Wide Open Spaces

Good luck to La Francaise in her new endeavor
"She Needs Wide Open Spaces...she knows the high stakes..."

Quote of the weekend

“The "democracy gap" in our politics and elections spells a deep sense of powerlessness by people who drop out, do not vote, or listlessly vote for the “least worst” every four years and then wonder why after every cycle the “least worst” gets worse.” - Ralph Nader -

Beyond Irony: Valerie Plame Worked at the CIA to Stop Iran from Obtaining Nuclear Weapons

Raw Story reports: CBS News has confirmed, in advance of a 60 Minutes interview with outed CIA agent Valerie Plame to be run this Sunday, that Plame "was involved in operations to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons." "

Our mission was to make sure that the bad guys, basically, did not get nuclear weapons," Plame told 60 Minutes. Plame also indicated that her outing in 2003 had caused grave damage to CIA operations, saying, "All the intelligence services in the world were running my name through their databases" to see where she had gone and who she had met with.

Raw story first reported on the story back in 2006. The article said in relevant part: "According to current and former intelligence officials, Plame Wilson, who worked on the clandestine side of the CIA in the Directorate of Operations as a non-official cover (NOC) officer, was part of an operation tracking distribution and acquisition of weapons of mass destruction technology to and from Iran."

This has now been confirmed by CBS who is conducted an interview with Plame on 60 Minutes. Unbelievable. We are going to go an attack Iran right? This seems to be the policy of the United States and the reasons are to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Remember King George's WW III comments. We have agents (Valerie Plame) working to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, yet it was so important to cover up the Iraq war lies that these enemies of democracy (I am referring to Bush and co. here in case I am vague) outed her -sabotaging their own policy that in theory is a much bigger threat than Iraq.

This reveals this administration's hypocrisy, lies and criminal misdeeds more than anything else. I don't believe Iran is a threat just as I don't believe Iraq was a threat to the United States. These wars have nothing to do with terrorism or security, but energy. You can take that to the bank.

This President Should Be Impeached Now. Go to Raw Story to see a clip of the interview with Plame.
I found the video on youtube. See here:

Josh Beckett on His Ex-girlfriend Singing the National Anthem at Jacobs Field

Dennis Kucinich and the Beaver

This is beyond funny. Hysterical. Check out the 35 percenters website who developed this brilliant video.

The 1988 Convention: George Bush on the National Guard and Vietnam

Bush: “I flew fighters in the Texas Air National Guard for which I’m very proud.” [Snip]

“They should have probably called up the National Guard in those days. Maybe we would have done better in Vietnam.”

Portland, Maine and its Safe Sex Initiative

Pupils at a city middle school will be able to get birth control pills and patches at their student health center after the local school board approved the proposal Wednesday evening. The Portland School Committee voted 5-2 for the measure.

Huffington Post has a piece on congratulating Portland, Maine for realizing what we all know.

"One in eight youth are sexually experienced, having engaged in intercourse, oral sex or both before the age of 14," the Journal of Adolescent Health reported in 2006. According to the Project Connect study, supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

"9 percent reported ever having sexual intercourse...and 8 percent ever had oral sex (active or receptive)."* "Of those who reported intercourse, 36 percent were age 11 or younger at first sex, 27 percent were 12, 28 percent were 13, and 9 percent were 14 or older."* "Alarmingly, 43 percent of sexually experienced participants reported multiple sex partners."

Note that more girls and boys had sex at age 11 than age 12, at age 13 than age 14. If this data doesn't convince you, here are a few more findings. These examples may not be about intercourse, but they illuminate the over-sexed landscape in which girls and boys are growing up today.

Some opposing the Portland decision argue that eleven-year-olds should not be given birth control without a parent's consent. It's a fuzzy line. Of course parents should be involved in their children's health care. Of course they should know whether or not their sons and daughters are having sex. It's easy to tell adults to talk with teens about sex, but it's another thing to actually do it. Other opponents cited religious and health objections.

It is certainly a risky decision. But, one that takes into the realities of the world we live in. Do we really want to go with Bush's abstinence policy? The writers at Huffington Post argue and I agree:

Providing birth control to sexually active middle schoolers is a crucial step. Condoms and the pill don't protect against STDs, but they will prevent girls from getting pregnant and lower the risk of transmitting many diseases. Providing counseling is just as critical. As we discovered, teenagers know about STDs and condoms. They've had sex ed. They're familiar with the Rolodex of ramifications, and younger girls and boys need to be, too. And what all of them need is education about the emotional consequences of their sexual behavior. Denying children are having sex does not make it go away. But, that seems to be the policy these days. Good for Portland, Maine.

protest!

today, oct. 19th, is the second iraq moratorium. find an event near you.

take the pledge: I hereby make a commitment that on the Third Friday of each and every month, I will break my daily routine and take some action, by myself or with others, to end the War in Iraq.

Democrats Cave Again

Update: Chris Dodd has placed a hold on the controversial FISA bill that grants the telecommunications companies immunity. Go sign the Petition. This is great. Senator Dodd really stands for what he believes. We need more of this. This is what he said:

The Military Commissions Act. Warrantless wiretapping. Shredding of Habeas Corpus. Torture. Extraordinary Rendition. Secret Prisons.

No more. I have decided to place a "hold" on the latest FISA bill that would have included amnesty for telecommunications companies that enabled the President's assault on the Constitution by illegally providing personal information on their customers without judicial authorization.

I said that I would do everything I could to stop this bill from passing, and I have. It's about delivering results -- and as I've said before, the FIRST thing I will do after being sworn into office is restore the Constitution. But we shouldn't have to wait until then to prevent the further erosion of our country's most treasured document. That's why I am stopping this bill today.

This is getting to be old hat. Why did we struggle to elect these people?

Senate Democrats cave into the telecommunications companies:

Senate Democrats and Republicans reached agreement with the Bush administration yesterday on the terms of new legislation to control the federal government's domestic surveillance program, which includes a highly controversial grant of legal immunity to telecommunications companies that have assisted the program, according to congressional sources. . . .

The draft Senate bill has the support of the intelligence committee's chairman, John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), and Bush's director of national intelligence, Mike McConnell. It will include full immunity for those companies that can demonstrate to a court that they acted pursuant to a legal directive in helping the government with surveillance in the United States.

Such a demonstration, which the bill says could be made in secret, would wipe out a series of pending lawsuits alleging violations of privacy rights by telecommunications companies that provided telephone records, summaries of e-mail traffic and other information to the government after Sept. 11, 2001, without receiving court warrants. Bush had repeatedly threatened to veto any legislation that lacked this provision.

Glenn Greenwald has a great piece on this and discusses why Democrats would ever do this. He says this cave is lead by Senators Jay Rockefeller who has received huge payments by the telecom industry and Mitch McConnell who has been demanding telecom amnesty.

This move basically declares that the telecommunications industry did nothing wrong though they allowed the government to spy on us without a warrant. As recently as yesterday Democrats have been saying they would never give amnesty to the telecommunications industry because they don't know what they did because the program has been so secretive.

I think these two quotes below sum it up better than I can:

"If they didn’t do anything wrong, why should they get retroactive immunity?" asks Christy Hardin Smith at Firedoglake. "And, worse, if it is likely that they broke laws, why on earth would the Senate just hand lawbreakers retroactive immunity before fact-finding on potential criminal conduct was even completed?!? That makes no logical or ethical sense."

Salon columnist Glenn Greenwald severely criticized all those supporting this bill including the media.

"If one actually thinks about, from scratch, what is being considered with this FISA law, it really is extraordinary. The very idea that we ought to allow the government new powers to eavesdrop on our calls and emails without warrants -- particularly since we know that they have been breaking the law for years to do just that -- is unfathomable," Greenwald writes.

Quote of the Week: Representative Pete Stark

“You don’t have money to fund the war or children. But you’re going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president’s amusement.” Rep Pete Stark (D) CA on the President's veto of SCHIP.

...barista boy's new work-in-progress: look away...

barista boy has created a new installation, his latest work in progress: look away. check it out. (by the way, i'm there too, looking away.) support barista boy's work, stop by 517 washington street, emack & bolio's, to get involved.

...to consume or not to consume...

ever since i read not buying it, by judith levine, about a nyc couple who stop buying stuff for a year, i think twice about what i buy-- do i really need this? i tried to write down all my spending every day, and i made rules for what i could buy a la judith. well, that experiment fizzled out quickly (one month). i just kept the guilt going and avoided my favorite boutiques. i seem to only buy the essentials now but i do obsessively buy books and comix as well as handmade cards.

recently i've been reading about kate bingaman-burt who takes obsession to a new level. her artist's statement:

I documented my purchases for 28 months. Every purchased item was photographed at the point of sale or soon after. Every receipt was archived and tagged. All of the documentation was uploaded to my website obsessiveconsumption.com. I created a brand out of the process to package and promote - an infinite loop of consumerism was born.

check out kate's new show at the jen bekman gallery --6 spring street, nyc. and bonus! this saturday kate will speak about her work & exhibition along with author michael perry.

see ya there so we can obsess together...

Nearly 11,000 in State of New Jersey to Lose Coverage if Veto Stands

From the Asbury Park Press:

When the House votes today to override President Bush's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Reauthorization Act of 2007, three New Jersey Republican congressmen, Jim Saxton, Scott Garrett and Rodney Frelinghuysen, may provide the pivotal votes needed by bill sponsors to ensure that all 122,000 New Jersey children currently assisted by the program keep their coverage...

A vote against this essential program will not only have a fiscal impact on New Jersey but, far worse, will punish the nearly 11,000 of our state's children who would lose coverage if the proposed guidelines are adopted. The program seeks to provide assistance for children whose parents, quite frequently, cannot obtain coverage from their employers or afford to buy it on their own.

The SCHIP Reauthorization Act of 2007 increases funding for the children's health program by $35 billion over the next five years. This investment in children's health will allow more than 6 million children who are already enrolled in the program to continue their coverage, but, more important, it will allow an additional 4 million children to enroll.

Congressmen from New Jersey have an added reason to vote for the override. In our state, where health care costs are especially high, we have been aggressive in trying to expand coverage to lower middle-income children, not just the near poor who are the chief national targets. New Jersey has the highest income-eligibility threshold of any state, but we also have the highest cost of living. It is one of the few programs that returns needed federal dollars back to our beleaguered taxpayers, who consistently rank last in federal dollars returned from Washington. That alone should motivate our congressional delegation.

New Jersey's program, called FamilyCare, provides health services to more than 122,525 children and 89,050 adults. It costs the state $480 million per year, with $312 million paid for by the federal government. Failure to override the president's veto would force the state to spend an estimated $88 million more to ensure children aren't cut.

Good for the Asbury Park Press for calling this what this is: This will not bankrupt our great nation. It is not "the first step" toward nationalized health care. It will not undercut any of our prosperous insurance companies' books of business. It is not part of the Iraq debate. It is simply a selfish bunch of people feeling entitled while others should not. We are truly a country of the haves and have nots. The haves have not interest in treating the have nots as Americans.

...sugar sugar...

halloween is approaching. candy has been packed in the aisles at CVS since labor day. can we munch on chocolate without the guilt of sugar's history? i don't think so. last year i read sweet and low by rich cohen where he detailed his family's history of sugar substitute fortune. more guilt about the sugar trade and production, as well as our addiction to sweets. i basically have stopped eating "regular" chocolate. i've switched to fair trade or organic brands (dagoba, yum) and i would never look back.

i found some icky facts about sugar production from the green guide but also lots of fair trade treat options for the holiday:

Pesticides and fertilizers used in the production of sugar have led to the destruction of aquatic ecosystems. The loss of topsoil to cane fields has destroyed forest habitats. But sugar's sins start with the slave trade, as Europeans brought captured Africans to work in the cane fields of the Caribbean throughout the 18th century, where slaves died in greater numbers than in the U.S. Sadly, this legacy hasn't come to an end: The chocolate trade has encouraged forced labor in Africa as cocoa farmers sell their product at prices well below what they can afford.

Forty-three percent of the world's cocoa is produced in the Ivory Coast, where over a quarter of a million children work on cocoa farms without access to education and apply pesticides without adequate safety gear, conditions deemed abusive by the International Labor Organization. A staggering number, as many as 12,000 children, are likely to be forced laborers. Much of the impetus behind the use of child labor stems from insufficient income for cocoa producers. In 2002, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture found that cocoa revenues in West Africa average between $30 to $100 U.S. dollars per household member per year. To compensate, cocoa farmers seek out cheaper labor and resort to higher-yield sun-grown cocoa beans, which require significant deforestation. Because sun-grown beans are more susceptible to pests and diseases than those grown in shade, farmers use heavy doses of hazardous pesticides and synthetic fertilizers.

The Goods

Divine Chocolate, partially owned by the farmers of Kuapa Kokoo, sells 100 percent fair-trade-certified chocolate. Pass out bite-sized milk chocolate eggs ($6.50/200 pieces; http://www.lwr.org/). Or give kids a chocolate treasure. Global Exchange is carrying Divine's Fair Trade Gold Coins, which read "Ghana Freedom and Justice" on one side and "Fair Deal for Cocoa Growers" on the other ($3.99/22 pieces; store.gxonlinestore.org).

Visit http://www.divinechocolateusa.com/ to search for retailers by state.

Equal Exchange's organic and fair trade Dark Chocolate Mini's are available for a limited time this Halloween. ($12/68 minis; eeretail.stores.yahoo.net).

For whole chocolate bars, try Alter Eco's certified organic and fair trade chocolate ($4.29/bar; http://www.altereco.com/, 415-701-1212).

Beyond labor issues, help reduce environmental frights by choosing candy made from organic sugar, which is produced without synthetic pesticides and fertilizers with methods that conserve soil. Try the Candy Tree's Organic Mixed Fruit Toffee, sweetened only with organic fruit juices and corn syrup and containing no artificial colors ($2.89/2.6 oz bag of individually wrapped pieces, http://www.veganessentials.com/) and Yummy Earth Organic Lollipops, made with 100-percent natural colors and flavors ($2.69/bag of 15; http://www.veganessentials.com/). Or buy a pack of organic candy mix including organic gummi bears, lollipops, root bear float candy and milk chocolate ($28/80 pieces; naturalcandystore.com/c-natural-candy-mixes).

World War III on the Horizon?

Ditto for me Bush. You are isolating us from the rest of the world too. I remember an Air America host, Mike Malloy whom I loved (who was fired for being to liberal presumably) used to call Bush Chuckle Nuts. And I think the name fits.

Employment Non-Discrimination for All?

Today the House Education and Labor Committee is hearing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). It’s expected to pass out of committee and get a vote on the floor of the House. This should be good news, but its not. Transgender individuals have been removed from the bill to make it more “passable.”

300 LGBT organizations are opposing the passage of the legislation as it stands now because they feel it is wrong to support legislation "that leaves part of our community without protections and basic security." HRC is the only major LGBT group that is not actively opposing it. They are saying they support the inclusion of transgender people in ENDA but they are silent either way on the legislation as it stands currently.

I personally am torn on this issue. I like the idea of finally giving queer people workplace protections in this country but am pissed that we are abandoning our transgender brothers and sisters. Perhaps they will actually go back and pass legislation to protect transgender people. I unfortunately do not think an organization such as HRC that is known to be very lily white and very gay male will actively work for the rights of transgender people. If we leave anyone behind, it’ll be so easy to forget about them in the future.

What do y’all think? Should we support ENDA as it stands now?

Rendition: the Movie Trailer

Larry David and Bill Maher

This is hilarious!

Turkey on the Verge of War with the Kurds

Turkey's parliament approved by a large majority on Wednesday a government request to allow troops to cross into northern Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels based there. Are we going to allow WW III to happen right before our eyes? This is not something that was not imagined before the Iraq war. Everyone knew this was a possibility. We cannot act surprised when this happens.

The Kurds have a long history with Turkey. The Kurds are a large and distinct ethnic minority in the Middle East, numbering some 25-30 million people. The area that they have inhabited--referred to on maps for centuries as "Kurdistan"--spans modern day Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. Half of the Kurds reside in Turkey, where they comprise over 20 percent of the Turkish population.

Modern Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal (better known as Atatürk--"father of the Turks"), enacted a constitution 70 years ago which denied the existence of distinct cultural sub-groups in Turkey. As a result, any expression by the Kurds (as well as other minorities in Turkey) of unique ethnic identity has been harshly repressed. For example, until 1991, the use of the Kurdish language--although widespread--was illegal. To this day, any talk that hints of Kurdish nationalism is deemed separatism, and grounds for imprisonment.

For more go here.

blog action day -- wrap up

from the blog action day team:

The Wrap Up

The very first Blog Action Day was an unprecedented success and we've got the final wrap up where the site used to be at blog action day complete with statistics, sample posts, details of the huge amount of press coverage we had all over the world, quotes and more. It's a must see. Please feel free to spread the word around as it's great for people to really see what we achieved together.














and my personal favorite environmental friendly blog, these come from trees, where you can buy stickers, post guerrilla style in paper wasting bathrooms... i bought a bunch and stick in offending ladies rooms.