But it was short-lived: A few weeks ago, bulldozers dispatched by the Civil Administration showed up and destroyed all of his fields and his neighbors’. There went the grapevines and the young fruit trees – all uprooted. The magnificent terraces al-Adam had built were destroyed along with the wells they had dug. Just a few days before Tu Bishvat, Jewish Arbor Day, Israel showed them just how much regard it really has for trees.

The European Union had provided generous aid to these farmers in Beit Ula as part of an extensive development project covering almost 100 dunams (25 acres). The farmers invested their own money and much toil in the project, but in the end, all it took was a few hours of work by the Civil Administration’s bulldozers – accompanied by foreign workers hired as an auxiliary destructive force for Israel – to trample it into oblivion.

It’s not your average Israel vs. Palestine story and it’s heartbreaking.

Just go read it. You’ll understand.

(hat’tip Cranky Old Bitch)

[UPDATE]:

This is probably something like what it looked like:

BulldozerHorror

I’ve submitted the haaretz article to digg BTW. If you can, please digg it.

The Weapon of Young Gods #6: Last Train Leaving The Abyss

I wake up with a stiff neck and sore shoulders as the train pulls into Stockton. The stale air inside the car is shot through with the sweaty reek of many grubby travelers, including myself. For a second I consider stepping outside for a refresher, but then I remember that I’m marooned for the moment in one of California’s many wretched armpit-cities and instead shift my weight and try to ignore the uncomfortable olfactory overload.

Previous Episode

Soundtrack (mp3): ‘Last Train Leaving The Abyss’ by Low Tide

It isn’t too long, however, before I’m colossally bored all over again, and I’m not really looking forward to keeping my brain occupied for the rest of the trip as I duck down to grab my headphones, which had fallen on the floor while I slept. When I sit up again, though, I don’t even press the ‘play’ button, because the first thing I see makes me laugh out loud, and the whole terrible weekend in Chico begins to evaporate away.

My old friend Colin Dawson is gracelessly struggling down the aisle with a heavy bag in one hand and his guitar case in the other, and his brother Ben is stumbling along behind under similar burdens. Colin hears my wry chuckles and looks up, and his whole face erupts in glee.

“Ah shit, Ben,” he quips, “look who we’ll be imprisoned with all the way to L.A. this time.”

Ben peers around his brother’s chunky frame and lets out a loud, harsh “Ha!” of his own, scaring a middle-aged man to his left. “Derek! Wow, man!”

I smile back. The rest of the trip instantly looks a lot less lonely and boring. I get up and help Colin stow his guitar case and then do the same for Ben as Colin tries to fit his bag up top too. “What the hell are you two doing here?”

“Us?” Colin replies evenly. “Ben and I have been at our folks’ all weekend. We’re just cruising back to SoCal, dude. Been sleeping on floors for a few months, but otherwise no worries.”

“Oh- oh yeah,” I say. I totally forgot that their parents live around here in some Gold-Rush-era backwater town. “Cool. That’s cool.” I’d met Colin back in our junior year of high school, when we were both stuck doing a project for English class during Super Bowl Sunday. We’d gotten ourselves hopelessly wasted and had a hell of a time enjoying the alarming similarities between Heart of Darkness and the Dallas Cowboys, before reeling up Crown Valley Parkway to a mutual friend’s house for even more chemically shameful degradation. Our project got a C minus, but Colin and I were pretty tight from then on. His family moved away up north during our senior year, though, and I’d only met up with him a few times when he managed to visit Orange County.

“We got on back in Sacramento,” says Colin, slumping into the seat next to me while Ben slouches over both seats across the aisle. “We were, like, two cars up or something, but we had only just sat down when some lady came back to the seat behind us with her screaming baby, and we couldn’t handle that shit for very long, you know?”

The train rumbles to life and begins grinding away toward Modesto. “And you had to lug your gear down two cars just to find seats?” I ask, astonished. “It wasn’t that crowded when I got on in Chico.”

Chico?” they say, simultaneously flummoxed. “What were you doing up there?

“Nothing I wanted to stay awake and remember,” I reply. “I’ve been asleep for, like, the last four hours.”

“Damn,” says Ben. He pushes his limp sandy-brown hair out of his eyes, takes off his natty flannel, and stuffs it behind his head as a pillow.

“But why Chico, dude?” presses Colin, who dismisses my ‘it’s a long story’ protest with a snort. “We have almost all day and night, Derek. Hey, how about this- you tell us about your weekend and we’ll tell you exactly how we plan to storm L.A., rock the charts and conquer the world!” His smirk barely covers an uncharacteristically (as I remember) childlike enthusiasm.

“Fine,” I relent, and offer up the least-melodramatic description of my horrible weekend, a cruel and butchered revision in which I make no stupid mistakes and Lisa has mutated into the hideous metaphysical spawn of Courtney Love and Tammy Faye Bakker. The Dawson brothers squirm and shudder at all the right moments, and I make a mental note to re-tell this version every time I have a sympathetic audience in the future. It’s actually lots of fun, and I only feel a little guilty at how easily the last three days’ tension uncoils from my psyche and simply falls away.

“That is way, way too weird, man,” laughs Colin. “I’m like, astounded or whatever that you made it out of there in one piece.”

“Weeeeelll…,” I drawl sheepishly, “I did leave, like, scattered bits of my soul. There’s also been other shit that hasn’t made life easy, either.” I begin to relate a more complete picture of the last six chaotic months- the family fights, the lost soccer scholarship- but I can see that the Dawsons are less interested, furtively glancing at each other in mildly empathetic amazement, and before I get too involved in more of the “Derek and Lisa” soap-opera backstory, I realize it’s time to stop, and voluntarily cut myself off.

“…and then she said…Nah, fuck it, I’m tired of rehashing all this crap. Sorry guys- I’m just not into dwelling on past mistakes too much, you know?”

“Totally,” says Colin, with undisguised relief. His face brightens further. “Hey, I guess that means it’s my turn, right?”

“Yeah dude, but I will not be held responsible for any pants-pissing excitement on your part simply because everything that happened to me stinks of shame.”

“No way Derek, nothing like that.” Colin hangs an arm over his buzzed pate, a goofy, orangutan-like gesture that I nonetheless recognize as his way of donning a thinking cap. “I was exaggerating before anyway. All we’ve actually done so far is record some demos and play a few shows as a duo.”

“Those were a big deal!” Ben chimes in. “They loved us at Cooper’s, Derek.” His earnest expression is almost indignant at his brother’s suddenly casual descriptions of their recent musical escapades.

I think Colin notices this too, and he nods in concession. “Well, yeah, that one went well, and I guess the Nevada City radio show had its moments, too.” He looks out the window at the endless expanse of California farm country zooming by. “We have three or four really good songs and a shitload of covers, and if we can find someone else to get in this thing, we could actually try to get an even better live act together- be a real band, you know?” He sounds confident but looks skeptical.

“Why would that be so tough?” I ask, then, before either Dawson can reply, the solution envelops me like a warm bath. “I.V.!” I blurt. “That’s it, that’s what you guys should do.” They look quizzical so I keep going. “Isla Vista is, like, the most fertile place for bands these days. I mean, everyone and their dog in I.V. is part of a band, and UCSB is like, right there, you know? Screw L.A.; you guys should just stop at school with me on your way to OC and hang out for a while. We could, um, go to some shows or whatever, and… and just fuckin’ take it in, right?”

I know next to nothing about bands or shows or anything about any music scene in Santa Barbara- I’d been so wrapped up in soccer bullshit and Lisa’s melodrama and everything that I hadn’t actually ventured out for months into the town I now called home- but it occurs to me that I may want some friends in tow if I start to subject myself to the various social hazards offered up by the little student ghetto I plan to live in after my year in the dorms is up. For some reason I think Colin realizes my ignorance and he will be a tougher sell, so this whole time I’ve been looking more at Ben, who is curling his thick, fuzzy eyebrows in another typical Dawson mannerism as he focuses on his brother’s reaction.

Anything Colin might say in reply, though, is interrupted by the presence of the daffy old Amtrak conductor. “Excuse me boys,” he says genially, but with a perceptible hint of authortity, “…but some of the folks in the car have requested that I ask you three to keep it down.”

I glance at Colin, but he’s too busy giving stink-eye to the same man that Ben had frightened earlier, who is hiding behind a copy of Newsweek and trying to pretend we don’t exist. Ben seems about to explode in snide protest, but I decide it’s a good idea to decamp somewhere else anyway and address the conductor.

“No problem. We were just about to go down to the lounge anyway, weren’t we, gentlemen?”

The Dawson brothers snap their eyes on me, surprised, but say nothing and slowly get themselves together for a trip downstairs to the lounge car. The conductor nods to me in approval before returning to the front of the car, like I showed some kind of adult maturity instead of more of the same Derek-patented passive-agressive behavior I excel at. Once he’s gone, I get simultaneous “what the fuck?” looks from Colin and Ben, but I feel like the abyss has long since fallen behind me, and I’m ready to take control of my surroundings for a change.

We slump down the narrow stairway, and end up spending most of the remaining trip there, just shooting shit about music and comparing notes on the treacherous female psyche. I milk it for all I can, cause there’s still a world of shit waiting for me at school, but that’s more than six hours away, and it can fucking wait.

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Suicide blast at Pakistan rally kills 20

By RIAZ KHAN, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 5 minutes ago

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – A suicide bomber struck an election rally in volatile northwest Pakistan Saturday, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 45, officials said.

In southern Pakistan, the campaign for Feb. 18 parliamentary elections moved back onto the streets with Benazir Bhutto’s widowed husband urging about 100,000 supporters to help him “save” the country. It was the first major campaign rally by the opposition leader’s party since her December assassination.

In the capital Islamabad, riot police used water cannons and tear gas against hundreds of lawyers protesting the detention of the deposed chief justice.

2 Rebates could stave off long recession

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer

1 minute ago

WASHINGTON – Despite remarkably quick passage, the economic aid plan and its cash rebates may come too late to prevent a recession this year. For many experts, however, the $168 billion boost to the lagging economy may mean the difference between a short downturn and something much more serious.

The measure that President Bush plans to sign this coming week will send government payments to more than 130 million people. Checks that will start showing up in mailboxes in May range from $300 to $1,200; households with children get an additional $300 per child. Businesses benefit, too, through tax breaks to increase investment spending on plants and equipment.

The tax relief is intended to jump-start the economy. Politicians, worried about a recession in an election year, put aside their normal bickering to speed the proposal through Congress.

3 Huckabee says he’ll stay in presidential race

By Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters

1 hour, 51 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Mike Huckabee vowed on Saturday to stay in the Republican Party’s nominating race for the presidential election in November, despite trailing far behind rival John McCain.

“Am I quitting? Let’s get that settled right now. No, I’m not,” Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and a Baptist preacher, told a conference of conservative activists.

McCain, an Arizona senator, has built an almost insurmountable lead in delegates to the Republican Party’s nominating convention before the November 4 election to succeed President George W. Bush, a Republican.

4 Turkish parliament lifts university headscarf ban

By Gareth Jones and Hidir Goktas, Reuters

Sat Feb 9, 11:11 AM ET

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s parliament lifted a ban on Saturday on female students wearing the Muslim headscarf at university, a landmark decision that some Turks fear will undermine the foundations of their secular state.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party, which has Islamist roots, hailed parliament’s move as a triumph for democracy and justice in Turkey, a European Union candidate country where two thirds of women cover their heads.

“Our main aim is to end the discrimination experienced by a section of society just because of their personal beliefs,” AK Party lawmaker Sadullah Ergin told private broadcaster NTV, adding that 80 percent of lawmakers had backed the reforms.

5 Myanmar junta to hold elections in 2010

By Aung Hla Tun, Reuters

Sat Feb 9, 10:51 AM ET

YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar’s military government said on Saturday it would hold a referendum on a new constitution in May followed by multi-party elections in 2010, a move dismissed as worthless by the opposition without the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.

“We have achieved success in economic, social and other sectors and in restoring peace and stability,” the junta announced on state television after sending in the army to quell Buddhist monk-led pro-democracy demonstrations in September.

“So multi-party, democratic elections will be held in 2010,” said the statement issued in the name of Secretary Number One Lieutenant-General Tin Aung Myint Oo, a top member of the junta.

6 Striking writers reach tentative deal with studios

By Steve Gorman and Dean Goodman, Reuters

2 hours, 1 minute ago

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The union representing Hollywood’s striking writers said it reached a “tentative deal” with studios and will meet members later on Saturday to discuss ending a three-month walkout that has crippled television production and overshadowed the awards season.

The breakthrough was announced via e-mail to the 10,500 members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), who went on strike for the first time in almost 20 years on November 5 in a dispute centering on compensation for work distributed over the Internet.

“While this agreement is neither perfect nor perhaps all that we deserve for the countless hours of hard work and sacrifice, our strike has been a success,” WGA West president Patric Verrone and WGA East president Michael Winship said in the memo.

7 Mortgage crisis fallout spreads to ‘muni market’

By Ron Scherer, The Christian Science Monitor

Fri Feb 8, 3:00 AM ET

New York – The subprime mortgage crisis continues to ripple well beyond home foreclosures.

Municipal bonds, securities issued by local governments to fund anything from new sewers to airport improvements, are now caught in the backwash. Though defaults by communities are rare, buyers of their bonds are now wary of investing in any but the best-run and highest-rated communities.

“There has been a disruption the market is not used to,” says Bill Stone, chief investment officer of PNC Wealth Management in Philadelphia. “The default rates are so low we can’t say it’s a crisis, but there is no question there are liquidity issues in the muni market.

8 U.S. nuclear plant safety checks system under fire

By Mark Clayton, The Christian Science Monitor

Fri Feb 8, 3:00 AM ET

The federal relicensing system used to ensure that America’s 1970s-era nuclear plants are safe for future decades is coming under fire following an audit that found key safety evaluations lacked critical documentation.

Without the documentation, regulators cannot be sure how carefully – or even if – the plants’ key safety systems had been checked.

In filings last month, New York and Vermont regulators called for an overhaul of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission relicensing program before the NRC allows a plant in each of their states to operate for 20 more years.

9 Serbian PM blocks EU pact over Kosovo, despite vote

By Robert Marquand, The Christian Science Monitor

Fri Feb 8, 3:00 AM ET

Belgrade, Serbia – Serbia’s most skillful politician rarely smiles, doesn’t socialize, and believes religiously in a special destiny for Serbia. Now, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica is shaking Serbia’s newly elected government – over the destiny of Kosovo.

Days after 2.2 million Serbs voted to join Europe by reelecting President Boris Tadic, Mr. Kostunica is playing a high-stakes game that has helped paralyze the government. He has accused the European Union of “jeopardizing the territorial integrity … of Serbia” as it prepares to send a mission to Kosovo, and blocked Mr. Tadic from signing an EU premembership agreement – saying it is a European quid pro quo for Kosovo’s independence from Serbia.

The result could be to boost the radical leadership Serbia just voted narrowly against, analysts say – and promote policies that Europeans worry could destabilize the Balkans. Before elections, some analysts felt the government might fall if pro-Russia radical Tomislav Nikolic was elected. Now the way may be paved anyway by a statesman who is showing a talent akin to that of former hard-line Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic – whom he helped oust – for writing Serbia’s script from behind the scenes, analysts say.

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10 Dutch Cabinet wants school burqa ban

By MIKE CORDER, Associated Press Writer

Fri Feb 8, 4:41 PM ET

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The Dutch Cabinet said Friday it wants to ban burqas from all schools and prevent government employees from wearing the head-to-toe Islamic robes, but said it was impossible to outlaw them altogether.

In a policy letter to Parliament, the Cabinet said it would send a proposal to lawmakers within a few months on banning burqas in schools and said it would push government offices to forbid burqas in their staff dress regulations.

The move is largely symbolic as only around 150 women are believed to wear burqas in this country of 16 million. But it is another sign of the turning tide of Dutch tolerance as the nation seeks to assimilate its Muslim population of about 840,000.

11 Waxman subpoenas EPA on Calif waiver

By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer

Fri Feb 8, 2:40 PM ET

WASHINGTON – A House committee chairman subpoenaed the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday seeking documents reviewed by the agency’s administrator before he blocked a California tailpipe emissions law.

More than 16 other states were also blocked from implementing the first-in-the-nation greenhouse gas emissions controls when the EPA rejected California’s waiver request in December.

In the wake of the controversial decision by EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson there have been indications he overruled EPA staff who recommended granting the waiver. Congressional investigators have released excerpts of an internal presentation made to Johnson that said California had a compelling need for the waiver, and that EPA was likely to lose in court if sued over denying it.

12 Revolutionary Guards back conservatives for Iran poll

by Siavosh Ghazi, AFP

2 hours, 59 minutes ago

TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran’s Revolutionary Guards commander, in a break with accepted practice, has openly called for voters to support the conservative wing in parliamentary polls, Iranian media reported on Saturday.

General Mohammad Ali Jafari, head of the Islamic republic’s ideological army, said: “To follow the path of the Islamic revolution, support for the Principalists (conservatives) is necessary, inevitable and a divine duty of all revolutionary groups.”

It was the first time that Jafari, speaking to officials of the Basij, or Islamic militia, had come out so clearly in backing the conservatives, who seized power at the last elections when many moderates and reformists were barred from standing.

13 Iran to hold talks with US on Iraq next week: report

AFP

23 minutes ago

TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran and the United States are to launch a new round of talks on the future of war-ravaged Iraq next week in Baghdad, an Iranian official told student news agency ISNA on Saturday.

“These discussions will take place by the end of next week,” said the official who requested anonymity.

“The structure of these discussions has been finalised but the level of participation has not yet been agreed,” he said.

14 First evidence emerges of pest resistance to GM crops: scientists

AFP

Fri Feb 8, 3:01 PM ET

PARIS (AFP) – Scientists poring over a mass of studies into the response of pests to genetically-modified cotton say they have found the first confirmation that insects have developed resistance to transgenic crops.

University of Arizona entomologists looked at data from six experiments to monitor pests in fields sown with transgenic cotton and corn in Australia, China, Spain and the United States.

They found evidence of genetic mutation among bollworms (Helicoverpa zea) in a dozen cotton fields sown in Mississippi and Arkansas between 2003 and 2006.

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15 Abandoned anchor cut Gulf Internet cable

By KATARINA KRATOVAC, Associated Press Writer

Fri Feb 8, 2:24 PM ET

CAIRO, Egypt – An abandoned anchor was responsible for cutting one of the undersea Internet cables severed last week, causing disruptions across the Middle East and parts of Asia, the cable’s owner said Friday.

A FLAG Telecom repair crew discovered the anchor near where the fiber-optic cable was severed Feb. 1 in the Persian Gulf, 35 miles north of Dubai, between the Emirates and Oman.

Weighing more than 5.5 tons, the anchor has been pulled to the surface. The company did not immediately explain whether the anchor moved and snapped the cable or whether the cable itself was drifting when it was sliced.

From Yahoo News Most Popular, Most Emailed

16 Citizenship on hold for many immigrants

By SUZANNE GAMBOA, Associated Press Writer

Sat Feb 9, 7:47 AM ET

WASHINGTON – President Bush is asking Congress to spend money to help businesses root out illegal workers but he did not request additional funds to help legal immigrants become American citizens more quickly.

In his budget proposal issued this week, Bush asked for $100 million to expand E-Verify, the system employers use to check whether they are hiring documented workers. He didn’t ask Congress to allocate money to chip away at millions of citizenship and other immigration applications that flooded the government last summer, before an increase in the agency’s filing fees.

Instead, Citizenship and Immigration Services will rely on $468 million in fees to pay for reducing the backlog by 2010. Those funds are a portion of the total fees that came in with the applications this summer.

17 Court strikes down EPA’s plan on mercury

By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer

Fri Feb 8, 6:08 PM ET

WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court said Friday the Bush administration ignored the law when it imposed less stringent requirements on power plants to reduce mercury pollution, which scientists fear could cause neurological problems in 60,000 newborns a year.

A three-judge panel unanimously struck down a mercury-control plan imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency three years ago. It established an emissions trading process in which some plants could avoid installing the best mercury control technology available by buying pollution credits.

Environmentalist and health experts argued that such a cap-and-trading mechanism would create “hot spots” of mercury contamination near some power plants. Seventeen states as well as environmental and health groups joined in a suit to block the regulation, saying it did not adequately protect public health.

From Yahoo News World

18 Kenya opposition drops conciliatory tone

By KATY POWNALL, Associated Press Writer

24 minutes ago

CHEPKIOYO, Kenya – Kenya’s opposition leader demanded Saturday that the president resign and new elections be held, dropping a conciliatory stance that had brought hope for a political settlement to end weeks of postelection violence.

Raila Odinga, who accuses President Mwai Kibaki of stealing the Dec. 27 election, spoke in his traditional power base in western Kenya before cheering supporters at the funeral of a slain opposition lawmaker.

Kibaki “must step down or there must be a re-election – in this I will not be compromised,” Odinga shouted in East Africa’s common language of Swahili.

19 Creationists seek foothold in Europe

By GREGORY KATZ, Associated Press Writer

2 hours, 19 minutes ago

LONDON – After the Sunday service in Westminster Chapel, where worshippers were exhorted to wage “the culture war” in the World War II spirit of Sir Winston Churchill, cabbie James McLean delivered his verdict on Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.

“Evolution is a lie, and it’s being taught in schools as fact, and it’s leading our kids in the wrong direction,” said McLean, chatting outside the chapel. “But now people like Ken Ham are tearing evolution to pieces.”

Ken Ham is the founder of Answers in Genesis, a Kentucky-based organization that is part of an ambitious effort to bring creationist theory to Britain and the rest of Europe. McLean is one of a growing number of evangelicals embracing that message – that the true history of the Earth is told in the Bible, not Darwin’s “The Origin of Species.”

20 Gates calms tensions with Germany over Afghanistan

By Andrew Gray and Noah Barkin, Reuters

37 minutes ago

MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates sought on Saturday to soothe tensions with Germany over NATO’s Afghan mission, saying relations would not suffer if Berlin did not provide more troops.

Germany reiterated it had no plans to boost troop levels or shift them to other parts of Afghanistan despite U.S. pressure, denying a magazine report to the contrary.

Gates has pressed Berlin and other allies to provide more troops and other resources for the 43,000-strong NATO force battling Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.

21 Russian bomber cuts into Japanese airspace: official

by Shigemi Sato, AFP

Sat Feb 9, 7:29 AM ET

TOKYO (AFP) – Japan scrambled two dozen military aircraft and lodged a protest, accusing a Russian strategic bomber of entering its airspace over the Pacific Ocean south of Tokyo Saturday.

Russia denied the incursion, but the Japanese foreign ministry said it lodged a strong protest with the Russian embassy in Tokyo over the incident, which followed stepped up Russian long-range air patrols over the Atlantic.

“We have asked the Russian government to make a thorough investigation into the matter,” a foreign ministry spokesman said.

22 Pakistan’s ‘mad scientist’ keeps mum on nuclear riddles

By Tim Johnson, McClatchy Newspapers

Fri Feb 8, 4:00 PM ET

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – On leafy Hillside Road, tucked against the Margalla Hills, commandos behind sandbag bunkers guard the villa of a scientist who’s exalted in his homeland as the “father of the bomb” but scorned abroad as a “nuclear jihadist.”

Automatic weapons at the ready, the guards study every vehicle that passes the ivy-covered estate of Abdul Qadeer Khan , who ushered Pakistan into the nuclear age and ran a virtual bazaar of nuclear technology and know-how for “rogue” nations such as Iran , Libya and North Korea .

For the past four years, Khan has been under house arrest for confessing to selling nuclear-weapons secrets. Some Pakistanis, who revere Khan as a hero, say it’s time to let him go free and recover from his recent prostate cancer in peace.

23 Pakistan now central front in war on terrorism

By Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landay, McClatchy Newspapers

Fri Feb 8, 4:14 PM ET

WASHINGTON – A new generation of “very battle-hardened” young Islamic militants is destabilizing nuclear-armed Pakistan , and the country’s U.S.-backed military is nowhere near ready to conduct major operations against it, senior American intelligence officials said Friday.

The militants have expanded their violent campaign from Pakistan’s ungoverned tribal areas to ” Pakistan proper” and they killed more people last year than they did in all the years from 2001 to 2006 combined, said the officials, speaking in testimony to Congress and in interviews.

The officials also acknowledged that al Qaida, which cooperates with the homegrown Pakistani militants and with the Taliban, who’re battling Afghanistan’s U.S.-backed government, is planning more attacks on the West in the haven it’s re-established along the Afghan-Pakistani border.

24 Suicide bombing kills 27 at Pakistan opposition rally

By Jonathan S. Landay, McClatchy Newspapers

1 hour, 19 minutes ago

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – A suspected suicide bomber killed at least 27 people and injured 40 at an opposition rally Saturday in Pakistan’s insurgency-wracked northwest as police in Islamabad fired teargas and water cannon at hundreds of protesters demanding the ouster of President Pervez Musharraf .

The violence fueled fears that political turmoil will grow as Pakistan , still reeling from the assassination six week ago of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto , approaches Feb. 18 national elections called to end eight years of military rule.

The unrest came as Adm. Michael Mullen , the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with Musharraf and top Pakistani military leaders and discussed a possible expansion of U.S. counter-insurgency training for Pakistani security forces.

25 U.S. allies go on strike in Iraq’s Diyala province

By Steve Lannen, McClatchy Newspapers

Fri Feb 8, 5:06 PM ET

BAGHDAD – Members of U.S.-allied citizen brigades, which are credited with helping to tamp down violence in many parts of Iraq , went on strike Friday in Diyala province, alleging that the provincial police chief there is running a death squad.

A leader of the group said that brigade members, most of them Sunni Muslims, wouldn’t resume working with U.S. and Iraqi government forces until the Shiite police chief resigns or is indicted.

A curfew was imposed, and police throughout the province ended their patrols early to avoid clashes with the U.S.-funded concerned local citizens, or “popular committees” as they’re known in Diyala, who staged demonstrations against the police chief. No casualties were reported.

26 Sarkozy’s Honeymoon: Fini!

By BRUCE CRUMLEY/PARIS, Time Magazine

Fri Feb 8, 5:45 PM ET

Though beautiful while it lasted, French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s honeymoon with a formerly adoring French public that elected him just eight months ago has definitely come to an end. The only question is what deserves the most credit for his precipitous drop in the polls: disappointment in his policies and plans for economic reform, or growing disenchantment with his tabloid-friendly love life.

27 A Gas Ultimatum for Ukraine

By YURI ZARAKHOVICH/MOSCOW, Time Magazine

Fri Feb 8, 7:50 PM ET

As Ukraine’s President Victor Yushchenko prepares to visit Moscow on Tuesday, Russia’s energy giant Gazprom has delivered a nasty welcome for a leader not beloved by the Kremlin. Gazprom late Thursday issued an ultimatum over new Ukrainian gas debts arising from a price hike, warning that it had instructed its services to turn off gas supplies to Ukraine by noon on Monday – the day before Yuschenko flies in – unless it is paid $1.5 billion.

28 Murder or Exhaustion in Iraq?

By JIM FREDERICK/CAMP LIBERTY, IRAQ, Time Magazine

Fri Feb 8, 7:50 PM ET

A trial unfolding in a makeshift courthouse in a dusty corner of the U.S. Army’s main Baghdad base camp complex is demonstrating in stark and dramatic terms just how far some American soldiers are being pushed on the battlefield, just how doggedly the Army is willing to pursue serious alleged crimes like murder – and just how interested the Iraqi government is in the process.
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29 Surrendering to tractor pull of love

By SHARON COHEN, AP National Writer

1 hour, 10 minutes ago

CARLISLE, Pa. – Sonya Rinker was looking for a guy: someone who was kind, respectful and had a special place in his heart … for tractors. She wanted a man who could share the thrill of a good tractor-pull show, who could see beauty in a shiny row of green and yellow of John Deere tractors.

She didn’t know that somewhere along these rolling Pennsylvania hills, there was such a man, a shy guy named Tom with two vintage Deere tractors. He had been looking for a gal, someone who’d put up with his milking cows at 3 a.m. and his six-day work weeks.

Sonya Rinker and Tom Henisee lived 57 miles apart when they both signed up for an online matchmaking service designed to link up people just like them – farmers and others who know their way around a barn and a milking machine.

30 Mob tied to big NYC construction jobs

By AMY WESTFELDT, Associated Press Writer

Sat Feb 9, 7:49 AM ET

NEW YORK – The trucks that rolled into Staten Island left more than dirt at the site of a new NASCAR racetrack. They also brought cash for the Gambino crime family, prosecutors say.

It was all part of the cost of doing business at construction sites around the area that prosecutors say were rampant with mob corruption.

The shakedowns were outlined in a sweeping indictment this week that led to the arrests of dozens of mobsters on charges including murder, gambling, drug dealing and credit-card fraud. It was one of the largest mob crackdowns in recent memory.

31 Roadside blasts kill 5 U.S. soldiers in Iraq

By Michael Holden, Reuters

2 hours, 43 minutes ago

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Five American soldiers were killed in roadside bombings in Iraq on Friday, the U.S. military said on Saturday, while U.S. and Iraqi forces seized 37 suspects in raids against al Qaeda fighters and Shi’ite militiamen.

The latest arrests come as the U.S. military aggressively pursues Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, as well as what it describes as rogue elements of Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army and other Shi’ite militia Washington says are supported by Iran.

Attacks are down by 60 percent since last June on the back of a boost of 30,000 extra U.S. troops, a decision by Sunni Arab tribal leaders to turn against al Qaeda and a six-month ceasefire ordered by Sadr last August.

32 U.S. military charges two more Guantanamo captives

By Jane Sutton, Reuters

Sat Feb 9, 1:39 AM ET

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) – U.S. military prosecutors filed war crimes charges against two more Guantanamo prisoners on Friday, saying one was an al Qaeda videographer and the other one a driver and bodyguard for Osama bin Laden.

That brings to seven the number of captives charged in the revised system of military tribunals created to try non-U.S. citizens held at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba as part of the Bush administration’s war against terrorism.

The charges say that Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al Bahlul, a 39-year-old Yemeni, was bin Laden’s personal media secretary and occasional bodyguard, who created a recruiting video glorifying the bombing of the USS Cole.

33 Gates Down on the F-22

By MARK THOMPSON/WASHINGTON, Time Magazine

Thu Feb 7, 4:55 PM ET

The effect is often jarring, in Washington, when someone inside the Beltway utters an uncomfortable truth. That’s what Defense Secretary Robert Gates did at the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, putting a damper on pressure from his own Air Force for Congress to buy more F-22 fighters. Gates believes the 183 F-22s currently planned are sufficient. “I know that the Air Force is up here and around talking about 350 or something on that order,” the Secretary said. But buying more of the costly F-22 will come at the expense of the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which is about half the price.
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34 Romney offers Democrats McCain playbook

By GLEN JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer

Sat Feb 9, 10:28 AM ET

WASHINGTON – It always sounded innocuous enough, tucked into the adjectives Mitt Romney would rattle off when he described the qualities for the next president.

Wisdom, optimism and the right temperament, said the former Republican presidential candidate.

There was no doubt whom Romney was referring to – rival and likely GOP nominee John McCain, whose short-fuse temper is widely known, especially among his Senate colleagues.

35 McCain challenges Democratic rivals on Iraq war

By Andy Sullivan, Reuters

Fri Feb 8, 8:52 PM ET

NORFOLK, Virginia (Reuters) – Sen. John McCain, his victory as Republican nominee for the U.S. presidency virtually assured, turned his sights on his Democratic challengers on Friday, saying they were weak on national security and their Iraq stance would hand al Qaeda a victory.

McCain’s remarks, and the response from Democratic presidential contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, pushed Iraq war policy back to center stage in the presidential race after weeks of focus on the faltering U.S. economy.

Speaking to reporters after a security round-table meeting in Norfolk, Virginia, the home of a major U.S. naval base, McCain accused Obama and Clinton of wanting to set a date for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.

36 Anti-immigration fervor may fade in election

By Tim Gaynor, Reuters

Fri Feb 8, 9:32 AM ET

PHOENIX (Reuters) – What a difference a few weeks make — at least when it comes to the U.S. presidential campaign and the hot issue of immigration.

When the White House race began in earnest with the first party nominating contests in Iowa in January, a broad field of Republican candidates vied to demonstrate their toughness on illegal immigration, pledging more border enforcement and a crackdown on illegal workers.

But with a narrowing of the races to secure the Republican and Democratic nominations ahead of November’s general election, the issue could slip lower down the agenda as far as the candidates are concerned, analysts say.

37 Bush: Will sign economic stimulus bill next week

Reuters

Fri Feb 8, 8:08 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President George W. Bush said on Friday he would sign a $152 billion economic stimulus package into law next week.

The Senate and House of Representatives on Thursday approved the measure, a series of tax rebates and business incentives aimed at staving off an election-year recession in the struggling U.S. economy.

“We are in a period of economic uncertainty and we’ve acted again,” Bush told a conservative conference in Washington. “I want to thank the members (of Congress) for passing a good piece of legislation, which I will sign into law next week.”

38 U.S. warns India its now or never for nuclear deal

Reuters

Sat Feb 9, 8:38 AM ET

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The United States has warned India it was now or never for a controversial nuclear cooperation deal which was unlikely to be offered again after President George W. Bush leaves office.

Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told Reuters on Friday that “time was wasting” and warned India needed to move quickly to clear remaining international hurdles if the deal was to go through this year.

And in an interview released on Saturday and due to be broadcast on Sunday, the U.S. ambassador to India David Mulford went a step further, saying this might be India’s last chance.

39 US general says Pakistan nukes safe despite rising militancy

AFP

49 minutes ago

ISLAMABAD (AFP) – The chief of the US military said Saturday that Pakistan’s atomic weapons were secure despite rising Islamic militancy in the nuclear-armed South Asian country.

Admiral Mike Mullen told reporters after talks with President Pervez Musharraf and army chief Ashfaq Kayani that his discussions focused on the security situation in the region.

As the general spoke, a suspected suicide bombing killed at least 20 people and injured about two dozen others at an election rally in northwest Pakistan, a hotbed of Islamic militancy.

40 Paulson confident on growth, says US not in recession

by Hiroshi Hiyama, AFP

1 hour, 6 minutes ago

TOKYO (AFP) – US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Saturday he was “confident” that the world’s largest economy would continue to grow in 2008, rejecting talk of a recession triggered by housing market woes.

“I believe that we are going to keep growing. If you are growing, you are not in recession, right? We all know that,” Paulson said after a meeting in Tokyo of finance chiefs from the Group of Seven rich nations.

The G7 meeting’s statement had warned that “risks have become more skewed to the downside” in the United States amid slowing output and job creation.

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41 Accused French trader’s comrade released

By JAMEY KEATEN, Associated Press Writer

Sat Feb 9, 11:58 AM ET

PARIS – A trader at the French bank Societe Generale was released without charge Saturday after two days of questioning about the case of jailed fellow trader Jerome Kerviel.

The bank employee, also a trader, was freed after being questioned Saturday by judges specializing in financial affairs, said Isabelle Montagne, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutors’ office. He had been detained since Thursday.

“He has left; he’s free; he was not presented with preliminary charges,” Montagne told The Associated Press. She declined to identify the brokerage employee.

42 G7 leaders turn pessimistic on global economy

By Brian Love and Gavin Jones, Reuters

Sat Feb 9, 5:40 AM ET

TOKYO (Reuters) – Finance leaders of the world’s top industrialized nations put on a show of solidarity on Saturday in the face of an economic slowdown and conceded that things could get even worse because of the crumbling U.S. housing market.

In a communique released after meetings in Tokyo, the Group of Seven said prospects for economic growth had worsened since they last met in October, although fundamentals remained solid and the U.S. economy was likely to escape a recession.

“There was a climate of much greater pessimism and worry than in October,” said Italian Economy Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa.

43 Yahoo to reject Microsoft bid: report

AFP

7 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Internet giant Yahoo’s board has decided to reject Microsoft’s takeover bid, saying its 44.6 billion dollar offer “massively undervalues” Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

Citing an unnamed source familiar with the situation, the Journal said Yahoo’s board also believes the Microsoft offer, at 31 dollars per share, does not account for risks facing Yahoo if it pursues a deal that might be ultimately blocked by government regulators.

“Yahoo’s board believes that Microsoft’s is trying to take advantage of the recent weakness in the company’s share price to ‘steal’ the company,” the newspaper said on its website.

44 World bourses lost 5.2 trillion dlrs in January: credit rater

AFP

Sat Feb 9, 11:54 AM ET

PARIS (AFP) – World stockmarkets lost 5.2 trillion dollars (3.6 trillion euros) in January thanks to the fallout from the US subprime crisis and fears of a global economic slowdown, Standard & Poor’s said Saturday.

“If investors thought the market could only go up, January’s wake-up call pulled them back into reality,” the independent credit ratings’ provider said.

Standard & Poor’s said the world’s equity markets lost a combined 5.2 trillion dollars as emerging markets fell 12.44 percent and developed markets lost 7.83 percent to register one of the worst starts to a new year.

45 European Central Bank chief doesn’t rule out rate hike, cut

AFP

Sat Feb 9, 10:18 AM ET

TOKYO (AFP) – European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet said Saturday the bank did not rule out either raising or lowering interest rates, while saying that the eurozone’s economic fundamentals were sound.

The ECB on Thursday left its benchmark rate at 4.0 percent. But Trichet at the time highlighted “unusually high” uncertainty about eurozone growth prospects, hitting the euro on market speculation of future rate cuts.

Trichet, speaking Saturday after a meeting in Tokyo of the Group of Seven rich nations, said he was not ruling out either option.

From Yahoo News Science

46 Tooth scan reveals Neanderthal mobility

By ELENA BECATOROS, Associated Press Writer

Sat Feb 9, 2:21 AM ET

ATHENS, Greece – Analysis of a 40,000-year-old tooth found in southern Greece suggests Neanderthals were more mobile than once thought, paleontologists said Friday.

Analysis of the tooth – part of the first and only Neanderthal remains found in Greece – showed the ancient human had spent at least part of its life away from the area where it died.

“Neanderthal mobility is highly controversial,” said paleoanthropologist Katerina Harvati at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

47 G7 calls for investment to fight climate change

AFP

Sat Feb 9, 7:19 AM ET

TOKYO (AFP) – Finance chiefs of the Group of Seven rich nations called Saturday for investment in developing countries to help them fight climate change and worked on plans for a World Bank-style fund.

Finance ministers and central bank chiefs, in a joint statement after talks in Tokyo, said they hoped to “scale up investment in developing countries to support them in joining international efforts to address climate change.”

The United States, Japan and Britain have proposed setting up a multilateral fund involving the World Bank that would administer global aid and investment to help nations fight slash greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming.

48 French GM ban infuriates farmers, delights environmentalists

by Mathieu Gorse, AFP

29 minutes ago

PARIS (AFP) – France officially banned Saturday a strain of genetically modified corn from US agribusiness giant Monsanto, delighting environmentalists but sparking outrage from the company and French farmers.

At least one association planned a legal challenge to the ruling, but leading environmental campaigner Jose Bove welcomed the decision, describing it as the fruit of a 10-year battle by anti-GM groups.

A spokeswoman for Monsanto said Saturday that France’s decision to outlaw the use of the MON810 strain of corn, the only GM crop grown in France, “had no scientific basis”.

49 Mystery of Saturn’s Watery Moon Solved

Jeanna Bryner, Staff Writer, SPACE.com

Fri Feb 8, 3:16 PM ET

Cosmic sprinklers that spurt misty jets from cracks along Saturn’s sixth largest moon could hint at a vast watery lake hidden beneath the icy shell of Enceladus.

In 2005, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft revealed giant geysers of ice grains and water vapor shooting from the south pole of Enceladus. But how the geysers formed and the source of the ice crystals had remained a mystery until now. New research, detailed in the Feb. 7 issue of the journal Nature, provides a clear view of the processes beneath the moon’s crust that yield the handful of geysers.

The results reveal there must be water beneath the moon’s surface and also support the idea that Enceladus’ geysers are the source of Saturn’s E-ring, a faint circle of tiny ice and dust particles.

50 Origin of Birds Debated

Clara Moskowitz, LiveScience Staff Writer

Fri Feb 8, 9:35 AM ET

Dinosaurs are living birds, nearly all scientists agree, but a debate still continues about when that first early bird glided or flew into the Mesozoic scene.

Paleontologists who study fossils think birds evolved from dinosaurs about 60 million to 65 million years ago, right about the time most dinosaurs went extinct. But biologists who investigate DNA measure the origin of birds at about 100 million years ago.

Scientists hoped that a new study analyzing all of the available genetic data with new statistical models might narrow the gap, but instead it has reinforced it and definitively put the DNA-dating estimate at 100 million years ago.

51 "Green" robot self-propels through sea

Reuters

Thu Feb 7, 5:35 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A seagoing glider that uses heat energy from the ocean to propel itself is the first “green” robot to explore the undersea environment, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

They said the glider had crisscrossed the 13,000-feet-(4,000-meter-)deep Virgin Islands Basin between St. Thomas and St. Croix more than 20 times since it was launched in December.

And it could keep going on its own for another six months, the team at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Webb Research Corporation in Falmouth, Massachusetts, predicted.

Ignorance and Education in America

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

Originally posted on ePluribus Media as Education For The Common Good: We’re All Out Of Our Minds.

People in the United States of America have been “asleep at the wheel” while their airwaves, traditional media, education and political discourse have been perpetually “dumbed down” to the point where the average citizen is often unaware and indifferent of major people, places and events of the world and from history.

If you don’t think education matters, and that news like the latest pop-glam scandal are more important than knowing what goes into our food, our environment, our foreign and domestic policies and what’s happening around the world, then you’ll probably fail to grasp the significance of the following video:

Note: suspected spoof video

There are serious problems with our capacity to understand the world around us, and this is often used to our disadvantage by special interests and politicians.

We not only need to improve our quality of education — the standards and the methods, and not simply “teach to the test” in a manner that further narrows our awareness — we also need to improve and protect our channels for communication, and to silence the screaming peacock of infomedia before it completely subverts the true legacy of the news and traditional media: the role of informing the public.

The most insidious danger facing our nation today is not the undermining of our Constitution or the subversion of our democracy. It is not the wave of (predominantly Republican-sponsored) perversion and corruption that has swept unchecked through our nation’s government and washed away the checks and balances that worked so long at preserving our national integrity.

It is the growing intellectual and social apathy of the public.

We cannot hope to simply coast through life and have all our needs met; that’s the arrogance and contempt oft associated with a detached royalty. If we do not fight the trend to keep us unaware and uninformed, we are in effect surrendering ourselves to the vested self-interests of those who have already demonstrated that they hold in contempt those things that we value most.  Those who most wish for us to abdicate our responsibility and our integrity have shown us that they themselves have none, and that they are wholly unable to manage a nation.

It’s time we started waking up our fellow citizens and alert them to the impending loss of our collective sanity.

Failure to do so would be beyond negligent — it would be simply insane.

________________

Also available on DailyKos.

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About the video…

I’d seen videos similar in the past and other “man on the street” type interviews (ever seen “Jaywalking” or remember seeing / hearing / reading Art Linkletter’s “Kids say the darndest things”?), and a friend pointed out that the video presented is, quite likely, entirely scripted (note the “CNNN” logo somewhere within).

(Hat-tip Decon66 of Delphiforums.)

That doesn’t mean that people really aren’t that stupid — that simply means that we should take this particular video with a grain of salt, and hope that we can’t so easily find a clueless segment of our populace.

However…that said, does anyone believe that Mike Huckabee was in on this?

(hat-tip to Nulwee)

I Am A Vindictive Son Of A Bitch

Let’s start here…

Main Entry:

   vin·dic·tive

1 a: disposed to seek revenge : vengeful b: intended for or involving revenge

And then go here…

To Republicans: Conservatism Has Failed. Deal With It, by bonddad

And then I will try to explain what kind of revenge I want, and what I mean by “destroying Republicans” And why I think that that is a necessary part of the new world that Obama wants in one way, with post-partisanship….and that and Pfiore8 wants in another way with post-Democratship.

Revenge is a nasty, mean word…especially amongst us civilized liberals. It conjures up all the worst parts of human nature, violence, mayhem, death, selfishness, a kind of greed, and an uncontrolled rage against others that have been perceived to have hurt or persecuted you. If you think about it is almost a synonym for Republicans, the Republicans that are in power right now. The Republicans that are in power right now that are the culmination of the Republican Party post Eisenhower. Nixon, Reagan, Bush One and Bush Two. And as bonddad says in the link above…IT DOESN’T WORK!

And not only does it not work, it is incredibly destructive…and divisive.

Republicanism is based on greed and hatred, inspired by fear, that causes them to lash out at the world outside of their little enclave of White Maleness. It’s very purpose is to create an elite in what is allegedly an egalitarian society. And not just to create an elite, but to enforce it through political power and legislation. How can we ‘move on’ to anything while that philosophy is part of our culture? While it is accepted and fostered and applauded?

I want revenge, not revenge on PEOPLE who are Republicans like Pfiore’s Aunt. Not even revenge on Republican politicians, except in so far as that accomplishes what I really want…revenge on the Philosophy of Republicanism.

I want that philosophy that inexorably fosters and creates and coddles greed and hatred of gays and brown people and waging war and torture to be destroyed and repudiated and the revenge I REALLY want is for the core thinking at the heart of Republicanism to be shunned and deemed socially unacceptable. The revenge I want is for the philosophy of Republicanism to be completely exposed (say by something like an impeachment trial where all of the crimes and lies are laid out on national tv) so that everyone…and particularly everyone like Pfiore’s aunt who supports it…thinking it is something else, something benign…to see what is truly at the heart of Republicanism.

If they see that, how can they continue to support it? They can’t… and thus Republicanism will be ‘destroyed,’ and I will have my revenge, such as it is.

It SEEMS to me…and I could be wrong, that the reason that Pfiore and Obama want to embrace Republicans is that they think Republicanism CANNOT be destroyed, that it will be with us always, as Jesus said of the poor. Maybe they are right and I am wrong. We certainly need to make peace within ourselves with the impulses of selfishness and destruction that lead to Republicanism. We need to make peace with it by realizing that those impulses are within us, so that we can KEEP them within us. So that we can then resist them, and not impose them on others.

But we as a society can no longer afford to indulge them as part of our government and part of our society. We are going to be FORCED to build a world of cooperation and consensus by looming events such as climate crisis and population. Either that or we are going to be FORCED into wars for resources. There will always be room for the ‘me.’ But we are rapidly running out of room for the ‘me first‘ philosophy that is at the heart of Republicanism.

WE all want a peaceful ad prosperous and just world…Republicanism doesn’t, it wants a world where it has the advantage, that is what it is all about, gaining advantage and protecting it.

As a planet, which like it or not Republicans…we are, and as equal members of the Human Race…which like it or not Republicans…we are, if we are to create a world of something other than endless war for dwindling resources we have to make the Philosophy of me first Republicanism unacceptable…with a vengeance. We are running out of time.

NOT vengeance or revenge against individuals, but against that philosophy…and by extension the Party that espouses that philosophy and wishes to impose it on the rest of the world against their will, by using force (and torture)if necessary….as they have shown again and again that they are willing to do. ONLY when that has been done will we be able to build the new world that we all want…and that we need if we  are to be a truly civilized human race.  

The Long Month

Here we are, in the midst of what I have always considered to be the worst part of a Spring semester.  January and the start up has gone by the wayside and Spring Break doesn’t arrive until March.  In between we have the long hard slog towards midterm exams.

It is also the time in which that “extra” stuff gets emphasized.  “Oh, by the way…” starts piling up work for next semester.  “If you are not too busy…” add to it.

I get to be the center attraction in a Women’s Studies class discussion on gender in the next couple of weeks.  Once more into the cage, Dr. LabRat.  Maybe we can have a fruitful discussion about the meaning of the phrases “real women” and “real men.”  But I’m only the specimen, so that’s probably unlikely.

More beyond…

Originally posted as part of Teacher’s Lounge at Daily Kos

The Gay/NonGay Alliance has a Safe Zone training scheduled for this semester.  And now we want to add a discussion series.  First topic up:  Coming Out.

Women’s Studies is also trying to figure out how to cope with the problem of domestic abuse on campus.  How thorny is this issue, even laying aside the rape scenarios?  We discussed what to do on Tuesday.  We didn’t get too far.  On a small campus, students are refusing to report being abused by their boyfriends and/or dates.  They don’t want to be labeled as complainers, I guess, or stigmatized in whatever way young people are now doing these things.

It doesn’t help that the college’s reaction has been to try, above all else, to keep both students in school.  How productive is the environment created when someone is forced to be in a class with the man who assaulted her?

Students say that nobody will show up to any education program because of the stigma.  People will march at Take Back the Night.  But apparently Take Back your Life is too personal.

We’re looking at an online program as a solution.  I’m not hopeful.

Finally, I get to teach the senior level Topics class in the fall.  Well, I get to do so if there are enough students.  In recent years, there have not been.  Then again, the students seem to like me.  The title I had to come up with is Internet Support Structures.  That’s a vague as I could make it.  Blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, widgets…and whatever else I can come up with.  Fortunately I have a summer to come up with a syllabus, decide how to run the class, and, oh, I don’t know, maybe learn enough material to be able to teach it.

If you have any comments about or can provide any assistance about any of those topics, just roll them on up and send them on in.

The only upside to February is generally the fact that the long pull up the hill happens during the shortest month.  But even there we have an extra day this year.

So what’s up with you?

PS:  Campus mock election results from last week:

Approximately 11 percent of the campus community voted. Of those who participated 76 percent said they were registered, 82 percent were registered Democrats and six percent were registered Republicans with a few registered as other.  The mock election results were 61 percent for Barack Obama; 31 percent for Hillary Clinton; three percent for John McCain; one percent for Mike Huckabee; and less than one percent for Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.  

These results are not official, but they are indicators of the general feelings about the candidates on the Bloomfield College campus.

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