Friday, January 9, 2009

01-09-09
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Thursday, January 8, 2009

01-08-09
  • Obama wants to tackle Social Security and Medicare but doesn't signal how (nyt) -- except to say in his presser that it's going to be tough getting back on track and everyone's going to have to shoulder some of the burden. I have an idea for you President Obama: get rid of the $102,000 cut-off in income for social security deductions. That one step alone would increase the Social Security Trust Fund enough to keep it healthy for 75 years. Sounds too much like taxing the rich? Yeah, I guess, and the tax code has been so tough on the rich for so long. A second very profitable step would be to trim back some of our 737 military bases scattered around the world protecting our "national interests." Other countries seem to prosper without such military empires. But be careful if you try this, so they don't pull a JFK on you too.
  • Glad to see that Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz agrees with me on one of my major premises regarding Obama's incredibly shrinking stimulus plan. See my 1-5-09 entry (Two-Thirds of US Companies . . .)
  • Obama team as arrogant as Bill Clinton's was: Howard Dean told not to attend Obama presser with new DNC Chair Tim Kaine (huffingtonpost). Oh brother! How much national and loyalist goodwill are these mirror-gazers going to throw away before reality knocks them flat on their fannies?
  • Rick Warren sidekick demanded that all gays be arrested, published names of gays in Uganda (americablog) (thesmirkingchimp) (maxblumenthal). Damnable evidence of Warren's unworthiness to hold any spot in the inauguration at all. Does Obama accept this for the sake of sucking up to bigots for their votes? Is this the change we can believe in? It sounds like the worst of George Bush's pals in the evangenital hate-a-gay club.
  • Seattle Gay Bars Receive Threatening Letters From Domestic Terrorist (slog). People are not born to hate gays or anyone else. They are TAUGHT to hate by a vicious weekly litany of preaching by an army of "God's soldiers", and by the pernicious influence of that cancerous religious hatred that has permeated the entire culture for so long. So-called biblical literalists who cherry-pick which commands to include in their litany and which to ignore in their own lives constantly hurl a barrage of condemnation and abhorrence--"against the sin of homosexuality," mind you, "not against the sinner," they innocently proclaim in the same breath. Other bigot groups, not so hypocritically circumspect, unabashedly attack gays from their bully pulpits, books and other member communications while seldom neglecting to plead for more money to help fight the abominable gay lifestyle choice. Rick Warren, Barack Obama's pick to symbolically set the tone of the inaugural ceremonies and therefore of President Obama's administration of "change you can believe in," is but the latest example of homophobic hate-mongers cloaked in the self-righteous raiment of lying, intolerant, self-serving religious intolerance. Ignorant believers and non-believers alike, morally contorted and deformed by this constant barrage of viciousness, all too often feel it their right to take it directly to the "enemy", physically attacking and sometimes murdering gays--or even people they merely think are gay. Folks, this is what you get when you have government that tolerates and even encourages such bigotry, as the US has done for years -- governments the world over that are obsessed with their own "national interests" rather than with what is right and humane. This is but one more example of the human race as a failed species, racing headlong on a course toward its own destruction. With such breathless ignorance as these religious and government leaders manifest, how could mankind ever possibly adequately address in time the larger problem of global warming, for example, which will probably extinguish most life forms on the planet within one or two hundred years--if that long?
  • NGC 2736: The Pencil Nebula (apod)
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Wednesday, January 7, 2009

01-07-09
  • Dem leaders go to the mat for their two-tiered justice system--leniency for the rich and powerful (our present system) and throw-away-the-key for everyone else (also our present system). Sen. Richard Durbin cries crocodile tears (huffingtonpost) over convicted and imprisoned corrupt Republican, former Illinois governor George Ryan. What yet unreturned favor is this all about? Sen. Harry Reid (firedoglake) does the same for convicted but still unsentenced corrupt Republican, former senator Ted Stevens (AK). I've really had it with the Democrat wing of the Capitalist Party. (It is a foregone conclusion that most of the Republican wing should already be in prison.) These Dem leaders are the same light bulbs whose party is presently skewering Democrat Roland Burris because indicted but unconvicted Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich appointed him--their customary circular firing squad--and the same guys who along with an endless parade of their so-call patriotic Democrat colleagues failed completely to ardently defend this country and the Constitution against the endless onslaught of probably irreparable damage by the illegal, fundamentally criminal Republican regime of the past eight years.
  • Pete Johnson say, "Any hope of prosecuting the perpetrators of the stolen 2004 presidential election ended when Mike Connell died Dec 19 in a plane crash." (freepress) Did it? Is that all there is? Is that how it goes down for the greatest unindicted criminals of the 21st Century--George W. Bush and the Republican operatives who illegally enthroned him for eight horribly disastrous years? (See also my entry on 12-29-08" (Mayday Over Ohio . . .")
  • Obama likes right-wing stooge Dr. Sanjay Gupta as Surgeon General (nyt). I lost all respect for this guy during his disingenuous attacks on Michael Moore on CNN over Moore's new movie Sicko. What a perfect shill for the health insurance industry that, together with the pharmaceutical industry, have bled the American healthcare system to death and have driven up US health care costs to the highest in the world. Surely Obama could find a more qualified nominee than this pretty-faced flimflam man--whatever would Gupta do without his pounds of orange makeup? If Obama likes show biz doctors so much, he could nominate former ophthalmologist Dr. Dean Edell, who has been broadcasting regularly since 1978, when Gupta was only 11 years old. For cryin' out loud! There has to be a better qualified representative to be Surgeon General of the United States of America!
  • Obama picks East Timor genocide supporter Dennis Blair as his new Director of National Intelligence (democracynow).
  • Once-in-a-century solar blast could wipe out huge sections of the national power grid -- for months (spaceweather). I'll add this to my list of "interesting times" that would make us bend way over and kiss our asses goodbye, like Yellowstone blowing up, a bird flu pandemic, an asteroid hit, or an exchange of nukes between a couple of pissed off and very stupid countries. Ah yes, the fear-mongering History Channel, Sci-Fi Channel, and Discovery Channel love to promote this kind of stuff so we'll all be fearful, gelatinous blobs that will eagerly accept anything our military-industrial complex leaders would like to experiment with next. There has already been a sci-fi done on this one.
  • Project Censored's # 4 story for 2009: ILEA: Is the US Restarting Dirty Wars in Latin America? (projectcensored) International Law Enforcement Academy, now a decentralized function of the former notorious School of the Americas, is a Bill Clinton love-child from the mid-'90s to provide safe regions for foreign investment (of course!). With ample reason, human rights advocates are very concerned. Follow UpsideDownWorld, TowardFreedom, and SchoolOfTheAmericasWatch for updates on this situation.
  • The Galactic Core in Infrared (apod), wherein lies the great swirling drain of our home galaxy, the Milky Way.
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Tuesday, January 6, 2009

01-06-09
  • Donate free rice while honing your vocabulary (freerice-voc) or other (freerice-other) cognitive skills.
  • Oregon church to stop signing marriage licenses until same-sex couples can legally wed (washblade) Way to go CUCofC!
  • Bush a total jerk to the end. WH lied about 119-room Blair House or any reasonable part of it being unavailable to the Obamas during the time they requested to stay there early in January. (youtube)
  • Israeli-occupied territory, aka, Capitol Hill, preparing pro-Israel resolution (jta). "AIPAC lickspittles Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Howard Berman (D-CA and definitely a weirdo) back resolution supporting Israel's genocide in Gaza. Hoyer's sister is a one-time executive director of AIPAC" (waynemadsenreport).
  • Feinstein And Rockefeller To Obama: We Liked Bush’s Appointees More Than Panetta (thinkprogress). Now, why does that suddenly make Leon Panetta a much more attractive nominee for Director of the CIA? Still trying to wash off that damned spot after shaking Lady Di's hand a couple times. Not enough soap. Can't say I've had the pleasure with Sen. Rockefeller, although I'm sure the situation would be similar.
  • Democrat senators soil themselves yet again by barring the seating of Roland Burris (abcnews), without presenting a single shred of evidence that he is corrupt or otherwise undeserving of the Senate seat yet unimpeached Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has bestowed upon him. Such cajones Democrat senate leaders have, now that it is one of their own they are attacking, instead of one of Bush's draconian and unconstitutional assaults on the foundations of the nation. By sending Burris to Washington, a black man and a man who is generally regarded as having an impeccable reputation, Blago has stuck his thumb into the eye of his US Senate detractors.
  • Jupiter Eclipsing Ganymede (apod). When I first started peering through a telescope at Jupiter, there were 8 moons. As of May 7, 2008, there were more than five dozen (nasa). How the truth changes when you're trying to live in a reality-based world! How safe and secure it must feel to evangenital nutjobs (one example from a nauseatingly long list) who never have to worry about such trifles as changes in scientific reality. It's only science, unless, of course, you need an ER to save your life. But hey, Bush just gave health care providers the right to refuse to treat anyone they object to on religious moral grounds. How long will it be before some non-theist ER workers decide to deny evangenitals emergency care on the basis of their own religious moral beliefs about evangenitals?
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Monday, January 5, 2009

01-05-09
  • Big-Brother capital of the West, the UK has become even more snoopy (independent). Police have been given the power to hack into personal computers without a court warrant. What an idea! How long will it take before the US imports Britain's great snooping ideas? Whoa there, Trigger! It's already happening where major cities like Chicago are setting up vast video surveillance networks. Time to watch Enemy of the State again and multiply it times - - - 20?
  • Two-Thirds of US Companies Avoid Paying Federal Income Taxes (abcnews). As part of his weakening stimulus plan, President-elect Obama plans to give yet more tax breaks to those remaining businesses that still do pay some US taxes (bloomberg). One of those breaks is geared toward rewarding those companies that hire new employees. Something tells me, however, that few companies are going to hire new employees--with all their attendant costs--only for Obama's tax break, though I'm sure for some it will be enough to tip the scale. When times improve, yes, they'll do it then, take the tax break and perhaps some few will thank him for his generosity. His other business tax cuts do not directly relate to hiring new employees, but merely give businesses a little support in this troubling time. Obama figures his tax reductions should come to about 40% of the stimulus package. [See update 01-22-09 (Obama scrapped funding . . .)] Ouch! is Obama going Republican-Lite on us? I sure (was hoping for more infrastructure projects and the new jobs and essential end-products they would produce. Nobel-prize-winning economist Paul Krugman questions Obama's judgment on this plan (nyt). (See also my comments 12-30-08 (Obama is considering . . .) - Oh, and by the way, President-elect Obama, isn't there something you could do to force more US companies to pay their fair share of federal income tax? What they don't pay, the middle class has to offset. How else could the US Department of War have enough money to bomb to smithereens all those innocent "collateral-damage" men, women and children in countries where the US has strategic interests?
  • Comet Lulin and Meteor (apod)
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Sunday, January 4, 2009

01-04-09
  • Democrat Al Franken to be declared Senate victor in Minnesota, with a lead at the moment of 225 votes (reuters). This has been a grueling ordeal for him and for Minnesota. The only reason it was possible to do such a recount at all is that there were paper ballots available to recount. If Minnesota were a DRE black box voting state like Georgia and too many others, there would have been no possible way to do such a recount. Republican incumbent Norm Coleman has tried to throw every possible roadblock in the way of a complete and accurate recount and will continue to try to get the courts to turn it around for him. Franken, never a fan of the election integrity movement, is the only host on liberal radio network Air America (Listen) who would never invite Brad Friedman (The Brad Blog), election integrity blogger and expert, to come on his show to discuss election integrity issues. I wonder if Franken is still as closed-minded and myopic -- or has The Universe spoken to him in a way he can finally understand?
  • Orwell, blinding tribalism, selective Terrorism, and Israel/Gaza (Glenn Greenwald, salon) A look at the sociopathic logic regarding Israel's form of "terrorism" against Hamas leaders (a 2000-pound Israeli bomb dropped from an airplane, that wipes out not only the target individual, but also 18 others in his home, including his four wives and nine of his children -- "the good kind" of terrorism) versus Hamas's form of "terrorism" against Israelis (suicide bombs and poorly guided homemade rockets that kill and maim indiscriminately -- "the bad kind"). Greenwald says, "There are few concepts more elastic and subject to exploitation than "Terrorism," the all-purpose justifying and fear-mongering term."
  • Israel's goal in Gaza is to utterly crush any semblance of Palestinian resistance to Israel's continuing theft of Palestinian lands (map of shrinking Palestinian borders), brutal occupation, apartheid, and inhumane and illegal cruelty toward the Palestinian people. Israel basically fears the Palestinians because they produce large families and one day could far outnumber Israelis in the land of Canaan. To indulge in a little belated quarter backing, Israel should never have been reestablished in the Middle East, but it served the Western powers' desire to plant a strategic wedge deep in the Arab world to try to control future Arab growth as a unified power. Maybe better that Israel had been created in some other place, like West Texas on the Mexican border, for example, brutally uprooting hundreds of thousands of Texans and appropriating their assets. After all, West Texas is also stolen land. Perhaps by now we would have an expanded Israel down there on the Rio Grande, with enlarged borders in every direction, at continual odds with both Texans inside and outside of Israel, and Mexicans--and, of course, all in the name of Israel's national security against any who would like to destroy her and wipe her off the face of the map. Israel has no inherent right to be in its present location in the Middle East, other than the legal claim given it by the League of Nations. The land was Palestinian and had been so for hundreds of years. Prior to all this, those Israelis still living there and their Palestinian neighbors had gotten along generally well. However, in the late 1940's, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were both driven out of their homes and killed in order to appropriate their lands and assets. Israel often sanctimoniously proclaims that the land belongs to Israelis because Israel is God's Chosen People and that He gave it to them--Eretz Yisrael. Such utter, unequivocally self-serving nonsense! If over centuries in the Bronze Age I were concocting a national history to justify my national existence and security among my neighbors, I suppose I might be tempted to include claims of great miracles and victories over my enemies at the hands of the gods, the greatest masters of heaven and universe, and the granting of my country their/His special blessings and protection, and, of course, the deed of ownership to the land. --- Has any of the foregoing rant anything to do with anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. Well, yes and no. YES to anti-Zionism and NO to anti-Semitism. Zionism has to do with politics, with the political state of Israel and Israel's policies, and all that that engenders in Israel's present location--and, well, what you see is what you get. Semitism, on the other hand, is all about the people as people. Some of my best friends from infancy on up through the years have been Semites, and I have treasured them all.
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