She's Come Undone

She's come undone
She didn't know what she was headed for
And when I found what she was headed for
It was too late
She's come undone
She found a mountain that was far too high
And when she found out she couldn't fly
It was too late
It's too late She's gone too far She's lost the sun
She's come undone
She wanted truth but all she got was lies
Came the time to realize
And it was too late
She's come undone
She didn't know what she was headed for
And when I found what she was headed for Mama, it was too late
It's too late She's gone too far She's lost the sun
She's come undone
Too many mountains, and not enough stairs to climb
Too many churches and not enough truth
Too many people and not enough eyes to see
Too many lives to lead and not enough time
It's too late She's gone too far She's lost the sun She's come undone
She's come undone
She didn't know what she was headed for
And when I found what she was headed for
It was too late
She's come undone
She found a mountain that was far too high
And when she found out she couldn't fly Mama,
it was too late It's too late
She's gone too far She's lost the sun
She's come undone

The Party of NO vs. the Date

Obamas’ visit to New York was considered private, yet there was some criticism of the trip. In a press release with the headline “Putting on a Show,” the Republican National Committee said that the date between the President and his wife was inappropriate and that Mr. Obama was out of touch, especially given the looming bankruptcy of General Motors.

Remember when they criticised President Carter for never leaving the White House? The Party of NO strikes again.

Hopefully Something We Can All Agree On

This dog is cute.

With Friends Like This..............

In a recent interview with POLITICO, former Vice President Dick Cheney warned about what he said he feared was Obama’s naïve approach to the threat of terrorism and the harsh steps on interrogation, surveillance and detainment needed to stop it. Protecting the country’s security is “a tough, mean, dirty, nasty business,” Cheney said. He added: “The United States needs to be not so much loved as it needs to be respected. Sometimes, that requires us to take actions that generate controversy. I’m not at all sure that that’s what the Obama administration believes.”

Nuke the North.........NOT

Joseph Cirincione writing at CNN said the missile test should “condemned,” but that it is “not a serious threat to the United States, nor does it justify a crash program to deploy an expensive, unproven anti-missile system.”
This small, impoverished nation would need to make three key additional breakthroughs to turn this launch vehicle into a real nuclear-armed missile capable of reaching the continental United States.
First, North Korea has to develop a bigger, longer-range missile. MIT scientist Ted Postol calculates that the failed satellite appeared to weigh 150 to 200 kilograms (330 to 440 pounds) and was intended for a low-Earth orbit about 550 kilometers (340 miles) high. It is puny by world standards. . . .
Size matters. A typical first-generation nuclear warhead weighs about 1,000 kilograms. To threaten California or New York, North Korea needs a much bigger missile that can carry more weight over a longer distance. . . .
Second, North Korea would have to miniaturize its warhead. The primitive nuclear device tested by North Korea in 2006 is estimated to weigh more than 1,500 kilograms (3,307 pounds). That means North Korea’s current nuclear weapons are simply too heavy to be launched by a vehicle similar to the one tested Sunday. . . .
Third, North Korea would have to develop a re-entry vehicle for its warheads. A warhead returning through the atmosphere to its target must survive extreme conditions. Developing the technology required for this survivability is no small task. It is one thing to test a nuclear weapon in carefully controlled conditions. It is another to build one that can survive the fierce vibrations, G-forces and high temperatures of launch and re-entry into the atmosphere.

Blue Eyes Vs. Brown Eyes

Are the fair skinned, blue eyed people the cause of all our financial troubles?
Interesting suggestion.

Cherry on Top

Thomas L. Friedman
New York Times
The Madoff affair is the cherry on top of a national breakdown in financial propriety, regulations and common sense. Which is why we don’t just need a financial bailout; we need an ethical bailout. We need to re-establish the core balance between our markets, ethics and regulations. I don’t want to kill the animal spirits that necessarily drive capitalism — but I don’t want to be eaten by them either.

Does This Vote Count?

A Persistent Phenomenon

"I'm sure we'll see lots of colorfully misguided sex antics among our congressmen for many, many years to come, because it's clearly very easy for them to have a megalomaniacal delusion that causes them to think they can do whatever they want. And seeing other politicians get nabbed doesn't seem to diminish that delusion. It speaks to the power of that delusion. It's extraordinary how persistent a phenomenon it is."
Rufus Griscom, CEO of Nerve

Difference, What Difference?

Equals

My Thoughts Exactly

November 22, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
Time for Him to Go
By GAIL COLLINS
Thanksgiving is next week, and President Bush could make it a really special holiday by resigning.
Seriously. We have an economy that’s crashing and a vacuum at the top. Bush — who is currently on a trip to Peru to meet with Asian leaders who no longer care what he thinks — hasn’t got the clout, or possibly even the energy, to do anything useful. His most recent contribution to resolving the fiscal crisis was lecturing representatives of the world’s most important economies on the glories of free-market capitalism.
Putting Barack Obama in charge immediately isn’t impossible. Dick Cheney, obviously, would have to quit as well as Bush. In fact, just to be on the safe side, the vice president ought to turn in his resignation first. (We’re desperate, but not crazy.) Then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would become president until Jan. 20. Obviously, she’d defer to her party’s incoming chief executive, and Barack Obama could begin governing.
As a bonus, the Pelosi presidency would put a woman in the White House this year after all. On the downside, a few right-wing talk-show hosts might succumb to apoplexy. That would, of course, be terrible, but I’m afraid we might have to take the risk in the name of a greater good.
Can I see a show of hands? How many people want George W. out and Barack in?
A great many Americans have been counting the days all year on their 2008 George W. Bush Out of Office Countdown calendars. I know a lot of this has been going on because so many people congratulated me when the Feb. 1 Bush quote turned out to be from one of my old columns. (“I think we need not only to eliminate the tollbooth from the middle class, I think we should knock down the tollbooth.”)
This was not nearly as good as Feb. 5 (“We ought to make the pie higher”) or Feb. 21 (“I understand small business growth. I was one.”) But we do what we can.
In the past, presidents have not taken well to suggestions that they hand over the reins before the last possible minute. Senator J. William Fulbright suggested a plan along those lines when Harry Truman was coming to the end of a term in a state of deep unpopularity, and Truman called him “Halfbright” for the rest of his life. Bush might not love the idea of quitting before he has a chance to light the Christmas tree or commute the execution of one last presidential turkey. After all, he still has a couple more trips planned. And last-minute regulations to issue. (So many national parks to despoil, so many endangered species to exterminate ... .) And then there’s all the packing.
On the other hand, he might want to consider his legacy, such as it is.
In happier days, Bush may have nurtured hopes of making it into the list of America’s mediocre presidents, but somewhere between Iraq and Katrina, that goal became a mountain too high. However, he might still have a chance to avoid the absolute bottom of the barrel, a spot currently occupied by James Buchanan, at least in my opinion. Buchanan nailed down The Worst President title in the days between Abraham Lincoln’s election and inauguration, when the Southern states began seceding and Buchanan, after a little flailing about, did absolutely nothing. “Doing nothing is almost the worst thing a president can do,” said the historian Michael Beschloss.
If Bush gives up doing nothing by giving up his job, it’s possible that someday history might elevate him to the ranks of the below average. Better than Franklin Pierce! Smarter than Warren Harding! And healthier than William Henry Harrison!
The person who would like this plan least probably would be Barack Obama. Who would want to be saddled with the auto industry’s problems ahead of schedule? The heads of America’s great carmaking corporations are so dim that they couldn’t even survive hearings run by members of Congress who actually wanted to help them. Really, when somebody asks you exactly how much money you need, the answer should not be something along the line of “a whole bunch.”
An instantaneous takeover would also ruin the Obama team’s plan to have the tidiest, best-organized presidential transition in history. Cutting it short and leaping into governing would turn their measured march toward power into a mad scramble. A lot of their Cabinet picks are still working on those 62-page questionnaires.
But while there’s been no drama with Obama, we’ve been living a Technicolor version of “The Perils of Pauline.” Detroit is tied to the railroad tracks and the train is coming! California’s state government is falling into the sea! The way we’re going now, by the time the inauguration rolls around, unemployment will be at 10 percent and the Dow will be at 10.
Time for a change.

For South, a Waning Hold on National Politics

Interesting article in the New York Times. I for one couldn't be happier. You might also be interested in reading this.

Two Campaign Slogans

Two campaign slogans: "Yes WE Can" and "Country First". The former is inclusive and the latter is exclusive. Hopefully the Republicans can learn from their embrace of the exclusive and evolve.

Yes We Can

House Republicans Were Right

House Republicans voted down the first bailout bill because they were afraid it would become just another government boondoggle. But after it was loaded up with more pork than all the pigs in Iowa, they changed their minds. Guess what? It has become just another government boondoggle. Sec. Henry Paulson's idea was to buy up all the toxic mortgages to get them off the banks' books. He long since shelved that plan. His next idea was to buy stock in the banks so they would have fresh capital and could start making loans again. However, instead of making loans, some banks are using the money to pay dividends, give executives bonuses, and buy other banks. For example, PNC Financial Services received $7.7 billion in government money and promptly spent $5.6 billion of it to buy National City Corp. Lawmakers are protesting but they should hardly be surprised since they gave Paulson unlimited authority to spend the money any way he wanted to, with hardly any supervision and no restrictions on what the recipients did with the money. In addition, Paulson hired the Bank of New York Mellon to run the program. On the same day Bank of New York Mellon received $3 billion itself, apparently deciding that it could use some cash. Hardly anyone noticed.

What A Drag

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Embarrassing revelations about her costly campaign wardrobe and bloopers about the vice president's job description are raising fresh fears that Sarah Palin is dragging down the Republican ticket.
New polls showed Wednesday that seven weeks after John McCain plucked the Alaska governor from political obscurity to be his running mate in the November 4 elections, Palin is seen as an increasing liability for Republicans.
The Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found that Americans are less and less convinced she is worthy to serve as the country's number-two leader.
"Her numbers have plummeted in our poll ... what's more 55 percent think she's unqualified to serve as president if the need arises, which is a troublesome number given McCain's age," said NBC political director Chuck Todd.
The poll also puts the 72-year-old McCain 10 points behind his Democratic rival Barack Obama, and says that 47 percent of those surveyed viewed Palin negatively.

That's Alot of Lipstick

Republican National Committee spends $150,000.00 on Governor Palin's wardrobe. What hypocrites.

Worst Ever / Maybe not

Uh-Oh

US Debt Clock Runs Out of Digits

Until last month, the clock had enough digits to measure US debt levels
The US government's debts have ballooned so badly the National Debt Clock in New York has run out of digits to record the spiralling figure.
The digital counter marks the national debt level, but when that passed the $10 trillion point last month, the sign could not display the full amount.

Maverick My A _ _

October 5, 2008
The Nation
Who You Callin’ a Maverick?
By JOHN SCHWARTZ
There’s that word again: maverick. In Thursday’s vice-presidential debate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the Republican candidate, used it to describe herself and her running mate, Senator John McCain, no fewer than six times, at one point calling him “the consummate maverick.”
But to those who know the history of the word, applying it to Mr. McCain is a bit of a stretch — and to one Texas family in particular it is even a bit offensive.
“I’m just enraged that McCain calls himself a maverick,” said Terrellita Maverick, 82, a San Antonio native who proudly carries the name of a family that has been known for its progressive politics since the 1600s, when an early ancestor in Boston got into trouble with the law over his agitation for the rights of indentured servants.
In the 1800s, Samuel Augustus Maverick went to Texas and became known for not branding his cattle. He was more interested in keeping track of the land he owned than the livestock on it, Ms. Maverick said; unbranded cattle, then, were called “Maverick’s.” The name came to mean anyone who didn’t bear another’s brand.
Sam Maverick’s grandson, Fontaine Maury Maverick, was a two-term congressman and a mayor of San Antonio who lost his mayoral re-election bid when conservatives labeled him a Communist. He served in the Roosevelt administration on the Smaller War Plants Corporation and is best known for another coinage. He came up with the term “gobbledygook” in frustration at the convoluted language of bureaucrats.
This Maverick’s son, Maury Jr., was a firebrand civil libertarian and lawyer who defended draft resisters, atheists and others scorned by society. He served in the Texas Legislature during the McCarthy era and wrote fiery columns for The San Antonio Express-News. His final column, published on Feb. 2, 2003, just after he died at 82, was an attack on the coming war in Iraq.
Terrellita Maverick, sister of Maury Jr., is a member emeritus of the board of the San Antonio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas.
Considering the family’s long history of association with liberalism and progressive ideals, it should come as no surprise that Ms. Maverick insists that John McCain, who has voted so often with his party, “is in no way a maverick, in uppercase or lowercase.”
“It’s just incredible — the nerve! — to suggest that he’s not part of that Republican herd. Every time we hear it, all my children and I and all my family shrink a little and say, ‘Oh, my God, he said it again.’ ”
“He’s a Republican,” she said. “He’s branded.”

'bout says it all

Five ex-secretaries of state urge talks with Iran

By BARRY SCHWEID, AP

WASHINGTON - Five former secretaries of state, gathering to give their best advice to the next president, agreed Monday that the United States should talk to Iran.

The wide-ranging, 90-minute session in a packed auditorium at The George Washington University, produced exceptional unity among Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, Warren Christopher, Henry A. Kissinger and James A. Baker III.

Obama's Resume

*studied at Occidental College, Los Angeles, 1979-1981
*studied and graduated with Bachelor of Arts in political science with focus in international relations at Columbia University, New York City, 1983
*worked for Business International Corporation, New York City, 1983
*worked at New York Public Interest Research Group, 1984-1985
*worked as community organizer as director of Developing Communities Project, Chicago, 1985-1988
*worked as consultant and instructor for community organizing institute Glamaleil Foundation, 1985-1988
*served on the board of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago, 1985
*studied and graduated magna cum laude with a Juris Doctor at Harvard Law, Boston, 1988-1991
*selected as editor of Harvard Law Review, 1989
*worked as summer associate at law firms of Sidley & Austin, Chicago, 1989
*elected president of Harvard Law Review, 1990
*worked as summer associate at law firms of Hopkins& Sutter, Chicago, 1990
*given fellowship and office at University of Chicago Law, 1991
*directed Illinois Project Vote, 1992
*was a founding member of the board of directors of Public Allies, 1992
*taught constitutional law as Lecturer at University of Chicago Law, 1992-1996
*worked as associate at law firms Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, Chicago, 1993-1996
*served on the board of directors of The Joyce Foundation, 1994–2002
*served founding president and chairman of the board of directors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, 1995-1999
*published Dreams From My Father, 1995
*taught constitutional law as Senior Lecturer at University of Chicago Law, 1996-2004
*worked as counsel at law firms of Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, Chicago, 1996-2004
*elected to Illinois senate, 13th district, 1996
*re-elected to State Senate, 1998
*served on the board of directors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge from 1999–2002
*served on the board of directors of the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Center for Neighborhood Technology, and the Lugenia Burns Hope Center, (no dates)*lost race for US House of Representives 2000
*served as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Illinois Senate, 2001
*re-elected to State Senate, 2002
*became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee, 2003
*elected to US Senate, 2004
*Became only Senate member of Congressional Black Caucus
*held positions on the Senate Committees for Foreign Relations, Environment and Public Works and Veterans' Affairs, 2005-2006
*left the Environment and Public Works committee and took additional positions with Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, also became Chairman of the Senate's subcommittee on European Affairs, 2007
*elected as US Presidential nominee for democrat party, 2008

Lipstick on a pig

A Washington Post editorial on Thursday put it well: “On a day when the Congressional Budget Office warned of looming deficits and a grim economic outlook, when the stock market faltered even in the wake of the government’s rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, when President Bush discussed the road ahead in Iraq and Afghanistan, on what did the campaign of Senator John McCain spend its energy? A conference call to denounce Senator Barack Obama for using the phrase ‘lipstick on a pig’ and a new television ad accusing the Democrat of wanting to teach kindergartners about sex before they learn to read.”

Rapid Growth Found in Oxygen-Starved 'Dead Zones'

By BINA VENKATARAMAN
Published: August 14, 2008
Many coastal areas of the world’s oceans are being starved of oxygen at an alarming rate, with vast stretches along the seafloor depleted of it to the point that they can barely sustain marine life, researchers are reporting.
The main culprit, scientists say, is nitrogen-rich nutrients from crop fertilizers that spill into coastal waters by way of rivers and streams.
A study to be published Friday in the journal Science says the number of these marine “dead zones” around the world has doubled about every 10 years since the 1960s. About 400 coastal areas now have periodically or perpetually oxygen-starved bottom waters, many of them growing in size and intensity. Combined, the zones are larger than Oregon.
“What’s happened in the last 40, 50 years is that human activity has made the water quality conditions worse,” the study’s leader author, Robert J. Diaz, said in an interview.
The trend portends nothing good for many fisheries, said Dr. Diaz, a professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at the College of William and Mary. “Dead zones,” he said, “tend to occur in areas that are historically prime fishing grounds.”
Indeed, while the size of dead zones is small relative to the total surface of the oceans, scientists say they account for a significant part of ocean waters that support commercial fish and shellfish species.

Excessive Wealth

Behind every great fortune there is a crime.
Honoré de Balzac

And the beat goes on

EPA Managers Warned Not to Answer Inquiries
Bush's Torture Legacy
Home Price Index Down 15.8% in May
Hate for Liberals and Gay People Drove Gunman, Police Say
Thomas L. Friedman: Texas to Tel Aviv

Today's Headlines

Justice Dept. Officials Broke Law in Hiring
Deficit to Grow to Record
Scores Dead in Iraq Bombings
Police: Man Shot Churchgoers for Liberal Views
U.S. Military Says Soldiers Fired on Civilians

How much more of this administration can America take?

Legal Drugs Kill Far More Than Illegal

Legal Drugs Kill Far More Than Illegal

By DAMIEN CAVE

From “Scarface” to “Miami Vice,” Florida’s drug problem has been portrayed as the story of a single narcotic: cocaine. But for Floridians, prescription drugs are increasingly a far more lethal habit.
An analysis of autopsies in 2007 released this week by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission found that the rate of deaths caused by prescription drugs was three times the rate of deaths caused by all illicit drugs combined.

The Ex-POW is out of touch

Here's John McCain, in his own words, proving exactly how out of touch he really is:

"The United States Supreme Court yesterday rendered a decision which I think is one of the worst decisions in the history of this country." *

What???
Yesterday's powerful decision by the Court (a decision Americans should be proud of) affirmed a fundamental constitutional right -- in this case, the right of a detainee to challenge the government's grounds for confining him. What does McCain think is so bad about that?
Does he think protecting the right to be heard in court is...
...worse than locking thousands of Americans in internment camps because they had Japanese ancestry? (Korematsu v. United States -- 1944)
...worse than forcing African Americans to sit at the back of the bus? (Plessy v. Ferguson -- 1896)
...worse than slavery? (Dred Scott v. Sanford -- 1857)
Really, Senator McCain?

McCain's Pastor