The wages of sin....

It is nice to learn that being a Christian doesn't mean one has to be selfish, mean spirited and regressive! There is a new progressive side of American religion beginning to be heard - maybe.

The $5.15 national minimum wage presently applies here in Arizona - except for waitresses who are paid $2.25 regardless of whether they get tips or not. I think that tips should be the gratuity or reward for especially good service as originally intended, not a wage for basic labor.

As the article below points out, raising the minimum wage will not affect small businesses for the simple reason that all business floats on the sea of costs which are always passed on to the consumer. As long as all employers are faced with the same labor costs, they are neither advantaged nor disadvantaged. The success of any business depends mostly upon the quality and ability of its management and certainly not the enslavement of its employees.

So, there are seven states who have raised their minimum wages at least 40% above the national wage. There are five other states, including Arizona which has a minimum wage boost on their ballots this November.

We in Arizona also have smoking ban legislation up for a vote in the form of two propositions, one similar to the very successful existing ban in California and the other sponsored by the tobacco companies. That should be interesting - can the voters be bamboozled!? Effectively, the tobacco lobby makes smoking optional for businesses and sneakily nullifies any and all local bans and ordinances! If voters vote for both measures, the one with the most votes prevails and the tobacco company version has the most posted signs and media coverage.

Pastors Push Living Wage as Election Issue
Abid Aslam, OneWorld US Tue Oct 3

WASHINGTON, DC, Oct 3 (OneWorld) - Call them the Religious Left: Church leaders are seeking to rally ''values voters'' ahead of next month's elections in a nationwide crusade to raise the minimum wage.

The LET JUSTICE ROLL CAMPAIGN, a congregation of some 80 religious and community organizations including the National Council of Churches USA, said in a statement it plans to hold hundreds of rallies, workshops, religious services, and prayer breakfasts across the country to urge state and federal officials and candidates to boost working families' fortunes.

So-called Living Wage Days events this month will seek to pass minimum wage ballot measures in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, and Ohio.

"A job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in it," said Rev. Paul Sherry, anti-poverty program coordinator at the National Council of Churches and former president of the United Church of Christ.

The issue appears to be gaining political traction. October's events come on the heels of state minimum wage increases in Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

Campaign members cited a recent poll that they said showed 9 out of 10 Americans support a higher minimum wage. They added that they would lead efforts next year to pass state wage hikes in New Hampshire and Tennessee.

Congressional Democrats also are seeking to capitalize on the minimum wage among a raft of bread-and-butter issues they say the Republican-controlled legislature has neglected.

''We haven't had time to increase the minimum wage, to cut the cost of student loans for America's college students, to lower prescription drug prices, to roll back tax breaks for big oil," Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, was quoted as saying Friday before legislators broke for an intense period of campaigning ahead of the Nov. 7 midterm election.

To be sure, members of Let Justice Roll have voiced outrage at the meager earnings of millions of Americans at the bottom end of the labor market. But their campaign also seeks to present faith-based voters with an alternative to the Religious Right agenda.

''We've long seen scorecards from the Christian Coalition and others show how members of Congress vote on so-called social issues but not on help for the poor, which the Bible mandates hundreds of times,'' said Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches.

''Millions of values voters care about fair wages for the people who do some of the hardest, most important jobs in our society--from childcare teachers we entrust with our children to healthcare aides we entrust with our parents,'' Edgar said.

The federal minimum wage rose to $5.15 per hour in 1997 but has lost more than one fifth of its value since then, campaigners said. Today's minimum pay buys less than it did in 1950, they added.

At the federal level, the campaign wants Congress to raise the minimum wage to at least $7.25 per hour and to oppose measures that would weaken existing eligibility, tipped worker coverage, overtime and other labor protections, or link the minimum wage to tax cuts for the wealthy.

''Congressional leaders are holding the minimum wage hostage to a tax cut for wealthy heirs,'' said Johanna Chao Rittenburg, economic justice program manager at the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.

An estimated 14.9 million workers--11 percent of the work force--would benefit were the minimum hourly wage raised from $5.15 to $7.25 by 2008, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a Washington, DC-based think tank funded by business and labor philanthropies.

Of those workers, 6.6 million now earn less than $7.25 and would be directly affected by an increase. The additional 8.3 million workers earning slightly above the minimum also would benefit. That is because even though a raise is not legally mandated for workers earning a few more dollars than the proposed new minimum wage, many employers raise their pay anyway to preserve internal wage structures. This makes raising the minimum wage an important part of a broader strategy to end poverty, EPI researchers said.

Employers' groups and economists critical of proposed wage hikes have countered that such measures can condemn small businesses to insolvency but EPI researchers said there was no evidence that the 1997 wage gain had led to job losses.

State and municipal officials have commissioned their own studies even as they have enacted living wage measures.

In September, University of New Mexico researchers told members of the Santa Fe City Council that the municipality's two-year-old experiment with pay hikes had neither hit businesses with higher costs nor hurt low-skilled workers, contrary to employers' fears that higher wages would force businesses to cut jobs or relocate away from the city.

Council members commissioned the study after adopting a measure two years ago that required employers with more than 25 workers to pay $8.50 per hour, above the state and federal minimum of $5.15. Santa Fe raised its floor to $9.50 per hour in January and expects to raise it further, to $10.50, in 2008.

Whether the moves have provided significant succor to workers or the city's economy remained to be seen, the daily Santa Fe New Mexican quoted the researchers as saying.

Yiddish with George

I get these promos from Amazon.

However, I probably won't buy the book because; 1. I don't live in New York or even read the Times, 2. I'm not Jewish, 3. I can't speak Yiddish (because of 1.)

Yet, it probably is very funny with us WASP's being the butt. I've always had a problem with the term WASP because all Anglo-Saxons are white and most are protestant - seems there is a certain redundancy there. Fortunately, the term only applies to people who live on the East Coast - I heard it all of the time when I used to live there... Out west, we're ‘Gringos' because our critics are a different people.

I did find one statement in the description of the book below which I found to express very nicely one of my pet peeves about people - especially the young and inexperienced:

"... both exhibit a natural resistance to moral complexity (i.e., reality)"

I believe that just the other day I mentioned to Dennis that very few things, especially moral and political issues are ‘black and white' - that most of life is a mottled grey. We do tend as a people to get ourselves in serious trouble because we create simplistic views of life (like God).

I wonder if part of that mental laziness is our early training and hyperfocus on team sports. Such participation encourages such concepts as "us and them", "good guys vs bad guys", "you're either for us or against us" because sports creates well-defined adversaries.

The reality is that not all Jews, Arabs, Muslims, Mexicans, Italians, Germans, French, Chinese, Indians, Christians, or even children are bad!

It makes me wonder too whether the social ‘smushing' effect of estrogen provides girls with more mental balance (despite their typical ‘giddyness') than the alienation and aggression imparted by testosterone on boys who, perhaps for that reason, should not be leaders in our relatively new and complex society....? Any other opinions out there?

Yiddish with George and Laura (Hardcover)
by Ellis Weiner (Author), Barbara Davilman (Author)

"Book Description (Amazon)
In this inspired follow-up to the bestselling Yiddish with Dick and Jane, Yiddish--the mother tongue of irony--invades the ultimate bastion of American WASP culture: Kennebunkport, home of the Bush clan. What do George and Laura Bush have in common with Dick and Jane? Well, both hail from prototypical WASP families. And, perhaps more to the point,. That's the premise of this hilarious new primer-style book in which George, Laura, and the entire Bush family communicate with uncharacteristic expressiveness, conveying shades of feeling and nuances of meaning that plain old English can't deliver--by peppering their conversation with Yiddishisms. See George's mother. Her name is Bar. She wears alot of pearls and is a farbisseneh. "You are late, George," Bar says. "Of course I am late," George says. "I am the President of the United States. I am a big macher." Like all good primers, YIDDISH WITH GEORGE AND LAURA tells a simple story--and, in the end, important life lessons are imparted."

State of Denial

[First, a triviality: the following AP posting misspelled the word "advises" in the title of the piece of all places! - usually the news services are very good about that...

Sounds like a good book; Woodward is a dependable writer/reporter. However, I can't imagine anything really new beyond dotting the "i's" and crossing the "t's" of what we already know about the administration; its dogmas and aspirations.

Although -- I didn't know that Henry Kissinger was still around after all of these years. The gravelly old man kinda disappeared from the limelight after he married his second wife in 1974 and the Vietnam War ended the following year - guess he was distracted by his new young wife and let the war he had been enjoying die a natural death.

But guess he is back to his old practice of giving bad-advice to Presidents who are willing to listen. Probably his Teutonic roots relish war and he parades about the house with his cow-horned helmet and broadsword.

Hmmm... wonder if the state of Denial could be our 51st state? ...AG]

Woodward: Kissinger advices Bush
Fri Sep 29

NEW YORK - Henry Kissinger has been advising President Bush and Vice President Cheney about Iraq, telling them that "victory is the only meaningful exit strategy," author and journalist Bob Woodward said.

The Washington Post editor's third book on the Bush administration, "State of Denial," comes out next week.

In an interview airing Sunday night on CBS-TV's "60 Minutes," Woodward said that U.S. troops and their allies are being attacked, on average, every 15 minutes. "The truth is that the assessment by intelligence experts is that next year, 2007, is going to get worse and, in public, you have the president and you have the Pentagon saying, 'Oh, no, things are going to get better.'"

He said Kissinger, who served in the Nixon and Ford administrations, has been telling Bush and Cheney that "in Iraq, he declared very simply, 'Victory is the only meaningful exit strategy.'"

"This is so fascinating. Kissinger's fighting the Vietnam War again because, in his view, the problem in Vietnam was we lost our will."

Woodward's 537-page book describes the administration as beset by infighting, according to The New York Times, which obtained an advance copy and reported on its contents Friday. It is based on interviews with administration leaders, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. However, sources are not always named, and neither the president nor Vice President Dick Cheney agreed to interviews, the book says, according to the Times.

Asked about the book, the White House on Thursday night dismissed it, telling The Associated Press it didn't contain anything new. During a briefing Friday at a NATO meeting in Slovenia, Rumsfeld [another Teuton] declined comment on the book, saying he hadn't read it.

[Yeah, sure - but he certainly knows what it says.]

The future or end of a nation...

Our nation over the past two hundred years has faced much more serious threats than we face now with terrorists. We've had the British burn Washington during the War of 1812, we've had several Presidents assassinated and even more failed attempts.

My own fear is that we have an American militaristic government who in time wants to overthrow our present government, our Constitution and life as we know it. I fear our own government much more than I do a few Muslims who would go away if we went away!

Our nation is in deep trouble. We are faced in the near future with an economic recession (which used to be called a depression). We have amassed a huge debt we can't repay which is held primarily by China. We are dependant upon oil which is owned primarily by Muslims and our South American 'friends' who we try to dominate.

We go around threatening the sovereignty of other nations who don't agree with our policies. Such as Syria, Iran and North Korea. If the rest of the world, our jury, would agree with us - we'd have no problem, but we have actually alienated most of them - and those who are still with us are in a sense, shaking their heads in dis-belief over our policies.

We also have become a nation of ‘Jesus freaks'! Outside of the jungles of Africa, Christianity is going down the drain. Most of Europe has rejected Christianity. Most of Asia never was Christian and is thankful that it wasn't - and that includes our economic benefactor, China.

In a way that is sad. Personally, I don't believe in mystical religions but I think the teachings of Jesus - whether he actually existed as a man - has a message of tolerance, forgiveness and love which would be good and could survive in any of man's communities if not subverted.

However, the organizations who now claim to represent Jesus have become hateful, malevolent, and oppressive. They actually harken to the evil God of the Old Testament who was vindictive, malicious and most certainly not the God of Jesus!

And it is this Old Testament God who is prevailing in our country today - He must be stopped if we are to survive as a nation. We find Him in the majority of our Congress, in the top levels of our military at the Pentagon and most importantly, in some of our media.

Our nation really is in peril.

So now our representatives are going to allow "President George W. Bush's warrantless domestic spying program". If passed, this has to be the end of our nation as we know it, unless something surprising happens in November - I'm not holding my breath!

Text of released NIE report

Rather than read the proliferation of neocon and neolib talking heads who persist in trying to spin the NIE report, I found the text printed in the San Luis Obispo Tribune (Ya gotta join the club to read the New York Times - and I'm not a ‘joiner'.) http://tinyurl.com/gejak - anyway, here it is for you cousins to read for yourselves. I think it is worth reading and what was declassified is not all that long nor hard to understand.

The report mentions al-Zarqawi, who as you know was killed in Iraq last June. The report was published in April when al-Z was still alive. Otherwise, it seems that since the report, a number of events predicted by the report have taken place making it quite credible.

It gives us a good idea of what we're up against and indicates, at least to me, what we should and should not be doing - although specifics are not addressed - nor need to be.

Excerpts from the National Intelligence Estimate report
New York Times News Service
WASHINGTON--Following are the portions of the National Intelligence Estimate dealing with the key judgments, dated April 2006, that were released Tuesday by the Bush administration.

United States-led counterterrorism efforts have seriously damaged the leadership of al-Qaida and disrupted its operations; however, we judge that al-Qaida will continue to pose the greatest threat to the Homeland and United States interests abroad by a single terrorist organization. We also assess that the global jihadist movement -- which includes al-Qaida, affiliated and independent terrorist groups, and emerging networks and cells -- is spreading and adapting to counterterrorism efforts.

- Although we cannot measure the extent of the spread with precision, a large body of all-source reporting indicates that activists identifying themselves as jihadists, although a small percentage of Muslims, are increasing in both number and geographic dispersion.

- If this trend continues, threats to United States interests at home and abroad will become more diverse, leading to increasing attacks worldwide.

- Greater pluralism and more responsive political systems in Muslim majority nations would alleviate some of the grievances jihadists exploit. Over time, such progress, together with sustained, multifaceted programs targeting the vulnerabilities of the jihadist movement and continued pressure on al-Qaida, could erode support for the jihadists.

We assess that the global jihadist movement is decentralized, lacks a coherent global strategy and is becoming more diffuse. New jihadist networks and cells, with anti-American agendas, are increasingly likely to emerge. The confluence of shared purpose and dispersed actors will make it harder to find and undermine jihadist groups.

- We assess that the operational threat from self-radicalized cells will grow in importance to United States counterterrorism efforts, particularly abroad but also in the Homeland.

- The jihadists regard Europe as an important venue for attacking Western interests. Extremist networks inside the extensive Muslim diasporas in Europe facilitate recruitment and staging for urban attacks, as illustrated by the 2004 Madrid and 2005 London bombings. We assess that the Iraq jihad is shaping a new generation of terrorist leaders and operatives; perceived jihadist success there would inspire more fighters to continue the struggle elsewhere.

- The Iraq conflict has become the cause celebre for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of United States involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement. Should jihadists leaving Iraq perceive themselves, and be perceived, to have failed, we judge fewer fighters will be inspired to carry on the fight.

We assess that the underlying factors fueling the spread of the movement outweigh its vulnerabilities and are likely to do so for the duration of the time frame of this Estimate.

- Four underlying factors are fueling the spread of the jihadist movement: (1) Entrenched grievances, such as corruption, injustice, and fear of Western domination, leading to anger, humiliation, and a sense of powerlessness; (2) the Iraq jihad; (3) the slow pace of real and sustained economic, social, and political reforms in many Muslim majority nations; and (4) pervasive anti-United States sentiment among most Muslims - all of which jihadists exploit.

Concomitant vulnerabilities in the jihadist movement have emerged that, if fully exposed and exploited, could begin to slow the spread of the movement. They include dependence on the continuation of Muslim-related conflicts, the limited appeal of the jihadists radical ideology, the emergence of respected voices of moderation and criticism of the violent tactics employed against mostly Muslim citizens.

- The jihadists' greatest vulnerability is that their ultimate political solution - an ultraconservative interpretation of Shariah-based governance spanning the Muslim world - is unpopular with the vast majority of Muslims. Exposing the religious and political straitjacket that is implied by the jihadists' propaganda would help to divide them from the audiences they seek to persuade.

- Recent condemnations of violence and extremist religious interpretations by a few notable Muslim clerics signal a trend that could facilitate the growth of a constructive alternative to jihadist ideology: peaceful political activism. This also could lead to the consistent and dynamic participation of broader Muslim communities in rejecting violence, reducing the ability of radicals to capitalize on passive community support. In this way, the Muslim mainstream emerges as the most powerful weapon in the war on terror.

- Countering the spread of the jihadist movement will require coordinated multilateral efforts that go well beyond operations to capture or kill terrorist leaders.

If democratic reform efforts in Muslim majority nations progress over the next five years, political participation probably would drive a wedge between intransigent extremists and groups willing to use the political process to achieve their local objectives.

Nonetheless, attendant reforms and potentially destabilizing transitions will create new opportunities for jihadists to exploit. Al-Qaida, now merged with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's network, is exploiting the situation in Iraq to attract new recruits and donors and to maintain its leadership role.

- The loss of key leaders, particularly Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahri, and al-Zarqawi, in rapid succession, probably would cause the group to fracture into smaller groups. Although like-minded individuals would endeavor to carry on the mission, the loss of these key leaders would exacerbate strains and disagreements. We assess that the resulting splinter groups would, at least for a time, pose a less serious threat to United States interests than does al-Qaida.

- Should al-Zarqawi continue to evade capture and scale back attacks against Muslims, we assess he could broaden his popular appeal and present a global threat.

- The increased role of Iraqis in managing the operations of al-Qaida in Iraq might lead veteran foreign jihadists to focus their efforts on external operations. Other affiliated Sunni extremist organizations, such as Jemaah Islamiya, Ansar al Sunnah, and several North African groups, unless countered, are likely to expand their reach and become more capable of multiple and/or mass-casualty attacks outside their traditional areas of operation.

- We assess that such groups pose less of a danger to the Homeland than does al-Qaida but will pose varying degrees of threat to our allies and to United States interests abroad. The focus of their attacks is likely to ebb and flow between local regime targets and regional or global ones.

We judge that most jihadist groups - both well-known and newly formed - will use improvised explosive devices and suicide attacks focused primarily on soft targets to implement their asymmetric warfare strategy, and that they will attempt to conduct sustained terrorist attacks in urban environments. Fighters with experience in Iraq are a potential source of leadership for jihadists pursuing these tactics.

- CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons) capabilities will continue to be sought by jihadist groups. While Iran, and to a lesser extent Syria, remain the most active state sponsors of terrorism, many other states will be unable to prevent territory or resources from being exploited by terrorists.

Anti-United States and anti-globalization sentiment is on the rise and fueling other radical ideologies. This could prompt some leftist, nationalist, or separatist groups to adopt terrorist methods to attack United States interests. The radicalization process is occurring more quickly, more widely, and more anonymously in the Internet age, raising the likelihood of surprise attacks by unknown groups whose members and supporters may be difficult to pinpoint.

- We judge that groups of all stripes will increasingly use the Internet to communicate, propagandize, recruit, train and obtain logistical and financial support.

It is about time!

[It is about time!

55 years ago as a twenty-year old airman 3rd class, just after basic training in the Air Force, I was ushered into a small conference room and introduced to a retired AF general who was then in the business of selling life insurance to 'captive' G.I.'s! He gave me a spiel about the benefits of a twenty-year endowment policy and signed me up for one (I can't remember the amount) under a payroll deduction plan. I didn't have to buy the policy but wasn't sure how my superiors would treat me later on if I didn't! I do know that I already had a government term life policy for $10K which had been provided free upon enlistment!

I don't think I kept the endowment policy for even a year because $97 per month base pay didn't leave room for much other than necessities! Of course the general still got his commission!...AG]

Congress OKs insurance bill shielding troops

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation to protect U.S. military personnel from abusive sales of overpriced life insurance and investments was given final approval by Congress on Thursday and sent to President Bush for signing into law.

The House of Representatives voted 418-3 to approve a measure that had already been passed by the Senate. Work on the legislation began two years ago after media reports that aggressive sales agents were marketing high-fee financial products to unsophisticated young recruits about to ship out to Iraq.

Louisiana Republican Rep. Richard Baker, noting the risks that military men and women take every day, said that "risking their financial future should not be among them."

But the measure does not take action against payday loans, which are high-interest cash advances made against future paychecks. The Pentagon has urged Congress to cap interest rates lenders charge on these loans to American troops, as part of a still-pending defense spending bill.

The measure sent to President Bush on Thursday would ban sales to the military of contractual plans, a mutual fund investment product that has virtually disappeared from the civilian marketplace because of exorbitant fees baked into the payments.

The measure also would require military personnel be told about life insurance that is available to them through the federal government. In the past, some troops have been sold life insurance policies offering the same coverage as the government plan but costing far more.

The legislation would also establish a list of barred brokers and sales agents to be made available to military installation commanders.

Prelude to more war....

I'm really not an isolationist, I do believe that we have to be very involved with the rest of the world diplomatically and with mutual respect.

However, I think it is time for us to close our military bases around the world which are in other nations. We were justified in establishing those bases during the cold war with the USSR as a policy of containment and to discourage aggression on their part.

The cold war is over and the existence of our troops in those bases not only cost us an arm and a leg, but the citizens of those countries are beginning to resent the presence of foreign troops on their sovereign soil - just as we certainly would if France or even England decided to establish a base just outside of Columbus, Ohio.

Military capabilities have changed over the past fifty years such that we have the ability of rapid deployment and access which didn't exist then. I think we no longer need to have standing armies stationed all over the world in order to protect ourselves. As to protecting others, I think that nations should have the capability of protecting themselves.

It really disturbs me and I believe it, that this administration of hawks haves plans to attack Iraq, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela and/or Cuba. I think they want to either destroy the world or be destroyed - perhaps for religious purposes - just like the car bombers who do it in order to go to Heaven! .

'NO USA': Korean Farmers Protest U.S. Base Expansion
Aaron Glantz, OneWorld US Fri Sep 15

SAN FRANCISCO, Sep 15 (OneWorld) - Dozens of South Koreans took to the streets of Washington, DC Thursday in support of small farmers forced to relocate to make way for a massive new U.S. military base in their country. President George W. Bush was meeting with his South Korean counterpart just steps away in the White House at the time.

On Tuesday, it took 10,000 South Korean police to dislodge the protesting farmers. "They are elderly farmers," Kyo So of the group Korean Americans Against War and Neoliberalism pleaded from the protest outside the White House. "They have been living there for many years. They turned the old wetlands into arable farmland. They raised their children there. They don't want to move."

The U.S. military is increasingly unpopular in South Korea. Outside the U.S. base about 40 miles south of Seoul, protesters painted "NO USA" on buildings and stood on rooftops in a brief attempt to stop construction crews from tearing down about 90 homes.

Police had blockaded roads leading into the township, preventing more protesters from entering the area. Helicopters kept an eye on the protesters. "The government says they'll move the rest by October, but the sentiment in Korea is that the government is going too far and is using too much force. They are very angry with the government," So added.

The U.S. military plans to build new facilities on the farmers' land in order to improve quality of life for American soldiers stationed in Korea. According to the military newspaper Stars and Stripes, those amenities include a new fitness center "complete with a gym, indoor pool, running track, and four-story parking garage."

In addition to an eight-lane, 25-meter indoor swimming pool, the center will feature a 626-foot indoor running track; separate rooms for cardio fitness, circuit training, free weights, and group exercise; basketball and racquetball courts; a martial arts training room; and climbing walls, the newspaper added.

The confrontation and construction is part of a larger redeployment of the 35,000-strong U.S. troop presence in Korea. Under the terms of an agreement between Washington and Seoul, American troops are being moved away from major population centers and the North Korean border.

Paradoxically, observers say, that could increase the likelihood of war on the Korean Peninsula.

"It's an offensive move," argued George Katsiaficas, a researcher at Harvard University's Korea Institute and president of the Peace Island Foundation. "It takes American forces out of the range of North Korean artillery and creates a situation where the United States could attack North Korea without Americans necessarily being directly threatened in the immediate counter attack."

Katsiaficas doesn't believe war with North Korea is imminent, but he sees the redeployment of U.S. troops in South Korea as part of a larger strategy by the Bush administration.

"Right now the governments of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea are all preparing for a U.S. attack," Katsiaficas added. "They all believe a U.S. attack is coming because the neoconservatives in Washington are pursuing a very aggressive military policy. The Iranians are preparing for an attack modeled on Israel's attack on Lebanon. So the North Koreans would be remiss not to consider this realignment as a way for the U.S. to position itself in a way so that it could make such an attack."

A treatise on death....

The 19-yr old boy who drove into the power pole on the roadway behind my home was apparently well known by many young people in Kingman.

Indeed, an 8X10 photo of the boy who didn't survive the shearing of the pole has been stapled to the new power pole at the site. There is a card or something stapled above it and there has been a fairly regular flow of visitors with some of them writing on the card. They stop, look around, some go down the embankment, return, get in their cars and leave. Someone put a post in the ground and attached balloons to it which won't last long in the strong winds we get around here.

I'm a bit surprised that my witnessing the accident seems to bother me as much as it does - I mean, people are being killed around here - they're listed in the paper - every day!

Many years ago I witnessed the crash of a B29 into a housing area where 30 men, women and children were killed - mostly burned beyond recognition. I heard the plane, heard the crash and saw the smoke! Later that morning as a dental tech I helped identify the remains with dental records and then helped haul them down to the morgue at the Naval base. -- Now that was and is a horrible memory which I relive every once in a while - but then we can become hardened to such things - used to death. I know our brains are designed to get used to things - mine did as I got used to assisting in oral surgery, for example.

I recall taking my father to the airport so he could seek yet another wife he had in mind back in Ohio. He had made the arrangements himself with a local travel agent so who was I to tell my 97-year old father that it would kill him? So at the San Francisco airport, I stood there at the ramp to the plane as the stewards wheeled him down the tunnel knowing that I'd never see nor talk to my father again - I felt sadness and loss - a reluctant letting go of part of my life, but I didn't have the feeling of violence and horror which I had experienced with the plane crash.

Again, when the assisted living home (not far from my home) where my 94-yr old mother was living called and said my mother had what they called the "death rattle" and asked whether I wanted to drive her to the hospital or have an ambulance, I, of course, opted to drive her.

They placed her in the seat beside me and I went ‘down the hill' to the hospital. If you've never heard the "death rattle" it is an unnerving sound. Every breath gurgled as she semi-reclined half-asleep beside me, I felt so helpless - this was my mother! I drove directly into the ‘ambulance only' entrance to ER and they took her up immediately as I re-parked the car.

In ER, the doctor gave her a shot of morphine and the gurgle stopped and she seemed peacefully asleep. Then the doctor asked if she had a medical will (which she had) - but I lied, said no, and asked for a prognosis. He told me that she was dying, that they could put her on life support, but even that wouldn't work for long - she's a very old woman.

You can't imagine the rush of thoughts through my mind in those few seconds until I finally asked that they make her as comfortable as possible and let her go - knowing full well that I was ending my mother's life. I knew by her will that she would have agreed. Again, I felt sadness and loss even more so than the death of my father which I passively had allowed to happen.

The reason I tell this is that I think there is a great difference between death when it is normal, calm and expected, sooner or later, and when it is sudden, unexpected and violent.

Most certainly I was most affected personally by the deaths of my parents - those deaths involved a sense of great sadness and loss to me. I could add to the list my grandfather and mentor and others I have lost over the years. I might add that Terry's death this Spring was not unexpected and was also of sadness and loss.

On the other hand, the deaths I had to deal with directly in the plane crash were horrifying and sickening due to the violence and destruction of people who had only moments before been living normal happy lives. It is, I think the same when the boy drove his truck into the power pole. At one moment he was a young kid with a future, friends and family and the next he virtually ceased to exist!

Thus it seems to me that it is not whether you die (we all will, of course), but how you die which makes a great difference - not to you necessarily - but to those who witness or are involved with you and your death.

On the one hand your death can be of sadness and loss but on the other - shock and horror!

Ann Richards.... r.i.p.

My favorite Texan is gone! I would have loved to have known her, her honesty and wit - especially her wit. "Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, only backwards and in high heels."

I bemoaned the loss of Lloyd Benson - the only other Texan I've really admired, but today is a sad day to know that I'll never hear a scintillating interview of this girl (I'm older than she) and her quiet funny verbal daggers pushed right into the hearts of ‘the bad guys' - and in Texas there are a hell of a lot of bad guys!

Smokin' and drinkin' will do you in, girl... What can I say... So long, girl.

Former Texas Governor Ann Richards Dies
By KELLEY SHANNON, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Former Gov. Ann Richards, the witty and flamboyant Democrat who went from homemaker to national political celebrity, died Wednesday night after a battle with cancer, a family spokeswoman said. She was 73.

She died at home surrounded by her family, the spokeswoman said. Richards was found to have esophageal cancer in March and underwent chemotherapy treatments.

The silver-haired, silver-tongued Richards said she entered politics to help others — especially women and minorities who were often ignored by Texas' male-dominated establishment.

"I did not want my tombstone to read, 'She kept a really clean house.' I think I'd like them to remember me by saying, 'She opened government to everyone,'" Richards said shortly before leaving office in January 1995.

She was governor for one term, losing her re-election bid to Republican George W. Bush.

Her four adult children spent Wednesday with her, said family spokeswoman Cathy Bonner, a longtime family friend. "They're a strong group of people but they're broken-hearted, of course," Bonner said.

Her family said as governor she was most proud of two actions that probably cost her re-election. She vetoed legislation that would allow people to carry concealed handguns, automatic weapons and "cop-killer bullets." She also vetoed a bill that would have allowed the destruction of the environment over the Edwards Aquifer.

She grabbed the national spotlight with her keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention when she was the Texas state treasurer. Richards won cheers from delegates when she reminded them that Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, "only backwards and in high heels."

Richards sealed her partisan reputation with a blast at George H. Bush, a fellow Texan who was vice president at the time: "Poor George, he can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth." [Actually Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, on June 12, 1924 and definitely not a Texan - and is not, today.]

Four years later, she was chairwoman of the Democratic convention that nominated Bill Clinton for president.

Richards rose to the governorship with a come-from-behind victory over millionaire cowboy Clayton Williams in 1990. She cracked a half-century male grip on the governor's mansion and celebrated by holding up a T-shirt that showed the state Capitol and read: "A woman's place is in the dome."

In four years as governor, Richards championed what she called the "New Texas," appointing more women and more minorities to state posts than any of her predecessors.

She appointed the first black University of Texas regent; the first crime victim to join the state Criminal Justice Board; the first disabled person to serve on the human services board; and the first teacher to lead the State Board of Education. Under Richards, the fabled Texas Rangers pinned stars on their first black and female officers.

She polished Texas' image, courted movie producers, championed the North American Free Trade Agreement, oversaw an expansion of the state prison system, and presided over rising student achievement scores and plunging dropout rates.

She took time out to celebrate her 60th birthday by earning her motorcycle driver's license.

Throughout her years in office, her personal popularity remained high. One poll put it at more than 60 percent the year she lost to Bush.

"I may have lost the race," Richards said after the defeat. "But I don't think I lost the good feelings that people have about me in this state. That's tremendously reassuring to me."

Richards went on to give speeches, work as a commentator for CNN and serve as a senior adviser in the New York office of Public Strategies Inc., an Austin-based consulting firm.

In her last 10 years, Richards worked for many social causes and helped develop the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, scheduled to open in Austin in 2007.

Born in Lakeview, Texas, in 1933, Richards grew up near Waco, married civil rights lawyer David Richards and spent her early adulthood volunteering in campaigns and raising four children. She often said the hardest job she ever had was as a public school teacher at Fulmore Junior High School in Austin.

Richards served on the Travis County Commissioners Court in Austin for six years before jumping to a bigger arena in 1982. Her election as state treasurer made her the first woman elected statewide in nearly 50 years.

But politics took a toll. It helped break up her marriage. And public life forced her to be remarkably candid about her 1980 treatment for alcoholism.

"I had seen the very bottom of life," she once recalled. "I was so afraid I wouldn't be funny anymore. I just knew that I would lose my zaniness and my sense of humor. But I didn't. Recovery turned out to be a wonderful thing."

The 1990 election was rough. Her Democratic primary opponent, then-Attorney General Jim Mattox, accused her of using illegal drugs. Williams, an oilman, banker and rancher, spent millions of his own money on the race she narrowly won.

After her unsuccessful re-election campaign against Bush, Richards said she never missed being in public office.

Asked once what she might have done differently had she known she was going to be a one-term governor, Richards grinned.

"Oh, I would probably have raised more hell."

Survivors include her children, Cecile Richards, Daniel Richards, Clark Richards and Ellen Richards; their spouses; and eight grandchildren.

Our International Troubles...

That is an old one, dear sister. "Turn the other cheek" from (Matthew 5:38:45). Or sometimes, when in doubt, change the subject - that is an old female ‘trick' (not the oldest, of course)!

However, I doubt that such passivism has saved lives today or ever. And I'm not certain that since it is of the "I will overcome." syndrome that it is not those more overt actions of others who made the changes - not the passivists who cried out.

Sure, everyone likes to think that the stubbornness of Martin Luther KIng changed anything. All he did was to bring attention to the problem and it was the activists who made the changes. That was also true of Gandhi. All he got was the attention of people who rose up and said, "Hmmmm. This just isn't right!"

So what I'm saying is that people like Gandhi and King and other whistle blowers are to be admired for their efforts - but they were only successful because many thousands of others decided that changes should be made.

Our problems today, I think, are quite different and won't be changed by hunger strikes, marches of the Gandhi or King ilk or even popular opinion. The American people could create a wailing wall of their choice, but to no avail. We have made our bed and we must sleep in it.

No one is going to dissuade the Al-Qaeda and its myriad of splinter groups to stop terrorizing westerners by anyone in the west going on a hunger strike - as Gandhy did, nor someone claiming that we're just innocent lambs being led to slaughter by oil people like Dick Cheney.

We are imperialists, have always been since at least the Civil War, and are paying the price for our aggressions. We didn't get where we are as the lead nation of the world simply by hard work and innovation - that is BS! We got where we are through aggressive business dealings and power mongering.

We have created a world of hatred by those who feel they should have been better served and also those who envy us because with good reason they feel they certainly should live as well as we.

So here we are, the fifth year after 9/11 and a few of us huddle together in fear of yet another attack by the evil "fascist Islamics." Yet what do we hear from our elected leader?

From the AP, we find that: " WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush has in recent days recast the global war on terror into a "war against Islamic fascism." Fascism, in fact, seems to be the new buzzword for Republicans in an election season dominated by an unpopular war in Iraq.

Yet from Wikipedia we learn that, "Fascism is a radical totalitarian political philosophy that combines elements of corporatism, authoritarianism, extreme nationalism, militarism, anti-anarchism, anti-communism and anti-liberalism." Hmmmmmmm! Doesn't that sound a bit Republican?

Perhaps if we apply a little logic to this ‘hatred of us thing' (as George Bush, Sr. would say) we could take the heat off us by not occupying and controlling most of the world! Just a thought.

Mitt Romney, the next Bush

Will stupidity never end? So now Mitt Romney, governor of MA, has joined the brain dead to gain political power via the ‘brain dead' of the religious right wing. I'm surprised that he is even aware of Orwell! Of course the prediction of 1985 never took place simply because most of the unwashed masses may be poor but aren't that stupid!

Fortunately in this case, the rest of the people of Massachusetts have overridden his wishes and stem cell research continues unabated in that state. It remains for them to fund the research as has been done in California - the most advanced state in this union!

Joe Lieberman - again

I've never seen such blatant hypocrisy by the Republicans to provide political support for Joe Lieberman who is ideologically different than they - except for his Jewish bias for the war against the Arabs!

Poor Joe, who is a nice guy but is divided between his being a Jew and America's current problems in the Middle East and thus impacting America's international relations. I think he should recuse himself from politics because he is very divided between allegiance with Israel and his own country! I'm sure that there are many American Muslims who are also so divided. And they too, are nice people but should not be in a position to make political decisions for all Americans.

Yet, the Republicans have actually dumped their Republican candidate in favor of Joe and enlisted the Republican propaganda machine including Jack Kemp to help get him re-elected! I guess that all is fair in politics, but should such behavior be rewarded? - I guess it remains to be seen.

What is most depressing is that the Republicans are in Iraq for her oil! They have no ideological nor religious nor even democratic interests in Israel or the Middle East at all! But they are certainly in the game to win!...

Kemp to campaign for Lieberman
Tue Aug 29, 7:43 PM ET

NEW LONDON, Connecticut (Reuters) - Jack Kemp, the Republican vice presidential nominee in 1976, will campaign in Connecticut on behalf of U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (news, bio, voting record)'s independent bid for re-election.

Lieberman said on Tuesday he had accepted an offer of help from Kemp after the former congressman contacted him this month following Lieberman's loss of the Democratic Senate primary to anti-war challenger Ned Lamont.

"We've been good friends for a long time," said Lieberman, the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee, during a campaign stop in New London. "He called me after the primary, he's a good friend, and I'm grateful."

Many Democrats have turned their backs on Lieberman since his defeat by Lamont, a businessman who claimed the senator was too supportive of the Iraq war and too close to
President George W. Bush and Republicans.

Lieberman, who is banking on Republican and independent support to carry him to victory over Lamont in November, said he was not worried that a campaign visit by a Republican like Kemp would anger Democrats.

"I think if anyone complains about Jack Kemp coming in on my behalf, it just shows that they're still blinded by the old partisan politics," he said. "Jack's a devoted Republican, I'm a devoted Democrat, but we agree on a lot of stuff."

Lieberman is running for a fourth Senate term as an independent but has promised to remain a Democrat if he wins.

Kemp, a former star pro football quarterback, served in Congress from New York and was Housing and Urban Development secretary under the current president's father.

Kemp also was Republican Bob Dole's running mate in the 1996 election, which they lost to President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.

Israeli Paranoia, yet again?

Here is some more "good investigative reporting" for you to consider. This time it is going to be a mix of facts and memory - mine (plus a bit of opinion/conclusion).

Today I read the following AP release which is posted below. Shades of Lebanese ambulances!, has it happened again? Coincidence? Hmmmm....

One of the few advantages of being an old man who has not yet lost his memory - I'm sure it is coming, but not yet - and this incident triggered a memory years ago of an incident wherein it was reported front page by our mass media that Israel attacked an American ‘spy ship' which was cruising the coast of Israel gathering data during Israel's 1967 "six day" war with various Arab nations.

We were, as now, their ally, both militarily and economically, so they had no motive to attack one of our ships, spying or not. I suspect that they didn't want a documented record of possible atrocities they were committing - or perhaps they simply were and still are paranoid.

However, here is a news gathering agency, Reuters, being deliberately fired upon by Israel! I guess they don't believe in freedom of the press - seems pretty right-wing to me!

Anyway, knowing of the episode, it was easy for me to find the poop on Google, regarding the attack on the ship where thirty four American Navy personnel were killed in action and one hundred seventy three were wounded in action.

The ship itself, a Forty Million Dollar state of the art signals intelligence (SIGINT) platform, was so badly damaged that it never sailed on an operational mission again and was sold in 1970 for $101,666.66 as scrap.

But perhaps after you read the current events post below, maybe you should wade through some of:

War Crimes Committed Against U.S. Military Personnel, June 8, 1967. Submitted to the Secretary of the Army in his capacity as Executive Agent for the Secretary of Defense, June 8, 2005 at: http://www.ussliberty.org/report/report.htm

Bottom line: I've never considered the Zionist's as being "poor defenseless victims" who requires our total support against the evil Arabs (think, indigenous like American Indians). Rather, I think they are a people who think of themselves as a superior race - because of the superiority of their religion and their slight edge in IQ - so they are vicious when they don't get their way. Well, perhaps all people are like that - sometimes it seems so.

Therefore, if we are ever to gain any peace in the Middle East, we are going to have to be absolutely neutral in our policies with both the Jews and Muslims. AND we are going to have to get out of the middle eastern oil business! Certainly the Arabs won't hate us if they don't think our only interest in them is oil.

Of course in the short term we still need oil, but if we kiss the butts of the Venezuelans, buy North Atlantic and even Russian oil, we can get by until we become independent like Brazil. We're working on it - no thanks to our vice-President.

Israeli airstrike hits Reuters vehicle
By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli aircraft fired two missiles early Sunday at an armored car belonging to the Reuters news agency, wounding five people, including two cameramen, Palestinian witnesses and hospital officials said.

The Israeli army said it did not realize the car's passengers were journalists and only attacked because the vehicle was driving in a suspicious manner near Israeli troops in the middle of a combat zone.

The airstrike on the journalists' car came as Israeli soldiers backed by two dozen tanks, two bulldozers, helicopters and drone planes moved into an area just inside the Gaza Strip near the Karni crossing, witnesses and Palestinian security officials said.

The army said the troops were searching for explosives planted by Palestinian militants alongside the border fence and for tunnels under the border. After the operation began, groups of militants repeatedly gathered to try to attack the soldiers, the army and witnesses said.

The Reuters cameraman, Fadel Shama'a, 23, and Sabah Hamida, 25, who worked for a local television company, had the doors open and were about to get out of the armored vehicle in the nearby Shajaiyeh neighborhood to film the raid when it was struck by the missiles, according to Shamas Odeh, chief of Reuters TV in Gaza.

The cameramen, along with three bystanders, were injured with shrapnel wounds and all five were to undergo surgery, hospital officials said.

The front seats of the car were covered in blood and shrapnel had ripped up much of the inside of the vehicle. One of the bulletproof windows was completely destroyed.

The white sport utility vehicle was emblazoned with the Reuters logo and had "TV" and "Press" written on it in English, Arabic and Hebrew.

"This is a cold-blooded crime," said Mohammed Dawdi, head of the local journalists union.

Capt. Noa Meir, an army spokeswoman, said the vehicle was the only one in the combat area, was driving suspiciously and came near Israeli forces during the nighttime raid.

"That's why it was targeted. It was seen as a threat," she said. "There were no clear TV marks (on the car). At least we didn't see one."

"It's unfortunate when journalists get hurt, but that is not the intention," Meir added.

However, the area was an active battlefield and the reporters should not have been there, she said, adding that three Hamas militants attacked soldiers from the same spot 10 minutes after the airstrike.

During the raid early Sunday, aircraft repeatedly fired missiles into fields where Palestinian militants were gathering on the edge of Shajaiyeh, killing a Hamas militant, rescue officials said.

Ambulance drivers reported coming under fire from Israeli helicopters as they tried to retrieve the body. The army said it was checking the report.

During the raid early Sunday, aircraft fired missiles into fields where Palestinian militants were gathering on the edge of Shajaiyeh, seriously wounding one person, according to emergency officials. Helicopters also fired machine guns at gathering militants, witnesses said.

The army also told residents in three nearby buildings to evacuate their houses as bulldozers cleared land near the border, witnesses said. Soldiers also took over some rooftops and searched several houses, they said.

Israel has stepped up raids and airstrikes in Gaza over the past two months as part of a wide-scale offensive that began after Hamas-linked militants captured an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid.

In the West Bank, Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen traded heavy fire during a standoff at a fugitives' hideout Saturday, and doctors said a 16-year-old Palestinian was killed.

Twenty Palestinians were wounded in the clashes in the West Bank city of Nablus, the doctors said.

The Nablus standoff began early Saturday when troops surrounded a four-story apartment building where the army said two Palestinian fugitives were hiding. Troops called on the fugitives to surrender, but by mid-afternoon, they were still inside the building.

The army brought in bulldozers which started chipping away at the walls of the building and destroyed a water tank. At one point, the building came under heavy automatic fire by the army.

The troops also fired at a neighboring house, where gunmen were seen shooting at the force.

Bulldozers and army vehicles driving through the neighborhood were showered with stones.

The residents of the building were ordered to leave and some were questioned, the witnesses said. Troops also searched neighboring buildings, witnesses said, and soldiers carrying guns were seen moving between houses.The neighborhood appeared deserted and heavy gunshots were exchanged.

The army said Palestinians fired at the troops and in two cases also hurled explosive devices.

The wanted militants belong to the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Fatah. They are believed to be explosive experts.

Late Saturday, the army pulled out of Nablus without arresting anyone.

Solar Energy Legislation

This is a sign of the times - even long overdue! It is time for all states who have an abundance of sunshine to bite the bullet and support this vital alternative energy source. It seems that California, regardless of whether the governor is Republican or Democrat leads the nation in innovation and an eye toward the future!

Schwarzenegger signs solar power bill
Mon Aug 21

AN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday signed into law a bill that aims to make the state one of the world's biggest producers of solar energy.

The bill, which cleared the state Senate last week, calls for the installation of 1 million rooftop solar panels on homes, businesses, farms, schools and public buildings by 2018.

The solar systems would generate 3,000 megawatts of power and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 3 million tons, equivalent to taking 1 million cars off the state's highways and making California the third biggest solar producer after Japan and Germany.

The new law requires home builders to offer solar power to home buyers beginning in 2011 and allows utility customers who place panels on their homes or businesses to sell excess power back to their utility.

The law also extends the solar program to municipally owned utilities, such as the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the largest publicly owned utility in the United States.

The California Public Utilities Commission in January approved a $2.9 billion program to help pay for the solar program. The money will come from funds earmarked for solar energy and from gas and electric utility rates.

Nancy Pelosi ...

Boy, oh boy! I can't wait until Hillery runs! Won't God's Own Party (GOP) have a feeding frenzy then!

What a silly bunch of anal retentives they are. One would think that they wouldn't care one way or the other since the ‘Rapture' is due any day now and then they'll be able to sit up there with God and Jesus and look down on us poor miserables writhing in the ‘Agony.'

I do hope that we Democrats are wise enough to keep abortion, gay and rifle issues down to a very low, even non-responsive level since those are NOT the primary problems most Americans face - such as terror, healthcare, global warming and a foreign policy in the new flat world.

In the following article GOP raises specter of [Antichrist] 'Speaker Pelosi' who happens to be of Italian Catholic descent and practice...

By TIM WHITMIRE, Associated Press Writer

CASHIERS, N.C. - Facing a strong re-election challenge from Democrat Heath Shuler, veteran Republican Rep. Charles Taylor is going after a candidate who gets an "F" from the National Rifle Association and a perfect score from a leading abortion-rights group.

But that's not Shuler, a former NFL quarterback who hopes his pro-gun and anti-abortion positions appeal to swing voters and social conservatives alike in this mountainous district in western North Carolina.

Instead, Taylor's target this summer is Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the California congresswoman who has emerged as a "boogey-woman" of sorts for Republicans campaigning this year on the idea that Democrats can't be trusted with control of the House.

"Rookie Heath Shuler is following the playbook of San Francisco liberal Nancy Pelosi," an announcer intones as the noise of a stadium crowd and marching band plays in the background of a 60-second Taylor radio spot. "The Pelosi game plan: Elect Heath Shuler and others like him, and take over Congress with the votes of illegal immigrants."

These rugged, rural mountains, which couldn't be more different from Pelosi's San Francisco, aren't the only place Republicans want to make the specter of a Democratic House a key campaign issue.

_In South Carolina's 5th District, state Rep. Ralph Norman is challenging 12-term Democratic incumbent John Spratt and has repeatedly linked Spratt to Pelosi, saying voters should elect Norman if they want the GOP to maintain control of the House.

_Before announcing in April that he would leave Congress, former House Majority Leader
Tom DeLay criticized the Democrat lined up to run against him as a tool of "liberal activists" like Pelosi, Barbra Streisand and financier George Soros.

_House Republicans recently released a document claiming that a Democratic House takeover would lead to committee chairmanships for several prominent liberal Democrats, including California's Henry Waxman, New York's Charles Rangel and Michigan's John Conyers Jr.

"Nancy Pelosi is one of the most stridently liberal politicians in recent memory, and insofar as candidates can draw a contrast between their record and Pelosi's record, (she) could emerge as a campaign issue," said Jonathan Collegio, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

For Taylor, it is so far the only issue the eight-term incumbent is talking about. It's been years since the timber and banking magnate faced a tough re-election challenge. He has rarely been pushed hard enough to have to campaign actively and almost never advertises until the final weeks of a race. But with some polls showing Shuler running ahead of the incumbent and the race considered a toss up, Taylor jumped into the campaign this summer with the spot linking Shuler to Pelosi.

Shuler's campaign calls Taylor's ad dishonest, noting that Shuler has repeatedly said he opposes illegal immigration and supports effort to strengthen the nation's borders.

"I'm a Democrat," Shuler said. "I feel that (Minority) Leader Pelosi and I certainly have different viewpoints on the social issues, but I feel like as a whole ... I'm a Democrat, kind of the old, Southern-style Democrat, certainly a more moderate-style Democrat."

Asked whether he would vote to make Pelosi the House speaker if he is part of a Democratic takeover of the House, Shuler responded: "Just as I was interviewed to run for this office, I will also do my interview process and pick the person that not only fits the best for our district, but also fits our party best."

Taylor often declines to speak with reporters, and calls to his campaign headquarters seeking comment about the ad were not returned. But Collegio, who pointed out Pelosi's campaign committee has given $4,000 to Shuler's campaign so far, said the ad "shows Charles Taylor is taking this race seriously."

Jack Pitney, a government professor at California's Claremont McKenna College, wonders how much good it will do. Citing a Gallup poll released earlier this summer, Pitney noted 40 percent of Americans surveyed either didn't know Pelosi, or had no opinion of her. Those who knew her were roughly split between positive and negative feelings, he said.

"Congressional leaders usually don't provide much ammunition to the other party," Pitney wrote in an e-mail interview. "In most cases, voters have only a hazy picture of the top Republicans and Democrats in Congress."

Conservative Democrats so far seem immune to claims that Shuler — with his anti-abortion positions and blaze orange "Sportsmen for Heath Shuler" bumper stickers — is a closet liberal.

"I say Heath Shuler is a man with his own mind made up," said John Leopard, a Cashiers, N.C., resident who attended a recent Shuler speech. "If he needed to vote with Nancy Pelosi, he would vote. If he had to vote against her, he would. That's the reason I would vote for him."

Asked recently by reporters how she felt about being painted as a GOP "boogey-woman," Pelosi said the tactic "represents a bankruptcy of ideas."

"I think that it indicates the Republicans don't have a positive agenda. They don't have anything," she said. "They have been in power with the House and the Senate and the White House; they could have accomplished so many things for the American people and they have failed. ... That is why they have to do their ad hominems, because they don't have anything positive to talk about."

Of course, there could be other motives at work. Pitney said while swing voters aren't likely to be moved much by anti-Pelosi campaigns, the tactic could succeed at riling up the Republicans' conservative base.

"Conservative donors might open their checkbooks to stop a Pelosi speakership," he said.

Lieberman

Well, this is the big news of the day and a turning of the tide. In many ways, Joe Lieberman is a good Democrat, I guess, but he certainly thinks more of his intellect than I do. I was not really very happy when Al Gore picked him to run as vice president - I thought there were several other people who would bring more to the ticket and in fact, be a better president if something were to happen to Gore.

We'll find out how "good" a Democrat he is if he pouts and runs as an independent and attempts to split the vote so that the Republican candidate wins...

His support of the Bush administration despite its abject failure in virtually everything it attempts to do was particularly dismaying because he makes the Democrats appear indecisive and without a plan - which is most certainly not true. The only question the Democrats have is WHEN to get out of Iraq, stop nation building and get on with the problems of international terrorism - certainly not whether to get out. Bush has no plans of ever leaving Iraq if for no other reason than having control of its oil.

Obviously we can't simply pack up and leave the country, but we do have to turn over the defense of the Iraq government to the Iraqi's and politically force them to get their religious factions together in reasonable harmony to avoid a civil war. We need to teach them that all successful government is balanced compromise.

If a civil war does erupt we do indeed have to get out of there as quickly as possible or risk the probability of being sucked down that never ending black hole.

Leave Cuba alone....

I wish we Americans would leave Cuba alone except to curb any attempts by the Miami malcontents to stir the military/political pot. Whether we like it or not, Castro has been a benevolent dictator of Cuba and most Cubans seem to be happy with his revolutionary government. Cubans have fared much better under his rule than they did with the sugar plantation economy and virtual slave labor before the revolution.

I remember that we thought that the only reason he survived was his support from the USSR, but when they collapsed Cuba kept right on prospering for such a small island with limited resources and very large enemies, primarily US!

Obviously, the country can take care of itself and it has many friends, especially in South America which is generally pretty sour on American attempts to dominate the continent by keeping the rich and powerful rich and powerful and the poor as poor as possible. We've always been good at that even here at home.

For example, compare Cuba with the sad plight of Haiti or even Puerto Rico which suffers from American corporate dominance. It is by any standard, a success story and a thorn in our side.

'Tis the time to look good...

Boy! The House is a foxy bunch of rascals! We need pension financing reform and also a number of tax breaks for school tuition and R&D research. However, we do not need any cuts in estate taxes - another one of those "rich get richer" scams.

The House knows this so they bundled the estate tax rollback into a bill along with the ‘good' tax breaks AND even an increase in minimum wage - figuring that the bill just might pass. The problem is that the Senate which has been consistently against the estate tax rollback just might dump the whole package - the baby with the garbage.

So the Senate bosses are considering making certain that the estate tax rollback gets passed separately by the full Senate before they even introduce the very important pension bill.

This sounds like typical Republican manipulation. Can't say that they aren't gamblers! They just may not pass anything before the election - which puts mud on their faces and is fine with me!

I think the Democrats need all of the help they can get so it angers me that the Republicans wait until the last minute to pass any decent legislation which is good for the American people. They know how little the average voter pays attention to what's going on until it is time to vote. Unfortunately, the voter is not part of the Republican constituency - except at election time!

They also know that all it takes are a few words about abortion, gays, illegals or ‘Democracy building' throughout the world to totally distract a huge block of voters and convince them to vote Republican.

As Putin told Bush when the president chided him about Russian democracy and civil liberties, that he most certainly didn't want the kind of democracy which Bush is going to get in Iraq - and apparently, neither does China, our creditor**!

**Reminds me of the silent movies when the damsel in distress begs the snarling man in black with the long mustache to take her body rather than foreclose on the mortgage and throw her family out on the street. Unfortunately, I don't see Dudly Doright with his white hat and sturdy chin coming to our rescue!

Bush and the NAACP

My goodness gracious!

I watched the President's speech on C-SPAN tonight at the NAACP convention and decided that it was the best speech this man has ever given! Oh, there were several things which I didn't quite agree with, but frankly, it was one of the best ‘motherhood and apple pie' speeches I've ever heard! And this guy is very good at telling us of the great and wonderful things his administration is going to do for us like weaning us away from middle eastern oil and then taking over Iraq. His visions seem wonderful - except, they never seem to happen - or if they do, not quite the way we had hoped...

It was obvious pandering to American Blacks and Condi Rice was very conspicuous in the audience amidst her black brethren nodding and smiling in approval of her boss's choice of words. I was also amazed to see that the very pink Carl Rove was in attendance flanked by the blackest faces one could find in darkest Africa.

I wonder how many votes he won in his act of contrition when he pointed out, "I consider it a tragedy that the party of Abraham Lincoln let go of its historical ties with the African-American community," Bush said. "For too long, my party wrote off the African-American vote, and many African-Americans wrote off the Republican Party."

Of course, the Republican party today is in no way the same radical progressive party of Lincoln's time. Nor is the Democratic party which supported slavery the same party as today's party which caters to the plight of the down trodden and is concerned with social issues. They have, in effect, reversed roles in the last 100+ years.

In this case, I think he was right and being honest. For a Republican, Bush doesn't appear to be a racist. However, his party most certainly is racist - especially his political base, southern white fundamentalists, so he has had to walk a fine line. Perhaps I should say ‘had to walk a fine line' because now, he is a lame duck. They can't hurt him - and it does seem that Republicans in Congress are somewhat in revolt now when they were originally as the Dems say, "in lock-step".

I've noticed here and there that since he was re-elected that he has done things which I approved of on occasion. In my opinion, he did everything wrong during his first term. For example, I approve of his stance on immigration recently as opposed to his catering to oil interests in conquering Iraq when he should have been going after terrorists during his first term.

So, in the final analysis - it was a great speech and to the extent that blacks are gullible may have gotten a few votes for the Republican party this coming November. That, of course, is why he finally attended the NAACP annual conference for the first time....

Ralph Reed...

Doesn't this make you happy that you don't live down there with them colorful folks?

So pretty boy Reed has been sidelined! He's had a very long run in the South lining up the Jesus freaks to his causes quite successfully! However, when you sit at the right hand of God you are expected to be squeaky clean - and I guess, the poor boy was tempted. After all, we're all sinners aren't we? - I read that somewhere.

I've been well aware of Reed for years but I certainly haven't kept up with southeastern politics other than that they have similar ideologies to the Hesbolah.

Thus I browsed around and found a piece on Sen. Casey Cagle, Reed's victorious opponent in the race for Lt. Gov. of GA. It seems that it is no wonder that the Georgia real estate mogul won! After all - even though southerners talk funny, many of them are actually intelligent. (The most interesting article is after the following main post below -- even down to:

Today's Deep Thought:
Better not take a dawg on the space shuttle, 'cause if he sticks his head out when you're comin' home his face might burn up.

Conservative Reed concedes in Georgia primary
By Matthew Bigg

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Ralph Reed, a poster boy for the U.S. Christian right who helped promote the rise of Republican political power in the 1990s, conceded defeat in Georgia on Tuesday in a primary race for Lieutenant Governor.

Georgia state Sen. Casey Cagle defeated Reed [swamped] in large part because he was unable to shake off links to convicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, making Reed the Abramoff scandal's first electoral casualty.

Reed's role as former leader of the Christian Coalition, and his reputation as a clean-cut conservative with a talent for grass-roots organizing made him an early favorite in his first run at elected office. It also attracted national interest in the race.

But his campaign was undermined by accusations of corruption in a series of Cagle TV ads highlighting Reed's links to Abramoff, who pleaded guilty in January to charges of fraud, tax evasion and bribery. [Who said nobody watches TV?]

"Tonight my candidacy for lieutenant governor comes to an end," Reed said in a speech quoted by the WXIA-TV Atlanta station. Cagle later accepted the Republican nomination.

Merle Black, politics professor at Atlanta's Emory University, told Reuters defeat would effectively "end his (Reed's) career as an office seeker." [Maybe he could go to Hollywood and become a model!]

With 60 percent of the votes counted, Cagle had 56 percent, while Reed at 44 percent, according to the WSB-TV Web site at 10:45 p.m. EST.

Cagle's attacks focused on a U.S. Senate Indian Affairs committee report on Abramoff last month that said Reed, in work as a lobbyist, rallied Christian conservatives to stop gambling initiatives. But it said that work was in part funded by competing gambling interests represented by Abramoff.

A recent Cagle ad said Reed took millions of dollars from Abramoff to help casinos. Reed and Abramoff are longtime friends and business partners. Reed has not been charged over the case and denies wrongdoing.

Reed led the Christian Coalition from 1989 to 1997, served as chairman of the Georgia Republican Party in 2002 and worked as southeast regional chairman for U.S. President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign.

In a separate Democratic primary for Governor Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor held a solid lead over Secretary of State Cathy Cox, according to WXIA-TV.

And then - Ralph Reed To Casey Cagle:

I'm Gonna Get You, Sucka!
by politicalvine http://tinyurl.com/rhv5l

Rumors have it that the Ralph Reed Campaign for Lt. Governor is laying the groundwork for an all out offensive against Casey Cagle, his primary opponent.

According to an AP story, Reed stated "his campaign will soon turn to defining the differences between him and Cagle."

There are also rumors that the Reed campaign has been conducting phone polls to try to unearth what possible negatives about Cagle his campaign's research team can come-up with that would turn more people against Cagle.

At the PV, we've unearthed some of the questions likely asked by the phone pollsters from the Reed campaign. Questions like:

"As a voter concerned about public officials having a conflict of interest…

"1) If you found out that Senator Casey Cagle, who sits on the committee that regulates banking in the state of Georgia, actually possessed two entirely separate bank accounts, would you be more inclined, less inclined, or indifferent to the prospect of voting for Casey Cagle?"

"2) If you found out that Senator Casey Cagle, who claims to be a conservative Republican, ate dinner at a restaurant in Midtown Atlanta, a place known to be a haven for homosexuals and other people of diversity, would you be more inclined, less inclined, or indifferent to the prospect of voting for Casey Cagle?"

PV's Analysis: Well, you get the point…the Reed campaign is going to have to REACH to
a) find something on Cagle, and
b) since they really won't be able to find anything negative about Casey Cagle, they will make something up.

Anything, you see, to divert attention away from Ralph's obvious disease of pathologically lying about his involvement in scamming Christians into fighting for causes in which he was being paid beaucoup bucks to manipulate those Christians into doing his bidding. (awkward sentence - worse than some of mine)