Two wrongs do NOT make a right.

Hamas is pure, unadulterated, evil batshit on one hand. This fact can not be denied. They are as extreme as you can get. They also help what is one of the worlds poorest populations. From CFR:

In addition to its military wing, the so-called Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigade, Hamas devotes much of its estimated $70-million annual budget to an extensive social services network. It funds schools, orphanages, mosques, healthcare clinics, soup kitchens, and sports leagues. "Approximately 90 percent of its work is in social, welfare, cultural, and educational activities," writes the Israeli scholar Reuven Paz. The Palestinian Authority often fails to provide such services; Hamas's efforts in this area—as well as a reputation for honesty, in contrast to the many Fatah officials accused of corruption—help to explain the broad popularity it summoned to defeat Fatah in the PA's recent elections.

The fact that they have a totally fucked up military presence in Gaza however, does not give Israel the right to use the full force of it's military to bomb Gaza off the face of the earth. There are a million and a half Palestinian's that live in Gaza.

They are not all insurgents. Anyone that says otherwise is not only uninformed, they are stupid.

Currently, over 345 residents of Gaza are dead due to Israel's bombs, with another 1400 injured with at least a third being innocent civilans. How many Israeli's have been killed by Hamas' crude bombs during the same period?

4

The whole fucking eye for an eye biblical bullshit is lost on me, but that said...this pissing contest between Hamas and the Israeli government is very lopsided. For a historical perspective, check out this McClatchy article:

It was the highest death toll from Gaza rockets and mortars in a single day. Until Monday, Palestinian rocket fire had killed eight Israelis in the past two years. Since Israel launched the air strikes on Saturday, four Israelis have been killed in attacks from Gaza.

One of my commenter's had the audacity to state, in the post below, that all Palestinians are vermin, that they teach their children to hate Israeli's. Besides the fact that his statement is unprovable, its inaccurate as all get out. It's equivalent to saying all American's are vermin and hate Iraqi's just because the Bush Administration invaded Iraq and commenced tearing that country apart, installing a government as corrupt as Saddam's was and blowing their infrastructure to hell so that clean water and electricity are things of the past.

I see what Israel is doing as a ridiculous dance of futility. They will not endear themselves to anyone with their show of force. They already control how much food, energy and medical supplies get into Gaza, and they use that weapon to it's fullest. They force all Palestinians to suffer for the actions of the extremists.

They remind me of Bush, Cheney and the whole PNAC crowd... and we all know how that has turned out, don't we?

There has to be a better way to create livable conditions for both Palestinian's and Israeli's...there has to be. All Israel is doing now is alienating Palestinians that hold no allegiance to Hamas.

Like Bush and Cheney did in Iraq.

Using a wrecking ball when a hammer will do the job.

This just freaks me the hell out. As of today, almost 300 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli bombs and bullets in this latest pissing contest between Hamas and Israel. Women and children, people, ...they are killing civilians en masse over the death of one Israeli. 

Methinks this is a form of genocide. In any case, Nobody's right, if everybody's wrong..

Delaney Bramlett has died...

This is horrible news indeed. Dark Black let me know this morning. He has some of Delaney’s best up in video form. For those of you unfamiliar with this wonderful man and his talent, from the LA Times:

Delaney Bramlett, 69, a singer, songwriter and producer who penned classic rock songs such as “Let It Rain” and worked with musicians George Harrison and Eric Clapton, died Saturday at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center in Los Angeles as a result of complications from gallbladder surgery, his wife Susan Lanier-Bramlett said.

Born in Mississippi in 1939, Bramlett came to Los Angeles in the 1960s and played guitar in the house band for the TV pop show “Shindig.”

With his then-wife Bonnie Lynn he formed the short-lived Southern blues-rock band Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. The band toured as the opening act for Blind Faith, the supergroup that featured British guitarist Clapton.

After Bramlett and his first wife divorced in the early ’70s, they parted professionally as well, and he faded from the spotlight.

During his career, Bramlett performed, co-wrote or recorded with stars such as Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, John Lennon, Dave Mason, Billy Preston, J.J. Cale, the Everly Brothers and Mac Davis. He also produced artists including Etta James and Elvin Bishop.

He is perhaps best known for standards such as “Superstar,” co-written with Leon Russell, which has been recorded by many artists, most recently by Sonic Youth in a version featured on the Grammy-nominated soundtrack of the movie “Juno.”

Bramlett also co-wrote “Let It Rain” with Clapton, who also recorded it, and “Never Ending Song of Love,” which was recorded by more than 100 artists including Ray Charles, George Jones and Tammy Wynette.

Bramlett recently released an album, “A New Kind of Blues,” on independent label Magnolia Gold Records.

I love his music, he gave us a lot of beautiful tunes. He will be missed by many, including me. He was a white boy that really could play and write the blues. Rest in peace Delaney, and enjoy your friends that passed before you and are awaiting your arrival in heaven.

Let It Rain, which he co-authored with Clapton, is in the video on Delaney below. Very appropriate for today's sad news.

Where will they go?? How about home?

I am talking about Gitmo, and the 'prisoners' that are still held there. From Jurist:

A spokesman for Australian Prime Minister Kevin Ruddsaid Saturday that Australia would be willing to consider acceptance of Guantanamo Bay detainees on a case-by-case basis, according to a report in The Australian. Rudd's spokesman confirmed that Australia, along with other countries, has been approached by the United States concerning prisoner resettlement possibilities. Australia strongly supported US policy in the "war on terror" under the leadership of former prime minister John Howard and was complicit in the Guantanamo detention of Australian national David Hicks, who was finally transferred to Australian custody in 2007. While no final decision on the closure of the detention camp has been reached, US President-elect Barack Obama remains committed to closing the facility.

The prospect of closing Guantanamo Bay has raised concerns about where to relocate the released prisoners. US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recently ordered the Pentagon to draft a proposal for closing the facility in anticipation of a possible presidential order. Germany and Portugal have both stated a willingness to accept Guantanamo detainees in support of the facility's closure and have urged other countries to do so as well. The Netherlands, on the other hand, has said it will not accept detainees for resettlement and Spain has expressed strong reservations. The United Kingdom has said it will consider transfers on a case-by-case basis. French officials Friday suggested a unified European Union stance on the issue but France has not explicitly expressed a willingness to accept detainees itself. France holds the European Union presidency through December 31.

What a fucked up mess, how many were tortured, how many are innocent..and yet...these people have never been convicted of doing shit. We paid people to rat them out, we held many of them for years before letting them go home....it makes me scream.

Using Lennon to beg for cash…

The one laptop per child group has a noble endeavor going..but that doesn’t excuse, for me, using John Lennon, decades after his death, to sell ‘us’ on giving to their cause. Crass commercialization has never appealed to me. The group wasn’t even around when John Lennon was alive. Yoko gave her approval to digitally create this John Lennon for the commercial.

Sirota debunks Fox News and their FDR lies.

David Sirota is one of the few progressives that will go on Faux Noise and debate the rightwing nutjobs. This particular clip is interesting in that the wingnuts are blaming FDR for continuing the Depression because of the implementation of his programs that put America back to work.



From Sirota himself on this interview:

I appeared on Fox News to discuss the economic recovery package. As you’ll see, the anchor and the other guest assert that historians agree that Franklin Roosevelt prolonged the Great Depression - and they actually laugh at me when I say that’s a lie.

The wingnuts are losing it folks…they are pushing blatant lies as facts about a President that held office over 50 years ago.

What the troops in Afghanistan got for Xmas..

Turkey patties and grape juice, according to this McClatchy writeup.But they also got to call home, which in some cases would make folks sadder instead of happier. I know because after I got off the phone yesterday with my son in OK, I cried my tired ole ass off. But I digress, back to the troops in Afghanistan, from the writeup:

Marines are used to being away from home on Christmas. About 40 percent of those stationed here have been to Iraq or Afghanistan before or have missed the holiday due to training.

The Marines, the 3rd Battalion 8th Marine Regiment based out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., are stationed in Farah province, one of Afghanistan's most difficult regions, an area where Taliban forces not only fight but also sell opium poppy to finance their operations.

In the days leading up to Christmas, some Marines put up small Christmas trees or lined their cold tents with holiday lights. Others spent their evenings watching Christmas movies on their laptops. Some stared at care packages, waiting until Thursday to open them.

In the chow tent, someone lined the electrical cords powering the fluorescent lights with candy canes. During Christmas breakfast, the New York Giants were playing the Carolina Panthers on one of the few televisions on base. One by one, troops walked in and wished the others a Merry Christmas. One quipped: "Honestly, it was nice to not go Christmas shopping this year."

This makes me angry, very angry. These soldiers deserve the best we have, not fucking Turkey patties for Christ's sake. Take this soldier's story as an example:

Lance Cpl Matt Keefe, 21, of Chesterfield, Mass., said this was his third straight Christmas away from home. The first time he was in training, the second he was deployed in Africa and this year he is nearly two months into his rotation in Afghanistan.

"I can't wait to have an actual Christmas," Keefe said.

I feel bad now, whining about my son in OK, at least he is safe and not dodging Taliban bombs and bullets. For that I am thankful.

If Obama has his way, there will still be American soldiers in Afghanistan next Christmas.

Musical Interlude-Black Crowes and Govt Mule

The tune is an oldie but a goodie-Sometimes Salvation...enjoy and have a great day.






And for those of you who actually get off on this silly season, the best version of Merry Christmas Baby you have ever heard!

Bush on pace to set Midnight Reg's record.

This man is going to fuck us for decades.



ProPublica is keeping track of them all here.

Is everyone lawyer'd up now?

Since I spent one miserable year of my life running a law office for a blowhard bag o' batshit attorney in San Diego, I pay attention to legal news. Today we find Obama's team members who visited recently with Patrick Fitzgerald did in fact lawyer up for the event, which I don't blame them for one bit.

Rahm went local, as in a DC barrister. From the BLT:

Obama’s transition team tells Legal Times that Emanuel, the incoming White House chief of staff, has hired W. Neil Eggleston, a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton. Eggleston and Emanuel briefly served together in the Clinton administration in the early 1990s, when Eggleston was associate counsel to the president and Emanuel was a senior adviser.

Eggleston specializes in securities litigation, white-collar defense, and internal investigations. He has represented President George W. Bush’s former political director, Sara M. Taylor, in the investigation of U.S. attorney firings. He also represented former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, and he helped President Bill Clinton during Kenneth Starr’s investigation.

Eggleston has friends in high and low places wouldn't you say?

Valerie went with a Chicago firm. Again from the BLT:

Jarrett, set to be a senior adviser in the Obama White House, has hired Vincent Connelly, a partner in Mayer Brown’s Chicago Office, according to the transition team. Connelly is a former prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago. According to his online biography, “His criminal trial experience includes cases involving securities, antitrust, government contract and program cases, RICO, commercial and financial frauds, FCPA, and public corruption.”

He doesn't seem to have any political ties like the dude representing Rahm does. Lawyers..can't hang em, can't do without em..ya know? ;)

Obama-Blagojevich report is out-oh goody!

The pdf is available here. Obama's report reads as a memo from his new attorney Greg Craig. It's only five pages long. WaPo has a writeup on it here. From the WaPo writeup:

The 5-page memorandum, which was released to reporters by e-mail two days before Christmas, says that the contact between the scandal-plagued governor and the president-elect's staff was proper and limited in scope.

"The accounts contain no indication of inappropriate discussions with the Governor or anyone from his office about a 'deal' or a quid pro quo arrangement in which he would receive a personal benefit in return for any specific appointment to fill the vacancy," the report, authored by White House Counsel-designate Gregory Craig, said.

The report also revealed for the first time that officials with the U.S. Attorney's office investigating the Blagojevich case interviewed Obama on Dec. 18. Emanuel was interviewed on Dec. 20 and Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett was interviewed on Dec. 19.

The report did not disclose what information any of them provided to the prosecutors.

The bottom line is, no harm, no foul...no hanky-panky by Obama's staff...so can we all move on now??

Oil Company files Chapter 11

Flying J is a big player here in Kern County. They bought Shell's old refinery here last year and had big plans to modernize the plant and increase the amount of oil it refines.

Guess those plans are in the crapper now with the news that they filed Chapter 11. From Bloomberg:

Flying J Inc., an oil refiner, transporter and travel-center owner, filed for bankruptcy, blaming a cash crisis brought on by declines in oil prices.

The Ogden, Utah-based company listed assets of more than $1 billion and debt of $500 million to $1 billion in court documents filed today in Wilmington, Delaware.

Flying J expects to recover from “the precipitous drop in the price of oil” by reorganizing under Chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy code, Chief Executive Officer J. Phillip Adams said in court papers.

The company employs about 16,000 people and is among the 20 biggest closely held companies in the U.S., with sales of more than $16.2 billion in 2007, according to court records. Founded in 1968 with four gasoline stations, it now operates 200 travel centers, two refineries and a 700-mile (1,126-kilometer) pipeline that carries gasoline and diesel from Houston to El Paso, Texas, according to court filings.

Flying J’s cash crisis has grown as oil prices have tumbled, Adams said in court documents. Since September, the company’s access to cash has dropped by $155 million.

On Dec. 19, Bank of American NA seized a “substantial sum of cash” from one of Flying J’s units because the company had allegedly violated loan terms. The bank is the agent for lenders owed $395 million. The next day, another agent refused to allow a different Flying J unit from withdrawing cash from an account, the company said.

Affiliates Longhorn Partners Pipeline LP, Longhorn Pipeline Holdings and Longhorn Pipeline, Big West of California, Big West Oil, Big West Transportation, also sought protection.

Good ole Bank of America...god I hate those bastards...and they got a big wad of our tax monies recently ya know....

Tags: Flying J, Flying J files bankruptcy

Toyota posting loss of $1.7 Billion for the year.

With the assholes in Congress bitching that the Big Three Automakers are retards in how they do business, it should be noted that Toyota is also posting a huge loss for the fiscal year...their first in 70 years of making vehicles. From the NYT link:

Analysts said Toyota’s downward revision, its second in two months, showed that the worst financial crisis since the Depression was threatening not just the Big Three but also even relatively healthy automakers in Japan, South Korea and Europe. Many other companies will also soon be reporting losses.

Worse, analysts said that they expected next year to be even more painful, amid forecasts that the global economy would continue to slide until at least the summer. This could cause a significant shakeout, driving smaller and weaker companies into the arms of a smaller number of bigger, richer players.

“It is just a matter of time before all major automakers are losing money,” an auto analyst in Tokyo for Credit Suisse Securities, Koji Endo, said. “And things will just get worse next year, when companies start losing money for the second consecutive year.”

Toyota, which just a few months ago seemed unstoppable after eight years of record profits, said it suffered from plunging vehicle sales not only in North America but also in once-promising markets like India and China, which many had hoped would prove immune to the United States malaise. Toyota’s group includes the automaker Daihatsu and the truck builder Hino.

Unlike the Big Three here in America, Toyota has plenty of cash on hand to weather the hard times...$18 Billion to be exact. But the U.S is their biggest market..and it sucks for Toyota just as it sucks for the Big Three:

In November, Toyota’s sales dropped 33.9 percent and Honda Motor’s 31.6 percent, both faring slightly better than G.M., which had a 41 percent decline.

Still, it sucks to be a purveyor of anything expensive..regardless of which country does the manufacturing.

NV AG files challenge to Yucca Mt nuke waste site

State AG Catherine Cortez Masto actually filed 229 challenges to be exact. Bravo chica! From the LegalNewsLine link:

State Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, who has fought the controversial project at every juncture, said Friday in a petition to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that the Yucca Mountain application is flawed.

Among other things, the attorney general said the project application fails to take into consideration such things as greenhouse gas-induced climate change and the lowering of the topography of Yucca Mountain by erosion.

She also said the U.S. Department of Energy's application contains an inadequate plan for shipping high-level radioactive waste across the country to the site.

"We needed hundreds of pages just to document the most blatant problems with DOE's application," she said. "Although Nevada has known for years about many of these problems, we are approaching a real time of reckoning."

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's review of the U.S. Energy Department's license application for the proposed Yucca Mountain project, where 77,000 tons of radioactive waste would be stored, could take four years.

"Nevada has been fighting the federal government on this issue for nearly 30 years and will continue all appropriate efforts to prevent this dangerously unsafe facility," Masto said.

Besides the Billions of dollars in cost overruns, this fuckwitted idea should never be implemented in my humble yet vocal opinion.

Tags: Yucca Mountain, Catherine Masto, Yucca Mt Nuclear Waste Site

Iraqi Judge orders investigation into Al-Zaidi beating.

From Jurist:

Iraqi judge Dhia Al Kinani Friday announced an investigation into the alleged beating of Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi. Al-Zaidi was allegedly beaten after throwing his shoes at US President George W. Bush on December 14 during a joint press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki where the two leaders discussed the signing of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). Al-Zaidi is charged with offending the head of a foreign state and could face up to seven years in prison. He appeared before a judge last week behind closed doors, leading some to believe that he was beaten while in custody. Since the incident, al-Zaidi has been wildly popular throughout the Arab world. Despite public pressure to release the journalist, it is unlikely he will be released without trial.

Al-Zaidi has allegedly suffered brutality first hand in Iraq having been kidnapped and released by Shiite militiamen in 2007. He threw his shoes just after Bush finished his remarks celebrating the SOFA and expressing solidarity with the Iraqi government. The SOFA sets a 2011 deadline for the withdrawal of US troops. It was approved by the Iraqi presidential council earlier this month and will go into effect on January 1, 2009, a day after the current UN Mandate authorizing the US presence in Iraq expires. In addition to the official deadlines for troop withdrawal, the SOFA gives Iraqi courts limited jurisdiction over American military personnel and eliminates immunity for US defense contractors working within Iraq.

Al-Zaidi's trial is set to begin on December 31.

This man will become a martyr and a hero for the Iraqi people and the terrorists..bet on it.

Is the Rick Warren issue really a non-issue?

Now, I am sure that some of my friends will take 'issue' with my pov that Warren doing the inaugural invocation isn't a big deal. To them I would like to say this;

I still love you even if we disagree on this point.

Warren is saying the opening prayer people, that is all. He isn't part of the cabinet and he won't be setting policy..so if all this yahoo is doing is saying a friggin prayer..how does that affect the fight for LGBT equality? Obama picked a pro-gay rights man, Joseph Lowery to give the benediction, which is another prayer right? Newsweek has a piece up written by two gay individuals on the subject of Warren and his inaugural prayer. These two writers are on opposite sides of this debate. It's a good read and it lays out two specific points of view on this brouhaha.

So check it out ok?

My point in this whole mess is that we must choose our battles carefully. Rick the fuckwit Warren isn't worth our time and energy. No one is ever going to convince him that the LGBT community deserves the same rights as everyone else. Having been put in the position to actually defend my pov over at DCup's post on this subject, I will say that Warren is less offensive than the vast majority of Theocratic wingnuts. He doesn't call AIDS God's revenge on gays and he believes climate change is real and churchs have a responsibility to deal with it.

That means we have some common ground with Warren. That means we, the universal we, should find a way to make Warren and his sheep part of the equation on climate change and AIDS. It also means we can take our talking points to him on the subject of gay equality, but do it in a respectful way. If we use the Rush Limbaugh method, we won't get far...correct?

Obama wants to unite us all around our common beliefs. I think he purposefully picked Warren to show he is reaching out to all sides. Personally, I don't give a shit why he picked him because giving the opening prayer in the pomp and circumstance extravaganza that is the Presidential Inauguration doesn't mean squat in the grand scheme of things. I am not a lover of organized religion..I hate it as a matter of fact. I do pray however and I try to follow Jesus's teachings on how to be a good human being. To me, that is a no-brainer, doing unto others as you would have others do unto you.

Let me use part of the Newsweek article that I think spells out a lot for me:

Leah, you and others are criticizing the selection of Rick Warren as a betrayal of Barack Obama's promise to unify the country, but the way you define "unity" is really very exclusionary. The inaugural committee has promised "an inclusive and accessible inauguration that ... unites the nation around our shared values and ideals." You argue Warren should be disqualified under that standard because his gay-marriage opposition is a "value and ideal" you don't share. But Obama's point was to unify us around areas of agreement, and here you are focused on disagreement, so where's the betrayal? For "unifying the nation" to mean anything, there must be "inclusion" for conservatives, including the many millions like Warren who oppose gay marriage. Excluding those with whom we disagree is the antithesis of unifying.

Even if you suspect the whole "unity" thing is really just about politics, the selection of Warren still makes good sense, including for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans. It is a stroke of political brilliance to recruit a conservative megapastor in support of a president-elect who is arguably the most pro-gay, pro-choice and progressive in our history. That's the kind of political dividend you get from focusing on common ground—like Warren's support for the fight against global warming and AIDS.

Obama is going to piss off the right, the left and the centrist folks many more times before his term comes to an end. Lets not allow Warren's prayer to divide those of us that believe in the fight for gay rights ok? If we are going to pick our battles wisely...this ain't one of them that will do us any good in the long or short run. If your someone who doesn't believe in prayer then you don't have anything to bitch about period.

It's a prayer people..it's not policy.

Update...as for the issue of prayer in a public ceremony..aka separation of church and state..I am totally in favor of knocking that shit off asap. Just wanted to clarify that m'dear friends. ;)

Hannity gets Jackass of the Year award..

From Media Matters:

Because of the unending stream of falsehoods and character attacks that fueled the "Stop Obama Express," and the countless other distortions he promoted throughout 2008, Sean Hannity is Media Matters for America's Misinformer of the Year.

If you have the stomach for it, check out the bs Hannity spewed forth this year. The man was working over-time I tell ya! It's the longest list of horseshit I have ever read on one jackass talking head.

Faux Noise just hits all the marks...amazing how much sewage can come from one channel.

Gates tells the Pentagon to start planning the closing of Gitmo

From Jurist:

US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has ordered the Pentagon to draft a proposal for shutting down the military prison at Guantanamo Bay in preparation for a possible order from President-elect Barack Obama, a Pentagon spokesperson said Thursday. Press Secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters that Gates wants to have a plan in place in the event Obama issues an order shortly after his inauguration to close the facility. Morrell said:

[Gates] has asked his team for a proposal on how to shut it down [and] what would be required specifically to close it and move the detainees from that facility, while at the same time ensuring that we protect the American people from some very dangerous characters.

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] Executive Director Anthony Romero applauded the move [press release], saying:

The fact that Defense Secretary Gates is finally taking steps to close down Guantanamo and its unconstitutional military commissions is a welcome and encouraging sign that President-elect Obama intends to fulfill his campaign pledge. This is an important first step toward turning the page on eight years of shameful policies that allowed torture and violations of domestic and international law.

Also Thursday, the ACLU, along with Amnesty International USA, Human Rights First, and Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a letter to Obama calling on him not to create a similar detention system, should he close Guantanamo and end the military commissions system.

It can not happen soon enough for those still languishing there. Obama must end the torturing of this individuals as well as provide them with due process. Gates is stepping up to the plate on this issue and I do applaud him for that move.

He's gone...

My son Brian left for Oklahoma today, approximately 3 hours after we arrived home from Vegas.

I love him and miss him already. I know he has to do what he has to do...but he is my only child. I raised him alone for most of his childhood. We are very close.

I said all the mom-type things..be good, be polite to strangers, wear clean underwear at all times and don't fuck off all the money you will make before you pay me back what I have loaned you for this friggin move to parts unknown.

As Dave said in the comments section of another post...the irony of a Californian moving to Oklahoma in order to survive is rich indeed during this depression.

Our final hug was awesome, I can still feel his arms around me..I didn't think he was ever going to let me go. His tall, skinny frame was holding me so tight, I could barely breathe. He kissed the top of my head which is what he always does and told me he loved me more than anything. I told him the same.

I can't stop crying. I am a blubbering mess. I can't pick him up if he does something stupid in OK...its five or six fucking states away!

Guess I have to trust he has grown up enough to hold it together. It's that or I go batshit insane with worry. They were supposed to leave tomorrow..I wasn't ready for tonight being the last night to look at his beautiful face with the deep laugh and the fantastic smile.

Empty Nest Syndrome is a painful feeling..take it from me...a hard-ass old bitch that is sobbing softly as I type out this post.

The kittehs are all gathered tightly around me...do they know how much I am hurting right now?

I hope Christmas comes and goes quickly this year..I want it over now.

I want Brian home here in Cali where he belongs, spending his Sundays watching sports with me and laughing his beautiful laugh at my stupid posts or dumb jokes.

Now, it's him and his cat Frankie making their way into the world without the safety net known as Mom to catch them.

Detroit gets their loan and I made it home from snowbound Vegas..

Had to set up the computer...and turn on MSNBC since I haven't watched it since last friday..But the bridge loan fucks the UAW workers I have gathered in the last few minutes...god I hate Bush.

Someone fill me in on what I missed this week ok? ;)

Meanwhile, this was where we stayed...(gratuitous snow shot from Wed).

The ball n' chain has been staying there for 20 plus years. Sometimes we stay at the Rio but usually it's the Palace. It was recently made infamous by this guy:


No, I didn't ask for the room he made history in...we always stay in the same room, on the smoking floor.

So, what is going on in the world? All I have been exposed to is booze and sports. A good combination but not for a long period of time..ya know?

Gotta unpack and count feline heads.

Bill Clinton's donor list is out...and it is a doozy.

Read it here (high traffic warning) all 2,922 pages of it. From Politico, some of the highlights..or lowlights depending on your pov:

Josh Gerstein, the of the now-defunct New York Sun, reported from Little Rock, Ark., in 2004: “President Clinton's new $165 million library here was funded in part by gifts of $1 million or more each from the Saudi royal family and three Saudi businessmen. The governments of Dubai, Kuwait and Qatar and the deputy prime minister of Lebanon all also appear to have donated $1 million or more for the archive and museum that opened last week. … Information about the donors is available to the public on a single touch-screen computer mounted on a wall on the third floor of the recently opened library.”

AP's Beth Fouhy and Sharon Theimer reported this morning: “Former President Bill Clinton's foundation has raised at least $41 million from Saudi Arabia and other foreign governments that his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, may end up negotiating with as the next secretary of state. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia gave $10 million to $25 million to the William J. Clinton Foundation, a nonprofit created by the former president to finance his library in Little Rock, Ark., and charitable efforts to reduce poverty and treat AIDS. Other foreign government givers include Norway, Kuwait, Qatar, Brunei, Oman, Italy and Jamaica.”

The story did not point out that the Saudis gave at least $1 million to the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Tex., along with elaborate gifts that included gold and silver camels.

The Politico piece also has a list of the top 18 contributors:

Greater than $25,000,000
The Children's Investment Fund Foundation
UNITAID

$10,000,001 to $25,000,000
AUSAID
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Stephen L. Bing
COPRESIDA-Secretariado Tecnico
Fred Eychaner
Frank Giustra, Chief Executive Officer, The Radcliffe Foundation
Tom Golisano
The Hunter Foundation
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
The ELMA Foundation
Theodore W. Waitt

$5,000,001 to $10,000,000
Government of Norway
Nationale Postcode Loterij
Haim Saban and The Saban Family Foundation
Michael Schumacher
The Wasserman Foundation

It's a trip m'dear reader...and lots of fall-out (read as shit) will be sure to hit the fan for the rest of the week on the Saudi connections I bet, since Hillary will spend lots of time talking to those folks...bet on it.

Tags: Bill Clinton donor list

Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas-bring snow chains!

I took some photos but I can't find my cord to upload them to my computer. It snowed until the wee hours of the night. It was a friggin trip. The snow stuck for awhile then started melting away of course..but the whole event was great to watch from my warm perch in our room fifteen floors up.

Craps is a great game...if you want to give up your money real quick. I am going back to video poker today. ;) The roads out of town are still closed...thank gawd we don't leave till tomorrow!

Its snowing in Vegas!

I caught a few snowflakes on my tongue when I went out for a smoke. It's not sticking here in the valley but the mountains look awesome.

If I can get a few shots in later, I will post them.Back to the tables!!!!!

An online game to play with Bush and shoes..

From DCap, a fun little shoe tossing game.. put your score in the comments ok?? ;) I only got two the first time and I am striving to be better!

Blago is a real peach to employees.

The New York Times has a sort of 'profile' of Blagojevich up today. Its a look at the whackjob that is running the state of Illinois. From the NYT writeup:

And yet, Mr. Blagojevich, 52, rarely turns up for work at his official state office in Chicago, former employees say, is unapologetically late to almost everything, and can treat employees with disdain, cursing and erupting in fury for failings as mundane as neglecting to have at hand at all times his preferred black Paul Mitchell hairbrush. He calls the brush “the football,” an allusion to the “nuclear football,” or the bomb codes never to be out of reach of a president.

In 1996, John Fritchey, a Democrat who shared a campaign office with Mr. Blagojevich, was told that his stepfather had suffered a serious stroke. He walked over to Mr. Blagojevich, who was making fund-raising calls, and shared the news.

“He proceeded to tell me that he was sorry, and then, in the next breath, he asked me if I could talk to my family about contributing money to his campaign,” recalled Mr. Fritchey, now a state representative and a critic of the governor. “To do that, and in such a nonchalant manner, didn’t strike me as something a normal person would do.”

Then, he actually thought he was going to be picked as Kerry's running mate in 04. LMAO!

At points in early 2004, Mr. Blagojevich appeared with Senator John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate, at a community center in Evanston and a junior high school in Quincy. Mr. Blagojevich seemed confident, said two former employees, who refused to be named out of concern that their comments could jeopardize their current work, that he would soon be selected as Mr. Kerry’s running mate. (An aide to Mr. Kerry’s campaign says he was never under consideration.) At the time, there seemed only one problem: Mr. Blagojevich was uncertain he wanted to be a No. 2.

It seems there is a fine line between being a wingnut and a great politician...

A day like any other? Not hardly..

I got this from my son. Such a sweet boy isn't he? Love his humor, he got it from me ya know. He loves to remind me when I turn another year older, the lil fucker.

Sadly he is having to move from Cali to friggin Oklahoma in order to work his trade as a plumber.

I am sad about it...sick about it and very pissed off about it. My only child has to move hundreds of miles and 6 states away just to get work.

He leaves 5 days before Christmas. It's going to be a quiet and reflective day for me this year..hell, I don't even know if I will cook. He will be towing his fifth wheel there. The kid has NO idea how fucking cold it is there..that trailer will suck to live in when the temps are below zero. His kitteh won't like it either.

All I want today is to hear he found a job in Cali. :( But I know it won't happen as he has been out of work for over 9 months.
Do NOT make fun of my plaid chair! It was here when I married my husband and he refuses to get rid of it. The pit is my beloved Baby, who is no longer with us. The man-child in the photo is Brian, my son, who I am going to miss really really really fucking bad.

The beer bottle collection is my son's btw.

Tomorrow the Ball n' Chain and I leave for three days in Vegas, that's assuming we can get over the mountains. It's snowing there like hell today. I hate Vegas but he loves it and this time of the year it's cheaper than hell. I just drink too much and take in a musical act or two...one place I go has a blues night, which I love.

I will blog from Vegas. ;)

Iraqi reporter hurls his shoes and insults at Bush..

He verbally bitchslaps da Shrub as well. From MSNBC via HuffPo:



From the HuffPo writeup:

McClatchy reports that the man who hurled his shoes at Bush during his press conference was an Iraqi journalist. CNN notes that this is considered an insult among Muslims:

An Iraqi television journalist hurled two shoes at President Bush on Sunday during a joint news conference Bush was holding with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki to mark the signing of a U.S.-Iraq security agreement.


Bush had just finished his prepared remarks in which he said the security agreement was made possible by the U.S. surge of troops earlier this year, whhen the journalist, Muthathar al Zaidi pulled his shoes off and hurled them at the president. "This is a goodbye kiss, you dog," Zaidi shouted.

Bush dodged the shoes and was not struck. Bodyguards quickly wrestled Zaidi to the floor and hauled him, kicking and screaming, from the room. Two other Iraqi journalists were briefly detained after one of them called Zaidi's actions "courageous."

Maliki tried to confiscate all the video tape of the incident..the American government personnel intervened and all journalists were allowed to keep their video. As WaPo notes, tossing ones shoes at someone is the most extreme form of 'dissing':

Zaidi was seated in the second row of seats, about 12 feet from Bush's lectern. Zaidi, colleagues said, was kidnapped by Shiite militiamen last year and was later released. Throwing a shoe at someone is considered the worst possible insult in Iraq, and is meant to show extreme disrespect and hatred towards someone.

As the BBC notes:

With his second shoe, which the president also managed to dodge, Mr Zaidi said: "This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq."

Bush is on his way to Afghanistan, wonder what treats await him there, ya know? ;)

RIAA's newest gripe is mp3's.

The fucktards at the RIAA have a new cause; Reselling the digital music you rightfully bought and paid for. A new online service called Bopaboo offers music lovers a place to sell or trade their digital music. We, the universal we, have always had the right, known as the first-right of sale, to sell our unwanted cd's without permission from the copyright owner. The RIAA wants to halt this practice for digital music also known as Mp3's. From CNet:

As for the legal questions involved with MP3 resales, Meshkin, 28, argues that the law allows consumers to sell digital media files in the same way they do physical media. That's not all together accurate. Fred von Lohmann, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocacy group that supports Internet-user rights, says to the best of his knowledge, the issue has never been addressed in court.

Even von Lohmann, a well-known champion of the technology sector, sees potential problems with Bopaboo's legal argument. He says while its true that under the first-sale law people are allowed to sell CDs and other physical goods, it hasn't been established whether the law covers digital media. The good news says von Lohmann is that Bopaboo could raise the public's awareness about what may one day be an important issue for digital music.

"We shouldn't lose our first-sale rights just because the second-hand stores involved are online," von Lohmann said. "Up to now, there hasn't been a huge opportunity for people to spend large amounts of money on digital music, but as time goes on some music fans will have thousands of dollars invested in their digital libraries or audio-book collections. It would be a big change if you weren't allowed to sell them."

You know the RIAA will throw millions of dollars at this issue. So really, as far as they are concerned we merely rent the music, we don't buy it....ever!

I call bullshit on this crap right here and now. But will it do any good with courts loaded full of BushCo judges?

Only time will tell....

Former NASDAQ boss busted for Ponzi scheme.

Ya know...sometimes I just want to take a baseball bat to these guys. Normally, I am not a violent person....loud and crass yes, but violent...no.

From the FindLaw link above:

A Wall Street powerbroker for nearly 50 years who built an influential firm has confessed to a massive fraud scheme that will cost investors at least $50 billion, federal authorities say.

Bernard L. Madoff, 70, facing a single count of securities fraud, declined to speak with reporters after a federal magistrate judge in U.S. District Court in Manhattan ordered him released Thursday night on $10 million bail.

You know what really jerks my chain in the article? That this bastardo had 10 Million for his bail.

Yet, he didn't have enough money to make him happy, so he created his little ponzi scheme. Fuck me running, that is downright pathetic.

Greed does some strange shit to some folks don't it?

Jon Stewart, Hall and Oates tribute to Alan Colmes

Alternet has the video up here. The song lyrics are below.

Lyrics:

Anytime you need a token liberal
Nothin' but a body to fill a chair
The barest shadow of a person
Alan Colmes is always there.

But all those years of non-existence
Can really run a person down.
Now he's leaving Hannity forever
Alan, please don't go!
You're the only non-douchebag on that show
He's gone. Bye bye,
Oh why
He was the Tango to his cash
And he's gone.
Oh why
To the extent
That I hadn't noticed he was there
But he's gone.
Oh why
What went wrong?
He's gone. Bye bye
Oh why?
He was the Laurel to his Hardy
He's gone
To spend
More time
Not being seen with his family
He's gone
What went wrong?

VA wrongfully demanding money from Veterans widows

Christ, what a load of crap. I know I should not be shocked or surprised, but I am. From the CQ link:

The Veterans Affairs Department has been wrongfully recovering money from widows of deceased veterans over the last 12 years by demanding reimbursement for final benefits checks in violation of federal law.

Sen. Daniel K. Akaka , D-Hawaii, the chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, confronted the department last week about the problem, which has resulted in hundreds of thousands of senior citizens losing pension and disability money received during the month of their spouse’s death.

“This flawed practice has caused serious hardship for many widows,” Akaka said. “I suspect that the improper procedures have harmed thousands of widows and widowers over the last 12 years.”

Congress granted veterans’ spouses the right to keep their partner’s final month of benefits when it passed the Veterans’ Benefits Improvements Act of 1996. The law instructed the department to treat disability and pension checks issued during the month of a veteran’s death “as being payable to a surviving spouse.”

But the department never adjusted its systems to follow the law. As a result, the department has routinely either refused to send checks or taken active measures to retrieve money already sent, including collection actions.

Rotten bastards.

Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm

I forgot to include my shots of the Tehachapi Wind Farm that I took yesterday. From the wiki link:

The east and south area of the Tehachapi Pass has one of California's larger Wind farms, generating electricity. The turbines have been in place since the early 1980s and have been upgraded through the years. The original wind turbines were much smaller than the much taller and larger new version turbines now sited for use. They are easily seen from State Route 58 and from Tehachapi-Willow Springs Road.

In a recent move, Southern California Edison plans to secure 1,500 megawatts (MW) or more of power generated from new projects to be built in the Tehachapi area. The 2006 contract, which more than doubles SCE’s wind energy portfolio, envisions more than 50 square miles of wind parks in the Tehachapi region, which is triple the size of any existing U.S. wind farm.

I always snap a few of them, even in the snow, when we go through there on our way to Vegas. When they are whirling like crazy it's quite beautiful. Yesterday was calm so most of the windmills were not doing their job, but that's ok.

Warning, if you click on the photos below, they are quite huge and will take some time to load.

Todays Day Trip...

The sun was only out at the top of the mountains..inTehachapi. The valley floor was dark and dreary.

I was highly pissed..a four hour round trip deserved more SUN damn it!!!

You can view the carnage here. Be gentle please..

Click on the picture above at your own risk..its fucking huge!!!

Today's plans..god help me.

I am going here this afternoon to make use of my neglected digital camera. If anything decent appears in my viewfinder, I will post them.

But don't hold your breath ok? ;>p

From the Dept of WTF?

Seriously, is this jackass nucking futs? Roman Catholic Cardinal Jorge Medina had the nads to actually slam Madonna whilst waxing poetic about Augusto Pinochet recently.

Pinochet was the brutal dictator that jailed over 80,000 people and tortured at least 30,000 during his reign of terror in Chile. The piece of batshit died in 2006 before any of the 300 criminal charges were ever leveled against his disgusting ass.

What a pity eh? Oh, and Jorge? Kiss my hairy ass you bag of shit. Seriously.

Thanks to TJ at Project for the Old American Century for this tidbit.

Our broken government..an accounting.

The Center for Public Integrity has a fantastic site up that lays out all the horrors of the Bush Administration for our perusal. In fact, my graphic to the right is filched from that site. They list 128 failures by the Bush Administration and folks...its ugly...damn ugly. From their site:

In this, a comprehensive assessment of these failures, we found more than 125 examples of government breakdown in areas as diverse as education, energy, the environment, justice and security, the military and veterans affairs, health care, transportation, financial management, consumer and worker safety, and more — failures which adversely affected ordinary people and made the nation a less open or less secure place to live. While some are, by now, depressingly familiar, many are less well-known but equally distressing. And though the list is diverse, it also reflects some recurring — and troubling — themes.

Some of these problems were in place well before George W. Bush’s inauguration, but were exacerbated by his policies or worsened by his administration’s actions (or inactions). Many of the failings are tied to Bush appointees who appear to have been selected primarily on the basis of ideology and loyalty, rather than competence. Every administration has its share of political cronies, of course, but the examples of the past eight years seem especially stark:

This accounting of the outright failures of our federal government will take your breath away..that is if you care, and I trust that you do. Check it out and tell me what bothered you the most. I am still reading it but felt I had to put this post up first. The pdf report in it's entirety can be read and downloaded here. All 110 pages of it.

Video of Blago yesterday...LOL!

It's rich ain't it? ;)

If Fitz says it, it must be so!

There is no one I trust more than Patrick Fitzgerald. No one. He is apolitical and he does his job to the best of his ability.

The IL governor must be as dirty as they come. Fitz said so, and I quote:

"But the most cynical behavior in all this -- the most appalling -- is the fact that Governor Blagojevich tried to sell the appointment to the Senate seat vacated by President-Elect Obama. The conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave."

I just hope the mud doesn't fly onto others that seem clean at this point..like Jesse Jackson Jr. TPM Muckraker is staying on top of this. Soon as I locate the complaint I will link to it.

Update: Here is the complaint via the Chicago Trib. Some choice quotes from the complaint:

During the call, ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated, “unless I get something
real good for [Senate Candidate 1], shit, I’ll just send myself, you know what I’m saying.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH later stated, “I’m going to keep this Senate option for me a real possibility, you know, and therefore I can drive a hard bargain. You hear what I’m saying. And if I don’t get what I want and I’m not satisfied with it, then I’ll just take the Senate seat myself.” Later, ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated that the Senate seat “is a fucking valuable
thing, you just don’t give it away for nothing.”

ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated “I’ve got this thing and it’s fucking
golden, and, uh, uh, I’m just not giving it up for fuckin’ nothing. I’m not gonna do it. And, and I can always use it. I can parachute me there.”

ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that the consultants (Advisor B and another
consultant are believed to be on the call at that time) are telling him that he has to “suck it up” for two years and do nothing and give this “motherfucker [the President-elect] his senator. Fuck him. For nothing? Fuck him.”

ROD BLAGOJEVICH said he knows that the President-elect wants Senate Candidate 1 for the Senate seat but “they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation. Fuck them.”

What a peach of a man eh? Christ what scum. Here is Fitz's presser:


Tags: Rod Blagojevich, Patrick Fitzgerald

Tribune Company files Bankruptcy..

The Tribune Company owns the LA Times, Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Cubs and was purchased by the idiot rich guy named Sam Zell, has filed for bankruptcy protection. From the NYT:

Tribune, which was acquired last year by billionaire real estate investor Samuel Zell, had hired bankruptcy advisers like Lazard and the law firm Sidley Austin in recent weeks as it negotiated with creditors over debt covenants. (Read the bankruptcy petition here.)

It is only the latest — and biggest — sign of duress for the newspaper industry yet. Several newspaper companies have struggled to cope with declining revenues and mounting debt woes. Tribune has pared back the newsrooms of many of its papers, and it sold off Newsday to Cablevision’s Dolan family earlier this year. It is unclear what Tribune’s filing means for other newspaper publishers on the brink.

Zell is one of the world's biggest pricks and richest men. Somehow I find it hard to feel sorry for him and after reading in the last year how he structured the purchase....I find this all stinking to high heaven quite frankly. The jackass is listed as Tribune chairman and chief executive. The holdings are extensive for The Tribune Company:

The Tribune Company owns 23 TV stations and 12 newspapers, including two of the eight largest in the country by circulation. As of Sept. 30, The Los Angeles Times had weekday circulation of 739,000 and the Chicago Tribune had 542,000.

It is going to be interesting to see how this all plays out, and how many more newspaper jobs are lost. From Bloomberg:

The 161-year-old company, taken private last year by Zell for $8.3 billion, listed assets of $7.6 billion and debt of $12.9 billion in a Chapter 11 petition filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware.

A company that old deserves better than they got from Sam Zell. More on their holdings and debt from MSNBC:

Tribune's biggest unsecured creditors are its lenders, led by JPMorgan
Chase Bank and Merrill Lynch Capital Corp. JPMorgan is the administrator of
$8.57 billion in senior debt and holder of about $1.05 billion of that. Others
include Deutsche Bank AG, New York-based investment management firm Angelo
Gordon & Co. LP, hedge fund Highland Capital Management LP and Goldman Sachs
Group Inc.

Barclays Capital Inc., which bought key assets from Lehman Brothers
Holdings Inc., is also among Tribune's creditors, with about $142.9 million in
interest rate swaps.

Media industry players were also listed among the creditors. Warner Bros.
Television is owed $23.7 million, Twentieth Television Inc. $8.1 million, Buena
Vista Entertainment Inc. $6.2 million and NBC Universal Domestic Television $4.9
million.

Could be a snowball effect from this filing as well. The Cubbies are NOT included in the bankruptcy filing per news outlets.

Tags: Tribune Company files bankruptcy, Sam Zell

What.Balls. He. Has!

Merrill Lynch's CEO believes he deserves a $10 Million bonus. I shit you not. His company had to be bought out by Bank of America if you recall m'dear reader.

John Thain is very serious about this. From Reuters:

Merrill was arguably saved from extinction when it agreed to merge on September 15, an hour before Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc filed for bankruptcy. The fear was that Merrill could be next if shareholders and trading partners fled, as many did at Lehman and the former Bear Stearns Cos.

Thain has said he deserves a bonus because he helped avert what could have been a much larger crisis at the firm, people familiar with his thinking told the WSJ.

Nevermind that bad management brought this finanical business almost to it's knees. Nevermind that they should all be lucky they still have jobs in this economy. Evidently he smokes a lot of pot and has short term memory loss.

How else do you explain this fucktarded expectation?

Tags: Merrill Lynch CEO expects bonus, John Thain

Stop the Army's Stop-Loss program.

Some jackass at the Heritage Foundation, who is also safely living in the United States, describes the military's Stop-Loss Program thusly:

"It generally helps prevail in conflict and avoid the further loss of life," said Eaglen, "because as a trained unit, this group has functioned together, they've lived together, they've fired weapons together, so they will in theory be a more effective fighting force."

Fuck your theory pal...seriously. It is a backdoor draft, among other things.

It is estimated by CBS News that 12,000 soldiers are being 'stop-lossed' by the Pentagon currently. As one mother of a stop-loss soldier said in this article:

They're just recycled over and over and over again until they're totally used up.

No one will convince me otherwise. Stop the Stop-Loss. Now.

One of every ten Americans...

They are losing the homes they live in, or are at least one month behind in paying the mortgage. They are getting food stamps. One in ten,or over 30 Million Americans are using the food stamp program, by the government's own numbers. From the Reuters link:

The number of people using food stamps in September surpassed the previous peak of 29.85 million seen in November 2005 when victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma received emergency benefits, said Jean Daniel of the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service.

We, as residents of this great country, should be sick at heart over this news. The supposed richest country in the world has 30 million people that can't feed themselves every night without government help.

And those are just the ones we know about. There are untold numbers that do not avail themselves of the system for whatever reason.

Last month, the USDA said 36.2 million Americans or 11 percent of households struggle to get enough food to eat, and one-third of them had to sometimes skip or cut back on meals.

During this time of the year when we, the collective we, are giving thanks or buying gifts for loved ones, we should also think about those who can't make ends meet.

Give something to your local foodbank. Every little bit will help. It will make you feel good too. Also, ask Obama and Congress to increase food stamps benefits as part of the next stimulus package. Go to change.gov and do it today. It will only take a minute of your time.

Tag: One in ten americans on food stamps