Inane Ramblings

Back to Gilwell

2011-04-12T19:32:00.001-05:00

I’ve been to Gilwell this weekend.

Or, more specifically, I got to be a Boy Scout again this weekend.

I hope you all at least peeked at the Woodbadge links I’ve been dropping around the past few days. This is the top of the list, highest level training the BSA makes available to its adult staff. I have heard it called “The Eagle for Adults”.

Starting on Saturday morning, I was assigned to a patrol of complete strangers, and we started right off with a Troop Meeting: we met our camp staff, had a Patrol Guide assigned to us, and we started working on a new skill straightaway.

Not unlike the experience of a boy walking into a Scout Troop for the first time. That is intentional; over the years, I’ve been in many training sessions where we break out groups into Patrols of 8 leaders. This is the same “Patrol Method” that was devised by Baden-Powell himself. Why mess with what works, right?

Over the rest of the weekend, we had multiple tasks and challenges thrown at us, patrol competitions, and many sessions of skills instructions and exercises to help us to get to know the members of the Patrol better. More importantly, a lot of the exercises were designed for introspection and to help us answer the questions “Why am I here?” “Why am I a leader? “ And “What do I want to do for future Scouts?”
If you read my blog from a Saturday or two ago, you know I’ve recently held up the mirror for a wee bout of soul-searching.

In any case…we survived the weekend and our Bear Patrol went through the team-building phases of “Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing” and we’ve developed into a tight group. There’s challenges ahead over the next month as we get ready for Weekend II…we’ve got to work on a presentation, have things ready for a campfire, make a Patrol Flag, and actually plan and execute a mid-term camping trip of 3 days and 2 nights.

But Woodbadge is only half-finished at that point. For the next year to 18 months, I’ll be working on my “Ticket”. Deceptively simple, it’s five or more specific tasks designed to strengthen my unit, myself, my leadership and teaching skills, or anything else I can think of. This is what I’ve got myself worked into a frenzy over….but after this weekend I’m feeling much better about it.
In any case…Your Loyal TriSec has had much to ponder these past 72 hours. Woodbadge is described as a “transformative, peak experience in your life” and so far I’m not disappointed.

Musings on the Creche

2010-12-21T14:48:00.001-05:00

We’ve all seen them. Somewhere in your hometown, there’s bound to be one or more. Some of them are nicely done…some are tacky…and some are an epic fail featuring a Santa nearby. (Pick only ONE theme, hmm?)

But what about the crèche? In recent years, the Right has made a career out of the “war on Christmas” and how it’s been secularized and destroyed by the liberal elites. At a 10,000-foot level, the Right seems to conveniently forget that it’s their friends in big business and Corporate America that have turned Christmas into the consumer spending orgy that it is, but I digress.

No, take a look at those crèches again. The debate has been whether or not they should be on public land, whether it’s the town green, the City Hall lawn, or elsewhere. Where is your crèche?

In the City of Waltham (MA) we have one on Waltham Common behind city hall. But the City just gave them the space and ran a power cord out of City Hall for the lighting. It’s noted on the sign that it’s proudly sponsored by one of the local Catholic churches. Several other churches in and around the city have a prominent crèche displayed on their front lawn.

In the neighboring town of Lexington, across from the battle green is a small church with a HUGE nativity on their front lawn facing the public park. And along Waltham street, there is a golf course that’s closed for the season, but has given prominent footage to yet another nativity in a nicely lit glass-enclosed shed.

The point of all this? Maybe there is none. Nativities are out there if you know where to look. Nobody is stopping anyone from putting one up on public or private property, or on the church’s own front lawn. But I suppose I would have to draw the line if the crèche was noted as “sponsored by the City of Waltham”.

Just some thoughts

2010-11-12T09:34:00.001-05:00

I’ve been feeling a little paranoid recently. I can’t really put my finger on it, but I suppose it’s a wee touch of the PTSD.

Those of you that follow this space know how much of a victim of this economy I have been. In 2009, I got laid off from one job, lasted 60 days at another, 30 days at one more, and then became a contractor with no benefits for almost a year.
In short, I was always looking over my shoulder for that assassin.

I am now on my 5th job in less than 2 years, which is fortunately a “permanent” position. I’m still on new hire probation, and things still seem to be going well for the moment. But I get nervous every time I see my supervisor talking to the department manager or whenever I see the HR folks lurking around. Just this morning, I saw one of our HR staff huddled with the boss at her desk, and I broke out in a cold sweat. But she was just ordering lunch! I sure hope this feeling passes at some point.

Speaking of passing feelings, I had an old friend from high school deface me over Veteran’s Day. Yes, you read that right. I don’t have to preach to the choir here; you know where I’m coming from. In any case, I updated my status to thank our vets and disparage the incoming congress, since we all know what will happen to the veterans once the Tea Party is in charge. Anyway, she took exception, said she was tired of all my ‘hate’, and defaced me. I guess there are some among us that we’ll never reach, no matter how hard we try. Suffice to say, you can argue with me all you want over veteran’s issues, but know this going in: You Will Lose.

Finally today, something that ties back to my first point. In 2008, I attribute the start of all of my job troubles to passing up an opportunity to relocate to Maine. Collateral damage was also sustained to my Scouting career, as I was planning on taking the top-level adult training called “Woodbadge”. Since I thought I might be relocating, I decided to pass on it, reasoning that it wouldn’t be fair to my Pack to go through the training and then leave town so they derived no benefit. There was a class last season for the Scouting Centennial, which I could not go to for monetary reasons. But now we have next year’s class ready to go, and I have found out from the Scoutmaster that it’s the 75th anniversary of the program next year, and some special things are planned. I’m thinking I’m going to take it; it will be a nice bookend to the past two very tumultuous years.

It's Burn a Quran day!

2010-09-11T05:55:00.002-05:00

A small “Christian” sect in Florida has chosen today to burn some religious texts. I’m not sure what so-called Pastor Terry Jones hopes to gain by this, except perhaps a comparison to the events of November 9-10, 1938.

Book burning has a long and shameful history…it’s a tool often used to scare and intimidate, as well as irrevocably destroying things a particular group of persons is opposed to. That could be the state, the church, a civic group, or even just an individual down the street. But what does it say of those who would burn books? I would have to call it the height of intolerance and hatred. What could words possibly say that is so alien to your beliefs that your only choice is to destroy it forever?

Book burning, biblioclasm or libricide is the practice of destroying, often ceremoniously, books or other written material and media. In modern times, other forms of media, such as phonograph records, video tapes, and CDs have also been ceremoniously burned, torched, or shredded. The practice, usually carried out in public, is generally motivated by moral, religious, or political objections to the material.

Some particular cases of book burning are long and traumatically remembered - because the books destroyed were irreplaceable and their loss constituted a severe damage to cultural heritage, and/or because this instance of book burning has become emblematic of a harsh and oppressive regime. Such were the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, the obliteration of the Library of Baghdad, the burning of books and burying of scholars under China's Qin Dynasty, the destruction of Mayan codices by Spanish conquistadors and priests, and in more recent times, Nazi book burnings, the burning of Beatles records after a remark by John Lennon concerning Jesus Christ, and the destruction of the Sarajevo National Library.

Some particular cases of book burning are the result of "unacceptable" material according to a group's moral, community and or religious standards; for example child pornography

.

Earlier in the week, General Petraeus went to the media and made some statements that such a burning event would be counter-productive and could even put US troops in harms’ way. That seems reasonable to me; after all, consider if the positions were reversed. You know it’s going to happen if they follow through with the burning today; when there is a Bible-burning in Tehran in the next ten days or so, would you want to be a Muslim in certain sections of the United States? It won’t be a safe place for a while.

Of course, we all know what today is. 9 years ago, a handful of religious extremists drove some airplanes into the WTC and the Pentagon. The same Koran that is being burned today was used to manipulate these men into murder and mayhem. Somewhere among the vast amounts of books and paper in those towers, I’m sure we could have found a few Korans, Bibles, or other religious texts. I’ll admit it’s a stretch, but the terrorists in all probability burned their own book by their actions.

Does that make them any different from Mr. Jones, or those among us that would listen to that rhetoric?

Bob wrote about this on Thursday; words can kill. Throughout history, and that must include the Bible and the Koran, many forces have used words to incite their followers to violence. The First Amendment gives us the right to say these things, but it does not give us freedom from responsibility for our actions.

If I want to burn Bibles on Christmas Day in front of a church, I can’t then complain that people beat me up. My fear is that the burning today will lead to more dead GIs in Iraq and Afghanistan, or maybe that dreaded terrorist act on our soil. Given how balkanized the country is now, any further attack that comes on the US might just lead to our downfall as we try to respond to it. No less than Jesus Christ himself said the following: “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.” (Matthew 12:25) The Republicans and the religious right seem hell-bent on furthering those divisions, instead of healing them. We have started down a dark path, but will it lead to our destruction, or is there still time before we plunge of the cliff?

In the big picture, the Koran-burning today will be consigned to the dustbin of history, but history has a very long memory. Abraham Lincoln once said “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.” That can be extrapolated to many things...heroic, infamous, or otherwise. Words and actions have a legacy.

Is this a legacy that Pastor Terry Jones is ready to live with?

Tea Party still gets it wrong

2010-08-03T10:21:00.001-05:00

Perhaps you’re lucky enough to live near a historic site that is also a living museum….I think it’s a cool thing to see and hear re-enactors going about the business at hand, whether it’s Colonial, Revolutionary, Civil War era, or even WWII. There’s a certain amount of voyeurism there, depending on the skill of the re-enactor and the setting, it can often feel like you’ve stepped out of a time warp and are peeking in on our past.

One of the better places that does this is Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. I’ve been there. Unlike some places surrounded by modernity, Williamsburg took great pains to preserve the “historic block”, and it’s over a square mile of dirt roads, horse poop, and colonial era architecture. It’s really a neat place.

But now, it’s come under fire. It saddened me to learn that the Tea Party has taken over in recent weeks. For some unknown reason, they’re there shouting at the rallies, and trying to engage such historical figures as Patrick Henry and George Washington in debates about modern policies and how the sitting President is secretly a socialist. To their credit, Williamsburg remains nonpartisan, and the re-enactors do their best to respond in the appropriate 18th-century manner.

This whole thing has got me thinking, though. As I write this, I’m sitting about a mile from where the *actual* tea party took place. I’ve blogged about that elsewhere; the Tea Party has completely missed the point, and like the “Minutemen” or the “America First” crowd, they have misappropriated a name from our past and are using it completely counter to what the originators had intended.

But that’s a common thread among the Right. Remember President Reagan using Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” as a campaign song? I believe it’s a fault of conservatives; I just don’t think their brains are wired the same way as yours and mine. All of the hate and vitriol they absorb on a daily basis from Rush, Beck, and who knows who else, has somehow affected how they interpret the past.

For some folks, Paul Revere, or Lexington and Concord, or the House of Burgesses, are just things that happened in a history book. For those of us that live and work by these places, they are sacred ground. I drive on Paul Revere’s route at least once a week, and every day I drive to the store I pass by the Battle Green at Lexington center. These places aren’t dry, historical things that exist in the abstract.

Real men stood on these places. Men who believed in something, and believed it was worth fighting for. It’s incredibly moving and humbling to stand on the Green and remember that the blood of the Patriots is still in the very ground I’m standing on. To some extent, I think the people of the South, or Texas, have that same connection to their history that people in the so-called ‘heartland’, or sitting behind their TV desks just don’t have.

This is something the Right fails to take into account when they hijack the past. Those of us that live here know what the truth is, and we’re not happy with how it’s been manipulated to suit the needs of a few ill-informed demagogues.

American history started here on the East Coast. The Revolution started here on the East Coast. The seat of the National Government is here on the East Coast. I think, more than anyone else in the United States, we’re in touch with our history and what it really means to be a Patriotic American here on the East Coast.

The religious right, and the Conservatives among us make much ado about playing to the “heartland”. But what is the true heartland of America? It’s here…Lexington, Saratoga, Gettysburg, Trenton, Shenandoah, and uncounted other places that all contributed to the birth and growth of these United States. But somehow, we’re the ones castigated and outcast because we’re not “Real Americans”.

Somebody needs to review their history.

What's comfortable in your kitchen?

2010-07-23T09:02:00.001-05:00

What’s your favorite “comfort food”? Taking a step back, what constitutes comfort food to begin with? Maybe it’s something you grew up on. Maybe something your mother or grandma or aunt made that nobody else in the family did. Hell, some people I know think that Dunkin Donut’s coffee and a cruller makes for comfort food.

It’s curious, what different parts of the country think. I can point to a few New England favorites that never seem to have made it elsewhere. Boiled Dinner springs readily to mind; take a smoked shoulder, cabbage, and a bunch of aromatic vegetables and throw it in a pot and let it simmer all day. Most folks would probably find it bland, but I’ll go so far as to cut everything up, put it in a deep mug, and spoon the cooking broth over it for ‘soup’.

Mashed potatoes seem to be universal, but personally, I’m just not that much into them. Sure, it’s great with a steak or other things, but it seems impractical to me. Then we have the bastardized comfort foods that are easier to get in the instant or prepackaged variety….Macaroni and cheese, for one. Good ol’ “Kraft Dinner”, macaroni in a box with dehydrated, cheese-flavoured ‘sauce’. My mother always made mac & cheese from scratch, and baked it in the oven. I can cook many things, but somehow, this one eludes me; I have been unable to make a good one. Boston Baked Beans, too. I’ve never had them any other way except out of a can. I can make Cuban black beans from scratch, but I’ve never made the attempt on the New England staple.

There’s desserts on that list, too….how about an icebox cake, or just the simple joy of “cook & serve” pudding? (Instant doesn’t count.) My great-aunts invented a version of the well-known ricotta cream cheese pie for my mother’s generation when they were kids, since they wouldn’t touch the one with lemon rind and citron fruit in it. We’ve been making it with cinnamon and chocolate for over half a century now.

Last night, I made an old favorite American Chop Suey. That’s a real curious one; ground meat, tomato sauce, and elbow macaroni…embellished with fresh peppers, extra tomatoes, and basil and oregano from my garden. Of course, I had to embellish it by adding my favorite hot sauce, but that’s another story entirely.

I guess in these economic times, we tend to go back to what we know. There’s a ton of depression and WWII era dishes out there that made the most of meager resources. The way the economy is going, we’ll be going back to that soon, methinks.

Fishing for fun and necessity.

2010-06-28T14:27:00.002-05:00

So yesterday we were out and about in Walden Woods, circling the overfilled Walden Pond looking for a suitable place to wet some lines. Walden is a kettle pond in Concord, MA…made famous by some guy named “Thoreau”. In any case, we had some heavy rains back in the spring, and the pond is filled anywhere from 3-5 feet above normal levels. Since it is a kettle pond, the only outflow is by evaporation, so it might take a while to get back to a more normal level.

We tried a couple of spots, and wound up on the far side by Thoreau’s cabin, before finally finding a section of walkway with no obstructing trees, right by a dropoff to deeper water. Walden is stocked with trout, but they were out in the deeper, cool waters. I did see a big fish looking at the bait, but he was never interested. In the end, we wound up catching one moderate sized Pumpknseed, and then a fairly big Bluegill.

This was Javi’s first time fishing in clean water where we could actually keep the fish, so he was quite fascinated by the poor things flapping around in the cooler. I had hoped to catch enough for Sunday dinner, but it was not to be, so we finally made the long walk home.

Now came the fun part. Once we got home, I dumped the fish in the sink, and ran some tap water over them. Imagine my surprise when one of them gasped and started twitching weakly around the bottom of my sink. I worked on the obviously dead one, but my attempt to filet it yielded not much meat. Moving to the bigger fish, I lopped off its head and gutted it, intending to fry the body whole.

Now, I’m not squeamish about food; Intellectually, I know where it comes from, and a long time ago I used to be a far more active fisherman. In fact, before I was married, I used to be an unpaid deckhand on a private boat…my only payment was a day on the water in the sun, and whatever fish I could catch.

But yesterday was the first time in a long, long time that I caught a fellow-creature, killed it with my own hands, and ate its flesh. It actually gave me pause. Surely I’ll not become a vegan; I like meat too much. But I guess like any American, I like my meat to come in neat Styrofoam packages at the supermarket.

I won’t be quitting fishing anytime soon…in fact, I’m searching for more bodies of water nearby where we can actually eat what we catch. The way things are going, foraging for food may become an economic necessity.

Obama isn't really working out for me.

2010-06-23T12:00:00.001-05:00

In 2008, I had had more than enough of George Bush. I blogged hard, talked to anyone that would listen, and phone banked for the Democratic candidate down the stretch. I really and truly feared what might happen to the United States if we had four more years of Republican Policy under a President McCain.

January, 2009 found me on the National Mall with about 2 million others, cheering in relief and celebrating what we hoped would be the voice of reason in the White House. Hope..and change…was in the air.

Not quite 30 days later, I lost my job.

So here we are, over a year later. I’m still not permanently employed, we just lost our insurance, and most egregious of all, my car is probably destroyed by a broken fan belt that messed up the timing and likely ruined the engine.

Under the Bush Regime…I bought a new car. I had a steady job with a good company and an easy commute. We had the best insurance available in the state in Blue Cross. We could afford to travel a couple of times a year. Hell, we even went to Disney World. And we did this on only one job. Yep, I was the ‘breadwinner’, and Mrs. TriSec was a stay at home Mom.

Now, I’m working two jobs just to stay ahead of the bills. Mrs. TriSec also has a small job at the school, but that’s gone away for the summer and she’s not sure she’ll be back in the fall. We have no savings. COBRA has just run out, so we have no insurance…and the other day on the way between jobs, my car died.

I hate to say it, but I was doing better under the Republicans.

Does this change my worldview? Maybe a little. Let me be clear; I will never agree with a Republican on social issues. Ever. Understood?

But as far as the economy and all those other things go…is it possible the Republicans are right? I don’t know about the 10,000-foot-view, and what it means for society, the nation, the world. But I look around my little world and I see that things are worse instead of better. In fact, they are far worse than things were on January 19, 2009.

Did I make the wrong choice?

What the President should have said.

2010-06-16T09:38:00.001-05:00

MY Fellow Americans:

I’ve fucking had enough, haven’t you? British Petroleum has acted with malice, incompetence, and arrogance since the day their rig caught fire and sank below the waves of the Gulf.

We have been more than patient and fair. Patience and fairness that has resulted in continued misdirection, lies, and incompetence from every level of BP from their CEO all the way to the lowliest worker on the rig.

This is a national emergency, perhaps even more severe than any we have faced before, since so many Americans and so much of our shores are under a direct threat of destruction.

Therefore, starting from today, I am changing the nature of this crisis. It is no longer an environmental crisis; I am considering this an act of war. I have ordered our ambassador home from London for consultations, and I declare that the “special relationship” long held between the US and England is now over. I have ordered an immediate seizure of all of BP’s assets in the United States.

These assets, and any income derived from the sale of these assets will be distributed directly to those affected by the oil spill first, then any balance remaining will go directly to the cleanup efforts.

I am also ordering the United States Navy to seize all the British Petroleum oil platforms within our 200-mile economic zone. These platforms are now American Petroleum, and if the safety of any of these rigs is questionable, they will be shut down immediately.

I realize that this will have dramatic and probably negative consequences to our economy; even now I expect the price of gas to shoot up over $5/gallon.

We would do well to look at our history…from the Great Depression, to Pearl Harbor, to WWII…our forbears have faced adversity and persevered. From curing diseases, developing technology, and putting a man on the moon, we have always faced challenges to our society with genius and inspiration.

From this point forward, we will become energy-independent. I have just signed an Executive Order requiring that all oil extracted in the United States be refined and sold in the United States, no matter what country owns the oil rig. It’s our oil, and as such, it should go to Americans, and not the Chinese or the larger world market. I have ordered that any and all Wind Farm projects be immediately approved, wherever they may be. The objections of the privileged few can no longer stand in the way of progress for us all. I have asked the United States Navy to begin exploring whether we can build more submarine-style reactors across the US. As the largest operator of nuclear reactors in the world, the knowledge and expertise of our military is unparalleled, and should be put to good use for our citizens as well.

My fellow Americans….we face a dramatic challenge, for survival of our Gulf States, and for our energy independence. We tried it the old way, and the result was an unnecessary war, 4,000 dead GIs, and over a billion dollars squandered.

The challenges are many, but if we cannot band together as Americans and solve them, then I must declare that the great experiment begun by our Founding Fathers will be a failure, and our days as a global leader will be numbered.

Finally, I ask that we remember the human tragedy. Let us pause for a moment and remember the 11 Americans that were murdered as a direct result of BP negligence.

God Bless America, and the World, and let us move forward from here.

One day's commute

2010-06-09T14:34:00.001-05:00

So, if I roadkill a dude because I have the green light, and he assumes he has the right-of-way and steps off the curb without looking, is it still my fault?

Not once, but twice on the way home last night. The one that got me though, is the guy that stopped in the crosswalk and glared at me. I yelled at him, “Hey buddy, I have the green light” “So fuckin’ what?” was his reply.

I should have hit him.

When I was a bicycle commuter, it really used to piss me off when I would stop at a light to wait, and cars coming the other way would slam on their brakes and wave me across. Nice gesture, but I usually angrily pointed at the signal and ignored them. We sure live in a strange driving city.

Of course, there’s the roads, too. On the way into Southie this morning, I encountered a wildly-weaving pickup truck on Soldier’s Field Road. Of course, he gained a whopping 4 or 5 carlengths….I was keeping pace with him all the way to Kenmore, then I finally caught up and passed him on the stretch before the tunnel. All that craziness bought you what, exactly?

Speaking of crazy….I was exiting at Arlington street, but the mainline had to slow down. Some crazy college kid was riding a Vespa as fast as it would go in the center lane…but it wasn’t fast enough as SUVs were swerving around him in an attempt not to make ground meat.

Good luck with that.

A Sports Muse

2010-06-03T14:17:00.001-05:00

The Sox are playing Oakland as I write this….day baseball is always a good thing. Unfortunately, the Sox are trailing, and it looks like poor Tim Wakefield is going to have another one of those years where he pitches just OK, but the team doesn’t give him any run support.

But tonight is the main event….another Boston-LA NBA final. Much like baseball, I wonder if the rest of the country ever gets tired of seeing this matchup? Yankees-Red Sox is always relevant in The Hub, but how does it play in Des Moines?

In any case…just some thoughts for today. Did you see the Almost Perfect Game the other night? A blown call on batter #27 cost the pitcher his place in the record books. This has sparked renewed debate on whether or not baseball should have an instant-replay rule. I must admit, I have mixed emotions about this. No doubt the Sox would have been helped by overturning many questionable calls over the years….but I tend to be a purist where baseball is concerned. I like games to be played on natural grass and dirt out in the sunshine…and I really don’t like the Designated Hitter rule here in the AL.

But for something of this magnitude, where the ump very clearly missed the call? (I mean come on, the runner was out by a full stride.) A friend posted on Four Freedoms that perhaps the managers should be given just 3 challenges per game…that might be the way to go. But I really don’t want to see MLB go the way of the NFL. There’s still a human element out there on the diamond that hasn’t been corporatized, computerized, or controlled yet. A human blowing a call is part of the game, too.

I also have an issue with the NBA stealing things from other sports. Anyone remember the last time the Lakers and Celtics were hot, back in the 80s? The last NBA final to be played under the “2-2-1-1-1” format was 1986…where the Celtics beat the Rockets for #16.

The following year, they took the format from the World Series and changed it to “2-3-2”. But therein lies the problem. It’s that pivotal 5th game. Larry Bird had it right back in the day…assuming the teams are evenly matched, the go-ahead game should be at the team’s building with the home-court advantage. The way it plays now, if the Celtics were to steal one in LA tonight, the all import game 5 would be in Boston.

I suppose it’s inconclusive which team has home-court advantage under the current system, but suffice to say I don’t like it and never have.

Lastly, a couple of things to ponder from even further back…all the way to the Russell/Auerbach era. Much has been written of late that the C’s are too old and too tired to win it all. Well, the same was being written about the 1968-1969 Celtics. They creaked into the playoffs with a 42-40 record that year…but beat LA for the title in 7 games.

Red had it right then, and it still holds true today. The Celtics are a T E A M. On any given night, they can beat a single-star team. LA’s got Kobe for sure…but after that it’s a bunch of (very good) role players. Look up what happened in the Michael Jordan record game in 1986. MJ got 63 points that day, but the C’s shut down the rest of the team and won anyway.

I suspect it may go all 7 games…but I’m betting the C’s wrap it up in 5 or 6.

Just a test.

2010-06-02T19:15:00.001-05:00

So, I've been looking at the stretches between blog posts here getting longer and longer. It's been well over a year for my little side project here.

Tonight, I sat in front of the ol' computer and changed a few things around. I'm testing posting from a little widget I installed in iGoogle...here's hoping it all works out.

There's much to talk about...oil is flowing into the Gulf, political weirdness goes on and on throughout America, and oh, yeah..I'm still a contractor without a permanent job, and our COBRA has just run out.

Stay tuned....there will be semi-ocassional rants and raves posted hopefully a little more regularly if this all works out.

Should I be a salesman?

2009-03-06T21:43:00.002-05:00

I've been pondering a career change.

For twenty five years, ever since I broke in with old Bay State Health Care, I've been a claims guy. I've done it all, from head-down data processing, to customer service, running teams, overseeing transactions, managing for a while, leading to the EDI Analyst role that I recently was separated from. It's been great, I have a ton of contacts throughout the industry.....but I've always been working for "the man".

In the past two weeks, I've been to a couple of remarkable sales presentations for AFLAC and Health Markets. One you know, one you probably don't. It's a huge market here in Massachusetts...both companies have about a 6% penetration rate at this time, so that translates into a 94% potential market. One company stated they're overwhelmed with business and can't keep up right now.

It strikes me as a good time to leap. The income potential is there of course...but there's a downside. Both places are comsission only. I've been told we can continue to collect uninsurance until I start seeing some money come it, but for how long? UI is only a safety net; it's not meant to be lived on. Can we do it for 30, 60, 90 days until I see things start to come in?

Even more importantly, can I do it? Several people who I trust implicitly have told me recently that they think I have the personality and the wherewithal to give it an honest try. But this is the thing I worry most about. I don't have any issue cold-calling after all (I thought that would be my big hangup), but after reading some of the prepared scripts, it strikes me as something I could easily do. It's actually the "walk on" that's giving me pause this evening. Can I just walk into a business, hand over my card, and get an appointment? I don't know.

I've conned some people into being Scout Leaders (a hard sell if there ever was one), and I've been fortunate to gain vast experience is presenting to VIPs and potential clients at my last job, but I wasn't dependent on making the sale; we were just part of a vast team helping the sales guys.

I have to approach this as if my life depended on it, because it does. If I don't sell, we don't eat; it's that simple. I'm reading and pondering much about this. I've done the intellectual exercises and I believe I can do this. I need to follow my heart.

But Friday afternoon, I got a strong lead at Dana Farber; and perhaps that's where my heart lies. I've already told Maria that the allure of working for one of the Big Five downtown would make me back out of sales.

I don't know what the future will bring....but I hope to have something decided by the end of next week.

Putting it behind me

2009-03-04T21:27:00.003-05:00

Well, it's been two full weeks.

One of the things you have plenty of whilst unemployed is time. I've spent a lot of time going over the events of February over and over again in my head. I still reach the same conclusion. I screwed up, but was it worth losing my job over? Only athenamanagement can answer that.

The fact is, they gave me a wee severance (Just a couple of weeks worth), set me up with the outplacement agency, and worded the termination letter to be sufficiently "gray". The Commonwealth of Massachusetts decided I was laid off, and we started receiving unemployment insurance this week, before we hit rock bottom, so we're still afloat for now.

I never thought I'd have to apply for food stamps, but we did, even though we may not quite qualify based on income. Hell, I'd take $100 a month; it will help the budget go further. It's the insurance I'm worried about. Fortunately, the carrier assumes we *want* COBRA, so we haven't been cut off yet. I actually have until April 24 to reply to the letter, and I don't even have to pay the premiums I owe; we just indicate that we want to continue coverage. If they don't get the letter, then we're terminated retroactively to the date my employment terminated.

Thanks to President Obama and the stimulus plan, I only need to pay 35% of the premium, instead of the full 100%, but we also qualify for a state benefit called the "Medical Security Program". We still need to pay the full premium, but the state reimburses me 80% of that. It's actually a better deal than when I was employed. Even though I worked in the industry, we were paying a 70/30 split on the insurance. I suppose I should be smug that the company stock tanked last week; down by 25% last Friday, but I digress.

Which finally brings me to what's been most painful of all...my personal loss. Perhaps you're lucky enough to have a "best friend at work". Maybe you just have aloof colleagues looking out for themselves and nothing more. I had a person who was so very dear to me at the old shop. We sat next to each other for five years (literally.) Every time the department moved, or re-organized, we made sure we had the choice seats; we stayed together through everything. Over time, I finally found the term, the so-called "Office Spouse". We milked that for all it was worth; we always took lunch together, would get flirty and do all the things that best friends would do.

But it was always within the framework of work...when the day ended, we said our goodbyes and went home to different houses. I've been married to dear Mrs. TriSec for 12 years; she's been with her significant other for about 15. We were so secure in our relationship that we used to joke that we could go home and tell our respective spouses that we've decided to have a passionate affair, and we'd both get the eyeroll and the "yeah, OK, whatever" from both sides. It was all great fun.

On February 17, it was like I had a sudden heart attack and died. That relationship suffered a huge blow. When I called her to break the news, she literally burst into tears at her desk. I was miserable for days; the Saturday after it happened, I finally broke down too and cried for hours that night, at my second job at LL Bean, on the way home, and just sitting in front of the computer mourning our lost relationship. It still makes me sad thinking about it now, for we both know in our hearts that our relationship as it stood ended that day, and will never be the same. Through all of what's happened, that is what truly, deeply, hurts me the most.

It will for some time.

But, life goes on. We've both decided recently that nobody died, nobody moved away, and she is still indeed my friend. I'm sure Mrs. TriSec won't mind, but Katherine knows me professionally better than my wife does personally, I think. "Kat" and I have shared so much, been through so many experiences....she knows me better than anyone, and may perhaps be my most trusted and bestest friend of late.

This week, I've had two paradigm-shifting experiences with sales career presentations. I'm thinking it's the right way to go for my future. Part of my belief that I can do it stems from Katherine's belief that I can do it. Here's my best friend, recognizing all my skills, and thinking I can excel. I mused about this at the store again today, and for the first time in two weeks, began to feel a little hope. It's going to be daunting, challenging, and possibly life-changing. But I have a dear friend that thinks I can do it; that's given me the hope and confidence to try.

She knows it.....I love her like a sister. I'm sure her significant other isn't going to mind me saying that.

The MBTA: an embarassment for Boston

2009-02-24T15:07:00.002-05:00

Well, I just had an opportunity to take our clunky old relic downtown.

I headed over to Riverside station here on the Green Line; it's allegedly a commuter station right off Route 128 and goes through the heart of downtown. Imagine my surprise to find the parking lot only about 1/3 full.

I'm betting the high parking fees don't help...it's up to $5.75 these days, and some of the other lots around the "T" are charging $6. It wasn't that long ago that you could park all day on the Fan Pier, about a five-minute walk from Downtown Boston, for about $7.

In any case, I made the long walk past all the idling trains to the station, which is conveniently placed as far as possible from the parking areas. Reaching the first level, all 3 of the new "Charlie Card" fare machines were broken. Some had duct tape applied over the relevant slots; all had amateurish hand-written signs directing us upstairs.

Upstairs we hardly fared better; the machines seemed to be working, but I had to feed several dollars into it before it finally accepted one. Awfully touchy for a subway vending machine, but I digress.

Boarding the train, it was one of the infamous "Breda" trolleys that had some derailment issues a few years back. Finally, it was time to leave, so they closed all the doors and the lights promptly went out and the car died. After several false attempts, the motorman finally got everything working and we <<>> out of the station.

KA-THUMP! KA-THUMP! KA-THUMP!

Perhaps you're familiar with a "flat spot"....when you park a car in subfreezing weather, it may develop a flat spot on the tires and make some unusual sounds and vibrations until it's warmed up. I didn't think steel wheels did this. Of course that added to the ambiance of the ride; I wasn't certain we were going to make it into town in one piece. Never mind that the car was filthy, the windows had graffiti on them, and the required abandoned newspaper was rattling around on the floor. And these trolley cars aren't five years old yet!

The "Highland Branch" is allegedly a high-speed line....but today that meant about 35 mph. The ride grew longer and longer, and we never seemed to increase speed at any point. Finally somewhere around Brookline the automated station-announcement system finally kicked in, fortunately naming the correct station. It must have gone offline back when the car died, but the driver never got around to fixing it until a half-hour into the trip.

The ride was uneventful until we reached the central subway....then we slowed down even more, if that's possible. It took over an hour to get downtown from Newton....a ride I can do in 15 minutes at the most on I-90 in the clear. (It easily takes that long in traffic, though.)

I shudder to imagine what tourists to our city think....especially if they come from a city with a better subway system, which would be EVERY OTHER CITY ON THE EARTH.

We were just in Washington, DC...and the metro put our system to shame on Inauguration Day. Boston has enough trouble dealing with the average morning commute...I'd imagine the "T" would collapse if a million people tried to ride it all in one day.

Why didn't I see this coming?

2009-02-20T08:39:00.002-05:00

Curious thing about hindsight...

I'd say it began roughly 2-3 months ago. The boss lady started asking me questions about what I did that wasn't documented, and was interested in making sure that I had written up instructions for a lot of things. Fairly routine; there's a lot of new stuff that we always do and never quite seem to document it.

Then she started asking questions about my contacts. Wanted to make sure I had a good, direct contact with each of my receivers, and that it was properly noted on the receiver instructions. Again, all good and proper that she would do this; we're a production shop, after all...and if I'm out sick, the work still needs to get done and it's good to list who we need to talk to in case something goes wrong.

About a month ago now, she wanted to know all my email contacts; did I receive any direct communication from my payors, and if I did, these should all be re-routed to the team email address so everyone could have access to it.

But looking back now, what strikes me as unusual is she asked me all these things privately, in our weekly meetings, always prefacing it with "I've asked everyone on the team to do this."

Really?

If this was such a "team initiative", then why wasn't this brought up in a group setting so everyone knew about it?

They were just looking for an excuse; this was planned some time ago and just needed a flimsy premise to put me out the door.

Promise to nightmare

2009-02-17T21:38:00.002-05:00

Today started with such hope.

A bright sunny day, heading towards spring, and I'm off to work and an interesting place. In many ways, the dream job I've always searched for.

About ten days ago, I discovered that one of my accounts was sending a bogus report; we weren't doing anything with it. Unfortunately, that meant a client was not getting all their information.

Naturally, it was our fault. Or my fault, because I never picked up on it.

Anyway...we tried to fix what we could, got things in the pipeline to be corrected, and smoothed things over with the client.

To no avail. I got fired today.

I don't have a "seagull manager"...I've had one of those before. This one is different. She came in to another department, and in one of the company's infamous "re-organizations", wound up overseeing my team in a job she really wasn't suited for.

From day one she was after me.

The company does many things, but one over-arching thread is that we're different. Either you "get it" or you don't. She never "got it", and has been constantly scrambling and covering up her own shortcomings.

It's curious; for weeks, I'd tell her the same things over and over, explain the same processes, over and over, and she'd never retain that information.

I used to be team lead. One of the first things she did after taking over was think of an excuse to bust me back to a regular "analyst". The person she moved to team lead is also new; he's doing the job less well than I did, but is her "golden boy", so can get away with it.

Over the past month, I've seen a lot of things I didn't like; so naturally I was blowing the whistle to make people notice. I even heard from friends outside the department that 'something was coming' and to keep my eye on things.

All of that mattered not; I guess it was easier to silence the critic than to take a look at what's broke.

I'm sure the company will soldier on, it's "too big to fail" now. But there's a hole in my former team, my dear friend and office wife is heartbroken, and I face an uncertain future with little or no money in the bank.

Hallelujah.

Rediscovering an old friend

2009-02-13T22:16:00.001-05:00

Evevning, folks. It's been a while since I've been in here. Sorry for the musty smell.

I promise to clean things up....maybe even post a thought or two every now and again.

Overseas Roundup

2007-09-27T05:14:00.000-05:00

Good Morning!

I haven't done one of these in a while...

If you haven't found your way to the wondrous website, "Watching America", you're missing one of the great treasures of the internets.

Starting in England, there's a story about Bush leading the charge against Burma now. If you haven't been following along, check out the news about this regime. You might have heard about Tibetan Monks leading a massive protest; I saw last night that Burmese authorities have begun a crackdown. Of course, with the United States that 'shining city upon a hill', I guess our side feels it necessary to ramp up the rhetoric. Without actually helping the opposition, of course.

George W. Bush, the US president, led a growing backlash against Burma's military regime yesterday, announcing new sanctions against its leaders and their financial backers.
The move came as the junta threatened to use force to quell growing demonstrations in Rangoon, the former capital, that were led by 10,000 Buddhist monks chanting "democracy".
Vehicles with loudspeakers toured the city declaring a 9pm-5am curfew and a ban on assemblies of more than five people.
"People are not to follow, encourage or take part in these marches. Action will be taken against those who violate this order," the loudspeakers blared.
On state media the night before, Brigadier-General Thura Myint Maung, the religious affairs minister, said young monks who persisted in fomenting opposition to military rule would face retribution "according to the law".
In New York, Mr Bush said the US would tighten economic sanctions and impose an extended visa ban on the worst human rights offenders and their families.
He urged UN member states to use diplomatic and economic leverage to "help the Burmese people reclaim their freedom".
"Americans are outraged by the situation in Burma where a military junta has imposed a 19-year reign of fear," he told the UN General Assembly.
The US had previously imposed a wide range of sanctions on Burma. Other measures already included a ban on all imports from Burma, a ban on new investment in the country, a ban on the provision of financial services to the country, a visa ban on certain named government officials and an asset freeze of certain Burmese institutions.
In London, Gordon Brown, the prime minister, urged the European Union to tighten its sanctions "as soon as possible".
Asian analysts said that the latest threats against demonstrators, led by monks, echoed a warning issued before the crackdown against a monks' protest movement in Mandalay in 1990 when a handful of monks were shot, many were injured and hundreds more forcibly disrobed.
"I am really worried that there will be bloodshed soon if the international community does not intervene," said Win Min, a Burmese academic at Chiangmai University in northern Thailand.
At mass demonstrations in the heart of Rangoon, the capital, yesterday, young monks carried banners with pacifist slogans such as: "Loving kindness must win everything."
Although authorities again made no effort to intervene, military vehicles were parked a few hundred yards away at Bogyoke Market and near the goldencrusted Shwedagon Pagoda, Burma's largest and most venerated religious site.
"The stakes have been much higher today," said a western diplomat. "It is very difficult to know how [the military] are going to react. It is an amazing feeling, but the reality is that they are strong and ready to crack down."

Looking to the Middle East, I'm struck by a pair of dueling stories out of Israel, both on the recent visit of the Iranian President to Columbia University here in New York.

First, "Columbia was Right"

“What chutzpah, what hypocrisy!” said everyone: Politicians in Jerusalem and Washington, American-Jewish leaders, students at Columbia University – how dare a distinguished university invite Iranian President Ahmadinejad to deliver a lecture? He must be silenced!
The calls to curb speech have become familiar and tired. Politicians are allowed to say this, and in any case it would be naïve to expect them to display openness to other views or the expression of views that contradict popular sentiment. Yet it’s irritating to hear the representatives of two leading social groups join this demagogic campaign: Academicians and journalists.

First of all, academicians: They should be the first ones to recognize the fact that universities are the only place that still maintains genuine commitment to the freedom of speech, and are at times an island of openness amid the wave of calls to curb speech – and it doesn’t matter whether the calls are directed at radical views on the Right or Left.

Therefore, it was unfortunate to hear serious and distinguished professors speaking out against the Columbia University president’s decision.”

The enthusiasm of editors and newscasters in the broadcast media and press who spoke out against Columbia University should also raise concerns. Journalists should be at the forefront of the struggle for the freedom of speech. It is good that they directed tough questions at Columbia University, but they should also direct such questions at those objecting to the Ahmadinejad visit. It would be appropriate for journalists to leave the populist statements for politicians.
Notably, freedom of speech is not meant to protect common and agreed-upon views. The objective of the freedom of speech is mostly to allow the voicing of different and annoying opinions. This is one of the most important rights given to a minority in a democratic regime, and this is the essence of democracy: Granting rights to minorities.
When is it proper to limit the freedom of speech? When there is substantive danger that the words will encourage listeners to engage in violent or racist acts. Does anyone believe that Ahmadinejad’s American audience was convinced that their country is the “kingdom of evil” and that Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth?

Therefore, the Columbia University dean was right to say that had it been possible, he would have invited Hitler as well. It would have

been appropriate, in the 1930s, to allow the Nazi leader to express his disgusting views within an academic framework, lecture on his doctrine, and confront the tough questions. This would have allowed the listeners to better understand him and assess the seriousness of his intentions regarding the Jews (as you may recall, many doubted that he intended to realize his fiendish plans.)

And now, the other side...."Columbia was Wrong"

The Iranian president, clearly enjoying every moment of the uproar he provoked in American discourse, parried the tough questions posed him at the end of his speech to 600 students and faculty Monday, Sept. 24, by throwing questions back, longwinded evasions and barefaced lies.
From his first words, Ahmadinejad showed that, far from being a potential partner for dialogue, he incarnates the arrogant, intolerant certainty that there is only one correct path, the one pursued by the Islamic Revolutionary Republic of Iran. Even so, his glib, hectoring style of speech is known to grate on more than one of his colleagues at home.
As demonstrators rallied outside the campus, the Iranian president was asked if he supported terrorism. He replied that Iran was itself a victim of terrorism. He did not mention the US, but cited the camps in Iraq housing terrorists responsible for 4000 Iranian deaths, a transparent reference to the opposition Iranian Mujahedin Qalq. The Americans banned this group for many years, reactivating it last year in response to Iran’s massive aid to Iraqi insurgents fighting US troops.
Asked about his government’s nuclear program, Ahmadinejad said its intentions were peaceful. Therefore, he said: “Iran does not want the bomb.”
Ahmadinejad dodged the question about his declared wish to wipe Israel off the map by saying the Palestinians must have the freedom to self-determination. But at the end of his speech, he said: Iran has always sought friendly relations with all nations except for two, “the South African apartheid regime (which no long exists) and the Zionist regime.”
He thus obliquely reaffirmed his wish for the latter to go the same way as the former, off the map.
Regarding his denial of the Nazi Holocaust, he declared piously: “We academics must always pursue more research.”
Women are free and respected in Iranian culture, said the Iranian president with great solemnity, when asked why Iranian women were denied human rights. As to the execution of homosexuals, “We do not have homosexuals in our country like you,” said he with a straight face.
Interestingly, the Iranian president was not heckled or interrupted even once, even at his most outrageous. Some of his comments were greeted with applause. He clearly attained his main objective: a respectful hearing in the heart of a prestigious American center of learning in New York.
Ahmadinejad showed he was skeptical not only of the “Holocaust myth” but America’s affirmation of the “real hands” behind the 9/11 atrocities when he asked: “Who really did execute the attack?” This question will be understood in Arab and Muslim bazaars as echoing the anti-Semitic libel current there that the al Qaeda attack was a Zionist plot.
Even though Columbia University President Lee Bollinger greeted the Iranian visitor as “a cruel and petty tyrant and terrorist,” there is no gainsaying that he granted a coveted platform to a world figure who abused it to disseminate a creed which preaches the superiority of the Iranian race, culture and religion and whose highest objective is the downfall of Big Satan America and Little Satan Israel.

So.

I'm betting you won't find this anywhere else today.

Ask a Vet

2007-09-25T05:12:00.000-05:00

Good Morning. I'm glad you found your way here....given all the recent website troubles, I think it may just be easier for me to stay here and link this to other places I've been blogging recently...

In any case, we'll start this morning as we always do, with the latest casualty figures from the warron terra, courtesy of Antiwar.com:

American Deaths
Since war began (3/19/03):									3798
Since Capture of Saddam (12/13/03):									3337
Since Handover (6/29/04):									2939
Since Election (1/31/05):									2361

Other Coalition Troops	299
US Military Deaths - Afghanistan	441

Since I have the running tally of the Cost of War at the top of my blog, I won't be linking to it directly....but please check out the website for some real eye-opening statistics.

Checking in with our friends over at IAVA, we find some news about a petition for better mental health for our soldiers. The sponsor is Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-PA), who is the first Iraq veteran to serve in Congress.

NEW YORK - Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) and platinum rock band Drowning Pool are on a mission to get U.S. troops and veterans the mental health care they deserve. IAVA and Drowning Pool teamed up to launch the "This Is For The Soldiers " campaign and asked supporters to sign an online petition urging Congress to pass The Lane Evans Veterans Health and Benefits Improvement Act of 2007, bipartisan legislation which requires mandatory mental health screening for returning troops. Today, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., they presented Representative Patrick Murphy, the first Iraq veteran to serve in Congress, with a petition containing 25,000 signatures in support of this legislation.

"It's exciting to be on Capitol Hill with a rock band to raise awareness about this urgent issue. Tens of thousands of people from across the country have stepped up to help us support the troops," said Paul Rieckhoff, IAVA Executive Director. "More than 1.5 million Americans have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and almost a third of them will face a serious mental health issue, ranging from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to depression. It's critical that we get these troops the help they need now and the Lane Evans Bill is a major step in that direction. We are honored to work with Representative Murphy and Drowning Pool to get this important legislation passed."

Representative Murphy is the first Iraq veteran to serve in Congress. He served in Baghdad in 2003-2004 as a paratrooper with the 82^nd Airborne Division. Representative Murphy is a cosponsor of the Lane Evans bill.

Drowning Pool is a longtime supporter of the troops. The band's current single "Soldiers" pays homage to our Armed Forces and their current "This Is For The Soldiers Tour" donates fifty cents of every ticket sold to IAVA and fifty cents to the USO, while encouraging young fans to support the cause. The band is a favorite of U.S. servicemembers, and has performed USO tours in Iraq, Kuwait and South Korea. Drowning Pool's lead vocalist Ryan McCombs said "It's an honor and a privilege to work on something as important as this legislation."
The Lane Evans Bill would help troops and veterans get mental health care in the following ways:
Require in-person mental health screening for returning combat veterans
Extend the window of eligibility for mental health treatment from two to five years
Establish a registry to monitor the health of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and track their benefits use
Improve the transfer of military records from the Department of Defense to the Department of Veterans Affairs

Won't you call your own Congressman and ask him to support this bill?

Lastly this morning...you may have heard that the Iranian President is in New York City for a speech at the United Nations. He's already spoken at Columbia University, and he's called the United States the real threat. Like most things we don't want to hear....he's probably right.

President Ahmadinejad said yesterday that talk of American military strikes against Iran threatened world security, as he tried to soften his image in the West.
Greeted in New York by headlines that he was an evil madman, Mr Ahmadinejad insisted that Iran “will not attack any country”. He also ducked a chance to accuse the United States of preparing for war, telling a questioner: “That is not how I see it.” Such talk in America, he said, arose from anger, electoral purposes and “a cover for policy failures over Iraq”.
On the first day of a controversial visit to the US, he refused to give an inch on Iran’s nuclear plans, saying that his country had a right to pursue a civilian programme. In comments guaranteed to enrage a significant part of his audience in New York, he also reasserted his refusal to recognise Israel, saying that the Jewish state was “based on occupation and racism”.
At an appearance at Columbia University yesterday he complained of “insults” as he was on the receiving end of a rousing lecture on freedom, Israel and the Holocaust from Lee Bollinger, the president of Columbia University.
Mr Bollinger told the Iranian leader: “Mr President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator.” To cheers the Freedom of Speech scholar told Mr Ahmadinejad that his denial of the Holocaust made him look “brazenly provocative or extraordinarily uneducated”.
He also challenged the Iranian President for cracking down on academics and students, calling for the destruction of Israel and aiding terror groups, including insurgents killing American troops in Iraq.
The Iranian leader stunned the audience by denying that homosexuality existed in Iran. Asked about his government’s persecution of gays, Mr Ahmadinejad said: “In Iran we do not have homosexuals like in your country. We do not have this phenomenon. I don’t know who told you we have it,” he said.
An annoyed Mr Ahmadinejad complained about Mr Bollinger’s “unfriendly treatment”. He said: “In many parts of his speech there were many insults and claims that were incorrect unfortunately.”
Jewish groups picketed the Iranian leader’s appearance at Columbia University – which had cancelled a similar invitation last year.
Even before he arrived, his visit stirred anger after he sought permission to visit Ground Zero, which was refused. Before his Colombia appearance he answered reporters’ questions from Washington via video link. He brushed off questions about human rights abuses in Iran, saying that people there were “very joyous, happy people” and that the women were “the freest women in the world”.
Asked about comments last week by Bernard Kouchner, the French Foreign Minister, that the world should prepare for war with Iran if nuclear negotiations fail, he said: “It’s bad whenever logic fails . . . to engage in military threats.” He added: “We think the talk of war is basically a propaganda tool.”
Confronted with an accusation yesterday by the US military that Iranian surface-to-air missiles were being used to attack American troops, he said: “Are you telling me the US military is defeated [in Iraq] as a result of two or three weapons here or there? We think the US military should seek an answer for its defeat elsewhere.”

And so another day goes by...the 1,652nd day we've been in Iraq.

Libertarian Saturday

2007-09-22T05:11:00.000-05:00

Good Morning!

Well, an early Saturday blog can only mean one thing...your loyal TriSec is off to donate platelets again.

If you're already a blood donor, why not consider taking the next step?

Let's take a look at the Libertarian corner of the Internets....

I've recently renewed my membership in the National Libertarian Party for another year...Imagine my surprise to learn that I've been a member since 2003. (I thought it was a year later.) But that's right, I didn't vote for Bush OR Kerry last time around. And bonus points to anyone except the hardcore that can name the Libertarian candidate now...

Of course, the NLP has been busy, denouncing Hillary's latest plan for heathcare reform.

Washington D.C. –Sen. Hillary Clinton's recent healthcare plan is a flawed strategy that "fails to meet the basic requirements of pragmatic reform" says the Libertarian Party after Clinton announced her second attempt at universal healthcare policy. "Clinton's healthcare plan is the wrong approach to healthcare reform both on a logistical and moral level," says Executive Director of the Libertarian Party, Shane Cory. "Clinton's plan is simply a new prescription for 'Hillary Care' that she prescribed more than a decade ago. It wasn't good then, and it isn't good now."

"Neither Democrats nor Republicans are approaching healthcare from the direction that offers a real solution to its current problems," says Cory. "Both parties wish to put a government-subsidized Band-Aid on the healthcare system, which the government injured in the first place. Instead of calling for universal healthcare or implementing tax credits in the health industry, such as both parties have called for, government simply needs to butt-out and let the market correct itself."

"As far as the logistics," says Libertarian Party Media Coordinator Andrew Davis, "there are obvious reasons why healthcare costs have soared in recent years. On one side, you have demand for healthcare at an all-time high because few people actually pay out of pocket for doctor visits; a problem that government-subsidized healthcare programs exacerbate. Because people pay only a fraction of every dollar spent on healthcare out of pocket, demand for health services has soared and the market price has adjusted. Additionally, artificial price limits set by the government on the maximum amount Medicaid/Medicare will pay for medical services naturally causes the cost of these services to rise to meet the maximum. These are clear examples of how more government regulation has been a direct catalyst of skyrocketing healthcare costs."

"This push for more government intervention is coming from both sides of the aisle," says Cory. "Governor Mitt Romney is just as guilty as Clinton for increasing government regulation despite the traditional ideological positions of their parties. Clinton wants to force the wealthy to pay for services they won't be receiving, and holds a gun to the heads of businesses while telling them they have to cover their employees regardless of the expense. Clinton calls this a 'moral' solution to healthcare?"

Checking the party platform, curiously there is nothing mentioned about healthcare. So, I must infer that the LP position is no position, and a completely unregulated free-for-all in the healthcare system. Which of course isn't the solution, but I don't know what is.

I'll leave you today with something to think about. Is Terrorism a Mortal Threat? Well, Patrick Buchanan of all people, doesn't think so. Of course, he does get some digs in on immigration at the end.

It may have been politically incorrect to publish the thoughts on the sixth anniversary of 9-11, but what Colin Powell had to say to GQ magazine needs to be heard.

Terrorism, said Powell, is not a mortal threat to America.

"What is the greatest threat facing us now?" Powell asked. "People will say it's terrorism. But are there any terrorists in the world who can change the American way of life or our political system? No. Can they knock down a building? Yes. Can they kill somebody? Yes. But can they change us? No. Only we can change ourselves. So what is the great threat we are facing?"

History and common sense teach that Powell speaks truth.

Since 9-11, 100,000 Americans have been murdered – as many as we lost in Vietnam, Korea and Iraq combined. Yet, not one of these murders was the work of an Islamic terrorist, and all of them, terrible as they are, did not imperil the survival of our republic.

Terrorists can blow up our buildings, assassinate our leaders, and bomb our malls and stadiums. They cannot destroy us. Assume the worst. Terrorists smuggle an atom bomb into New York harbor or into Washington, D.C., and detonate it.

Horrible and horrifying as that would be – perhaps 100,000 dead and wounded – it would not mean the end of the United States. It would more likely mean the end of Iran, or whatever nation at which the United States chose to direct its rage and retribution.

Consider. Between 1942 and 1945, Germany and Japan, nations not one-tenth the size of the United States, saw their cities firebombed, and their soldiers and civilians slaughtered in the millions. Japan lost an empire. Germany lost a third of its territory. Both were put under military occupation. Yet, 15 years later, Germany and Japan were the second and third most prosperous nations on Earth, the dynamos of their respective continents, Europe and Asia.

Powell's point is not that terrorism is not a threat. It is that the terror threat must be seen in perspective, that we ought not frighten ourselves to death with our own propaganda, that we cannot allow fear of terror to monopolize our every waking hour or cause us to give up our freedom.

For all the blather of a restored caliphate, the "Islamofascists," as the neocons call them, cannot create or run a modern state, or pose a mortal threat to America. The GNP of the entire Arab world is not equal to Spain's. Oil aside, its exports are equal to Finland's.

Afghanistan and Sudan, under Islamist regimes, were basket cases. Despite the comparisons with Nazi Germany, Iran is unable to build modern fighters or warships and has an economy one-twentieth that of the United States, at best. While we lack the troops to invade Iran, three times the size of Iraq, the U.S. Air Force and Navy could, in weeks, smash Iran's capacity to make war, blockade it and reduce its population to destitution. Should Iran develop a nuclear weapon and use it on us or on Israel, it would invite annihilation.

As a threat, Iran is not remotely in the same league with the Soviet Union of Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev, or Mao's China, or Nazi Germany, or Imperial Japan, or even Mussolini's Italy.

And why would Tehran, which has not launched a war since the revolution in 1979, start a war with an America with 10,000 nuclear weapons? If the Iranians are so suicidal, why have they not committed suicide in 30 years by attacking us or Israel?

What makes war with Iran folly is that an all-out war could lead to a break-up of that country, with Persians, Azeris, Kurds, Arabs and Baluchis going their separate ways, creating fertile enclaves for al-Qaida recruitment and training.

So, there you go. It's going to be a beautiful day around here at least, so if you're in the Northeast Corner of these United States, make sure you get out and enjoy the last 'true' weekend of summer...

Moving on....things change

2007-07-02T17:59:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone.

As most of you who frequent this humble little corner of the internet know, I've long been an active participant and moderator at Air America Place for quite some time.

Last weekend, after months of discussion and thought...I resigned from my moderating activities and left the message board.

Out of respect to my former colleagues, I will not divulge what led to this decision, but let's just say it was a "philosophical disagreement" on how the board was being moderated.

Along with some other members, I have migrated over to the Unfiltered News Network message board and blog space.

While Northeast Liberals will soldier on, I'm looking to make an impact in my new home on the internets, and I've started a blog at UNN.

By all means, keep your bookmarks to Northeast Liberals....but please add UNN to your list. And hey, why not come and sign up, too?

Libertarian Saturday

2007-06-30T07:15:00.000-05:00

Good Morning!

You're probably sitting down about now to your morning cereal....but have you given any thought recently to how much you paid for that milk? The government has been artificially propping up milk prices since the Great Depression, and Congress is working on a new farm bill that will continue that policy. Well guess what? It's a regressive tax that is borne mostly by the poorest among us.

Consider the illogic of federal dairy policies. They jack up milk prices for millions of families at the same time that other programs, such as food stamps, aim to reduce food costs. And although federal law generally prohibits cartels, a federal dairy cartel enforces high milk prices. If Coke and Pepsi got together and agreed to hike prices, they would be prosecuted. But with milk, raising prices is government policy.

The trouble started in 1930s with "marketing order" regulations. Those rules set minimum prices that dairy processors must pay to dairy farmers in 10 regions of the country. Today, about two–thirds of milk is produced under federal marketing orders, and most of the rest is produced under similar state schemes such as California's.

Marketing orders limit competition, because entrepreneurs are not allowed to supply milk at less than the government prices. The system also restricts milk from lower–cost regions, such as the Midwest, from gaining market share in higher–cost regions, such as the Southeast. Government data show that residents of Cincinnati paid an average $2.68 for a gallon of milk in 2006, while those in New Orleans paid $4.10, and government policy is largely to blame.

On top of marketing orders, Congress added a dairy price–support program in 1949. This program helps to keep prices high by guaranteeing that the government will purchase any amount of cheese, butter, and dry milk from processors at a set minimum price.

In 2002, Congress added an income support program for dairy farmers, which distributes cash payments whenever prices fall below target levels. Perversely, this program causes overproduction and thus downward pressure on prices — in direct opposition to the price support program, which tries to raise milk prices.

To enforce artificially high prices, the government imposes import barriers on milk, butter, cheese, and other products. Without those barriers, consumers could simply purchase lower–priced foreign goods. Imports of cheese, butter, and dried milk are limited to about 5 percent or less of U.S. consumption.

All these policies add up to higher prices. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that U.S. policies create a 26 percent "implicit tax" on milk consumers. That "milk tax" is regressive, meaning that it harms low–income families the most.

The Government Accountability Office compared U.S. dairy prices to world prices over the period 1998 to 2004. It found that U.S. prices for butter averaged twice the world price, cheese prices were about 50 percent higher, and dry milk prices were 24 percent or more higher.

Dairy entrepreneur Hein Hettinga started a dairy farm and milk bottling plant in Arizona in the 1990s outside of the government system. He sold his milk to Arizona stores and to Costco in California at 20 cents per gallon less than the government–regulated milk.

Established milk businesses were not happy with the new competition, and they spent millions of dollars lobbying Congress to intervene. At the behest of home–state dairy interests, Democrats and Republicans teamed up in 2006 to change the law and crush Hettinga.

Based on his experience, Hettinga lamented, "I had an awakening … it's not totally free enterprise in the United States."

Our favorite Libertarian Congressman, Ron Paul (R-TX) has chimed in about the stem cell debate. Never mind the pandering to the religious wingnuts, by vetoing the bill, the "president" has usurped your rights as a taxpayer. But that's nothing new with this "administration".

The debate in Washington has again turned to federal funding of stem cell research, with President Bush moving to veto legislation passed recently by Congress. Those engaged in this debate tend to split into warring camps claiming exclusive moral authority to decide the issue once and for all.

On one side, those who support the President’s veto tend to argue against embryonic stem cell research, pointing to the individual rights of the embryo being discarded for use in research. On the other hand are those who argue the embryo will be discarded any way, and the research may provide valuable cures for people suffering from terrible illnesses.

In Washington, these two camps generally advocate very different policies. The first group wants a federal ban on all such research, while the latter group expects the research to be federally-subsidized. Neither side in this battle seems to consider the morality surrounding the rights of federal taxpayers.

Our founding fathers devised a system of governance that limited federal activity very narrowly. In doing so, they intended to keep issues such as embryonic stem cell research entirely out of Washington’s hands. They believed issues such as this should be tackled by free people acting freely in their churches and medical associations, and in the marketplace that would determine effective means of research. When government policies on this issue were to be developed, our founders would have left them primarily to state legislators to decide in accord with community standards.

Their approach was also the only one consistent with a concern for the rights and freedom of all individuals, and for limiting negative impacts upon taxpayers. When Washington subsidizes something, it does so at the direct expense of the taxpayer. Likewise, when Washington bans something, it generally requires a federal agency and a team of federal agents— often heavily-armed federal agents—to enforce the ban. These agencies become the means by which the citizenry is harassed by government intrusions. Yet it is the mere existence of these agencies, and the attendant costs associated with operating them, that leads directly to the abuse of the taxpayers’ pocketbooks.

Lastly this morning, there's been a growing rumble calling for the restoration of the fairness doctrine...not surprisingly, the right is getting all defensive about their radio stations. While more government regulation might not be truly Libertarian, in this instance I'd support it, since the doctrine calls for equal time and indeed, fairness for all interested parties. That is the mission of government, to protect the rights of the people.

On its face, quantifying the conservative domination of talk-radio is about as valuable as studying the leftward lean in women's studies departments at American universities. The conventional wisdom is that during the 1980s, talk-radio tapped into a substantial group of angry, white and mostly male listeners who blamed their perceived loss of influence on what they believed were real powers in American society: feminists, gays, black kids applying for affirmative action programs and potty-mouthed Hollywood screenwriters. It was a niche market - AM radio was a dying format waiting for an infusion of energy - and the Limbaughs and Hannitys gave the people what they wanted.

But if that were all there was to the phenomenon, a new report by the Center for American Progress and the Free Press on right-wing talk's domination of the airwaves wouldn't be causing as much chagrin among conservative commentators as it has. The report, (PDF), "The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio," is stirring up the right-wing squawkers because its analysis flies in the face of conventional wisdom; Right-wing talk doesn't dominate AM radio because of the magical hand of a functional free market, it dominates thanks to multiple market failures. Even worse, those failures represent a strong case for better regulation of what goes out on the public's airwaves.

The report contrasts the amount of right-wing talk - nine out of every ten hours broadcast on talk-radio is exclusively conservative - with a talk-radio audience that, according to Pew Research, identifies itself as follows: forty-three percent of regular talk radio listeners are conservative, while "23 percent identify as liberal and 30 percent as moderate." In other words, fewer than half of those listening to some of the most feverish voices on the right are themselves self-identified conservatives.

The report also shows that in markets where progressive and liberal talk has proven itself to be competitive, conservative programming still dominates the airwaves. The authors note: "[A]lthough there is a clear demand and proven success of progressive talk" in these markets, "station owners still elect to stack the airwaves with one-sided broadcasting." In radio, the "market" simply isn't meeting consumers' tastes.

That observation is what has so many on the right up in arms about the report (the Center for American Progress reports that they have never received such "vitriol" following the publication of previous studies). The report found evidence to support what critics of media concentration have long maintained: that for some media owners, advancing a series of political narratives can be just as much in their interest as a healthy bottom line ever was.

An analysis of all 10,506 licensed commercial radio stations found that stations "owned by women, minorities, or local owners are statistically less likely to air conservative hosts or shows." In contrast, "stations controlled by group owners-those with stations in multiple markets or more than three stations in a single market-were statistically more likely to air conservative talk." Markets that aired both conservative and progressive programming were "less concentrated than the markets that aired only one type of programming and were more likely to be the markets that had female- and minority-owned stations."

Meanwhile, the national trend is towards ever more concentrated media companies - local ownership is becoming harder and harder to find in many American markets. Advocates of deregulation have long insisted that it would lead to more rather than less diverse viewpoints on the airwaves, but the opposite has occurred.

That's enough for a summer weekend....We're off to another birthday party today for one of Javi's young friends. And it's the last weekend before we head for Florida! Gonna get an oil change, wash the car, and start packing!

Campaign Kickoff!

2007-06-21T05:18:00.000-05:00

Good Morning!

Well, I spent an interesting evening at the Waltham VFW last night. It was the campaign kickoff for my friend Ken Doucette, who is running for Mayor of this city.

Yes, I'm on the campaign staff. It hasn't been determined what I'll be doing yet, but I'm hoping for campaign blogger....an area I'm a bit familiar with. There's always MySpace and Facebook, too!

Ken is my age, and we even attended Bunker Hill Community College at the same time, although I didn't know him then. He's also an Eagle Scout of Troop 211...and that's enough for me.

This city is facing a number of challenges, and I was stunned to learn that several problems that are constantly raised by citizens have actually been addressed, and even funded...but the city is so badly managed right now that these projects have never been completed.

Have you driven on Main Street Waltham recently? I don't need to tell you about the traffic. What you probably didn't know was the poor condition of the stoplights along the main line. Many of these are simply on timers, and the lights don't react to traffic conditions...they just change on their schedule. The city has funded the installation of "traffic loops", which are embedded in the street and detect the traffic flow, and the lights react accordingly. This project has never been done, mostly due to mismanagement and lack of communication among city departments under the current administration.

Ken is certainly no flash-in-the-pan...he's been an elected member of City Council for the past 7 years, and has been instrumental in more than a few of the more public things around the city. Recently, Ken was instrumental in getting the Memorial Circle built on the common, honoring Waltham citizens who have given their lives in the wars of these United States.

Ken also took the lead in changing several local zonings from residential to conservation land, thus preserving open space in the city and keeping it out of the hands of greedy developers. (One of the key points the current administration has not done - the city is far too overdeveloped).

Perhaps his biggest achievement, and the one with the most impact on the future of this city, was the just completed six month project to update the city's master plan. I could only shake my head at how long it has been since the plan was updated. No, it wasn't 2000. It wasn't even 1990. If you can believe it, the City of Waltham has not had a master plan since 1950.

So, I'm hoping for a succesful campaign...at the very least, I'll gain some valuable knowledge from the experience.

I'll leave you a couple of tidbits...

I was talking to another gentleman, and I remarked how brief the campaign is. Ken announced last night, and the election is rapidly coming up on November 6, 2007. Would that the presidential election cycle was that brief!

I also ran into my state Rep, Peter Koutoujian, and I took the opportunity to thank him for his recent vote on defeating the gay marriage ammendment in this state. Imagine my surprise, however, when I discovered that not only does he live in my ward, he's literally two doors away from me on Harris Street. (I do email him all the time, but legislator's private addresses are notoriously hard to come by.)

So, all in all, a succesful start to the campaign. I'll post ocassional updates in this space, and there may yet be a campaign blog or other online resources...

Little Einsteins....made in China?

2007-04-30T05:09:00.000-05:00

Good Morning!

Javi's favorite Disney program of late has been the Little Einsteins. If you haven't watched it, it's about some precocious 6-year-olds that fly around the world in their rocket ships and use music to solve an endless series of puzzles.

Anyway....I actually sat and paid attention to the opening sequence yesterday morning, and I noticed something very curious. The kids run out to their tree, and slide down to their secret underground lair. Then they use their 'magic' to get rocket to launch.

The fly out of the tree, and without disappearing into the clouds or flying over a body of water, the first thing they see is.....the Great Wall of China! Then it's off to the Taj Mahal....and then the pyramids! Lastly, they soar over the Eiffel Tower, and the opening sequence ends!

Well, that's got me thinking....they're obviously based in China, aren't they? But I suppose that would make sense, since this program is attempting to use music as a teaching aid, and given the sorry state of music education in this country, I suppose they had to be based somewhere that the arts and music are still valued.

I also noticed something curious about their nemesis, "big jet". It's a generic fighter jet to the kiddies, but to these learned eyes, it looks like a MiG-29. Which of course, would be more worrisome to the Chinese than us Americans.

Coincidence? I don't think so!

Overseas Roundup

2007-04-27T05:06:00.000-05:00

Good Morning! We've made it to another Friday, so it's time to take our weekly trip around the world and see what everyone else is thinking about...

Switzerland is looking at itself very closely this week, as they had a rare shooting in a hotel in Baden. They are comparing it to the shootings at Virginia Tech and thinking that the US has become the world leader in mass killings.

For the past twenty years, all forms of media have published the long list of mass shooting deaths committed outside the context of war. It's obvious that this list reveals a profound malaise in our society. And it's not surprising that here again, the United States holds the role of pioneer, just as it has in other areas.

America has developed the culture of confrontation on all levels. From the legal system to Hollywood, and encompassing politics, economics and even religion, free market beliefs govern everything. This type of culture has indeed enabled the West to develop its technological creativity. But to favor confrontation in human relations has deleterious moral consequences. Society then becomes akin to a battlefield where everything is allowed, the only goal being victory of one over another. Such a combative environment can only act disastrously on fragile spirits. “To blow a fuse” or “to blow a cable” are expressions that are quite literally in the air, and are accurate expressions of the state of psychic tension that corrodes the life of society.

We would hope in vain for a world without conflict, misfortune or crime. Violence is an essential element of human nature. But each one of us has a vague sense that balance must be restored.

And this goal will not be met by spreading a few ounces of brotherhood over this world of brutality.

An Iraqi newspaper has also chimed in on the shooting, by thanking Allah that the killer was not Muslim. I'd have to agree....could you imagine what Bush would have done if it was a student from Iran?

The blood which flowed following the crime at Virginia Tech was of a very rare kind: we Arabs and Muslims had absolutely nothing to do with it!!

American police continue to investigate the motives behind the incident at Virginia Polytechnic Institute - in which a gunman opened fire killing 32 students and faculty members before turning the gun on himself - and will likely find a thread that links us [Muslims] to this heinous crime. This was a crime that has made everyone tremble with anger - including President Bush. In a case like this, speculation abounds, which is why we praise Allah, and give him our thanks that the gunman was not a Muslim! The crime overwhelmed police and at first they asserted that this was an act of terrorism. But God was kind to his Muslim worshipers when he did not make the killer one of us. Thus, the charges against us were dropped!

We also praise Allah and thank Him that the gunman was not of Arab descent, as the investigation has confirmed that the killer was from South Korea. What if the gunman had been Iraqi or Sudanese? The whole world would have been up in arms over it!

As long as we Arabs and Muslims are far away from this case, "it's springtime and the weather is marvelous," as the late Egyptian singer and actress Suad Husni once observed. But our innocence complicates matters for the investigators, and they are now caught up in a whirlwind of questions.

How could it be that this expert killer isn't a member of our [Muslim] clan? Not one of our cousins? Not even one of our neighbors? Especially since the specifics of this repugnant crime correspond to us: The Virginia Tech killer murdered innocent people, just as bad men killed innocent people on September 11, 2001. The killer committed terrible evil on a university campus, and we certainly have no taboos about slitting throats in order to preserve our existence!

The Virginia Tech killer murdered students of science. We Arabs and Muslims are an ignorant and backward people, and we fight against education from cradle to grave, or so the Western media likes to say!

And lastly, our neighbor to the south is paraphrasing a timeworn phrase about the Roman Empire....in that the all paths of death lead to Washington.

The loss of life being generated in Latin America by the war on drugs is, in part, a result of a mistaken and hypocritical strategy imposed on the continent by Washington and other governments: the prohibition of psychotropic substances and the prohibition of their production, sale and consumption.

By creating conditions that allow the extreme enrichment of drug traffickers, governments have transferred the problem of addiction from the realm of public health to that of police officers, military men and national security, thereby creating a monster with unlimited economic power, which exhibits an almost unlimited capacity to corrupt public officials at all levels. It also equips drug traffickers with firepower at least as lethal as institutions of provide public safety.

Regarding the outbreaks of individual violence that regularly inflict United States society - such as the slaughter perpetrated on Monday in Virginia by an unbalanced South Korean immigrant, who only weeks before and without difficulty, purchased an automatic firearm and hundreds of rounds of ammunition to assassinate 32 people - these are overwhelmingly due to the extreme proliferation of firearms in the hands of the general population.
It should not go unnoticed that the main promoter of this civilian arms buildup - the National Rifle Association - is an ultraconservative organization closely tied to the ruling Republican Party. Similarly, it should be considered that the present administration permitted the few regulations on the indiscriminate sale of high-powered weapons adopted in the days of Bill Clinton to fall into disuse.

The key to stopping all this violence - the colonial war in Iraq, the drug trafficking and the massive number of homicides within the territory of the United States - is in the hands of Washington's political class. At this point it's clear that the first condition for stopping the daily atrocities being committed against Iraq's civilian population, the bloody confrontation between local factions, the losses of British and American troops and the growing disintegration of Iraq's social fabric, consists of the immediate withdrawal of the occupying forces from Iraq.

With respect to the war on drugs, the solution can be found in the very history of the United States itself: the adoption of so called prohibition , outlawing the production and sale of spirits did not eliminate, nor did it reduce alcoholism, Rather, it generated a black market, the members of which defied the government for over a decade, submerging the country in a wave of criminal violence that could not be staunched until the legalization and decriminalization of alcoholic beverages was restored. It's time to come back to our senses and recognize that public health issues cannot be resolved by the army or police, and that combating addictions requires medical and social strategies other than the prohibition of addictive substances.

But for now, the paths of death - the war in Iraq, the war on drugs and the bloody shootings in the United States - have one thing common: they all lead to the White House and the U.S. Capitol.

So....there you have it. Another week of death and mayhem in these United States. No surprise, the rest of the world has taken notice.

An old box of magazines...

2007-04-25T05:03:00.000-05:00

Good Morning.

About a year ago, my inlaws gave us a box of old National Geographic magazines. It's sat in a corner of the dining room for months, forgotten and unchecked.

We've been meaning to go through them, but never had the time. Now that Mrs. TriSec is out of work again, she's started some small cleanup projects around the house. First among them was that weird corner of the dining room where everything had piled up.

She called me at work yesterday, wondering what to do with 'that old box of magazines'. I said, they can be thrown out, but if they're vintage, hold onto them. As luck would have it....they are indeed vintage!

We've got stuff from the early to mid 1970s, and inexplicably, a single issue from 1954.

I was going through it last night, and what I had hoped for was there, a couple of issues detailing Apollo 14 and 17 (and hopefully more, I still haven't gotten to the bottom of the box.

I also found issues on my beloved Nova Scotia, and a couple that bear reading about Syria and "Iraq's Embattled Kurds". Some things never change.

The 1954 issue is mostly about colonial Williamsburg, which was a terrific find, considering that we are visiting there this summer. I can't imagine it's changed much since 1954. Probably hasn't changed much since 1754.

But what's really fascinating....is the ads. There's plenty of cars in there, including some old and boxy looking Toyotas, and a massive 1970s Chrysler Town & Country wagon. Interesting to note that the mpg was listed in one of the Toyota ads....I have it as 25 highway/17 city. While small cars have improved significantly since then, that's still about the norm for a midsize SUV.

You want to buy a TV? Sony also had a full-page ad for their wide-screen TV and "Commander" VHS cassette system. What a monstrous looking thing. And the TV had a "new" synchronized remote that allowed you to change from channels 2-83 instantly!

On the back of a mid-70s magazine is a full page ad for Mazola Corn Oil....and since corn doesn't grow cholesterol, there's none in our oil! I see nothing much has changed on that front, either.

There's also things for slide projectors, turntables, defunct airlines....it's really quite fascinating.

But I did have a 'modern' moment while leafing through these old relics. I was idly wondering if any of the older companies might still be in business. Without even thinking, my eyes automatically went to the bottom of the ad to look for a website!

Whatever did we do before the internets?

Overseas Roundup

2007-04-20T05:04:00.000-05:00

Good Morning! It's the end of another week, so let's take a look around the world and see what's in the headlines elsewhere. Not surprisingly, outher countries have weighed in on the Virginia Tech shooting. The UAE believes we may be rotten to the core.

AMERICA is yet to recover from the shock of what is being called, “the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history” - a shooting-spree that took the lives of 33 young, promising men and women at a prominent university campus in Virginia.

We too are shocked. All that is known so far is that a student of apparently of Asian origin wielded the gun, a fact which was confirmed in the second wave of attacks that took 30 lives, while some mystery still surrounds the first round of firings that killed three others.

What is also known is that this is the second time in nine months that this university has been shut due to gunfire; and that a bomb threat had been made against the campus two weeks ago. Under these circumstances, it appears strange that no special security measures were then put in place. Had they been, it might have at least helped minimize if not altogether avert, what happened on Monday morning.

It's also intriguing as to how, in an advanced state like Virginia, and on a high technology campus at that, it took two hours for an e-mail to circulate among students about a firing incident on campus - and alerting students that a killer was on the prowl in their midst. Had such a message reached students immediately after the first incident, they would have been in a state of high alert, and it might even have helped capture the assailant.

In many respects, America is currently in the best of positions. Its people are among the best cared for in the world by virtue of the affluence and systems that support life in that nation. Yet, without doubt, something is ailing that society at its very core, symptoms of which are evident in cases like the Virginia one.

Whether this has something to do with the overall weakening of its value system or America's pre-occupation with the affairs in the rest of the world leaving it little time to care for its own affairs, is simply a matter of conjecture.

Naturally, other countries are weighing in on our gun control laws, or lack thereof. The UK is particularly interested in why we don't want more gun control. But it should be obvious, if nobody had guns, then how could we fight back against the shooter?

IT IS surely an American oddity that, after the worst mass shooting in the country’s history, some are already saying that such horrors would be less likely if only guns were easier to own and carry. Americans love firearms. The second item in the constitution’s bill of rights, just after freedom of speech, religion, assembly and the press, is the right to bear arms. It is part of the national religion.

Mass killings remain rare events, whatever outsiders might think, and they also happen in other countries, including those with tight rules on gun ownership. But life in modern America is punctuated frighteningly often by such attacks. Making any sort of accurate international comparison is tricky, but some attempts have been tried. The International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), an activist group, counts 41 school shootings in America since 1996, which have claimed 110 lives, including those in Virginia this week. IANSA also looks at school shootings in 80 other countries. Culling from media reports, they count only 14 school gun killings outside America in the same period. Putting aside the Beslan massacre in Russia—committed by an organised terrorist group—school shootings in all those countries claimed just 59 victims.

As striking are the overall rates of violent death by handguns in America. The country is filled with 200m guns, half the world’s privately-owned total. Residents of other countries may fret that criminals, gang-members and insane individuals are increasingly likely to use guns and knives. But in comparison with America, few other developed countries have much to worry about. The gun-murder rate in America is more than 30 times that of England and Wales, for example. Canada—like America, a “frontier” country with high rates of gun ownership—sees far fewer victims shot down: the firearm murder-rate south of the Canadian border is vastly higher than the rate north of it. America may not quite lead the world in gun murders (South Africa probably holds that dubious title) but it has a dismally prominent position.

What might be done to improve matters in America? The intuitive answer, at least for Europeans and those who live in countries where guns are less easily available, is that laws must be tightened to make it harder to obtain and use such weapons. Not only might that reduce the frequency of criminal acts, goes the argument, but it may also cut the number of accidental deaths and suicides.

Yet some in America are reaching the opposite conclusion. Within hours of the shootings in Virginia on Monday April 16th, a conservative blogger was quoting a Roman military historian, suggesting that “if you want peace, prepare for war” (“si vis pacem, para bellum”). Others put it more bluntly: “an armed society is a polite society”. Virginia’s gun laws are generally permissive. Any adult can buy a handgun after a brief background check (as required by federal law), and anyone who legally owns a handgun and who asks for a permit to carry a concealed weapon must be granted such a permit. Yet Virginia Tech, like many schools and universities, is a gun-free zone. Gun advocates are daring to say that if Virginia Tech allowed concealed weapons, someone might have stopped the rampaging killer. To gun-control advocates, this is self-evident madness.

Lastly, of course, there's always a story about Iraq. It's hard to imagine things getting an worse after the series of bombings this week that have killed hundreds....but Switzerland thinks the worst is yet to come.

Everyone talks of al-Qaeda and its destructive madness. But that's only one small aspect of the problem. The Shiites are fighting among themselves for power and against the Sunnis, who would like to recover it. These two communities - sometimes - find that they agree on only one point: the fight against the “liberator” who very quickly became the invader.

And then, what is mentioned less and less often, is that Iraq has become a country of anarchy where brigands, extortionists and mafias cohabit, and it's not always possible to distinguish them from the militia who have their own representatives in government. In this hell, the Americans - after a fashion - are trying somehow to deal with the most urgent issues first. But by sending reinforcements they are only serving to feed the fire. And this is due to one simple fact: The United States has become the source of the problem.

Recall that less than a month after the entry of GIs into Baghdad on April 9, 2003, George W. Bush declared on the deck of an aircraft carrier amidst much fanfare that the war was over. History is often cruel.

Up to now, the only area of stability in Iraq has been that of the Iraqi Kurds, who have been faithful supporters - perhaps the only ones left - of the Americans. But the Kurds are also beginning to get pulled into the mire. Kurdish President Talabani evoked the American occupier, although that's who he owes his position to. And like an echo, the other Kurdish leader, Massoud Barzani, threatened to interfere with the Kurdish problem in Turkey [Kurds say the Turks oppress them]. One might as well say that a bomb has just been lit - and with a short fuse - which is located in Kirkuk, where a referendum is supposed to be held to determine whether the oil-rich city should be part of the Kurdish region - a referendum which is naturally unacceptable to Turkey. Ankara, defender of the Turkmen minority, could see this as a pretext to intervene militarily. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has let this be known loud and clear - on April 9, of course, as if to back up his remarks.

Iraq was invaded in a moment of ideological madness by American neoconservatives who dreamed of artificially grafting democracy there - and more likely, a Pax Americana. Four years later, Iraq is submerged in chaos and several wars. And the worst is undoubtedly yet to come.

So, another fun-filled week comes to an end. At long last, we're going to have decent weather this weekend...and I may be able to get the bike out and start riding next week!

A day in Iraq

2007-04-18T05:19:00.000-05:00

Good Morning.

33 dead.

19 wounded.

26,000 terrorized.

A massive attack, days of looking inward, pondering what went wrong, and how to prevent it the next time. It's a week of tragedy and sorrow in these United States.

As we investigate the gunman and his motives, it's worth noting that such casualty figures in other parts of the world would be considered a good day.

Tuesday: 104 Iraqis, 3 GIs; 51 Iraqis Wounded
Updated at 12:40 a.m. EDT, April, 18, 2007
Although there were less attacks today, at least 104 Iraqis were killed or found dead and another 51 wounded in violence. Security forces reported killing 25 suspects during operations in Suwayra. Also, three U.S. servicemembers were reported killed, and British base in Basra also came under attack; one British soldier was wounded.
The Department of Defense reported on the deaths of two soldiers in Anbar province. (Here and here.) Also, a Marine was killed in a non-combat related shooting incident in Anbar province. In Mashada, a driver was paid to drive a truck loaded with gasoline and explosives to a joint U.S.-Iraqi checkpoint, but the vehicle overturned before reaching its destination.
In Baghdad, 25 dumped bodies were found. Gunmen in the Saidiya district killed a university professor. In the greater Amil area, gunmen killed one person and wounded three more. In Mansour, two policemen and one soldier were injured in clashes with gunmen. One person was killed and four wounded during a mortar attack in the Amiriyah neighborhood. Four people were injured during a mortar attack in Doura. A roadside bomb injured four police officers. Also, bombs went off in Qasadiya and Amiriyah without causing casualities, and gunmen attacked Ghazaliya without harming anyone.
Also in the capital, a U.S. tank was damaged by a roadside bomb in the Amil district; one juvenile bystander was injured. U.S. forces killed three militants after they attacked an armored vehicle. Near Qadisiyah, U.S. forces killed one civilian. Clashes between gunmen and combined U.S.-Iraqi forces resulted in one civilian death and one injured person.
Seventeen decomposed bodies were found in a Ramadi school.
A car bomb at a Hawija petrol station killed three people and wounded four more.
In Mosul, a tribal leader was wounded and his son was killed. Gunmen also killed a police Brigadier and two of his guards. Clashes erupted between gunmen and U.S. troops, but no casualties were reported. Also, nine dumped bodies were found.
An oil tanker exploded near Mosul killed one person and injured four Iraqi soldiers.
Iraqi and multi-national troops killed 25 gunmen during security operations in Suwayra. Three bodies were fished out of the Tigris River; two were shot and the third decapitated.
A roadside bomb in Kirkuk wounded three people, including a policeman. Another IED injured a civilian and a policemen. A hair stylist was killed and a client was wounded during an attack; several barbers have reported receiving death threats.
The bodies of four men, including three policemen, were found shot in and around Diwaniya. Echo base came under mortar attack again, but no casualties were reported.
Near Fallujah in al-Habsa village, an Iraqi army barracks was attacked, but the number of casualties was not reported.
Two kidnap victims were freed in Muthanna village; a number of people were arrested.
A man was killed in al-Shurqat has he was planting a bomb.
When 25 displaced families attempted to return to Abu Saida, gunmen attacked them, killing two and injured five.
A mortar attack at Nahr al-Iman wounded four people.
A Qusaibaa policeman was injured in an attack.
Five employees were injured during a mortar attack on a Baquba hospital.

The weather outside is frightful!

2007-04-16T05:11:00.000-05:00

Good Morning!

Well, it's a disgusting Patriot's Day here. We've got a Northeaster blowing, gale force winds with heavy rain. Unfortunately, today is also the 111th running of the Boston Marathon, which is never cancelled or postponned. The Red Sox have already given up, and I don't know about the Revolutionary re-enactors out on the Green.

Anyway...on to some news.

It seems like our closest ally has some issues with the phrase "War on Terror". According to the British foreign secretary, giving it such a grand name empowers the terrorists and makes them feel a part of something larger. But they already are part of something larger. Small, insurgent groups, fighting a guerilla war, and tying up most of the resources of the world's only superpower? It's interesting to note that it's Patriot's Day. Does this sound familiar at all?

President George W Bush's concept of a "war on terror" has given strength to terrorists by making them feel part of something bigger, Hilary Benn will say. The international development secretary will tell a meeting in New York the phrase gives a shared identity to small groups with widely differing aims. And Mr Benn, a candidate for Labour's deputy leadership, will confirm that UK officials will stop using the term. The White House coined the phrase after the attacks of 11 September 2001.
'Disparate groups'
Mr Benn will say: "In the UK, we do not use the phrase 'war on terror' because we can't win by military means alone. "And because this isn't us against one organised enemy with a clear identity and a coherent set of objective."
It is "the vast majority of the people in the world" against "a small number of loose, shifting and disparate groups who have relatively little in common", he will say.
"What these groups want is to force their individual and narrow values on others, without dialogue, without debate, through violence.
"And by letting them feel part of something bigger, we give them strength."
'Battle of values'
In a New York meeting organised by the Center on International Cooperation think-tank, Mr Benn will urge world leaders to find common ground with potential enemies, rather than relying on "hard" military power.
"The fight for the kind of world that most people want can, in the end, only be won in a different battle - a battle of values and ideas." Mr Bush first outlined the concept of a "war on terror" shortly after New York and the Pentagon were attacked by Islamist terror group al-Qaeda on 11 September 2001.
"Our war on terror begins with al-Qaeda, but it does not end there," he told Congress nine days after the attacks.
"It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated."

Staying with the Brits, they're not going to be happy about the news that the American pilot that inadvertently killed a British tanker back in 2003 is returning to Iraq. The British decided the airman was guilty of "unlawfully killing" the soldier, but he was exonerated by the Americans.

A US pilot involved in the friendly fire killing of a UK soldier is returning to fight in Iraq next month, it has emerged. Lance Corporal of Horse Matty Hull, 25, of Windsor, Berkshire, died when his Scimitar tank came under fire from a US A-10 "Tank Buster" plane in March 2003.
One of two pilots involved in the incident is now being deployed in Iraq as part of the Idaho Air Guard.
A spokesman said he was deployed due to his "extensive combat experience".
'Unlawfully killed'
Air Guard spokesman 1st Lt Tony Vincelli said the pilot's squadron would focus on providing close air support for ground troops, but for security reasons the exact location of the deployment would not be made public.
The other pilot involved in the "blue on blue" attack on British scimitar armoured vehicles near Basra has since retired.
At an inquest earlier this year, Oxfordshire Assistant Deputy Coroner Andrew Walker concluded L/Cp Hull was unlawfully killed.
He told Oxford Coroners' Court L/Cp Hull's death had been "an entirely avoidable tragedy" and that the US fighter pilots' attack on the British convoy of four vehicles near Basra "amounted to an assault" and was criminal.
The US military has not released the names of the A-10 pilots, who were cleared of wrongdoing by the military.

Lastly this morning, there's yet another reason to get out of Iraq. The fragile coalition government may not last. Muqtada al-Sadr has withdrawn six ministers that represent his faction in the Iraqi Parliament, mainly because the US has refused to set a timetable for withdrawal. If al-Sadr's people won't participate in the sham government, can the rest of the Iraqis be far behind?

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Cabinet ministers loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr will withdraw from the Iraqi government later Monday, the head of his parliamentary bloc said.
Al-Sadr’s ministers will “withdraw immediately from the Iraqi government and give the six Cabinet seats to the government, with the hope that they will be given to independents who represent the will of the people,” said Nassar al-Rubaie, head of al-Sadr’s bloc, reading a statement from the cleric.
Al-Sadr, who wields tremendous power among Iraq’s majority Shiites, has been upset about recent arrests of his Mahdi Army fighters in the U.S.-led Baghdad security crackdown. He and his followers have also criticized Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for failing to back calls for a timetable for U.S. troops to leave the country.
The Sadrists hold six positions in the 37-member Cabinet, and 30 seats in the 275-member parliament. Monday’s move would affect only the Cabinet members.
Still, the move would deal a blow to al-Maliki, who relied on support from the Sadrists to gain office.
All six ministers were expected to hand in resignation letters later Monday.
“I ask God to provide the Iraqi people with an independent government, far from (U.S.) occupation, that does all it can to serve the people,” the statement said.

And so, another fun-filled day in the mines awaits. Stay dry, and watch the Marathon!

Don't Meet the Robinsons

2007-04-13T05:37:00.000-05:00

Good Morning!

Have you heard about the new Disney movie, Meet the Robinsons? It's supposedly a fantasy story about an orphaned boy that has a science project ruined, then has to work with a time traveller from the future in order to put things to right.

Sounds pretty benign, hmm? Well, unfortunately, no. According to Wide Horizons, there's an anti-
adoption message running through the film.

(WBZ) BOSTON A Waltham adoption agency is recommending parents not bring adopted children to watch the new Disney movie, "Meet the Robinsons."

Vicki Peterson of Wide Horizons For Children is one of many critics who believe the movie is filled with negative adoption messages.

"I found the movie was distorted, unrealistic and innappropriate in terms of the story it tells about adoption," said Peterson.

The movie centers on a boy inventor named Lewis, who was left at an orphanage by his mother when he was an infant. More than 100 families refuse to adopt Lewis, which prompts the boy to invent a time-machine so he can find his biological mother.

"That setup has disturbed hundreds of adoptive parents and their children, stoking abandonment and rejection fears originating from a story that does not accurately reflect how adopted children are placed with families," Adam Pertman of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute told USA Today.

Disney released the following statement:

"....the heartwarming animated film about a young boy in search of a family to call his own was co-written and directed by Steve Anderson who himself was adopted and drew directly from his own life experience and that of others. Thanks to his intimate understanding of adoption, Steve was able to craft a highly sensitive story that ultimately is about the importance of moving forward in life, no matter what obstacles we may face along the way. This message has resonated with audiences of all backgrounds and all ages, who have given the film high marks."

"Meet the Robinsons" has grossed more than $50 million since its release on March 30.

The movie is based upon the book, "A Day with Wilbur Robinson" by William Joyce.

Javi has seen the commercials, but I think we're going to take a pass on this one. If you're going to see the movie, do yourself a favor and read Adam Pertman's Adoption Nation...maybe you'll start to understand where I'm coming from.

Besides, if there was a movie disparaging birth mothers, don't you think there'd be a massive hue and cry for apologies and withdrawal? No? Well, how about a movie about a scrappy basketball team of nappy-headed ho's winning the championship?

Remembering Geordie....Ten years on.

2007-04-08T20:20:00.000-05:00

Good Morning. We're veering away from the politic today, as we do from time to time.

Ten years ago this very day, we lost a dear brother in Scouting, and a gentleman who means more to me to this day than many will ever know. I've learned my lesson from the last time I tried to pay tribute to some scouters who have gone on (see the archive for that sorry saga) and am posting something I wrote ten years ago when Geordie went to meet his maker.

Even now, Geordie seems to be speaking to me from beyond the grave. I recently found this buried away in a drawer, and I took it as a sign that a dear friend thought that my commitment to Scouting this season is not what it should be. I hope I've corrected some shortcomings, and I stand poised to become Cubmaster of the pack when young Javier joins as a Tiger this fall.

But once again, I think Geordie has an eye on me. I was aware that his anniversary was early this month, but I thought it was the 7th, and that I had missed it last week when I was laid up with strep. Yesterday, I found a "Loonie" (one dollar Canadian coin) on my bookcase, and put it in my pocket as a reminder. When we got home last night, I pulled out my old writings and discovered that I had not missed it, and the anniversary is, in fact, today.

But what really cemented it for me...you'll see when you read the legend at the end. Last night, the brightest 'star' of all, the planet Venus, hung high in the evening sky watching over me. I think Geordie understands men, too. So, with just a slight change from the original, please join me as I remember Geordie.

In Memory of Geordie

On Wednesday, April 9, 1997, our friend and brother is Scouting Jordan Womboldt lost his long battle with liver and kidney disease. I shall not recount his long ordeal, but I will offer the statement of one of Geordie’s doctors, who said “There may be stronger men than him, bit I have seen none tougher.”

Geordie brought to his troop a strong hand and an uncanny ability for leadership, but more importantly, an understanding of the scout-age boy. Much like our own Jim Virnelli, Geordie knew when to lean heavily on a scout to push him on to a greater achievement, or when to sit back and watch a scout learn for himself. Geordie was always there when his scouts needed a stable influence, a father figure, or just someone to talk to who might still remember what it was like to be a boy.

Such is the continuity of scouting that Geordie’s beloved First Milton Troop will go on, with his brother Rick at the helm. But there is a void there today that is felt by everyone who wears a scout uniform.

The last time we all saw Geordie two years ago, we brought north with us a handmade cedar-strip canoe. Geordie had few things he could enjoy in the last years of his life, but our canoe was one of them. As recounted by his family, Geordie would often have the canoe brought out in front of his house, and he would spend hours cleaning and polishing this gift of friendship. All of us who worked on that canoe can take some solace in the fact that something we put so much into in a small way made Geordie’s last years a little more enjoyable.

As I remember Geordie, ten years on, and ponder the mysteries of life and death, and wonder where it is that Scouters go when they die...once again I find comfort in an old Indian legend that has been told many times around a campfire.

Long ago, the Indians believed that the departed left this world and their spirits went to the happy hunting grounds in the sky. At night, the Great Spirit would draw a blanket over the sky to make it dark. The Indians believed that the points of light seen in the blanket were made by the spirits of the departed as they passed through on the way to the happy hunting grounds. Some of the holes were large, making bright points of light, while others were so small they were hardly visible. The Indians thought that the size of the hole had nothing to do with how powerful a chief you may have been, or how large your land was, or how many enemies you had killed in battle, but instead was larger for the number of good deeds and acts of kindness the departed had done throughout his life.

Tonight, when I go outside and look at the stars and ponder the mysteries of life and death, no star shall shine as bright as Geordie’s spirit.

April 9, 2007
David M.

Unit Commissioner, Boy Scout Troop 61, Saugus, MA (Ret.)
Committee Chair, Cub Scout Pack 250, Waltham, MA
Honorary Member, First Milton Troop, Nova Scotia

Tsunami Redux...Money...Passing us by

2007-04-02T05:16:00.000-05:00

Good Morning.

In case you missed it, over the weekend a tsunami struck the islands of the Solomons chain. It's a small chain of islands that lead up to New Guinea.

More than 15 people have been killed and thousands stranded after a powerful undersea earthquake struck off the Solomon Islands, triggering a tsunami.

Giza, an area closest to the epicentre of the earthquake, has been most affected by Monday's tsunami, a provincial leader said.

Officials said a 3m wall of water hit Gizo, just 40km from the quake's epicentre, causing widespread destruction.

"Reports have come in that more than 15 people died, just around Gizo, but with the other islands I cannot tell you," Alex Lokopio, western province premier, told Radio New Zealand.

He did not provide any further details of the deaths but said there was a desperate need for emergency supplies in the affected area following the tsunami, which followed a 8.0 magnitude earthquake .

"What we desperately need now is water, tents, and food because almost 3,000 - 4,000 people are now living on the hill at Gizo," Lokopio said.

The residents of the town were still fearful as aftershocks continued to rock the area.

He said there was no warning of the tsunami which hit just minutes after the area was rocked by the initial quake at 7:40 am local time (20:40 GMT on Sunday).

"There wasn't any warning [of the tsunami]. This was a very sad thing because the warning was the earth tremors. It shook us very, very strongly and we were frightened.

"All of a sudden the sea was rising up so all the people living around the coastal area, they ran up on the hill."

He said most of the government buildings and businesses in the town were destroyed, along with houses in low-lying areas.

Millions of dollars would be needed to repair the damage caused by the tsunami and quake, Lokopio said.

The location is practically forgotten once again, but two generations ago, this was some of the most important real estate in the world. You know it from the history books...."The Slot" "Ironbottom Sound" "PT-109" "Guadalcanal". You'll also note from the story that there was 'no warning given'. The Solomons are on the other side of New Guinea, not overly far from where the tsunami struck Indonesia two Christmases ago. I'm glad to see we kept all the promises we made then. I can only hope that some rich nation might step up to the plate and help with the recovery....China or Japan perhaps. Remember when the United States would do that?

Ah, but one area the United States excels at when it comes to money is political fundraising. Here we are, a year and more away from the elections of 2008, and the most money yet has already been raised by the "candidates". And do you suppose all of these politicians are going to be worrying about Joe Sixpack, or their corporate masters once they get in the White House?

The record-shattering presidential fundraising totals posted by Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and John Edwards pose have raised questions over how the funds are spent.

While the money chase is an important gauge of political strength, it is not the only measure that matters this early in the 2008 election race.

The numbers shed no light on how wisely the campaigns are spending the millions they are taking in or how much money they have left.

With an increasing number of states rushing to hold primaries in January and early February, candidates must be careful to build the state-by-state operations they need now while saving plenty of money for ads later. The general election is not until November 2008.

In the 2004 Democratic race, Howard Dean, then governor of Vermont, stunned his rivals by leading the field with a then-record $40 million as 2004 began, but he burned through it quickly and the donations dwindled after poor showings in the early balloting.

No spending details

On Sunday, Clinton and Edwards chose to announce only their money totals, they do not have to make detailed fundraising and spending reports public until April 15.

Clinton's campaign, which reported total receipts of $36m would not say how much of her $26m in new contributions were general election donations that she would not be allowed to use in her primary campaign. In addition to the donations, Clinton transferred $10m from her Senate campaign account.

Edwards aides said his $14m in new contributions included $1m for the general election.

Neither the Edwards nor the Clinton camps wanted to discuss how much cash they had left, making it more difficult to assess how the two campaigns stack up against each other.

Jenny Backus, a Democratic consultant not backing any specific candidate, said: "Things look very good for the Hillary campaign and the Edwards campaign [but] the devil could be in the details."

Barack Obama, a Democratic senator and 2008 presidential hopeful, has not yet divulged his first-quarter fundraising total, nor have any of the Republican candidates.

Ah, and as long as we are ruminating on the once and former powers of these United States, it's worth pointing out that the stem cell revolution is continuing without us. I said it years ago...this is the new oil. Just imagine that this works, and we can cure cancer, Parkinson's, diabetes, you name it, via stem cell cures. And South Korea, Japan, Germany are the only places you can get it. Well, they're the new superpower, aren't they?

British scientists have grown part of a human heart from stem cells for the first time.
Heart surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub, who led the team, said doctors could be using artificially grown heart components in transplants within three years.
His researchers at Harefield hospital managed to grow tissue that works in the same way as human heart valves.
Sir Magdi told the Guardian newspaper a whole heart could be produced from stem cells within 10 years.
'Common pathway'
The team who spent 10 years working on the project included physicists, pharmacologists, clinicians and cellular scientists.
Researchers will see their achievement as a major step towards growing entire organs for transplant.
Stem cells have the potential to turn into many different types of cell.
Many scientists believe it should be possible to harness the cells' ability to grow into different tissues to repair damage and treat disease.
Previously, scientists have grown tendons, cartilages and bladders, which are all less complex.
Sir Magdi, professor of cardiac surgery at Imperial College London, had been working on ways to address a shortage of donated hearts for patients.
He said he hoped that soon an entire heart could be grown from stem cells.
He added: "It is an ambitious project but not impossible. If you want me to guess I'd say 10 years."
His team extracted stem cells from bone marrow and cultivated them into heart valve cells.
After they were placed in scaffolds formed from collagen, 3cm-wide discs of heart valve tissue were formed.
Later in the year, these will be implanted into animals such as sheep or pigs to see how well they fare.

But hey...why worry about other people, or science? We've got religion and blind faith to keep us safe and healthy, right?

Overseas Roundup

2007-03-30T05:06:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday everyone!!

Let's take a look overseas and see what the rest of the world is seeing for news these days...

We'll start in Hong Kong...neighbor to the world's most populous Muslim country. (Indonesia). They're none to happy about the latest bit of Hollywood claptrap....and so the propaganda continues. How is this really any different than what Leni Riefenstahl used to do?

For all its liberal persuasions, the Hollywood film model is firmly rooted in the "if you are not with us, you are against us"

line of neo-conservative thinking.
Cinema is a two-dimensional art form, lending itself more to simplistic caricatures than either literature or its poor cousin theater ever could. While initial audiences were impressed with screen size and vistas of unvisited destinations, the advent of television upped the stakes. Needing to provide a compelling excuse for people to be weaned away from the idiot box, films simply became more grandiose and, in so doing, changed the economics of the business forever.

While productions of yore revolved around the big studios, the need for grandiosity ushered in the age of the film star. Thus movies became about the actor, rather than "merely" a compelling view of an oft-told story. This marked cinema's departure from its parents, namely literature and theater.

This departure is too often glossed over by the news media when reviewing cinema as an art form. In particular, the advent of close-ups in film accentuated facial features, exaggerating the impact on the audience. That change had the less-than-subtle impact of forcing the audience to identify with or against the screen personalities.

In other words, whether you like the face on the screen becomes the dominant consideration. The option of having an equivocal opinion on characters bathed in shades of gray that is afforded in both literature and to a lesser extent theater is mostly unavailable in cinema unless the filmmaker chooses not to engage a mainstream audience.

Forcing art to conform to the audience's empathy produces horrible results all too often, a recent example of which would be Hollywood's homicide of Homer's Iliadin the film Troy, which not only sees the Trojans as the heroic figures but also portrays the Greeks as marauding hooligans. The mistake would be to evaluate the film as a rendition of the Iliad, rather than as a political commentary on the current US government, an intentional rebuke of America's war on Iraq.

Turning to the Middle East, it appears that George Bush's most reliable ally in the region is starting to turn. This article comes from Saudi Arabia, and it's stunning in its frankness.

RIYADH, 29 March 2007 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah yesterday lambasted the “illegitimate foreign occupation” of Iraq by US-led forces and urged Arab leaders attending a historic summit in the Saudi capital not to allow foreign powers to determine the future course of the region.
In his keynote address opening the two-day summit, King Abdullah called upon Arab leaders to usher in a new era in Arab joint work while holding them accountable for disunity in the Arab world over the past decades.
“In Iraq, blood flows between brothers in the shadow of an illegitimate foreign occupation and hateful sectarianism, threatening a civil war,” King Abdullah said after taking over the presidency of the 23-member Arab League from Sudan’s President Omar Bashir.
Washington, however, justified its occupation of Iraq. “The US is in Iraq at the request of the Iraqis and under a UN mandate. Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong,” said National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
The Saudi leader also called for an end to the international blockade on the Palestinians. “It has become necessary to end the unjust blockade imposed on the Palestinian people as soon as possible so that the peace process can move in an atmosphere far from oppression and force,” the king said.
Saudi Arabia last month brokered a unity government between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction and Hamas, hoping it would help end a crippling Western blockade imposed after the Islamist group took office over a year ago. The summit drew a number of world and Muslim leaders, including Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

We'll end up in Mexico...where they can say what we've know all along. We don't have a president, we have a caricature.

George W. Bush's citizen approval ratings are in free-fall … 28 percent! As Hugo Chávez said recently, he has become a political corpse. The cartoon by Mike Luckovich in last Sunday's New York Times is illustrative: Karl Rove, the sinister adviser to the President, walks into the Oval Office to deliver the "good news:"

"Thank God for the scandal over Federal Prosecutors, because it's eclipsing the Scooter Libby fiasco, which has obscured revelations over the deplorable state of Walter Reed Medical Center" … One after another.

As its mandate concludes, problems, violations and abuses of power cascade from an administration characterized by its scorn for the law - to all laws, national and international. The list is endless: the invasion of Iraq, in flagrant violation of international law and resolutions of the United Nations Security Council; the hoax over weapons of mass destruction cooked up with the help of Tony Blair (another political corpse); the violations of the Geneva Conventions at the abominable Abu Ghraib prison; and the illegal kidnapping of suspects, who were subsequently transported in CIA aircraft to be tortured in the secret prisons of "friendly" nations.

And what can one say about the so-called "Patriot Act," which allows the government to eavesdrop on the telephone conversations, electronic communications and bank transactions of its own citizens to look for "terrorists?" There is also the case of Guantánamo Bay, where hundreds of prisoners classified with the elusive title of "enemy combatants" are rotting, detained without legal representation and without any hope of clarifying their situation.

The most recent scandal - in a government that has gone from bad to worse - involves the Attorney General, a lackey that has legally covered up or "dressed up" Bush's illegal conduct. In the most recent episode, Alberto Gonzales fired 93 federal prosecutors, all appointed with Senate approval to serve in the country's Federal courts, in order to replace them with unquestioning Republicans - who would cover their backs and continue prosecuting, beyond Bush's mandate, alleged violations of law that are probably unconstitutional.

So, it's the end of another week. Let's be careful out there.

We're Back!....are you ready for war?

2007-03-28T05:05:00.000-05:00

Well, we had a brief interlude yesterday afternoon at Air America Place....but the powers that be have corrected the issue and everything is back to normal.

So....are you ready for War with Iran? It may be coming sooner than you think. The British are doing our dirty work by proxy, managing their own "USS Pueblo" incident. The UK home secretary continues to call the situation "dangerous". Well, no duh!

The dispute over 15 Royal Navy personnel being held in Iran is becoming a "difficult" and "dangerous" situation, the UK home secretary says.
John Reid's remarks on Sky News came after Tony Blair hinted at taking a more aggressive diplomatic approach.
The UK is set to release photographs to back its assertion that the Britons had not been in Iranian waters on Friday.
Turkey's prime minister has been quoted as saying his diplomats may be allowed to meet the group, taken in the Gulf.
According to CNN Turk television, Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave the indication after meeting the Iranian foreign minister and before an Arab leaders' summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The Foreign Office said reports that Turkish diplomats may be granted access to the detainees should be treated with "caution".
It stressed: "For the moment, the point is that we want access to them."
On Tuesday, UK Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett discussed the plight of the Britons with Turkey, its Nato ally.
The eight sailors and seven marines, based on HMS Cornwall, were taken at gunpoint in the northern Gulf as they returned after searching a boat.
Iran says they were trespassing in Iranian waters, but the UK has insisted the group were in Iraqi waters under a UN mandate.
Preparations are in place for a news conference at the Ministry of Defence in London, where photographs of the moments when the Britons were captured will be revealed.

BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins said the UK could confront Iran directly with satellite pictures and other evidence in an effort to prove the personnel had not strayed into Iranian territorial waters.
He said hardliners around Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad believe the Britons may be ideal pawns, either for concessions over Iran's nuclear programme or to trade for five Iranians being held by the US in Iraq.
Mrs Beckett cut short her visit to Turkey to return to the UK where she will and give a statement on the crisis to MPs.
She decided to return after a phone call to the Iranian foreign minister on Tuesday made no progress.
Downing Street has said that up to now the UK has been attempting to talk "discreetly" to the Iranians to secure the release of the Royal Navy personnel.
The prime minister's spokesman said that if the talks were unsuccessful, the government may have to become "more explicit" with Iran.

But that's not the half of it. Have you heard of "Operation Darius"? I thought not. It's allegedly the top secret plan for the nuclear conquest of Iran. Our Madman-In-Chief is just crazy enough to do it....and one of the dates being tossed about is April 6. You'll notice that it's Good Friday, which is no coincidence, IMHO.

The nuclear attack on Iran would be in 12 phases:

Phase 1: Create a national diversion by focusing the Congress and the voters’ attention on whether or not to escalate our troops in Iraq, completely occupying Congress, the media and the voters.

Phase 2: Bush and Cheney are fully aware this fifth surge will fail as certainly as the previous four surges, but it will preoccupy America and the world while they secretly move forward with their nuclear attack on Iran.

Phase 3: While everyone is focused on the escalation in Iraq, make an illegal, immoral Preemptive Strike on the Sovereign Nation of Somalia, on the pretense of getting a dangerous 9 year old terrorist, but for the real purpose of testing how the public, the Congress and the world would react to another Bush preemptive strike, whose real purpose is to prepare the world for Bush’s preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear building sites.

Phase 4: If there was no real outcry to this violation of Somalia’s sovereignty, a further provocation of Iran would take place by attacking, killing and imprisoning Iran nationals and envoys in Iraq with an intense propaganda campaign that these were Iranians helping Iraq’s insurgents by attacking Americans directly, i.e., Iran surreptitiously attacking America. Of course some Iranians in Iraq were, and always have been, but others were sovereign envoys protected by international law, a clear way of provoking Iran.

Phase 5: Quietly send two full carrier groups – not one, but two - into the area loaded with patriot missiles, and in their top secret cargos, secretly developed nuclear field weapons - shoulder holstered nuclear “bunker buster” missiles - secretly developed against Congress’s explicit refusal to develop and pay for these incredibly dangerous weapons that could fall into the hands of terrorists and other American enemies all over the world.

Phase 6: Continue preparing America and the world for the nuclear attack on Iran by Bush casually mentioning, almost in passing in his 2007 State of the Union Address, that he send patriot missiles and air carrier groups to Iran.

Phase 7: If there was no real outcry, either in America or the world, to the first international illegal preemptive strike in Somalia, do a second strike in Somalia to desensitize world outrage for any future preemptive strikes – especially the crucial preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Phase 8: Do a preemptive, absolutely illegal air strike in violation of international law on Iran’s key 3,000 newly developed nuclear facilities with traditional bombs.

Phase 9: Depending on the severity of world response, especially Iran and North Korea’s, send a second preemptive air attack with one plane carrying one nuclear weapon.

Phase 10: Should North Korea threaten to send, actually send, or even think of sending their over one-million man army across the border to South Korea’s capitol, Seoul, just 30 miles from the border, with only our 37,000 troops standing in the way, we will – for the first time in history - through Special Op forces who have been fully operational in Iran for months, launch an attack on a key Iranian nuclear facility with a Nuclear Field Weapon - one of our secretly developed Shoulder Holstered Bunker Buster Nuclear Missiles.

Iran, Syria and North Korea’s Fatal Miscalculation

Phase 11: Every Head of State, including Iran and North Korea, are absolutely convinced that no sane leader would use a nuclear weapon to attack another country. Unfortunately not one realizes the extremely serious mental illness and delusions of grandeur of Bush and Cheney. (See evidence of how seriously Bush and Cheney are both mentally compromised).

All of the Military experts, politicians, pundits and talking heads who say we’ll never attack Iran because we are already spread hopelessly thin militarily, are wrong – and for the same reason: The same delusions of grandeur that caused Bush and Cheney to predict repeatedly that we would be greeted as liberators with rose petals in Iraq, have Bush and Cheney absolutely certain that we will have to unleash only two nuclear weapons – one via air and the other a land missile – and the whole world will cave in to our military power. No one will dare fight back, and Bush and Cheney will be the only military superpower in the world.

Bush and Cheney are absolutely convinced every nation will be so terrified, especially by the nuclear land missile’s flexibility, that this fear will completely nullify any troop numbers, no matter how overwhelming. Bush and Cheney are absolutely convinced our overwhelming nuclear power, and willingness to use these air and land nuclear weapons, will force all opponents, from Iran and North Korea, to Syria and Chavez, into immediate submission and our control, forcing them to submit to all conditions we request, and ending any nuclear threat they, or any other nation, might be thinking of developing.

They are absolutely convinced that every nation will so fear a Special Ops use of a nuclear bunker buster in their nation, they will restore Bush and Cheney to being masters of the universe which they stopped being with their failures in Afghanistan (“Forgot-us-stan”), Iraq, Lebanon – and even Katrina.

Bush and Cheney are convinced that whatever negative reaction there will be towards the US at this first use of nuclear weapons in a war, it will be more than offset by the United States regaining its position as the world’s sole military superpower able to crush any opposition, actual or developing, to America’s goals, and give us complete control over all the oil and gas reserves in the Middle East, and elsewhere. In short, it will restore The Bush Doctrine, making America the world’s only superpower, and keep nuclear weapons from being developed anywhere else.

Phase 12: Bush and Cheney are certain that the cowardly Congress, who have brutally betrayed the 2006 voters who gave them control of Congress to stop the Iraq war, are so afraid of even passing aggressive legislation to stop the war, cut off funding, etc., and are so intimidated they spend their time endlessly debating non-binding resolutions and playing partisan games for the 2008 election, will never have the backbone to stop them - even when they discover the hard proof of Bush and Cheney’s mentally ill, already underway plans to attack and invade Iran.

The only possible way to stop them at this late stage is by a Congressional Impeachment Inquiry (not even an Impeachment Trial, but just an Impeachment Inquiry.)

I've said it before, back during the Cold War....I work within sight of downtown Boston. I'd get a millisecond of intense light, then gone. Instantly vaporized. It's not so funny now with a wife and child.

Air America Update

2007-03-27T13:22:00.000-05:00

Good afternoon, everyone!

If you remembered Northeast Liberals and are checking us out for the first time while AAP is down....what took you so long?

In any case....we're down. Apparently, this is an enforced shutdown by our ISP; we've been having some problems with phishing. I don't pretend to understand what's going on with the site admin, but rest assured, our administrators are busily working to correct what's wrong and get us back online.

In the meantime, bookmark us, and we'll keep churning out the daily blogs like we always do. And of course, I'll post an update whenever AAP gets back to right.

TriSec

High TIDE...Holy book riot, Batman!...Republicans eating their own

2007-03-26T05:13:00.000-05:00

Good Morning!

Is your name on the terrorist database list? You never know....

The government maintains a huge database called Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) that is a central storehouse for every bit of terrorism-related information that it receives. This is the source of the infamous no-fly list. I'm certain each and every one of us liberal bloggers is on it somewhere. But here's the kicker....so much data is coming in now, seeing that so many people, places, and things have been declared "enemies of the state" that the administrators of the database are having problems keeping up with it.

...Ballooning from fewer than 100,000 files in 2003 to about 435,000 today, the growing database threatens to overwhelm the people who manage it.
"The single biggest worry that I have is long-term quality control," said Russ Travers, in charge of TIDE at the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, Va. "Where am I going to be, where is my successor going to be, five years down the road?"
TIDE has also created concerns about secrecy, errors, and privacy. The list marks the first time foreigners and US citizens are combined in an intelligence database. The bar for inclusion is low, and once a person is on the list, it is virtually impossible to get off. At any stage, the process can lead to "horror stories" of mixed-up names and unconfirmed information, Travers acknowledged.
The watch lists fed by TIDE, used to monitor everyone entering the country or having even a casual encounter with federal, state, and local law enforcement, have a higher bar.
But they have become a source of irritation, and potentially more serious consequences, for many US citizens and visitors.
In 2004 and 2005, misidentifications accounted for about half of the tens of thousands of times a traveler's name triggered a watch-list hit, the Government Accountability Office reported in September. Congressional committees have criticized the process, some charging that it collects too much information about Americans, others saying it is ineffective against terrorists. Civil rights and privacy groups have called for increased transparency.
"How many are on the lists, how are they compiled, how is the information used, how do they verify it?" asked Lillie Coney, associate director of the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center. Such information is classified, and individuals barred from traveling are not told why.
Senator Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska, complained last year that his wife had been delayed repeatedly while airlines queried whether Catherine Stevens was the watch-listed Cat Stevens. The listing referred to the Britain-based pop singer who converted to Islam and changed his name to Yusuf Islam. The reason Islam is not allowed to fly is secret.
So is the reason why Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian, remains on the State Department's consular watch list.
Detained in New York while en route to Montreal in 2002, Arar was sent by the US government to a year of imprisonment in Syria. Canada, the source of the initial information about Arar, cleared him of all terrorism allegations last September -- three years after his release -- and has since authorized $9 million in compensation.
TIDE is a vacuum cleaner for both proven and unproven information, and its managers disclaim responsibility for how other agencies use the data.
"What's the alternative?" Travers asked. "I work under the assumption that we're never going to have perfect information -- fingerprints, DNA -- on 6 billion people across the planet. . . . If someone actually has a better idea, I'm all ears."

A bit of an unusual story coming from Yemen this morning. Perhaps this serves to illustrate the intrinsic differences between Islam and other 'western' religions. If you were mad at a Christian, would you throw a bible to the floor to see what he would do? Apparently, that starts a riot in an Islamic country if you do that with a Quran.

Violence between local and foreign workers at a gas plant in southern Yemen has left at least four Yemenis and a French employee of an energy company injured.

Early reports said fighting began after a French employee at the natural gas liquefaction plant threw a copy of the Quran, Islam's holy book, onto the ground during an argument on Sunday.

As word of the incident spread, hundreds of workers rioted, damaging a gas export terminal under construction and setting fire to vehicles, security sources said.

Calm was only restored once soldiers from the Yemeni army arrrived, backed by tanks.

"After a fight between a French engineer and another who is Yemeni, the Frenchman - to enrage the Yemeni - threw a Quran on the floor in an offensive way," AFP reported one official as saying.

Yemeni employees then reacted by attacking the French employee and setting fire to a helicopter and a large number of vehicles inside the plant site, an officials said.

The rioters allegedly tried to attack expatriate workers in their camp inside the plant site but were pushed back by Yemeni troops who arrived with tanks and armored vehicles to contain the violence and restore calm.

The LNG plant, in the coastal city of Balhaf, is being constructed by Yemen LNG, which is partly owned by the Yemeni government and partly by France's Total energy company.

Yemen LNG confirmed the clashes took place in a press release, but did not report any injuries, only "undefined damage".

Lastly this morning...signs that all hope is not lost in Washington. There's a new voice bandying about the "I"-word....Senator Chuck Hagel, (R-NE)

WASHINGTON -- A prominent Republican lawmaker charged yesterday that President Bush has adopted a go-it-alone approach on Iraq that is flouting the will of the public and Congress, where he said some members are considering impeachment an option.
Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and a frequent GOP critic of the war, stopped short of calling for Bush's impeachment. But he made clear that some lawmakers viewed that as an option should Bush choose to push ahead despite public sentiment against the war.
Meanwhile, Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, the Senate's number two Republican leader, harshly criticized House Democrats for setting an "artificial date" for withdrawing troops from Iraq and said he believes Republicans have enough votes to prevent passage of a similar bill in the Senate.
"We need to put that kind of decision in the hands of our commanders. . . . For Congress to impose an artificial date of any kind is totally irresponsible," Lott said on "Fox News Sunday."
Hagel, who is considering a 2008 presidential run, said on ABC's "This Week" that there are ways for Congress to deal with "any president who says, 'I don't care,' or 'I will not respond to what the people of this country are saying about Iraq or anything else.' "
"This is not a monarchy," he added, referring to the possibility that some lawmakers may seek impeachment. "There are ways to deal with it."

So...interesting things out and about in the world today. Do pay attention...you never know what may happen.

Overseas Roundup

2007-03-23T05:13:00.000-05:00

Good Morning!

Off to another new feature....we'll be combing through Watching America again this week to see what the rest of the world is thinking of us. Of course, we'll start with the Warron Terra. Remember the confessions of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed? Some of our allies aren't buying it.

The sweeping confession of alleged al-Qaida mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who has claimed involvement in 31 terror plots, has been met with skepticism from German commentators. Some editorialists have stronger feelings about the "show" trial against Mohammed than whether or not he is telling the truth.

According to a transcript released on Thursday by the Pentagon, suspected al-Qaida leader and 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed made far-reaching confessions that he was "responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z," and that he personally beheaded kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl with his own knife. Mohammed has allegedly claimed responsibility for a total of 31 terrorist attacks -- some of which were never completed -- an admission that would make him al-Qaida's key operation planner.

German commentators criticize the conditions under which the confession was obtained, noting that Mohammed had been subjected to years of "rough" interrogations at the hands of the CIA. Apart from condemning a hearing that did not adhere to the laws laid out in the United States constitution, along with a transcript that was heavily edited, German papers also cite allegations that Mohammed was tortured while held in custody as a suspected terrorist. Can his testimony be trusted or was he coerced into giving it?
It's hard to say if there is anything more to Mohammed's confessions than the fantasy product of a "vain, megalomaniacal über-terrorist," writes the conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung:

"The transcript makes clear that Mohammed was the key figure in a network which sprang up in the Afghan-Pakistani border region, spanned the world and was financed by the Arabic world. It was ambitious in its goals and merciless with its victims. The greater the mass murder, the better. This was Khalid's logic -- and he even admitted it in front of a military tribunal. The evidence is overwhelming."

"Admittedly, his confession is flawed because of its location and the allegedly problematic conditions under which he has been held ever since he was captured by the CIA in 2003. Has he ever been forced to give testimony or even tortured? He himself claims that he was tortured before being taken to Guantanamo, but that he voluntarily provided his current testimony. Still, whether or not this will satisfy the criteria for a legal trial is as controversial as the hearing itself has been. For its part, the Bush administration has nobody but itself to blame for the fact that the actions and motives of the perpetrator are now playing second fiddle to the practices used by the Americans in fighting terrorism."

Of course, other countries keep reporting inconvenient things about Guantanamo Bay. Particularly involving treatment of the 'detainees'. Can you say Concentration Camp?

DAVID Hicks, the Australian accused of terrorism, was dazed and bewildered for three weeks after US officials gave him a new medicine, his lawyer said today.

US military lawyer Major Michael Mori said he had complained to US authorities about allegations Hicks was forcibly sedated at the US Guantanamo Bay military base last month just before he was informed of new terror charges.

He said Hicks told him he was given a new liquid medicine, ostensibly for a stomach complaint, that knocked him out for 24 hours, and left him bewildered and dazed for three weeks.

"I just raised it, you know," Major Mori said. "Obviously there's nothing I can do about it being done but I can ask 'just please don+t do it in the future'."

But Major Mori said he expected David Hicks' legal appearance on terror offences at Guantanamo Bay will go ahead next week despite two legal challenges.

A Pentagon spokesman said he was looking into the allegation.

"I can say however David Hicks has been treated humanely at Guantanamo, as per our policy. Also, it should be noted that a number of past allegations concerning his treatment were completely unsubstantiated," the spokesman said.

Major Mori and Hicks' US civilian lawyer Joshua Dratel traveled to Guantanamo Bay last week to visit the 31-year-old Adelaide terrorist suspect.

Hicks is charged with providing material support for terrorism.

The defence team has applied in the US District Court in Washington for a stay on Hicks' military commission hearing, pointing out that the US Supreme Court is considering whether to hear an appeal from Guantanamo Bay detainees.

Major Mori said he did not know when the injunction would be heard. "You guys are making much more of thisicipate the (arraignment) hearings will go forwards."

Hicks is also one of 45 detainees seeking an appeal in the US Supreme Court to challenge their detention.

They argue they should be given the same legal rights as others appearing in the US justice system.

A decision on whether the case will be expedited could be delivered this week.

Major Mori would not be drawn on how Hicks was feeling ahead of his arraignment on March 26, or whether he was looking forward to seeing his father, Terry Hicks.

When asked how Hicks was, Major Mori said "much the same as he was a month and a half ago" which is when his legal team saw him last. He said Hicks had been in solitary confinement for a year and it was taking its toll.

Of course, we can't look overseas without getting the latest opinions on our escapades in Iraq. The French have a couple of interesting things to say about it.

L’Alsace Lorraine: Four years after the invasion of Iraq, President Bush nevertheless persists. Yesterday during a brief speech he called for the American people to be “patient,” as if he believed in miracles.

Nevertheless, the balance sheet of the past four years is catastrophic; for Iraq, for the United States and for the rest of the world.

First of all on a human level, several tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians, perhaps several hundred thousand, have died in daily attacks, clashes between militias and sectarian fighting. And over 3,500 soldiers from the “coalition,” including 3,200 Americans have been killed, to say nothing of the 12,000 to 20,000 Iraqi soldiers and police. To this macabre assessment, one must add thousands of wounded, often handicapped for life.

A MILITARY DISASTER …
And then there's the military situation, which incites little optimism. The spectacular charge of armored vehicles and helicopter-born troops in the spring of 2003 quickly encountered a vacuum, driving military commanders to adopt a “hedgehog” strategy: up to last summer, the U.S. Army remained sheltered in its bases and limited its activities to patrols and to carefully targeted operations, in order to implicate the Iraqi security forces so as not to appear as an all-too-visible “occupation army."

Confronting a wave of attacks since the fall (and after the ejection of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld), the U.S. high command went on the offensive, concentrating specifically on Baghdad and the oilfield sector. The capital has been broken into sectors with some degree of effectiveness and the number of attacks appears to have dropped. But Northern Iraq remains under the control of Sunni guerillas, who confront Shiite militias are in the South … So the 160,000 man task force has, as the generals command, extended the Baghdad “experiment” over additional areas, with the assistance of a better-equipped and more controlled Iraqi army … in the hope that its units will not pass its arms and equipment to rival militias.

… AND POLITICALLY
On the political front, the situation is disastrous. First of all in Iraq: Despite free elections and a theoretically democratic government (but corrupted to its core), the country is divided in three. The Kurdish region is in fact independent (to the great displeasure of Turkey and Iran, who are both hostile to the creation of a Kurdish state) but vulnerable to a Turkmen or Arabic rebellion. The North, especially the Sunni areas, has escaped Baghdad’s authority, and in mixed Sunni-Shiite regions, guerilla war is raging and amongst the Shiite Parties, rival militias battle over power and oil.

Even more grave, the entire Middle East has been destabilized. America's quagmire in Iraq has favored the ascent to power of Hamas in the Palestinian territories and Hezbullah in Lebanon, it has strengthened Syria and established Iran as a regional power, which is now pulling the strings across the region. And finally, Islamic terrorism is gaining ground.

… AND INTERNATIONALLY
Lastly, the situation internationally depends on Iraq, which is the Achilles’ heel of the American hyperpower. China has never been so present, Russia has made its diplomatic return to the Great Game and Latin America has broken free of Washington’s guardianship, which is too preoccupied elsewhere. Anti-Americanism, stimulated in Europe by affairs like the Guantanamo prison scandal, has reached levels unknown since the Vietnam War era.

Americans, of which only a small minority approve of the war, are conscious of this dip in fortunes, which is costing hundreds of billions of dollars every year. But the Congress, despite being majority Democrat, is powerless before the threat of a Presidential veto that cannot be overridden … George W. Bush is especially determined to leave the burden of Iraq to his successor.

Always interesting to see what the rest of the world thinks of us, isn't it?

Circling the wagons...Children Bombers...Not enough guns

2007-03-21T05:14:00.000-05:00

Good Morning!

I'm sure you've heard of the ongoing scandal over the White House firings of politically unreliable Federal Prosecutors? The Democratic Congress is very interested in hearing what the "president's" aides have to say. On the record and under oath, of course. It should come as no surprise that the White House opposes the idea.

George Bush, the US president, has said he will block any attempts to get his aides to testify under oath over accusations senior government lawyers were fired for political reasons.

"I will oppose any attempts to subpoena White House officials," George Bush said on Tuesday.

Several lawyers removed by the US Justice Department headed by Alberto Gonzales, the attorney-general and close aide to Bush, have claimed they were sacked after refusing to launch what they say were politically-motivated corruption inquiries involving Democrats.

'Political purge'
Democrats in Congress claim that the dismissals, announced last December, were part of a political purge of rivals that has undermined the independence of Gonzales' justice department.

Bush has openly supported Gonzales after some of Bush's fellow Republicans joined Democrats in calling for the resignation of the attorney general, a fellow Texan who came to Washington with Bush six years ago.

Responding to calls for aides to testify under oath, Bush said: "I hope the Democrats choose not to do that ... we will not go along with a partisan fishing expedition."

He has offered to allow Karl Rove, his chief strategist and deputy chief of staff, along with some other officials to be questioned behind closed doors and off the record.

A judiciary sub-committee is expected to vote on whether to issue subpoenas for Rove and four other past and present top White House officials, including Harriet Miers, the former counsel.

Miers was initially thought to have raised the idea of firing all 93 US government prosecutors following Bush's re-election in 2004.

Besides Miers, other White House officials offered for questioning are William Kelley, the deputy counsel, and Scott Jennings, the political adviser.

Bush, who was pressed to remove Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, after the Democrats took the majority in congress, said he would stand by White House officials.

'No oath, no transcript'

Fred Fielding, Bush's official government lawyer, told legislators that Bush's aides would accept private interviews instead of testifying under oath.

"Such interviews would be private and conducted without the need for an oath, transcript, subsequent testimony, or the subsequent issuance of subpoenas," Fielding said in a letter released by the White House.

Several legislators have criticised Bush for taking a combative stance.

Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, rejected Bush's offer for Rove to be questioned privately.

"I don't accept his offer. It is not constructive and it is not helpful to be telling the senate how to do our investigation or to prejudge its outcome," he said.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, a new tactic is emerging. Remember back during the first Gulf War, when Saddam Hussein used women and children as human shields to protect likely targets? It looks like the insurgency has adopted a similar tactic to get past US checkpoints....only they're blowing up babies in the process.

A US military official has said children have been used in a bomb attack in Iraq, raising fears that insurgents are using a new tactic.
Gen Michael Barbero said a vehicle stopped at a checkpoint was waved through because two children were seen in the back, but was then detonated.
Militants were changing tactics in response to tighter security, he said.
Five people including the children died and another seven were injured in the attack, in Baghdad on Sunday.
Gen Barbero said there had been also two adults in the car. They parked it near a market, abandoned it with the children inside and apparently detonated it.
The two children died, along with three civilians in the vicinity, officials said.
The children's identity is not known, nor their relationship to the adults.
'Changing tactics'
Gen Barbero said it was the first time he had seen a report of children being used in bombings.
"The brutality and ruthless nature of this enemy hasn't changed," he said.
"They are just interested in slaughtering Iraqi civilians, to be very honest."
The apparent new tactics have come as more US forces are sent into Baghdad as part of a security crackdown.
Gen Barbero said that car bombs and suicide attacks have become more frequent but were less effective as they were often stopped checkpoints.
The use of chlorine bombs was another example of how tactics were changing, he added.
Several incidents involving chlorine have been reported in different parts of Iraq in recent months, prompting fears of a further escalation of conflicts between rival groups.

Lastly this morning....file this under "Mother of all Bad Ideas". As if there isn't enough trouble in the Middle East, the Bush Administration wants to sell weapons there now, too. Nevermind that the folks most in need of US weapons in the region are actual US soldiers.

WASHINGTON -- The State Department and the Pentagon are quietly seeking congressional approval for significant new military sales to US allies in the Persian Gulf region. The move is part of a broader American strategy to contain Iranian influence by strengthening Iran's neighbors and signaling that the United States is still a strong military player in the Middle East, despite all the difficulties in Iraq.
But the arms sales, which would come on top of a recent upgrade of US Patriot antimissile interceptors in Qatar and Kuwait and the deployment of two aircraft carriers to the Gulf, could spark concerns that further military buildup in the volatile region would bring Washington closer to a confrontation with Iran.
Senior US officials have been tight-lipped in public about what systems they hope to sell, citing the need to get congressional support for the measure first and skittishness among Arab allies that don't want the publicity. Current and former US officials and analysts familiar with the discussions say items under consideration include sophisticated air and missile defense systems, advanced early warning radar aircraft that could detect low-flying missiles, and light coastal combat ships that could sweep the Gulf for mines and help gather underwater intelligence.
The arms sales are a Cold War-style geopolitical maneuver designed to isolate Iran by arming its neighbors against a perceived common threat.
"We should look at this in the broader context of what Secretary [Condoleezza] Rice calls the looming confrontation between extremists and moderates," Stephen D. Mull , the State Department's acting assistant secretary of political-military affairs, said in an interview. "We are on record as saying Syria and Iran sponsor these [extremist] forces."
The move could be an economic boon for New England, which manufactures some of the weapons systems that are believed to be under consideration for sale.
The current arms sale proposals grew out of a diplomatic effort launched last May called the "Gulf Security Dialogue," in which US officials sought to suggest ways to bolster the defenses of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Oman.
Not every country opted to buy a new weapons system, Mull said. Some asked for other kinds of assistance, such as improving port security and protecting key energy installations.

So...the madness that is the United States continues on.

Anniversary and Protest

2007-03-19T05:06:00.000-05:00

Good Morning. We start another week on the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

Looking at the casualty count this morning, there are 3,218 dead American soldiers as a result of this folly.

But many thousands of people didn't take this sitting down. Yesterday there were large protests in many cities.

SAN FRANCISCO -- For the second consecutive day, thousands of protesters took to the streets across the nation yesterday to call for an end to funding of the Iraq war or an immediate return of US troops.
Demonstrators gathered in San Francisco, New York, Portland, Ore., and elsewhere to mark the fourth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq and call on President Bush to heed what they say is the will of the people.
In largely peaceful demonstrations, about 3,000 people in San Francisco closed Market Street, a major downtown thoroughfare.
In New York, protesters converged in a park near the United Nations headquarters. Police offered no crowd estimate, but it appeared to be well over 1,000 people.
Dozens of police in San Francisco on foot and motorcycle blocked traffic and kept an eye on the crowd, which stretched for blocks through the financial district. No arrests were reported by police.
Antiwar activists also gathered yesterday in Providence and dozens of other cities and towns across New England.
Gary Fong, 65, carried a sign calling on Bush to "listen to America" as he marched in San Francisco.
"I think the war effort at this point is futile," said the retired school guidance counselor and former Army intelligence officer. "We want to do our part to express to Bush and the government that change needs to be made."
In New York, where union members, war veterans, and representatives of Jesse Jackson's Rainbow-PUSH Coalition joined protesters, the line of marchers extended for several blocks.
Actor Tim Robbins, speaking at an earlier rally organized by the New York chapter of United for Peace and Justice, told the crowd that getting Congress to cut off funds for the war "would be a good way" to get the troops home.
"The American people want this war to end," said Robbins, a frequent participant in antiwar protests.
"That's the message they sent last November in the election. When are we going to start listening to them?"

It's not too late to participate; there's a round of candlelight vigils taking place across America this evening. If you can, do get out and add your voice to the chorus calling for the troops to come home.

Overseas Roundup

2007-03-16T05:05:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday, everyone!

It's the end of another week, so let's take a look around the world and see what they think of us today. Thanks to the wondrous website..."Watching Ameria".

First up...our Succubus of State.

Condoleezza Rice, the Black Secretary of State of the United States (with all due respect to Blacks), has achieved a fame in the Arab World that surpasses that of our own villainous leaders ... She is on everyone's lips … her pictures are constantly broadcast on every national and satellite television station … rather than beautiful belles, newspapers decorate their front pages with her pictures … and even tabloids put her face on their covers rather than those of models and beautiful women.

All of this is not because of her beauty, appeal, or magical attraction … and not due to her sparkling intelligence or cultural sophistication. It certainly isn't because she is blue-blooded (God forbid) or a descendent of one of the greats … and not because she's a descendant of an ancient noble dynasty. Surely she is beyond accusation in this regard, as innocent as the wolf who was blamed for eating the son of Jacob [the son of Abraham, founder of the Jews and prophet of Islam].

[Editor's Note: In the Old Testament, Jacob, the great grandson of Abraham - the first Jew and a Prophet of Islam - was told by his sons that a wolf had devoured another of his sons, called Joseph. The truth was that they wanted to get rid of Joseph, had thrown Joseph into a pit, and had made up the story about the wolf [Genesis xxxvii. 33]. Jacob ordered them to arm themselves and capture the beast. So they went and captured a wolf. According to the story, when Jacob began to reproach the beast for its cruelty, the wolf answered, in human language, that it had not devoured Joseph, and that it was itself searching for its lost cub].

The reason [for her continued appearance everywhere] is that she holds in one hand a baton with which she breaks the bones of the weak … and in the other, a whip that rips through the skins of the innocent. Her acts are backed up by her country’s great strength … and the indifferent silence of the civilized world, which claims to defend freedoms and democracies.
*snip*
Rice is really and truly a succubus, and like Lucifer she deserves to be struck with stones - and as an extra sign of how despised she is - she should also be struck with shoes … that is if the militants don't hurl something at her even more harmful than stones and shoes.

Remember the story a few days back about the Iranian general that defected to the west? It got scant coverage in the west except on The Rachel Maddow Show....so here's the scoop from overseas.

Iran's former deputy defense minister, General Ali Reza Asghari disappeared without a trace in Turkey on February 7. According intelligence service sources, it's likely that the general, who is privy to profound secrets on Iranian assistance to the Lebanese Hezbullah, has defected and is being interrogated by the American intelligence services. At a time when international tension id high over Iran's role in the Middle East, the revelatios of Ali Reza Asghari's are of great interest to Washington. Le Figaro inquired into his disappearance.

The Iranian general is allegedly in a northern European country, where he is allegedly undergoing a "vigorous debriefing" before being taken back to the United States, according to an American person in charge, quoted by the Washington Post. The former deputy defense minister "is cooperating" with Western intelligence agencies.

"It was an organized defection," the Israeli, Uri Lubrani, a high official at the ministry of defense in Tel Aviv and an expert on Lebanese-Iranian Shiite networks, told Le Figaro. "Everything was prepared, and his family sought refuge abroad before he did." According to the Sunday Times in London about ten people close to him, including his two sons, left Iran before he did. Asghari was last seen entering a large hotel in Istanbul on February 7. The night before, two foreigners were seen in the lobby of the establishment. They allegedly reserved a room in his name and paid the entire bill in cash.

Lastly today, there was great gnashing of teeth and rending of garments in the comic world recently over the death of Captain America. Would it surprise you to learn that he was possibly killed for political reasons?

How is it that superheroes die, too? What do they die of? Where has it been seen? Well, it seems like we're seeing it now. Yesterday, the media told us of the assassination of Captain America, one of the most representative personalities in American comic books. On Telenoche TV, Federico Wiemeyer devoted his segment – usually dedicated to new trends on the Internet - to talking about the murder of this well-known figure. His report showed digital images of the event (the journalist emphasized that story ran in The New York Times as though it were a real-life crime), and also showed animation of the Captain with the bars and stars on his uniform and shield.

The curious thing, also pointed out by Wiemeyer, is the reason for this attack on Captain America. As part of the "war on terror" following the outrages of 9/11, and after a confrontation between the superheroes and arch-villains which left many civilians dead, the United States government forced anyone who had special powers to sign on to a registry designed to control their activities. This leads to the formation of two distinct factions: those who obeyed the law, among whom are Iron Man and Spiderman; and those who opposed the law, and – so to speak – hid in the shadows. Since his actions fell somewhere in between, Captain America was required to turn himself into the Law, and while ascending the Courthouse steps, a sniper ended his life.

Was this The End for the champion who was born fighting the Nazis in the 40's? Nothing is known of these matters. Remember that at one time, Superman's death was announced; and also that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was compelled to resurrect Sherlock Holmes, after he realized that if he didn't, Dolyle might be the one that was killed - at the hands of a fanatical reader. At the same time, the readers of Harry Potter eagerly await the release of the final volume of that saga, in order to see whether or not they will eternally hate J.K. Rowling, who has announced that two characters will die in the last book.

So....there we go. Interesting stuff. Remember when the United States media used to be like this?

Kandahar Social Club

2007-03-14T05:09:00.000-05:00

Good Morning!

Monday evening, Mrs. TriSec and I finally caught up with the almost decade old movie, Buena Vista Social Club. It's practically required viewing among Cubans, but we've somehow managed to avoid the in-laws pushing it on us at every opportunity.

Nevertheless, it is a remarkable story, focusing on many of the great Cuban musicians of the 40s and 50s that were overlooked and forgotten in the wake of the revolution. There's some interesting snippets of what life in Cuba is like now, it struck me as being dreary and hard, but that's a common trait among oppressed peoples.

But it got me to thinking. One of the 14 points of fascism is disdain for intellectuals and the arts. I'm not talking about the United States now, but our sorry state of music education, art appreciation, and the crap that passes for music these days is surely suspect.

No, I'm thinking of other totalitarian regimes. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, but for years afterwards, music scholars were astonished to discover hundreds of recordings in the former State Archives of wonderful musicians that were completely unknown in the West. I've recently discovered the music of Eldar, an astonishing young pianist from Kyrgystan that would have never seen the light of day under the Soviet regime.

But how does that equate to Kandahar? It really doesn't except to say that how many potential Coltranes or Lennons or Bernsteins are lost forever because they don't have the opportunity? But even larger than that, if all they have is war and survival, there is no opportunity for education, arts, and other higher pursuits. Not only is it the music, but how many doctors, philosophers, diplomats, and scientists will never see the light of day?

Jose Ferrer and Compay Segundo were not forgotten because of the efforts of a couple of dedicated American musicians that defied the government and the travel ban in order to travel to the 'forbidden island' to seek out these men and hear what they know. Are we going to lose a new Einstein, Gandhi, or Jarvik because of the opression and despair we have brought to places in the world?

Sam the Minuteman

2007-03-12T05:21:00.000-05:00

Good Morning!

Yesterday was a lovely New England "mud season" day...the sun was shining, and it was well above 50 degrees. Most of the ice that has been hanging around since Valentine's Day finally started to soften, and there were big puddles everywhere.

So, what could be more fun than taking your child out in the woods to hike through the mud? (Mrs. TriSec would disagree...) Anyway, we saddled up and drove a few miles to our favorite local treasure, Minuteman National Historical Park. We parked by the Minuteman Statue, walked across the Old North Bridge, and climbed the hill to the visitor center in the old Buttrick Mansion.

In the visitor's center, there is a small shop, and Javi picked out a couple of tin soldiers. I made sure we had a book to take home, an innocent-sounding volume called "Sam the Minuteman". It's been around a while; it was written in 1969, probably during the runup to the Bicentennial.

Unfortunately...I was horrified by it. The story goes like this....

Sam lived with his parents near Lexington, MA. On the evening of April 17th, they're awoken by Paul Revere and they head to the Green to meet the column of British regulars. Sam and a young friend disperse, but not in time. The British open fire, and Sam's friend is wounded. They retreat to Sam's house, but he vows revenge if the regulars return.

Sure enough, after meeting the Rebel militia at the North Bridge, the regulars march back through Lexington. This time, Sam gets his gun and goes with his father to take revenge. Later, we see him by his friend's bedside, only concerned about him.

Does that sound a wee bit familiar?

Where else can you think that there is an unwelcome imperialist power, marching around destroying things and shooting people, and doing nothing except fostering hatred and a lust for revenge?

I probably don't need to tell you how the story of Sam the Minuteman wound up....but we still celebrate April 18th in these parts as "Patriot's Day"...and the Shot Heard 'Round the World.

Latest TSA foibles...Republicans eating their own...Macrohard "Security"

2007-03-09T06:09:00.000-05:00

Good Morning!

Well, I'm as glad as ever to see the TSA on the job. I really get a kick out of the fact that the story pretty much says, "it's OK, there were marshalls on board!" Yeah, way to keep us safe there, boys. I haven't been on a plane in four years....

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Passengers on a commercial flight from Florida to Puerto Rico were in little danger despite more than a dozen guns being on board, because at least two federal air marshals were also on the plane, a Transportation Security Administration spokesman said yesterday.
TSA spokesman Christopher White declined to address the security breach or whether the marshals knew that guns were there.
Two baggage handlers used their employee uniforms and airport identification cards to enter restricted areas, bypass screeners with a bag containing drugs and the guns , and board the Delta Air Lines flight Monday, according to court documents.
An anonymous tip led to the investigation, said Carlos Baixauli of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms , and Explosives.
Thomas Anthony Munoz, 22, was arrested in San Juan, Puerto Rico, when he got off the plane. Inside a duffel bag he was carrying, authorities found 13 handguns, an assault rifle, and eight bags of marijuana, Baixauli said.
Zabdiel J. Santiago Balaguer, 22, who had been questioned by security screeners Monday but was released after no guns or drugs were found, was arrested late Tuesday.
Both were charged with conspiracy to distribute marijuana and possessing firearms during a drug trafficking offense, court documents said.
The court documents say Balaguer was a middle man who had delivered guns and drugs to Puerto Rico and offered to pay Munoz as much as $5,000 to make that delivery, court documents assert.

Turning to the election, there's news out this morning that a Truth Squad of Republicans is going to launch a national ad campaign....against Mitt Romney. It turns out that a group of Massachusetts Republicans is not very happy with the muddled policies and flip-flopping of the Mittster and wants to tell everyone about it. Ah, I love it when all the guns point in, don't you?

A Web-based “truth” squad is poised to chase Mitt Romney in an effort to trip him up on the presidential campaign trail - and its members are Republicans from his very own Bay State.
Founded by GOP consultants Holly Robichaud and Ron Vining, the Mass Republicans for Truth plans to launch a nationwide attack on the former governor’s record - including radio and TV ads.
“He’s running for the highest office in the nation and voters need to know the entire record,” said Robichaud. “We can’t elect an unknown quantity to president of the United States.”
The group will post “The Romney Report” on its website on Monday, vowing to expose his flip-flops on a host of key issues, from abortion to taxes to gay rights.
Calling its mission “educational,” the group is one of the controversial political action committees labeled “527s” named after the federal tax exemption that allows them to exist primarily as vehicles to influence elections.
So far, about 40 Massachusetts Republicans, including elected state committee members and activists who have been involved in campaigns for years, have joined Massachusetts Republicans for Truth. Robichaud, a contributor to the Herald’s Monday political briefing, said she would not yet identify the other members. The group’s website goes live Monday.
The website, www.MassRepublicansforTruth.com which is still under construction, promises “The Romney Report” will assess Romney’s performance as governor in several key areas. “Perhaps the answers to these important questions are a secret in some parts of the country, but they certainly are NOT to the Republicans in his ‘home’ State of Massachusetts,” the site says.

Lastly this morning...do you have a computer? Is it chock-full of Bill Gates' goodness? Heh. Probably not. I'm sitting here typing away on a Compaq with Windows XP that will of course be impacted by this. I have already decided that when this one dies, it's a spiffy new MacBook for me.

Microsoft said it will not issue its scheduled monthly software security fixes in March after a report said its security suite ranked last of 17 tested.

In a notice published on its website on Thursday, the world's largest software maker said it will issue several updates but none of them will be related to security.

The second Tuesday of every month is the regularly scheduled day on which the company issues repairs or patches for its software. It is commonly referred to as Patch Tuesday within technology circles.

In the same note, the company said it will release its monthly update of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, which seeks out code that matches profiles for harmful or malicious software (malware) and, if any is detected, eliminates it from the infected computer.

The software maker also stated that it will release six other "non-security high-priority updates" for its Windows software but did not specify their nature.

Microsoft's notice comes after an Austrian project found that the Redmond, Wash.-based company's Windows Live OneCare security suite "did not reach the minimum requirements for participation" in its tests.

The fun continues....it's a delightful 5º outside this morning, but it might be over 40º tomorrow. It is almost spring, right?

An Other Cup

2007-03-07T06:04:00.000-05:00

Good Morning!

Well....2007 seems to be a return to old favorites for me. I've gotten back into music, and it's Pinewood Derby season. Javi and I have built a car, and it reminded me how much I like to build things, so we'll be getting back in to scale modeling by the end of the month. (Javi likes F-15s, so there's a snap together kit in our future.)

But it's music I've been enjoying the most in recent weeks. My stepmother, a hippie if there ever was one, has given me a couple of CDs from a long-lost musician that I've been listening to recently.

It's Steven Demetre Georgiou, who most of you know as Cat Stevens.

Cat had a string of hits in the early to mid 1970s, including quite a few that I never knew he did. It was very interesting to listen to his Greatest Hits album, and shaking my head saying "He did that???"

We all know that Cat famously left the west, converted to Islam, and gave up music. But do you know why he did it? From our friends at Wikipedia:

When Stevens nearly drowned in an accident in Malibu in 1975, he reports having pleaded with God to save him. Stevens described the event in a VH1 interview some years later: "I suddenly held myself and I said, 'Oh God! If you save me, I'll work for you.'" The near-death experience intensified his long-held quest for spiritual truth. He had looked into Buddhism "Zen and I Ching, numerology, tarot cards and astrology", but when his brother David gave him a copy of the Qur'an, Stevens began to find peace with himself and began his transition to Islam.

He formally converted to the Islamic faith in 1977 and took the name Yusuf Islam in 1978, saying that he "always loved the name Joseph" and was particularly drawn to the story of Joseph in the Qur'an.

He made his last musical appearance at The Year of The Child concert in Wembley Stadium, on November 22, 1979.

I don't know about you, but I won't fault a man for finding God after a traumatic event, no matter which prophet he chooses to follow.

Now Yusuf Islam, he gave up music entirely after that, mostly due to a conflict among Islamic scholars whether or not it was OK to sing and use musical instruments.

But that didn't mean he gave up art; Yusuf recorded a number of albums of Islamic prayers with rhythmic accompaniment, and also wrote a few children's books for use in Islamic studies.

More recently, Yusuf has started his own charity. He's affiliated with the UN, and is working on behalf of frightened and displaced children everywhere.

Children and the poorest members of society are often the first casualties of war and face the most arduous of tasks in rebuilding their lives when disaster strikes. The mental scars inflicted on such innocent souls can take years to heal. Everybody’s future relies on everybody else’s future. Do you want to have a positive impact on somebody's future?

Now, I don't believe for one second that there is evil in Yusuf Islam. But somehow, the government of the United States does. In 2004, Yusuf was traveling to the United States to meet with Dolly Parton, who had recorded a cover of his iconic "Peace Train". His name was flagged on the no-fly list, and the flight was diverted to Bangor, Maine where he was removed and returned to England.

It was later revealed that the man in question was "Youssef Islam", but apparently the different spelling didn't matter to the feds; it was easier to persecute the celebrity for the easy headline.

If you haven't heard, Yusuf has at long last returned to his roots and recorded a new album, his first in 28 years...An Other Cup. I've been listening to this, and I've found it remarkable. I haven't finished it yet, but it's quiet, pensive, thoughtful, and chock-full of good music and meaningful lyrics. In short, it's everything that music isn't today.

Even if you've never been a fan of Cat Stevens, I urge you to check it out, if for no reason other than to tell the Bush "Administration" to Fuck Off. They've declared him an enemy of the state, but didn't ban his music. By buying this album, it helps to send a message that you don't think intolerance and hate based on religion is something our government should do.

I think Yusuf would agree.

We're Back!

2007-03-05T21:03:00.000-05:00

Howdy folks! It's been a while since Northeast Liberals had a post....

We've had holidays and work foibles, and it turns out that there were some growing pains with the new Blogger via Google. You'll notice a new email to get in touch with me...go ahead and use it, I'll be there!

I'm going to try to keep posting more regularly. You all know that I've got a regular gig over at Air America Place 3 days a week....on the opposite days I'm going to try to open a similar blog over here, so come on by and see what I think is important news for you to see today.

As always, VIGILANCE!

Don't call it "Patriot" day

2006-09-11T05:14:00.000-05:00

Well, here we are. September 11, 2006. Five years later.

On December 18, 2001, President Bush signed into law a measure calling for an annual day of remembrance and prayer, to be called "Patriot Day".

But what is a patriot? Dictionary.com defines it as such: a person who loves, supports, and defends his or her country and its interests with devotion.

Sounds pretty benign, hmm?

But here in the Commonwealth of Massachussets, and the State of Maine, we already have a Patriot's Day, and we're pretty pissed that the name has been hijacked by the Bush 'administration' in the name of propaganda and demagoguerey. Here in the Commonwealth, we know the truth of Patriot's Day.

On April 18, 1775...Paul Revere made his ride from Charlestown to Lexington, followed the next morning by a column of British Regulars, intent on capturing Sam Adams, John Hancock, and the small patriot arsenal at Concord. At dawn on April 19, this column was met on Lexington Green by Captain Parker and a small band of Minutemen, and the rest is history.

"Patriot's Day" is meant to commemorate the birth of our nation, the start of the revolution, and to honor the true patriots that fought and died to be free.

While the victims of the attacks on September 11 may have been patriots in name (and in the case of Flight 93, in deed) the name is already being used for a nobler day, and in my opinion, the taking of the name to play on the base emotions of the country is wrong, and dishonors all those who died today.

So, while the 'president' and his loyalists fly from photo op to photo op, I'll not be doing anything different or unusual today. Instead, I'll go to work and do what I always do, and pause for just a minute to ponder what my friends in the North Tower must have been thinking as this all happened. (Fortunately, they survived...but are different men today than they were on September 10, 2001)

And I'll leave you a research project, if you're so inclined. Before September 11, the worst attack on American soil came at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. What was the United States doing on December 7, 1946?

Tarnishing Scouting's highest award

2006-09-06T05:17:00.000-05:00

I was just leafing through the latest issue of Scouting Magazine.

I was rather saddened to learn that the Silver Buffalo award, the highest award in all of Scouting, was recently awarded to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Donald himself is an Eagle Scout BSA. In my eyes, that honour remains untrammeled, as I know how hard it is for a young man to show the commitment and dedication to become an Eagle...and he was probably only 17 at the time and hadn't yet decided what course his life would take.

What I do have an issue with is the Silver Buffalo. Two beloved icons of my Scouting life have been so honoured...my Scoutmaster James Virnelli of Boy Scout Troop 61, who held the position for some 30 years and inspired hundreds of rudderless boys (myself included) on to greater heights. (some 25 of which became Eagle Scouts under his guidance)...and my own father, who was my Cubmaster and Webelos Leader, and spent two decades with North Bay Council (MA) in various local leadership positions...making sure our community had a strong scouting presence.

Mr. Rumsfeld 'earned' the award by simply being the Secretary of Defense, and did nothing for Scouting, the community, or for the youth of our country, except to set up a meat grinder to kill them. For as you know, many Eagle Scouts choose a military career...and many enter the service academies.

Thanks, Mr. Rumsfeld! You've tarnished a cherished award with your stink, and have sent thousands of former scouts and scouters to face their deaths overseas! A true candidate for the Silver Buffalo if there ever was one!

Romney and Orwell

2006-09-01T05:34:00.000-05:00

Governor empty suit is at it again. Apparently, using our knowledge to manipulate stem cells in order to cure cancer, diabetes, Parkinsons, etc....is Orwellian.

Funny, I though the government lying, manipulating the press, controlling the masses....isn't that Orwellian?

Anyway....I digress.

Romney calls stem-cell research "Orwellian"

BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a 2008 Republican presidential hopeful, said on Thursday his administration's new restrictions on stem cell research are aimed at heading off an "Orwellian" future.

The state's Department of Public Health this week issued regulations banning the creation of embryos for research purposes.

Scientists say stem cell research could lead to breakthroughs in treatments for diseases including cancer. But the issue has become ethically and politically volatile because extracting the cells entails destruction of an embryo.

"I believe it crosses a very bright moral line to take sperm and eggs in the laboratory and start creating human life," Romney told reporters. "It is Orwellian in its scope. In laboratories you could have trays of new embryos being created."

Romney spoke a week after a Massachusetts company, Advanced Cell Technology, said it had developed a way to make human embryonic stem cells without harming the original embryo, a finding it said could dispel ethical objections.

Stem cells are the body's master cells, capable of turning into any other type of cell. They are available from many sources, but experts believe the most powerful and versatile cells may be those taken from days-old embryos.

President Bush last month vetoed a bill that would have raised federal funding for research using embryonic stem cells, which he views as the destruction of life.

Romney appears to be positioning himself for the 2008 Republican primaries, when he will need to win over conservative voters to get the party's nomination, said Julian Zelizer, a Boston University history professor who follows Romney closely.

"Stem cells are like the new abortion, in that it's become a litmus test for conservatives nationally," Zelizer said.

Massachusetts legislators opposed Romney's move, noting that in May 2005 they enacted a law over Romney's veto allowing stem cell research to take place in the state.

At that time Romney offered an amendment that would have banned the creation of embryos for research purpose.

"The legislature debated, and soundly defeated, the exact language the Department (of Public Health) has adopted as a regulation," wrote State Rep. Daniel Bosley, a Democrat, a memo to fellow legislators. "Consequently, we should oppose this language."

Four Freedoms

2006-08-16T05:01:00.000-05:00

Good Morning.

We're all familiar with the "Four Freedoms", right? These were enumerated by President Roosevelt in a state of the union address given on the eve of WWII. (January 6, 1941). They put the war in more human terms, and became a rallying cry for the home front for those long years of struggle.

The four freedoms are Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear. As President Roosevelt stated in that address so long ago:

In the future days which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.; The first is freedom of speech and expression — everywhere in the world.
: The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way — everywhere in the world.
: The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants — everywhere in the world.
: The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor — anywhere in the world.
: That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called "new order" of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.

Eleanor Roosevelt took those four freedoms as her personal mission statement, and eventually incorporated those ideas into the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Last night, I learned of a new set of Four Freedoms. Late in his career, Duke Ellington wrote and performed a series of "Concerts of Sacred Music". These have become a staple of the Christmas Season here in Boston, being played annually by WGBH's Eric Jackson during Christmas week as part of the jazz program, "Eric in the Evening". These recordings have been out of print for decades, but the Second Sacred concert has just been re-issued on CD. This was recorded at St. John the Divine in New York City in 1968. During the passage titled "Freedom", Duke Ellington speaks of his late 'writing and arranging companion', Billy Strayhorn, and enumerates the four freedoms that guided his life. I found them equally remarkable, and thought that everyone should know about them.

Freedom from hate

Freedom from self pity

Freedom from fear of doing something that would benefit someone else more than it would himself

Freedom from the pride that could make him feel that he was better than others.

This struck a chord with me last night as I was listening to the concert; perhaps they will touch something in you too.

The White House responds!

2006-07-30T20:08:00.000-05:00

Remember this letter I wrote to the 'president' back on 25 May?

I have just now received a reply.

There were two "standard response" cards stuffed into an envelope.

#1 says: Due to mail screening procedures, we have only recently recieved your letter. We appreciate your patience in awaiting a response.

#2 says: On behalf of President Bush, thank you for contacting the White House. We have sent your message to the appropriate Federal agency that can best address your concerns. After reviewing your correspondence, the agency will respond directly to you as promptly as possible. - The office of Presidential Correspondence.

So, I guess that means I made the no-fly list today. I'm so proud.

A brief Libertarian Saturday

2006-07-08T07:57:00.000-05:00

Good Morning!

Even though we're on vacation this week, I got a Liberator Online, and I couldn't resist a brief post...

It looks like Fox News is no longer even pretending to be a news organization, and is wholeheartedly pursuing becoming the Arbeiter Zeitung of the Bush "administration"...several 'personalities' have called for the creation of a US 'Office of Censorship'...

                       Since the New York Times exposed the Bush Administration's secret
          surveillance of international financial transactions, some
   conservative pundits, and even some members of Congress, have
   denounced the Times and other journalists for committing
   treason.

   

   Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that a couple of prominent Fox News
   commentators have proposed that the U.S. government create an
   "Office of Censorship" to screen news reports to determine whether
   they "hurt the country" or are of "news value."

   

   On June 29, during Fox News Radio's Brian & The Judge,
   co-host Brian Kilmeade (also co-host of Fox News' Fox & Friends)
   suggested that the U.S. government should "put up the Office of
   Censorship."

   

   Kilmeade noted that, during World War II, President Franklin
   Roosevelt instituted an Office of Censorship. Kilmeade then (rather
   incoherently) justified reviving the idea:

   

   KILMEADE: See, I'm more into the ends justifying
   the means. And what they do is, you can sunset this... The same way
   they have the Patriot Act sunsetted. You put up the Office of
   Censorship. You get a consensus to journalists to analyze and then
   you realize what FDR realized early. Winning is everything. Freedom
   is -- you don't have any freedom if the Nazis are the victors.

   

   Brian & The Judge co-host Judge Andrew P. Napolitano, who
   was recently called "television's fiercest defender of civil
   liberties" by the libertarian magazine Reason, quickly
   denounced the notion:

   

   NAPOLITANO: If we were to allow some office of the
   government to decide what journalists can say, that would be the
   same that the King of England imposed on newspapers in England and
   in the U.S. and that prompted the Revolution. It would be about the
   most un-American thing you can imagine. How can we fight a war to
   bring freedom to another country, to bring freedom of the press to
   another country, when we're crushing freedom of the press here at
   home?

   

   Later that same day, on Fox & Friends, co-host E.D. Hill
   also speculated, in language as incoherent as that of his colleague
   Kilmeade, whether it was time for a U.S. Office of Censorship:

   

   HILL: What about -- in the past, we have had, at
   times, an Office of Censorship, where people review what is about --
   is something that was -- it's going to be big, you've got to run it
   through and say, "OK. Does this hurt our country or is it of, you
   know, news value?"

   

   Of course, having two boneheads on Fox explore such a thing hardly
   means it will happen. But some critics argue that Fox stories
   sometimes serve as trial balloons for conservative/administration
   ideas. And consider some of the jackboot ideas, not long ago
   considered way beyond the pale, now being defended by some America
   conservatives. Prominent politicians and writers justify torture.
   The president insists he has the right to ignore laws passed by
   Congress and signed by him into law. The federal government says it
   can to arrest people without a warrant and imprison them in secret,
   indefinitely. Secret federal courts can issue secret warrants for
   wiretaps. Conservative Michelle Malkin has a widely-praised book
   defending the World War II incarceration of Japanese-Americans.

   

   Actually, there is one very good reason an Office of Censorship
   could never be created in 21st century America: the name is too
   obvious. Today it would be called something like "The Warm and Fuzzy
   Patriotic Department to Guarantee Freedom of the Press for All,
   Regardless of Race, Creed, or Income." What true American could
   oppose that?

   

   Finally, you have to wonder just how much Fox conservatives would
   appreciate a U.S. Office of Censorship under the command of, say...
   President and Commander-In-Chief Hillary Clinton?

   

   Source:
   MediaMatters
   (June 29, 2006)

And since our National Holiday is just past...it's worth taking a look in the rear-view mirror. As we all know, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the declaration in 1826...about ten days before the Fourth that year, Jefferson sent a letter to the mayor of Washington DC declining an invitation to come due to poor health. It turned out to be his last public statement, and is still worth reading today.

In 1826, when he was 86 years old, Jefferson was invited by the mayor of Washington, D.C. to join in a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. However, he was too ill to make the journey.

He sent a letter reluctantly declining, in his usual eloquence. It turned out to be his last political statement, as Jefferson died ten days later -- on the Fourth of July.

Here is the heart of that letter:

"May [the Declaration of Independence] be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the Signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That form [of government] which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God. These are grounds of hope for others. For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them."

These are words we libertarians can take to heart. Let us dedicate ourselves anew to that most glorious of political causes: bringing to fruition Jefferson's vision of a world of liberty for all.

Lastly...in the ever-popular "Why aren't YOU a Libertarian?" section...let's see what Dr. Ruwart has for us today.

QUESTION:
"Libertarians believe that all taxes should be eliminated as
well as minimum wages, tariffs and farm subsidies. What about those who
are too poor to look after themselves?"

MY SHORT ANSWER:
"A libertarian society would enjoy more jobs and prosperity than we do today,
so fewer people would be unemployed or poor. Services
provided by the private sector instead of the government cost, on average, half
as much. Therefore, only a few people in a libertarian society would
have difficulty paying for services that they need.

"In the prosperous libertarian society, private charity could easily
help these unfortunates. After all, roughly 2/3 of every private charity dollar
goes to the needy, while only 1/3 of our tax dollars earmarked for welfare
does. Middle-class social workers and other administrators receive most of
the taxes intended for the poor."

* * *

QUESTION:
"If you remove all farm subsidies, what happens to the farmer
when drought or flood hits and he losses his crop for one year?"

MY SHORT ANSWER:
"Like other business people, farmers plan for bad
years through savings, insurance, etc. If they fail to make such plans, they
suffer the same fate as other businesses operating on the edge -- they go
under in tough times. They are bought out by someone who manages better. The
displaced farmers find an occupation more suited to their particular talents.

"Subsidies discourage good management and encourage inefficiency. As a
result, consumers pay more for less."

So, there you have it. We're still on vacation here for another week, but the regulars at Air America Place are carrying on every day! Do drop by and check it out if you can.

Apologies are in order...

2006-06-01T20:12:00.000-05:00

for my "Four Men" post of May 8.

I was indeed trying to be heartfelt and respectful, but I have hurt some feelings with my musings. No offense or pain was intended on my behalf. Uncle Dewey meant a lot to me as well, and I could hardly believe it when I heard the news that he had gone on to meet his maker.

I had some brief conversations with some folks at the alumni dinner, and I was comforted by the fact that one of our own coincidentally was in Florida at the time, and could be with Duane and his family, however briefly. It was communicated that Mr. Cyros "spoke at the funeral", so my sincere apologies to the family for the error.

I had many fine years of memories from Troop 61, including the brief time that I knew Brian...and I certainly didn't intend to upset anyone by my postings.

It was, and is, my opinion and feelings towards the four men that I knew at a critical period in my childhood....and my opinions alone. I have modified my original post, but alas, the damage is done, and for that I am truly sorry.

Troop 61 means more to me than many will ever know.

Dear Mr. President

2006-05-25T20:42:00.000-05:00

I'm surprised the FBI hasn't picked me up yet. Imagine....an ordinary citizen like me daring to exercise some of the rights reserved to me under the Constitution.

Anyway....this was posted via good old snail mail back on May 17. I'm not really expecting a reply, but it shall be posted here with all due speed should I receive one.

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500

May 17, 2006

Dear Mr. President:

I am writing today to petition for redress of grievances, under the rights granted to me in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. As a citizen and voter, I am calling on you to account for your actions that are clearly in violation of several portions of the Constitution.

Chief among these is my concern over the egregious violation of my fourth amendment rights that were revealed by USA Today in the past week. I am a Verizon customer, and I am deeply concerned that my phone records have been turned over to the Federal Government without a warrant.

I am married to a person of Cuban extraction; she has family in the country of Venezuela. By the simple virtue of the US and Venezuela not being on friendly terms, and the fact that my wife would speak in Spanish to her relatives, would that be enough to trigger suspicion?

The FISA court exists for a reason, Mr. President, and that reason is to protect the rights of innocent Americans…rights you have destroyed by your data-mining under the Patriot Act.

Which moves me to my next point. The Founding Fathers clearly foresaw that concentrating powers in a single branch of government is dangerous. The Boston Globe recently exposed more than 750 ‘signing statements’ that you attached to various laws that you signed. I’m wondering how you can legally justify this, seeing that Article 1, Section 1 of the constitution vested the legislative powers in the Congress. If you disagreed with these laws, why didn’t you send them back for further revisions, as is your right as the executive? Simply stating that you will ignore the laws you don’t agree with is dangerously close to absolute rule and despotism…and has no place legally under the Constitution that you swore to uphold.

Even more so than specific points of the Constitution, your policies as president have violated the spirit and ideals that the constitution was founded upon. Indeed, our union is less perfect, justice has been trampled, and domestic tranquility has vanished under a barrage of vile hatemongers. I’m wondering how can we provide for the common defense with our army overseas and our national guard stretched to its limits, or promote the general welfare with such huge deficits brought on by war and tax cuts for the special interests and wealthy? The frosting on the cake is the illegal Patriot Act, which goes so far as to reduce the blessings of liberty, not secure them.

These are not empty words…Thomas Jefferson himself wrote in the Declaration of Independence “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. “

I therefore accuse you of violating not just the constitution, but the very ideals that this nation was founded on. You do not have my consent to do these things, so you have no just power in my eyes. It is therefore my right and duty as a citizen of these united states to alter or abolish your system of government, and I shall be doing everything available that is within my legal powers as a Citizen of these United States to ensure that people who support the things I believe in are legally elected to the House and Senate, and may begin impeachment proceedings as specified by Article II, Section 4 to remove you and your cabinet and restore hope and prosperity to the United States, and indeed, the world.

With all due respect,

David M.
25 Summer Street
Waltham, MA

Pentagonian Folly

2006-05-17T19:42:00.000-05:00

Good Evening. Before you read any further, scroll down and check out my entry for April 14.

Did you do it? Good. I've got more of the same.

By now, you've undoubtedly seen the new footage of the Pentagon Strike. No surprise here, I think it's a crock of shit.

As someone pointed out on the BBC this morning...we had 4 still frames from the same video all along. Now it looks like they've just pasted them together to make them 'move'.

What is this, amateur hour? Any pimply-faced teenage kid could have made that 'video' in a half hours' time with any commonly available movie software.

But here's my real issue with the video....it still doesn't show any aircraft actually striking the building.

I've been to many, many, airshows...I've seen airliners down on the deck doing maneuvers at speed...and guess what? They don't look like a big, white blur! As a matter of fact, because of an optical illusion, the big jets look even slower than they are flying when they're down low....

But don't take my word for it. Check out this video. It's of a Boeing 757 doing things you wouldn't expect a 757 to do...it looks clear and distinct to me. And pay close attention to the high-speed pass in the middle of the video....this is what it would have looked like from the ground on the morning of September 11. OK, I'll buy the fact that it's a reasonably well-shot video and the cameraman probably had some idea of what the plane was going to do....but shouldn't the Pentagon video look reasonably similar?

And how about this video? That's from a well-known hijacking and plane crash that happened in 1996...and just happened to be caught on tape. Still looks like a plane to me.

But these two should be the kicker. First, a US Navy F-14 Tomcat punching through the sound barrier...going at least twice as fast as the 757 that allegedly hit the Pentagon...and some rare footage of a F-4 Phantom being rocket-launched into the side of a nuclear reactor vessel as part of an endurance test.

Despite significantly higher speeds...neither of those aircraft looked like a white blur.

But do you know what does? How about a Tomahawk cruise missile?

100-year flood...

2006-05-16T05:12:00.000-05:00

Good Morning from wet and wild New England....

We're looking at day # 14 without sun today. Hard to believe...the last day the weather was any good was May 1. Most days this month have featured a rain event of some sort...much of it heavy. In the past 3 days alone, we've received over 1 foot of rain in spots...which would convert to over 100 inches of snow if this was January.

The water has overtopped the Spicket Falls dam in Methuen, and there's some concern it may collapse. Downtown Peabody and Melrose are underwater...and up to 60% of my hometown of Saugus. Route 1, which is the major route into Boston from north of the city is closed for a stretch of more than 15 miles due to numerous streams and rivers that used to run underneath it now running overtop it.

The rain has started to kill people now, too. In New Hampshire, we heard of an elderly gentleman that insisted on going to his house to see the damage....and when he did, he fell dead of a heart attack. Again in Methuen, a gas station wound up under 3 feet of water....and when the water got into the pumps, all 800 gallons of gas came up from the tanks as the water sought its own level...for a time, officials were worried about "flashover" and a fireball.

Governor Romney has remained in the MEMA bunker, and has in fact declared a state of emergency. Anyone needing information on the floods has been asked to call 1-800-293-4031. Unfortunately, the MEMA website is not responding at this hour, so I am unable to provide a link.

But I suppose we should cheer up just a little....Wednesday is expected to be sunny and in the 70s. One day won't change much, as we're expecting more rain Thursday and Friday...but just the sight of that round yellow thing in the sky will lift some spirits.

For now, Northeast Liberals remains dry, with power, and in operation. Stay safe!

Four Men

2006-05-08T20:32:00.000-05:00

Pete LaCortiglia

Quinn Agersea

Duane Hotchkiss

Al Martin

Unless you were born and raised in the town of Saugus, MA...you know not these men. Yet each of them was dear to me in his own way....and now belong to the ages.

Last night (May 7) was the annual Boy Scout Troop 61 Alumni dinner and scholarship fundraiser. It's a great opportunity to renew old acquaintances, share old war stories, get up to date on the current troop goings on...and to mourn old friends long gone.

Our scoutmaster read the roll last night, and in the year since we last gathered, these men have gone to meet their maker. This strikes me a bit hard this year, for these are my 'contemporaries'...adults that were active leaders in the troop when I was a boy. I'd like to share a bit about each of them.

I'll start with Pete LaCortiglia...the one I know the least. I was in scouts in the early 80s with his son Matt. Pete does have a special place of honor, as he became troop treasurer after my father resigned the position to become Unit Commissioner, a role I would take on myself many years later. Pete was always in the back room and didn't interact with the boys much....but he always made sure the books were honest and the troop had the money to do things.

Quinn Agersea was quite a character. He's actually from before my time, I just missed being in scouts with his son Peter. Quinn owned the now-defunct Cliftondale Woodworks that was right around the corner from my ancestral home. He was a great friend to the troop, donating supplies and shop time for us to build many items we needed. He also allowed us to build our canoe shed on his property, and we stored gear there for the better part of two decades. Quinn's greatest legacy is the cedar-strip canoe we build about 10 years ago, named "The Friendship", that we presented to our friends in Milton, Nova Scotia, as a memorial for their deceased scoutmaster Jordan Womboldt. "The Friendship" was no ordinary cedar-strip canoe...for it was trimmed in mahogany and teak, and bore the love and attention of everyone in the troop who laid a hand on it.

Duane Hotchkiss ...better known as "Uncle Dewey" to our scouting family, brought two sons to the troop...one who would go on to become an Eagle Scout, the other who would meet a tragic end. An enduring legacy for Troop 61 is our annual 'campership' that is presented every summer in the name of Brian Hotchkiss to a scout who 'may not be the biggest, or strongest, or most popular, but embodies true "scout spirit" nonetheless. We present this every year at our traditional last meeting campfire, and it's the highlight of our scouting year.

Duane eventually moved away from town to be near his eldest son in Florida....and cancer claimed him just a few weeks ago. Duane was a Vietnam veteran and was buried with full military honors in the Florida Veterans' Cemetery. Incredibly, such is the reach of Troop 61 that our retired Committee Chairman emeritus, Kreon Cyros, was with the family at Duane's side during his last hours, and the family graciously allowed him to say a few words at the funeral. This brought me a small measure of comfort, and I hope the family was comforted as well, knowing that Duane was in the hearts and minds of our extended scouting family.

Which now brings me to Al Martin. I can scarcely believe he is no more.
Al has a special place in my heart...for it was his eldest son Jay that introduced me to scouting as an 8 year old boy. We lived down the hill from the Martins...us at 1 Robinson street and they at 10. We were friends all through our youth and well into high school. Indeed, for a time, Jay was my best friend, so naturally when he joined Cub Scouts, I had to too. Jay's mother Diane, my mother, and Mrs. Cross who also lived in our neighborhood all became "Den Mothers" and oversaw our many years in scouting. Jay's younger brothers Shawn and Mark eventually joined, as did my brother Michael.

Eventually Al became Cubmaster...and that is how I referred to him throughout the rest of his life, as "my cubmaster". Al eventually cajoled my father into joining as well, and the two began a long tenure overseeing Pack 61. Eventually we all graduated, and Al became Scoutmaster of the Troop for a while. All those trips we went on, everything we did....Al was always there. In fact, Troop 61 bears to this day "The Curse of Al Martin". For a number of years, every trip that Al went on inevitably ended in bad weather, injury, or some other catastrophe. We all survived...but it became a running joke. I also quite distinctly remember one morning at camp my father having an insulin reaction...and Al tenderly caring for him and making sure we got some sugar into him so he could recover.

The last time I saw Al was probably 15 years ago now...the cub pack was in a tough spot and Al was willing to come out of retirement to right the ship and get things headed in the right direction....but he didn't have to. Such was his legend that only the suggestion that Al might take over got the current leaders to change course and put things to right. Al retired and moved to Florida, where he spent the last decade of his life enjoying the beach by his beloved Merritt Island.

So it is with a heavy heart that I update Northeast Liberals tonight, in a decidedly non-political vein. Wherever scouts go when they die...you can be sure that our departed Troop 61 alumni have a roaring fire going, a pot of coffee on, and are trading old war stories and having a grand old time.

Good bye dear friends....and thanks for being there for me.

Yours in Scouting,

David M.
Troop 61, Saugus, MA
Pack 250, Waltham, MA
First Milton Troop, Milton, Nova Scotia (Honorary)

LIbertarian Saturday

2006-05-06T08:02:00.000-05:00

Good Morning!

Air America Place seems to be down for maintenence...so here I am at Northeast Liberals!

We'll take a look today at the price of gasoline....there's a couple of very long articles about the subject over at Lew Rockwell....

Starting first with perhaps the most radical idea of all....Oil is private property and the government really has no right to tax it or regulate its sale. Could you imagine if we went back to the simplest principle of selling...I name a price, and you are free to purchase the object at that price or not, as you see fit, or you can come back and make me a counter-offer, and we negotiate until a mutually agreeable price is reached? How different the price of gas would be!

...Lost in all of this is the simple fact that oil, once it has been extracted from the ground, is private property. Someone risked the capital, time, and labor necessary to extract the oil from the earth, and that someone now holds title to the fruits of his labor. Once a person or company owns a particular good, he is entitled to offer it up at any price he so desires. This does not imply that anyone is forced to buy it from him at this or any price, but it does imply that no one has the right to change the asking price except the owner of the product. If anyone is able to force a change in the price contrary to the wishes of the seller, then the product is no longer private property. It cannot be private property and at the same time be subject to the whims of someone who does not own it.

Let’s say, for example, that you own a house that you bought 20 years ago for $50,000. Your real estate agent could perform all kinds of calculations based on the rate of inflation, changes in the housing market in your neighborhood, interest rates, and so on, and tell you that he thinks you ought to ask for $100,000 if you wish to sell it today. If he is not a co-owner of the house with you, his opinion is just that – an opinion. You are perfectly free to offer your house for sale at an asking price of $100,000, $200,000, or even a mere $3.29. Potential buyers are then free to decide whether or not they wish to pay the price you are asking and, if not, to bargain with you until you arrive at a mutually agreeable price. No one, seeing that you have slapped a price tag of $200,000 on a house that is, from as objective a standpoint as possible, worth $100,000, has the right to force you to sell it for the price that "everyone knows" is the "correct" price. It’s your private property, and you are free to offer it for sale at whatever price you wish, or even to take it off the market in hopes of selling it for your desired price at a later time.

So it goes with oil. Once it’s out of the ground, it’s private property. The owner can offer it for sale at whatever price he chooses, and the buyer can then decide whether to buy it at the asking price, bargain for a lower price, or bide his time in hopes of a lower price in the future....

Another idea that was mentioned is the concept of a gas-tax holiday. We see these come and go for retail sales, usually in the middle of the summer or at other times when the market is flat....heaven forbid that we should have a tax holiday in December when people actually buy things. Of coures, the problem with a gas tax holiday is that it would have to end sometime...and I think a lot of people would be surprised by the amount of taxes we currently pay on gasoline

...It's true that taxes are not passed on to the consumer directly. According to the American Petroleum Institute, gas taxes average 41 cents per gallon of gas (they doubled in the 80s and increased 54% since 1990). Here is a complete map.

That doesn't mean that gas prices are thereby increased by that exact amount (see Brandly on this).

Prices float freely, and, as much as gas stations might like to pass on the costs of taxation to the consumers, they have to price by supply and demand like everyone else. These taxes, like all taxes, ultimately fall on producers of goods, with consumers paying only down the line.

In the same way, a reduction in the tax will not directly cause prices to fall. But by reducing the costs of doing business at the retail level, stations can acquire more gasoline, boosting supply and thereby causing prices to fall. But this result presumes that traders will bid down prices in expectation that the tax holiday will last more than a week or month.

Thus do we see that the distinction between reducing the consumer price and increasing supply is really phony. They are two sides of the same coin. Reducing the tax at the pump will ultimately increase the amount of gas produced and made available on the market. Again, all taxes, even consumption taxes, are ultimately production taxes.

But let's say that the price of gas actually fell in one day by 18 cents (federal level) or a total of 41 cents (if states went along). Can you imagine? Consumers would flip out. It would be a real consciousness-raising moment. "You mean to tell me that every time I fill up my tank of gas, I'm forking over more than $8 to government? Hey, guys, what kind of racket do you have going on here?"

Then there would come a time for the holiday to end. What then? That might really inspire a revolt. Instead of being angry at gas stations, consumers would turn their vengeance on the party that truly deserves the blame. The real gougers would show their face, and they are likely to be pummeled with rotten fruit...

But all is not lost...let's see why aren't you a Libertarian? Checking in on the position paper concerning taxes, there's a couple of things there that might provide some relief.

The Libertarian Party is working every day to cut your taxes. By contrast, professional politicians from the other parties just want more of your money, and are busy increasing the size of government.

In the last few decades, the federal government has exploded in size. No area of your life or business is free from the meddling of politicians -- especially your wallet.

It doesn't have to be that way. With less government and lower taxes, you could keep more of what you earn. It would be easier to start new businesses, build new homes, and fuel stronger economic growth....

...Instead of tending to the basics, government has grown into a bloated conglomerate of political services that gets larger every year -- with no end in sight.

For example, politicians spend millions of dollars to urge people not to smoke -- while spending more millions to subsidize tobacco farmers. They send billions overseas for foreign aid -- while the federal deficit swells. They spend millions to subsidize public art -- while working families struggle to pay their taxes.

Politicians also run trains, bail out savings and loans, construct houses, sell insurance, print books, and build basketball courts -- you name it! But the fact is, every service supplied by the government can be provided better and cheaper by private business.

And don't forget to read the full platform concerning taxation....

So, it's a lovely Saturday here in the Northeast wing. We'll be out and about this afternoon, and you should go outside and enjoy it, too!

Reflections on 'The Rise and Fall'

2006-05-01T05:15:00.000-05:00

Last night, I finally finished William L. Shirer's massive tome, "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich".

I started reading it around Halloween last year. Since the beginning of the Bush 'administration', I've grown increasingly alarmed at the tactics and message that were being sent by the powers-that-be, and being the WWII buff, I recognized many of the things that were going on as having historical precedent.

When I first read 'Rise and Fall' almost two decades ago, I was much younger, and more interested in the war aspect...and came away somewhat disappointed that all the years of WWII were compressed into the last 200 pages of the more than 1200-page volume.

Coming back to it now, I was much more interested in Hitler's rise to power, and how he was able to manipulate the system and dupe the people of Germany....and I wasn't disappointed. There's vast stretches of the book where the names Bush, Cheney, and Rove could be substituted for Hitler, Goering, and Goebbels, and you'd be hard pressed to tell if you were reading history or headlines.

Reading through the 200 last pages, where all of WWII was compressed, also left me with a feeling of unease. Beginning around 1943, after Stalingrad, and as the tide began to turn, Hitler increasingly surrounded himself with syncophants and yes-men, and anyone that even remotely dissented or tried to tell him the truth was removed, retired, or liquidated. In the end, the Fuehrerbunker was a wild world of lies, fantasy, and dreams, completely divorced from the world of reality.

Given the situation of the world today, and the current 'house-cleaning' that's been going on in Washington the past couple of weeks....the Bush 'administration' is starting to take on some of the feeling of desperation and fantasy that punctuated the last days of the Third Reich....the policies and practices of this 'president' have been a dismal failure, and while we don't have enemies at the gate like there were in Berlin, the fact that Bush is surrounding himself with syncophants and yes-men, and is crushing dissent and forcing people that might disagree with him into retirement....that ought to tell you something.

I think it's more telling that our 'president' takes great pride in not reading newspapers, or indeed very many books. There's sure to be a press release in the weeks ahead concerning the 'president's' Summer Reading List...which is sure to be laughable. Other than "The Pet Goat", I'm increasingly convinced that the only other book Bush has read is "The Rise and Fall"....or at least the 'Rise' section.

We would all do well to remember the author's words...from the very last page of the book, on the ocassion of it's 30 anniversary.

Perhaps it will help too if the erring governments and the wondering people of this world will remember the dark night of Nazi terror and genocide that almost engulfed our world and that is the subject of this book. Remembrance of the past helps us to understand the present.

William L. Shirer, May 1990

My very first Tinfoil!

2006-04-14T20:45:00.000-05:00

Greetings....

I've recently been made aware of this website and flash animation...it asks some very disturbing questions about the Pentagon incident on 9/11...and includes some new pictures that I've never seen before. What really got me to thinking was the photos from deep inside the Pentagon.

Go ahead, watch the video, you'll see them. I don't think a crashing plane is going to make a neat little hole like that, hmm? Also noted is the fact that there is no external scarring of the ground outside the Pentagon. When planes crash, they usually leave big, smoking craters in the ground. I recall some early eyewitness accounts that actually had the plane bouncing off the ground before hitting the E ring....so where's the marks?

You know me as your resident aviation nut. So, I paid a visit to one of my favorite websites, Air Disaster.com. I recalled that there was a reasonably similar crash involving a 747 impacting an apartment building. It was back in 1992 in The Netherlands. A fully-loaded El Al cargo jet lost two engines on takeoff, and lost control and impacted the building on the way to an emergency landing.

Here's one photo, showing the building in flames.

Here's another, fire out and the impact site showing plainly.

And here's one of the Pentagon. Note the complete lack of any ground impact scar and the still-standing light poles directly in the flight path.

Looks a little different than Amsterdam, doesn't it?

And those of you that might complain about the difference in aircraft size...here's the vital statistics on the Boeing 747-200 and the Boeing 757-200. Although the 747 is roughly 30% bigger than the 757, I'd expect the hole in the Pentagon to look a wee bit bigger than that.

Keep fighting for the truth. It's out there somewhere. And if it comes out before 2008...the present government will fall.

More calls for Resignation...Iran still in the crosshairs....Good Friday

2006-04-14T05:09:00.000-05:00

Good Morning. SecDef Rumsfeld is such a fine example of the leadership in Washington. Small wonder that more generals are calling for his resignation. Can you impeach a member of the Cabinet?

Pressure is growing on US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, with more retired generals calling for him to resign over the Iraq war.
The White House has said it is happy with the way Mr Rumsfeld is handling his job and the situation in Iraq.

But the backing comes as the number of retired generals calling for him to be replaced has risen to six.

It is being described as a rebellion led by those who know Mr Rumsfeld's handling of the war from the inside.

The two most recent generals to voice their unease about Mr Rumsfeld's handling of the war are retired army Maj Gen John Riggs and retired Maj Gen Charles H Swannack Jr.

In a radio interview Maj Gen Riggs, a former division commander, said it was time for Mr Rumsfeld to go because he fostered an atmosphere of "arrogance" among the Pentagon's top civilian leadership.

"They only need the military advice when it satisfies their agenda. I think that's a mistake, and that's why I think he should resign," he told National Public Radio (NPR).

Maj Gen Swannack Jr, who led the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq, went even further.

He questioned whether Mr Rumsfeld was the right person to lead the fight against terrorism.

"I really believe that we need a new secretary of defence because Secretary Rumsfeld carried way too much baggage with him," he told CNN.

"Specifically, I feel he has micromanaged the generals who are leading our forces."

Maj Gen Riggs, who has been critically outspoken on problems facing the US military before, served in the army for 39 years and became a three-star general.

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions as a helicopter pilot during Vietnam, but retired with the loss of one of his stars after the army said he had misused contractors, according to the NPR website.

Maj Gen Swannack Jr commanded the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq from 2003-4.

The fresh resignation calls add to those already made by four other retired generals directly involved in the Iraq war and its planning.

Retired Marine Gen Anthony Zinni told CNN Mr Rumsfeld should be held responsible for a series of mistakes, beginning with "throwing away 10 years worth of planning, plans that had taken into account what we would face in an occupation of Iraq".

Meanwhile, the saber-rattling in the Middle East continues on....Iran has been warned yet again by the fascists that they better fall in line...or else!

Ms Rice on Thursday raised publicly the possibility that Iran might face punitive sanctions at the UN Security Council if it did not change course.

She said that when the council reconvened on the issue at the end of the month there could not be a repeat of March's "presidential statement" in which Iran had been told to halt all sensitive atomic activities within 30 days.

Iran has so far refused to comply.

"There will have to be some consequence for that action and that defiance. We will look at a whole range of options available to the Security Council," Ms Rice said.

She said the council would have to look at a Chapter 7 resolution - which UN members are mandated to comply with.

It could possibly lead to sanctions and eventually even the use of force.

But the BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says council members Russia and China believe that talk of punishment and coercion is premature.

Beijing hopes its envoy will help defuse the situation.

BBC China correspondent Daniel Griffiths says Beijing would like to avoid sanctions and wants to take a higher profile over Iran to strengthen its credentials as a responsible, international player.

Ah well. It is Good Friday...let's take a step back and remember that Christ died on the cross for all our sins. Perhaps he'll forgive the people that did this.

At least 15 people have been injured by knife-wielding attackers at three churches in Egypt, police have said.
The attacks happened in three Coptic churches in the city of Alexandria.

The three incidents took place during Friday Mass and were simultaneous, police officials said, according to the Associated Press news agency.

There were no reports of any arrests. Hundreds of Christians gathered in protest outside the three churches, the agency reported.

The Coptic Christian community is believed to make up 10% of Egypt's population of about 70 million.

Enjoy your Easter and Passover, everyone!

A bit of baseball...Graduation in England...Iran gets the bomb?

2006-04-12T05:15:00.000-05:00

Good Morning!

As you probably know, yesterday was opening day at Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, and also RFK Stadium in Washington, with the new Senators. Vice President Blasty McBirdshot had the honor of throwing out the first pitch at RFK. There is video, check out the crowd's response! And in what can only be considered baseball's editorial response, Washington lost, 7-1. If you recall, when 'President' Bush threw out the first ball for the Red's home opener about a week ago...they got beat, too! (The Sox and the Yanks both won yesterday...the struggle continues.)

Moving on to other news, the eldest son of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer is graduating from Sandhurst Military Academy in England today. Prince Harry will graduate as a commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Army, probably commanding an armoured brigade. There is the potential that he could be sent to Iraq of Afghanistan to serve. Would that our own leaders might have seen service in uniform!! Our last president to have such a spectacular career may have been President Eisenhower...who graduated from West Point, and went on to greater fame in Europe about 60 years back.

The Queen will address the newly-commissioned officers and inspect both ranks of the senior division and the front rank of the junior division during the parade.

She will present the prestigious Sword of Honour to the best cadet and also hand out the Overseas Medal and the Queen's Medal.

He took part in final training in Cyprus

It will be the first time in 15 years that she has attended a Sovereign's Parade in the quadrangle of the college in Camberley, Surrey.

Harry has said he wants to serve on the front line.

In an interview to mark his 21st birthday, he insisted: "The last thing I said was there's no way I'm going to put myself through Sandhurst and then sit on my arse back home while my boys are out fighting for their country.

"That may sound very patriotic, but it's true."

The prince began training to be an officer in the Army last May.

Pictures released as he leaves Sandhurst were taken in Cyprus last month during battle training.

The prince has again been the subject of tabloid headlines in the last week.
The Daily Mirror and the Sun said the 21-year-old and his friends visited the Spearmint Rhino club near Slough to celebrate the end of his army training.

And lastly this morning....unlike Iraq, it turns out the Bush Administration may actually be correct about Iran having the bomb. There was a tidbit heard yesterday on the Stephanie Miller Show that President Hafsenjani of Iran is just as crazy-religious as "president" Bush, and is also a believer in the end times and Armageddon. Be afraid.....be very afraid.

Iran announced Tuesday that its nuclear engineers had advanced to a new phase in the enrichment of uranium, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and a series of the country's ruling clerics declared that the nation would now speed ahead, in defiance of a United Nations Security Council warning, to produce nuclear fuel on an industrial scale.

"Iran has joined the nuclear countries of the world," Ahmadinejad said during a large, carefully staged and nationally televised celebration in Mashhad, which included video presentations of each step of the nuclear process that he declared Iran had mastered. "The nuclear fuel cycle at the laboratory level has been completed, and uranium with the desired enrichment for nuclear power plants was achieved."

The White House, which has charged that Iran is secretly trying to develop fuel for nuclear weapons, at first reacted mildly to the announcement, saying Iran was "moving in the wrong direction." But later in the day it sounded a more ominous tone, with the National Security Council announcing that the United States would work with the United Nations Security Council "to deal with the significant threat posed by the regime's efforts to acquire nuclear weapons."

Outside experts said that while the country appears to have passed a milestone - one it has approached before with smaller-scale enrichment of uranium - the announcement may have had less to do with an engineering feat than with carefully timed political theater intended to convince the West that the program is unstoppable.

The declaration comes at a time of intense speculation in Washington that preliminary plans are advancing to take military action against Iran's nuclear sites if diplomacy fails, an idea Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld dismissed Tuesday as "fantasy land."

It's hump day....so let's make the most of it.

Blinding me with science...Immigration protests...Winning the Hearts and Minds

2006-04-10T05:12:00.000-05:00

Good Morning!

We've got an interesting piece of science this morning....Saturn's moon Enceladus may be the best place in our solar system to look for extraterrestrial life. New information from the Cassini spacecraft has revealed the presence of water, methane, and nitrogen. All of these were primitive building blocks on early Earth. There's one problem though...it's frickin' cold on Saturn! Scientists are researching further to determine why Enceladus is so hot, and there is water vapor present on such a cold and distant world.

Saturn's tiny moon Enceladus may be the best place to look for life elsewhere in the Solar System.
That is the view of a senior scientist working on the Cassini spacecraft, which has been studying Saturn and its moons for nearly two years. Dr Bob Brown told a major conference in Vienna, Austria, Enceladus contains simple organic molecules, water and heat, the ingredients for life. He raised the possibility of future missions to probe inside the moon.

Other research presented at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) annual meeting suggests that Enceladus may have a core of molten rock reaching temperatures of 1,400K (above 1,100C).

In July 2005 Cassini completed a spectacularly close flyby of Enceladus, passing just 173km above its surface.
From this flyby came confirmation that the moon has an atmosphere, and strong evidence that the gases which make up the atmosphere are coming from cracks in the surface, nick-named "tiger stripes", near the south pole.

It appears that the gases are being forced through the surface, as they emerge in jets which shoot upwards for hundreds of kilometres before dispersing, eventually forming Saturn's E-ring. Most of the gas is water vapour, suggesting strongly that liquid water lies under the moon's icy surface.

From his base at the University of Arizona, Tucson, Bob Brown leads the scientific team for Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer (Vims) which analysed the chemical composition of Enceladus's atmosphere and mapped the distribution of various gases.

"We very clearly saw water; there's water everywhere on Enceladus, it's 99.9% water ice in general at the surface, and we've known that for years, so it wasn't a big surprise," he told the BBC News website.

"But when we started looking at our spectra we saw absorption bands from a compound that had to have carbon and hydrogen bonded together.

"And when we mapped the location, it was right in these 'tiger stripes' - right where the jets are coming out, and right where it's hot - and it's pretty hard to imagine it's getting there from anywhere but inside."

The organic molecules appear to be quite simple, he said, probably largely methane. The jets also contain nitrogen; and putting all this together means, said Dr Brown, that Enceladus contains all the ingredients necessary for the development of life, or of precursors to it.

"What you need to put microbes together of the kind that we're familiar with is carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen, and water to act as an intermediary for metabolism," he said.

"You've got a rock core that's hot as hell; you've got all the conditions that we think gave rise to the first self-replicating molecules and eventually to life on this planet.

"So Enceladus in a very real sense becomes a stronger candidate for life than [Jupiter's moon] Europa, for instance."

Turning to more worldy issues....there are dozens, if not hundreds, of pro-immigrant rallies planned for around the country today. Boston is expecting to see a large on on the traditional protest grounds of the Boston Common. Last week, the protest was against immigration reform, and this week is to show support for awarding citizenship to those who are already here. Not to put too fine a point on it, but unless your bloodline includes indigenous, pre-Columbian peoples...We're ALL immigrant and our forebears had to face similar opposition and hardship when they first came here.

NEW YORK Demonstrators flying banners of immigration reform marched in cities across the nation on Sunday to demand citizenship and a share of the American dream for millions of illegal immigrants who have run a gantlet of closed borders, broken families, snake-eyed smugglers and economic exploitation.

Singing, chanting and waving placards and American flags, a sea of demonstrators - police estimates ran as high as 500,000 - marched in downtown Dallas in the largest of the protests. Some 20,000 rallied in San Diego, 7,000 in Miami, and 4,000 each in Birmingham, Alabama, and Boise, Idaho.

Thousands more gathered in Salem, Oregon, and other cities in peaceful, forceful displays of support for the cause of immigrants.

"It's a good feeling that we are finally standing up for ourselves," Robert Martinez said at the rally in Dallas.

"For years, we never say nothing," said Martinez, who crossed the Rio Grande illegally 22 years ago and eventually became an American citizen. "We just work hard, follow the rules and pay taxes. And they try to make these laws. It's time people knew how we felt."

While Sunday's rallies were an impressive extension of the growing immigrant protests that have spread across the country in recent weeks, organizers said they were only a tuneup for nationwide demonstrations on Monday, billed as a National Day of Action for Immigrant Justice. Events in more than 120 cities are expected to draw more than two million people.

On a gentle spring Sunday basted by golden sunshine and blue skies, crowds gathered in ebullient moods, spreading over downtown streets and parks in cities large and small. The demonstrators were mostly Hispanic, but they included people of Asian, European and African backgrounds.

Most wore white shirts to symbolize peace. Many carried American flags or the flags of Mexico and other countries of Central and South America and Asia. At the rally in Dallas, "God Bless America" and "This Land Is Your Land" blared on loudspeakers, as well as the music of Mexico, as marchers chanted "Sí, se puede" ("Yes, we can") and "USA all the way."

Lastly this morning....we're winning the war for the hearts and minds of the Middle East....NOT. The pace of so-called democracy is slowing, and in some countries has reversed entirely or simply does not exist at all. Glad to see everything is working according to the neocon's plans.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Steps toward democracy in the Arab world, a crucial American goal that just months ago was cause for optimism - with elections held in Iraq, Egypt and the Palestinian areas - are slowing, blocked by delays in reform efforts, legal maneuvers and official changes of heart throughout the Middle East.

The political rise of Islamists, the chaos in Iraq along with the newfound Shiite power there with its implication for growing Iranian influence, and the sense among some rulers that they can wait out the end of the Bush administration have put the brakes on democratization, analysts and officials say.

"It feels like everything is going back to the bad old days, as if we never went through any changes at all," said Sulaiman al-Hattlan, editor in chief of Forbes Arabia and a prominent Saudi columnist and reformist. "Everyone is convinced now that there was no serious or genuine belief in change from the governments, it was just a reaction to pressure by the international media and the U.S."

In Egypt, the government of Hosni Mubarak, which allowed a contested presidential election last year, has delayed municipal elections for two years after the Muslim Brotherhood made big gains in parliamentary elections late last year, despite the government's violent efforts to stop the group's supporters.

In Jordan, where King Abdullah has made political reform and democratization a mandate, reformers believe their situation has been weakened with a national agenda for change that has been put on the back burner.

Plans for parliamentary elections in Qatar were postponed a third time, to 2007, in violation of the country's Constitution, activists say, while civil groups say that laws permitting the emergence of civil society organizations have stymied their development instead.

In Yemen, the government has cracked down on the media ahead of presidential elections later this year, jailing journalists who are considered overcritical of the regime.

In Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah has refused calls that the country's consultative council be elected, while the arrest of Muhsin al-Awaji, a government critic, last month raised questions about how far the country's newfound openness would go. And in Syria, promises for reforms have been followed by a harsh crackdown on the opposition.

U.S. officials do not deny that there have been setbacks in the promotion of democracy in the Middle East, but they say that recent negative trends do not discredit their approach.

"Democratic development isn't always linear," said a senior State Department official, insisting on anonymity in commenting for this article. "It's a process that takes time, is evolutionary and requires strong consistent support, which is what our policy is all about."

Arab nation-states in the Middle East are largely led by monarchies and authoritarian regimes, many of which have been unable to keep up with explosive population growth and development needs.

So, there you have it. Would that our children and grandchildren might still be interested in science and have the resources and will to pursue the first story to its conclusion...instead of letting the second and third stories devolve into global conflict and catastrophe.

Keep smiling, some days it's all you can do.

AAP "Event"...Jill Carroll home...World bank in Baghdad

2006-04-03T05:17:00.000-05:00

Good Morning. Well, it looks like Air America Place is still down. Apparantly, the Domain Name Server that is run by our hosting company suffered some kind of major failure over the weekend. I don't pretend to understand these things, but the way it was explained to me, this is like the "internet phone book". You type in the name, and the server will 'match it up' to a specific numeric IP address and connect you up. Since the server isn't working, anyone attempting to access the site by name is out of luck. You can, however, still connect numerically. This is a bit fragile, so some of the links don't work, and there have been some login issues. But we are still there. If you can't get in that way, do drop by Air Rational Guard. We've had problems with AAP in the past, and Admiral Rican has graciously offered his own site as a backup for us.

Moving on to other news, in the very small "Good News from Iraq" department...kindapped Christian Science Monitor reporter Jill Carroll arrived home in Boston yesterday, safe and hopefully sound...

Nearly three months after she was abducted at gunpoint from a Baghdad street, journalist Jill Carroll had a joyous reunion with her family in Boston yesterday, beginning what is likely to be a long recovery from her ordeal and an adjustment to her newfound celebrity.

Passengers on the Lufthansa 747 jumbo jet that brought Carroll back to the United States shortly after noon said she was alternately laughing and marveling at the world outside her window after spending 82 days as a hostage in rooms where she could not see outside. She was also surprised to see her own face on the cover of a newspaper that the flight attendant handed her.

''I finally feel like I am alive again," Carroll told reporters from her newspaper, The Christian Science Monitor, who accompanied her on the crowded flight to Logan International Airport. ''To be able to step outside anytime, to feel the sun directly on your face, to see the whole sky. These are luxuries that we just don't appreciate every day."
Minutes after arriving, the 28-year-old was whisked away in a police-escorted limousine from the tarmac to an undisclosed location to meet her father, mother, and twin sister. Before Carroll's abrupt release Thursday, they had received little news about her well-being since the kidnappers' threat to kill Carroll by Feb. 26 had passed.
Carroll has said little about her plans, aside from requesting ''quiet time" with her family.
Other journalists have written books about their experiences in Iraq, including two by reporters who either were kidnapped or nearly kidnapped. However, Micah Garen, a documentary filmmaker who wrote a book about his 10 days as a hostage in Iraq in 2004, said Carroll probably has more immediate concerns right now.
''There is just nothing like that reunion with your family," said Garen, whose loved ones -- like Carroll's -- waged an extensive campaign to win his freedom. ''We immediately left the next day and went to a quiet place in Rhode Island by the water for a week. . . . You really want to be isolated from the media craziness and spend time with your family and get back to normal."
Garen cautioned that ''normal" may return only gradually as Carroll reflects on what she has been through and how it has changed her life. Carroll's friend and translator, Allan Enwiya, was killed in the abduction, while Carroll has said she lived in isolation throughout her captivity, often under threat of harm. On a practical level, Garen said, she will not be able to work anytime soon in Iraq, both because of the danger and that she would be so widely recognized.
''Suddenly, overnight, the job that you really love -- reporting overseas -- is taken away from you and you don't know why," he said yesterday. ''People think that all these great things will come out of this but, in reality, you're taking many steps back." Continued...

Finally this morning...how'd you like to do some banking in Baghdad? The World Bank apparently would. The thinking is that because they're funding most of the Iraq reconstruction, having a bank and personnel on the ground would only make things easier. But wait, there's more! Guess who's in charge of the World Bank these days? That's right, Paul Wolfowitz, at one time the number two man in the Pentagon, who planned this entire war. Well, isn't that conveeeeeeeenient? Wonder how much of that "reconstruction money" is reconstructing his bank account?

WASHINGTON -- The World Bank's president, Paul Wolfowitz, is considering expanding bank operations in Iraq, which would put his agency at the center of rebuilding from a war he helped plan as the Pentagon's former number two official.

Senior bank officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because no final decision had been made, said key donor countries including Britain, Japan, Germany, and Denmark are pressuring Wolfowitz to establish a Baghdad office.

The development agency has not had an Iraq office since an Aug. 19, 2003, bombing at UN headquarters in Iraq killed a bank employee. A consultant, with a staff of seven Iraqis, is paid by the World Bank to look after its affairs in Iraq.

No World Bank staff would be forced to accept an Iraq assignment, the officials said.

In recent weeks, Wolfowitz sent a fact-finding mission to Iraq, and he was examining security matters and several reconstruction-related issues, officials said.

The possibility of a new World Bank office revives attention to Wolfowitz's role as an architect of the Iraq war. Many critics have accused the Bush administration and the Pentagon in particular of failing to plan for a post-invasion Iraq, as violence rages three years after Saddam Hussein's ouster.

Michael O'Hanlon, a reconstruction specialist at Washington's Brookings Institution, said Wolfowitz's history with Iraq ''complicates everything." ''He is a very smart man," O'Hanlon said, ''but he is also obviously very controversial in his basic support of the Iraq invasion."

Wolfowitz's predecessor as World Bank president, James Wolfensohn, resisted pressure from US lawmakers to return bank reconstruction specialists to Iraq after the 2003 bombing. Continued...

So, there's a mixed Monday for you. We hope to have the issues with Air America Place resolved sometime today, but since we're dependent on our hosting company to fix this, we're not so sure.

Libertarian Saturday

2006-04-01T07:53:00.000-05:00

Good Morning! Air America Place seems to be down this morning. Curious that this would come on April Fool's Day...and also the second anniversary of Air America beginning broadcasting...just what are the Feds up to today, hmm? :foilhat:

We'll keep it on the shorter side today. Let's begin by peering in on the fine state of Texas to see how they're cracking down on crime these days. Sounds like a little Bush-Style pre-emption, no?

Surprise: Police find drunk people in bars -- and arrest them

Here's something to keep in mind next time you visit a bar, club, or
restaurant: Police in several states have launched crackdowns on drunk
driving and public intoxication -- and are now arresting drunk people who
aren't driving and who aren't in public.

In at least two states -- Texas and Virginia -- police have started
going into bars to arrest people who fail sobriety tests.

Police say the action is necessary to prevent drunk driving. They also
say they don't have to wait until people leave a bar to arrest them for public
intoxication, since the legal definition of "public space" includes the
inside of drinking establishments.

The move has sparked outrage from civil libertarians, who say police
are grossly exceeding their authority, and are arresting people who pose no
danger to anyone.

This issue was first publicized in January, when WorldNetDaily.com
reported that police in Virginia were going into bars and taverns and literally
"pulling people off barstools." The police, dressed in "SWAT-like attire," would
give people sobriety tests and arrest them for public drunkenness if they
failed the test.

Then, on March 15, NBC Channel 5 TV in Dallas/Ft. Worth reported that Texas
Alcoholic Beverage Commission agents and Irving police had launched a similar
crackdown.

Police targeted 36 establishments and sent undercover police officers
to look for people who appeared to be drunk. After administering sobriety tests
in the bars and clubs, they charged 30 people with public intoxication.

In both Texas and Virginia, police said the campaign would reduce drunk
driving. But police apparently made no effort to check which patrons
had walked to the bar, or rode with friends, or planned to take a cab. In Texas,
police even arrested people in a hotel bar who were registered hotel guests
and had no plans to drive anywhere.

One Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agent said police were
justified in arresting people because "going to a bar is not an opportunity to
go get drunk." Another spokesperson said drinking can make people do stupid
things like "jump off of balconies trying to reach a swimming pool and miss."
The spokesperson did not give details about how prevalent the missed-swimming
pool problem is in Texas.

After people complained, Texas legislators said they would review the
program to "check for abuses" and to measure its effectiveness.

Well, here's one reason to oppose this campaign against social
drinkers: While police are harassing tipsy people in bars, real criminals are
walking the streets -- free to kill, rob, and rape again.

Source: Cops go to bars to arrest drunks

Meanwhile, Dr. Ruwart has an interesting quetsion today, about limiting police powers in a
Libertarian Society. This one seems at bit 'unusual', to say the least. Can't say I agree with it, but here it is, nevertheless.

QUESTION: If the police force actually attracts people who like
violence, have inferiority complexes, and/or crave power, as some people
suggest, does that alter the libertarian position on having private police
agencies rather than government police forces? How do we guard against those
bad apples who are attracted to a job which allows them to use force against
and power over others?

MY SHORT ANSWER: If we assume that predators are attracted to law
enforcement, private policing becomes even more desirable. Public police enjoy
a great deal of sovereign immunity. Like many government employees, the extent
to which they can be held liable to their victims is limited. Even when their
victims win settlements, taxpayers -- rather than the offending officers --
often pay them. A bad apple can often get away with a great deal more abusive
behavior as a public police officer than as a civilian.

Private police, on the other hand, enjoy no such immunities.
Profit-making companies would act quickly to remove an abusive individual from
the payroll to prevent loss of business. The offending officer would be held
personally liable for acts of aggression and, in a libertarian society, expected
to make restitution to the victim.

Private police profit most if they can prevent crime, rather than chase
criminals. Consequently, they show citizens how to make their homes
more secure, monitor houses when the residents go out of town, and make
their presence visible to discourage criminals. Their focus is on protecting,
not apprehending (although they will take a suspect into custody when
appropriate). In other words, private police primarily "serve and protect,"
rather than "enforce the law" as public police do. That's a very different
mindset!

And lastly this morning...in our new "Why Aren't you a Libertarian?" section, we'll take a brief look at the official party Platform on Crime. First, check out the Talking Points. Then take a look at the platform itself:

Crime
The Issue: The continuing high level of violent crime -- and the government's demonstrated inability to deal with it -- threatens the lives, happiness and belongings of Americans. At the same time, governmental violations of rights undermine people's sense of justice with regard to crime. Victimless crime laws themselves violate individual rights and also breed genuine crime.

The Principle: The only justified function of government is the protection of the lives, rights and property of its citizens.

Solutions: The appropriate way to suppress crime is through consistent and impartial enforcement of laws that protect individual rights. We applaud the trend toward private protection services and voluntary community crime control groups.

Transitional Action: We call for an end to "hate crime" laws that punish people for their thoughts and speech, distract us from real crimes, and foster resentment by giving some individuals special status under the law. Laws pertaining to "victimless crimes" should be repealed. We support institutional changes, consistent with full respect for the rights of the accused, which would permit victims to direct the prosecution in criminal cases.

So, here's to hoping that Air America Place is back up and running soon. In the meantime, come and hang out here! Coffee's on, donuts are fresh, and we're waiting...

Stiffing our ally...More guns, less oversight...Audubon likes wind

2006-03-29T05:56:00.000-05:00

Good Morning. Got a good one from London. Gotta love how we support our allies.

LONDON -- Mayor Ken Livingstone, upset that the US Embassy is not paying a quarter of a million dollars in traffic congestion charges, has called Ambassador Robert Tuttle a ''chiseling little crook."

Last July, the embassy stopped paying London's $14 daily congestion fee, imposed on every car that travels into the city's center on weekdays.

''When British troops are putting their lives on the line for American foreign policy it would be quite nice if they paid the congestion charge," Livingstone, known for his inflammatory remarks, said Monday.

Rick Roberts, a spokesman for the US Embassy here, said he did ''not want to dignify those remarks by responding to name calling."

State Department lawyers believe that the congestion charge constitutes a commuting tax and that diplomats are exempt from taxes according to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, Roberts said.

The $14 charge, which began in February 2003, was designed to lessen traffic congestion. Those who don't immediately pay the $14 fee incur stiff penalties. If the fee is not paid in a month, the charge turns into a $260 ticket.

''When the ambassador calls on the [British] foreign secretary he is charged. It interferes with conducting business," Roberts said. He said Tuttle, who worked in the Reagan administration and has run one of the largest automobile dealer organizations in the United States, was sworn in as ambassador in mid-July, after the decision to stop paying was made.

That did not stop Livingstone from lashing out at him.
''It would actually be quite nice if the American ambassador in Britain could pay the charge that everybody else is paying and not actually try and skive out of it like some chiseling little crook," Livingstone said.

OK, maybe that story wasn't so serious. But this one is a little bit more. In the climate of spend, spend, spend under the Bush 'administration', it looks like less and less oversight of weapon manufacture is occuring. So Bush and his cronies get richer, and no one is sure if anything that is being produced is effective, or even safe, for our troops to use in battle.

WASHINGTON -- A special Pentagon office created by Congress to review the performance of new weapons has not publicly released an assessment in four years, raising concerns that the Department of Defense's commitment to oversight is dwindling at a time when weapons spending is on the rise, according to current and former Pentagon officials.
The office of Operational Test and Evaluation still prepares annual reports, but none has been made public since 2002. Between 1998 and 2002, however, the office issued dozens of reports on weapons under development for the various military branches, according to a review of the record.
The public assessments raised questions about some weapons' effectiveness, and took issue with military contractors for delays or cost overruns. Political pressure often forced changes in the weapons' designs or production processes, according to defense officials.
But under Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, the influence of the office has waned, according to a former director, congressional planners, and private defense specialists.
''I used to put my annual reports on the Web," said Philip Coyle, who ran the office during the Clinton administration, from 1994 to 2001. ''That stopped with the current Bush administration."
The office, which reports to Rumsfeld, has not had a permanent director for more than year. Meanwhile, a Government Accountability Office report found that military contractors were seeking ways to relax the testing regimen for new weapons. And a Pentagon study commissioned by Rumsfeld's top deputy recommended in January that some weapons testing be curtailed to speed up the process of getting new weapons into the field.
The Pentagon declined to say why the declassified test reports, which were once widely circulated on the Internet, now go in hard-copy form only to a few select congressional committee chairmen, a small group of Pentagon insiders, and, in a few cases, to chosen outlets of the defense industry press.
Acting Director David Duma declined to be interviewed, but his office's spokeswoman responded by e-mail to some questions.
The spokeswoman said the office's yearly assessment of weapons programs has been comprehensive, covering all 200 weapons systems under its purview. In addition to the annual reports, the office has produced three assessments on the missile defense program since 2001, but those reports are classified.
Meanwhile, the office says, it has produced 48 other reports since 2001 to help acquisition officials decide whether to approve various weapon systems for ''full-rate production."
But former defense officials and congressional staffers say the lack of circulation of the reports is more indicative of the Pentagon's attitude toward testing under Rumsfeld.

The reports were once a powerful tool to allow outsiders to scrutinize Pentagon spending and, they said, the current veil of secrecy seems intended to prevent any second-guessing of Rumsfeld's decision-making. Continued...

And lastly today, in some local news...the Audubon Society has given its blessing to the Cape Wind project. They've determined that no birds will be put at risk by the many windmills the project entails...removing yet another piece of ammunition from the oil-sucking NIMBYs.

The Massachusetts Audubon Society gave its preliminary blessing yesterday to a large-scale wind power project off Cape Cod, saying its studies show that turbine blades are not likely to cause significant harm to birds, as the group had once feared.

Support from the environmental group, one of the most respected in the state, is important because the threat to birds has emerged as a controversial aspect of the five-year-old proposal to turn stiff sea breezes into a source of electricity.

The group had previously raised questions about potential bird deaths, but Jack Clarke, advocacy director of Mass Audubon, said extensive studies it conducted in the last four years showed that endangered roseate terns and piping plovers, the group's main concerns, and other sensitive species generally avoid the 24-square-mile footprint of the proposed wind farm in Nantucket Sound.

''Our preliminary conclusion is that the project would not pose a threat to avian species," he said.

The most significant hurdle for the project, which would be the nation's first offshore wind farm, is an ongoing federal environmental review, and Mass Audubon's preliminary stance is likely to be helpful. But the group said its final decision will hinge on additional research of several bird species.

WEB LINK: The Massachusetts Audubon Society statement

Mass Audubon officials said they want the government and Cape Wind Associates, the project's developer, to study the flight paths of birds for one more spring and summer season and at night, to be absolutely sure the whirring blades of the wind farm's 130 turbines would not kill too many sea ducks, migratory birds, terns, and plovers. They also said that one more winter study of sea ducks might be necessary.

''We want to get this right," Clarke said. ''This is a big step for the US." Continued...

Looks like there's a bonus click this morning....sounds like a teen prank to me.

Right reviewing nominations...So is the left...and some local news.

2006-03-27T06:10:00.000-05:00

Good Morning!

Well, you can tell it's heading for election season. Bush's "base" is starting to trot out the wingnuts for review. Of course, they get endless mileage from bashing Massachusetts. Here's the odious Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR). Quite a difference from the last president from Arkansas.

WASHINGTON -- Most Americans know one thing about Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, if they know anything: He lost more than 100 pounds in a year, a triumph touted in a weight-loss book he has hawked around the country.

But evangelical conservative activists know one or two other things that make the governor a standout among Republicans who may run for president in 2008: Huckabee is a Baptist minister and a fierce defender of traditional family values.

''Let's face it," he recently told a crowd of Christian conservatives in Iowa, the state that holds the earliest presidential caucuses.

''In our lifetimes," Huckabee said, ''we've seen our country go from 'Leave It to Beaver' to 'Beavis and Butt-head,' from Barney Fife to Barney Frank, from 'Father Knows Best' to television shows where father knows nothing."

Huckabee's outreach to evangelicals, in Iowa and elsewhere, demonstrates the clout of the Christian conservative wing of the GOP. That faction was crucial to President Bush's reelection in 2004, and it is maneuvering to have a big say in who wins the party's nomination in 2008.

The Iowa Christian Alliance has invited potential Republican candidates to address voters around the state. Antiabortion activists have scoured the records of potential contenders. A coalition of national conservative groups has summoned potential candidates to a conference in September where 2,000 or more activists it calls ''values voters" are expected to attend.

Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts has disavowed past statements supporting abortion rights. Senator George Allen, Republican of Virginia, dropped his support for allowing gays to be covered by federal hate-crimes legislation. Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor who is considered to be a liberal on social issues, spoke recently at a meeting of evangelical leaders in the South.

The influence of social and religious conservatives may be limited by the fact that they have not rallied around a single consensus candidate. They view the potential candidates with the strongest showings in early polls, Giuliani and Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, with suspicion.

Those more closely aligned with the religious conservatives, such as Huckabee and Senator Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas, are relatively unknown to the electorate.

Some activists are urging social conservatives to close ranks behind a like-minded candidate, to maximize their effect.

''If we get together and get behind a single candidate, we can be formidable," said Paul M. Weyrich, a conservative leader. It is not clear when or whether that agreement will happen.

Of course, we've got our issues, too. On our side, Senator Russ Feingold's (D-WI) attempt to censure the 'president' has garnered little support in the Senate Chamber. But it's done wonders for his national stature and presidential aspirations. If their issue in 06 and 08 is going to be the usual "Gods, Guns, and Gays,"...then ours has to be "Iraq, Incompetence, and Impeachment."

WASHINGTON -- Only two Democrats in the Senate have embraced Senator Russ Feingold's call for censuring President Bush, but the idea is increasing his standing among many Democratic voters as he ponders a bid for the party's presidential nomination in 2008.
Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, insists his proposal has nothing to do with his political ambitions. But he does challenge Democrats who argue it will help energize Republicans.

''Those Democrats said that within two minutes of my announcing my idea," Feingold said last week. ''I don't see any serious evidence of that."

A Newsweek poll taken March 16 and 17 found that 50 percent of those surveyed opposed censuring Bush while 42 percent supported it, but among Democrats, 60 percent favored the effort.

Feingold's resolution would censure the president for authorizing a warrantless surveillance program, which the senator contends is illegal. Cosponsors are Democratic senators Tom Harkin of Iowa and Barbara Boxer of California.

The Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing Friday on the resolution.

Other Democrats have said that bringing up such a punishment is not helpful before an investigation of the eavesdropping program is complete.

''I think to say that you should censure the president before you have had the inquiries is premature, so I don't think it's helpful to reach that conclusion at this point," Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan, told ''Fox News Sunday."

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, also said that it is too early to consider censure. He would not, however, rule out voting for such a measure if the Bush administration stonewalls a congressional probe.

''It's a close case," Kennedy said on CBS's ''Face the Nation."

The White House says Bush was authorized to order eavesdropping on American citizens under his wartime powers as commander in chief.

Feingold said his sole purpose was to hold Bush accountable, but he contended that it's also good politics.

''These Democratic pundits are all scared of the Republican base getting energized, but they're willing to pay the price of not energizing the Democratic base," he said. ''It's an overly defensive and meek approach to politics."
Some Republicans have been thanking Feingold for what they consider a political fumble. ''This is such a gift," Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show.

Turning lastly to local election news, Representative Michael Capuano (D-Somerville), who once had designs on the office himself, has just endorsed Deval Patrick for governor. I say don't waste your time with the establishment candidate....take a look at the only independent running, Christy Mihos.

BOSTON --U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano, who weighed his own bid for governor this year before deciding to run for re-election to Congress, told The Associated Press on Sunday that he has decided to endorse Deval Patrick for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

The endorsement, scheduled to be formally announced Monday afternoon at Patrick's campaign headquarters, will mark the second congressional backing for the first-time political candidate.

Patrick previously picked up the support for U.S. Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass.

Capuano, formerly the mayor of Somerville, holds a political seat representing Boston and Cambridge that was previously held by House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr. and more recently by U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II.
Patrick has emphasized his commitment to working with city and urban leaders, and his campaign hopes that Capuano's endorsement will echo in those ranks.

It's never too early to start paying attention....even if the elections are 9 months (and almost 3 years!) away.

Why I will never, ever, EVER, forgive the Right.

2006-03-16T16:10:00.000-05:00

You know me. Come into my house, and there’s aviation materials all over the place. Go and look at my desk, and the largest picture is not of my wife, not of my son, but of my beloved B-17 Flying Fortress.

My computer wallpapers are aviation photos…even my startup sound is the roar of the mighty Wright R-1820.

Suffice to say, I like airplanes. It’s really been my life’s interest, since I was a wee lad. My father tells me that one of my very first words was “airplane”. I am forever grateful to his friend Bob for giving me my first ride at around the age of 7, in his wonderful, vintage Piper J-3 Cub.

Ever since then, I’ve been hooked. I lived near the airport, have a scanner to listen in, and am serious enough about flight simming to keep a logbook…the current iteration of which is about 40 hours, but I have more than 350 hours logged since I bought my first simulator a few years back. Flying the real thing has remained out of reach, though.

Growing up, my grandparents spent the winter in Palm Beach, Florida…and an annual ritual was heading down for April vacation and then spring break. As always with Italians, that was a family affair. We always, always, always stopped to visit my Aunt Nora in East Boston. In those days, we flew Eastern Airlines, always the 10pm BOS-TPA-PBI. In later years, it was Delta….but there was always a visit to our relatives in East Boston on the way to the airport.

I joke now that everybody hates to fly with me, because I’m always chattering about procedures, where we are, what the airplane is doing, calling out landmarks, v-ref speeds, and whatever else pops into my head. I always talked to the flight attendants on board…tried to meet the flight crew….and no trip via aircraft was complete without the obligatory visit to the cockpit upon boarding or deplaning.

But then, on a beautiful September morning, two jets took off from Logan Airport and changed the course of history.

It’s been six years since that awful day…and I’ve only flown twice since then. We’ve been planning our vacations to be local, or no more than a day’s drive away. The airline industry has been in a tailspin; the prices keep going up and up while the service keeps going down and down. Just today, Northwest airlines announced that it was going to charge more for aisle and exit row seats.

But that’s not why I will never forgive the Bush ‘administration’. You can’t get on a plane today without being subject to background checks, a whole host of security measures that are ineffective, and all along being poked and prodded by surly, ill-mannered employees of the federal government.

Some among us will chastise me and say “but, you’re safer than before”. But I say no, we’re only cowed and browbeaten, and because this government is so out of control, nobody dares to stand up and point out the constitutional violations that take place in every airport and on every single day. I’m certain that I am on the no-fly list, simply for running this blog, and at Air America Place, and for daring to speak my mind.

It’s for this reason… It’s because they have taken the joy and the magic of flight and turned it into government intrusion and fearmongering….that I will never forgive the right. They have taken the one thing that has brought me constant joy and excitement in my life away from me, and turned it into something tedious and hateful. I still look at the sky for whatever is overhead when I hear an aero engine…..but the joy is gone.

And that, my friends, is unforgiveable.