Another Use for Guantanamo

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Now here is an interesting suggestion for a use for Guantanamo ----

• Turn the base into a research center for tropical diseases.
• This was proposed in a medical journal, PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, a year ago, and it makes more sense now than ever.
• In Latin America and the Caribbean, there are still more than half-a-million cases annually of dengue fever (which causes excruciating pain and sometimes death), nearly 50,000 new cases of leprosy and more than 700,000 cases of elephantiasis (which causes grotesque deformities). In addition, 50 million Latin Americans have hookworms inside them, often causing anemia and making it more difficult for children to concentrate in school.
• Peter Hotez, the president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute at George Washington University and the editor of PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, says that an international center on Guantánamo could become a symbol of United States cooperation in the region.
• Imagine if people around the world came to think of Guantánamo as a place where America led a battle against hookworms and leprosy. That would help us fight terrorism far more effectively than the prison at Guantánamo ever did.

Then we as Americans can be proud, once again, of what we do in this hemisphere.

How Does Your Electric Company Do Power Cut-Offs?

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I didn't miss this so much as I wanted to ignore it. So, it took The Mills River Progressive to prod me a bit and now I am mad. (That nasty wolf is apparently creeping over and stealing food from the good wolf. Honestly, I have been trying to keep him from getting anything, but he is a crafty creature.)

I have been following for some time the trashy treatment our veterans receive after they have served us will everything short of their all. It usually makes me so mad I have no words. So, I will borrow these from The Mills River Progressive.

Do you care? Do something.

• This is how America values its veterans and cares for the elderly and infirm.

• A World War II vet, medic, and purple heart award winner froze to death inside his home after the power company in Bay City, Michigan installed a device on his power supply that shut it off. City Electric Light and Power stated that Marvin Schur hadn't been paying his bills, but they never bothered to call him or check on him, nor explain what they were doing to his power supply. He was found frozen to death inside his home by neighbors who were checking on him. He had several coats on, and his feet were frostbitten. The Coroner said that he died a slow, painful death. That was Mr. Schur's final reward for his exemplary service to this country, and a lifetime of paying taxes. He was said to have paid his bills on time without fail for over 50 years, but apparently was exhibiting signs of dementia. His wife had died two years earlier, and they had no children.
• This is a glaring example of what "our" government really values. There's an endless supply of money for greedbag financiers, shysters, and cheats, but spending money on health and human services for everyone is "socialism". How many people die in this country because they couldn't afford the tests or treatments that could have saved them? How many of our elderly and ill die alone, hungry or cold? This is a goddamned disgrace!
• Purple Heart vet freezes to death in his home.

Somewhere

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• Somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright,
• The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,

Somewhere in heaven my grandmother is smiling through her tears.

She, too, just like me, watched President Barack Obama sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act today.

My maternal grandmother was a teacher in Oklahoma one-room schools from the early part of the 1920's through most of the 1950's. Early in her career she received just a little over $30 per month while her male counterpart was paid almost $50 for the same month. The disparity never changed in her lifetime. It never changed for her daughter either up through the early 1980's.

The school boards would classify my grandmother as a "teacher" while the male teacher in the next school over with virtually the same number of students was referred to as a "Headmaster." For my mother the title "coach" was attached to practically every male teacher whether he ever set foot on a field or a court. Call him a "coach" and he could be paid more. Probably still is.

Do you attend your local school board meetings?

Do you ask questions?

Do you check these things out?

I have a really nasty feeling this sort of thing still goes on in public schools today.

My grandmother was not teaching for fun. She was not teaching to "supplement" the family income--she was the family income. Why did she deserve almost 30% less salary because she had tits?

Please, God, let the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act change this.

Before They "Mess" With Social Security --

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I am getting concerned about Social Security.

Bush 43 tried to put it into Wall Street. Aren't we glad that failed?

Now Obama is saying it is on the table for consideration of reconstruction.

Let me be clear about this: I receive a very small SS check each month, but that is not why I am really worried. I got by before I began receiving it and I will get by if it stops. My concern lies elsewhere.

I grew up in a small, rural town in Oklahoma. I am old enough to remember when, as a child, most old people around me did not receive SS. I remember what were euphemistically called "poor farms" here in Oklahoma. I remember how desperately people tried to stay off the poor farms.

I remember my grandmother's much older cousin, Sol, a widower, going from house to house among family members; never staying more than a few days, and at most a week, in any one house. He had all he possessed tied up in a red blanket.

I now suspect he stayed out many summer nights after stopping for no more than a meal and maybe a bath with family. He was a very funny, pleasant fellow and it was obvious there was a great deal of affection between my grandmother and him--they talked about their youth and laughed a great deal.

"Uncle Sol" came around a lot in the summer time, though; he helped Grand-dad with the full-lot sized garden to the east of the house. In return, he had a good meal or 2 or more or he took away some of whatever was ripe at the time.

But Sol never stayed overnight in the summer. And I never saw him much more than a couple of times in the winter. Maybe he gave in and went to the poor farm in the winter. I just don't know.

But no single household of his extended family had enough to just take him in. My grandmother and grandfather were already supporting my great-grandfather in a one room house which sat near the back of their large, deep lot.

But as the years passed, and more and more old people began to receive SS benefits, the quality of life of the older population increased dramatically. Their lives regained some dignity. The poor farm closed.

As far as I am concerned, "good" fixes for Social Security include (there may be others):

• means testing (if you have enough other taxable income to render your SS benefits taxable, reduce or eliminate your SS benefits)
• raise the limit from which Social Security is withheld; still limit the top benefit received
• income taxes paid on benefits of high income individuals should be returned to Social Security fund
• increase the % of benefits subject to income tax to those with high incomes.

Keep the poor farms closed.
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Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act moves along, passes the final Congressional vote. President Obama has pledged to sign the bill, possibly as early as this week.
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I Love Facts !

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Keith Boykin, a CNBC contributor, has given us Four Things the Republicans Don't Want You to Know About the Economy.

1. Tax cuts don't always work.
2. Higher taxes don't necessarily hurt.
3. Democrats are better at balancing the budget.
4. Democrats create more jobs.

Check the article: good, to the point, short, excellent facts in support.

Facts are such useful things.

Yippee! A Single-Payer System

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Boy, oh boy! I almost couldn't find anything good to post today. (Following my newly found self-promise to only feed the wolf of "compassion, faithfulness, hope, truth, love." See yesterday's post.)

But here it is. John Conyers plans to introduce his universal health-care legislation today.

Hurray!!!!!!!

• The bill, which will again be H.R. 676, is one of the more elegant to be introduced in the House, clocking in at just a few pages.
• The plan is simple: everyone is eligible for a version of Medicare under a new U.S. National Health Insurance Program.
• The program would effectively put private insurers out of business. What to do with all those employees? Hire them, says Conyers' bill.
• "The Program shall provide that clerical, administrative, and billing personnel in insurance companies, doctors offices, hospitals, nursing facilities, and other facilities whose jobs are eliminated due to reduced administration (1) should have first priority in retraining and job placement in the new system; and (2) shall be eligible to receive 2 years of unemployment benefits."

Simple, straightforward, elegant in its simplicity. Here is the full text of the bill--click-able from the table of contents to each portion of the bill. Oh, it is a beautiful thing.

What is not to like?

A Cherokee Fable

• One evening, a grandfather was teaching his young grandson about the internal battle that each person faces.
• " There are two wolves struggling inside each of us," the old man said.
• "'One wolf is vengefulness, anger, resentment, self-pity, fear.
  
• The other wolf is compassion, faithfulness, hope, truth, love."
• The grandson sat, thinking, then asked: "Which wolf wins, Grandfather?"
• His grandfather replied, "'The one you feed. "

I think I may have let a scrap or two too many fall to the wrong wolf.
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What Do You Mean, We Can't Close Gitmo?

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Glenn Greenwald over at Salon has the goods if your friends/family start in on moving the Gitmo prisoners to US soil and trying same in US courts.

• Both before and after 9/11, the U.S. has repeatedly and successfully tried alleged high-level Al Qaeda operatives and other accused Islamic Terrorists in our normal federal courts.
• Convicted Terrorists have been housed in U.S. prisons, inside the U.S., for years without a hint of a problem.
• The Guantanamo military commission system still has nothing to show for it[s efforts] other than a series of humiliating setbacks for the Government.
• As is true for virtually every fear-mongering claim made over the last eight years to frighten Americans into believing that they must vest the Government with vast and un-American powers lest they be slaughtered by the Terrorists, none of these claims is remotely rational and all of them are empirically disproven.

You really have to give the Kool-aid drinkers credit. They simply refuse to let go of the idea--no matter that we have caught on to it--that if you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it.

We won't. Ever again. Never.
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Update: Boy, I wish I had said this! This is Cernig over at Crooks & Liars.

• I'd just like to point something out to the many rightwingers who are frothing at the mouth today over the NYT's story that a former Gitmo detainee has become the deputy leader of Al Qaeda's Yemeni branch.
• The Bush administration released this man in 2007, without trial -a decision made by political appointees, not judicial review - and handed him over to the Saudis who let him walk.
• So who is at fault here?
• Rather than blaming Obama for wanting to actually put bad guys on trial - proper trial - shouldn't these rightwing pundits be asking why the Bush administration made a political decision to let this guy go? Was there insufficient evidence? Was the evidence tainted by torture? Was he simply an innocent swept up by "arrest for bounty" tactics who became radicalized by his experience? What's the actual evidence for "suspecting" he has "returned" to terror?
• [In] one of my old posts on this subject the other day ... I wrote:

• Some very bad people are likely to walk free along with the innocent because the Bush administration tried to walk around domestic and international principles of law, creating an entirely spurious new designation of “unlawful combatant” so that they could either hide detainees from due process indefinitely or, failing that, conduct kangaroo courts.

  If they’d just stuck with the existing definitions, all the Gitmo detainees against whom they could build a real case under the actual rules of law, without torture and without rigging the courts, would have been tried...already. If found guilty, the death penalty would have been warranted in some cases. I would personally have had no problem with that.

• That's just the inevitable fallout from Bush's foolhardy actions. There's no real argument about it. But this instance is potentially even worse. If the Bush administration really thought this guy was dangerous and had real evidence to that effect, why did they make the political decision to turn him over to Bush's pals the Saudis instead of putting him on trial?
• Crossposted from Newshoggers

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Update, Part 2: The Progress Report has given us the "Five Top Myths About Closing Guantanamo."

• One U.S. military officer wrote in the Washington Post that he "learned in Iraq that the No. 1 reason foreign fighters flocked there to fight were the abuses carried out at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo."

1. MYTH #1 -- GUANTANAMO IS A GREAT PLACE TO BE
2. MYTH #2 -- DETAINEES ARE TOO DANGEROUS TO BRING INTO THE UNITED STATES
3. MYTH #3 -- DETAINEES WILL RECEIVE ALL THE BENEFITS OF U.S. CITIZENS
4. MYTH #4 -- 61 RELEASED DETAINEES HAVE RETURNED TO THE BATTLEFIELD
5. MYTH #5 -- WE SHOULD JUST HOUSE THE DETAINEES AT ALCATRAZ

You can read why all these are wrong. You will have the ammunition to refute these myths.

We have to keep gently educating the Kool-aid drinkers. Remember, they vote, too. They need the facts not just the talking points.

Women's Issues & Barack Obama

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WOW ............ the Obama administration has a web site on women's issues.

• Health Care
• Reproductive Choice
• Preventing Violence Against Women
• Economic Issues
• National Security
• Education

WOW

And also, the Senate passed its version of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. It will now go back to the House for final passage and then go to the desk of President Obama. He will sign it.

We Win

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President Obama has called on this country to choose "hope over fear".

He has shown us how to do this.

During the Inaugural Parade, Tuesday, he came out from the belly of the Beast and walked with Michelle down the Parade route. He waved to the crowd, interacted with by-standers, strode down the street with a smile on his face.

He is right.

We can never best the terrorists by withdrawing into our caves. That leaves all the land to them.

We win when we refuse to live in fear, when we refuse to compromise our basic Constitutional rights in exchange for ephemeral ideas of "safety," when we walk tall and proud--looking the whole world in the eye, when we continue with our lives in spite of attacks and empty threats of attacks, when we reach out to help others, when we offer our hands in friendship and peace, when we persevere.

We win.
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Justice Served

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SINCE, Bush/Cheney grabbed so much power and used it against the American People and against the country.

AND SINCE, there is a great deal of argument for "moving forward" and not looking back. Mostly, I think from people who are trying to cover their own asses, but nevertheless.

AND SINCE, we will have no investigations, no trials, no ability to claim executive privilege or hide behind "issues of national security."

RESOLVED, with the powers GW instituted to meet his own insidious ends, Obama can simply declare GW, Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld, Rice, Wolfowitz, Gonzales, Tom Delay, .... oh, come on, I know there's more of them, ........ are you ready?

"ENEMY COMBATANTS"

They certainly "combated" this country. Almost destroyed it, that certainly makes them "enemies." They have made no secret of their contempt for the rule of law so cherished by all who revel in the uniqueness of that concept in this country. They set up the system, they must certainly approve of it. Let' s "ye-use" it.

Problem solved: goes "forward" without looking back, can be done immediately, no grand jury, no special prosecutor, no gathering of evidence, just executive order. Then: no civil rights to worry about, no access to lawyers, no trial necessary, "detainment" until whenever, vile conditions, torture (I mean, seems only fair, they set it up), ..........

Not revenge -- the rule of "law," justice.

Sweet, sweet justice.
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Update: While not as viciously violent as my suggestion, John Dean (former Counsel to the President of the United States, 1970), offers a much more reasoned argument for visiting this problem.

• One would think that people like Cheney, Rumsfeld, Addington, Gonzales, Yoo, Haynes and others, who claim to have done nothing wrong, would call for investigations to clear themselves if they really believed that to be the case. Only they, however, seem to believe in their innocence – the entire gutless and cowardly group of them, who have shamed themselves and the nation by committing crimes against humanity in the name of the United States.

Thoughts

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Yippee! ............ Cartwheels around the room!

A thinking President.

Let it sink in.

Ponder it. ---THOUGHTS. ----ACTUAL THOUGHTS.

Thinking something through. Considering the consequences.

I'll bet he won't say something as dumb as, "Bring it on."

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Horses and Bananas

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Are you a horse lover or even an admirer? Michael Markarian presents an argument for support of H.R. 503, the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act.

• Every month, thousands of ex-racehorses, work horses, and family ponies are crammed into double-decker trucks where they can barely stand, and shipped hundreds of miles to Canada and Mexico. After arriving across the border, they are slaughtered for food exports to Europe and Asia, where horse meat is considered a delicacy.
• Agribusiness groups use stalling tactics and make the same old tired arguments about "unwanted" horses.
• [Even though] there are willing adopters and a network of horse rescues ready.

But bananas may give us the best case yet that I have seen for regulation of corporations, other businesses and whole industries.

• The story of how the banana rose and fell can be seen as a strange parable about the corporations that increasingly dominate the world -- and where they are leading us.
• For a hundred years, a handful of corporations were given a gorgeous fruit, set free from regulation, and allowed to do what they wanted with it. What happened?
  
• They had one good entrepreneurial idea -- and to squeeze every tiny drop of profit from it, they destroyed democracies, burned down rainforests, and ended up killing the fruit itself.
• But have we learned? Across the world, politicians like George Bush ... tell... us the regulation of corporations is "a menace" to be "rolled back"; they even say we should leave the planet's climate in their hands.
  
• Now that's bananas.

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Single Payer System

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For anyone interested, Huffington Post has a very interesting article comparing the US market for health care vs five other capitalist countries who have designed health care systems.

• True health care reform for all could contribute significantly to U.S. economic recovery and provide immediate relief to ... taxpayers. The ability to access health care would alleviate a huge burden for those reeling under the weight of home foreclosures and job losses.
• [There are] numerous federal and state studies (now more than 20) that have demonstrated billions of dollars of savings with a single-payer model of health care reform that could provide comprehensive coverage for all.
• It is [the] insurance industry that has sucked the U.S. health care system dry by placing profits before health care, and gaming the system with tactics of bait-and-switch, denial and abrupt cancellation of coverage, inadequate disclosure, deceptive marketing, promotion of evermore limited benefit policies at increasing cost, restricted choice of providers, while creating the accelerating annual $20 billion industry of "Denial Management."
• 50% of U.S. personal bankruptcies are due to medical bills.
• Taiwan has the least administrative costs of all countries (2%), as providers bill the government directly. Information technology plus a smart card with each person's medical history facilitate health care.
  

Since insurance companies can only make money if they refuse to pay for services, what ever made anyone think they could be part of any rational system to deliver health care?

With any luck at all, the health insurance companies will follow Georgie-Boy into the shadows--the deep, deep shadows.
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Born Again American

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Put on your earphones, plug in your speakers, turn up the volume.





Sign up.........
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White House, Open House -- Hurray!

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My heart took wing--almost.

I am pretty cynical and it is hard to get me excited, but this is a step in the right direction.

I don't know if President-elect Barack Obama can do it or not, but things are looking up.

I am hesitantly optimistic.

White House will be open to the public from day one

By SilentPatriot Saturday Jan 17, 2009 5:00pm

Keeping with his campaign pledge of running the most open and accessible government in American history, President-elect Obama will hold the first White House open house January 21st, the day after he is officially sworn in.

AP:

Barack Obama plans to open his White House doors to the public on his first full day of his presidency, Jan. 21.

Obama aides on Friday announced plans to have an open house at his new home at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The idea is to keep Obama's administration the "most open and accessible" in history by inviting hundreds of supporters inside and encouraging them to stay involved.

Call me a government geek, but there is something about this that I just love. You can fill out an application here.

Mean, Nasty Women

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This just goes to show that women can be nasty, low-down, unethical, ........ just like men.

You just have to go read it for yourself--I have nothing to offer. I mean, I can't indicate a sadly, shaking head.
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A Silver Lining?

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If it can be possible to find a silver lining in this Depression, it is perhaps the exposure of the corruption and hubris of so many at the top of the economic food chain in a way that is undeniable and forces us, all, to face our own problem with the undeniable greed that has led to so much inequality. I don't care what the movie said, "Greed is NOT good."

After you get enough to cover your needs, what good is more? If you eat, have shelter, stay warm or cool, clothe yourself, can do all of the same for your children, have a little set back for emergencies or old age, enjoy a little "fun" (however you define that), what will you do with the rest? How many cars can you drive at once? (I am guilty here--I hold title to a car, an SUV, a pickup and a motorcycle; in my defense, they were all bought used and paid for in cash.) How many rooms do you need to comfortably live in? I don't know the answers, but I think we need to consider them.

I do know, that if you have a lot, then what you will do is spend vast amounts of energy, & probably money, trying to figure out ways to keep anyone else from getting any of your excess: off-shore accounts, tax shelters, gated & guarded communities, gated drives to homes, private schools for your children, too many homes, too many cars (I already confessed), too many clothes and shoes, and on and on and on.

The planet is being sorely over-taxed. And we, in this country consume way too much and waste even more. Check out your carbon footprint. Make changes where you can. Develop a little more compassion, give more to help those less fortunate than you. Remember, those you meet on the way up, you will probably meet again on the way down; treat them as you would wish to be treated.

If you want a planet for your children and grandchildren to live on, then all of us must re-examine our consumption practices.

CHINESE PROVERB ABOUT MONEY

WITH MONEY YOU CAN BUY A HOUSE, BUT NOT A HOME.

WITH MONEY YOU CAN BUY A CLOCK, BUT NOT TIME.

WITH MONEY YOU CAN BUY A BED, BUT NOT SLEEP.

WITH MONEY YOU CAN BUY A BOOK, BUT NOT KNOWLEDGE.

WITH MONEY YOU CAN BUY A DOCTOR's TIME, BUT NOT GOOD HEALTH.

WITH MONEY YOU CAN BUY A POSITION, BUT NOT RESPECT.

WITH MONEY YOU CAN BUY BLOOD, BUT NOT LIFE.

WITH MONEY YOU CAN BUY SEX, BUT NOT LOVE.

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128 Executive Branch Failures Since 2000

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OK, my gentle snowflakes, here at The Center for Public Integrity is the whole, gruesome--and hopefully, final--list of Bush 43 failures.

Only 128? Why, that is only 16 a year.

What a bargain.

How lucky can we get?

The Center links each and every failure with support and explanation (in case, you didn't understand it when it happened).

God help us, how will we ever clean-up this mess? Is it even humanly possible?

On second look, and after clicking a few of the links, I have a few personal un-favorites. Signing Statements..., Veteran Disability Claims... (I mean, if they are going to start a war, they should, at least, plan for the resulting veterans' disabilities), ----- OK, I lied. ... -- I hate 'em all! Each and every one of them make my hair hurt.

Those of you who are forced by family and friends to refute the claims that Georgie-Boy was a good President may want to bookmark/favorites the whole site. It should come in very, very handy.

Check out a few, but take along your barf bag. It is a bumpy, bumpy ride.
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Welcome to My World

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My Maxine calendar for today says, "The only thing frozen that interest me is a margarita." Fine by me. Supposed to snow here tonight, at least flurries. I hate snow.

I must be tired. I can't work up a good rant even with all that Bush 43 is doing--taking the gray wolf off the endangered species list, claiming he did all anyone could do for the survivors of Katrina, insisting that he kept us safe from terrorists (well, only if you don't count 9/11), bemoaning the "bad" intelligence that led him to invade Iraq (of course, he cherry picked that intelligence, but never mind), ignoring the Constitution after he took an oath to uphold it, and on and on and on ad nauseum. Yes, I am truly, truly tired.

The days until Georgie-Boy goes home, not to Crawford and brush cutting--which at least is useful, but to an 8500+ sq ft house (nothing that big can be a home) in a swanky Dallas area, can not come soon enough. Of course, there will have to be gates installed on the road to keep the gawkers away. Never mind the traffic flow and who will have to take an alternate route every day just to get back to her house at night. And how many extra miles that route will be. Oh, well, they are all good Republicans in Preston Hollow; I am sure they won't mind.

Just a few more days, my gentle snowflakes, just a few more days.
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OK, All Together Now

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I just read that it now costs 3 times--that is 3 times--as much per meal to eat out as it does to cook the same meal at home. Now, keep in mind that includes transportation to and from (hey, if you walk, that would be $0), tips, etc.

With that in mind, break out that old crock pot. Look for the cheap cuts of meat on sale at the grocery store. Sign up for daily or weekly recipes into your email inbox from sites like Better Homes and Gardens, or all recipes, or my recipes.

Don't forget that you can just google whatever recipe or ingredient you are wanting to use and all sorts of recipes will just pop up there.

And now for my best, all-time, guaranteed man (and woman) pleasing pot roast of beef.

Best-Ever Pot Roast

4-6 or maybe 7 servings

3-4 quart crock pot/slow cooker
3-4 pound chuck roast
1 packet dry onion soup mix
5-10 whole pickled pepperoncini
1 or 3 healthy splashes pepperoncini pickle juice
12 oz Dr Pepper -- not diet
1 bay leaf
2 - 4 oz left-over coffee, opt--put it in if you got it, leave it out if you don't

Throw it all in the crock pot. Cook on low 8-10 hours. Remove bay leaf and pepperoncini. Meat will fall apart and, in the words of a good friend, "smell like home-cookin'," but best of all, it tastes great.

If you want potatoes and carrots or other veggies, start another slow cooker a couple of hours before you want to eat. Put your veggies in, dip some cooking liquid from the pot roast to add to the veggies, add water to almost cover. Cover, cook on high until potatoes are done.

Use the leftovers for roast beef sandwiches or shred, throw back into a crock pot, add barbecue sauce to cover, stir, warm. Mound onto warmed or grilled hamburger buns: Really, really good Barbecue Beef Sandwiches.

OK, OK, way too much domesticity for the old feminist. Tomorrow another rant.
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Bernie Sanders Is Watching

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God bless Bernie Saunders: my on-going hero in the fight for the factual truth.

• Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has written to the Smithsonian raising questions about the caption that sits beneath its new portrait of George W. Bush. The current wording of the caption states that Bush's term was marked by "the attacks on September 11, 2001, that led to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq." Sanders, bless his heart, points out that the 9/11 attacks -- all together, now -- had nothing to do with the Iraq war.

• From Sanders' letter to Martin Sullivan, director of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington:

When President Bush and Vice President Cheney misled our country into the war in Iraq, they certainly cited the attacks on September 11, along with the equally specious claim that Iraq possessed vast arsenals of weapons of mass destruction. The notion, however, that 9/11 and Iraq were linked, or that one "led to" the other, has been widely and authoritatively debunked ... Might I suggest that a reconsideration of the explanatory text next to the portrait of President Bush is in order.

Be sure to check the links within the quotations from the article: most enlightening for those who need it most, but probably will never see. "There are none so blind as those who will not see."

Remember, there are still up to 35% of the American people who "say that they at least somewhat approve of way ... President [Bush] has handled his job." Rasmussen

Do you suppose those Kool-Aid drinkers will ever understand the damage Bush 43 has done to this country?

.......
Update: The Smithsonian has agreed with Sen Sanders about the wording of the caption. The Smithsonian will re-word it, I understand, to remove the phrase "that led to." The explanation from the Smithsonian was that in the small space of a caption they were attempting to offer a "snapshot" of Bush 43's years in office; not link 9/11 and Iraq.
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All of the Above

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Over at Slate, Doonesbury is running a straw poll on President's biggest fiasco. Here are the choices:

THE IRAQ WAR. The lead on his obit. Conceived in obsession, sold with lies, executed with stunning incompetence, our unprovoked dismantling of a nation, killing tens of thousands, driving millions from their homes, torturing suspects, squandering global goodwill, handing Al Qaeda a new front, is a widening stain on American honor, one that will take generations to remove. KATRINA. Why clueless cronies in critical positions are a bad idea. Hard to pick a favorite moment of callousness. Barbara Bush telling the Superdome inhabitants how good they had it was breath-taking, but the iconic shot of Bush touring the drowning city at 30,000 feet said it best. Heckuva job, Junior. THE ECONOMY. Endless tax cuts for the rich, skyrocketing deficits, a weakening dollar, unconscionable lack of regulation. Unfortunately, you go into a depression with the economy you have, not the one you wish you still had. By the way, the entire world blames us for the mess. No pass for Clinton, but this was on your watch. Pretty well sums it up. Short, pithy, to the point. Not a word wasted. Too bad I can only vote for one. Whatever happened to "All of the above" as a choice? 20 January 2009 can not come soon enough. I so want Bush 43 out of our collective faces. Too bad he's going to Dallas (complete with gates across the street, paid for by you and me) and not the wilds of Crawford where there is less visibility. Take one more whack at the ugly little troll: Go vote.

What Lifeboats?

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The GOP wise men, having steered our economy into an iceberg, are burning the lifeboats and smashing holes in the hull with the fire axes. Of course, they have their jet skis waiting; they will have a way out.

AlterNet offers "10 Absurd Conservative Myths About Obama's Recovery Plan." It is a little long, but give you specifics on what you need to know to fire back.

• As usual, the conservatives have absolutely no conscience about what they did to create this mess. If they did, they'd all be holed up in their gated communities or on their private islands, embarrassed into silence at best and terrified of peasant uprisings at worst. Instead, they're jetting into D.C. en masse in a last-ditch attempt to head the country off -- or at least make sure that any money that does get spent ends up, as it always has, in their pockets.
• To that end, the self-serving myths are starting to fly so thick and fast that the staff here at CAF has been working full-time to keep ahead of them. Here's some of what they're flinging in this latest B.S. storm -- and what you need to know to fire back.

Obama has responded to the critics of the recovery plan.

• I want this to work," said the president-elect. "This is not an intellectual exercise and there is no pride of authorship. If members of Congress have good ideas, if they have a project that would create jobs in ways that do not hamper the [economy in the long-term]... then I'm going to accept it."
• "Our expectation is that we will continue to hone and refine our package over the next several weeks," he said. "One thing I will continue to insist upon is that we cannot delay. There will be a whole host of good ideas out there and we should [look at] them. What we cant do is delay."

I am afraid he is giving the too many members of Congress WAY TOO much credit. They will always play politics and always protect themselves and their re-election war chests.

Something has to be done and soon. "Unemployment Hits 7.2%, 16-Year High," NY Times.

• Consumer spending and business investment have fallen precipitously and lenders have been reluctant to supply the credit that would be needed to lift private sector demand. In addition, demand is not likely to revive until consumers become more confident about the economy. Their confidence is at record low levels.

How's you confidence?

KBR Redux

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See my post of 5 December 2008 for background on this.

You can go here to sign IAVA petition to try to get KBR to face their decisions.

Paul Rieckhoff of IAVA, writes at Huffington Post says,

• But this is not just some sad story about accidental chemical exposure. This is a question of responsibility.
• We need real answers from KBR. And so far, the company has denied any wrongdoing whatsoever... The veterans' community will fight back, and we need everyone's help.

Heckova' Job, Brownie

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If Michael Brown, former head of FEMA, moves near you. Don't bother to put your home up for sale, don't bother to pack up your stuff, just get in you car and drive, run away. FLEE!

He is the Typhoid Mary of the world. Where he is, disaster worse than anything imaginable follows. His area was evacuated due to the wildfires in Colorado. The Deputy Sheriff told him to leave his home.

Luckily for him, his home was spared so he won't have to deal with the rules and regulations FEMA put on, and then changed for, the survivors of Katrina.

Heckova' job, Brownie. Another neighborhood destroyed.
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"We Try to Hire Men"

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Today, 9 January 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to take up for reconsideration the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

For a little background, check out N Y Times opinion piece:

• Senate Republicans blocked the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act last spring. They should consider now whether hostility to civil rights and pay equity for women is really the image they want to project for their party after the losses it suffered in November.

We just keep fighting the same old battles--over and over and over.


But on a happier note, from Connie Schultz at the Cleveland Plain Dealer comes this little tale to delight the heart of all working women everywhere:

• We were driving through Mansfield and decided to pull into a Valvoline Instant Oil Change station. And what to our wondering eyes should appear but the sight of four females yelling, "Pull it in here"
• "Oh, my gosh," I said. "They're all women."
• My husband rolled down his window ... to yell, "Oh, my gosh, you're all women!"
• This was not news to manager Jen Good.
• "We try to hire men, but they usually don't work out," she said. "Too messy. Too many fingerprints on the hoods, too much oil dripping on bumpers. Women just have an eye for that kind of thing, I guess."
• Some manly men take one look at the female crew and pull out in a huff.
• "Sometimes that bothers my crew," Good said. "But I just tell them, 'Let 'em go.' "
• "Think about why they were here in the first place. They can't even change their own oil."

Whee! One must chuckle.
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Update: The House passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act. And now, on to the Senate where there will be much shuffling of feet and gnashing of teeth.

Write your senators and urge them to support these crucial pieces of legislation. Do it NOW.
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I Need Some Room

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I have spent the last week learning how to use a "news reader" or "RSS feed reader." It was an education. Do you suppose I can put that on my college transcript?

Did we think that once we got out of "school," we would have learned everything we were going to have to learn? Actually, I never even thought about it. Learning was something I used to enjoy: Did it instead of a vacation (college summer school).

When I was "in the work-force," (by which I mean, when I was going to a corporate office everyday), it was much easier to learn all this "new" stuff. I mean, the amorphous "they" sent someone around to teach us. Or "they" sent one or more of us somewhere to learn it and then we shared with everyone else in the office.

This going and learning and bringing it back was usually the position in which I found myself. I mean, every time some one came around and asked, "Who wants to learn xxxx?" I always put my hand up. In fact, my hand, to this day, starts up whenever the phrase "Who want to learn xxxx?" is uttered. I have to grab one hand with the other and sit on both. Or, once again, I will have volunteered to learn something.

I want to quit learning. Or I want to learn how to clean out the old files in my mind. The lumber in the attic is getting stacked really tightly. Hard to find what I need. And shoving new stuff in is getting harder and harder.

Maybe that is my problem. I cannot let go of the stuff I no longer need. I still remember how to program in COBOL. (Yes, I tried it the other day.) And then there is that pile that is DOS. And a certain amount of BASIC. And several useless accounting programs. And a couple of data base apps.

Can anyone tell me how to make some room?
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