Wednesday, March 31, 2004

The OTHER 9/11 investigation...  from http://rense.com/general49/no911.htm. 

No Hijackers For 911
Repentant arms dealer reveals disgruntled
U.S. military on the verge of revolt
By John Kaminski
skylax@comcast.net

Commission or no commission, this is just like the 'who killed JFK' investigate-deal -- we'll probably never know, but i've seen enough buildings brought down by demolition in Las Vegas that I just never bought the "official" story about 9/11.  As I stood barefoot in my kitchen, watching the T.V. while holding a cup of coffee and stunned as that second plane hit the second tower (and saw Brian Gumball turn white), it looked like "demolition" to me ~!

Wonder why there's no money in THIS country for "stuff"???   Because a LOT of it goes for foreign aide (sic). 

From: http://www.alternativenews.org

A) The nature of US foreign aid to Israel

A1. Constitutes 30% of the total US foreign aid budget, which renders Israel to be the largest recipient of US aid in the world

After the gulf war in 1991, the US has additionally been offering Israel $2 billion annually in federal loan guarantees, which brings the total US foreign aid to Israel to about $5 billion, or $13.7 million per day. This amount excludes the approximate $1.5 billion in total tax-deductible private donations from numerous Jewish charities and individual donors. All in all, this is the largest amount of foreign aid given to a country, and constitutes 30% of the total amount of US foreign aid budget.

If you have time or interest, google "U.S. Foreign Aid per capita" -- seems we have an awful LOT of money  to GIVE to people of other countries (I believe that would be "foreigners" ???) and for WHAT?  So your (our) grandchilcren can be up to their eyebrows in FEDERAL debt ????)

posted by ladywolfsong, 09:10 | link | comments

Tuesday, March 30, 2004

Reprinted without permission...  but credit gladly given - to www.72.com -- and too good not to share ~!  With my own editorial, of course ~!  Many people will look at "events" and say the problem is the jews - let's kill 'em all -- they control all the money.  The problem is NOT with the jews, but rather what they DO (act with too little compassion, too much greed, etc.).  Ditto for men, Blacks, muslims, christians, etc. -- any member of any group who has ever "done us wrong" can be tagged it, and we extend that to the entire group.  ALL men are jerks, ALL Blacks are lazy, ALL Mexicans will steal, etc. -- NOT ~!   And, besides, you don't "cure" bad actions by killing the actor -- you "fix" anti-social actions when the actor ratchets up his or her own awareness and consciousness and decides, of their own volition, to ACT differently.  So, as we all take baby steps together, not toward saint-hood, but toward more peaceful inner selves and ergo, more peaceful outter lives, I offer the following -- it's good medicine ~!  (and you thought i only preached on sunday blogs ~!)

posted by ladywolfsong, 07:38 | link | comments

Monday, March 29, 2004

WELL DRAT ~!   I had a nice, long post written here and my 'puter didn't react as fast as i did, so it was all lost in cyberspace -- all about the mess in the middle east -- but don't wanna to it over right now, and besides, i can't get the 'bold' to UN-bold, so will suffice with this -- it's all one big joke to W.  Really, HE is the joker and the joke is on the rest of the world's inhabitants ~!  With almost 600 U.S. service men and women DEAD thanks to his Iraq "war", and thousands maimed, who's laughing??? 

Bush Slays 'Em with WMD Gag

A Comic Bomb

By JOHN BRENEMAN

With a comic touch as deft as a Baghdad bombing raid, President Bush reduced the side-splitting Iraq weapons of mass destruction fiasco to a punchline.

The Commander-in-Cheek laughed off the world's concern about non-existent WMDs at the 60th annual Radio & Television Correspondents' Association dinner Wednesday night.

War on Iraq U.S. death toll: hundreds Cost: untold billions Bush's standup routine: priceless.  Read the rest at:  http://www.counterpunch.org/breneman03262004.html

posted by ladywolfsong, 06:41 | link | comments

Sunday, March 28, 2004

Good LATE Sunday morn...    See, i told you once it got nice 'nuf to go play outdoors as soon as the sun rises i'd prolly get tardy posting here ~!  But still will be here, daily, if not "on time"~!   Splurged yesterday and got $20.00 MORE worth of plants -- all flowers 'cept for one cilantro plant -- we eat a LOT of messican food so i use a lot of cilantr, and one Japanese eggplant (a hybrid which I did NOT want -- buy my 'heirloom' seeds didn't all do well -- only got 3 up and slow developing - but late planting, too -- then i did a rare stupid thing - was going to direct seed some of them and didn't notice the OTHER end of the seed packet was open -- so there i was with BOTH ends open and the seeds totally disappeared between the kitchen and the garden -- lost 'em all but one).

This time of yer i always have a great deal more hope and ambition than the clime will support, when the heat sets in big time in a few more weeks -- but gradually, i'm learning what WILL thrive here (and seem to have that in abundance but want more variety) and focusing on that.

And, i'm re-doing my website -- by this time next week, will be promoting it big time -- seems i need either 36 hour days or two decades shaved off my driver's license ~!  I'm really not THAT much "older" than when i was 38 -- just seem a lot more slower, dang it ~!  The about-to-air site will talk a lot about building domes with papercrete, workshops for same we hope to host here in October, and eventually have an IC -- intentional community, here, of aging baby boomers (preferably more old hippie types like moi). 

So, signing off to go take a nap and get back to playing in the dirt, creatively of course ~!  Blessings, OHC.

posted by ladywolfsong, 14:37 | link | comments

Saturday, March 27, 2004

No (rich) child left behind...  Unless you are a teacher, you probably aren't too aware of the massive changes going on, behind the scenes in amerikan education.  Bushie wants to privitize this important sector of our so-called democracy, and see if THAT won't be more to his liking than funding the status quo.  Granted, our schools (education system) have problems --

Americans are familiar with embarrassing examples of our students' body of knowledge. Every year there's a series on the national news that shows youngsters unable to locate Switzerland on a map or students who associate Pearl Harbor with World War I. Just this week results of a new international study were announced — U.S. college-age student rank seventh in geography knowledge among eight major nations. And according to the National Assessment Governing Board, which issues the Nation's Report Card, progress isn't rapid. (High school history and geography scores showed no measurable improvement at all between 1994 and 2001.) You can use our School Resource Map to check on your own state's Education Report Card.

Increasingly, it is mathematical skills that worry education experts like Bob Moses. The results of the most recent International Student Achievement in Mathematics study, which measured thirty-eight countries against standard benchmarks, were dismal.

However, converting to a "voucher" system is also rift with problems and discrimination -- Congress wouldn't approve vouchers so bushie went behind their backs to dole out  $77 Million in taxpayer monies, primarily to promote religious private schools.

School vouchers, which are "federal funds that enable public school students to attend schools of their choice, public or private," move the idea of choice into a more controversial arena, raising issues of the separation of church and state, as most voucher money would likely go to private religious institutions. Some would say, vouchers endanger the survival of America's public school system.

The passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 brought public school choice into federal law. The Act mandates that parents with a child enrolled in a school identified as under-performing can transfer that child to a better-performing public school or public charter school. However, vouchers for private schooling proved a very contentious issue and even a small pilot voucher program was defeated and removed from the bill before it was signed into law. For much more, see: http://www.pbs.org/now/society/vouchers.html

A free people must be in a position, both politically and intellectually, to critique, examine and impact their "government".  The high rate of illiteracy in Islam countries pretty well precludes a "democracy" being imposed on them from without -- illiteracy feeds on opinion, is easily inflamed and misled by the most vocal (albeit unreasonable) diatribe and by the very nature of its inherent weakness (no ability to compare and contrast THOUGHTS or IDEAS) makes for a very insecure populace.  Insecurity breeds fear and contempt for the unknown and ergo, you have the status quo in many "3rd world countries" today and exactly the scenario the good ole U.S. of A. is being led down the primrose path to becoming if the Bush agenda plays out, in re: "education" for the few. 

As usual, what bushie SAYS sounds good -- "choice" IS a "good thing" -- but his actions defy his rhetoric.  The choice shouldn't be between a good school and a poor school -- ALL kids deserve a "GOOD" school, i.e. education.

posted by ladywolfsong, 05:50 | link | comments

Friday, March 26, 2004

FISHIN' FOR FACTS...  All the flap over mercury in tuna didn't really rile me too much -- god knows i'm past child-bearing age, and we only eat a can or two of tuna pr month.  As ALMOST vegetarians, it's one of the few "meat" staples in my home.  However, it got Arianna Huffington in QUITE a 'huff' and since i'm on a food rant roll, , towit:

"As a mother, I find the Bush administration's blatant disregard for the health of America's children utterly appalling. We simply cannot allow them to reclassify mercury as a less toxic substance. If you'd like to share your comments, learn more about this issue or find out how to take action, please visit my new blog: http://www.ariannaonline.com/blog/index.php

I'D LIKE A TUNA ON WHITE — HOLD THE MERCURY!

By Arianna Huffington

To the list of Campaign 2004's make-or-break issues — Iraq, homeland security, lost jobs, tax cuts — we can now add tuna fish sandwiches.

I'm not kidding.

I was recently at a dinner filled with smart, passionate, politically active guests. When the talk inevitably turned to the presidential campaign I was surprised to find that the issue that really set the table humming was the Bush administration's outrageous undermining of efforts to curtail mercury pollution — and stop the increasing contamination of America's air, water and fish-of-choice.

The administration's lies — and ongoing rationalizations — about WMD are utterly contemptible, but messing with people's tuna salad hits them right in the gut.

And this is not some theoretical menace whose effects won't be felt for decades. After a recent medical checkup, I was shocked to discover that I have elevated levels of mercury in my bloodstream — as do my sister and four of my closest girlfriends.

The primary source of mercury emissions is coal-fired power plants, which pump out 48 tons of the highly toxic pollutant a year. A second important source is the chemical industry. This mercury pollution drifts into our lakes, rivers and oceans, and ends up in the fish we eat. Which means it ends up in us. As a result, over 600,000 babies a year may be born with unsafe levels of mercury in their blood, putting them at risk for mental retardation, cerebral palsy, deafness and blindness. How's that for a security issue?

In adults, exposure to mercury can cause infertility, high blood pressure, tremors and memory loss, which perhaps explains Jessica Simpson’s befuddling inability to remember if Chicken of the Sea had fins or feathers.

Later this year, the Environmental Protection Agency will issue new mercury emission standards, setting a limit for the first time on the amount of mercury the nation’s 1,100 coal-burning power plants are allowed to release into the atmosphere. Unfortunately, the Bush administration is clearly intent on subverting the process by which those standards are set.

Back in 2001, the EPA created a taskforce made up of state air quality officials, environmentalists and representatives of the utility industry to determine the best way to reduce mercury emissions. But after working diligently on the issue for close to two years, the group was unceremoniously disbanded before completing its work — and its recommendations scuttled in favor of a plan that was, surprise, surprise, more to the liking of the White House's buddies, benefactors and cronies in the power plant industry.

Without getting shrouded in a toxic cloud of technical mumbo-jumbo, the bottom line is that current technology offers a way to reduce mercury emissions by 90 percent over the next four years — but the Bush administration has opted for a plan that would, at best, lower the noxious output by just 50 percent over the next 14 years, while setting no meaningful limits on the tons of mercury released by the chemical industry. All of which will save the power, coal and chemical industries billions.

Choke on that for a minute: Big Power gets a tasty multibillion-dollar treat, while everyone else is served up a Toxic Tuna Surprise.

posted by ladywolfsong, 07:30 | link | comments

Thursday, March 25, 2004

Did you want salsa with your chips???

posted by ladywolfsong, 07:19 | link | comments

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

THAR' SHE BLOWS... ~!    I'm usually ahead of the curve, but dragged my feet on this one.  Several months back, i came acrost poop on the net about the Yellowstone volcano -- figured the odds and dismissed it.  I mean, after the Y2K non-event (which i came to dismiss by around Aug of '99, rightly so), then "Planet 'X'" failed to take us all out, who could blame me?

But when the warped media (CBS) says there's no reason for concern, i immediately suspect something may be up -- they tend to lie.  So last eve i went googling for this topic and found...  Yellowstone is what geologists call a "super volcano". There are massive calderas of molten fire beneath Yellowstone National Park. Geologists are saying that every living thing within six hundred miles could be affected in devastation. It could produce an ash cloud that will cover the entire western U.S. clear to the Pacific on the west, British Columbia on the north, the Mexican border on the south, and then out into the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas on the east. Then the cloud could blow east because of the prevailing winds, literally covering the entire nation with volcanic ash.  http://www.earthmountainview.com/yellowstone/yellowstone.htm#LATEST

and, from a BBC interview... ROBERT CHRISTIANSEN: Well this gave us a real shiver of nervousness if you will about the fact that we have been through this 600,000 year cycle and that the last eruption was about 600,000 years ago.

ROBERT SMITH: I felt like telling people, that is we basically have on our hands a giant.

NARRATOR: The scientists had found the largest single active volcanic system yet discovered. There were many things they needed to find out. How big was the magma chamber deep underground, how widespread would the effects of an eruption be and crucially, when would it happen? To answer any of these questions vulcanologists knew they first had to understand Yellowstone's mysterious magma chamber. read the rest at  http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/1999/supervolcanoes_script.shtml

Of course, there is some "slop" in the time line - it could be overdue, like me these days, or we could have some 40,000 years before she blows, again, IF she blows.  But worth keeping an eye on, I guess ~!  Have a nice day.

posted by ladywolfsong, 07:15 | link | comments

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

Those dirty RATS.... ~!    Not only are they jumping ship, they are TALKING about what went on, onboard ~!  The rats i refer to are Paul O'Neal, Richard Clark, et al, who 'served' (sic) on bushie's staff, left and are now 'speaking out'.  I can't help but wonder who will be next ~!

If one person says something bad about you, you can always just consider the source -- could be in error.  But when a BUNCHA people start saying similar things, they can't ALL be wrong ~!  Nuf smoke, and there's gotta be something burning there somewhere ~!  And it's interesting that those former 'insiders' are confirming what many of us on the outside suspected all along -- that bushie isn't dealing from a full deck (intellectually), lies like a rug and is swift pursuit of an agenda that has very little to do with fostering safety, security or well-being for MOST of the residents in this part of the world ~!

It will be interesting to see what other lids (on the truth) get blown off between now and "election" time.

I was late, AGAIN, getting to me blog today -- by the time the 'puter decided to "work" for me this am, it was daylight outside, and old habits die hard -- just as SOON as it's light outside this time of year to the next frost (probably toward end of November if not in Dec.), i'm "called" to go outside and play.  Before long, it will be too danged HOT to work outside after noon, and i may be engaging in afternoon blogging for several months ~! 

posted by ladywolfsong, 14:25 | link | comments

Monday, March 22, 2004

Better late than never...   Normally, i'm asleep shortly after (or before) 9:00 p.m. -- an elder once told me that every hour of sleep you get BEFORE midnight is worth two after the bewitching hour -- and i think she was right ~!  Cuz USUALLY  i'm up anywhere from 4:00 to 6:00 am at the latest.  And, the order of the day is that first TWO cups of requisite java -- life-giving fluid -- and imbibe same in front of the 'puter.

Today was a rare exception.  I stayed up "late" last night to watch Robert Redford's movie, "The Horse Whisperer", having read the book last year by man who developed this 'gentle' horse-breaking method.  But, having missed the first half hour, I slept on the couch til 1:00 am to wake up and see if all over again from the start.  So, my mandatory 6-7 hours of sleep were broken into two parts.  When i DID get up 'late' at 7 am, it was in a snarky mood and gray, cold weather, after warm, sunshiney daze of shorts and early spring here in the chihuahuan desert didn't help any. 

So, playing ketsup, consider whether your / our vote will be worth squat this November... The subject line on yesterday's email, from Dr. Bob Fitrakis,  Senior Editor of The Free Press  (http://freepress.org), a political science professor, and author of  numerous articles and books,  read: "Another mysterious  accident solves a Bush problem. Athan Gibbs dead, Diebold lives."    The attached news story briefly described the untimely Friday, March 12th  death of perhaps America's most influential advocate of a verified  voting paper trail in the era of touch screen computer voting. Gibbs,  an accountant for more than 30 years and the inventor of the TruVote  system, died when his vehicle collided with an 18-wheeled truck which
 rolled his Chevy Blazer several times and forced it over the highway  retaining wall where it came to rest on its roof.

     Gibbs' death bears heightened scrutiny because of the way he lived  his life after the 2000 Florida election debacle. I interviewed Athan  Gibbs in January of this year. "I've been an accountant, an auditor,  for more than thirty years. Electronic voting machines that don't  supply a paper trail go against every principle of accounting and  auditing that's being taught in American business schools," he  insisted.  Gibbs was in Columbus, Ohio proudly displaying his TruVote machine  that offered a "VVPAT, that's a voter verified paper audit trail" he  noted.
 
   Gibbs also suggested that I look into the "people behind the other  machines." He offered that "Diebold and ES&S are real interesting and  all Republicans. If you're an investigative reporter go ahead and  investigate. You'll find some interesting material."
 
   Gibbs' TruVote machine is a marvel. After voters touch the screen, a  paper ballot prints out under plexiglass and once the voter compares  it to his actual vote and approves it, the ballot drops into a  lockbox and is issued a numbered receipt. The voter's receipt allows  the track his particular vote to make sure that it was transferred  from the polling place to the election tabulation center.

   My encounter with Gibbs led to a cover story in the Columbus Free  Press March-April issue, entitled, "Diebold, electronic voting and  the vast right-wing conspiracy." The thesis I advanced in the Free  Press article www.freepress.org/columns/display/3/2004/834 is that  some of the same right-wing individuals who backed the CIA's covert
 actions and overthrowing of democratic elections in the Third World  in the 1980s are now involved in privatized touch screen voting.  Additionally I co-wrote an article with Harvey Wasserman that was  posted at MotherJones.com
 (www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004/03/03_200.html) on March  5, 2004. Both articles outlined ties between far right elements of  the Republican Party and Diebold and ES&S, which count the majority  of the nation's electronic votes.

     'nuther nifty article, since i'm into alternative but CHEAP housing is:  CONTAIN YOURSELF! by Nick Mamatas, Village Voice.  When it comes to housing, can thinking outside the box mean living inside a box?  Well now you can: globalization has littered the world with 40-foot-long shipping containers. http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18179

posted by ladywolfsong, 14:25 | link | comments (1)

Sunday, March 21, 2004

Raped ... ~!  When i was age 20, by a fellow college student, i was left with a roaring case of the clap in 1964, and told for l7 years i was sterile as a brick -- which was o.k., since i really did NOT want to have children -- until the biological clock began winding down.  Then, i found out doctors can lie to you.  My now 21 y.o. daughter, going on age 8, was born with a rare, genetic defect, Prader-Willi syndrome (see http://www.pwsausa.org for more info) due to a deletion of some of her dad's chromosomal material, resulting in permanent "developmental disabilities". 

Rearing her as a single parent has been challenging and economically devestating.  In 2001, she went to live in a group home, some 400 miles from me, with young people with her challenge, but didn't like it and wanted to come back 'om'.  The 'home' got $6,000.00 per capita, per MONTH plus the kids' social security disability check.  I get nada, zip, zero for providing 24/7 care for my girl and the two of us live on JUST her SSI check of $592.00 per month.  But, we are "family" -- so we get by, low on the food chain. 

Still, IF the supreme court decision in Olmstead was implemented, and IF MiCASSA legislation, allowing the "money to follow the client" were in force, i'd be compensated for what i do for free, out of love for my child.  But this won't happen under Bushie's reign.  On the 'wait list', i'd be age 122 and my girl would be around age 80-something when her 'number comes up' -- life expectancy for guys w/ her challenge is late 40's.  See below for bushie's rhetoric on such...

For Immediate Release *  March 21, 2004
For information contact:  Bob Kafka 512/431-4085 cel  *  Marsha Katz 406/544-9504 cell

500 Disability Activists Protest President's Broken Promises in "No More Stolen Lives" March & Vigil

Washington, D.C. - Angered by a President who promised freedom from institutions, then cut the funding needed to achieve that freedom, 500 ADAPT activists and allies are marching to the White House to protest President George W. Bush's FY 2004 and 2005 Medicaid budgets. The "No More Stolen Lives" march is scheduled to reach the White House at sundown on
Sunday March 21, and will be followed by a vigil for all the people currently confined in nursing homes and other institutions by administration cuts and the institutionally biased Medicaid policy. Marchers are also calling for a meeting with the President, who has never met with members of the disability community.

"Disability issues are not partisan. Four years ago when President Bush issued his New Freedom Initiative, and his Executive Order mandating implementation of the US Supreme Court Olmstead decision, we believed him," said Steve Verriden, Wisconsin ADAPT Organizer. "But here we are four years later, facing the worst Medicaid cuts in history, which will
without a doubt keep people illegally confined in nursing homes and other institutions, and force even more people into those settings. This loss of personal freedom, and all the President's empty promises are unconscionable because they mean more stolen lives." 

The Olmstead Executive Order promised older and disabled Americans home and community based services and supports, instead of the forced institutionalization that results from the institutional bias in the nation's Medicaid program.  States must pay for nursing home services, but are not required to pay for the same services in a person's own home and community.
 
"The President's rhetoric in his New Freedom Initiative and his Olmstead Executive Order sound like typical self-serving, empty political promises in light of his promotion of caps and cuts in Medicaid," said Bob Liston, Montana ADAPT Organizer.

As fiscally beleaguered states continue to cut optional Medicaid services, like limited in-home care programs that some of the states provide, the result will be more people having no choice other than the nursing homes that are mandated by Medicaid. Even if currently proposed legislation that would allow people choice in where they receive long term care services and supports is passed, the administration's budget proposals would effectively render the gains from that legislation moot.
 
The legislative measures, all with significant bi-partisan support, and support from over 700 national, state and local organizations, include MiCASSA, the Medicaid Community-based Attendant Services and Supports Act (S. 971; H.R.  2032), and The Money Follows the Person Act (S.1394). Both measures counter the current Medicaid institutional bias by providing people with disabilities, old and young, with the choice to receive their long term care services and supports in their own homes and communities, near friends and loved ones.
 
"The people leading our march will be people who have had years of their lives stolen by the Medicaid institutional bias," said Cassie Jones, Philadelphia ADAPT Organizer. "We want the President to hear loud and clear that we are tired of having to wait for our freedom, and we demand an end to the institutional bias. We want No More Stolen Lives!"

FOR MORE INFORMATION on ADAPT visit our website at http://www.adapt.org/

posted by ladywolfsong, 10:16 | link | comments (1)

Saturday, March 20, 2004

The Photographic History of the Bush Administration Putting Its Mouth Where Its Money Isn’t

The Photographic History of the Bush Administration Putting Its Mouth Where Its Money Isn’t

Produced by the House Appropriations Committee – Minority Contact: David Sirota (202) 225-3481

The Bush Credibility Gap: Real Life Examples

A chronology of Bush saying one thing then doing another

Veterans   Bush touts the importance of veterans medical care at Walter Reed Army Hospital [1/17/03]

“Having been here and seeing the care that these troops get is comforting for me and Laura. We are -- should and must provide the best care for anybody who is willing to put their life in harm's way.” – Bush, 1/17/03

Bush's visit came on the same day that the Administration announced it is immediately cutting off access to its health care system approximately 164,000 veterans [W. Post, 1/17/03].

Bush Event	Bush Rhetoric	Reality
Medicare   Bush touts the need to adequately fund Medicare in Michigan [1/29/03]	“Within that budget I proposed last night is a substantial increase in Medicare funding of $400 billion on top of what we already spend, over the next 10 years. This is a commitment that America must make to our seniors. A reformed and strengthened Medicare system, plus a healthy dosage of Medicare spending in the budget, will make us say firmly, we fulfilled our promise to the seniors of America.” – Bush, 1/29/03	Under Bush’s proposal, there should be a roughly $40 billion increase in Medicare each year for a decade. However, Bush’s 2004 budget proposes just $6 billion – 85% less than what would be needed to meet his goal. Additionally, his budget would leave 67% of the total $400 billion pledge to be spent after 2008. [Bush Budget, pg. 318]