Beginning of a new week (Monday/Tuesday)

Monday/Tuesday (the end of June)

. . . . .No one gets it, unless you work the kind of job like I do, how difficult it is to be and stay isolated for weeks at a time. It's not like there's no contact with the outside world, but it's the sheer limitation of that, only phone calls, TV, the internet and the same people and the almost tease of being in some true contact.

. . . .In a lot of ways, everyone thinks the job is exciting, but you have to have a certain mentality to get through the day, to get through your time, and I don't think everyone has it.

. . . . The tease is watching the rest of the world. Ships in the shipping lanes, other platforms, helos.

. . . . .I"m gonna start a Dead Pool - the rules; the names you have to pick can only be celebrities between 50 and 60 years old that no one is expecting to die. That automatically leaves out Joan Rivers and Keith Richards, both of whom are immortal and will be the only two people on Earth, besides the cockroaches, to survive a Nuclear Holocaust, or an outbreak of Solanum and the attendant Zombie takeover.

. . . .OK, let's go over the rules again.
(1) Fox News - Prime offender. They aren't a "news" station, nor are they "newscasters" of any sort. We live in a capitalist, media driven economy. They are a branch of News Corp. just like their sister stations, FX Network and Fox TV. They are as dependent on ratings to keep their audiences, so they can get advertisers to pay their salaries. They are entertainers and actors, that's all, and very, very highly paid ones at that. They are owned by Rupert Murdoch, who is Australian by birth, and more importantly, a sworn business enemy of George Soros. Their playing field, their battleground is your mind. They don't respect you, they don't care about you. You are a number, and they are counting on you to be one of their sheeple and buy their advertised products and their line of bullshit.
(2) Their cast of entertainers and actors is (a) far wealthier than you, (b) more educated then you and went to a better college and (c) based in New York City. By definition then, they are the "wealthy East Coast elite". By definition, then they are the "mainstream media" they rail against.
(3) They outright lie, and they have an agenda. The examples are numerous, all you have to is read this column, all you have to do is catch yourself up on the last 10, or 15, or 20 or so columns, all below, to find example after example. Glenn Beck lies, Bill O'Reilly lies & Sean Hannity lies. Ann Coulter lies, Michelle Malkin lies. They're not patriots, they are the farthest thing from it.
All definitions from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary
- Traitor - One who commits treason
- Treason - The offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the state to which the offender owes allegiance
- Sedition - Incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority.

. . .It is pure and simple logic. Put two and two together for yourself, stop letting the media think for you, and start doing some research into fact. Idiots like Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity and O'Reilly are laughing at "the rubes" behind their backs, snickering at them. Fact, the truth and logic are the only things that will defeat the efforts they're making to see you fail. Yes, you. They want the country to fail, they want you to fail, and you, your kids and your grandkids to fail. And they want to continue to get rich, off of you.

- Scheuer tonight on Beck's show - "The only chance we have as a country right now" is for bin Laden to "detonate a major weapon in the U.S."

- FactCheck.org, here's where to check the lies and distortions that Limbaugh and Fox News spread in an attempt to bring the government down.
- OpenSecrets.org, here's where you can track the money that owns your Representatives and Senators. It's not you, and they don't work for you. They work for the lobbyists and special interests that have enough money to buy them.
- OpenCongress.org, here's where you can track a bill, any bill that has gone through, is working it's way through, is still in committee in either the House or the Senate. Here's where you get the truth, not the distortions that the conservative media consistently lays out on you.

(4) The duly elected President of the United States is an American-born citizen, the Supreme Court of the United States, a conservative court installed by George W. Bush, the same court that ruled to put Bush in office, read the birth certificate and declared it. The President of the United States was elected by due Constitutional process in an overwhelming public majority and mandate and an overwhelming electoral majority.
(5) The best one. The President of the United States does not have a vote. He does not enact or pass laws. That would be the Congress; the House of Representatives and the Senate. They vote, they enact laws. They are the ones who are working on legislation for health care, bailouts and stimulus packages, bailouts and stimulus packages and do the voting.

. . . Good example, right here, in The Hill. It's been more than a month since the President signed into law the bill that Congress passed to create a commission to investigate the roots of the financial crisis (see below, it's actually a pretty clear cut path). Democratic and Republican leaders have yet to nominate one single person to the commission.

. . . .I said it yesterday, I reference a lot of rock and roll music, TV and movies here in this column. It's for a reason, the images and impressions that are in our minds from a movie scene, a good TV show, a great song are far more long-lasting then anything a politician has ever said.

. . . .By the way, a tip here during these hard times. If you're using a debit card at the gas pump, you're screwing yourself, big time. Gas stations, when a debit card is swiped, have no idea how much gas you're going to pump. So, the agreement between the gas stations and your debit card holder is that they place anywhere from $100 to $150 dollar hold on your card, and that true amount that you put in doesn't get posted until the gas station sends in their batch transactions, sometimes up to 3 days later. If your account is low, it's a good way to bounce transactions and cost yourself even more in overdraft fees. If your debit card is a Visa or Master Card backed debit, use the the credit option, it's immediate and it's for the exact fee.

. . . .So Madoff gets 150 year sentence, at 71 years old, which will be appealed. He pleaded guilty and had no trial, and accepted the sentence. His wife paid the lawyer in cash, up front. The bulk of the money is missing. Anyone other than me think there's a lot more here other than the kids and wife have the cash and are hiding it? Knowing the feds are watching them? And always will be watching them? AS in there's someone, or more than one someone who's really far back in the shadows on this one that had enough leverage to convince Madoff to take the fall, keep quiet and finish out the rest of his life in jail?

. . . .But more so, why is Joseph Cassano of AIG's London office being allowed to walk around a free man when he bilked the 5 largest banks in the world out of $50 billion dollars in one day and punched an unhealable hole in the fabric of the universe? Yes, that was back in late summer of '08, and precipitated the financial crisis that the Bush White House put this country in and walked out and left the incoming President with. It was the Bush White House that de-regulated even further the Reagan's signing of Garn-St. Germain over 30 years ago that laid the groundwork for this entire bubble to pop and fail.

. . . . . .I can betcha that real quick now, Michael Jackson will be spotted at the Burger King in Kalamazoo, Michigan on West Michigan and Stadium that Elvis and Tupac have been spotted at for years. Jeesus, what people will focus on in order to avoid the real world.

. . . .Over at The Daily Beast, a good one, about 5 important things you missed over the weekend that occurred in Iran, a country that is at most 1 year away from being nuclear capable while you were busy either obessessing over Michael Jackson's death, or busy trying to diss it to prove how much you didn't like him. Either way, it's a waste of time, and a takeaway from the real world, and a country of people who were attempting to overthrow their hardline government, while everyone was busy, the vote recount got trashed, and the government cracked down even harder on the protestors, killed more people.

. . . .My personal favorite right now, when a member of the above-mentioned conservative media says the President should "do something" about Iran. This, when the best neoconservative Middle East experts, and the leading Senate Middle Eastern and foreign affairs expert, Senator John McCain all say that he's handling it perfectly and doing the right things.

. . . .Hey! Great mirth and dancing! Norm Coleman was finally told what a loser he was by the Minnesota Supreme Court and got sent home. Franken will be seated. It only took 8 months for the courts to make a decision on a political process that was decided by the people and the votes of Minnesota.

. . . Outta here, for now

. . . .Kiss your kids, tell the ones you love out loud that you do. This rodeo is a one-way ticket,and no one gets out alive, so it's not about yesterday or tomorrow, it's not about regret or guilt, it's not about hopes and wishes. It's about right damn here, right damn now. This ain't a dress rehearsal. Go change yourself, go change your own world and the world changes around you. This is the the sound and the words or me changing my own life. What have you done for yourself lately?

. . . . .Got your back

The Desolation Angel

Saturday (hot, summer, Saturday night, mmmmm!)

Saturday/Sunday June 28, 2009

. . . . .On this weekend in rock and roll history:
- In 1954, Sam Phillips, after several fruitless, disenheartening recording sessions, paired his new young singer, Elvis Presley, with Scotty Moore and Bill Black at Sun Studios in Memphis.
- In 2002, The Who's bassist, John Entwhistle, died of a heart attack in Las Vegas

. . . . .It's the weekend, so it must be time to catch the week up, so relax, grab a cup of coffee, or something cold, sit back, listen to the tune and catch up on your week. We've got another round of Truth/Lies, exposing the traitors and liars over at Fox News and on Rush's radio show, some reflections on deaths this week that really did count, some news for your own health and how you're killing yourself right now if you have a Diet Coke or diet soda of any kind in your hands, some things you can do right now that (a) can help your personal energy efficiency (b) put some money back in your pocket and (c) you can easily do. I'll start bringing together some of the disparate postings and thoughts that have been up here this week (which you can catch up on down below) and hopefully bring some understanding about that it really is all related.

. . . . On this weekend in history:
- The confrontations between police and demonstrators on the weekend of June 27-29, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn in New York City mark the beginning of the gay rights movement in the United States and were the first instance where members of the homosexual and lesbian community worked in a concerted action to protest a municipal, state and Federal system that persecuted people based on sexual orientation.

. . . .From Frank Rich this morning in the New York Times: 40 Years After Stonewall, Still Second Class Citizens:

. . . . .Then again, I didn’t know a single person, student or teacher, male or female, in my entire Ivy League university who was openly identified as gay. And though my friends and I were obsessed with every iteration of the era’s political tumult, we somehow missed the Stonewall story. Not hard to do, really. The Times — which would not even permit the use of the word gay until 1987 — covered the riots in tiny, bowdlerized articles, one of them but three paragraphs long, buried successively on pages 33, 22 and 19.

But if we had read them, would we have cared? It was typical of my generation, like others before and after, that the issue of gay civil rights wasn’t on our radar screen. Not least because gay people, fearful of harassment, violence and arrest, were often forced into the shadows. As David Carter writes in his book “Stonewall,” at the end of the 1960s homosexual sex was still illegal in every state but Illinois. It was a crime punishable by castration in seven states. No laws — federal, state or local — protected gay people from being denied jobs or housing. If a homosexual character appeared in a movie, his life ended with either murder or suicide. . . . . .
. . . . After the gay liberation movement was born at Stonewall, this strand of history advanced haltingly until the 1980s. It took AIDS and the new wave of gay activism it engendered to fully awaken many, including me, to the gay people all around them. But that tardy and still embryonic national awareness did not save the lives of those whose abridged rights made them even more vulnerable during a rampaging plague. . . .

. . . .The cultural climate is far different today, besides. Now, roughly 75 percent of Americans support an end to Don’t Ask, and gay issues are no longer a third rail in American politics. Gay civil rights history is moving faster in the country, including on the once-theoretical front of same-sex marriage, than it is in Washington. If the country needs any Defense of Marriage Act at this point, it would be to defend heterosexual marriage from the right-wing “family values” trinity of Sanford, Ensign and Vitter. . . . .

. . . . .No president possesses that magic wand, but Obama’s inaction on gay civil rights is striking. So is his utterly uncharacteristic inarticulateness. The Justice Department brief defending DOMA has spoken louder for this president than any of his own words on the subject. Chrisler noted that he has given major speeches on race, on abortion and to the Muslim world. “People are waiting for that passionate speech from him on equal rights,” she said, “and the time is now.”

Action would be even better. It’s a press cliché that “gay supporters” are disappointed with Obama, but we should all be. Gay Americans aren’t just another political special interest group. They are Americans who are actively discriminated against by federal laws. If the president is to properly honor the memory of Stonewall, he should get up to speed on what happened there 40 years ago, when courageous kids who had nothing, not even a public acknowledgment of their existence, stood up to make history happen in the least likely of places. . . . .

. . . . . .Read the entire piece here.

. . . . . .I'm fortunate in that, very seriously, I do see both race and sexual orientation. There's plenty of plastic progressive/liberal people who use the phrase "I just don't see race/orientation". I am a tattooed, pierced black wearing Irish asshole, who is as hetero as they come. I'm also not stupid, and realize that genetic differences are not something that just can't be "seen", they are obvious and overt. What I make a very adult choice to do is to understand that those things have not one fucking thing to do with a person's worth, value or character! They are things that just are, period, and don't have one damn thing to do with my friendship or relationship with them. The other thing that I strive to do is not to be insulting and say that I "understand" or that I "empathize". I can't, I don't have the genetic make-up to be a minority, I was born with white privilege, (yes, it does exist); I was born heterosexual, and don't have the genetic make-up for homosexuality, so I can't understand what it is to be in that minority group either, so I've never experienced that kind of discrimination. All I can do is what I do, love my friends and be willing to take a bullet for them, or walk down any dark alley with them to face the unknown. That's all I know how to do.

. . . . .I won't pretend to minimize the grief of Michael Jackson's family, his children, his brothers and sisters, his father. I've lost a family member myself, and no one, no one can tell anyone else how it feels, or minimize it. I will say that I don't understand the public hysteria, or the wall-to-wall 24/7 coverage of it by every news station. I don't understand breaking into broadcasts to tell the world that the autopsy results were inconclusive, or about his financial problems. There were other deaths this week. Deaths just as notable. Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Neda the young woman in Iran shot while getting out of her car, and for me, two more deaths just as important, if ranking death in significance is something that can be done.

. . . .There was another death this week. A significant one. Dr. Jerri Nielsen died early Tuesday. Don't remember her? Name doesn't sound familiar? It should, she captivated the American public's attention for a hot 15 minutes back in 1999 when she was trapped in the Antarctic winter, diagnosed herself with breast cancer, (gave herself a needle biopsy, try doing that to yourself), and gave herself chemotherapy with supplies parachuted in by the U.S. Air Force.
That's a hero, that's someone who demonstrated bravery, courage and who didn't know the meaning of the word quit.

. . . . .There was another death this week. Kaveh Alipour, a 19 year old Iranian who was engaged to marry his fiancee next week was leaving an acting class and got caught in the crossfire of the Revolutionary Guard, who were firing on protestors in downtown Iran. When his family went to the morgue to collect his body, they were told that there was the equivalent of a $3,000 U.S. "bullet fee" to collect his body. The family's earthly possessions don't amount to that much. When the morgue waived the fee, they told that family that Kaveh could not be buried in Tehran, and would have to be buried outside the city as retribution for being so poor as to not have the fee.

. . . I speculated yesterday, the very unintentionally, and quite by the nature of our society and it's short attention span, that Michael Jackson's death would inadvertently and wind up helping the Mullahs, the High Cleric and Ahmadenijad. It happened just that way. In the last 24 to 48 hours there is almost no information coming out of Iran, except that of the state-run media. No phones, no Facebook, no Twitter. The ray of hope is that as of Sunday, thousands had taken to street anyhow, and there are reports that the British Embassy staff has been arrested. That would be a huge, huge mistake.

. . . .I hope, desperately hope, that the world now sees, in Ahmadenijad and the High Cleric just what they are dealing with. Monsters, who only wanted to show the world the appearance of civil rights, the appearance of open elections. Tyrants who only want to keep their power, and keep their people under their thumb.

. . . .Only one problem with that. Their people have started something that will eventually, even if it takes decades, become a movement. Ahmadenijad and the High Cleric did something, started something that will be their undoing. They gave the people a purpose and passion, a belief and a movement. It will be their downfall.

. . . . And please people, educate yourselves. Start to understand the difference between the Taliban and Shariiyah law and Al-Quaeda. The Taliban, wherever they are located, wherever they live, want their province or their country, people who are already Islamic and living there, under Shaariya law. It doesn't make them Al-Quaeda. Al-Quaeda are far more dangerous, they are cosmic warriors, people who want an impossible goal, and know it's impossible, but are willing to die for it, that of a world, and entire planet as one Caliphate, and they understand that it can't be done, but are willing to die for it. They are like an infectious virus, that's the best way to think of them, that uses the Taliban as a host body.

. . . .If you remember one of the best and most brilliant shows to ever be cancelled from network television, Firefly, and the movie it spawned, Serenity:
Operative: "You've done remarkable things, but you're fighting a war you've already lost."
Mal: "Yeah, well, I'm known for that."

. . . .I have readers that get it, and readers that don't. Yes, there's always a lot of popular culture references in here. Lot's of rock and roll references, lots of Bruce, Bob Dylan, Hendrix et al. Lots of movie references. Lots of television references; Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Rescue Me, Deadwood, The Wire.
. . . It's simple, popular culture; rock and roll, TV, movies reflect who we are, who we really are, they're our reflections, and not our shadow selves, either. They're most of the time a reflection of who we aspire to be. It's cool, just relax, you'll get it. It's all part of the flow, all part of the web, the matrix.
. . . .There's nothing wrong with the fine arts, with culture, it's just that somehow, here in America, we seemed to get it and understand that the supposed "fine arts" were, are, the rock and roll and television of their time.

. . . .Fox News Lies vs. Truth alert! More Faux News lies. Let's get something straight, ACORN is not taking the census. They're one of more than 30,000 groups promoting the census. It's like I keep telling the Faux News sheeple all the time, check your facts!!!! Not the lies and distortions that Glenn Beck and Michelle Bachmann were spreading the other night, not the distortions that Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Malkin, Coulter and Limbaugh spread daily. The most reliable source? I use Fact Check.org

. . . .Fox News Lies vs. Truth alert! The President has not proposed a government-run health care plan, and in fact straight out on the White House's Health Care page, says straight up that government run health care is wrong. That would be the "single payer" option that was brought up, discussed and dropped. The crew at Faux News has very deliberately used the phrase "government-run" health care over and over, and it's simply not true. The proposal on the table is the public option, which is the exact same health care plan that members of Congress and their families have. (See why they don't want you to have it? It's a pretty good deal). That obnoxious ad from the Conservatives for Patient's Rights and Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity on the media side and Cantor and Boehner on the Congressional side have deliberately mischaracterized the public option as a Canadian style government run plan. Again, check the facts, and quit letting Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck do your thinking for you, they're laughing at you behind your back.

. . . . .And yes, it's been over 100 years since President Teddy Roosevelt, that's Teddy folks, called for health care reform.

. . . You know, I'm thinking right now that I could use listening to some old Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, and some Derek and the Dominos.

. . . .Let's see. . .what else has the merry band of idiots been up to this week? Besides conveniently ostracizing Gov. Rick Sanford of S. Carolina for his impossible, romance novel style affair. Oh, that's right, John McCain had an affair on his first wife and got divorced to marry Miss Moneybags. Newt Gingrich, that would be twice he did the exact same thing, oh, and Senator Ensign, who got caught this week too! He was the one during the Clinton flap that stated that kind of moral perfidy had no place in Government. Soon, soon the band of idiots that is the Republican Party and their extreme Right wing media machine will completely self-destruct as they form up that circular firing squad. These guys really couldn't get installing a freezer in the Arctic right, really they couldn't. What gets these folks in trouble is their sanctimonious, hypocritical, holier-than-thou self-righteousness. Seriously, under their Brooks Brothers suits, these folks are kinkier and more twisted than any leather-wearing, spanking freak Victorian could hope to be, and everyone knows it. The only ones who don't see it are them! And greedy and corrupt? Do they think we just have conveniently forgotten Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff, these idiots come cheap - that's a well-established fact.

. . . .Next up on the "Oh shit, we've got to start campaigning someone now for 2012, right now" GOP merry-go-round of mouthbreathers - Haley Barbour and Tim Pawlenty. Don't these fools get it? You're sacrificial lambs, having your throats cut at the altar of Newt Gingrich, by your own people!

. . . .Rush Limbaugh Lies vs. Truth Alert! Third hour of Rush on Friday - "There isn't any global warming." Alright, you sweaty, lying, traitorous Oxycontin-addled gasbag, here are the numbers ( I love numbers. Numbers are numbers, not opinions, they just are):
- From the report prepared for Congress by an interagency group and requested by the Bush Administration:
- Winter temperatures have increased by 4 degrees since the 1970's in the Northeast
-Spring rainfall down 30 percent since 1970 in the Southeast
- Overall ice cover on the Great Lakes has plummeted since the 70's, and winter temperatures have increased by an overall 7 degrees since then in the Midwest.
- Water levels have dropped by over 150 feet in the Great Plains
- Snowpack is down by 60% in the Pacific Northwest
- Alaska is warming more than twice as fast as the rest of the U.S. Winter temperatures have risen over 6 degrees since the 70's.

. . .An Arctic ice melt of over 2 trillion tons has occured since 2003.

. . .From the intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - The Arctic air surface temperature change between 2005 - 2008 was 5 degrees Celsius higher than expected. This change wasn't expected to occur until the year 2070.

. . . And the report no one is talking about, because it scares the shit out of them, Republican and Democrat alike, ordered by the Bush Administration, issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration on January 19th, and left on Obama's desk for him:
"Climate change is likely irreversible"

. . . Short form - "We're fucked".

. . . . .Understand that the previous administration, the Bush White House, in truth and in secret understood the serious challenges that irreversible climate change presented. When Obama took office, he kept the same National Security Advisor. Who still, as he did for Bush every day for two years, prepares a daily National Security briefing for the President on climate change, which right now is ranked #2 in the listings of threats to National Security. The short answer on that is simple, a loss of water and a loss of arable land pose threats to food supplies. A rise in coastal sea levels means a loss of habitable land, since that's where most of ours, and the worlds, populations live, within 100 miles of coasts. Large migrations of hungry, thirsty people in search of a place to live means one thing - war. That's what all wars are fought about in the end; land, money or religion. Can you see a perfect storm coming?

. . . .What you need to ask yourself are some questions: (a) If the Bush White House knew it, and asked for the reports daily, why did they deny it's reality? (b) Why aren't your media heroes; Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly not talking about it when they're supposedly "smarter" than you ( that is why people listen to these raving maniacs isn't it, to have their world spoon fed to them by an "expert" so they don't have to think for themselves? Hmmm?) and able to absorb the pure dispassion and non-opinions of numbers? Numbers don't have an opinion, they're either a 1 or 0, either black or white, there's no opinion involved. (Psst! Here's a clue to the answer to b, it's because they do know, and they don't give a shit about you, or your kids, or your grandkids) (c) If those numbers are staring you in the face, why do you deny their logical conclusion?

. . . . Sheer idiotic Republican alert! Joe the Plumber, nee Samuel Wurzelbacher who is not a plumber by any stretch of the imagination, of the Toledo, Ohio area (Thank God, if you're from Michigan, you understand the Toledo reference, given his area of residence, he's pretty typical!) on Thursday at one wingnut rally or another in reference to Senator Chris Dodd - "Why hasn't he been strung up?"
. . . .This follows a March appearance at another conservative rally where he told his audience that they "were making him horny".

. . . .Attn.!!! Would the aliens who used to abduct people on a regular basis, seemingly, at least, please return and start again? We have a list for you, with names and addresses.

. . . . .Sheer unmitigated fly-in-the-face of reality Republican gall alert! Sen. John Boehner this week on the economy and stimulus packages. "Where are the jobs?". Uh, John, dude. It's only been 4 months, and the money is tied up in Senate committees whilst hypocrites like you, who said you didn't want it, fight like starving mongrels over bigger and bigger pieces of it. At this rate, it won't start getting parceled out this Presidential term, much less before the end of the fiscal year, thanks to you all.

. . . .OK, so as long as we're on a roll at getting your mind cleared up, let's work on your body. If you're sitting there with a Diet Coke in your hand, or a Diet drink of any kind, you're killing yourself. It's that simple. Aspartame, a sweetener developed by Monsanto, was originally developed as a pesticide. It was decided, by Monsanto, that it had better uses as a sweetener. There has been an extensive Internet war over whether or not Aspartame (Equal, Nutrasweet, etc.) was safe or unsafe. I'm not going to go there. What I will do, is run the numbers, and let you decide for yourself:
Aspartame, approximately 10% by mass, breaks down into methanol while in your body, which in turn, due to metabolic processes in the body, breaks down into formaldehyde, which is absorbed into the soft tissue of the intestinal tract. which leads to a build-up of formic acid, again due to natural, normal body processes. Understand, that I'm saying that the metabolic processes are natural and normal. The presence of methanol, formaldehyde and formic acid aren't. Now you know, use your own mind, and make a decision. Do your own fact checking, at Fact Check.org, or at any reference website as to numbers and processes I used above. Then go ahead pour yourself another Diet soda of some kind.

. . . .While you're at it, do your own investigation on Bing or Google on the phrase "asparagus and cancer". Get some information, I think you'll be surprised, pleasantly, and make your own mind up.

. . . .While we're on the human body and mind, let's stop back in at KurzweilAI.net and continue the series that we started a couple of days ago on the continuing leaps in the evolution of the human consciousness:

Nanotechnology and the Human Brain

The most important and radical application particularly of circa-2030 nanobots will be to expand our minds through the merger of biological and nonbiological, or “machine,” intelligence. In the next 25 years, we will learn how to augment our 100 trillion very slow interneuronal connections with high-speed virtual connections via nanorobotics. This will allow us to greatly boost our pattern-recognition abilities, memories, and overall thinking capacity, as well as to directly interface with powerful forms of computer intelligence. The technology will also provide wireless communication from one brain to another.

In other words, the age of telepathic communication is almost upon us.

Our brains today are relatively fixed in design. Although we do add patterns of interneuronal connections and neurotransmitter concentrations as a normal part of the learning process, the current overall capacity of the human brain is highly constrained. As humanity’s artificial-intelligence (AI) capabilities begin to upstage our human intelligence at the end of the 2030s, we will be able to move beyond the basic architecture of the brain’s neural regions.

Brain implants based on massively distributed intelligent nanobots will greatly expand our memories and otherwise vastly improve all of our sensory, pattern-recognition, and cognitive abilities. Since the nanobots will be communicating with one another, they will be able to create any set of new neural connections, break existing connections (by suppressing neural firing), create new hybrid biological and computer networks, and add completely mechanical networks, as well as interface intimately with new computer programs and artificial intelligences.

The implementation of artificial intelligence in our biological systems will mark an evolutionary leap forward for humanity, but it also implies we will indeed become more “machine” than “human.” Billions of nanobots will travel through the bloodstream in our bodies and brains. In our bodies, they will destroy pathogens, correct DNA errors, eliminate toxins, and perform many other tasks to enhance our physical well-being. As a result, we will be able to live indefinitely without aging.

In our brains, nanobots will interact with our biological neurons. This will provide full-immersion virtual reality incorporating all of the senses, as well as neurological correlates of our emotions, from within the nervous system. More importantly, this intimate connection between our biological thinking and the machine intelligence we are creating will profoundly expand human intelligence.

Warfare will move toward nanobot-based weapons, as well as cyber-weapons. Learning will first move online, but once our brains are fully online we will be able to download new knowledge and skills. The role of work will be to create knowledge of all kinds, from music and art to math and science. The role of play will also be to create knowledge. In the future, there won’t be a clear distinction between work and play.

The Robotic Revolution

Of the three technological revolutions underlying the Singularity (genetic, nano-mechanical, and robotic), the most profound is robotic or, as it is commonly called, the strong artificial intelligence revolution. This refers to the creation of computer thinking ability that exceeds the thinking ability of humans. We are very close to the day when fully biological humans (as we now know them today) cease to be the dominant intelligence on the planet. By the end of this century, computational or mechanical intelligence will be trillions of trillions of times more powerful than unaided human brain power. I argue that computer, or as I call it nonbiological intelligence, should still be considered human since it is fully derived from human-machine civilization and will be based, at least in part, on a human-made version of a fully functional human brain. The merger of these two worlds of intelligence is not merely a merger of biological and mechanical thinking mediums, but also and more importantly, a merger of method and organizational thinking that will expand our minds in virtually every imaginable way.

Biological human thinking is limited to 10 to the 16th power calculations per second (cps) per human brain (based on neuromorphic modeling of brain regions) and about 10 to the 26th power cps for all human brains. These figures will not appreciably change, even with bioengineering adjustments to our genome. The processing capacity of nonbiological intelligence or strong AI, in contrast, is growing at an exponential rate (with the rate itself increasing) and will vastly exceed biological intelligence by the mid-2040s.

Artificial intelligence will necessarily exceed human intelligence for several reasons.

First, machines can share knowledge and communicate with one another far more efficiently than can humans. As humans, we do not have the means to exchange the vast patterns of interneuronal connections and neurotransmitter-concentration levels that comprise our learning, knowledge, and skills, other than through slow, language-based communication.

Second, humanity’s intellectual skills have developed in ways that have been evolutionarily encouraged in natural environments. Those skills, which are primarily based on our abilities to recognize and extract meaning from patterns, enable us to be highly proficient in certain tasks such as distinguishing faces, identifying objects, and recognizing language sounds. Unfortunately, our brains are less well-suited for dealing with more-complex patterns, such as those that exist in financial, scientific, or product data. The application of computer-based techniques will allow us to fully master pattern-recognition paradigms. Finally, as human knowledge migrates to the Web, machines will demonstrate increased proficiency in reading, understanding, and synthesizing all human-machine information.

The Chicken or the Egg

A key question regarding the Singularity is whether the “chicken” (strong AI) or the “egg” (nanotechnology) will come first. In other words, will strong AI lead to full nanotechnology (molecular-manufacturing assemblers that can turn information into physical products), or will full nanotechnology lead to strong AI?

The logic of the first premise is that strong AI would be in a position to solve any remaining design problems required to implement full nanotechnology. The second premise is based on the assumption that hardware requirements for strong AI will be met by nanotechnology-based computation. Likewise, the software requirements for engineering strong AI would be facilitated by nanobots. These microscopic machines will allow us to create highly detailed scans of human brains along with diagrams of how the human brain is able to do all the wonderful things that have long mystified us such as create meaning, contextualize information, and experience emotion. Once we fully understand how the brain functions, we will be able to recreate the phenomena of human thinking in machines. We will endow computers, already superior to us in the performance of mechanical tasks, with lifelike intelligence.

Progress in both areas (nano and robotic) will necessarily use our most-advanced tools, so advances in each field will simultaneously facilitate the other. However, I do expect that the most important nanotechnological breakthroughs will emerge prior to strong AI, but only by a few years (around 2025 for nanotechnology and 2029 for strong AI).

As revolutionary as nanotechnology will be, strong AI will have far more profound consequences. Nanotechnology is powerful but not necessarily intelligent. We can devise ways of at least trying to manage the enormous powers of nanotechnology, but superintelligence by its nature cannot be controlled.

The nano/robotic revolution will also force us to reconsider the very definition of human. Not only will we be surrounded by machines that will display distinctly human characteristics, but we will be less human from a literal standpoint.

Despite the wonderful future potential of medicine, real human longevity will only be attained when we move away from our biological bodies entirely. As we move toward a software-based existence, we will gain the means of “backing ourselves up” (storing the key patterns underlying our knowledge, skills, and personality in a digital setting) thereby enabling a virtual immortality. Thanks to nanotechnology, we will have bodies that we can not just modify but change into new forms at will. We will be able to quickly change our bodies in full-immersion virtual-reality environments incorporating all of the senses during the 2020s and in real reality in the 2040s.

. . . . .OK, now that we've stretched waaay out, let's come back in a little bit and take a look at what we can today, right now to improve our own energy efficiency, right at home. I harp constantly on upgrading the national Electrical grid, which still remains the biggest waste of energy that we have, and a constant drain on our wallets, our bank accounts and the system overall. I'm damn sick and tired of hearing the phrase "transfer of wealth" come out of the extreme Right's and neoconservative's mouths, while they participate, daily, hourly in the largest transfer of wealth in human history as we continue to pay for our dependence on foreign oil. Every time, they, you, any one of us, fills a tank up , pays an electric bill, turns on a computer, turns on a TV, we are contributing to that transfer of wealth, putting a few more dollars of our own in it, and putting it in the bank accounts of people in countries that aren't friendly to us, and don't have our long-term national interests at heart. So. . . .
. . .Like I've said over and over, we absolutely have to reinvent/upgrade/modernize the grid, otherwise everything else we do in terms of new energy sources, harvesting solar, wind, water powered turbines will be for naught. From Popular Science, by David Roberts:

The American electric grid is an engineering marvel, arguably the single largest and most complex machine in the world. It's also 40 years old and so rickety that power interruptions and blackouts cost the economy some $150 billion a year. The idea of building a connected "smart" grid that can route power intelligently is beyond daunting, no matter how much stimulus money gets thrown at it. But if we want to cut carbon, we have no choice. Today's grid simply cannot handle a large-scale rollout of the clean-energy sources outlined in this series. In part that's because we need new high-voltage power lines to connect parts of the country where renewable resources are abundant (the sunny Southwest deserts, the windy Great Plains) to the cities and suburbs where more people live. But the more fundamental problem is that most renewable power sources don't behave like fossil-fuel sources — they can't be turned on and off on demand. Wind farms produce power only when the wind blows; solar, only when the sun shines. This is problematic, because power demand is twofold: We need "baseload" power that's predictable and steady, and "peak" power for daily spikes in demand (when, say, everyone arrives home and turns on their air conditioning). Intermittent renewables are not well suited to either. But with more power lines connecting power sources over a broader geographical area, renewables can simulate baseload power. (The wind is always blowing somewhere.) And a smarter grid cleverly shifting power demand around can redirect enough clean electricity to handle it when demand increases suddenly.

. . . .Read the entire article here.

- Get an energy audit done by your utility company, or someone who is either a licensed electrician, a licensed HVAC tech or a licensed Builder. It'll be worth what it costs you to do, in terms of the dollars you'll save on your energy bill, and the $1500 tax credit you can get for making your home more energy efficient. Use someone like me, or my bro Tom. Now, if you live out of state, paying us to come is kind of self-defeating, due to the gas we'd use, but if you want us to come that bad and have a cup of coffee, I suppose one of us would!

- Check out Hohm from Microsoft, which will be Beta-released next week. It's a software application that will be a web-based service for keeping that is a home power management software tool.

- And in the most exciting news for a closet geeky fan-boy like me, the Canadian duo, Cold Fusion, who hope to deliver a cold fusion reactor for about a tenth of the estimated cost of other such projects just got a grant for $12 million to continue research.

. . . .Outta here for today, hope you had a good weekend, have a good start of the week.

. . . . .Got your back, somewhere out there in the night

. . . .Kiss your kids and tell them you love them out loud. This rodeo is a one-way ticket, and no one, no one, gets out alive. We don't get to dictate the terms and circumstances of how the ticket gets punched, no one does. So it's not about yesterday or tomorrow, about guilt or regret or worry, it all is what it is, and it's today. This ain't a dress rehearsal, the curtain's gone up and it's showtime, right here, right now. This is the sights, the sounds, the words of me changing my life. Change your life, change the world around you, that's the way it works.

The Desolation Angel

Friday - only just another day to me

Friday June 25, 2009

. . . . .Today in rock and roll history, The Beatles released A Hard Day's Night in 1964, and in 1971, the Fillmore East in New York City closed after it's final show, preserved forever as The Allman Brothers Live At The Fillmore East.

. . . .And in 1963, President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin and, in front of the Berlin Wall, proclaimed "Ich bin ein Berliner".

. . . .H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, which in it's final form was H.R. 2998 passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 219 to 212. The version that passed was nothing like either the Progressives or the extreme Right media have been portraying it, more on that later in the column. Now it moves on to the Senate.

. . . .The news of the day? Of course, Michael Jackson's death. Yes, he was a transcendent entertainer and a pop culture icon. Yes, he did have a troubled mind and a twisted soul, that can't be left out of the equation either. What is being left out of the equation is fact that Farrah Fawcett died yesterday too. Or that Ed McMahon died this week too. What troubles me the most, is that last week, a young woman named Neda was shot in the face in Tehran in a square while parking her car to attend a rally in support of the protestors of the tyrannical Khameini-Ahmadenijad regime. What troubles me is the number of Iranians who have worn green in support of overthrowing this government, of exposing it's rigged elections who have been killed, hacked to death, shot. What troubles me is knowing the eventually Mir Mousavi and his wife will be killed. What troubles me is that President Obama and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel stood shoulder to shoulder today in the East Wing of the White House and declared to Ahmadenijad that "The violence perpetrated against them [the protestors] is outrageous, we see it and we condemn it." and scoffed at Ahmadenijad's demand that Obama "stop interfering", and the headlines tonight are about Michael Jackson's autopsy. What troubles me is the transparent hypocrisy. Michael Jackson went from child superstar, to the King of Pop, to a very troubled man, whose every breath and word were scutinized, to an object of derision, to somehow, overnight, someone whose death was earthshaking. What troubles me is the short attention span theater of the American public's mind. What troubles me is this. If we truly believe that we are all related, all interconnected as a family of humanity, why is one person's death, someone whose ticket was punched and it was his time, not his call; why is his death any more important than the death yesterday afternoon of a protestor in Iran, a child dying of hunger in an American city who lacked the strenth to fight off an illness and couldn't afford health care or a victim of genocide or AIDS in Africa? If we admire John Kennedy so much for that one reminder, his statement that he was a Berliner too, an expression of solidarity, then why can't we remember what that means.

. . . .Maybe I'm a hypocrite, maybe I'll feel the same way when Bruce dies, or Bob Dylan, or Bono. I hope not, I hope I'll mourn their passing, be thankful for the gifts they gave us while they were here, and hope I learned enough from the words, poetry and song they give us to know that they would want me to mourn that child's or that person's death just as much as theirs.

. . . .Essentially, in the end, Michael Jackson's death, helps the Mullahs, the Cleric and the High Council as the world turns it's attention away from Tehran to spectate at a new tragedy.

. . . .I knew it! Even Republican Representative Michelle Bachmann of Anoka, Minnesota can be too weird even for fringe folks. I re-watched the clip of Bachmann on Glenn Beck's show in which she proclaimed that the census will be used by the Obama Adminstration to "put us all in internment camps". Even Glenn Beck, Dr. Doom himself, the master of Fear in the afternoon with his own version of Shock Theater had had enough of her. You can see him in his facial expression and his very firm cutting her off. Man, the day that Glenn Beck finds someone too whacked out for even him . . .???

. . . .Personally I'm good with her refusing to fill out her census form, and I hope she urges her entire district not to. That way, her district won't exist anymore, and be absorbed into a neighboring district, she'll be out of a job and have to spend her days in Anoka, which won't receive any State or Federal services anymore, since no people will be counted to live there. Then they'll have to put up with her insane rants on a street corner somewhere Anoka. I'm good with that.

. . . . .The traitor Limbaugh today on his show - "Obama is more African in his roots than American". Obama is an "African colonial"
- I remind you, he is the sitting President of the United States of America, elected through due Constitutional process. Before you decide to debate with me, look up the legal definitions of the words treason, traitor and sedition. Rush Limbaugh is a traitor, guilty of treason and sedition.

. . . .Do I believe that the bill that passed the House today is the answer, as in The Answer to global climate change? No, I don't. In order to get it to pass, the authors, Waxman and Markey, reduced the goals for carbon emissions and threw some big, big favors to the big agribusiness and coal industries. Do I believe in the fairytale of clean coal technology? Absolutely not, the very process of burning coal to convert it to energy, inherently, by it's chemistry, cannot and is not a clean process. Do I think that cap-and-trade is an answer? Not in any way. Making polluting emissions a tradable commodity I personally think is insane. All one has to do is look at oil, which is a tradable commodity and the way it gets manipulated for the profit of the speculators and to the misery of the consumer to have the answer to that. Why do I think it's landmark legislation? Simple, Washington, the Beltway, Congress, the Senate, the House and the White House are, with this vote, finally admitting that something is wrong, drastically wrong and we need to do something.
Still don't believe in global climate change? I'm a numbers guy, someone who believes that the Universe and the Earth itself are run by the numbers, by the laws of Physics, of Thermodynamics, by Mathematics itself, and here's the situation, right here in the United States, from a report issued by the interagency U.S. Global Change Research Program required on a regular basis by Congress and just recently compiled and released:
In the Northeast, winters have increased in average temperature by 4 degrees since 1970, and in the near future, even warmer winters, a maple syrup industry that is forced to Canada, and extreme heat and very polluted air in the summer in the densely packed urban areas up there.
In the Southeast, spring rainfall is down 30% since 1970, and they can look forward to even more extreme heat, drought and stronger hurricanes.
In the Midwest, ice cover on the Great Lakes is increasingly thinner and thinner during the winter and average winter temperatures have risen 7 degrees since 1970. In the near future, Great Lakes water levels will drop by 2 feet, and increased drought, insects and migrating plant species will continue to impinge on farming ability.
In the Great Plains, water levels have already dropped by more than 150 feet in some places. The far North of the Great Plains can expect rainfall levels to increase by more than 40%, leading to devastating flooding, while the Southern Great Plains can expect a 40% decrease, adding to the drought.
In the Southwest, Droughts, fires and rainfall off by as much as 40%, while in the Pacific Northwest, snowpack is down by as much as 60%, and soon the last 40% of snowpack in the Cascades will be gone.
By the way, I've kept it simple, and does any of this sound like the truth? As in the weather patterns this year? It's not theory, it's happening, just watch the news.
Notice how much of this involves water? Water will be a more precious commodity than oil soon. If we don't get some handle on water reclamation technology, and desalinization processes, it's going to be a disaster. A human being can only live 3 days without water.
600 U.S. neighborhoods have air that could cause cancer.
So, do I think the Waxman-Markey bill is the answer? Absolutely not, but it's finally a public admission by the members of Government that there's a problem, and we need to act.

. . . By the way, guess who's changed his tune on climate change? None other than Newt himself.
Check it here.

. . . .Continuing the series I started yesterday from KurzweilAI.net on the Singularity and the evolution of humanity:

The first half of the twenty-first century will be characterized by three overlapping revolutions—in genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics. These will usher in the beginning of this period of tremendous change I refer to as the Singularity. We are in the early stages of the genetics revolution today. By understanding the information processes underlying life, we are learning to reprogram our biology to achieve the virtual elimination of disease, dramatic expansion of human potential, and radical life extension. However, Hans Moravec of Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute points out that no matter how successfully we fine-tune our DNA-based biology, biology will never be able to match what we will be able to engineer once we fully understand life’s principles of operation. In other words, we will always be “second-class robots.”

The nanotechnology revolution will enable us to redesign and rebuild—molecule by molecule—our bodies and brains and the world with which we interact, going far beyond the limitations of biology.

But the most powerful impending revolution is the robotic revolution. By robotic, I am not referring exclusively—or even primarily—to humanoid-looking droids that take up physical space, but rather to artificial intelligence in all its variations.

Following, I have laid out the principal components underlying each of these coming technological revolutions. While each new wave of progress will solve the problems from earlier transformations, each will also introduce new perils, but each, operating both separately and in concert, underpins the Singularity.

The Genetic Revolution

Genetic and molecular science will extend biology and correct its obvious flaws (such as our vulnerability to disease). By the year 2020, the full effects of the genetic revolution will be felt across society. We are rapidly gaining the knowledge and the tools to drastically extend the usability of the “house” each of us calls his body and brain.

Nanomedicine researcher Robert Freitas estimates that eliminating 50% of medically preventable conditions would extend human life expectancy 150 years. If we were able to prevent 90% of naturally occurring medical problems, we’d live to be more than 1,000 years old.

We can see the beginnings of this awesome medical revolution today. The field of genetic biotechnology is fueled by the growing arsenal of tools. Drug discovery was once a matter of finding substrates (chemicals) that produced some beneficial result without excessive side effects, a research method similar to early humans’ seeking out rocks and other natural implements that could be used for helpful purposes. Today we are discovering the precise biochemical pathways that underlie both disease and aging processes. We are able to design drugs to carry out precise missions at the molecular level. With recently developed gene technologies, we’re on the verge of being able to control how genes express themselves. Gene expression is the process by which cellular components (specifically RNA and the ribosomes) produce proteins according to a precise genetic blueprint. While every human cell contains a complete DNA sample, and thus the full complement of the body’s genes, a specific cell, such as a skin cell or a pancreatic islet cell, gets its characteristics from only the fraction of genetic information relevant to that particular cell type.

Gene expression is controlled by peptides (molecules made up of sequences of up to 100 amino acids) and short RNA strands. We are now beginning to learn how these processes work. Many new therapies currently in development and testing are based on manipulating peptides either to turn off the expression of disease-causing genes or to turn on desirable genes that may otherwise not be expressed in a particular type of cell. A new technique called RNA interference is able to destroy the messenger RNA expressing a gene and thereby effectively turn that gene off.

Accelerating progress in biotechnology will enable us to reprogram our genes and metabolic processes to propel the fields of genomics (influencing genes), proteomics (understanding and influencing the role of proteins), gene therapy (suppressing gene expression as well as adding new genetic information), rational drug design (formulating drugs that target precise changes in disease and aging processes), as well as the therapeutic cloning of rejuvenated cells, tissues, and organs.

. . . .Now, as to the Smart Grid, the series that I've been putting up here for a couple of months now. Upgrading the outdated, antiquated, inefficient national electrical grid is vital. It's the cheapest, fastest, smartest thing we can do to (1) improve the grid's efficiency. Realize that on average, 50% of the power needed at your house, for a light bulb, for a computer, for a television, for anything, is lost in the grid from the point of generation to it's point of delivery at your house, and in some areas of the country, the grid's so bad, it's a 96% loss. (2) it will reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Consider the incredible transfer of wealth that occurs everyday in this country as we use gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel and hydrocarbon based products all dependent on foreign oil. The wealth is getting transferred to countries that are not allies of ours, and wouldn't care one bit if we fell, yet we pay them for that privilege, gladly, without thinking.
- Cisco Systems, the absolute architects of smart networks has been diving into this (you didn't think they'd let General Electric have all of it, did you?) and they're of the belief that once the grid is upgraded with smart meters and computer interfaces in homes into a smart grid, it could be 1,000 times bigger than the Internet. Personally, as someone who has worked and lived in the grid his entire life, I don't believe that hype, it'll be big, but not that big. However, the work they're doing on the home interface devices will be invaluable.

Home use of the Smart Grid represents and enormous opportunity for Cisco and other companies, who may develop devices that attach to home appliances to connect to the Smart Grid. Hatar noted:

"Our expectation is that this network will be 100 or 1,000 times larger than the Internet. If you think about it, some homes have Internet access, but some don't. Everyone has electricity access--all of those homes could potentially be connected."

Clearly, the Smart Grid will not dwarf the Internet in that way. I can't blame her for her enthusiasm about the technology -- I share it as well. But 1,000 times larger than the Internet? Don't expect that to happen.

. . . Outta here

. . . Got your back

. . . .Kiss your kids, tell them that you love them. This rodeo is a one-way ticket, and no one gets out alive. We don't get to dictate the terms and circumstances of how the ticket gets punched, no one does. So, it's not about yesterday, or tomorrow, it's not about regret or guilt, it's not about should've or could've, it's about right frakkin' here and now. Go change your world, change yourself and it will change the world I promise.

The Desolation Angel

Thursday (and it's still HOT!!!)

Wednesday June 25, 2009

. . . . . My bad, I forgot yesterday while tweaking my inner fan-boy nirvana up and talking about movies opening and on the screen.. . . .and realistically, how could I? . . . .I forgot G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is coming to screens soon too. Quoting any number of science fiction movies - "I am complete"

. . . . .Alright, I knew she wouldn't be able to resist and would weigh in quickly here. My favorite Right wing nutjob, Republican Representative Michelle Bachmann of Anoka, Minnesota just absolutely couldn't stand the rest of the fruitcakes in her party getting all the spotlight for their inanities lately, so she weighed in yet again with another Bachmann-ism. Did you know that the U.S. Census is merely preparation for the Obama administration rounding us all up and putting us in internment camps? Hmmm? Did you? Well, she does, she has the inside scoop (probably been talking it over with Glenn Beck and his insider info on FEMA preparing concentration camps as part of Obama's "Master Plan"). To quote the ever logquacious and profoundly weird Bachmann from her appearance on Faux, err, I mean Fox News this morning:

If we look at American history, between 1942 and 1947, the data that was collected by the census bureau was handed over to the FBI and other organizations, at the request of President Roosevelt, and that’s how the Japanese were rounded up and put into the internment camps. I’m not saying that’s what the Administration is planning to do. . . . . . but?

. . . .I absolutely love that woman, when I get down, she reminds me that the fact of the matter is, health care in America truly must suck, and the mental health care system is completely broken, and prescription drugs must truly be far too expensive. Go Michelle!

Think Progress picked the story up here as well, and Media Matters has it here.

. . . .Let's go back to last summer and Sarah Palin's claim that then-candidate Obama was "pallin' around with terrorists" and Bachmann's claim that he was "unAmerican" and the entire Republican narrative that somehow President Obama would be welcomed by terrorism-supporting governments like Iran and dicatators like Ahmadinejad. . . . . .OK, enough nostaligia, let's skip forward to today and Ahmadenijad's pronouncement on Obama. Referencing the President's press conference on Tuesday, Ahmadenijad said "Do you think this kind of behavior will solve any of your problems? It will only make people think you are someone like Bush". (shudder, little bit of vomit at the back of the throat). I wouldn't call Obama and Ahmaedenijad BFF's exactly. Complete story here, on CNN.

. . . .From the continuing coverage of Iran being carried here and here, from the BBC's John Simpson:

For reasons best not explained, I've come to know a former member of the Revolutionary Guards really well. He's done some pretty dreadful things in his life, from attacking women in the streets for not wearing the full Islamic gear to fighting alongside Islamic revolutionaries in countries abroad.

And yet now, in the tumult that has gripped Iran since its elections last week, he's had a change of heart. He's become a backer of Mir Hossein Mousavi, the reformist candidate who alleges fraud in the elections. He's saved up the money to send his son to a private school abroad, and he loathes President Ahmadinejad. He's not the only one.

I had to leave Iran last Sunday, when the authorities refused to renew my visa. But before I left, another former senior Revolutionary Guard came to our hotel to see us. "Remember me," he pleaded. "Remember that I helped the BBC." I realised that even a person so intimately linked to the Islamic Revolution thinks that something will soon change in Iran.

. . . .R.I.P. Farrah Fawcett, who succumbed to the symptoms of her cancer today at age 62. Another celebrity that I'll miss. Yes, I was a teenager who had her poster on his wall.

. . . .R.I.P. Michael Jackson, may his tortured soul finally find some rest.

. . . .I can't joke or be a smartass about either one. Between these two and Ed McMahon last week, three huge touchstones of popular culture, interestingly enough, from 3 consecutive decades all have gone. It seems to be the hallmark of my generation, the tailend of the babyboom to want to make wiseass comments when one of these goes, probably due to our own inability to grasp our own mortality and our unshakeable belief that somehow the rules don't apply to us and that we're going to find out that we're immortal.

. . . .Face it folks, I say it every day at the close, and I'll say it again today, this rodeo is a one-way ticket and no one, no one, gets out alive.

. . . .You may not remember one of the great shows of television, Babylon 5. If you do, you're my kind of guy or gal. The Ranger Creed: "We live for the One, We die for the One. We walk in the dark places that no one will enter. We stand on the bridge and no one may pass."


. . . .New jobless claims last week alone are at 627,000. That's over half a million. It's grim, and getting grimmer.

. . . .Paul Krugman, in his blog in the New York Times this morning:

Back in March, when I was lamenting the inadequate size of the Obama stimulus, I made this prediction:

Republicans are now firmly committed to the view that we should do nothing to respond to the economic crisis, except cut taxes — which they always want to do regardless of circumstances. If Mr. Obama comes back for a second round of stimulus, they’ll respond not by being helpful, but by claiming that his policies have failed.

And I laid out the following scenario:

So here’s the picture that scares me: It’s September 2009, the unemployment rate has passed 9 percent, and despite the early round of stimulus spending it’s still headed up. Mr. Obama finally concedes that a bigger stimulus is needed.

But he can’t get his new plan through Congress because approval for his economic policies has plummeted, partly because his policies are seen to have failed, partly because job-creation policies are conflated in the public mind with deeply unpopular bank bailouts.

It’s only June, but Republicans are already claiming that the Obama economic plan has failed. (Yes, that’s insane — hardly any of the money has flowed to the economy yet — but this was predictable.) Meanwhile, unemployment is already above 9 percent. And the green shoots are looking browner by the week, especially on the jobs front: new claims for unemployment insurance are stubbornly running at more than 600,000 a week, far above the 350,000 or so that would be consistent with a stable unemployment rate.

We really do need a bigger stimulus. But it’s going to be hard slogging.

. . . .I'm keeping track this week, on Open Congress, of:
- H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy And Security Act, which will probably come up for a vote on Friday.
- H.R. 45, Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009. For God's sake, quit sending me e-mails talking to me about tracking ammo, engraving it, etching it, pulling primers off the shelves, whatever. Use your common sense, quit listening to Fox News, and quit reading every e-mail your friends send you. That part of the bill never made it out of committee, it just got dropped. Do your research people, think for yourselves. Use a resource like Open Congress
to do some actual reading and research and find out for yourself what it says or doesn't say.

. . . .I spent some time over the last few days talking about how first Google, and then Facebook and Twitter were profoundly changing how we interact with one another here on the web, in the matrix, coming closer to approximating how we interact in the "real" world socially and in networks of friends. To some people, it's intimidating. They're used to the anonymous interaction of Google, well, they think it's anonymous. Remember that your IP address and keystrokes are recorded, and in a few nanoseconds, the servers at Google are putting your search up for auction and advertisers and websites are competing to be the ones who fit your tastes. The fact is, Facebook and Twitter "act" more like we interact, are closer to the vision of the Wachovski brothers in "The Matrix".
. . . .William Gibson, starting back in 1984 when he started writing was eerily prescient about where the Web would go, and how we would begin to interact with it and come to depend on it.
. . .From over at KurzweilAI, where futurist Raymond Kurzweil holds court, this one then from Kurzweil himself, wherein he sees the "great leap forward" in evolution that the human race will take in the next 40 years based on our human-machine interaction. I'll run this one in parts over the next few days:

We stand on the threshold of the most profound and transformative event in the history of humanity, the “Singularity.”

What is the Singularity? From my perspective, the Singularity is a future period during which the pace of technological change will be so fast and far-reaching that human existence on this planet will be irreversibly altered. We will combine our brain power—the knowledge, skills, and personality quirks that make us human—with our computer power in order to think, reason, communicate, and create in ways we can scarcely even contemplate today.

This merger of man and machine, coupled with the sudden explosion in machine intelligence and rapid innovation in the fields of gene research as well as nanotechnology, will result in a world where there is no distinction between the biological and the mechanical, or between physical and virtual reality. These technological revolutions will allow us to transcend our frail bodies with all their limitations. Illness, as we know it, will be eradicated. Through the use of nanotechnology, we will be able to manufacture almost any physical product upon demand, world hunger and poverty will be solved, and pollution will vanish. Human existence will undergo a quantum leap in evolution. We will be able to live as long as we choose. The coming into being of such a world is, in essence, the Singularity.

How is it possible we could be so close to this enormous change and not see it? The answer is the quickening nature of technological innovation. In thinking about the future, few people take into consideration the fact that human scientific progress is exponential: It expands by repeatedly multiplying by a constant (10 to times 10 times 10 and so on) rather than linear; that is, expanding by repeatedly adding a constant (10 plus 10 plus 10, and so on). I emphasize the exponential-versus-linear perspective because it’s the most important failure that prognosticators make in considering future trends.

Our forebears expected what lay ahead of them to resemble what they had already experienced, with few exceptions. Because they lived during a time when the rate of technological innovation was so slow as to be unnoticeable, their expectations of an unchanged future were continually fulfilled. Today, we have witnessed the acceleration of the curve. Therefore, we anticipate continuous technological progress and the social repercussions that follow. We see the future as being different from the present. But the future will be far more surprising than most people realize, because few observers have truly internalized the implications of the fact that the rate of change is itself accelerating.

Exponential growth starts out slowly and virtually unnoticeably, but beyond the knee of the curve it turns explosive and profoundly transformative. My models show that we are doubling the paradigm-shift rate for technology innovation every decade. In other words, the twentieth century was gradually speeding up to today’s rate of progress; its achievements, therefore, were equivalent to about 20 years of progress at the rate of 2000. We’ll make another “20 years” of progress in just 14 years (by 2014), and then do the same again in only seven years. To express this another way, we won’t experience 100 years of technological advance in the twenty-first century; we will witness on the order of 20,000 years of progress (again, when measured by today’s progress rate), or progress on a level of about 1,000 times greater than what was achieved in the twentieth century.

. . . .I'll continue this piece throughout the upcoming few days.

. . . .The one thing that I am afraid many people around me fall into is what I call being an "unconscious Luddite", that is someone who is unconsciously wary of technology and are at the core, very, very stuck on the idea of humanity being able to fix or evolve itself. The technology we use today is a natural outgrowth of the expansion of human intelligence and the ability to adapt tools, so, it only makes sense that we leverage those tools to expand and evolve ourselves.

. . . The sweaty, gassy, drug-addled traitor Limbaugh today on Republican Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina:
"Society needs hypocrisy"
- This one is classic traitor Limbaugh talk - in the first hour of his radio show today he suggested that President Obama is the root cause of Sanford's affair (which has been going on for a year now) because somehow he "sapped Sanford's spirit" and that's why Sanford did what he did, to "regain his spirit".
-In his second hour today "You ever think people go to the doctor too much. The whole thing is a rigged scam."
. . . .In his third hour today, he said that if I, or you, or anyone cares about the environment, then they "have pony-tailed fathers and mothers with armpit hair."
. . . The sooner this gasbag drops of a heart attack caused by his own inability to control his appetite, the better off this society will be.

. . . .You read it here a few months ago. I opined then that Darth Cheney's motives for "speaking out" and being so visible and critical of the Administration had absolutely nothing to do with his sense of patriotism, or his belief in Republican values, that instead it was motivated by the one crass, material, earthly thing that's always motivated Cheney, money and that he was setting the stage for big book deal. Cheney signed a deal today for $2 million dollars for his book. See, . . .told ya.

. . . . .More from the Wired magazine series on fixing/upgrading/improving the national electrical grid, again, the cheapest, fastest, most efficient thing we can do to (a) reduce our dependence on foreign oil (b) make it more efficient and cheaper and (c) reduce the damage to the environment from coal-fired plants:

Problem A smart grid requires smart electric meters that let households track and manage their power consumption in real time. The Obama administration wants 40 million homes to have technology like this installed within the next three years. But smart meters require smart consumers—or at least attentive ones—and most people don't think about their energy use until it's time to pay the bill or until the lights go out.

Smart Grid Customers

1 Average Consumer Most customers simply replace their old meter with a smart one. Then they enter some basic preferences—do you care more about cost or reliability?—and input data on their house size and appliances. The system tracks usage and will eventually be able to suggest changes to help users achieve their energy goals. Special vacation settings can be programmed in. Call centers will be ready to help the tech-averse.

2 Energy Donor Some homes with solar panels on the roof—or a plugged-in hybrid in the garage—will be able to funnel power back into the system, choosing when and how much they send. A homeowner could, for example, arrange to shoot solar power to the grid, instead of to their air conditioner, when the price rises above a certain threshold. That would boost the system's supply precisely when it's most needed.

3 Electricity Geek By inserting special plugs into their electrical outlets, creative consumers can turn almost anything into a smart appliance—even mundane stuff like hall lights, pool pumps, and garage doors. With a bit of tinkering on the grid program's Web site, savvy users can then manage the power flowing to each appliance and rank them according to the order they should be shut down when prices rise.

Solution Make the meters as easy to use as a TiVo. Then, make them interesting—and worth real money—to folks who like to fiddle. For the $100 million SmartGridCity project in Boulder, Colorado, Xcel Energy and a group of partners are building a system that lets customers manage home electricity use through a Web page that shows energy burned, carbon footprint, and ways to save cash.

. . . .This administration came into office, I believe, truly believing in their mantra, "Change", and I still believe that we need change, top to bottom. I also think that this administration is running into what every Presidential administration runs into; K Street. Don't for a minute think that the reforms on the financial and banking regulatory system, health care reform or energy policy reform will look anything at all like what the White House envisions them by the time the lobbyists get done pouring money into your Senator's or Representative's pocket. Remember, they don't work for you, they work for the lobbyists and the money. You can keep track of the money, the heroin that is how Washington flows and works, that lobbyists pour into members of Congress here at Open Secrets.org. Click the link and see just who owns your Congressperson.

. . . . . .On this day in music history: Paperback Writer by The Beatles was in it's 2nd week on top of the charts in 1966.

. . . . .Outta here for today

. . . .Kiss your kids and tell them you love them. This rodeo is a one-way ticket and no one, no one, gets out alive. We don't get to dictate the terms and circumstances of how the ticket gets punched. So, it's not about yesterday, tomorrow, regret or guilt. It's about right here, right now. To quote Maximus in Gladiator: "What we do in life echoes in eternity". Go change yourself, go change your own world and in so doing, change the world around you.


The Desolation Angel

Wednesday - Geez, it's hot!

Wednesday June 24, 2009

. . . . .Holy cineplex orgasm! Let's see Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen opens today, and Terminator:Salvation, Star Trek, and X-Men Origins:Wolverine are all already there. Just what is a fanboy to do? Hmmm?

. . . .Well, I could geek out over the fact that Marvel has decided to resurrect Captain America. I'm sure most of you don't know, and probably don't care, but Cap, or rather Steve Rogers, was killed in 2007 in an editorial decision by his writers and producers. Steve Rogers as Cap will return in Captain America: Reborn on July 1st.

. . . .Stupids for the day (trust me you'll need them after getting to the bottom):

- If that little black box is indestructible, how come the entire plane isn't made of the same stuff?

- Driving up in a car to an ATM that has a braille keypad? Hmm?

- Do sheep stink in the rain?

- Why are they called apartments when they're all crammed together?

- A double cheeseburger, fries and a Diet Coke? Only in America!

. . . In Iran early today, the government was reporting that all is quiet. The power of the Internet destroyed that illusion early. Full coverage here and here. It looks like now the Cleric and the High Council are setting up Mousavi to take the fall for every death and murder of a protestor committed by the secret police and the paramilitary according to Reuters.

- In the meantime, feminist leader Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of opposition rallying point candidate Mir Mousavi is getting word out that "Iran is under martial law" according to the AP.

Why do I keep covering this? Mitakuye Oyasin. It's that simple, we are all related, all of us.

. . . .I cannot take credit for this, nor will I. I have written over and over on how Twitter is keeping the world informed and is keeping the revolution alive, but it is Andrew Sullivan on his blog in the Atlantic that is "following" the Tweets coming out of Iran. One read of the list will pull you in, and show you, first and foremost, a people desperate to get the real story out, and second, make it very real and immediate, very "present" to you. From this morning's bloody crackdown, Andrew picked up the following Tweets and published them, it's what's called live Tweeting folks, and it's how they're bravely getting the word out, no matter the cost to themselves.

we must go - dont know when we can get internet - they take 1 of us, they will torture and get names - now we must move fast

they pull away the dead into trucks - like factory - no human can do this - we beg Allah for save us -

Gunshots Being Heard From Aazadi St.

Lalezar Sq is same as Baharestan - unbelevable - ppls murdered everywhere

they catch ppl with mobile - so many killed today - so many injured - Allah Akbar - they take one of us

in Baharestan we saw militia with axe choping ppl like meat - blood everywhere - like butcher - Allah Akbar

Everybody is under arrest & cant move - Mousavi - Karroubi even rumour Khatami is in house guard

Karoubi: I do not accept this election' result & don't find this administration legitimate.

Possibility of Mousavi being guarded is increasing. While sources close to him deny this, other sources confirm it.

About 10 special forces vans are manoeuvring in Sharak-e-Gharb.

Huge number of arrests in Baharestan. They avoid any stoppage & arrest on the spot.

Military forces were present in Baharestan from hours before not letting a rally to form.

Apologies, the journalist friend didn't stay long enough to see the tear gas.

A journalist friend, just back from Baharestan, said this was the first time tear gas was not used to disassemble ppl

There are reports a young woman is shot in Baharestan.

Urgent: memorial ceremonies for the martyrs, who was to be held tomorrow has been canceled

rumour they are tracking high use of phone lines to find internet users - must move from here now

phone line was cut and we lost internet - #Iranelection - getting more difficult to log into net

all shops was closed - nowhere to go - they follow ppls with helicopters - smoke and fire is everywhere

so many ppl arrested - young & old - they take ppl away - #Iranelection - we lose our group

ppl run into alleys and militia standing there waiting - from 2 sides they attack ppl in middle of alleys

saw 7/8 militia beating one woman with baton on ground - she had no defense nothing - #Iranelection sure that she is dead

Heavy Clashes at Jomhori St, Many People Injured.

Reports: Young Girl Who Shoted in to chest Near Jomhori St. By Army Forces, Died In The Hospital (not conf.)

Reports: At least 2 ppl was shot incl. 1 young girl at Jomhori St. (not conf.)

they were waiting for us - they all have guns and riot uniforms - it was like a mouse trap - ppl being shot like animals

Army Helycopters flying over Enghelab Sq. Army Vans moving toward Azadi St with heavy Machine Guns.

About 5,000 Protesters gatherd at Sadeghieh Sq, Bassij and Hezbollah attcking them.

I see many ppl with broken arms/legs/heads - blood everywhere - pepper gas like war

Reports: Police shoting Teargas at Ppl at Baharestan Sq.

just in from Baharestan Sq - situation today is terrible - they beat the ppls like animals

Reports: Gunshot being heard at Baharestan Sq.

All shops and Passages are closed at Baharestan SQ, Gunshot being heard from Jomhori St.

Clashes at Baharestan SQ, Jomhori and Vanak SQ.

Metro at Baharestan Sq is closed, Army Helicopters flying over,about 1000 ppl gathering at Vanak Sq.

The streets, squares and around BAHARESTAN (Approx. South-eastern of Tehran) is swarming with military forces, civilian forces, the security motorists

Reports: Army Helycopters flying over Baharestan and Vali Asr Sq.

More than 10.000 Bassij Milittias get position in Central Tehran, including Baharestan Sq.

More than 1000 detaniees family members gatherin infront of Islamic Rev. Court, in Tehran.

Third Story: Today's Demo is divided in 6 diffrent places around central including Baharestan.

Reports: Karoubi May Appear at Rally Today! (not conf.)

Karoubi's FB: today Rally will start 16.30 (NOW) infornt of Parliment and 5 other places.

Some of those who hit people are hired on a daily basis for about $200. Some are foreigners who get paid more

Mohsen Rezaiee has dropped his complains.

an idea of symbolic act becoming hotter: simultaneously releasing many green balloons at crowded areas from cars

"It always seems impossible until it's done" -- Nelson Mandela

Rajanews exhibited its insurmountable malice again claiming #Neda was murdered by MKO not Basij

There are protests planned for 4pm today in Baharestan Sq. in Tehran

. . . . .These are not just 1's and 0's, not just words. They are the voices of a people who want a voice in their own goverrnment, and are willing to do anything to be self-determining of their destiny.

. . . .Think about it, something you're doing right now, reading a blog, getting on Twitter, checking your Facebook page, is punishable by getting shot right now in Iran. Ask yourself one question - If it was important not to your future, but to future generations, that you somehow get the word out, would you risk getting on the Internet? These people are. Sadly, I don't think most Americans would these days.


. . . .One brave young Iranian is using Google Maps to track the sites of the protests and map as many killed protestors as he can. Wednesday's map is here.

. . . Will Khameini, Ahmadenijad and the paramilitary put down the attempted coup? Probably. Will most of the protestors be killed, along with Mousavi? Probably. Will the attempted revolution go away? No. It will probably simmer along under the surface and eventually break out. This will be only the beginning shot in it, just as Tianamen Square was a couple of decades ago. China at least smartly moved along and is controlling it's democratization and it's growth. Iran's mullahs and the Shariiya law of the Taliban probably won't, but will eventually be overthrown. Tyranny essentially is a limited term type of government, and once the people under it's thumb find out that their masters are made of straw, and must use muscle, guns and blades to keep order, eventually they will be toppled.

. . ..Just think, we didn't have to send one young American in uniform in under fire to do it. No one, at least so far, will get sent home in a flag-draped coffin. A people, self-determining and willing to act and sacrifice are now setting a future, different course for their country and their generations to come. There aren't any "Americans" involved in the attempted coup and overthrow to blame and wax stentorian about on Al-Jazeera. (Despite the fact that Khameini and Ahmadenijad are doing just that right now).

. . . .And no, the White House isn't inviting the Iranian delegation to the White House for the 4th of July festivities.


. . . . . And by the way, just something to think about the next time you're in the market for buying something electronic; Nokia and Siemens are the two companies helping the Iranian hard-line government track the Internet users.

. . . .On one I posted yesterday, an alert young intern named Isabelle over at Open Congress. org let me know that the State Sponsored Secrets Act of 2009 that I referred to in yesterday's post (see below) can, in fact, be found over on Open Congress as H.R. 984

. . . .As much as I detest the Republican Party and the mockery that it's become; as much as I know that they completely subverted the party of Lincoln, a party born of opposition to the slavers; a party that once represented everyone, and hadn't yet done a George Orwell's 1984 with the word "conservative" that Rove, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush did with it; a party that has become a fringe, third party of wackos, weirdos and discontent angry old men. The party that started this entire economic free-fall with Reagan's signing of the Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982 and was brought to it's denouement by Paulson and Bush with the 8 years of completely deregulated credit derivative creation trading and the complete nadir of it all last September when Joseph Cassano's craps table move with derviatives brought the biggest 5 banks to their knees as something that was "never supposed to happen" happened and the 5 banks "too big to fail" failed. As much as the Republicans wrong-headedly went into Iraq on a complete lie and cost us 4,000 of our finest young men and women while allowing Osama bin-Laden to roam free and grow stronger in Afghanistan and Pakistan; the whole time that Adminstration cozied up to Saudi Arabia, making money behind our backs with them. As much as Bush 43 suspended 9 of the first 10 Amendments for 7 years of his Administration by Executive Order; As much as Reagan started the decline of the American manufacturing industry with his breaking of PATCO, followed by the Bushes complete dismantling of American manfacturing and the breaking of the American automotive industry. As much as I detest them for all that and their cheapening of the political process in this country by Rove's harvesting of the Religious Right and his damn "values voters" system and process. . . . . This. . . . .this. . . . is all. . . .well. . . .funny.
. . . Just watching them self-destruct has become a completely enjoyable spectator sport.
. . . If it wasn't so hilarious to watch after the damage and destruction they've wreaked on this country and it's economy and it's people with their arrogant imperialism for the last 8 years, (well, really 30), it'd be sad. This many clueless, bumbling idiots in one place. The true omen? Dick Cheney shooting his "best" friend in the face while bird hunting. Should've said everything right then.

. . . After the total disasters of Bobby Jindal as "Kenneth the Page" and Sarah Palin deciding the a late-night comedian (who gained 700,000 viewers in a week while she garnered 15 supporters) was a worthy political sparring partner, I thought to myself, "who or what can top that?"
. . . .Well, let's start with Nevada Republican Senator Ensign's affair
. . . But the capstone has to be, absolutely has to be, South Carolina Governor Sanford with this afternoon's press conference and his admission of an affair with an Argentine woman.
. . . .Up till then he was one of the top 3 contenders for 2012 for the Grand Old Party of Cranks.
. . . ."I've spent the last 5 days of my life crying in Argentina."????? Puhleeze, c'mon!


. . . . Another Faux News commentator in training, Hal Turner, a well-known white supremacist radio host was finally arrested today for urging that judges be killed and giving their names and addresses out.

. . . .OK, I know that Faux, err, I mean, Fox News isn't really a News Station, that is is an entertainment arm of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. just like it's sister channels FX Network and Fox TV, but do you think that possibly they could do a little basic research? Identifying the above named Republican Governor of South Carolina Sanford as a Democrat? C'mon, your stripes are showing morons.

. . . And speaking of the traitors at Fox News and in the media who spread sedition and treason; Limbaugh, Coulter, Beck, Hannity, Malkin et al.
Ann Coulter - "The Left hates America so much that they assume the rest of the world does too"
Sorry, Ann, we love our country, much more than you do, because we understand that a true patriot and an American citizen realizes that the Constitution says that the man sitting in the chair was elected under due process and it's now an American citizen's job to support that sitting President. To not support him is treason, and to spread your type of fascism is clearly sedition.
Limbaugh - What Mark Sanford did is different than Clinton because "Republicans like sex too". Enuff said. Rush, guaranteed your sweaty, large drug-addled butt ain't gettin' any.

. . . .Late Night with Bill Maher is one of my "don't miss" programs for the week. This last week, Meghan McCain was on. I do like Meghan. She's one of the brighter young minds on the Conservative side who is absolutely disgusted with and has no affinity with idiots like Limbaugh, Gingrich, Rove and Cheney. However, at 24 years old, she's a bit inexperienced. Going up against Paul Begala, who's spent a lifetime in politics showed she was a little out of her depth. Paul Begala absolutely took her to school. Check the link here.


. . . . .From Wired magazine again, more on ways to improve the national electrical grid. This is the cheapest, fastest, most efficient way to start marching away from foreign oil dependence, and get ourselves some money savings right away:

Problem It's high noon in July. At 90-plus degrees outside, the masses are jonesing for AC. But it's seriously expensive to keep the juice flowing when demand crests. Firing up turbines that sit idle 360 days a year can multiply electricity costs by a factor of 10. How to keep cool without stressing the grid?

Solution Pay big users to cut consumption when the need arises. Many utilities already do an ad-hoc version of this, an emergency practice known as demand response that has lately been promoted by Jon Wellinghoff, acting chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Now there's an alternative: Call EnerNOC, a Boston-based company that gangs commercial users who are willing, for a quarterly payment, to trim back operations on 30 minutes' notice. EnerNOC micromanages consumption at 3,400-plus locations from Maine to California. Between dimming lights, adjusting thermostats, and suspending industrial activities, the potential cuts top the output of a large nuclear reactor. And the savings can be huge. EnerNOC's cofounder, Tim Healy, points out that 10 percent of all US generating capacity exists to meet the last 1 percent of demand. Utilities paid EnerNOC $100 million last year simply to stand at the ready—insurance, in effect, against the inevitable days when every AC unit is humming.

. . . .If you've not checked out Raymond Kurzweil for his thoughts and ideas as a futurist, but instead only remember him for his contributions to the music world (think keyboards, synthesizers, etc.) you're missing out. Kurzweil is a brilliant futurist, and is willing to go out on the fringe of things to explore them. His website KurzweilAI.net and we'll explore it further this week and go into his concept of the Quantum Singularity and especially in light of how Facebook and Twitter are changing how we interact with one another and with the matrix.

. . . .Outta here

. . . .Got your back

. . . . .Kiss your kids, tell 'em you love 'em. This rodeo is a one-way ticket and no one gets out alive, and we don't get to dictate the terms and circumstances of how the ticket gets punched, so it's not about yesterday, or tomorrow, or somewhere else. It's about right here, right now. Change your life, and change the world

The Desolation Angel

Tuesday - deep in and tunnelling through

Tuesday June 23, 2009

. . . .Oh dude, we're in it now, deep and heading waaay out to sea.

. . . .From listening to the playlist in the podcast, you're probably under the assumption that my musical tastes do not include rap or hip-hop. You're wrong, real, real wrong. I really do love it, and understand it as a form of poetry. That said, there are some genres within those two that I don't listen to and can't stand, gangster and thug rap being two of those. (If you don't know the difference, do yourself a favor a take a listen sometime on HBO to Def Poetry or Brave New Voices, that's where the true art form starts.) All that is a prelude to my saying that Mos' Def is coming out with his first CD in a long time, and it'll be worth wait. Mos' is a great actor, Golden Globe and Emmy nominated, a community supporter of the arts, a very vocal political and social activist, and made his start in rap. Check out the latest issue of Rolling Stone for more details. (Psst!! He's a huge Rage Against the Machine fan, automatically puts him up the ladder in my book)

. . . .In other culture news, the Oscar-winning director of An Inconvenient Truth, has put together another one, that I'd heard about and was waiting for. It Might Get Loud  is hours of footage of putting three master guitar gods of three generations together in a studio and seeing what happened. Jimmy Page of Led Zep, The Edge of U2 and Jack White of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and countless other projects were all put together and told to play. I can't wait to see this one.

. . . . .They had to do it, they just had to. . . .Republican Congressman Representative Dana Rohrabacker of California said today on MSNBC's "Ed Show" that President Obama was "responsible for the violence in Iran". So what the hell is with these morons?

. . . .In Iran, Mousavi is now under house arrest, but the protests continue and are actually ratcheting up.
. . . .Of greater interest to me is that fact that some mullahs are now joining in the protests, and the footballers (soccer players) that wore green in support of the protesters have now been dropped from the football team and banned from playing (that's huge stuff).
. . . . The question earlier today was whether or not Mousavi was leading the protests or just taking his cue from them. The answer lies in his house arrest, it's the people. They want their country, and they want to determine their own destiny and not leave it in the hands of the Cleric and the High Council. How interesting, a people who don't believe that they need an intermediary to talk to God for them.
. . . .Of course, it truly was Mousavi's use of Facebook early on in the protests that organized them, and the continued use of Twitter that allows them to continue.

. . . Continued coverage of Iran here, here , here and here.
. . . .There is a truly interesting article in Wired magazine in the current issue on Facebook and why it's basic structure and premise outstripped MySpace, and how their allliance with Microsoft will allow them to be the real player that may finally challenge Google for the dominance of the matrix. (It's not affectation, the web has gone far beyond it's original parameters and now truly exists as a matrix). Check it out here. It details some of the future plans for Facebook, and it's plans for expansion beyond it's present platform and it's planned future apps and alliances.
. . . .Over on the Daily Beast, the same subject comes up, but in a financial context. It details how Rupert Murdoch completely blew it by snapping up MySpace and doing his normal number on it (think Fox News) and completely destroyed it. The CEO of Facebook may only be 25, but he completely screwed Murdoch, which delights me, and outfoxed Google on their initial offer. The kid's alright with me.

. . . .On that entire subject, I truly get it. I have a couple of friends who are nerved out about Facebook and how it operates. Think of Google as a completely structured anonymous environment, much like the society that we live in. You search for information, it gives you info, anonymously, you think. You make your choices out of the list it gives you, again, the appearance of anonymous, autonomous choice. Not so. The second you request a search result, the secret of Google's success goes to work, in nanoseconds faster than you can react to. Those ads that appear on the side of a Google page when you search? They went up for auction the second you hit enter on the search, based on your IP address' keystroke and search history, different advertisers and different webpages are competing to be seen by you, all behind the scenes, but tailored to your computer's patterns.
. . . . .Facebook is quite different. It drops the veneer of anonymity and acts like what it is. A great big block party or barbecue made up of your family, your closest friends, your acquaintances and some folks you don't know, but were invited. In other words, people of similar tastes, people who would be friends, neighbors or members of groups or communities in the real world. Everyting is shared, from photos, to stories, to interests, and links to other web pages, to political, religious and social leanings. In other words, it strengthens the community and the bonds. It reinforces the connections and connectivity.
. . . .Using the same analogy, Twitter is like stopping at the bar after work for happy hour. It's a quick drop-in and check-in with some people you know, a quick wave to some others and a "hey, isn't that. . . .?"

. . . .I absolutely love Rescue Me, regular readers know that. I can't figure out if Tommy Gavin is me, or if I'm Tommy Gavin. The show can be jaw-droppingly stunning at times. Jaw-dropping. Tonight's ending scene with Tommy being forced back to his roots and saying the Lord's Prayer in the hospital room with Sean's mother was one of those "oh, shit" TV moments.

. . . .The President today at his press conference gave a great answer when talking about the broad context of health care reform. I recommend you check the link out here for the entire conference. In short, his answer to the question of the "public option" was simple and logical. If, as the private insurers claim, the private marketplace for insurance provides an economical, sound plan that people would choose based on it's costs and options, then the choice of a "public option" should provide no threat. Those people who like their coverage and belive it to be the best value for the money would no doubt then keep their insurance. The marketplace will decide. For those on the Right who are free market capitalists, who then can argue that point?

. . . .OK, so what's up with Republican Governor of South Carolina Mark Sanford? If he truly did just take off for the weekend and go hiking on the Appalachian Trail, kudos to him for taking some time out for himself. It's been nothing if not difficult for him, since he truly was, on principle, opposed to taking Federal stimulus money, whilst his State legislature hammered him, wanting the cash. If, as facts are coming out now, he was tracked through the Atlanta airpost and he was Twittering all weekend, where the hell was he? Looks like just another fruitcake from the Right.

.. . . . Speaking of which, did  Ohio Republican John Boehner actually say today that "being in Congress is like being in front of machine gun"? Yes, he did. Check it out here. He feels that he's a victim of Congressional abuse.

. . . .I've said all along that we don't need to go searching for exotic new forms of energy and just standing around holding our hands on our butts until some miraculous new discovery comes along. From reader Dave, the article from RigZone via the Wall Street Journal, that details the amounts of Natural Gas available to us right now:

The amount of natural gas available for production in the United States has soared 58% in the past four years, driven by a drilling boom and the discovery of huge new gas fields in Texas, Louisiana and Pennsylvania, a new study says.
The report, due to be released Thursday by the nonprofit Potential Gas Committee, concludes the U.S. has more than 2,000 trillion cubic feet of natural gas still in the ground, or nearly a century's worth of production at current rates. That's a 35.4% jump over the committee's last estimate, in 2007, of 1,532 trillion cubic feet, the biggest increase in the committee's 44-year history.
The report comes as rising oil prices have again made energy a hot topic in Washington. On Wednesday, a Senate panel voted 15-8 in favor of an energy bill that would, among other things, open up new areas to offshore drilling. The House of Representatives may vote as early as next week on a new climate-change bill that would cap emissions of the gasses that contribute to climate change. The Senate must also approve the measure. The natural-gas industry has promoted gas as a more environmentally friendly, domestically produced alternative to coal and oil. Industry supporters said the new report could bolster their case by showing that the U.S. can rely more heavily on gas without running out.
"Natural gas is right now. The resource is here. The ability to develop it is here," said Chris McGill, managing director of policy analysis for the American Gas Association, an industry group.
The new study represents an authoritative confirmation of other recent estimates, including an industry-backed report last summer that concluded the U.S. could have as much as 2,247 trillion cubic feet of gas. Unlike that report, which was based on company estimates, the Potential Gas Committee's study was prepared by industry geologists who analyzed individual gas fields using seismic imagery and production data provided by gas producers. The surge in gas resources is the result of a five-year-long drilling boom spurred by high natural-gas prices, easy credit and new technologies that allowed companies to produce gas from a dense kind of rock known as shale. The first big shale formation to be discovered, the Barnett Shale near Fort Worth, Texas, is now the country's top-producing gas field, and companies have made other huge discoveries in Arkansas, Louisiana and Pennsylvania. Together, the shale fields account for roughly a third of U.S. gas resources, according to the Potential Gas Committee.
The sudden increase in supplies, combined with a drop in demand due to the recession, has led to a gas glut, pushing prices to about $4 per million British thermal units down from more than $13 per million BTUs last July. 

 . . . .The trick is to start getting people to put money into converting their wonderful stoves and water heaters over to Natural Gas, which is a cleaner, cheaper alternative to electric appliances that rely on coal-fired plants.

. . . .R.I.P. Ed McMahon, the original sidekick and best buddy. You'll be missed, Ed. 

. . . . . .The ACLU has their teeth into a good one right now. It's sending out information on the State Sponsored Secrets Act of 2009:

The CIA's rendition and torture program is not a "state secret." It's a national disgrace.

On Friday, the Justice Department asked the 9th District Court of Appeals to rehear its argument to throw out our extraordinary rendition lawsuit on the basis that it cannot be tried without revealing "state secrets."

We must not protect torturers and their enablers from accountability for their actions. And we must not let the government hide behind the overly-broad use of state secrets.

The ACLU’s extraordinary rendition lawsuit was filed by five men who were forcibly kidnapped and secretly transferred to U.S.-run prisons where they were tortured. The case targets Jeppesen DataPlan, a subsidiary of Boeing that provided crucial support services to the CIA for illegal torture flights.

The Bush administration initially had the case thrown out by improperly asserting the "state secrets" privilege. The ACLU appealed and in May, won the right to move forward with the case.

Now the government is trying to throw the case out again. On Friday, the Justice Department asked the appeals court to rehear the decision and uphold its bogus "state secrets" claim.
 The government has asserted the "state secrets" claim with increasing regularity in an attempt to throw out lawsuits and justify withholding information from the public.

Let’s be clear -- no one is interested in taking away the government’s legitimate right to protect sensitive national security information. But, the Bush administration expanded the definition of "state secrets" dangerously beyond its previous limits and set a dangerous precedent that has continued.

In addition to extraordinary rendition, the claim of "state secrets" has also been made about illegal wiretapping, torture and other breaches of U.S. and international law.

Supporting this bill will have an impact on countless civil liberties cases in the months and years ahead.

 . . . The State Sponsored Secrets Act of 2009 can't be found on Open Congress yet, it still needs to be sponsored and brought into committee.
. . . .However, the American Clean Energy and Security Act can be tracked there, as H.R. 2454, on Open Congress, as it should be ready for a floor vote on Friday.

. . . . Outta here for the evening. I'll update tomorrow. Kiss your kids, tell the ones you love out loud that you do. Seize the precious moments before they slip through your hands. This rodeo is a one-way ticket and no one gets out alive. We don't get to dictate the terms and circumstances of how the ticket gets punched. So it's not about yesterday, tomorrow or might have been. It's about right here, right now. It's about friends and family. Go change yourself, go change your world and it changes the larger world.

. . . .Got your back

The Desolation Angel

Monday - Tall in the saddle

Monday June 20-whatever, 2009

. . . .Been off the airwaves and out of the net for a few days, a well-deserved break, but it's been long enough and there's enough folks now asking where it is, so it and I am back.

. . . . .So, anyone other than me notice that Neil Patrick Harris has actually turned into a rather cool caricature of himself as he's grown older as an actor? Kind of an anti-Doogie Howser?

. . . .Iran - OK, let's do the catch-up. Millions protesting, they won't go away, the military now is opening fire and killing civilians. More outrageous is the fact that the military is now charging a "bullet fee" to families of protesters killed or wounded by the police.
- Internal to Iran, and of vital interest to the entire region, this one from Eurasianet, a project of George Soros' Open Society Institute:

Looking past their fiery rhetoric and apparent determination to cling to power using all available means, Iran's hardliners are not a confident bunch. While hardliners still believe they possess enough force to stifle popular protests, they are worried that they are losing a behind-the-scenes battle within Iran's religious establishment.

A source familiar with the thinking of decision-makers in state agencies that have strong ties to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said there is a sense among hardliners that a shoe is about to drop. Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani -- Iran's savviest political operator and an arch-enemy of Ayatollah Khamenei's -- has kept out of the public spotlight since the rigged June 12 presidential election triggered the political crisis. The widespread belief is that Rafsanjani has been in the holy city of Qom, working to assemble a religious and political coalition to topple the supreme leader and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"There is great apprehension among people in the supreme leader's [camp] about what Rafsanjani may pull," said a source in Tehran who is familiar with hardliner thinking. "They [the supreme leader and his supporters] are much more concerned about Rafsanjani than the mass movement on the streets."

. . . . .That same opinion is being expressed here on the Daily Beast by Reza Aslan, one of the savviest Middle Eastern analysts around.

. . . .Remember, this is a revolution being fueled by Twitter, which is important in and of itself. It's the true worth of social networking software, truly a virus in it's actions, but being used to build and fuel a community with up to minute news and updates. More on that later this week, and we'll spend some time exploring exactly how vital Facebook and Twitter are and will be in the future towards building community.

. . . .Just as well, this is a revolution that is being fueled by YouTube. I urge you to click the link and watch the death of Neda, the young woman shot to death by the Iranian paramilitary while she was protesting. Not for the shock value of watching someone being shot, but for the understanding of what a young woman was willing to give to have a voice for freedom for her people. Click the link here.

. . . .Remind me, next winter, when it's 20 below and I'm bitching about it, that I complained about working in and traveling around in this 100 degree heat.

. . . .I'm still trying to figure out what the morons on the Right are doing when criticizing the President and the Administration for not "doing more" in Iran. What lunacy! Stepping into Iranian internal politics or the revolution occurring right now would only reinforce the stereotypes of America that the Taliban and Al-Queada consistently push down people's throats as they spread their own propaganda. Staying out and letting them settle it, while keeping a watchful eye on who the power eventually shifts to, and it's effect on their nuclear program is the way to go at present.
. . .In that same vein, Joe Scarborough, a former Republican senator took Republican Senators McCain and Graham to the woodshed on his show Monday morning, calling them "outrageous and stunning" for expressing those very sentiments and laid it out plainly for people that staying out and destroying those stereotypes are in out best long-term interest.

. . . .Leslie Gelb, over on the Daily Beast on "Leave Iran to the Iranians":

Iranian hardliners just can’t wait for President Barack Obama to raise high the protesters’ green banner so they can turn it red, white, and blue and unleash a bloodbath against “American agents.” And American hardliners and foreign-policy gurus just keep pushing Obama toward precisely that rhetorical abyss, hoping either to topple the mullah dictatorship—which they know to be a very long shot—or to ensure what they see as the benefits of an American-Iranian confrontation.
The hardliners and gurus might, for once, trouble to inquire as to the wishes of the Iranians who are risking their lives in the streets of Tehran. They might have noticed that these brave people have not been clamoring for Obama’s open support. Iranians know the consequences of that support. They also know that Obama and all Americans are with them. They are quite sophisticated and are much more aware of American politics than even the learned gurus are of Tehran’s. For many years now, virtually every Iranian who talks to an American says we should stay out of their affairs, that when we try to help them, we hurt them. Do you hear Iranians twittering their thanks to Charles Krauthammer, Paul Wolfowitz, Joe Lieberman, and John McCain? Does that silence mean anything to those Americans urging them on to spill their blood for freedom and democracy? Oh, of course, our moralists and seers of “a historical turning point” are not so crude as to blatantly call the protesters to freedom’s barricades or for Obama to urge a bloodbath for democracy. But they walk right up to that line.

Charles Krauthammer doesn’t hesitate to proclaim his real goal: “regime change” as the only way to solve future nuclear threats. “Our fundamental values demand that America stand with demonstrators opposing a regime that is the antithesis of all we believe.” He then asks, “Where is our president? Afraid of meddling.” And how does this brilliant pen of the right propose to meddle effectively? Like his neoconservative brethren, he offers nothing besides moral condemnation.

A large number of Iranians, quite sophisticated people, are struggling to loosen the bonds of a terrible dictatorship. The dictators have a monopoly of force on their side. So far, there have been no cracks in Iran’s army and police, and until there is, only death awaits the protesters. The protesters have unhappiness and contempt of the government on their side, and their numbers are growing well beyond students and businessmen in Tehran. Iran will never be the same after the last weeks. Most likely, the near-term effects will be greater repression and government control. But the genie of discontent is now out of the bottle, and time and politics will be on the side of the dissidents. Let us give them that chance—and look and listen very carefully for their voice for what Washington can do that will help them more than harm them.

. . . .Read the entire piece at the jump here.

. . . .Eric Alterman sees much of this as a sign that finally, finally, the neoconservative movement and it's experts and pundits might finally be on their way out.

One characteristics that ideologues of both the left and right share is a commitment to what might be termed the “Great Leap Forward.” In the Marxist case, the GLF always implied a transformation in the fundamental character of humankind. Just as soon as we get rid of capitalist exploitation by virtue of a communist revolution and a “new man” would emerge who would cease the selfish, self-destructive behavior that had characterized every state’s behavior since the end of feudalism.

Revolutions notwithstanding, the right wing’s version of the GLF is not so different, except that it is much easier to put in place. What is needed to transform tyranny into freedom, according to the arguments of its most esteemed ideologues, is the American-inspired overthrow of this or that Islamic regime, usually, it turns out, whose country’s name begins with letters “Ira…”.

Perhaps I’m an inveterate optimist, but I think we are finally seeing the neocons pass into history just as the Marxists did. After all, do you know anyone who does not have a regular column in The Washington Post or Wall Street Journal editorial page—not including crazy cable hosts—who is clamoring for American intervention in Iran? Can they really expect us to believe that a) the Iranian protesters don’t know that America supports them and b) that our president’s saying so would not provide the Iranian regime with exactly the excuse they need to stamp the opposition as disloyal pawns of enemies and infidels? Do these people really not know the difference between words and deeds?

. . .God, I hope that the day of the Neocons is passing. Let's see . . .we have Michelle Malkin calling Michelle Obama "First Crony"??? Yup, she did. I don't know that the First Lady has done ot raise Malkin's ire, other than being married to a President she loathes, so I guess Ms. Malkin figured she'd start her Monday out by insulting the President's wife for unknown reasons.

. . . .And yet another of my favorite Right wing fear mongering media lunatics, Glenn Beck, whose razor sharp focus now appears to be on ACORN showed a chart on his show of "the really big people in ACORN". Only one problem, the chart also included a picture of Silas from the movie "The DaVinci Code".

. . . .Don't get too excited about health care reform yet. This is one that both parties appear to be working in concert on, however appearances can be deceiving. The health care lobbyists, the pharmaceutical lobbyists and the medical association lobbyists have been laying plenty of money out to ensure that the voting goes the way they want it too. The boys over at FiveThirtyEight have done the odds on the possibility of the public option surviving. Hint: it's a long shot.

. . . The folks over at Open Secrets are keeping track of the lobbying money, and it's painting an ugly picture. Click the link to see what kind of money your Senator and/or Representative is getting and from whom it's coming.

. . . .Froma Harrop urging the President to strike now, on health care, at least while there is still some momentum.

. . . Well, at least he got some push on prescription drug pricing today.

. . . .More on upgrading the national electrical grid, the smartest, cheapest, best thing we can do in a hurry to get more energy efficient and greener, from Wired magazine:

Problem Regional brokers are responsible for getting enough electrons to their designated areas. At times of peak usage, that means firing up an old, dirty generator (not exactly green) or importing more juice from outside the region (not exactly cheap). Eventually, someone has to build more power plants and infrastructure (wickedly expensive).

Solution Treat electricity like a commodity—something for which you can gauge demand and set a price in advance. That's what New England's independent system operator started doing last year. In its Forward Capacity Market, the ISO projects how much power the region will need three years ahead and then runs a descending-clock auction for the right to provide it. The ISO doesn't care whether it gets its power from increased production of megawatts or from efficiencies added to the system, so-called negawatts. The agency simply sets the starting price. Result: money saved in power plants and wires, more stable electricity bills, and a homegrown incubator for getting bright green ideas off the drawing board.

$15 The independent system operator announces its need for 32,305 megawatts. Hundreds of wannabe providers—generators and conservers—offer 6,850 MW more than the ISO wants. The auction opens at $15/kW-month.

$9With excess supply, the ISO brings the price down to $9/kW-month, then $8, and so on, shedding bidders—and surplus power—with every round.

$4.50 End of the auction: The ISO reaches $4.50 ... and still has excess electricity, which it offers to take off the providers' hands as well.

. . . Ah well, back into the groove, upcoming this week; more on the Iran, Faux News, the Right Wing neocon's attempts to destroy this country, the culture wars, more on the grid, a whole lot on global climate change, the fact that it's already too late and the efforts we need to make now to be able to live with it.

. . .Kiss your kids, tell the ones you love out loud that you do, this rodeo is a one-way ticket and no one gets out alive, so it's not about yesterday or tomorrow, it's about right here, right now. Go change your life, and change the world in doing so.

The Desolation Angel

Monday - It's all good

Monday - It's all good man

. . . .Monday, start of a good week, the sun's out. Flowers are looking good, let me tell ya!

. . . .I'm just absolutely sure that's it not age-related, since I don't get older. Let me tell you though, my "roadworthiness" as I get older is just not what it used to be.

. . . .Let me make something crystal-clear. Especially based on last week's rants. I don't have a problem with Christianity and Christians. Some of the coolest people I know in this life are people of faith. My problem? When someone, when people, use it, as a front for their own political ends, or to manipulate people to their own ends and their own agenda. That ain't cool at all, and it turns my stomach. When people use God, Christianity or Jesus as another flimsy excuse for the crap they do. Personally, I think Jesus just absolutely had to be one of the cooler people to ever walk this planet. Jesus was the original outlaw and renegade. That little rabbi, the Son of God was just alriiight! (and did some cool miracles too!)

. . . .It has no place in politics period! I will never forgive Karl Rove for introducing that into the mix and "energizing the base".

. . .. Amendment 1 of the Constitution of the United States of America:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion; or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. . . .

. . . Read your Constitution, that's the exact wording. It doesn't say a religion, it doesn't say the religion, it doesn't call out a National Religion, a founding religion or a State religion, in fact, it specifically calls out the opposite; it doesn't call out Christianity, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism or any other, it simply says "religion" and it specifically calls out the the free exercise thereof as it applies to any religion.

. . . . . .One of the points that I'm trying to make with those rants is that they, Faux News, the extreme Right, the neo-conservatives own the narrative right now. They own the news cycle and the story. What we need to do is simple, and I'll lay it out simply. We need to understand how they're owning it and what type of picture they're painting, in order for them to acheive their treasonous ends and bring about the failure of the system in this country.

- It's basic education in the political process.
- It's understanding that they are working for the failure of a sitting American President elected through due Constitutional Process, and that this is a treasonous and seditious act, and understanding the definition of what that is.
- It's understanding and arming yourself with the facts, the real facts and using those to counter the lies and rumors spread by entertainers like Hannity, Beck, Limbaugh, Savage, Coulter, Malkin and others of their stripe.
- It's understanding that it's important to do so, it's about this country and it's future.
- It's not being afraid to call them what they are, entertainers, clowns, storytellers who are absolute tools with the IQ of a garden hose. They are the "mainstream media" they always chatter endlessly on about. They are the wealthy elite they spend so much time nattering on against. They are the ones leading the Fox sheeple down the path towards the Fascist state they want.

.. . . . .Understand that I have absolutely no quarrel with true conservatives. My issue is with the extreme Right wing, the neoconservatives, the extremists represented by Limbaugh, Gingrich and Cheney and who have the Becks, Oreilly's, Hannity's and Coulter's as their mouthpieces and dancing girls in their traveling snake oil show. A true conservative is someone whose stomach was turning and a little bit of vomit was coming up in the back of their throat as the Bush Administration ran up the largest deficits in the history of the United States, expanded the Federal Government to it's largest size ever, and used Executive Order for 7 years to suspend 9 of the first 10 articles of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights.

. . . .For an absolutely eloquent explanation of the above, John Batchelor, a conservative Republican columnist over at the Daily Beast turns this one in on why the Republican Party has become a party of zombies; dead, old and eating your brain:

The Republican Party has become many bad things—intolerant, inert, fly-blown, incoherent, and delusional—but the worst is that the GOP is no longer young. The GOP, according to a Gallup poll, has lost, forgotten, ignored, just generally scared off the younger voters, non-white voters, and female voters in all demographics.

What is a political party that is vastly white, middle-aged, male, Southern, pious, conservative, aggrieved, impotent, nostalgic, rude—and regarded negatively by more than half the respondents? Time magazine’s Republican political consultant Mike Murphy looks at the demographics and warns of a coming “ice age” for the party. That is grossly optimistic. No longer in second place, the voter self-identification polls place the Republicans well behind the leading independents and the second-place Democrats. The GOP is the equivalent of a shrinking third party on its way to becoming a museum piece beside the Whigs, the Greenbacks, and the Prohibitionists. The GOP is like a zombie cartoon reading the daily headlines of the last four years and asking, “Am I dead?”

It is not possible to dismiss Cantor, Gingrich, Cheney, and Limbaugh as only just cult cranks, because the Gallup poll shows that the nation regards them as speaking for the party, and so do the Republicans themselves—Limbaugh at 13 percent, Gingrich at 10 percent, Dick Cheney at 9 percent, far ahead of anyone actually holding or running for office.

Pundits like the nonpartisan analyst Charlie Cook assert that the party is in its “wilderness period” and will emerge after a “time-out” like a recalcitrant child of privilege. Partisans like the defensive former Bush speechwriter David Frum are smeared publicly by Limbaugh and his cult for trying to push back at the demagogues as “bombastic” and “a stereotype of self-indulgence;” yet when Frum gets a chance to fight back in Newsweek, he invites the muggers for an open debate. About what? Polite commentators like Peggy Noonan, while nodding cautiously to the demagogues as though they are pet gargoyles, beseeches the party in her Wall Street Journal column to cure its “base-itis,” to open its arms to something that isn’t an opera of bigotry, to cease the self-branding as “mean, thick, and angry.”

None of these mewling half-measures speak to the fact that a once idealistic, decent political party of all the states and all demographics for 150 years has now become a cruel cadre that defines itself like a jihad by what it is against. Now and again, I want to shout at them that the city on a hill that is America was not built by four centuries of honest strife to be a gated-community of vain whiners. But then I relax and let them do the talking. “Fail” is a word that ties together Limbaugh, Gingrich, Cheney ,and Cantor, and they use the word like a curse routinely. “Fail, Obama.” “Fail, Powell.” “Fail, Pelosi.” “Fail, liberals.” “Fail, Moslems.” “Fail, health care.” “Fail, moderates.” “Fail, city on a hill.” The zombies hurl the word at whoever does not look like them or listen to them or need them. They are speaking into the looking glass. “Who’s the fairest of them all?”

. . . .You can read the entire piece at the jump here.
. . . . One of the best examples of this bald-faced rhetorical schtick that I can think of came courtesy of Rush himself as he very seriously suggested bulldozing the city of Flint, Michigan and "a few other cities".

. . . .Some real simple tools I use to keep track of all this, and they're simple for you to use and bookmark:
- Open Secrets, this ones dedicated to tracking the heroin (money) that makes your Representative and Senator tick. Who's giving them money, which lobbying firm, which company, which individual, and can give you a big clue beforehand as to how they're going to vote.
- Open Congress, which tracks every bill in the Senate and House, from it's first inception in committee to what amendments or riders are either tacked on or stripped out of it, who voted for it, who didn't vote for it, the whole shebang.
- Fact Check, non-partisan, and not funded by any influence or lobbying group. Devoted to the facts, simply the facts and merciless on politicians of either stripe, goes right after anything to stop the spin right away.
- Media Matters, non-partisan, devoted to tracking the media and calling it like it is when a member of the media, any media of any persuasion, Limbaugh to Olbermann starts their schtick and starts spitting out lies and distortions.

. . . . .As of this morning in Tehran, Ayatollah Kahmeini blinked, Ahmadenijad showed his stripes as a coward and a bully and has left the country.

. . . What's happening in Tehran affects everyone. You might not think so, but the Mideast is a powderkeg right now. (Please let me belabor the point that had we left Saddam Hussein alone, and gone after Bin Laden, the true architect and leader of the Jihadists where he lives, on the Afghanistan/Pakiston border, right now Hussein, a sworn enemy of the Ayatollah Kahmeini and Ahmadinejad, would have been invaluable in helping get Mousavi installed as President). Iran is about 1 year away from being a nuclear country, and since it is a country that lives under the Taliban and Shariiya law, it's always been Al-Queada's modus operandi to come into anywhere the Taliban are where there is political unrest and spread like a virus. Here's why it's important, and it's not really about Ahmadinejad or Mousavi at the end of the day:
- 65% of the populace is under 30 years old. The reason for this is simple, this is the fall-out of the Iran-Iraq war in which most of the males under 30 at the time were killed, millons of them, there is a huge age gap in the country.
- 70% of Iran is now an urban population, not rural anymore
- This urban younger generation wonders why the old men, the Clerics, and the Ayatollah are running the country through their puppet, Ahmadenijad. They feel no connection to these men, no sense of national pride in them.
- Though the Ayatollah managed to shut down Facebook and kick CNN out, he didn't manage to shut down Twitter, which is actually, truth be told, a lot like a virus itself, decentralized, same small data packaged gets replicated and sent out over the Web. Twitter is how the world has managed to keep track of what's going on over there with all other communication shut down.
- The significance of Mousavi is that he's a moderate, he's as pro-Western as anyone over there gets. The further significance, especially in a Mideastern society is that his wife was the more outspoken of the two of them. This has lead many in the crowd of challengers to be women, again, almost unheard of in a Mideastern country.
- As of Monday night, the big lie was perpetrated when the Ayatollah allowed the vote challengers to have a peaceful demonstration with Mousavi present, and promising a vote recount and an investigation, a demonstration with no riot police. Instead, the Iranian paramilitary showed, Ahmadenijad's personal folks and opened fire on the crowd, killing one and wounding several others.

. . . . .A couple of weeks ago, this column wrote on the significance of social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc. This plays that out. Twittering is what is keeping these people's hopes alive.

. . . .One last point on this that strikes to cognitive dissonance and logic. On Friday, the neo-Conservatives and extreme Right wing were once again all over the airwaves stating that the President's Mideast policy and his speech in Cairo were all wrong, since it appeared Mousavi would win, and if that happened somehow we would be "blinded" to what was really going on in Iran. By today, the narrative from the same people changed and somehow the violence and election fraud by Ahmadenijad and the Ayatollah were Obama's fault, since his actions somehow "emboldened" them, according to Frank Gaffney. Cognitive dissonance, folks, can't have it both ways. . . . .as well, again, according to the neocons and the Right, Obama should "do something". Not really clear what. OK, supposing you're someone who supports that position, which everyone is entitled to do. By that same logic then, someone who believes that the Administration should "do something" would have been perfectly OK with Soviet President Putin or Chinese Premier Zhou stepping in during the 2000 Florida recount in our own political process. Same logic, same situation. I'm just saying. . . . .

. . . .We're not part of this equation, period. What we can do is watch as a political process develops in a part of the world that no one thought it would. Geez, it's got to grind people that we weren't the causus belli of this, instead, Muslims came up with it on their own based on their ability to see the world through the Internet and want the same thing for themselves.

. . . .And this has all been about their economy. It's not about us, it's not about Israel, it's not about anything except their economy. This is a global depression, not just an American one.

. . . .But wait, another genius is heard from! According to Jim Cramer of CNBC's Mad Money, the upheaval from the Iranian election is all the fault of the Employee Free Choice Act back here in the U.S.

. . . .Just how many times exactly did Christopher Lambert get jolted by all that lightning and stuff in the Hiahlander movies? I mean how many can there be of "There can be only one"? And add Adrian Paul to the mix. . . .wow.

. . . .The adminstration is going to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency as part of it's regulatory overhaul. It's going to look out for consumer's on issues like credit cards and loans, and act as a watchdog to prevent some of the abuses that have been incurred on the average American.

. . . The next biggie? Health Care.
. . . .Why do we need Health Care Reform? The numbers are simple.
- 46 million Americans are living without health care insurance, 9 million kids among them
- Every 24 minutes someone dies from a lack of medical care they couldn't afford.
- Those uninsured? The ones you think aren't your problem? They are your problem, period. You're already paying a "hidden tax" as a result of them not being covered.
- If you have health care insurance, your premiums are on average $1,000 a year higher due to costs incurred by the uninsured.
- Add another average $370 a year to that due to cost-shifting, what happens when someone is treated at an emergency room or urgent care and can't pay.
- Here's how the cost-shifting works. In 2008, uninsured people received $116 billion dollars worth of health care from doctors, hospitals, and other providers. The uninsured paid 37% of that out of their pockets, and another 26% was covered by charitable organizations and foundations. That left a total of $43 billion unpaid. Except it didn't go unpaid, it folded back into a increase in health insurance premiums.
-You can fact check those numbers here, if you'd like, in a report compiled by Families USA.

. . . .Here's how it works, if you're uninsured, like I am, as a self-employed person. The HMO's negotiate a lower price for services due to leverage. The doctor's groups also know that there will be a certain percentage of people they see who simply cannot pay. So. . . the self-employed, like me and like many people I know, pay an inflated price for services, since they can pay out of pocket, and the doctor's offices still make their money.

. . . As well, here's how the snowball works. Anyone, myself included, that doesn't have insurance waits far too long to go see the doctor. So. . .by the time you get there, the need for care is more urgent, more supplies are needed and the illness is worse. It takes up the doctor's time in a more intense, urgent situation and the patient winds up being out of work longer than he or she could have been if they went in the initial stages.

. . . .But there's no worry, according to that everyman, Rush, the "health care crisis is manufactured."

. . .Why now? Especially given the current fiscal situation? Well. . . .a little investigation of the Congressional Budget Office Report done back in January of 2009, just before the inauguration, about the long term deficits that were incurred and left behind by the Bush Adminstration is staggering. That outgoing administration took a budget surplus left for them by Clinton of $5.6 trillion dollars projected over 10 years (about 1/2 a trillion dollars a year) and managed to turn that into a $1.186 trillion deficit facing the incoming Obama administration in 2009 alone, with a projected deficit of $4 trillion by 2011, that was simply what was left for this administration. How this relates to health care is simple, the Medicare Part D prescription drug disaster that winds up costing over 3 times it's projected cost, and has no savings in it whatsoever, amid a host of other Bush era programs, all of which are projected to cost money or lose money.
. . . .In other words, as bad as things are, it could be a lot worse, sucks to have to say that. So, if there is a wait on health care reform, it will only cost more.
. . . .It's very obvious from hearing the debate starting up, that both sides are in agreement that health care reform is needed, and needed badly and right now, the debate is on how to get there.

. . . .Seriously though, I want you to Google or Bing "asparagus and cancer" and check out some of the results. I'm not going to say any more than that, check it out and get back to me.

. . . .Alright, that's enough to get the week started. It's gonna be a good one.

. . . .Kiss your kids, tell the ones you love out loud that you do, this rodeo is a one-way ticket and no one, absolutely no one gets out alive and we don't get to dictate the terms and circumstances of how the ticket gets punched. This is not a dress rehearsal, it's about right here, right now and it's about what you do today. Go change it. Change yourself, change the world.

The Desolation Angel

Sunday - The Sun's out

Sunday June 14, 2009

' ' 'One long, multi-part question today: Who are you? What do you want? What are you willing to do? What are you afraid of? Hasn't it already happened? Why don't you do it?

. . . .Sunday afternoon updates:

. . . .Cognitive dissonance: You cannot both call yourself a patriot and condone acts of treason and sedition at the same time. It is logically impossible. Therefore, to agree with the lies put forth in an effort to undermine the government of the United States by extreme Right wing media entertainers such as Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter & Michael Savage is to condone acts of sedition. You cannot, I repeat, logically cannot call yourself a patriot when you do so. There may be other names and labels for you, but you cannot call yourself a patriot. Logically impossible. Cognitive dissonance.

. . . . .OK, here we go. After my rant on Right Wing extremism, 2 shootings by right wing extremists, another shooting by a Left wing extremist, treason, sedition, traitors and Fox News (see how they all fit together in one sentence so nicely!) over the weekend, (see the week's previous posts below), I'm going to let others do my talking for me for just a bit here:
. . . .CIA Director Leon Panetta on Cheney - and Dick's almost "wishing this country would be attacked again, so he could prove his point."
. . . . .Frank Rich, the New York Times op-ed columnist on "The Obama Haters Silent Enablers" (hint - it's Fox News):

What is this fury about? In his scant 145 days in office, the new president has not remotely matched the Bush record in deficit creation. Nor has he repealed the right to bear arms or exacerbated the wars he inherited. He has tried more than his predecessor ever did to reach across the aisle. But none of that seems to matter. A sizable minority of Americans is irrationally fearful of the fast-moving generational, cultural and racial turnover Obama embodies — indeed, of the 21st century itself. That minority is now getting angrier in inverse relationship to his popularity with the vast majority of the country. Change can be frightening and traumatic, especially if it’s not change you can believe in.

We don’t know whether the tiny subset of domestic terrorists in this crowd is egged on by political or media demagogues — though we do tend to assume that foreign jihadists respond like Pavlov’s dogs to the words of their most fanatical leaders and polemicists. But well before the latest murderers struck — well before another “antigovernment” Obama hater went on a cop-killing rampage in Pittsburgh in April — there have been indications that this rage could spiral out of control.

That honeymoon, if it was one, is over. Conservatives have legitimate ideological beefs with Obama, rightly expressed in sharp language. But the invective in some quarters has unmistakably amped up. The writer Camille Paglia, a political independent and confessed talk-radio fan, detected a shift toward paranoia in the air waves by mid-May. When “the tone darkens toward a rhetoric of purgation and annihilation,” she observed in Salon, “there is reason for alarm.” She cited a “joke” repeated by a Rush Limbaugh fill-in host, a talk-radio jock from Dallas of all places, about how “any U.S. soldier” who found himself with only two bullets in an elevator with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Osama bin Laden would use both shots to assassinate Pelosi and then strangle Reid and bin Laden.

This homicide-saturated vituperation is endemic among mini-Limbaughs. Glenn Beck has dipped into O’Reilly’s Holocaust analogies to liken Obama’s policy on stem-cell research to the eugenics that led to “the final solution” and the quest for “a master race.” After James von Brunn’s rampage at the Holocaust museum, Beck rushed onto Fox News to describe the Obama-hating killer as a “lone gunman nutjob.” Yet in the same show Beck also said von Brunn was a symptom that “the pot in America is boiling,” as if Beck himself were not the boiling pot cheering the kettle on.

But hyperbole from the usual suspects in the entertainment arena of TV and radio is not the whole story. What’s startling is the spillover of this poison into the conservative political establishment. Saul Anuzis, a former Michigan G.O.P. chairman who ran for the party’s national chairmanship this year, seriously suggested in April that Republicans should stop calling Obama a socialist because “it no longer has the negative connotation it had 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago.” Anuzis pushed “fascism” instead, because “everybody still thinks that’s a bad thing.” He didn’t seem to grasp that “fascism” is nonsensical as a description of the Obama administration or that there mightbe a risk in slurring a president with a word that most find “bad” because it evokes a mass-murderer like Hitler.

It’s typical of this dereliction of responsibility that when the Department of Homeland Security released a plausible (and, tragically, prescient) report about far-right domestic terrorism two months ago, the conservative response was to trash it as “the height of insult,” in the words of the G.O.P. chairman Michael Steele. But as Smith also said last week, Homeland Security was “warning us for a reason.”

No matter. Last week it was business as usual, as Republican leaders nattered ad infinitum over the juvenile rivalry of Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich at the party’s big Washington fund-raiser. Few if any mentioned, let alone questioned, the ominous script delivered by the actor Jon Voight with the G.O.P. imprimatur at that same event. Voight’s devout wish was to “bring an end to this false prophet Obama.”

This kind of rhetoric, with its pseudo-Scriptural call to action, is toxic. It is getting louder each day of the Obama presidency. No one, not even Fox News viewers, can say they weren’t warned.

. . . . .Read the entire piece at the jump here.

. . . .Krugman in the New York Times:

Back in April, there was a huge fuss over an internal report by the Department of Homeland Security warning that current conditions resemble those in the early 1990s — a time marked by an upsurge of right-wing extremism that culminated in the Oklahoma City bombing. Conservatives were outraged. The chairman of the Republican National Committee denounced the report as an attempt to “segment out conservatives in this country who have a different philosophy or view from this administration” and label them as terrorists. There is, however, one important thing that the D.H.S. report didn’t say: Today, as in the early years of the Clinton administration but to an even greater extent, right-wing extremism is being systematically fed by the conservative media and political establishment.And at this point, whatever dividing line there was between mainstream conservatism and the black-helicopter crowd seems to have been virtually erased.

What will the consequences be? Nobody knows, of course, although the analysts at Homeland Security fretted that things may turn out even worse than in the 1990s — that thanks, in part, to the election of an African-American president, “the threat posed by lone wolves and small terrorist cells is more pronounced than in past years.”

And that’s a threat to take seriously. Yes, the worst terrorist attack in our history was perpetrated by a foreign conspiracy. But the second worst, the Oklahoma City bombing, was perpetrated by an all-American lunatic. Politicians and media organizations wind up such people at their, and our, peril.

. . . . . .Read the rest at the jump here.

. . . .My problem with Fox News; O'Reilly, Beck, Hannity? With Rush Limbaugh & Michael Savage? With Ann Coulter & Michelle Malkin? It's simple. I've printed the Webster's definitions of treason, sedition and traitor here three times over the last week, I won't belabor it again, look it up down below. By simple dictionary and legal definition, they are traitors, engaging in acts of treason and sedition, who need to arrested under military law, stood in front of a military tribunal, taken to another country for "rendition" and have "extraordinary interrogation techniques" used on them to find out what, if any, ties they may have to Right wing extemist groups planning another act of domestic terrorism like the shooting at the National Holocaust Memorial Museum last week, or if they know of any other acts, such as a Timothy McVeigh type of attack on a Federal Institution. I'm not kidding about any of that, nor being cute.

. . . .My other problem with them? Their disingenuous false front. They ARE the mainstream media, each of them are educated millionaires a few times over, who have absolutely no connection to "just folks", and no clue as to what it's like to just try and get by every day, and truth be told, laugh at the "rubes" they sucker in every day. They're not journalists, nor news people, they are entertainers. Those who work for Fox News are employees of a branch of Fox Networks, and are as dependent on ratings as any cast member of "House" or "Bones". The rest are entertainers who depend on their bookings for an income. To a person, each of them is dependent on their audience, whose numbers are measured, in order to gain advertising dollars.

. . . .Lastly, at the top of the heap, Rupert Murdoch, who is not an American by birth, and who, with T. Boone Pickens (now much to Pickens regret, and Murdoch's anger at "outing" the whole business) was behind the "swiftboating" of John Kerry. Murdoch makes no secret of his contempt for you the average American citizen, and how easily manipulated people are. Murdoch is in business for one reason and one reason alone, to make money.The way he makes money is simple, he takes it from you, any way he can, and really doesn't care about any damage or scar tissue left in the wake, as long as he's the one walking home with the bucks, that's all that counts.

. . . .And while I'm on a roll here, would the next one of you devout Christians that wants to debate with me about gay marriage and quote Leviticus "A man shall not lie with another man" whatever, please remember before talking to me that you better have never ever eaten pork or rabbit in your life, nor had sex with a woman at any stage whatsoever during her menstrual cycle, and made sure that during your daily offerings to God that you're commanded to, that you burned the right incense and burned your meat the right way, and that you only used the right parts of your ox to burn. Oh yeah, and that you've never, ever better have worn mixed fabrics in your life in your clothing. Don't mess with a pagan that's read Leviticus.

. . . Is that labeling? As in all Christians? Hmm. . . .let's see, would that be like labeling all Muslims because a relatively small percentage (compared to the world-wide population of Muslims) of Jihadists interpret one passage of the 17th century version of the Quran to validate their war with the West, while the rest of Islam wants to just get through the damn day and feed their family and raise their kids?

. . . .Speaking of Christianity, realize that 11% of the American public still thinks their President is a Muslim. This despite the fact that he has publicly declared his Christian faith in front of church audiences and in Muslim countries. Despite the fact that he's quoted Christian scripture in his inaugural address and economic speeches, he invokes Jesus Christ's name more often than George W. Bush and devoted an entire chapter in his book to his Christian faith. It's called ignorance of fact, people, ignorance.

. . . .Ahmadinejad has shown his hand. The scary part about the Internet, Facebook and Twitter? It means you can't hide the truth any more. Ahmadinejad, the Ayatollah and the mullahs now face a choice, an enraged, informed populace who aren't hard-liners, who want a moderate President, who don't want to go to nuclear war with the West or Israel, or showing the world that they truly are the oppressive regime that everybody else knew all along they were. There is a live blog of the uprising here.

. . . .Any of you out there that want to lump all Muslims in the same category as "those people" and hate them happy to see them getting ridden down in the streets of Tehran by police on motorcycles and beaten mercilessly for taking to the streets in support of a pro-Western moderate who had an election stolen from him, for taking to the streets because they've had enough of the hard-liner who assumes absolute power over them? They're fighting for a better future for themselves and their children.

. . . All that said, it's pretty obvious that I support the current sitting President. Personal reason aside, it's a simple matter of patriotism and loving my country. He is the sitting President, elected by due Constitutional process, and as such is the leader of this Nation. This is a country in grave trouble, economically, the disaster grows each day, and looks to be getting worse. New figures have come in on climate change that now say it may be too late, period. The President of the United States, sitting in that chair, gets my support as a simple matter of my American citizenship period. I do not want to see him fail, if he fails, we all do, and the country fails. That must not occur.

. . . .I said all along, that once elected, I'd be a critic when he wasn't getting the job done. He's not. I like him, I believe he's smart enough to do the job, and has a much better chance at doing a better job of it than his predecessor, but the honeymoon's over, and he's not getting it done. I support him, and he must not be allowed to fail.

. . . .Right now, he's got a Democratic Congress and House, and can't even get them under control. When the Presidency, the Congress and the House are all aligned in one party, isn't the man at the top in charge of the political party?
. . . .He's stated, for the record and as a matter of policy, that the photos from Guantanamo will not be released. He has sound reasoning behind it. (a) Releasing photographs of Mideastern detainees and suspects being tortured, raped, sodomized and degraded is insane. We have young men and women in uniform, under fire, in Iraq and Afghanistan, (and soon Pakistan and Iran, if that keeps up). Letting those photographs show up on Al-Jazeera and terror websites will only further endanger our own troops by inflaming a populace that is already on edge, (this weekend's events in Iran are only exacerbating the powderkeg that is the Mideast). (b) establishing a precedent, and producing more evidence, of a previous adminstration's misdeeds does not serve to unite a Nation that is already on the brink of shattering apart. (c) Further, if the House decides that it wants to pursue legal ends over this, that's more insanity. It establishes a legal precedent for a sitting administration to prosecute a previous administration for things done under Executive Order. Bad idea, period.
. . . .He's in charge. He stated what he wanted, and the bozos in the House decided to strip the rider barring their release from the funding bill for Iraq. We have troops on the ground in Iraq now, bar that they never should have been there, (should have been in Afghanistan all along people). The fact is, they're there. They need the funding bill.

. . . .The Republican Party is finally starting to show publicly what a joke it's been all along. If he can't get Health Care reform pushed through this sorry bunch, when will it get reformed? When will we see some true health care packages. And don't give me that tired old song of "I don't want my choices made for me by government." Government is at least paid to look out for your best interests, the insurance adjuster that is making your decision for you now (No, you don't make your own health care decisions, and don't have your own choices) doesn't give one flying fuck about you, all he cares about is making money for his employer. (Do the intials AIG mean anything to you).

. . . .Anyone besides me think that Sarah Palin deciding to match wits with David Letterman puts her in way over her head? We aren't talking about the brightest bulb in the chandelier here.

. . . .They truly are a sorry joke. Romney can't get past his own ethnocentricity and believing that America is the center of the universe. Stating that the Iranian uprising is "proof that Obama's policies don't work" is (a) a non sequitir (b) about as relevant as the price of tomatoes in China and (c) demeaning to a people that have finally had enough of their Fascist regime.

. . . .Economically, his team of Summers, Geithner, Bernanke aren't getting it done. The banks and AIG, under Bush and Paulson, and a completely deregulated system took your money, gambled with it and lost, and weren't held accountable (remember last September). They took the first half of the bailout money, pre-election, spent it all on bonuses and office remodels. Took the second half of the money after meekly looking at the floor and saying "I'm sorry" and they're laughing at everyone behind their backs.

. . . .Here's the charts and numbers that count:

. . . . .The simple interpretation of the above chart? It shows the job losses during the current Depression vs. past recessions. What it means is that job losses haven't bottomed out, and are continuing to mount, and probably will match the '30s numbers before it's all over.

. . . . .Foreclosure up 40%
. . . . .Industrial Output at a 58 year low, the current curve matching 1929's for output.
. . . . ..Credit Card default up 12% last month
. . . . . .2.6 million jobs lost last month, 6.7 million total lost since the "official" start.

. . . .Bottom line, he's not getting it done at a banking level. I'll withhold judgment on the stimulus packages for now. It's only 4 months, and that vast majority of those dollars haven't even been put into the system yet, so we'll see what's happening.

. . . .Paul Krugman, the economist I've trusted through all of this, (because he's been right) gave an interview in the Guardian U.K. in London this morning, while he's over there, and see's some signs he likes in the current situation:

WH: If you believe that, is Obama doing enough on fiscal policy?

PK: Well we have a stimulus which is a little over 5% of one year's GDP but some of it is not real - something that was going to happen anyway and not very stimulative. So it's really about 4% of GDP of genuine stimulus, but spread over two and a half years. So, it's actually quite a lot less than what I was arguing for.

WH: So, will it be sufficient?

PK: Well, sufficient to actually restore full employment would probably have to be 5% or more. More than we have would certainly be a good thing. It actually might happen. You know, the buzz I'm getting is that a second-round stimulus might well come on the agenda.

WH: Really? When you say "the buzz you're getting", have you been asked?

PK: Well, it's what you hear from people who talk to people who talk to people.

WH: Who would argue for that? Would it be Larry Summers [director of the US National Economic Council]?

PK: I think Larry. I'm not sure Tim Geithner [US treasury secretary] would be opposed to it. Nor would Chrissie [Christine Romer, director of the Council of Economic Advisers] I'm sure they would be making similar judgements. It is actually a little spooky.

PK: There is a possibility that we get some perk-up as the stimulus dollars start to flow and an almost mechanical bounceback in industrial production as inventories are built up. But then we slide down again. The idea that we sort of bounce along the bottom is all too easy to imagine.

WH: Is it just a story about the right dose of fiscal policy? What structural change would you advocate in the economy, to support recovery?

PK: Financial regulation. Rein in that monster. The huge increase in general private-sector leverage is at the core of how we got so vulnerable. We went for 50 years after the Great Depression without any major financial crises, and that, I think, was because we had a financial sector that didn't let people get as deeply into debt as they have now.

WH: So rein in the financial monster and give a fiscal stimulus. So you would leave the American way of doing capitalism untouched?

PK: I'm not that cosmic in this stuff. But it is true that Gordon Gekko [the anti-hero of Oliver Stone's film Wall Street, motto: Greed is Good] went hand in hand with the wave of financialisation. Corporations got more brutal and fiercer.

WH: But it is all connected. Without the leverage, there would have been no Gordon Gekkos. And leverage meant that predator companies had the firepower to launch contested hostile takeovers. The only way to fend off attack, or to make the sums work after an attack, was for companies to be more brutal and fierce - often breaking the promises to staff and suppliers that kept commitment and trust.

PK: All of that is true. I have a more mundane view about what we do. I just want a stronger welfare state and a little bit more social democracy. And some restoration of the labour movement as a counterweight.

I'm not sure - maybe I'm just not thinking about it deeply enough. I guess I've got the same attitude Keynes had, which was he was looking for almost technical fixes. You're looking for ways to fix the parts that have gone wrong rather than replace the whole thing.

You know the human cost of this crisis is vastly worse in America than it is on this side of the Atlantic. So this is a good time to push for a better US social safety net too.

WH: And lastly - you've been critical about Obama. Your view now?

PK: I'm increasingly happy with him. I was unhappy; I think they could have gotten a bigger stimulus coming out the gate. But they've become more forceful. I would have been more aggressive on the banks; we'll see if we need to re-fight that battle later on.

Healthcare is looking really good. I'm getting increasingly optimistic on healthcare reform. Climate change looks like it's going to happen. So my odds that this will in fact be the kind of New Deal I was hoping for are rising. I had my scepticism, but he is smart. He's impressive. And it is such a relief to have somebody whom you can respect in the White House.

. . . .Read the entire interview at the jump here.

. . . .I like him, by approval ratings and polls, most of America likes him. He's personable, photogenic, telegenic, well-spoken and intelligent. I don't need a community organizer right now, what I need, what the country needs is him to be a leader, a Chief Executive. I think he's capable of it, now, he needs to do it. Whatever support he needs from the House and Senate to get it done, well, I'm no stranger to the e-mail inbox of my Senators and Representative, and I know the phone number to the offices of all 3.
. . . .Maybe it's time to cut Rahm Emmanuel loose and let him off the leash.

. . . Outta here for today.

. . .Kiss your kids, tell the ones you love out loud that you do. This rodeo is a one-way ticket and no one gets out alive, so it's not about yesterday or tomorrow, it's about right here, right now.

. . . .Got your back

The Desolation Angel

They won

Thursday June 11, 2009

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing

- Edmund Burke, an Irishman

. . . . .I'll give fair warning now. This one sounds like I talk, it's pretty raw, and it's got some frank and brutal language, and it doesn't pull any punches. I don't ease up today, and you will be uncomfortable. You may be offended if you read any further, but you've been warned.

. . . . .They won. I was going to write an entirely different column today, than the one you're reading now. Going to go on with the normal set of reporting on what's happening, maybe some cool new music in the playlist, some ideas around energy conservation and improving the grid and the distribution of electrical power. A series of events over the last 24 hours triggered me to finish one I've been working on for a while now. A single piece.

. . .They won. The lead in Wednesday's column was happening as I typed it. James von Brunn, an extremist Right Wing neo-nazi fanatic, committed an act of domestic terrorism and walked into the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., a site which serves as a reminder of the horror that completely normal, average human beings can visit upon others in the name of their country, their faith, their party and their cause when they feel they are given the permission and the mandate to do so. It serves as a reminder that an entire segment of a society, not just one man, put 6 million people to death in horrible ways; furnaces, gas chambers, etc. for the crime of holding a different religious faith. At any rate, von Brunn walked into that museum, filled with tourists, visitors, former Defense Secretary Cohen, elders, children; walked in with a gun with the intent to open fire and begin to kill. I included the name of his website, basically an outlet for his racist, anti-Semitic, hate filled views, but did not hyperlink to it. One brave man, a security guard, Stephen T. Johns, fell protecting those inside. Two of his fellow guards stood their ground and took von Brunn down, who at least at this point, is in critical condition in a Washington D.C. hospital, and has been charged as of Thursday afternoon with murder.

. . . . . . I drop a little piece of code in each post. It allows me to keep stats, track who's visiting. Mine's pretty sophisticated, it allows me to identify each reader by IP address, and each page loaded with the unique IP address, that lets me know who's visiting, how long and specifically what they're looking for when I cross-reference it to a spreadsheet that shows physical locations for IP addresses. Wednesday's post had 386 unique visitors. 43 were from people I know. 343 were from people specifically searching, using Google or Bing, for the phrase that was von Brunn's website title. The IP addresses told me that over 70% of them were being directed there from a forum on a Right Wing extremist site, where the column had been picked up. From that percentage, I received 21 anonymous e-mails telling me what a "Jew lover" I was, how much "Jew and nigger cock I must suck", how I, "and other liberal Jew nigger-loving writers like me would burn in the fires of a recreated white nation that would soon rise in flames" (that one was particularly florid). A couple were anonymous death threats, since I was "stupid" enough to put my name and picture in my bio; not to be taken seriously, the bull goose loonies were, and are, out in full force. (That actually would be pretty stupid, on their part, since (1) I'm not that important and (2) I'm most definitely not a liberal, but a strict Constitutionalist Libertarian who firmly believes in his Second Amendment rights). It's not a big deal to me, I've received at least one or two of those threats every couple of weeks, for a while now, from different "anonymous" sources. I just hit "delete" on 'em all when they're anonymous. I particularly don't care if my usage of wording offends you, it's real, it's out there, it's what people use behind the cloak of anonymity, and it's getting worse every day. Racism, Anti-Semitism, raw and vile hatred of all people who are not seen as pure white, is alive, very well and growing, being fed by everyone's conscious act of ignoring it, of pretending that it doesn't exist and doesn't affect them, and hoping wistfully that it goes away and that everyone will somehow magically join hands on a mountaintop somewhere, someday around a big bonfire and sing Kumbaya.

. . . .Side note here since I'll be a flavor of the day for a little while with them. The man who was my brother-in-law when I was married, and is someone I still consider my brother is black. The best man at my wedding, and still someone whom I love and trust as a brother, is black and gay. The woman I consider a sister, and to her sons am a godfather, is a full-on butch lesbian. There's a young man who is my son's best friend who calls me "Dad" when he sees me, as often as he calls me Mr. Williams, who is black. I will gladly take a bullet for any of them, and if you use the words "nigger", "faggot", "dyke" or any of their derivatives around me, I will beat you senseless, leave you lying bloody in the street, and not think a thing about it. That's not a joke, a boast, or a threat, it's a statement of fact, take it or leave it, but don't test it.

. . . . I got in contact with some other bloggers of the Left/liberal/progressive/Libertarian persuasion. We might not have ever met face-to-face, but we do know one another in a cyber-sense. We borrow from one another, don't mind being sources for one another, link to one another's sites, etc. They had started to get in contact with one another as well, all with that same common experience, with a variety of numbers , some much bigger, some smaller, but all with the same percentages. Readers from the extreme Right outran people they knew by at least 3 to 1, and in some cases, the ratio was astronomically high. All doing the same thing, searching out political and cultural bloggers, columnists and writers who were writing about that day's incident at the National Holocaust Museum.

In Germany, they came first for the Communists, but I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist
And then they came for the trade unionists, but I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist
And then they came for the Jews, but I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew
And then. . . they came for me. . .and by that time there was no one left to speak up

- Martin Niemoller, a German

. . . .They won. The hate is in your face everyday, yet you choose to ignore it. The attempt to undermine the nation that you live in is in your face every day, yet you choose to ignore it. The laws of physics that govern the universe we live in are simple and straightforward. Energy can never be destroyed, only transformed. A force can only, I repeat, only, be opposed by a force of equal magnitude with a vector in the completely opposite direction of the original.

. . . . .When Ann Coulter asserted that America would be better off if everyone was Christian and that the "Jews" merely needed to be "perfected" through conversion, what did you do?
. . . .When Sarah Palin said that Barack Obama was "palling around with terrorists", what did you do?
. . . .When Glenn Beck warned his viewers that FEMA was building concentration camps as part of President Obama's "totalitarian" agenda, when he said on Thursday night that Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party were "left wing liberals", and that "political correctness" drove von Brunn to his act of domestic terrorism, and that President Obama was responsible because his "bailouts" and "Socialisitic" policies are causing the "pot to boil over", what did you do?
. . . .When House Speaker Eric Cantor said on Thursday that President Obama was comparable to Soviet President Vladimir Putin, what did you do?
. . . .When the Washington Times printed an op-ed piece this week that said that President Obama "not only identifies with Muslims but actually still may be one himself" and he "aligned himself" with the radical Muslim Brotherhood, what did you do?
. . . .When Rush Limbaugh said last fall that Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama was "about color", what did you do?
. . . .When Limbaugh said of Obama "I want him to fail, I want the country to fail", what did you do?
. . . .When Liz Cheney said that "President Obama wants to hold hands with the terrorists", what did you do?
. . . .When Limbaugh said that the H1N1 virus was a government conspiracy designed "to get people to respond to government orders", what did you do?
. . . .When Jon Voigt stood up at a Republican fundraising dinner earlier this week and said that "we and we alone are the right frame of mind to free this country from the Obama oppression" and said that the President was a "false prophet", and Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate minority leader said the he "really enjoyed" Voight's remarks, what did you do?
. . . .When columnist S.E. Cupp blamed David Letterman's extremely inappropriate and way out of bounds remarks and jokes about Sarah Palin's daughter on "The enduring legacy of the Obama campaign" and the President "allowed his surrogates in the media and Hollywood and everyone else on the Left do his dirty talking for him", what did you do?
. . . . .When the Reverend Jeremiah Wright said that he didn't talk to President Obama because "them Jews aren't going to let me", what did you do?
. . . . .When the House demanded that the photos of detainee abuse and torture, including photographs of sexual abuse and rape be released, further inflaming the populace of Iraq when those photographs show up on Al-Jazeera and on every Jihadist website and putting our young men and women in uniform on the ground and in theater in further danger from an enraged populace, what did you do?
. . . .When Representative Virginia Foxx called Matthew Shepard's ugly, gruesome beating death at the hands of homophobes "a hoax", what did you do?
. . . .When Rush Limbaugh dismissed a cable news host trying to warn people about the rising extremism and threatened violence in the e-mails his show receives as "whining", what did you do?

The hottest circles of Hell are reserved for those, who in times of great moral crisis, choose to maintain their neutrality.

President John F. Kennedy, quoting Dante

. . . .They won. What did you do? Did you write an e-mail to any of those people, to the networks, to your own Representative or Senator? Did you attempt to call in to any of those shows and give your voice? Did you find out which advertisers buy time on these people's shows and contact them to let them know you wouldn't be buying their products as long as they supported this? Did you contact your own Representative or Senator and ask for an investigation of those statements? Did you make an attempt to investigate the facts and find out what was really going on?
. . . . They won. They won because you don't understand the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, which protects free speech and opinion, but does not protect assaultive statements of hate, statements that incite and foment violence, statements that promote racism, statements of treason and sedition. Do you even understand the definition of those things?

- Traitor: One who betrays one's country, a cause or a trust; especially one's country

- Treason: The offense of committing overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance

-Sedition: Conduct which is directed against a government and which tends towards insurrection, but does not amount to treason.

.. . .They won. They won because they're focused, they aren't afraid to act, do and say, because they aren't sitting around trying not to offend people, because they aren't having a discussion meeting about it, but instead are doing something about their goals. They won because they understand that throughout history, their ilk and their kind have always won. They won, because when dog soldiers and guardians, those who understand the force arrayed against them, and how it must be met, those who step forward to protect the interests of the people, are told that they "aren't needed", that "force can't be met with force", that if "we don't pay attention to them, it will all be transformed." They won, because they're not all sitting clamoring to be heard first, not all standing in a bunch jumping up and down trying to make sure that their individual cause or agenda, their project, their idea, is the priority. They won because they have a goal, and a purpose, and they're not afraid to pursue it.
. . . .They won because when you receive a forwarded e-mail from a friend or a family member that compares the sitting President of the United States to Hitler (love that one, a mixed race individual being compared to Hitler, trust me, Adolph would be apoplectic over that), calls him a communist, or a socialist, calls him a Muslim, or tries to say that he's not a citizen, or that he's the Anti-Christ (Yup, these people want their apocalypse so bad, they can taste it, and they're willing to take anything as a sign that it's coming. What are they going to do when it doesn't happen?), you hit "delete" and won't confront it, won't have a discussion of fact.
. . . .They won because when someone you work with thinks they can "trust" you, and let you on the "inside" and calls our President, the sitting President of the United States, elected under due Constitutional process by we the people, a "nigger", or a "spook", or a "spade", or a "jig", a "raghead" or the ever-popular "one of them", you get uncomfortable and walk away, but you say nothing.
. . . .They won because you just betrayed the memories and sacrifices of millions of graves at Normandy, at Arlington, and in National Cemeteries all over this country when you do that, men and women who died under the flag, in uniform, to stop the very hate and madness that today we attempt to "dialog" with, to "understand", to "let them have a voice too", that we attempt to "not give energy to."

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The Declaration of Independence

. . . .They won because they're the people who hung Thomas Paine
. . . .They won because they're the members of the Colorado 1st & 3rd irregulars, the militia that sang Amazing Grace while cutting down 400 Cheyenne and Arapahoe at Sand Creek, men women and children
. . . .They won because they're the ones who cut down 300 Lakota men, women and children at Wounded Knee
. . . They won because they're the ones who dragged people from their homes on Kristalnacht and began the process of exterminating a people from the Earth with ovens and gas chambers.
. . . .They won because they're the ones who hung Matthew Shepard on a fence and beat him to death.
. . . .They won because they walked into the National Holocaust Museum and opened fire.
. . . . They won because their voices, their faces can say absolutely anything they want to with impunity.

. . . .Have you read the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution? Have you read Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams? Do you have the facts and understand the reasoning behind the formation of this country, what those unalienable Rights are and how important it is to understand that they were paid for in blood?

. . . .Trust me, I get it. I know how scared everyone is, how overwhelming it seems, how the sheer reality of everything is mind-numbing. I know the numbers; unemployment, factories closed, homes foreclosed, jobs lost, credit cards defaulted, bankruptcies declared. I know how difficult it is to confront reality as it is, life on life's terms.

. . . .I know it's easier to blame something or someone else, and not look in the mirror and see your own complicity in what's occurring. In this world, a nail that stands up will get pounded down eventually (credit to Otis Gibbs), the squeaky wheel won't get the grease, it'll get thrown out and put in a landfill. It's a lot easier to look for conspiracies behind every corner and under every rock. It's not easy to look in the mirror and ask what your part in bringing it all about was, to admit that you were "too busy" or that it "wasn't important", or that it was all "too grim" and you just wanted to be happy and focus on higher things.

. . . .Your silence will not protect you

. . . .Your neutrality will not keep it from affecting you. It already does, every day.

. . . . In the end, we will get the country and government we deserve. Our silence will allow them to win, will be taken as assent and complicity. It will give them the day.

. . . .There's not a storm coming, it's already here, the water is rising.

. . . .Me? I Am One. I will not be quiet, I will not stop pointing out what is happening, I will not be still and I will not stop writing this. I will not stop writing e-mails, making phone calls, contacting my Congressional Representatives and Senators. I will not stop calling things for what they are, and I will not stop putting them in your face. I will not stop fighting. The ghosts of my ancestors and the futures of my sons and grandchildren to come demand it.

. . . .I Am One.

. . . .My family lineage traces way, way back. In dim history, my ancestor Hugh, a High King of Dublin was told of an advancing Saxon army. Hugh listened to the clamor for a while, saw the fright, listened to the arguing. Hugh, and his two sons; Connor and Caleb, walked outside the city, had the gates barred from inside and faced the advancing army. . . .The 3 of them defeated a Saxon army that day.

. . . .The funny thing? To the end, I'll suffer any fate gladly for your right to be scared, to do nothing, to be too busy, to not want to confront it because you feel powerless.

. . . .Out on the edges of the desolation, in the lonely places, walk angels. Angels who will protect you when you're frightened, give you strength when you feel weak, stand for you when you are attacked, and fall, if that is what is required.

. . . I Am One. One is all that is necessary, all that is needed. It takes only one to make a stand, to say no more, enough, for others to find their own strength, their own voice, to not feel alone or frightened.

. . . .Kiss your kids and tell the ones you love out loud that you do. Take a good long look in their eyes, and ask yourself one question: "What am I willing to do?"

. . . .I Am One

The Desolation Angel

Wednesday - On the Brink

Wednesday June 10, 2009

. . . . .Really, people, no exaggeration, we are on the absolute brink of insanity.

. . . .This afternoon, an armed gunman walked into the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. and opened fire. As of right now, there is one confirmed wounded, the gunman himself and the security guard who confronted him has died as a result of his injuries sustained. As of right now, there is an I.D. on the shooter, he is a white male named James Von Brunn, 88 years old, from the East Coast of Maryland, who was wearing khaki green pants that resemble uniform issue, the kind that can be picked up at any Army-Navy surplus store. Von Brunn was tied to extreme Right wing hate groups and considered himself a "true believer" trying to save America from "Negro's", "Jews", non-whites and such, who ran a website called Holy Western Empire.org (I will not provide a hyperlink). Continuing coverage throughout the day here, and here, and here.

. . . .The museum was full of tourists; couples, visitors, children. If it gives you any clue as to where I stand, I'm damn glad that security took him down hard. The murdered security guard deserves our highest respect and honor for protecting those inside and falling while standing fast in his duties to protect elders and children.

. . . .This got sent along to me, a posting from NDN News Today, that details how the current version of the Supreme Court of the United States Affirms that Tribes really don't have any religious rights in today's America.

. . . .I'm going to re-run a couple from yesterday, I don't care if it's recycling, they were prescient, and yes, you could catch them below, but I want them up top here again.

. . . .On a subject that I've harped on here ad nauseum, the need to calm down the incendiary rhetoric and find a common ground as Americans, Eric Boehlert over at Media Matters:

If Fox News is going to continue to traffic in hateful rhetoric, then folks at Fox News, as well as their apologists in the GOP Noise Machine, are going to have to come up with better talking points to spin away the atmosphere of vigilantism fomented by their words and actions. . . .
. . . .The Fox News crew is going to need better talking points because I fear the violence -- the bouts of right-wing domestic terrorism -- are likely to continue. As long as Fox News and the Noise Machine refuse to back off the incendiary language that they're actively mainstreaming, the political violence, visible just months into Obama's historic first term, may have only begun. . . . .
. . . .Why the silence? Because militia-style vigilante rhetoric has become a cornerstone of the conservative media movement in America, and it's now proudly championed by Fox News on a nearly hourly basis.That's why the Fox News crew and its eager apologists are going to have to come up with a better line of defense. Because as long as Fox News peddles its incendiary vigilante rhetoric, the right-wing violence in America will continue, and Fox News is going to have to answer for it.

. . . .And the best of what I've read so far on that same subject from Larry Gellman:

What we are seeing could be the harvest of the seeds of the vile and unrestrained anger and hatred that have been planted, spread and nurtured by the sleazemeisters of the Right Wing--self-described media stars and politicians who claim to be true conservatives, real Republicans, and patriotic Americans exercising their First Amendment rights.

This gutterization of discourse hit full stride during the presidential campaign last year when Obama was characterized repeatedly as a friend of terrorists, a secret Muslim, and a person who wanted to destroy America, slit the throat of Israel, and desecrate values that all true patriots hold dear.

Since he became president, the attacks have actually picked up in volume, intensity and scariness. I have seen President Obama portrayed as a Nazi, a socialist, a communist, an enemy of Israel, the destroyer of capitalism, and a racist. And that's in the self-described "mainstream" media.

When you troll with the true bottom dwellers (Limbaugh, Hannity, Liddy, O'Reilly, Savage, Beck, Gingrich, Cheney. Levin, and such) it gets really ugly. Each of these scumbags claims to speak for the Republican party. While none holds any elective position, the party leadership treats them with deference and respect. Is it any wonder that fewer people identify themselves as Republicans today than at any time in a generation and the number continues to drop on a daily basis? Anger and hate apparently just aren't in vogue this season.

But there is absolutely no doubt that we are suffering mightily as a society from the spread of hatespeech and the decline of civility in our public discourse. The truly racist, bigoted, and inaccurate attacks against Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotamayor have taken the level of discourse to a new low--not just because of the outrageous and ugly rants themselves but even more so due to the way they have been legitimized and spread by the true mainstream media.

This has nothing to do with the freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment. People are free to express their opinions--that's what makes America great. But people do not have a constitutional right to viciously attack and slander people with lies at hateful comments on our commercial airwaves. The decision to provide these vermin with an electronic soapbox is a commercial decision that is made daily by owners of radio and TV stations who are putting their desire for profits ahead of the public good.

We are paying a huge price as a society for our unwillingness to marginalize these evil people and the media outlets that provide them with airtime and credibility. Unless and until we start making better choices and acting more responsibly, we will continue to reap the bitter harvest that will continue to sprout from the toxic seeds being sown in our midst.

Edmund Burke is credited with telling us that "all that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing." We can all start by changing the channel when these egomaniacal zealots are posturing or are being quoted by others and inform the station management that we are V-chipping them until they start acting responsibly.

It is not necessary or even good if all of us agree about the issues. But we cannot afford the luxury of tolerating those who are angry and hateful and want us to be the same. The one value we can all stand for is the importance of civility.

We can't honestly call ourselves civilized until we learn to disagree like grownups.

. . . .Which all ties into one from USA Today this morning on a new Gallup poll. Those of you who identify yourselves as Republicans are at least in agreement on one thing. Your leaders are Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich and Dick Cheney. Three men who hold no elected office, who have no say in American policy, but they speak for you. A sweaty, drug-addled windbag with a bully pulpit, who advocates violence, separatism, and the failure of your government (all acts of treason, by law) speaks for you, as far as you're concerned.

. . . .Over in Iran, on election eve, it's tense and violence there is ready to break out. Ahmadinejad is threatening to cut off any his critic's hands, has gone after his opponent's wife, and Tehran is on the brink of riots, the divisions are so deep between the reformist party and Ahmadinejad's party that is supported by the Ayatollah and Shariiya law. Coverage here, and here.

. . . .Krugman, the economist I've read and listened to all along through this, in the New York Times this morning:

Just a quick note: is it just me, or has the economic news started to darken again? Up through about March, every report was worse than you expected, often worse than you could have imagined. Since then, most reports — although continuing to be bad in an absolute sense — have “surprised on the upside.” But my sense is that in the last few days we’ve been getting reports — Korean trade, Japanese orders, German exports — that are once again surprising on the downside.

This thing ain’t over yet.

. . . .I'm going to ask you to keep reading and catch up with yesterday's and Monday's columns just below here, and the numbers there, it's not good folks, and it's not getting better, it's getting worse. That's not doomsaying, it's a realistic look at the numbers.

. . . .Folks, we're losing it, and losing it big. We are on the brink of losing this Nation forever, for our kids and grandkids and generations to come. On the one side we have the brown-shirted Fascists of the neoCon Right; Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly, Cheney, Rove, Beck, Gingrich, Palin, Coulter, Malkin et al who would see this country destroyed, and seem to delight in the prospect of it. They want it all to fail, and are now openly advocating violence and revolt, yet always in some cowardly fashion manage to distance themselves from extreme actions like today's shooting at the museum. If they can't be in charge of you and your life, of me, of our personal day-to-day actions, they want to see it all destroyed. On the other hand, we have the incipient nanny-state of the Left that is getting ready to bury our grandchildren and greatgrandchildren in a mountain of debt that they will not be able to get out of, and are preparing to regiment our lives "for our own good".
. . . .They're polticians, and media figures, all of them, and they don't live like you and me, and ultimately, don't care about you and me.
. . . .It's time for a third party, a movement that speaks for us, that looks to the future. One that is fiscally conservative, and open as hell on matters of personal and private choice. One that doesn't see itself as the "world's policeman" and isn't so damned concerned with spreading democracy everywhere.

. . . .As of the 5 PM hour Eastern Time, Glenn Beck, one of the largest fear-momgers out there is one the air trying desperately to tie Von Brunn, today's extreme Right Wing white supremacist to Al-Queada. What an incredible piece of shit!!! Face it Glenn, you don't know jack. A White supremacist would have nothing to do with a Mideastern jihadist. You're part of the problem Glenn.

. . . .Enough of all that, the solution is to pull back, take a deep breath, realize that we can't ignore the problem any longer, that standing around and hoping that things get better will not make them better. Say a prayer, and then TAKE A STAND!!! STAND UP FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN PEOPLE AND START SHUTTING DOWN THE FEARMONGERS AND THOSE WHO WOULD STIR THE POT AND THROUGH THEIR WORDS AND ACTIONS GIVE IMPLICIT PERMISSION TO WINGNUTS LIKE TODAY'S GUNMAN.

. . . .If you don't have something to believe in, something to stand for, you'll fall for anything and for no reason.

. . .OK, I'm over it, I'll go back to talking in non-bold and not all caps, and hope, somehow hope that I'm appealing to your sense of reason.

. . .And while I'm at it, let me tell you that Tarwater and Charla have been down there at Hawkwind for over 2 decades, providing a safe space and giving folks the opportunities for personal growth and transformation. They, along with Lulu are always a blast to hang out with. Charla has some new programs that she's starting up, check her out at the Blue Star Portal.
. . . As always, for great ink and rockin' good time, check Tarwater and Lulu out at the Red Queen, up in Chattanooga, TN.

. . . .Charla sends this one along this morning, about a Gathering of Seers down at Hawkwind, and upcoming mystery school. Check it out.

. . . And another shout right here for Mary Thunder, down at Thunder Ranch, who sends along notes of encouragement to keep this going and keep on keeping on. Mary does good stuff down there, especially in helping people in recovery find a path to spirituality that works for them and speaks to them. Keep it up Mary.

. . . The Rev Charla down at Hawkwind, sends this link. I found it fascinating in light of what's going on the world these days, she's always been on top of how the information flows. It's a link to a website that spends some time with Drunzalo Melchizedek in an interview concerning the Mayan and Hopi prophecies and how they apply to this time. Check it out, it's worth your time. Melchizedek was able to gain some real insights and spend some time with indigenous elders that most of us never, or will never, get to. From my standpoint, with a foot in both worlds, his explanation in mathematical terms, especially the Fibonacci sequence, opened me up to some new things.
. . . .This one is personally important to me. I went to wonderful high school, Comstock High School, where I was given an opportunity to participate not just in sports and academics, but be part of the arts as well, being in high school plays, debate, forensics, the works. I think, if you're a regular reader, you know how passionate I am about music, (turn the volume knob UP on your computer if you don't know it by now, you'll figure it out pretty quickly), it's vital and important, music carries our soul as a society, and not everyone can be a musician, but they can be part of spreading it out and it's messages. Aimee sends this along, to help save 45 years of education radio after school, and I urge you to support it.

Many of you have met my sister Jenny or at least heard about her.
She's a good teacher and this is a good program. She loves her kids
and goes above and beyond for them and the radio station has always
been open for them.

California - you may not make it here, but please send an email and
share with friends. Course, you could always come for a visit, would
love to see most of you:)

Want to come with or meet me there? Let me know. This is a good
cause and community. If you can't make it, please email the
superintendent


WPHS 89.1 FM
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
7:30pm - 10:30pm
Warren Consolidated School Administration Building
31300 Anita
Warren, MI

Tell the Warren Consolidated School board why WPHS should stay on the
air. Are you a listener, an alumni, a current student, a parent or
just a fan of local radio? WCS is trying to shut down their student
run radio station after school- which will effectively kill the
program, eliminate the one place many kids have to go, and quiet the
voices of hundreds of future broadcasters.
Can't make it? email the superintendent
livernois@wcskids.net
or any of the board members
http://www.wcs.k12.mi.us/content/boardofed.htm
with your opinion.

Thanks
Aimee

. . . .Some days it all just sucks, and it doesn't look like there are any solutions, but those are the days, you suck it up, strap it on and go out into the fray and put one foot in front of the other, those days pass, and it gets better, you find out that you're not alone, and there are real solutions.

. . . . .Kiss your kids, tell the ones you love out loud that you do, seize the precious moments before they slip through your hands, this rodeo is a one-way ticket and no one gets out alive, and we don't get to dictate the terms and circumstances of how the ticket gets punched. It's not about yesterday, or tomorrow, it's about right here, right now. This ain't no dress rehearsal, so go change yourself and change your world, the world around you will change.

The Desolation Angel
[where: Hell, Michigan 48137]

Monday rolls on out of the station

Monday June 8, 2009

. . . .Dateline: Hell, Michigan - Ya know what, it's getting a little bit more scary every day.

. . . .Holy John-Paul-George-Ringo boogaloo Batman! Jeff Tweedy and boys in Wilco have been working on a new one in that Chicago studio of theirs, and based on the track just released, it's a doozy, called "You Never Know", it 's the lead-off after the intro and the column's theme song and it's got such a Beatles vibe to it, like dead-on vibe. The second one in today is from Dan Baird & Homemade Sin, (remember the Georgia Satellites, he was their lead), it's already become my favorite road tune, called "Two For Tuesday". The third one is from Shelby Lynne, an old one, called "Jesus on a Greyhound". The others are a good mix of Steve Earle, Michael Franti, Tom Morello, Bruce and Otis Gibbs, and of course some of Ryan Bingham's new work that has a hillbilly bluegrass hard core rock feel to it. There's about an hour's worth of music, when you're done reading, just hit the little bar and minimize the window and let it play.

. . . .Caleb and Ol' Blue made it back Saturday night, in one piece and the truck is actually running well, and a religious miracle, it has power steering for the first time in a looooonnng time. Poor boy doesn't know what to do.

Tuesday afternoon update

. . . . .To go along with the charts and numbers posted below today's update, the ones posted last night Monday that give the true picture of what's going on economically, just a couple of added ones, right here:
- From the folks at CNNMoney and Fortune magazine, this all-in-one Federal bailout tracker chart, it's kind of handy to be able to reference when you have a question, or are in a discussion requiring an answer.

. . . .To go along with that, CNNMoney and Fortune posted this one comparing the opinions of Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winning economist and New York Times columnist, a noted liberal/progressive and Paul Ryan, a conservative Republican congressman from Wisconsin, normally these two are throwing verbal darts at one another and completely disagreeing on everything. On this one, they're not and they're both seeing the same disaster coming and it should scare people:

What's worrying both Krugman and Ryan is the rapid increase in the federal debt - not so much the stimulus-driven rise to mountainous levels in the next few years, but the huge structural deficits that, under all projections, keep building the burden far into the future to unsustainable, ruinous heights. "The long-term outlook remains worrying," warned Krugman in his New York Times column. Krugman strongly supports President Obama's spending plans but bemoans the shortfall in taxes to pay for them.
Ryan flays the administration for piling new spending on top of already enormous deficits. "This isn't a temporary stimulus but a ramp-up in debt followed by a greater explosion in spending and debt," he told Fortune, predicting a day when America's creditors will start viewing the U.S. Treasury as a risky bet. "The bond markets will come after us with a vengeance. We're playing with fire." Krugman favors far higher taxes, while Ryan wants to curb spending, but for now what's so big and so dangerous that it distresses such diverse types as Krugman and Ryan - and should scare all Americans - is the Great Debt Threat.

. . . .Read the rest of it at the jump here.

. . . .This is soooo sad. My attention was drawn to a automotive guy, Paul Belmaer down in Toledo, Ohio who claimed to have "done something" to the engine of an '87 Ford Mustang to allow it to attain 110 MPG, which he supposedly proved by driving from Toledo to Las Vegas on 39 gallons of gas. He further claims that he can generate 400 HP from his stock engine using his secret trick, or 110 MPG.
- First, the chemical formulation of gasoline or ethanol either one does not have enough potential energy in it to produce 110 MPG at speed, with the AC on. Sorry, it really is about the math.
- Secondly, no 400 HP car goes 0-60 in 3 seconds, as he claims, again, do the math.
- Third, Paul worked for Ford up until the recent round of layoffs. Two problems here, (a) if he'd developed it on Ford time, it belongs to them, but (b) more practically, any person with two functioning brain cells would have given it to Ford, gotten a billion dollar trademark, been instantly promoted to Head of Engineering for Powertrain and been set for life. Interesting how it happened after he was one of the many cut.
- Fourth, if he was truly working off an idea of his grandfather's from WWII, then he's truly in trouble, the carbureted engines of the 40's were, and are vastly different from today's fuel-injected, computer controlled engines.
- Fifth, I don't care what you do to an internal-combustion engine, the Laws of Thermodynamics are the laws, and thermal efficiency cannot exceed 100% (which by the way is only theoretical anyhow, the best internal combustion engines developed and tinkered with can reach 30%).
- Sixth, The factory in Wauseon, Ohio was supposed to open yesterday, Monday, but after receiving the investors money and supposedly investing it in a plant, Paul hasn't been seen since Sunday.
-Seventh, and best, there's been no verification by independent testing labs, no lifting of the hood, nothing.
- I worked for Ford and Big Oil both. Neither has roving gangs of Men In Black taking inventors out. It don't happen that way.
. . . So sad, this fits right in with pills that will turn water into gasoline, and is the type of scam that will show up continually as times get tougher.
. . .I will give him credit though, he got his 15 minutes of fame, he got the money, and he got out of Dodge. Like P.T. Barnum said , there's one born every minute, and he and the people who follow his adage make a mint off of it.

. . . .One that's been mentioned here before is my (and others) belief that Pakistan is the nexus, the focal point of the battle between the West and Al-Quaeda. Today's attack on the hotel there is more proof of that. From the Daily Beast, Bruce Reidel of the Brookings Institution:

The attack on the Pearl Continental Hotel in Peshawar, which left 11 dead and 65 wounded, is only the latest in the escalating war for the future of Pakistan. The Pakistani Taliban and its Al Qaeda ally believe they can destabilize the world’s second largest Muslim state—with the fastest growing nuclear arsenal in the world—and perhaps even take it over and turn it into a jihadist emirate.

Osama bin Laden made this clear in the statement he issued last week on the eve of President Obama’s visit to the Middle East. Contrary to the impression left by the press, bin Laden’s 24-minute long tape was not a message about the president’s visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. There is no mention in the tape of the president’s stops in Riyadh or Cairo, suggesting it was made before at least the Riyadh visit was announced. Instead, the bin Laden tape is all about Pakistan. For bin Laden, this is the key arena today.

. . . .On a subject that I've harped on here ad nauseum, the need to calm down the incendiary rhetoric and find a common ground as Americans, Eric Boehlert over at Media Matters:

If Fox News is going to continue to traffic in hateful rhetoric, then folks at Fox News, as well as their apologists in the GOP Noise Machine, are going to have to come up with better talking points to spin away the atmosphere of vigilantism fomented by their words and actions. . . .
. . . .The Fox News crew is going to need better talking points because I fear the violence -- the bouts of right-wing domestic terrorism -- are likely to continue. As long as Fox News and the Noise Machine refuse to back off the incendiary language that they're actively mainstreaming, the political violence, visible just months into Obama's historic first term, may have only begun. . . . .
. . . .Why the silence? Because militia-style vigilante rhetoric has become a cornerstone of the conservative media movement in America, and it's now proudly championed by Fox News on a nearly hourly basis.That's why the Fox News crew and its eager apologists are going to have to come up with a better line of defense. Because as long as Fox News peddles its incendiary vigilante rhetoric, the right-wing violence in America will continue, and Fox News is going to have to answer for it.

. . . .And the best of what I've read so far on that same subject from Larry Gellman:

What we are seeing could be the harvest of the seeds of the vile and unrestrained anger and hatred that have been planted, spread and nurtured by the sleazemeisters of the Right Wing--self-described media stars and politicians who claim to be true conservatives, real Republicans, and patriotic Americans exercising their First Amendment rights.

This gutterization of discourse hit full stride during the presidential campaign last year when Obama was characterized repeatedly as a friend of terrorists, a secret Muslim, and a person who wanted to destroy America, slit the throat of Israel, and desecrate values that all true patriots hold dear.

Since he became president, the attacks have actually picked up in volume, intensity and scariness. I have seen President Obama portrayed as a Nazi, a socialist, a communist, an enemy of Israel, the destroyer of capitalism, and a racist. And that's in the self-described "mainstream" media.

When you troll with the true bottom dwellers (Limbaugh, Hannity, Liddy, O'Reilly, Savage, Beck, Gingrich, Cheney. Levin, and such) it gets really ugly. Each of these scumbags claims to speak for the Republican party. While none holds any elective position, the party leadership treats them with deference and respect. Is it any wonder that fewer people identify themselves as Republicans today than at any time in a generation and the number continues to drop on a daily basis? Anger and hate apparently just aren't in vogue this season.

But there is absolutely no doubt that we are suffering mightily as a society from the spread of hatespeech and the decline of civility in our public discourse. The truly racist, bigoted, and inaccurate attacks against Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotamayor have taken the level of discourse to a new low--not just because of the outrageous and ugly rants themselves but even more so due to the way they have been legitimized and spread by the true mainstream media.

This has nothing to do with the freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment. People are free to express their opinions--that's what makes America great. But people do not have a constitutional right to viciously attack and slander people with lies at hateful comments on our commercial airwaves. The decision to provide these vermin with an electronic soapbox is a commercial decision that is made daily by owners of radio and TV stations who are putting their desire for profits ahead of the public good.

We are paying a huge price as a society for our unwillingness to marginalize these evil people and the media outlets that provide them with airtime and credibility. Unless and until we start making better choices and acting more responsibly, we will continue to reap the bitter harvest that will continue to sprout from the toxic seeds being sown in our midst.

Edmund Burke is credited with telling us that "all that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing." We can all start by changing the channel when these egomaniacal zealots are posturing or are being quoted by others and inform the station management that we are V-chipping them until they start acting responsibly.

It is not necessary or even good if all of us agree about the issues. But we cannot afford the luxury of tolerating those who are angry and hateful and want us to be the same. The one value we can all stand for is the importance of civility.

We can't honestly call ourselves civilized until we learn to disagree like grownups.

Monday June 8, 2009 Evening update

. . . .Have to give Andrew Sullivan credit for turning me on to this one. This chart is from the New York Times Economix, and here Catherine Rampell compares recent recessions and job losses to the current one. The dark blue line headed for the basement? That'd be the current one.

. . . .OK, the market can rebound all it wants to, the banks can repay all the TARP funds they want to, everyone can talk about consumer confidence being up, but here's what's on my mind.

- 23.6 million American people out of work, or forced into part-time work. Doesn't even count the number of people who have taken pay-cuts, or are taking one unpaid day a week off, or one unpaid week a month.

- A 40% rise in business bankruptcy filings in May

- A complete collapse in investment in the first quarter of 2009. real spending on equipment and software dropped 33.8%, the biggest drop in one quarter since 1958. - Again, credit to Andrew Sullivan on turning me on to this one. It's from Rich Florida in the same publication.

Green chutes optimism is misplaced. The economic crisis continues to deepen at a pace that is on par with or worse than that of the Great Depression, according to an updated analysis by economists Barry Eichengreen and Kevin O'Rourke. They conclude that even though "trade and stock markets have shown some improvement without reversing the overall conclusion - today's crisis is at least as bad as the Great Depression" (pointer via Mark Thoma).

Their first graph (below) tracks world industrial output leading them to conclude that: "World industrial production continues to track closely the 1930s fall, with no clear signs of 'green shoots."' They add that: "North Americans (U.S. & Canada) continue to see their industrial output fall approximately in line with what happened in the 1929 crisis, with no clear signs of a turn around."

- There is an absolute flood of foreclosures that have yet to hit the market, and be "recorded" numbers. The banks have yet to even list the majority of their foreclosed properties for sale, as these don't hit that market normally for a period of 90 days to 6 months after proceedings have started.

- Credit card delinquency rates jumped 11% in the first quarter of this year, according to CNN Money

. . . .So a report from the AP this morning that is misleadingly titled Recession's Impact Shows Signs of Moderating really means this:

The latest results of the AP's Economic Stress Index show the free fall that marked the autumn of 2008 and winter of 2009 gave way in April to a more controlled descent, possibly even a bottom. Still, the analysis found that pain remains high compared with year-ago levels.

. . . .That isn't "easing". That means it's still in a tailspin, and still headed down, just what? A slower "down". It's still headed down. And these numbers don't even take into account the 1/3 of GM's workforce that will lose their jobs, nor all the GM dealerships, Chrysler dealerships, the suppliers. etc.
. . .What it means is that there are already 23.6 million people without jobs, and the number will be added to. 23.6 million people who aren't laid off, but simply don't have jobs to go back to. 23.6 million angry, frustrated people, who are by the other numbers, losing their homes, defaulting on their credit cards and mortgages and, as it extends up the chain, there aren't any investors who have money to start new businesses or invest in capital with.

. . . .Part of it is this, I, along with a lot of other people was angry and annoyed when suddenly the 5 largest banks declared profits in the 1st quarter, since it looked like all it needed was an infusion of public capital to put them on the mend again. Not so fast, according to Bloomberg:

Citigroup’s $1.6 billion in first-quarter profit would vanish if accounting were more stringent, says Martin Weiss of Weiss Research Inc. in Jupiter, Florida. “The big banks’ profits were totally bogus,” says Weiss, whose 38-year-old firm rates financial companies. “The new accounting rules, the stress tests: They’re all part of a major effort to put lipstick on a pig.”

Further deterioration of loans will eventually force banks to recognize losses that their bookkeeping lets them ignore for now, says David Sherman, an accounting professor at Northeastern University in Boston. Janet Tavakoli, president of Tavakoli Structured Finance Inc. in Chicago, says the government stress scenarios underestimate how bad the economy may get.

The accounting rule changes that matter most for the banks came on April 2, when the Financial Accounting Standards Board gave companies greater latitude in how they establish the fair value of assets. Lawmakers, including Representative Paul Kanjorski, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, had complained that existing mark-to-market standards worsened the financial crisis.

. . . .The solution? No, I still don't agree with "no bailouts". That was a knee-jerk reaction. This country, most people are not ready to go to a "bankless" "no credit" society. Most people don't have the resources, and now, but those numbers up above, even a job to go to a full cash economy. Most people haven't learned to barter their skills and time in fair trade for things like groceries and gas, they haven't even figured out what their time is "really" worth. (Hint: it's not worth as much as you think it is, in many cases, and in other cases, it's worth far more)
- Example: How much would you be willing to pay me to install a solar system or wind power system in your home for a one-time cash only price in order to have at least that much power keep your refrigerator running, or your stove? How much would you be willing to pay if you had no job and no continuous monthly flow of cash to continue to pay the utility company, if those things had been cut off, and you had to go to the office and pay cash or write a check each month?
-As distasteful as it was, the banks needed to be stabilized, though I'm not certain that TARP was the way to go. Kay, a regular reader said it some weeks back, and I think she's right. The time to cut the losses is now. Let the "zombie banks" die, even if they're one of the 5 largest. Send auditors into every other bank, value their assets at 35 cents on the dollar, or whatever, and hit the "reset" button. Short term pain now for long term stabilization later, for our kids and grandkids. Otherwise, it's just this slow death.

. . . .The answers, at least some of them, lie in just that, though. Buy and shop locally. It's summer, buy your fruits and vegetables from your local farmer's market. Learn to barter, your skills, your time, your expertise for those things that you need. For one thing, that does keep if off the tax horizon.

. . . . .T. Boone Pickens, whom I respect a great deal, weighs in this morning with some timely information, a good plan and some very real numbers to go along with the ones I just put up top:

I know you think that the worst is over. Here and there we're starting to get bits and pieces of good news about the U.S. economy. Some are even saying that we're beginning to climb out of this recession. I certainly hope that's true. But one thing's for sure: we've still got our work cut out for us, and the May numbers from the Energy Information Administration prove it.

Last month, we imported 366 million barrels of oil at a total cost of $21.6 billion. Every minute in May we spent $484,087 to pay for our addiction to foreign oil. Think of it this way. By the time you finish reading this post, a couple million dollars will be gone, out of our economy for good. They won't fuel American jobs. They won't pay American taxes. And they definitely won't help us create the infrastructure or the building blocks so vital to the future our country.

OK. I've told you what those billions won't be doing for us. Now I'm going to tell you what those billions will be doing. Each month we cut a fat check to Venezuela's state-owned oil company. We import tens of millions of barrels of their crude. So not only are we propping up Hugo Chavez, but we're giving him the spending money he needs to go out and try his best to give our country a black eye whenever he sees fit.

A much bigger check goes to the Middle East, countries like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, and Oman. You know where some of those billions end up? Funding Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. Call it what you want: protection money, payoffs, whatever. But we pay for both sides of the War on Terrorism, and we've been doing so for decades. That's got to be one of the stupidest things I've ever heard of.

Back to May's numbers. If you're like me and think $21 billion is way too much to be sending overseas, then brace yourself. So far in 2009, the price of gasoline has gone up 88 cents a gallon at the pump, and 48 cents of that jump took place just last month. OPEC has said it would be comfortable when the price of oil back to $75 a barrel, and I guarantee you they wouldn't try to bring it down if it went higher.

So what should we do?

At this very moment we have a window of opportunity that must not be ignored. America can end its addiction to foreign oil, but we have to get moving. Around the world there are roughly 10 million vehicles running on natural gas. Yet only 150,000 NG vehicles can be found here in the U.S. So the country with the most number of cars on earth has the least number of natural gas vehicles? On top of that, America's natural gas reserves are enormous. By some estimates they could last a century. The fact that we aren't making better use of our domestic natural gas makes about as much sense as the way we spend half a trillion dollars each year importing foreign oil.

President Obama recently announced new emissions targets for cars and light trucks. Natural gas produces virtually no particulate emissions and, because of its chemical structure, only a fraction of the carbon dioxide emissions that diesel and gasoline produce. A major initiative to move America's heavy trucks to natural gas would save us billions annually by reducing our need for imported oil. We all know that America's auto industry desperately needs a lifeline. Building passenger cars and light trucks that run on natural gas would help retain existing jobs and create new ones.

All of us want to end this recession as quickly as possible. And we have many of the answers right here right now. What we don't have is any time to waste. Because the longer we procrastinate, the sooner another million, and then another billion, leave this country for good.

. . . .Christopher Buckley, from the Daily Beast this morning weighing in on Joe Scarborough, one of the conservative minds I trust, and his new book

. . . . .He is unsparing about the disaster wrought by George W. Bush and the Republican majority. At times, indeed, it reads like an indictment co-authored by Michael Moore and Paul Krugman. Iraq, reckless spending, the works. His insight is that Bush and the Republicans were not in any sense “conservative,” but rather radical and ideological. In foreign policy, they tossed aside the Powell and Weinberger doctrines of restraint and went pell-mell into every quagmire in sight.

At home, Bush accumulated more debt that the country had amassed from the presidency of George Washington’s to Ronald Reagan’s.

“Big-government conservatism? Woodrow Wilson Republicans? Really. Is it any wonder that the Republican Party got slaughtered at the ballot box over the last two elections?”

Joe Scarborough was one of 74 Republicans elected to the Congress in 1994, in response to the missteps of the early Clinton era. He was the first Republican elected to Congress from his northern Florida district since the 1870s, and handily won re-election three times. He takes credit, legitimately, along with his fellow conservative young Turks, for forcing Clinton to balance the budget, reform welfare and cutting taxes. (Odd how Mr. Clinton claims credit himself for those accomplishments.)

Then things went to hell (as Lord Acton would say) and we got Newt Gingrich’s tantrums and Ken Starr’s unmagnificent obsession. Then we got George W. Bush, Iraq, Katrina, and mind-boggling deficits.. . . . . . .

. . . .From Wired magazine, more on updating and improving the national electrical grid; the cheapest, fastest, most efficient steps we can make towards energy independence and lightening our personal financial load every month that goes towards our utility bills:

Problem The grid is like the adage about a butterfly flapping its wings; an outage in Michigan can cause blackouts in Florida. While utilities are investing in software to spot problems on their own chunks of the grid, they are reluctant to share that information with one another.

Solution Trust a third party. Oak Ridge National Laboratory persuaded 30 utilities to share some of their most precious real-time data in exchange for a grid visualization tool that helps everyone. The lab signs a nondisclosure agreement with each utility, then feeds the raw information into a monitoring system called Verde (Visualizing Energy Resources Dynamically on Earth) that tracks grid assets nationwide, as shown in the illustration above. Users can see where inclement weather is developing that might threaten transmission lines—if a thunderstorm is brewing in Kansas, a utility can temporarily reroute its power. Verde also receives a constant flow of real-time data regarding the health of wires, letting operators know if a blackout is sweeping southern Alabama or transmission lines seem congested in South Dakota. Ultimately, a system like Verde will make the grid more efficient. High-voltage lines frequently carry as little as 60 percent of their capacities, since utilities fear sudden power surges. If operators don't have to worry about unexpected crises, they'll be able to transmit more electricity to their customers.

. . . .From the Daily Beast, the 7 Best moments of Sunday morning talk that you missed, click the link here. My personal favorite, at least 2 of them prove the point that politicians should not be allowed to tweet.

. . . .More from Wired, an old technology gets a new look as it provides some practical, real solutions for energy efficiency in generation and transmission:

Take a jet engine hooked up to some big magnets, add some steam pipes, and what do you have? The comeback of some old-school technologies that could help solve our modern energy problem.

The idea is simple — generate both electricity and heat in the same place, but the potential benefits are big.

Unlike a traditional electric power plant, which can convert about 40 percent of its fuel into electricity but wastes the rest as heat, these combination plants capture that heat and use it to warm or cool buildings. The efficiency of combined heat and power plants can reach into the 80 percent range. If you hook up that plant to a network of steam pipes and electrical wires, you’ve got the tools to power an entire campus or community.

The United States could benefit by learning from its past. In fact, the very first central power plant, Edison’s Pearl Street Station, produced both heat and power, but in the era of cheap, abundant energy, that idea was almost abandoned.
Today, most of the time, we make electricity and generate heat in different places. We get our electricity for lighting and power from a central station located far away and transmitted to us through the grid. Heating or cooling, on the other hand, is often accomplished with on-site boilers or electric radiators. Both systems work less efficiently when they stand alone. Together, waste heat generated during the process of making electricity can be scavenged and piped around to provide climate control.

In the early 20th century as our current energy system was being built, Americans “ignored the efficiencies of cogenerating electricity and steam heat at central plants in favor of less efficient oil and coal furnaces in each building,” wrote energy historian David Nye. Heat and power got farther and farther apart.

Now, though, the century-old trend that accompanied the rise of electricity is being reversed. Many industrial and commercial entities are choosing to build their own combined heat and power generating facilities. In 1998, there were only 46 gigawatts of CHP facilities in the United States. By the end of 2008, 85 gigawatts of CHP capacity had been built.

. . .And while I'm at it, let me tell you that Tarwater and Charla have been down there at Hawkwind for over 2 decades, providing a safe space and giving folks the opportunities for personal growth and transformation. They, along with Lulu are always a blast to hang out with. Charla has some new programs that she's starting up, check her out at the Blue Star Portal.
. . . As always, for great ink and rockin' good time, check Tarwater and Lulu out at the Red Queen, up in Chattanooga, TN.

. . . .Charla sends this one along this morning, about a Gathering of Seers down at Hawkwind, and upcoming mystery school. Check it out.

. . . And another shout right here for Mary Thunder, down at Thunder Ranch, who sends along notes of encouragement to keep this going and keep on keeping on. Mary does good stuff down there, especially in helping people in recovery find a path to spirituality that works for them and speaks to them. Keep it up Mary.

. . . The Rev Charla down at Hawkwind, sends this link. I found it fascinating in light of what's going on the world these days, she's always been on top of how the information flows. It's a link to a website that spends some time with Drunzalo Melchizedek in an interview concerning the Mayan and Hopi prophecies and how they apply to this time. Check it out, it's worth your time. Melchizedek was able to gain some real insights and spend some time with indigenous elders that most of us never, or will never, get to. From my standpoint, with a foot in both worlds, his explanation in mathematical terms, especially the Fibonacci sequence, opened me up to some new things.
. . . .This one is personally important to me. I went to wonderful high school, Comstock High School, where I was given an opportunity to participate not just in sports and academics, but be part of the arts as well, being in high school plays, debate, forensics, the works. I think, if you're a regular reader, you know how passionate I am about music, (turn the volume knob UP on your computer if you don't know it by now, you'll figure it out pretty quickly), it's vital and important, music carries our soul as a society, and not everyone can be a musician, but they can be part of spreading it out and it's messages. Aimee sends this along, to help save 45 years of education radio after school, and I urge you to support it.

Many of you have met my sister Jenny or at least heard about her.
She's a good teacher and this is a good program. She loves her kids
and goes above and beyond for them and the radio station has always
been open for them.

California - you may not make it here, but please send an email and
share with friends. Course, you could always come for a visit, would
love to see most of you:)

Want to come with or meet me there? Let me know. This is a good
cause and community. If you can't make it, please email the
superintendent


WPHS 89.1 FM
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
7:30pm - 10:30pm
Warren Consolidated School Administration Building
31300 Anita
Warren, MI

Tell the Warren Consolidated School board why WPHS should stay on the
air. Are you a listener, an alumni, a current student, a parent or
just a fan of local radio? WCS is trying to shut down their student
run radio station after school- which will effectively kill the
program, eliminate the one place many kids have to go, and quiet the
voices of hundreds of future broadcasters.
Can't make it? email the superintendent
livernois@wcskids.net
or any of the board members
http://www.wcs.k12.mi.us/content/boardofed.htm
with your opinion.

Thanks
Aimee

. . . .Some days it all just sucks, and it doesn't look like there are any solutions, but those are the days, you suck it up, strap it on and go out into the fray and put one foot in front of the other, those days pass, and it gets better, you find out that you're not alone, and there are real solutions.

. . . . .Kiss your kids, tell the ones you love out loud that you do, seize the precious moments before they slip through your hands, this rodeo is a one-way ticket and no one gets out alive, and we don't get to dictate the terms and circumstances of how the ticket gets punched. It's not about yesterday, or tomorrow, it's about right here, right now. This ain't no dress rehearsal, so go change yourself and change your world, the world around you will change.

The Desolation Angel
[where: Hell, Michigan 48137]

Sunday Morning - coffee, eggs, bacon and fruit (how could it be better?)

Sunday June 7, 2009

. . . . .OK, fast Sunday morning round-up, lots to do today


. . . . .Sunday round-up here, including Liz Cheney (seriously, who invited you?) declaring that Obama "wants to hold hands with the terrorists" after his speech in Cairo (was she listening to the same one?) to the now-famous disconnect with her father, who finally, this week, admitted that there was no connection between Al-Quaeda and Iraq. Liz, 24 hours later, resurrected that claim. Catch it here.

. . . . .OK, OK, OK, history lesson again. Saddam Hussein was put in power by George Herbert Walker Bush while he was the director of the CIA under Reagan, basically in an effort to keep the Ayatollah Khomeini in check over in Iran, after the disaster of the hostages under Carter. Saddam Hussein sucessfully (??) prosecuted the Iran-Iraq war, resulting in the loss of millions on both sides, but successfully occupying Iran and keeping it in check. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, in Saudi Arabia, a member (incredibly wealthy) member of the Royal Family, was recruiting young Saudis to his cause, a luxury he could afford since he was rich, and had time to blame his incredible wealth on the West. Saddam Hussein, over in Iraq, was Ba'athist, a totally secular party, and was really enjoying the wealth he was accumulating, and doing some real hating on the Suunis and Shiites, and coincidentally, doing some real hating on Osama Bin Laden, the member of the Royal Family I refer to, since he'd gone all fundamentalist. Bin Laden successfully pulled off 9/11 using Saudi males between the ages of 19 and 35, and melted off into the highlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the Taliban, his soulmates, had their stronghold. Pappa Bush, smartly, didn't go all the way into Baghdad the first time, upon the urging of Colin Powell, and essentially, held the balance of power in the region stable, by allowing Saddam Hussein, the resources he needed to keep Iran in check. This made Bush Sr.'s playmates, Cheney and Rumsfeld mad, so the second time around, with a willing patsy in George, Jr., Darth Cheney and Darth Rumsfeld see untold riches in Iraq's oil and convince George, Jr. to take out the man his father had put into power in the first place, and completely ignore the real criminal behind 9/11, the man who attacked us on our own soil and killed 3,000, Bin Laden who was roaming the highlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan and growing stronger. Hussein is found in a rathole, Iraq falls, Admadinejad gains power in Iran, in league with the Ayatollah, becomes the major player in the region and has nukes. Meanwhile, Bin Laden is still alive, in league with the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and growing stronger and now 60 miles from Islamabad.

. . . What did Dick manage to accomplish during all of this? Shoot his best friend in the face while bird hunting and force Colin Powell out.

. . . Someone want to forward this column to Liz? If I need to, I can use simpler sentences and smaller words.

. . . .OMG! OMG! According to Newt Gingrich yesterday, at an event called "Rediscovering God in America", Americans are "surrounded by paganism.

. . . .I hope so

. . . .What are you going to do Newt? Send a couple of smallpox infested blankets to my house? Or mayhaps a conquistador or two accompanied by a good friar or Father to torture me into accepting your version of God? Before killing me?

. . . .And the annals of lunacy just keep on rolling. Congressman Todd Akin, from Missouri, sent an e-mail to his constituents yesterday warning of an imminent nuclear attack on Seattle. Obvious genius and future Jeopardy contestant at work here. Though admitting that North Korea doesn't have intercontinental capability (don't their missles just aimlessly fall into the Sea of Japan for no known reason?), he does provide a map showing Seattle as Ground Zero. HOLY SHIT! What about my Starbucks?

. . . . .The real problem that Guantanamo is revealing? There are 240 still there, the worst of the worst, those who can't be released, that need to be housed. Even though our SuperMax prisons are probably more than capable of housing them? No, the real problem that it's revealing is something that we need to take a look at:
- The United States, with only 5% of the world's populations, incarcerates 25% of the world's prisoners (all U.S. citizens on state or federal sentences)
- We incarcerate 756 inmates per 100,000 citizens, nearly 5 times the world average. (God, we must be some badass people!) Approximately 1 in every 31 adults.
- We spend $70 billion dollars per year
- Over 16% of the adult inmates housed suffer from mental illness. The rate among juveniles is higher
- 60% of the inmates doing state time for drug offenses have no history of violence.
- 4 out of 5 drug arrests were for possession, not sales
- 56% of those doing state time for drug offenses are African-American

. . . .How much longer do we want to avoid dealing with it?

. . . .From CNN, 5 private U.S. security contractors are being held in the murder of another U.S. security contractor last month in the Green Zone. When are we going to stop paying mercenaries and allow the U.S. military to do it's job? It dishonors us to pay them, and, pulling the history card out, was one of the key items in the fall of the Roman Empire, when their mercenaries finally turned against them. Anyone remember the Hessians and how much help they were to the British in our own revolution? Turned on the Brits. Mercs kill for money, period. They have no allegiance to a flag, or a Nation.

. . . The climate crisis isn't going to be solved in little increments, not any more, nor by politics. It's why I like the choice of Chu for Energy Secretary, from the New Republic:

While it may sound inevitable in retrospect, big breakthroughs like that don't come along too often. Nowadays, though, Chu is betting that they will-- and must. As the U.S. energy secretary, Chu has been tasked with reshaping the country's trillion-dollar energy economy, to reduce America's reliance on fossil fuels and cut greenhouse-gas emissions 80 percent or more by mid-century- -essential to avoiding catastrophic climate change. It's an enormous goal, and Chu believes the only way to achieve it is with multiple Nobel-caliber leaps in energy technology. "I mean technology that is game-changing, as opposed to merely incremental," he told Congress in March--technology that, as a recent Department of Energy (DOE) task force described it, will require an understanding of basic physics and chemistry "beyond our present reach."

. . . .Something I urge you read in full. This week's visit to the concentration camps by the President, his powerful speech, his commemoration yesterday of D-Day, serve as reminders of man's bravery and courage, but should also serve as reminders of man's inhumanity to man. Christopher Buckley visited Auschwitz with his father, William F. Buckley and had never written of it until now:

You go through the visitors center and there it is. You’ve seen it in photographs a hundred times, the famous gate: “Arbeit Macht Frei.” Work will set you free. The idea was to be reassuring, unlike the slogan Dante hung over the entrance to his hell, “Abandon hope all ye who enter here.” Put in an honest day and everything will be all right. Counterproductive to panic the arrivals. Here, and up the road, in Birkenau, they thought through all the details, down to the numbered hooks in the dressing rooms outside the gas chambers. The SS jollied you along. Remember which hook you hang your clothes on so you’ll be able to get find them after the shower. And don’t forget to put your shoes underneath so you’ll be able to get them, too. You’re a shoemaker? Great, we need shoemakers. At Auschwitz, they even had a prisoner orchestra playing inside the gate. It helped keep order. Good for morale, too. How bad could it be, if they greeted you with music?

It’s February and gray. The poplar trees that line the avenues between the cellblocks are bare. The swimming pool—See? We even have a swimming pool!—that was to impress the Red Cross is covered with dirty ice. Crows, gallows. It’s hands-in-the-pockets cold, but would you want to see this in springtime, with blossoms and sweet earth smells?

Our guide is Jarek. Mid-forties, fluent English, dark mustache, knit cap. He grew up in Oswiecim. He speaks precisely, in a low, clear voice without emotion for nearly six hours, except for twice, once outside Block 10 and inside Block 11. We pass under Arbeit Macht Frei. He indicates a grassy strip. “Here is where they gave the welcome speech. They said, ‘You dirty Poles, this isn’t a sanitorium. There’s only one way out—through the chimney of crematorium. Jews, you have three weeks. Priests, one month. Three months for the rest of you.”

. . . .A somber reminder of what people are capable of.

. . . .The round-up of the Sunday talking heads can be found here.

. . .And while I'm at it, let me tell you that Tarwater and Charla have been down there at Hawkwind for over 2 decades, providing a safe space and giving folks the opportunities for personal growth and transformation. They, along with Lulu are always a blast to hang out with. Charla has some new programs that she's starting up, check her out at the Blue Star Portal., where she's got some great new programs up and rolling.
. . . .Charla sends this one along about a Gathering of Seers down at Hawkwind, and upcoming mystery school. Check it out.
. . . As always, for great ink and rockin' good time, check Tarwater and Lulu out at the Red Queen, up in Chattanooga, TN.


. . . And another shout right here for Mary Thunder, down at Thunder Ranch, who sends along notes of encouragement to keep this going and keep on keeping on. Mary does good stuff down there, especially in helping people in recovery find a path to spirituality that works for them and speaks to them. Keep it up Mary.

. . . .This one is personally important to me. I went to wonderful high school, where I was given an opportunity to participate not just in sports and academics, but be part of the arts as well, being in high school plays, debate, forensics, the works. I think, if you're a regular reader, you know how passionate I am about music, (turn the volume knob UP on your computer if you don't know it by now, you'll figure it out pretty quickly), it's vital and important, music carries our soul as a society, and not everyone can be a musician, but they can be part of spreading it out and it's messages. Aimee sends this along, to help save 45 years of education radio after school, and I urge you to support it.

Many of you have met my sister Jenny or at least heard about her.
She's a good teacher and this is a good program. She loves her kids
and goes above and beyond for them and the radio station has always
been open for them.

California - you may not make it here, but please send an email and
share with friends. Course, you could always come for a visit, would
love to see most of you:)

Want to come with or meet me there? Let me know. This is a good
cause and community. If you can't make it, please email the
superintendent


WPHS 89.1 FM
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
7:30pm - 10:30pm
Warren Consolidated School Administration Building
31300 Anita
Warren, MI

Tell the Warren Consolidated School board why WPHS should stay on the
air. Are you a listener, an alumni, a current student, a parent or
just a fan of local radio? WCS is trying to shut down their student
run radio station after school- which will effectively kill the
program, eliminate the one place many kids have to go, and quiet the
voices of hundreds of future broadcasters.
Can't make it? email the superintendent
livernois@wcskids.net
or any of the board members
http://www.wcs.k12.mi.us/content/boardofed.htm
with your opinion.

Thanks
Aimee

. . . .Some days it all just sucks, and it doesn't look like there are any solutions, but those are the days, you suck it up, strap it on and go out into the fray and put one foot in front of the other, those days pass, and it gets better, you find out that you're not alone, and there are real solutions.

. . . . .Kiss your kids, tell the ones you love out loud that you do, seize the precious moments before they slip through your hands, this rodeo is a one-way ticket and no one gets out alive, and we don't get to dictate the terms and circumstances of how the ticket gets punched. It's not about yesterday, or tomorrow, it's about right here, right now. This ain't no dress rehearsal, so go change yourself and change your world, the world around you will change.

The Desolation Angel
[where: Hell, Michigan 48137]

Saturday (Niiiiigggtt's alright for fightin')

Saturday June 7, 2009

. . . .Because so many people responded to the first picture.. . . The backyard, then and now








. . . . .Yes, there are velociraptors or a T. Rex or two back there. And it's not a joke, that really is where I live. Ask Tom, he's seen it.



. . . . 65 years ago today, the bravest force the world has ever known, the men of the Greatest Generation, stormed the beaches of Normandy; Utah, Juno, Gold, Sword, Omaha and saved the world from the greatest evil it had ever known. Their losses were incredible, farmers from Iowa, backwoods boys from Tennessee and Alabama, city boys from Brooklyn, Philadelphia and Chicago, cowboys from Texas, Wyoming and Oklahoma; not men, many of them, boys really. Their bravery and sacrifice remains unparalleled. Take a moment to remember them and their sacrifice today. Take a moment to remember what they gave, and why they gave it.

. . . .The President at Omaha Beach at a wreath-laying ceremony:

"Long after our time on this Earth has passed, one word will still bring forth the pride and awe of men and women who will never meet the heroes who sit before us: D-Day." . . .
"Friends and veterans, what we cannot forget, what we must not forget, is that D-Day was a time and a place where the bravery and selflessness of a few was able to change the course of an entire century."

. . . .I know it's nice outside, that it's Saturday and there's still much to do in all of our lives. . .take some time today, watch Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers, and take the time to remember what your grandfathers, your uncles, your fathers, in some cases, gave that day, and why they gave it.

. . . . .The President's remarks in Germany were a sharp rebuke to those on the extreme Right, those White Power and White Supremacist groups who consistently deny the Holocaust, and specifically Ahmadinejad in Iran. (For those who still want to operate on the conspiracy theory that somehow the President isn't an American citizen, please remember that his Grandfather was part of the Allied liberating force at Buchenwald, don't dishonor the memory of those lost to the whims of a madman, or dishonor the memory of the brave men of the United States who liberated Europe with your conspiratorial crap.)

"These sites have not lost their horror with the passage of time," Obama said after seeing crematory ovens, barbed-wire fences and guard towers at Buchenwald. "More than half a century later, our grief and our outrage over what happened have not diminished." from the AP
On Ahmadinejad specifically - "He should make his own visit... I have no patience for people who would deny history."

. . . . . .I'm asked sometimes why I keep doing this, why I keep putting it out there, and why I'm willing to put up with the anonymous e-mails, the crap and the people who would put a simplistic views on things. It's simple, I'm an American citizen, and sometimes things are pretty black and white. He is the elected President of the United States of America, done so through due Constitutional process, and to work for his failure, as the traitors Limbaugh, Beck and Hannity (too strong a word? I think not, look up the definition) is to work for the failure of the United States of America and the failure my fellow citizens and future generations. It really is that simple people, really simple.

. . . .This country is at a breaking point, a crisis point, one of those nodal points in history where everything can change in an instant. To succumb to the fear-mongering fascist spoutings of the O'Reilly/Beck/Limbaugh/Savage/Coulter crowd is to succumb to those darker forces that work in the world. This crowd of sweaty, drunken, pill-addicted, fear-mongering entertainers only play on your darkest fears, and offer no facts, no solutions, no answers, and most importantly to me, demostrate daily and nightly traitorous and treasonous behavior. They demonstrate no faith whatsoever in America, in the citizens of this country, in the Flag or in the Constitution and it's processes as founded by Jefferson, Madison, Paine, Adams, Franklin and Washington and paid for so dearly by Abraham Lincoln.

- Traitor: One who betrays one's country, a cause or a trust; especially one's country

- Treason: The offense of committing overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance

-Sedition: Conduct which is directed against a government and which tends towards insurrection, but does not amount to treason.

- Fascism: A political philosophy or movement based on belligerent nationalism and racism

. . . .Think about those definitions; think about what Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Ann Coulter all espouse, what they're really trying to accomplish. Then take a moment to think about the number of graves at Normandy, that today we honor and remember, what they sacrificed and ask yourself "What do I stand for, do I listen to entertainers who are playing on our darker nature, the people who do truly have an agenda to put themselves back in power because they think they're smarter and better than me, and what am I as an American citizen?"

. . . . .Good news, the truck, as the saga of the earlier posts laid out, is finally on it's way back, with Caleb behind the wheel.

. . . .I would ask you to catch up on the posts from earlier this week, catch up on posts from earlier, if you're in the Detroit area, catch up with Aimee and the Warren Public School District's efforts to shut down their radio station. If you're not from the area, the e-mail address is there to tell the superintendent what you think.

. . . . .Earlier post from this week, Cody should be welcoming the campers in this afternoon and be all set-up. Thanks for that work Cody.

. . .And while I'm at it, let me tell you that Tarwater and Charla have been down there at Hawkwind for over 2 decades, providing a safe space and giving folks the opportunities for personal growth and transformation. They, along with Lulu are always a blast to hang out with. Charla has some new programs that she's starting up, check her out at the Blue Star Portal.
. . . As always, for great ink and rockin' good time, check Tarwater and Lulu out at the Red Queen, up in Chattanooga, TN.

. . . .Charla sends this one along this morning, about a Gathering of Seers down at Hawkwind, and upcoming mystery school. Check it out.

. . . And another shout right here for Mary Thunder, down at Thunder Ranch, who sends along notes of encouragement to keep this going and keep on keeping on. Mary does good stuff down there, especially in helping people in recovery find a path to spirituality that works for them and speaks to them. Keep it up Mary.

. . . .Some days it all just sucks, and it doesn't look like there are any solutions, but those are the days, you suck it up, strap it on and go out into the fray and put one foot in front of the other, those days pass, and it gets better, you find out that you're not alone, and there are real solutions.

. . . . .Kiss your kids, tell the ones you love out loud that you do, seize the precious moments before they slip through your hands, this rodeo is a one-way ticket and no one gets out alive, and we don't get to dictate the terms and circumstances of how the ticket gets punched. It's not about yesterday, or tomorrow, it's about right here, right now. This ain't no dress rehearsal, so go change yourself and change your world, the world around you will change.

The Desolation Angel
[where: Hell, Michigan 48137]

Friday - The Train comes into the station

Friday June whatever, 2009

. . . Let me start right off by stating how over Cottonwood season I am?

. . . Cody left this morning for his volunteer week at U of M Vent Camp. Can I take a moment as a Dad and just tell you how proud of him I am? Every year, this kid takes a week out of his schedule to go to camp and be a counselor for kids that are on ventilators, kids that live with a machine breathing for them, kids who wouldn't ordinarily get a chance to go play in the woods, splash in a pool, (which takes 3 people, one to hold a mechanical ventilator while two hold the child in the water), have competitions with other campers, have all the experiences that other kids can have. For many of them, they have a very short life expectancy, and this may be their only chance to get out in the woods, sleep in a cabin, have a camp experience like other kids. Cody, and a number of people from where he works, all take the time to give these kids that chance and make sure that they have ready access around the clock to the medical care they need. Truth be told, it makes me cry. Go Cody, I'm proud of you son. That's the kind of thing the world needs more of.

. . . Caleb left last night to get up to the Upper Peninsula to get his truck back.. . . .and of course, right on cue, there is an ominous rumbling from under the rear end of mine. Murphy's, don't you know? Go figure.

. . . The Rev Charla down at Hawkwind, sends this link. I found it fascinating in light of what's going on the world these days, she's always been on top of how the information flows. It's a link to a website that spends some time with Drunzalo Melchizedek in an interview concerning the Mayan and Hopi prophecies and how they apply to this time. Check it out, it's worth your time. Melchizedek was able to gain some real insights and spend some time with indigenous elders that most of us never, or will never, get to. From my standpoint, with a foot in both worlds, his explanation in mathematical terms, especially the Fibonacci sequence, opened me up to some new things.
. . .And while I'm at it, let me tell you that Tarwater and Charla have been down there at Hawkwind for over 2 decades, providing a safe space and giving folks the opportunities for personal growth and transformation. They, along with Lulu are always a blast to hang out with. Charla has some new programs that she's starting up, check her out at the Blue Star Portal.
. . . As always, for great ink and rockin' good time, check Tarwater and Lulu out at the Red Queen, up in Chattanooga, TN.


. . . And another shout right here for Mary Thunder, down at Thunder Ranch, who sends along notes of encouragement to keep this going and keep on keeping on. Mary does good stuff down there, especially in helping people in recovery find a path to spirituality that works for them and speaks to them. Keep it up Mary.

. . . .This one is personally important to me. I went to wonderful high school, where I was given an opportunity to participate not just in sports and academics, but be part of the arts as well, being in high school plays, debate, forensics, the works. I think, if you're a regular reader, you know how passionate I am about music, (turn the volume knob UP on your computer if you don't know it by now, you'll figure it out pretty quickly), it's vital and important, music carries our soul as a society, and not everyone can be a musician, but they can be part of spreading it out and it's messages. Aimee sends this along, to help save 45 years of education radio after school, and I urge you to support it.

Many of you have met my sister Jenny or at least heard about her.
She's a good teacher and this is a good program. She loves her kids
and goes above and beyond for them and the radio station has always
been open for them.

California - you may not make it here, but please send an email and
share with friends. Course, you could always come for a visit, would
love to see most of you:)

Want to come with or meet me there? Let me know. This is a good
cause and community. If you can't make it, please email the
superintendent


WPHS 89.1 FM
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
7:30pm - 10:30pm
Warren Consolidated School Administration Building
31300 Anita
Warren, MI

Tell the Warren Consolidated School board why WPHS should stay on the
air. Are you a listener, an alumni, a current student, a parent or
just a fan of local radio? WCS is trying to shut down their student
run radio station after school- which will effectively kill the
program, eliminate the one place many kids have to go, and quiet the
voices of hundreds of future broadcasters.
Can't make it? email the superintendent
livernois@wcskids.net
or any of the board members
http://www.wcs.k12.mi.us/content/boardofed.htm
with your opinion.

Thanks
Aimee

. . . . .From the New York Times, now the real problem with the stimulus and spending packages starts to come in, and come in now, not years from now. Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chair testified in front of Congress on Wednesday, “Even as we take steps to address the recession and threats to financial stability, maintaining the confidence of the financial markets requires that we, as a nation, begin planning now for the restoration of fiscal balance.” This translates as a simple warning. Acting like typical Americans, like typical government officials, who don't live in the same world we do, they're experiencing the phenomenon that occurs once people realize that they have to pay for things too, they don't just fall out of the sky.

As governments worldwide try to spend their way out of recession, many countries are finding themselves in the same situation as embattled consumers: paying higher interest rates on their rapidly expanding debt.

Increased rates could translate into hundreds of billions of dollars more in government spending for countries like the United States, Britain and Germany.

Even a single percentage point increase could cost the Treasury an additional $50 billion annually over a few years — and, eventually, an additional $170 billion annually.

This could put unprecedented pressure on other government spending, including social programs and military spending, while also sapping economic growth by forcing up rates on debt held by companies, homeowners and consumers.

. . . .But that's alright, because the real intent behind the stimulus packages was never really for jumpstarting the economy. According to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, President Obama's heinous plot behind the stimulus package monies is to "control the people."

. . . .The SEC charges are in against Angelo Mozilo, the former Countrywide CEO who is at the head of the list of felons that created the subprime bubble and then caused it's collapse. CNN Money reports that Mozilo was charged with misleading investors by telling them that Countrywide was a lender who dealt mostly in low-risk traditional mortgages, and with pocketing personally $140 million in insider trading.

. . . .These people drive me crazy. The GOP leaders, despite being extreme rightists, are apparently siding with their members who smoke dope, and are listening to the new drug czar, who of course has said that the war on drugs isn't working (News flash: It never did, and it never will, not until they have someone in the government who understands both the spiritual and medical root causes of addictive behavior). Their budget proposal trims $220 million over the next 5 years from drug war funds.

. . . .Speaking of their members who smoke dope, make sure to catch "Outrage" when it comes to a theater near you. It's a documentary about members of the far Right, Republican Party members who speak out so strongly against gay rights and gay marriage, but who are gay, and get outed in the film, not by the filmmakers but who have been outed previously.


. . . .OK, so Dick Cheney admits on Wednesday that there never was a connection between 9/11, Osama bin Laden, Al-Queada and Iraq and Saddam Hussein, and tries to blame it all squarely on Richard Clarke(???!!). Then on Thursday daughter Liz (who the fuck invited her to the party anyhow? Dick is bad enough) obviously hadn't talked to Daddy in the previous 24 hours and resurrected the claim that there was a link between Al-Queada and Iraq.

. . . And this same flag-waving group of people, who claim to be more patriotic and more American than anyone else, the GOP, turn around on Thursday, The Hill reports, and run right out of a closed-door House Intelligence briefing and start revealing what they read in classified documents.

. . . . .For a while, I really thought we were safe from hot button values issues, and little things like 10's of millions of people out of work, a broken economy, a broken auto industry, two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would save us from the endless shouting and hysteria that accompany those issues; things like racial preference in judges, abortion, gay marriage and gun control. Nope, seems people have too much time on their hands.

. . . And I hope they're happy, before leaving for the Mideast and Europe, the President left a two page briefing for his staff around his expectations and wants for health-care reform. It's essentially an amalgam of the programs that Clinton and McCain proposed while they were on the campaign trail. The Boston Globe reports that Obama told Congress he wants Americans to have a choice between public health insurance and private, and that he is open to requiring it to be mandatory.

. . . .Think the government doesn't have a big, big say in the flow of information. At first the media was doing a credible job of reporting on the spread of H1N1 (swine) flu. Everyone said "it's hysteria", and it's disappeared off the radar. Son Cody's hospital, the one where he works, has an entire wing right now that is "epidemic control" and every bed is full of H1N1 carriers, and people who are bad enough off to need hospitalization. It's spreading and getting worse. We warned about this in earlier posts, about it's 3rd or 4th circling around the globe. He now gets called while he's out at night by Infection Control from his employer whenever it turns out that during the day he was exposed to someone infected with H1N1. Scary stuff, even scarier that it's been taken of the info radar.

. . . .Again, for those who were certain that Obama is somehow going to "help" the terrorists, or as Liz Cheney said "hold hands with them", there's the Bin Laden tape delivered to Al-Jazeera in which he claimed Obama as an "enemy". There's the Ayatollah of Iraq, who spoke minutes after Obama's speech in Cairo and called him an "enemy", and the jihadist extremist reactions all over the web that call him a "wise enemy".

. . . .The same Mitt Romney, who said in 2002 that partisan politics stopped at the water's edge, well he decided to use the trip as his presidential hat-in-the-ring speech (why wait there's only 3 1/2 years to go) well, he's who blasted to President's remarks in Cairo. Well . . .and the Bush aide who called the speech "too balanced", gotta love it.

. . . .Yesterday, it was noted here about David Carradine's passing, and the effect he had on me as a teenager. The Rev Charla down at Hawkwind sent this tribute along, and I find it fitting, and wonderful, and thank her for writing it and sharing it:

A KUNG-FU TRIBUTE

It might seem a bit odd, coming from a Native Healing Center, to have a grieving moment over Kung–fu and David Carradine’s death. It’s not. This man joins a list of heroes for me from way back when. He was one of the most powerful influences in my Spiritual life from the 70’s. He was like every other Medicine Man or Woman that I knew. As a struggling teenager feeling trapped in Wyoming, he became a way of seeing the world with bigger eyes. When the series Kung-Fu came out, it was a warrior favorite on the Reservation. I managed the TV station and we played his shows everyday, when we could. Kung-Fu became the wild -west Holy Man of our times. It was while watching one of his TV shows that I became pregnant with my daughter Alethea,. She was named for a character in that particular show. It was a story about a little girl who witnessed a crime and was afraid to tell anyone. Jody Foster played the little girl, and when I heard that the name Alethea meant Goddess of Truth, I hung on to that for my precious child. Alethea Dawn-Star became my own very serious, dawning of truth.

Later in life, it was because of this silly character that I took martial arts. When I was diagnosed with cancer, this man played an important role in my healing. A Medicine Man in South Dakota guided me to a real Shaolin Priest in Chattanooga, I was so excited that I had finally met a real master of the ancient ways. I studied with him throughout six years of acupuncture and Thai Chi. It was because of the Kung-Fu character that I was fascinated with the ability to cure this disease with alternative means. This last month, Dr. Wong left me, as well. Call me crazy but I feel like Dr. Wong went to make way for David, who died in Tibet.

I knew David to be an activist, a shadow master of the good guy/bad guy roles in life,. I knew him to be an inner guide- post for my own perception of Holy/Wholeness. I have always related to him as a character of our times. I craved to know him in person, and he was always on my personal “bucket-list” He symbolized balance, and the great pause clause. I cherished those times he would slow down his language and listen to the wind or the rain. He showed me power in nature. He was a symbol of right vs wrong and how the good guy always wins out. Today I am sad, because this good guy did not win. He was found hanging in his room. I don’t want to think he gave up. I want to think he died in his cause of freedom for the old ways. I HAVE to think that for my own moment of grief of lost wisdom and direction. I want my Kung-Fu moment of WINNING WITH WISDOM NOT FORCE.

Today, I feel about his death the same as I have every Medicine Man or Woman that I watched etch my life and leave. This Kung Fu master has a deep etching in my life. It guided my media career and enchanted my Spiritual Quest for more knowledge. For years, I wanted to find a Temple like his for girls and go study the magic of the old ways. When I found Dr. Wong, we shared those laughs and those GRASSHOPPER moments. In some ways, I found it with Dr. Wong. I delighted in the hours and hours each day we spent in my healing. He would bow and pause and then he allowed me a thousand questions, and always responded; “ I gotta a needle for that…” We would spar through the evening, and I would work to find my inner balance, so I too could bow and be just like that blessed Kung Fu guy; a quiet hero.

I am hoping that today there is a martial arts match of the highest form of Kung-Fu in heaven. I see these two men are bowing to one another . They look into each other’s eyes with a little Charla smile of knowing that someone honestly believed in both of them. Fact or fiction, they were guide posts in my Medicine career. I will miss them. Today with a smile with a deep knowing of truth , I stand in the proper position to reach out into the Spiritual world. I continue to seek wholeness as a way of life. I have, after-all been the most dedicated grasshopper of all!

. . . Thanks Charla, for a wonderful tribute.

. . . .Way too nice a weekend coming at people, go enjoy the day.

. . . .Some days it all just sucks, and it doesn't look like there are any solutions, but those are the days, you suck it up, strap it on and go out into the fray and put one foot in front of the other, those days pass, and it gets better.

. . . . .Kiss your kids, tell the ones you love out loud that you do, seize the precious moments before they slip through your hands, this rodeo is a one-way ticket and no one gets out alive, and we don't get to dictate the terms and circumstances of how the ticket gets punched. It's not about yesterday, or tomorrow, it's about right here, right now. This ain't no dress rehearsal, so go change yourself and change your world, the world around you will change.

The Desolation Angel
[where: Hell, Michigan 48137]

Thursday

Thursday June 4, 2009

. . . .This is an absolutely gorgeous picture. Normally, the pictures that I post are public domain, and I don't mind if someone decides to download one. This is a very special one. It was taken the day after someone close to me buried her father, at a place that was special to them. If you want to download it, go ahead, but it would be nice if you would treat it as shareware and send something along to me at k.williamsdesolationangel@gmail.com to compensate her for it. Other than that, take a look at it, really look at it. For a significant number of you, I think you'll see what's there.
. . . .Remember, your contributions, your links and stories sent to me are always welcome and published, and I'll always take suggestions for the playlist in the podcast, and if you're lucky, every once in a while, I have a guest "D.J." and invite someone else to do the intro. You never know, might be you!

. . . .The playlist today? Stick around, listen to it. Go ahead and minimize the window after you're done reading and just let it play and listen to it. You're going to find Johnny Cash of course with the column's/podcast's theme song. You'll hear some great stuff, all mostly hell-raisers and renegades, pot stirrers. You'll hear Michael Franti, Steve Earle, Bruce in a couple of different contexts, Tom Morello, one of my favorites with a track from his new band, the Street Sweeper Social Club, Otis Gibbs, and the hilbilly bluegrass hard metal rock of Ryan Bingham. All these folks do have something in common, that would be following in the footsteps of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. They're folks who are singing out for the people and providing a voice for those who don't have one.. . . .Had to do it. After the inquiries and questions. Yes, this is actually what the back yard looks like, taken back in the early spring. Yes, it really does look like a back alley at the Rennaisance Faire. Tom, who normally has very little reaction to most things and is quite stoic, upon seeing it for the first time, couldn't stop laughing long enough to talk. Wait until I run the picture from now, since all the ferns from my landlady's fern fetish have grown in, and it now resembles the back lot set for Jurassic Park. . .it only gets better.

. . . .OK, on to the news of the day. Still trying to get my head wrapped around this one. South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham sat down with Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor yesterday for a 1/2 hour closed door meeting, then came out and said she offended him as an "everyday average white guy".
- Ummm, OK? Everyday Average White Guy. Let's see, United States Senator, politician, lawyer. Uh-huh. . . . yeah, everyday average white guy. Let's see. . . I've got a U.S. Senator thinking he's an average everyday white guy, and he's judging the credentials of a sitting Federal Judge that, oh by the way, he confirmed back in 90's when Bush the 1st appointed her to her Federal Circuit Court of Appeals seat, on whether or not she appears to see things from his "everyday average white guy" viewpoint.
- And these mouthbreathing morons wonder why I keep saying that the politicians in the Beltway don't speak for us anymore?

. . .And this is what just completely fucks me up about these wingnuts. In a rare moment of honesty, Graham admitted in an interview that is was all really just a game that the Republicans are playing with the White House, and that it isn't doing the country any good!

"I'm not doing the country any good looking back playing a game of tit for tat. But I'm not going to put my party at a disadvantage if this is the way the game is played," Graham said.

. . . .The hypocrisy turns my stomach.

. . . .Good news, son Caleb's truck is finally finished. Now to just arrange the round-trip back to the Upper Peninsula to retrieve it. One thing at a time.
. . . .Correction: New conversation with Dave of Dave's BP -
Me: "Dave, I'm sending Caleb up there to get his truck, it's done right?"
Dave: "Oh yah - it's done, send him up here. . . .but the engine smokes real bad, so I'm going to bring the sales rep in on Tuesday."
Me: "Dave, can he drive the truck?"
Dave: "Oh, yah, but I want him to keep it here until Tuesday so the sales rep can see how bad the engine smokes"
Me: "Dave, he can't do that, he has to work down here, and he has class next Tuesday."
Dave: "OK, then walll yah. Just have him get the truck, but it smokes real bad."

ATTN: There is a volunteer expeditionary militia force forming now to go up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Expect combat conditions. Volunteer at the e-mail address on your left.

. . . Although this morning, finally, somebody is speaking out about former Sen. Pat Buchanan's outright racist tirades, similar in venality to Tom Tancredo's. You'll remember that Buchanan made fun of Judge Sotomayor's learning and mastering the English language on her own while being raised in the Bronx by one parent who spoke Spanish. Probably learned it pretty successfully, since Buchanan was a sitting Senator when he confirmed her to her Federal Court seat.

. . . .Here's one for you, talk about a meeting of the minds! Sean Hannity sat down last night for a probing "in-depth" interview with Rush Limbaugh. Seems Mister Limbaugh says he still wants the President to "fail", and that he (and I'm quoting here) wants "Al-Queada to destroy the country faster before Obama does". As well, he still thinks Sotomayor is a "racist" but if she thinks the right way about abortion, he'll support her nomination.

. . .Long-time Sean Hannity pal, radio host and white supremacy fan, Hal Turner is facing charges for inciting violence against elected officials.

- Traitor: One who betrays one's country, a cause or a trust; especially one's country

- Treason: The offense of committing overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance

-Sedition: Conduct which is directed against a government and which tends towards insurrection, but does not amount to treason.

. . .This is where my problem comes in with the Limbaugh/Hannity/O'Reilly/Savage/Malkin/Coulter crowd:
-Point 1 - They insist on portraying themselves as "outsiders" who speak for the "rest of us", saving us from the "mainstream media". BULLSHIT! Fox News consistently is the ratings leader and commands a much larger audience than the other "news" channels. Limbaugh consistently claims the largest Arbitron ratings. They aren't the little guys, they ARE the mainstream media.
- Point 2 - They insist on portraying themselves as reporters and news people. BULLSHIT! They're not. They're entertainers and media figures with no more qualification to analyze or pontificate and be pundits than you or I. They work for a media congolomerate that includes the Fox Television Network and FX. Their ratings are just as scrutinized by their bosses as any ratings for American Idol, House, Sons of Anarchy or Rescue Me are. They depend on an audience to pull in numbers to pull in advertisers so they can charge more. They don't report the news, THEY ARE THE NEWS!
-Point 3, made eloquently by E.J. Dionne in this morning's Washington Post:

A media environment that tilts to the right is obscuring what President Obama stands for and closing off political options that should be part of the public discussion.

Yes, you read that correctly: If you doubt that there is a conservative inclination in the media, consider which arguments you hear regularly and which you don't. When Rush Limbaugh sneezes or Newt Gingrich tweets, their views ricochet from the Internet to cable television and into the traditional media. It is remarkable how successful they are in setting what passes for the news agenda.

The power of the Limbaugh-Gingrich axis means that Obama is regularly cast as somewhere on the far left end of a truncated political spectrum. He's the guy who nominates a "racist" to the Supreme Court (though Gingrich retreated from the word yesterday), wants to weaken America's defenses against terrorism and is proposing a massive government takeover of the private economy. Steve Forbes, writing for his magazine, recently went so far as to compare Obama's economic policies to those of Juan Peron's Argentina.. . . . .

. . . .He is the duly elected President of the United States of America, elected through Constitutional process. I am a citizen of the United States of America, as are my sons. The country is in crisis, if he fails, we all fail, and we fail our future generations.

. . . .So. . . anyone who lives in the upper Great Lakes want to debate climate change with me right about now? 47 degree overnights in June?

. . . .Still continuing with the series from Wired on improving and upgrading the national electrical grid, still the smartest, cheapest, fastest, most efficient thing we can do on a right now basis to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and reduce our personal energy bills:

Problem Electricity is the ultimate just-in-time commodity, sent off to consumers as soon as it's generated. But solar and wind installations produce power only when the sun is shining or a breeze is blowing. If you could bank that energy when it's abundant and release it later as needed, you'd have a more reliable, more environmentally sound power grid.

Solution Obama's stimulus package includes $2 billion in grants for battery development. For power grids, sodium-sulfur technology is the best bet. It's more efficient and power-dense than zinc-bromide or lead-acid, and in Japan, where NaS batteries are made, enough have been installed to power the equivalent of at least 155,000 homes. Later this year or next, American Electric Power, a major utility serving 11 midwestern states, will install 4 megawatts' worth of NaS cells in Presidio, Texas. That's on top of the 6 megawatts of battery power AEP installed in three other states last year. "We wanted a real thing that really works," says Ali Nourai, AEP's manager of distributed energy resources. "We didn't want to send a technician out every other day to fix some experimental system." Regulatory uncertainties still abound, but utilities across the US plan to bring sodium-sulfur systems online. Soon, more and more cities will come with batteries included.

Other Energy Storage Technologies

Compressed Air Off-peak power forces air into a sealed space (like an abandoned mine or salt dome); when energy is needed, the air is released and burned with natural gas to spin a turbine.

Flywheels Huge, heavy wheels get spun up by a generator. When they decelerate, they spit the power back out, providing an uninterruptible backup energy supply.

Pumped Hydro Water is pushed up an incline to a reservoir. To put electricity back into the grid, the water is allowed to rush back down, driving a set of turbines.

. . . .In other news today: David Carradine was found dead today in his hotel room in Bangkok. He will be missed. I'm always a fan of the cheesy, but David in "Kung Fu" kicked butt. Not on a physical level for me, it was back then that he opened this teenagers's eyes up to different philosophies and different ways of seeing the world, even if it was just a television show. A true Hollywood iconoclast, he was never afraid to march to a different drummer and didn't give a damn what anyone else thought.

. . . I want to give a shout right now for a new book When Bubba Met The Buddha. It's written by Richard "Dixie" Hartwell, which is a pseudonym for one John Lee, who actually is a pretty fantastic guy. It's a quirky novel, well-written. John's novel concerns the adventures of one good Alabama native along the road towards growing up, which most of us men don't seem to even start to do until we're 50. Give it a try, it'll be worth your while, and it'll give you a chuckle or two along the way.

. . . .I'm going to put my plug in here for the folks down at Hawkwind and the Rev Charla at the Blue Star Times. They've been living sustainability down in the mountains of Alabama for a long time, and helping people find healing and personal transformation for over two decades. Charla has a new program up and rolling, with a book, webinars and bridge calls. It's worth your time to check out.
. . .And while I'm at it, of course a shout for Tarwater and Lulu over at the Red Queen in Chattanooga for killer ink.

. . . .I'm still following H.R. 2454 The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 over at Open Congress. It's still in committee at this point.

. . . .There's a lot going on around G.M and Chrysler. Here's the bottom line from up here in Armageddon Central (Michigan). The bottom line - 1/3 of G.M.'s workforce, 14 plants will hit the street and fast, with no jobs in the U.S. economy to go to. Chrysler will close up to half of it's dealerships nationwide by next Tuesday. G.M.'s dealers will have until October to close. Folks, I really, really don't think that you've wrapped your heads around, even begun to comprehend what this is going to mean to the State of Michigan, to the Great Lakes region, to the Nation.

. . . Reader Paul sends along this link here to a video put together by a former G.M. exec that pretty well takes on everything wrong with the government's plan. Which by the way, is one where I completely split with the current administration.

. . . .Tomorrow's main part of the post will be devoted to Ford Motor Company, and all the things they did right in all of this. I worked for them for over 20 years, and they took no Federal money and are surviving. Just due to that, we all owe them some thanks, and need to look pretty closely at buying a Ford Motor Company product for the next vehicle in mine or yours driveway.

. . . .Thank you, thank you Brad for being one of the people who finally understood all of last years post headings that referred to the Black Flag and looking up the H.L. Mencken quote that started it all for me.

. . . .Outta here for today. I may update more throughout the day.
. . . .Kiss your kids, tell the ones you love out loud that you do. Seize the precious moments before they slip through your hands. This rodeo is a one-way ticket, and no one gets out alive. We don't get to dictate the terms and circumstances of how the ticket gets punched, so it's not about yesterday or tomorrow, it's about right here, right now. This ain't no dress rehearsal. Change yourself, change your own world, and the world around you at large will change.

. . . .Got your back, somewhere out here in the night.

The Desolation Angel
[where: Hell, Michigan 48137]

Tuesday/Wednesday

Tuesday June 2, 2009

. . . . . .Interesting developments today, to say the least.

. . . .One note that I need to put in here up top. The good folks at Gibson, Dunn, Crutcher in New York, the band of lawyers that monitors the Internet for columnists, bloggers and writers download this every morning right now, God knows why. So, to keep everything legal, the music that you hear in the playlist and podcast is music that I've bought and the artist received compensation for, it's for your enjoyment while you're reading, and not for download, which you couldn't do anyhow. Any opinions expressed here are strictly my own, and do not represent any other person or legal entity. All quotes that I use are linked and attributed to their original author and are set aside in block quotes. (Yes, guys, I have code programmed in that tells me when someone likes you, a law firm, downloads this)

. . . .I'm going to put my plug in here for the folks down at Hawkwind and the Rev Charla at the Blue Star Times. They've been living sustainability down in the mountains of Alabama for a long time, and helping people find healing and personal transformation for over two decades. Charla has a new program up and rolling, with a book, webinars and bridge calls. It's worth your time to check out.
. . .And while I'm at it, of course a shout for Tarwater and Lulu over at the Red Queen in Chattanooga for killer ink.

. . . . .I said it last week, and he's sticking by it. I notice that the President has not made Tiller's murder an issue, at least an Administration issue. He is refusing to entertain the "culture wars" and the issues that drove the extreme Right and the so-called "values" voters. Remember them from 2000 and 2004? He's sticking to policy issues, to economic issues, to issues of education, health care and energy independence.

. . . .Now the reality hits. GM is starting to lay off 1/3 of it's workforce. In Michigan alone, which is already a battered state, this will only hurt worse. There's no work here, no matter how good a face the Governor and Jeff Daniels try to put on it on the News Channels.

. . . CNN provides the what, the why and the when behind GM's bankruptcy, the 4th largest in U.S. history, here.

. . . . .Once that ball gets rolling, it's going to be hard to stop and it will have widespread effects. To go along with that, Shell Oil in a surprise move, switched CEO's at the top, forced a couple of people out and the new CEO is not wasting any time. As of today, reports from London and U.K. Guardian report that Shell could cut up to 25% of it's existing jobs under the new restructuring plan being unveiled over the last 72 hours.

. . . . .Despite the promised help from the Government, and it's companion website, Making Home Affordable, the New York Times reports that many homeowners are finding out that the promised help with their mortgages and payments just isn't forthcoming.

. . . .Add to that the fact that Los Angeles Times reports that Bank of America, one of the largest TARP recipients, and one of the largest members of the pool of banks who contributed to this crisis, can now legally take Social Security funds to cover overdraft fees.

. . . And people wonder why and how there's no confidence in the economic recovery plan.

. . . .Leads right to one of the coolest things I've seen and read in a while. Over at Vote.org, former Rep. Mike Gravel lays out The National Initiative For Democracy, the same thing as ballot inititiatives on a State level, only in this case, on a National and Federal level, as they refer to it on their website - "A Plan B for when our representatives don't represent us". I interpret it as true representative democracy. From their website:

Led by former US Senator Mike Gravel, the National Initiative empowers us to check and balance representatives, similar to ballot initiatives in 24 States, but at all levels from local to national and with major improvements. It gives us a "Plan B" whenever representatives don't represent us. (Do torture, perpetual wars and debt, domestic spying and bailouts for the rich represent you??)

A few Congress members have tried to get us this power from Congress since 1907, without success. Gravel discovered the Founders had the same problem: the existing 13 Legislatures refused to share their power with the USA. The Founders found a way: The People ratified the Constitution at the Constitutional Conventions. James Madison said "The people were in fact, the fountain of all power, and by resorting to them, all difficulties were got over."(His 2nd response in the 1787 Debate)

Now we resort to you to read and vote to ratify the National Initiative, to make real the promise of "government by the people." The National Initiative consists of the brief Democracy Amendment and the more detailed Democracy Act.

. . . .I encourage you to check it out, read more at the jump here.

. . . What is the deal with Spring in the Midwest. 47 in the morning in June? Ya gotta be kidding me.

. . . .The President leaves for the Mideast, and delivers one of the major speeches of his Presidency so far from Egypt in a couple of days. This is trickier than anyone knows or realizes. It's not clear cut and and one thing can't be separated from the other. Saudi Arabia and Egypt are the two true major players in the region. Israel, led by Netanyahu, is back on a hard line, and Iran is making noise. We, and the rest of the world, are in a major economic recession. The Arabians, the Egyptians, and Iran all control the world's heroin, oil. The world can ill afford the members of the Middle Eastern Oil cartel shutting off the valves and driving the price per barrel up and shortening supplies, not at this point. The world cannot afford to have Israel getting a wild hair up it's ass and going ballistic, and it can't afford at this point to crank off Ahmedinejad. This is a fine line that needs to be trod here, and this trip and this speech have to go well.

. . . .But it really doesn't matter to the House Republicans, according to Eric Cantor, as reported today, Obama's Mideast policy is "misguided" and "dangerous".

. . . .Oh yeah, for those Obama detractors, who before the election were certain that somehow he was a secret "Muslim" or somehow had some sympathetic allies in the Mideast. The Al-Queada second-in-command called on Eqyptians to not allow Obama into their country as he was "an enemy".

. . . .As well, the President's trip brought Bin Laden out of hiding. He released a tape to Al-Jazeera when Obama hit the ground in Saudi Arabia threatening Americans and claiming that President Obama inflamed hatred towards the U.S. by directing Pakistan to crack down on Taliban militants in the Swat Valley.

. . . .In terms of Afghanistan and Pakistan, Reader Kay sends this one along, which is a conference call being sponsored by United For Peace and Justice, and is a report from Kabul and Jalalabad in Afghanistan:

Eyewitness Report-Back: Kabul and Jalalabad
Tonight, June 3, 9-10 PM ET (Click here for the call details -- phone number and access code)

Tonight, UFPJ invites you to take part in a conference call briefing with David Wildman, a UFPJ Steering Committee member, who has recently returned from a 10-day visit to Afghanistan. David has traveled to the country four times and will provide a detailed overview of the facts on the ground, along with a deeper historical perspective of the conflict.

The conference call briefing will be tonight, Wednesday, June 3, from 9-10 PM ET. Please click here to view call details (phone number and access code).

Public education about Afghanistan and the effects of the U.S. troop presence is a crucial element of our work as peace activists. This work takes on even more importance in light of the lack of media coverage about the conflict. Last week, Peter Rothberg wrote in The Nation that "...there's so little media coverage of what's actually taking place in the country -- recent estimates of coverage by major news outlets report that a scant 0.6% of reporting has been devoted to Afghanistan."

We have much to do to shift public opinion and to change the narrative of the conflict. But to do this, we must educate ourselves and heighten our own sensibilities towards what is happening on the ground in Afghanistan.

That's why UFPJ invites you to tonight's conference call briefing with David Wildman at 9 PM ET. Please join us!

UFPJ

. . . I suppose it's a good thing, but Dick Cheney finally admitting that there was no connection between 9/11 and Iraq? Talk about too little, too late.

. . . .Cody is promising me a review of the Nine Inch Nails/Jane's Addiction Concert on Sunday night, but I'm looking forward to his review of Tom Morello and the Street Sweeper Social Club, he said they flat out rocked.

. . . .What's disgusting to me about the current incarnation of the Republican Party and it's fringe leaders, those non-elected ones like Gingrich, Cheney and Limbaugh? The fact that the Republican Party was the party of Lincoln, that it was a party that was born in a "free" state, Michigan, away from the whips of the slavers, and was the party of equality, liberty and freedom for all. How they have betrayed their founding principles.

. . . .The current one being their treatment of Judge Sotomayor. It was refreshing to see Michael Steele on CNN on Tuesday morning grow a set and declare that Gingrich and Limbaugh weren't elected officials and didn't have a seat on on the Senate Judiciary Committee, those people whose job it really is to "advise and consent".

. . . . Conservative talk show host John Batchelor on the GOP's treatment of Sotomayor in today's Daily Beast:

The whimpering of the Republican officeholders at the rants of Limbaugh, Gingrich, Tancredo, and Cheney is now so panicky that it is no longer sufficient to presume it is because the politicians fear the Hispanic vote over Sonia Sotomayor or the generic party polls about torture and the bailouts. Rather, it is because the Republican remnants in Congress are arrogant adults who have, by their wordless toleration of the demagogues, become the thing they fear more than losing. They have become cowards.

After hearing out 100 hours of indecency hurled at the ardent and articulate Sotomayor by the Nouveau Demagogues and their choir, and hearing nothing in passionate rebuke from the GOP leaders on the Hill, it is time to accuse each and every one of the Republicans in Congress of betrayal. It is time to say they have abandoned the people who elected them to represent a political party that was built, at the heroic moment of its birth under the guns of the slavers, upon a belief in liberty for all. It is time to challenge them to speak up loudly for our better angels in the face of the conjurers or else confess their lack of interest in the history of the party and find another, less-demanding vocation.. . . . . . .

. . . . .Where are the Republicans of Congress to challenge these two giddy character assassins as unacceptable cranks, immediately and loudly? Are they afraid of a couple of middle-aged multimillionaires? Are they ashamed of their own impotence? Don’t they see that their silence encourages the rascals? Don’t they have a Twitter page? What do you think Joe Welch meant when he told Joe McCarthy, “Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator?” Does the party’s history have no meaning to you on the Hill?

. . . .Read the rest at the jump here.

. . . .I have absolutely got to get some pots of annuals for this place. The Land of the Lost look of the ferns has absolutely gotten to me.

. . . Now as of Wednesday afternoon; Gingrich had issued a written apology for calling Sotomayor a "racist" but Limbaugh says he "won't back down". Catch both of them here.

. . . .Former top Bush Strategist Mark McKinnon: "If Republicans make a big deal out of opposing Sotomayor, we will be hurling ourselves off a cliff. Death will not be assured, but major injury will be."

. . . .Crooks and Liars turned up a C-SPAN video of Pat Buchanan criticizing Sotomayor for learning English, and the way she learned it.

. . . .From Bob Herbert, in the New York Times, in his op-ed piece:

One can only hope that the hysterical howling of right-wingers against the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court is something approaching a death rattle for this profoundly destructive force in American life.
It’s hard to fathom the heights of hypocrisy currently being scaled by the foaming-in-the-mouth crazies who are leading the charge against the nomination. Newt Gingrich, who never needed a factual basis for his ravings, rants on Twitter that Judge Sotomayor is a “Latina woman racist,” apparently unaware of his incoherence in the “Latina-woman” redundancy in this defamatory characterization.. . . .
. . . .It turns the stomach. There is no level of achievement sufficient to escape the stultifying bonds of bigotry. It is impossible to be smart enough or accomplished enough.Here’s the thing. Suddenly these hideously pompous and self-righteous white males of the right are all concerned about racism. They’re so concerned that they’re fully capable of finding it in places where it doesn’t for a moment exist. Not just finding it, but being outraged by it to the point of apoplexy. Oh, they tell us, this racism is a bad thing! . . . . .Are we supposed to not notice that these are the tribunes of a party that rose to power on the filthy waves of racial demagoguery. I don’t remember hearing their voices or the voices of their intellectual heroes when the Republican Party, as part of its Southern strategy, aggressively courted the bigots who fled the Democratic Party because the Democrats had become insufficiently hostile to blacks.

. . . .Read the rest of it here.

. . . .Mona Charen takes on the overt racism being demonstrated by Gingrich, Limbaugh and Rove here.

. . . . More solutions around the upgrading of the national electrical grid. Again, the smartest, highest return on investment and most efficient work we could do to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, our dependence on oil period, and put money back in everyone's wallets. Sticking with Wired.com, here's another one:

Problem Building wind turbines and solar farms in the middle of nowhere sounds great. But it's not easy to move all that clean energy to the people. Obama just signed into law $6 billion in loan guarantees for energy projects, including new transmission lines. But constructing those lines will require the approval of landowners and city planners, who want the electricity but not the unsightly high-voltage wires strung across their property.

Solution Go underground—or underwater. The Trans Bay Cable will link San Francisco to 400 megawatts of power—some from the Altamont Pass wind farms near Livermore, California, and the rest from other sources throughout the state. Set to open in 2010, it's a $500 million project that everyone in the area wanted built ... somewhere else. As a result, the planned route looks like the path an escaped convict would take if he wanted to minimize contact with humans, especially of the activist and bureaucratic kind.

. . . .And just one of the coolest, unexplained things that I've read in a while. What the picture here depicts another one of the unexplained phenomena in the Universe. Gizmodo reports on this one, which shows a "picture" of what NASA released back in October of how the entire universe, every galaxy, is unexplainably swirling towards a tiny slice of space towards "dark matter", which up until now, has been only a phase in Sci-fi novels and episodes of Star Trek.. . . .Outta here for today. Kiss your kids, tell the ones you love out loud that you do. Seize the precious moments before they slip through your hands. This rodeo is a one-way ticket, and no one gets out alive. We don't get to dictate the terms and circumstances of how the ticket gets punched, so it's not about yesterday or tomorrow, it's about right here, right now. This isn't a dress rehearsal. Change your world, change yourself and change the world around you.

. . . Got your back, somewhere out there in the night.

The Desolation Angel
[where: Hell, Michigan 48137]

Monday - Ghost Train just keeps on rollin'

Monday June 1, 2009

. . . .The question is never change, change is a constant in the universe. The question that I always have on a Monday like this one, is how much of a seismic shift can occur in only 24 hours?

. . .Right now, it's not an exaggeration to say that this country is on the precipice of total insanity. It's time for everyone to draw back, take a deep breath, calm down, say a prayer of your choosing, and think? Not react!

. . . .One note that I need to put in here up top. The yahoos and sharks at Gibson, Dunn, Crutcher in New York, the band of vampirish lawyers that the Right regularly uses to shut down columnists, bloggers and writers download this every morning. So, to keep everything legal, the music that you hear in the playlist and podcast is music that I've bought and the artist got paid for, it's for your enjoyment while you're reading, and not for download, which you couldn't do anyhow. Any opinions expressed here are strictly my own, and do not represent any other person or legal entity. All quotes that I use are linked and attributed to their original author and are set aside in block quotes. (Yes, guys, I have code programmed in that tells me when someone likes you download this, which by the way, if you're downloading the words, is protected by a Creative Commons copyright license).

. . . . .Right up top here I'm going to put a disclaimer, I put some reviews up the other day that Cody did of current music and graphic media/comics. He did put a strong recommendation in for the The Boys, but he reminded me today of something he didn't tell me. If The Boys was a television series, it'd be on cable, most likely HBO or Showtime, and definitely have a TV-MA rating for LSV; language, sexuality, and violence. So be forewarned, as opposed to offended.

. . . .There's going to be some changes going on down at Hawkwind and the Blue Star Times in terms of their web addresses, but they'll still be easily accessed to find out about their programs, and the wonderful work they do (being Charla, Tarwater, LuLu and crew). They're e-mailing folks as these changes wrought by AT&T occur, and I'll keep the addresses current here as well. Those links up above in the paragraph are good links, and you can check them out at the jump. These folks are good friends, and have been providing a safe place and not just teaching about, but living, sustainability for a long time down there, over 2 decades. They're all about personal transformation and healing, and they do deserve your support and good intent. The Rev. Charla has just started a new program centered around personal growth and transformation, replete with webinars, workbooks and bridge calls, check 'em out.
- Along with a shout-out to The Red Queen and Lulu and Tarwater in Chattanooga and the killer ink they do there.

. . . .The first step in healing is recognizing that there is a need for it. Not on an intellectual, or head basis, but down where you live, down inside.

. . . .Playlist in the podcast today is all singer/songwriters. Some you'll recognize, some you won't.

. . . .I'm hesistant to take on this first topic, but I will, and it needs to be taken on. I need to say this first and most prominently. I am not taking a position on abortion, nor will I. I am not qualified to. So let me repeat that, I am not taking a position on abortion. Though I may have an opinion, that's private. What I am taking on is yesterday's murder, in public, in church, of a doctor who performed abortions.
. . . .You can check below, you can check the archives. This type of action is exactly what I've been worried about in this country as the extreme Right has amped up the hyperbole and hysteria through their media mouthpieces and outlets. (More below on further insanity this morning).
. . . The extreme irony here is that the very same "violent action" that the Limbaugh/Hannity/O'Reilly/Savage/Beck/Malkin/Coulter brand of entertainer have been trying to stir people up about and get them worried about (refer to the Limbaugh/Beck/O'Reilly ongoing conversation about the Obama "master plan") is the type of insanity that has now been set in motion by Right wing extremists.
. . . One of the best reaction pieces that I've read this morning comes from Frank Schaeffer, a columnist, author and writer. His most recent book is Crazy for God: How I Grew Up As One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived To Take All (or Almost All) Of It Back. He's the author of another forthcoming book; Patience with God: Faith For People Who Don't Like Religion (Or Atheism).

My late father and I share the blame (with many others) for the murder of Dr. George Tiller the abortion doctor gunned down on Sunday. Until I got out of the religious right (in the mid-1980s) and repented of my former hate-filled rhetoric I was both a leader of the so-called pro-life movement and a part of a Republican Party hate machine masquerading as the moral conscience of America. . . . . .

. . . . .Like many writers of moral/political/religious theories my father and I would have been shocked that someone took us at our word, walked into a Lutheran Church and pulled the trigger on an abortionist. But even if the murderer never read Dad's or my words we helped create the climate that made this murder likely to happen. In fact that very thing has happened before. In 1994, Dr. John Bayard Britton and one of his volunteer escorts were shot and killed outside an abortion clinic in Pensacola, Florida. Paul Hill, a former minister, was convicted of the killings and executed in 2003. Paul Hill was an avid follower of my father's.
Hyperbole from the pulpit from religious leaders, be it from my father or from President Obama's former pastor the Rev. Wright, is par for the course. But once in a while someone "does something" about it and then everyone says that they were only speaking metaphorically or "spiritually" when they called for violence or for the overthrow the state or when they said things like "God damn America!" or that "abortionists are murderers like Hitler!". . . . . .

. . . . .Angry speech has become the norm in American religion from both the right and the left. Words are spoken which -- when taken seriously -- lead directly to violence by the unhinged and/or the truly committed.

When evangelicals on the right call President Obama a socialist, a racist, anti-American, an abortionist, not a real American, and, echoing the former Vice President, someone who is weakening America's defenses and making us less safe, the logical conclusion is violence. If you take these words literally you might pull the trigger to "make America safe" and/or free us from communism or to even protect us from -- what some "Christian" leaders claim -- Obama as the Antichrist.

The same hate machine I was part of is still attacking all abortionists as "murderers." And today once again the "pro-life" leaders are busy ducking their personal responsibility for people acting on their words. The people who stir up the fringe never take responsibility. But I'd like to say on this day after a man was murdered in cold blood for preforming abortions that I -- and the people I worked with in the religious right, the Republican Party, the pro-life movement and the Roman Catholic Church, all contributed to this killing by our foolish and incendiary words.
I am very sorry.

. . . .I want to make it clear, that upon examining and reading this piece, the author takes on both the Right and the Left and it's extremists. Both sides are increasingly at fault in the ever-escalating war of words that is going on right now between these two ends of the spectrum. Human nature being what it is, there are those at either end who will take what they see as "logical" action that is in "agreement" with whatever leader or media figure they choose to follow.
. . . I'm going to say it again. It's time for everyone to take a step back, take a deep breath, and then think! It is what differentiates us, the ability to think and make choices. Ultimately, it's all about choice, the choices each person makes every day that they walk on this Earth.

. . . .Cody attended the NINJA (Nine Inch Nails/Jane's Addiction) concert last night. Full report on that tomorrow, but the most important thing. Opening act was Tom Morello and the Street Sweeper Social Club. I'm a big fan of Tom's and was a fan of his electric guitar work with Rage Against The Machine. Now, by combining his two loves, that being electric guitar and finding a kindred soul in political rapper Boots Riley, Tom can continue to fight the power and get young people politically involved in his ongoing effort towards social justice and support the organization he co-founded The Axis of Justice.

. . . .One of the bills I'm tracking right now over at Open Congress is H.R. 676 The United States National Health Care Act. Regardless of what else is going on in the world or the Nation, I believe that the President and the House and Senate will go after health care this year. For one, I'm for it, and don't give the Canadian argument, or the "I want my choices" argument. You don't have one now, it's completely decided by private insurers and boards of HMO's, in secret, and you have no say.

. . . .The other crippling blow to the United States economy, and especially the State of Michigan occurred this morning, as General Motors filed for bankruptcy. At one point in time, at a point when the United States led the world, GM could arguably have been called the bellweather for that. The old saying was "As General Motor goes, so goes the Nation". If that still holds true, the bumpiest part of this economic freefall is still ahead of us. There will be endless examinations by major news outlets of this, and especially being affected due to living at it's epicenter and having spent 4 years working for GM, I won't go into it today, but will start examining it's effects tomorrow. In the quest I've been on to get at the true root of what can now be arguably be called a Depression, yesterday's column by Paul Krugman in the New York Times does a credible job of tracing the true roots. In my own mind, the quantum singularity, the root cause of the current collapse can be traced back to that fateful day last September when Joseph Cassano's (of London's AIG financial investments office) insane gamble failed and the 5 major banks had bought into it (for further examination of that, read the archives of this column, or go online to RollingStone.com and check some of Matt Taibbi's pieces). Doing true Root Cause Analysis however, we need to go even further back and look at what allowed Cassano to play craps with, and lose, so much currency and punch a real-dollar $50 billion dollar hole in the fabric of the Universe. What were the conditions that nurtured this and set it up. Krugman argues that it's roots go back 30 years. I'm in agreement with him, not just because I've said over and over that the true problem lay with Reaganism, but because he's right, and adds further to that argument:

“This bill is the most important legislation for financial institutions in the last 50 years. It provides a long-term solution for troubled thrift institutions. ... All in all, I think we hit the jackpot.” So declared Ronald Reagan in 1982, as he signed the Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act. . . . .

. . . . He was, as it happened, wrong about solving the problems of the thrifts. On the contrary, the bill turned the modest-sized troubles of savings-and-loan institutions into an utter catastrophe. But he was right about the legislation’s significance. And as for that jackpot — well, it finally came more than 25 years later, in the form of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
For the more one looks into the origins of the current disaster, the clearer it becomes that the key wrong turn — the turn that made crisis inevitable — took place in the early 1980s, during the Reagan years.
Attacks on Reaganomics usually focus on rising inequality and fiscal irresponsibility. Indeed, Reagan ushered in an era in which a small minority grew vastly rich, while working families saw only meager gains. He also broke with longstanding rules of fiscal prudence.. . . . .

. . . . .We weren’t always a nation of big debts and low savings: in the 1970s Americans saved almost 10 percent of their income, slightly more than in the 1960s. It was only after the Reagan deregulation that thrift gradually disappeared from the American way of life, culminating in the near-zero savings rate that prevailed on the eve of the great crisis. Household debt was only 60 percent of income when Reagan took office, about the same as it was during the Kennedy administration. By 2007 it was up to 119 percent.
All this, we were assured, was a good thing: sure, Americans were piling up debt, and they weren’t putting aside any of their income, but their finances looked fine once you took into account the rising values of their houses and their stock portfolios. Oops.
Now, the proximate causes of today’s economic crisis lie in events that took place long after Reagan left office — in the global savings glut created by surpluses in China and elsewhere, and in the giant housing bubble that savings glut helped inflate.
But it was the explosion of debt over the previous quarter-century that made the U.S. economy so vulnerable. Overstretched borrowers were bound to start defaulting in large numbers once the housing bubble burst and unemployment began to rise.
These defaults in turn wreaked havoc with a financial system that — also mainly thanks to Reagan-era deregulation — took on too much risk with too little capital.
There’s plenty of blame to go around these days. But the prime villains behind the mess we’re in were Reagan and his circle of advisers — men who forgot the lessons of America’s last great financial crisis, and condemned the rest of us to repeat it.

. . . Further follow-up on the sage of Caleb's truck and the Upper Peninsula. Talked to Dave today:
Me: "Dave, it's me, Caleb's dad, about the truck. . . ."
Dave: "Oh yah. . . .got dat one in the shop now, should be done by tomorrow morning."
Me: "Tomorrow morning at 6 Dave? Because that's when he'd have to leave to make it down here in time for class."
Dave: "Yah. . .no, it won't be done by then, and I'd like to have it a few days to make sure it runs"
Me: "Caleb, get ready to rent a car and drive down here for class"

. . . .I actually like Pat Buchanan's comments yesterday about North Korea, missle launches and such. He said that he doubts that North Korea has intercontinental capability, and the best methodology is to ignore them and let Kim Jong Il "sit and stew until he's dead". I can go for that one.

. . . Still trying to get my head wrapped around this one, but I'll give credit where credit is due. Dick Cheney went on record today at a National Press Club luncheon and came out in support of gay marriage. Not it's not a misprint. Catch it here.


. . . Spring is sure slow to come this year, slow.
. . .. Can anyone tell me why my landlord had the fetish for ferns that she did? My backyard now looks like the set from Jurassic Park. That of course hides the fence that's painted to look like a back alley at the Renaissance Faire.

. . . Sticking with <