We used to be better than this, John. We are not anymore. America is more concerned with whom I love (another man) than with real issues. Vance Packard, in the late fifties, talked about how television and Madison Avenue would dumb us down to the level of a twelve year old. They succeeded. Their goal was to get us stupid and fat enough to buy something we do not need but they would create the need in our minds first. It has worked. One example is the Swifter. A bit of a non sequitur here but it's a good example. None of us NEED this device, which is rather expensive. So they created that need and got us to buy them. I do just fine with a cotton rag (old hand towel) on the end of a rug brush with diluted cleaner and a bucket of hot water. This costs me pennies to wash my floors, not several dollars every time I do. The example is probably not the best one right now but it proves out Packard's warnings from fifty years ago. Our media dumbed us down to the level of a twelve year old.
Bill M
· 11 months ago
Microfiber mops are great for hospitals.
Use less chemicals, reduce room-to-room transfer of biological agents, improve worker ergonomics.......
Probably overkill for homes, tho.
katjam
· 11 months ago
One year when flying three days after Christmas I met a gentleman who always had to fly then because of an annual conference. His flights were always being canceled. He said it had to do with pilots' contracts. Having completed their year's woth of flying time they were often unavailable at the end of the year. Shortage of pilots = cancelled flights. I don't know if this was or still is the reason.
Bush Bites
· 11 months ago
Ah, I was hoping you'd take that 24-hour Amtrak ride and blog along the way.
Oh well.........
John Aravosis
· 11 months ago
That would be funny, my great trek across Ohio and Indiana. Not sure that ranks in the annals of great American adventures. :-)
Rob Mule
· 11 months ago
Don't knock it...While I'm not familiar with the more northern route east, the no longer in service Cincinnati to Washington, DC track ran through some beautiful country and I was privileged to observe it's diverse seasonal beauty often. I would book a private sleeper (with shower privileges) and bring reading material and snacks as the dining car food ranged from microwaved pre-packaged hot dogs to similarly constructed, dry cheese sandwiches. On the last run from DC to Cincinnati, I was given a major life thrill and allowed to observe the entire approach to Cincinnati's art deco Union Terminal from the engine house on a piece of track much desired by the old Confederacy. I only wish I was old enough to have experienced the luxury train service available in the early and mid 20th century. I hope President Obama doesn't allow America's existing track to rot away and funds new use for older unused track.
Indigo
· 11 months ago
Koukla barks at 5 every morning because it's her job to make sure everyone is up to watch the sun rise.
On other news fronts: Israel bombs the crap out of Gaza again. On the Medieval News Review front: no one came to the aid of the Latin Kingdom when, exhausted by repeated injustice, the Saracens overran it and killed all the knights.
Speaking of war crimes, I'm beginning to suspect that war crimes are a part of the waging of war. Tacticians agree that the more you kick the enemy, the more certainly the enemy will stay down.
I don't know where contemporary French philosphy stands on these matters but Michel Foucault had some wonderful insights several decades back in his work "The Order of Things." He saw the process of social change moving towards an impersonal level of interaction where individuality and privacy cease to be areas of concern, leading to the obsolence of the concept of human individuality and human rights.
We seem to be getting there right on schedule. The EU might have more advanced notions of human rights than say, Vatican City and its allies such as the United States, but their economy remains a Ponzi scheme and cannot not collapse when the time is ripe.
The Maya Long Count is ending soon, on December 21, 2012. Newagery predicts an "end to the world" but it's worse than that . . . it's an end of the world as we know it, but the world and us on it are going to endure and redefine. Of all the possible redefinitions pending, setting aside the Polly Anna fantasies, the collapse of respect for the human individual looks like the winner.
That ain't good.
zorbear
· 11 months ago
"The Maya Long Count is ending soon, on December 21, 2012. Newagery predicts an "end to the world" but it's worse than that . . . it's an end of the world as we know it, but the world and us on it are going to endure and redefine. "
It's nice to see one individual who doesn't equate a re-setting of the Mayan calendar, which has happened many times before (i.e., "change"), as an end of the universe. Every child thinks that the universe begins and ends with him/herself, but adults should know better.
zorbear
· 11 months ago
"The Maya Long Count is ending soon, on December 21, 2012. Newagery predicts an "end to the world" but it's worse than that . . . it's an end of the world as we know it, but the world and us on it are going to endure and redefine. "
It's nice to see one individual who doesn't equate a re-setting of the Mayan calendar, which has happened many times before (i.e., "change"), as an end of the universe. Every child thinks that the universe begins and ends with him/herself, but adults should know better.
SCLiberal
· 11 months ago
"Tacticians agree that the more you kick the enemy, the more certainly the enemy will stay down."
"When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always."—Mahatma Gandhi
Indigo
· 11 months ago
Moralists and tactians rarely look at the world through the same conceptual lens.
zorbear
· 11 months ago
While I appeciate their comment (we all wish it were true), I'd like to point out the hypocrisy inherent the statement: "we don't hate America, we mad at America because we expect this kind of behavior from our own corrupt governments, but we thought you were better."
What that means to me is "I'm not going to stand up to MY corrupt government, but I think YOU should stand up to yours." And that doesn't make me happy, that just pisses me off...
John Aravosis
· 11 months ago
Or, they're resigned to the fact that their government sucks, and they even expect their government to suck. But they expected more from us. I agree, they should be trying to change things at home, but it's still an incredible statement about how many America-haters actually love America. Kind of like dissent at home.
SCLiberal
· 11 months ago
Could it be they hate the government but like the people?
Ksue
· 11 months ago
O'Hare always sucks as far as delays and cancellations go, but it's especially bad in the winter. Fingers crossed for you to get out today, John, and for our daughter to get back to Chicago (via Midway) tomorrow evening.
As for the cleaning subject: I am IN LOVE WITH my steam mop. It's pricey ($75), but my girls got it for me for Mother's Day and it was the best gift ever. We're kind of crunchy-granola-organic no-chemicals types around here, so I love the fact that all cleaning is done with the power of water-turned-to-steam.
SCLiberal
· 11 months ago
What kind is it? I'm looking for one.
Older_Wiser
· 11 months ago
Cancelled flights all over, John...don't feel bad. Even in Charlotte, where it was a balmy 60 yesterday, cancelled flights (because of cancelled or delayed flights in other areas). Why blame the airlines? Ma Nature is getting her 2 cents in, yet we humans believe we have her conquered. Well, with weather patterns changing because of global warming, we ain't seen nothing yet.
Airplanes are polluters--they dump huge amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Sometimes, it's wise not to travel at all as lots of people are finding out--I mean, don't they look at weather reports? Yet, watch a number of lawsuits come out of this situation--like the idiot who beat up his wife after getting off the plane and blamed it on the alcohol he was served on the plane. Almost makes you feel bad for the airline--almost.
vkobaya
· 11 months ago
I think crimes may have been committed
Parcel of shit! Crimes WERE committed. One was the deliberate starvation of hundreds of millions around the world with Bush's ethanol from grains program. Not sure it went as far as starving people to death except in those cases where they were already close to the margins of death already, he did that out of shear nastiness and no other reason. It was very quickly discredited, but also raised the prices of foods and the profiteering on rice has still not come down. Calfiornia produces enough medium grain rice to meet the world's demands for that grain and the South, Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas produce enough long grain rice for that demand. Yet, the rice consortiums have kept the price of rice artificially high, 3 times the price it had been before Bush's evil, criminal, artificial shortages.
The Iraq War is another international war crime. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Bush attacked them not even for their oil as they are still producing a fraction of what they produced under Saddham, but just so he could claim war powers to wiretap Democrats and political enemies, probably reporters and prosecuting attorneys to blackmail them. But the Iraqi War has so far resulted in the deaths of 1.3 million innocent Iraqi civilians, 4 million more who are displaced and refugees, about a million desperately injured, maimed and brain damaged, as well as 4,200 dead American soldiers, at least 100,000 injured, maimed and brain damaged, 120,000 suicides among our soldiers with smaller numbers coming from Afghanistan. There were also the political hits on our own soldiers like that of the football player, Pat Tillman and the other of the lesbian soldier, but probably many, many more. And the missing trillions of dollars from the Pentagon concealed in the cost of the war.
The Bailout is yeat another Bush ripoff. They insisted it had to be passed in one week and that there could be no oversight. I don't understand at all how even idiots like Pelosi and Reid or the Republican members of Congress could agree. Half of the $700 billion has now been spent with zero accountability for how it was spent. We know that billions were paid out in bonuses to the CEOs of Wall Street. Meanwhile, they are demanding that the auto industry demonstrate massive reforms and no bonuses, and all sorts of accountability that demonstrates they clearly are aware of what accountability is. This week Paulson wants the other $350 billion and looks like they (Pelosi and Reid) will give it to him with no strings attached, almost as if they want him to spend it before Obama becomes president and forces them to demand oversight. Thus, speaking of crimes that were committed, many Damnocrats are also accountable and guilty, probably why they don't want to start prosecuting Bush and his gang of criminals and thugs. The Damnocrats were just as criminal and complicit, just a different criminal gang.
As for Obama, the only reason he isn't also to be numbered among these criminals is that he was elected to national political office after most of the Bush crimes were committed, but also seems to prefer to support them and be an accomplice, accessory, and complicit partner. But given that we have executed a kid who drove the getaway car who was only an accessory to a murder, I cannot see how we can let these criminals get away with their crimes.
red_dwarf
· 11 months ago
Well said vkobaya - it is true, the number of crimes committed by the Bush criminal thugs probably lies in the tens of thousands. Billions ripped off, communications destroyed, international war crimes committed, torture, etc, etc, etc, etc.
And will anyone be held accountable? What a joke. This country is now a joke - how could anyone take us seriously save for the threat of murder? The rePigs, along with the Dems, have destroyed our democracy.
It won't be long before they start taking people like us out as well vk. And you're right. Obama isn't going to indict anyone, not after Bush issues a blanket immunity.
Those who do not correct the wrongs and crimes of the past (that's us as a nation) are bound to forever live out their lives in the ditch of disrespect and fear. We cannot move forward, ever, when a mountain of lies are being dragged behind us like a weight on a rope. It will catch up with us - at some time in the future - however, the criminals hope that by then the evidence will be lost or destroyed.
If Obama is our only hope of restoring our Democracy I must say that I have little hope that it will be done. Obama has NOT been impressive - but he deserves a chance to right the wrongs. We'll know soon enough. If he lets the criminals of the Bush years walk away, holding very few accountable, then we'll know he's just another criminal himself.
And did you ever hear of anyone who wanted to live next to an airport?
triple7s
· 11 months ago
I still have a few more days in 08 to be conspiracy minded, before making a NEW YEARS resolution to not be, but the POWER goes OUT for 12 HOURS where the PRESIDENT ELECT is staying, WTF?
Older_Wiser
· 11 months ago
Yes, the power went out on the entire island of Oahu...
vkobaya
· 11 months ago
My guess is that Bush had intended to hit the Obama compound with a couple commando teams bent on assassination, but, givne his incompetence, bollixed the job and scheduled them for next month. Or maybe with the power off, he thought Obama would be as stupid has he is and choke to death on a pretzel, with no power for a resuscitator.
Yes, very, very suspicious that the compound didn't have sufficient backup generators to light the entire compound. When RFK took that vacation in the back country in Yosemite in the early 60s, they roughed it so much they had portable generators for every tent. My guess is the radios and phones for calling out were also all tied to the main power grid and none were battery powered. Probably not a single agent had a cell phone, Blackberry or other battery powered device.
TheOriginalLiz
· 11 months ago
To be fair, when I lived on Oahu the power went out once for quite a while and the official explanation was that a butterfly caused it. The Oahu power grid is not robust.
triple7s
· 11 months ago
Whew. Thanks, I feel better now. : )
Shannon
· 11 months ago
I live on the big island and we all have the same monopoly power company....they are notorious for their old broken down equipment........and they use the on/off switch to get their way and to remind everyone who is in charge........
vkobaya
· 11 months ago
I think crimes may have been committed
Parcel of shit! Crimes WERE committed. One was the deliberate starvation of hundreds of millions around the world with Bush's ethanol from grains program. Not sure it went as far as starving people to death except in those cases where they were already close to the margins of death already, he did that out of shear nastiness and no other reason. It was very quickly discredited, but also raised the prices of foods and the profiteering on rice has still not come down. Calfiornia produces enough medium grain rice to meet the world's demands for that grain and the South, Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas produce enough long grain rice for that demand. Yet, the rice consortiums have kept the price of rice artificially high, 3 times the price it had been before Bush's evil, criminal, artificial shortages.
The Iraq War is another international war crime. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Bush attacked them not even for their oil as they are still producing a fraction of what they produced under Saddham, but just so he could claim war powers to wiretap Democrats and political enemies, probably reporters and prosecuting attorneys to blackmail them. But the Iraqi War has so far resulted in the deaths of 1.3 million innocent Iraqi civilians, 4 million more who are displaced and refugees, about a million desperately injured, maimed and brain damaged, as well as 4,200 dead American soldiers, at least 100,000 injured, maimed and brain damaged, 120,000 suicides among our soldiers with smaller numbers coming from Afghanistan. There were also the political hits on our own soldiers like that of the football player, Pat Tillman and the other of the lesbian soldier, but probably many, many more. And the missing trillions of dollars from the Pentagon concealed in the cost of the war.
The Bailout is yeat another Bush ripoff. They insisted it had to be passed in one week and that there could be no oversight. I don't understand at all how even idiots like Pelosi and Reid or the Republican members of Congress could agree. Half of the $700 billion has now been spent with zero accountability for how it was spent. We know that billions were paid out in bonuses to the CEOs of Wall Street. Meanwhile, they are demanding that the auto industry demonstrate massive reforms and no bonuses, and all sorts of accountability that demonstrates they clearly are aware of what accountability is. This week Paulson wants the other $350 billion and looks like they (Pelosi and Reid) will give it to him with no strings attached, almost as if they want him to spend it before Obama becomes president and forces them to demand oversight. Thus, speaking of crimes that were committed, many Damnocrats are also accountable and guilty, probably why they don't want to start prosecuting Bush and his gang of criminals and thugs. The Damnocrats were just as criminal and complicit, just a different criminal gang.
As for Obama, the only reason he isn't also to be numbered among these criminals is that he was elected to national political office after most of the Bush crimes were committed, but also seems to prefer to support them and be an accomplice, accessory, and complicit partner. But given that we have executed a kid who drove the getaway car who was only an accessory to a murder, I cannot see how we can let these criminals get away with their crimes.
caphillprof
· 11 months ago
This is a conundrum to stump even John Yoo. The US president cannot pardon crimes under international law. If the US president were to pardon a US war criminal, it would have the effect of preventing any prosecution within the United States and thus confers jurisdiction on any foreign tribunal to enforce international law. You won't see Dick Cheney leaving the USA anytime soon.
vkobaya
· 11 months ago
If the US president were to pardon a US war criminal, it would have the effect of preventing any prosecution within the United States and thus confers jurisdiction on any foreign tribunal to enforce international law.
Good! Good! No, excellent! I hope Bush issues blanket pardons to all of them including himself. My personal preference would be to see Bush, Cheney, Rummy, Rice and the rest of this murdering criminal gang prosecuted and convicted at the Hague and imprisoned in international prisons instead of American prisons.While his crimes against this nation are massive, his international crimes are sufficient to see him locked away for many, many lifetimes.
Older_Wiser
· 11 months ago
Does anyone remember "Kukla, Fran & Ollie?" One of my childhood favorites...
Bostonian_Queer_in_Dallas
· 11 months ago
I loved them when I was very young...BTW if you find the album "Unsung Sondheim", you will discover a delicious little song that Sondheim wrote for that puppet show but it never got into the producers' hands. Years later it was found amongst SS's great trunk treasures and was added to a Sondheim review by the very same producer who'd missed it back in the fifties. It's a wonderful song about friendship, having tea and jam, and just delightful early SS.
AngelaChanning
· 11 months ago
I adored Kukla, Fran and Ollie too. Not to get too off topic, but I always think of the Match Game when I hear their names. Youtube (safe for work) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1avf8jlAsU
triple7s
· 11 months ago
One of my favorite shows. Along with the MMC, and AMERICAN BANDSTAND, with all the "cute boyz".
Butch1
· 11 months ago
Yes, for a moment, I thought I was the only one commenting on it until I read your entry. I remember it well.
UncleGlenny
· 11 months ago
Kukla, Fran & Ollie?
Don't you mean Franz Kafka & Ollie North?
Mark
· 11 months ago
Never thought I'd see KFO discussed on a political blog!
I'm the webmaster of "The Unofficial Kuklapolitan Website," and here's the story of Kukla's name:
I swear! By not prosecuting Bush, Cheney, et al, this sends a message: EVERY bad deed is OK, because it is never punished. C'mon, folks, every parent knows this -- and many adults act like children. Let them do bad, horrible things, don't punish them for it, and they will never stop.
Is this why the Dems don't want to punish? So they can do bad things, too?
This is beyond a slippery slope. The country is at the bottom of a slimy gutter. And it looks like it will never change. Anytime, in the future, any public official is prosecuted, he need only say, "What you are accusing me of isn't nearly as bad as what Bush did -- and nothing ever happened to him." And they have a point.
Rob Mule
· 11 months ago
Mebbe I'm showing my age but I remember a 50s teevee puppet show called "Kukla, Fran & Ollie...spelled differently but phonetically the same, I imagine. http://kukla.tv/
mellowjohn
· 11 months ago
"kukla" means doll, too. in russian or polish, i believe. p.s. you can't be THAT old. i remember the show, too.
Phil
· 11 months ago
I swore off flying in/out of ORD years ago. MDW is a better alternative unless you live north of the city.
SCLiberal
· 11 months ago
" And she is a koukla, except when she begins each day by spontaneously barking at 5am for no apparent reason." That's the dog satellite. There is a sateliite that flies overhead and it emits a sound that only dogs can hear. I can always tell when it is overhead as my 5 dogs leap up, also for no apparent reason, and run outside to bark. ;)
Maggie Knowles
· 11 months ago
JOB OFFER: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://gopleader.gov/jobs/ ATTENTION ECONOMISTS: ARE YOU A STIMULUS SPENDING SKEPTIC?
A recent Associated Press article quoted transition officials for President-elect Obama as saying “[o]nly one outside economist” contacted by the President-elect’s advisors had “voiced skepticism” about the President-elect’s emerging plans for an economic “stimulus” spending bill with a price tag as large as $1 trillion, with the vast majority of that number going to new spending on government programs and projects.
House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) is compiling a list of credentialed American economists who would like to add their voices to the list of stimulus spending skeptics. If you are an economist who would like to be added to this list, you can join the list here and provide your comments. Also, please feel free to provide links to any papers or publications that support or extend upon your comments.
Be aware that information submitted through this form can, and most likely will, be shared publicly.
John Bonner needs someone to slap his head............it is he and his ilk that got us into this mess, now he is pretending that he cares about the huge deficit..............why didn't he care when he voted to fund the immoral warmongering his party started??? That 8 Trillion dollars that has been squandered on Bu$hCo's wars would really come in handy right about now.......oh ya, that's right, when the Repukes do it it is a good thing.......what a hypocrite.
oh_yeah
· 11 months ago
My Greek grandmother used to call us kids "koukla mu" (= my doll/dolly), or half-anglicized it as "dolly mu." Sweet memories.
Anybody know if "Kukla" of "Kukla, Fran and Ollie" TV show was based on the Greek word for doll, as it was a hand puppet?
Always thought if I had a dog, I'd call it "Skeelo" (SKEE-lo), Greek word for "dog."
mirth
· 11 months ago
Bush: Hamas must stop firing rockets at Israel
Obama: Hamas must stop firing rockets at Israel.
shannon
· 11 months ago
A terrible human trait.....kick the starved, oppressed, victims, of international crimes against humanity , caged in their Concentration camps, when they are down.....then ignore the whole thing like it is not disgusting. Obummer is there to serve Bush's third term.......let us do our part to make sure he is a one termer.
William Brinkman
· 11 months ago
The sun is out in the Chicago area, so I hope you're on your way home, John.
Butch1
· 11 months ago
In the early 50s there was a children's program called "Koukla, Fran & Ollie with Koukla and Ollie being puppets and Fran, a human. It is probably before your time but had my interest when it was in the lineup of regularly watched showes in the evenings. Now I know were the name comes from and its meaning. Thanks.
SouthernYankee
· 11 months ago
Aw, you bring back the good ole days. They were so cute.
Butch1
· 11 months ago
They were, indeed! ;-)
CitizenX
· 11 months ago
Based on my understanding, a pardon does not relieve the criminal gang in the white house from War Crimes charges. According to the Nuremberg Principles
"Principle II
The fact that internal law does not impose a penalty for an act which constitutes a crime under international law does not relieve the person who committed the act from responsibility under international law."
SouthernYankee
· 11 months ago
John, I take it you are Greek, right? Well I want to ask you a question. How do you say grandma in Greek? Is it Yawyaw? Or what. Am Italian and we say Nona. My granddaughter has many grandparents on her mother's side. Nannie, Nanna, Grannie, you name it she has it. And my sister is a grandparent and her grandchildren call her Nona to represent her Italian side of the family and the other side call her grandma. I like the Greek name and everyone tells me am not Greek. But I don't care. I love it when my granddaughter and step grandson call me Yawyaw. I think the hold thing is funny. I just not sure of the spelling.
All Comments
Use less chemicals, reduce room-to-room transfer of biological agents, improve worker ergonomics.......
Probably overkill for homes, tho.
Oh well.........
On the last run from DC to Cincinnati, I was given a major life thrill and allowed to observe the entire approach to Cincinnati's art deco Union Terminal from the engine house on a piece of track much desired by the old Confederacy.
I only wish I was old enough to have experienced the luxury train service available in the early and mid 20th century.
I hope President Obama doesn't allow America's existing track to rot away and funds new use for older unused track.
On other news fronts: Israel bombs the crap out of Gaza again. On the Medieval News Review front: no one came to the aid of the Latin Kingdom when, exhausted by repeated injustice, the Saracens overran it and killed all the knights.
Speaking of war crimes, I'm beginning to suspect that war crimes are a part of the waging of war. Tacticians agree that the more you kick the enemy, the more certainly the enemy will stay down.
I don't know where contemporary French philosphy stands on these matters but Michel Foucault had some wonderful insights several decades back in his work "The Order of Things." He saw the process of social change moving towards an impersonal level of interaction where individuality and privacy cease to be areas of concern, leading to the obsolence of the concept of human individuality and human rights.
We seem to be getting there right on schedule. The EU might have more advanced notions of human rights than say, Vatican City and its allies such as the United States, but their economy remains a Ponzi scheme and cannot not collapse when the time is ripe.
The Maya Long Count is ending soon, on December 21, 2012. Newagery predicts an "end to the world" but it's worse than that . . . it's an end of the world as we know it, but the world and us on it are going to endure and redefine. Of all the possible redefinitions pending, setting aside the Polly Anna fantasies, the collapse of respect for the human individual looks like the winner.
That ain't good.
It's nice to see one individual who doesn't equate a re-setting of the Mayan calendar, which has happened many times before (i.e., "change"), as an end of the universe. Every child thinks that the universe begins and ends with him/herself, but adults should know better.
It's nice to see one individual who doesn't equate a re-setting of the Mayan calendar, which has happened many times before (i.e., "change"), as an end of the universe. Every child thinks that the universe begins and ends with him/herself, but adults should know better.
"When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always."—Mahatma Gandhi
What that means to me is "I'm not going to stand up to MY corrupt government, but I think YOU should stand up to yours." And that doesn't make me happy, that just pisses me off...
As for the cleaning subject: I am IN LOVE WITH my steam mop. It's pricey ($75), but my girls got it for me for Mother's Day and it was the best gift ever. We're kind of crunchy-granola-organic no-chemicals types around here, so I love the fact that all cleaning is done with the power of water-turned-to-steam.
Airplanes are polluters--they dump huge amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Sometimes, it's wise not to travel at all as lots of people are finding out--I mean, don't they look at weather reports? Yet, watch a number of lawsuits come out of this situation--like the idiot who beat up his wife after getting off the plane and blamed it on the alcohol he was served on the plane. Almost makes you feel bad for the airline--almost.
Parcel of shit! Crimes WERE committed. One was the deliberate starvation of hundreds of millions around the world with Bush's ethanol from grains program. Not sure it went as far as starving people to death except in those cases where they were already close to the margins of death already, he did that out of shear nastiness and no other reason. It was very quickly discredited, but also raised the prices of foods and the profiteering on rice has still not come down. Calfiornia produces enough medium grain rice to meet the world's demands for that grain and the South, Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas produce enough long grain rice for that demand. Yet, the rice consortiums have kept the price of rice artificially high, 3 times the price it had been before Bush's evil, criminal, artificial shortages.
The Iraq War is another international war crime. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Bush attacked them not even for their oil as they are still producing a fraction of what they produced under Saddham, but just so he could claim war powers to wiretap Democrats and political enemies, probably reporters and prosecuting attorneys to blackmail them. But the Iraqi War has so far resulted in the deaths of 1.3 million innocent Iraqi civilians, 4 million more who are displaced and refugees, about a million desperately injured, maimed and brain damaged, as well as 4,200 dead American soldiers, at least 100,000 injured, maimed and brain damaged, 120,000 suicides among our soldiers with smaller numbers coming from Afghanistan. There were also the political hits on our own soldiers like that of the football player, Pat Tillman and the other of the lesbian soldier, but probably many, many more. And the missing trillions of dollars from the Pentagon concealed in the cost of the war.
The Bailout is yeat another Bush ripoff. They insisted it had to be passed in one week and that there could be no oversight. I don't understand at all how even idiots like Pelosi and Reid or the Republican members of Congress could agree. Half of the $700 billion has now been spent with zero accountability for how it was spent. We know that billions were paid out in bonuses to the CEOs of Wall Street. Meanwhile, they are demanding that the auto industry demonstrate massive reforms and no bonuses, and all sorts of accountability that demonstrates they clearly are aware of what accountability is. This week Paulson wants the other $350 billion and looks like they (Pelosi and Reid) will give it to him with no strings attached, almost as if they want him to spend it before Obama becomes president and forces them to demand oversight. Thus, speaking of crimes that were committed, many Damnocrats are also accountable and guilty, probably why they don't want to start prosecuting Bush and his gang of criminals and thugs. The Damnocrats were just as criminal and complicit, just a different criminal gang.
As for Obama, the only reason he isn't also to be numbered among these criminals is that he was elected to national political office after most of the Bush crimes were committed, but also seems to prefer to support them and be an accomplice, accessory, and complicit partner. But given that we have executed a kid who drove the getaway car who was only an accessory to a murder, I cannot see how we can let these criminals get away with their crimes.
And will anyone be held accountable? What a joke. This country is now a joke - how could anyone take us seriously save for the threat of murder? The rePigs, along with the Dems, have destroyed our democracy.
It won't be long before they start taking people like us out as well vk. And you're right. Obama isn't going to indict anyone, not after Bush issues a blanket immunity.
Those who do not correct the wrongs and crimes of the past (that's us as a nation) are bound to forever live out their lives in the ditch of disrespect and fear. We cannot move forward, ever, when a mountain of lies are being dragged behind us like a weight on a rope. It will catch up with us - at some time in the future - however, the criminals hope that by then the evidence will be lost or destroyed.
If Obama is our only hope of restoring our Democracy I must say that I have little hope that it will be done. Obama has NOT been impressive - but he deserves a chance to right the wrongs. We'll know soon enough. If he lets the criminals of the Bush years walk away, holding very few accountable, then we'll know he's just another criminal himself.
http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/210311/trains.asp
And did you ever hear of anyone who wanted to live next to an airport?
Yes, very, very suspicious that the compound didn't have sufficient backup generators to light the entire compound. When RFK took that vacation in the back country in Yosemite in the early 60s, they roughed it so much they had portable generators for every tent. My guess is the radios and phones for calling out were also all tied to the main power grid and none were battery powered. Probably not a single agent had a cell phone, Blackberry or other battery powered device.
Parcel of shit! Crimes WERE committed. One was the deliberate starvation of hundreds of millions around the world with Bush's ethanol from grains program. Not sure it went as far as starving people to death except in those cases where they were already close to the margins of death already, he did that out of shear nastiness and no other reason. It was very quickly discredited, but also raised the prices of foods and the profiteering on rice has still not come down. Calfiornia produces enough medium grain rice to meet the world's demands for that grain and the South, Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas produce enough long grain rice for that demand. Yet, the rice consortiums have kept the price of rice artificially high, 3 times the price it had been before Bush's evil, criminal, artificial shortages.
The Iraq War is another international war crime. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Bush attacked them not even for their oil as they are still producing a fraction of what they produced under Saddham, but just so he could claim war powers to wiretap Democrats and political enemies, probably reporters and prosecuting attorneys to blackmail them. But the Iraqi War has so far resulted in the deaths of 1.3 million innocent Iraqi civilians, 4 million more who are displaced and refugees, about a million desperately injured, maimed and brain damaged, as well as 4,200 dead American soldiers, at least 100,000 injured, maimed and brain damaged, 120,000 suicides among our soldiers with smaller numbers coming from Afghanistan. There were also the political hits on our own soldiers like that of the football player, Pat Tillman and the other of the lesbian soldier, but probably many, many more. And the missing trillions of dollars from the Pentagon concealed in the cost of the war.
The Bailout is yeat another Bush ripoff. They insisted it had to be passed in one week and that there could be no oversight. I don't understand at all how even idiots like Pelosi and Reid or the Republican members of Congress could agree. Half of the $700 billion has now been spent with zero accountability for how it was spent. We know that billions were paid out in bonuses to the CEOs of Wall Street. Meanwhile, they are demanding that the auto industry demonstrate massive reforms and no bonuses, and all sorts of accountability that demonstrates they clearly are aware of what accountability is. This week Paulson wants the other $350 billion and looks like they (Pelosi and Reid) will give it to him with no strings attached, almost as if they want him to spend it before Obama becomes president and forces them to demand oversight. Thus, speaking of crimes that were committed, many Damnocrats are also accountable and guilty, probably why they don't want to start prosecuting Bush and his gang of criminals and thugs. The Damnocrats were just as criminal and complicit, just a different criminal gang.
As for Obama, the only reason he isn't also to be numbered among these criminals is that he was elected to national political office after most of the Bush crimes were committed, but also seems to prefer to support them and be an accomplice, accessory, and complicit partner. But given that we have executed a kid who drove the getaway car who was only an accessory to a murder, I cannot see how we can let these criminals get away with their crimes.
Good! Good! No, excellent! I hope Bush issues blanket pardons to all of them including himself. My personal preference would be to see Bush, Cheney, Rummy, Rice and the rest of this murdering criminal gang prosecuted and convicted at the Hague and imprisoned in international prisons instead of American prisons.While his crimes against this nation are massive, his international crimes are sufficient to see him locked away for many, many lifetimes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1avf8jlAsU
Don't you mean Franz Kafka & Ollie North?
I'm the webmaster of "The Unofficial Kuklapolitan Website," and here's the story of Kukla's name:
http://kukla.tv/magic.html
Lots of video and audio clips on the site, too!
Mark
Is this why the Dems don't want to punish? So they can do bad things, too?
This is beyond a slippery slope. The country is at the bottom of a slimy gutter. And it looks like it will never change. Anytime, in the future, any public official is prosecuted, he need only say, "What you are accusing me of isn't nearly as bad as what Bush did -- and nothing ever happened to him." And they have a point.
http://kukla.tv/
p.s. you can't be THAT old. i remember the show, too.
That's the dog satellite. There is a sateliite that flies overhead and it emits a sound that only dogs can hear. I can always tell when it is overhead as my 5 dogs leap up, also for no apparent reason, and run outside to bark. ;)
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http://gopleader.gov/jobs/
ATTENTION ECONOMISTS: ARE YOU A STIMULUS SPENDING SKEPTIC?
A recent Associated Press article quoted transition officials for President-elect Obama as saying “[o]nly one outside economist” contacted by the President-elect’s advisors had “voiced skepticism” about the President-elect’s emerging plans for an economic “stimulus” spending bill with a price tag as large as $1 trillion, with the vast majority of that number going to new spending on government programs and projects.
House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) is compiling a list of credentialed American economists who would like to add their voices to the list of stimulus spending skeptics. If you are an economist who would like to be added to this list, you can join the list here and provide your comments. Also, please feel free to provide links to any papers or publications that support or extend upon your comments.
Be aware that information submitted through this form can, and most likely will, be shared publicly.
12/22 UPDATE: Stimulus spending skeptics speak out on the GOP Leader Blog. http://republicanleader.house.gov/blog/?p=399
We should start making up names and signing up.
Anybody know if "Kukla" of "Kukla, Fran and Ollie" TV show was based on the Greek word for doll, as it was a hand puppet?
Always thought if I had a dog, I'd call it "Skeelo" (SKEE-lo), Greek word for "dog."
Obama: Hamas must stop firing rockets at Israel.
According to the Nuremberg Principles
"Principle II
The fact that internal law does not impose a penalty for an act which constitutes a crime under international law does not relieve the person who committed the act from responsibility under international law."