"Burke said there were Three Estates in Parliament; but, in the Reporters' Gallery yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more important far than they all."

"We are also told that our newspapers are irreverent, coarse, vulgar, and ribald. I hope that this irreverence will last for ever; that we shall always show irreverence for royalties and titled creatures born into privilege, and all that class which take their title from anything but merit."

- Interview, "Mark Twain and His Book," Pall Mall Gazette (London), 23 December 1889.

It wasn't the internet that killed the Fourth Estate, it was pure corporate greed.  MC

The New York Times

July 4, 2010

Gaps in Watchdog Journalism Reflected in News From a Trial

By DAVID CARR

Readers who came across a public radio blog documenting the five-week trial of a former Chicago police commander on charges of perjury and obstruction about cases involving torture under his command had to wonder where in the world WBEZ Chicago found so much expertise.

The blogger, John Conroy, went deep on the history of the case, often filling in context that testimony only hinted at, and seemed to know at least as much as the lawyers prosecuting the case.

As the trial was concluding, he wrote an item headlined “What the Jurors Don’t Know.”

Continued:

The New York Times 

For the sake of choke points, let's just say the Republicans know how to obstruct.  And don't forget, "They hate us for our freedoms."  LOL This should really get your Republican brother in law worked up, besides a man or woman that shows up knowing the language with a shovel, hoe, seeds, a school book and basic medicines is a lot less intimidating than a US soldier who can't speak the language, is dressed like a star wars trooper and has a nasty habit of pointing his weapon to make a point.  Besides the poor don't have Fox News to tell them who the good guys are, knowhatimsaying?  For those who think we can't afford to help the poor of this world or the poor in our own country, read on.  MC

To satisfy the world's sanitation and food requirements would cost only US$13 billion- what the people of the United States and the European Union spend on perfume each year.

$2.3 TRILLION US Automobile sales per year.

The foreign policy of the United States is the policy by which the United States interacts with foreign nations and sets standards of interaction for its organizations, corporations and individual citizens. The U.S. is highly influential in the world. The global reach of the United States is backed by a $14 trillion economy, approximately a quarter of global GDP, and a defense budget of $711 billion, which accounts for approximately 43% of global military spending. The U.S. Secretary of State is the foreign minister and is the official charged with state-to-state diplomacy, although the president has ultimate authority over foreign policy; that policy includes defining the national interest, as well as the strategies chosen to both safeguard that and achieve its policy goals.[1] Wikipedia

For FY2010, the Administration seeks $876.9 million for ongoing Embassy Security Construction and Maintainence operations and $938.2million for worldwide security upgrades, the later of which is planned to support new facilities in Kabul, Afghanistan; Peshawar and Islamabad, Pakistan; Sanaa, Yemen; and Dakar, Senegal. The total request for the ESCM account is $1.82 billion, representing a 32% decrease over the

FY2009 estimated level of $2.7 billion. This change reflects anticipated completion of Embassy Baghdad in FY2009.

Let's total up the expenses for actual "Homeland" security (Homeland is so yesterday and such a Nazi expression)

$58 billion for State Department and USAID  (Money promised to the Third World for education, food, medicine, economic and agricultural development; .007 of the 14 Trillion US GDP = $98 Billion, actual congressionally authorized food aid=$770 MILLION

$10 billion for the Coast Guard

  $2 billion for the Border Patrol

  $7 billion for the TSA

  $8 billion for the FBI

  $848 MILLION to states for terrorism security.  A little less than $17 million per state.

__________________________________

$77.848 Billion total spending for REAL defense spending. .

• In the Asian, African and Latin American countries, well over 500 million people are living in what the World Bank has called "absolute poverty"

• Every year 15 million children die of hunger

• For the price of one missile, a school full of hungry children could eat lunch every day for 5 years

• Throughout the 1990's more than 100 million children will die from illness and starvation. Those 100 million deaths could be prevented for the price of ten Stealth bombers, or what the world spends on its military in two days!

• The World Health Organization estimates that one-third of the world is well-fed, one-third is under-fed one-third is starving- Since you've entered this site at least 200 people have died of starvation. Over 4 million will die this year.

• One in twelve people worldwide is malnourished, including 160 million children under the age of 5. United Nations Food and Agriculture

• The Indian subcontinent has nearly half the world's hungry people. Africa and the rest of Asia together have approximately 40%, and the remaining hungry people are found in Latin America and other parts of the world. Hunger in Global Economy

• Nearly one in four people, 1.3 billion - a majority of humanity - live on less than $1 per day, while the world's 358 billionaires have assets exceeding the combined annual incomes of countries with 45 percent of the world's people. UNICEF

• 3 billion people in the world today struggle to survive on US$2/day.

• In 1994 the Urban Institute in Washington DC estimated that one out of 6 elderly people in the U.S. has an inadequate diet.

• In the U.S. hunger and race are related. In 1991 46% of African-American children were chronically hungry, and 40% of Latino children were chronically hungry compared to 16% of white children.

• The infant mortality rate is closely linked to inadequate nutrition among pregnant women. The U.S. ranks 23rd among industrial nations in infant mortality. African-American infants die at nearly twice the rate of white infants.

• One out of every eight children under the age of twelve in the U.S. goes to bed hungry every night.

• Half of all children under five years of age in South Asia and one third of those in sub-Saharan Africa are malnourished.

• In 1997 alone, the lives of at least 300,000 young children were saved by vitamin A supplementation programmes in developing countries.

• Malnutrition is implicated in more than half of all child deaths worldwide - a proportion unmatched by any infectious disease since the Black Death

• About 183 million children weigh less than they should for their age

• To satisfy the world's sanitation and food requirements would cost only US$13 billion- what the people of the United States and the European Union spend on perfume each year.

• The assets of the world's three richest men are more than the combined GNP of all the least developed countries on the planet.

• Every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger

• It is estimated that some 800 million people in the world suffer from hunger and malnutrition, about 100 times as many as those who actually die from it each year.

Toyota continues to have communication troubles. It was reported by Reuters the automaker had failed to alert the U.S. government about a new Toyota recall involving one Toyota and seven Lexus sedan models. Engines are the blame this time. The potential for stalling and excessive noise are documented. This Toyota recall should reclaim 270,000 automobiles worldwide.

Article resource: New Toyota recall affects Lexus, Crown sedans by Car Deal Expert

More than half of Toyota recall autos are from the U.S.

What models are within the recall?

• Lexus LS 460
• There’s the Lexus GS 350.
• The Lexus GS 450h
• There’s the Lexus GS 460.
• There’s the Lexus IS 350
• There’s the Lexus LS 600h
• Lexus LS 600hl
• The Toyota Crown sedan

An additional huge blow to Lexus line

How to proceed if your car was recalled?

Discover more details:

Reuters

reuters.com/article/idUSN0114253720100701

And then there are the rusting Tundras:

youtube.com/watch?v=_5swLe8B11k

http://g4tv.com/videos/46971/BP-Oil-Spill-Effect-on-Wildlife/

A passionate plea at the end of the video to ask you for help.

The bad news, the military is broken, Generals McChrystal and Petraeus are the best we can do AND they have the unmitigated gall to wear better body armor than the grunts and any grunt will tell you that a general who wears body armor is a pussy.  Corporate America writes the laws, the Tea Party has been validated by "media" coverage, we still have robber barons 85 years after the golden age of robber barons, we spend 44% of estimated tax revenues on defense, there's not a dimes worth of difference between Republicans and Democrats. 

The sitting president has chosen advisors that are not qualified, with the exception of being party hacks/yes men and no, I don't think he has the brass to fire the two Republican generals.  If it were me, I'd bust them to private E-1,  and give them a year in the chow hall peeling potatoes and show it on C-Span.  Worst of all America has failed the fear test, "The only thing we have to fear is fear it'self - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified, terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."---- FDR - First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1933   

World wide strength of al Qaeda in 2001, 600-1000, America's response in Afghanistan 8,669 civilians killed, 15,604 seriously injured.   My friend Jim is concerned about the poor and the young if chaos occurs, the truth is, they have always existed in squalor and insecurity, 36 million Americans including 13 million children live in poverty.  Millions more are just above poverty level.  Don't think that is significant?  It works out to 260,000 for each state in the union.   "The Good Germans" among us have turned a blind eye to civil rights, poverty, torture, liberty, justice and economic security for all. We have even gone so far as to build more and larger prisons for the poor and desperate while reserving minimum security country clubs for white collar criminals and the Martha Stewarts among us. 

There are seven congressional districts in Colorado, they are ALL useless as teats on a boar hog.  Lamborn and Coffman can't help it, The other five have little excuse.

The Good News?  The Republicans will win the 2010 and 2012 elections to include the White House, we will sit back and watch the country descend into chaos as the Republicans work their magic and the Democrats will sit on their hands and argue that America is ruled from the center and some egotistic "can't we all get along" idiot will create another "Gang of 14."  In reality a successful  and prosperous America is ruled by men and women of courage and the moral compass and ability to LEAD and that very much includes running a campaign, choosing campaign managers and political operatives that know how to play hardball.

And remember, Karma can be a bitch, save the poodles, kill the mountain lions, the coyotes, the whales, the sharks, the bears, the beavers, the wolves, the buffaloe, the brown pelicans, oysters, crabs, lobsters, shrimp and especially any of these:South Georgia, Eastern Diamond Back RattlesnakeThe head on this snake is bigger than his hand.  Can't stand the heat?  Be careful of the shady bushes.       Tea Party-"Don't tread on me" indeed

NY TimesJune 22, 2010McChrystal Is Summoned to Washington Over Remarks

By DEXTER FILKINS

KABUL, Afghanistan — An angry President Obama summoned his top commander in Afghanistan to Washington on Tuesday after a magazine article portrayed the general and his staff as openly contemptuous of some senior members of the Obama administration.

An administration official said the commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, would meet with President Obama and Vice President Biden at the White House on Wednesday “to explain to the Pentagon and the commander in chief his quotes in the piece,” which appears in the July 8-22 edition of Rolling Stone.

General McChrystal was scheduled to attend a monthly meeting on Afghanistan by teleconference, the official said, but was directed to return to Washington in light of the article. He apologized for his remarks, saying the article was “a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never have happened.”

Continued:

NY Times

A press aide to Republican Senate candidate Jane Norton said today that President Obama had forced BP to create a $20 billion “slush fund,” and that Obama is heading toward “autocracy.”

Coming on the heels of another Republican’s apology to the giant oil company, the remarks quickly drew a rebuke from Democrats and a distancing from the rest of Norton’s campaign.

At a Colorado Republican Business Coalition luncheon at Brooklyn’s restaurant, Aindriu Colgan introduced himself as a press aide to Jane Norton, and then said, “Apparently, in the past few weeks, America has turned into an autocracy rather than a democracy or a republic. The president thinks he can unilaterally decide that ‘Ok, we’re not allowed to have drilling in the Gulf anymore.’ He can force BP to put $20 billion in a slush fund. And he can do whatever he wants without congressional approval.”

The remarks were captured on tape by ProgressNow Colorado, a liberal watchdog group that frequently sends monitors to public forums to follow candidates. ProgressNow Colorado executive director Bobby Clark said the latest defense of BP shows Republicans in general are more interested in defending large corporations than in helping people hurt by BP’s massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill...

If the US had an Exxon Valdez spill every year for the past 50 we would probably be a green energy leader since the day President Jimmy Carter warned us.  MC  

"With new estimates that as many as 2.5 million gallons of oil could be spilling into the Gulf of Mexico each day, the Niger Delta has suddenly become a cautionary tale for the United States."

"As many as 546 million gallons of oil spilled into the Niger Delta over the last five decades, or nearly 11 million gallons a year, a team of experts for the Nigerian government and international and local environmental groups concluded in a 2006 report. By comparison, the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989 dumped an estimated 10.8 million gallons of oil into the waters off Alaska........................"

"...........The spills here are all the more devastating because this ecologically sensitive wetlands region, the source of 10 percent of American oil imports, has most of Africa’s mangroves and, like the Louisiana coast, has fed the interior for generations with its abundance of fish, shellfish, wildlife and crops.........."

NY Times

June 16, 2010

Far From Gulf, a Spill Scourge 5 Decades Old

By ADAM NOSSITER

BODO, Nigeria — Big oil spills are no longer news in this vast, tropical land. The Niger Delta, where the wealth underground is out of all proportion with the poverty on the surface, has endured the equivalent of the Exxon Valdez spill every year for 50 years by some estimates. The oil pours out nearly every week, and some swamps are long since lifeless.

Perhaps no place on earth has been as battered by oil, experts say, leaving residents here astonished at the nonstop attention paid to the gusher half a world away in the Gulf of Mexico. It was only a few weeks ago, they say, that a burst pipe belonging to Royal Dutch Shell in the mangroves was finally shut after flowing for two months: now nothing living moves in a black-and-brown world once teeming with shrimp and crab.

Not far away, there is still black crude on Gio Creek from an April spill, and just across the state line in Akwa Ibom the fishermen curse their oil-blackened nets, doubly useless in a barren sea buffeted by a spill from an offshore Exxon Mobil pipe in May that lasted for weeks.

NY Times

Now, we've learned that Bruce wants this reality for all of Colorado.

Last week, a judge found that Bruce has been deeply involved with three controversial initiatives proposed for this November's ballot (Colorado Springs Gazette, 6/11/2010). Amendments 60, 61 and Proposition 101 are some of the most radical and destructive changes ever proposed for our state. A product of simpleton "drown government in a bathtub" ideology, these initiatives would slash taxes and vehicle registration fees to unsustainable levels and make it virtually impossible for state and local government to finance new construction. They have been denounced as dangerous and irresponsible by virtually every local government and fiscal policy group in the state, as well as leaders from across the political spectrum.

I saw a video on MSNBC that showed a full frontal of America's greatest hero, ever.  He's got a Bronze Star for Valor that proves it.  The video is nowhere to be found.  He looked like Sonny Liston after Muhammed Ali hit him with a sledge hammer.  There goes his presidential aspirations. 

Closest thing to a citation that can be found: " ....stronger-than-expected Iraqi resistance continues. An Iraqi mortar round landed less than 50 yards away as two top U.S. generals were conferring here Sunday on the next phase in the U.S. offensive. No one was injured by the round that landed just to the side of a checkpoint where Army Lt. Gen. William Scott Wallace, commander of the V Corps, and 101st commander Maj. Gen. David Petraeus were reviewing maps on the hood of a Humvee." 

About the medals on this peacock, they are obscene. 

Real, Highly Regarded, General

                                Patton

 ChestyPuller,USMC

Pat Tillman 

Lawyers are the largest political contributors of any occupation/industry and Democrats are generally the largest recipients.  Oil and gas included.  The Obama 2008 campaign received over $43 million from lawyers and law firms, an all time record.  John Kerry took in a little over $22 million in 2004.  Not sure why the lawyers didn't like Al Gore, he took in a paltry $5 million to George Bush's $6 million.  Source: Open Secrets 

If you haven't seen this movie, you really should.  Here's a You Tube clip of  Pacino talking about God.  I have often wondered why the movie was not nominated for any Academy Award.  MC

The Devil's Advocate!

From the 1997 film of the same name

Excerpts from a conversation between Al Pacino as the Devil and Keanu Reeves as Kevin Lomax, a hot shot lawyer and the son of the Devil.

"These people, it's no mystery where they come from! You sharpen the human appetite to the point where it can split atoms with its desire. You build egos the size of Cathedrals; fiber-optically connect the world to every ego impulse; grease even the dullest dreams with these dollar-green gold-plated fantasies until every human becomes an aspiring Emperor that becomes his own God. And you go from there ~

And as we're scrambling from one deal to the next; who's got his eye on the planet! The air thickens, the water sours, even the bee's honey takes on the sour taste of radio-activity. They just keep come'n faster and faster; there's no chance to think, to prepare: its Buy Futures; Sell Futures; when there is no Future! We got a runaway train boy! We got a billion Eddie's all jogg'in into the future. Every one of them getting ready to Fist-f-k God's ex-planet, lick their fingers clean as they reach out toward their pristine cybernetic keyboard to tote up their f---in bills-of-allowance!

And then it hits home, you've got to pay your own way Eddie, it's a little late in the game to 'buy out now' ~ Your belly's too full, your dick is sore, your eyes are blood-shot and you're scream'n for someone to 'help' But guess what ­ there's no one there! You're all alone Eddie, you're God's special little creature! Maybe it's true, maybe God threw the dice once too often! Maybe he let us all down. Freedom baby is never have'n to say you're sorry. This is 'revolution'

"Kevin: "Why the Law: Cut the shit dad, why lawyers, why the law!?" "Cause the law my boy puts us into everything. It's the ultimate backstage pass it's the new priesthood baby. Did you know there are more students in law school then there are lawyers on the earth -we're comin out, guns blazin!"

Earth to Mike Coffman, cut the defense budget and save your state and your country. Not counting the regular defense budget, we have spent $125 billion a year on Iraq and Iran for the last 8 years. Because of that, how many Einsteins, Ghandis, Kings and Kennedys have we lost? How many teachers have been laid off? How many music and arts programs cut? How many veterans and active duty military personnel have suffered at Walter Reed and Veterans hospitals? I'll put it in George Bush terms so that you can clearly understand the severity of the situation. You are with us (The American people) or you are against us. You can't have it both ways, show your allegiance to the Constitution and the welfare of the American people or continue down the primrose path laid before you by the military industrial cabal.

Primrose Path- A course of action that seems easy and appropriate but can actually end in calamity. MC

Oath of Office: 

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."

Preamble of the Constitution: 

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

NY Times

June 14, 2010

Unfazed by Reality

By BOB HERBERT

Imagine that you’ve got the gas pedal to the floor (or almost to the floor) as you try to get your vehicle to the top of a mountain, where the road will level off. You’ve made real progress, but the vehicle is straining and wheezing. You’re not there yet.

Why in the world would you lift your foot off the gas and risk rolling back down the mountain?

Something like this is happening in the fight to haul the United States out of the depths of the worst recession since the Great Depression. The deficit hawks — policy makers from the very same crowd whose crazy theories and rampant irresponsibility got us into this terrible fix in the first place — want the United States to step off of the stimulus gas, a move that might very well stall the current, extremely fragile recovery.

The latest struggle on this front has to do with the crucially important issue of federal relief to state and local governments, which are facing nightmarish budget scenarios. Consider the following comment from General Davie Jr., the chief of the Natomas Unified School District in Sacramento County, Calif.:

 “We made the decision to close our eight elementary school libraries with a heavy heart, but our budget situation is so dire that we had no choice. We’ve also cut all of our health aides, eliminated busing, shortened our school year by five days, increased K-3 class sizes to 30 to 1, and issued layoff notices to about 30 percent of our teachers, classified staff and administration.”

Continued

Short answer: Resources and of course our right to exploit third world countries in order to "protect our way of life," LOL Don't forget, "They hate us for our freedom" According to the article below it is for our Blackberries and laptops. 

The Vietnam War

Take rubber and oil for instance, South China Seas estimated reserves of oil, high Chinese estimate is 213 billion barrels and a huge quantity of natural gas. Whereas, Saudi reserves are 267 billion barrels. The French exploited Indochina for it's rubber and who knows what else? Well, actually the French and Americans knew as early as the 1930's. The market for tires is mind boggling, of course the number one producer of rubber is Thailand. Gold, chromium, tin, rare earth, etc. are in abundance. Regarding the article below, why is the Pentagon doing studies on Afghanistan resources? MC

June 13, 2010

U.S. Identifies Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan

By JAMES RISEN WASHINGTON — The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.

The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.

An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and BlackBerrys.

Continued at The NY Times

I heard this morning on CNN that 80 million people vacation in Florida each year.  The BP spill in the Gulf is estimated at 100 million gallons and a gallon of crude oil weighs 7 pounds.  Theoretically if all 80 million vacationers decided to help clean up the spill, they could collect and deposit 8.45 pounds of tar balls each.  Rather than cancelling vacation trips and further destroy Florida's $65 billion vacation industry, they might decide to do something constructive rather than complain about Obama not doing enough.  Of course that goes against the grain of typical service to one's country;  lip service, yellow stickers and waving the bloody flag of jingoism are the general and acceptable norm.  "Other priorities" included.  If the US Army is short over 3000 officers and the ratio is six enlisted to one officer, one might assume that we are short 18,000 enlisted men and women.  If we can't get 21,000 men and women out of the 300 million people in the United States to join the military and "serve their country."  We damned sure 'aint going to get 21,000 or 80 million citizens to pick up tar balls in someone else's back yard..

MC

Thousands of Colorado teachers laid off and Mr. Coffman is worried about 600-650 employees at Lockheed/Martin and worst of all he's worried about Lockheed shouldering the cost of terminating the Constellation program. Boo hoo, the Colorado education system could use some of the $11 billion a year to hire those scientists and engineers and make them teachers, at a substantial pay cut (a real tragedy) We need home grown engineers to make the shift to renewable resources and the space program is one of the biggest polluters in the universe. We already know that space is too vast and hostile for manned travel. Wouldn't it be refreshing to see a Republican with the right priorities?

The future is here and now or we are all doomed.  If Coffman were truly concerned about fiscal conservatism, he might think about raising CAFE standards drastically and cut into the massive oil trade deficit of approximately $216 billion a year. Here's a novel idea, there are 75 million SUV's and light trucks sold per year, in order to pay for the trade deficit on oil, charge a premium of $2,900 a year and let these people drive their urban assault vehicles until they come to their senses and buy a hybrid.  Enforce a reduction of the speed limit and an increase in the fines to raise even more revenue and increase milage by 20%.

BTW, Lockheed/Martin had a profit of over $7.00 a share in 2009.  MC

Coffman urges Obama to protect Orion jobs

By the Denver Post

As parents, we read about the dangers of drugs and bullying in today's schools. We read about major budget shortfalls and programs being cut.  And we worry about  what our children will find when they leave our homes and head to school.  And we worry about the dangers they face when breathing the air.  And we don't know how to help with any of it, how to keep them safe.

I saw a post recently that made me stop and strongly consider an online option for my daughter who will be entering high school soon.  Online high school - where my daughter sets her schedule along with an advisor, has a set curriculum and high standards, and a stipend for Internet use and technology. The example here, Provost Academy, can even alert me if she falls behind, immediately.

But best of all, I decide where my tax dollars are going, I see the benefits of her education, and we are making a "green" decision.  In the safety of our home, she can receive a quality education without excess paper use or oil consumption.

I'm ready to save my children, in school and their environment.  I think online schools deserve a good look.