~ Cynthia Boaz | Welcome to Gilead, Governor Palin http://www.truthout.org/093008R“By accepting the position on the GOP ticket despite her astonishing lack of qualifications, Palin signaled that she was prepared to be used - on the basis of her sex alone - in exchange for the promise of status and power.”
Ho ho ho…
The collapse of the proposed rescue plan for the teetering financial system was the product of a larger failure — of political leadership in Washington — at a moment when the world was looking to the United States to contain the cascading economic crisis.Don't get me wrong. I was very much in favor of the rescue plan (or "bailout," if you prefer), and I am about as far from a Republican as you can get. However, I'm seeing an interesting dichotomy, bordering on hypocrisy, in statements from the media and other parties.
From the White House to Congress to the presidential campaign trail, the principal players did not rally the votes they needed in the House. They appeared not to comprehend or address in a convincing way an intense strain of opposition to the deal among voters. They allowed partisan politics to flare at sensitive moments. Read the rest ...
If you doubt that McCain's moves were about rescuing his candidacy rather than our economy, consider how his proposal to suspend the presidential campaign came about.E. J. Dionne Jr. - The Photo McCain Wanted - washingtonpost.com
That conflict was not about slavery and the rights of all men. It was about economics, as have been virtually all wars throughout history. If slavery had not been available to whip up popular support for the war, then something else would have had to have been found as was, for example, the USS Maine issue a few years later. The outcome of the conflict, apart from hundreds of thousands dead and maimed, was simply to re-cement the economic interests of the eastern states. It did not materially improve the lot of people of color. That was and is a slow and ongoing process. What it did accomplish was the polarization of North and South into an "us vs. them" mindset that has poisoned the air ever since.
I grew up in the Deep South during the last days of segregation. I saw the plight of black people then, and I see it now. The Civil Rights Act has been in effect for forty years, and people are still arguing about the proper ways to implement its provisions. This is a function, again, of economics. An industrial society - perhaps any society - needs a class of people who are sufficiently depressed economically to be willing to work cheaply and do jobs that the so-called Upper Classes don’t want to do themselves. The Irish, the Polish, the Welsh, Jews, Eastern Europeans, Blacks, Hispanics and, now, Indios from Central America have all filled, or are presently filling, that niche. Inevitably, as one group improves its lot, another slides into the lower economic level and begins its struggle upward. This isn’t good. It just is. Thus. This, too, is about economics.
The rich mixture of the races in the South gave us a great deal to be proud of, and that needs looking at. The unusual combination of poor Europeans, blacks, native Americans and the varied national interests that controlled the South for three hundred years and more gave us jazz, Creole and Cajun cooking, Zora Neale Hurston, Tennessee Williams, NASCAR, soul food, bar-be-que...we could increase the list ad infinitum. The New South includes Atlanta, one of the most vibrant cities in the world, Miami - capital of Latin America, Houston, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Birmingham, Tampa, Norfolk, New Orleans, Jacksonville, and other regional and national economic and cultural centers that rival any cities of their size, anywhere.
The South is also the home of Southern hospitality, good manners, folks who hold doors for each other and remove their hats when they come indoors. It’s a slower paced lifestyle that most outsiders find captivating, once they get used to it. It’s the place where (native) folks say, "Bless his heart," instead of, "That @$$%@**!! just cut me off! It’s cotillion and coon hunting, politics and paw-paws, growth and grits. It’s a rich mix of cultures, seasoned over centuries. It’s the home of the best college football teams in the country, Disney World and South Beach. It’s where Northern transplants complain about the drivers, forgetting that most of them learned to drive up north. It’s a place where you can find a Mayan, a Haitian, a Cuban, a German tourist, a Vietnamese and a redneck in (not "on") the same line at the supermarket...having conversations with each other.
It’s a lot of other things, too, but mostly it’s home. No way I’d change that.
...there are some steps consumers can take to avoid BPA. A Japanese study of college students suggested that the major dietary source of BPA was canned beverages. Glass and recyclable plastic soda and water bottles do not contain polycarbonates.
Glass baby bottles are safe, and at least one company makes plastic baby bottles containing no BPA.
Nonrecyclable plastic containers that are made with polycarbonates are marked with the number 7 on the bottom. BPA leaching can be reduced by not microwaving food in such containers. Researchers link BPA exposure to health concerns - Los Angeles Times
dear mr curmudgeon [honest!]
a man's home is his castle, and it is his privelege to stayin it and protect it and his family as he sees fit. it is the job of police and other emergency personel to help citizens when they needed it is what they are paid for, and everyone has a right to expect there services. who are u to judge the decisions of ppl who want to save there property. u suck.
GALVESTON, Texas (AP) - Rescue crews canvassed neighborhoods inundated by Ike's storm surge early Sunday morning, racing against time to save those who spent a second harrowing night trapped amid flattened houses, strewn debris and downed power lines.It's race against time to save Ike stalwarts
One team of paramedics, rescue dogs and structural engineers fanned out under a nearly full moon on a finger of land in Galveston Bay. Authorities hoped to spare thousands of Texans—140,000 by some estimates who ignored orders to flee ahead of Hurricane Ike—from another night among the destruction. Some had been rescued, but unknown thousands remained stranded. ...
September 11 is a day to mourn and to reflect. It is not a day to wave the flag. And those who try to use it for that purpose, to promote a cyncial sort of nationalism, are acting inappropriately themselves. They are cheapening the deaths of those who died.The Quaker Agitator
"Stop saying that!" my wife says to me. But this is not a high school football game and I'm not a cheerleader with a bad attitude. This is an election and as things stand now, we're gonna frickin' lose this thing. Obama and McCain at best are even in the polls nationally and in a recent Gallup poll McCain is ahead by four points.But there's a reason. Read on...
Something is not right. We have a terrific candidate and a terrific VP candidate. We're coming off the worst eight years in our country's history. Six of those eight years the Congress, White House and even the Supreme Court were controlled by the Republicans and the last two years the R's have filibustered like tantrum throwing 4-year-olds, yet we're going to elect a Republican who voted with that leadership 90% of the time and a former sportscaster who wants to teach Adam and Eve as science? That's not odd as a difference of opinion, that's logically and mathematically queer. ...
What they are talking about are rednecks. ...
Sarah Palin’s much-awaited speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night may have shown she could play the role of attack dog, but it also showed her to be short on facts when it came to touting her own record and going after Obama’s.And ol' Huckleberry oughta know about them eggs.
We found Rudy Giuliani, who introduced her, to be as factually challenged as he sometimes was back when he was in the race. But Mike Huckabee may have laid the biggest egg of all.
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