Jan 10 2008

Docudharma Times Thursday January 10

This is an Open Thread: Call Anytime

Thursday’s Headlines: Millions of youths use cold meds to get high: Ashcroft Deal Brings Scrutiny in Justice Dept.: Chinese man killed after filming protest: Bodyguard testifies against Taylor at war crimes trial

For U.S., The Goal Is Now ‘Iraqi Solutions’

Approach Acknowledges Benchmarks Aren’t Met

In the year since President Bush announced he was changing course in Iraq with a troop “surge” and a new strategy, U.S. military and diplomatic officials have begun their own quiet policy shift. After countless unsuccessful efforts to push Iraqis toward various political, economic and security goals, they have decided to let the Iraqis figure some things out themselves.

From Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker to Army privates and aid workers, officials are expressing their willingness to stand back and help Iraqis develop their own answers. “We try to come up with Iraqi solutions for Iraqi problems,” said Stephen Fakan, the leader of a provincial reconstruction team with U.S. troops in Fallujah.

USA

Millions of youths use cold meds to get high

Number who abused OTC medications similar to LSD use, officials say

WASHINGTON – About 3.1 million people between the ages of 12 to 25 – or about 5 percent of the age group – have used over-the-counter cough and cold medicine to get high, a U.S. government survey found.

In large doses, cough syrups and cold pills can be used to induce hallucinations, “out-of-body” experiences or other effects, officials said.

This type of abuse has been known for years, but the 2006 survey, conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration or SAMHSA, sets out the best numbers to date quantifying the problem, officials said.

Ashcroft Deal Brings Scrutiny in Justice Dept.

Published: January 10, 2008

WASHINGTON – When the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey needed to find an outside lawyer to monitor a large corporation willing to settle criminal charges out of court last fall, he turned to former Attorney General John Ashcroft, his onetime boss. With no public notice and no bidding, the company awarded Mr. Ashcroft an 18-month contract worth $28 million to $52 million.

That contract, which Justice Department officials in Washington learned about only several weeks ago, has prompted an internal inquiry into the department’s procedures for selecting outside monitors to police settlements with large companies.

The contract between Mr. Ashcroft’s consulting firm, the Ashcroft Group, and Zimmer Holdings, a medical supply company in Indiana, has also drawn the attention of Congressional investigators.

Asia

Chinese man killed after filming protest

David Stanway in Beijing

Thursday January 10, 2008

The Guardian

A man who used his mobile phone to film a violent clash between villagers and officials in rural China was beaten to death by public order “enforcers”, Chinese state media reported yesterday, bringing more unwanted attention to the country’s unruly hinterlands.

The People’s Daily reported that 24 residents of Tianmen, a city in central China’s Hubei province, have been detained after Wei Wenhua, the general manager of a company owned by the local water resources bureau, was pulled out of his car and savagely beaten.

Pakistan suicide blast ‘kills 20’

A suicide bomber in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore has killed at least 20 people and wounded 60, most of them police officers.

The explosion targeted a group of police gathered outside the High Court building, officials said.

A number of people – police and civilians – were seen lying motionless in the street.

The attack comes amid extreme political tension following the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

Europe

Civil servant who leaked rendition secrets goes free

· Internal FO papers fatally undermine prosecution

· Anger that case was pursued for two years

Secrets charges against a Foreign Office civil servant were dramatically dropped at the Old Bailey yesterday after it emerged that senior figures within his own department had privately admitted no harm was done by his leaking a series of Whitehall documents.

The case against Derek Pasquill, who faced jail for passing secret papers to journalists, collapsed as it was becoming increasingly clear that it could have caused the government severe political embarrassment.

The leaked documents related to the US practice of secretly transporting terror suspects to places where they risked being tortured, and UK government policy towards Muslim groups.

Hunger strike vow as Saakashvili is declared victor in Georgian poll

By Shaun Walker in Moscow

Published: 10 January 2008

Opposition activists vowed to go on hunger strike to demand a second round of voting as President Mikheil Saakashvili was declared the winner of Georgia’s presidential poll yesterday.

The head of Georgia’s Central Election Committee said that the number of ballots from polling stations yet to return results was not enough to push Mr Saakashvili below the 50 per cent barrier, which he needs to surpass to avoid a second round. With around 99 per cent of votes counted, Mr Saakashvili, who has led the country since the 2003 rose revolution, had more than 52 per cent.

“We won the election, but the results have been falsified,” Levan Gachechiladze told a crowd who had gathered outside television studios to demand airtime for the opposition to broadcast its complaints. Mr Gachechiladze was backed by a nine-party coalition, and came in second place with around 25 per cent of the vote. In the capital Tbilisi, he won around 40 per cent, more than Mr Saakashvili.

Africa

Bodyguard testifies against Taylor at war crimes trial

A bodyguard of the former Liberian president Charles Taylor has given dramatic evidence against him, revealing the existence of a secret radio room that connected his mansion with the machete-wielding rebels on the front line in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

Mr Taylor, the first former African head of state to face an international court, is on trial in The Hague for orchestrating a campaign of murder and mutilation during the decade-long war in Sierra Leone so he could plunder its diamond wealth.

His defence team does not contest that atrocities occurred but says that Mr Taylor, who stood down as Liberia’s president in 2003 following intense international pressure, had nothing to do with it.

African Union chief pushes for solution to Kenya crisis

By Wangui Kanina and Duncan Miriri in Nairobi

Published: 10 January 2008

The chairman of the African Union John Kufuor shuttled between Kenya’s President and opposition leader to try to break a political impasse behind post-election turmoil that has killed about 500 people.

Mr Kufuor, Ghana’s President, met President Mwai Kibaki at his State House office and residence yesterday, then met Raila Odinga for talks at a hotel. He was due to meet both again later.

Mr Odinga says he was cheated out of winning the election on 27 December by ballot rigging by Mr Kibaki’s supporters. Washington and London have said the vote counting was flawed. The crisis has dented Kenya’s reputation for stability and damaged its economy.

Long used to hosting refugees from hot-spots like Sudan and Somalia, Kenya has more than 250,000 of its own people displaced, many victims of inter-ethnic fighting.

Middle East

Iran warned of reprisals if American naval ships are attacked

President Bush began his first official tour of the Middle East yesterday with a stern warning to Iran that it would face “serious consequences” if its forces attacked American naval ships in the Gulf.

“My advice to them is, ‘Don’t do it’,” Mr Bush said in a press conference in Jerusalem, where he had been discussing with Israeli leaders the renewed peace process with the Palestinians and the risk of conflict with Tehran, which Israel regards as a serious threat.

“We have made it clear publicly and they know our position, and that is there will be serious consequences if they attack our ships, pure and simple,” Mr Bush said. He was speaking three days after Iranian gunboats reportedly threatened to explode themselves against US vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. airstrikes hit ‘Qaida safe havens’

BAGHDAD – U.S. bombers and jet fighters unleashed 40,000 pounds of explosives during a 10-minute airstrike Thursday morning, flattening what the military called al-Qaida in Iraq safe havens on the southern outskirts of the capital.

A military statement said B-1 bombers and F-16 fighters dropped the explosives on 40 targets in Arab Jabour in 10 strikes.

The massive attack was part of Operation Phantom Phoenix, a nationwide campaign launched Tuesday to root out al-Qaida in Iraq fighters.

“Thirty-eight bombs were dropped within the first 10 minutes, with a total tonnage of 40,000 pounds,” the statement said

Latin America

Stolen Picasso recovered undamaged in Brazil

· Police suspect museum heist was ordered overseas

· Portinari painting also found in safe house

Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro

Thursday January 10, 2008

The Guardian

Police in Brazil have recovered two paintings worth a total of £28m, three weeks after they were stolen from one of South America’s most prestigious galleries.

Escorted by a helicopter and more than a dozen police vehicles, the works by Pablo Picasso and the Brazilian artist Cândido Portinari were returned yesterday to the Sao Paulo Museum of Art (Masp). Picasso’s Portrait of Suzanne Bloch and Portinari’s The Coffee Worker, which were stolen by masked men on December 20, were found on Tuesday at a house in Greater Sao Paulo. Two arrests were made, but police are still hunting for the mastermind behind the theft.

One More

Japan tries to cut bike toll

Justin McCurry inTokyo

Thursday January 10, 2008

The Guardian

Multi-tasking cyclists beware. Japan is planning new measures to discourage some of the more outlandish but popular saddle habits, including “triple riding” (balancing children on the frame), listening to portable music players or using an umbrella while on the move.

In the first changes to cycling rules for almost 30 years, warnings will be issued to cyclists who listen to music players or chat on mobile phones. Offenders face a fine of 20,000 yen (£93) from this spring if they are caught triple riding – a balancing act usually involving an adult and two small children spaced out along the length of the bicycle.

Jan 10 2008

Muse in the Morning

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Muse in the Morning

The muses are ancient.  The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them.  Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward.  In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.

It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse.  Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets.  Others have been suggested throughout the centuries.  I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts.  And maybe there should be many more.

Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…

An Opened Mind XXIV:

I do not claim to be a Christian although I was sort of raised to be a Lutheran.  On the other hand, I have learned a thing our two about Christianity in my life journey.  I share.

Art Link

Black and Gold

Tarnishing the Gold

Jesus

he was a handsome man

handsome of soul

if not countenance

He should have been

what he wanted to be

a breeder of peace and love

He told me I should

do unto others

as I would want them

to do unto me

He never told me

it was a bargain

or payment

or investment

to expect benefit

compensation

or return

— nothing —

except

for the knowledge

that I did the right thing

Those who want more

have tarnished his name

and denied his dream

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–January 20, 2006

I know you have talent.  What sometimes is forgotten is that being practical is a talent.  I have a paucity for that sort of talent in many situations, though it turns out that I’m a pretty darn good cook.  🙂  

Let your talent bloom.  You can share it here.  Encourage others to let it bloom inside them as well.

Won’t you share your words or art, your sounds or visions, your thoughts scientific or philosophic, the comedy or tragedy of your days, the stories of doing and making?  And be excellent to one another!

Jan 10 2008

Trying to expain Dylan to a foreigner

What, precice

Jan 10 2008

Bush on Bush

Or, how to be delusional about ones legacy.

George Bush last week gave interviews to various Middle East news outlets in preparation for his visit this week to the Middle East. In answering the questions its clear that George W. Bush is living in a parallel universe of his own construction.    

Israel’s Channel 2 News

“I can predict that the historians will say that George W. Bush recognized the threats of the 21st century, clearly defined them, and had great faith in the capacity of liberty to transform hopelessness to hope, and laid the foundation for peace by making some awfully difficult decisions,”

Reality would suggest otherwise: From the very beginning of his administration George Bush sought policy initiatives that would justify an American invasion of Iraq a country which; though ruled by a dictator Saddam Hussein was of no overt threat to the United States or other countries in the Middle East.  Richard Clarke who served as President Clinton’s adviser on Counter Terrorism (Which was considered a Cabinet Level Post) was conveyed over to the Bush administration to serve in the same capacity. With Bush’s focus on Iraq Richard Clarke’s position and title were down graded to the point that until the September 11, 2001 attacks there had only been two meetings involving the threat of terrorism to the interests of the United States. The terrorism threat was so low that the now famous August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing titled

Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US was ignored. When asked about it at a Senate Hearing then National Security adviser  Condoleezza Rice stated that the title was “Not specific about the threat the United States faced from Osama Bin Laden.” Bush faced up to other problems of the 21 century by ignoring them. Case in point the issue of the Palestinian Israeli conflict, North Korea, Iran and Pakistan.

Speaking to Nahum Barnea and Shimon Shiffer of the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot.

“When he needed to be tough, he acted strong, and when he needed to have vision he understood the power of freedom to be trans-formative,”

Bush attempted to bring political pluralism to a country (Iraq) which had no such history. He cynically believed that the forced importation of Western Liberal Political Theory would change a region of nations which had only known authoritarian rule throughout their existence and like Iraq had no history of open government or free political expression.  Trans-formative it was: With the countries of the Middle East far from being more open to in fact being more repressive than before the invasion of Iraq.  

Nadia Bilbassy-Charters of al-Arabiya Television

The Bush record, is one of liberation — “liberation, by the way, not only from dictatorship, but from disease around the world, like HIV/AIDS or malaria.”

On a personal basis, Bush told Bilbassy-Charters that he hopes that people would know “that he hurts when he sees poverty and hopelessness” and “that he’s a realistic guy.”

Liberation of what and whom? Bush administration policies have lead to liberation not of repressed people or countries but of corporations to exploit the natural and human resources of the impoverished around the world. Iraq, the single country Bush sought to “Liberate” from dictatorial   rule is a complete disaster. The war continues, the economy is ruined, there has been mass internal displacement, millions more have become refugees, the Iraqi government is completely dysfunctional and ethnic killings continue apace. Liberation has done wonders; for the military industrial complex and corporations like Haliburton and KBR through no-bid contracts. If it wasn’t for the UN and many volunteer groups and foundations the problems with HIV/AIDS and malaria would be far worse.

President Bush hurts when he sees poverty and hopelessness. He hurts so much that more than two years after hurricane Katrina much of the Gulf Coast of America remains as it was just after the hurricane struck. A complete disaster. Thousands are still living in temporary housing,(FEMA trailers which are considered a health risk) large portions of Louisiana and Mississippi have not been rebuilt. Those being the areas where the economically disadvantaged live. While those areas least in need of government assistance have received the lions share of it. Again like Iraq the biggest winners in all of this were the corporations who received those wonderful no-bid contracts for hurricane recovery and clean-up.

George Bush’s caring for those less fortunate knows no bounds thats why he veto the S-Chip bill which would have provided health care to children whose parents could ill afford to buy health insurance because the costs far out weight their incomes.  

Jan 10 2008

Tech Talk – An Interview w/ NewsCorpse

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

Recently NewsCorpse decided to start posting on Docudharma.com.  NewsCorpse runs a site by the same name http://newscorpse.com/ and I’ve been a fan for a while.  The site combines amazing original graphics with hard hitting important stories.  So I took the opportunity to request an interview and this is the result:

Thanks for your reply and invitation to get in touch.  I’m a back-end developer mostly and am interested in who links to what and why…recently I signed Docudharma up on Blogburst and that system has been placing our headlines onto sites like the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Reuters etc.  

I saw your headlines from another Wall Street Journal story and when I did it reminded me of other times I saw your news on Google News and places reserved, usually, for News Sources not mere blogs.

Until we registered on Blogburst I thought it was nearly impossible to get linked from the top dogs.  You were able to do it much earlier than most.  Until recently I was just submitting links anywhere possible, hoping that would raise the site’s rankings.  Once I got into news feeds I realized there is a lot of hidden potential on the development side.

You appear to understand the concept of a blog/website as a dot com….I am just getting to that point now so here are some questions (below the fold):

 

1. Is there a particular tool or site you found that enabled you to increase your reach?

As I said above, I crosspost at ePluribusMedia and also at DailyKos. I’ve been linked at Crooks & Liars a couple of times and that rocked my traffic. But that’s more up to them than to me. I’ve also benefited from getting Dugg or StumbledUpon, but I’ve never submitted my own articles.

2. What efforts, if any, did you decide were mostly in vain when creating your site?  

I’m not sure that’s the way I think. You should know that first and foremost, I am an artist. So everything I do conforms to the thought process I use to produce my artwork. Basically, if I like it, I do it. I think that makes me a great artist, but a lousy business planner.

3. How many other people have helped in the development and design of your site?

I’m a one-man shop. Obviously, as an artist I do all of my own design. Since I happen to be a digital artist, I have a fair amount of comfort with technology. I am used to using a range of software, like artweaver for example (FYI: artweaver is available on kubadownload), for my digital artwork and so this sort of technology is not alien to me. I use open source software and online forums when I get stuck on a technical question.

4. Do you find that real goods like posters and gear are bringing you traffic, and if so how much more traffic would you attribute to the gear?

I don’t think merchandise has brought any traffic to my blog. I’m trying to work it the other way around – to send traffic from my blog to CrassCommerce, my business site.

5. Have you done any figuring on the amount of hits your category pages get in relation to your front page?  If so, what did you find out?

I have not done that kind of research.

6. If it is OK with you I’d like to post this as an interview on Docudharma as I am trying to get people interested in the tech side of things before I launch a series on Tech.

Sure if you don’t think your readers will get too bored. 😉

Thank you for the interview NewsCorpse and we are glad to have you on board.

Jan 10 2008

“Body of War”

A Call To Action for Anyone in or near Washington DC on Friday January 11 2008

CounterPunch has a post there today that asks a Request, from Russell Mokhiber, to join him outside of the DC Offices of the New York Times.

I’m going to place the whole request below, why, because I want to make sure that whoever visits this Reads The Whole Thing, everyone of Russells words, and not just selected cuts without clicking through.

This Request Is Important

January 9, 2008

Phil Donahue’s Body of War

Why Picket the New York Times in DC on Friday?

By RUSSELL MOKHIBER

Well, it has to do with a movie I just saw.

It’s called Body of War.

It was produced by Phil Donahue.

The star of the movie is a young man named Tomas Young.

He’s an Iraq war vet.

Young had been on duty in Iraq a mere five days when he was hit by a bullet under his collar bone.

The bullet shattered his spine.

And now he’s paralyzed from the chest down.

The movie is about his daily struggle to live.

It’s about his wife and mother, who care for him.

And its about the politicians who sent him to Iraq.

I watched the movie last night at home in West Virginia with my wife and my two boys–aged 10 and 13.

I’m not sure what effect the movie had on the boys.

It held their attention for the full 87 minutes.

The bottom line lesson from Tomas Young–don’t make impetuous decisions –about attacking another country or signing up for the military.

The boys were quiet afterwards. The older one picked up a book and read into the night. The younger one went straight to bed.

In the past, we have talked about Iraq war. We have talked about the possibility of a draft.

The boys see the pictures of dead American soldiers in the newspaper.

But this is the first time they’ve seen a documentary on the real life effects of the Iraq war.

And it wasn’t easy for anyone.

This movie links the suffering of this one young man–25-year old Tomas Young of Kansas City, Missouri–directly to the votes of our politicians.

The Senators who voted for it–including John Kerry, John Edwards, and Hillary Clinton–come off as scripted stooges for President Bush.

Mr. Kerry–aye.

Mrs. Clinton–aye.

Mr. Edwards–aye.

One of the heros of the movie is our own Senator, Robert Byrd, who opposed the war from the beginning.

He was one of 23 Senators who voted against the war resolution in October 2002.

Thousands have died since.

Tens of thousands have been wounded.

Wounded.

It means not being able to walk.

It means not being able to cough, because you have lost control of your stomach muscles.

It means having your mother shove a catheter into your penis so that you can pee.

“Don’t worry, Tomas, I’ve had your pee on my hands before,” the mother says to Tomas.

It means taking a slew of medications every day–anti-nausea drugs, painkillers, blood thinners, anti-depressants–that’s just the beginning of the list.

It means struggling against incredible odds to keep together your marriage.

It means traveling across the country to speak out against the illegal war that put you in the wheelchair.

It means holding accountable those who put us in this mess.

On January 22, 2008, Donahue will find out whether or not his movie will be nominated for an Academy Award.

If it is nominated, this will help Donahue line up a distribution deal.

Right now, he’s traveling the country showing the film to college audiences.

“I discovered a great American in Tomas Young, a warrior turned anti-warrior, a voice of courage rising above the war drums,” Donahue writes on his web site. “To all the main-streamers in the press who supported the invasion of Iraq, to the pundits who continue to talk tough while other people’s kids die, to all the merry warriors who recruited Jesus to assist them in this massive foreign policy blunder–I have a soldier for you.”

Eddie Vedder wrote two original songs for the movie. As the credits roll, we hear Vedder’s voice:

I speak for a man who gave for this land

took a bullet in the back for his pay

spilled his blood in the dirt and the dust

and he’s come back to say

That what he has seen is hard to believe

and it does no good to just pray

he asks of us to stand, and we must

end this war today

Which brings me to this Friday, January 11, 2008 at 12 noon.

In honor of Tomas Young, there will be a protest in front of the New York Times Washington office at 1627 I St NW (Farragut West Metro stop).

Why the New York Times?

Because the Times recently signed on William Kristol as a columnist. Kristol was the lead pundit cheerleader for war–with Iraq, with Lebanon and now with Iran.

As Donahue said–to the pundits who continue to talk tough while other people’s kids die–I have a soldier for you.

Russell Mokhiber is the editor of the Corporate Crime Reporter.

View the Trailer of “Body of War”

I’m not near DC so sadly I can’t join Russell, but someone who can will be taking me in Spirit as well!!

If they were sent to fight, they are too few. If they were sent to die, they are too many!

Is ‘Funding’ Really For Troops?

What Happened To Funding and Oversite For Military/Veteran Care In Previous Congresses?

Jan 10 2008

Rasmussen on the NH Mistake, and the Power of Story

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

In this post I relay Rasmussen’s preliminary report on why they got New Hampshire wrong.  Their explanation is not simple or single-faceted.  I also offer some reflections on the power of simple narratives.

I don’t like “stories” when it comes to campaigns.  I don’t like, for example, to be told that “the women of New Hampshire” were “moved” by Clinton’s “teary-eyed moment.”  This is too quick, too easy, too lazy, and too insulting.  It makes too many people’s jobs — pundits, reporters, campaign staffs — less taxing for me to believe it is really getting at the truth.  The truth might be more mundane, less psychological, messier . . . and above all, the truth might not fit into anyone’s “story” about this or that “campaign”.

But never mind.  The media, which needs a story, seems to have decided that Clinton won New Hampshire because of her “teary-eyed moment.”  This is the story that the major media seem to be settling on, and this is the conclusion Clinton herself seems to have drawn.  The narrative, therefore, about this campaign will likely be one about “Clinton showing she is human,” or “I listened to you and in the process I found my own voice” or “That crying really seemed genuine. I’ll bet she spent hours thinking about it beforehand.”

That this is not the whole story seems not to matter.  That, in fact, there are much more mundane reasons for the discrepency between polling techniques and voter turn-out — reasons that don’t create “a story” or define a “candidacy” or advance a “narrative”, in any kind of way that would be of easy assistance to reporters and pundits working on deadlines, or to candidates and their staffs in want of a “theme” — seems not to be getting much notice in the media.

But I want to point out that Rasmussen Reports has issued a prelimary report on why they got New Hampshire wrong.  Their initial conculsions are messy, multi-faceted, and advance no narrative.  These conclusions will not be of much use to those in need of a “storyline”.

Rasmussen’s report lists several possible factors, and begins with the observation that the media narrative about Clinton’s victory might not be entirely wrong.  “First, there may truly have been very late changes in the race.”  

Hillary’s tearing-up moment may have played a role (another powerful moment came in the debate on Saturday night where the only woman in the race reminded everyone that she embodies change). There is some evidence to support this theory, even if we only recognize it in hindsight.

Note that this phrasing does not seem at all points to be in agreement with the single-minded simplicity of the “story” we are being handed by those who, as a matter of professionsal survival and ease, must have a narrative to sell about he election process, the candidates, and the millions of people who, for their own reasons, vote for one candidate or another.

The New York Times, in promoting the narrative, found “several New Hampshire women” who noted Clinton’s “moment”:

Several New Hampshire women, some of them undecided until Tuesday, said that a galvanizing moment for them had been Mrs. Clinton’s unusual display of emotion on Monday as she described the pressures of the race and her goals for the nation – a moment Mrs. Clinton herself acknowledged as a breakthrough.

How long it took to find these “several New Hampshire women,” the Times does not say.

Maureen Dowd asked “Can Hillary Cry Her Way to the White House?” — adding a sarcastic tone to the accepted narrative.

Clinton herself fitted the “moment” into her “story”:

“I had this incredible moment of connection with the voters of New Hampshire and they saw it and they heard it. And they gave me this incredible victory last night,” she said during an interview with CBS.

In other words, the dispute is not over whether Clinton “had this incredible moment of connection with the voters of New Hampshire” but over the evaluation of the “meaning” of this “moment”.  The debate has hardened into an argument over whether “women” are being affected by Clinton’s “moment”.

That all of this might be missing the point, seems not to matter.  

Rassmusen: “First, there may truly have been very late changes in the race.”  There may be some truth to “this theory”, and there may not.  Rasmussen also notes:

Another possibility is that the polls simply understated Clinton’s support. At one level, Clinton’s campaign organization may have been great at getting out the vote. One analyst noted that “The Clinton turnout operation in Manchester their strongest area, was very good, and turnout soared 33% over 2000. In Rochester-Dover-Somersworth, another strong Clinton area, turnout was up 94% from 2000.” That could account for a several percentage points, but not the ten point gap between our final poll and the actual results.

And further:

The problem may also have resulted from the greatest challenge in polling–determining who will actually show up and vote. This is especially difficult in a Primary Election. It is possible, perhaps likely, that the polling models used by Rasmussen Reports and others did not account for the very high turnout experienced in New Hampshire. Rasmussen Reports normally screens out people with less voting history and less interest in the race. This might have caused us to screen out some women who might not ordinarily vote in a Primary but who came out to vote due to the historic nature of Clinton’s candidacy. The final Rasmussen Reports poll anticipated that 54% of the Democratic voters would be women while exit polls showed that number to be 57%.

To this extent, the polls were merely mistaken.

All polling organizations “screen out” voters that they think are not motivated to vote in the primary.  These folks never appear in the numbers, in the first place.  That Rasmussen is admiting that its own “likely voter model” may well have underestimated Clinton support does not fit in well with the “this incredible moment of connection” story about the events in New Hampshire.

____________________________

There is a lesson here in the value of not accepting any story — in the value of prefering the messy facts of the observable.  From McCain’s “centrist appeal” and “refreshing candor” to Huckabee’s “appeal to the religious grassroots” for “whites” to “African Americans” who “don’t believe a black man can win” and Obama’s “hope” and “false hope” to white men “turned off” by Clinton’s “lack of emotion” and Edwards’s “anger” . . . these are all “stories”.  We believe them at our peril.

The extent to which we let the major media, and the candidates whom they cover, tell America what America thinks, is the extent to which we grant them power over us.  Stories have a way of becoming “what happened” and “what was always going to happen”.  They have a way of becoming self-fulfilling prophecies, and, ultimately, the history we tell each other about why we chose as we did.

That all of this starts out as illusion, and that we all have a choice in accepting it, is not part of the story.  But I really wish we could all keep it in mind.

Jan 10 2008

Pony Party: Cary Grant

How do I talk about Cary Grant without using all the expected words… suave, sophisticated, sexy, charming, dapper, handsome, dimple-in-chin, tall, great in a suit, great voice/cadence/rhythm, great walk. And fucking funny. A vaudevillian heart more than a heart throb… he could fall, tumble, crash into things, drop things, and act like a nerd. His confused was both endearing and comical. He had a darkness as well. It always took me by surprise; it was incredibly intriguing.

But you knew he smelled good. If your nose could only find its way to his neck and nestle right below his ear. You knew he could kiss… every time I saw him, it was easy to imagine kissing him. But not just serious kissing. Flirty kissing. Laughing kissing. Eyes wide open kissing.

And… He was one of the best actors I’ve ever seen.

Do you think I had a thing for Cary Grant?  And I don’t care if he was gay or bi. No bearing on how I felt, well, still feel. And you want to know something even funnier? ej is a little Cary Grant-like. Not in looks. But the nerd part for sure and he’s funny and charming. Mostly, it’s those Grantesque “everything that can go wrong will go wrong” moments. Like going into an American supermarket and asking for chocolate bars. the guy told him they didn’t have any. of course, he eventually found them and then, in true ej style, his voice pitched as he complained that not only were there chocolate bars, but there was a whole aisle of them…  it’s hard for him to accept that sometimes, people don’t understand his accent.

I got to see Cary Grant once. He was going around the country, sitting on stages small and large, and answering people’s questions. “An Evening with Cary Grant” I think he called. When I saw him (he was 82 then), Liz Smith introduced him. And guess what? I was the first one he pointed to in the audience to ask a question.

Here’s the way I remember it…

“Mr. Grant… Cary. I just wanna hear you say my name.” And the audience erupted with laughter… he smiled, put his hands over his eyes to cut the spot lights to look at me.

“What’s your name?”

Fighting the swoon… i said p… pfiore8. And he said, “Hello pfiore8. How are you this evening?”

One of my best ever moments…

The easy thing is finding tributes to Cary Grant. Here’s a feast…

enjoy and don’t rec the PONY… chit chat and remember to be excellent to each other!

Jan 09 2008

Cut CO2 by 94%, Produce 540% EROEI with Switchgrass!

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

Switchgrass is nothing less than amazing!

BBC News reports on a new study, Grass biofuels ‘cut CO2 by 94%’.

Producing biofuels from a fast-growing grass delivers vast savings of carbon dioxide emissions compared with petrol, a large-scale study has suggested.

A team of US researchers also found that switchgrass-derived ethanol produced 540% more energy than was required to manufacture the fuel.

One acre (0.4 hectares) of the grassland could, on average, deliver 320 gallons of bioethanol, they added.

This is good news for the United States in so many ways:

  1. Fewer CO2 emissions – 94% is almost “carbon neutral”

  2. 540% EROEI – Growing “energy independence”

  3. Better than corn and soy – Less need for harmful herbicides and pesticides, such as Atrazine

  4. Native prairie grass – Improves local biodiversity

  5. Plant once – Reduces erosion and farm fuel consumption

The five-year study on switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) was led by Ken Vogel, a professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a geneticist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. His findings are published this week by in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, Net energy of cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass (PDF) (Abstract).

According to Nature News, Prairie grass energy boost studied in the field. There is more energy potential in switchgrass than in other crops used in biofuels. Vogel estimated that annually a hectacre of switchgrass could produce an average of 60 gigajoules of energy if turned into bioethanol. Switchgrass had a net 540% Energy Returned on Energy Invested (EROEI). “Soya bean biodiesel, in contrast, returns 93% more energy than is used to produce it, whereas corn grain ethanol currently provides only 25% more energy. Greenhouse-gas emissions from the switchgrass would be 94% lower than emissions from petrol, they calculate – that’s nearly, but not quite, carbon neutral.”

The Reuters story on the study explains how the CO2 savings is made.

Switchgrass plants sequester carbon dioxide in the ground because they have extensive root systems that remain buried after the crop is harvested, Vogel said. Steep greenhouse gas emissions reductions, of about 94 percent compared to gasoline, are contingent on burning switchgrass waste to fire bio-refineries. Unlike waste left over from corn after it is made into ethanol, switchgrass waste cannot be made into the animal feed distillers’ grain.
Switchgrass

Corn and soybeans need to be planted every year. This causes increased risk of soil erosion and the non-native crops require using herbicides and pesticides that can be environmentally harmful to wildlife and people. Scientific America reports Grass makes better ethanol than corn does. Switchgrass only needs to be planted once and is a plant indigenous plant to the vast American prairie and “once established, the fields yielded from 5.2 to 11.1 metric tons of grass bales per hectare, depending on rainfall”. But, there still is a large challenge blocking the adoption of switchgrass ethanol.

But yields from a grass that only needs to be planted once would deliver an average of 13.1 megajoules of energy as ethanol for every megajoule of petroleum consumed-in the form of nitrogen fertilizers or diesel for tractors-growing them. “It’s a prediction because right now there are no biorefineries built that handle cellulosic material” like that which switchgrass provides, Vogel notes. “We’re pretty confident the ethanol yield is pretty close.” This means that switchgrass ethanol delivers 540 percent of the energy used to produce it, compared with just roughly 25 percent more energy returned by corn-based ethanol according to the most optimistic studies.

As noted, the catch is there presently are not any biorefineries that handle the switchgrass. The refineries are currently geared toward producing ethanol from corn and soybeans. However this may be about to change. In a story about the study, Associated Press reports on the effort underway to develop cellulosic ethanol:

Renewable Fuels Association spokesman Matt Hartwig said this latest study adds to the evidence supporting the development of cellulosic ethanol.

“It underscores that cellulosic ethanol production is not only feasible, it is essential,” said Hartwig, whose group represents ethanol producers.

Nebraska Ethanol Board Projects Manager Steve Sorum said the industry is excited about the prospects for cellulosic ethanol because the feedstocks for it, such as switch grass, are cheaper to grow. Plus some of the byproducts created in the process can be burned to generate electricity.

Sorum said the key will be developing an economic way to break down the cell walls of cellulose-based fuel sources…

Last year, the Department of Energy announced plans to invest $385 million in six ethanol refineries across the country to jump-start ethanol production from cellulose-based sources, a process that has not yet been proven commercially viable.

When $385 million for cellulose ethanol production is compared to the opportunity costs due to the Bush administration’s war in Iraq, our country’s “jump start” is laughable. Kansas and Nebraska has spent $7.2 billion on the war and the entire country together has spent over $484.2 billion on it. To me, the nation’s priorities are obviously wrong.

Changing to switchgrass-based ethanol would have additional environmental benefits. Growing native prairie grasses can help preserve our country’s biodiversity and help reduce erosion and the use of pesticides and herbacides. According to Land of Biofuels? an article in this month’s Minnesota Conservation, a journal published by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources:

From tilling to fertilizing to irrigating to distilling, corn ethanol production consumes large amounts of fossil fuels and water — offsetting some of the biofuel benefits of being local, renewable, and carbon neutral. And the increased demand for corn puts pressure on farmers to convert grasslands to cornfields. Soil erosion and water pollution increase when grassland is plowed and fertilized for corn. And few animals find cornfields to be as satisfactory for habitat as native grasslands and brushlands…

First, many plants — particularly native perennial plants — need far less fossil fuel input to grow, so production of ethanol from native plants would generate less CO2. Prairie grasses, such as switchgrass, big bluestem, prairie cordgrass, and Indiangrass (or better yet, a mixture including wildflowers), also provide superb wildlife habitat. Grasses help soil stay in place and filter polluted runoff. If plant species and genetic makeup, land, and harvest regimen were coordinated to maximize natural resource potential, native vegetation managed for cellulosic biofuels could provide far better homes for ducks, deer, songbirds, prairie chickens, and other native species than row crops.

“We think [biomass harvest] can have a positive benefit, particularly if it means something that’s in row crop production now is converted to grass, or if it means we have lands that are decadent that we can then use biomass harvest as a management tool to increase the productivity of those lands for wildlife,” says DNR farmland wildlife program leader Bill Penning. For instance, Penning says, DNR currently invests hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in brushland management for brushland-dependent wildlife species such as sharp-tailed grouse. If brush becomes a commodity, management could start to pay for itself.

“That’s a win-win situation for us,” Penning says. “We couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Neither could I. Switchgrass is amazing. Let’s solve the challenges with cellulosic ethanol, start planting prairie grasses, and get those bio-refineries built. I cannot wait for this future for America and the heartland!

Jan 09 2008

Four at Four

  1. The victims of Hurricane Katrina are thinking big — really big. According to the Associated Press, Katrina’s Victims sue for $3 quadrillion. “A whopping $3,014,170,389,176,410 is the dollar figure so far sought from some of the largest claims filed against the federal government over damage from the failure of levees and flood walls following the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane… For the sake of perspective: A mere $1 quadrillion would dwarf the U.S. gross domestic product… was $13.2 trillion in 2007.” Our national debt is now over $9.2 trillion.

  2. While Iran isn’t the most trust-inspiring nation, the Bush administration isn’t well-known for their honesty and ablity to tell the truth either. So, it comes as no surprise that, according to The New York Times, Iran accuses the Bush administration of faking Persian Gulf video. “‘Images released by the U.S. Department of Defense about the navy vessels, the archive, and sounds on it are fabricated,’ an unnamed Revolutionary Guard official said… The video and audio were recorded separately and then matched, Naval and Pentagon officials said Tuesday… The video runs just over four minutes and, according to Pentagon officials, was shot from the bridge of the guided missile destroyer Hopper.”

    Here’s the video… kind of low production values… reminds me of those ‘bin Laden’ videos. What do you think?

  3. The Los Angeles Times reports Conservative Supreme Court cool to voter ID challenge. “he U.S. Supreme Court, hearing arguments in a partisan election-law dispute, gave no hint today that it would strike down the nation’s strictest voter identification law. Democrats in Indiana challenged the law as unconstitutional, saying the Republican-backed measure would deter thousands of poor, minority and elderly voters from casting ballots. Registered voters in Indiana without a valid driver’s license or passport would not have their ballots counted. But the justices, with the conservatives leading the way, said the Democrats had failed to prove the measure would have much impact.” Gee… color me surprised!

  4. Here’s a fun story… the Washington Post reports In India, gods rule the ‘toon’ universe. For “eight-year-old Tejas Vohra, one of his favorite superheroes is a cool cartoon version of Hanuman, the monkey-headed Hindu god… In ‘The Return of Hanuman,’ the adored deity is reborn as a boy who goes to school in khaki shorts, uses a computer, combats pollution and, most important, smashes the bad guys to pulp… ‘It was awesome to see the gods laughing, singing and flying planes. The fights were really good, and in the end Hanuman sets everything right.’ A number of haloed Hindu gods and goddesses have debuted in the frenetic world of animation over the past five years. Their appearance marks a shift from a decades-long period in which Indian children grew up almost exclusively on American TV and movie characters”.

Jan 09 2008

Iraq Moratorium #5 on Friday, January 18

Ready for Iraq Moratorium #5?

The Raging Grannies of Mountain View CA will bring cookies and tea to “welcome” recruiters to a new Armed Forces Career Center to the neighborhood on Friday, January 18 – and to let the recruiters know they are moving into territory occupied by the Grannies, part of a national network of antiwar activists.

A vigil at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Maryland will call for money to be spent helping wounded veterans, not the war.  A march in Brattleboro VT will feature drummers, horns, bagpipes, and dancers.  A public forum in Duluth MN will feature Native American and African American leaders speaking against the war.  

In San Mateo CA, a candlelight vigil will honor the vision of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and incorporate his words against war.  In dozens of other communities across the country, groups will hold vigils or rallies, while thousands of individuals take some personal action to call for an end to the war.

It’s all part of the fifth Iraq Moratorium Day, a loosely-knit nationwide effort that asks people to take some action, individually or in a group, on the third Friday of every month to call for an end to the war.  Those actions range from simple gestures like wearing a black armband or button to participating in a large-scale protest.

Since the Moratorium began in September, more than 500 events have been listed with the group’s website, www.IraqMoratorium.org , which has a list of upcoming actions, and reports, photos and videos from previous month’s events.

“The fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq is two months away.  Two-thirds of the American people want this war to end, but there’s little or no movement from President Bush and not much more from Congress,” said Moratorium organizer Eric See.  “We must turn up the heat, and more people every month see the growing Iraq Moratorium movement as a way to do that.  This war’s got to stop, and we’ve got to stop it.”

What are you going to do?

 

Jan 09 2008

The Dark Nexus of the World: the Edmonds Revelations & the Meaning of Deep Politics

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

Also posted at Invictus

The “dark nexus” of the world is where its most secretive business is conducted, such as the bribes and secret payoffs that Sibel Edmonds recently revealed were behind a nuclear proliferation ring that involved many top U.S. officials. According to a recent compelling article by Chris Floyd (whose descriptor above I have quoted), this “shadowlands” is “where covert operations, criminal networks, terrorism, high finance and state policy mingle, and battle, in profitable murk.” I believe Peter Dale Scott famously called this essential, if diabolical aspect of modern history, “deep politics.”

Floyd likens the recent Edmonds tale to that of the scandal around BCCI, “the ‘Bank of Credit and Commercial International,’ a supposed financial group that a U.S. Senate investigation called ‘one of the largest criminal enterprises in history'”.

And what were the illicit activities that BCCI facilitated for its entangled crime gangs and government agents? The Senate report:

“BCCI’s criminality included fraud by BCCI and BCCI customers involving billions of dollars; money laundering in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas; BCCI’s bribery of officials in most of those locations; support of terrorism, arms trafficking, and the sale of nuclear technologies; management of prostitution; the commission and facilitation of income tax evasion, smuggling, and illegal immigration; illicit purchases of banks and real estate; and a panoply of financial crimes limited only by the imagination of its officers and customers.”

The Senate investigators found that the CIA lied about is extensive, long-term contacts with BCCI, although the Kerry panel [John Kerry led the 1992 Senate investigation] often couched this flagrant falsehood in more decorous tones, e.g., “the CIA inadvertently failed” to tell the proper federal officials about BCCI’s criminal activities (emphasis added). Still, much of the findings are straightforward on this point: “After the CIA knew that BCCI was as an institution a fundamentally corrupt criminal enterprise, it continued to use both BCCI and First American, BCCI’s secretly held U.S. subsidiary, for CIA operations.”

There’s more… a lot more. BCCI helped funnel money to Saddam Hussein in the 1980s, including money for chemical weapons and WMD. Bush Sr. squashed investigations that threatened to expose this. Then there’s the links to Bush Jr. (and possibly Bill Clinton).

As Kevin Phillips points out in his devastating – and woefully ignored – book on the Bushes, American Dynasty, Bush II’s first large-scale business enterprise, the Arbusto oil company, was almost certainly financed in part with investments from American frontmen for BCCI-connected Saudi grandees Salem bin Laden, older brother of Osama bin Laden and then the head of the family, and Khalid bin Mahfouz, a major stockholder in BCCI.

The failing Arbusto was later bought out by Harken Energy in a sweetheart deal that landed business failure Bush a plum spot on the Harken board and plenty of stock to play with. Bush soon worked his magic touch on Harken: the company began to tank. It was saved by an unusual infusion of $25 million from the Union Bank of Switzerland, one of BCCI’s associates. The deal was brokered by long-time Bush family contributor Jackson Stephens – who, curiously enough, was also a major paymaster for Bill Clinton’s political rise. In fact, in 1992, Stephens was the largest individual contributor to both Bush I and Clinton in their presidential contest.

There’s much, much more, and I courteously encourage the reader to go read all of Floyd’s well-written piece. (And a h/t to Inky99 over at Daily Kos, whose own article on this directed my attention to Chris’s article.)

According to Peter Dale Scott, who draws conclusions in an academic sort of way (he is a professor, after all):

A deep political system or process is one which resorts to decision-making and enforcement procedures outside as well as inside those sanctioned by law and society. What makes these supplementary procedures “deep” is the fact that they are covert or suppressed, outside public awareness as well as outside sanctioned political processes.

We see deep politics in imperial and post-imperial systems which are accustomed to use criminal assets to intervene lawlessly in other societies….

Deep political analysis focuses on the usually ignored mechanics of accommodation. From the viewpoint of conventional political science, law enforcement and the underworld are opposed to each other, the former struggling to gain control of the latter. A deep political analysis notes that in practice these efforts at control lead to the use of criminal informants; and this practice, continued over a long period of time, turns informants into double agents with status within the police as well as the mob. The protection of informants and their crimes encourages favors, payoffs, and eventually systemic corruption. The phenomenon of “organized crime” arises: entire criminal structures that come to be tolerated by the police because of their usefulness in informing on lesser criminals. In time one may arrive at the kind of police-crime symbiosis familiar from Chicago, where the controlling hand may be more with the mob than with the police it has now corrupted.

Floyd concludes his own article in a more succinct fashion, getting right to the point:

This is the way the world works. Behind the glitz and gossip of presidential campaigns, behind all the earnest “policy debates” on Capitol Hill, behind all the “position papers” and “vision statements” of think tanks and political parties, behind all the great panoply of state and our august Establishment institutions, thieves and murderers have their way, in league with the great and good.

But neither Scott nor Floyd says what has to be said (because each believes the dark political realities are almost too great to fight), that the time is now overripe for the entry of the regular people into history. When it happens, such action shatters the previous status quo, with its networks of criminals and politicians, and changes the society forever. The classic example of this was the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789. One could argue the storming of the Winter Palace in 1917, backed up by the sailors of the Russian Navy, was another such moment in history.

For the “deep politics” of the criminal gangs and the titans of industry and politics that govern this world are aimed at exploiting the working peoples of the world, and the only answer to such activity must come from the heart and soul of humanity itself. Life against death: what is good in human beings against what is fearful and tyrannical.

Now, I am not advocating a storming of anything. Nor can I predict in what form any revolutionary emergence or change will take place. But the thoroughly corrupt leadership of the nation states and empires that jostle and struggle for supremacy on this globe are leading humanity to the edge of the nuclear precipice, and time is growing far too short. This blog is a minuscule voice in the shout and wild hurrah that is the eternal buzzing of the Internet. It is my stone cast into the void. It is my wish for a spark. It is a prediction awaiting fulfillment, or a drowning in the coming flood of war and holocaust, led by the greedy men and women that ply their trade in and out of the dark nexus of the world’s “business.”

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