BREAKING NEWS: BUSH AND REPUBLICAN PARTY CARES ABOUT STORM THIS TIME

For some reason, this time around instead of hanging out with John McCain to celebrate his birthday like back in 2005, in election year 2008 Bush and McCain are politically motivated enough to give a damn about a Hurricane threatening New Orleans.

John McCain said Sunday it wouldn't be appropriate to hold a political celebration during the storm. He said there would be significant changes, but did not elaborate.

"We must redirect our efforts from the really celebratory event of the nomination of president and vice president of our party to acting as all Americans," said McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

McCain said it's likely the event would change into a "call to the nation for action."

Nice to see McCain acting like he sincerely cares.

As I commented last Thursday night, I hope the city of New Orleans gets a more than sufficient and rapid relief out of this election year. Somebody will have a lot of explaining to do to regarding the fact that the levees aren't even restored to a point where they could sustain a cat 3 storm yet, though...

An Obama supporter as McCain's VP

Did you know that McCain's chosen VP, Sarah Palin from Alaska has gone on the record, supporting Obama's judgement on energy policy over McCain's and expressing excitement that Obama was pulling ahead in her homestate???

just wondering.

(edit: I posted this blog entry and didn't back it up with any links, but now that i put them in there, you wont want to miss any of them, especially the last one. )

Palin did question Obama's proposal to tax oil company profits... because the state of Alaska's JACKPOT is windfall tax from oil profits!!! Does anybody know anything about Alaska and Oil?!?

Not taxing oil profits might be reallllly good for the state of Alaska, but not so good for the rest of the country who rely on other industries that have been completely neglected and not offered the incentives and loop holes available for oil companies. This is a big "screw you" to blue collar workers who don't work for the oil industry. Palin might be experienced with working in the energy business but that doesn't mean she's not in tight with the oil business... her self-before country politically charged stance on windfall taxes are a crystal clear demonstration of exactly why she is a pawn of the oil industry, and not the "she-maverick" the McCain camp is trying to paint her up to be.

She claims: “Windfall profits taxes alone prevent additional investment in domestic production. Without new supplies from American reserves, our dependency and addiction to foreign sources of oil will continue,”

A strong talking point for Republicans is their believe that stubbornly not taxing profits REGARDLESS of economic situations (believe me we have an economic SITUATION) reduce the incentive to invest in industries... TOTAL BS. Oil is a COMMODITY. Currently, our country completely relies on it. believe me, there is incentive to get involved with the oil industry. If you ask me, Windfall profits taxes ENCOURAGE technological developments and advancements in streamlining our economy instead of putting our economy in molasses thick stalemate. It places incentive and encourages investments on ALTERNATIVES to relying on Oil PERIOD. Windfall taxes encourage advancement and... you guessed it.... change.

Obama knocked the ball out of the park last night. Both Bidens as well as John Kerry knocked it out the night before. If Obama did implement windfall tax on oil profits he would prevent oil companies from being able to bump up the price because of the tax, something Palin WASn't able to do when she originally voted to (HELLO) raise taxes on oil profits in August 2006 because she wasn't also president of the country, which was the cause of the rise in prices after she voted for the tax. All of this will come out to the public eye soon. I certainly hope Obama makes a point of this, and I can only imagine it's comin' big time.

So then.. McCain tries to steal the thunder by announcing his VP pick the day after Obama's historic nomination acceptance speech at the DNC, which undeniably detracted from people otherwise going to the news to see recaps. Nice, McCain, I gotta hand it to ya.. you DO know how to play politics.

BUT. considering the fact that McCain's most significant talking point against Obama is a so-called "lack of experience", McCain's decision to pick an unknown, completely inexperienced VP, this choice displays just one thing: political panic.

Well... not to mention gender based manipulation, irresponsibility, and politically motivated judgement to benefit John McCain, and not the United States.

I can't speak for women, but I find his pick horridly insulting. It's all the guise of exalting women in leadership... which I don't argue, is a good thing. My woman boss is easily the best boss I've ever had. I have no idea what her wage is but It certainly BETTER be higher than any Male boss I've ever had. But even she, who is on the fence politically couldn't help bringing this topic up with me first thing Friday morning, expressing her complete disgust with both McCain for selling out women and insulting their ability to follow politics enough to care about the issues, but also she was utterly sickened by Palin for accepting to be such an obvious pawn. I have to agree completely, I can't see how this pick won't backfire.

He'll probably forget her name publicly and call her Michelle or something. (he met her in person ONCE before choosing her as VP)

If I were a McCain supporter I might be blind to the fact that putting this inexperienced pawn into a vice presidential position demonstrates extremely poor judgement as it's a terribly irresponsible decision, but I really don't think McCain supporters are blind.

PUT KARL ROVE AWAY

www.contemptforrove.com

Recently, the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Karl Rove, demanding his testimony about his own role in the politicization of the Department of Justice and politically motivated prosecutions of Democratic leaders, including Governor Don Siegelman.

Karl Rove refused to even show up for the hearing, claiming that Congress has no power to compel senior White House officials to testify.

That's outrageous. Yet again, Karl Rove and the Bush Administration have showed their callous disregard for the law and for Congress' constitutional role as a co-equal branch of government.

It's time for Congress to act: Forward an email to your Member of Congress by clicking on the link below, urging him or her to support a contempt resolution against Karl Rove. If Karl Rove won't respond to a legitimate Congressional subpoena, it's time to turn up the heat.

Email your Member of Congress right now:
www.contemptforrove.com

Neither Gustav or Hanna can make another Katrina happen.

If you haven't heard, Tropical storm Gustav is making way over Jamaica, gaining strength and according to NOAA maps, it's expected to reach at least category 3 status as it's headed straight for Louisiana where levees still haven't been repaired in New Orleans (and aren't expected to be finished until 2011 under current plans). Meanwhile, Hanna is sitting exactly in the same spot where Katrina was sitting before It hit New Orleans. A likely evacuation of New Orleans is slated for Saturday. I just talked to a friend of mine having an anxiety attack over this who lives in the French Quarter. Thankfully I didn't wake her up as she couldn't sleep.

A feeling of "oh no, we're not ready for this again" is starting to be murmured in New Orleans, as people are already starting to decide if they're going to come back after an evacuation... But one thing at a time. First the storm.. I do believe that now more than ever, that FEMA and those in higher offices have a lot to loose by not responding quickly, and providing an efficient evacuation plan, and covering as many bases as possible after learning from mistakes (and complete negligence) from Katrina. If "the worst" that New Orleans or any other coastal city gets from this or any other storm becomes a reality, I'm quite sure that especially with this being an election year everything will be done to keep people safe and in good hands. It's a sick sick truth, but with all eyes on President Bush again this time around I can't imagine him ignoring a distress call from New Orleans (or ANY coastal town no matter how big or small) a second time around.

My thoughts are with all those on the SE coast, and if you're not there right now, please recognize how fortunate you are at this moment to not have to be considering how you're going to be able to afford to take off work to go guzzle gas with as many belonging as you can fit in your car to stay at some hotel for X number of nights.

Russia weighs in favor of South Ossetian independence

this is ugly

but Condoleezza Rice called Russia's move "regrettable"... Condoleezza.. would you mind EXPLAINING your side to the American people in full detail why you believe that South Ossetia should remain a part of Georgia, despite the near DECADE of turmoil South Ossetians have faced with their dealings with Georgia... Condoleezza.. Why exactly is Georgia allowed to invade who they want while you and ALL of America's media choose to ignore these things?!?! This whole issue will explode in OUR face Condoleezza... your overly-proud, stuck-up, spiteful rhetoric and means of dealing with foreign affairs is getting us NOWHERE fast.

What does Bush have to say about Russia recognizing S Ossetia's independence?? He calls it "irresponsible"... Mr. Bush, please elaborate on that one liner. You are clearly confused as to the definition of democracy.

Hmm.. Ever wonder why "liberals" have a bad name?!?

What in the world is happening.

As the 2008 Democratic National Convention is preparing to start, we have thousands and thousands of protesters marching in Denver. Yes, it seems people have come in droves to speak their minds and practice their right to demonstrate. That's nice... but where in the hell have all these pissed off passive aggressive "protesters" been for the past eight years?!?! What have they been doing?!?! Smoking cronic and playing Grand Theft Auto!?!?! Do these people have ANY inkling as to how ill-timed and thus irreversibly counterproductive their decision to unleash it all, now, in Denver at the Democratic Convention is???!

Do they realize the entire Republican party is jumping up and down in glee with all the ENDLESS ways they can twist this in their favor?!? Do these freaking idiots have any clue what further damage they are doing!?!? If you're against the war you should be against McCain... So go protests at HIS CONVENTION. Seriously. Wake up. Look at the bigger picture. We're all pissed... I'm not a big believer in the complete accuracy of the polls, but the same polls that put Obama only 1 or 2 points above McCain are also showing that 70-80 of the country disapproves of the direction our president has taken us and is taking us.

Why I believe we need to vote Obama into office is that he is completely determined to change the direction of this country. A man who _chose_ from very early on to dedicate his career to helping others less fortunate than him gain better opportunities that weren't previously available. I'm sure Obama knew as he was making a success of himself that his success was a rare exception of his time... he could have done many things with his life, instead he chose to dedicate his life to public service, leading project vote in 92, registering hundreds of thousands of voters to defeat Bush Sr (SO glad this was mentioned in tonight's convention. I remember Project Vote making WGN ch 9 news back then.) He was consistently elevated to high status in a number of public service and youth leadership organizations, and as anyone who has done any service work, you know you don't get leadership roles by slacking off, nor would you want a leadership role if you weren't sincerely into doing your work. I sometimes wonder why this aspect of Obama's dedication is so under-appreciated and relatively dismissed, and I wish those people would sometimes ask themselves what _they_ are doing for _their_ community or maybe the world around them.

I don't believe activism is a productive method of getting your point across.. I'm sorry.. but it doesn't work. It's TOTALLY counterproductive. If you're an "activist", you're putting everybody who shares your cause into a "radical" category and whether you realize it or not this does nothing but detract from the issues you are protesting. I really feel for people who are upset with government but haven't found a productive way to contribute to society to help turn things around. I really do. I think there's something we're all missing there. I think if I didn't have the outlets I have with music and art I'd be in a really unhappy place.

Anyhow, these protesters, they are not "far-left" they are not "liberal" by their actions, I don't know what label to give them, but political stances in this nation are FAR more dynamic than could be described as left to right... There are multiple dimensions to politics, and this "far left" / "far right" crap doesn't do enough to help us understand each others views and concerns.

Miles Davis

I got a little kitten on Aug 1, aptly named him Miles after watching him get completely entranced the second I put on a Miles Davis record (yes i do still play records). This little guy is awesome. I've never known a more affectionate kitten, one that will jump on my lap, climb my chest purring for the world to hear and wrap his paws around my cheeks and nuzzle his face in mine, lick my nose, eyes, chin with his razor sharp tongue..

I had no doubts in my mind the second I saw him along with 20-30 some odd adorable 3 month old kittens... I asked to see him, the second I picked the little guy up, he licked my face, climbed on my shoulders and laid down on my neck and licked my ear till it was raw!! I had no problems saying "I think I'm gonna take this lil guy home with me"!!!

Always a trick getting a kitten and an 8 year old cat (we call her "miss thang", or "Marlin Brando", the high and mighty tuxedo) to get along, but this morning they were chasing each other around the apartment playfully, so I think they're makin progress :)

Operation South Ossetia Liberation

It seems the cold war is getting warmer, but this time around we can see the news as its reported around the world, immediately... Not without a grain of salt of course, as with our own... but the truth usually becomes crystal clear after looking through from all viewpoints.

After first reading of the current conflict between Russia and Georgia a little over a week ago, I noticed how nimbly the motives for the Russian "invasion" were discussed. Meanwhile, our president, defense secretary and RNC nominee did nothing but drum up anti-Russian sentiment. I have to admit, I was thrown off by what Russia was doing as well but figured since I didn't know much about Georgia, nor had any idea of the political background of South Ossetia, that there must be more behind Russia's offensive, not to say that some of the things Russia is and has been doing are to be praised, but I know when I'm not getting the full picture.

1. Why are our headlines not mentioning a word about Georgia's prior offensives in South Ossetia, a region that has been fighting for its independence from Georgia for a decades?? Seeing as "protecting South Ossetia" is the reason Russia is giving for it's military intervention in the region I would think it would have some relevance. This is like people ignoring Osama Bin Laden's reasons for waging war on the US and passing it off as "he hate's our freedom".

2. Why are we hearing (if we're listening) about the 40,000 some refugees fleeing from South Ossetia into Russia? Why wouldn't they instead flee to Georgia, and why isn't this a headline anywhere in US media??

3. How is Russia's intervention much different from US intervention in Iraq both in 91 and 03? I hear people try to separate the two by stating that Iraq was a dictator and Georgia has a democratically elected president. Musharraf is not a democratically elected president, (he came to power as the result of a coup) the staggeringly vast majority of Pakistan disapproves of Musharraf yet we still refer to him here in the west as "President Musharraf". The title used to define a leader are all subjective to convenient political climate of the society. Propaganda exists on all sides. It will never go away, but we can empower ourselves and do better by recognizing this.

4. What has been going on with South Ossetia and Georgia?

hmmmm. How much space do I have left?

South Ossetia is nestled between the mainland of Russia and Georgia. UN, NATO, OSCE, CEU all "recognize" South Ossetia as a part of Georgia, in 2006, South Ossetia held an independence referendum in which 99% of the 95%-turnout voted to be recognized as an independent state. The referendum was monitored by 34 nations including Germany, Austria, Poland, Sweden. The resulting vote, although a shining beacon of pure democracy in action was denied and condemned by UN, NATO, CEU, OSCE, and the Russian Federation.

South Ossetia originally declared independence in 1991-92 after a three year war with Georgia. Military conflict between the two regions go back to 1918 and have continued on throughout the years with major incidents in 2004, 2006 and presently 2008.

5. What else has been going on with South Ossetia and Georgia?
On November 11, 2006, the South Ossetian State Security Committee exposed an alleged Georgian attempt to assassinate the South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity and organize a coup d'état in the region. Alan Parastayev, the former South Ossetian Interior Minister and Supreme Court chairman, has reportedly turned himself in to the State Security Committee and confessed to being a party to the plot.
On November 12, 2006, Georgia cut off the telephone communications with South Ossetia.
On August 7 2008, hostilities began between Georgian forces and South Ossetia's separatist forces. Over 1500 civilians and 15 Russian peacekeepers have been killed since hostilities began.

I think most of all I have a strange sense of disconnection anytime I read an article on any major news source as I know there is a history in this region and the media is not presenting it in any light whatsoever. It upsets me that the leaders of my country and much of our media are so quick to label someone as the "aggressors" and delivering the news as if Russia woke up one day and just decided to invade it's neighbor.

I have yet to be able to understand exactly what would motivate the US to align themselves opposite from Russia on this issue, so I'm really curious as to why besides an inane cowboy desire to confront your most dangerous potential enemy, the US has decided it's a good idea to start barking at Russia for invading Georgia. I'm quite sure the Russian media portrayed it as "Operation South Ossetia Liberation".

Why can I not stop thinking of the South Ossetian mother who I heard on the radio the night of August 8th cry that people there are terrified beyond belief. They can not sleep at night as there are Russians, Armenians, Ossetians, Georgians, and Americans living there and "everyone has been set against each other". I can not fathom what these people are living through while we as Americans are buying every word our media and leaders are feeding us. Don't think every nation is without it's own side of the story. Besides Putin's clear disapproval of the US invasion of Iraq I'm not sure what unspiteful motive the US has for pinning Russia to the wall for this.

I suppose I'll leave it at that for now. Seriously though. We have this going on in the world and our presidential candidates are being asked about gay marriage and whether or not they believe in the boogyman?!?!

good night.

Presidential Forum: caterpillar wings and war stories too!

Just finished watching Obama and McCain share their thoughts in the forum lead by Rev Rick Warren.

I really wish I could find a transcript of the forum, as it was quite interesting. They claim McCain was in a "cone of silence", while Obama went on first. Barack seemed to me to treat every question seriously, looking at tough questions with tough intellectual answers. He was asked some questions that were harder than others "does evil exsist?" to the paradoxaly phrased question "at what point does a baby have human rights?"... to which I would have answered "when does a caterpillar grow wings??"

Obama said a few things I'm sure he'll get grilled for, only due to the honesty and humbleness in his treatment of the forum, and willingness to answer complex questions with complex answers. My fear is the same I had from 2004. We're expecting the majority of our country to be able to look at complex situations and see that there are not always black or white answers to every question. Unfortunately in America we want a quick fix, a quick short answer is easier to sell than a long detailed analysis that complex issues actually demand. Anybody who works in some sort of customer service is familiar with this. Well.. I hope a lot of people have worked in customer service since 2004, which is unlikely seeing that our unemployment rate is at a four year high of 5.7%.

Then came the maverick, John McCain. Oh by the way, I don't think I've told you yet, you see, John McCain and I are friends. he calls me his friend all the time!! It's so reassuring of his trustworthiness!! Let me tell you a story. Back in Nam, him and I played tic tac toe in the sand with a stick. It all started when our captors drew a cross in the sand. I think he was trying to tell us that was going to be our grave, but we used it as an opportunity to convert him to Christianity and then the birds started singing and I cried. Let's go defeat evil, don't worry we wont have to start any more wars. Wars are free anyway. We can make everybody rich, but not spend a dime doing it, and I'm giving everybody $7,000 checks for free, my friend.

Are we going to get back to my being a POW? My friend, Can I tell you another story??

Uhm. Yeah, John McCain is out of his mind.

Is Russia/S. Ossetia to Georgia as US/Kuwait was to Iraq in 91??

This whole ordeal is quite frightening.. What's most frightening is the war of propaganda.. As I see it, Putin/Medvedev have been totally demonized, yet what Russia did this week was not much different from what Bush SR did in Iraq back in 1991 after Sadam invaded Kuwait. Kuwait surely would have fought back if they had a military anywhere close to what the Russians have today!!

I suppose a more precise analogy would be "Is Russia to South Ossetia what US was to Kuwait"

The US is calling Russia the aggressors, yet indeed Georgia INVADED South Ossetia, which prompted Russia to remind the world that they do not play nicely when taunted, and came to the rescue of the South Ossetians.

This however is not discussed. it is a non-topic in American main-stream news broadcast. Our media has become freaking ADDICTED to the manipulation of facts and sculpting propaganda. What will we have as a result?? Cold War II looks like it is only beginning.

Update:
I Love Jack Cafferty's piece on invading sovereign nations... Even in his "tough talk" statements about invading countries, McCain misses the fact that Georgia invaded South Ossetia last Thurs. It is parallel to McCain condemning the United States for invading Iraq in 91 and ignoring the fact that Hussein invaded Kuwait first. This just goes further to proove how innept McCain really is and what an oh so firm grasp he has on reality. (yes that's sarcasm) Regardless.. I'm thankful to see someone in the media at least acknowledging the obvious delusions of McCain.

Inspirational Detraction

Baby with massive tumor saved by liquor tycoon.

It's a nice heartwarming story but totally ignores a real issue...

Ask yourself.. is Wilms' tumor really "a common kidney cancer"?? How many people are diagnosed with Wilms' in the US annually? As far as I've dug, no more than 500 are typically diagnosed in the US.

It (and a slew of other cancers and birth deformities) are soaring in Iraq, while the demand for medications to help treat the illnessess have skyrocketed. The supply of medications now is limited to the blackmarket as hospitals have not been able to keep up (why these Iraqi children in CNN's story are being treated in Jordan) .. The black market drugs are filled with mostly expired and potentially complexly dangerous drugs sold to desperate mothers or fathers.

Is it referred to as a "common cancer" to detract from a real story... like the fact that the US military has buried and suppressed scientific studies from radiation experts warning of the long-term health risks of using depleted uranium in tank armor and DU tipped (AKA armor piercing) rounds???

ya think????

1 2 3 4 5

Follow this link click "more photos"... check out photo 5.. is that "common"????

If these birth deformities are simply the result of "not catching it early on" due to poor health system, bad economy why don't we hear about just as many newborn babys with jaw breaking eye bulging tumors in other poor nations of the world that the us military ISN't littering with radioactive waste?

Depleted Uranium isn't called depleted because it's safe. It's called depleted because it is uranium that is depleted of the energy needed to cause a nuclear reaction. It's waste but it's still radioactive, and that is why the department of energy went to the department of defense to get rid of the stuff somehow in the first place!

C'mon Cnn, Really?

As we're hearing today that Russia is apparently rolling tanks over and dropping bombs on it's neighbor Georgia, CNN posts the story from "TBLISI, Georgia"...

Wait.. stop. I'm sorry...

Isn't it Tbilisi, Georgia, not TBLISI?? Maybe (hopefully) a vernacular I'm not aware of.

my new cd is about to FINALLY be released

Finally, on Tuesday, August 12, the album I completed in February, Monstrum Sepsis: Artifacts will be released through wt2 records. It's been a lot of work.. I created the framesworks of the songs with fast/skaletracker sessions, used the waldorf microwave XT extensively, accented with live recordings of the nord lead 2x and Kurzweil for strings and piano. The album isn't as dark as it is edgy, and there are several songs which lift you from the mechanical turmoil to drop you off into a familiar yet new territory. I don't want to spoil the content, but with titles such as "immoral combat", "war of ideas" and "under the carpet", I'm sure you can likely guess the message and sentiment behind this collection of music.

Graphite Sequencer and Drum Buddy

This is a very cool little invention and art piece that uses the conductive quality of graphite, (in this case drawn freehand onto paper circles) to modulate a tone generator via two wires in place of a record needle on a turntable. One wire sends and, the other wire receives current. The wider the stroke of graphite the wires make contact, the more current is distributed and received, thus the deeper the frequency, which translates to us as a lower tone. Besides this project, this artist's showcase is stunning.

I was breath taken and inspired by everything I saw and experienced here.



This little monster borrows from what makes a music box work, but uses light and light receptors to generate tones, a different tone for different receptors, equivalent of different "teeth" of the "metal comb" inside the music box you had as a kid. I think I would have to modify it to completely uhm, swap out the tone generator they were making them with... but it's a very cool concept.