A back up site for SamSederShow.com and MajorityReportRadio.com. This blog supplements the SamSederShow on Air America Radio
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Post-Show Thread
Sen. John McCain couldn't make today's vote on implementing the remainder of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations. He chose to attend fundraisers in California instead. Check out the screenshot Bob Geiger grabbed:
181 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Not sure how this works; I've never blogged before because I find the sites confusing. But just wanted to add a note about what Ari Berman said on the show this morning (March 14). There are voices from the Jewish community that do not support -- in fact, oppose -- the AIPAC/neocon positions on Israel. And they are organized voices. The oldest and most effective one is Americans for Peace Now (APN), the American sister organization to the Israeli Shalom Achshav, founded twenty years ago by former top Israeli military officers. We lobby and advocate for a peace based upon a two-state solution, including a viable and sovereign Palestine and a respect for human rights. We are strong supporters of Israel but often strongly oppose the policies of its governments. AND the (non) policies of the US which claim to support the security of Israel but are in fact extremely dangerous for both Israel and the region.
Friends of mine in the mortgage brokerage business and Mortgage-backed securities and CDO (Collateralized Debt Obligations) business are reporting that:
1) The largest issuer of subprime mortgages, New Century, is close to going out of business
2) Countrywide, the largest issuer of mortgages and the second largest underwriter of subprime mortgages has stopped underwriting subprime mortgages.
3) In addition to the MBSs and ABSs that these changes will effect; CDOs (Credit derivatives) are, more than previously thought, very linked to the MBS/ABS market/issuance as well. Apparently there is a lot of hedging of risk with credit derivatives.
AND
4) Top Risk management people at a lot of the big broker/dealers know that the way they measure Risk in these areas is shaky at best. Their assumptions have not been tested. In May of 2005, a small event [GM's debt being downgraded] tested those models and they were grossly innacurate and a lot of players in that market were wiped out.
SHIT.
All of these people who could only qualify for subprime loans, who by definition don't have good credit to begin with/ or don't have the income to show that they can afford the house they bought, now looking to refinance to save them from bankruptcy, ... well they can't.
OK... apparently there are reports, but perhaps they are trying not to create a panic...
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Accredited, New Century Lead Slide in Mortgage Shares (Update4)
By Bradley Keoun
March 13 (Bloomberg) -- Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co. shares lost more than half their value and New Century Financial Corp. was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange after the mortgage lenders said they can't meet bankers' demands for cash.
Accredited shares plunged 65 percent to $3.97 at 4 p.m., leading a decline in financial-services companies. The San Diego- based lender said in a statement today it must raise more money to buy back bad mortgages from investment banks.
Bankers made the same demand on New Century this month, prompting analysts at Merrill Lynch & Co. and J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. to predict bankruptcy. Late payments on subprime loans reached a four-year high of 13.3 percent, the Mortgage Bankers Association said today, and foreclosures on all home loans rose to a record. More than 24 mortgage lenders shut or sold operations since January 2006, according to Bloomberg data.
``The speed with which this thing has unraveled is really pretty amazing,'' said Bose George, an analyst at Keefe Bruyette & Woods in New York.
Accredited shares have fallen 85 percent this year. The New York Stock Exchange today suspended New Century, which has plunged 97 percent in 2007. The stock fell to 84.5 cents in Pink Sheets trading, a 49 percent one-day decline.
Bear Stearns Cos., the biggest underwriter of mortgage- backed bonds, fell 6.7 percent and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. dropped 5.9 percent. Lehman reports earnings tomorrow and Bear Stearns on Thursday.
Accredited said it's considering ``strategic options'' because cash and other sources of liquidity, which stood at $354 million on Dec. 31, fell after lenders demanded $190 million of collateral to cover potential losses. Accredited didn't provide the current cash balance or say whether one of the options it's considering includes selling the company.
The company has violated terms of lending agreements that require specified ``levels of net income,'' it said. Accredited, which earlier this year persuaded creditors to waive the requirement, is now seeking extensions.
Accredited had announced plans to file an annual report with securities regulators by March 16. It's unlikely to meet that target because of a review of accounting tied to the acquisition last year of Aames Investment Corp., the company said, and a writedown is possible.
Shares of mortgage lenders have slumped this year as the industry's crisis deepened. Mortgage Lenders Network USA Inc. and Ownit Mortgage Solutions Inc. are among companies that failed in the past six months.
Rivals including Fremont General Corp. and NovaStar Financial Inc. have shed more than half their value this year, and Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's biggest mortgage company, has tumbled 21 percent.
Fremont fell 8.2 percent today, NovaStar dropped 19 percent and American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. lost 10 percent.
Countrywide declined 4.7 percent. The Calabasas, California- based company stopped funding subprime home loans that don't require any money down and proof of income, spokesman Rick Simon said today.
Countrywide Chief Executive Officer Angelo Mozilo said today that concerns about rising subprime defaults are keeping qualified borrowers from buying homes, and amount to an ``overreaction.''
``This is now becoming a liquidity crisis, an unnecessary one,'' Mozilo said in an interview on CNBC, likening the reaction to ``a baby being thrown out with the bathwater.''
``This will be great for Countrywide at the end of the day because all of the irrational competitors will be gone,'' he said.
***
Interesting ... Well, Countrywide has told brokers that they are not issuing any subrpime mortgages, ... at least for now I guess...
... There are voices from the Jewish community that do not support -- in fact, oppose -- the AIPAC/neocon positions on Israel. And they are organized voices. The oldest and most effective one is Americans for Peace Now (APN), the American sister organization to the Israeli Shalom Achshav, founded twenty years ago by former top Israeli military officers. ...
March 14, 2007 10:36 AM
***
Thanks for that. Good to know about these other groups. While I certainly knew that there are voices from the Jewish community that oppose AIPAC like positions... it is always good to hear more from them.
Just wondering, are you one of those rightwingers with a thing for Hillary, or a disgruntled lefty with a thing for Hillary.
I'm taking a survey.
March 14, 2007 12:46 PM
No one of those disgruntled libertarians who thinks liberals are big phoneys and hypocrites.
Even Sam the Socialist will be singing HRC's praises come Super Tuesday 2008 primary post-game...and downplaying her "moves to the Right", just like he does with her hubby's Admin and NAFTA and welfare reform.
The Internet has become a hub of religious worship for millions of people around the world. Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Buddhists, Sikhs and people of other faiths turn regularly to Web sites to pray, meditate and gather in "virtual" houses of worship graphically designed to look like the real thing. Some sites offer rites from baptism to confession to conversion to Judaism.
For many cyber-worshipers, online religious life conducted at home or in an Internet cafe has replaced attendance at traditional churches, temples, mosques and synagogues. Some are coming to religion for the first time, in a setting they find as comfortable as their grandparents found a church pew, while millions of people reared on churchgoing are discovering new ways to worship.
Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist and correspondent for the national radio and TV program Democracy Now!, is a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute. He is the author of the new book Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army
SAN FRANCISCO - A California woman whose doctor says marijuana is the only medicine keeping her alive is not immune from federal prosecution on drug charges, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The ruling was the latest legal defeat for Angel Raich, an Oakland mother of two suffering from scoliosis, a brain tumor, chronic nausea and other ailments who sued the federal government pre-emptively to avoid being arrested for using the drug. On her doctor's advice, Raich eats or smokes marijuana every couple of hours to ease her pain and bolster a nonexistent appetite as conventional drugs did not work.
The latest legal wrangling once again highlighted the conflict between the federal government, which declares marijuana an illegal controlled substance with no medical value, and the 11 states allowing medical marijuana for patients with a doctor's recommendation.
The Supreme Court ruled against Raich two years ago, saying medical marijuana users and their suppliers could be prosecuted for breaching federal drug laws even if they lived in a state such as California where medical pot is legal.
Because of that ruling, the issue before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was narrowed to the so-called right to life theory: that the gravely ill have a right to marijuana to keep them alive when legal drugs fail.
Raich, 41, began sobbing when she was told of the decision and said she would continue using the drug.
"I'm sure not going to let them kill me," she said. "Oh my God."
The three-judge appeals panel said that the United States has not yet reached the point where "the right to use medical marijuana is 'fundamental' and 'implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.'"
However, the court left open the possibility that Raich, if she was arrested and prosecuted, might be able to argue that she possessed marijuana as a last resort to stay alive, in what is known as a "medical necessity defense."
Raich was asking the court to block enforcement of the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, which criminalized marijuana, LSD, heroin and other drugs.
"Though a necessity defense may be available in the context of a criminal prosecution, it does not follow that a court should prospectively enjoin enforcement of a statute," Judge Harry Pregerson wrote in the unanimous ruling.
When the case was argued before the appeals court a year ago, the government said it could not guarantee that Raich or other seriously ill patients using medical marijuana would not be arrested or prosecuted. Over the years, the government has raided dozens of medical marijuana dispensaries, mostly in California.
"I have to get myself busted," Raich said, "in order to try to save my life. You know, I'm dead man walking."
In a partial dissent, Judge C. Arlen Beam said Raich had no legal standing to even bring a case because she was not arrested. Beam added that Raich "probably cannot establish that she has no legal alternative to violating the law."
The case is likely to reach the U.S. Supreme Court, but each time the high court has taken up the issue of medical marijuana it has ruled against allowing the sick and dying to use the drug to ease their symptoms and possibly prolong life.
Voters in 1996 made California the first state to authorize patients to use marijuana with a doctor's recommendation. At least 10 other states followed suit.
By Andrew Zajac Washington Bureau Published March 14, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Former Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-Ill.) said Tuesday that White House political adviser Karl Rove told him in the spring of 2001 that he should limit his choice for U.S. attorney in Chicago to someone from Illinois.
According to Fitzgerald, who was determined to bring in a prosecutor from outside the state, Rove "just said we don't want you going outside the state. We don't want to be moving U.S. attorneys around."
Fitzgerald said he believes Rove was trying to influence the selection in reaction to pressure from Rep. Dennis Hastert, then speaker of the House, and allies of then-Gov. George Ryan, who knew Fitzgerald was seeking someone from outside Illinois to attack political corruption.
Fitzgerald said he announced his choice, Patrick Fitzgerald (no relation), a New Yorker, on May 13, a Mother's Day Sunday, to pre-empt any opposition.
A year or so later, according to Peter Fitzgerald, Rove "said to me that Fitzgerald appointment got great headlines for you, but it ticked off the base." Peter Fitzgerald said he believes the "base" was Illinois Republican insiders upset at the prosecutor's assault on corruption.
Aides to Hastert say they never heard about any directives regarding the appointment.
"He [Sen. Fitzgerald] set up his own process, never talked to anyone about the process and then released the name before he told the president," said Mike Stokke, who was Hastert's deputy chief of staff at the time.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said "the White House would not have objected had a senator's recommendation been a nominee from outside of the state."
Peter Fitzgerald said he gives Rove credit for not interfering with the nomination once it was made public.
BREAKING: First Republican calls for Gonzales to resign. Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) has become the first Republican member of Congress to call for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign, MSNBC reports.
UPDATE: AP:
“I think the president should replace him,” Sununu said in an interview with The Associated Press. …
“We need to have a strong, credible attorney general that has the confidence of Congress and the American people,” said Sununu, who faces a tough re-election campaign next year. “Alberto Gonzales can’t fill that role.”
“I think the attorney general should be fired,” Sununu said.
Bernie Kerik ‘appears headed for indictment.’ Bernard Kerik, former police commissioner and confidante of Rudy Giuliani, “appears headed for an indictment… Kerik has turned down a guilty plea that would have included federal jail time, Dienst says. The next step is up to federal prosecutors; Kerik has already pleaded guilty to state charges.” Kerik is facing allegations of “mortgage fraud, tax fraud, conspiracy to eavesdrop, and making false statements on his application to become U.S. Homeland Security Secretary.”
Bush Falsely Claims His Prosecutor Purge Is ‘A Customary Practice By Presidents’ » Today during a press briefing in Mexico, President Bush attempted to defend his prosecutor purge, stating that firing prosecutors “has been a customary practice by presidents. U.S. attorneys and others serve at the pleasure of the President. Past administrations have removed U.S. attorneys. It is their right to do so.” Watch it:
Mass firings are common when a president takes office. But as current and former administration officials have confirmed, Bush’s purge of well-qualified prosecutors is unprecendented.
Gonzales chief of staff Kyle Sampson (resigned two days ago), 1/9/07:
In recent memory, during the Reagan and Clinton Administrations, Presidents Reagan and Clinton did not seek to remove and replace U.S. Attorneys to serve indefinitely under the holdover provision.
Former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta, 3/8/07:
Mr. Rove’s claims [last week] that the Bush administration’s purge of qualified and capable U.S. attorneys is “normal and ordinary” is pure fiction. Replacing most U.S. attorneys when a new administration comes in — as we did in 1993 and the Bush administration did in 2001 — is not unusual. But the Clinton administration never fired federal prosecutors as pure political retribution.
Former U.S. attorney Mary Jo White, 3/5/07:
However, throughout modern history, my understanding is, you did not change the U.S. attorney during an administration, unless there was some evidence of misconduct or other really quite significant cause to do so.
Bernie Kerik ‘appears headed for indictment.’ Bernard Kerik, former police commissioner and confidante of Rudy Giuliani, “appears headed for an indictment… Kerik has turned down a guilty plea that would have included federal jail time, Dienst says. The next step is up to federal prosecutors; Kerik has already pleaded guilty to state charges.” Kerik is facing allegations of “mortgage fraud, tax fraud, conspiracy to eavesdrop, and making false statements on his application to become U.S. Homeland Security Secretary.”
LINK
March 14, 2007 2:31 PM
***
Wow!
That's beautiful. What makes it so poignant is that it is all because he applied for Homeland Security Director!
The universe could not have written it more perfectly.
Leahy Says He’ll Subpoena Rove, Discusses Potential Crimes Involved In Attorney Purge » Today on CNN’s Situation Room, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) blew off White House signals that Karl Rove and other senior Bush officials may resist testifying before Congress on the U.S. Attorney purge.
“Frankly, I don’t care whether [White House Counsel Fred Fielding] says he’s going to allow people or not. We’ll subpoena the people we want,” Leahy said. “If they want to defy the subpoena, then you get into a stonewall situation I suspect they don’t want to have.” Asked whether he’ll subpoena Rove, Leahy answered, “Yes. He can appear voluntarily if he wants. If he doesn’t, I will subpoena him.”
Leahy also addressed the right-wing talking point that the U.S. Attorney firings are meaningless because there “was no crime.” Leahy said that while President Bush has the authority to fire attorneys at will, “if it is done to stop an ongoing investigation, then you do get into the criminal area.” Regardless, he said, the administration’s politicization of attorneys “hurts law enforcement. That hurts fighting against crime.” Asked if he thinks any Bush officials may have committed perjury, Leahy said, “We’ll find that out.”
Chiquita charged in terror investigation Cincinnati-based banana company Chiquita Brands International was charged Wednesday with doing business with a terrorist organization.
Presidential records bill seeks to stop 'rewriting of history' Michael Roston Published: Wednesday March 14, 2007
A bill sponsored by the chair of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), seeks to stop the "rewriting of history" by restoring full access to presidential records, RAW STORY has learned.
"There are those who would like to rewrite history for their own purposes," Waxman warned in a floor speech, available at the Speaker of the House's blog, The Gavel.
Waxman was speaking out in favor of the Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007, a bill he co-sponsored to cancel a 2001 executive order by President George W. Bush that "gave current and former presidents and vice presidents broad authority to withhold presidential records or delay their release indefinitely," according to a fact sheet at Waxman's website.
"It would allow the records, the raw information to be available, and let those who want to interpret those events do so as they see fit," Waxman said of the bill.
In a recent hearing conducted by Waxman's committee, Thomas Blanton of the group National Security Archive slammed President Bush's executive order as obstructing the availability of documents from previous administrations.
"We had a fair, reasonable, workable, sensible, clear, orderly process producing millions of records before this executive order, and we haven't had it since," he said.
Waxman's floor speech and other information can be accessed at the Speaker's blogsite.
NEW YORK--A drug dealer was sentenced in late May to 18 years in prison for hiring a hit man to kill a New York journalist for his writings about a Colombian drug cartel.
Elkin Farley Salazar, 26, could have faced up to life in prison for the murder of Manuel de Dios Unanue at a restaurant in Queens in 1992 if he had not cooperated with prosecutors.
Both Salazar and his partner, Jos‚ James Benitez, received 18- year sentences in return for testimony that helped convict Wilson Alejandro Mej¡a-Velez for pulling the trigger. Mej¡a-Velez was sentenced last year to life in prison without possibility of parole.
De Dios was a former editor-in-chief of a New York Spanish- language newspaper, El Diario-La Prensa. At the time he was killed, de Dios was publishing two magazine commentaries and working on a book about the Cali drug cartel. Prosecutors have said that his murder was ordered by Jos‚ Santacruz Londono, a Cali kingpin still in Colombia, according to the Associated Press. (New York v. Salazar)
Britney needs your help! We can't have the queen of pop running around like she failed a lice test. Use your mouse to plop a wig on poor Britney's bald head. You'll need fast reflexes though — this girl won't sit still for a second (clue #138 that she needs rehab).
Catharine said... ... it all depends on whether everyone can keep juggling the balls... keep them up in the air. ---------------------------------- I like the added clarification that is your final phrase.
Without it, your comment could be construed to be directed at the temerarious male operatives in a male-dominated lending industry.
"The architects for this clandestine invasion were CIA director Allen Dulles and then vice president and later president Nixon. Luis Posada Carriles was recruited for that invasion. He was trained in Fort Benning as an assassin and an expert in explosives. But what many Americans do not know, is that from that army, a number of men were selected to form a secret group of assassins. This group was called Operation 40, and the CIA code name was ZR/Rifle. This is the stuff that American media do not report. The mission of Operation 40 was to assassinate Fidel Castro. It may be no surprise that Luis Posada Carriles was selected for Operation 40. I will give you the names of some more members of this assassination group. And it is important to remember these names, because they will get back in the story later on. One of those members was Felix Rodriguez. He was also trained in Fort Benning, along with Posada.
Felix Rodriguez and Luis Posada Carriles: Veterans of the Bay of Pigs, members of Operation 40, friends, anti-Castro Cuban exiles, CIA assets, trained assassins and operatives for Iran Contra. Another member was Frank Sturgis, who later gained notoriety in the Watergate scandal. He was one of the Watergate burglars."
A group of Alabama farmers came Wednesday to Washington to protest proposed Bush administration cuts to federal agriculture programs.
Congress is currently re-writing the farm bill, a politically contentious piece of legislation that was last renewed five years ago.
The Department of Agriculture unveiled its 2007 farm bill proposal last month. Its plan to cut $10 billion from farming programs, part of a government-wide effort to reduce the deficit, has met stiff criticism from some farmers.
Just back from the anti-Bush march which turned into a bit of a police riot, to my surprise. About 3,000 people started marching from the Hemiciclo Juarez, en the Alameda Central, at 4 o'clock. By the time we reached our destination, there were about 10,000. The embassy is on a major boulevard, Reforma--the same one the people shut down during the post-election action.
Since more than 5 years ago, there's a fence on front of the embassy, but way in front, i.e., there's a frontage road, some grass, and then the main part of the avenue, and that`s where the fence is.
I have some friends who want to knock down the fence in a pacifist way--though the Quaker wimps in the U.S. these days would say that's a contradiction--but today some youngsters decided to do it anarcho-punk style, with some success. I could see that with wire cutters, it would have been down in seconds, but these guys did it by stomping, setting fires, igniting something that exploded and made smoke, throwing rocks at the cops who mostly just hid behind their plexiglass shields. (Or so I thought: every so often one grabs a rock and throws it back, and they got my friend's brother, a performance artist who decided to try to steal the show by jumping on the fence with his make-up, his sister's pearls, etc.)
Mohammed claims responsible for 9/11: transcript Wed Mar 14, 2007 7:24PM EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the United States, has claimed responsibility for those and other major al Qaeda attacks, according to the transcript of a hearing at Guantanamo Bay released on Wednesday.
"I was responsible for the 9/11 Operation, from A to Z," said Mohammed, speaking through a personal representative, according to the transcript of the hearing at the U.S. military prison camp released by the Pentagon.
It seems to me that our opposition to "the marriage of government and corporate power " ought to come in actions that originate in democratic thought and argument in the USA.
Yet day after day the presses and the "new media" are caught in the whirlwind of government and corporate marketing departments. “Resignation Calls” will not bring about a middle class wage for all workers nor will it bring about free universal education and healthcare. It is my belief that more and more people will see the benefit of democratically collective actions when we daily argue and work for free universal education and healthcare, middle class wages for all and clean, healthy housing and food for all.
Federal judge rules Sudan responsible for bombing of USS Cole RAW STORY Published: Wednesday March 14, 2007
A federal judge has ruled that Sudan is responsible for the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, the Associated Press is reporting.
In a civil trial in Norfolk, VA, relatives of the bombing's victims sought to prove that the attack could not have been carried out without support from the Sudanese government.
U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar agreed with that assessment. "There is substantial evidence in this case presented by the expert testimony that the government of Sudan induced the particular bombing of the Cole by virtue of prior actions of the government of Sudan," said Doumar.
The U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer was bombed in a suicide attack carried out by the Al Qaeda terrorist organization while harbored in a Yemeni port on October 12, 2000. Seventeen sailors were killed.
Former CIA director James Woolsey, among other terrorism experts, testified at the trial and supported the families' position. "It would not have been as easy — it might have been possible — but it would not have been as easy," said Woolsey in a deposition. Other experts pointed out that Sudan had given Al Qaeda safe haven since 1991.
Hell, by the time we're able to get Bush and Cheney out of there, this country is going to be so fucked up we will be in for a good thirty years of recovery.
The almost invisible backup Sam Seder comment blog is now down to only 17 people reading/posting on it due to no one being able to enable comments on the regular blog and that it has an extremely long impossible to remember URL of:
Sampson Hasn't Left the Justice Department After All: "We found out this afternoon after the attorney general's press conference that Mr. Sampson is still there while he, quote, 'goes job hunting.' Come on; if you did something wrong and you're out, you should be out." According to Senator Pat Leahy.
The almost invisible backup Sam Seder comment blog is now down to only 17 people reading/posting on it due to no one being able to enable comments on the regular blog and that it has an extremely long impossible to remember URL of:
This is not the first Bushevik Attorney Firing: In 2002 Bush blocked a corruption investigation into Jack Abramoff by firing the U.S. Attorney just as he was closing in. Bush replaced him with a cousin of one of the targets
The almost invisible backup Sam Seder comment blog is now down to only 17 people reading/posting on it due to no one being able to enable comments on the regular blog and that it has an extremely long impossible to remember URL of:
This blog be fucked up and has been for a very very very long time!
March 14, 2007 5:34 PM
I wouldn't sweat it liberal flow. There hasn't been anything worth reading here since early 2006. There is only 2 or 3 rational common sense posters left with the rest being very lazy out of touch hostile haters. Almost all the old regulars have left long ago. The very small comment blog that is left is only a microscopic shadow of what it used to be over a year ago.
When I read this blog I get the feeling that I have been slipped hallucingens and am witness to others that are tripping down this blogs little rabbit hole.
The notion of going into business together emerged from a casual conversation at the elder Green's house in mid-December. Mark mentioned plans to guest-host on his old friend David Bender's Air America morning show—and that the bankrupt network was looking for a buyer.
Stephen was interested, and three months later bought the majority share in the company for $4.25 million, on the condition that Mark and Elberg run it together. Stephen Green will serve as chairman of the board.
"The Big Question: Does the RED campaign help big Western brands more than Africa?"
Excerpt:
How much has RED raised to fight Aids?
The figure is actually $25m during the six months since the RED product range was launched in the United States last October. That is five times the amount given to the Global Fund by the private sector over the previous four years. Which is a pretty significant increase by anybody's standards.
Read Bobby Shriver's response (to the earlier Ad Age story)
"CEO: Red's Raised Lots of Green" "VIEWPOINT: Brand Chief Says True ROI Includes Dollars and Awareness" By Bobby Shriver
Excerpt:
Last week Ad Age published a story headlined "Costly Red Campaign Reaps Meager $18M." We at Red take extreme issue with the numbers quoted -- to say our partners spent $100 million on marketing is wrong, by more than 50% -- and the fact that the article quoted unidentified experts. We also take issue with the revenue streams credited to our campaign, which has been a fantastic success.
Our goal is to create a model where private companies can do good and make money at the same time.
Red itself spends nothing on marketing.
So, while one point we cannot agree on with Ad Age is the marketing expenditures of our partners, the bigger crime in Mya Frazier's story is that it ignored the rest of the revenue our project is creating, both in term of dollars and hearts and minds. That is a real crime against the poorest of the poor. You should be ashamed.
ENOUGH, a joint project of Crisis Group and the Center for American Progress, is determined to help bring an end to the crimes against humanity being perpetrated in Darfur, northern Uganda and eastern Congo, and to prevent future mass atrocities.
ENOUGH, a newly formed campaign to galvanize public and political leaders to effectively confront mass violence against innocent civilians, today releases the first in a series of reports aimed at providing actionable solutions to end some of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
Cafferty: Are Checks and Balances Making a Comeback? By: SilentPatriot @ 7:03 PM - PDT With all these scandals piling up (Walter Reed, prosecutor purge, Libby conviction, FBI's NSLs abuses, etc.) Jack wonders if the antiquated notion of "checks and balances" (remember that?!) is making a comeback.
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"What you have here is a White House that has become an accountability free zone that is now facing the reality of checks and balances from Congress. For six years President Bush got pretty much whatever he wanted from a Republican-controlled rubber stamp Congress that refused to exercise any oversight of the Executive branch of government. Well, mercifully, that party appears to be over."
I've said it before and I'll say it again: The Democratic Congressional takeover was the best thing that could have happened to this country. The rubber-stamp GOP'ers would have buried every single one of these scandals and taken the administration at their word. At least we now have committe chairmen committed to the rule of law and exposing the truth.
Biden to Bush: “You’re leading us off a cliff. Stop!” By: Nicole Belle @ 3:04 PM - PDT Bob Geiger:
Clearly having had enough of Republican colleagues putting their blind loyalty to George W. Bush ahead of American opinion and the lives of our troops, Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) gave a powerful speech on the Senate floor Wednesday in which he ripped the GOP for their failure to lead and fulfill their duties to our country.
Saying "our troops don't lose wars, bad polices, bad leadership loses wars," Biden, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, let loose during comments before the vote to even open debate on the Democratic proposal to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq by this time next year.
Is Bush’s New US Attorney A Criminal? By: Nicole Belle @ 2:01 PM - PDT Okay, I felt a little like Fox News typing that title, but it is an apt question to pose.
Democrats.org:
By now you've heard about the questionable firing of perfectly good U.S. attorneys for political gain. That's bad enough.
It gets worse. Let's look at one of the attorneys that is replacing one of those who were let go:
Timothy Griffin, Karl Rove's assistant, the President's pick as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Griffin, according to BBC Television, was the hidden hand behind a scheme to wipe out the voting rights of 70,000 citizens prior to the 2004 election.
Key voters on Griffin's hit list: Black soldiers and homeless men and women. Nice guy, eh? Naughty or nice, however, is not the issue. Targeting voters where race is a factor is a felony crime under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In October 2004, our investigations team at BBC Newsnight received a series of astonishing emails from Mr. Griffin, then Research Director for the Republican National Committee. He didn't mean to send them to us. They were highly confidential memos meant only for RNC honchos.
However, Griffin made a wee mistake. Instead of sending the emails - potential evidence of a crime - to email addresses ending with the domain name "@GeorgeWBush.com" he sent them to "@GeorgeWBush.ORG." A website run by prankster John Wooden who owns "GeorgeWBush.org."
Whoops! I mean, seriously, you can't write this stuff. He sent damaging emails to a spoof site? Amanda at TP has more…
//Terror mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has admitted to planning the devastating September 11 attacks on the United States, and also claims to have co-ordinated the 2002 Bali bombing.//
once upon a time i would have believed this outright (hook, line and stinker)
now... well, i'd confess to murdering sharon tate if they tickled me the wrong way
what a world... thanks, america for destroying my faith in the msm
(of course, it's a double edged sword now that my blinkers are off... it's almost liberating)
Air America has been purchased and pledged strong support for the future. If one can only imagine Air America receiving as much support through the money-losing years as, just to use a completely random example, FOX Noise, or Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s messianic dispatch The Washington Times, the potential is terrific. Rightwingers can have their three talk radio stations pumping rightwing talk all day. I’ve been the only liberal in a discussion board up against a dozen conservatives and whipped them all until they ran away, broken. Air America can do the same by following the example set by KLSD 1360.
check this year old letter to the washington post editor in feb 06. general Pace and the brass are upset about a political cartoon depicting a wounded soldier, pretty hypocritical and ironic stuff. http://oursurge.typepad.com/our_surge/2007/03/year_old_letter.html
Ezra Heywood became notorious because he refused to accept the restrictions that the Comstock law imposed on the circulation of sexual information, especially birth control information. His rebellion against censorship led to years of legal persecution and imprisonment, much of which sprang from the distribution of his pamphlet Cupid's Yokes through which he advocated placing sexual urges under the control of reason rather than 'animalism'. Perhaps no other work was as influential as Cupid's Yokes in opening 19th century America to a discussion of free love and birth control.
Toni! :) Not much time lately. You should promote your blog more often. Excellent place to catch up on things! When I catch my breath, I'll email. Soon, I hope. I really appreciate Ya Think?, and even though there aren't as many comments as here, the quality is better. ...and thanks for the cell phone info!
"Let me see if I've got this straight...." Tom Engelhart begins in his urgent exploration of the recent investigative reporting on Iran war-planning by Seymour Hersh. Engelhardt describes the lack of attention: "A journalist essentially writing bloody murder in a giant media and governmental crowd. In this case, no one in the mainstream evidently cares - not yet anyway - to pay the slightest attention. It seems that there's a crime going on and no one gives a damn."
8
Robert Scheer | His Own Worst Enemy
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031407D.shtml
Robert Scheer digs into the recent defensive rhetoric coming from the vice president: "The unctuous owl has hooted again. Only this time, Dick Cheney’s cave has been invaded by the sudden sunlight of judicial and Congressional revelations, making him appear more pathetic than intimidating as he once again charges critics of the Iraq war with giving aid and comfort to the enemy."
Ezra Heywood helped initiate Benjamin R. Tucker into the world of anarchist activism. Their relationship spanned three decades and during that time, Tucker matured from a student and apprentice of Heywood's to a sophisticated radical intellectual. Although at times they disagreed sharply and their reform efforts came to emphasize different issues, the two viewed one another with mutual respect. An examination of their relationship touches upon some of the central concerns of nineteenth century reform.
(Doesn't his code name "CurveBall" kind of give it away?)
http://www.answers.com/topic/curveball
Slang. Something that is unexpected or designed to trick or deceive:
That last question on the exam was a real curve ball.
To mislead; deceive.
Curveball, the Defector Whose Lies Led to War
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031407E.shtml
The Iraqi defector known as Curveball, whose fabricated stories of "mobile biological weapons labs" helped lead the US to war four years ago, is still being protected by the German intelligence service, an ABC News investigation has found.
http://kurtnimmo.com/?p=797
ABC Unmasks “Curveball” Four Years Too Late
ABC News is surprised, simply flabbergasted. In a “special report,” Brian Ross tells us about the Curveball “intelligence failure” and quotes flummoxed officials, including an outraged Collin Powell, who will go down in history as the fool who presented a passel of neocon lies and fairy tales in dog and pony show format before the United Nations, thus providing a transparent pretext to invade Iraq and systematically slaughter more than 650,000 of its citizens.
It is one of the serious evils of our present system of banking that it enables one class of society--and that by no means a numerous one--by its control over the currency, to act injuriously upon the interests of all the others and to exercise more than its just proportion of influence in political affairs.
The agricultural, the mechanical, and the laboring classes have little or no share in the direction of the great moneyed corporations, and from their habits and the nature of their pursuits they are incapable of forming extensive combinations to act together with united force.
Such concert of action may sometimes be produced in a single city or in a small district of country by means of personal communications with each other, but they have no regular or active correspondence with those who are engaged in similar pursuits in distant places; [but now we have the internets...]
they have but little patronage to give to the press, and exercise but a small share of influence over it; [internets scare the press...]
they have no crowd of dependents about them who hope to grow rich without labor by their countenance and favor, and who are therefore always ready to execute their wishes. [priviledged toadies. You know the type...]
The planter, the farmer, the mechanic, and the laborer all know that their success depends upon their own industry and economy, and that they must not expect to become suddenly rich by the fruits of their toil. Yet these classes of society form the great body of the people of the United States; they are the bone and sinew of the country--men who love liberty and desire nothing but equal rights and equal laws, and who, moreover, hold the great mass of our national wealth, although it is distributed in moderate amounts among the millions of freemen who possess it.
But with overwhelming numbers and wealth on their side they are in constant danger of losing their fair influence in the Government, and with difficulty maintain their just rights against the incessant efforts daily made to encroach upon them.
The mischief springs from the power which the moneyed interest derives from a paper currency which they are able to control, from the multitude of corporations with exclusive privileges which they have succeeded in obtaining in the different States, and which are employed altogether for their benefit;
and unless you become more watchful in your States and check this spirit of monopoly and thirst for exclusive privileges you will in the end find that the most important powers of Government have been given or bartered away, and the control over your dearest interests has passed into the hands of these corporations.
The paper-money system and its natural associations--monopoly and exclusive privileges--have already struck their roots too deep in the soil,
and it will require all your efforts to check its further growth and to eradicate the evil. The men who profit by the abuses and desire to perpetuate them will continue to besiege the halls of legislation in the General Government as well as in the States, and will seek by every artifice to mislead and deceive the public servants.
It is to yourselves that you must look for safety and the means of guarding and perpetuating your free institutions.
In your hands is rightfully placed the sovereignty of the country, and to you everyone placed in authority is ultimately responsible.
It is always in your power to see that the wishes of the people are carried into faithful execution, and their will, when once made known, must sooner or later be obeyed;
and while the people remain, as I trust they ever will, uncorrupted and incorruptible, and continue watchful and jealous of their rights, the Government is safe, and the cause of freedom will continue to triumph over all its enemies.
But it will require steady and persevering exertions on your part to rid yourselves of the iniquities and mischiefs of the paper system and to check the spirit of monopoly and other abuses which have sprung up with it, and of which it is the main support.
So many interests are united to resist all reform on this subject that you must not hope the conflict will be a short one nor success easy.
My humble efforts have not been spared during my administration of the Government to restore the constitutional currency of gold and silver, and something, I trust, has been done toward the accomplishment of this most desirable object;
but enough yet remains to require all your energy and perseverance.
The power, however, is in your hands, and the remedy must and will be applied if you determine upon it.
Cashless society by 2012, says Visa chief By Tim Webb Published: 11 March 2007
Paying for goods with notes and coins could be consigned to history within five years, according to the chief executive of Visa Europe.
Peter Ayliffe said that, by 2012, using credit and debit cards should be cheaper and more convenient than cash.
Some retailers could soon start surcharging customers if they choose to buy products with cash, because of the greater cost of processing these payments, he warned.
Scientists say nerves use sound, not electricity Last Updated: Friday, March 9, 2007 | 7:13 PM ET CBC News
The common view that nerves transmit impulses through electricity is wrong and they really transmit sound, according to a team of Danish scientists.
The Copenhagen University researchers argue that biology and medical textbooks that say nerves relay electrical impulses from the brain to the rest of the body are incorrect.
"For us as physicists, this cannot be the explanation," said Thomas Heimburg, an associate professor at the university's Niels Bohr Institute. "The physical laws of thermodynamics tell us that electrical impulses must produce heat as they travel along the nerve, but experiments find that no such heat is produced."
Heimburg, an expert in biophysics who received his PhD from the Max Planck Institute in Goettingen, Germany — where biologists and physicists often work together in a rare arrangement — developed the theory with Copenhagen University's Andrew Jackson, an expert in theoretical physics.
When scientists announce they're about to calibrate their instruments, science writers normally put away their pens. It's hard to write a good story about calibration. This may be the exception:
On Feb. 25, 2007, NASA scientists were calibrating some cameras aboard the STEREO-B spacecraft and they pointed the instruments at the sun. Here is what they saw:
"What an extraordinary view," says Lika Guhathakurta, STEREO Program Scientist at NASA headquarters. The fantastically-colored star is our own sun as STEREO sees it in four wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light. The black disk is the Moon. "We caught a lunar transit of the sun," she explains.
toniD said... Biden to Bush: “You’re leading us off a cliff. Stop!” By: Nicole Belle @ 3:04 PM - PDT Bob Geiger:
Clearly having had enough of Republican colleagues putting their blind loyalty to George W. Bush ahead of American opinion and the lives of our troops, Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) gave a powerful speech on the Senate floor Wednesday in which he ripped the GOP for their failure to lead and fulfill their duties to our country.
Saying "our troops don't lose wars, bad polices, bad leadership loses wars," Biden, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, let loose during comments before the vote to even open debate on the Democratic proposal to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq by this time next year.
Not fond of Biden but he made a good speech today.
WaitingForCicero said... Go watch this. It's the first clip.
I'm not the biggest fan of Joe Biden, but this is a damn good speech.
181 comments:
Not sure how this works; I've never blogged before because I find the sites confusing. But just wanted to add a note about what Ari Berman said on the show this morning (March 14). There are voices from the Jewish community that do not support -- in fact, oppose -- the AIPAC/neocon positions on Israel. And they are organized voices. The oldest and most effective one is Americans for Peace Now (APN), the American sister organization to the Israeli Shalom Achshav, founded twenty years ago by former top Israeli military officers. We lobby and advocate for a peace based upon a two-state solution, including a viable and sovereign Palestine and a respect for human rights. We are strong supporters of Israel but often strongly oppose the policies of its governments. AND the (non) policies of the US which claim to support the security of Israel but are in fact extremely dangerous for both Israel and the region.
NEWS FLASH!!
Friends of mine in the mortgage brokerage business and Mortgage-backed securities and CDO (Collateralized Debt Obligations) business are reporting that:
1) The largest issuer of subprime mortgages, New Century, is close to going out of business
2) Countrywide, the largest issuer of mortgages and the second largest underwriter of subprime mortgages has stopped underwriting subprime mortgages.
3) In addition to the MBSs and ABSs that these changes will effect; CDOs (Credit derivatives) are, more than previously thought, very linked to the MBS/ABS market/issuance as well. Apparently there is a lot of hedging of risk with credit derivatives.
AND
4) Top Risk management people at a lot of the big broker/dealers know that the way they measure Risk in these areas is shaky at best. Their assumptions have not been tested. In May of 2005, a small event [GM's debt being downgraded] tested those models and they were grossly innacurate and a lot of players in that market were wiped out.
SHIT.
All of these people who could only qualify for subprime loans, who by definition don't have good credit to begin with/ or don't have the income to show that they can afford the house they bought, now looking to refinance to save them from bankruptcy, ... well they can't.
If one of these dominoes falls ...
And why aren't the financial news networks reporting heavily on this?
Not good.
OK... apparently there are reports, but perhaps they are trying not to create a panic...
***
Accredited, New Century Lead Slide in Mortgage Shares (Update4)
By Bradley Keoun
March 13 (Bloomberg) -- Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co. shares lost more than half their value and New Century Financial Corp. was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange after the mortgage lenders said they can't meet bankers' demands for cash.
Accredited shares plunged 65 percent to $3.97 at 4 p.m., leading a decline in financial-services companies. The San Diego- based lender said in a statement today it must raise more money to buy back bad mortgages from investment banks.
Bankers made the same demand on New Century this month, prompting analysts at Merrill Lynch & Co. and J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. to predict bankruptcy. Late payments on subprime loans reached a four-year high of 13.3 percent, the Mortgage Bankers Association said today, and foreclosures on all home loans rose to a record. More than 24 mortgage lenders shut or sold operations since January 2006, according to Bloomberg data.
``The speed with which this thing has unraveled is really pretty amazing,'' said Bose George, an analyst at Keefe Bruyette & Woods in New York.
Accredited shares have fallen 85 percent this year. The New York Stock Exchange today suspended New Century, which has plunged 97 percent in 2007. The stock fell to 84.5 cents in Pink Sheets trading, a 49 percent one-day decline.
Bear Stearns Cos., the biggest underwriter of mortgage- backed bonds, fell 6.7 percent and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. dropped 5.9 percent. Lehman reports earnings tomorrow and Bear Stearns on Thursday.
Demands From Lenders
Accredited said it's considering ``strategic options'' because cash and other sources of liquidity, which stood at $354 million on Dec. 31, fell after lenders demanded $190 million of collateral to cover potential losses. Accredited didn't provide the current cash balance or say whether one of the options it's considering includes selling the company.
The company has violated terms of lending agreements that require specified ``levels of net income,'' it said. Accredited, which earlier this year persuaded creditors to waive the requirement, is now seeking extensions.
Accredited had announced plans to file an annual report with securities regulators by March 16. It's unlikely to meet that target because of a review of accounting tied to the acquisition last year of Aames Investment Corp., the company said, and a writedown is possible.
Bloomberg link:
LINK
WaitingForCicero said...
A., you asked me to find this once
Naked Eye, Luscious Jackson
March 14, 2007 1:40 AM
Thanks, WFC! :)
Shares Tumble
Shares of mortgage lenders have slumped this year as the industry's crisis deepened. Mortgage Lenders Network USA Inc. and Ownit Mortgage Solutions Inc. are among companies that failed in the past six months.
Rivals including Fremont General Corp. and NovaStar Financial Inc. have shed more than half their value this year, and Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's biggest mortgage company, has tumbled 21 percent.
Fremont fell 8.2 percent today, NovaStar dropped 19 percent and American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. lost 10 percent.
Countrywide declined 4.7 percent. The Calabasas, California- based company stopped funding subprime home loans that don't require any money down and proof of income, spokesman Rick Simon said today.
Countrywide Chief Executive Officer Angelo Mozilo said today that concerns about rising subprime defaults are keeping qualified borrowers from buying homes, and amount to an ``overreaction.''
``This is now becoming a liquidity crisis, an unnecessary one,'' Mozilo said in an interview on CNBC, likening the reaction to ``a baby being thrown out with the bathwater.''
``This will be great for Countrywide at the end of the day because all of the irrational competitors will be gone,'' he said.
***
Interesting ... Well, Countrywide has told brokers that they are not issuing any subrpime mortgages, ... at least for now I guess...
Remember the Savings and Loan scandal?
Well... I think this is bigger ... in its effect ... it all depends on whether everyone can keep juggling the balls... keep them up in the air.
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Two Officers Slashed At Brooklyn Subway Station
Graffiti Vandal Indicted In Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan
Want PD Precinct In 'Most Dangerous Park' In Queens
23 Years In Cage For '97 Queens Rape Creep
Year on run ends when 'coke dealer' is seized in Bronx
Yonkers man on bail is held in Bronx stabbing death
Kerik Is Said to Refuse a Plea That Calls for Prison Time
Anti-Semitic Incidents Decline Statewide in 2006
Sir Real said...
-
Love everybody.
-
March 14, 2007 11:07 AM
:)
Zack De La Rocha y el Movimiento Zapatista
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjL7g_qsUN0
r paaswell said...
... There are voices from the Jewish community that do not support -- in fact, oppose -- the AIPAC/neocon positions on Israel. And they are organized voices. The oldest and most effective one is Americans for Peace Now (APN), the American sister organization to the Israeli Shalom Achshav, founded twenty years ago by former top Israeli military officers. ...
March 14, 2007 10:36 AM
***
Thanks for that. Good to know about these other groups. While I certainly knew that there are voices from the Jewish community that oppose AIPAC like positions... it is always good to hear more from them.
I know this post is off subject but I wanted to post it so people will see it. It is a blog from a soldier at Walter Reed. Everyone please read it.
[url]http://walterreed.blogspot.com/[/url]
Protesto contra Bush no Rio - Anti-Bush demonstration in Rio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slKgdbtDl8k
McCain missed the 9/11 Commission recommendations vote?!??!?!
Wow, guess he's doomed politically.
That would be like Hillary missing the vote on that horrible, destructive-to-the-middle-class Bankruptcy Bill vote back in 2005!
uh....oops!
Jesus says: Congratulation! A winner is you!
http://www.pakistanchristianpost.com/images/christ.gif
Stephen and Mark Green and Big Ed and I will be having dinner tonight to discuss finding a good spot for Sam in the future of the company.....
I'm thinking the 3-6am spot!
Oh and can somebody get me Bill Scher and David Sirota's phone numbers? That'd be great...thanks!
"That would be like Hillary missing the vote on that horrible, destructive-to-the-middle-class Bankruptcy Bill vote back in 2005!
uh....oops!"
+++++++
Just wondering, are you one of those rightwingers with a thing for Hillary, or a disgruntled lefty with a thing for Hillary.
I'm taking a survey.
I'd bet that you are a War Dog with no serious agenda, just looking to share all of the love you feel inside with the rest of us.
Why thank you!
dada said...
Just wondering, are you one of those rightwingers with a thing for Hillary, or a disgruntled lefty with a thing for Hillary.
I'm taking a survey.
March 14, 2007 12:46 PM
No one of those disgruntled libertarians who thinks liberals are big phoneys and hypocrites.
Even Sam the Socialist will be singing HRC's praises come Super Tuesday 2008 primary post-game...and downplaying her "moves to the Right", just like he does with her hubby's Admin and NAFTA and welfare reform.
The Internet has become a hub of religious worship for millions of people around the world. Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Buddhists, Sikhs and people of other faiths turn regularly to Web sites to pray, meditate and gather in "virtual" houses of worship graphically designed to look like the real thing. Some sites offer rites from baptism to confession to conversion to Judaism.
For many cyber-worshipers, online religious life conducted at home or in an Internet cafe has replaced attendance at traditional churches, temples, mosques and synagogues. Some are coming to religion for the first time, in a setting they find as comfortable as their grandparents found a church pew, while millions of people reared on churchgoing are discovering new ways to worship.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301840.html
Reminds me of that time I set up a temporary virtual masonic lodge on the old blog. Ah, good times...
dada said:
Reminds me of that time I set up a temporary virtual masonic lodge on the old blog. Ah, good times...
doesn't that make the secret handshake a bitch?
Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist and correspondent for the national radio and TV program Democracy Now!, is a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute. He is the author of the new book Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army
http://www.thenation.com/directory/bios/jeremy_scahill
even the dobbites want gonzo out. lou dobbs is running a poll on gonzo and 94% think he should step down. the tide is turning...
morning, wood
*yawn*
who am i...
*meow*
where am i...
SAN FRANCISCO - A California woman whose doctor says marijuana is the only medicine keeping her alive is not immune from federal prosecution on drug charges, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The ruling was the latest legal defeat for Angel Raich, an Oakland mother of two suffering from scoliosis, a brain tumor, chronic nausea and other ailments who sued the federal government pre-emptively to avoid being arrested for using the drug. On her doctor's advice, Raich eats or smokes marijuana every couple of hours to ease her pain and bolster a nonexistent appetite as conventional drugs did not work.
The latest legal wrangling once again highlighted the conflict between the federal government, which declares marijuana an illegal controlled substance with no medical value, and the 11 states allowing medical marijuana for patients with a doctor's recommendation.
The Supreme Court ruled against Raich two years ago, saying medical marijuana users and their suppliers could be prosecuted for breaching federal drug laws even if they lived in a state such as California where medical pot is legal.
Because of that ruling, the issue before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was narrowed to the so-called right to life theory: that the gravely ill have a right to marijuana to keep them alive when legal drugs fail.
Raich, 41, began sobbing when she was told of the decision and said she would continue using the drug.
"I'm sure not going to let them kill me," she said. "Oh my God."
The three-judge appeals panel said that the United States has not yet reached the point where "the right to use medical marijuana is 'fundamental' and 'implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.'"
However, the court left open the possibility that Raich, if she was arrested and prosecuted, might be able to argue that she possessed marijuana as a last resort to stay alive, in what is known as a "medical necessity defense."
Raich was asking the court to block enforcement of the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, which criminalized marijuana, LSD, heroin and other drugs.
"Though a necessity defense may be available in the context of a criminal prosecution, it does not follow that a court should prospectively enjoin enforcement of a statute," Judge Harry Pregerson wrote in the unanimous ruling.
When the case was argued before the appeals court a year ago, the government said it could not guarantee that Raich or other seriously ill patients using medical marijuana would not be arrested or prosecuted. Over the years, the government has raided dozens of medical marijuana dispensaries, mostly in California.
"I have to get myself busted," Raich said, "in order to try to save my life. You know, I'm dead man walking."
In a partial dissent, Judge C. Arlen Beam said Raich had no legal standing to even bring a case because she was not arrested. Beam added that Raich "probably cannot establish that she has no legal alternative to violating the law."
The case is likely to reach the U.S. Supreme Court, but each time the high court has taken up the issue of medical marijuana it has ruled against allowing the sick and dying to use the drug to ease their symptoms and possibly prolong life.
Voters in 1996 made California the first state to authorize patients to use marijuana with a doctor's recommendation. At least 10 other states followed suit.
The case is Raich v. Gonzales, 03-15481.
Hiya a/o! That was some hot kitten action this morning.. :) ...Meow...
I am still handsome!!!
Freakish...you wrote meow too...I LOVE that stuff...
toniD said...
Pee break!
March 14, 2007 7:46 AM
HOT!
(currently 21.6 degrees C.)
[71 F.]
the guy who said we should dress up as cats
@
Deluxe Adult Catwoman Costume
i saved her pic
by clicking on her pussy
(oh, yeah)
[he said with one eye in his socket]
these are the things that caught my eye
as i scrolled by
: )
air-ono said...
these are the things that caught my eye
as i scrolled by
: )
March 14, 2007 1:41 PM
Probably plucked from some poor blogger, somewhere!
blaring to start the day:
I don't care about the state of my hair
I got something out of nothing
That just wasn't there
And your kiss kiss kiss
Is never gonna blow me away
[~Blues From A Gun]
an auspicious start to the day
(read on)
woke with radio on, telling me what's gonna be on the telee
the folk in my radio told me that the mighty boosh is playing on my telee today
(yay!)
IT'S WRITING TO CHUBBY DAY
: )
Defying Gravity
http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Middle_East/Iraq/photo68904.htm
Makes you think.
Good picture site.
I hear there was a spectacular photo in the NY Times Sunday...maybe I can find it..someone described it to me...
oh!
before i go...
S.J.
good luck with your back
(i don't know what else to say)
if i can find my other eye
i start writing
it may be in the other eye socket that's begining to open...
it's too early to say
(the suspensions killing me)
The crosses in the sky lately are weirding me out...
3/3/07-1
3/3/07-2
3/3/07-3
3/3/07-4
3/14/07-1
nothing like starting the day in a mad panic
like you're going to the moon
and you can't find your spacesuit
and you find your space suit
but it's the wrong one
the wrong colour
the wrong everything
and the guy says,
"yo, 5 mins to blast off...
fucking hurry up"
alice - you forgot your meds. those aren't crosses any more than mold on bread is the picture of jesus...
i doubt if you get b.o. in outter space
and the room service sucks...
"where's my steak in a tube"
(tube-steak)
(heh-heh)
yo, A.
reduce the size of those pics in future
(or i'll punch you)
: )
relax, alice
i saw jesus & mary (chain)
in those crosses
in the sky
ok, done nuff stretching of the synapses
time to done something
(dumb)
Good Afternoon all!
Here's news:
EX-SENATOR RECALLS
Fitzgerald: Rove tried to limit choice
By Andrew Zajac
Washington Bureau
Published March 14, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Former Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-Ill.) said Tuesday that White House political adviser Karl Rove told him in the spring of 2001 that he should limit his choice for U.S. attorney in Chicago to someone from Illinois.
According to Fitzgerald, who was determined to bring in a prosecutor from outside the state, Rove "just said we don't want you going outside the state. We don't want to be moving U.S. attorneys around."
Fitzgerald said he believes Rove was trying to influence the selection in reaction to pressure from Rep. Dennis Hastert, then speaker of the House, and allies of then-Gov. George Ryan, who knew Fitzgerald was seeking someone from outside Illinois to attack political corruption.
Fitzgerald said he announced his choice, Patrick Fitzgerald (no relation), a New Yorker, on May 13, a Mother's Day Sunday, to pre-empt any opposition.
A year or so later, according to Peter Fitzgerald, Rove "said to me that Fitzgerald appointment got great headlines for you, but it ticked off the base." Peter Fitzgerald said he believes the "base" was Illinois Republican insiders upset at the prosecutor's assault on corruption.
Aides to Hastert say they never heard about any directives regarding the appointment.
"He [Sen. Fitzgerald] set up his own process, never talked to anyone about the process and then released the name before he told the president," said Mike Stokke, who was Hastert's deputy chief of staff at the time.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said "the White House would not have objected had a senator's recommendation been a nominee from outside of the state."
Peter Fitzgerald said he gives Rove credit for not interfering with the nomination once it was made public.
LINK
Hannity denounced as "hate speech" Clinton statement that GOP phone-jamming convictions were evidence of "vast right-wing conspiracy"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200703140009
*****
Waaah!
Poor widdle Hannity. Someone told his mommy that he was a bad boy. He got caught; and that person is a very bad person for telling on him.
These were FELONY CONVICTIONS asshole!
toniD said...
Good Afternoon all!
Here's news:
EX-SENATOR RECALLS
Fitzgerald: Rove tried to limit choice
***
Ooh! Good one.
BREAKING: First Republican calls for Gonzales to resign. Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) has become the first Republican member of Congress to call for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign, MSNBC reports.
UPDATE: AP:
“I think the president should replace him,” Sununu said in an interview with The Associated Press. …
“We need to have a strong, credible attorney general that has the confidence of Congress and the American people,” said Sununu, who faces a tough re-election campaign next year. “Alberto Gonzales can’t fill that role.”
“I think the attorney general should be fired,” Sununu said.
LINK
Catharine, dada, did you see this yet?
Bernie Kerik ‘appears headed for indictment.’ Bernard Kerik, former police commissioner and confidante of Rudy Giuliani, “appears headed for an indictment… Kerik has turned down a guilty plea that would have included federal jail time, Dienst says. The next step is up to federal prosecutors; Kerik has already pleaded guilty to state charges.” Kerik is facing allegations of “mortgage fraud, tax fraud, conspiracy to eavesdrop, and making false statements on his application to become U.S. Homeland Security Secretary.”
LINK
Bush Falsely Claims His Prosecutor Purge Is ‘A Customary Practice By Presidents’ »
Today during a press briefing in Mexico, President Bush attempted to defend his prosecutor purge, stating that firing prosecutors “has been a customary practice by presidents. U.S. attorneys and others serve at the pleasure of the President. Past administrations have removed U.S. attorneys. It is their right to do so.” Watch it:
Mass firings are common when a president takes office. But as current and former administration officials have confirmed, Bush’s purge of well-qualified prosecutors is unprecendented.
Gonzales chief of staff Kyle Sampson (resigned two days ago), 1/9/07:
In recent memory, during the Reagan and Clinton Administrations, Presidents Reagan and Clinton did not seek to remove and replace U.S. Attorneys to serve indefinitely under the holdover provision.
Former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta, 3/8/07:
Mr. Rove’s claims [last week] that the Bush administration’s purge of qualified and capable U.S. attorneys is “normal and ordinary” is pure fiction. Replacing most U.S. attorneys when a new administration comes in — as we did in 1993 and the Bush administration did in 2001 — is not unusual. But the Clinton administration never fired federal prosecutors as pure political retribution.
Former U.S. attorney Mary Jo White, 3/5/07:
However, throughout modern history, my understanding is, you did not change the U.S. attorney during an administration, unless there was some evidence of misconduct or other really quite significant cause to do so.
LINK
You know Keith is going to cover all of this tonight. I think, between TPM Muckraker and Think Progress, he gets all his news leads!
harumpf
This Iraq debacle means one thing: Caveat Pre-Emptor, baby.
toniD said...
Catharine, dada, did you see this yet?
Bernie Kerik ‘appears headed for indictment.’ Bernard Kerik, former police commissioner and confidante of Rudy Giuliani, “appears headed for an indictment… Kerik has turned down a guilty plea that would have included federal jail time, Dienst says. The next step is up to federal prosecutors; Kerik has already pleaded guilty to state charges.” Kerik is facing allegations of “mortgage fraud, tax fraud, conspiracy to eavesdrop, and making false statements on his application to become U.S. Homeland Security Secretary.”
LINK
March 14, 2007 2:31 PM
***
Wow!
That's beautiful. What makes it so poignant is that it is all because he applied for Homeland Security Director!
The universe could not have written it more perfectly.
i'm slightly less trashed, hobbling around. mostly horiz.
so, two more leters from CB,
he would love for you to read
and i can't type. suffice it to
say he's going thru the process,
would like a mail a day from everyone.
and desperately needs cash.
latest word on sending money orders.
Any money over $9. 95 and they take 60%.
chub wanted me to keep posting his address and sends his love!
can skype ya and read ya his letters or call if anyone wants to know what it's like for him.
Kirk Bowers
302414 R4-D13
Washington Correction Center
PO Box 900 Shelton Washington
98584
Toni ...
You know Keith is going to cover all of this tonight. I think, between TPM Muckraker and Think Progress, he gets all his news leads!
March 14, 2007 2:35 PM
****
He does? I didn't know that.
Leahy Says He’ll Subpoena Rove, Discusses Potential Crimes Involved In Attorney Purge »
Today on CNN’s Situation Room, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) blew off White House signals that Karl Rove and other senior Bush officials may resist testifying before Congress on the U.S. Attorney purge.
“Frankly, I don’t care whether [White House Counsel Fred Fielding] says he’s going to allow people or not. We’ll subpoena the people we want,” Leahy said. “If they want to defy the subpoena, then you get into a stonewall situation I suspect they don’t want to have.” Asked whether he’ll subpoena Rove, Leahy answered, “Yes. He can appear voluntarily if he wants. If he doesn’t, I will subpoena him.”
Leahy also addressed the right-wing talking point that the U.S. Attorney firings are meaningless because there “was no crime.” Leahy said that while President Bush has the authority to fire attorneys at will, “if it is done to stop an ongoing investigation, then you do get into the criminal area.” Regardless, he said, the administration’s politicization of attorneys “hurts law enforcement. That hurts fighting against crime.” Asked if he thinks any Bush officials may have committed perjury, Leahy said, “We’ll find that out.”
Watch it:
LINK
great news
Sen. Johnson pics
recovering and looking good
http://johnson.senate.gov/
Great sign from a protest in Sout America
Chiquita charged in
terror investigation
Cincinnati-based banana company Chiquita Brands International was charged Wednesday with doing business with a terrorist organization.
Chiquita Brands is paying a fine of $25 Mil
Presidential records bill seeks to stop 'rewriting of history' Michael Roston
Published: Wednesday March 14, 2007
A bill sponsored by the chair of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), seeks to stop the "rewriting of history" by restoring full access to presidential records, RAW STORY has learned.
"There are those who would like to rewrite history for their own purposes," Waxman warned in a floor speech, available at the Speaker of the House's blog, The Gavel.
Waxman was speaking out in favor of the Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007, a bill he co-sponsored to cancel a 2001 executive order by President George W. Bush that "gave current and former presidents and vice presidents broad authority to withhold presidential records or delay their release indefinitely," according to a fact sheet at Waxman's website.
"It would allow the records, the raw information to be available, and let those who want to interpret those events do so as they see fit," Waxman said of the bill.
In a recent hearing conducted by Waxman's committee, Thomas Blanton of the group National Security Archive slammed President Bush's executive order as obstructing the availability of documents from previous administrations.
"We had a fair, reasonable, workable, sensible, clear, orderly process producing millions of records before this executive order, and we haven't had it since," he said.
Waxman's floor speech and other information can be accessed at the Speaker's blogsite.
LINK
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Man sentenced for hiring anti-drug journalist's killer
06/16/95
NEW YORK--A drug dealer was sentenced in late May to 18 years in prison for hiring a hit man to kill a New York journalist for his writings about a Colombian drug cartel.
Elkin Farley Salazar, 26, could have faced up to life in prison for the murder of Manuel de Dios Unanue at a restaurant in Queens in 1992 if he had not cooperated with prosecutors.
Both Salazar and his partner, Jos‚ James Benitez, received 18- year sentences in return for testimony that helped convict Wilson Alejandro Mej¡a-Velez for pulling the trigger. Mej¡a-Velez was sentenced last year to life in prison without possibility of parole.
De Dios was a former editor-in-chief of a New York Spanish- language newspaper, El Diario-La Prensa. At the time he was killed, de Dios was publishing two magazine commentaries and working on a book about the Cali drug cartel. Prosecutors have said that his murder was ordered by Jos‚ Santacruz Londono, a Cali kingpin still in Colombia, according to the Associated Press. (New York v. Salazar)
A few months of this can buy Judith a nice tiara
I'm guessing within a few weeks it will be time to ask Rudy Giuliani who he is closer friends with, Bernie Kerik or Hugo Chavez?
You can almost smell the sulphur.
-Attaturk 7:07 PM
http://www.addictinggames.com/britneywiggedout.html
Britney needs your help! We can't have the queen of pop running around like she failed a lice test. Use your mouse to plop a wig on poor Britney's bald head. You'll need fast reflexes though — this girl won't sit still for a second (clue #138 that she needs rehab).
It would be interesting to know who it is that Cheney and Bush are working for.
By appearances, one would assume that it is Red China that employs them.
It is possible that they serve some shadow corporate
entity.
Whomever or whatever hold Cheney and Bush in their employ, it is obvious that the total destruction of the United States is their goal.
Crank Bait said...
Catharine said...
... it all depends on whether everyone can keep juggling the balls... keep them up in the air.
----------------------------------
I like the added clarification that is your final phrase.
Without it, your comment could be construed to be directed at the temerarious male operatives in a male-dominated lending industry.
March 14, 2007 12:58 PM
***
Yeah. You noticed?
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Not to mention the right wing
anti-Castro Cubans in South Florida...
http://www.brigada2506.com/
http://afrocubaweb.com/felixrodriguez.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/CIArodriquez.htm
http://www.answers.com/topic/porter-goss-barry-seal-felix-rodriguez-et-al-jpg
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?pid=124272
"The architects for this clandestine invasion were CIA director Allen Dulles and then vice president and later president Nixon. Luis Posada Carriles was recruited for that invasion. He was trained in Fort Benning as an assassin and an expert in explosives. But what many Americans do not know, is that from that army, a number of men were selected to form a secret group of assassins. This group was called Operation 40, and the CIA code name was ZR/Rifle. This is the stuff that American media do not report. The mission of Operation 40 was to assassinate Fidel Castro. It may be no surprise that Luis Posada Carriles was selected for Operation 40. I will give you the names of some more members of this assassination group. And it is important to remember these names, because they will get back in the story later on. One of those members was Felix Rodriguez. He was also trained in Fort Benning, along with Posada.
Felix Rodriguez and Luis Posada Carriles: Veterans of the Bay of Pigs, members of Operation 40, friends, anti-Castro Cuban exiles, CIA assets, trained assassins and operatives for Iran Contra. Another member was Frank Sturgis, who later gained notoriety in the Watergate scandal. He was one of the Watergate burglars."
An Anarcha-feminist Profile - Mollie Steimer
*
The Mar 19th issue of Time has a whole "cheney thing" on the cover..
President Bush Suffers Rape During Guatemalan Visit
Farmers protest cuts to program
A group of Alabama farmers came Wednesday to Washington to protest proposed Bush administration cuts to federal agriculture programs.
Congress is currently re-writing the farm bill, a politically contentious piece of legislation that was last renewed five years ago.
The Department of Agriculture unveiled its 2007 farm bill proposal last month. Its plan to cut $10 billion from farming programs, part of a government-wide effort to reduce the deficit, has met stiff criticism from some farmers.
WEB EXCLUSIVE: Eyewitness Report of Anti-Bush Protest in Mexico
Just back from the anti-Bush march which turned into a bit of a police riot, to my surprise. About 3,000 people started marching from the Hemiciclo Juarez, en the Alameda Central, at 4 o'clock. By the time we reached our destination, there were about 10,000. The embassy is on a major boulevard, Reforma--the same one the people shut down during the post-election action.
Since more than 5 years ago, there's a fence on front of the embassy, but way in front, i.e., there's a frontage road, some grass, and then the main part of the avenue, and that`s where the fence is.
I have some friends who want to knock down the fence in a pacifist way--though the Quaker wimps in the U.S. these days would say that's a contradiction--but today some youngsters decided to do it anarcho-punk style, with some success. I could see that with wire cutters, it would have been down in seconds, but these guys did it by stomping, setting fires, igniting something that exploded and made smoke, throwing rocks at the cops who mostly just hid behind their plexiglass shields. (Or so I thought: every so often one grabs a rock and throws it back, and they got my friend's brother, a performance artist who decided to try to steal the show by jumping on the fence with his make-up, his sister's pearls, etc.)
Mohammed claims responsible for 9/11: transcript
Wed Mar 14, 2007 7:24PM EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the United States, has claimed responsibility for those and other major al Qaeda attacks, according to the transcript of a hearing at Guantanamo Bay released on Wednesday.
"I was responsible for the 9/11 Operation, from A to Z," said Mohammed, speaking through a personal representative, according to the transcript of the hearing at the U.S. military prison camp released by the Pentagon.
LINK
How unreal is it to live in a time when people fear that the president and vice president are working for a foriegn government to bring down the USA?
Even 20 years ago the thought would only be plot of a movie.
Six hundred and seventy seven days...
and sixteen more hours...
and the terror of the Bush
Administration will end.
"Resignation Calls are a Pointless Diversion"
It seems to me that our opposition to "the marriage of government and corporate
power " ought to come in actions that originate in democratic thought and
argument in the USA.
Yet day after day the presses and the "new media" are caught in the whirlwind of
government and corporate marketing departments. “Resignation Calls” will not
bring about a middle class wage for all workers nor will it bring about free
universal education and healthcare. It is my belief that more and more people
will see the benefit of democratically collective actions when we daily argue
and work for free universal education and healthcare, middle class wages for
all and clean, healthy housing and food for all.
Federal judge rules Sudan responsible for bombing of USS Cole RAW STORY
Published: Wednesday March 14, 2007
A federal judge has ruled that Sudan is responsible for the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, the Associated Press is reporting.
In a civil trial in Norfolk, VA, relatives of the bombing's victims sought to prove that the attack could not have been carried out without support from the Sudanese government.
U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar agreed with that assessment. "There is substantial evidence in this case presented by the expert testimony that the government of Sudan induced the particular bombing of the Cole by virtue of prior actions of the government of Sudan," said Doumar.
The U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer was bombed in a suicide attack carried out by the Al Qaeda terrorist organization while harbored in a Yemeni port on October 12, 2000. Seventeen sailors were killed.
Former CIA director James Woolsey, among other terrorism experts, testified at the trial and supported the families' position. "It would not have been as easy — it might have been possible — but it would not have been as easy," said Woolsey in a deposition. Other experts pointed out that Sudan had given Al Qaeda safe haven since 1991.
LINK TO FULL AP ARTICLE
Lesson: obviously Rachel doesn't know anything about the world outside of the boundaries of North America.
Listening to Nova M Radio: John J. Loftus now has his own show???
Hell, by the time we're able to get Bush and Cheney out of there, this country is going to be so fucked up we will be in for a good thirty years of recovery.
i said...
Lesson: obviously Rachel doesn't know anything about the world outside of the boundaries of North America.
Listening to Nova M Radio: John J. Loftus now has his own show???
March 14, 2007 5:08 PM
Uuuh, she attended Oxford... so your argument is invalid on many levels.
Associated Press reports:
The almost invisible backup Sam Seder comment blog is now down to only 17 people reading/posting on it due to no one being able to enable comments on the regular blog and that it has an extremely long impossible to remember URL of:
https://www2.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1260223047421551014&postID=3849743956379219346
Sampson Hasn't Left the Justice Department After All: "We found out this afternoon after the attorney general's press conference that Mr. Sampson is still there while he, quote, 'goes job hunting.' Come on; if you did something wrong and you're out, you should be out." According to Senator Pat Leahy.
LINK
Associated Press said...
Associated Press reports:
The almost invisible backup Sam Seder comment blog is now down to only 17 people reading/posting on it due to no one being able to enable comments on the regular blog and that it has an extremely long impossible to remember URL of:
https://www2.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1260223047421551014&postID=3849743956379219346
-
That funny and also is a sad fact.
This blog be fucked up and has been for a very very very long time!
This is not the first Bushevik Attorney Firing: In 2002 Bush blocked a corruption investigation into Jack Abramoff by firing the U.S. Attorney just as he was closing in. Bush replaced him with a cousin of one of the targets
LINK
Liberal Flow said...
Associated Press said...
Associated Press reports:
The almost invisible backup Sam Seder comment blog is now down to only 17 people reading/posting on it due to no one being able to enable comments on the regular blog and that it has an extremely long impossible to remember URL of:
https://www2.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1260223047421551014&postID=3849743956379219346
-
That is funny and also is a sad fact.
This blog be fucked up and has been for a very very very long time!
March 14, 2007 5:34 PM
I wouldn't sweat it liberal flow. There hasn't been anything worth reading here since early 2006. There is only 2 or 3 rational common sense posters left with the rest being very lazy out of touch hostile haters. Almost all the old regulars have left long ago. The very small comment blog that is left is only a microscopic shadow of what it used to be over a year ago.
Sad but true.
-
There is only 2 or 3 rational common sense posters left with the rest being very lazy out of touch hostile haters.
That should have said...there ARE only 2 0r 3 rational....
That was really quite lazy of you!
test
Ok, funky wagnall,
You are right, there is another small group here that is just snarky slackers like you. ;)
Liberal Flow said...
Ok, funky wagnall,
You are right, there is another small group here that is just snarky slackers like you. ;)
March 14, 2007 5:48 PM
I resent and resemble that remark!
I know that I have ALWAYS been hostile to Gare, Syna and War Dog.
I have to plead guilty.
When the blog resumes, I will continue to be hostile to them.
When I read this blog I get the feeling that I have been slipped hallucingens and am witness to others that are tripping down this blogs little rabbit hole.
Where are you Timothy Leary when we need you.
Bush Hit-Woman Behind
Prosecutor Firings Has Long History
of Purges to Protect Bush
Published March 14th, 2007 in Articles
Harriet Miers fired investigator in 1997 to cover Bush draft-dodge
by Greg Palast
LINK
lazy, hostile guy said...
I know that I have ALWAYS been hostile to Gare, Syna and War Dog.
I have to plead guilty.
When the blog resumes, I will continue to be hostile to them.
March 14, 2007 5:49 PM
Is that you Nobody?
Is that you Nobody?
March 14, 2007 5:53 PM
Nope. He isn't the only regular MR blogger who's hostile to Gare, Syna and War Dog.
lazy, hostile guy said...
I know that I have ALWAYS been hostile to Gare, Syna and War Dog.
I have to plead guilty.
When the blog resumes, I will continue to be hostile to them.
March 14, 2007 5:49 PM
Is that you Nobody?
March 14, 2007 5:53 PM
Maybe because he is still occasionally posting here and also posting with other nicknames but I doubt it that is him in that post.
That person sounds more like one of the mad at the world people or do nothing hypocritical false accusers.
"Air America's Green Revolution"
Excerpt:
The notion of going into business together emerged from a casual conversation at the elder Green's house in mid-December. Mark mentioned plans to guest-host on his old friend David Bender's Air America morning show—and that the bankrupt network was looking for a buyer.
Stephen was interested, and three months later bought the majority share in the company for $4.25 million, on the condition that Mark and Elberg run it together. Stephen Green will serve as chairman of the board.
Link:
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0711,hagey,76066,2.html
Anonymous said...
And, if that is you, Gare, Syna or War Dog...fuck you!
March 14, 2007 5:57 PM
Me, Myself & I said...
lazy, hostile guy said...
I know that I have ALWAYS been hostile to Gare, Syna and War Dog.
I have to plead guilty.
When the blog resumes, I will continue to be hostile to them.
March 14, 2007 5:49 PM
Is that you Nobody?
March 14, 2007 5:53 PM
Maybe because he is still occasionally posting here and also posting with other nicknames but I doubt it that is him in that post.
That person sounds more like one of the mad at the world people or do nothing hypocritical false accusers.
March 14, 2007 5:59 PM
Fuck all of you anyway assholes!
If I was sitting next to most of you I would blow you away with my guns.
"The Big Question: Does the RED campaign help big Western brands more than Africa?"
Excerpt:
How much has RED raised to fight Aids?
The figure is actually $25m during the six months since the RED product range was launched in the United States last October. That is five times the amount given to the Global Fund by the private sector over the previous four years. Which is a pretty significant increase by anybody's standards.
Link:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article2341310.ece
Read Bobby Shriver's response (to the earlier Ad Age story)
"CEO: Red's Raised Lots of Green"
"VIEWPOINT: Brand Chief Says True ROI Includes Dollars and Awareness"
By Bobby Shriver
Excerpt:
Last week Ad Age published a story headlined "Costly Red Campaign Reaps Meager $18M." We at Red take extreme issue with the numbers quoted -- to say our partners spent $100 million on marketing is wrong, by more than 50% -- and the fact that the article quoted unidentified experts. We also take issue with the revenue streams credited to our campaign, which has been a fantastic success.
Our goal is to create a model where private companies can do good and make money at the same time.
Red itself spends nothing on marketing.
So, while one point we cannot agree on with Ad Age is the marketing expenditures of our partners, the bigger crime in Mya Frazier's story is that it ignored the rest of the revenue our project is creating, both in term of dollars and hearts and minds. That is a real crime against the poorest of the poor. You should be ashamed.
Link:
http://adage.com/article?article_id=115504
crankbait said...
When you ladies take over, I trust that you will put in a good word for me?
March 14, 2007 5:19 PM
************
hmm... maybe ...
depends on how I feel that day....
I don't think Hillary Clinton can win.
I hope she is not the woman taking over.
This blog is sometimes too funny.
I would never wait for pissero.
:)
I pity da fool that reads & posts on dis blog!
Of course "Legion" is not an actual nicname. Legion is someone who uses many nicnames. Talks to themselves. "sockpuppets" in common blog parlance.
"Where are you Timothy Leary when we need you."
I've left specific instructions that I do not want to be brought back during a Republican administration - Dr. Tim
ENOUGH, a joint project of Crisis Group and the Center for American Progress, is determined to help bring an end to the crimes against humanity being perpetrated in Darfur, northern Uganda and eastern Congo, and to prevent future mass atrocities.
ENOUGH, a newly formed campaign to galvanize public and political leaders to effectively confront mass violence against innocent civilians, today releases the first in a series of reports aimed at providing actionable solutions to end some of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
For more information:
http://www.enoughproject.org/
I see GAP is here.
---------------
Crank Bait said...
(Damn! I probably wiped out my credits with that remark.)
March 14, 2007 6:37 PM
--------------------------------
What was that you said --
Crank "Bankruptcy" Bait?
SNAKES ON THE BLOG
(sock-puppets lives in the past)
(they're b-grade schlockers)
just to clarify:
THESE ARE THE RULES
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Officer Shot in Gun Battle in Harlem
Clashes Underscore Danger of Police Work
give it a break, n.c.
(for just one day)
air-ono said...
SNAKES ON THE BLOG
[applause and a giggle]
Later.
Cafferty: Are Checks and Balances Making a Comeback?
By: SilentPatriot @ 7:03 PM - PDT
With all these scandals piling up (Walter Reed, prosecutor purge, Libby conviction, FBI's NSLs abuses, etc.) Jack wonders if the antiquated notion of "checks and balances" (remember that?!) is making a comeback.
Download (134) | Play (99) Download (104) | Play (65)
"What you have here is a White House that has become an accountability free zone that is now facing the reality of checks and balances from Congress. For six years President Bush got pretty much whatever he wanted from a Republican-controlled rubber stamp Congress that refused to exercise any oversight of the Executive branch of government. Well, mercifully, that party appears to be over."
I've said it before and I'll say it again: The Democratic Congressional takeover was the best thing that could have happened to this country. The rubber-stamp GOP'ers would have buried every single one of these scandals and taken the administration at their word. At least we now have committe chairmen committed to the rule of law and exposing the truth.
LINK
Biden to Bush: “You’re leading us off a cliff. Stop!”
By: Nicole Belle @ 3:04 PM - PDT
Bob Geiger:
Clearly having had enough of Republican colleagues putting their blind loyalty to George W. Bush ahead of American opinion and the lives of our troops, Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) gave a powerful speech on the Senate floor Wednesday in which he ripped the GOP for their failure to lead and fulfill their duties to our country.
Saying "our troops don't lose wars, bad polices, bad leadership loses wars," Biden, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, let loose during comments before the vote to even open debate on the Democratic proposal to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq by this time next year.
Not fond of Biden but he made a good speech today.
there's a picture and a moment for everything, cat chew
you pick your moment
then...
SNAP!
that's some good news there, toni
:D
Is Bush’s New US Attorney A Criminal?
By: Nicole Belle @ 2:01 PM - PDT
Okay, I felt a little like Fox News typing that title, but it is an apt question to pose.
Democrats.org:
By now you've heard about the questionable firing of perfectly good U.S. attorneys for political gain. That's bad enough.
It gets worse. Let's look at one of the attorneys that is replacing one of those who were let go:
Timothy Griffin, Karl Rove's assistant, the President's pick as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Griffin, according to BBC Television, was the hidden hand behind a scheme to wipe out the voting rights of 70,000 citizens prior to the 2004 election.
Key voters on Griffin's hit list: Black soldiers and homeless men and women. Nice guy, eh? Naughty or nice, however, is not the issue. Targeting voters where race is a factor is a felony crime under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In October 2004, our investigations team at BBC Newsnight received a series of astonishing emails from Mr. Griffin, then Research Director for the Republican National Committee. He didn't mean to send them to us. They were highly confidential memos meant only for RNC honchos.
However, Griffin made a wee mistake. Instead of sending the emails - potential evidence of a crime - to email addresses ending with the domain name "@GeorgeWBush.com" he sent them to "@GeorgeWBush.ORG." A website run by prankster John Wooden who owns "GeorgeWBush.org."
Whoops! I mean, seriously, you can't write this stuff. He sent damaging emails to a spoof site? Amanda at TP has more…
LINK
toni :D
*hee*
Ono!
Ποιο είναι το φίδι. Φίδια
i'm toni:d's "joe biden"
: )
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
It was a little warmer today.
I've been hearing sirens.
FYI:
http://www.citynoise.org/article/1023
http://www.citynoise.org/article/1017
http://www.citynoise.org/article/699
http://www.gangcolors.com/index.php?page_id=11
http://www.gangwar.com/dynamics.htm
toni,
it was a pic off the rack
the "bloggers" = the "sock-puppet"
Yesterday it was 73, today in the upper 60's and tomorrow it will be in the upper 30's!
Get ready for the cold again NC! :(
it was about 73 @ 6am here
let's swap places
(i prefer the cold)
Ono, These are the rules...did you do that or did you find it on the blog somewhere?
air-ono said...
it was about 73 @ 6am here
let's swap places
(i prefer the cold)
I really don't mind the cold but we are supposed to get snow again for the weekend. This year, I've had enough snow and ice!
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
In NYC cold weather saves lives..
Cat Chew! How are you doing? Haven't seen you post in awhile.
i found it.
there's some brilliant stick figure gifs on the net
//there's some//
not many, but when you find one it compensates for all the shite i've waded through
toni,
i left cat chew a little saucer of milk
: )
(ugh!)
chubby's letter is weighing on my mind
best make some inroads into it
toniD said...
Is Bush’s New US Attorney A Criminal?
March 14, 2007 7:30 PM
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
"Trouble Man" Rickie Lee Jones 04:52
air-ono said...
(ugh!)
chubby's letter is weighing on my mind
best make some inroads into it
March 14, 2007 7:58 PM
Send him my best, ono. He wou;dn't like this blog you know!
See, just thinking about Chubby and there's a typo!
wou;dn't
9/11 suspect 'planned Bali bombing'
//Terror mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has admitted to planning the devastating September 11 attacks on the United States, and also claims to have co-ordinated the 2002 Bali bombing.//
once upon a time i would have believed this outright
(hook, line and stinker)
now... well,
i'd confess to murdering sharon tate if they tickled me the wrong way
what a world...
thanks, america
for destroying my faith in the msm
(of course, it's a double edged sword now that my blinkers are off... it's almost liberating)
//and there's a typo!//
LOL!
will do, toni
ono, check this out...
Even without his front legs (bitten off during fighting), this crocodile has thrived in a muddy river in the Northern Territory for decades.
CROC
you're a good guy, n.c.
here's an olive branch...
The untold story of an underground war
(melbourne style)
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Sirens like crazy...
thanks, t.
but gotta make tracks
The untold potential of a grassroots rebirth in America
Air America has been purchased and pledged strong support for the future. If one can only imagine Air America receiving as much support through the money-losing years as, just to use a completely random example, FOX Noise, or Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s messianic dispatch The Washington Times, the potential is terrific. Rightwingers can have their three talk radio stations pumping rightwing talk all day. I’ve been the only liberal in a discussion board up against a dozen conservatives and whipped them all until they ran away, broken. Air America can do the same by following the example set by KLSD 1360.
http://www.klsd1360.com/main.html
check this year old letter to the washington post editor in feb 06. general Pace and the brass are upset about a political cartoon depicting a wounded soldier, pretty hypocritical and ironic stuff. http://oursurge.typepad.com/our_surge/2007/03/year_old_letter.html
Ezra Heywood became notorious because he refused to accept the restrictions that the Comstock law imposed on the circulation of sexual information, especially birth control information. His rebellion against censorship led to years of legal persecution and imprisonment, much of which sprang from the distribution of his pamphlet Cupid's Yokes through which he advocated placing sexual urges under the control of reason rather than 'animalism'. Perhaps no other work was as influential as Cupid's Yokes in opening 19th century America to a discussion of free love and birth control.
http://www.zetetics.com/mac/19thcent/aheywood.html
Toni! :)
Not much time lately.
You should promote your blog more often.
Excellent place to catch up on things!
When I catch my breath, I'll email. Soon, I hope. I really appreciate Ya Think?, and even though there aren't as many comments as here, the quality is better.
...and thanks for the cell phone info!
Thanks, Cat, for the shameless promotion of my blog :)!
That cell phone info was pretty good wasn't it!?!
I'm off now. Having trouble keeping my eyes open.
Good night all. Later
I'm out too.
Sweet dreams, Toni.
As usual, it's been a pleasure! :)
Tom Engelhardt | The Seymour Hersh Mystery
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031407A.shtml
"Let me see if I've got this straight...." Tom Engelhart begins in his urgent exploration of the recent investigative reporting on Iran war-planning by Seymour Hersh. Engelhardt describes the lack of attention: "A journalist essentially writing bloody murder in a giant media and governmental crowd. In this case, no one in the mainstream evidently cares - not yet anyway - to pay the slightest attention. It seems that there's a crime going on and no one gives a damn."
8
Robert Scheer | His Own Worst Enemy
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031407D.shtml
Robert Scheer digs into the recent defensive rhetoric coming from the vice president: "The unctuous owl has hooted again. Only this time, Dick Cheney’s cave has been invaded by the sudden sunlight of judicial and Congressional revelations, making him appear more pathetic than intimidating as he once again charges critics of the Iraq war with giving aid and comfort to the enemy."
Ezra Heywood helped initiate Benjamin R. Tucker into the world of anarchist activism. Their relationship spanned three decades and during that time, Tucker matured from a student and apprentice of Heywood's to a sophisticated radical intellectual. Although at times they disagreed sharply and their reform efforts came to emphasize different issues, the two viewed one another with mutual respect. An examination of their relationship touches upon some of the central concerns of nineteenth century reform.
http://uncletaz.com/liberty/heywood.html
*
Good Night, Cat & Toni....
(Doesn't his code name "CurveBall" kind of give it away?)
http://www.answers.com/topic/curveball
Slang. Something that is unexpected or designed to trick or deceive:
That last question on the exam was a real curve ball.
To mislead; deceive.
Curveball, the Defector Whose Lies Led to War
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031407E.shtml
The Iraqi defector known as Curveball, whose fabricated stories of "mobile biological weapons labs" helped lead the US to war four years ago, is still being protected by the German intelligence service, an ABC News investigation has found.
http://kurtnimmo.com/?p=797
ABC Unmasks “Curveball” Four Years Too Late
ABC News is surprised, simply flabbergasted. In a “special report,” Brian Ross tells us about the Curveball “intelligence failure” and quotes flummoxed officials, including an outraged Collin Powell, who will go down in history as the fool who presented a passel of neocon lies and fairy tales in dog and pony show format before the United Nations, thus providing a transparent pretext to invade Iraq and systematically slaughter more than 650,000 of its citizens.
Times Of Trouble - Temple of the Dog (Chris Cornell, Mike McCready,), footage from The Offramp Cafe, back in 1990.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z2Oxe-ckmE
Say Hello To Heaven
Drop The Leash Pearl Jam at Pinkpop in 1992.
Is Chubby out of the county, or what?
air-ono said...
you're a good guy, n.c.
here's an olive branch...
The untold story of an underground war
(melbourne style)
March 14, 2007 8:30 PM
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
My mother would tell me stories like that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Carfano
Sex and Censorship
OPINIONS
Opinions build a mental wall
so arrogant and proud.
Each one of them, however small,
is always carried loud.
Religious or political,
rational or strange -
Opinions are all typical
of narrow thinking range.
My opinion is my manner
which i claim is big and true:
You'd better wave my banner,
or I'll wage a war on you!
My neighbor paid his lawyer's fee
to sue his younger brother.
They did agree on one idea
but differed on another.
The mood is often dark and glum
in mental institutions
where many patients suffer from
beliefs and firm conclusions.
Never mind your daily deeds:
Good, evil, false, or true
But what's the life your neighbor leads,
and what ought he to do?
Spy upon your fellow man
to get some information.
Lobby your opinions and
create more legislation.
Label your afflicted brain
with stickers on your car,
or drive some drunken slob insane
with tirades in a bar.
Write your editorials
and sign your name to that!
print them on memorials
and read them to your cat!
Make a list of what they are
in case you should forget.
Stuff'em in your cookie jar!
Repeat'em to your pet!
Agree and disagree
with every loudmouth in the land.
Post it up so all can see,
and sing it with the band!
Pass them out in shopping malls
to those less resolute.
Scrawl on public toilet walls
in words of ill repute.
They come in all varieties
through cults and institutions,
churches and societies
with claims and resolutions.
Subscribe to my philosophy,
and I'll subscribe to yours.
I'll trade my anthroposophy
for yet another course.
I'll stake you my mentality
and play you twenty-one;
And if I win Reality,
I'm sure that will be fun.
No cards are dealt before you bet
with eyes all fixed on you.
Let's see your superstructured set
of precious points of view.
Don't think it is the very end
if you should lose that heap.
You'll fill the vacuum fast, my friend
Opinions come so cheap!
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Anthony Carfano aka “Little Augie Pisano"
from Andrew Jackson's farewell address
It is one of the serious evils of our present system of banking that it enables one class of society--and that by no means a numerous one--by its control over the currency, to act injuriously upon the interests of all the others and to exercise more than its just proportion of influence in political affairs.
The agricultural, the mechanical, and the laboring classes have little or no share in the direction of the great moneyed corporations, and from their habits and the nature of their pursuits they are incapable of forming extensive combinations to act together with united force.
Such concert of action may sometimes be produced in a single city or in a small district of country by means of personal communications with each other, but they have no regular or active correspondence with those who are engaged in similar pursuits in distant places; [but now we have the internets...]
they have but little patronage to give to the press, and exercise but a small share of influence over it; [internets scare the press...]
they have no crowd of dependents about them who hope to grow rich without labor by their countenance and favor, and who are therefore always ready to execute their wishes. [priviledged toadies. You know the type...]
privileged.
I always do that. 'ledged'
The planter, the farmer, the mechanic, and the laborer all know that their success depends upon their own industry and economy, and that they must not expect to become suddenly rich by the fruits of their toil. Yet these classes of society form the great body of the people of the United States; they are the bone and sinew of the country--men who love liberty and desire nothing but equal rights and equal laws, and who, moreover, hold the great mass of our national wealth, although it is distributed in moderate amounts among the millions of freemen who possess it.
But with overwhelming numbers and wealth on their side they are in constant danger of losing their fair influence in the Government, and with difficulty maintain their just rights against the incessant efforts daily made to encroach upon them.
The mischief springs from the power which the moneyed interest derives from a paper currency which they are able to control, from the multitude of corporations with exclusive privileges which they have succeeded in obtaining in the different States, and which are employed altogether for their benefit;
and unless you become more watchful in your States and check this spirit of monopoly and thirst for exclusive privileges you will in the end find that the most important powers of Government have been given or bartered away, and the control over your dearest interests has passed into the hands of these corporations.
The paper-money system and its natural associations--monopoly and exclusive privileges--have already struck their roots too deep in the soil,
and it will require all your efforts to check its further growth and to eradicate the evil.
The men who profit by the abuses and desire to perpetuate them will continue to besiege the halls of legislation in the General Government as well as in the States, and will seek by every artifice to mislead and deceive the public servants.
It is to yourselves that you must look for safety and the means of guarding and perpetuating your free institutions.
In your hands is rightfully placed the sovereignty of the country, and to you everyone placed in authority is ultimately responsible.
It is always in your power to see that the wishes of the people are carried into faithful execution, and their will, when once made known, must sooner or later be obeyed;
and while the people remain, as I trust they ever will, uncorrupted and incorruptible, and continue watchful and jealous of their rights, the Government is safe, and the cause of freedom will continue to triumph over all its enemies.
But it will require steady and persevering exertions on your part to rid yourselves of the iniquities and mischiefs of the paper system and to check the spirit of monopoly and other abuses which have sprung up with it, and of which it is the main support.
So many interests are united to resist all reform on this subject that you must not hope the conflict will be a short one nor success easy.
My humble efforts have not been spared during my administration of the Government to restore the constitutional currency of gold and silver, and something, I trust, has been done toward the accomplishment of this most desirable object;
but enough yet remains to require all your energy and perseverance.
The power, however, is in your hands, and the remedy must and will be applied if you determine upon it.
+++++++++
Make it so, number 1
Cashless society by 2012, says Visa chief
By Tim Webb
Published: 11 March 2007
Paying for goods with notes and coins could be consigned to history within five years, according to the chief executive of Visa Europe.
Peter Ayliffe said that, by 2012, using credit and debit cards should be cheaper and more convenient than cash.
Some retailers could soon start surcharging customers if they choose to buy products with cash, because of the greater cost of processing these payments, he warned.
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article2347411.ece
Scientists say nerves use sound, not electricity
Last Updated: Friday, March 9, 2007 | 7:13 PM ET CBC News
The common view that nerves transmit impulses through electricity is wrong and they really transmit sound, according to a team of Danish scientists.
The Copenhagen University researchers argue that biology and medical textbooks that say nerves relay electrical impulses from the brain to the rest of the body are incorrect.
"For us as physicists, this cannot be the explanation," said Thomas Heimburg, an associate professor at the university's Niels Bohr Institute. "The physical laws of thermodynamics tell us that electrical impulses must produce heat as they travel along the nerve, but experiments find that no such heat is produced."
Heimburg, an expert in biophysics who received his PhD from the Max Planck Institute in Goettingen, Germany — where biologists and physicists often work together in a rare arrangement — developed the theory with Copenhagen University's Andrew Jackson, an expert in theoretical physics.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/03/09/science-nervessound-20070309.html
Andrew Jackson again
eya Dada!
reminds me of when we first got going here.
a few peeps posting after the show shut down and yakking all night.
When scientists announce they're about to calibrate their instruments, science writers normally put away their pens. It's hard to write a good story about calibration. This may be the exception:
On Feb. 25, 2007, NASA scientists were calibrating some cameras aboard the STEREO-B spacecraft and they pointed the instruments at the sun. Here is what they saw:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/12mar_stereoeclipse.htm
"What an extraordinary view," says Lika Guhathakurta, STEREO Program Scientist at NASA headquarters. The fantastically-colored star is our own sun as STEREO sees it in four wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light. The black disk is the Moon. "We caught a lunar transit of the sun," she explains.
beauty eh?
that's what has always attracted me to astronomy.
Check yer email Vig.
heya Jim!
Ya, I'm overcome with the obsession to blog sometimes. Every few days or so. I think the aliens and Andrew Jackson possessed me this time.
There's an art to blogging. We're way ahead of our time, you know
hee
ya,
i know.
can't stay long,
it hurts sitting here,
wrong position eh? just wanted to pop in.
28:06:42:12
28:06:42:12
28:06:42:12
email
Ya, my connection's starting to drop in and out right now. I think it's this cheap router...
Gotta get out of here for a bit anyway...
See you later, Jim
Night!
Vig Vig Vig said...
huh?
yubb.
cya L8r!
i'm out too.
love ya all!
Go watch this. It's the first clip.
I'm not the biggest fan of Joe Biden, but this is a damn good speech.
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
4 Dead in Greenwich Village Shootout 2 Volunteer Police, 2 Others Die in Shootouts in NYC's Crowded Greenwich Village
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
'Mobster Is On The Menu - City Gave Eatery Deal To Known Kin Of Gambino Bigs
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
NYC On Edge As Grand Jury Weighs Police Shooting
toniD said...
Biden to Bush: “You’re leading us off a cliff. Stop!”
By: Nicole Belle @ 3:04 PM - PDT
Bob Geiger:
Clearly having had enough of Republican colleagues putting their blind loyalty to George W. Bush ahead of American opinion and the lives of our troops, Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) gave a powerful speech on the Senate floor Wednesday in which he ripped the GOP for their failure to lead and fulfill their duties to our country.
Saying "our troops don't lose wars, bad polices, bad leadership loses wars," Biden, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, let loose during comments before the vote to even open debate on the Democratic proposal to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq by this time next year.
Not fond of Biden but he made a good speech today.
WaitingForCicero said...
Go watch this. It's the first clip.
I'm not the biggest fan of Joe Biden, but this is a damn good speech.
March 15, 2007 3:59 AM
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