BANGKOK, Thailand -- A series of deadly bombings, including Thursday's (November 20) attack which killed one person and injured 29 others, have shattered this Buddhist-dominated capital's polite, care-free ambiance, and worsened the paralysis within Thailand's besieged government.

Many Thais fear more bloodshed will result because of a three-month-long insurrection by thousands of anti-government protestors, who are illegally surrounding the prime minister's ornate office building.

Unable or unwilling to force the protestors from occupying the Government House complex, an embarrassed Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat installed chairs, desks, telephones and other levers of power in a V.I.P. lounge at Bangkok's former international airport, where his Cabinet meets each week.

After the police and military refused to oust the protestors from Government House, an unknown attacker fired a grenade on Thursday (November 20) over a wall, killing one protestor and injuring 29 others.

After the 3:30 a.m. explosion, police still did not enter the site, claiming the protestors would rebel and force a confrontation resulting in more casualties.

A Solartopian, Green-Powered Earth.

YES WE CAN!

A solution to global warming.

YES WE CAN!

The birth of a world economy built totally and entirely on renewable energy and increased efficiency.

YES WE CAN!

The permanent burial of King CONG (Coal, Oil, Nukes & Gas).

YES WE CAN!

A stake through the heart (if it had one) of a nuke power industry defined by 50 years of proven failure.

YES WE CAN!

The end of fossil fuels (and fools).

YES WE CAN!

Reviving and reinventing a mass transit system murdered 1920-1950 by King CONG's General Motors and Standard Oil.

YES WE CAN!

Rebirthing Detroit as a clean, lean, green machine with union labor making carbon free cars and the New Solartopian mass transit network we really need.

YES WE CAN!

Transforming the corporation from an entity with human rights but no human responsibilities to the other way around.

YES WE CAN!

The Ohio Republican Party has escalated its attacks on democracy on two key fronts.

It's trying to steal a hotly contested Congressional seat. And it's moving to restrict voting rights for coming elections.

In the bitterly embattled House race in central Ohio's 15th Congressional District, Republican State Senator Steve Stivers has a slight lead over Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy.

Two years ago, Kilroy essentially defeated the previous incumbent, fourth-ranked House Republican Deborah Pryce. In an extremely tight race, a wide range of dubious voter eliminations and manipulated vote counts stole what appears to have been a clear victory from Kilroy. The GOP's infamous J. Kenneth Blackwell was still Ohio's Secretary of State. The Democrats declined to take him on, and the seat remained in Republican hands.

This year Ohio's Secretary of State is Democrat Jennifer Brunner. It would appear Kilroy has won again.

Sun nite 11/16/08. Few things are as delightful as finding one's ideas corroborated. Thanks for your piece on Common Dreams re GM/transit.

I'm old enough to remember well the deliberate and systematic destruction of L.A.'s not-bad transit system when I was a teenager. Earlier than that, I remember when nearly everyone took public transit--and no one felt low or put- upon.

My favorite examples are RED HARVEST by Dashiell Hammett, in whch the detective (circa 1922) is in a small city--obviously Butte, Montana-- and takes the STREETCAR. And the early post WW II movie STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, in which the characters DO take the train, because there WERE trains. (I STILL take the train whenever possible.)

I also remember the early TV series, when I was about 16, back in the stone age, 77 SUNSET STRIP; that was just about the first one devoted mainly to supposedly glamorous people spending a lot of time driving around in the first generation of new cars after the war--one of the main characters was a parking lot valet.

I'm much bemused: it seems to me 99.9% of ALL environmental stuff I hear on

As the sun sets on Bush 2, it is clear that a very thin line of electoral protection preserved Barack Obama's victory in Ohio---and the nation.

And it's no accident the vote count battle for a Columbus-area Congressional seat still rages.

The GOP's 2008 electoral strategy again emphasized massive voter disenfranchisement and rigging the electronic vote count. The twin tactics very nearly gave Ohio to McCain/Palin, and threatened to set precedents capable of winning them the national election.

Prior to the 2004 vote, Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell stripped some 308,000 Ohio citizens from the registration rolls in heavily Democratic districts. This mass disenfranchisement alone may have accounted for the 118,000-plus official margin that gave George W. Bush a second term in the White House.

After the 2004 vote, Blackwell disenfranchised another 170,000 voters in heavily Democratic Franklin County (Columbus).