Archive for December 5th, 2003


Whoops, I guess not

Whoops, I guess not


My plane flight (see next post) from LA to NYC was cancelled five hours early due to the impeding storm. I had a serious hint this storm was going to be serious when a Boston blog reported authorities were saying, if you don’t have to walk or drive, don’t. And Boston is not easily jarred by blizzards, either…


I will however be taking a truly hideous red eye Saturday night to Hartford CT to visit family! (The storm will be over by then).

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I’m off!

I’m off!


I leave tonight for the socialism conference in NYC, then to Hartford CT for a few days, returning Tuesday. My blogging can be done from anywhere, so barring technical glitches, I’ll be posting regularly.


I will be going from LA, 76 degrees and nice, to New York City, which will be about 26 degrees and snowing heavily - assuming the plane can land that is. It’s a non-stop flight from LA and I’ll betcha some passengers will be wearing sandals and t-shirts and be utterly unprepared for the Nor’easter that awaits them.



Nor’easters can occur in the eastern United States any time between October and April, when moisture and cold air are plentiful. They are known for dumping heavy amounts of rain and snow, producing hurricane-force winds.


The conference is sponsored by Workers World, and is open to all. The plenaries and workshops will be a mix of theory and practicality with, I think, a major emphasis on organizing - building coalitions, keeping the antiwar movement pumping, linking up with similar struggles elsewhere, etc.


It looks to be fascinating and fun. Hmmm, I wonder if I’ll be able to spot the undercover police. Oh silly me, I must be paranoid; after all, under John Ashcroft, I’m sure law enforcement will have no interest in a legal peaceful assembly of dissidents. That only happens in Bad Scary Countries, right?
 
PS In case you think anti-Free Trade protests are a new idea…



<Capitalism> has resolved personal worth into exchange value, and in place of the numberless indefeasible chartered freedoms, has set up that single, unconscionable freedom — Free Trade.


By freedom is meant, under the present bourgeois conditions of production, free trade, free selling and buying.


Karl Marx, 1848


And we still hear that cry today, that business must be allowed to do whatever it wants, anywhere it wants, without interference from government or law. To which I respond with one word - Enron.

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Did you forget? George takes…

Did you forget? George takes his orders from God.



Is Bush hypocritically lecturing Putin On Georgia?.


Is it just me, or is it incredibly hypocritical for the Bush Administration to hector Vladimir Putin to remove his troops from Georgia, when we ourselves reserve the same privilege of invading sovereign states only to leave our troops in… [The Left Coaster]

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Mr. Fixer

Mr. Fixer



James Baker: He Knows Debt.


President Bush has named family consigliere Tom Hagen James Baker III his special envoy for renegotiating Iraqi debt.  (I know, everyone refers to him as the Bush’s consigliere, but is there anybody in politics for whom the description is more apt?)  Bush would be hard pressed to find somebody more expert in national debt, both in running them up and in trying to pass them off onto other nations.

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Molly Ivins endorses Dean

Molly Ivins endorses Dean


From Howard Dean’s blog



Austin columnist Molly Ivins has chosen her candidate, and it’s Dean:


No one has been waiting with bated breath for me to make up my mind about the Democratic presidential candidates, but I have, and you might be interested in how I got there. I’m for Howard Dean — because he’s going to win….


I went up to Vermont and talked to a bunch of liberals there. They all said Howard Dean is no liberal. Funny, that’s what Howard Dean says, too. And indeed, he isn’t, but in politics, everything’s relative. The conventional wisdom first dismissed Howard Dean (the man has never been to a Washington dinner party!), then condescended to him, then graciously offered him instruction on how he should be running his campaign — which seemed to be going along quite well without their input….


Dean gives a hell of a speech — even if you’re Republican, you should go and hear him just for the experience. But I fretted about Dean on TV — TV is so important. How could anyone poker up on Margaret Carlson of PBS, not one of the world’s toughest interviewers? But then I saw Dean laugh his way through a Chris Matthews interview (which he should have done with Tim Russert, who was hell-bent on gotcha questions), and I know the guy can take care of himself. So he fights back if you get in his face — that’s not all bad.


I know, he’s even less of a liberal than Bill Clinton was, but I don’t think Dean is a moderate centrist. I think he’s a fighting centrist. And folks, I think we have got ourselves a winner here.


Dean has huge lead in NH


Gephardt campaign reduced to threatening unions to stop Dean.

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More on the “Texas Miracle”

More on the “Texas Miracle”



Goodness! How far behind is Texas?

Today’s New York Times has the latest debunking of the “Texas miracle,” and it’s a worthy contribution to a growing genre.


It appears Dubya has been caught fibbing yet again…

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Reagan ‘unable to walk or…

Reagan ‘unable to walk or talk’



Reagan is suffering the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Former US President Ronald Reagan can no longer walk or talk and is rarely awake, his daughter has said. 


I’ll make no bad jokes here. Situations like this are ghastly - for the person, for the family, for friends. If it was the family house cat, we would do the merciful thing and put it down. Why do we prolong life way past the point of any possibility of meaningful existence?

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More sleaze from Bush

More sleaze from Bush



In a gross abuse of authority for political gain, the State Department has insisted that Wesley Clark’s scheduled testimony against Milosevic be closed to the press.

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The talking Ann Coulter doll!

The talking Ann Coulter doll!


She whines! She attacks liberals!! And she never ever uses logic!!!


Via Miss Monica

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The US terrorism plot that…

The US terrorism plot that the media ignores



In May 2003, white supremacists in Texas were caught with a sodium cyanide bomb, other bombs, illegal weapons, hate literature, fake I.D., and chemicals, including hydrochloric acid and nitric acid.


But most of us have never heard about it.


Full documentation

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Major plains aquifer may be…

Major plains aquifer may be running dry



The Ogallala, one of the nation’s largest aquifers, is threatening to run dry, causing concern among water officials in several states, Reuters reported.


The ramifications for rural communities and farmers are potentially so dire that the problem has caught the attention of Congress.

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