I'm Not Going to Take it Anymore

The defeat of the auto bailout by the neo-cons

2008-12-13T02:04:00.000-08:00

Probably a more appropriate title would be - The defeat of the auto bailout by the union busting neo-cons.

Here is a statement just released by Wicker -

Wicker Reacts to Auto Bailout Defeat

Friday, December 12, 2008

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who was against the bailout for the Big Three automakers, reacted to the legislation dying in the Senate last night:

“I opposed this bill because I think it fails to get to the root of the problem. The Big Three were in financial straits before our economy slowed down due to a troubled business structure that ensured they couldn’t compete with other automakers. Now, they have asked for billions of dollars in taxpayer assistance to help survive. While the merits of using taxpayer funds to help save these companies can be debated, the fact is that this proposal falls well short of guaranteeing the needed reforms to keep these companies afloat. The U.S. government simply cannot continue to throw good money after bad using taxpayers’ dollars.

“Nobody wants these companies to fail. Government intervention with taxpayer dollars, however, was not their only route to long-term viability. Other alternatives discussed could have afforded these companies the breathing room needed to restructure their debt and labor obligations in order to once again become viable and competitive. However, these ideas were never brought to the floor of the Senate.

“The Big Three have played an important part in American history and they continue to be a significant part of our economy. If tough choices are made, I believe they can and should continue to do so in the future.”

Now I don't know what your feelings are about unions, but let me tell you that if they are anything but supportive you are misguided. I ask you if it wasn't for unions would you be able to work and earn a decent living? Would you earn vacation time? Would you have the right to get sick and not lose your job? I could go on and on - the point is we have got to start beating the hell out of Wicker and Cochran about their stance on this issue. Other than the fact that the Repubs have traditionally been against unions these two are nothing more than shills for Barbour. Where is Barbour now? He is on a fact finding trip to Europe to try to entice foreign automakers to open plants in Mississippi. What is wrong with this you might ask? Two things come to mind - First they are non-union; Second - the state will have to give them huge tax incentives to bring them here. In other words - we the taxpayers of Mississippi will be paying them to come here and open plants that will have jobs that pay less than what a union shop would have.Workers at a non-union job do not enjoy many of the rights that a unionized shop has, i.e., the right to bargain for better wages; sick leave; vacation time; the right to strike without losing their jobs, etc.

We MUST fight the neo-cons on this issue and keep them from busting the unions. If it wasn't for the unions this country wouldn't be what it is.

A Bit About Obama and FISA

2008-06-27T02:40:00.000-07:00

It is imperative that we keep the heat on Obama about his capitulation on FISA. For those of you not familiar with this issue, FISA stands for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Recently the Dems in the House rolled over and gave the neo-cons and their buddies in the phone companies everything they wanted. If the current FISA bill passes the Senate without any changes it will be a disaster to all we hold dear - the right to free speech. Obama has voiced his support for the bill as passed by the House. I know what you are thinking - this bill does not prohibit free speech, but in a manner of speaking it does. It gives the government free reign to monitor any and all communications we may make with our friends and neighbors in other countries and in some cases in this country. If having the threat of what you say or write via the internet or over the ether net overheard and recorded by government agencies that think nothing of grabbing innocent citizens off of the streets and making them disappear, is not a deterrent to free speech, I don't know what is.

In addition to increased surveillance this bill would grant complete immunity to ALL phone companies that had an hand in illegal surveillance of it's customers. Obama thinks this is okay. We MUST keep the heat on him about this. It was announced today that this bill will not be voted on by the Senate until the 8th of July. Please go the Obama's web site and urge him to change his mind about this. In my opinion this decision by him is a serious breach of faith with his core progressive supporters.

The Lack of Network Coverage of Either War

2008-06-24T08:42:00.000-07:00

Democracy Now! Just ran a piece about the lack of coverage being provided by the major networks of either the war in Iraq or the war in Afghanistan.

Everywhere you turn there are "support the troops" reminders. Yet this administration has solicited the cooperation of ABC, CBS, and NBC to keep the war out the public eye. They are successfully employing the old trick that if you don't see it it doesn't exist. It is imperative that we make sure that the public is made to understand that the war is still going on and that we are still losing American citizens unnecessarily everyday. The whole idea of keeping the public uninformed is to ensure they are not aware of the human tragedy that this regime has heaped on us and the Iraqi citizens.

Here is what Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! had to say -

The New York Times reports the major TV networks have drastically cut back on their coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan during their weeknight newscasts. So far this year, the three evening network newscasts have shown a total of 181 weekday minutes of Iraq coverage. That’s about two minutes of Iraq coverage per network per week. Just forty-six minutes have been spent by the three networks covering the war in Afghanistan.

NEW MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES STOOGE

2008-06-20T05:04:00.000-07:00

Recently Governor Haley Barbour announced the retirement of retired Army Colonel (O-6) Don Taylor as the head of the Mississippi Department of Human Services (DHS). At the same press conference Barbour announced the appointment of retired Navy Captain (O-6) Don Thompson. he even made note that despite the fact that one was a retired Army Colonel and the other a retired Navy Captain, their retired ranks were equal.

My question is where does it say that just because both of these individuals were retired O-6's they were/are capable of handling an important agency like DHS?

Taylor has screwed up right and left. Look at the fiasco with the Columbia and Oakley training schools for juvenile offenders. Under his watch a lawsuit was brought against the state for Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib like conditions at both facilities. In 2004, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Mississippi over conditions at Columbia and Oakley. Among the accusations were claims that youngsters at Columbia were forced to eat their own vomit and were tossed naked into isolation cells.

Mississippi reached an agreement in May 2005 to end the lawsuit. As part of that four-year consent decree, a court monitor supervises progress at both facilities. A June 2007 report said some conditions had improved, but there were still problems.

The agency has not complied with all the terms of a lawsuit settlement requiring the state to fix its backlogged foster-care program. It will cost at least $34 million, officials estimate.

In addition to the accolades heap on Taylor by Barbour was what he ballyhooed as a successful abstinence sex education program. In a state with the highest teen pregnancy rate in the U.S., how can he possibly call it a successful program? All knowledgeable citizens know that the abstinence program pushed by the Bush regime has been a total failure and has not only resulted in higher teen pregnancy rates but has also led to higher STD rates.

As a retired Air Force enlisted member and also a 20 year civilian employee I know for a fact that just because a person attains the rank of O-6 in whatever branch of service they serve in it doesn't automatically mean they know what the hell they are talking about. In many cases they let their rank overload their mouths and brains.

Thompson may indeed be a more competent leader than Taylor was but I would still like to know what qualifications he has that makes him capable of leading an important agency like DHS. I understand that he previously served as vice chair of MEDICAID. We know how that agency screwed many needy citizens of this state. If this is any example of what we have in store for us, we are in for a long rough time.

Sierra Club Boots Florida Chapter Over Clorox Deal

2008-04-01T06:17:00.000-07:00

The Sierra Club voted this week to suspend its entire 35,000-member Florida chapter for four years and removed the chapter's leadership. The reason? The chapter openly criticized the Club's decision to partner with Clorox for Clorox's new "Green Works" line of "natural" cleaning products.

The dispute between the Florida chapter and the national organization started in December, when Sierra Club's national board of directors overrode the Club's Corporate Relations Committee to approve the deal with Clorox. So far, details about the exact nature of the agreement have not been revealed, except for the fact that Clorox will pay the Sierra Club for its sponsorship and the use of its logo on Green Works products, with the exact amount depending on product sales.

This is exactly why I am no longer a member of the Sierra Club, PETA, and the ACLU. All of these organizations seem more interested in setting policy at the corporate headquarters and doing things their way, and damn the consequences.

The subject above is an example of this mentality displayed by the Sierra Club.

For years I have tried to get PETA to help me and other like minded folks in Mississippi get the acrchaic laws in this state that concerns the protection of our domestic friends. I am referring of course to the dogs and cats we have in our homes that we are guardians for. I continuously remind them that this state has made it a first offense felony for abusing livestock, but when it comes to our domestic friends we are lucky if a third offense is considered to be a felony. PETA is more interested in saving a lobster, making killing chickens more humane, stopping the wearing of furs, and the like. All worthy causes but all are what the corporate headquarters have deemed important not what the membership has deemed worthy. Over and over again I have tried to get their assistance, I always get the same reply - write letters, talk to your Representatives; talk to your Senators, etc. When I explain that I have done all of this including presenting petitions with thousands of signatures, they simply grow quiet.

The ACLU - A fine and worth while organization that seems to have no control over their state chapters. When I pointed out to the headquarters that the Mississippi chapter was continuously sending notices announcing meetings that arrives to late for my attendance; and sending surveys to me that was earmarked for another individual, I got what amounted to a virtual shrug of the shoulders. When I pointed out the fact that I thought their State organization was being run by a bunch of incompetents that didn't seem to care, even when I phoned them and pointed these things out, I was answered with complete silence.

Needless to say none of this organization will get another penny of mine until they prove to me that they are willing to listen to those of us that REALLY care.

The SAVE Bill - another attempt to suspend our basic rights

2008-04-01T04:17:00.001-07:00

It's Time to Sink the Awful Immigrant Hate Bill -- "The SAVE...

A Sad Day in Our House

2008-02-16T04:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we lost a member of our family. We had to have our beloved Asta put to sleep. He was only with us a short time, 4.5 years. We got him from a friend of mine where I used to work. He had showed up at her door dirty and covered with fleas. I forgot to mention that he was a Schnauzer. She already had two Schnauzers and didn't have room for a third. She knew that our beloved Mieliki (a Lab) had just died, so she asked me if I wanted him. I said sure. She had already had him groomed and dipped to get rid of the fleas. I brought him home and we all immediately fell in love with him.

The next day I took him to my vet for a routine check. I was informed that he had a bad case of heart worms. I was asked if I wanted to have him undergo the expensive and sometimes fatal treatment. I immediately said yes. My philosophy is that the animals we are guardians for deserve all of the medical help available, after all they are a member of our family. Asta survived the treatment and came home.

All was well with him for about 6 months. Then one night he started crying and asked to go outside, the time was about 1 in the morning. I let him out and I could see that he was having a lot of pain trying to go to the bathroom. I immediately put him in the car and rushed him to the emergency room in Woolmarket. They determined he had an impacted colon and gave him an enema. From that time on I fed him All Bran with every meal mixed with mineral oil. That seemed to help and keep him regular.

Again all was well until 7 or 8 months ago. It was a weekend and I observed he was having trouble breathing and was lethargic. I rushed him to the emergency clinic in Woolmarket. They took x-rays and determined he had an enlarged heart and a lot of fluid around it. They gave me some medicine that would shrink the fluid and asked me to take him to his regular vet at the next opportunity. I did. I was informed that the reason for his enlarged heart was the heart worms and that the best that could be done was more medicine and try to keep him as quiet as possible. From that point on whenever I left the house I called just before I arrived back so my wife could get him and calm him down. If she didn't he would get so excited he would faint.

Yesterday I again noticed that he was having a lot of problems breathing, I rushed him to the vet and he gave him a couple of shots to stabilize him and put him in an oxygen cage. He asked me to come back in an hour to see how he was doing. When we returned we were shown some new x-rays that clearly showed that his heart had gotten even larger and that there was a massive build-up of fluid around it. My wife and I then and there made the decision that it was time to help him by relieving him of his pain. We held him while the vet injected him and he went quietly to sleep. We both cried, as I am as I write this.

Asta was only with us a short time but he was such a loving and smart little guy. Him and I had a special bond. He would climb into my lap and snuggle up as close as he could get. He will be sorely missed for a long time.

We love and miss you little guy.

The Nations Colleges Under Siege

2008-01-12T01:40:00.000-08:00

I have copied, in its entirety, an article from Alter Net. This article scares the hell out of me. In my opinion not enough has been said about disbanding Homeland Security when the repressive regime currently occupying the White House is finally evicted. We ALL must try to convince the candidates running for president of the dangers to our basic freedoms if an agency like this is allowed to run amoke. We forget that Homeland Security was created by the passage of the Patriot Act in response to 9/11. It is a new agency that can be, and should be eliminated as quickly as possible.

Repress U

How to Build a Homeland Security Campus in Seven Steps By Michael Gould-Wartofsky

Free speech zones. Taser guns. Hidden cameras. Data mining. A new security curriculum. Private security contractors... Welcome to the new homeland security campus.

From Harvard to UCLA, the ivory tower is fast becoming the latest watchtower in Fortress America. The terror warriors, having turned their attention to "violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism" -- as it was recently dubbed in a House of Representatives bill of the same name -- have set out to reconquer that traditional hotbed of radicalization, the university.

Building a homeland-security campus and bringing the university to heel is a seven-step mission:

1. Target dissidents: As the warfare state has triggered dissent, the campus has increasingly become a target gallery -- with student protesters in the crosshairs. The government's number one target? Peace and justice organizations.

From 2003 to 2007, an unknown number of them made it into the Pentagon's "Threat and Local Observation Notice" system (TALON), a secretive domestic spying program ostensibly designed to track direct "potential terrorist threats" to the Department of Defense itself. Last year, via Freedom of Information Act requests, the ACLU uncovered at least 186 specific TALON reports on "anti-military protests" in the U.S. -- some listed as "credible threats" -- from student groups at the University of California-Santa Cruz, State University of New York, Georgia State University, and New Mexico State University, among other campuses.

At more than a dozen universities and colleges, police officers now double as full-time FBI agents and, according to the Campus Law Enforcement Journal, serve on many of the nation's 100 Joint Terrorism Task Forces. These dual-purpose officer-agents have knocked on student activists' doors from North Carolina State to the University of Colorado and, in one case, interrogated an Iraqi-born professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst about his antiwar views.

FBI agents, or their campus stand-ins, don't have to do all the work themselves. Administrators often do it for them, setting up "free speech zones," which actually constrain speech, and punishing those who step outside them. Last year, protests were typically forced into "free assembly areas" at the University of Central Florida and Clemson University; while students at Hampton and Pace Universities faced expulsion for handing out antiwar flyers, aka "unauthorized materials."

2. Lock and load: Many campus police departments are morphing into heavily armed garrisons, equipped with a wide array of weaponry from Taser stun guns and pepper guns to shotguns and semiautomatic rifles. Lock-and-load policies that began in the 1990s under the rubric of "the war on crime" only escalated with the President's Global War on Terror. Each school shooting -- most recently the massacre at Virginia Tech -- just adds fuel to the armament flames.
Two-thirds of universities now arm their police, according to the Justice Department. Many of the guns being purchased were previously in the province of military units and SWAT teams. For instance, AR-15 rifles (similar to M-16s) are now in the arsenal of the University of Texas campus police. Last April, City University of New York bought dozens of semiautomatic handguns. Now, states like Nevada are even considering plans to allow university staff to pack heat in a "special reserve officer corps."

Most of the force used on campus these days, though, comes in "less lethal" form, such as the rubber bullets and pepper pellets increasingly used to contain student demonstrations. Then there is the ubiquitous Taser, the electroshock weapon recently ruled a "form of torture" by the UN. A Taser was used by UCLA police in November 2006 to deliver shock after shock to an Iranian-American student for failing to produce his ID at the Powell Library. Last September, a University of Florida student was Tased after asking pointed questions of Senator John Kerry at a public forum, his plea of "Don't Tase me, bro" becoming the stuff of pop folklore.

3. Keep an eye (or hundreds of them) focused on campus: Surveillance has become a boom industry nationally -- one that now reaches deep into the heart of the American campus. In fact, universities have witnessed explosive growth in the electronic surveillance of students, faculty, and campus workers. On ever more campuses, closed-circuit security cameras can track people's every move, often from hidden or undisclosed locations, sometimes even into classrooms.

The International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators reports that surveillance cameras have now found their way onto at least half of all colleges, their numbers on any given campus doubling, tripling, and in a few cases, rising tenfold since September 11, 2001. Such cameras have proliferated by the hundreds on private campuses, in particular. The University of Pennsylvania, for instance, has more than 400 watching over it, while Harvard and Brown have about 200 each.

Elsewhere, it can be tricky just to find out where the cameras are and what they're meant to be viewing. The University of Texas, for example, battled student journalists over disclosure and ultimately kept its cameras hidden. Sometimes, though, a camera's purpose seems obvious. Take the case of Hussein Hussein, a professor in the Department of Animal Biotechnology at the University of Nevada, Reno. In January 2005, the widely respected professor found a hidden camera redirected to monitor his office.

4. Mine student records: Student records have, in recent years, been opened up to all manner of data mining for purposes of investigation, recruitment, or just all-purpose tracking. From 2001 to 2006, in an operation code-named "Project Strike Back," the Department of Education teamed up with the FBI to scour the records of the 14 million students who applied for federal financial aid each year. The objective? "To identify potential people of interest," explained an FBI spokesperson cryptically, especially those linked to "potential terrorist activity."

Strike Back was quietly discontinued in June 2006, days after students at Northwestern University blew its cover. But just one month later, the Education Department's Commission on the Future of Higher Education, in a much-criticized preliminary report, recommended the creation of a federal "unit record" database that would track the activities and studies of college students nationwide. The Department's Institute of Education Sciences has developed a prototype for such a national database.

It's not a secret that the Pentagon, for its part, hopes to turn campuses into recruitment centers for its overstretched, overstressed forces. In fact, the Department of Defense (DoD) has built its own database for just this purpose. Known as Joint Advertising Market Research and Studies, this program now tracks 30 million young people, ages 16 to 25. According to a Pentagon spokesperson, the DoD has partnered with private marketing and data mining firms, which, in turn, sell the government reams of information on students and other potential recruits.

5. Track foreign-born students, keep the undocumented out: Under the auspices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been keeping close tabs on foreign students and their dependents through the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). As of October 2007, ICE reported that it was actively following 713,000 internationals on campuses, while keeping more than 4.7 million names in its database.

The database aims to amass and record information on foreign students throughout their stay inside the United States. SEVIS requires thick files on the students from the sponsoring schools, constantly updated with all academic, biographical, and employment records -- all of which will be shared with other government agencies. If students fall out of "status" at school -- or if the database thinks they have -- the Compliance Enforcement Unit of ICE goes into action.
ICE has also done its part to keep the homeland security campus purified of those not born in the homeland. The American Immigration Law Foundation estimates that only one in 20 undocumented immigrants who graduate high school goes on to enroll in a college. Many don't go because they cannot afford the tuition, but also because they have good reason to be afraid: ICE has deported a number of those who did make it to college, some before they could graduate.

6. Take over the curriculum, the classroom, and the laboratory: Needless to say, not every student is considered a homeland security threat. Quite the opposite. Many students and faculty members are seen as potential assets. To exploit these assets, the Department of Homeland Security has launched its own curriculum under its Office of University Programs (OUP), intended, it says, to "foster a homeland security culture within the academic community."

The record so far is impressive: DHS has doled out 439 federal fellowships and scholarships since 2003, providing full tuition to students who fit "within the homeland security research enterprise." Two hundred twenty-seven schools now offer degree or certificate programs in "homeland security," a curriculum that encompasses over 1,800 courses. Along with OUP, some of the key players in creating the homeland security classroom are the U.S. Northern Command (Northcom) and the Aerospace Defense Command, co-founders of the Homeland Security and Defense Education Consortium.

OUP has also partnered with researchers and laboratories to "align scientific results with homeland security priorities." In Fiscal Year 2008 alone, $4.9 billion in federal funding will go to homeland security-related research. Grants correspond with 16 research topics selected by DHS, based on presidential directives, legislation, and a smattering of scientific advice.
But wait, there's more: DHS has founded and funded six of its very own "Centers of Excellence," research facilities that span dozens of universities from coast to coast. The latest is a Center of Excellence for the Study of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism, the funding for which cleared the House in October. The Center is mandated to assist a National Commission in combating those "adopting or promoting an extremist belief system... to advance political, religious or social change."

7. Privatize, privatize, privatize: Of course, homeland security is not just a department, nor is it simply a new network of surveillance and data mining -- it's big business. (According to USA Today, global homeland-security-style spending had already reached $59 billion a year in 2006, a six-fold increase over 2000.)

Not surprisingly, then, universities have, in recent years, established unprecedented private-sector partnerships with the corporations that have the most to gain from their research. The Department of Homeland Security's on-campus National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), for instance, features Lockheed Martin on its advisory board. The Center for Food Protection and Defense relies on an industry working group that includes Wal-Mart and McDonald's offering "guidance and direction," according to its chair.

While vast sums of money are flowing in from these corporate sponsors, huge payments are also flowing out into "strategic supplier contracts" with private contractors, as universities permanently outsource security operations to big corporations like Securitas and AlliedBarton. Little of this money actually goes to those guarding the properties, who are often among the most underpaid workers at universities. Instead, it fills the corporate coffers of those with little accountability for conditions on campus.

Meanwhile, some universities have developed intimate relationships with private-security outfits like the notorious Blackwater. Last May, for example, the University of Illinois and its police training institute cut a deal with the firm to share their facilities and training programs with Blackwater operatives. Local journalists later revealed that the director of the campus program at the time was on the Blackwater payroll. In the age of hired education, such collaboration is apparently par for the course.

Following these seven steps over the past six years, the homeland security state and its constituents have come a long way in their drive to remake the American campus in the image of a compound on lockdown. Somewhere, inside the growing homeland security state that is our country, the next seven steps in the process are undoubtedly already being planned out.

Still, the rise of Repress U is not inevitable. The new homeland security campus has proven itself unable to shut out public scrutiny or stamp out resistance to its latest Orwellian advances. Sometimes, such opposition even yields a free-speech zone dismantled, or the Pentagon's TALON de-clawed, or a Project Strike Back struck down. A rising tide of student protest, led by groups like the new Students for a Democratic Society, has won free-speech victories and reined in repression from Pace and Hampton, where the University dropped its threats of expulsion, to UCLA, where Tasers will no longer be wielded against passive resisters.

Yet, if the tightening grip of the homeland security complex isn't loosened, the latest towers of higher education will be built not of ivory, but of Kevlar for the over-armored, over-armed campuses of America.

Things I'm Tired Of

2008-01-02T08:39:00.000-08:00

I found the following on News for Real a blog by Stephen P. Pizzo. I found that I could identify with the majority of the things that he found that annoyed him the most in 2007. I am sure that given the controversy about the proposal to build a casino in Jackson County by the Choctaws number 1 will strike a responsive chord.

Here they are. I have posted a few of my own at the end. Feel free to add any of your own. Enjoy:

Whew, has this been an annoying year, or what! I figure 2007 has been the most annoying year of my 62. I even did up a list of just the top 20 things I became sick and tired of during the past year.Here they are, in no particular order:

1) I'm sick and tired of being bombarded by TV ads with American Indians telling me that their casinos are making life better for everyone, not just the ten members of their tribe. Have you ever been in one of those casinos? Just how are casinos making life better for the bus loads of gray-haired codgers who upload their meager Social Security checks into Chief Wampum's slots? And what about all those already over-extended, mortgage-poor, credit card maxed out working stiffs so desperate their last remaining hope to hit a progressive-slot jackpot? How is the spreading plague of Indian casinos helping those folks?So knock it off with those phony feel-good ads and replace them with something that at least approximates the truth. Something like this would be more tolerable:"We had a sweet thing going before Europeans showed up, uninvited, and mugged the living crap out of Indian tribes from coast to shinning coast. Well that hunk of Karma has come home to roost at our Indian Casinos where we are now happily, and profitably, doing the same thing to you. We even have a name for you... The White Buffalo."Now, that's at least true, and defensible. I can live with that. But even white-guilt has its limits and those spoken-with-forketh-tongue, Indian-casinos-are-good-for-us TV ads have pushed that limit well beyond the breaking point.

2) I'm sick and tired of all things bimbo. Paris, Britney, Lohan...and all those like them. The only time such appallingly stupid people should appear on my evening news is if they should stumble in front of the Presidential limo, get run over but survived and, once out of a coma, scribble out the solution to Einstein's unified field theory. Otherwise I never want to hear their names or see their vacant faces on the news again. They are nature's most useless and annoying creatures. CNN and MSNBC -- don't waste another electron reporting on these people because electrons have more important things to do -- and so do you.

3) I'm sick and tired of having to pretend that Christian fundamentalists are entirely sane when they announce with straight faces that the earth was created in six days, and is not billions of years old but actually just 6000 years old. And that dinosaurs and humans coexisted because, "In fact, at Answers in Genesis, we call dinosaurs 'missionary lizards.' No sane literate person would -- could -- hold such utter nonsense to be true. Such pronouncements should be treated for what they are -- evidence of ignorance, mental illness or both.Because they are provably false. They are NOT a equally valid scientific theory. They are the product of mass-hysterical-crazy thinking -- viral nonsense. People who believe such things, and try to get others to believe them, should be treated the exactly how we treat people who walk city streets shouting at things only they can see. And when one of these zombies shows up at a school board meeting demanding religious mythology be taught in science class, they should be politely asked to either shut up or leave. If they refuse then someone needs to call the cops to remove them to the nearest psychiatric facility and placed on a 36-hour hold. (Except in Texas, which we all know is a lost cause.)

4) I'm sick and tired of every politician running for election or re-election testifying that they, too, "believe." Believe what? Well, they keep that kinda of fuzzy. Politicians understand that, when you're seeking the votes of people who believe crazy things, you've gotta stay vague. That's because metaphysical-crazy comes in more flavors than Baskin-Robbins. No two crazies are the same, but they do all have one thing in common; they believe crazies of a different flavor are ... well, crazy. Which is why politicians play their "crazy belief cards" close to the vest. Instead of risking losing crazy votes by getting specific about precisely what kind of metaphysical things they may or may not believe in, they vaguely reassure them with a wink, wink, nudge, nudge -- "Just trust me folks. I'm at least as crazy as you."

5) I'm sick and tired of my country listing among our "friends and allies" creepy, unsavory, smarmy, self-indulgent, utterly despicable regimes -- to wit -- Saudi Arabia and the Saudi "royal" family. John Gotti's family had more royal blood in it than the 7000-odd dictatorial, misogynistic sheiks that run Saudi Arabia. If they weren't squatting atop lakes of oil the only kingdom they'd be lording over would have horns and require milking twice a day. If there's a more despicable bunch of mobsters masquerading as leaders today, I can't think of it. And I'm sick of seeing our moron of a President walking hand in hand with these cross-dressing, lying, cheating, terrorist-financing, rape-victim-lashing Arab home-boys, at the same time we continue embargoing Cuba and shaking a threatening fist at Iran.

6) I'm sick and tired of hearing about how Pakistan is a "valuable ally in the war on terror." No they're not. Hell, they're not even a real democracy anymore. Also everyone knows that the Pakistan army and intelligence services are lousy with al Qaida and Taliban sympathizers. Calling Pakistan an ally is like declaring George W. Bush one of America's most accomplished Presidents. The day Pervez Musharraf fired the whole Supreme Court and replaced them with handpicked Clarence Thomas' and Anthony Scalia's, we should have given NATO troops in Afghanistan the green light go into Pakistan's tribal regions and do whatever needed doing there. The other thing we should have done a long time ago is to dispatch a team of Navy Seals to snatch A.Q. Khan -- the guy who spread nuclear bomb technology from North Korea, to Lybia and Iran. Khan is currently under "house arrest" in Pakistan. Snatching him and bringing him to justice would send a message to anyone thinking of peddling nukes that they'll never live to spend the money.

7) I'm sick and tired of "Billery." Bill and Hillary Clinton have worn out their welcome in my head. I appreciate Bill's accomplishments as President. But fine, can we move on now? I didn't appreciate the Bill and Hillary soap operas the first time around. But now the nation and world are too much in crisis to restart that kind of unhelpful diversions. Hillary is a smart and viciously accomplished pol. But rather than president, her skills could be put to better use as Senate Majority Leader. Ditch the nearly comatose Harry Reid and put Hillary in that important post. Because, unlike Reid, Hillary knows how to jerk leashes -- and actually likes it.

8) I'm sick and tired of the global warming deniers. They should be treated with the same sense of anger and disgust as Holocaust deniers... just more so. Denying the Holocaust only denies the murder of six million humans. Denying global warming and it's causes threatens to sentence hundreds of millions, maybe billions, of humans to slow, painful untimely deaths. I can't punch global warming deniers, though I'd like to. But if they persist they and their families should all be required to relocate to the lowest laying atoll in the Pacific.

9) I'm sick and tired of Wall Street and government "economists" blowing smoke up my ass about the state of the economy. I cut my journalistic teeth on financial crisis, so I know one when I see one coming. And one is coming. In fact, it's just now arriving. Don't tell me the "underlying strength of the US economy is strong." Bullshit. Consumer spending accounts for 70% of the US economy, and those consumers are tapped out. They can't even mug another dime of equity out of their now over encumbered homes. Even those usurious credit card companies won't lend them anymore until they pay off their overdue balances. Hello.....The truth is we are heading into the worst case of stagflation in a quarter century. So, economists, spare me the happy talk. That crap might buy you some time by creating sucker rallies on Wall Street, but you are about to run out of suckers. Do you have a plan for that? If so, that's what what I want to hear from you... and quickly please.

10) I'm sick and tired of defense contractors, like Lockheed, running TV ads trying to convince me that everything they do is "for our troops in harms way." Gag me with a rocket launcher! Everything defense contractors do is in pursuit of billions of defense tax dollars. That's why they do it --- the ONLY reason they do it. They never seem to mention in their ads that every year... without exception...every year, they are each one caught red handed lying, cheating and stealing hundreds of millions of dollars more. And that, even when caught, not one of them has spent a day in the slammer for it. So, shut up with the "we do it all for our troops," crap, will ya? It makes me wanna reach through the TV and Blackwater your asses.

11) I'm sick and tired of teachers absolving themselves of any responsibility for the dismal state of American education. When I sat on a school board I suggested we grant teachers even more in pay raises than they were requesting. I only had one condition; that we be allowed to bypass teacher union roadblocks when we wanted to reward exceptional teachers and could promptly fire the well known loser teachers on our staff. Their response -- "No way Jose." You would have thought I'd asked them to undress or something. No personal accountability for teachers, not even if we paid them for it. If private industry had those kind of rules America would look like Somalia today -- which is why our education system nearly does.

12) I'm sick and tired of hearing that the US has "the best health care in the world." First of all my wife is a health care professional, which means I hear the real scoop every day she returns from work. Tales that curl the blood. We don't have the best health care in the world, we just have the most expensive health care in the world. It's a system run by a bunch of blood sucking private insurance companies that cherry pick the actuarial pool. They insure only those unlikely to need medical care, and reject anyone who just might. Those they refuse to insure eventually end up getting medical care on the public nickel. Wouldn't you love a business deal like that, one where you get to shove your risks off on the government allowing you to pocket all that low/no risk gravy? I sure would. I'm sick of it... pun intended.

13) I'm sick of paying a higher percentage of my adjusted gross income than Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. The Bush tax cuts have been a bonanza for the already super rich, and a big lump of coal for everyone else. For our national infrastructure the Bush tax cuts were a "who needs public infrastructure anyway!" The truth is that the rich got rich largely thanks to Americas generous, reliable and efficient taxpayer funded infrastructure -- roads, bridges, airports, ports and such. Therefore they should pay taxes that adequately reflect and reimburse the nation for that. At the end of the day, every road is a toll road, and the rich are no longer paying their fair share of tolls.

14) On the same subject, I'm also sick and tired of hearing Republicans spout the nonsense that if you cut a rich person or corporation's taxes they will use that extra money to "create jobs for working Americans." No they won't. And no, they haven't.What they have done with their Bush's tax cut bonanza is sock it away in tax-protected family trusts and then lobby Congress to eliminate the estate tax so their heirs can keep every dime of it. If any of that extra money does end up getting invested in a job-creating enterprise you can bet your low-wage bippy those jobs end up in China or someplace like China. So, spare the "trickle down" crapola fellas.

15) I'm sick and tired of spending $60 billion a year on intelligence services that aren't.

16) I'm sick and tired of Neo-con, lap-dog Republicans who have defended and aided administration officials who openly champion views of governance so un-American they border on neo-fascism.

17) I'm sick and tired of conniving, weaselly, cowardly Democrats who could have obstructed our nations slide toward totalitarianism -- but didn't -- and still haven't.

18) I'm sick and tired of hearing American auto makers whine about how they can't possibly meet higher fuel economy standards while the Japanese clean up doing just that. The last time this happened, back in the 1970s, the Japanese whipped Detroit's sorry ass by making higher mileage small cars while Detroit keep spitting out 8-cylinder behemoths. Then Uncle Sam ended up having to bail out Chrysler and put import quotas on Japanese cars so we didn't have to bailout the out GM and Ford as well. The Big Three dinosaurs are at it again, addicted to selling Hummers and gas-guzzling SUVs and fighting every effort to get them to switch to higher millage and alternative fuel vehicles. Maybe if we hadn't bailed them out of their last self-inflicted wounds they'd have come out with a Prius before the Japanese this time. If GM had an ounce of sense it would change it's name from General Motors to Green Machines and get with the frigging program. I'm sick and tired of rewarding and enabling such stubborn, corporate stupidity and public and social malfeasance.

19) I'm sick and tired of soap-opera news stories that have runs longer than most Broadway plays. The next time some guy's wife goes missing, and authorities suspect he killed her and dumped her body someplace, don't tell me about -- at least until they solve the crime and actually know what happened. Even then such stories are for local news, so why are they on the national news in the first place? I'm sick and tired of these long, drawn out tales of dysfunctional relationships turned deadly. Nothing about these tales matters to anyone except the poor people directly involved, their families and immediate neighbors. There's absolutely no national news value to running these stories night after night, except a sick "entertainment" value. So, unless these sad cases are being caused by some communicable virus that's spreading at an alarming rate and heading my way, I don't want to hear about them -- it's not "news I need" -- or even want.

20) I'm sick and tired of these new "Christians are being persecuted" TV ads. You know, the ones where some Chinese kid narrates how she was forced to walk barefoot through the snow to a detention center because she wrote stuff about Jesus ... blah, blah, blah. The truth is the overly religious thrive on claims of persecution, real or Madison Avenue-imagined. Nothing stirs up the religiously enthralled like a ripping, tear-jerking tale of persecution. More importantly, nothing opens up the wallets of the herd faster either. One might suggest to them that maybe if fundamentalist Christians tried to be a little less "up every one's nose," every time we turn around these days they might face less persecution. That assumes, of course, they really are being "persecuted" every time they make the claim -- which I doubt. Often what they view as persecution is simple, non-violent, rhetorical push-back from those of us who've heard quite enough about their supernatural pretend friend(s) of choice. They consider such push back "persecution." We call it self-defense.

Here are some of my own. Again in no particular order;

1) I'm sick of all of the sobbing, wringing of hands, and the sky is falling talk because of Trent Lott resigning. I'm also sick of all of the platitudes being heaped on him. Face it folks - he bailed on us while he stilled had 5 years of the current term to serve. He did it for one reason and one reason only - so he wouldn't have to wait and extra year to join his lobbying buddies. If he really cared about us he would have stayed and helped to rebuild the coast. I still think that if his and Gene Taylor's houses hadn't of gotten destroyed neither one of them would have been so proactive in helping.

2) I'm sick of all the media stories that leave the impression that New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina. We got hit straight on, not New Orleans. They got wiped out because of poor levee construction.

3) I'm sick of MDOT not doing a damn thing about the traffic light situation up and down the coast on Highway 90. The just don't give a damn. That's what comes of them being a separate agency, not answerable to the Mississippi State Government.

The Yazoo Blackwater Pumps - Redux

2007-12-04T04:29:00.000-08:00

The following is a response I received from the Army Corp of Engineers concerning a letter I sent voicing my concern about the fact that it appears the above subject is rearing its ugly head again -

The Blackwater project has unfortunately been dogged by misinformation for many years. Several misconceptions endure despite efforts to clarify those issues. For example, the Blackwater project is not just a bunch of pumps. A pump station is part of the project, but it also includes the purchase of perpetual easements for reforestation of up to 55,000 acres of cleared lands with bottom-land hardwoods.

The project will result in an increase in wetland resources of 19 %. There will also be improved water quality, an 11 % increase in terrestrial resource values, an 8% increase in aquatic rearing values, a 30% increase in aquatic spawning values, and a 53% increase in waterfowl foraging value. Each specific environmental concern, including pondberry, has been studied. These studies found little or no impact to those issues.

Project opponents continue to publish inaccurate information based upon outdated studies. Information concerning wetlands has been updated based upon recent joint studies by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.

Regarding the pump station, did you know that approximately 200,000 acres would be flooded before the floods would even be turned on? Did you know that those 200,000 acres will REMAIN flooded during pump operation?

For your information a Pondberry, also called Southern spicebush, is a medium-sized shrub that grows in swampy depressions in lowland forests.

Can anybody shed some light on this response from the Corp of Engineers? Is the information they quote accurate?

They also included an URL for further information. Click on this and then click on the Yazoo Backwater link.

Gene Taylor did it again

2007-11-25T07:10:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago the House voted on, and passed, a bill that would fund the illegal war on the Sovereign Nation of Iraq and the millions of innocent Iraqi civilians. As expected it didn't pass in the Senate. Needless to say our two neo-con Senators voted against it. That was to be expected.

As a Democrat I would expect Gene Taylor to vote more in line with his party. However he has proved over and over again that he does not, and despite his rhetoric that he supports the troops his voting record says other wise. In my opinion anybody that votes against a bill that is designed to remove our troops from harms way does not support the troops. This is particularly important when were are pulling them out of a country where we were never wanted. This bill also contained two prominent provisions - one predicated the funding on the immediate start of troop withdrawals from Iraq; the second prominent provision was that the Army adhere to its own published regulations that prohibit torture.

It is apparent to me that Gene Taylor wants to keep the troops in Iraq until hell freezes over and that he believes in torture.

Here is a link to a synopsis of the aforementioned bill as summarized by the Library of Congress.

Oxfam America and the Gulf Coast

2007-11-10T03:43:00.000-08:00

Oxfam America is a Humanitarian organization that "works on the scene, helping people gain the hope, skills, and direction to create a new future. They also are active in the global arena, addressing social injustice through their advocacy, public education, and emergency assistance programs".

On the 20th of September of this year they published the following article about our esteemed Governor's plan to divert $600 million of the Katrina rebuilding funds that are supposed to be used to help the estimated 16,000 Gulf Coast residents that are still searching for homes and/or still living in trailers, to expand the Gulfport Port facilities.

This is just another example of how the Republican Party continues to kowtow to special interests and industry in general. We need to keep calling Barbour's office in Jackson at 1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150, or by mail at: P.O. Box 139, Jackson, Mississippi 39205. We must keep the pressure on him to reverse this decision.

I have been trying to find a contact or link at HUD where we can send comments about this issue and have not been successful as yet. I will continue to research the issue and get back with you via e-mail.

Here is the article:

Oxfam, Local Advocates Protest Plan to Cut Housing Money for Katrina Victims
20 September 2007
by Coco McCabe

A port expansion may be good for the economy on Mississippi's Gulf Coast, but using money earmarked for housing restoration is not the way to pay for it--not when thousands of hurricane victims still have no real homes to move into.

With 17,000 Mississippi households still camped in FEMA trailers more than two years after Hurricane Katrina wrecked their homes, an urgent rallying cry has suddenly risen from the Gulf Coast: “People Before Ports!”

At issue is a new state plan to divert $600 million in federal funding earmarked for housing restoration and pump it into the redevelopment of the Port of Gulfport, the third busiest container port in the Gulf of Mexico.

Housing advocates are crying foul. Religious leaders have called it “a great injustice.” And residents, who have spent the past two years squeezed into trailers while trying to scrape together enough resources to get back into real homes, are wondering how much longer they’re going to have to wait for help.

“We’re not opposed to the port being restored, but we don’t want them to use this money because there are so many people who have not been restored to their homes,” said Roberta Avila, executive director of the Mississippi Coast Interfaith Disaster Task Force.

“Local folks are not upset with the port expansion. The problem is the money is being taken out of homeowner funds,” added Kimberly Miller, Oxfam America’s state policy specialist on the Gulf Coast. “They see every day all the folks who haven’t been served—or who are still fighting to get anything and are still in FEMA trailers.”

One of them is Tanya Grace, a 37-year-old teacher’s assistant at an elementary school in Gulfport. She has been living in a FEMA trailer in Biloxi since the storm.
“What’s more important—expanding something or trying to get people out of a FEMA trailer?” asked Grace, who has been working two jobs to try and save enough money so she can afford the ever-climbing rents in Biloxi. “First they need to take some of the money and build apartments for people who earn minimum wage.” One and two bedroom units are now renting for $800 and $900 a month, she said. “People can’t afford that,” said Grace.

On Wednesday, with the help of Oxfam America, a group of about 20 religious leaders representing every denomination along the coast called a press conference to challenge the state’s plan and warn that it would bring hardship to many. “You’re going to have economic development passing through the port and people are still going to be homeless. We say that’s not right,” Pastor Larry Hawkins of the Shiloh Baptists Association told the crowd. “We’re not going to just sit here, roll over, and play dead and watch you allocate money to help individuals and take that money and expand the port.”

But state officials haven’t given anyone much time to try and put the breaks on this project.

Hatching Plans Behind Closed Doors

The Mississippi Development Authority, or MDA, announced its plans in a press release on Sept. 7—giving Gulf Coast residents and activists barely 17 days to respond. The formal comment period ended Sept. 24. The state has to submit its plan to the federal department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, for approval. Housing advocates are working hard to let people know what is going on so that they can register their objections.

Short notice from the state is nothing new to advocacy groups. They have been fighting for months to get more information about how Mississippi is spending billions of taxpayer dollars. “So much of what has happened with the recovery has happened under the cover of night,” said Oxfam America’s Miller. Twice, she said, members of the legislature have tried to pass bills that would create an oversight process for the billions of federal dollars allocated for the Mississippi recovery. The effort failed both times.

At stake is $2.82 billion in homeowner assistance grants. The state has paid out about $1.07 billion of that to approximately 15,000 applicants, Miller said. Slightly more than 15,000 homeowners are waiting to get their grants. And still thousands of others—many of whom are renters or whose homes suffered wind damage—don’t qualify for help according to the rules the state has set up.

"Most of the dialogue about how this money gets spent is between folks in Washington and the MDA ” said Miller. "The chance for public review is pretty limited. Part of the reason we’re here is fighting to make sure the taxpayers’ money is being spent the way they expected it to be.”

That fight has included several Public Information Requests to the MDA for documents reporting on how the grants have been spent so advocates can keep an eye on whether low-income groups are getting their share.

“One of the big surprises was that the reports don’t have much detail on those numbers,” said Miller. “They’re not keeping track of that information.”

Left Out

In its pitch for the port, whose top imports have included bananas, the Mississippi Development Authority is projecting that the facility will generate 5,400 maritime-related jobs by the year 2015. It said a portion of those jobs will be made available to low- and moderate-income workers.

“The state of Mississippi understands that the restoration of the Port of Gulfport is crucial to the economy of our state and essential to the revitalization of the Gulf Coast region,” said Gov. Haley Barbour in an MDA press release.

But the Mississippi Center for Justice, a non-profit law firm that focuses on racial and economic justice, has said the plan “makes a mockery of the Governor’s Commission’s recommendation to place a priority in every housing program upon serving the needs of lower income storm victims.”

The housing needs for people in the low- to moderate-income range remain vast, and meeting them could more than consume the $600 million the state wants to invest in the port. For instance, the Mississippi Center for Justice points out that there are at least 5,000 low- and moderate-income households in the state’s lower 10 counties whose homes suffered severe wind damage. None of them are eligible for the state’s home grant program. Meeting their needs, with an average grant of $70,000 each, would cost $350 million. Additionally, there are 13, 800 rentals affordable to people with low to moderate incomes but that remain severely damaged. The state has a plan for producing just 5,000 units. To double that program would cost $258 million.

Critics of the governor’s plan say housing money should be spent on housing and the state should find other sources to fund the port project. Options include issuing bonds, enlisting the support of private investors, and seeking additional federal funds through upcoming appropriations bills.

“It’s almost like the state is doing a disservice to the port by putting them in a position of having to fight against homeowners for resources,” said Miller.

And while locals would be happy to see the port improved—and happy for the new jobs an expansion would bring—there’s a question that has to be answered first: Where will a family of four that earns $22,000 a year—as many low-income families do—be able to live if affordable housing isn’t restored?

Housing advocates hope that HUD will ask itself that same question--and deny Mississippi’s request to expand its port at the expense of its people.

Homeland Security and its pals the Chemical Industry

2007-11-08T04:16:00.000-08:00

Many of you are aware of the constant assault being wagered on the environment and health of the citizens of Jackson County by, Chevron, First Chemical (aka DuPont), Ingalls, and numerous others.

Along with Becky Gillette, and Brenda Songy, I have written many letters to both coastal papers condemning the state watch dog agencies that are supposed to be looking out for the health and welfare of its citizens. As I have said many times these agancies have never met a polluter they didn't love. To my knowledge they have never denied a permit to ANY company that wants to further pollute our environment.

I have pointed out many times that Jackson County is one of the most polluted counties in the United States. Now the Department of Homeland Security has seen fit to relax the rules on chemical corporation accounting. As you can see from the article I have posted below they have given companies like DuPont free reign to hide their chemical reserves. The article addresses a few of the potential problems that could, and will crop up because of this relaxtion of accounting rules.

The thing that I find ironic is that the article has a quote from our own Bennie Thompson, chair of the House Homeland Security Committee. He is quoted as saying that the new rules can be compared to "putting a band-aid on a broken leg". This from a man who is a Representative of a state that allows polluters to pollute at will.

Here's the article:

Chemical Industry 1, Public Safety 0

Published: November 7, 2007

Air travelers are asking for trouble if they show up for a flight with 3.5 ounces of shampoo in their carry-on bags. But the Department of Homeland Security has decided that the government should not even trouble chemical plants to account for the storage of anything under 2,500 pounds of deadly chlorine. The department’s new rules on reporting stockpiles of toxic chemicals, issued last week, have certainly made the industry happy. They should make the public worried.

Chemical plants — and petroleum plants, paper mills and other industrial facilities that use dangerous chemicals — are one of the nation’s greatest vulnerabilities. An attack on such a facility could create a deadly chemical cloud that would put hundreds of thousands of people in danger. Just consider the result of an accidental train derailment in North Dakota in 2002 — a cloud of deadly chemicals hundreds of feet high and several miles long — and magnify it by what would happen if terrorists planned and carried out an attack in a highly populated area.

The government should be doing everything it can to guard against such catastrophes.
The Bush administration has shown repeatedly, however, that it does not want to impose reasonable safety requirements on chemical plants. That may have to do with its general opposition to regulations, or it could be connected to the enormous amount of money the chemical industry spends on lobbying and campaign contributions. The industry does not want to bear the expense of serious safety rules, and it fights them furiously. In a recent study, Greenpeace reported that the chemical industry spent more money in a year lobbying to defeat strong chemical plant legislation than the Department of Homeland Security spent on chemical plant security.

The rules the department issued last week are far too lax about when facilities need to report stockpiles of chemicals like chlorine, fluorine and hydrogen fluoride to the government. According to the new rules, which watered-down proposed rules that the department had released in April, a chemical plant does not have to report the storage of 2,499 pounds of chlorine, even if it is located in a populated area — or across from an elementary school.

If 450 pounds of chlorine are stolen, enough to cause mass casualties, the theft need not be reported. Chlorine has been used by insurgents in Iraq, and it is high on the list of chemicals that should be kept out of terrorists’ hands.

It is troubling that these industry-friendly rules were developed in part by Department of Homeland Security employees who previously worked for the chemical industry — and who may one day work for it again. Rick Hind, the legislative director of the Greenpeace Toxics Campaign, contends that such employees have had an “undue influence.” The department says it draws on former chemical industry workers simply because of their “relevant prior experience.”

Bennie Thompson, the Mississippi Democrat who is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has rightly compared the chemical storage rules to “putting a Band-Aid on a broken leg.” Congress needs to step in now and pass a strong new chemical plant law — one that puts more weight on the safety of the public and less on industry’s bottom line.

The Yazoo Blackwater Pumps

2007-11-06T05:00:00.000-08:00

Time to call out the dogs on Senators Lott and Cochran. They are at it again! Below this you will find an article I have copied from the NY Times about the infamous Yazoo Pumps. As you can see from the article this propsal will not die and if inacted would be a major blow to the environment. We have lost enough wetlands in this state to Katrina and wanton distruction. Please call the offices of these two uncaring, unthinking, fine examples of right wing neo-conism and urge them to pull this back.

Yazoo Pumps: They’re Back!
Published: November 6, 2007
Like an indestructible ghoul in a low-grade horror flick, the Yazoo Pumps are rising again from the bureaucratic crypt.
First proposed in 1941, and kept alive ever since by a complacent Congress, the Yazoo Pumps may well be the most daft in a long line of environmentally destructive schemes undertaken by the Army Corps of Engineers at Congress’s request. The project calls for the corps to build the world’s largest pumping system, at a cost of more than $200 million, in the Mississippi Delta. The pumps would then drain 200,000 acres of valuable wetlands, hardwood forests and wildlife habitat so that a relatively small number of soybean farmers, who already drink liberally from the public trough, can plant more crops.
The project’s main champions are Mississippi’s two senators, Trent Lott and Thad Cochran, who say it’s necessary for the local economy and for flood control, assertions for which no persuasive evidence has ever been produced. The project has long been opposed by scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Fish and Wildlife Service. But it has been kept alive by legislators eager to protect their own deals with the corps and by past E.P.A. administrators who, despite deep personal misgivings, have ducked a decision pending a final environmental impact statement.
That statement is expected to be published later this week, at which point there will be no further reason not to kill the project. Two officials can do the deed. One is Dirk Kempthorne, the interior secretary, who can refer the project for determination to the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Few projects have survived this referral process. The other official is Stephen Johnson, the current E.P.A. administrator. Mr. Johnson can kill the project outright under section 404 of the Clean Water Act, which requires the E.P.A. to protect wetlands.
Over the years, the cozy and durable relationship between the Corps of Engineers and its pork-loving Congressional paymasters has produced one environmental misfortune after another. This is one that the Bush administration can and should prevent.

Mississippi Gulf Coast Katrina Recovery as Submitted by the Rand Corporation

2007-10-08T04:09:00.000-07:00

Here is a VERY important analysis of the recovery, or lack there of, the Mississippi Gulf Coast, as submitted by the Rand Corporation. Their empasis is on the lack of afforadble housing. I have copied it here in its entirety.

Repair and Replacement of Affordable Housing Lags in Mississippi's Post-Katrina Recovery

Affordable housing recovery in three coastal counties in Mississippi heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina lags behind the pace of the rest of the housing market in the region, according to a RAND Corporation study released today.

While construction permits had been issued as of July for approximately 60 percent of the housing damaged by the hurricane, repair and replacement of multi-unit housing significantly lags behind repair and replacement of single-family homes, according to this study from the RAND Gulf States Policy Institute.
This gap has seriously worsened the pre-Hurricane shortage of affordable housing in Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties, researchers say. The problem makes it particularly difficult to attract the construction laborers and other workers needed to rebuild the region's devastated infrastructure, the report says.
“The challenge for the region is to develop a balanced growth plan that provides housing for people at every income level,” said Kevin McCarthy, the study's lead author and a senior social scientist at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. “There needs to be more affordable housing to create diversity in the economy and build a new, better Gulf Coast.”

“The study provides Mississippi with insights and guidance that will help keep us focused on rebuilding the communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina,” said Chris Wilson, president of the Mississippi Association of Realtors, which together with the National Association of Realtors was one of the principal sponsors of the report.
“Transparency and accountability are the essential hallmarks of an equitable recovery process,” said Bernadette Orr, Gulf Coast Recovery Program Manager for Oxfam America. “The information in this report is a crucial tool for residents of Mississippi's Gulf Coast to be empowered in the process to help plan and rebuild their communities.”

RAND researchers found, not surprisingly, that housing that sustained only limited or moderate damage is being rebuilt faster than units that were severely damaged. This is due to the high cost of repairs, a backlog in the construction market, and difficulties homeowners and landlords face in obtaining financing for repairs and reconstruction, McCarthy said.

Recovery efforts for all housing types are expected to take at least three more years and cost a total of more than $4 billion, according to the study.
Access to financing appears to be the single biggest obstacle to the recovery effort, researchers say. Although there are many financial sources, including insurance, Mississippi Homeowner Assistance Grants and government loans, gaps remain and particularly affect landlords of multi-family rental properties and un- and under-insured households that suffered major damage.

Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties were the hardest-hit by the hurricane in August 2005. About 60 percent of the region's housing stock was damaged and affordable housing – in short supply before the storm – has become even scarcer.
McCarthy and co-author Mark Hanson found that since the storm, residents have faced a 20 percent increase in rents and a drop in employment, in addition to the fact that 20 percent of the total housing stock was not merely damaged, but destroyed.
Katrina not only destroyed and damaged buildings, it also damaged the region's infrastructure, economy and such public sector institutions as medical facilities, schools and government offices. Solving the affordable housing problem will require replacing the jobs and wages that were lost following the storm, but that requires that there be a supply of affordable housing for those employees, McCarthy said.
McCarthy said leaders also should be careful that pressure to speed recovery efforts does not disrupt mitigation efforts designed to protect the region from future storms.
Rebuilding efforts that occurred after Hurricane Camille devastated the Gulf Coast in 1969 put speed over mitigation measures. One positive post-Katrina sign is that the Mississippi Homeowners Grant Program requires recipients to comply with new and stricter building codes, including elevation requirements, and the purchase of floodplain insurance.
However, stricter zoning regulations and other “smart growth” principles have increased the cost of rebuilding. If housing prices in the region continue to increase, political pressure may build to dispense with those measures in favor of more rapid and inexpensive construction, McCarthy said.

RAND researchers examined U.S. Census Bureau data to describe the housing market before the storm, Federal Emergency Management Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineer data to describe the damage done by the storm, and building permits data to examine recovery in the two years after the storm.
The RAND Gulf States Policy Institute served as advisors to Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour's Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal in 2005 and 2006. This study, “Post-Katrina Recovery of the Housing Market Along the Mississippi Gulf Coast,” was sponsored by: Oxfam America, a nonprofit organization that works to end global poverty; a private donor; the Mississippi Association of Realtors; and the National Association of Realtors.

The RAND Gulf States Policy Institute is helping government, nonprofits and the private sector develop a long-term vision and strategies for building a better future for Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The goal of RGSPI is to assist in long-term recovery efforts by providing evidence-based policy research and guidance to speed regional recovery and growth.
RGSPI is a collaboration between RAND, including the Pardee RAND Graduate School, and seven universities in the Gulf States region: Jackson State University, Tulane University, Tuskegee University, University of New Orleans, University of South Alabama, University of Southern Mississippi, and Xavier University of Louisiana.

The study is available at http://www.rand.org/.

Blackwater - The Private Security Firm in Iraq

2007-09-27T03:52:00.000-07:00

I'm sure that many of you have been reading about the latest charges against the private security company, Blackwater. The Iraqi Government has finally had enough of the way they indiscriminately fire on and slaughter innocent Iraqi citizens. In an attempt to bring sanctions against this rogue company the Iraqi Government attempted to strip Blackwater of their right to operate in their country. This threat lasted a whole three days when the American government told those in charge of the Iraqi to cease and desist. Now Congressman Henry Waxman is attempting to mount an official investigation into the high handed methods used by Blackwater. Just yesterday it was revealed by him that no less a personage than our beloved Secretary of State, Condolezza Rice, has blocked Congressman Waxman's effort to gain information about Blackwater to help him determine the guilt or innocence of Blackwater in this latest incident, and to determine if they are operating according to official guidelines.

Just below this entry you will see a list of statitics just released by the Institute for Southern Studies concerning Blackwater. I urge all of you to use this list for talking points to call and complain to your Congressional Representative and to your Senators about Blackwater and all of the so called security firms that seem to have been given carte blanche to run rough shod over the Iraqi population.

Number of Iraqi civilians including infants and children who have died to date as a result of a Sept. 16 shooting incident involving the North Carolina-based security contractor Blackwater USA, according to Iraqi authorities: 28

Number of Iraqi civilians killed in the incident, according to mainstream U.S. press reports: 11

Number of days after announcing it would withdraw Blackwater's operating license in response to the incident that the Iraqi government backtracked on its decision: 3

Amount that Blackwater founder and former Navy Seal Erik Prince has donated to Republican causes: $200,000

Rank of Blackwater among the State Department's private security contractors: 1

Value of Blackwater's State Department security contract in Iraq: $300 million

Approximate number of Blackwater guards deployed in Iraq: 1,000

Approximate number of U.S.-sanctioned private security firms currently operating in Iraq: 140

Approximate total of U.S.-sanctioned private-contractor troops currently operating in Iraq: 50,000

Number of Iraqi civilian shooting deaths by private contractors documented during a single two-month period in Baghdad alone by U.S. Brigadier General Karl Horst: 12

Number of deadly incidents involving Blackwater operatives for which the Iraqi government claims to have evidence: 7

Number of Iraqi laws to which Blackwater and other U.S private security contractors are subject to prosecution under a directive issued by U.S. occupation authorities in 2004: 0

Number of U.S. military laws to which Blackwater and other U.S. private security contractors in Iraq are subject to prosecution: 0

Number of courts martial that U.S. soldiers have faced for murder-related charges in Iraq: about 64

Average daily base pay of a typical U.S. service member serving in Iraq: $57

Estimated daily earnings of a Blackwater security guard based in Iraq: $500 to $600

All sources on file at the Institute for Southern Studies.

2007-09-10T05:44:00.000-07:00

I meant to post this earlier and it completely slipped my mind.

On the 4th of August "Crooks and Liars" posted a quote from Senator Lott that again shows that this man is completely out of touch with reality.

The following is a quote from him where he cautions that unless the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is renewed by Congress prior to the upcoming scheduled congressional recess a "disaster could be on our doorstep".

When asked if people should leave Washington, D.C., during the month of August, Lott responded, “I think it would be good to leave town in August, and it would probably be good to stay out until September the 12th.”

What an idiot!

George Carlin: education and the owners of America

2007-09-09T04:53:00.001-07:00

Another George Carlin clip. This time he talks about education in this country and who really owns this country. Again a lot of profanity.

Greenpeace Video

2007-09-05T03:15:00.001-07:00

Say what you will about Greenpeace and Global Warming, this video is powerful!

Video: Keith Olbermann Reenacts Larry Craig Incident

2007-09-01T04:04:00.001-07:00

Here is the video I promised where Keith Olbermann portrays the actual police report as written by the arresting officer that arrested Senator Craig (R-ID).

2007-08-31T03:56:00.000-07:00

Well our beloved Trent Lott has done it again. This time he is defending Senator Craig from Idaho. You know the anti-gay Senator that decided he would try for a quick liasion in a bathroom during a stop over at the Minneapolis-St Paul airport. Seems he was busted by an undercover cop for trying to play footsies with him under the dividers that separate two commodes.

Here is an portion of an artocle printed in the Washington Post and a partial transcript from an interview that Bloomberg News Service did with Trent Lott concerning the call for Craig to resiegn:

At this point, the closest thing Craig has to a public defender is Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), the minority whip who himself endured a scandal in December 2002 that ended with him giving up his post as Republican leader because of intemperate remarks at the late Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party. Lott hung on during that period for more than two weeks, and one of his staunchest defenders was Craig, who had served for more than six years in the GOP leadership with Lott.

Lott has signed on to the leadership statements calling for the ethics investigation and the removal of Craig's senior committee status. But in interviews with Fox News and Bloomberg TV, he stopped short of calling for Craig's resignation. "I'm not ready to call for that," he told Fox News.

Here's the transcript of Lott's interview with Bloomberg:

Bloomberg: Do you think Sen., Craig should step down?

Lott: I think we have done so far what's appropriate. I don't [think] we know all of
the details. I saw Senator Craig yesterday say that he had not done
anything wrong and that he shouldn't have pleaded guilty to resisting
arrest. The leadership team has already called on this matter to be sent to
the Ethic s Committee to clear up what has actually occurred. And also
today we did ask that he step aside from his ranking committee positions
while this is being resolved. And I think based on what we know now that
is appropriate. It's s very unfortunate situation, very sad and very
serious. And I think we had to pay very close attention to it as we work
on finding out what really went on."

Bloomberg: And sir you do expect Sen. Craig to be back in Congress, in the
Senate, when you all return next week?

Lott: I really don't know what to expect. Only he and his family and
friends, close friends, could answer that at this point, I expect he'll be
back based on what he said yesterday but I don't know."

Bloomberg: The Larry Craig described the last two days -- is that the Larry Craig
you came to know in the Senate for so many years?

Lott: Well he's been a very aggressive legislator, he's been active in
working for the state of Idaho, he has been a friend.
And so I am shocked and I am disappointed at you know, this turn of
events ... but I also have learned the hard way that before you jump to
conclusions or call on people to do one thing or another, at least know all
of the facts and you know take advantage of an opportunity to hear what,
you know, really happened.

FOX ATTACKS: Iran

2007-08-23T14:20:00.001-07:00

Remember how Fox pushed the Iraq war? Their doing it again - this time it is Iran. I urge you to watch this video (if you haven't already done so), then go to the linked Web Site and call any business that advertises on Fox News and asked them to please stop giving their advertising dollars to a network that can only be classified as a mouth piece for the White House and this twice unelected President. Their rhetoric is aimed at fanning the flames of war. The only thing an attack on Iran would do is further jeopardize the lives of our young men and women fighting this illegal war.

2007-08-22T04:40:00.000-07:00

For those of you that haven't seen it yet here is a link to an excellent op-ed that appeared in last Sundays NY Times. It is written by 7 members of the 82nd Airborne that have just returned from a 15 month deployment to Iraq. Please keep this excellent analysis in mind when the White House/Petraeus release their report on how things are going in Iraq, vis-a-vis the "Surge".

2007-08-07T03:06:00.000-07:00

I apologize to you all for not updating this more often. The last three weeks or so, my wife and I have been supporting our daughter as she was in and out of the Ocean Springs Hospital. In between those visits her and I had doctors appointments that required different methods of preparation. It seemed as though it was one thing after another and I just didn't have the motivation. Now however, my daughter is back home and finally on the mend so I decided to do a little ranting and raving.

I wonder if you all have been keeping track of the wonderful voting record of late of Gene Taylor. To add to his shameful past of voting for the Military Commissions Act, voting against the non-binding referendum condemning the surge, and voting against the Defense appropriations bill that contained a time line for withdrawal, this low down snake-in-the-grass, just in the last week voted for the new and enhanced Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and against the bill that increases funding for health care for this nations children. This new FISA not only gives our twice unelected president the write to spy on phone calls of suspected terrorists but to also monitor EVERY call the you or I make or receive from or to a foreign country. Please let Taylor know that we really appreciate him supporting our nations children and further eroding our civil rights.

Now on to Trent Lott - Have you seen his latest insane statement to the press? This one was to the Roll Call. They bill themselves as the "Newspaper of Capital Hill". Seems our esteemed Senator finally revealed the true nature of the Republican Party when he told a reporter for Roll Call that "The strategy of being obstructionist can work or fail… and so far, it’s working for us.” Along that line here is a link to an excellent document that reveals exactly what the Republican Party thinks of our civil rights, the health of the average citizen, and the "plight of the downtrodden" in general.

I know what the general population of the coast think about Taylor and Lott. They think they are the greatest two politicians that have ever come down the pike. Why is that? Because of their fight against the insurance companies and their attempt to secure more funds to rebuild the coast. I've said it before and I'll say it again - Do you really think they would fight so hard against organizations like the insurance cartels if they hadn't gotten screwed by them also? Do you really think they would have fought so hard to help rebuild the coast if their private residences hadn't gotten destroyed also? I have a tendency to think not. Look at Cochran - ever hear anything from him about this? I haven't either.

george carlin nails it

2007-08-02T12:52:00.001-07:00

George Carlin on who really owns this country. Caution - If you know anything about Carlin you know he uses a lot of profanity.

I don't usually post anything with profanity but Carlin really nails it.

Corporate Low-Down Depot Mart

2007-07-20T04:17:00.001-07:00

A very important message about the further destruction of the Gulf Coast environment by Lowes, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart. Please share this video with your friends. We must stop the destruction of one of the barriers that help protect us from the ravages of Mother Nature.

2007-07-08T12:53:00.000-07:00

Well the neo-cons are at it again!!

This time they are comparing the pardon of Mark Rich by Clinton to the commutation of Scooter Libby by Bush. Their argument is that Clinton did it why shouldn't Bush? As usual their comparisons and arguments don't hold up.

Some differences between the two cases are:

1 - Rich didn't jeopardize national security; Libby did

2 - Rich didn't place the lives of operatives that Valerie Plame dealt with in jeopardy (we still don't know if her exposure by Libby caused deaths); Libby did

3 - Rich was never convicted of a crime...he was INDICTED on charges of tax evasion and suspicion of having conducted illegal trades with Iran at the time of the Iran Hostage crisis

One thing I find interesting about this case is that Scooter Libby represented Rich from 1985 until the spring of 2000 and supported the pardon. As a matter of fact in a letter to the NY Times Clinton noted that Libby was one of three "distinguished Republican lawyers" who supported Rich's pardon.

Presidential Scholars 2007 Petition U.S. President Bush

2007-07-06T03:40:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Bush met with 137 high school students, all of them Presidential Scholars. The meeting took place in front of the Jefferson Memorial in D.C. One of the students presented him with a hand written letter that had been signed by 50 of the students urging him to stop the torture of ALL prisoners. He read the letter and told the students that the United States does not torture.

Here is an interview with two of the students that drafted and signed the letter. One of the interviewees presented the letter to Bush. I urge you all to take the time to watch this video. It is very inspiring and heartening to realize that there are young people like these two young ladies that are willing to step forward and protest what is going on.

2007-07-04T13:56:00.000-07:00

Ever hear of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)? I forget how I got to their web site; it looked interesting so I did some exploring and came across a map that showed the number of hate groups, as of 2006, in the U.S. by state. Take a look:

Active U.S. Hate Groups in 2006. The Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project counted 844 active hate groups in the United States in 2006. Only organizations and their chapters known to be active during 2006 are included. Go here to see a map to find out more about hate groups.

If you click on Mississippi you will see that we have 28 hate groups. The groups are comprised of every manner of ideology you might think of. I was surprised to see that their was a chapter of the KKK right here on the coast. It is located in Bay St. Louis. In addition there is one in Kiln.

In Lucedale we have a chapter of the Church of Southern Identity. The SPLC defines the Church of Southern Identity as a:

Church of The Christian Identity religion asserts that whites, not Jews, are the true Israelites favored by God in the Bible. In most of its forms, Identity theology depicts Jews as biologically descended from Satan, while non-whites are seen as soulless "mud people" created with the other Biblical "beasts of the field." Christian Identity has its roots in a 19th-century English fad called British Israelism, which asserted that European whites were descended from the ten "lost tribes" of Israel and were thus related to Jews, who were descended from the other two Hebrew tribes mentioned in the Bible. But British Israelism, which was initially friendly to Jews, was adopted and transformed in the 20th century into a rabidly anti-Semitic creed by a number of racist preachers in the United States.

Here is a link to the map of Mississippi

2007-07-04T10:22:00.000-07:00

One day a couple of weeks ago I was sitting in my front room watching the latest Democracy Now program when I heard a knock at the door. I went to the door to see who it was. It turned out to be one of the many candidates for tax collector of Jackson County. By way of introduction he told me his name and that he was a Republican. I shook his hand and told him that he might very well be a nice man but that I couldn't vote for him in the primary because I vote strictly Democrat, especially since the jerk in the White House has ruined this country with his illegal war in Iraq. He proceeded to try to justify the Iraq war with the same old tired neo-con, and completely false, rhetoric that we had to attack Iraq to revenge the 9/11 attack on the U.S. I had heard that there were people out there that still believed that Iraq was involved in 9/11, but this is the first time I had ever met one. I don't mind telling you that I was taken aback by the fact that any individual running for political office could actually still believe that Iraq was involved, was scary.

I tried to enlighten him by telling him that 13 of the 15 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia and that Iraq was not involved in any way shape or form. He then tried the old WMD and al-Quaeda link ploy; I quickly shot those down. I told him that I supported Bush when he went into Afghanistan after the REAL bad guys, but when he decided to let bin Laden go and pulled out the majority of our troops to go invade the sovereign and completely innocent country of Iraq, he lost not only my support but eventually the support of the majority of Americans. He continued the right wing rhetoric about various issues. A couple of times during the conversation I asked him if he was a Fox News watcher, he completely ignored me, however near the end of the back and forth he finally admitted that he was a Fox News watcher. I told him that he really needed to start watching other news programs so he could get informed as to what is really going on in the world. Needless to say he wasn't at all happy with my suggestion.

As I pointed out earlier the fact that ANYBODY running for ANY position no matter how non-political it may be, is so uninformed is scary. We must all be on the look out for these individuals.

Why is Iraq in Chaos? NO END IN SIGHT Learn the Truth!

2007-06-23T10:01:00.001-07:00

For those of you that have not seen it here is the trailer for the Sundance award winning film called "No End in Sight". Here is their web site: http://www.noendinsightmovie.com/

Democracy Now! Amy Goodman speaks with Michael Moore

2007-06-22T03:53:00.001-07:00

For those of you that haven't seen it, here is a video with Michael Moore being interviewed by Amy Goodman of Democracy NOW! about his soon to be relesed movie about health care in this nation. As you know it focuses specifically on how shabbily the government has treated the 9/11 workers and how they have been denied health care. It also focuses on Americans that have health insurance and how they often have to fight there insurers for treatment.

2007-06-21T10:47:00.000-07:00

A few thoughts and observations for the day -

First: Gene Taylor has done it again. This time he was one of only 16 Democrats in the house that voted against the Stem Cell Enhancement Act; this bill passed even though he voted against it; it provided money to spur research that might lead to cures for such things as Autism, Parkinsons, Diabetes, and a whole host of other diseases. What has he got against the sick and suffering of the United States? I urge you to call him and voice your concerns about his voting record that seems to align him more with the neo-cons than the Democratic Party.

Second: The state of Mississippi has just announced that they have discovered that they have taken in some $10 million dollars more than anticipated. What do they intend to do with the surplus? Use it to lower tuition at the state colleges! If you recall Barbour and his cronies cried and screamed that do to a predicted budget shortfall they would have to trim back the states already poor Medicaid program. Some of the state residents that need it most have been eliminated from the program. Why not use the surplus to bring these people back on the rolls? I'll tell you why not - because the people eliminated from the rolls are the poor of the state and most probably vote Democrat, while the majority of the little dahlings that go to college are children of neo-cons. I urge you to call your Senators and Representatives and ask them to make it known to Barbour that the surplus should be used to shore up the worst Medicaid program in the United States.

Third - Are you as sick and tired as I am of the crap Senator Liberman is pulling? Why is he still the chair of the Homeland Security Committee in the Senate? Now he is hosting a fund raiser for a Republican Senator. I have called the Senate Majority leader, Senator Reid, and urged him to remove Liberman as chair of the Homeland Security Committee. I urge you to do the same. He can be reached at (202) 224-3542

2007-06-13T04:51:00.000-07:00

If you are like me you've had it with the majority of companies you deal with today if you have a problem with one of their products.

Recently I have had reason to call the customer service of two different companies about items I have purchased from them, each time I have had to call a number that was not a toll free number; in others words I had to pay for the call. One of the companies I called is the manufacturer of the computer I am typing this on, E-Machines; the other is Electrolux (who also makes Frigidaire products). In both cases not only have I had to pay for the call but, now here is the part that really pisses me off, I have been connected with an individual in a foreign country, most likely India. This mind you after having to listen to and respond to a lengthy menu of options (meanwhile the long distance charges keep piling up). After finally being connected to one of the so called "customer service agents" I attempt to explain my problem. These people understand and speak very good English, however they always seem to have trouble understanding if you try to explain to them that your problem is not one of the run of the mill problems they encounter everyday.

They following is a brief synopsis of the problem I had with a so called service rep for Frigidaire:

After finally navigating through a menu on a 1800 number that was provided with the owners manual of our brand new Frigidaire Gas Range I was told to call a (706) number if the previous menu did not solve my problem and I needed to talk to a customer service rep. I did this:

Rep: hello this is Mike (?) how can I help you?

Me: (after having recognized the heavy accent) Where are you located?

Rep: you called Atlanta but I am in India

Me: why don't you have a 1800 number I can call so I don't have to pay for this? (big mistake here - this is one of those out of the ordinary issues I talked about earlier; at this point he became completely flustered)

Rep: I don't know sir. How can I help you?

Me: here is my problem - We purchased one of your ranges two weeks ago. The first time my wife used the oven the heat from it caused two spots on the porcelain surface to flake off (at this point he interrupts: can I have the model and serial number?)

Me: I give it to him; he messes up both numbers and I have to correct him numerous times.

Rep: let me put you on hold while I look this up

Minutes later he finally comes back on line on tells me that I will have to contact a service rep and they will come out and fix the problem.

Me: they will not come out and fix the problem! the warranty info clearly says that the company is not responsible for damage incurred during installation; there is no way I can prove it didn't happen during installation (another mistake - again an out of ordinary concept) all I want from you is to know if your company sells a product that will allow me to repair it myself. (I'm put on hold again).

He finally comes back on line and AGAIN refers me to a locale service rep and offers to give a phone number so they can come out and repair it. At this point I hung up.

I immediately went to the Frigidaire web site and sent them an e-mail expressing my displeasure with the fact they have their customer service center in a foreign country and that they do not have a 1800 number for their customers. I had previously e-mailed E-machines with the same gripe after having encountered much the same problem with their customer service - their reply: by not having a 1800 number we keep our cost to the consumer down. They never responded about the frustration of having to deal with foreign nationals when a customer encounters a problem.

I urge you all to do the same thing I have done - find out how to get a hold of the parent company and call them and complain. If enough of us do it may be it will make an impression.

2007-06-10T04:33:00.001-07:00

Reference my earlier post about the massive troop build up Turkey is undertaking on the northern border of Iraqm, as I warned and this opinion column confirms if they invade Northern Iraq, it will become a very disastrous situation.

2007-06-08T13:42:00.000-07:00

From a post by Karen Dalton-Beninto on The Huffington Post: The Scruggs Katrina Group erected a billboard on the Veterans Highway in Bloomington, Illinois. It is the route the CEO of State Farm has to take to get to his office. The billboard says "21 Months in a FEMA Trailer. Thanks Neighbor," with a photo of one of the many trailers still along the Gulf Coast.

You can read the entire post here, the post includes a picture of the billboard and pictures of a $7.5 million dollar water park that is for the exclusive use of State Farm employees.

Defend Habeas

2007-06-08T05:07:00.001-07:00

Many of you know that I have railed against the Military Commissions Act (MCA) ever since it was passed last year. I have been particularly pissed off at Gene Taylor for voting for it. One of the most horrendous provisions of the MCA was the elimination of Habeas Corpus, now the Senate Judciary Committee has just voted to send a bill to the Senate floor to repeal that portion of the MCA. I urge you to watch this video and call Cochran and Lott and urge them to support the bill that calls for the restoration of Habeas Corpus.

2007-06-06T04:03:00.000-07:00

There is a potentially explosive situation evolving in the Northern Iraq area controlled by the Kurds. This region has for the most part been violence free. The war as a whole has been concentrated in the part of Iraq that lays south of Kirkuk. Now the Iraqi Arab majority is mounting attacks on civilians and strategic infrastructure targets of the Kurdish controlled area. Just Saturday a vital bridge that links the Kurdish region to Baghdad was destroyed by what is presumed to be members of the Iraqi Arab majority. On the same day many innocent Kurdish civilians were killed and/or injured by a sustained mortar attack mounted by the very same people.

Meanwhile Turkey has built up their troop strength on the Northern Iraq/Turkey border threatening to invade Kurdish Iraq on the pretense that it is to destroy alleged Kurdish terrorist camps that are located in Kurdish controlled Northern Iraq.

Will our fearless leader demand that the Turkey government pullback their troops and abandon any plans they might have to invade Iraq? Our will he sell the Kurds down the river like his daddy did to the Shia when he urged them to overthrow Hussein after the first Gulf War and then abandoned them to be slaughtered by forces loyal to Hussein? Want to take a guess as to what I think he'll do?

Update - I just found this on The Huffington Post..it is a report on a possible incursion into Northern Iraq by Turkish troops.

2007-06-03T02:46:00.000-07:00

Well our idiot dictator to be has done it again! This time he has nominated an individual for Surgeon General who promotes healing gays by praying away their lifestyle. His name? Dr. James Holsinger. You read that right: Bush's nominee for Surgeon General believes that gays should just pray harder to be cured of their choice. Except, of course, he doesn't want gays to minister or become church members. Seems he and his wife founded a church, Hope Springs Community Church, after they were asked to leave their previous United Methodist church in Lexington, Kentucky. Hope Springs Community Church is "recovery-oriented." Recovery from gayitude is one of the recoveries he preaches.

Dr. James Holsinger appears to be a heavily "faith-based" religio-political activist, and isn't likely to serve the health interests of the full and diverse community of tax-paying Americans. His record as a member and current president of the United Methodist Judicial Council, the highest church court for the Methodist Church in the US, includes votes against allowing a lesbian associate pastor, and also supporting the denial of church membership to a gay man. The latter decision was overturned by the church's Bishops.

This nomination has to go through the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. If you are like me you don't want an individual as our Surgeon General who believes that it is possible to pray the "gayness" out of an individual. You want a medical doctor who is solidly entrenched in the 21st century. To that end it is imperative that you contact them via e-mail at help_comments@help.senate.gov. If you want to contact the individual members of the committee you can find them here.

If history is any judge our objections may all be for naught. This creep may just use one of his infamous "recess" appointments. Oh well we can try.

2007-06-01T14:09:00.000-07:00

Have you heard about the latest little trick that our dictator to be pulled? According to some observers that were with him at his western castle in Texas, he supposedly pounded himself on the chest three times and declared each time he did it that "I am the President". Has he finally succumbed to his visions of grandeur? In addition to the chest pounding it was also reported that he said that he had no intentions of trying to end the Iraq war before the end of his reign. As a matter of fact he intended to continue the war so that the next President would have to handle it them selves. He allegedly made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of “our country’s destiny.”

Want another example of the lack of compassion of this man? I just listened to an interview from NPR with a group of gold star mothers that are against the war. They along with approximately 95 other gold star family's met with the wannabe dictator. He sat down with her and 4 or 5 other grieving mothers to talk with them about their loss. When he came to the woman that was being interviewed on NPR she told him in no uncertain terms that she was against the war and asked him when he was bringing the troops home. His answer - "when the mission was complete". After receiving nothing but negative responses from her he correctly observed that she "seemed very hostile". Just prior to them leaving the room he presented each one of them a presidential coin and asked them to "not tell the others and (this is the clincher) please don't sell them on e-Bay". Compassionate Conservative my ass!!!

2007-06-01T03:16:00.000-07:00

If you want to read a sad commentary as to how this nation is treating our fighting me and women that are killed in this illegal war, please read the following from "Crooks and Liars"

It was exactly two years ago today that Dick Cheney told us that the insurgency in Iraq is in its last throes.

I heard that earlier today, and it came to me again as I read this story:

Fort Lewis, which this month has suffered its worst losses of the war, will no longer conduct individual memorial ceremonies for soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Instead, the post will hold one ceremony for all soldiers killed each month, the Fort Lewis acting commanding general, Brig. Gen. William Troy, wrote in a memo to commanders and staff last week.

"As much as we would like to think otherwise, I am afraid that with the number of soldiers we now have in harm's way, our losses will preclude us from continuing to do individual memorial ceremonies," Troy wrote in the memo, according to a copy obtained by United for Peace Pierce County and posted on the group's Web site. A post spokesman confirmed the policy change Tuesday. It will start in June.

2007-05-20T13:06:00.000-07:00

On May 19th Reuters released the following statement from the Commanding general of all forces in Iraq -

The U.S. military's top commander in Iraq said he believed at least two of three missing U.S. soldiers abducted a week ago were still alive.

General David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said it had been feared one of the missing three might have died, but he did not know for certain if all three were alive or dead.
"As of this morning, we thought there were at least two that were probably still alive," Petraeus told the U.S. Army newspaper Army Times in an interview on Friday.

"At one point in time there was a sense that one of them might have died, but again we just don't know," he said.

What the hell is wrong with these people are they just ignorant or do they have an overwhelming need to see their name in print?

If two of the three soldiers are alive, and I hope that is so, Petraeus most probably just sealed their fate. If I was a relative of the three I would be raising hell right now. Doesn't anybody that is supposed to be in charge have any common sense? I am more convinced than ever that their all blooming idiots.

2007-05-20T02:09:00.000-07:00

For those of you that don't subscribe to the Mississippi Press, I have posted below a letter I wrote that was published on 14 May 2007. I have highlighted a portion of the letter I will discuss further after you have read the letter -

During the past couple of weeks Mr. Don Brimm and I have been exchanging pleasantries about this twice unelected president and the illegal invasion of Iraq. I'm sure it will come as a relief to you and your readers that I have no intention of continuing this debate. It is patently clear to me that my logical and sound reasoning will not penetrate the neo-con wall that Mr. Brimm has chosen to surround himself with. I am convinced this wall is designed to keep out all reason, logic and the truth. I shall make one more comment - as to my statement in the last letter I wrote that we are real close to being a fascist society, I shall refer Mr. Brimm and others to the following website - http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm

Now on to some other issues -

From time to time this paper and "the other coast paper" will publish an editorial or a letter from a citizen of the coast bemoaning the fact that despite acquiring thousands of signatures we were not able to persuade our 19th century minded legislatures to pass an animal cruelty bill with some teeth in it. Invariably the author will site Representative Jeff Smith as a driving force to get this kind of legislation passed. Let me once again remind your readers of an incident that happened to a citizen of the coast when she tried to convince Smith that this legislation needed to be passed. She presented him with the petitions we had acquired, again with thousands of signatures, he told her in no uncertain terms that as long as he was the chairman of the Judiciary B committee a bill making animal abuse a felony would never get out of committee. He is still the committee chairman and has yet to let a felony animal abuse bill out of his committee. It is my understanding that a committee chairman has the power to push a bill to the floor even if it meets major opposition by the other members of a committee. In short - don't think Smith is going to be the hero of the hour.

As reported in this paper on the 2nd of May of this year candidate for LtGov State Senator Charlie Ross, Republican, called for a special session of the state legislature to address his proposal for a voter ID bill. The Republicans in state after state are trying to push a voter ID law down the throat's of their state citizens. They always use the same argument - "It will stop voter fraud". Expert after expert have studied this allegation every time this argument rears its ugly head, and have all arrived at the same conclusion - there is no proof that in recent history massive voter fraud ever occurred. These same experts agree that ALL voter ID bill's are meant to suppress the vote of persons of color. It is just another version of the "poll tax". I urge all of you that are concerned about a further watering down of your civil rights, call your state representative and make them aware that you do not support a voter ID bill in this state.

Last item of concern - why is the State Health Department so concerned about protecting the health of the citizens of this state by closing down mom and pop operations that sell home baked, and canned goods at farmers market's, but don't seem to care about the pollution foisted on the citizens of this state by the likes of DuPont and Chevron? Could it be that money talks?

Now as to the reason I have posted this letter and highlighted the portion concerning voter ID and the attempt by the Republican Party to impose rules that are meant for one thing and one thing only - to suppress and intimidate the vote of people of color. It just happened that on the same day the Mississippi Press printed my letter Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! conducted an interview with the well respected, and much published, reporter, Greg Palast. The gist of the interview was that he had gotten his hands on 500 of the e-mails that Karl Rove had either initiated or had received. The majority of this e-mails were related to the on going scandal involving Gonzales and the firing of U.S. Attorneys. The content of some of these e-mails left no doubt that in some cases the firings were because the attorneys would not go along with Republican schemes to suppress the vote of people of color. You can either view the entire interview read a transcript of the interview here. What I was not aware of was that one of the fired attorneys, David Iglesias, is the person Tom Cruise portrayed in the movie " A Few Good Men".

Crooks and Liars

2007-05-16T02:59:00.000-07:00

For those of you that haven't seen it, please use the following link to watch a video from You Tube of what can only be described as the unvarnished truth that this administration doesn't want us to see.

Crooks and Liars

2007-05-15T05:05:00.000-07:00

The following is an analysis of how far the State of Mississippi has allowed its Medicaid program to fall. All statistics are from Public Citizen and are reflected in the following categories: (note: all italics are copied from the Public Citizen web site)

Elgibility - The state ranks 49th in eligibility. This reflects its restriction of services to those at the lowest mandated poverty level in most cases, leaving out many who cannot afford private health insurance, and its exclusion of those who are poor due to extreme health care costs, the medically needy. This poor showing in eligibility in Mississippi means that large numbers of people are excluded from Medicaid just because of where they happen to live, and they would be covered in a state with more lenient eligibility criteria.

Scope of Services - The score for scope of services is the lowest in the nation and represents only 33.4 percent of the total value. This reflects not only the exclusion of some services (e.g., psychologist services, dentures, hearing aids, prosthetic and orthotic devices, among others) but also the fact that the state has limitations in terms of amount, type, duration, and frequency of services, all of which cost points in the final score. The state scores particularly poorly in the subcategories of devices and equipment and rehabilitation. This poor showing in scope of services means that, even if people qualify for the program, they may not have access to many services provided to Medicaid recipients in states with a broader benefits package.

Quality of Care - In terms of quality of care, it ranks 25th. This reflects a better-than-average performance in staffing and monitoring nursing care, indicators in which many other state programs are quite deficient.

Provider Reimbursement - In the reimbursement category, Mississippi is tied with four other states in the 30th rank. Despite its obvious deficiencies in covering a population in need, Mississippi does a creditable job in paying its providers in comparison with both national standards and their Medicare counterparts. Nevertheless, it loses points in this category because it provides low provider payments for gynecological services and spends less than average on care per enrollee.

Mississippi ranks 50th in the U.S. for providing Medicaid services to its citizens. Though Quality of Care and Provider Reimbursement statistics are in the middle, the two biggest factors and most important are how many people Mississippi excludes (Elgibility) from Medicaid and how many services and needed prosthetic devices are excluded (Scope of Services).

You can go to an interactive summary of the report here. This site will not only let you view how Mississippi ranks in all of the rated areas, but you can also see how the other states ranked.

2007-05-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

This wonderful and at the same time frightening slide show about a report from The Guardian (a U.K. paper) appeared in The Guardian on the 2nd of May. He is imbedded with their version of a MASH unit. The call theirs an Incident Response Team (IRT). Please go here to view this eye opening slide show. You will never see anything like this published by ANY U.S. news agency.

2007-05-04T10:01:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite cartoon strips was and is "Calvin and Hobbs. Last Xmas my daughter gave me the Complete Calvin and Hobbs. There are three volumes that run from the beginnig until Bill Waterson stopped publishing it on December 31st 1995. Like me, it was a sad day for a lot of Americans. I am currently on volume 3.

On August 9, 1992 Waterson published a cartoon that can only be called prescient. Given the state of the worlds environment I thought it would be appropriate to share this particular cartoon with you all. It is in the form of a poem (anybody that is at all familiar with Waterson's work knows that he was particularly gifted in writing poetry), and needs no illustrations to accompany it.

Without further adieu and with thanks to Bill Waterson -

The Aliens came
from a far distant world
in a large yellow ship
that blinked as it twirled.
It rounded the moon,
entered our sky.
We knew they had come
but we didn't know why.

Bright the next morning,
with noisy commotioin,
the ship slowly moved
out over the ocean.
It lowered a tube
and drained the whole sea
for transport back home
to their galaxy.

The tube then sucked up
the clouds and the air,
causing no amount
of earthling despair.
With nothing to breathe,
we started to die.
"Help us! Please stop!"
Was the public outcry.

A hatch opened up
and the aliens said,
"we're sorry to learn
that you soon will be dead,
but though you may find
this slightly macabre,
we prefer your extinction
to the loss of our job."

The last frame shows Calvin sitting next to Hobbs. He hands him a piece of paper and says - " That's my science fiction story. Think it's too far-fetched?" Hobbs replies - " Not enough, really"

2007-05-02T18:17:00.000-07:00

While I was researching another administration faux pas today, I came across something that our twice unelected president said to some of his GOP cronies in December 2005. I don't recall if I heard this at the time. Either way it is worth bringing to the fore front again. When I first came across this today I couldn't believe that anybody, let alone an individual serving in a position that is supposed to protect the freedoms of ALL Americans, actually said it. I did a lot of research and after having found the evidence at many different places I have arrived at the conclusion that the following is true.

In December of 2005 a group of GOP Senators met with the dictator-to-be to discuss the renewal of certain elements of the Patriot Act. They cautioned the dictator-to-be that some of the provisions could be in direct conflict with the Constitution. Here is his reply -

"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face! It's just a goddamned piece of paper!"

Sources say the president, when told his insistence on preserving some provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives following the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination disaster, stated, "I don't give a goddamn: I'm the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way."

Are you scared yet? You should be. Is it no wonder we are in the perilous position were in and that our freedoms and the American way of life are teetering on the brink of destruction?

Norah Jones - My Dear Country

2007-04-26T02:10:00.001-07:00

A new song from Norah Jones. Please pay close attention to the lyrics. Very important and to the point.

2007-04-26T01:35:00.000-07:00

On the 24th of this month The Huffington Post published an interview with Air Force (AF) General Michael Moseley, the AF Chief of Staff. In this interview General Moseley bemoans the fact that the AF has had to supply some 20,000 AF personnel to serve with the Army in duties outside of their specialities. Some of these specialities are: convoy drivers; provide protection for these convoys; and prison guards. I happen to know a thing or two about this situation.

General Moseley stated that the Air Force supporting the Army in roles that are traditionaly non-Air Force was taxing the Air Force monetarily. I happened to have been in a position with the Air Force at the time when it became known that this type of training was needed to supply AF personnel to support the Army in convoy protection duty. I did some research and found that at the time we had already trained approximately 2,000 airmen to provide this kind of support. All of this training was done on the QT and was done by the Army. The AF powers to be decided that they wanted to put the so called AF stamp of approval on this training and invested untold amounts of money to establish a school that was run by the AF. I objected strongly to this and pointed out that the AF was not trained for this kind of duty and that the Army was the DoD mandated point of contact for infantry type duties. In addition they already had established schools to teach convoy protection duties. I was told to "shut-up and color". If the AF is now strapped for cash it is because they are too parochial, and only beleive in the concept of "joint training" when it serves their need.

2007-04-23T10:58:00.000-07:00

Gene Taylor has done it again. This time he voted against a bill that would, among other things, provide additional money for Katrina relief. Here is a link to the bill HR1591. In addition to providing more funds for Katrina relief this bill also provided more money for Veterans care, and to ensure that the troops that are sent to Iraq and Afghanistan are properly rested and trained. What possible reason could he have for voting against this bill?

I just talked to a member of his staff who happens to be active duty Navy. He told me that the reason Congressman Taylor voted against this bill was that it included a time line for withdrawal. Isn't this what we want? I know I sure do. Please call Congressman Taylor's office and tell him that when this bill comes back to the House, after Bush vetoes it, to please vote for it; time line or not. I have posted Congressman Taylor's DC phone number to the right.

Issue #2 for today - Bush has just nominated Michael Baroody to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Baroody is currently and executive vice president of the national Association of Manufactuers (NAM). NAM is a mouthpiece for manufacturers that want to eliminate any and all EPA regulations that they think harm their business practices by making them toe the line and adhere to anti-pollution regulations. Among the many issues Baroody fought for NAM were - asbetos settlement awards; tobacco fines; and one that hits close to home: In Mississippi in 2007, in a case involving possible exposure to the highly toxic chemical beryllium, NAM filed a joint brief pushing to disallow any claims for medical monitoring from employees of Mississippi’s Stennis Space Center and California’s Canoga Park. If you want to see more about the aforementioned lawsuit, go here . If you want to read more about some of the litigation either currently in progres or has been completed, go here . The bad thing about the last link is that it is on the NAM website; they don't even try to hide their evil anti-consumer lawsuits. Want to read more about Baroody as documented by Public Citizen? Go here.

Lou Dobbs had a rather scathing comment about this nomination. See it here. Do you want to see more evil this man has perpertrated on the American public? Want to help fight this nomination? Go to www.Stopbaroody.com

2007-04-13T04:55:00.000-07:00

Did anybody else notice that both Lott and Cochran recently voted for the Stem Cell Enhacement Act. What is up with that? Have they finally come to their senses? Maybe we should all call and thank them. I have posted their web sites, that include contact phone numbers, on the right side bar.

2006-10-31T05:00:00.000-08:00

The latest issue of Vanity Fair has what I believe to be a most revealing article about the state of hypocrisy in Mississippi. Our fair state leads or is in the top ten of the following dubious distinctions: Number two in the nation, in 2003, with the highest incarceration rate; this one I'm particularly proud of: in 2003 we were number one in the U.S. for incarcerating women; in 2003 we were number 7 in the U.S. for deaths by firearms; number three in the U.S. for gambling profits (pre-Katrina figures); number three in the U.S., in 2003, for highest illegitimacy rate; and number one in the U.S. for highest rate of obesity.

All this in a state that is supposed to be in the heart of the bible belt and classified as a red state. What is wrong with this picture?

I am not a native Mississippian but moved here 13 years ago and this is now my home state. Some people think I have no right to be so critical of the backward and nineteenth century mindset of, what seems like the majority of state residents and, party aside, the reluctance of our elected officials to change things and bring this state kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Let me cite some examples: the refusal of state legislatures to give radar to county sheriffs ( would somebody please explain to me what is so bad about giving them the ability to enforce speed limits in our counties); the domestic animal protection laws in this state are barbaric at best - our neighbors to the immediate west of us have better domestic animal protection laws than we do - this state provides for felony punishments for a first offense abuse of a farm animal, but for a dog or cat it is just a misdemeanor for the first two offenses; our department of transportation is the only one in the U.S. that is an independent agency and is not answerable to our elected officials; we have a department of environmental quality that is more interested in not offending big business that protecting the health of its citizens. I could go on and on but I'm sure you all get the idea. We MUST pull together to turn this state around and get it headed in the right direction. The only way to do that is to elect progressive thinkers and kick the red necks out that insist on keeping the status quo.

2006-10-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

I have discontinued my previous Blog entitled Gulf Coast Dems. I found that to many of the things I posted were not directed toward the Democrats, but were more likely to be my ratings and ravings about how this twice unelected "President" and his moneyed cronies are screwing up this nation.

Unlike my previous Blog I will make a valiant effort to update this daily.