Barack Obama (One Million Strong for Barack)

Most Americans don't connect climate change with human activity

Harold & Mary — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:35:03 EDT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/09/climate-change-debate-human-activity

Those who haven't made the connection between climate change and human activites haven't read enough about it. Also, the oil companies propaganda has probably influened them. Propaganda is most effective when the originators have hiden where it is coming from. The Rush Limbaugh ditto heads have been given the words to say and the permission to say them. Informed people need to keep speaking up. The debate has not been won.

"Dignity be Damned"

James — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:11:12 EDT

I read David Brooks column in the New York Times this morning. The Times still gives me plenty of material to analyze and consider, even if it is only a vestige of its old 'get them the objective news and get it to them right now' self. David Brooks wrote a very fetching article about dignity and manners, and how we have, as a culture lost both of those things. He used the incidents of Governor Sanford's blatheringly stupid comments about his own infidelity, Micheal Jackson's conduct of a child-like life, and finally Sarah Palin's applied confusion about life itself, as his examples of a culture gone to the dogs. There is no dignity left, he asserts. There are no manners, public or private, which are consistently followed or applied. It is all out here right in front of us. Brooks rails against self-promotion, even to the extent of running for the office of President of the United States (that insults the dignity of the candidate). But then he turns, in typical, and very modern Republican form, to use Ronald Reagan as an example of a relatively current public figure who had dignity. A bigger self-promoter there never was, except maybe P.T. Barnum, but that is ignored by Brooks.

The entire neo-con rant by Brooks is about being wealthy. You can ignore everything if you are wealthy. You do not need help, or money, or even much in the way of relationship, if you have enough money. That is the man's basic forlorn tenant. He harkens back to a day, George Washington's, to be exact, when a man like our first President could exercise all of the well-mannered characteristics of not promoting himself or herself, speaking when spoken to, standing when spoken to, and, of course, not requesting or even accepting help from anyone. That George Washington was extremely wealthy is not mentioned at all.

You read an article like the one I am discussing and the material almost sounds rational. You almost pine for those old days when such great-seeming principals of conduct supposedly ruled all of social life. Until you begin to think about it. Washington's family had droves of slaves and tons of servants. I wonder how they conducted themselves with respect to the 'rules of dignity.' There were throngs of struggling new Americans trying to barely get by or survive on subsistence farming or in slave-like manufacturing jobs. We still had bond-servant versions of slavery all over the countryside. What a load of dignity they possessed, and displayed.

Today, we are all trying to make it. We are trying to feed our families, just like before. There is absolutely no dignity whatever in not paying your bills or being foreclosed on. None. Not one shred. Try it, if you think there is. I encourage anyone in dire financial straights to self-promote the hell out of him or herself. I absolutely encourage them to ask for assistance from their friends and family before putting their children in shelters or onto the mean streets of our downtown cities. Dignity be damned.

David Brooks is wealthy. Can you tell?

http://www.jamesstraussauthor.com

http://www.themastodons.com

http://www.from-the-chateau-dif.blogspot.com

"AND THEN THERE WERE NUN...."

James — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:49:58 EDT

I read the New York Times this day and was not surprised. On the left side, all the way down the front page, they began a story about protesting Catholic Nuns. There are about sixty thousand of them left out there in the world. At one time there were many many more than that. They, apparently, do not wear the revealing (and respect demanding) habits of the past. I kind of knew that from somewhere, but it hit home with this article. The substance of the article was about how the leadership of the Catholic Church (read Pope Ratso) is opposing the Nuns because they have kind of gotten together to argue against a few idiotic things still supported by the Roman Catholics of Rome. They oppose, for example, the required celibacy of priests. The Pope is still big on this malformed and unsuccessful doctrine. And it is not, or at least I do not think so, that the sixty thousand remaining nuns are simply horny and want all those priests for their own. No, I am afraid that the nun's logic is more factually grounded (however fun it might be to think otherwise). It seems that, over time, the celibacy thing just has not worked at all. Priests have been out there screwing just about any human they could get their hands on for many many years. The Catholic Church is currently paying out billions in reparations because of the failure of celibacy among its priests. It seems that the pent up sexuality of these guys has led them to exploit young boys under their care. But the payouts have not fazed Ratso. He contends that celibacy works and must be kept in place. All priests must be male and they must not have sex. The male only thing is another piece of studied stupidity that the nuns oppose.

I was raised a Catholic and went to Catholic schools all the way up through my undergraduate degree in college. My elementary school nuns were the most noteworthy of my teachers. It was Hawaii right after the big war. The nuns at St. Augustine Elementary School, just off Waikiki, had just returned from surviving the entirety of WWII in Japanes prison camps. Those nuns were in no mood to take any garbage from elementary school children. Later, I was to train and then serve in the United States Marine Corps. The Corps had nothing on those nuns. My D.I., SSgt. Baines, could not have gone one round with Sister Michael Marie (a.k.a. Sister Joseph Louis), much less the dreaded Sister Gregoria (called the 'Flying Black Axe' for reasons unknown).

I am a writer today because of those nuns. I miss their disciplined learning techniques. Techniques no longer applied to school children anywhere. I learned the ABC's, how to decline a sentence, phonics, and the Chicago Style Manual of English. I learned them by trial and error, and the studied application of attentive pro-active pain. Those nuns did not have to strike often. They used a form of willful psychology and parental support no longer existent within the confines of our culture. I learned to speak in front of groups and to overcome embarrassment and failure. I got a C Plus in English at the end of 5th grade. And I still write very regularly to Sister Michael Marie and Sister Gregoria. In fact, when my book was recently published, I sent Sister Michael Marie a copy of the book (lovingly inscribed) and a copy of my fifth grade report card. I high-lighted the C Plus I received in English with a yellow marker, to point out the error of her conclusion. That was a month ago. I got a letter yesterday. She sent me the report card back with a note stuck to it. "You have improved" it said, and there was B Plus written in red over the crossed out C Plus. She also noted a few grammatical errors in the final production hard-cover novel! I suppose that is why I, and my publisher's editors, did not get an A.

The Catholic Church has not supported nuns in any way for fifty years. The older ones live in near poverty under poor conditions in run-down care facilities. The few younger ones do not even get habits to wear. They are allowed to work for the Church for free and get by as best they can. It is a shame. The value those women provided to millions of children across the world goes unrewarded and barely even thanked. Yes, they did it for the love of God, but come on! The Catholic Church is run by men. By White old men living in splendor inside stone chateaus. They are just like human leaders everywhere on earth. There is no difference, and there is about the same level of compassion exercised and exhibited toward those whom worked to put and keep them there, as exists in the civilian world outside.

I loved those nuns and tried my heart out for them. I did that because I knew, down inside, near the bottom of my little well of souls, they wanted the best for me. I really believed that they wanted me to succeed and enjoy life, and a good measure of bliss. They wanted me to be successful, simply because, well, in their prayerful and hallowed way, they loved me. They loved God above all, and then all the children in their charge. They still do. Their belief in me, and my belief in them, sustains me to this day.

The numbers of nuns are dwindling rapidly, as the older ones die off and no new ones come aboard. This is part of the design of the Catholic Church. I do not know why. Maybe, like most male leaders everywhere, Ratso and his Italian Mafia fear women. I just don't know. But I lament their passing. They have been a force for good and love out here, across the surface of this troubled earth. Those nuns left now deserve honors and a great retirement. The young ones, the few, deserve our endearing support...financially and emotionally, because it is good for us all. I am not much of a Catholic anymore, but I know a good thing when I experience it. I love those nuns, and you should too.

http://www.jamesstraussauthor.com

http://www.themastodons.com

http://www.from-the-chateau-dif.blogspot.com

WHAT IS TO BE DONE 19

DAN R. TAYLOR — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:43:35 EDT

We now should have at least 60 votes in the Senate for at a very minimum a public option in the health care plan. It is time to turn up the heat by calling your representatives and demanding a strong public option if they want your support in the future. This is as true for the Obama administration as it is for your representative and we need to let them know that. Health care is not a privilege it is a right. Too long the poor and middle class had to go begging for adequate care while the rich are able to pick and choose their care. Enough! Remember that. We should be demanding a nationalized plan to take the profit motive out of this basic right however it is clear there is no democratic backbone for this fight and it will have to wait for another day. The fact is, and I have heard this from many others, the Obama administration and the democrats can all go to.. if they fail to provide for this basic right in a public option as a beginning. I am tired of the old refrain from democrats: "What are you going to do vote republican? No, but I will walk away from your bankrupt politics and work to form a new progressive party that respects basics rights of people first not the profit to be made from them being sick. I recently said to a very dear friend that I was keeping my powder dry on the where the Obama administration was headed. On this issue however, the very spirit of change he so eloquently spoke for is at stake. Mr. Obama please lead the and we will have your back 110%. I know in my heart you are the man I think you are.

On a different subject and absolutely connected: When did it become ok to send babies to fight and die in an undeclared war in Afghanistan? Like Iraq it is not winnable and bleeds our blood and treasury. Anyone remember the Soviets or appreciate the history of the region?

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/LIVING/07/01/brothers.afghanistan.war/art.brothers.civilian.jpg

Can we call ourselves human beings if we send these babies to war and deny basic healthcare?

Mayor Vilaragosa & Hilary Clinton

Los Angeles Next Mayor — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:37:36 EDT

Did you know that Los Angeles Mayor Vilaragosa supported Clinton in the Primary?

HEALTH-CARE SYSTEM,THAT WORK!....

MYLES ROSENTHAL — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:02:39 EDT

Is of this Heart-Care System itself,the hollow noise which are heard throughout the Muscular organ,of this great land in which we all live in. This muscular organ,act like pumps,which blood flow through like a river or a stream. This blood flow,will situated behind the sternum,lying obliquely between the two air-flow pillows of this great nation;which is the Lungs of America. Now America is ready for a heart transplant,surgical transplantation of her heart,from a suitable donor who has recently died. America,has a heart block partial or complete inhibition of conduction of electrical impulse;from the Atrium to the Ventricle of her disturbance. In her mildest form,only will detected electrocardiographically;in full manifestation,ventricles beat at America,very own slow intrinsic heart rate uninfluenced by others nations attention. {HTTP://MY.BARACKOBAMA.COM/PAGE/OUTREACH/VIEW/MAIN/ROSENTHALMYLES}. P.S. America are now in recovery period!..... [EMAIL: www.rosenthalmyles@yahoo.com] P.P.S. Please!... Donation to America website.

President Obama Receives A Boost In The Senate

EsquireUK — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:56:42 EDT

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/273e8d0e-65b4-11de-8e34-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

In a 5-0 decision, the Minnesota State Supreme Court today declared Al Franken the winner of the state's Senate race. Shortly thereafter, Franken's opponent Norm Coleman officially conceded.

In an official statement, President Obama congratulated Franken, saying:

"I look forward to working with Senator-Elect Franken to build a new foundation for growth and prosperity by lowering health care costs and investing in the kind of clean energy jobs and industries that will help America lead in the 21st century.”

Help Impeach Mayor Vilagosa

Los Angeles Next Mayor — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:35:32 EDT

Help me impeach Mayor Vilagrosa. L.a needs a Mayor we can trust. If he can't fix his marrage then how can he fix L.A? It's immpossible.

United States Global Change Research Program

Harold & Mary — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:39:06 EDT

http://www.globalchange.gov/

13 United States Agencies agree: humans are causing global climate change.

Of Persian Pursuasion

James — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:46:30 EDT

The drums of the Middle East keep on pounding away, far off in the distance, but routed direct through television to the living room of our homes. Year by year, month by month...right down to moment by moment, the twisting turns and sinuous paths of those vibrations are changed to meet the behavioral control needs of a very few. We, those of us who think of ourselves as intelligent interpreters of this jumbled mess of communication, are nearly as stumped as the rest of the population, as to who those few are. We are not sure, either, of what real direction they are caging us to follow. Is the combined power of the media really simply the beast of finance? Does it only respond to what makes it money? Or are there other motivations as to the messages channeled so personally into the heart of our very lives? And where, among all these messages, across all the mediums, is there any truth at all? We watch the network news, looking for clues (or maybe just laying there...senseless after a very hard day's work for too little pay), then move to the cable channels for more. Some of us listen to the radio, attempting to 'true up' any of what we have received from the other sources. Near the end, there are the newspapers. All those sources of supposed news contain 'vetted' stories, which means that someone has looked them over and checked them out to make sure they have some semblance of truth in them. Finally, there is the internet. From blogs to YouTube, and then down into the Facebook and Twitter stuff. And what are we to make of it all?

Iran has had an election. Some kind of election. We are never sure of any of that anymore. We have such deep suspicions about our own elections to the point that now, when we see or hear the word 'election,' we take the information in with a skeptical, barely contained, sneer of disdain. The message streaming from almost every source tells us that the current leader of Iran has stolen his re-election bid. The loser really won. We are given no figures because we have nobody, at all, in Iran (from any part of the mass media). The few that were there merely filmed what they could from hotel windows before they fled to the airport and got the hell out of there. Since Iran is connected to the internet, we have gotten YouTube footage and Twitter reports. But what can we make of them? Anybody can say or do anything on the internet, using video as well, if they are schooled in the technology of its use.

But lets look at the overall message we are getting from almost all sources. Iran's leader is bad. He stole the election. People are protesting. The runner-up should be crowned leader. Iran's leader should step down. All peoples everywhere have the right to peaceful assembly and protest.

Now re-read that paragraph. What is the message we are supposed to be getting? Maybe we should get more elemental than that. Okay, let's ask a more elemental question. Why should we care one whit? The current leader of Iran is just as big a hater of America as the runner-up! Yeah, the other guy was running around with that same screwy Iman who spear-headed the whole hostage crisis which catapulted Reagan into office. And the peaceful protest garbage! What is that? We don't have the right to protest here in the U.S.! Have you not noticed? Our cops and Secret Service have carte blanche to arrest and incarcerate anyone who assembles to protest, if that protest is anywhere near any of our big leaders. At the presidential conventions last year the protestors at both events were relegated to cages specially built to hold them, miles from the actual events! And this is in America! There is no right to peaceful protest of big leaders anywhere in the world. So what the hell is going on? This nonsensical 'reporting' is just like the idiocy that gets printed about torture. We decry all forms of torture...except the torture we commit as a nation. Yes, your nation and in your name.

We hate the Arabs. As a culture we hate them. We don't really want to, but we do. We hate Iran, Iraq, Libya and even Afghanistan. We are scared crapless of islam and everyone over there who follows its teachings. If they come here, to our country, we accept them...conditionally. But not over there. We have given Israel (now there is a bunch of cool-headed clever dudes living in a desert oasis!) nuclear weapons and every bit of high tech weaponry we can make. That is how scared we are. And so our news reflects this fact. There were supposed to be tons of YouTube tapes and Twitter comments about the riots in Iran. Those did not materialize after they were predicted. What do you suppose our vaunted mass media had to say about that? They said that Iran had gotten really good at internet suppression! All those Youtubes and Tweets were there, but suppressed by the brilliant internet hackers from under the sand in Iran. Oh please.

What humor, if you sit back and look at it. There were no YouTube tapes or Tweets because there were no real riots of any kind. I think you can pretty much take that to the bank (well, a bank in the Channel Islands, if you have connections and are smart). Oh sure, there was some demonstrating and crowd interaction. But that was it. And we are not even sure what any of that was about because our own media high-tailed it the hell out of there.

We believe the the Persian's hate us. And we keep asking the question about why they do. The question is meaningless because the premise is bogus. They do not hate us. They are frightened to death of us! How would you feel if a monster country, possessing more nuclear weapons than any combination of countries in the world, hated you? A monster country that has proven it will indeed use nuclear weapons if it fears and hates you enough? We need, as a culture, to begin asking the right questions. Why do we hate them? What exactly is it about them that we are so abominated by? Why do we fear these small groups of strange believing peoples living in awful desert conditions so very much? If we can't even ask ourselves those things then what are we to do? Wait for just the right opportunity to blow them all into oblivion? Is that any kind of answer at all?

Osama Bin Laden. There are all kinds of small groups around the world who want power. Individuals crave it. We are hard-wired by sociobiology to crave it. The leaders get to impregnate more females (if they are male) or secure a quality future for their spawn (if they are female). Just look at Michael Jackson as an example. He was one miserable human being. I don't think that that can be denied. His personal life did not exist. But he craved public attention right up to the end. Osama does too. Cheney does too. These people never go away, unless it is to 'write' another book and then return. Or make another video. We must understand, as a culture, that this will always be the case. There will always be an opposition party. There will always be militia groups and terrorist outfits. It is hard-wired into our genetics. Evolution will only allow that to change if 'survival of the fittest' no longer includes getting rid of those presumed to be weaker. I, personally hoped, when I was younger, that technology would eventually allow us to vault up from the murder pit of amoral evolutionary expedition. As I age, I wonder, and the wondering is not a good thing.

We are so hurtfully directed to success. We are driven by fears so deep and dark that we cannot ever discuss them. If they are revealed by others we deny them and put down those others or label them losers or the weak. Only success matters. It permeates our financial sector, our trading mercantile sectors, our sports and even our television shows. It is all, and only, about winning. And it means that most people have to be losers. Do the math. "There can only be one Highlander," is a favorite expression of mine.

We must all be of Persian Persuasion in order to stop hating them. We must know them to care for them and about them. It is applied anthropology. Anthro, closely followed by history, is one of those disciplines, however, which interests many but is practiced by only a few, and almost none of the few are leaders of any sort. If we had paid attention to the anthropology of Iraq we would not be there. If we had paid attention, right after WWII to anthropology, Iraq would never have existed as a country for us to attack. Anthropology is about understanding other cultures. Amazingly, once you understand other cultures, guess what? You come to like them. So, in reality, our problems with the Middle East are all about schooling. We don't teach the right things in our educations system here, and then the media fails miserably to educate when we are done with that formal system.

This internet 'cloud' phenomenon, as some are terming it today, may be our only hope. Only here can words be written and read everywhere. They are not read everywhere for most of us who write here, however. There is just no easy or simple way to get people's attention to be read. That attention is being consumed by the famous. The Krugmans, Krauthammers, Coulters and Limbaughs gather the people in, but in becoming famous, they surrender telling the truth about what they are communicating. They communicate to stay famous and become more famous. Until they too are ready for their last shot of Demerol. But then, maybe, it only takes a few thinking human beings to influence the course of events. I pray that is so.

http://www.jamesstraussauthor.com

http://www.themastodons.com

http://www.from-the-chateau-dif.blogspot.com

Barack Obama Campaign Claims Prizes

EsquireUK — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:40:53 EDT

www.whitehouse.gov

The campaign that drove Barack Obama to victory in the US presidential election has claimed two top awards at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Awards.

The campaign, submitted by Obama for America, has been hailed as a masterful combination of new media, door-to-door and community grass roots campaigning with a clever tactical use of traditional TV advertising.

The campaign won two grands prix in the Titanium and Integrated Lions categories.

To win the Titanium grand prix, a campaign must involve a breakthrough idea that is "provocative, challenges assumptions and points to a new direction".

"Titanium celebrates work that causes the industry to stop in its tracks and reconsider the way forward," according to the rules set out by the Cannes organisers.

The integrated prize is awarded to a campaign using three or more media – such as TV, press and the internet - that is "high standard and state-of-the-art".

Earlier in the week, Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, gave a seminar about how the different facets of media were used to deliver the campaign.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jun/29/barack-obama-cannes-lions

Duty Calls

Los Angeles Next Mayor — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:57:47 EDT

Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. JFK There was a time for change, but now we need to change the results.

YES WE CAN !!!!!!! Health Care Compromise

Charles — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:21:12 EDT

Intense negotiations are taking place now in Congress to develop a universal health care plan for all Americans. Some Republicans in Congress are highly supportive of a health care plan which will cover all Amricans but have concerns about a public factor in such a plan which they fear will lead to the elimination of the private sector. Former Governor Mitt Romney helped develop the Massachusetts plan. He claims that the private sector can do the job fully as in Massachusetts. There is also a Republican Congressman from Wisconsin who claims a fully private plan can be developed to cover all of our citizens. Governor Arnold Schwarzeneggar put a huge amount of effort to develop a similar plan for California but it was shot down by the upper house. I say coming up with a good acceptable compromise with our Republican colleagues is very doable and any public component of the final plan can be made innocuous enough to allay Republican fears.

I really look forward to this autumn when President Barack Obama, one of our greatest, will sign a truly bipartisan universal health care bill which will cover every American citizen.

Becoming political... Hmm?

SummerLovin77 — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:06:16 EDT

I'm learning. After Camp Obama, I became full of hope. The stories of the people warmed my heart. I am fairly young and as my last blog stated, "Not so political". But for the problems ahead, it is compassion that is needed. I'm pleased with the outcome so far and appreciate the knowledge of the OFA workers. We all are passionate about serving. I never thought a girl like me would have an interest in POLITICS...

Summer? Becoming political? YES. ^_^

MAINTANCE GOOD AND NATURAL HEALTH!

MYLES ROSENTHAL — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:32:41 EDT

I don't need to be in any health club facilities to realized what maintening good health is. The most important thing going on in today societies. Whenever I'm in good health and in good physical shape, I don't have to worry about how I'm going to perform at work or how I'm going to get up the next morning. Because my eyes will just pop open automatically with good Fitness. I can do more things in my surrounding,maintence good Fitness Condition can't even come close to doing. Because,people are not in their best condition in today society. They just can't do any good at all at home,or work,or play. Good Fitness,is essential to many types of Life Styles. It is better when I have good health and eat a good meal to balance my diet after a good condition and fitness workout every day. This feeling,that I live with about being in fitness,is very real to me and I can't ever go without it not even for one day. I Just feel more alive and like this world that I live in will never ever come to an end. I will be successful,with whatever I set out to accomplished. Because being in shape,is Total Fitness and make you feel in Life Changing ways. I don't have to be an expert,in Physical Fitness,to know that this is great for the Soul of me. Just because I keep my mind,body and spirit,in Tune and Tone,with one another;give me the feeling,that people will see me as being different than they did before. Now they see me as being successful,because somethings around me have changed now. I'm not the same as I was. This coming from friends and family members. After all of the hard training and craving,for the right program,to get into. I found out just getting up every morning and taking my time,talking,walking and running around the neighborhood block,every morning after eating a good breakfast,were good enough for me. {EMAIL:www.rosenthalmyles@yahoo.com}

Words from L.a 's Next Mayor

Los Angeles Next Mayor — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:00:12 EDT

My name is David A.Morgan Jr. and I am going to run a campaign to become the Mayor of Los Angeles. I am a native of Los Angeles and I am also the Author of a Book called The Eye's of June. You can find that at any bookstore or contact me and I will send you one free of charge. I am in need of Volunteers and supporters. If you want to hear my views please feel free to contact me. And I will answer any question for you. Let's do something before Mayor Villarogosa ruins Los Angeles like he ruined his Marriage. And other peoples careers.

What's Taking Them So Long?

Caryl S. Foster — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:55:11 EDT

http://www.foxnews.com/search-result...ou-so-long.htm

President Obama, when asked by the White House press reporter (Major Garrett dressed in Repudiated Republican Party of No Fox News clothing) "what took you so long?" to respond in stronger language to what is going on in Iran, he could have just as easily answered with "What's taking you so long to realize I have been consistent in my response and approach since day one?".

Attempting to create "no-win" situations for President Obama is the Repudiated Republican Party of No singular strategy as they have nothing of substance or solutions to offer anyway.

Be assured that regardless of what words have, are, and will be spoken by President Obama on the issue of Iran or for that matter any important issue, the Repudiated Republican Party of No will offer nothing but criticism in response.

The reality is their strategy of objecting to everything for the sake of objecting has put them on the "lose lose" path of ensuring the continuing public diminishing of the GOP.
The real question to be asked is:

What is taking the Repudiated Republican Party of No so long to realize this?

What's Taking Them So Long?

President Obama Condemns Unjust Violence

EsquireUK — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:18:11 EDT

www.whitehouse.gov

Transcript in English:

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Good afternoon, everybody. Today, I want to start by addressing three issues, and then I'll take your questions.

First, I'd like to say a few words about the situation in Iran. The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, the beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days. I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I join with the American people in mourning each and every innocent life that is lost.

I've made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is not interfering with Iran's affairs. But we must also bear witness to the courage and the dignity of the Iranian people, and to a remarkable opening within Iranian society. And we deplore the violence against innocent civilians anywhere that it takes place.

The Iranian people are trying to have a debate about their future. Some in Iran -- some in the Iranian government, in particular, are trying to avoid that debate by accusing the United States and others in the West of instigating protests over the election. These accusations are patently false. They're an obvious attempt to distract people from what is truly taking place within Iran's borders. This tired strategy of using old tensions to scapegoat other countries won't work anymore in Iran. This is not about the United States or the West; this is about the people of Iran, and the future that they -- and only they -- will choose.

The Iranian people can speak for themselves. That's precisely what's happened in the last few days. In 2009, no iron fist is strong enough to shut off the world from bearing witness to peaceful protests [sic] of justice. Despite the Iranian government's efforts to expel journalists and isolate itself, powerful images and poignant words have made their way to us through cell phones and computers, and so we've watched what the Iranian people are doing.

This is what we've witnessed. We've seen the timeless dignity of tens of thousands of Iranians marching in silence. We've seen people of all ages risk everything to insist that their votes are counted and that their voices are heard. Above all, we've seen courageous women stand up to the brutality and threats, and we've experienced the searing image of a woman bleeding to death on the streets. While this loss is raw and extraordinarily painful, we also know this: Those who stand up for justice are always on the right side of history.

As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people have a universal right to assembly and free speech. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect those rights and heed the will of its own people. It must govern through consent and not coercion. That's what Iran's own people are calling for, and the Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government.

Transcript in Persian:

And finally, read an Arabic translation as well (pdf).

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/The-Presidents-Opening-Remarks-on-Iran-with-Persian-Translation/

5 Keys To Getting Health Care Deal

EsquireUK — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:52:51 EDT

5 keys to getting health care deal
By: Carrie Budoff Brown
June 22, 2009 05:09 AM EST

It was always going to be hard for President Barack Obama to pass health care reform by the fall. Lately, there are signs it’ll take a political miracle.

Democrats consider public insurance a must-have. To Republicans, it’s a deal-killer. And nobody’s figured out yet how to pay for the plan. An $80 billion deal with drug makers announced Saturday helps — but the price tag starts at a trillion-with-a-T.

“The shocker to me is that anyone is shocked,” said Drew Altman, president of the Kaiser Family Foundation. “With the details on the table, it has finally gotten real.”

If Obama has any hope of pulling it off, the next month is critical. Here are the five things supporters say he needs to do — and fast — to make it happen.

1. Put the bully pulpit to work

Obama’s hands-off approach to health care seems to have run its course, some Democrats say.

That doesn’t mean he’ll be attending negotiating sessions on Capitol Hill, but Obama’s supporters are clamoring for him to campaign for health care like his own election was on the line.

In a way, they say, it is — because the fate of health care may well determine the course of his presidency, given how far out on the limb he is in calling for a bill this year.

Obama held one major health care event during each of the last two weeks. On Wednesday, he will host ABC News at the White House for a day of interviews and a health-care town hall. An aide said Obama will do as much as he can, but was non-committal about how much more he’ll do.

But from the diaries of Daily Kos to the party establishment, Democrats say they want a sharper message from a president who has tried not getting too involved.

“I understand that Obama’s White House team has to juggle a lot of issues; I’ve been there,” Democratic strategist Paul Begala wrote on CNN.com. “But if the president wants to pass his ambitious health care reform, he’s going to have to put other, worthy ideas on the back burner.”

Former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich called for more drastic action: “Put everything else on hold. ... By pushing everything at once, you take the public’s mind off the biggest goal, diffuse your energies, blur your public message and fuel the demagogues who say you’re trying to take over the private sector.”
2. Keep it at $999,999,999,999

Well, maybe not literally. But in the Senate Finance Committee — the committee that health care players say matters most — lawmakers are taking a page from car salesmen and clothiers. They want to push the bill underneath an imaginary, mental price threshold, and in the case of health reform, it is $1 trillion.

The Politico 44 Story Widget Requires Adobe Flash Player.

The problem is, what do you leave out?

The main ideas for cost-cutting focus, not surprisingly, on giving fewer and fewer people government assistance to get insurance. Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) trimmed the amount of subsidies available to low-income families to purchase coverage. And the Medicaid expansion may not be as large as once hoped.

That’s exactly what liberals are afraid of — that every cut takes them farther away from their longtime dream of coverage for all. In fact, Obama in the not-so-distant future may have to worry that all this number-crunching will cost him the support of his most liberal supporters, who seriously question whether anything less than $1 trillion truly fulfills his campaign promises.

But the cold reality is that anything much over a trillion probably won’t make it out of the moderate Finance Committee. The strategy is a nod to what they view as the political peril of a big price tag at a time when Americans are growing more concerned that Obama will bust the budget.

3. Decide if bipartisanship matters

This is a big one for Obama and the Democrats, a decision that could shift the entire debate overnight.
Democrats have said they’re willing to wait until October before “going nuclear” and invoking Senate rules that require a simple 51-vote majority, effectively cutting the GOP out of the negotiations.

But that means months of trying to string together support across the board — from single-payer liberals to Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, ranking Republican on the Finance Committee. So far, it’s not working, and it’s keeping people like Baucus from throwing his efforts behind a robust public insurance option.

Now some Democrats are saying enough's enough – that these months are too precious to try to eke out a few Republican votes, when negotiations should focus instead on getting a workable bill. In other words, bag bipartisanship long before October.

One grumble on the Hill: Obama has sent confusing messages. Days after writing a letter to key Senate negotiators that he “strongly” believes in a public insurance option, he told them in a private White House meeting that he’s flexible on everything except the outcome: legislation on his desk by the fall.
Some read that as a sign he wants to stick with bipartisanship for now.

Obama got one piece of good news this week: Two big newspaper polls showed more than 70 percent of Americans want a public insurance option. Yet inside the Senate, support is much softer, with both Republican Dick Lugar and Democrat Dianne Feinstein urging Obama to slam on the brakes and study the idea more.

At some point, Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will need to decide how far they will push the public option and, ultimately, what is more important: two-party support or a public plan.

4. “Let’s Make a Deal: Industry Edition”

Talk about good timing. The deal announced Saturday — between the pharmaceutical industry, Baucus and the White House — for $80 billion in savings on drug costs challenged the emerging story line that health care reform by this fall was in real jeopardy.

So what Obama needs now are more big-dollar deals like that to help him foot the bill -- and show momentum is on his side.

There are some likely targets. Perhaps Obama will win over the influential American Medical Association, which is opposed to a Medicare-like public option, with a more vigorous proposal to rein in the costs of medical malpractice lawsuits — easily their No. 1 issue.

House Democrats already are wooing physicians by pledging to address another priority — a permanent fix to the Medicare payment formula.

The agreement with the drug makers also showed that the Democratic deal making was more aggressive than previously known – suggesting other deals may be in the works -- and it earned grudging respect from Republicans who privately acknowledged it as a skillful move.

5. Decide what he truly wants

Obama probably knows how far he can bend and still get a bill he’ll sign. One problem: No one else knows, and he’s been careful not to define what success means.

He has laid out three principles that leave plenty of wiggle room: Slow the growth in health care costs, expand coverage, and guarantee choice of doctors and private and public insurance plans.

But what does he consider a public insurance plan? Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) is pitching nonprofit insurance cooperatives — an idea could lure some Republicans and moderate Democrats — but do they fit Obama’s definition of providing competition for private insurers and keeping them honest?
Obama has yet to say.

The liberals in his party consider the Conrad plan a non-starter. The divide is not insignificant. At the same time that Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), the stand-in chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, was telling legions of activists on a conference call Thursday night that he was fully committed to a public option, an outline of the Finance Committee bill had leaked out.

It offered no public plan. Only Conrad’s proposal was included — and even it was tagged as an “open issue.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23995.html

President Obama's Weekly Address: Financial Reform

EsquireUK — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 09:09:47 EDT

Obama: I'm ready for a fight
By: Carrie Budoff Brown
June 20, 2009 07:23 AM EST

Taking a populist tone in his Saturday address, President Barack Obama framed the debate over his proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency as a showdown between special interests and average Americans.

“And while I’m not spoiling for a fight, I’m ready for one,” Obama said in the radio and Internet speech.

His proposal this week to create an agency that protects consumers from risky financial products has become the chief target of the banking industry, which stands to lose profits and fears it would create conflicting regulations.

But Obama said the industry needed to clean up the practices that led to the financial crisis.

“It’s no coincidence that the lack of strong consumer protections led to abuses against consumers; the lack of rules to stop deceptive lending practices led to abuses against borrowers,” Obama said. “This new agency will have the responsibility to change that. It will have the power to set tough new rules so that companies compete by offering innovative products that consumers actually want – and actually understand.”

Obama announced the consumer protection agency Wednesday as part of a sweeping set of new regulations designed to prevent another meltdown in the financial markets like the one that pushed the nation into a recession.

The centerpiece of the plan aims at giving the Federal Reserve new powers to oversee the entire financial system, which no agency was in the position to do ahead of the latest crisis. The Consumer Financial Protection Agency would safeguard against mortgage, credit card and other abuses.

“Some argue that these changes – and the many others we’ve called for – go too far. And I welcome a debate about how we can make sure our regulations work for businesses and consumers,” Obama said Saturday. “But what I will not accept – what I will vigorously oppose – are those who do not argue in good faith. … We’ve already begun to see special interests mobilizing against change. That’s not surprising. That’s Washington.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23962.html

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Weekly-Address-Financial-Reform-to-Protect-Consumers/

Begging for Dollars

Claudine Clarke — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:43:41 EDT

Dear President Obama,
I wish you would stop begging me for money and get to work. I have no more money for millionaires like yourself and your friends. Why don't you ask them for it? I am trying to save my home from foreclosure since my fiancé lost his job. In case you were wondering, I did apply for the Making Home Affordable plan. I am still waiting to find out if I can modify my loan even though I supposedly qualify for the plan and have never missed a mortgage payment. I have no more savings because I lost half in my diversified stock portfolio. The other half has gone to pay my mortgage. So, please stop begging for money and do what you said you were going to do.
Fix health care. Create a universal health care system for all Americans. Keep the greedy health care companies out of the negotiations. Denying health care to ill folks should be enough to condemn them. Come up with a better job creation program that offers real wages for Americans and actually puts people back to work. Make the banks that took TARP money stop foreclosing on people’s homes. Make these greedy banks pay back our tax dollars. Protect the environment vigorously so that our children will have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and clean land to live on. Allow gays to marry and serve openly in the military. Discrimination should not be tolerated in America. Most importantly, start helping Main Street instead of Wall Street. I expect you to listen to the people who gave their money and their time to elect you to office. I have given enough. It is time for you to do what you said you were going to do or you will lose my vote and the votes of lots of other folks who feel as I do.
Sincerely,
Claudine Clarke

President Obama Boost - New Poll Ratings

EsquireUK — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:39:01 EDT

New poll numbers from NBC/Wall Street Journal produce two major and potentially conflicting story lines when it comes to the Obama administration's efforts for a health care overhaul. On the one hand, the American public overwhelmingly favors a choice between getting insurance coverage either through the private market or a government run option. Indeed, 76 percent of respondents said it was either "extremely" or "quite" important to "give people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance."

With the public option being such a lightning rod in the current health care debate, progressive activists are already emailing around these numbers as evidence that voters are way ahead of the politicians. Certainly, the findings provide a boost of sorts to President Obama, who has stood by the public plan even as Republican opposition has crystallized.

That said, the president still has his work cut out for him. In the same NBC/WSJ poll, only 33 percent of respondents said they thought the president's health care plan, to the extent they knew of it, was a "good idea;" 32 percent said it was a bad idea.

In short: the administration has yet to complete the sale. An additional 30 percent of the public had no opinion of Obama's proposal for reform. But when read a description of the general outline -- requiring insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions, an employer mandate, tax credits for lower income families to buy coverage, and tax increases on wealthier Americans to pay for it - the number of respondents in support rose to 55 percent.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/17/obama-boost-new-poll-show_n_217175.html

Go Julius!

Harold & Mary — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:08:57 EDT

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Genachowski

Racial Politics- Two Tennessee GOP Mailings

bob-pol — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:51:06 EDT

1) Racist GOP mailer: Ex-Rep. Vaughn (D) calls it racially charged, a factor in losing seat.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/nov/17/dem-denounces-gop-mailer/

Democrat Nathan Vaughn says this piece of campaign literature mailed by the Tennessee Republican Party contributed to his loss in the 2nd District House race.

The mailer depicts the bodies of three black birds, perhaps crows, with the heads of Vaughn, Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi under a headline reading, "Nathan Vaughn - part of the liberal, big government flock."

The black bird depiction, Vaughn said, was apparently used only against him. "That indicates either a large degree of insensitivity, at best, or just racial hatred," he said. "I think they were just trying to spread hate to win an election. "The intent of those mailers was to put me with Barack Obama and say, 'They're both black, and we need to be against both of them,' " he said, adding that Pelosi's picture was added "as cover."

Vaughn lost to Republican Tony Shipley in the House's 2nd District race by 326 votes, according to unofficial returns.

2) Racist Email from Sherri Goforth, an aide to Tennessee State Senator Diane Black (R), depicted all 44 Presidents.

http://newscoma.com/2009/06/15/racist-and-ridiculous/

Email titled, “Historical Keepsake Photo.”, but Where's President Obama?

Spooky - funny? NOT!!!

Ms Goforth, who has 20 years of service, apologized only for sending it to the wrong people.

CNN Story, Video http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2009/06/16/nr.racist.email.cnn

Healthcare victory is within sight!

Terry G — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:30:36 EDT

I work every day on national health care reform here in Washington DC. From my perspective President Obama and his reform team have done a tremendous job of pushing health care reform forward and placing it on the priority list of our country. Plenty of folks in Congress deserve Credit too.

We are now entering a new phase of healthcare reform which will pit 300 million Americans against the entrenched special interests that oppose reform and partisan Republicans. In the middle are our elected Democrats and centrist Republicans.

All of us as citizens need to put the heat on our Representatives and Senators to finish the job and pass national healthcare reform.

The vote will occur by the end of July if Congress stays on track.

Here we go...................

Health Care Rally & Town Hall in Washington, DC

signsSansSignifieds — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:56:05 EDT

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Join thousands of Americans at the largest health care rally in history!

Limited FREE buses

Meet at 5:30 AM at Union Square; leave at 6 AM

Back at 9:30 PM

RSVP to Naomi.Rothwell2@gmail.com

www.healthcare09.org

MyBo link: http://tinyurl.com/lwappy

Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/m8bv64

Massachusetts: Mitt Romney, Ted Kennedy

Charles — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:26:46 EDT

Yesterday, June 14, former Governors Kathleen Sebelius and Mitt Romney were separately on This Week with George Stephanopolis. Governor Romney pointed out how in Massachusetts they came to a monumental compromise where they instituted universal health care in the state with Senator Ted Kennedy and others highly supportive. The bill passed by a huge majority.

Now the stumbling block appears to be allowing a public system to compete with the private insurance system. Governor Romney, I'm sure with his eyes focused on 2012, strongly supported his partys fears of any public system coexisting with the private health care industry. The goal therefore is to allay conservative Republican "psycho" or "polical" fears of any kind of public prescence in our new nationwide universal health care system. Governor Romney pointed out how in California Governor Arnold Schwarzneggar went at great lengths to come up with a universal health care plan for California which passed in the lower house but was immediately shot down by a liberal in the upper house. So thousands and thousands of Californians are still without health care insurance.

So our President's challenge is to make sure a compromise can be made to allay the fears of Republicans that our new plan won't be a "slippery slope" to socialism. Might not be a bad idea to engage Governor Romney on this. Since he was so big on the Massachusetts compromise, as a conservative Republican, being one of the major architects of universal health care in America might be a little more appealing than being a defeated 2012 presidential candidate.

Anoxic Event

Harold & Mary — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 21:54:57 EDT

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anoxic_event

We are probably headed for another anoxic event unless we intervene.

June 19th Day of Judgment the Witching Hour an Act of God the Greed Test

Richard Thomas Gerber — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 14:26:16 EDT

Storyline: On June 19th if some act in greed, en masse, the global economy will totally tank. What is special about June 19th is that in the financial realm it is known as the quadruple witching hour. The final hour of the stock market trading session on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December, when in addition to the expiration of option contracts and futures contracts, which indicates a triple witching hour, the expiration of single stock futures (SSFs) also occurs.

What is extra special about this June 19th is that by raising the H1N1 Virus to level 6 in an emergency secret meeting today, establishing a global Pandemic status, it triggers the force majeure clauses in contracts. Force majeure or “act of God” is somewhat ironic because if there are acts out of greed then the very system that permitted it will collapse by an act of God. Normally a force majeure clause removes the obligation to honor a contract, due to natural events beyond one’s control. So while in reality the somewhat mild H1N1 (swine flu) virus which is hardly a threat or cause for alarm could be used as a legal excuse to not honor contracts. However the real reason the contracts cannot be honored is not a result of the virus but rather the greed and corruption of those that had been running the system which failed because of imbalance due to greed and corruption. Of course if certain numbers can resist temptation, acting from a holistic perspective, then the system, as a result of collaboration, could be reconstructed without a total failure, or maybe not.

This could really get interesting and I am starting to see that the truth may be making a play to bring certain things to light and triggering a major systems evolution, and in fact a realization is coming that will bring change. It is a bit like a game of chess.

See it does and is happening in reality; check out this Google news search for force majeure.

http://news.google.com/news?pz=1&ned=us&hl=en&q=force+majeure+

At one link we find this good question, what is the answer?

--->

Economic Force Majeure

Source: Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP - Does a severe downturn in the economy constitute an event of force majeure? If you can no longer get financing because banks do not have the money to lend, can you claim force majeure because events are beyond your control?

<---

The answer could be yes and no, depending on the role one is playing and in what context.

Here are some perspectives I proffer.

The Global Accounting System (monetary systems) are a man made creation it is not natural. If the Global Accounting System were based on natural principles we might say it was then beyond our control, however it is not at this time. The Economic System is actually manipulated and some things are contrived by independent agency attempting to produce effect, in other words unnatural cause. We have an economic system where there are some natural market forces at work but it is really dominated by human nature. Of course there are events that influence the system both natural and man made. In this context we might say the answer is “no”.

We also have the economic participants who must in order to live and sustain themselves utilize a system that is beyond their control, it is controlled by others sometimes to the controllers benefit and not that of the economic system participants as a whole. Therefore the inability to obtain financing to allow continued value creation could be considered beyond their control. In this context we might say the answer is “yes”.

One could also open up a can of worms with something I have pointed out long before, man is a part of nature, so any thing man does is an act of nature in a greater context, of course that also means that man is subject to the laws of nature, and if doing something that causes imbalance, threatens life or creates suffering, it will be corrected or if that is no possible destroyed by the natural forces of nature. In other words when an element in nature stops listening to the signals from the rest of the elements in the system it may cause dissonance and disruption in the system and threaten the whole body and therefore for the body to survive, if it cannot be corrected it must be destroyed.

There will be much greater understanding and realizations as one completes the articulation of economics in an easy to understand manner from a scientific and natural perspective and disseminates it. This will highlight the flaws of the current systems design and destroy the illusions that it is based upon that lead to detriment not benefit.

I also note that many in executive management may not intend detriment however when seeking guidance from those with vested interests one is getting distorted or inferior advice which results in detriment to the majority and the system as a whole. Management’s key deliverable is the correct choosing of individuals or entities to play support roles which include the ability for discernment of the truth and reality behind appearances and the ability to detect a compromised agent or those lacking in capacity.

Presidential Address: Health Care Reform Key To Our Future

EsquireUK — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:19:24 EDT

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Weekly-Address-Health-Care-Reform-as-the-Key-to-Our-Fiscal-Future/

The President has long noted that skyrocketing health care costs will be disastrous in terms of our long term national debt unless we pass real reform. In this Weekly Address, the President also explains how he will cover the upfront costs of reform by eliminating overpayments from Medicaid and Medicare and driving down costs contributing to government’s health care expenditures across the board.

Read a full fact sheet on the details.

Obama plan to pay for health reform
By: Josh Gerstein
June 13, 2009 06:06 AM EST

President Barack Obama says he's now found savings that will pay almost all the costs of a massive overhaul of America's health care system.

Obama on Saturday is announcing an additional $313 billion in new proposed savings that he says would bring the total funding available for his top-priority health insurance reform to nearly $950 billion over 10 years.

White House officials insisted the new savings were rock-solid, but also acknowledged they had yet to settle on a specific mechanism to achieve lower prescription drug costs that make up nearly one-quarter of the new savings.

“Any honest accounting must prepare for the fact that health care reform will require additional costs in the short term in order to reduce spending in the long term,” Obama says in his weekly radio and Internet address. “Today, I am announcing an additional $313 billion in savings that will rein in unnecessary spending, and increase efficiency and the quality of care.”

The new proposals from Obama came as the drive for health care reform reaches a pivotal juncture in Congress. On Monday, the Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to receive Congressional Budget Office estimates on a slew of health-care options. On Wednesday, the committee is expected to unveil proposed legislation.

In advance of those milestones, the White House was moving aggressively to counter public criticism that funding plans for the health reform effort are unrealistic, particularly in the face of an expected 10-year pricetag of $1 trillion or more. Some analysts have faulted the White House for being overly optimistic about savings and tone-deaf to which tax-raising proposals are likely to fly in Congress.

In his address Saturday, Obama refers to a 10-year total of more than $600 billion in “savings” for health care. However, he does not explain in his latest comments that, under his revised budget released last month, $326 billion of that amount would come from tax hikes on Americans making over $250,000 a year, “loophole closers,” and higher fees for some government services.

In a conference call with reporters Friday, Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag said the latest announcement signaled that the White House had met its obligation to identify funding sources for a broad-based effort to make health insurance more affordable and more widely available.

“We are making good on this promise to fully finance health care reform over the next decade,” Orszag declared.

The Politico 44 Story Widget Requires Adobe Flash Player.

The bulk of the new $313 billion in savings would come from cutting or reducing the growth of payments to hospitals, medical equipment manufacturers and laboratories — though the major cuts don't target doctors, Orszag said.

Over the next decade, $110 billion is slated to come from reducing reimbursements to take account of what Orszag described as the ability of providers to improve their efficiency. “Health care services should be able to achieve and do achieve productivity improvements over time,” he said. According to a fact sheet released by the White House, future increases in such Medicare payments would be reduced based on an assumption that health care providers achieve half the productivity increases seen elsewhere in the economy. The budget official said the reductions would take place even if providers failed to garner the projected efficiencies.

Another $106 billion would come from cuts in so-called disproportionate share payments the federal government makes to hospitals with large numbers of uninsured patients. “As the ranks of uninsured decline under health reform, those payments become less necessary,” Orszag said.

About $75 billion is slated to come from lower payments for prescription drugs. However, Orszag said the White House was “in discussions with stakeholders over the best way of achieving that $75 billion.”

Notwithstanding that ambiguity, Orszag asserted that the White House had put forward $950 billion in budgetary offsets that could be use to fund health reform. He called the proposals "hard" and "scoreable," meaning that they were sufficiently certain and specific to pass muster with CBO officials who formally tally the cost of budget items.

Asked about the discrepancy, Orszag said, “There’s been continuous skepticism that we will come forward with detail….The detail on the $75 billion for prescription drugs will be forthcoming in the very near future and I will rest my reputation as a former CBO director on the fact that there are multiple ways in which those savings can be achieved and we are committed to achieving that level of savings in this package.”

There were signs that the announcement of the additional $313 billion of savings may have been rushed. In addition to the vagueness about the $75 billion in lower drug costs, the White House’s health care reform coordinator, Nancy-Ann DeParle, did not join a conference call with reporters to announce the new proposals. Her presence had been advertised in advance, but a spokesman said she was in another meeting and could not participate.

The cuts and savings are likely to engender warnings from providers that de-facto rationing will occur as patients in some areas find themselves unable to find providers willing to perform lab tests, X-rays and the like, due to the lower reimbursement rates.

Hospitals are also likely to protest that the disproportionate share payments, which are targeted for cuts of 75 percent, are vital to maintaining hospitals in costly urban centers, and to keeping teaching hospitals viable.

“It is unlikely to be an exact match on a hospital-by-hospital basis but what we believe will occur is that the remaining DSH payments that will still exist can be better targeted to the hospitals most in need,” Orszag said.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23697.html

No Doubt Wright Wrong!

Caryl S. Foster — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:54:12 EDT

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-06-11-wright-obama_N.htm

Sorry to say, as was Barack Obama, I was a defender of Reverend Wright when the national spotlight was first put on him for his infamous 9/11 comments due to the fact that having heard and read them in full context, I knew that they had been quoted and rebroadcasted without any context provided. At that time, I gave him the benefit of doubt until no doubt was left the next time he opened his mouth during last year's National Press Breakfast when full context was indeed provided.

Reverend Wright's ignorant public comments today are nothing but the further self-repudiation of himself. He is obviously out of touch with today's social reality, is happy to remain stuck in our nation's past, and it is apparently beyond him to imagine or hope for a better future for anyone including himself.

Thus, like for any publicly self-professed extreme left or right wing religious ideologist, it would not bother me to have Reverend Wright closely monitored in sad anticipation of him going beyond hateful words and speech to even sadder actual hateful actions.

Nor do I believe would Barack Obama disagree with this assessment.

No Doubt Wright Wrong!

On the Holocaust Museum Shooting

EsquireUK — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:30:07 EDT

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/On-the-Holocaust-Museum-Shooting/

The President and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar offer condolences.

President Obama:

I am shocked and saddened by today’s shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. This outrageous act reminds us that we must remain vigilant against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms. No American institution is more important to this effort than the Holocaust Museum, and no act of violence will diminish our determination to honor those who were lost by building a more peaceful and tolerant world.

Today, we have lost a courageous security guard who stood watch at this place of solemn remembrance. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends in this painful time.

Secretary Salazar:

Today, we witnessed an act of violence and hatred in one of our world's most sacred sites of remembrance. This horrible crime took the life of Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns, whose courage in the line of duty saved lives and protected the hallowed halls of the Holocaust Museum. Americans' thoughts and prayers tonight are with Officer Johns’ family.

We are also reminded of the great sacrifices our law enforcement officials, including security guards and the Park Police who protect the National Mall, make every day on our behalf. This tragic act of violence only reaffirms the lessons of peace and human dignity that the Holocaust Museum teaches.

http://www.ushmm.org/

Conservatives scraping the bottom of the barrel-Insane lies and prayers for assassination

Robert Lynch — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:26:34 EDT

Over the past week the filth has intensified from the Conservative movement. First, after years of badgering from Bill O'Reilly and others, a psycho finally follows their lead and slays Doctor Tiller during a church service.

Next, Alan Keyes vice Presidential running mate Wiley Drake publically prays for the death of President Obama. In reference to Doctor Tiller, Drake claims that God has answered his prayers for the death of Doctor Tiller and he hopes the President is next.

Then to show they are equally irresponsible and also praying for death, the republicans in the house and Senate join in. Minority leader John Boehner screeches, "President Obama is importing terrorists into the United States!!" Many other republicans join in agreement.

The point of stirring up this kind of hysteria is to create a climate of hatred and violence which will lead to more politically motivated killings.

This is the sewer that Conservatives have sunk to. They have over the last 8 years destroyed our economy, wiped out Millions of jobs, killed thousands senselessly in Iraq, and allowed 3000 to die on 9/11. They have no ideas for governing the country, in fact they never did. The only thing left is to pray that some sort of monstrous "god" will kill our President and return the republicans to power in the next election.

I thank God, the true God of love and compassion, that our President is being protected by the best security ever devised by man, and despite their racist hatred and prayers to a false god of hate to kill him, our President will live to a ripe old age, untouched by their sickening, murderous bile.

UN.Security Council Toughens N.Korea Sanctions

bob-pol — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:21:26 EDT

Tightening the screws on N. Korea. Will it back them down, or make them more defiant?

U.S. soldiers take part in a joint military drill with South Korean soldiers north of Seoul in early June

U.N. Security Council agrees on tougher N. Korea sanctions

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council have agreed on a resolution that would expand and tighten sanctions on North Korea, two senior Western diplomats at the United Nations said Wednesday.

The permanent members -- China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States -- reached the agreement in consultation with Japan and South Korea.

The council began discussions late Wednesday morning. A vote is possible Thursday or Friday, according to several diplomats, including French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert.

The agreement comes amid rising tension with North Korea, which recently conducted a nuclear test, fired test rockets, and threatened U.S. and South Korean ships near its territorial waters. The nuclear test and the firing of six short-range rockets same in late May.

Pyongyang's actions violated U.N. resolutions.

Adding another wrinkle to the situation, two American journalists arrested in North Korea were convicted Monday of illegal entry to the country and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Late last month, two Defense Department officials said U.S. satellite imagery spotted "vehicle activity" at a North Korean ballistic missile facility. The officials said the images showed vehicles used to transport Taepodong-2 missiles, but no missile parts. The Taepodong-2 is a long-range missile that was tested earlier this year by North Korea.

That test, in April, showed a significant improvement in range from North Korea's initial long-range missile test in 2006.

President Obama's special envoy to the secretive communist state, Stephen Bosworth, called "simply groundless" accusations by Pyongyang that its nuclear and missile tests were in response to American aggression.

Washington officials have said the United States' goal is for North Korea to return to nuclear negotiations with the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia, known as the "six-party talks."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/06/10/un.north.korea/index.html?eref=time_world

President Obama: Good News For Taxpayers

EsquireUK — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:46:13 EDT

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/TARP-Funds-Returned-Spending-Reigned-In/

PAYGO TARP Good News for the TaxpayerThe President announces that 10 banks will repay their Troubled Asset Relief funds, and commits to new legislation codifying the Pay-As-You-Go principle.

Today the President spoke in the East Room of the White House, bearing good news for the taxpayer. The President’s intention was to discuss all of the progress already underway on the fiscal responsibility front, from ending the kind of wasteful no-bid contracting we have all come to know, to cutting unnecessary programs, to eliminating subsidies lavished on health insurance companies through Medicare.

At the top of the list was codifying the PAYGO principle, stating that government cannot spend an additional dollar without saving it somewhere else, into law. As the President often notes -- and noted again today -- it is a principle that families are forced to live by and one that helped balance the government’s books for years before it was abandoned.But as it happened, there was even more good news before he discussed those issues:THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you all for joining us here in the White House. Before I begin, I want to comment briefly on the announcement by the Treasury Department with regard to the financial stability plan.As you know, through this plan and its predecessor, taxpayer dollars were used to stabilize the financial system at a time of extraordinary stress. And these funds were also meant to be an investment -- and they were meant to be temporary. And that's why this morning's announcement is important. Several financial institutions are set to pay back $68 billion to taxpayers. And while we know that we will not escape the worst financial crisis in decades without some losses to taxpayers, it's worth noting that in the first round of repayments from these companies the government has actually turned a profit.This is not a sign that our troubles are over -- far from it. The financial crisis this administration inherited is still creating painful challenges for businesses and families alike. And I think everybody sees it in their own individual districts. But it is a positive sign. We're seeing an initial return on a few of these investments. We're restoring funds to the Treasury where they'll be available to safeguard against continuing risks to financial stability. And as this money is returned, we'll see our national debt lessened by $68 billion -- billions of dollars that this generation will not have to borrow and future generations will not have to repay.I've said repeatedly that I have no interest in managing the banking system -- or, for that matter, running auto companies or other private institutions. So today's announcement is welcome news to me. But I also want to say the return of these funds does not provide forgiveness for past excesses or permission for future misdeeds. It's critical that as our country emerges from this period of crisis, that we learn its lessons; that those who seek reward do not take reckless risk; that short-term gains are not pursued without regard for long-term consequences.

White House Photo, 6/8/09, Pete SouzaRoadmap to Recovery 600,000 JobsThe President announces his plan to
save or create 600,000 jobs this
summer through an accelerated
"Roadmap to Recovery."

White House Photo, 6/4/09, Pete SouzaThe President in the Middle EastThe President spoke in Cairo on America's relationship with Muslim communities around the world, watch the video or read his remarks in a dozen languages.

CEA Chair Christina Romer presents the report. Photo Credit: J. Scott WilleyThe Economic Case for Health Care ReformThe President writes to Congress spelling out what he wants, and the CEA issues a pivotal report entitled “The Economic Case for Health Care Reform.”

White House Photo, 6/9/09. Chuck KennedyPAYGO TARP Good News for the TaxpayerThe President announces that 10 banks will repay their Troubled Asset Relief funds, and commits to new legislation codifying the Pay-As-You-Go principle.

RECENT FEATURESA NEW FOUNDATION1234

View this Book: Election: "My Ride with Barack Obama."

Omar Dyer — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:06:18 EDT

During the campaign in 2008 and into 2009--a student was granted rights to Obama's campaign. As one of the many speech writers, and current nobel prize nominated author--plus, candidate for Office in the state of New Jersey. Omar Dyer has had online conversations with the leaders of the world. Omar Dyer was called: The Next Generations Leader, and is proving his point in the current election in New Jersey. Join his movement and learn about the change that can come from the bottom up.

To many people have cried about what Barack Obama was doing during the speech that Hillary Clinton stated. They didn’t know that Barack Obama was conducting his grassroots organization and helping to mend the wholes in the hearts of the people. He was sending emails to the campaigners about how to get the audience to tune in and respect Hillary Clinton. He even placed on his website moments after the speech a thank you letter to Hillary Clinton. I have some of the informal letter that was sent around to the supporters.

We are working hard to bring change and make sure everyone is apart of change in America. Hillary ClintonSaturday, June 7, 2008 1:36 PMFrom: "Barack Obama" Add sender to Contacts To: Undisclosed parties> “Hillary Clinton announced her support for our campaign today.Senator Clinton made history over the past 16 months -- not just because she has broken barriers, but because she has inspired millions of Americans with her strength, her courage, and her commitment to causes like universal health care that make a difference in the lives of hardworking Americans. Our party and our country are stronger because of the work she has done throughout her life, and I'm a better candidate for having had the privilege of competing with her.Senator Clinton will be invaluable to our efforts to win in November, and I look forward to campaigning alongside her to bring this country the change it so desperately needs.Hillary and her supporters are joining us at an urgent moment. It's going to require a new level of commitment from every single one of us to build a national campaign in the general election. And we're going win this election the right way – by growing our grassroots network of ordinary people giving only what they can afford. Together we can do more than just win an election. Together we can change this country, and we can change the world. And we are honored to have Hillary Clinton at our side as we do it.” Barack The Change Campaign is working hard to help mend the hearts of the Hillary Clinton supporters! There were rumors about Obama not respecting Hillary's speech today. That's not true, and the Change Campaign was working the emails to promote the fact that Hillary was making her historical speech. It hurtful that everyone is doing everything we can to ensure that America gets that chance to end the suffering we are facing.

Some of the worse fears where raging in the mist of this process and it raised questions. Here are some of the comments, people left on Barack Obama. “What more do you people want, she did congratulate Obama on Tuesday's speech to her supporters. They certainly didn't need her to go on and on about him, remember it was also a victory speech for winning South Dakota. She said we have to elect a Democrat to the White House and she wasn't talking about herself it was Senator Obama. Now if he was out playing golf today so be it, I bet it wasn't with any of the former Trinity United Church of Christ members who helped bring him to this rise of power, he ditched them. I hate to tell all of the blacks who whole heartedly supported him during the primary, he doesn't need your vote now, he's taken it for granted and now playing on his "white" side. He turned his back on his own people whom he had spent the last 20 years in church listening to that crazy religion they believe in. Look out America. Obama suddenly doesn't go that church anymore and wears a flag pin now which I'd like to shove up his ass. To his Campaign Advisors, you're doing a fabulous job with him.Good advice to put the flag pin on him each day now that you figured out that it was a way to get votes. Good advice to have him diss the church and the Reverend and Pastors and Bill Ayers. Good advice to have him quit talking about being an African American candidate at every rally and suddenly change to talking about how this campaign has inspired his daughters.Good advice to have him quit talking about Martin Luther King Jr. every other sentence. The advisors quickly learned that it was the white vote he needed and talking about slavery which was "so a million years ago" was not going to get the vote. Now he acts like he's white. Which has always intrigued me, if you're half black, you're half white, he just used his race to his advantage to gain attention. Dear God, who cares what color one's skin is and I'm so sick of everyone saying that whites are “prejudiced.” It's the blacks that have segregated affiliations, clubs, groups etc. all usually with "BLACK" in the name of the organization. How many groups do you know of with "WHITE" in the name? Furthermore, if there is a group with "WHITE" in the name the black's would say we were prejudiced. Yet I bet whites are not allowed to be members of black organizations. Isn't that prejudice? What about college scholarships that only blacks can apply for, it's all bull if you ask me. Vote McCain, at least he's an honorable man. Obama promised to change Washington politics, claiming to be different and somehow better than other politicians, yet he just does whatever is convenient at the time to get the votes. He has no platform of his own. He had to wait until Hillary had her's on her website so he could go and copy them. He's a joke.

McCain in 2008, Hillary in 2012!

The next comment to Barack Obama sparked something that Barack Obama didn’t even know was going to happen. One of the campaign followers whom referenced they were either Governor Mitt Romney, or one of his supports called: Obama’s Change Campaign a bunch of thugs and uneducated fools. Then they placed this performed speech on the Internet to get exposure. Well, not only was this speech ripped up and blown away by an amateur politician. It showed that this guy had the backbone to fire back at the GOP. The truth is this wave and nobody knows what to do because this kid has a CLEAN RECORD. “He will never be able to withstand the attack the GOP is going to bring on. Hillary could have and that is why she was undermined at every pass.

He is responsible for the division in our party and because of that he doesn’t have my vote.

He sold out his job as a senator and never voted on issues so he wouldn't have to explain himself when running for President and because of that he doesn’t have my vote.

He claims to be Christian but is associated with a Church that is so unchristian it is disturbing and because of that he doesn’t have my vote.

Then he turns his back on the very people that got him where he was (because they were no longer helping him). Did he even believe in the Church or was it for political gain? Because of that he doesn’t have my vote.

If he can turn his back on his Church of 20 years he will turn his back on any group that is not beneficial to him. Because of that he doesn’t have my vote.

His support is fanatical and unreal. It is the same type of support that Bush had when he started. It has been bought. He has sold out. He has bought his support on promises that are so seductive that people turned their backs on Hillary that had been on her side for years.

He is a pied piper and I watch his followers follow. I don't see how they can't see his tune is off key. They listen to his song as if it was being sung just for them. Obama is for Obama. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't turn his back on several more groups of people that he no longer needs between now and November.

I never fell for the Bush groupies even when it was "unpatriotic" to say so. I am not falling for Obamamaniacs. The best thing Obama can hope for is for people like me to stay home and not vote. However, that is not likely. I would rather vote for McCain just to give Hillary a better chance in 2012.

"ICARUS"

James — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:31:45 EDT

We have come so far and flown so high that it is nearly inconceivable we may have gone right beyond our areas of normal expansive and progressive interest. Flight. Ever since I was a child I have loved flight. Any kind of flying machine, or person who operated a flying machine, was of great and endearing interest to me. My father was in the military, which allowed our family to fly from duty station to duty station across the land and over oceans. And I loved it all, from the aluminum framed web seats, to the loud piston engines of mixed dependabilty...and even the boxed chicken lunches, which were commonly distributed. Although planes were not on time or always able to take off due to weather or mechanical problems, it was okay. Airports had few services and little in the way of entertainment while we waited, interminably, to fly.

But we waited and we waited willingly. We loved to fly, and we loved all the preparation that went into the process. We loved the unseen 'John Wayne' pilots, and we loved the stewardesses in their wonderfully stylish attire. We loved the big aluminum monsters that flew us through the air. Most of us knew them all, by airline, model description put out by the airline, and even the manufacturer.

So what the hell happened? United is losing money...again. The rest are losing money, or making little, while they shrink the number and length of their flights. And that is all over the world. The airlines are all complaining about falling revenue and passenger miles. And they are correct. So what happened?

We don't like to fly anymore. We fell out of love. Flying today is a bitter experience of humiliating phony service. It is a series of unending embarrassments, to those who fly economy, and almost intolerable in first class, which is so expensive as to be almost humorous. We have horrid parking at airports and worse intra-airport transportation. Just the act of dropping somebody off or picking them up is to be avoided at almost any cost. Homeland Security is rotten. Rotten attitudes and stupidly rotten procedures. More humiliation. Once aboard an aircraft it is just as bad. Less room for carry-on, if any room at all. Charges for everything. Crammed planes outfitted with ever smaller seats and spaces. Tickets that cannot be changed. Tickets that cannot be returned. Fear of being run through some security system and denied the right to fly. Fear of everything connected to flight or the geographics where it occurs.

We don't like to fly anymore. That is what happened to revenue and passenger miles. We attempt to avoid it. We take a car or a train, but, more and more, we don't go at all. And it is getting worse. With less disposable income, we fly only when we absolutely have to. Our hatred for the experience is obvious to all around us at the airport, making matters all the worse. We hate the security guards, even though we understand their work. We hate the airplane crews even though we know that it is not their fault. We hate the dirty unsafe equipment we see all the time.

And so, we are beginning not to fly. It is the airlines fault. It is our governmental leadership's fault. It is the caving in to vapid stupidity at fault. There are not going to be any 9/11's because no passengers will allow it anymore. Heard of any hijacked airliners lately? Me neither. But I think it is maybe too late for the current airlines to recover. Flight will have to change. We won't accept it the way it is. We will kill it off, by not going. Then something will replace it. Like cars. I noticed, the other day, that I was standing at a Borders bookstore magazine rack in the automobile section. I have always bought automobile magazines. I looked and then bought nothing. My love affair with that method of transportation is dying too. I used to love to read about powerful sports cars, the faster the better. Now I think they are a joke. I do not want to pay for gas to support a 500 horsepower engine. An engine that will spend all of its time idling in traffic, or in the very very unlikely event that I can drive fast at all, idling by the side of the road as the ever-more aggressive highway patrols write me expensive tickets, accompanied by idiotic morality tales about safety.

And the other car stuff is boring. Oh, I know we gotta have the hybreds and the electrics. It is for the good and economy of all, not to mention, green of all. But those cars are boring. You just can't read very far into an article about a Prius. So the cars are going to go too. We are driving less. We are driving less for the same reason we are flying less...because we don't like to do it anymore. We are so simple to figure out, if you take the time and trouble to study us...the people...the fabric of the culture. We work because we have to, and because we believe in work as a part of our foundation of worth. We play because we want to. We'll continue to drive the trucks and cars for work, and fly for work, but we won't do those things for fun anymore. Unless there is just no other way to get there, and then we may not go at all.

http://www.jamesstraussauthor.com

http://www.themastodons.com

http://www.from-the-chateau-dif.blogspot.com

The Obama Presidency: Health Care Reform

EsquireUK — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:36:39 EDT

www.whitehouse.gov

This past weekend, grassroots supporters gathered at thousands of meetings across the country to kickoff a summer long campaign for health care reform. For Organizing for America, it was the largest post-campaign effort yet, but the timing and the issue couldn't be more urgent.

From the Boston Globe:

Barack Obama became president thanks to house parties like the thousands across the county this weekend, and thanks to activists who wrote checks and blogged and made phone calls to neighbors for the campaign. The agenda then was clear: Win the election.

Now Obama is reactivating his grass-roots political machine for a new purpose: Pass major legislation overhauling the nation's healthcare system.

From Reuters:

From a living room in Kansas to a bagel shop in New York to an Alabama church, Democrats have started mobilizing support for President Barack Obama's healthcare reform plans.

Suburban housewives and social workers mixed with Baptist ministers, college students, retirees and many others at grassroots gatherings over the weekend. Spurred by the Democratic National Committee's burgeoning political machine dubbed "Organizing for America," thousands of such meetings had been planned for Friday through Monday.

Those attending the scripted two-hour events viewed a videotaped message from Obama, shared personal stories and made local battle plans to counter the expected stiff opposition.

"It's going to be a vicious fight," said 76-year-old Hank Putsch who attended an organizing meeting on Saturday at a Kansas City restaurant. "The insurance companies and healthcare companies are gearing up to oppose this. We've got to get our voices heard."

Obama has declared this summer "make-or-break" time for healthcare reform and has called on Congress to pass comprehensive legislation by the end of the year, saying America can no longer afford the costs of a system dominated by profit-driven insurance and healthcare companies which leaves 46 million people uninsured.

Though he is leaving the details to Congress, Obama has said reform must ensure a public health insurance option operating alongside private plans, a reduction in basic costs, and assurance that no one is denied insurance.

"This is why we elected him," said Sarah Starnes, a hospital social worker who has volunteered to help campaign for the Obama plan in Missouri. "It used to be that we'd elect a president and then the lobbyists would determine what happened. This time it is going to be us who determine what happens."

Created a Community Haven. Gymboree Play & Music Learning Center, America's Grandest Gymboree

Steven Miles Sulkin — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 10:37:15 EDT

My goal is to try to do good for our world, and sometimes that means starting with one's community. Phase 1 of my goal to help the youngest members of my community (children from newborn to six years old). I built one is being dubbed as "America's Grandest Gymboree", a learning center for children. Art, Music, Play, School Skills, Baby Signs, we have hundreds of classes for little ones and their parents (drop off is for 3+). It's a great place, we are very proud of it. Please check us out. And in the future, look for our Montessory Academy we'll be building, "The Vernon Hills Montessori Academy."

Check out this video on YouTube. It's prety cool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP_tfntb40E

Separating the Wheat from the Chaff

Richard Thomas Gerber — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:08:38 EDT

Original Post May 10, 2009 Separating the Wheat from the Chaff

Response to What is Socratic Dialog and How to Sustain it

The chaff or husk comes along as part of the seed grain; it’s a natural part of the wheat. To utilize the goodness of the wheat, we separate the chaff from the grain. One most popular and efficient method is threshing. In threshing man gives the wheat up to what to do the separation? Man gives the wheat up to the wind to do the separation, for to do it with his own fingers in a linear fashion would be grossly inefficient and impractical.

Such as it is I suggested four years ago in the dialog that we develop such a system designed to support the requirements for Socratic dialog. At the same time introducing the Crème principle a notion provided by nature, what I did was transfer that in natural application to a system that could be created by man or if allowed would happen naturally. I also indicated that this would parlay into a system for participatory self government using the new tools that would be coming available to all. The chief design requirement in the design of all the new systems was to engineer ego self interest out of the system so that it could not exert to strong an influence over design, decision, and execution. Such that our product would be the result of the sum of individual self interests integrated. Individual self interest is represented but in a way that maintains balance in proper proportion to it’s presence in the system. In the system would be a digital wind that would separate the wheat from chaff in the dialog and the cream would rise to the top and here the world could place it’s attention.

At the same time in the wisdom of understanding I articulated the need for the protection of individual sovereignty and this applies at all levels including nations of people. For collectivism, conformity, and central control is not conducive to evolution it only supports order. It is the rebel, the revolutionary, the eccentric, the heretic, the outcast, the one that marches to beat of a different drummer that induces and allows the collective body to evolve. Therefore the lone voice and actor must be heard in the dialog and it’s free agency protected for it is essential to the survival of the body as a whole. For here we find growth, adaptation, invention, innovation, and ingenuity and the proper questioning of the status quo.

As I have written in the past, in the dialog, we might liken the chaff to ego chatter, and the notion was not to silence the ego chatter with force but to create a voice of spirit and wisdom of greater volume so that the ego chatter is insignificant upon the ears becoming nothing more than background noise. This voice would be the collective voice born of each informed individual voice. If we were to attempt to silence certain individuals then we might also silence the one voice that might be speaking with insight, wisdom and intelligence even though it did not have the status quo credentials and agenda. If only the members of the status quo could speak into the dialog we would do nothing but maintain the status quo and eventually perish through a failure to grow. I put forth the notion of a measured and authenticated voice of the people which would carry it’s full weight in proceedings and voting, and that the individuals representing those people in the institutions of self government would be able to carry out the will and intention of their constituency in a wise and liberal manner.

We should mention formality because this is often an area of contention in Socratic dialog. Formality is another word for structure and order. There is time for structure and a time for the unstructured mode of operation. A time to dress nicely to state the importance of an event and a time to run naked through the streets to protest and give voice, they called that streaking in the 70’s and now the fashion seems stadiums rather than streets.

Order actually arises naturally from Chaos especially more so with some help from intelligence, I present the universe as empirical evidence. With intelligence and structure out of the chaos of the individual voices can arise a refined voice representing many and the contributions many individuals, the collective wisdom and gestalt intelligence.

With the proper vehicles any single voice can enter the dialog and be amplified so that is shown to speak as the many think. A single voice that provides great value and insight can naturally be illustrated to be such and garner more attention. A group of voices speaking in harmony it also would also denote. That thought in resonance that rises to a crescendo becomes “thy will be done”.

This would not be a balanced perspective if we fail to include a safeguard. A council of wisdom empowered by law and principle, with checks to protect against collective mob behavior resulting from ignorance and irrational thinking with it’s reactionary emotionally driven action. This is especially of concern if there is not existing a free and independent media and information from all sources so that none become collectively ill informed or subjected to disinformation from consolidated non-autonomous control of information flow.

For in understanding all things we find the wisdom in all things and in wisdom we preserve the freedom for all to pursue their happiness. As well as the right of each individual to not have their pursuit of happiness infringed upon by others in their own pursuit; for none can really truly be happy if their happiness comes at the expense of another’s happiness. If such pursuit would do so then that pursuit must be evolved, on the other hand if your unhappiness is due to the need to evolve, one had better evolve or lose your right to happiness. For those that like to keep things the same that is not going to happen due to the natural expansion of the universe and life in conjunction with change, also known as time. There is only one thing that is timeless and I am that I am and thou art that I am in you, the ancient witness. This realization proceeds the coming of the Kingdom and that on earth is in heaven.

So saith I as the One and not other
Richard Gerber

P.S

Many things happen somewhat naturally if given the vehicle to do so. In other words the vehicle will naturally be steered by intelligence local and or all pervading. It helps to have a concerted and funded effort to create the vehicles.

Speaking of wheat and chaff…

I remind the world body, that the body of man was not designed to use wheat as staple for food and it was Amaranth the immortal and everlasting that was designed for this. Some things perhaps better left to the production of beer and to feed those animals that have been designed to digest such substance and to that it is found to be synergistic. There are elements in wheat that are not synergistic with human body, and although a source of energy it is not one for nutrition.

We are reminded of that famous meme, “Man cannot live on bread alone”.

Watch President Obama's Speech

EsquireUK — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:23:36 EDT

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/NewBeginning/

Hello -

As a Senior Advisor to the President, I'm here in Cairo, Egypt where I watched President Obama deliver an unprecedented speech calling for a new beginning for the United States and Muslim communities around the world.

We all know that there has been tension between the United States and some Muslim communities. But, as the President said this morning, if all sides face the sources of tension squarely and focus on mutual interests, we can find a new way forward.

The President outlined some big goals for this new beginning in his speech -- including disrupting, dismantling, and defeating violent extremism. It was a historic speech, and since many Americans were asleep at the time it was given we wanted to make sure you had a chance to see it:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/NewBeginning/

Majority-Muslim countries around the world are filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives, just as in America. Indeed, part of what makes America great is having nearly seven million Muslim Americans living here today and enriching our culture and communities.

We can extend that kind of relationship abroad. It won't always be easy, but if we make an effort to bridge our differences rather than resigning ourselves to animosity, we can move toward a more peaceful world over time.

Thank you,
David Axelrod
Senior Advisor to the President

Health care reform is an economic necessity

N. Julio Barthson - E-Campaign Leader — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:01:02 EDT

In this excellent op-ed piece, super-economist Christina Romer (one of President Obama's most trusted advisors) makes an impassionate plea for health care reform. She expalins the different options that could lead to the President's goal of universal health care, and helps the reader get a really goodunderstanding of what is really at stake. Too often, we hear that universal health care would be too costly and force the economy to suffer. That is a far right Republican talking point which has been discredited several times over, but which still survives and lives on because of the ignorance of many. This piece by Prof. Romer dispels all misunderstandings and makes the choice clear: health care reform would strengthen America's economy for the future, not hurt it...

The present medical system make people go bankrupt

Torgny V.O.B. — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 04:54:42 EDT

A normal middle-class family may very well go bankrupt during the present health care system, and in fact many people do. This is not only the source of much pain for the people involved, physical pain due to disease and financial pain. But many people going bankrupt is also bad for the economy of the nation.The present crisis in health care and economy goes far deeper than many people believe. It is often short term solutions that in the end will turn out very expensive. As for example the many bankruptcies that will be very expensive in the long term for all of us.

“Medical bills are involved in more than 60 percent of U.S. personal bankruptcies, an increase of 50 percent in just six years… More than 75 percent of these bankrupt families had health insurance but still were overwhelmed by their medical debts… Using a conservative definition, 62.1 percent of all bankruptcies in 2007 were medical; 92 percent of these medical debtors had medical debts over $5,000, or 10 percent of pretax family income… Most medical debtors were well-educated, owned homes and had middle-class occupations.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5530Y020090604

N. Korea to Test Long-Range Missile ...

bob-pol — Sun, 31 May 2009 01:12:50 EDT

North Korea has previously launched a long range missile, and also a space satellite, so its ICBM capability is worrisome. Rob [bob-pol]

North Korea seen preparing to test long-range missile. US issues harshest warning yet as spy satellites spot signs of rocket being moved from weapons factory

Sunday, 31 May 2009, by Eric Talmadge in Panmunjom, Korea

Spy satellites have picked up signs that North Korea may be preparing to transport another long-range missile to a launch site, South Korean officials said yesterday. The development came as the US issued its harshest warning to the North since the recent nuclear test. "We will not stand idly by as North Korea builds the capability to wreak destruction on any target in Asia – or on us," US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates told a regional defence meeting in Singapore. He said the North's nuclear programme was a "harbinger of a dark future", but wasn't yet a direct threat.

Impoverished North Korea has earned billions of dollars from exporting missile technology to Pakistan and the Middle East, and the fear is that it could do the same with its new nuclear know-how. Mr Gates did not elaborate on how the United States might respond to North Korea, but he had earlier said no additional troops were being deployed to the peninsula, where 28,000 US soldiers are stationed.

Britain announced yesterday that it has sent a military aircraft to help verify the strength of the nuclear device detonated by North Korea last week. The Ministry of Defence said a VC10 tanker plane had been sent to Japan to assist with examinations determining the strength of the blast and the type of nuclear material used.

Since last Monday's nuclear blast, North Korea has test-launched six short-range missiles in a show of force and announced it won't honour a 1953 truce that ended fighting in the Korean War.

The reclusive communist state appears to be preparing to move a long-range missile by train from a weapons factory near Pyongyang to its northeastern Musudan-ni launch pad. Images of the movements were captured by US satellites. Experts have said the three-stage rocket has a potential range of more than 4,100 miles (6,700 kilometres), putting Alaska within its striking distance.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies, said the North is likely to fire the missile shortly after the UN Security Council adopts a resolution criticising its recent nuclear test.

more, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/north-korea-seen-preparing-to-test-longrange-missile-1693517.html

Obama Administration Securing Our Digital Future

EsquireUK — Fri, 29 May 2009 18:03:28 EDT

http://www.whitehouse.gov/CyberReview/

Friday, May 29th, 2009 at 10:00 amSecuring Our Digital Future

Melissa Hathaway, Cybersecurity Chief at the National Security Council, discusses securing our nation's digital future:

The globally-interconnected digital information and communications infrastructure known as cyberspace underpins almost every facet of modern society and provides critical support for the U.S. economy, civil infrastructure, public safety and national security. The United States is one of the global leaders on embedding technology into our daily lives and this technology adoption has transformed the global economy and connected people in ways never imagined. My boys are 8 and 9 and use the Internet daily to do homework, blog with their friends and teacher, and email their mom; it is second nature to them. My mom and dad can read the newspapers about their daughter on-line and can reach me anywhere in the world from their cell phone to mine. And people all over the world can post and watch videos and read our blogs within minutes of completion. I can’t imagine my world without this connectivity and I would bet that you cannot either. Now consider that the same networks that provide this connectively also increasingly help control our critical infrastructure. These networks deliver power and water to our households and businesses, they enable us to access our bank accounts from almost any city in the world, and they are transforming the way our doctors provide healthcare. For all of these reasons, we need a safe Internet with a strong network infrastructure and we as a nation need to take prompt action to protect cyberspace for what we use it for today and will need in the future.

Protecting cyberspace requires strong vision and leadership and will require changes in policy, technology, education, and perhaps law. The 60-day cyberspace policy review summarizes our conclusions and outlines the beginning of a way forward in building a reliable, resilient, trustworthy digital infrastructure for the future. There are opportunities for everyone—individuals, academia, industry, and governments—to contribute toward this vision. During the review we engaged in more than 40 meetings and received and read more than 100 papers that informed our recommendations. As you will see in our review there is a lot of work for us to do together and an ambitious action plan to accomplish our goals. It must begin with a national dialogue on cybersecurity and we should start with our family, friends, and colleagues.

We are late in addressing this critical national need and our response must be focused, aggressive, and well-resourced. We have garnered great momentum in the last few months, and the vision developed in our review is based on the important input we received from industry, academia, the civil liberties and privacy communities, others in the Executive Branch, State governments, Congress, and our international partners. We now have a strong and common view of what is needed to achieve change. Ensuring that cyberspace is sufficiently resilient and trustworthy to support U.S. goals of economic growth, civil liberties and privacy protections, national security, and the continued advancement of democratic institutions requires making cybersecurity a national priority.

Cybersecurity

Watch experts from the public and private sectors discuss the Administration's combined arms approach to securing our nation's digital future:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/CyberReview/

June 2 Primary Election: Write / Type In Voting: Support Omar Dyer

Omar Dyer — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:47:33 EDT

Get out and Vote: When you go to the Polls, and you don't like Corzine's name in the Democratic Slate: Write /Type in Omar Dyer. Practice your Write / type In Vote for Omar Dyer. He will be on the Ballot in Novemeber and let's make the state respect his effort in campaigning with out federal money. So Write / Type in Omar Dyer on the Dems side if you want to vote for someone else.

Type In the Vote; and Omar Dyer's supporters should know that the process is simple. You have to type in the on the key board provided on the lower portion of the machine.

And the name shoud be spelled correctly, if not it doesn't count for Omar Dyer -- if you are supporting him. Read the instructions before you enter the polls.

"TORTURING!"

James — Thu, 28 May 2009 11:58:01 EDT

There is a damned good reason why the investigation of all torturing done by the United States, and its allies, is vital to our current and future cultural health. That reason is simple, yet responding to it may be one of the most complex undertakings of this new 'mired-down' administration. The reason we must investigate fully is to know. We must first know what was done. We cannot evaluate data we are not given, or allowed to know exists at all. If we cannot analyze and evaluate, then we support what occurred. Tacitly, we go along with what took place. Our sense of justice, outrage or even understanding, is suspended...and our future becomes bleaker because this. The United States Government, under almost every administration, has been right up there near of the top of the pile of controlling social orders. The public has been treated like it consists of cows, bunched into herds, fed hay, watered, pastured, but told nothing. After all, what could cows possibly understand? By treating the public this way (think the Kennedy Assassination, TWA 800, 9/11) the public is left totally out of any possibility of being part of decision making. Okay, so we don't know who killed Kennedy, really. We don't know what the hell happened to 800, really. We don't know what happened about the towers, really. We just know that we don't know the truth. It rankles inside of us. The 'us' who are not conspiracy theorists, even.

But, we also know that we voted for people who we wanted to run things. We gave them the ability to know things we cannot. We gave them the ability to make decisions for us when we could not. We trusted them. Not all of us. Most of us. It is how it all works here. Occasionally, however, there are things that happen which we need to be involved with. Our leaders fall into habit patterns, now supported by this whacked-out media, and tell us less and less. That is what has happened here. And we must protest. Torture is not an event. Torture is a putrid infection that forms a crack in our social order. It works its way in and then festers, eventually killing the cultural being we have fought so hard to grow and mature. It spreads. It spreads slowly and insidiously. We must find out what happened, no matter how terrible (and hundreds, or thousands have died terribly painful deaths), and then we must confront these acts. We do not even need to punish the real physical perpetrators. Public revelation would probably more than deal with that. No. We need to confront our fear. The fear that allowed us to allow our leaders to direct such acts in our name, and then to deny they did it, or cover up the very acts themselves.

If we can bring all this out from under the black cloak of intended secrecy, then we can rise up and apologize. Yes, apologize to the world and to the survivors. For our good, as well as the good of all. After apologizing we can put this horrid diseased Genie back in the bottle. We do not need to punish those who acted, but we can certainly establish and isolate some of our draconian imprisonment penalties for future perpetrators. We are a nation of laws. But those laws are interpreted by, and applied by, men and women. We need to direct these people by law, and then let them know what is in store for them if they ever commit, or allow to be committed, acts like this again. This is called taking a stand!

We cannot heal this potentially terminal infection by putting a bandage over it, even if the bandage is skin colored. We must clean the infection out, then provide antibiotics to actively fight the remaining tendrils that run through our cultural body. Laws are the antibiotics. Laws without exceptions for this area. We, as a country and a people, cannot go through life being known allow such things as 'rending' other people, or tearing them limb from limb, or drowning them, or delighting in their pain, for the simple reason that we wanted something from them. We have raised up quiet, and not so quiet, enemies against us. You know it and I know it. And I'm not writing about the stupid 'war on terror,' or any of the other Orwellian terminology adopted to keep fear in control of the masses out here. I am writing those men and women who are the families, relatives and friends, of the tortured by us, the missing under our care, the dead because of our studied sadism. Those people are coming, ever coming, and we are going to have to deal with them. We have empowered them by acting like frightened school children. We have been cowardly. And we cannot simply ignore them or provide them with silence and denial. They know. We know. We must come out of this closet. Let the healing begin.

And then there is the rest of it.

Where the hell is the new World Trade Center? Why are there not two towers standing this very day, twice the size of the old ones, in central Manhattan? You think American would not have collected and paid for such a demonstration of cultural will and strength? Where the hell is Osama? You really believe that if a country like our country, of its size and power, could fail to find one man on this earth for eight years? Where is my beloved space program? (for Christ's sake, we are about to 'rent' Russian space vehicles for the next ten years to put our people in space!!!!). Where are our factories? Where are our car companies? Where are our bridges and roads? Where is the money that all these hedge-fund and derivative executives have stolen and hauled away?

Where the hell are you and what are you going to do about it? Get off your couch and your butt and do something, even if it is just to write and say something about it all. I am not the voice of this culture. I am merely a participating observer, like you. But I am writing about it and I am asking hard questions. And I am mad as hell that my present, my future and my children's future has been stained, soiled and trampled under foot by selfish thieving bastards. And its all happened on my watch.

Our newspapers are failing because they will not write this. You need to read this. You need to think about these things. You need to reflect, argue, complain, disagree and take action. Our television media is a morass of mediocre crap fed to us daily by weak-kneed pitiful people who could not work effectively in a General Motors assembly line. You need to scream at Obama, Roberts and all of them.

I want my honor back! I was a Marine Officer. I am still a Marine Officer. But I am supposed to be that proud being, not because of the honor of the Corps, but because of the honor of the United States of America. I want my honor back. I want those things back that allow me to have bliss, and to share that bliss with the world. I want to know I am doing the right thing. I want the Christmas Eve feeling of waiting for the morning, and what I will find under the tree! But I want that back, about life itself. Have you ever lived a time when you could just not wait for tomorrow because it was going to be so great? You just knew it! I want that time for my children and my grand-children, and yes, even for me. Help me get it back. Help yourself in getting it back, or maybe having it for the first time.

I wrote a book called "The Boy." It is about honor. Honor lost. Honor won. About internal honor. Getting it, and then holding on to if for dear life. The book is going to be a movie (at least, as of yesterday!). I am not encouraging you to buy my book. I am encouraging you to write your own! To think. To write. To take action. This is all about you out here so start acting like it.

http://www.jamesstraussauthor.com

http://www.themastodons.com

http://www.from-the-chateau-dif.blogspot.com

I love the Marine Corps. I love America. And I love you.

Recession Survival Fair—Volunteers Needed

signsSansSignifieds — Thu, 28 May 2009 10:38:04 EDT

The Recession Survival Fair will take place on 6/6 at the Brooklyn Brownstone School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Volunteers are needed now. Details here:

http://signsanssignified.blogspot.com/2009/05/recession-survival-fairvolunteers.html

President Obama Nominates U.S. Supreme Court Judge

EsquireUK — Tue, 26 May 2009 10:48:15 EDT

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/introducing-sotomayor?signup=true

May 27, 2009Obama Selects Sotomayor for Court By PETER BAKER and JEFF ZELENY

WASHINGTON — President Obama announced on Tuesday that he will nominate the federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, choosing a daughter of Puerto Rican parents raised in Bronx public housing projects to become the nation’s first Hispanic justice.

Judge Sotomayor, who stood next to the president during the announcement, was described by Mr. Obama as “an inspiring woman who I am confident will make a great justice.”

The president said he had made his decision after “deep reflection and careful deliberation,” and he made it clear that the judge’s inspiring personal story was crucial in his decision. Mr. Obama praised his choice as someone possessing “a rigorous intellect, a mastery of the law.”

But those essential qualities are not enough, the president said. Quoting Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Mr. Obama said, “The life of the law has not been logic, it has been experience.” It is vitally important that a justice know “how the world works, and how ordinary people live,” the president said.

Judge Sotomayor is Mr. Obama’s first selection to the Supreme Court, and her nomination could trigger a struggle with Senate Republicans who have indicated they may oppose the nomination. But Democrats are within reach of the 60 votes necessary to choke off a filibuster, and Republicans concede that they have little hope of blocking confirmation barring unforeseen revelations.

Judge Sotomayor, 54, who has served for more than a decade on the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, based in New York City, would become the nation’s 111th justice, replacing David H. Souter, who is retiring after 19 years on the bench. Although Justice Souter was appointed by the first President George Bush, he became a mainstay of the liberal faction on the court, and so his replacement by Judge Sotomayor likely would not shift the overall balance of power.

But her appointment would add a second woman to the nine-member court and give Hispanics their first seat. Her life story, mirroring in some ways Mr. Obama’s own, would add a different complexion to the panel, fulfilling the president’s stated desire to add diversity of background to the nation’s highest tribunal.

Judge Sotomayor’s father died when she was 9 years old and she was raised by her mother, who worked six-day weeks to earn enough money to send her and a brother to Catholic school. She got into Princeton University, where she once said she felt like “a visitor landing in an alien country,” but graduated summa cum laude.

After Yale Law School, where she was editor of the Yale Law Journal, she worked for Robert M. Morgenthau in the district attorney’s office in New York and later was in private practice. The first President Bush nominated her in 1991 to the federal district court on the recommendation of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Democrat of New York, and she was confirmed a year later. President Bill Clinton decided to elevate her to the appeals court in 1997, and she was confirmed a year later.

Judge Sotomayor has said her ethnicity and gender are important factors in serving on the bench, a point that could generate debate. “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,” she said in a 2002 lecture.

She also once said at a conference that a “court of appeals is where policy is made,” a statement that has drawn criticism from conservatives who saw it as a sign of judicial activism. Judge Sotomayor seemed to understand at the time that she was making a controversial statement, adding that, “I know this is on tape, and I should never say that, because we don’t make law.”

Conservatives quickly pointed to such statements after word of her selection on Tuesday.

“Judge Sotomayor is a liberal activist of the first order who thinks her own personal political agenda is more important than the law as written,” said Wendy E. Long, counsel to the Judicial Confirmation Network, an activist group. “She thinks that judges should dictate policy, and that one’s sex, race, and ethnicity ought to affect the decisions one renders from the bench.”

White House officials concluded that such statements, while perhaps providing fodder for opponents, would not be problematic enough to hinder her confirmation. Some officials have said in recent days that they relish the prospect of Republicans standing up against a Hispanic woman with her life story, because it would only damage the G.O.P. with a key voting bloc.

The president sought to defuse some of those charges in advance, declaring his confidence that she has “a recognition of the limits of the judicial role.”

Indeed, in nominating the first Hispanic justice, Mr. Obama may appeal to a large and growing constituency whose party loyalty is still very much in play. Hispanic groups have expressed excitement about the idea of one of their own serving on the high court. (Some scholars argue whether Benjamin Cardozo was really the first Hispanic justice, but with his Portuguese-Jewish background, he never identified himself as a Hispanic.)

On the appeals court, Judge Sotomayor has not been involved in many hotly disputed decisions, but one that she participated in is before the Supreme Court right now. As part of a panel, she voted to uphold New Haven’s decision to throw out a set of fire department promotion tests because no minority candidates made the top of the list. White firefighters who scored high but were denied promotion are appealing that ruling.

As a district judge, she briefly earned fame in 1995 by ending a Major League Baseball strike, ruling in favor of players and against the owners, who she said were trying to subvert the labor system.

At the White House announcement, the East Room filled with members of the legal community and several Hispanic leaders, who received calls and emails on Tuesday morning to attend the ceremony and applauded enthusiastically when Mr. Obama entered the room with the nominee. To keep the decision secret, outside groups were not notified until about two hours before the event began.

The president conducted a face-to-face interview of Judge Sotomayor on Thursday at the White House, officials said. She was the second finalist to be interviewed, following Judge Diane P. Wood of Chicago.

Mr. Obama called her at 9 p.m. on Monday, officials said, to inform her that she was his choice. She traveled to Washington late Monday evening.

The president reached his decision over the long Memorial Day weekend, aides said, but it was not disclosed until Tuesday morning when he informed his advisers of his choice less than three hours before the announcement was scheduled to take place.

Mr. Obama telephoned Judge Sotomayor at 9 p.m. on Monday, officials said, advising her that she was his choice to fill the Supreme Court vacancy. Later Monday night, Mr. Obama called the three other finalists — Judge Diane P. Wood of Chicago, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Solicitor General Elena Kagan — to inform them that he had selected Judge Sotomayor.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/us/politics/27court.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/introducing-sotomayor?signup=true

HOW TO SECTION:Posting photos in photo forum threads

Sun, 24 May 2009 09:10:33 EDT

Many new photography forum participants don’t know how to post, or embed, an image within a forum message. The process is quite simple and the method is the same for most forums. The image must first be uploaded to a server such as at an online photo hosting site.

To post an image, use its full URL

Click for larger version

Go to the image at a hosting service, right click it and open the Properties menus.

Next, highlight the full address (URL), copy the URL and then paste it into the subject area in a forum post. For the image to appear, you MUST include the .jpg extension.

Generally, you should get the URL from the image itself, not the address bar of a browser.

For example, below is the full URL to a thumbnail photo in the Digicamhelp Photo Galleries. One space has been added after the http: so you can see the how the text is supposed to appear (you wouldn’t normally add a space).

http: //www.digicamhelp.com/gallery/thumbs/256-graceful-goose.jpg

When the correct URL is posted in a thread, the image will appear.

This method is the most commonly used in photography forums, but not all forums use it. Some require code placed around the URL for the image such as: [img] URL [/image]

http://www.digicamhelp.com/processing-photos/photo-hosting/posting-photos/

TORTURE

Debbie — Fri, 22 May 2009 13:48:33 EDT

There are not that many people which we happen to call terrorists that have any concrete information that we want or need. Missions are carried out by what we call “terrorists, CIA agents, or our military.” Know that each person carrying out the mission in any of the groups I reference here are not privy to the information of each other. This my friends is where the torture issue breaks down and does not work. Why? We don’t know if Johns’s information is related to Sam’s or if he knows anything at all. These unknown factors make torture an act of trial and error. How on earth are we going to torture people on a trial and error basis? How can we move forward believing that this is an act of self-preservation of a nation? How can we involve ourselves in such grievous and heinous crimes against humans whether they are guilty or not, just because we are out to find the truth? How can we search for the truth employing our own men? Do you think our men will be the same after they torture someone? Do you know that these men that perform the torture are just as victims as the ones they are torturing? Why do we do this to our own?

How, please tell me how, can conservatives that are out there in search of preservation of life, as in the unborn child, risk the adult child’s mind by forcing them to torture others? How, can the conservatives who claim to have such fundamental truths to withhold do such atrocities to other human beings? How, can conservatives claim that life is to be honored and cherished and yet have such double standards for US citizens vs. the rest of the world? Why? I am appalled today and disgusted with this. I am furious that we are even discussing this. How can self-righteousness make us cruel? How? Two wrongs do not make a right! And worse of all when we don’t even know if we are taking our 6th degrees of separation terrorist cousin that grew up in the other side of the word and degrading his human nature to the point of total surrender! Yes, why don’t you conservatives ask McCain? Ask him why he does not agree with torture. Ask McCain why this practice has to be abolished. Ask McCain how he broke down. For what? If Sam is captured, do not fool yourselves, someone else will carry out his mission. There is always a plan B!

Cheney can talk, Rumsfeld can talk, and everyone out there Republican, Democrats, Independents can talk…. But the truth of the matter is that we hurt our own! Why? Why?

Has humanity gone bonkers? Today I am angry at this issue. Angry that we even have to discuss it!

Conservatives, do on to others… does not mean just us, it means humans… wake up people…. Wake up!

New Radical Health Care Reform Includes End of Disease

Richard Thomas Gerber — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:34:28 EDT

Universal Health is the solution not universal disease care.

The End of Disease approach, is best because it lowers taxes, reduces disease cost burdens on business, increases productivity and increases wages. The downside is that it eliminates revenue streams and industry based on disease, but not those based on health. I have outlined the 6 elements that cause disease here and the technical remedy and approach. End of Disease Awareness Campaign

You might also check out http://nutrient.me which covers the new bio logic systems approach to health and understanding the human biochemical machine to enhance it performance.

I will not be depending on the President or Congress to get this plan implemented and will go directly to the people. If you do not take my plan into account, to end disease, it will surely mess up other plans which will be based on fictions not reality.

Please follow on Twitter

@One_Click

@Nutrient

@Holism

If you really want to know what is going on follow the Vehicles of Light or the Twitter Fortune 500 it's all about the revolution.

"TORTURED!"

James — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:05:14 EDT

Let me establish some basic fundamental principals in dealing with the application of what we have come to understand is torture. By the way, we know that torture is not really the playing of loud music at all hours, or having the cell, where your victims are stored, too cold or too hot. We know that torture, the kind of torture I am writing about, is the application of physical misery to such an extent that the agony of the pain generated is impossible to endure. Now, understanding that, let's look at application a little closer.

People who have no experience with physical torture also lack an understanding of the psychology of its application. You see, the torturer does not work (or 'play,' depending upon the mindset of the practitioner) in an environment of need. The needs of the torturer are analytical. Empirical data is sought, which the subject of the torture is thought to have in his or her mental possession. There is no emotional need on the part of the torturer. The emotion is experienced on the part of the tortured subject. Torture is probably the most emotional personal experience a person can go through. Total body rape. Penetration, severing, incision....all of it. And, on top of this, the burden of revelation is placed firmly on the subject! The subject, in order to lesson or stop the application, must find some way to convince the torturer that the information is valid. The torturer only moves to prove something through pre-established corroboration or proof. It is quite common, as a matter of policy, once the subject has been properly 'softened' up (by, say; being drowned ten times in a row and revived immediately by nearby doctors), to tell the subject this truth. "You must find some way to get me to believe you, in order for these procedures to be stopped." Think about the enormity of that question for a moment!

Many problems in torturing, as I discussed in my earlier essay, revolve around figuring out the right questions to ask, not evaluating the answers. This creates its own problems. It is never the "you have a nuclear bomb hidden and we need the location" kind of thing. That would be just too easy. Too Krauthammer or Jack Bauer. No, instead, the questions usually revolve around the social order. Who do you know? How do you know them? What have you done? Why are you here, in the first place? Yes, that last one is asked all the time, as astounding as that might seem.

Another problem here, especially when you are torturing cross-culturally, is language and cultural differences. How does the torturer come to understand what the subject of his or her torture is saying? How does he or she fit this into the cultural norms and rules of his or her own culture? Is our 'normal' torturer a linguist? An ethnologist, perhaps? More iikely not. More likely there are interpreters involved. And interpreters add another level of filtering. Most interpreters are indigenous to the culture of the subject (else how is the actual torturer to understand the language?). Which means that the interpreter has a vested interest is what is going to happen to the subject. If, for example, and this is all too common, the tortured subject is a higher ranking member of a tribal unit, and the interpreter is from a lower rank. If the tortured subject is removed from life, then the interpreter's situation rises in that tribe. The tribe may even come to understand that the interpreter had something to do with the removal, thereby increasing the interpreter's rank even more. The tortured subject is likely killed or returned as such a shambling wreck as to be ineffective at anything.

Unfortunately, the discussions in and around the subject of torture, as we see them in the mass media, are not dealing with the real torture that has been done. Those subjects (the really tortured) are long gone to their final relief. So there is murder here. And murder is not looked upon nicely in the American culture. So we have people willing to do just about anything to keep themselves from being found out. Then can do that by destroying records, yes, but they can also do it by threatening to expose the whole ugly mess, so that many many more people are touched by the horror of their conduct. And, we come to Dick Cheney. That is what he is trying to do, and he is doing it successfully. Barack Obama knows pretty much everything by now. His job is to protect you and me. He is torn between going after these rat-bastards or allowing most of the country to maintain some kind of positive self-image, in a time of pretty damned poor self-imaging. I feel bad for this nice man, who I contributed a lot of money to help make such decisions. So this is my apology to Barack. I'm sorry that I did this to you. I cannot make the decision, on this one, for you, and you would not have me make it anyway.

If you decide to allow all of this to remain buried, then I will also be sorry. We are doomed to repeat this history, if you decide that. We are already repeating this history, which we thought long learned years ago. Whom of you reading this right now would ever have believed, twenty years ago, that we would be having a discussion about our military and intelligence people torturing people, as a matter of policy, and in great numbers? I would bet that number would be quite small.

Finally, there are people who have been ordered to torture other people, in our name, who did not want to do it, and are having night terrors over their participation this very night. Post Traumatic Stress lives with them, like a constantly beating drum and inescapable drum. Should they come in, their counseling at the Veteran's Administration will be unmercifully cold and harsh. That's only if they have the idiotic temerity to reveal what they were involved with. They have come home to live alone among people. To die alone, hoping that there is no life after death....hoping not to die and have those subjects appear before them, as they do each and every night while they live. And we, this people, of this United States of America, have done this to them. We need to know a measure of shame for our participation. We elected Bush, twice. We elected Cheney, twice. We allowed Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Pearl, Gonzalez and Rice...and yes, Colin Powell too. If there is no butcher's bill for all of this, then we too need to hope that there is no afterlife.

http://www.jamesstraussauthor.com

http://www.themastodons.com

http://www.from-the-chateau-dif.blogspot.com

In response to Pat Buchanan's statements on Hardball on 4/20/09

Debbie — Wed, 20 May 2009 13:11:51 EDT

On November 28, 1897, Spain granted autonomy to Puerto Rico after the Independence Party’s coup of September 23, 1868, El Grito de Lares. General elections were held in March/July of 1898 and Puerto Rico's autonomous government began to function, but not for long.

BUCHANAN: “… We liberated Puerto Rico. We offered Puerto Rico the freedom to go independent, to go commonwealth, to go statehood.”

The Spanish American War broke out and on July 25, 1898 when Puerto Rico was invaded by the U.S. The Spanish forces retreated and on October 18, 1898 Puerto Rico's autonomous government was officially changed to an American military government. The Treaty of Paris was signed and it stated that Spain was to cede Puerto Rico, Guam and Philippines to the U.S. Under this treaty Cuba would become a protectorate of the U.S. The Foraker Act of 1900, changed Puerto Rico’s military government to a civil government.

The President of the U.S. appointed the governor, cabinet and delegates. Puerto Ricans were distressed after having been granted autonomy by Spain, it had now taken a step back to colonialism. On March 2, 1917 President Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones Law. Granting Puerto Ricans American citizenship.

***

Hardball, April 20, 2009 (guests Pat Buchanan and Lawrence O’Donnell)

http://bit.ly/SyCk6

MATTHEWS: OK, let me ask you about—let‘s get to the facts here before we move on, a little history here. We have two veterans here of history…. What is the legitimate complaint by Latin America against the United States, Lawrence, because Pat says you‘ve got one. What is it? In terms of Latin America, where have we been bad? Where have we been bad. Let‘s hear the worst….

The double standards of the United States politics is what bothers and enfuriates Latin Americans as well as the rest of the world. The U.S. wants to have policies for their own protection and will not grant the same courtesy to other countries. Nuclear weapons, torture, invasion of other countries… etc.

The great historian, Pat Buchanan, was totally misinformed as to what he called the “liberation” of Puerto Rico from the Spanish, when the Spain had already given them the autonomy!

BUCHANAN: Sergeant Batista came to power, I believe, in 1932 under— ‘34, under the Good Neighbor” policy of FDR. He was in power to 1959. Is that our fault, or is it Cuba‘s fault that they can‘t get rid of dictators? Good heavens, there‘s been dictators all over that place. Juan Peron—that‘s all our fault? Blame America first because we did it all!

You indicate that Obama should not be fraternizing with dictators as Chavez but let me help you Pat with a bit of the history this since you seem to be a bit cloudy in this matter. The U.S. was fraternizing with dictators when they gave the green light and back-up to Battista to do as he pleased.

On April of 1933 U.S. Ambassador Benjamin Sumner Welles was sent to Cuba to mediate differences between the government and opposing political groups and he said to Battista, "I will lay down no specific terms; the matter of your government is a Cuban matter and it is for you to decide what you will do about it." To Batista, this was an invitation to rule. So on September 4, 1933 an uprising known as the "Revolt of the Sergeants," Batista took over the Cuban government and he emerged as self-appointed chief of the armed forces and a favored U.S. strong man.

From 34 to 40 Batista ran the country with puppet presidents and was a friend of the U.S. and the mafia until 1940 when defeated Grau San Martín in the first presidential election under a new Cuban constitution and U.S. trade relations increased. But in 1944 Grau San Martin was elected president Batista was forced to relinquish control.

On March 10 1952, 23 months before the upcoming elections (because he was sure to lose) Batista took over the government against elected Cuban president Carlos Prío Socorras. FYI: Also running in that election (for a different office) was a young, energetic lawyer named Fidel Castro. On March 27 Batista's government was formally recognized by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Note Pat Buchanan: Batista was acting as a dictator at this point because he did not get elected with total and full support from the U.S.

Batista opened the way for large-scale gambling in Havana, and he reorganized the Cuban state so that he and his political appointees could harvest the nation's riches. He announced that his government would match, dollar for dollar, any hotel investment over $1 million, which would include a casino license, and Lansky became the center of the entire Cuban gambling operation. Under Batista, Cuba became profitable for American business and organized crime making Havana the "Latin Las Vegas," a playground of choice for wealthy gamblers, and very little was said about democracy, or the rights of the average Cuban.

HR 1760 Black Carbon Emmission Act

Harold & Mary — Tue, 19 May 2009 22:54:56 EDT

The Black Carbon Emission Act regulates soot. When soot lands at the poles it speeds up the melting of the ice caps. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-1760 It also causes health problems. Please write your rep to suppot passage of it out of the energy committee.

"TORTURE!"

James — Mon, 18 May 2009 22:29:09 EDT

I have not written much on torture, after all, I once worked in operations for the Agency. I read so much about it, and even see fictionalizations on television, as in the ever-present Dirty Harry of our time....Jack Bauer on 24. Jack represents what is right. What is definitively right. Only television can allow such definitive right to be truly known. We get to actually see the bad guys and gals being, and intending to be, the bad guys and galls. With that definitive righteousness in hand, Jack can take drill bits, hack saws and other implements into his own hands....and do the actual cutting. And he gets the information that is so vitally necessary to save whatever city, or other large population center, is in peril.

And it is all poppycock. And Jack is forgiven, on screen and off screen. After all, we have seen the evil for ourselves. We can see that the torture applied really worked. And then we can carry this fiction over into reality. We can believe that the people we are having do the torture, those who are our own 'real' agents, are practicing this horrid unforgivable behavior on proven evil bastards and bitches.

And it is all poppycock. Here are some truths about real torture applied:

1. It is often applied to people who know nothing. They have simply been alleged to know something, or rumored to know something. We never ever get the scenario of 'We have the person who planted the bomb and knows where it is but won't tell us.' We instead get lots of rumors and snitching on friends, enemies or those who other people want out of the way. The information givers know that the person who is going to be tortured will probably never be seen again.

2. Real torture does not lend itself to having the tortured person left alive after it is administered. Real torture is not something that can even be told to the public! How about the simple fact that for real torture to work the subject must believe that he or she is not going to survive it, no matter what. They are made to 'talk' only so the pain can end. How do you induce that state of belief in a subject? Why, any number of ways; like cutting their limbs off, or other body parts. That is done just to get the subject's attention! Is this data that our public can stand to hear or know about? Not on your life. Not in the real world. Only on 24 is that okay.

3. People who do the torturing like to torture people. They are the same people who liked to spray cats with gasoline and then light them in grade school, or tear the wings off birds. They are out there. All one has to do is offer them a job. Do you think the Nazi machine had to force people to gas all those Jews? They simply asked for volunteers to serve in the crematoriums. They got plenty. And look at the record. Those people, killing Jews all day long, partied on into the night and on holidays, like they were building cars or making boxes. We actually reward deviant behavior by allowing, endorsing and applying physical torture. Then we bring these sickos back into our culture as honorably serving heroes.

4. Judges put people in prison much more readily if they don't like them. Cops give tickets and make arrests much more frequently if they do not like the victims. We all know this. We are all cowed in their presence, because we know this. People torture people they do not like. It is simple logic. Especially for the kind of people who want to do this sort sick thing. They are sick, and they are loosed upon a pack of victims by us. Some of the victims may have done terrible things, or know terrible information. We might even get it through torture. Then we can live as the dark black creatures we so abominate and decry. And what have we then saved?

5. People, like Charles Krauthammer, encourage torture, like combat, if they have no exposure to it. From back here it is all clear and distant. Like dropping bombs from forty thousand feet. How many air force guys suffer from PTSD? Not many. It is clean and very very distant, and also kind of unknown. And so it is with creeps like Krauthammer. He has not life experience at all. Gifted with money from birth. His only saving grace at all is his disability, but he has learned nothing from it. I encourage people to read his stuff. Although I never want to see anybody on this planet tortured, I sometimes harbor day dreams about people like Krauthammer being tortured, then allowed to write a column. Think it would be a little different?

6. We won't punish anybody for torturing in our name. We cannot have it come out what we really did. Obama knows this. He has all the data. He believes he is there to save us from ourselves. From knowing ourselves, even. Mythology is important. Read Joe Campbell. He sure has. Sometimes it is only mythology that gets us through. But Obama is wrong here. We will repeat our torturing period again, if we don't 'out' this mess. We will bring torture down upon ourselves in the future, if we do not proclaim the people who did the torturing as sick servants of our secretive intelligence culture, and then deny them a welcome return to our society. And that goes for each and every leader who supported or endorsed their actions.

7. We had physicians and psychologists who supported, and even applied, torture to many subjects. These people must have their licenses to practice pulled, at the very least. They are coming back here to work on this population. They are coming back to be you and your families doctors. You don't have to be afraid of combat veterans. If they were involved in real combat then they do not want to be involved anymore. But not so those sick doctors. They have come to know what works, and they will use those tools again, if they can find a way to.

8. Physical torture always works. Always. Nobody can stand against it. McCain did not. Why do you suppose he has remained so vitally opposed to POW investigations or searches? Think about it? He does not want any of those veterans left to reveal that he broke down a lot further than has been discussed. And I like John McCain! But John broke. Everyone breaks. Most just don't survive. Almost none survive. So where are the stories? On paper. Paper can be burned. And do not forget that torture always works, but with one single caveat. It must be applied to someone who has the information you want or need. That is what is uncommon. Most people tortured don't know the answer, and they die that way. The torturer simply tells his or her assistants: "next."

Argue with this essay, if you will. Krauthammer would, except I am too small for such a known pundit to bother with. Torture is another thing that I never ever would have thought that I would be writing about anywhere or at any time, in conjunction with the conduct of American Military or Intelligence Units. It is a subject of shame to me, as it should be to all Americans who consider themselves true patriots.

http://www.jamesstraussauthor.com

http://www.themastodons.com

http://www.from-the-chateau-dif.blogspot.com

"Torture Photos Are Torture" to Proud Arabs

bob-pol — Mon, 18 May 2009 22:01:47 EDT

We don't need more prisoner abuse (or torture) photos. This is one of the milder ones released last year.

Humiliation of people (treated as dogs) demonstrates to the Arab World an uncivilized nature,

and demonizes the U.S. in their eyes. No wonder they call us the Great Satan!!!

However, that is not fair, since the American people are not inhumane.

We just elected ruthless men, Cheney and Bush, who should be tried for crimes against humanity.

..... Rule of Law, or RULE OF MEN

Rob [bob-pol] racggg@gmail.com

Christopher Haas

Sun, 17 May 2009 16:47:29 EDT

Chris, please give us a Organizing for America Personal Fundraising "page".

Is it Okay for us to still use The Holiday Fundraising and the Main Personal Fundraising Campaign for '08 pages for fundraising drives?

s.o.s. we need new FR pages to help us raise finances for the PBO Mega-Party!!!!!!!

C'Mon!!!!!

Let's Do This!!!!!

We Really, Really, Really Need a New Fundraising Page!!!!!!

WHAT IS TO BE DONE 18

DAN R. TAYLOR — Sat, 16 May 2009 15:47:39 EDT

Regarding the Obama bedrock health principles:

While I appreciate the three bedrock principles, however, they lack sufficient specificity, to have any real meaning. Health care reform cannot be built upon political generalities.

I understand the choice has been made not to fight for a single payer plan, (since they were not even allowed to speak in hearings, shameful) but at a very minimum, we need to fight for the choice to choose a plan that the members of congress have a right to choose. If a governmental plan is good enough for them then the American people should have the right to choose it also.

Let there be no mistake: HEALTH CARE IS A RIGHT NOT A PRIVILEGE. ENOUGH!

There are several instances where Mr. Obama has taken stands that alarm me and I have told everyone we need to wait and see: It is too early to judge. I will continue to keep my powder dry, however, this is a seminal issue that WE THE PE0PLE must stand and fight for. I can only hope that President Obama will have the courage to lead the charge.

Dan

Forward to the Past

James — Sat, 16 May 2009 14:14:39 EDT

We are not living in a period where lies are told, and deceit committed, without discovery. No, we are living in a time where those things are done, witnessed and even re-stated, then denied....and the denial is accepted as valid. We all understand that recorded history is not entirely accurate. We know that history is often recorded by people, and in ways, that change the perspective of what really happened. Television, one might have thought, and modern video, would have changed all that. But it has not. We are 'taking back' things at an inordinate rate, as well as denying that they ever happened. Has this happened because of the influence of television? Probably not. Television just makes it easier to understand that it is happening because we can actually go back and check it out. Let's look at some recent examples:

1. A month ago a very noted columnist, named Seymour Hersch, came out and stated that he had confirmed evidence that Dick Cheney was, while V.P., the head of a domestic assassination squad who's mission was to take out people who acted as a threat to the administration for which he worked. Seymour said that there was also evidence that this squad was formed under Richard Nixon and operated under the table in every administration since. This information was noted in the New York Times and on television. The video is still available out there. A few weeks after Seymour stated this and offered to make his evidence known to defend it, he recanted. He came out and stated that what he meant to say was that there were assassination teams run by the military to take out terrorists discovered in Iraq and Afghanistan. What was he talking about and where was the evidence he discussed? Gone, as if it had never been. Seymour was not even required to statw why his original proposition was so different from what he finally stated. Then Seymour disappeared from being in front of the media, probably for some time to come. Denied. Gone. Accepted by the public.

2. Joe Biden, with respect to the supposed Swine Flu, stated that people should stay away from contained areas, like airports and airplanes. Instead of admitting that he has stated that on television, he simply denied he had said it, by using the device of "What I meant to say was..." Accepted by the public.

3. Back during fresh Post 911 days, do you recall the passport? The one that the police found, supposedly at the base of one of the towers. It purportedly belonged to one of the terrorists onboard one of the aircraft that slammed into one of the towers. The television showed us close-ups of that passport, all burned around the edges. When engineers and 'experts' a few days later stated that no paper products whatever could have survived the intensity of heat, fire and explosions from those events, the passport was denied. It was not denied that there was a passport, but it belonged to somebody else. It was too late for that. They just denied that there ever had been a passport. We all saw it. Gone. Just like that. Accepted by the public.

4. Forty-seven people saw a streak of light go up from the sea toward the jet liner that was destroyed in the air over New York. The final report stated that there was no streak. Forty-seven separate people were simply wrong. The jet-liner just blew up on its own. Denied. Gone. Never was. Accepted by the public.

5. Back a bit further, we have the Kennedy thing. We all saw the Zapruder film over and over again. It still runs through my mind. His head was hit in the front, with debris flying off the back, with his head and body rocking back. We know what happened. We saw it. You know the final report. Denied. Gone, Never happened. Accepted by the public.

6. Torture. We all know, unless our head is made of homogeneous rock, that waterboarding is not the slow dripping of water over a subjects mouth. We drown people. Then revive them. Then drown them again. Over and over, until they are beat down into almost nothing. You cannot get real data, the way the torturer's see it unless the person thinks he or she is going to die. There are no rules if you are going to kill the subject anyway. But, instead of any truth, like what some of the surviving subjects are saying and even some political people are admitting, we just get denials. Even Abu Graib, with its obvious shots, was basically denied. Is basically denied. Gone. Did not happen that way at all. Accepted by this public.

http://www.jamesstraussauthor.com

http://www.themastodons.com

http://www.from-the-chateau-dif.blogspot.com

What is happening has happened before. We have all been shown the truth, and then by the television and video. We do not believe that what we see is valid, later on, if our belief system is powerful enough to overcome the facts. The facts are all there, in graphic detail, and we still deny them. We want to deny them because we are made to want to deny them. We are given a belief system to induce that denial. And it works amazingly well. We all know, for example, that there is no longer one member of Congress (House and Senate) that is not a millionaire. Obama is a multi-millionaire. So is Biden. So are the Clintons. And so are all the announcers on the news. Yes, all of them, down to the local level. The television anchor in Milwaukee makes 3.7 million a year, for God's sake! They have a vested interest, all of them, in you believing the mythical presentations they create and propagate. They are insulated and they want to make sure they keep it that way.

So, what good does knowing all this do you, as a citizen, a non-millionaire, a person with a regular job, or maybe no job right now? Am I writing this to simply give you a feeling of glum despair, or to make myself famous? Neither. I am too small to become famous, and I will remain so, even if you buy my books en masse. It takes more than that. No, I am writing this so you will reflect, watch, observe and think. You see, this whole thing spins off of you. You have just been led to believe that it does not. Your thoughts percolate through the system. Your actions have meaning, as small and hidden as you may think that they are. Talk to others. Look for kindred observers. You are not out to look for lies and deceit. I sure wasn't with respect to the Kennedy assassination or 911. I wanted to believe. i don't really know what happened in those situations but I know it is not what I have been told. You know it too. Just open your mind and watch, and think, and then talk to one another. It is so very important if we are ever to take the next step in humanity's development. We are stuck here, mired in these applied lies, stuck in a mud field of deception. We will not get out without great ambition, effort and endurance.

Urgent Sign Our Petition - Support Our President!

Michael Barnes — Sat, 16 May 2009 02:43:38 EDT

President Barack Obama plans to accept an invitation to speak at the University of Notre Dame. However, some religious organizations are mounting a campaign to discourage his attendance.

You can fight this unfortunate effort by signing the following petition:

Visit www.ObamaCatholics.com, or email ObamaCatholics@gmail.com for an e-mail embedded form!

The Obama Presidency

EsquireUK — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:41:05 EDT

www.whitehouse.gov

May 14, 2009Work Is Never Done, Obama Tells Class By PETER BAKER

TEMPE, Ariz. — President Obama traveled Wednesday to the university that does not think he has done enough to merit an honorary degree and declared that he agreed.

Mr. Obama delivered his first commencement address as president at Arizona State University, whose decision not to award him a ceremonial diploma touched off a national furor. He used the controversy to make the point that no one should be satisfied with “the outward markers of success,” either as individuals or as a country.

“I come here not to dispute the suggestion that I haven’t achieved enough in my life,” Mr. Obama told tens of thousands of students and relatives packed into Sun Devil Stadium. “First of all, Michelle concurs with that assessment. She has a long list of things I have not yet done waiting for me when I get home.

“But more than that,” he added, “I come to embrace the notion that I haven’t done enough in my life. I heartily concur. I come to confirm that one’s title, even a title like president of the United States, says very little about how well one’s life has been led — and that no matter how much you’ve done, or how successful you’ve been, there’s always more to do, always more to learn, and always more to achieve.”

The decision not to award an honorary degree to Mr. Obama was taken by many as a snub, especially after university officials explained that “his body of work is yet to come.” Embarrassed university officials tried to contain the damage by renaming its most important financial aid program the President Barack Obama Scholars Program, which will benefit 1,600 freshmen this fall.

The university’s president, Michael Crow, heaped praise on Mr. Obama in introducing him on Wednesday night. “You’ve lit a fire under all of us to move America forward,” Mr. Crow said.

Mr. Obama thanked him and called the controversy “much ado about nothing.” But he still aimed a barb at the university’s leadership. “President Crow and the board of regents will soon learn about being audited by the I.R.S.,” he joked.

Mr. Obama’s commencement season schedule this year has generated more attention than most presidents receive. His plan to speak at the graduation at Notre Dame on Sunday has drawn vociferous protests from anti-abortion leaders who consider it inappropriate for him to be invited to speak at the nation’s most prominent Catholic university.

In his speech here to a stadium full of people who waited hours in temperatures hovering around 100 degrees, Mr. Obama said the degree controversy underscored that the nation needs “a fundamental change of perspective and attitude,” one that values substance over appearance, character over celebrity and wise investments over “get rich quick schemes.”

The country, he suggested, has lost its way. “In recent years, in many ways, we’ve become enamored with our own success, lulled into complacency by our own achievements,” he said, citing the economic crisis. “We started taking shortcuts. We started living on credit, instead of building up savings. We saw businesses focus more on rebranding and repackaging than innovating and developing new ideas that improve our lives.”

He cited Americans who ran the Underground Railroad, fought for worker rights, developed new technology and saved people caught in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. “A whole bunch of them didn’t get honorary degrees,” he said in an ad lib not in the released text, “but they changed the course of history and so can you.”

He added: “That’s what building a body of work is all about: it’s about the daily labor, the many individual acts, the choices large and small that add up over time, over a lifetime, to a lasting legacy.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/us/politics/14obama.html?ref=politics

Dick Cheney - Spokesman for this Sacred Cow

Rheanni — Thu, 14 May 2009 10:50:50 EDT

We are getting closer and closer to releasing our economic agreements with the Status Quo. However, before we're finished this particular series of Cow Tipping Games, we really must handle this major Sacred Cow accompanied by her siblings, because they would just love to keep us stuck in the mire of doubt, fear and cynicism:

“Without the Status Quo in charge, the world will fall into chaos and be destroyed.”

This “big one” sets the playing field up so that the others can spread their misinformation and thinly veiled threats throughout the pasture, keeping people like us corralled into a scenario of doom and gloom. This manure creates thoughts in our heads, like these:

~ “You don’t know what you’re doing.”
~ “You obviously don’t understand.”
~ “You’re lost.”
~ “What if you make a mistake?”

The Current Spokesman for this Sacred Cow is Dick Cheney and His Position on Torture.

Reclaim Your Faith in Yourself

The kind of thoughts that he is advocating have never led us in a positive direction, they take us right back to avoidance of our own power and being willing to settle for less. He would love us to believe:

“Things will never change, we might as well give up.”

“It’s too hard. We don’t have a chance – we’re screwed.”

“Let’s face it, there’s no way out.”

“I’m too scared to make a decision, make it for me.”

“I’m stuck, we’re stuck, the whole world is stuck.

We aren’t stuck; the Status Quo is stuck and we need to stop following the Status Quo. It feels really sticky and unpleasant, that’s true. However, the very fact that we’re feeling it so strongly means that we’re breaking away from it. Not only that, in the past, Mr. Cheney would have one of his minions do all this for him. He can't stay hidden in the shadows, because no one with any credability is left to shield him. This is not the time to give up!

Look at the Sacred Contract Circle to your right and let go of your personal, familial and cultural agreement to be lead around by fearmongering of the Status Quo. Tip the cow and make a new commitment to a change in direction. Not just any change, a real change that has freedom, peace and prosperity at its core.

Rheanni Lightwater Ccpyright 2009

Play all sixteen games!

Pirates of the Caribbean....

James — Mon, 11 May 2009 17:28:19 EDT

There is a ride at Disneyland called Pirates of the Caribbean. It is a gentle sort of roller coaster ride through some movie theme pirate sets. Cannons go off, the pirates are fake scary, and there is some good music and sound effect material. I mention the Disney ride simply to illustrate the vast gulf between real pirates and those we have been exposed to by the media, of late. The supposed Somalia pirates.

They do not exist. There are no Somalia pirates. Whatever those extortionists from that part of the world are, they are anything but pirates. You see, it just does not compute, at all. For one thing, there just is no way that some twenty-five foot skiff, powered by an old outboard motor, can overtake and claim a huge transport ship at sea. Out there, on the real ocean, the waves run pretty high, the wind is unpredictable, and the currents are ever present. The big transports do not run close in to the shore. Those skiffs we see on the television would not fare well at all out on the surface of the wide open ocean, much less be able to run at twenty or thirty knots to overtake the ships. Then, how do you, as the captain of a pirate vessel, transport your men from the skiff to the big high ship? I mean, if you can latch on to the giant metal monster, in the first place? It is all beyond improbable. So assume the obvious. The pirates are revenue gatherers and sharers. They have the crew, or other interests located wherever the ship is from, coming from or going to, already in their pocket. They take the ship without combat or loss or violence of any sort. They 'hold the crew and cargo' for ransom. They get the money and depart. Then they quietly split the cash among all the paid off sources. The crew is one of those sources.

That is the only way this new piracy can work. The only. Real pirates kill people. All over the place. Just like in the old days. The violence, not the theft, is what brought all the civilized countries in the world down on them. How do you take a ship at sea that refuses to be taken? You shoot the hell out of it, lose some of your own people, then kill the survivors because you are mad as hell at them for hurting you! That was the way it was, and that is the way it would have to be today. Without all the communication we have today, that is. Now the 'pirates' can reach out through telephonic or computer means and contact their 'victims' to negotiate a deal. It is all money shifting. Who ends up with the money, really, and who loses it? Find the answers to those questions and you will have your pirates. And, trust me, you will be really really surprised!

The captain of that vessel, by the way, the one taken a few weeks ago, just spoke to Congress. Listening to him was just great good entertainment and high humor. He supposedly, and without serious injury to himself, surrendered his shop to the pirates overwhelming force. Then, while he was still (apparently) free aboard, he offered himself up as a hostage so his crew could go free. What a crock!!! Like any self-respecting 'real' pirate is going to take that deal? Why would he? Absolutely no reason whatever. And this 'heroic' captain, he is in front of our Congress speaking about how to prevent such occurrences in the future! Here is an easy and quick partial solution: Don't hire him, or his crew!!!

The media is playing right along with the whole pirate mythology. They do not care about the truth anymore at all. They just want headlines. They want heroes, fake or otherwise. They plainly have no surviving ethical standards. That factor alone is why nobody wants to watch them or read the newspapers. The Pirates are a huge manufactured lie. The Swine Flu is a lie. Torture is a lie (oh, we did it all right, but we did real torture, not this watered down 'sleep deprivation,' 'hanky-over-the-nose' crap!). What is going to come our way over the next few weeks? We can always bring back one of those, and maybe improve on one of them, here and there. More likely, however, we will have some more giant lies to merely replace those.

I wrote of 'Dark Matter' and the Uncertainty Principal last week. I am working away toward discussing the real problem about all of this. If everything is fake, then nothing is real. If the roof is fake, then making believe you are not wet when it rains is absolutely required. If the food is fake, then you must work very hard to believe that you are full, and not hungry. If the heating is fake, then you must find a way to think that you are not cold. Or not. You can look up and see there is no roof. You can check your waistline and tell that you are emaciated. You can check around and note the frost covering everything about you. If you do those things, and only if you do those things, can you get to a point where you take action. If some external source, or group of sources, is constantly selling you on the idea that those fake things are real, and you are believing that, then it is very very hard to take any action.

We are being sold a package, about life itself, by the media we allowed, and encouraged, to be in all of our lives. We have to start paying attention to what we can truly perceive for ourselves. We must stop listening, reading and looking at that tube and believing. We have to find a way to get back to reality. Only then can we take rational action to do anything about anything. Our roads and bridges are crumbling. Our space program is a tottering disaster of a fake. Our airlines are barely airlines at all anymore. Our car industry is in shambles. Our factories are broken down and closing, those that are left. You know these things to be true. You drive the roads and bridges. You see the factories, or the shells they once occupied. You ride on the cramped crummy airplanes. Do you see that? Our culture has lost its feelings of bliss and hope. Do you feel that? We have become a nation of depressed souls living off pyschotropic drugs and sleep medications. Do you understand that?

We are at the point where we have come to understand that what we are being presented, almost everywhere, is fake and phony. But we do not yet see the truth. We are in the Twilight Zone, caught between those two things. We are depressed, and have lost hope, because we cannot understand what to do about any of it. Yet.

http://www.jamesstraussauthor.com

http://www.themastodons.com

http://www.from-the-chateau-dif.blogspot.com

The battle has started – Obama vs great corporations

Torgny V.O.B. — Mon, 11 May 2009 17:02:49 EDT

The head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, Christine A. Varney declared that this administration will take tough stands against companies that violate the anti-trust laws. It is generally big companies who in some ways keep smaller companies out of the market. During the era of Bush, the government did not enforce these anti-trust laws. This new policy from Obama will help small business as well as consumers. It is my hope that as many as possible support Obama in this. This includes the Republican who is in favour of free competition.

I have no problem with big companies. But I have problem with big companies who use their power for selfish reasons and do not care about the welfare of the people.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/business/economy/12antitrust.html

......Get Real Dick!

Caryl S. Foster — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:14:10 EDT

As a Follow-up to Long Live Limbaugh!.....

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washing...=HFMostPopular

And then there is former VP Dick Cheney who chooses Rush Limbaugh the Entertainer over Colin Powell the Decorated War Hero as being best future representative of the Repudiated Republican Party of No and moreover who has gone to great public length to broadcast his belief that President Obama has made America less safe from terrorists.

Where was the Dick Cheney public outcry when his own administration stopped torturing detainees and suspected terrorists after 2003/04? Was America not less safe since then as opposed to just now under a new administration?

Face it, in his own self-motivated mind Dick Cheney will only be vindicated (as in not being prosecuted for war crimes) upon another terrorist attack. He and Rush Limbaugh are in bed together literally praying that such a tragic event will occur although the most such an event will prove is that the Bush "Cheney" Administration tragically wasted time, resources, and lives in Iraq during all these past years rather than focusing on tracking down and eliminating Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan and thus making us less safe.

........Get Real Dick!

Barack Obama BEGINNINGS- A Tribute to Supporters

bob-pol — Sun, 10 May 2009 11:39:39 EDT

1} Barack's Mother brought him into the World and shaped hIm.

2) Barack's Grandparents loved him and shaped him too.

3) Barack's Early Supporters helped launch the campaign for President.

4) Barack's Portland Supporters' huge turnout was a springboard to his victory.

5) Barack's Grassroot Supporters elect a new type of candidate of the People.

6) Barack's Devoted Family were his Rock, supporting him tirelessly thru to Victory.

7) The Country supports President Barack Obama's Efforts to Change the World.

No Room at the Inn for Single Payer?

signsSansSignifieds — Sat, 09 May 2009 21:31:13 EDT

In the first Senate Finance Committee hearing on health care reform, there was no room at the table for advocates of single payer. You can help ensure that change is more than a campaign theme. My post links to another with contact info for the Senate Finance Committee.

Foundation For Change

EsquireUK — Sat, 09 May 2009 21:28:29 EDT

www.whitehouse.gov

The Democrats.org blog highlights a recent article on one of the everyday Americans featured on our Foundation for Change page . . .

Recession Survival Fair in Brooklyn

signsSansSignifieds — Sat, 09 May 2009 21:22:56 EDT

If you'd like to volunteer in Brooklyn, here's an event where you can provide and/or swap skills/training with people trying to survive in these hard times, courtesy of Brooklyn for Barack.

Dear "Dick"

Peter and Linda — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:13:50 EDT

What's up with Dick Cheney? Is he serious? He left office with a 13% approval rating (probably only approval from his family and a few unscrupulous friends). He was never anywhere to be found, while in office. Now, he's most visible and doesn't shut up. Just who the hell does he think he is?

You know, I had said to leave well enough alone and stop the investigations of torture used during that crooked administration. Well, since he wants notoriety and publicity, I think he should get all he wants. Be careful what you wish for, Dick!!!

In his condescending opinion, President Obama's administration is equivalent to "Amateur Hour". I think it's time we give him what he deserves: investigation, prosecution and incarceration. He is simply an arrogant, obnoxious, wealthy "white bigot". He nauseates me every time I look at his miserable, smug face doing yet another interview!

Write or call your senators and representatives and demand a thorough investigation of their torture and abuse of power. Let's show that arrogant group what "amateurs" are capable of!

Peter and Linda Realmuto

Empathy is a virtue

Torgny V.O.B. — Fri, 08 May 2009 10:27:42 EDT

Barack Obama has recently been under attack from many Republicans because he believes that compassion is necessary for a judge in the Supreme Court. The ability to understand on a deep level and being able to identify with both parts in a conflict is seen as an obstacle for a judge. So from what I hear, compassion is seen as an obstacle.

Is empathy seen as a luxury that a few choosen professions can have? What about doctors, are they supposed to have empathy, or will this only prevent them from making good diagnoses? A world without empathy will en my eyes be cold, hard and unforgiving. Empathy is what creates a society where people care about each other. This is what we need.

Long Live Limbaugh!

Caryl S. Foster — Thu, 07 May 2009 22:30:13 EDT

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/139879/limbaugh_wants_to_kick_colin_powell_out_of_the_gop/#more

On Monday, former Secretary of State and always a member of the Republican Party Collin Powell stated:

"I think what Rush does as an entertainer diminishes the party and intrudes or inserts into our public life a kind of nastiness that we would be better to do without."

On Wednesday, the "Voice of the GOP" Rush Limbaugh responded with:

"What Colin Powell needs to do is close the loop and become a Democrat instead of claiming to be a Republican interested in reforming the Republican party."

----------------------------------

It is ironic that Colin Powell is one of the very few remaining life-long Republicans whose opinions on critical issues would at least be respectively listened to by the majority of non-Republicans without automatic rejection and that the old/new de facto "leader" of the GOP Rush Limbaugh is calling for the General's ejection from his political party instead.

If the Repudiated Republican Party of No wants to stop the bleeding and begin to broaden its support beyond its diminishing core, former Secretary of State Colin Powell has provided it with the perfect opportunity to do so by first repudiating Rush Limbaugh.

But of course, the chances that the Repudiated Republican Party of No will follow suit are slim and none.

As for Rush Limbaugh's contention that Powell only voted for President Obama because both are black, it follows that he would also contend there were a great many white-faced black people that voted for Barack Obama as well. One contention is as nonsensical as the other unless you are Rush Limbaugh of course. Nastiness indeed.

And as for the great growing number of non-supporters of Rush Limbaugh's fast fading political party are concerned........

Long Live Limbaugh!

In Canada, Flu goes from Human to Pigs

bob-pol — Mon, 04 May 2009 12:25:16 EDT

photo-EdRynearson, http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/profile.php?id=1278300472

As you can see, Pigs are very loving creatures, but we can make them sick.

In Canada, authorities have confirmed that pigs on a farm in Alberta had been infected [by humans] with the A(H1N1). It is highly likely that the infection came from a farm worker who had recently been in Mexico and had flu-like symptoms when he had contact with the pigs.

A concern is that H1N1 Flu going from Human-to-Pigs in Canada can mutate in pigs and come back to humans more virulent. Maybe not likely in this particular herd, but perhaps in the next one. Rob [bob-pol]

Flu: Countries Must Remain Vigilant Says WHO, http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/148644.php

Dr Peter Ben Embarek, WHO Food Safety Scientist, told the press that the infection happened around April 12th to 14th, and the farm worker and the pigs have since recovered. The flu reaction in the pigs was mild, as it was in the farm worker, and the strain that infected the pigs appears to be the same one that is presently circulating among humans.

Embarek said he and his colleagues were not surprised by this event, since the virus has some genetic element from pig, and the authorities expected that swine would eventually become infected in areas where the virus is currently circulating.

However, while there is no evidence that the virus has adapted [mutated] from being passed from human to pig in this instance; this could change, as it can with any virus that traverses different populations, and passes from animals to humans and vice versa.

As the virus changes, it could be become more severe, or less severe, or not change in severity, and it is not possible to anticipate which direction it will take, which is why it is important to maintain surveillance and continue to analyse the samples taken from infected people and animals, said Embarek.

Torture Apologists Demolition Derby

signsSansSignifieds — Sun, 03 May 2009 21:31:53 EDT

The most recent post on my personal blog takes apart the arguments used by torture apologists. You can find it here.

Great Post from Bob Herbert

Robert Lynch — Sat, 02 May 2009 13:19:54 EDT

Bob Herbert

Not only has the G.O.P. spent years trying to fool everybody in sight with its phony-baloney, dime-store philosophies, it’s now trapped in the patently pathetic phase of fooling itself.

The economy has imploded, the auto industry is in danger of being vaporized and more than half of all working Americans are worried that they may lose their jobs in the next year. So what’s the Republican response? To build a wall of obstruction in front of efforts to get the economy moving again, and then to stand in front of that wall chanting gibberish about smaller government, lower taxes, spending cuts and Ronald Reagan.

It’s not a party; it’s a cult. I’m no fan of Arlen Specter, but if I were a Republican, I wouldn’t be shoving him out the door and waving good riddance. This is the party of Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Newt (“I’m trying to rise from the ashes”) Gingrich, and the dark force who can’t seem to exit the public stage or modify his medieval ways, Dick Cheney.

It is losing all credibility with the public because it is not offering anything — anything at all — that could be viewed as helpful or constructive in a time of national crisis. And it has been unwilling to take responsibility for its role in bringing that crisis about.

Americans are aghast at what happened to the country while the G.O.P. was in charge. Iraq and Katrina come to mind, not to mention the transmutation of the Clinton surpluses into the Bush budget deficits and the collapse of the entire economy.

Trickle down. Weapons of mass destruction. Torture. Deregulation. You name it. The Republican-conservative know-it-alls of the past several years (all-too-frequently with feckless Democrats following closely behind) brought destruction and heartbreak to just about everything they touched.

And yet the G.O.P. behaves as though nothing has changed. Even in the face of a national economic nightmare, the party is offering nothing in the way of policies or new ideas that might give a bit of hope or comfort to families wrestling with joblessness, housing foreclosures and bankruptcies.

It’s a party that doesn’t seem to care about anything other than devotion to a set of so-called principles that never amounted to more than cult-like rhetoric. Waging unwarranted warfare while radically cutting taxes for the wealthy and turning the national economy into the equivalent of a Ponzi scheme may be evidence of many things, but none of them have to do with the so-called conservative principles the G.O.P. is always braying about.

When it came to looking out for the interests of ordinary working Americans, the party of just-say-no could hardly have cared less. Referring to the catastrophic ordeal of Detroit’s automakers, Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, the senior Republican on the banking committee, told us last November, “The financial situation facing the Big Three is not a national problem but their problem.”

And Phil Gramm, John McCain’s top financial adviser during the presidential campaign, was enshrined in the foot-in-mouth hall of fame last summer when he said the country was experiencing “a mental recession.”

After awhile, it became all but impossible to overlook the madness of these true believers and the incalculable damage they had done to the country. Voters who hadn’t sipped from the Kool-Aid themselves couldn’t help but recognize that the G.O.P. was bizarrely detached from the real world.

It still is. In the place of constructive alternatives to Obama administration policies, it has offered increasingly hysterical rhetoric. Mr. Gingrich warned on television that the Democrats’ moves to stem the banking crisis “gives them the potential to basically create the equivalent of a dictatorship.”

Senator Jim DeMint, a Republican from South Carolina, described President Obama as “the world’s best salesman of socialism.” And Mike Huckabee, a former Republican governor of Arkansas and presidential candidate, said of the administration’s economic policies: “Lenin and Stalin would love this stuff.”

This is not a party that can be trusted with the leadership of the country. John McCain was ready to have Sarah Palin a heartbeat away from the Oval Office and reportedly wanted Phil Gramm to be his Treasury secretary. Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, has the strategic sense and attention span that you’d expect to find in a frat house on Saturday night.

“I love the Oscars,” he told GQ. “I’m looking for who’s got what dress on, you know?”

All the talk about the permanent marginalization of the Republican Party is silly. It will be back. Someday. But first it will have to stop fooling itself and re-engage with the real world.

Hypocrisy 101

Peter and Linda — Fri, 01 May 2009 22:22:14 EDT

Talk about hypocritical bigotry ... They "pretend" to care, ONLY when it's convenient for their agenda.

Read this email that was forwarded by the so-called "Christian" conservatives. They do nothing but condemn President Obama's policies and slander him and his administration with misleading pretenses and by adamantly insisting that he's a Socialist. If they truly cared about their "brothers and sisters", they wouldn't object to extending a helping hand to those in need.

Read your Bible folks, then live what you learn!

"A holy man was having a conversation with God one day and said, ‘God, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.’

God led the holy man to two doors.

He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in.

In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water.

The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished.

They were holding spoons with very long handles, that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful.

But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.

The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.

God said, 'You have seen Hell.'

They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one.

There was the large round table with the large pot of stew, which made the holy man's mouth water.

The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking. The holy man said, 'I don't understand.'

It is simple,' said God. "It requires but one skill.

You see they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves."

The nezt time you decide to forward your deceitful emails, stop and thnk about the message first!

Post 9/11 - New G.I. Bill

bob-pol — Fri, 01 May 2009 21:45:52 EDT

Starting today, veterans can apply online to receive education benefits under the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

Apply now: http://www.gibill.va.gov/

04/30/2009. Tammy Duckworth Gets to Work

VA Assistant Secretary Tammy Duckworth speaks Tuesday at George Washington University. (Photo courtesy of VA)

It's Day 101 for President Obama, but it's only day four for Tammy Duckworth, one of the administration's most visible faces on veterans issues. The former Illinois director of veterans' affairs and Democratic congressional candidate won Senate confirmation last Friday to serve as assistant secretary of public and intergovernmental affairs at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Today she joins President Obama and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki at the "White House to Light House" event with wounded service members.

Her first big project launches tomorrow, when the VA starts accepting applications for the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill, the next-generation educational assistance program for military veterans that will provide payments for tuition, fees, housing, books and supplies. Interested veterans can apply on the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill Web site, a process that should take roughly 15 minutes.

The VA will provide financial benefits to veterans based on the highest tuition at a public university in each state, meaning the benefits may not cover full costs at private universities.

The department's Yellow Ribbon Program allows private institutions to commit up to 50 percent of the difference between the maximum allotted amounts and VA will match the difference. Duckworth's alma matter, George Washington University, announced its participation in the program on Tuesday, committing funds to assist 176 veterans per year.

The VA starts distributing the funds on August 1 and Duckworth will spend the next few weeks on the road raising awareness about the program.

“It’s not just reaching the veterans. We need to reach their families, we need to reach their spouses," she said during an interview earlier this week.

The new job makes her the administration's public liaison to the veteran community, but also to state and local agencies working on veterans issues.

“I don’t see the VA as having a monopoly on serving vets," she said. "As someone who was a state director in Illinois, I was frustrated that I had resources and was on the front lines, yet I often had a difficult time accessing partnerships with the VA.” She hopes to eliminate those difficulties during her tenure.

The Eye on Twitter! | Track Obama nominees with Head Count

Posted by washingtonpost.com

The Obama Presidency

EsquireUK — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:08:34 EDT

www.whitehouse.gov

Thursday, April 30th, 2009 at 7:36 pm

“It's Good Weather for a Race”Today, after being introduced by Defense Secretary Gates, the President gave a few remarks on the South Lawn before kicking off the "White House to Light" House Wounded Warrior Soldiers Ride. The race raises public awareness of the challenges facing veterans as they recover from life-altering injuries, and it drew quite a crowd, including Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, National Security Advisor General Jim Jones, and Veterans Affairs Assistant Secretary of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs Tammy Duckworth.
The President gave a little more background:

Now, like a lot of great ideas, this one was conceived in a bar. (Laughter and applause.) A young bartender on Long Island named Chris Carney began talking about biking across the country to raise funds and awareness for returning troops and wounded warriors. And his boss said to him, "If you don't do it, I'll find somebody who will."

So Chris hopped on his bike for what became the first annual Soldier Ride. The next year, a couple of wounded warriors joined him. A year later, even more. Civilians started to ride along. Grateful Americans began lining the streets to cheer and show their support. More rides were added, and more money was raised.

And five years after that first ride, I'm honored to have 40 wounded warriors gathered here on the South Lawn to kick off the third annual "White House to the Lighthouse" Challenge. Over the next three days -- (applause) -- over the next three days these men and women, along with family and supporters, will ride from here to Annapolis on bicycles and in wheelchairs, raising money and awareness for others returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with serious injuries.

Keep in mind that today's riders once faced down the possibility that they might never have an active lifestyle again. Some are missing limbs, coping with nerve damage, living with Traumatic Brain Injury or blindness. Some have endured painful rehabilitation, some still are, and some have battles yet to come.

These wounded warriors didn't get to choose the direction their lives would take the instant they were injured. But now they choose to prove that life after injury isn't about what you can't do -- it's about what you can. They choose to keep their faith with the future. They choose to keep fighting for their brothers and sisters and show them that they're not alone.

We also remember that so many are supported by spouses and children, parents and siblings who suffered the absence of a loved one, and then stood by their side through their recovery. These military families are heroes, too. And they are a top priority for Michelle and me, and they will always have our support.

To anyone who's along their route this weekend, I ask you to go out there and cheer. Salute. Say thank you. And we'll do our part to support our troops, their families, and all who have worn the uniform of the United States of America -- because when it comes to their service and sacrifice, warm words and gestures are more than warranted, but they're not nearly enough.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/04/30/Its-Good-Weather-for-a-Race/

www.whitehouse.gov

Thursday, April 30th, 2009 at 6:04 pmCelebrating our Teachers

On Tuesday the President welcomed the Teachers of the Year to the White House, Dr. Jill Biden tells us about the time she spent with them.

It’s been a really inspiring week in Washington– because the teachers are in town! This week I had the true honor of welcoming some very special guests to Washington DC: the 2009 Teachers of the Year. 55 of them traveled to DC representing all of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense, American Samoa, the Marianna Islands, and the Virgin Islands. I’ve been a teacher for 28 years, so I know how hard these teachers work and was thrilled to meet them and welcome them to our home, the Vice President’s Residence.

President Obama's 100th Day In Office

EsquireUK — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:27:07 EDT

www.whitehouse.gov

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 at 12:10 pm"Words and Deeds"

Norm Eisen, special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform, drops by to talk about progress on ethics and transparency since the President was sworn in.

The President promised across-the-board change in Washington and all of us in the White House have been pleased to help deliver. In the ethics and government reform arena, we have worked hard to help the President impose strict new ethics rules for all employees; foster a culture of compliance and respect for the law; promote greater transparency (including through our first-ever instant electronic release of personal financial disclosure forms); and implement historic revolving door limits for lobbyists and others.

But don't just take our word for it. Members of the government reform community have issued a statement praising the President for the "groundbreaking government integrity reforms he has put in place" and recognizing that "the President has demonstrated in his first hundred days through words and deeds that he is serious about changing the rules of the game in Washington and increasing the voice of citizens in the governing process."

Click through and read the complete statement by members of the government reform community acknowledging the administration's historic opening efforts.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/04/29/Words-and-Deeds/

Travel Affected by Raised Global Pandemic Alert

bob-pol — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 02:02:55 EDT

WHO raises Swine Flu Global Pandemic Alert level to 4.

Associated Press Writers, April 27,2009

MEXICO CITY – The swine flu epidemic entered a dangerous new phase Monday as the death toll climbed in Mexico and the number of suspected cases there and in the United States nearly doubled. The World Health Organization raised its alert level but stopped short of declaring a global emergency.

The United States advised Americans against most travel to Mexico and ordered stepped up border checks in neighboring states. U.S. customs officials began checking people entering U.S. territory. "We are proceeding as if we are preparatory to a full pandemic," Napolitano said. She said travel warnings for trips to Mexico would remain in place as long as swine flu is detected.

The WHO raised the alert level to Phase 4, meaning there is sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus causing outbreaks in at least one country. Its alert system was revised after bird flu in Asia began to spread in 2004, and Monday was the first time it was raised above Phase 3.

"At this time, containment is not a feasible option," as the virus has already spread to several other countries, said WHO Assistant Director-General Keiji Fukuda.

Putting an alert at Phases 4 or 5 signals that the virus is becoming increasingly adept at spreading among humans. That move could lead governments to set trade, travel and other restrictions aimed at limiting its spread. Phase 6 is for a full-blown pandemic, characterized by outbreaks in at least two regions of the world.

Mexico canceled school at all levels nationwide until May 6, and the Mexico City government said it was considering a complete shutdown, including all public transportation, if the death toll keeps rising. Labor Secretary Javier Lozano Alarcon said employers should isolate anyone showing up for work with fever, cough, sore throat or other signs of the flu.

WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley singled out air travel as an easy way the virus could spread, noting that the WHO estimates that up to 500,000 people are on planes at any time.

European Union Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou advised Europeans to avoid nonessential travel to Mexico and parts of the United States, although Besser said that including the U.S. in the advisory seemed unwarranted at this time.

Germany's leading vacation tour operators were skipping stops in Mexico City as a precaution. The Hannover-based TUI said trips through May 4 to Mexico City were being suspended, including those operated by TUI itself and through companies 1-2 Fly, Airtours, Berge & Meer, Grebeco and L'tur.

Japan's largest tour agency, JTB Corp., suspended tours to Mexico through June 30. Russian travel agencies said about a third of those planning to travel to Mexico in early May had already canceled.

In Malaysia, health workers in face masks took the temperatures of passengers as they arrived on a flight from Los Angeles.

Russia, Hong Kong and Taiwan said they would quarantine visitors showing symptoms of the virus amid global fears of a pandemic, an epidemic spread over a large area, either a region or worldwide.

China said anyone experiencing flu-like symptoms within two weeks of arrival had to report to authorities.

President Barack Obama said the outbreak was reason for concern, but not yet a cause for alarm.

-----------
On the Net:
WHO swine flu page: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html

Free College Admission Guidance

MyCollegeCalendar.org — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:56:33 EDT

The current economic crisis is forcing numerous school districts to cut student counselor positions. In Manteca Unified School District (Manteca, California), more than 50% of the basic counseling staff may be eliminated, leaving a very challenging situation for next year’s remaining counselors and the college-bound students under their responsibility. Opportunities to help students, “. . . may be dramatically curtailed in coming years.”

However, there is a valuable, interactive tool designed to help high school counselors and to guide students and parents through the college admission and financial aid processes. In these times of economic and competitive challenges, help is available at MyCollegeCalendar.org.

MyCollegeCalendar.org is a complete online system that covers the college preparation and admission process for high school freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors and parents on all topics from A to Z, all FREE OF CHARGE. Not only are all topics covered, but “how-to” instructions, internet links, example documents, and schedules are all rolled into one guidance system.

Convenient and effective.

Counselors can direct students to use MyCollegeCalendar for universal guidance and as a task planner. Each high school class can be on the “same page” with regard to preparing, planning and applying to college; counselors are able to check student progress with college preparation and application steps by making sure students complete recommended and required tasks on time.

Furthermore, high school counselors can direct students to MyCollegeCalendar for all “routine” tasks (i.e., how to search for colleges and scholarships, how to register for the SAT/ACT and when tests are scheduled, how to create a student résumé, etc.), leaving much-needed time for counselors to advise students and to complete the all-important tasks of writing letters of recommendation and editing college application and scholarship essays.

Similar to high school counselors, professional college admission consultants and financial planners can use MyCollegeCalendar as a universal guidance tool for all of their clients. This will allow professionals to more effectively manage and expand their client base.

Parents can create their own account to monitor their student’s progress.

Students can plan, prepare and complete college application and financial aid tasks 24/7 from their home computer.

In addition, MyCollegeCalendar has built-in guidance and schedule flexibility. All users can toggle between any high school year, and juniors and seniors can switch between early, regular and late schedules depending on their progress and the time of year. Students are able to easily see upcoming tasks because completed actions (both recommended and personal) can be marked as “complete” and removed from the “Today”, “This Week”, “Next Week” or “MyTasks” list of action items.

While nothing can replace the hands-on personal guidance and care of dedicated counselors, parents and able professionals, MyCollegeCalendar allows EVERYONE involved in the college admission and financial aid processes to work together to ensure student success.

For more information visit MyCollegeCalendar.org

The Obama Presidency: First 100 Days

EsquireUK — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 14:16:34 EDT

www.whitehouse.gov

Saturday, April 25th, 2009 at 5:30 amWeekly Address: Calling for Fiscal DisciplineThis week the President reiterates a theme that has been a hallmark of his career, namely that "old habits and stale thinking" will simply not help us solve the new and immense problems our country faces. Listing off several specific changes he intends to bring, he describes his guiding principle: "To help build a new foundation for the 21st century, we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative. That will demand new thinking and a new sense of responsibility for every dollar that is spent."

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/04/24/weekly-address-calling-for-fiscal-discipline/

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/04/26/Streaming-at-1230-White-House-Press-Briefing/

Sunday, April 26th, 2009 at 11:26 amStreaming at 12:30: White House Press Briefing

[UPDATE: This briefing has concluded, check back later for the transcript.]

The Office of the Press Secretary issued the following advisory this morning concerning a special White House Briefing to discuss the reported swine flu cases. Watch it streamed at 12:30pm EDT at WhiteHouse.gov/live, and find up-to-the-minute information through the HHS/ CDC swine flu widget.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SUNDAY, April 26, 2009

White House Briefing to Discuss Reported Swine Flu Cases – Today at 12:30pm EDT

WASHINGTON – Obama administration officials will host an on-camera briefing this afternoon in the White House Press Briefing Room to provide an update on swine influenza in the United States and the government response.

WHO: Secretary Janet Napolitano, Department of Homeland Security; Dr. Richard Besser, Acting Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security; White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

WHEN: Sunday, April 26, 2009, 12:30pm EDT

WHERE: White House Press Briefing Room

A new foreign policy

Torgny V.O.B. — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 10:07:02 EDT

The way of war has been tried. War to gain oil, to gain political control of people in another country. But it has failed. No cheap oil gained, and people all over the world lost respect for USA. The war and its aftermath has not taken away anything of the hate inside Iraq and between USA and the Muslim world. It has only increased. What is amazing what Obama has done in only three months to promote peace. The deep distrust between USA and the rest of the world is gradually melting away. It will take longer time to dissolve hate inside Iraq. Clinton was recently sent to promote a new attitude, but old wounds were too strong.

What is the problem with the war in Iraq. I agree with Obama, it is not the war itself but the mind-set that made USA start the war. To create mutual trust, love and respect all over the world will take time. But I see no other way.

Good discussion on Fox about torture

Torgny V.O.B. — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:29:27 EDT

I think we must credit Fox news when they do something good. Watch this video from a Fox discussion, “We are America, we don’t torture.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/22/shepard-smith-torture_n_190350.html

Please forward to Liz Cheney

Peter and Linda — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:11:39 EDT

Of course, the average concerned American does not have access to email addresses of the pompous, rich and famous that just say whatever they want and we have no way to respond! Anyone that is able to contact Ms. Cheney, please forward this for me.

Thank you, in advance.

Peter Realmuto

Dear Liz Cheney,

You don't consider what was done torture? If you're serious, what would you think it was if it was done to your family members? I'll bet you'd change your smug, arrogant mind then. I thought, in America, no one was above the law? Apparently, that does not apply to you and the rest of the socially superior snobs.

Apparently, as brain washed and biased as you are, anything your daddy and the corrupt Bush regime did was fine ... of course, it didn't affect you or your family. You probably think your daddy and "Cowboy" Bush were the only ones able to keep America safe. I'm surprised you didn't reiterate what your despicable daddy said about how vulnerable we are now, without them in charge ... deviously hoping for another attack, so President Obama looks like a failure. Of course, future attacks won't affect you and your families directly anyway, so to hell with the rest of us, right?

Why don't you, your daddy and George W. just quietly ride off into the sunset? Hopefully, hell is just beyond that sunset.

Disgusted with all of you,

Peter Realmuto

Re: EARTH DAY - Turning C02 into Methanol

bob-pol — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:49:24 EDT

A NEW CURATIVE PROCESS FOR OUR EARTH - Rob [bob-pol]

http://pda.physorg.com/carbondioxide-carbon-dioxide_news159098987.html

RESEARCHERS TRANSFORM CARBON DIOXIDE INTO METHANOL

Apr 16, Chemistry/Biochemistry

Scientists at Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) have succeeded in unlocking the potential of carbon dioxide - a common greenhouse gas - by converting it into a more useful product.

In the international chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie, the IBN researchers report that by using organocatalysts, they activated carbon dioxide in a mild and non-toxic process to produce methanol, a widely used industrial feedstock and clean-burning biofuel.

Organocatalysts are catalysts that are comprised of non-metallic elements found in organic compounds. NHCs such as IMes (1,3-bis-(2,4,6 trimethylphenyl)imidazolylidene) are a form of organocatalysts that are stable and easily stored. They do not contain toxic heavy metals and can be produced easily without high costs.

The scientists made carbon dioxide react by using N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs), a novel organocatalyst. In contrast to heavy metal catalysts that contain toxic and unstable components, NHCs are stable, even in the presence of oxygen. Hence, the reaction with NHCs and carbon dioxide can take place under mild conditions in dry air.

The IBN scientists showed that only a small amount of NHC is required to induce carbon dioxide activity in a reaction. "NHCs have shown tremendous potential for activating and fixing carbon dioxide. Our work can contribute towards transforming excess carbon dioxide in the environment into useful products such as methanol," said Siti Nurhanna Riduan, IBN Senior Lab Officer, who is also pursuing her Ph.D. under the Scientific Staff Development Award at IBN, one of the research institutes of Singapore's A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research).

Hydrosilane, a combination of silica and hydrogen, is added to the NHC-activated carbon dioxide, and the product of this reaction is transformed into methanol by adding water through hydrolysis.

Yugen Zhang, Ph.D., IBN Team Leader and Principal Research Scientist, explained, "Hydrosilane provides hydrogen, which bonds with carbon dioxide in a reduction reaction. This carbon dioxide reduction is efficiently catalyzed by NHCs even at room temperature. Methanol can be easily obtained from the product of the carbon dioxide reaction. Our previous research on NHCs has demonstrated their multiple applications as powerful antioxidants to fight degenerative diseases, and as effective catalysts to transform sugars into an alternative energy source. We have now shown that NHCs can also be applied successfully to the conversion of carbon dioxide into methanol, helping to unleash the potential of this highly abundant gas."

Previous attempts to reduce carbon dioxide to more useful products have required more energy input and a much longer reaction time. They also require transition metal catalysts, which are both unstable in oxygen and expensive. Ongoing research at IBN aims to find cheap alternatives for the hydrosilane reagent so that the production of methanol can be even more cost-effective for mass industrial production.

"At IBN, we are innovating effective methods of generating clean energy using green chemistry and nanotechnology. In the face of environmental pollution, global warming and increasing demands on diminishing fossil fuel resources, we hope to provide a viable alternative energy option for industry, and effective sequestration and conversion of carbon dioxide," said IBN Executive Director. Jackie Y. Ying, Ph.D.

More information: The research was published online in the Angewandte Chemie International Edition, at this link: 10.1002/anie.200806058. IBN's report has been designated a "Hot Paper."

Source: Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore

The Obama Presidency: First 100 Days

EsquireUK — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:08:02 EDT

www.whitehouse.gov

Obama to CIA: I feel your pain
By: Alexander Burns and Josh Gerstein
April 20, 2009 04:48 PM EST

After days of public debate over his release of the so-called “torture memos,” President Barack Obama on Monday sought to reassure CIA employees that he understood the anxiety some felt over his ban on certain harsh interrogation techniques.

Obama also stressed that he is committed to protecting national security secrets — but said the release of the secret documents prepared by the Bush Justice Department was “the result of a pending court case” that left his administration with little room to maneuver.

“I understand that it’s hard when you are asked to protect the American people against people who have no scruples and would willingly and gladly kill innocents. Al-Qaida’s not constrained by a constitution,” Obama said in his first visit to CIA headquarters in Langley, Va.

Obama said he was aware critics were denouncing him as naïve for publishing the legal memos describing interrogation techniques. “I understand that. I watch the cable shows once in a while,” he said. “What makes the United States special and what makes you special is precisely the fact that we are willing to uphold our values and ideals even when it’s hard. So, you’ve got a harder job, and so do I and that’s OK….Over the long term, that’s why I believe we will defeat our enemies: because we’re on the better side of history.”

Obama’s speech came amid mounting criticism from both the left and the right over the White House’s decision to release the memos prepared by the Bush Justice Department, while simultaneously ruling out the possibility of prosecuting officials implicated in torture.

Bush administration veterans, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, have criticized the president for ending the use of so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques,” saying the move increases the likelihood of future terrorist attacks.

And last Friday, former Director of Central Intelligence Michael Hayden and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal alleging that the disclosure of the OLC memos on interrogation weakened American security.

“Public disclosure of the OLC opinions, and thus of the techniques themselves, assures that terrorists are now aware of the absolute limit of what the U.S. government could do to extract information from them,” Hayden and Mukasey wrote.

At the same time, the White House has sought to stave off critics on the left who have expressed frustration with the administration’s reluctance to prosecute those who helped formulate and execute interrogation policies the administration has deemed illegal.

“It is not a time to use our energy and our time in looking back, and in a sense of anger and retribution,” White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday. “We have a lot to do to protect America.”

CIA Director Leon Panetta adopted a similar line as he introduced Obama on Monday, telling the crowd: “This is a time for reflection, not retribution.”

“We believe that we can fully protect this nation and our values at the same time, and we are doing exactly that,” Panetta emphasized, adding that dwelling on the past “interferes with our ability to focus on the fundamental mission we have for today or tomorrow.”

The president, too, underscored the importance of the country admitting its “mistakes” – and then moving on. And there was no tone of scolding or judgment in his voice as he assured the receptive and enthusiastic audience at Langley that he understood their concerns and hoped they would not allow the recent disclosures to affect CIA morale.

“People have expressed understandable anxiety and concern,” Obama said. “Don’t be discouraged about what’s happened the last few weeks….We live in dangerous times. I am going to need you more than ever.”

The president also signaled that he understood the CIA could not tout its achievements to counter the bad publicity about its involvement in what critics have called torture. “You don’t get credit when things go good, but you sure get some blame when things don’t,” he said.

White House officials took a series of steps to ensure that the images of Obama at the CIA would not consist of him getting a solemn reception that some writers and commentators might portray as a symbol of the agency’s chilliness towards him in the wake of his decision on the interrogation memos.

Obama’s speech in the CIA’s main lobby had many of the hallmarks of a campaign rally including music and a large, standing crowd that CIA officials put at about 1000 people.

The audience, many of whom had been waiting for hours to see Obama, let out an ear-piercing roar as he entered and again as he began to speak. Some in the crowd gave Obama a rock star’s reception -- hooting approvingly and waving small posters, magazine covers or books festooned with the president’s image.

After one audience member responded approvingly, Obama replied, “I got an Amen corner out there.”

Officials said the attendees were a cross-section of agency employees, but acknowledged that most covert operatives would likely have avoided the event, due to the number of cameras present. Most of those who attended were casually dressed.

In any event, a former intelligence official said activities like waterboarding were generally carried out not by CIA officers but by contractors with military experience.

In an unusual move, the CIA’s deputy director Stephen Kappes remained on stage with Obama and CIA director Leon Panetta throughout the speech. The stagecraft seemed intended to signal Obama’s respect for agency veterans and that no snub was intended by installing a former Congressman and White House chief of staff to run Langley.

Before he spoke, Obama met in a more subdued setting behind closed doors with a group of about 50 employees..

An official said more than half of all agency employees have been hired since 9/11, contributing to a youthful crowd that Obama said he noticed during the discussion session.

Obama backed off slightly Monday from his claim in a written statement last week that the law flatly required release of the memos. He told CIA employees that public disclosures about the interrogation program undermined the government’s position in a lawsuit brought the American Civil Liberties Union, but he did not assert that he had no choice. “It was very difficult for us to mount an effective legal defense,” the president said at the CIA.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21462.html

Americas' Summit - WINNING THE PEACE

bob-pol — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:37:27 EDT

President Obama, "We'll extend an open hand if you'll unclench your fist." Rob [bob-pol]

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1892432,00.html

Signs of Spring: U.S.-Latin America Relations Thaw

By Tim Padgett Sunday, Apr. 19, 2009

President Barack Obama stands in front of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez (R) during an official photograph session at the 5th Summit of the Americas, April 18, 2009. Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

When I started covering Latin America 20 years ago, a leftist source asked what books I'd read to help myself understand the region's manera de pensar, or psyche. I fidgeted and mentioned Octavio Paz's Labyrinth of Solitude. He shrugged. José Martí's Our America? Eh. How about everything by Gabriel García Márquez? (Although I had to admit that was to impress women.) He shook his head and handed me Eduardo Galeano's The Open Veins of Latin America — the same book Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez made a show of giving Barack Obama on Saturday before Obama's meeting with South American leaders at the Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Read the subtitle of Galeano's 1971 work — Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent — and you know why the left-wing, anti-U.S. Chavez would present it to a U.S. President. The book's thesis is that Spain, then Britain, the U.S. and Latin oligarchs ransacked Latin American resources, from copper to crude, bleeding the region of its natural wealth and its sovereign dignity. But even if you don't subscribe to its Marxist-tinged polemic, The Open Veins is one of the best introductions to the longstanding Latin grievances that keep producing populist leaders like Chávez. It was an appropriate gift for Obama — not because he's clueless about that manera de pensar, but because he proved at the Trinidad summit to be the first U.S. President to get it. "We have at times been disengaged, and at times we sought to dictate our terms," to Latin America, he told the gathering. "But I pledge to you that we seek an equal partnership. There is no senior partner and junior partner in our relations." (See TIME's photos of the guerrilla armies of Colombia)

If it's genuine, it's hard to overestimate how important that promise is to Latin Americans, who've experienced a lot more heavy-handed interventionism and condescending disregard than they have partnership from either Republicans or Democrats in Washington. It not only heartened Latin leaders in Trinidad, it disarmed them. The summit could have easily deteriorated into another yanqui-bashing fest over the U.S.'s role in the global economic crisis or its antiquated trade embargo against Cuba. But Obama had even Chávez feeling "great optimism" that his nation's icy relations with the U.S. will thaw, starting with the return of each other's ambassadors, expelled last year, to Washington and Caracas.

That bonhomie was hardly assured beforehand. Obama and Chávez had been critical of each other in recent months, with Obama suggesting that Chávez supported Colombian guerrilla violence and Chávez suggesting, as a result, that Obama was an "ignoramus." To many observers it was a toss-up whether Chávez — who has pledged that he and his leftist allies in the region will not sign the gathering's final declaration, to protest the fact that communist Cuba is still not invited to these summits — would upbraid Obama in Port of Spain or, given Obama's international popularity, reach out to him. But they shared a warm handshake Friday night, during which Obama tried his Spanish (mucho gusto, or "pleased to meet you") and Chávez insisted, according to a Venezuela communiqué, "I want to be your friend."

So, it seems, does the rest of the region after this summit. To most Latin Americans, Obama could not present a starker contrast to his predecessor, George W. Bush, whom Chávez once called "the devil" and whose relations with the hemisphere were strained at best. Even Bill Clinton as President didn't set foot south of the border until five months into his second term. Latin America, according to many experts, has the worst gap between rich and poor of any region in the world — a big reason why the U.S. has so many immigration-policy headaches. And what Obama gave the region this weekend was a reason to think that it could finally set aside its 20th-century resentments — which, admittedly, have too often been exploited by Latin leaders as an excuse for their own epic failings and iron fists — and move on to 21st-century development. To believe, that is, that the U.S. now appreciates what Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told TIME in a recent interview — that it's not smart policy for the U.S. to be such a rich country "surrounded by so many poor people."

Obama also seems to understand now that he and the hemisphere won't get too far in correcting that situation until they get past the Cuba problem. It turned out to be the summit's marquee issue, largely because other Latin leaders see the embargo as a reflection of how Washington treats them as well. Before leaving for Trinidad, Obama eliminated restrictions on Cuban-American travel and remittances to the island — a gesture that effectively threw the ball, as Obama said, into Havana's court. To everyone's surprise, Cuban President Raul Castro — who is making a serious push to have his country readmitted to hemispheric groups like the Organization of Americans States — responded by saying he was "willing to talk" about matters like the scores of jailed dissidents in Cuba. Obama kept the ball rolling, suggesting in Port of Spain that the U.S. "seeks a new beginning with Cuba" in a speech that Latin presidents like Argentina's Cristina Fernández de Kirchner called a big step toward "re-stabilizing" U.S.-Latin American relations.

Obama needs to follow Trinidad's feel-good rhetoric with more concrete programs, although he and Latin America know he can't do much in the short term thanks to the U.S.'s economic calamity. Many Latin American officials in recent months have told TIME they're not looking for much for now; but they do want to make sure Obama shifts hemispheric priorities away from the U.S. obsession with free trade and the drug war to development concerns like education, alternative energy and democratic institution-building, which the U.S. President did engage in Trinidad.

At the same time, if Chávez and other Latin leftists want Obama to read Galeano, they in turn should read Obama. In his own books, like The Audacity of Hope, Obama lays out the common-sense, post-ideological political philosophy that has led to the U.S. shift on Latin America that so many in the region are now applauding. It's something Latin America's yanqui-bashers, if they want to keep receiving applause from Latin voters themselves, should keep in mind.

The Obama Presidency: Summit of the Americas

EsquireUK — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 22:18:01 EDT

www.whitehouse.gov

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he expects to send an ambassador back to Washington soon, in a move towards restoring normal ties with the US.

The announcement came at a Summit of the Americas in Trinidad, where US President Barack Obama received a warm welcome from Latin American leaders.

www.whitehouse.gov

... open the door for someone to torture our kids.

Debbie — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:17:33 EDT

Every time we torture someone we open the door for someone to torture our kids. It is the universal law of karma. Besides this holistic interpretation of same, you can also say, "what you put out you will get back multipled (good or bad)!"

We cannot lose ourselves as citizens of USA and this world attempting to equate our actions with the people we named as "terrorists!"

We need to learn from them, we need to familiarize ourselves with their beliefs, as we would do with any child in our home that was experiencing difficulties relating to the rest of the family... with careful attention and an open mind. Tit for tat is not going to cut it... not at this moment in history. Our president is not perfect but he is attempting to rise above policies which come from a fear based center.

Never, never, never, never, let them see you sweat! Fear based attacks on people we do not understand, is just that, attacks without fundamental basic respect, seeking our commonalities rather than our differences, just as we do with our inner circle of friends and others around us.

Handling an Enemy, Obama's Way

bob-pol — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 11:28:26 EDT

Opposite Approaches to Handling an Adversary

1. Bush's Method- Cold War, No communication- leading to Misunderstanding, Mistrust, and possible WAR.

2. Obama's Method- Extend an Open Hand, Listen, Understand, Negotiate, Come to terms- leading to PEACE.

"If I Make an Enemy my FRIEND, have I not one less Enemy!",... Jesus , Rob [bob-pol], racggg@gmail.com

> On Sat, Apr 18, 2009 at 7:16 AM, Blacks4Barack ! <Blacks4Barack@yahoo.com> wrote:

Hugo Chavez to President Obama:
'I Want To Be Your Friend'
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad - Presidents Barack Obama and Hugo Chavez have met for the first time, shaking hands as the Summit of the Americas gets under way in Trinidad and Tobago.
Photos released by the Venezuelan government show the two smiling and Obama touching Chavez on the shoulder.
The Venezuelan presi dency says Obama initiated the handshake. It quotes Chavez as telling Obama he hopes for better relations between their nations.
Chavez also reportedly said Friday: "With this same hand I greeted Bush eight years ago. I want to be your friend."
As recently as last week, Chavez expressed a desire to "reset" relations with Washington.
It's A New Day !
B4B

--
Posted By Blacks4Barack ! to Greg Jones' BLACKS 4 BARACK ! BLOG at 4/18/2009 07:11:00 AM

BORDER PATROL OUT OF HAND>>>WE ARE NOT YOUR ENEMY!

DawnJah — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 07:01:07 EDT

Border Patrol Beats a Pastor. We cannot allow this.....I have found that there are racists people working at the check points. Immature little boys that now have some power. Mr. President there needs to be an investigation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUzd7G875Hc

The Obama Presidency: First 100 Days

EsquireUK — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:26:22 EDT

www.whitehouse.gov

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 at 4:34 pm

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/04/15/Release-of-the-President-and-Vice-Presidents-Tax-Returns/

Release of the President and Vice President’s Tax ReturnsAs another demonstration of the President’s commitment to openness and transparency, today the White House issued the following releases making the President and Vice President’s tax returns public:For the President:THE WHITE HOUSEOffice of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 15, 2009

President and First Lady Release 2008 Income Tax Returns

Today, the President released his 2008 federal income tax returns. He and the First Lady filed their income tax returns jointly and reported an adjusted gross income of $2,656,902. The vast majority of the family’s 2008 income is the proceeds from the sale of the President’s books. The Obamas paid $855,323 in federal income tax.The President and First Lady also reported donating $172,050 – or about 6.5% of their adjusted gross income – to 37 different charities. The largest reported gifts to charity were $25,000 contributions to CARE and the United Negro College Fund.The President and First Lady also released their Illinois income tax return and reported paying $77,883 in state income taxes.Copies of the returns are available below:

Download the President’s Federal 1040 form (pdf)Download the President’s Federal 709 form (pdf).Download the President’s Illinois State income tax return (pdf)

For the Vice President:THE WHITE HOUSEOffice of the Vice President

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEApril 15, 2009

The Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden Release 2008 Income Tax Returns

Today, the Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden released their 2008 federal and state income tax returns. He and Dr. Biden filed their income tax returns jointly and reported an adjusted gross income of $269,256 and an after-tax income of $183,315. The family’s primary sources of income were salaries from the United States Senate, Widener University, Delaware Technical & Community College, as well as royalties from the audio rights to the Vice President’s book. The Bidens paid $46,952 in federal income taxes; $11,164 in Delaware state income taxes; and donated $1,885 to charity. The charitable donations claimed by the Bidens on their tax returns are not the sum of their annual contributions to charity. They donate to their church, and they contribute to their favorite causes with their time, as well as their checkbooks.Copies of the returns are available below:Download the Vice President’s Federal 1040 form (pdf)Download the Vice President’s Delaware tax return (pdf)

Policy on Piracy: Somalia

StopTheInsanity — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:36:22 EDT

Forming new policy on Piracy, specifically Somalia.

1) Clarify (to Somalis and the world) WHY those 3 pirates lost their lives: The US was willing to negotiate and requested that if the pirates were given safe passage to shore, that those leaders on land would allow the US to arrest those 4 pirates - a standard expectation for their criminal act in International waters. With that request denied, and by attempting to send in reinforcements to the pirates, they left the US little option, but to take military action once the opportunity was available. As a result those 3 pirates paid the price of their criminal actions with their lives. The blood and burden falls to the Somali leaders that failed to cooperate. Criminal acts MUST be punished and addressed. Policies of lawlessness serve no one in the international community. Such policies break down the opportunities for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness around the world.

2) Remind them that the US and other countries are NOT their enemy. We did not ask to be attacked nor our vessels and citizens to be held for ransom. Our ships are traveling through International waters that are open to anyone. If Somalis wish to dispute that, then lets bring it to the table and try to reach an agreement on what is and is not acceptable and where the lines may need to be drawn.

3) Let them know that we understand some of the concerns that may have led to the rise of piracy in Somalia, specifically dumping and environmental abuses that have affected the fishing in that area. Again, let's bring those concerns to the table and establish fair rules and policies for that area that will be bound by all international countries that use those shipping routes.

4) Work with the existing Somali 'government' and offer international aid to try to address the root cause of the issues: poverty, economic breakdown, lawlessness, etc. Find diplomatic solutions that can improve our relations and establish a trust-based relationship that fosters support against criminal activity internally and externally. In addition to expecting them to address their internal turmoil, We should offer to defend them against unjust acts as well. Ultimately, they need to establish a working government entity that has influence and is accepted by their people. Request assistance from the international community to help Somalia rebuild.

Side notes: Many nations in Africa suffer at the hands of those who hold guns or machetes. Power is establish by brute force and constant tribal warfare ensues. Any successfull progress we make in Somalia may be helpful in establishing justice and better governments across that continent, one nation at a time. Africa needs to be addressed by the international community and internally by other Africans.

Somalia is just one of many places that need to be addressed in the years to come. However it is currently a good place to start. To counter terrorism and lawlessness in the region, we MUST address the social-economic woes. Otherwise, anything else is a band-aid at best. If Al-qaeda makes strong roots there, it will only be harder to resolve later on. NOW is the time.

In some ways, the issues we face in the middle east may have been exported to Africa, much in the same way the Islamic religion was exported to Africa hundreds of years ago: via Yemen. Perhaps we need to work on relations there as well.

5) Come to an agreement with Somali leaders and the international community on the immediate piracy taking place. Decide on what is the best method to address this issue as we strive towards improving the root causes(above). Allowing the piracy to continue as-is is not acceptable. However perhaps we can come to an agreement or 'cease fire' as we work on other positive change in the region. Without such an agreement in place, military actions taken by international bodies to free their people/ships taken hostage will result in anger and may disrupt peaceful efforts to resolve the problem. However at the same time, make it clear ransom money will no longer be paid. Pirates will be captured and held accountable individually. An eye-for-an-eye is also not an acceptable policy.

I call this ignorance. What do you think?

Peter and Linda — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:24:34 EDT

The following email is just one example of the trash my disenchanted right-wing wacky relatives send everyday! They're uninformed, obnoxious and yet very, very arrogant ... what a coincidence ... just like Bush and Cheney ... the losers they admire and revere! Unequivocal ignorance, right???

"Tear the country down? Like badmouthing America to every country he has visited? How about spending more in three months then Afghanistan and Iraq has cost us combined? I don’t have to tear down. OB has done it all for us."

I think it's sad. They'll do or say anything to demean our president and undermine the efforts of his entire administration.

Open Letter to Leaders at Fem2pt0 : society’s issues + women’s voices

Madama Ambi — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:06:59 EDT

Please read my post and leave your comments at Fem2pt0's blog or wiki. The wiki can be found at www.fem2pt0.wetpaint.com.

NEW RULES.....

Debbie — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:33:27 EDT

Well, well, well, here is our brilliant president taking the floor guiding this country through the perils of our economy.

How unbelievably clear and precise is this president? How can someone who is out of work and sitting at home not feel the urge to get up and change his/her course, his direction, lift his/her spirits to find solutions in a battered economy and improve their personal circumstances after listening to our President? How proud I am of this man! His calm, precise, determination to make things happen, his thorough and complete understanding of how we got into this mess and how we are going to slowly creep out.

He clarifies complaints by many that the money is not trickling down to the common folks. He said that $1 of bank capital can be $10 of loans to family and businesses which would enable a “faster pace of economic growth.”

He explained why AIG had to be rescued and that we had to “provide support for AIG because the entire system as fragile as it is” would go down if AIG would go bankrupt. He said that we are starting to see some move in the right direction… small businesses jump in loan activity... encouraging but hard times are not over. 2009 will be difficult for the economy... they will be more foreclosures and loss of jobs and credit will not be flowing, and market will fluctuate. “You can continue to expect unrelenting effort from administration to fight on all fronts.” He continued to say that he is of the “firm believe that the next task beginning now is to make sure such a crisis never happens again.”

The state of affairs of this country tis of thee has been carefully clarified. The solutions to the current conditions enumerated and explained and why this administration is taking such actions to effect change. “After we get the credit flowing, we cannot go back to a bubble and bust economy” that led us to this point with all the rules and regulations out the window. Having this said, our President and his administration propose the following set of NEW RULES:

1. NEW RULES FOR WALL STREET;
2. NEW INVESTMENT IN EDUCATION MAKE WORK FORCE MORE SKILLED AND COMPETITIVE;
3. NEW INVESTMENTS IN RENEWABLE ENERGY AND NEW JOBS AND NEW INDUSTRY;
4. NEW HEALTH CARE; and
5. NEW SAVING IN FEDERAL BUDGET THAT WILL BRING DOWN DEBT.

YEAH! You go Barack! Your steadfast determination is admirable.

The Obama Presidency: First 100 Days

EsquireUK — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:00:13 EDT

Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 12:27 pm

Egg Roll!

www.whitehouse.gov

If you have not been watching, be sure to check in on our coverage of the White House Easter Egg Roll. You can watch some of the best artists, story-tellers, chefs, and egg-rollers around on four separate live-streams, carrying on and expanding on the tradition established by President Bush.President Obama and the First Lady spoke to the happy crowd this morning:THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody -- that's Malia, our technical advisor. (Laughter.)It is wonderful to see all of you today. Welcome. I hope everybody had a wonderful Easter. This is one of the greatest White House traditions because it reminds us that this is the people's house. And to see so many children out here having a great time just fills Michelle and myself and the entire family with a whole lot of joy.So I'm not really in charge here today. My sole job, in addition to thanking Fergie for that wonderful rendition of our National Anthem and thanking my buddy, the Easter Bunny, for being here, is to introduce my First Lady, your First Lady, Michelle Obama. (Applause.)MRS. OBAMA: All right -- okay, it's working. Welcome everybody. I don't have much to say. I want to welcome you all to the 2009 White House Easter Egg Hunt. Yay!Our goal today is just to have fun. We want to focus on activity, healthy eating. We've got yoga, we've got dancing, we've got storytelling, we've got Easter egg decorating. Oh, we've got basketball -- (applause) -- a little soccer, as well. And we want everybody to think about moving their bodies, get out -- we don't have tennis; it's on the tennis court -- the peanut gallery back here. (Laughter.)So the goal today is to have fun, to get out and play. And let's get things started with the Easter Egg Roll. Thank you all for coming today. Have fun. Thanks so much. (Applause.)http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/04/13/Egg-Roll/

http://www.politico.com/slideshow/slideshow.html?xml=xml/311#id=311&num=1

Trinidad and Tobago sailor was aboard Maersk ship seized by Somali pirates!

kid5rivers2 O.B.O.B. — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 07:57:07 EDT

"Trinidad-born sailor Jamille Sabga hid with almost 20 crewmates in a cramped metal room next to his ship's engine in 120-degree Fahrenheit heat for hours as pirates seized control of a United States cargo ship in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia.
Sabga, 65, was on board the Maersk Alabama, a container ship carrying food aid for Somalians, when it was attacked by heavily armed Somali pirates on Wednesday.
Sabga grew up in Trinidad and Tobago and moved to New York, then emigrated to Canada about 25 years ago after marrying a citizen of that country..."

Read the rest of Curtis Rampersad's Trinidad and Tobago Express newspaper story at this link:
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161464087

Barack Obama (One Million Strong for Barack)

Most Americans don't connect climate change with human activity

"Dignity be Damned"

"AND THEN THERE WERE NUN...."

WHAT IS TO BE DONE 19

Mayor Vilaragosa & Hilary Clinton

HEALTH-CARE SYSTEM,THAT WORK!....

President Obama Receives A Boost In The Senate

Help Impeach Mayor Vilagosa

United States Global Change Research Program

Of Persian Pursuasion

Barack Obama Campaign Claims Prizes

Duty Calls

YES WE CAN !!!!!!! Health Care Compromise

Becoming political... Hmm?

MAINTANCE GOOD AND NATURAL HEALTH!

Words from L.a 's Next Mayor

What's Taking Them So Long?

President Obama Condemns Unjust Violence

5 Keys To Getting Health Care Deal

President Obama's Weekly Address: Financial Reform

Begging for Dollars

President Obama Boost - New Poll Ratings

Go Julius!

Racial Politics- Two Tennessee GOP Mailings

Healthcare victory is within sight!

Health Care Rally & Town Hall in Washington, DC

Massachusetts: Mitt Romney, Ted Kennedy

Anoxic Event

June 19th Day of Judgment the Witching Hour an Act of God the Greed Test

Presidential Address: Health Care Reform Key To Our Future

No Doubt Wright Wrong!

On the Holocaust Museum Shooting

Conservatives scraping the bottom of the barrel-Insane lies and prayers for assassination

UN.Security Council Toughens N.Korea Sanctions

President Obama: Good News For Taxpayers

View this Book: Election: "My Ride with Barack Obama."

"ICARUS"

The Obama Presidency: Health Care Reform

Created a Community Haven. Gymboree Play & Music Learning Center, America's Grandest Gymboree

Separating the Wheat from the Chaff

Watch President Obama's Speech

Health care reform is an economic necessity

The present medical system make people go bankrupt

N. Korea to Test Long-Range Missile ...

Obama Administration Securing Our Digital Future

June 2 Primary Election: Write / Type In Voting: Support Omar Dyer

"TORTURING!"

Recession Survival Fair—Volunteers Needed

President Obama Nominates U.S. Supreme Court Judge

HOW TO SECTION:Posting photos in photo forum threads

TORTURE

New Radical Health Care Reform Includes End of Disease

"TORTURED!"

In response to Pat Buchanan's statements on Hardball on 4/20/09

HR 1760 Black Carbon Emmission Act

"TORTURE!"

"Torture Photos Are Torture" to Proud Arabs

Christopher Haas

WHAT IS TO BE DONE 18

Forward to the Past

**Urgent** Sign Our Petition - Support Our President!

The Obama Presidency

Dick Cheney - Spokesman for this Sacred Cow

Pirates of the Caribbean....

The battle has started – Obama vs great corporations

......Get Real Dick!

Barack Obama BEGINNINGS- A Tribute to Supporters

No Room at the Inn for Single Payer?

Foundation For Change

Recession Survival Fair in Brooklyn

Dear "Dick"

Empathy is a virtue

Long Live Limbaugh!

In Canada, Flu goes from Human to Pigs

Torture Apologists Demolition Derby

Great Post from Bob Herbert

Hypocrisy 101

Post 9/11 - New G.I. Bill

The Obama Presidency

Urgent Sign Our Petition - Support Our President!