Global
AUSTIN -- This poignant Labor Day, when the numbers are bad, the
policies are worse and the jobs are disappearing, it's not so much the
economy that riles me as the disrespect and the gratuitous contempt with
which this administration treats working Americans. The old insult to
injury.
If we've had an administration so blinkered by class blinders before, it is not within my memory. What these people know about working-class Americans would fit in a gnat's eye. In the summer of 2002, when Ted Kennedy and the late Paul Wellstone were working to get an emergency extension on unemployment benefits -- something that has been largely pro forma under earlier administrations -- Majority Whip Tom DeLay protested that Democrats want "unlimited unemployment so people could stay out of work for the rest of their lives." Actually, one million unemployed workers had already exhausted their benefits before the House finally acted in January 2003, and were simply left in the streets with nothing under the too-little, too-late Bush bill.
If we've had an administration so blinkered by class blinders before, it is not within my memory. What these people know about working-class Americans would fit in a gnat's eye. In the summer of 2002, when Ted Kennedy and the late Paul Wellstone were working to get an emergency extension on unemployment benefits -- something that has been largely pro forma under earlier administrations -- Majority Whip Tom DeLay protested that Democrats want "unlimited unemployment so people could stay out of work for the rest of their lives." Actually, one million unemployed workers had already exhausted their benefits before the House finally acted in January 2003, and were simply left in the streets with nothing under the too-little, too-late Bush bill.
"One has to be careful," said U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan
earlier this month, "not to confuse the U.N. with the U.S." If the Secretary
General had taken his own advice, then maybe his Brazilian subordinate,
Vieira de Mello, might not have been so summarily blown to pieces in Baghdad
two days earlier.
Whichever group sent that truck bomb on its way had made the accurate assessment that de Mello and his boss Annan were so brazen in allowing the United Nations to play a fig leaf role in the U.S. occupation of Iraq that drastic action was necessary to slow down the process. So the U.N. man handpicked by the White House paid with his life.
To get a sense of how swift has been the conversion of the United Nations into after-sales service provider for the world's prime power, just go back to 1996, when the United States finally decided that Annan's predecessor as U.N. Secretary General, Boutros Boutros Ghali, had to go.
Whichever group sent that truck bomb on its way had made the accurate assessment that de Mello and his boss Annan were so brazen in allowing the United Nations to play a fig leaf role in the U.S. occupation of Iraq that drastic action was necessary to slow down the process. So the U.N. man handpicked by the White House paid with his life.
To get a sense of how swift has been the conversion of the United Nations into after-sales service provider for the world's prime power, just go back to 1996, when the United States finally decided that Annan's predecessor as U.N. Secretary General, Boutros Boutros Ghali, had to go.
Good Article!Yes, and there are literally dozens of free energy devices that work and would be available ..except for the suppression by death threats(for example Tom Brown' 50 Kilwatt nuclear battery which is completely safe using only a small amt of a naturally decaying element which is amplified into 50 KW!!. I have a picture of him holding it ..he sold a few to the military and when his co. -Peripheral Systems-tried to sell to us 'masses', he got death threats and his mother's car was bombed..Then there are the ZPE batteries of John Hutchison (see him and others on Lightworks video called "Race to Zero Point"1-800-795 -tape)that never need to be charged that when placed in series(voltage) and parallel(for current)provide a box that could power your home/car etc forever for FREE..etc.) .
AUSTIN -- One problem I have with Arnold Schwarzenegger is that
he looks like a condom stuffed with walnuts. I realize that is superficial,
shallow and unbecoming to a semi-serious-minded liberal like myself, but
there it is. The other is that he doesn't know what he's talking about when
it comes to public policy.
Part I: Progressives and the Dean Campaign
Let’s take Howard Dean at his word: “I was a triangulator before Clinton was a triangulator. In my soul, I’m a moderate.”
Plenty of evidence backs up that comment by the former Vermont governor to the New York Times Magazine a few months ago. The self-comparison with Clinton is apt. “During his five two-year terms as governor,” the magazine noted, “Dean was proud to be known as a pragmatic New Democrat, in the Clinton mold, boasting that neither the far right nor the far left had much use for him.”
Of course, what a mainstream publication is apt to call “the far left” often includes large progressive constituencies. In the battle for the ’04 Democratic presidential nomination, Dean clearly finds grassroots progressives to be quite useful for his purposes. But is he truly useful for ours?
Let’s take Howard Dean at his word: “I was a triangulator before Clinton was a triangulator. In my soul, I’m a moderate.”
Plenty of evidence backs up that comment by the former Vermont governor to the New York Times Magazine a few months ago. The self-comparison with Clinton is apt. “During his five two-year terms as governor,” the magazine noted, “Dean was proud to be known as a pragmatic New Democrat, in the Clinton mold, boasting that neither the far right nor the far left had much use for him.”
Of course, what a mainstream publication is apt to call “the far left” often includes large progressive constituencies. In the battle for the ’04 Democratic presidential nomination, Dean clearly finds grassroots progressives to be quite useful for his purposes. But is he truly useful for ours?
I had an epiphany last night.
What began as a nightmare transformed itself into a vision of hope. I dreamt I was plodding my way through a horrific sandstorm. This ill wind was so dense I was incapable of seeing my own hand before my face. Yet farther into the distance I could discern an incessant incandescent glimmering of light; a solitary beacon in this all-encompassing velvet darkness.
A rivalry existed between every breath and step I took both possessing the inherent uncertainty of its predecessor and its sequel. Finally, after what seemed an endless journey there before me at my feet, tempest tossed, was a flame whose life force could not be denied.
I dropped to my knees, the blanket that served to give me shelter in this perilous storm, now as I hovered above and slowly descended upon the flame it availed itself as a tent. Using my hands and feet I anchored the blanket into the sand. Shrouded below it, I and this magnificent flame, both of us existing amidst nature's will and storm.
What began as a nightmare transformed itself into a vision of hope. I dreamt I was plodding my way through a horrific sandstorm. This ill wind was so dense I was incapable of seeing my own hand before my face. Yet farther into the distance I could discern an incessant incandescent glimmering of light; a solitary beacon in this all-encompassing velvet darkness.
A rivalry existed between every breath and step I took both possessing the inherent uncertainty of its predecessor and its sequel. Finally, after what seemed an endless journey there before me at my feet, tempest tossed, was a flame whose life force could not be denied.
I dropped to my knees, the blanket that served to give me shelter in this perilous storm, now as I hovered above and slowly descended upon the flame it availed itself as a tent. Using my hands and feet I anchored the blanket into the sand. Shrouded below it, I and this magnificent flame, both of us existing amidst nature's will and storm.
There's been, and still exists, a concerted and systematic effort to disregard and eliminate our civil liberties in the name of terrorism. We are witnessing an assault upon our heritage, our Constitution and our Bill of Rights. Liberty is not a partisan issue - and once given up we will once again have to take up arms and battle to regain them. As Benjamin Franklin so eloquently pronounced, "Those who would give up essential liberties for a measure of security, deserve neither liberty nor security."
Fear has replaced reason and logic. As Americans, when discussing the issue of preserving liberty while providing security, our foremost concern should be human rights, civil rights and civil liberties.
Since the first strike on the twin towers in 1993, the Oklahoma Federal Building bombing in 1995, as well as the events of September 11th, 2001 and the Anthrax scare, collectively we've had to grapple with the devastating scope and scale of these attacks. It has forced each of us to re-assess our understanding of believable and unbelievable - of what's thinkable and unthinkable. Our reality makes the best Hollywood script pale in comparison.
Fear has replaced reason and logic. As Americans, when discussing the issue of preserving liberty while providing security, our foremost concern should be human rights, civil rights and civil liberties.
Since the first strike on the twin towers in 1993, the Oklahoma Federal Building bombing in 1995, as well as the events of September 11th, 2001 and the Anthrax scare, collectively we've had to grapple with the devastating scope and scale of these attacks. It has forced each of us to re-assess our understanding of believable and unbelievable - of what's thinkable and unthinkable. Our reality makes the best Hollywood script pale in comparison.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) is the means by which mental health disorders are classified in the United States. This standardized approach is used by mental health professionals, insurance companies and the legal system. Clinicians use the manual to assist in diagnosis by reading the general description and checking off the different criteria. Those mildly impacted by a syndrome will meet the minimum number of criteria, the seriously impaired will meet all of the qualitative and behavioral conditions. Prognosis usually depends on the severity of the disorder. Differential diagnosis is made by ruling out other diagnoses with similar symptomatology.
DSM-IV - new category 333.333 Politician Syndrome
DSM-IV Diagnostic Criteria for Politician Syndrome
DSM-IV - new category 333.333 Politician Syndrome
DSM-IV Diagnostic Criteria for Politician Syndrome
The Bush Administration is desperately trying to contain the brewing controversy about its false statements regarding Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. They lied to drive us into a war against a country that posed no threat, a war which has so far killed over 6000 Iraqi civilians (www.iraqbodycount.net) and over 200 American soldiers. Speak out now! Help keep this issue in the public spotlight.
Take Action:
Take Action:
I need your help to convince Governor Taft to veto HB 152 , the bad megafarm bill! The Governor will make a decision about HB 152 in the next week. Please call the Governor's office, ask for Kate Bartter, and tell her that you strongly urge the Governor to veto HB 152 because:
a.. Local governments should have the authority to prevent disease and nuisance from factory farms. If we erode that right in this case, where do we draw the line?
b.. The amendment didn't receive anything like a fair hearing. The Senate held one public hearing, at which the amendment was offered and the House held no hearings before passing the bill
c.. HB 152 establishes a terrible precedent -- if a polluter finally gets closed down due to environmental violations, the industry just changes the rules, rather than changing their behavior
a.. Local governments should have the authority to prevent disease and nuisance from factory farms. If we erode that right in this case, where do we draw the line?
b.. The amendment didn't receive anything like a fair hearing. The Senate held one public hearing, at which the amendment was offered and the House held no hearings before passing the bill
c.. HB 152 establishes a terrible precedent -- if a polluter finally gets closed down due to environmental violations, the industry just changes the rules, rather than changing their behavior