Better later than not at all... My intention here is to post to this blog daily, preferably very early in the morning -- but since i've worked thru that bane of existence for menopausal women (it's called sleep deprivation -- waking up in the middle of the night and having a hard time going BACK to sleep) and now i'm back to my mattress-tester old self, gone is the luxury of 4 am ramblings. Instead, i get up just in time for a cup of coffee, barely in time to wake the rooster, then have to rush the Qigong while dawn is breaking and THEN it's time to get outside and get a jump on the heat with all the yard work.

By around 10 a.m., it's getting way too hot here in the desert to work anywhere 'cept in the shade. Today, i just got done with all the watering by noon -- after lunch and the favored soap opera (the one i'm not living -- Bold and Beautiful) i laid out in the hammock for a good 45 minutes for a siesta, under the shade trees with a slight breeze blowing -- heaven on earth ~! Or at least paradise in the desert ~! (if anyone is interested in living in these parts -- bare bones cost of living if housing not financed, ie paid for, is only around $l50.00 a month -- another $50 for satellite dish / t.v. reception, and then add in whatever you eat per month), check out http://findhornwest.topcities.com.

Now, it's a wee bit of time on the 'puter and then to sewing room -- making regalia for a gal pal for this fall's pow wow, another summer gown for my girl, then tons of mending, and a baby quilt to finish. And, i need to start studying up on eBay and how to sell and prosper there for when i get back to stringing beads.

So much for a personal aside on how my memorial day is going -- just like any other day. But couldn't let this pass without some good stuff from Tom Paine:

Then, there's some good environmental / economic news -- but not from this side of the pond. A wheel that does a better job of saving fuel and being quiet at the same time ~! A new Dutch invention can make cars, busses and other vehicles no less than 50 percent more efficient and thus more environmentally friendly. Better still, the technology is already available;

http://www.rnw.nl/science/html/031215wheel.html

I'm just an ole softie... didn't watch ALL the pomp and circumstance around the dedication of the WW II memorial yesterday, but did catch the last 30 min. of it -- and couldn't keep back the tears of pride when the music began for bringing out the colors (or their retreat) -- and got all goose-bumply at the national anthem and "God Bless America". Same thing happened when i was in the first grade and saw the flag waving over the school yard one sunny, spring afternoon.

Americans DO live in a great place -- with a lot to be both proud of and thankful for -- but also some things to be openly ashamed of. The Indian Wars come to mind -- the treatment of the Native Americans was, and IS nothing to be proud of -- and we aren't as "free" as we'd like to believe -- not all of us, anyway. There IS no such thing, and can't be freedom of opportunity to succeed so long as there is no equity at the starting gate or when the odds are stacked against a portion of our population.

We are not a truly "free" people when so few of us have access to those who are in power in our government and so little "say" in decisions made for the benefit of the already-entitled. We cannot be free so long as there is illiteracy, poverty, lack of jobs paying a decent, living wage, health care only for those who can afford it, homelessness or hunger right here in the "homeland". Freedom is much more than being free to go spend a wad of money at Wal-Mart, to in debt for new cars that cost more than a house cost in 1962 or run up massive credit-card debt.

The freedom our guys died for in WW II had much more meaning 60 years ago than it does today, despite our "advances" in technology and things to spend money on. We still need another tea party ~!

Friday funnies... while i really like the late-nite pundit's political jokes (on Letterman, Leno, et al) i rarely stay awake long 'nuf for the real deal, so i enjoy Dan Blather's re-runs on his friday news (sic) show. Tho't i'd pass along some, paraphrased:

1.) Bush and Kerry both wanna lead the free world, but neither can ride a bike -- both fell off their two-wheelers recently but bushie wanted to immediately declare war on gravity.

2.) Kerry has a neat new campaign plane, weighing several tons and already painted "president" on the side -- it's magical -- it can land on a fence.

3.) Bushie wants to rebuild the infer-structure, create jobs and establish democracy in Iraq. If it works there, he'll try it in the U.S.

Last nite's NOW show with Bill Moyers touched on two topics of social consciousness -- the plight of farm workers, making around nine grand a year, working their kids in the fields, short-changing them on an education and living more of a nightmare than the amerikan dream while picking the produce we take for granted in our super markets. I'll never look at an onion the same way, again. Betcha if some well-heeled white kids spent a week of their summer pulling l4-hour long days in the sunshine, de-tassling ears of corn in the fields, they'd have a major paradigm shift between their own ears ~!

Moyers wrapped it up with a dialogue over a new book, which looks at just how right-wing the whole country has become -- read conservative. Altho bushie has tried to pre-empt all things "conservative", he's not -- not with his spending record -- but what's scarey is that many, like moi, who don't like the Iraq war, huge deficit spending, and hand-outs to the rich (tax cuts, money to big, profit-making corporations for their 'homeland security' piece of the pie, etc.) and are thus 'conservative', we don't have a leader. There's really not a dime's worth of difference between Kerry & bushie, 'cept the latter is cuter, but Europeans are aghast at how "right-wing" the amerikan majority has become in its middle-age.

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul had the right idea -- bring the troops home, spend half the bloated budget supporting them to bring down bushie's deficit and the other half helping people who need help, right here at home. Only problem is, none of the other republicrats are listening to Rep. Paul.

Bushie's Budgetary "Bait and Switch"... As the "den" of campaign season rhetoric (ie volume and frequency of lies) heats up, bushie will throw out numbers to show what a grand budget-master he is. Don't believe him. As the penultimate bait and switch used car salesman-type, he'll tout an increase of around $1.7 billion in his '05 budget for education -- what he won't be so vocal about is that he proposes decreasing it by something like $1.5 billion in '06.

If one peeks far 'nuf, they'll find cuts in many 'domestic' programs, some of which are strongly supported by physicians, educators and psychologists, e.g. WIC -- a nutrition program for low-income women, infants and children, Head Start to help low-income toddlers catch up before they get left behind again in regular public schools, etc. There's not much to be googled yet, but in a few weeks others, more adept at number-crunching than moi' should have taken a look at the bushie "giveth with one hand and taketh away with the other" in his proposed '05 and '06 budgets.

BTW, he won't be taking away his tax-cuts for the rich, OR addressing how his deficit-spending will impact the bulk of the Baby-boomers in about 10 years when they all want their social insecurity checks. A random gathering of tidbits on this topic:

Conservatives said Bush has overseen a nearly 25 percent surge in spending over the last three years -- the fastest pace since the Johnson administration of the mid-1960s. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0130-09.htm

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 - The White House on Tuesday released a list of 128 government programs that it plans to cut back or eliminate, including money for drug treatment centers and secondary school counselors and modernization
of the air traffic system. The list highlights the effect of President Bush's budget on a variety of popular programs in education, health, housing and even law enforcement.

But the list also demonstrated how even seemingly tough surgery on federal spending programs would produce only a tiny reduction in the budget deficit.

The Bush plan would eliminate 65 programs and cut back 63 others, but the total savings for next year would add up to only $4.9 billion. By comparison, the White House is predicting that the federal deficit will hit $521 billion this year and $364 billion in 2005.

http://www.namiscc.org/Advocacy/2004/Spring/FederalBudgetCuts.htm

This is illustrated even in programs praised by the president himself. Last month, according to press accounts, Mr. Bush got teary-eyed when he visited Egleston Children's Hospital in Atlanta to see kids in experimental cancer programs funded by federal grants. When it came to the budget, however, the president held his emotions in check. The federal funds in Atlanta were to train pediatricians. For years, the federal government provided physician training to teaching hospitals through Medicare but left out children's hospitals. Two years ago Congress authorized this initiative for sick kids. The needs are growing, yet the Bush budget would cut the program by 15% to $200 million from $235 million.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/wsj/?id=90000432

Where's Waldo ???? Two of bushie's top "aides" say we're due another "very serious" terrorist attack this summer, presumably on the 'homeland' yet tommie-boy ridge hasn't raised the color of the alert level yet says they are all on the same page in the play-book. Instead, he wants us all to keep an eye out for "suspicious" dark-haired men (that might be 90% of the guys lurking along the Texas-Mexico border).

In Iraq, they tried to pin the prime minister tag on a guy, nuke scientist, who was "it" for a day and backed outta the deal -- we're not making Iraq our 51st (or 52nd if Puerto Rico has their way) state but we're trying to appoint them an 'interim guv-mint' -- only problemo is, the Kurds don't wanna play nicely with the rest of 'em. Guess bushie didn't consult with any social "scientists" before he went in, with guns a-blazin' for another l00 day 'war' like his ole daddy did to bring 'democracy' to a region where nothing other than monarchy, a Bathist regieme or religious (Islamic) government has ever 'worked'.

So what's the leader (sic) of the 'free world to do? Sic the IRS on the 50,000 inactive national guard reservists who are 'missing in amerika' to give them a choice -- re-up or else -- i.e., re-enlist or get sent to Iraq NOW. Of course, this may not be legal, but if bushie can circumvent the Geneva convention and Ridge can suspend the U.S. Constitution with his 'patriot' act, who's bothering with fine points of law.

Bushie eschews a 'nannie society' here in amerika -- let's under-fund education, destroy 400,000 jobs in less than 4 years, go from this country's largest-ever surplus to the grandest-ever deficit (no republican conservatisim there), shave veteran health benes, restrict unemployment benes, and privitize everything possible. Yet, he's bound to set up a 'nannie society' in Iraq in order to have just bare bones public services (hospitals, school, roads, electricity, and water) since he blew all that away. And for what?

Then there's bro kerry out there whining because he's ONLY gonna be able to spend $75,000,000 in his effort to land a job paying around $400,000 a year -- does anyone other than me think there's madness afoot when two guys can spend $l50 MILLION for such a piddly-little 'job' when our schools in inner cities are crumbling, students are crammed 40 and 50 into a classroom built for 30-something in Oregon, half the water in this country is polluted, most of the air in large cities isn't fit to breathe and the rich get richer???? Or is it just me? So much for this day's rant.

O.K., this is it, I PROMISE ~!!! Not another word outta me about this here 'global warming = ice age stuff'. I'll put it down and LEAVE it there. For Good. Period. But see the movie (since i never go to movies, but will try to see this one, you know i must be intrigued) or read the book or review below. Or Not. Follow your own guidance.. With this caveat -- Robert Felix says 'global' warming isn't the culprit -- OCEAN water warming is the thug and there's not one fool thing ANY of us can do about THAT.

Hollywood's chilling disaster movie puts spotlight on global warming

Tue May 25, 2:39 AM ET

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Hollywood's lust for destruction and disaster turns to global warming for inspiration for the first time in "The Day After Tomorrow," which sees New York flooded, New Delhi pounded by massive snowstorms and London and Paris frozen over.

AFP/Getty Images/File Photo

The plot seems a little too chilling for some experts.

But they are still happy to see a public spotlight put on the problem with the 125 million dollar movie, directed by Roland Emmerich of "Independence Day" fame, which hits screens on Friday.

"Whether its premise is valid or not, or possible or not, the very fact it's about climate change could help to spur debate and dialogue," said Gretchen Cook-Anderson a spokeswoman for the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA (news - web sites)).

"In the event that the movie is popular beyond American borders, it will be an opportunity to spur dialogue, to inform people and educate people about climate changes."

Emmerlich made his name with aliens bringing the near destruction of the world in effects-laden "Independence Day".

The cause of the trouble is nearer to home in "The Day After Tomorrow" which tells how global warming could cause climate change, a new ice age and all the disasters that would entail.

The warming Earth melts the polar ice caps, which yield fresh water. Fresh water is lighter than the salt water of the seas, and forms a lid over it. That lid slows and stops the oceans' natural circulation, beginning in the warm tropics toward the colder, northern latitudes.

Dennis Quaid plays a climatologist who warns of the looming disaster and then has to cope with it faster than even he expected as tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, tidal waves, and floods lash the planet.

The Houses of Parliament in London and the Eiffel Tower in Paris are both buried in ice and snow.

Read the rest at: ttp://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1506&u=/afp/20040525/ts_alt_afp/afplifestyle_us_film_040525063924&printer=1

Book Review: Not by Fire but by Ice by Robert Felix

This book arrived last Friday p.m. at our lil rural post office; by Sunday p.m, it had been read clear thru, cover to cover by moi'. It's ten times the 'mystery' tale featuring Sherlock Holmes, or any modern-day best seller ever penned. Only thing is, it's not fiction ~! If, or rather WHEN what this book postulates falls into place, anyone living north of Des Moines, Iowa will need more than a plastic jesus to save them.

Seriously, the book is a must-read for this summer's lounging by the pool or on the beach. Written in intelligent layperson's terms, I still felt like I was back in physics class with a goodly amount of astronomy (NOT astrology) thrown in for good measure. He addresses such things as the electromagnetic nature of our entire universe, regular, epic surges in natural events (read catastrophe for mammalian life), and underwater volconism (sp?) or volcanic action, 80% of which is on the sea floor, world-wide and is increasing ~!

It is a complex system, this world we take for granted, and there are a lotta dots to connect to get to just the 'right' conditions to trigger an ice age, even a 'mini' one -- but Felix did an excellent job of gathering up all the data, digesting it and making a strong case for his position that a) an ice age can and does happen quickly -- and abruptly, almost overnight, not over millenia as some claim and b) all the aberrant weather changes and conditions we've seen in the past few years point to us being right on the verge of yet another ll,500 year cycle resulting in an ice age in north america.

Go to amazon.com and read the reviews of this book, check out his website, http://www.iceagenow.com and decide for yourself. Or, in the immortal words of J.D. Bellanger who wrote a fictional account in "Countryside" magazine a good 10 years ago, the next time you see a snowflake, BE AFRAID... BE VERY AFRAID. Not to scare, but to warn ~!

And if you wanna move south to a relatively "safe" area and very cheap livin' on the land, check out http://findhornwest.topcities.com -- no $250,000 homes with 30 year mortgages here, but a few $3,000.00 papercrete domes going up -- first workshop planned for around Oct. 6-8 (unless it's snowing -- then all bets are off).

Posted on Fri, May. 21, 2004 from: http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/politics/8726376.htm

Trucks made to drive without cargo in dangerous areas of Irag

BY SETH BORENSTEIN

Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - (KRT) - Empty flatbed trucks crisscrossed Iraq more than 100 times as their drivers and the soldiers who guarded them dodged bullets, bricks and homemade bombs.

Twelve current and former truckers who regularly made the 300-mile re-supply run from Camp Cedar in southern Iraq to Camp Anaconda near Baghdad told Knight Ridder that they risked their lives driving empty trucks while their employer, a subsidiary of Halliburton Inc., billed the government for hauling what they derisively called "sailboat fuel."

Defense Department records show that Kellogg Brown and Root, a Halliburton subsidiary, has been paid $327 million for "theater transportation" of war materiel and supplies for U.S. forces in Iraq and is earmarked to be paid $230 million more. The convoys are a lifeline for U.S. troops in Iraq hauling tires for Humvees, Army boots, filing cabinets, tools, engine parts and even an unmanned Predator reconnaissance plane.

KBR's contract with the Defense Department allows the company to pass on the cost of the transportation and add 1 percent to 3 percent for profit, but neither KBR nor the U.S. Army Field Support Command in Rock Island, Ill., which oversees the contract, was able to provide cost estimates for the empty trucks. Trucking experts estimate that each round trip costs taxpayers thousands of dollars.

Will it or Won't it??? "It" being the housing market, seemingly vastly over-priced to my way of thinking, and will it crash or won't it? Gosh knows I dunno, but in going back thru some old emails, an article saying it WILL grabbed my attention, thus two posts here in one day. It's been almost 20 years since i was a 'renter', and even for the l5 or more years prior that, i still owned a house (or houses) even if living elsewhere. I'd be hard-pressed today, to rent a "modest" apartment anywhere, but since i OWN my l,750 sq. ft. and several acres, free and clear (tax bill around $l0.00/year), it's not a concern -- but for those who ARE mortgaged up to their ears, it might be worthwhile to google "housing market about to crash".

Per: "House prices look seriously overvalued in Australia, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, the UK and U.S. and will fall by at least 20 percent in many economies over the next four years," Woodall told a conference organised by fund benchmarker the Investment Property Databank (IPD) late on Tuesday.

The trigger for a house price crash could be a relatively modest uptick in interest rates as total levels of household debt are at record highs fuelled by borrowing and housing equity withdrawal on the back of historically low rates.

Bushie's plan for economic recovery: Run up the price of gasoline so his buds get richer and can give more $$$ to him for his campaign -- run up the cost of everything we buy so, as we pay more (to defray increasing fuel costs), it will, of course, LOOK like more money is in circulation, ergo an "economic recovery". Brilliant, eh? And 'they' say he wasn't the smartest one in the litter ~!

A good article on bushie's mega-lies (now costing a life a day or more of our troops) is at: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18765. Not to be confused with The Truman Show bushie (and perhaps most folks in amerika) life in a world all their own. Until i can get back here with review of book i just read, "Not by Fire but by Ice", check out: THE BIG LIE by Nicholas von Hoffman, tomdispatch.com. By the time the American army stepped into Iraq, the difference in world view between the United States and everybody else was immense. Why were Americans so taken in by Bush's big lie? http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18765

Sunday sermonette... The good news about Abu Ghraib

The news about Iraq has certainly been bad lately. Pictures and videos of torture - not done by those who "hate freedom" but by the "liberators". Investigations will continue to delve into how it all could happen and how many were involved. But I take comfort in one thing - we have once and for all proven that this is not a Holy War.

Right after 9/11 George Bush warned that that "this crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take awhile." His use of the term "crusade" set off alarm bells that were not quieted when he rounded up large numbers of Muslims and detained them without charges. People thinking this was a replay of the Inquisition were not reassured when Bush sent General Boykin [who tells Evangelical gatherings that the U.S. is in a holy war as a Christian nation battling Satan] to "Gitmoize" the Abu Ghraib prison.

There have been more references to faith in the Bush Administration than I can remember in any previous administration. His Attorney General was anointed with Crisco and many members of his administration and his appointees have similar strong beliefs. George Bush told Palestinian premier Mahmoud Abbas."God led me to strike at Saddam, which I did". Now if Bush has a direct line to God, why wouldn't He have told George that (1) the 9/11 hijackers weren't from Iraq and (2) Saddam didn't have any WMD?

Many folks saw Mel Gibson's "The Passion". For some, the most moving point was when Christ stopped his followers from using violence to defend him. One of them had raised a sword and cut off the ear of a servant of one of the High Priests. Jesus stopped him, said "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword" and healed his enemies wounded ear. [see Luke 22:49-51 and Matthew 26:51-52]

Thus the good news about Abu Gharib. While the government continues to investigate whether or not the soldiers were following orders and who gave those orders one thing seems certain. They were not following Christ's orders. I cannot imagine a follower of Christ looking for legal loopholes out of the Geneva Conventions. I cannot imagine a follower of Christ's teachings using foreign aid to pressure other countries to sign agreements not to try U.S. Citizens in the International Criminal Court. I cannot imagine followers of Christ to either perpetrate the acts we have been seeing in the news or to allow those under their command to perpetrate such acts. So it is clear to me that this is NOT a Holy War. There is nothing holy about this "War on Terror". It is a war on torturers by torturers, a war on terror by terrorists. Ultimately it is an attack by our own administration on our very ideals - our American ideals of freedom and justice and our Christian ideals of peace and forgiveness. I don't know whose inner guidance is shaping our foreign and domestic policies, but it sure doesn't seem to be the Prince of Peace.

Hard choices to make... well, with school over as of yesterday, this am i had to choose between getting up at 2 am, when i woke up, and hitting the 'puter starting with this here blog, or sleeping IN. Chose the latter, sleeping in til well long after it was 'dawn' outside -- then it was time to get BUSY outdoors -- laying bricks and pavers to widen a sidewalk, watering my now massive garden -- we dined on organically grown yellow squash and almost the last of the English peas yesterday. Before long (a few more weeks minimum) we're gonna have squash and tomatoes running outta our ears. Now that i am here...

Seems the Keystone Kops have run amuck... Is it just me, or does it seem like our 'leaders' are all chasing their selves??? In ever-widening circles, as the ship of state comes to more closely resemble the Titanic almost daily. To-wit: Chaos in Washington by Tom Engelhardt

Nicholas Berg's murder, grisly beyond imagining, was literally staged as the al-Qaeda equivalent of an MTV-style recruitment video or, as Matthew B. Stannard of the San Francisco Chronicle put it recently, an al-Qaeda "press release." We are now in the pissing contest from Hell. It's bad enough that there's one Osama bin Laden (and burgeoning associates) out there, but it's starting to seem like al-Qaeda runs the White House as well. Certainly, when it comes to the Bush administration, the phrase "wish fulfillment" has gained new meaning. Evidently, our President only has to repeat the formula, "Iraq is the central battlefield in the war against terrorism," and by God, it's so. From: http://www.motherjones.com/news/dailymojo/2004/05/05_521.html where you can read the rest of this long but very well-stated article ~!

More from my favorite 'muther' -- Mother Jones: Middle Class 2003: How Congress Voted

Who's better off under a Republican White House and Congress? Not the middle class. So finds a very useful new report out today from the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, a non-partisan think tank. The report, titled "Middle Class 2003: How Congress Voted," takes a look at several major pieces of legislation considered by the 108th Congress that, for better or worse, "would significantly impact America's middle class," and assigns lawmakers a grade based on their support of the middle class position. Read the whole thing at: http://www.motherjones.com/news/dailymojo/2004/05/05_529.html

It's been so danged long since I WAS 'middle class' ('cept for my very good education, of course), that i'd be astounded by just coming UP to the 'official poverty level which is a good $5,000 more than the two of us have in annual income per http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/03poverty.htm. I wonder just how well bushie, kerry, et al would get by on $7,104.00 per year for them and their spouse. If memory serves, the prexy's salary is $400,000 annually, or something like $33,333.00 per month, housing furnished, or over four and a half years of OUR 'income'. Ah, but it must be good to have been born privileged ~! Of course, i happen to LIKE being ME, so guess it all shakes out.

Outsourcing the "amerikan way"... SPECIAL MIS-LEAD: BUSH OUTSOURCED FUNDRAISING & VOTER OPERATIONS

According to a new report, the Bush Administration has taken its strong support for outsourcing further than previously thought -- opting to move key political operations offshore. India's Hindustan Times reports that, uring a 14 month period from 2002 to 2003 when the Republican Party was playing up patriotism, its fund-raising and vote-seeking campaign was
performed in part by two call centers located in India.

According to the report, the Republican National Committee shipped the India operation its voter database for 125 local staff to use to "solicit political contributions ranging between $5 and $3,000 from thousands of registered Republican voters." While the contract for running the campaigns was originally awarded to Washington-based Capital Communications Group,
"for cost and efficiencies gains, the company outsourced the work to HCL Technologies that in turn sent it offshore."

Public pressure has forced President Bush has to downplay his support for outsourcing. But this new story is consistent with his Administration's actions in support of shipping American jobs overseas. Late last year, the New York Times reported that the Bush Commerce Department co-sponsored a conference at the lavish Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York that was designed to "encourage American companies to put operations and jobs in China" . Then, this year, the President's top economic adviser said outsourcing was "a plus for the economy" .

Blog Of Blogs: A New Daily Feature
by Political Animal
Social(ized) Decline: ...despite the Economist's scary headline, which proclaims that "crisis looms," the French health care system provides this service to everyone in the country and does it for less than half the cost per person of the U.S. Even if they decide to raise taxes to cover a growing deficit in their healthcare fund (the subject of the Economist's article) their costs will still be less than half ours per person.
http://www.tompaine.com/blogs/

Quote of the day if not the year: "The advantage of having an archconservative American president, according to a certain line of thinking, is that he plants the seeds of revolt."

Curious about those "strange lights" over Mexico -- WERE they really UFO's? Not definitive but check out photos -- The full news story is found at: http://www.rense.com/general52/deff.htm

New "Front" Organization... The Republicrats despise Move-on dot Org and their ilk -- for such silly stuff as noting the lack of appropriate attire on the emperor's backside -- but since Mike Moore, Move On, et al have had some success in the arena of truth-telling, now the ultra-conservatives have decided to fight fire with matches. They formed "Americans for Prosperity" -- like $$$ is the be-all and end-all and measure of all. From their mission statement:

Americans For Prosperity Foundation (AFPF) is a nationwide organization of citizen leaders committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFPF believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best safeguard to ensuring individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFPF educates and engages citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth, and returning government to its constitutional limits.

All code words for "privitizing" everything, dismantling the social services system, awarding no-bid contracts to the highest campaign contributors, etc. AFPF is against "big spending" in guv-mint -- a delightful thought I share -- only trouble is, they want to curb "big spending" on PEOPLE, not corporations ~!

Outta the mouths of babes... From Hightower's book, Thieves in High Places, an essay by Charlotte Aldebron, 6th grade English competition: What the American Flag Stands For...

The American flag stands for the fact that cloth can be very important. It is against the law to let the flag touch the ground or to leave the flag flying when the weather is bad. The flag is to be treated with respect. You can tell just how important this cloth is because when you compare it to people, it gets much better treatment. Nobody cares if a homeless person touches the ground. A homeless person can lie all over the ground all night long without anyone picking him up, folding him neatly and sheltering him from the rain.

School children have to pledge loyalty to this piece of cloth every morning. No one has to pledge justice and equality and human decency. No one has to promise that people will get a fair wage, or enough food to eat, or affordable medicine, or clean water, or air free of harmful chemicals. But we all have to promise to love a rectangle of red, white and blue cloth. Betsy Ross would be quite surprised to see how successful her creation has become. But Thomas Jefferson would be disappointed to see how little of the flag's real meaning remains.

(p.s. She didn't wint the competition. Her teacher called the student "unpatriotic". But the child's mom sent the essay to http://commondreams.org where it drew 50,000 hits the first week -- spring, 2002)

JUST SAY 'HELL, NO' TO STAR WARS... Star Wars Is Back. Heaven Help Us Taxpayers

Under the cover of the war on terrorism, President Bush wants to spend $10 billion on Star Wars this year. That's enough to provide health insurance to all uninsured kids in our country.

Could it ever work? Nobody knows. The President is in such a rush that the first phase of the Star Wars program can't even be operationally tested. We have to take it on faith.

TrueMajority's parent organization is running this full-page ad in the New York Times.

If you'd like to send a fax (text below) to your Senators urging an end to funding for Star Wars, and you're a TrueMajority member, just click "reply" and "send" in your email program. If this was forwarded to you or you'd like to customize the message to your Senators, click here: http://action.truemajority.com/index.asp?action=10171&ms=stw1&ref=378544

To send a letter about Star Wars to the editor of your local paper, click here:

English lesson for our leaders

Once upon a time i taught English in high school -- and back in the dark ages when i attended high school, we had very "HARD" English teachers, so my command of the language was excellent. The "double-talk" coming out of the beltway is both obvious and disturbing. It's time for bushie & crew to have a vocabulary lesson:

The Bush administration seems to have a serious problem with reality. The most recent reality challenge is the policy of torture in both Iraq and Afghanistan, which the administration is frantically redefining as "abuse," "excesses," and "humiliation."
We even have Secretary Rumsfeld describing footage of several American soldiers "having sex" with a female Iraqi prisoner. Let's have a little plain English here. "Having sex" with a prisoner is known as "rape." Systematic beatings are called "torture." Excesses that lead to death are called "murder." The hundreds of women and children in mass graves in Fallujah are the product of a "massacre." Taken together, all of these add up to "atrocities."

The dissemination of "incomplete information" from "imperfect intelligence" is called "lies." The billions of dollars that Halliburton and Bechtel have reaped in profits are called "war profiteering." The invasion of Iraq is called "illegal." The destruction of America's international standing is called "permanent." And Texaco/Phillips's high bid for Iraqi oil is called "why we are in Iraq."

(source unknown)
REPUBLICANISM SHOWN TO BE GENETIC IN ORIGIN

The discovery that affiliation with the Republican Party is genetically determined was announced by scientists in the current issue of the journal NURTURE, causing uproar among traditionalists who believe it is a chosen lifestyle.

Reports of the gene coding for political conservatism, discovered after a decades-long study of quintuplets in Orange County, CA, has sent shockwaves through the medical, political, and golfing communities.

Psychologists and psychoanalysts have long believed that Republicans' unnatural disregard for the poor and frequently unconstitutional tendencies resulted from dysfunctional family dynamics -- a remarkably high percentage of Republicans do have authoritarian domineering fathers and emotionally distant mothers who didn't teach them how to be kind and gentle.

Biologists have long suspected that conservatism is inherited. "After all," said one author of the NURTURE article, "It's quite common for a Republican to have a brother or sister who is a Republican."

The finding has been greeted with relief by Parents and Friends of Republicans (PFREP), who sometimes blame themselves for the political views of otherwise lovable children, family, and unindicted co-conspirators.

One mother, a longtime Democrat, wept and clapped her hands in ecstasy on hearing of the findings. "I just knew it was genetic," she said, seated with her two sons, both avowed Republicans. "My boys would never freely choose that lifestyle!"

When asked what the Republican lifestyle was, she said, "You can just tell watching their conventions in Houston and San Diego on TV: the flaming xenophobia, flamboyant demagogy, disdain for anyone not rich, you know."

Both sons had suspected their Republicanism from an early age but did not confirm it until they were in college, when they became convinced it wasn't just a phase they were going through.

The NURTURE article offered no response to the suggestion that the high incidence of Republicanism among siblings could result from their sharing not only genes but also psychological and emotional attitude as products of the same parents and family dynamics. A remaining mystery is why many Democrats admit to having voted Republican at least once -- or often dream or fantasize about doing so.

Polls show that three out of five adult Democrats have had a Republican experience, although most outgrow teenage experimentation with Republicanism. Some Republicans hail the findings as a step toward eliminating conservophobia. They argue that since Republicans didn't "choose" their lifestyle any more than someone "chooses" to have a ski-jump nose, they shouldn't be denied civil rights which other minorities enjoy.

If conservatism is not the result of stinginess or orneriness (typical stereotypes attributed to Republicans) but is something Republicans can't help, there's no reason why society shouldn't tolerate Republicans in the military or even high elected office -- provided they don't flaunt their political beliefs.

For many Americans, the discovery opens a window on a different future. In a few years, gene therapy might eradicate Republicanism altogether. But should they be allowed to marry one another?

Separation of State and Church... Guess you could call me a 'freethinker' because i've ALWAYS been keen on doing my own thinking. And what i've come up with usually ran / runs counter to those around me. Last nite on Bill Moyers' NOW show on PBS, there were two great segments, one on how mis-leading all these millions of dollars worth of presidential campaign ads really ARE, and even better bit on how the right-wing bible-thumpers have pre-empted the term "religion" and made it very political ~!

Seems the problemo is that there are two kinds of people -- those who will do the right thing just BECAUSE it is the right thing to do, and those who will only behave because they fear post-demise consequences, ergo heaven or hell. Believing in neither, as espoused by christians, i try to be honest, considerate, fair and do the right thing because it IS the right thing.

Without getting into an in-depth analysis of bushie, et al's mindset on theology, i have a REAL BIG problem with this "my god is better than your god" notion he, and many who support him, seem to espouse. Don't we ALL pray to the same god (assuming we pray ~!)? I've never wanted to do bidiness with a god, or a politician whose god, takes sides.

Presuming readers of this blog are kindred spirits, check out the links on the NOW site for some really good reading this weekend -- here's a preview: The debate over just what the founding fathers meant about separation of church and state is an ongoing one, both in the public sphere and in the Supreme Court.

Merriam Webster's dictionary defines a freethinker as "one that forms opinions on the basis of reason independently of authority; especially: one who doubts or denies religious dogma." Susan Jacoby and other scholars point out that secularism and freethinking have always had a crucial role in American politics and culture. More links:

White House for Sale
A project of Public Citizen, WhiteHouseforSale.org tracks fundraising by candidates, major campaign contributors, background on campaign finance issues, and news on the advertising being done by candidates from both parties. Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit public interest organization with 160,000 members that was founded in 1971 to represent consumer interests in Congress, the executive branch and the courts. The campaign tracking site is managed by Congress Watch, one of Public Citizen's six divisions, and some content is provided by Texans for Public Justice, an Austin-based non-profit that organized in 1997 to take on political corruption and corporate abuses in Texas.

As a "poor" single mother of a disabled child, i can relate to the following much more than just about anything coming outta the mouthes of rich men, inside the beltway. Long, but worth the read...

A Different Global Vision
BLACK COMMENTATOR April 29, 2004
<http://mail1.icptrack.com/track/relay.pl?r=805715852&msgid=13148&act=TPDF&admin=0&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blackcommentator.com%2F88%2F88_mckinney.html>http://www.blackcommentator.com/88/88_mckinney.html
by Cynthia McKinney, Guest Commentator

".According to the US Census, more than 34 million Americans now live below the poverty line. That's almost 2 million more impoverished than in 2001. Over 16% of our children live in poverty, almost double the figures for 2001. The Veterans Administration estimates that on any given night 300,000 veterans sleep on America's streets."

Former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney is running to recapture her Atlanta-area congressional seat. She delivered the following speech to the Georgia Tech Globalization Forum, April 22.

Tonight we are here to talk about globalization. During my grad school days, I sat through a few econ courses. And I remember that my teachers could draw elaborate diagrams on the board, and write mathematical equations that went the length of the chalkboard; and they would always add at the end, "if all things are equal." And so I emerged from graduate school a true believer, that free trade was fair, if all things are equal. But as I left the world of academia and entered the world of politics, my first lesson learned was that all things are not equal. I think I would like to start my remarks by remembering a comment that Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez, makes in the documentary, <http://www.chavezthefilm.com/index_ex.htm>The Revolution Will Not Be Televised." In that film, he says that the people who are labeled anti-globalizers are really not that at all. That they are the true globalizers because they care about the world and all its people.

The most glaring effect of globalization that I have confronted is the impact on the lives of real people for whom I am responsible. My first encounter with people whose lives were impacted by what we call globalization came as I sought to represent Georgia's old 11th District that swept through Georgia's poor and rural black belt. Those most up in arms at the time were our farmers who were agitated about NAFTA. Those not up in arms, but who bore the brunt of NAFTA, were in one case, the women of Sparta, Georgia - Hancock County. There, single mothers held families together with their low-wage jobs in the textile plants. There, single mothers lost their jobs when the plants moved away. I watched desperate families endure desperate times. "All things being equal" didn't take the women of Sparta, Georgia into account. As a caring single mother, who also happened to be an elected official, I had to. That's when I drafted legislation to take away tax breaks for corporations that locate their plants overseas. It wasn't a sexy subject at that time, but it was definitely a problem that I saw firsthand, affecting real lives and real people.

Now, more people are paying attention to globalization because at first it was just "them," now, it's a whole lot of us. Globalization used to be perceived as something that happened to poor workers or the environment in faraway places like China. Now globalization has come home.So the first effect that I would like to mention is the effect that these economic
policies have on careers, creating uncertainty for real people as they watch more and more jobs being sent off shore.
Estimates run into the millions of jobs that have been lost since George Bush was sworn into office. How does one measure the anxiety level of American workers who need these jobs; watch them leave the US; realize that some companies even continue to get tax breaks when they leave; and then find that their careers have been outsourced? In all of my econ courses, I don't recall any of my professors ever adding that to the equation.

Secondly, I am concerned about the worsening gap between rich and poor; not just globally, but in our own country, too.
Globally, as many as 1 billion people fail to meet life's basic requirements as defined by the UN. About three-fifths of the world's population in developing countries live without sanitation. About one-third live without safe drinking water. One-fourth lack adequate housing; one-fifth live without modern health services; one-fifth of their children don't make it through fifth grade; an equal number are malnourished. Water shortage and contamination kill nearly 25,000 people a day. Diarrhea kills nearly 4 million children every year. In Bolivia, when the US multinational Bechtel tried to privatize the water supply, a revolution was sparked. Now, we can add Bolivia to the list of countries that don't like our policies.

In addition to global inequality, the United States is also experiencing domestic inequality. According to the US Census, more than 34 million Americans now live below the poverty line. That's almost 2 million more impoverished than in 2001. Over 16% of our children live in poverty, almost double the figures for 2001. The Veterans Administration estimates that on any given night 300,000 veterans sleep on America's streets. The VA estimates that during the year as many as half a million veterans experience homelessness. Conservatively, one out of every four homeless males who is sleeping in a doorway, alley, or a cardboard box in our cities and rural communities has put on a uniform and served our country. Surely America must remember them. But while our country spends one billion dollars a week for war, we can't find money to provide our vets shelter and a warm meal?

In addition to the highest unemployment in a decade and persistent health care challenges for those Americans who do have jobs, a permanent underclass is being created and that is not sustainable. I'll just recite for you the findings from several studies published this year:United for a Fair Economy: "<http://www.faireconomy.org/press/2004/StateoftheDream2004_pr.html>State
of the Dream, 2004" report states that on some indices, the racial gap has actually widened since the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Sadly, it will take 8 years to close the high school graduation gap; 73 years to close the college graduation gap; 581 years to close the per capita income gap; and 1,664 years to close the home ownership gap.

Thirdly, I'd like to talk about a situation that is a growing problem: sexual slavery and human trafficking. One major side effect of extreme poverty throughout the world is the growing crisis of sexual slavery and human trafficking. A recent U.S. Government estimate indicates that approximately 800,000 - 900,000 people annually are trafficked across international borders worldwide and between 18,000 and 20,000 of those victims are trafficked into the United States. This estimate includes men, women, and children who are trafficked into forced labor and sexual exploitation as defined in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. Girls as young as 13 are trafficked as mail order brides. Children are trafficked for domestic work. In Lithuania, children as young as 11 are known to work as prostitutes. The Government of Azerbaijan wants to
crack down on child traffickers who are believed to take children abroad and sell their organs for profit. This is a human tragedy borne out of worldwide poverty. In fact, human trafficking is the ultimate form of globalization: people doing anything
to generate commerce. And while this Administration speaks about the scourge of human trafficking, it has done nothing to end the lucrative Pentagon contracts that go to DynCorp, in particular, a company whose employees are known to have engaged in sexual slavery, and are reported to still be doing so, even today.

Globalization without a moral compass is what we're experiencing today. Here's what John Kennedy had to say at his inauguration in 1961: "The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life.. To those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our
word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom - and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.
"To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required - not because the communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." Now, I'll end this as I began it. One vision of globalization has put our entire planetary ecosystem at risk. I do not share that vision. However, a different leadership can inspire us to have a very different vision. I have a global view and I care about the world and all its people. John Kennedy said it right; this Administration and those who think like it get
it wrong.

A recent email i got read as follows: "On the attachment you will see the photo of a label from a laptop bag that is made by a small American company. It states:

Wash with warm water.
Use mild soap.
Dry flat.
Do not use bleach.
Do not dry in the dryer.
Do not iron.
We are sorry that
Our President is an idiot.
We did not vote for him.

Now that's putting your money where your mouth is ~!

The beheading was bad. The nude photos were bad. The twin towers were bad. Sadaam was bad. Bushie's Blunder was, and is bad. Definition of "bad": Doing something that is not in the best interests for all concerned. Now that i've got that off my chest (and re-stated the obvious), whatever happened to "turn the other cheek'? Are reason, judgment and rising above just not possible in the same brain that is pumped on testosterone??? Of course not. While i dispute that all the best chefs in the world have been men, i DO acknowledge that some of the best thinkers and peace-makers have been male.

But all this squabbling in a sandbox makes two-leggeds look "bad". From a recent Red Cross report, purportedly:

''Since June 2003 over a hundred 'high value detainees' have been held for nearly 23 hours a day in strict solitary confinement in small concrete cells devoid of daylight,'' says the report. ''Their continued internment several months after their arrest in strict solitary confinement constituted a serious violation of the third and fourth Geneva Conventions.''

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said detainees held at Baghdad International Airport include many of the 44 ''deck of cards'' suspects already captured. It was not clear if Saddam was at the airport, but the Red Cross has said it visited him in coalition detention somewhere in Iraq last month.

The report says some coalition military intelligence officers estimated ''between 70 percent and 90 percent'' of the detainees in Iraq ''had been arrested by mistake. They also attributed the brutality of some arrests to the lack of proper supervision of battle group units.''

The agency said arrests tended to follow a pattern.

''Authorities entered houses usually after dark, breaking down doors, waking up residents roughly, yelling orders, forcing family members into one room under military guard while searching the rest of the house and further breaking doors, cabinets and other property,'' the report says.

''Sometimes they arrested all adult males present in a house, including elderly, handicapped or sick people,'' it says. ''Treatment often included pushing people around, insulting, taking aim with rifles, punching and kicking and striking with rifles.''

It was unclear what the Red Cross meant by ''mistake.'' However, many Iraqis have claimed U.S. forces arrested them because of misunderstandings, bogus claims by personal enemies, mistaken identity or simply for being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

One former detainee who claims he was abused, Haider Sabbar Abed, said he was arrested in July when the driver of the car he was in was unable to produce proper papers at a U.S. checkpoint. He was not released until April 15.

In one operation, U.S. special operations troops detained nearly the entire male population of the village of Habbariyah, ranging in age from 81 to 13, apparently to prevent terrorists from slipping across the border from Saudi Arabia. The 79 men were held for weeks.

If this is what American "democracy" is supposed to look like, we may not have many buyors in Iraq ~!

The giving just goes on...

and on, and on... I didn't blog here at all yesterday, now up to twice for today ~!

*** P R E S S R E L E A S E ***

For Immediate Release: May 11, 2004
Contact: Tyson Slocum (202) 454-5191; Erica Hartman (202) 454-5174

Senate Energy Tax Package Provides Needless Handouts to Oil Giants

STATEMENT of Joan Claybrook, President of Public Citizen:

The Senate is expected to vote soon on a corporate tax reform package that has $7 billion in corporate tax breaks, incorporated from the stalled energy bill, that benefit oil, gas, coal and nuclear companies. Most significantly, the legislation will do nothing to reduce gas prices, decrease consumption or substantially increase domestic energy production. If it passes, the biggest beneficiaries will be the oil giants -- not consumers.

It is fiscally irresponsible to dole out $7 billion in tax cuts to energy corporations that are enjoying some of the largest profits in the U.S. economy. The tax package allocates $4.8 billion to oil corporations to provide various incentives for increased domestic drilling. Using taxpayer money to subsidize corporations such as ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips, BP and Shell, which together enjoyed after tax profits of $60 billion in 2003 alone, is ludicrous. It makes no sense to lend a helping hand to corporations that profit greatly from drilling for oil and natural gas in the United States, especially when
high domestic prices for these energy commodities provide ample incentive to increase production.

The tax package also would expand the nuclear industry's preferential tax breaks, inappropriately shifting nearly $1 billion in costs of decommissioning nuclear power plants from the nuclear industry to taxpayers. The bill grants corporations $1.7 billion to promote the use of coal for America's electricity. This is a poor investment of taxpayer dollars because so-called "clean coal" is a failed technology that is too dirty to deserve such a generous handout.

There is much to be done to shape a sound national energy policy. But giving tax breaks to wealthy corporations is not the right place to start.

###

Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.citizen.org.

To learn more about this and other Public Citizen Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program campaigns, visit our website at http://www.citizen.org/cmep/. Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program

How time flies...

when you're having fun. Yesterday morning at 7 am i had motime up, ready to login and do the blog. Then, it was time to get the kid up for school and next time i got back to the 'puter, it was after 2 pm and motime was unavailable. So, i skip'd a day here. I was busy, out 'playing' in the dirt, diggin' up roots (or watching a big strong man dispatch them) of wild plum trees who grew in the 'wrong' place, then it was watering everything and before i knew it, the morning was 'gone'.

I enjoy my 'real estate' so much, out here in the country -- the yucca is now in bloom and i'm eating on the blossoms, in salad, for the first time, and the cacti are all in full bloom -- yellow, peach and purple flowers and there will be an abundance of 'pears' for making jelly or syrup this summer -- will post a photo or two here, soon. Tho't i'd use dirt as the topic of this post.

My Choctaw grandpa was real big on OWNING his dirt -- when he died, there was 200 acres amassed -- 'nuf for each of his 5 kids to have 40 acres, get a mule, build a house (like he did) and survive. Well, none of his offspring shared that vision -- it skipped a generation, to moi. Since his granny's people got to walk from Mississippi to 'indian territory' in Oklahoma, we were taught to a) OWN the roof you sleep under so no one can kick you off of it, and b) pass for white since you can. Of course, in law school, it hit me square between the eyes -- NO ONE CAN own dirt, since we can't 'make' the stuff, ergo all real estate is held in trust by the Creator. That revelation almost caused me to flunk 'real property' class.

The 'average' cost of a new home in this country, built on a VERY small patch of ground, goes between $l50,000 and a quarter of a mil. Since not ALL 'retirees' like myself find that affordable, i really did think more affordable housing might be something folks would jump on, towit: http://findhornwest.topcities.com, but so far, not much interest. Oh well.

When the real estate bubble busts(and signs are now indicating that that may ensue shortly), that will be the death blow to life as we have known it(see www.wallstreetunderground.org). The big money starting leaving the stock market before 911 and continue to do so, leaving the market for the chumps who are still being sold the big lie. As for how to proceed in all of this, I'm a believer in strength in numbers. Clearly, we have a one-party government(Republicrat) that is responsible for not pursuing sound economic and energy policies. A strong third party alternative is what is necessary to see that such inept leadership never rules our nation again and many are now waking up to this fact -- you will find these people in the America First Party, Patriot Party,Constitution Party, Independent Party, Green Party, Reform Party.

WHEN YOU CONTROL REAL ESTATE, YOU CONTROL YOUR DESTINY and unfortunately the people who now control our real estate have been dismal caretakers. Ditto for guv-mint. The government that does it best really does do it least, while still filling potholes in the roads and helping those who are less fortunate.

TAG, you're IT

CHIP Program to Control HOMELESS *** (aimed soon for everyone WORLDWIDE)??

Program to implant RFID tags in homeless April 3, 2004

WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday that it was about to begin testing a new technology designed to help more closely monitor and assist the nation's homeless population.

Under the pilot program, which grew out of a series of policy academies held in the last two years, homeless people in participating cities will be implanted with mandatory Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags that social workers and police can use track their movements.

The RFID technology was developed by HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in partnership with five states, including California and New York. "This is a rare opportunity to use advanced technology to meet society's dual objectives of better serving our homeless population while making our cities safer," HRSA Administrator Betty James Duke said...

The miniscule RFID tags are no larger than a matchstick and will be implanted subdermally, meaning under the skin. Data from RFID tracking stations mounted on telephone poles will be transmitted to police and social service workers, who will use custom Windows NT software to track movements of the homeless in real time.

In what has become a chronic social problem, people living in shelters and on the streets do not seek adequate medical care and frequently contribute to the rising crime rate in major cities. Supporters of subdermal RFID tracking say the technology will discourage implanted homeless men and women from committing crimes, while making it easier for government workers to provide social services such as delivering food and medicine.

Duke called the RFID tagging pilot program "a high-tech, minimally-intrusive way for the government to lift our citizens away from the twin perils of poverty and crime." Participating cities include New York City, San Francisco, Washington, and Bethlehem, Penn.

Participating states will receive grants of $14 million to $58 million from the federal Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH) program, which was created under the McKinney Act to fund support services for the homeless. A second phase of the project, scheduled to be completed in early 2005, will wirelessly transmit live information on the locations of homeless people to handheld computers running the Windows CE operating system. Seems to me that $l4 to $58 mil to build h