Nathan

The return of the frog march. | MetaFilter

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For a friend.

Global warming makes sea less salty - LiveScience - MSNBC.com

The communication between uncle and nephew continues:

Ok then. Onto what I wrote of earlier in this little break I have right now.

I have written to you in the past about the environment and our earth. We have communicated about liberals and conservatives. I have even thrown in some obtuse references to Salem during the 17th century and sports writers. What am I trying to get at come the end of the day?

These various topics are all intertwined as we increasingly are in this new age that we live in (where you get this letter from me in a brief millisecond). The extremism that I see in the crazy eyes of the infamous 19 suicide bombers struck me similarly as when I looked at pictures of Timothy McVeigh, the Unabomber and sadly, even some of the kids I see sometimes out on the basketball court. The extremism doesn’t stop there though. As liberals have moved out in their extreme forests (wrapping themselves sometimes in scientology or environmentalist or anarchist cloaks) so too have conservatives to some degree (as evidenced by our budget issues, our arguable ‘policing’ of the world, and big government programs such as the Homeland Security department). We have become unmoored and as I wrote, it feels more and more like the law of the jungle at home and abroad. We are unmoored not only from traditional liberal, conservative and moral beliefs, but each other and…

‘But how does this have to do with the environment and our earth?’ you might write or wonder about. Let me offer you my theory: it all starts there. Like Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, we need the smaller and truly meek among us (‘lesser’ species) to save us. Talk about an obtuse reference eh?

It is as we have neglected those species we are pushing towards extinction and my personal spiritual reference, the Earth, that we have moved away from the moderation and even stance that might allow us and others to succeed in the long run. We and she (Mother Earth) have moved towards an extreme arena where, unfortunately, I think we lose out as we all ready have in Florida last year and Southeast Asia this past year.

Not to say that we are to blame necessarily for these problems that we are seeing around us with our natural world, but we aren’t helping either. Just as we are not helping our Earth to continue on in this moderate, pleasant manner by not paying attention to the weather and natural messages she is sending us so too are we not helping the children of Columbine by all guessing their motivations and not really taking the time to step back and truly listen with an open mind and an open heart.

This is by way of saying that I do not begrudge you pride in America and our fantastic history – I in fact share in this with you. I don’t begrudge the French pride in their county or South Africans theirs. What I would have hoped for though in this new age turning point in our history (and possibly even geologic history itself) a unifying message saying that we all have our pride and our prejudice, but that we are a team on this spinning little globe. We should lead the world in this truly new challenge, never before faced by man. In the process I think we not only would have beat the terrorists to pulp, but led the change our Mother Earth and her residents are desperately hoping for – away from extreme swings and towards a moderate, pleasant future.

Global warming might create lopsided planet - LiveScience - MSNBC.com: "Extra precipitation expected as a result of global warming could create a lopsided world in which sea ice increases around the South Pole while the far north melts away. "

-THE CUNNING REALIST-: The Final Tally: A Blowout: "34 to 6. I'm glad I took the 'over.'

President Bush used the words terror, terrorism or terrorists thirty-four times tonight. He said insurgents or insurgency six times. His first mention of 'insurgents' came after he employed variations on 'terror' nine times."

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: June 26, 2005 - July 02, 2005 Archives: "'It's not a pay raise,' said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas. 'It's an adjustment so that they're not losing their purchasing power.'"

Insurance pricey now? Just wait for warming - Environment - MSNBC.com: "LONDON - The cost of cleaning up storm damage will balloon, forcing higher premiums on policy holders, unless the world takes urgent action to cut emissions that many scientists tie to global warming, the Association of British Insurers said on Wednesday."

Voters have had enough of Schwarzenegger - Politics - MSNBC.com

Travesty of justice: Valerie Plame case - The Abrams Report - MSNBC.com: "A serious travesty of justice continues. Someone leaked a covert CIA operative's name to a reporter. That reporter published the name in his column, violating a federal law. Then, as the criminal investigation into the source of the leak proceeded, that reporter miraculously appears to be in the clear. But another reporter who never even published the name is going to prison for failing to disclose her source? Huh?"

Bush Administration withheld trade reports - Stocks & Economy - MSNBC.com: "The studies, paid for by the department, concluded that several countries the administration wants to be granted free-trade status have poor working conditions and fail to protect workers' rights. The agency dismissed the conclusions as inaccurate and biased, according to documents reviewed by The Associated Press."

Bush speech gets global praise, criticism - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com: "'Australia needs to refocus on the region and the war on terror instead of getting bogged down in the bloody quagmire of Iraq's insurgency.'"

The US, too.

Protesters To Disrupt Soldier's Funeral - Yahoo! News: "NewsCenter 5's Gail Huff reported that Staff Sgt. Christoper Piper, 43, served in both Afghanistan and Iraq and was awarded a bronze star for his combat service. The Green Beret died when his convoy was bombed June 3 in Afghanistan and a right-wing Protestant Christian church group from Topeka, Kansas is planning to demonstrate at Piper's funeral services at the Old North Church. They claim U.S. soldiers like Piper are dying because the country is being punished for its tolerance of what they see as immoral behavior, such as homosexuality."

The Unofficial War | MetaFilter: "A U.S. general who commanded the U.S. allied air forces in Iraq has confirmed that the U.S. and Britain conducted a massive secret bombing campaign before the U.S. actually declared war on Iraq...Starting in late May to June of 2002 a flurry of activity began both in the United States and in the Middle East. In what appears to be an admission of covert activity, chief allied air force commander Lieutenant-General Michael Moseley divulged in a little-noticed quote in the New York Times that US/British aircraft flew 21,736 sorties between June 2002 and March 2003."

Ft. Bragg soldiers looking for answers - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com: "'Maybe he'll specify more of his plan for expediting the process' of bringing home the troops, suggested Goss. 'We pretty much want it to be over with. There are a lot of guys that we have over there from my unit that have only been there since November, but they're ready to come home.'"

State Guard forms anti-terrorism intelligence unit: "Although Guard officials said the new unit would not collect information on American citizens, top National Guard officials have already been involved in tracking at least one recent Mother's Day anti-war rally organized by families of slain American soldiers, according to e-mails obtained by the Mercury News."

CNN.com - Toyota stresses 'social role' - Jun 27, 2005: "Toyota Motor Corp., whose runaway success has fanned talk of a political backlash in the United States, took pains on Monday to highlight its focus on environmental and safety issues in the years ahead.
'Our main mission as a company is to contribute to a better society,' President Katsuaki Watanabe, who took up his post last week, told a news conference on Monday held to introduce the company's new management team."

Halliburton Iraq deals described as contract abuse - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top U.S. Army procurement official said on Monday Halliburton's deals in Iraq were the worst example of contract abuse she had seen as Pentagon auditors flagged over $1 billion of potential overcharges by the Texas-based firm.

Bunny Greenhouse, the Army Corps of Engineers' top contracting official-turned whistle-blower, said in testimony at a hearing by Democrats on Capitol Hill that 'every aspect' of Halliburton's oil contract in Iraq had been under the control of the Office of the Secretary of Defense."

Top News Article | Reuters.com

Please see some of my responses inline below.

Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 6:26

The liberal media is not a fantastic construct. The ethic for a career in news is to "afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicated." The liberality of the media is also not something with which I necessarily disagree, and I think it can be no other way. Notions of objectivity are nonsense, anyway, according to Luce. The ethic is simply misapplied, and blindly followed, by a media management come to power and influence during the Viet Nam and Watergate era. There are greater truths than those discovered by the media, and subtler influences at work in international relations than the media can follow. Media are blunt instruments, and should not be, as they have become, instruments of policy. Furthermore, I think you know the idea of a liberal media is not far-fetched, and are not being honest with me-- or yourself-- when you posit that it is.

I agree that in general ‘newsmen’ as it were tend to be liberal. What you posit however neglects to acknowledge the power that the media owners and editors wield. For who owns these news machines? I have to suggest generally they are owned by right-leaning, status quo believing folks. People who are, or are becoming, very comfortable with how things are trending as money flows into their pockets. As many studies as there are that say our media is liberal so too I am sure there are as many that say they are but a microphone and loudspeaker for the rich and powerful message.

To me, the reality is that this is such a commodity in a free, democratic society that it should not be trusted to corporations or profit centers. Like healthcare this should be a carefully studied and controlled public trust.

Of course you would disown the "liberal," label. I am aware of your postulates regarding the evil of "labels." Yet, labels, as I have said to you in the past, offer a shorthand to ideas, often complex. You know a "liberal," is a believer in the essential goodness and trustworthiness of men, and a believer in government programs supporting and correcting men when they are neither. The founders of this nation were less sanguine about the propensities of its citizens, and at the same time more confident in their individual abilities. The "liberal," consciousness is one which is suitable for the long-term future of man-at-peace, but is inappropriate at this time.

It is perhaps during these types of times, like in our depression era past, when ‘liberals’ are most needed?

Indeed, the "love of country," to which you refer can-- and must-- exist on both sides of the aisle, but it is expecting too much of human nature that the Democratic party, standard-bearers of what currently passes for "liberalism," in the United States, today, would be dispassionate and altruistic so recently after being turned out of the halls of power in the White House, the U.S. Congress, and the majority of state governorships after a half-century of uninterrupted influence, if not dominance. The turning, to which you so yearningly hope, will soon come to pass: when the superiority and some might say rabidity of unelected officials like Mr. Rove, and the hysteria and foolishness of elected officials like Sen. Durbin, will by necessity be tempered. American citizens like yourself will have become too smart for them. Let us hope one day soon the dead Darwin will have his way with Kansas-- then, I will begin to hope with you for the new Renaissance, here.

Of course, one day you will outgrow terms like "boogey man," and other sophomorisms, and become, yourself, more liberal and less strident in your criticisms; seeing that writers like Dr. Hanson are themselves no more immune to hyperbole than you and I, and Mr. Rove, and Sen. Durbin. We may disagree when you aver Dr. Hanson has said, "America is doing fine;" I believe what he said was that we are at war, with all of the messiness and hardship that entails.

I will grant you that he did not specifically say, ‘America is doing fine’ and will grant you your interpretation of the piece. Even under these war-like conditions (that could last 30 years of more as I understand it), I might offer that as citizens we can stand behind and love America and still offer areas where she can improve. In fact, I might offer that during these times we are more needed than ever to say, ‘I like what you are doing here and I think you could do more in this area (perhaps pro-active, positive outreach?)’ We especially need our educated columnists such as VDH to stand with us all in this regard. No one and no collective body is ever perfect or ever black and white. Life, war, does not work that way.

As a related aside, I notice this with sports writers as well. It is in this arena of course where stances are not political as such and one essentially can write with impunity. During these polarized times even sports writers are prone to writing, ‘Derek Jeter sucks and Torre needs to be fired’ one day and after a short 3 game winning streak write something to the tune of, ‘Derek Jeter should be MVP and Torre isn’t all that bad’ (you know that NY media, never giving the manager credit ;) Anyway, my point is with VDH or with these sports writing folks I might like to see moderation and investigative analysis as opposed to what we see now.

But, back to my previous point, it is these extreme pointed pieces that sell eh? And so we are stuck with the media we have bought.

Nathan, I agree with him that Islamic extremism has been given a pass-- as have so many of the ethical lapses that pass for freedom, which are merely vice. The Christian god and His precepts have been eliminated from the public schools, pornography has been exalted as free speech, and many of the virtues of hard work for money (capitalism), belief in an ascertainable right and wrong (the rule of law), and a social contract recognizable to all, have been ruined in the name of what in another age would be called libertinism, but now passes for liberalism. Who gave them that pass? Why, you and me. Every time we have smoked pot, looked at porn, not paid our taxes, not volunteered for community service, not tithed to a house of worship, we have reduced the foundations of law, morality, and faith that were the utterly unquestionable bedrock of civlization-- and yes, liberality-- when this nation was founded.

Yes, things have changed over time for better and worse. I think it is instructive however to note that supporters of porn as free speech may or may not be viewers of the same. In my case, I personally could care less if porn existed or not, but I would defend to the death others’ right to enjoy it if that is their thing. Just as if someone (actually we do) said that bungy jumping was illegal I hope they might say for me, but he enjoys it and I want to allow him that right. I suppose it is about true freedom in our day an age. It is of course idealistic to think that society could function with true freedom, but I might hope that we try our very best to achieve this for everyone.

In another day and age, 1692 or so, some weirder folks from Salem, Massachusetts could have used some of the understanding and permissibility and liberalism that we take for granted today.

This is not by way of saying that I give cold blooded killers a pass… I don’t think many others do either. I truly think what you see as a pass for Islamic extremism is more a train of thought along the lines of the serenity prayer. For it is these individuals, that would commit such unspeakable acts, that we cannot change as such, but it is we who we can control.

My belief is that Dr. Hanson is, in fact, saying America can do better. He is saying it by indicating, like the letters of fire Belshazzar wrote on a wall, that it is the responsibilty of us all to forego the easy bromides of liberal politicians in love with a status quo ante the time for the tolerance of which has passed, and face the new battles facing us, the threats to the beacon of freedom our forefathers lit. For make no mistake, in the annals of history, the United States of America, despite her genocide against Native Americans, her enslavement of Negroes, her Comstocks and her McCarthys, remains the last best hope for mankind.

Agreed. I hope that in the annuals of history we remain so with a focus on our environment, ‘lesser’ species, confused co-habitants and a series of ideas (coupled with action) that remain the very best in the world. And that we move away from our violent history - promoting our ideas and actions with a type of positive re-enforcement as opposed to hammer like punishment (unless, truly necessary).

Like the Adams's and the Kennedys and the Roosevelts before them, the Bushes (the "dynasty," to which-- I suppose-- you have rather carelessly referred), will go to dust, but the idea of America will endure. To my mind, the policies of the present administration resemble those of the Kennedy administration of the early 1960s a great deal, and reflect not only the will of the people, but I believe some-- not all-- but some of the best classical American ideals. My belief is that Americans' genius for compromise will eventually satisfy even the civic ambitions of one as complicated as you, and the harsh polarities which form the limits of, for instance, our correspondence, will draw closer..

Again, I would try and give Hanson more slack than you have, and not bullheadedly parse his material for that which most infuriates you, but set aside your preconceptions and discover the many ways in which his values concur with yours. From reading you both, it is my belief, however it may at present annoy you, that those concurrences are manifest. From the improvement I see in the incisiveness of your analysis, and the increased rigor of your prose, and the thinking behind it, I see, even if you may not, you are discovering this for yourself. I admire your most recent correspondence more than I ever have. Sorry I was too occupied today to offer a better rejoinder until now. Thank-you for the effort of your writing to me, and the increased quality of it.

CNN.com - Second case of mad cow disease confirmed - Jun 24, 2005: "Tests have confirmed mad cow disease in a U.S. cow previously cleared of having the brain wasting illness, the Agriculture Department said Friday. It is the second case of mad cow disease in the United States."

Interrogators Cite Doctors' Aid at Guant�namo Prison Camp - New York Times

Backlash to Chinese bid for Unocal / Bush urged to block takeover because of energy, security fears: "'The Chinese have Bush over a barrel now,' Wessel said. 'This is happening at the same time as outstanding major trade issues, the currency, textiles, intellectual property rights, the six-party talks with North Korea, at a time when the Bush administration is trying to moderate those conflicts.'
Wessel added, 'China is now a major world player, and they're competing with us for control of a major blue-chip company. They've raised the bar considerably.' "

CNN.com - Poll: In wake of Iraq war, allies prefer China to U.S. - Jun 23, 2005: "WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States' image is so tattered overseas two years after the Iraq invasion that communist China is viewed more favorably than the U.S. in many long-time Western European allies, an international poll has found."

dallasobserver.com | News | Balls Out | 2005-06-16 | Printable: "When the Cincinnati Reds taunted the Pirates after beating them in the 1972 National League Championship Series, Ellis decided to motivate his team by hitting every single batter in the Reds' lineup. He hit the first three and walked two before he was pulled."

Good post by TCR.
I wrote to Feinstein about this as I found it to be a useless diversion. She is strongly for this amendment however.
Maybe we should do our best to give people no reason to burn our flag. Or, like a poster wrote, say, 'burn as many as you like, we will make more.'
As the true fabric of our nation disintegrates we focus on fabric being desecrated.

-THE CUNNING REALIST-: "The most pithy statement I've seen about this came from Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., who said 'If the flag needs protection at all, it needs protection from members of Congress who value the symbol more than the freedoms that the flag represents.' I never thought we'd get to the point where an unabashed New York liberal expressed sanity, federal restraint, and conservatism better than any Republican."

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: June 19, 2005 - June 25, 2005 Archives: "If elected Democrats aren't able or willing to take a stand against the cash-n-carry legislative ethos of Tom DeLay's Washington they're simply not doing the job anyone sent them there to do. And they should be replaced too. "

Dems Say Rove Should Apologize or Resign: "New York Sen. Charles Schumer said Rove 'took something that is virtually sacred to New Yorkers' - the tragedy of the Sept. 11 attacks - 'and politicized it for political, opportunistic purposes.'"

Iraq insurgents still strong, general says - Iraq's New Chapter - MSNBC.com: "WASHINGTON - The top American military commander in the Persian Gulf disputed a contention by Vice President Dick Cheney that the Iraqi insurgency was in its 'last throes' and told Congress on Thursday that its strength was basically undiminished from six months ago. "

MSNBC - Today's News from MSNBC Front Page: "Horoscope for Virgo
If there is one lesson you should learn during this period, dear Virgo, it is this: Make yourself happy! In your case, this likely means giving yourself some time off. Just for once, do not think of duty or obligations. Do things just for the sheer joy of doing them. Virgo's path is one of confrontation, so no more hiding behind your work!"

Homes may be 'taken' for private projects - U.S. News - MSNBC.com: "The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses - even against their will - for private economic development."

U.N. cites reliable accounts of U.S. torture - Terrorism & Security - MSNBC.com: "GENEVA - U.N. human rights experts said Thursday they have reliable accounts of detainees being tortured at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The experts also said Washington had not responded to their latest request to check on the conditions of terror suspects at the facility in eastern Cuba. That request was made in April."

Intolerance permeates Academy, chief says - U.S. News - MSNBC.com: "'If everything goes well, it's probably going to take six years to fix it,' he added."

CNN.com - Documents: Lobbyists used tax-exempt groups - Jun 22, 2005: "'I think you should call her and tell her that we have turned the corner, but you are pouring it on to make sure we win. Tell her as of now you are finally willing to say that we will win this, but laughingly say 'I don't know how I am going to get back all the money I had to dump into this. I hope the Golden Moon (casino) turns out to be real golden!'' Abramoff suggested to Scanlon in an e-mail. 'That will set her up for a discussion about payments.'"

Enough with the Nazi references! - Bloggermann - MSNBC.com: "In fact, it would be a really good idea, for the sake of the country, and to steer out of this skid of Party First and Country Second that now pervades both sides, if the three distinguished gentlemen resigned, or at least announced they would not run again. Because apologies or not, they are at best, carrying the disease of branding other American leaders - no matter how wrong-headed some of those 'others' might seem to you - with the same kind of vitriol that enabled the rise of the Nazis in Germany.
Stop it, stop it now, stop it for good."

I wanted to write to say sorry if I ever come into your house and turn off a light. I am sorry if I look at your running water cock-eyed. I am sorry if that open refrigerator somehow gets closed. It is a weird thing (maybe OCD) that I have picked up over the years.

I have found this lame excuse that makes me feel better about doing this though, cause I wasn’t always that way. There were days just a decade or so ago (god I feel old saying that) where you would find me with the air on, the door open, water running and some eventual litter in my hands.

Things slowly started changing for me. Oddly enough, I started to find my spirituality in nature. I started to realize that it was Mother Nature and this beautiful planet of ours that presented me with the most joy and most contentment. I never feel as alive as I do when I am standing in a quiet redwood forest or next to a rushing natural river.

It led me on this path of trying to do my very best by this beautiful blue bubble we are floating around on. I started to try and conserve where I can (using one towel in the bathroom or even sometimes, if its yellow letting it mellow) and do my part for our mother.

Now let me drop it back on you like this: I think she has helped me back. (Getting a little crazier than just some bullshit OCD now eh?) I think that like I have helped her she has maybe helped me too. Of course I have my ups and downs, but she has sent me this angel and this body, mind and spirit that I have not known before.

Maybe you can try it too… join me in my delusion ;) Peace peoples.

Awesome picture eh? Just did a little search on desktop wallpaper.

Aljazeera.Net - The US war with Iran has already begun

Road to riches is called K Street - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com: "WASHINGTON - To the great growth industries of America such as health care and home building add one more: influence peddling.

The number of registered lobbyists in Washington has more than doubled since 2000 to more than 34,750 while the amount that lobbyists charge their new clients has increased by as much as 100 percent. Only a few other businesses have enjoyed greater prosperity in an otherwise fitful economy."

Do you ever feel like you were born perhaps just a few generations too late? That maybe you were meant to live during the turn of last century? Or maybe were to be involved in a past struggle of some sort? For me, I feel like I was supposed to live in the Wild West. I have no fucking idea why. Don’t like the big hats and not especially fond of the guns either (don’t really dislike them though, just don’t care one way or another), but more feel like the frontier was the place for me. I probably would have been shot the first time I fucking got drunk though, huckleberry.

Sometimes though you just got to curse your luck not cause of the big hats and guns, but just cause of circumstances. I grew up in the Silicon Valley, being attached to computers and keyboards since I was knee high. You might think that this might set one up to do pretty well for themselves since they were learning the wave of the future while other kids were doing their own things. But, you could be wrong. See for me it seems like I got into this whole mess just about 10 years to late. Damn that decade I was running around, having fun and being a kid.

Now it seems like the structure is pretty well in place – that most people have made their money and staked out their power and there is not much room for a little you know who to get his. Oh well though right, I still got it good. So much to be very proud of and very happy about. I truly am blessed I just sometimes think, what if I was 37 now in this bizness as opposed to where I am. Would the upward mobility have been any different?

Good night, pardner.

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: June 19, 2005 - June 25, 2005 Archives: "I was on the Al Franken Show today. And just as we were coming back from a break we got the news that Bill Frist had announced he'd seek no more votes on John Bolton's nomination. Then just as we were coming back on the air (maybe a minute later? 90 seconds?), the show's producer hollers out that Frist has already gone back on his pronouncement. Now Frist says the White House has said the president wants another vote. And when the president says, 'Jump!', Bill Frist says, 'How high?'"

WORLD VIEWS: 'Downing St. Memo' reporter says U.S., Britain goaded Saddam; Conyers hearings grab headlines -- overseas; Bush pans Iran elections; and more.: "Now, in his latest news report in The Times, Smith has reported that 'leaked ... legal advice' to the Foreign Office (Britain's counterpart to the U.S. State Department) indicated that American and British bombing raids over southern Iraq, which began in May 2002, almost a year before the full-scale, U.S.-led attack, were illegal. (Times)
At that time, Smith says, U.S. Air Force and Royal Air Force jets 'began 'spikes of activity' designed to goad Saddam Hussein into retaliating and giving the allies a pretext for war.' The Pentagon named the bombing campaign the 'Blue Plan.' "

ACLU sounds alarm over science limits - Science - MSNBC.com: "The American Civil Liberties Union charged Tuesday that the Bush administration is placing science under siege by overzealously tightening restrictions on information, individuals and technology in the name of homeland security."

Bush calls for gay-marriage amendment - U.S. News - MSNBC.com: "Reviving a major plank of his re-election campaign, President Bush called for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage Tuesday."

Where Frist is flip flopping, Bush is flailing.

GOP reversal: Bolton vote battle to continue - Politics - MSNBC.com: "Reversing course after a meeting with President Bush, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Tuesday he will continue pushing for a floor vote on John Bolton for U.N. ambassador.

Frist switched his position after initially saying that negotiations with Democrats to get a vote on Bolton had been exhausted."

FF.

Support for governor plunging, poll finds / Special election, budget unpopular among Californians: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suddenly ranks among the most unpopular governors in modern California history, as residents grow increasingly unhappy about the action hero-turned-politician's budget plans and his call for a special election, according to a new Field Poll. "

Is the U.S. hiding secrets about Saddam? - Iraq's New Chapter - MSNBC.com: "'It seems there are lots of secrets they want to hide,' he told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview.
'There should be transparency and there should be frankness, but there are secrets that if revealed, won't be in the interest of many countries,' he said. 'Who was helping Saddam all those years?'"

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner - William Morrow, 2005: "Al Franken running for senate? Why not Jon Stewart for president? "

Wake-Up Wal-Mart Blog: Wal-Mart flip-flops on schedule policy: "In another obvious flip-flop, Wal-Mart pulled a complete 180 and rescinded the policy in a WV store that said all employees had to be available from 7 a.m. - 11 p.m. every day or they'd be fired."

$2 million set aside to address delta fish decline: "State and federal authorities, alarmed by a precipitous decline in the number of delta smelt and other species in the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta, have set aside $2 million to figure out whats wrong and what to do.
The dwindling number of delta smelt - which are at their lowest level ever - is especially worrisome, scientists said today, because the animal was once among the most common fish in the delta and are a bellwether of the estuary's health. Any change in their numbers could indicate that something is seriously amiss. "

ESPN.com: Page 2 : Take that, Tiger: "Why Jason Gore Ruled, Part Deux: On the 16th tee, en route to an 84, and with the other man in his group en route to an 81, Gore turned to Goosen and said: 'Why don't we play the last three holes for five bucks, just to make it interesting?'"

CNN.com - 100-mph winds batter parts of North Dakota - Jun 20, 2005: "Strong thunderstorms battered sections of North Dakota on Monday as residents of parts of the state cleaned up the wreckage of grain bins, tree limbs and buildings destroyed by 100-mph wind from earlier storms."

ESPN.com: Page 2 : Take that, Tiger: "Third-Most Mind-Blowing Number of the Championship: 81.
If Ladbroke's had offered 1,000-to-1 odds Saturday night that Retief Goosen would shoot 81 in his final round, I'm not even sure I'd have wasted a fiver on it. There was no human way the Goose was going to shoot 81. That he did reminds us all of my father's long-standing, head-shaking admonition about golf: It's the devil's own game, son. The devil's own game."

ESPN.com: Page 2 : Big Shot Bob bags another one: "My favorite thing about Sunday night's game: When Horry drained that go-ahead three at the end of the third quarter, it was like sitting at a poker table with a good player who plays possum for an hour, then suddenly pushes a stack of chips into the middle. Uh-oh. He's making his move. You could just see it coming. The rest of the game played out like that - the Spurs always one mistake from blowing the game, Horry bailing them out again and again. By the time he jammed home that astounding lefty dunk in overtime, everyone knew the game would somehow end up in Horry's hands. "

Cold Turkey -- In These Times: "Dr. Vonnegut said this to his doddering old dad: 'Father, we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is.' So I pass that on to you. Write it down, and put it in your computer, so you can forget it."

Trying not to forget it Kurt.

Cruise pranksters could face charges - CELEBRITY NEWS - MSNBC.com: "'I'm here giving you an interview, answering your questions and you do something really nasty ... you're a jerk ... jerk ... you're a jerk,' the actor told the prankster in front of legitimate reporters."

hahahaha.. hilarious. I can understand being upset in this case, but I also think man needs to have a bit more of a sense of humor. These hollywood fucks take themselves way too seriously.

The Observer | International | New US move to spoil climate accord: "These papers - part of the Bush administration's submission to the G8 action plan for Gleneagles next month - show how the United States, over the past two months, has been secretly undermining Tony Blair's proposals to tackle climate change. "

-THE CUNNING REALIST-: With The Accent On "Tools"....: "'In your report, say hello to Germany so they send us democracy tools like water cannon and tear gas grenades.'"

America, also, is a country built by black folk. | MetaFilter

Unleashing the Resistance by Karen Kwiatkowski: "Thus, my gentle thoughts are increasingly turning to murder. Murder of the state. In self-defense, of course!
LRC�s Butler Shaffer, eminently wise as always, points out that 'we would be better advised to confront our own existential cowardice. Political leaders amass power only through our moral exhaustion; they are strong only because we have allowed ourselves to become weak.' "

U.S. Pressure Weakens G-8 Climate Plan: "Bush administration officials working behind the scenes have succeeded in weakening key sections of a proposal for joint action by the eight major industrialized nations to curb climate change."

America: Fantastic: The Life of Arnold Schwarzenegger by Laurence Leamer - Sunday Times - Times Online: "Indiana believes that Schwarzenegger, far from eschewing special interests, is the creature of the deregulated electricity industry. Electricity companies may have pilfered as much as $71 billion from state coffers after Governor Pete Wilson deregulated Californias state power authority in the early 1990s. Schwarzenegger, advised by Wilsons people, ended up 'offering, as a solution (to the energy crisis), the free market model that caused the crisis in the first place.'"

Capitol Hill Blue: Mothers of Slain Soldiers, Others, Demand Bush's Impeachment: "Mothers of American soldiers of killed in President George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq joined with a constitutional lawyer before Congress Thursday to demand impeachment of the President for lying to force America into war.

Constitutional lawyer John Bonifaz told a Congressional hearing sufficient grounds exist to impeach the President for lying to Congress about the justification for the war."

BAY AREA / Calendar says June; skies say winter / Showers predicted through weekend -- ski slopes open: "'Our normal forecast is 'low clouds and fog along the coast,' but not today,'' said Weather Service forecaster Steve Anderson. 'It's definitely not typical. It's not supposed to be doing this, but it is.'' "

The legislature does agree. Arnold doesn’t. Props to him though for taking his balls in his hands and essentially spending 50million dollars of our money for a referendum on himself. I guess it could be good for him and the republican machine or it could lead to a lame duck governor for 2 years at a waste of millions of dollars (50 or so?). Too bad the machine behind him can’t even be slightly bi-partisan – they have put him in an awkward spot (not unlike bush). Check it out

I had to laugh out loud on that one. You think the machine that wanted to use Terminator as their puppet figurehead told him it was going to be like this?

I might prefer he pick a few more bi-partisan type things to put on the ballot however. How about: Should we go to the federal government to rescind the phony electric contracts we got duped into signing? Oh, wait. That might not work, that is what Grey Davis got run out of California doing.

Interesting times….

Raped, Kidnapped and Silenced - New York Times: "Then Ms. Mukhtaran, who believed that the best way to overcome such abuses was through better education, used her compensation money to start two schools in her village, one for boys and the other for girls. She went out of her way to enroll the children of her attackers in the schools, showing that she bore no grudges."

AP: Afghan Minister Says al-Qaida Regroups - Yahoo! News: "Rahim Wardak told The Associated Press he received intelligence that Osama bin Laden's terror group is regrouping and intends to bring Iraq-style bloodshed to Afghanistan. He also warned that the country could be in for several months of intense violence ahead of key legislative elections."

gulfnews.com: Region: "Major General Joseph Taluto said he could understand why some ordinary people would take up arms against the US military because 'they're offended by our presence'.
In an interview with Gulf News, he said: 'If a good, honest person feels having all these Humvees driving on the road, having us moving people out of the way, having us patrol the streets, having car bombs going off, you can understand how they could [want to fight us].'"

WH Press Secretary Mocks 'Downing Street Memo,' as Congressman Calls for Inquiry: "'Quite frankly, evidence that appears to be building up points to whether or not the president has deliberately misled Congress to make the most important decision a president has to make, going to war,' Rangel said.

Conyers and a half-dozen other members of Congress were stopped at the White House gate later Thursday when they hand-delivered petitions signed by 560,000 Americans who want Bush to provide a detailed response to the Downing Street memo. When Conyers couldn't get in, an anti-war demonstrator shouted, 'Send Bush out!' Eventually, White House aides retrieved the petitions at the gate and took them into the West Wing."

The Road to Rendition - Newsweek World News - MSNBC.com: "Now that the second-term Bush administration is advocating democracy and the rule of law around the world, its own lawless ways during the first term are an embarrassment. What's been called, with a bit of hyperbole, the Guantanamo gulag has become a liability. So are ongoing revelations about the practice of 'renditions': sending suspected terrorists to countries with even fewer scruples about interrogation practices than the Bush administration. ('Outsourcing torture' is the catch phrase used by human-rights activists in Italy and elsewhere.)"

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: June 12, 2005 - June 18, 2005 Archives: "Add those up, add your own examples, and you will know why you hear conversations in the past couple of days using the 'impeachment' word...not as a prediction, this is way too soon and/or extreme for now...but as part of an attempt to measure historic parallels, and to think aloud on how far this process might go. Maybe nowhere? Or, maybe we're just seeing the beginning of something. We mention it tonight because the conversation is being held less quietly than before, and politics in Washington may be about to get even worse, if you can imagine anything worse."

Bush Seeks to Calm Anxieties About Iraq - Yahoo! News: "Foreign policy has typically given Bush his highest scores with the public, but that has changed. An Associated Press-Ipsos poll this month found just 41 percent of adults supported his handling of the Iraq war - an all-time low. In addition, a Gallup poll released Monday found that six in 10 Americans say they think the United States should withdraw some or all of its troops from Iraq."

Democrats Question U.S. Pre-War Actions: "White House press secretary Scott McClellan dismissed the memo on Thursday and indicated that no one in the White House plans to respond to the letter.
'This is simply rehashing old debates that have already been discussed,' he said."

Um, who has discussed it? The investigation into how intelligence was being used was squashed.

Oh, sorry, Mr. Ostrich I did not realize your head was buried. Please take it out of there, let's talk.

Data leaks stunt e-commerce, survey suggests - Consumer Security - MSNBC.com: "The survey reflects people's frustration, Douglas said. 'Americans feel helpless. ... People are crying out for Congress to put power back in their hands, but until lawmakers finally decide whose information it is, who has the right to their own information, (frustration) is what we have.'
Another finding of the survey: The people questioned said they held low opinions towards the Federal Trade Commission, which protects consumers against Internet fraud. The FBI scored more favorably, but still lower than technology companies, such as Microsoft Corp. and Dell Inc."

TPMCafe || Politics, Ideas & Lots Of Caffeine: "Money magazines July issue has an article on the 50 smartest things you can do with your money. Number One? 'Tap your home equity.' This is my nomination for the Worst Advice of the Year. But since Alan Greenspan has repeatedly applauded Americans for tapping their home equity, it has become heresy to suggest anything else. "

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | AP: Saudis Reject Call for Inspections: "Saudi Arabia is defying the United States, the European Union and Australia by resisting U.N. efforts to verify that it has no nuclear assets worth inspecting, according to a confidential EU document obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday. "

Arctic natives: U.S. warming policy is abuse - Environment - MSNBC.com: "Inuit hunters threatened by a melting of the Arctic ice plan to file a petition accusing the United States of violating their human rights by fuelling global warming, an Inuit leader said on Wednesday."

TPMCafe || Table For One: "The abuses at Guantanamo Bay and in Iraq and Afghanistan are a stain on our national reputation. When historians record our times, our children's children will be reading phrases like 'stress positions,' 'fear up harsh' and 'water-boarding.' "

CNN.com - Graduation crowd boos Schwarzenegger - Jun 15, 2005: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's return to his alma mater turned into an exercise in perseverance when virtually his every word was accompanied by catcalls, howls and piercing whistles from the crowd."

The latest at Ground Zero - Hardball with Chris Matthews - MSNBC.com: "When my wife and I visit or pass by the site today, we may gape at the emptiness but our gaze is drawn upward. We imagine things as they were, the dead and the injured still living and working above. Many bereft families view the footprints as the sacred repose of their loved ones, yet with the greatest tenderness and love for those lost and injured, we suggest that to return to the sacred space, we need to return to the sky."

Day-after relief following quake - U.S. News - MSNBC.com: "The 7.0 quake Tuesday night roiled the waters off the northern California coast, triggering a brief tsunami warning and the evacuation of thousands of residents from a community with a history of battling killer waves."

Can Saudi Arabia keep its promise to pump more oil? - Oil & Energy - MSNBC.com: "'I hope I'm being overly pessimistic,' he said. "

TorontoSun.com - Eric Margolis - Web of cold-blooded lies: "And so it went. Lie after lie. Scare upon scare. Fakery after fakery, trumpeted by the tame media that came to resemble the lickspittle press of the old Soviet Union. Ironically, in the end, horrid Saddam Hussein turned out to be telling the truth all along, while Bush and Blair were not. "

CNN.com - Frist, McCain call for vote on Bolton - Jun 14, 2005: "'Now we're at a point where the filibuster against Bolton -- and yes, I'll call it a filibuster until we get an up-or-down vote -- is continuing,' Frist said. "

Translation: 'I will call it a filibuster althought it really isn't. They are requesting information that is totally and completely proper in deciding whether they want to vote for this guy or not. We are not going to give it to them. In our America I like to say, 'fuck the minority.' Thank you, good night and god bless.'

Intensity: Photoblogging Tom Cruise On Oprah : Defamer: "I like Tom Cruise now. His insanity has come to the fore. He had no personality before. Now, hes like a member of your family.
If your family had an crazy uncle who was liable to take a dump on the Thanksgiving turkey."

I am getting into the celebrity news. Hopefully they all go ape shit. Oh, wait.

WORLD VIEWS: New 'Downing Street Memo' says Bush, Blair agreed on 'regime change' in 2002; Iraq seen to 'slide into civil war'; and more.: "The British Cabinet Office briefing paper also stated that 'U.S. views of international law vary from that of the U.K. and the international community. Regime change per se is not a proper basis for military action under international law.' It further stated that the British government 'would regard the use of force against Iraq, or any other state, as lawful if exercised in the right of individual or collective self-defense, if carried out to avert an overwhelming humanitarian catastrophe or if authorized by the U.N. Security Council.' As it turned out, the U.S.-led attack on Iraq met none of those criteria. "

Rising home costs a growing concern - Martin Wolk: Eye on the Economy - MSNBC.com: "Moreover, millions of desperate buyers are putting themselves at risk because of the proliferation of risky, interest-only loans, raising the prospect of a painful collapse in booming markets on both coasts, according to a principal author of the study."

Amnesty in Iraq? Talks have begun - Iraq's New Chapter - MSNBC.com: "But amnesties for less senior Iraqi insurgents are seen as a key weapon to split the insurgency between Iraqi and non-Iraqi lines and further alienate foreign fighters like al-Zarqawi.
Iraqs minister for national security said Sunday an amnesty policy is being drawn up, but he said insurgent groups first must do more to convince authorities they are serious about making peace."

Remind me, didn't we float this idea before?

Like this St. Lunatic's line:

'Imma leader, but I listen.'

-Time

Weather stories are everywhere. Heard any lately?

Between the peak oil stories you can now read on msnbc.com and the white-out snow that just fell in Tahoe last week to the 96 degrees in CT these days do you feel what I have been writing about? We need a change people. We need to, as some confused ‘democrats’ might say, move on. Move on from our fossil fuels and carbon production and figure out how to save our fucking house. It is on fire people.

Welcome to the summer of your life.

HETCH HETCHY RESERVOIR / To drain or not to drain / Next months key in debate on state's epic environmental issue: "For the Hetch Hetchy restoration true believers, Bardini said, 'money isn't the issue, of course. The prospect of restoring the valley is what matters. But then there are going to be other people who say, 'Why make this investment when we already have a perfectly good (water delivery) infrastructure?' So it's hard to say how it will play out.' "

Earth's bigger cousin' detected - Space.com - MSNBC.com: "'We keep pushing the limits of what we can detect, and we're getting closer and closer to finding Earths,' said team member Steven Vogt from the University of California, Santa Cruz."

Take My Privacy, Please! - New York Times: "THE Patriot Act - brilliant! Its critics would have preferred a less stirring title, perhaps something along the lines of the Enhanced Snooping, Library and Hospital Database Seizure Act. But then who, even right after 9/11, would have voted for that? "

One Nation, Uninsured - New York Times: "Harry Truman tried to create a national health insurance system. Public opinion was initially on his side: Jill Quadagno's book 'One Nation, Uninsured' tells us that in 1945, 75 percent of Americans favored national health insurance. If Truman had succeeded, universal coverage for everyone, not just the elderly, would today be an accepted part of the social contract. "

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: June 05, 2005 - June 11, 2005 Archives: "I'm not sure I have anything to add at the moment to the growing chorus of outrage at what we've collectively allowed to happen just off our shores. But there is some mix of grim appropriateness and shameful symmetry to the fact that we've chosen the one piece of territory in the Americas free of free elections, civil rights and civil liberties to build our own human rights free zone."

My feelings exactly.

CNN.com - Time report fuels Guantanamo criticism - Jun 13, 2005: "The interrogation techniques included refusing al-Qahtani a bathroom break and forcing him to urinate in his pants."

Writing the codes on blogs / Companies figure out what's OK, what's not in online realm: "Blogging is now viewed in the corporate world as a way to connect with customers and partners, foster company unity and project a more human image to the outside world. "

Cluetrain

Governor assailed over special election / Critics see today's expected move as a misuse of state's initiative process: "Consumer activist Harvey Rosenfield told the Commonwealth Club of California that Schwarzenegger is guilty of 'an abuse of executive power'' in calling a Nov. 8 special election.
'Never before, to our knowledge, has a sitting governor invoked his constitutional authority to call a special election when the only purpose of the election is the enactment of his own ballot measures,'' said Rosenfield, the founder and former president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, who spearheaded Proposition 103 in 1988 to roll back auto insurance rates. "

Ministers were told of need for Gulf war 'excuse' - Sunday Times - Times Online: "MINISTERS were warned in July 2002 that Britain was committed to taking part in an American-led invasion of Iraq and they had no choice but to find a way of making it legal. "

RFK Jr.

Good evening as we head into this weekend.

I have heard about these polls and the declining numbers and I will speculate about a theory that I have read about (I wish I could remember the author or where I saw it) and I hope it is happening now. It is this: that ignorance and/or passivity has been recently used as a type of currency and it is beginning to be all spent up.

Let’s look at this in a real world example that has happened and is still happening now, with enterprise software. At the beginning with companies such as Oracle they would sell you a dream, a framework of a thought on a developers table, but they sold it as a current product. People bought it because it was all they had and at the time it was the only solution.

Unfortunately it didn’t stop there. These same companies kept selling ‘future visions’ as current product functionality and kept damaging their credibility. Now, you see ads on TV making fun of these very same software companies and their sales tactics (remember the cut-out slipping under the door?).

What has happened now? These enterprise companies’s credibility has been used up. Enterprise customers no longer believe or buy based on what they hear from the seller, but what they research in their own right through networking and reference requests and analyst papers. They have become smarter about their own interests and how to achieve them.

Are individuals starting to become as smart as enterprise customers? Has their passivity been spent?

Losing Our Country - New York Times: "Reversing the rise in inequality and economic insecurity won't be easy: the middle-class society we have lost emerged only after the country was shaken by depression and war. But we can make a start by calling attention to the politicians who systematically make things worse in catering to their contributors. Never mind that straw man, the politics of envy. Let's try to do something about the politics of greed. "

Rocky Mountain News: Local: "'The lack of information from the Secret Service and the White House and their unresponsiveness toward this matter gives the appearance of either disinterest or a cover-up,' the three wrote in a letter to Secret Service Director Ralph Basham. "

Bird flu moving in new, unpredictable ways - Bird Flu - MSNBC.com: "The World Health Organization urged vigilance against a deadly strain of bird flu on Friday, warning that the disease scientists say could cause a global pandemic was moving in new and unpredictable ways."

Global Warmin' Is Fer Idjuts / Exxon writes America's energy policy, BushCo chops up emissions reports. Is there any hope at all?: "Like anyone is the slightest bit shocked. "

No one is expecting Tropical Storm Arlene, now whirling away in the Caribbean, to kick off the kind of calamity that found four hurricanes touching down in the state of Florida last year. But it has to make some nervous. We're here in early June. Last year's first named storm didn't show its weather-worn face until August.

Greed Is Still a Sin - - MSNBC.com: "In an idealized world, no one would be so greedy and stupid. In the real world, they are.
One of the first changes when Christopher Cox becomes SEC chairman next month, I suspect, will be the SEC's ruling that companies must count the value of employee stock options as a business expense for fiscal years that start after June 15. For most companies, this means for 2006."

SEC Chairman Donaldson resigns

What did Mr. Greenspan say to you today?

Are you on ‘solid footing’? Did you catch his talk of ARMs and other ‘relatively exotic’ loan packages out there? Do you remember what he told you just a few months, maybe a year ago? Does something seem off to you?

What does it all mean?

Well, I will tell you my own view on this. Between froth and ‘exotic’ Mr. Greenspan is worried. As he sits at that Federal poker table, with his game face on, you have to look through what he says. It all points to worry. He is the captain of the industry of all industries; he is our John D. Rockafella, but on crack and 1000s of times more powerful… and he is worried. Are you?

Do you see the solidity around you?

CNN.com - Changes in Gulf Stream could chill Europe - May 10, 2005: "Scientists now have evidence that changes are occurring in the Gulf Stream, the warm and powerful ocean current that tempers the western European climate. "

Brain degeneration at the Dept. of Agriculture - Hardball with Chris Matthews - MSNBC.com: "Since this is the time of year when so many of us head to barbecues, I want to alert you to a story you need to know. Our federal government is putting all of us at risk of mad cow disease. And the incompetence and erratic approach of the Department of Agriculture has become so bizarre that one begins to wonder if some officials at that agency are deliberately trying to get fired. "

Business giants urge warming action - Environment - MSNBC.com: "Big business added its voice on Thursday to a growing crescendo of calls on the governments of the world's richest nations to take urgent action to curb potentially catastrophic global warming."

Obama's been lauded | MetaFilter: "Jan Schakowsky told me about a recent visit she had made to the White House with a congressional delegation. On her way out, she said, President Bush noticed her obama button. He jumped back, almost literally, she said. And I knew what he was thinking. So I reassured him it was Obama, with a b. And I explained who he was. The President said, Well, I dont know him. So I just said, You will."

Shut down Guantanamo? U.S. eyes options - Terrorism & Security - MSNBC.com: "Are Guantanamo Bay's days numbered as a U.S. military prison camp? Comments from both President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld seemed to point in that direction, with Rumsfeld noting Thursday that he'd rather have detainees imprisoned by their home countries."

Greenspan: U.S. economy reasonably firm - Stocks & Economy - MSNBC.com: "Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Thursday that with the U.S. economy on a 'reasonably firm footing' and underlying prices tame, policy-makers should be able to raise interest rates at a measured pace."

"The Unquiet American" by Aram Roston: "A mysterious insurgent group has claimed credit for Stoffel's killing; another terrorist group celebrated the murder and called him an American spy. His friends, though, aren't convinced that this was just another act of violence by militants in Iraq, and neither, apparently, is the FBI, which is now investigating his death. In the chaos of Iraq, it's likely that no one will ever know for sure why Dale Stoffel was murdered. "

Eric A., with some good links today.

The Huffington Post | The Blog: "So what'd I think? I'm holdin' out for somethin' better. I figure I'll eliminate the middle man. Why not just shoot my buddy, take his job and give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? Christ, I could be elected President."

Bloomberg.com: Top Worldwide: "The U.S. Interior Department's inspector general concluded that the Bush administration offered in 2002 to overpay a prominent Florida family for oil and gas rights on Everglades land, according to people familiar with the matter. "

This bloody and costly war - Hardball with Chris Matthews - MSNBC.com: "And more Republicans who supported the war joining North Carolina Republican Rep. Walter Jones, who now says that the U.S. went to war 'with no justification... If we were given misinformation intentionally by people in this administration, to commit the authority to send boys, and in some instances girls, to go into Iraq, that is wrong. Congress must be told the truth.'"

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Revealed: how oil giant influenced Bush: "This line has been taken consistently by President Bush, and was expected to be continued in yesterday's talks with Tony Blair who has said that climate change is 'the most pressing issue facing mankind'. "

USATODAY.com - Military scapegoats walk a well-worn path: "After fighting unsuccessfully to clear his name, McVay used a Navy-issue 38-caliber to kill himself in 1968. In 2001, Congress exonerated him of any responsibility.
The Abu Ghraib investigation has followed in this unseemly, seamless tradition. Indeed, England is a lesson to all future scapegoats to remain on script. After all, nothing spoils a good old-fashioned military coverup more than a talking goat."

50 CENT - GATMAN & ROBIN LYRICS: "Some shit will never boil up
And some of it will just simmer at best"

ESPN.com: Page 2 : Defining the NBA Finals: "7. Game 4, 1975 Finals:
Leading 3-0 and going for a sweep in Washington, Golden State star Rick Barry gets roughed up in the first quarter by Bullets thug Mike Riordan, who ends up cheap-shotting him three different times (trying to get in his head) before Warriors coach Al Attles charges Riordan and starts punching him right on the court. So Attles gets kicked out, the Warriors win the championship and poor Attles has to hang out in the locker room celebrating by himself until the rest of the players show up. I'm guessing this sequence of events won't happen again any time soon."

Laugh out loud column here.

Bush Aide Softened Greenhouse Gas Links to Global Warming - New York Times: "A White House official who once led the oil industry's fight against limits on greenhouse gases has repeatedly edited government climate reports in ways that play down links between such emissions and global warming, according to internal documents. "

Testing: One, Two, Three - Newsweek Society - MSNBC.com: "I wish more parents could find a way to protest this educational form of child abuse. Some states are beginning to do so; Utah was willing to face the loss of $76 million in federal education funds because officials there decided not to follow federal testing standards. The Bush administration insists that support for No Child Left Behind, which is largely a massive testing program, is nevertheless widespread. Officials point to a national survey that offered respondents this choice: which is the bigger problem, children passing through U.S. schools without learning to read, or children being forced to take too many tests? Of course any smart kid would see that there's something wrong with that draconian choice, and that the inquiring mind looks for answers somewhere in the middle. The real question for the future is whether, after this barrage of mindless and endless assessment, there will be any inquiring minds left."

What an amazing speech. I hope I get a chance to see him talk in person one day. He really helps my faith in politicians again. I hope he is the new breed and many other like him come along too.

Commencement Address: "In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society. But in our past there has been another term for it - Social Darwinism, every man and woman for him or herself. It�s a tempting idea, because it doesn't require much thought or ingenuity. It allows us to say to those whose health care or tuition may rise faster than they can afford - tough luck. It allows us to say to the Maytag workers who have lost their job - life isn't fair. It let's us say to the child born into poverty - pull yourself up by your bootstraps. And it is especially tempting because each of us believes that we will always be the winner in life's lottery, that we will be Donald Trump, or at least that we won't be the chump that he tells: 'Your fired!'"

Worthy of a double post, and a good read.

Commencement Address: "Well, it's been about six months now since you sent me to Washington as your U.S. Senator. And for those of you muttering under your breath 'I didn't send you anywhere,' that's ok too - maybe we'll hold a little Pumphandle after the ceremony and I can change your mind for next time."

One America Committee: Blog: "This President is not fighting for our jobs. His administration has on numerous occasions said that the out-sourcing of American jobs is good for this country. Well, it may be good for Wall Street, but it is lousy on Main Street. If he thinks that jobs moving overseas is good for us, why would he ever fight for American jobs? "

Kerry on impeachment - Bloggermann - MSNBC.com: "SECAUCUS -- Last Wednesday, Senator John Kerry told the editorial board of the newspaper in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the 'Standard-Times,' that he was amazed at the lack of American media coverage of the so-called 'Downing Street Memo' -- notes of a July, 2002 British cabinet meeting that suggested the U.S. was making all the evidence fit a pre-planned invasion of Iraq."

Los Alamos whistleblower beaten up - Crime & Punishment - MSNBC.com: "A Los Alamos lab whistleblower scheduled to testify before Congress about alleged financial irregularities was badly beaten outside a bar � an attack his wife and lawyer believe was designed to silence him."

LOS ANGELES / Pressure for special election / Conservatives say backing off now is not an option: "The governor's decision to go forward with an election -- should he choose to -- carries political risks. If he loses, the governor's ability to push the Democratic-controlled Legislature will be severely weakened, and analysts say his potential opponents in next year's re-election campaign will be emboldened. "

Science academies turn up heat on Bush - Environment - MSNBC.com: "In a move with uncharacteristic political timing, the national science academies of 11 countries, the United States among them, issued a statement Tuesday urging world leaders to take immediate action to curb gases tied to global warming."

-THE CUNNING REALIST-: "Israeli special forces killed 15 Palestinians, including police, in a 2002 shooting spree ordered to avenge comrades slain in a West Bank ambush, an Israeli newspaper said on Friday, citing testimony by troops. "

Carl Pope: Taking the Initiative: Virtuous Politics in California - Sierra Club

Just Do Something - New York Times: "Only one crucial element is still missing - the wholehearted support of the United States government. Unless President Bush joins this effort in the five weeks remaining before the summit meeting to be held in July in Scotland, Africa's hopes will be disappointed and America's image in the eyes of a world that once looked to it for enlightened leadership will be further diminished."

Amnesty USA backs off Gitmo as 'gulag': "On 'Fox News Sunday,' host Chris Wallace asked William Schulz, director of Amnesty International USA, if he stood by the description of the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison.
Schulz responded by saying, 'Clearly, this is not an exact or a literal analogy, and the secretary general has acknowledged that.'
'In size and in duration, there are not similarities between U.S. detention facilities and the gulag,' Schulz said. 'People are not being starved in those facilities. They're not being subjected to forced labor.'
Schulz maintained that some similarities did exist, saying the United States keeps a network of prisons worldwide, 'many of them secret prisons into which people are being literally disappeared.' In some cases, he said, prisoners are being tortured and killed."

TIME.com: Sidelining the CIA -- Jun. 13, 2005: "Sidelining the CIA A new White House memo excludes CIA director Porter Goss from National Security Council meetings The biggest changes in Washington often come about with just a few strokes of the pen. And so a dry, one-page internal memo quietly issued by the White House is being viewed as a kind of eulogy for the once mighty Central Intelligence Agency. After nearly 60 years at the pinnacle of American intelligence-and at the elbow of Presidents-the CIA director is no longer automatically welcome at the President's National Security Council (NSC) meetings. John Negroponte, the new director of National Intelligence, has taken his chair. "

Air America Radio | The Al Franken Show |: "V/O: With two months to go before the war began, Rumsfeld entrusted Garner with full responsibility for post-war politics and reconstruction. Much of the Future of Iraq project was set aside.
SMITH: What was the attitude towards in the Pentagon towards the work that had been done by the State Department?
GARNER: ... It wasn't well received.
SMITH: It wasn't well received?
GARNER: Yes, but not only in the Pentagon. It wasn't real well received in portions of the executive branch, either.
SMITH: But, you know, I've talked to a number of people in the State Department and they're bitter about the fact that their project was just ignored -- you know, they put a big effort into that project.
GARNER: They did put a big effort, and I think that it was a mistake that we didn't use that. I agree with that. It was my intent to use that, but we didn't.
SMITH: Why didn't we use the Future of Iraq [Project]?
GARNER: I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. I was just told, and now it's just a decision they made that we're not going to do that.
SMITH: Who told you that?
GARNER: I got that from the secretary, and I don't think that was his decision.
SMITH: Secretary Rumsfeld?
GARNER: Mm hmm."

Gore urges mayors to act on global warming - Environment - MSNBC.com: "Former Vice President Al Gore urged an assembly of international mayors to fight global warming Saturday, warning of catastrophic consequences for the planet if governments fail to act."

Bye Bye Birdie | MetaFilter

ABC News: China Orders Emergency Bird Flu Measures: "China ordered emergency measures Saturday to prevent an outbreak of avian flu after investigators said migratory birds found dead in a western province this month were killed by the virus.
Nature reserves were closed and local authorities were ordered to watch wild birds for signs of disease and impose quarantines if necessary, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It said farms near migration routes were ordered to immunize their birds, while the public was warned to 'stop contact with poultry.' "

ESPN.com: Page 2 : A walk on the wild side: "'It's like sitting in an empty theater,' Holden said. 'And every day a new cast of characters comes across the stage to perform for me. You never know who it's going to be, what they're going to say, but it's always a great show.

'It's renewed my spark in life.'"

Soldier Rap, The Pulse of War - Newsweek World News - MSNBC.com: "They call themselves '4th25' pronounced fourth quarter, like the final do-or-die minutes of a game and their album is 'Live From Iraq.' The sound may be raw, even by rap standards, but it expresses things that soldiers usually keep bottled up. 'You can't call home and tell your mom your door got blown off by an IED,' says Saunders. 'No one talks about what we're going through. Sure, there are generals on the TV, but they're not speaking for us. We're venting for everybody.'"

-THE CUNNING REALIST-: "The Pentagon on Friday released new details about mishandling of the Quran at the Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects, confirming that a soldier deliberately kicked the Muslim holy book and that an interrogator stepped on a Quran and was later fired for a pattern of unacceptable behavior."

The New Yorker: Fact: "Let me say this, he said at another point. Im not sure we can solve the problem. I hope we can. I think we have a shot. I mean, it may be that were not going to solve global warming, the earth is going to become an ecological disaster, and, you know, somebody will visit in a few hundred million years and find there were some intelligent beings who lived here for a while, but they just couldnt handle the transition from being hunter-gatherers to high technology. Its certainly possible. Carl Sagan had an equation-the Drake equation-for how many intelligent species there are in the galaxy. He figured it out by saying, How many stars are there, how many planets are there around these stars, whats the probability that life will evolve on a planet, whats the probability if you have life evolve of having intelligent species evolve, and, once that happens, whats the average lifetime of a technological civilization? And that last one is the most sensitive number. If the average lifetime is about a hundred years, then probably, in the whole galaxy of four hundred billion stars, there are only a few that have intelligent civilizations. If the lifetime is several million years, then the galaxy is teeming with intelligent life. Its sort of interesting to look at it that way. And we dont know. We could go either way."

American Civil Liberties Union : Federal Court Orders Government to Turn Over Videos and Photos Showing Detainee Abuse: "A federal judge has ordered the Defense Department to turn over dozens of photographs and four movies depicting detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq as part of an ongoing lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union.
'These images may be ugly and shocking, but they depict how the torture was more than the actions of a few rogue soldiers,' said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. 'The American public deserves to know what is being done in our name. Perhaps after these and other photos are forced into the light of day, the government will at long last appoint an outside special counsel to investigate the torture and abuse of detainees.' "

Ugh.

http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/42513

Rumsfeld: China a Major Buyer of Weapons - Yahoo! News: "China's military is growing as quickly as its economy and is a major buyer of weapons from Russia and other countries, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Friday.

Rumsfeld also said China's 'less free' political system needs to open up along with its economy."

ESPN.com: Page 2 : Who is the real Shaquille?: "They all knew.
It was time for the leader to lead. After 13 years in the league, Big's rep was on the line. And this time, for the first time, he didn't have a sidekick to balance the act."

TPMCafe || Table For One: "Jack - who just turned 5 (after saying to me the other night, very seriously, 'Dad, I can't believe I'm turning 5') "

Hilarious.

Would love to discuss this further. I think leaders are all among us - and it has nothing to do with titles or status. I am not sure if you remember, but years ago we talked about Big Man and his leadership and you kind of laughed at me when I said that I planned on being a better leader than him one day. It is something I will never forget - it is a motivating factor for me. Let me say this though, that I feel all ready that I am a better leader than him, but in different perhaps more pedestrian ways. I think if you were to know some people close to me and talk to them about the way that I effect them, you might just agree one of these days...

And so I will say this, that we are not showing leadership through these tough times by going back to the sand pit and fighting like kiddies. Instead, we had a huge opportunity to offer people a different, moral worldview. We could have shown that we can listen and that we can understand and that we can be compassionate. As much as I hate to demean others in the world in this manner, we could have tried to relate to others as a moral upstanding man might to a child or a man to a dog. Otherwise, we turn into the bickering Palestinians/Israelies.

Imagine if you would that we had gone to the world as a true leader. Saying that we understand that we are now a global community and we need to face up to this fact and be responsible about it. We would like to do our best to cut down our emissions and our terrible rate of consumption so that we can save our world for our fellow humans and our future generations. That we want to work with others to get out of this shadow that we are currently under. We plan on decreasing our military budget and putting that money and effort towards both smart environmentally sound development and inward development of humans as we have so much work to do in this area.

We wanted to provide an avenue where people could have their voices heard and see action taken. Dating back to Roman times when people stood on 30 foot columns to the present where rappers talk about their inner-city problems, people have wanted to talk about what matters to them and see some action about it. Otherwise they shut down, close up and sometimes, get a gun and go to Columbine - or fly a plane into a building.

The Huffington Post | The Blog: "Duberstein said that, in reading all the media reports of the last few days, he put himself back in his shoes as White House chief of staff. He thought, with the information Felt had in front of him, 'What options did he have?' 'He couldn't go to the White House Chief of Staff (Haldeman or Ehrlichman); he couldn't go to the Justice Department (John Mitchell); he couldn't go to the White House Counsel (John Dean). He did something responsible. The congressional committees hadn't been formed yet. What do you do? Felt put America first.' "

U.N.: Weapons equipment missing in Iraq - Iraq's new chapter - MSNBC.com: "He said imagery analysts have identified 109 sites that have been emptied of equipment to varying degrees, up from 90 reported in March.
The report also provided much more detail about the percentage of items no longer at the places where U.N. inspectors monitored them."

America's DNA - New York Times: "I worry that 20 years from now some eighth grader will be doing her National History Day project on how America's reaction to 9/11 unintentionally led to an erosion of core elements of American identity. What sparks such dark thoughts on a trip from London to New Delhi?"

DimeMag.com: "Amare Stoudemire was a beast, again, for Phoenix and proved to be all Duncan could handle. STAT dropped 42 thunderous points, including a game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter to keep his squad in it, but it wasn't enough as the Spurs still prevailed. The kid - hes still only 22 years old - finished the series with the highest scoring average for a first-time appearance in a Conference Finals, besting Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's mark by 2.8 points per game. Stoudemire dropped 30-plus points in five straight games - a new Suns playoff record - and became the first Phoenix player to do that in any five games since Sir Charles donned the purple "

Uncle Sam: Up To His Neck In The Risk Pool

Schwarzenegger defies Bush on warming - Environment - MSNBC.com: "'I say the debate is over. We know the science, we see the threat and we know the time for action is now,' he said."

-snip-

Wow. You know that IM 'shocked' face? Thats me. Now.

“Time will tell whether the governor’s ’Global Action Plan’ is really ’action, action, action,’ or nothing more than ’talk, talk, talk,”’ said State Treasurer Phil Angelides, who has announced he is running for governor next year.

Jordan, Magic to help choose Team USA - Olympics - MSNBC.com

How hard is it folks? Just get the best to fucking play. Who the hell is going to beat AI, Kidd, Duncan, Shaq and Lebron? With Big Ben, Dwayne, Amare, Nash and Bowen (you need roleplayers) sitting on your bench.

I hope Larry Brown is feeling fucking ashamed. My heart goes out to him for his health problems, but c'mon, he shit the bed as our coach (not playing Dwayne and Bronski and Amare??).

North Korea: Cheney a 'bloodthirsty beast' - Asia-Pacific - MSNBC.com: "But North Korea said Thursday that the remarks by Cheney, 'boss of the hawkish hard-liners, revealed the true colors of this group steering the implementation of the policy of the Bush administration.'"

Sith lord. Just saw Star Wars last night - great movie! Could not help but see Cheney in the emperor.

Rumsfeld Warns Countries Not to Assist Zarqawi: "Without naming Syria, Rumsfeld drew a contrast with another neighbor of Iraq whose citizens have joined the insurgency.

'I think it's very important to draw a distinction between a country such as Saudi Arabia, that's been attacked by Al Qaeda, that is aggressively going after Al Qaeda and capturing and killing terrorists in their country, and a country that is not doing that,' he said. 'And that, to me, is a very important distinction.'"

HAHAHAHAHAHA... that is priceless.

USATODAY.com - Alaska thanks you: "How could this be? Alaska is so rich that residents not only pay no state income tax, but we get individual yearly checks as our share of the oil wealth. Why should your gas taxes, which are supposed to fill potholes in your local interstate or repair your decaying bridges, end up so far from home?"

Carl Pope: Taking the Initiative: Anxious Times for Capitalism - Sierra Club

Sometimes these days you read the news and really wonder WTF

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8047423/

Hot summer could bring power outages, price spikes - Oil & Energy - MSNBC.com: "With forecasts calling for hotter-then-normal temperatures, the nation's power grid will be put to the test again this summer. While most parts of the country should have adequate supplies, ongoing transmission bottlenecks continue to leave some regions vulnerable to blackouts or sharp rate increases. "

Sorry for the confusion... the 'Lion Mutilates 42 Midgets in Cambodian Ring-Fight' article is fake

Hilarious.

California landslide sends homes crashing - U.S. News - MSNBC.com

The Left Coaster: What's Really Behind The White House Stonewall Over Bolton Documents?: "Perhaps we know now why the White House is fighting so furiously to prevent the Senate Intelligence Committee from getting all of the documents wanted by committee Democrats to evaluate the fitness of John Bolton to be our UN ambassador. "

The real Madagascar is no comedy - Environment - MSNBC.com: "Time may be running out for the real-life counterparts of the lemurs, fossas and other endangered animals featured in the animated comedy 'Madagascar,' experts are warning."

Fifth of all bird species are on extinction path, survey finds - Environment - MSNBC.com