Possible great news for Egypt and Egyptians

The good news is that the reports are, this morning, that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak may resign office as soon as today.  The people, it seems, are winning.  The power is/was with the people.  That's pretty terrific.  They wanted change, they pushed for it and now it seems it's coming.

The bad?  The military is stepping in. 

CAIRO (AP)  Egypt's military announced on national television that it stepped in to "safeguard the country" and assured protesters that President Hosni Mubarak will meet their demands in the strongest indication yet that the longtime leader has lost power. In Washington, the CIA chief said there was a "strong likelihood" Mubarak will step down Thursday.

State TV said Mubarak will speak to the nation Thursday night from his palace in Cairo.

The military's dramatic announcement showed that the military was taking control after 17 days of protests demanding Mubarak's immediate ouster spiraled out of control.

We'll have to see where this goes.  That may not be a necessarily bad thing, if it's only temporary.

Additionally, there's this Vice President and former army general and intelligence chief named Sulamein who is possibly/likely taking over in which case, the people may not completely have their country back yet.  We'll have to wait this out and see if/how that works.

"...a democratic transfer of power is not what Omar Suleiman appears to have in mind.

Not only has Suleiman failed to engage seriously with any of the key demands of the opposition but he has begun to darkly warn that the "intolerable" protest action must be speedily brought to an end. And so the Administration has found itself having to scold and berate the man Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last weekend hailed as the leader to oversee the transition."

The Egyptian people made this happen, of course.  It will now be up to them to push for serious, deep change that allows them to elect their own leaders.  Their work is only just begun.

In the meantime, over here in the States, we need to push for our own change that gets us true, deep, stringent campaign finance reform so we get and keep corporate money and the wealthy people's money out of our government, along with all the lobbyists.  That and we need to shorten our election/campaign season to 3 or 6 months so it isn't also corrupted.

All that, too, is up to us to push for.

I don't see it happening any time too soon, unfortunately.

Say, what time does NASCAR start, anyway?

Link:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110210/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/08599204814800;_ylt=AjP7hH.sGNFmNOh1OnhPTl.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTM4cWM0c2pyBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwMjEwL21sX2VneXB0BGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDMQRwb3MDNwRwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yeQRzbGsDc3VsZWltYW53aGVu

Quote of the day--on being a "Liberal"

"If by a 'Liberal' they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a 'Liberal,' then I'm proud to say I'm a 'Liberal.'"   --President John F. Kennedy

The insanity of Forbes Magazines lists

Forbes Magazine seems to be all over the place with their "Top" lists. 

You can't blame them for coming up with these things, really, because the gimmick works.  People watch for them, read them, some of us report on them.

But check this out.

The other day, the list I covered was their "America's Most Miserable Cities".

Today?  It's "Happiest US Cities to Work".

The problem?  Miami is number 2 on the "most miserable" and---wait for it---number 4 on the "happiest" list.

I guess the conclusion you have to come to is, if you're employed in Miami, you're about as happy as you can be in this country.

But if you're unemployed in that same city, you're nearly as miserable as you can be.

Have I got that right, Forbes?

Links:  http://moravings.blogspot.com/2011/02/california-and-florida-how-mighty-have.html
http://www.forbes.com/2011/02/02/stockton-miami-cleveland-business-washington-miserable-cities_slide.html?partner=yahooree
http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/112015/happiest-us-cities-to-work?mod=career-worklife_balance

On oil: In Saudi Arabia and here in the States

There seems to be a lot going on in the world of oil, news-wise, today.

First there's this:

WikiLeaks: Saudis running out of oil


By Brett Michael Dykes
 
The latest startling revelation to come via documents leaked to Julian Assange's muckraking website and published by The Guardian is should give pause to every suburban SUV-driver: U.S. officials think Saudi Arabia is overpromising on its capacity to supply oil to a fuel-thirsty world. That sets up a scenario, the documents show, whereby the Saudis could dramatically underdeliver on output by as soon as next year, sending fuel prices soaring.
 
The cables detail a meeting between a U.S. diplomat and Sadad al-Husseini, a geologist and former head of exploration for Saudi oil monopoly Aramco, in November 2007. Husseini told the American official that the Saudis are unlikely to keep to their target oil output of 12.5 million barrels per day output in order to keep prices stable. Husseini also indicated that Saudi producers are likely to hit "peak oil"--the point at which global output hit its high mark--as early as 2012. That means, in essence, that it will be all downhill from there for the enormous Saudi oil industry.

"According to al-Husseini, the crux of the issue is twofold. First, it is possible that Saudi reserves are not as bountiful as sometimes described, and the timeline for their production not as unrestrained as Aramco and energy optimists would like to portray," one of the cables reads. "While al-Husseini fundamentally contradicts the Aramco company line, he is no doomsday theorist. His pedigree, experience and outlook demand that his predictions be thoughtfully considered."

And while not that many people here in the States are concerned about or for the Saudis and their oil (except the oil companies, of course), what needs to be said is that for the US and the world, any decrease in what they can give in oil supply needs to be offset nearly perfectly by other energy sources so the world economies can hum safely, calmly and quietly while we transition to those other sources.

Next up and lastly today is this little nugget:

New drilling method opens vast oil fields in US


By Jonathan Fahey, AP Energy Writer


A new drilling technique is opening up vast fields of previously out-of-reach oil in the western United States, helping reverse a two-decade decline in domestic production of crude.

Companies are investing billions of dollars to get at oil deposits scattered across North Dakota, Colorado, Texas and California. By 2015, oil executives and analysts say, the new fields could yield as much as 2 million barrels of oil a day — more than the entire Gulf of Mexico produces now.

This new drilling is expected to raise U.S. production by at least 20 percent over the next five years. And within 10 years, it could help reduce oil imports by more than half, advancing a goal that has long eluded policymakers.

"That's a significant contribution to energy security," says Ed Morse, head of commodities research at Credit Suisse.

The thing is, we're going to have to bring the big, unwieldy US energy-gobbling machine in for a safe landing, transferring from Saudi oil and other fossil fuels, into a) possibly our own oil sources for a time and then, finally into b) renewable, clean energy sources like solar with solar panels and photovoltaic cells, as I've written here before.  Hopefully this drilling out West can be done with minimal damage to the environment.

It's going to take a lot of work, resources and intelligence to do it, that's for sure.
Links:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110209/ts_yblog_thelookout/wikileaks-saudis-running-out-of-oil
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110209/ap_on_re_us/us_shale_oil

Why do we keep allowing people and companies to take money (and manufacturing) offshore??

Here we go again.  This just out from Reuters:

U.S. starts new amnesty for offshore tax cheats

(Reuters) - Wealthy tax evaders with assets stashed offshore can come clean with U.S. authorities under a new amnesty program with reduced penalties, the government said on Tuesday."It gives people a chance to come in before we find them," Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Doug Shulman said.

Yeah?  Well, I and a lot of people I know down here at this end of the food chain say "screw 'em!".  Let's hunt these bloodsuckers down like the low-life scum they are, try 'em and prosecute them as soon as possible.

"Come clean"?  "Reduced penalties"?  Why is this not a form of treason? 

Let's go after these people and corporations that do this crap. 

And while we're at it, let's--as I've said here many times--do away with any and all tax deductions for taking any money, but especially manufacturing, offshore.  Why does all that not make sense?  And it seems to make a great deal of sense now, with the deficits and spending we've got thanks to Dubya's two wars he took us into.

Let's stop being stupid and giving away the store.

To repeat:  let's go after these people.

Links:  http://mattpayton.tumblr.com/post/3200660608
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/08/us-usa-taxes-amnesty-idUSTRE7174K920110208?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Top+News%29

An aquarium coming downtown to Crown Center

What terrific news!

Crown Center is going to get an aquarium:

Halls Crown Center will get $15M aquarium by Merlin Entertainments Group


Kansas City Business Journal - by Krista Klaus , Staff Writer

Date: Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Merlin Entertainments Group has announced plans to open a $15 million freshwater and saltwater aquarium at Crown Center in 2012.

The company, based in the United Kingdom, will build a 100,000-square-foot aquarium at the Kansas City retail center. The Sea Life Kansas City at Crown Center aquarium will take up the first floor of the existing Halls retail store and half of the store’s second floor to accommodate the attraction’s two-story height.

Halls will reduce its footprint at Crown Center by roughly half to make way for the aquarium, which will feature marine life indigenous to the Midwest as well as the ocean.

Crown Center and Merlin plan to break ground on the project May 1. The aquarium will add as many as 50 jobs to the area when completed.

Merlin and Crown Center Redevelopment Corp. will share the cost of the project; no public money will be sought.

This is such a smart move in so many ways for Crown Center, it's hard to cover them all.

Additionally, it's a terrific move for Kansas City, in general, but for downtown, more specifically, too.  Between this addition and the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, these will be huge boosts for the city and region.   It adds jobs, it adds to the attractions to the area, it gives another reason to go--or even stay--downtown.  It strengthens the city in a lots of different ways.

And the added bonus is that the Halls and Halls Crown Center didn't go "hat in hand" to the city to beg for money to make it happen.  More great evidence of what a class act the entire organization is.

Link:  http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2011/02/09/halls-crown-center-will-get-15m.html?ana=RSS&s=article_search&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bizj_kansascity+%28Kansas+City+Business+Journal%29

On Trader Joe's coming to Kansas City

I've made my first foray into a Trader Joe's retail store.

Yow.

What a find.

Now I'm even more jazzed than ever that this chain is bringing its goods to the Kansas City metropolitan area.

You want bargains?  They gotcher' bargains.

The one I visited isn't even a huge store but it surely had plenty of things in it to make you not want to go anywhere else, that's for sure.

As a small example, I don't, as a rule, buy potato chips since, if I bought a bag, I'd end up marching either completely through it, in one evening, or mostly, anyway, but they have a salt and pepper potato chips bag that is really to die for.

And that's just the beginning.

Whoever started and now runs these stores comes up with the coolest, tastiest products you'll ever want to see--AND NO ONE ELSE HAS THEM.

Go figure.

They have a line of organic soups, folks, in little cartons (they serve at least 3 bowls of soup for you) and they are absolutely delicious.  Some of the examples of them are Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato, Corn and Roasted Pepper, Carrot Ginger Soup and Butternut Squash Soup, to name just a few.  They taste wonderful, they're organic, they're good for you and--possibly saving best for last---they're only $2.80 per carton.  Really.  For three servings of soup.  It's not only outstanding on it's own right, it's also an outstanding value.

They also have a long line of cheeses you won't see anywhere else, along with crackers and cookies that are unique and delicious.

If you're a liquor store owner that is within, I'd say 5 miles of Ward Parkway Mall, where TJ's is going to open, I'd fear for my business as Trader Joe's has not only unique wines from all over the world but they also price them from their famous "Two-buck Chuck" (Charles Shaw wines) to, oh, I'd say a high price of between 5 and 7 dollars per bottle.

I'm here to tell you, this is one great store and one great chain.

They make saving money chic.  Extremely chic at that. 

We'll all look cool saving money.

Take that Wal-Mart.

Link:  http://www.traderjoes.com/

Songs in the key of life

Have a great day, y'all.

Quote of the day--on war and peace

"Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them!"  --Albert Einstein

Pres. Obama: Not as big a spender he's painted as being after all

There's a new study out just now by and from Newsweek and The Daily Beast that shows President Obama isn't quite the spender the Right-wing, the Conservatives, the Tea Party and everyone else allied against him would have you believe.  Quoting:

Over the last two years, the president has decided to “spend” $21 billion more on tax cuts—the GOP’s preferred policy response to, well, everything—than on government programs.

Of course, this won't get listened to or studied and, unfortunately, it won't change anyone's opinions because, well, we Americans just make up our minds and then stick to it--whatever "it" is--and only read or watch things that reinforce our already-applied opinions, sadly. 

More:

Obama has slashed one tax dollar for every dollar he’s spent on government programs.

And then the summary:

On the rare occasion Republicans do allude to real stats, they tend to shout about the growing short-term deficit, a problem that has a lot more to do with declining recession-era tax revenues and increasing safety-net outlays than anything Obama has done, or not done. Instead, Republicans should be referring to the amount the president has decided to spend so far: $884 billion. They can say it’s too much, and that a thriftier approach would’ve been better for the country. Democrats can reply that rescuing the U.S. economy from a second Great Depression for less than the price of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was a relative bargain. Both sides, meanwhile, can debate the wisdom of cutting more than $900 billion in taxes while spending is going up. At least they’ll be arguing about facts, not fantasies.


So go back to you Fox "News" or your Wall Street Journal (both of them Right-wing, Rupert Murdoch mouthpieces) or, worse, go back to your not paying any attention at all, Americans. 

After all, NASCAR starts in just a couple weeks, right?

Link to original post:  http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-02-08/obamas-spending-exclusive-estimate-of-the-true-number/

Best Super Bowl commercial?

I think this may have been the one.

It sneaks up on you.  It seems like it might go nowhere but you gotta' say, right off the bat, the kid in the costume looks so cute, right?

And then there's that payoff at the end. 

I was in a theater room in a condominium and the whole small audience just broke out laughing.  The commercial and the audience both surprised me.

I think it was the surprise that made it so much fun. 

That and the simplicity of the ad.

And the innocence.

(Btw, a local ad agency guy tends to agree with me on this one, too:  http://www.nbcactionnews.com/dpp/news/local_news/president-of-local-advertising-company-breaks-down-the-hits-misses-of-this-year%27s-super-bowl-ads)

Have a great day, y'all.

Don Rumsfeld: Wrong again

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told Dianne Sawyer on ABC that he thought his one big mistake, apparently, was that he didn't insist then-President George W. Bush accept his (Rumsfeld's) resignation after the Abu Graib prisoner abuse details came out.

Wow.

Could this guy be any more obtuse?

Biggest mistake, Mr. Rumsfeld??

Does "attack Iraq" mean anything to you?

Link:   http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110208/pl_afp/usmilitaryiraqbookrumsfeld_20110208133019

Notes on Keith Olbermann and his new gig

First, yeah, he has a new gig.

Keith Olbermann just signed a deal, apparently, with "Current TV" (ever heard of them?  I hadn't) so he'll be back on the air.

Second, it seems Keith had to get a dig in on MSNBC, right out of the chute, so to speak: 

"Nothing is more vital to a free America than a free media," Olbermann told reporters Tuesday. "And nothing is more vital to my concept of a free media than news that is produced independent of corporate interference."

That is surely a dig on his old place of residence--MSNBC.  It may mean because they were owned by GE or, more likely I think, because they were just bought by Comcast.

Third,  that whole thing about a "free media" and being "produced independent of corporate interference" is a bit of a hoot since Current TV is the " public affairs network founded in 2005 by Al Gore and Joel Hyatt."

Don't look for the Conservative and/or Republican sides to be espoused on this channel or show, ala' "Point/Counterpoint" like we used to see on the old "60 Minutes" program.  I'm not saying it should be, given the Fox "News" channel and all but it isn't that this station will try to show a balance on issues, either.

Next, there's this point:

Olbermann called the move to Current his "most exciting venture" in a decades-long television career that's included stops at CNN, ESPN, Fox Sports, and MSNBC (twice!). He described Current as "one of the fastest-growing television networks in history."


Yeah, right, fastest-growin television networks in history.

If you ignore the Spanish television channel, Telemundo it might be.  Maybe.  I guess.

More from the article:  Current is available in 60 million households. Gore, on the conference call, suggested that Current has a larger potential audience than MSNBC had when Olbermann launched "Countdown" in 2003. (MSNBC, however, was available in over 78 million homes then and 95 million now). Current is also available in 15 million households outside the United States.


Yeah. 
Finally, there's this:

Olbermann didn't hold back his political views on "Countdown," but he got into trouble in November after donating to three Democratic candidates in without alerting MSNBC's management. Those contributions led to a brief, November suspension that set the stage for his departure a couple months later.
Gore said that Olbermann, along with other Current employees, is free to contribute to political campaigns as long as the donations are disclosed.
As I recall, that was the rule at MSNBC, too, wasn't it, Mr. O?

Enough to make you at least smile, if not laugh.

Anyway, I'm all for him and Mr. Gore and the station.  Good luck to them.  I hope it works.

Unlike "Air America" on radio.

Links:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thecutline/20110208/ts_yblog_thecutline/olbermann-launching-primetime-current-tv-show-this-spring
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telemundo

Worst Super Bowl Commercial for 2011, bar none

I'm trying to figure out here, after seeing this commercial for Pepsi, how you could possibly create an uglier, meaner, more racially stereotypical ad unless you're a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Could they have hit more stereotypes—and deeply ugly ones at that? I can’t imagine the meeting or meetings they must have had when they came up with this one. It makes me wonder if any African American was in the room when it was conceived. I rather doubt it but then, “group think” does have a way of taking over in meetings in general but in corporations more specifically.

What an awful--really awful--ignorant and ugly commercial.  This hits on so many nasty, vicious stereotypes, I'm not even going to go down the list of what they hit here.

So kudos and hats off to you, Pepsico! You came up with the absolute “Wort Super Bowl Commercial for 2011″ Great job! (not).

(Thanks and a h/t to fellow-blogger for the heads up on this one.  For more input see original link here:  http://ebonymompolitics.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/pepsi-super-bowl-commercial-highlights-the-angry-black-woman/)
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,2046668,00.html?xid=yahoo-feat

California and Florida: How the mighty have fallen

Okay, another Forbes Magazine "top" list, this one for "America's Most Miserable Cities".

Forbes does seem to go on and on with these rankings each week, don't they?  But hey, it's gets them lots and lots of viewership and re-quoting.

First, let's point out for Tony that KANSAS CITY IS NOT ON THE LIST.  Far from it.

But what's much more important and notable is who is most prominent on the list:  that is, California and Florida.

Remember back, a decade or two ago, when these 2 states were always the "best of the best" and where everyone either wanted to live or wanted to move to or to retire in, one day, if possible?

Yeah, I remember that, too.

Not anymore.

California has more cities than any other state on the list, with 5 (Stockton, CA 1, Merced 3, Modesto 4, Sacramento 5, Vallejo 9) while Florida is number two in this bad quantity with 2 cities on the list (Miami at number 2 and West Palm Beach in the number 8 slot).

Only 3 midwestern cities--Memphis, Tennessee at number 6, Chicago, Illinois, no. 7 and Cleveland, Ohio at number 10.

It used to be thought and assumed that California was heaven on Earth and that, naturally, no one would ever want to live anywhere but there.  Florida?  Pretty much the same.  It wa the "any place with palm trees" thought, you know?  If you have to live and work somewhere, why not someplace with a mild climate (and, in the case of California, mountains and beaches and desert, etc.)

It's a topsy-turvy world we live in out there, isn't it? 

Let's hope it doesn't get any more topsy or turvy than it already is.

Have a great day out there, y'all.

Link to original story:  http://www.forbes.com/2011/02/02/stockton-miami-cleveland-business-washington-miserable-cities_slide.html?partner=yahooree

Two new hot spots for democratic governments?

The first may well be Belarus, if the West can somehow come down hard on their abusive leader, President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko.  It seems there is dissent in Belarus and the people are pushing for some Democracy and change but Mr. Lukashenko has very tough and strict control of the country, for now, at least.

The other, 2nd place there are stirrings of dissent and some push for more Democratic ways is showing itself--again in the Middle East--in Dubai of the United Arab Emirates.  This from the news today:

Gulf leaders hear rumblings of dissent

 DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – There were only a few dozen Saudi women at a protest to demand the release of prisoners they claim are unfairly linked to militants. Yet the small act of defiance in Riyadh is part of a wider question for autocratic rulers in the Gulf who wonder if the ripples from Egypt could head their way.

It's too early to predict what — if any — street demonstrations could rise across a region symbolized by its skyscraper-studded wealth, super-powerful sheiks and monarchs and some of Washington's most important military footholds.

The failure to draw crowds at planned rallies in Syria last week also underscores that the protest fire from Tunisia and Egypt apparently can be stamped out by hard-line state security, which is also a hallmark of Gulf states.

But there's no shortage of hints that reform-seeking groups in the Gulf are trying to seize the moment.

More significantly:

"The Gulf states are not that far removed from what has happened in Tunisia and Egypt," said Ali Fakhro, a political analyst and commentator in Bahrain. "Why? Because all Arab youth have similar demands: jobs, freedom, a feeling they are not oppressed by their leaders. The Tunisian revolution, as well as Egypt, is spreading new principles and a new definition for Arab youth."

It seems there is a push for more democratic reforms on the island of Bahrain, in the Middle East, too.  (See Yahoo link below).

So fascinating developments on all counts here.  Let's hope that, if the countries can, in fact, move to more open government, that it can happen as quickly as possible for them and with no bloodshed.

One thing is for sure, with all the new technology, from news coverage to instant viewing and reporting on computers and televisions to Facebook and Twitter communication, the pressure is greater than ever on the repressive governments.

The power is more with the people.

Links:  http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/belarus/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/opinion/11iht-edforbrig11.html?_r=1&ref=belarus
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110208/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_gulf_next_protests

Your humor for the day: Bryant Gumbel, 1994 on the internet

Enjoy your Sunday, y'all.

(H/t to Politics from the eyes of an ebony mom blog)

Quote of the day

"The heart is what matters most of all."  --Kris Kristofferson  (Yeah, tough guy Kris Kristofferson.  Go figure.)


Enjoy your Sunday, y'all.

Where the internet is headed--and it's not good

From Joe.My.God. today:

An Ontario internet provider is the first in Canada to impose greatly lowered usage caps on its customers. This move comes in response to the exploding popularity of heavy-bandwidth sites like Netflix. Customers who exceed their contracted usage will page steep fees.

Starting on March 1, Ontario TekSavvy members who subscribed to the 5Mbps plan have a new usage cap of 25GB, "substantially down from the 200GB or unlimited deals TekSavvy was able to offer before the CRTC's decision to impose usage based billing," the message added. By way of comparison, Comcast here in the United States has a 250GB data cap. Looks like lots of Canadians can kiss that kind of high ceiling goodbye. And going over will cost you: according to TekSavvy, the CRTC put data overage rates at CAN $1.90 per gigabyte for most of Canada, and $2.35 for the country's French-speaking region.

Bottom line: no more unlimited buffet. TekSavvy users who bought the "High Speed Internet Premium" plan at $31.95 now get 175GB less per month. "Extensive web surfing, sharing music, video streaming, downloading and playing games, online shopping and email," could put users over the 25GB cap, TekSavvy warns. Also, watch out "power users that use multiple computers, smartphones, and game consoles at the same time."

So not only are some internet providers charging users much more for the same service, they are charging the providers more to deliver that content.


This is not good, ultimately, for the internet--unless you're a provider--and it's not good for the middle- and lower-classes, folks.  This will follow the golden rule of the world that "them with the gold makes the rules" and, worse, Ray Charles' lament that "them that has, gets."


If you're a poor schmuck, you'll have access to less information and entertainment, that's all there is to it.


The way of the world, sadly.

Ex-President George W. Bush--now officially "on the lam"

Yeehaw!

Good on you, Switzerland.

Check it out, according to The New York Times:

February 5, 2011

Bush's Swiss Visit Off After Complaints on Torture

By REUTERS

GENEVA (Reuters) - Former U.S. President George W. Bush, under fire from human rights group over allegations of ordering torture, has canceled a visit to Switzerland where he was to address a Jewish charity gala.

Bush was to be the keynote speaker at Keren Hayesod's annual dinner on February 12 in Geneva. But pressure has been building on the Swiss government to arrest him and open a criminal investigation if he enters the Alpine country.

Criminal complaints against Bush alleging torture have been lodged in Geneva, court officials say, and several human rights groups signaled that they were poised to take further legal action this week.


Because, after all, as the article rightly and correctly points out:  Torture is a crime under international law and human rights experts say the absolute prohibition is very clear.

Unfortunately, technically he has diplomatic immunity and, likely, these human rights groups won't keep their pressure on forever but hey, at least for now, at least in this instance, it messed with his plans and he's at least remotely aware of how people around the world feel about the national and international laws he broke.

But at least, for right now, let's enjoy this moment.

Have a great weekend, y'all.


(and thanks to friend John McA. for bringing this article to my attention).

A reminder on now-Senator Roy Blunt

Just because Roy Blunt was--foolishly--voted into his current, new position as Senator from the great state of Missouri is no time to forget that he was, last year, up until the election, on the following list:

Ciitizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington's (CREW's) Most Corrupt List:


26 REASONS FOR ETHICS REFORM

• Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
• Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO)
• Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL)
• Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL)
• Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)
• Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)
• Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA)
• Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)
• Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
• Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
• Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL)
• Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
• Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA)
• Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-WV)
• Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
• Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA)
• Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-NY)
• Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA)
• Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY)
• Rep. David Scott (D-GA)
• Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX)
• Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH)
• Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-IN)
• Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)
• Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)
• Rep. Don Young (R-AK)

See that guy up there in the number 2 position?  Yeah, that one.  That would be our now-Senator Roy Blunt.

Now that he's a Senator in Washington---dangit---let's keep the pressure on.  Let's make sure he knows we want and need good and good, clean government and actions from him, now that he's representing us in this new and powerful position of his. 

Now that we chuckleheads in Missouri are going to, likely, vote him back in the same seat for as long as he wants to hold it.

Nobody ever said we were terribly bright.

If he's not honest and "clean", it's our fault, for not getting him there and demanding and requiring it of him.

Link:  http://www.citizensforethics.org/

Someone tell the CIA about Facebook, please

There was an article in the paper yesterday about how the CIA may have failed the country yet again.  Check it out:

US intelligence on Arab unrest draws criticism

By KIMBERLY DOZIER 

The Associated Press

3:34 p.m. Friday, February 4, 2011

WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence agencies are drawing criticism from the Oval Office and Capitol Hill that they failed to warn of revolts in Egypt and the downfall of an American ally in Tunisia.

President Barack Obama sent word to National Intelligence Director James Clapper that he was "disappointed with the intelligence community" over its failure to predict the outbreak of demonstrations would lead to the ouster of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunis, according to one U.S. official familiar with the exchanges, which were expressed to Clapper through White House staff.

There's more, too:

Senior US lawmakers questioned Thursday whether the CIA and other spy agencies had failed to give President Obama adequate warning of the crisis in Egypt...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D.-Calif., chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said after the hearing that the intelligence community's performance was "lacking."  She said she was particularly concerned that the CIA and other agencies had ignored so-called open source intelligence on the protests, a reference to posts on Facebook and other public websites used by organizers of the massive protests.

Did you get that?

The CIA, with all their millions and millions of dollars didn't see the revolution in Egypt coming because they disallowed or ignored posts on Facebook.

Are you freaking kidding me?

And these are the rocket scientists, so to speak, who are keeping our country safe?

I don't think so.

Then, check this out:

A senior CIA official testified that spy services had warned the administration late last year that Egypt's government could fall.  "We warned of instability," said Stephanie O'Sullivan, who had been nominated to become the nation's No. 2 intelligence official.  But, she said, "we didn't know what the triggering mechanism would be."

Okay, so you wouldn't "know what the triggering mechanism would be" but once you come to that conclusion--that it's unstable--don't you keep your eyes and ears out for any and every sign it might fail?

Holy cow, people.  The CIA doesn't know to watch Facebook and Twitter.  What?  Because it's free and that couldn't possibly hold any information unless it costs millions of dollars?

Why do I not feel safe?

They didn't see the fall of the Soviet Union and other situations,now they miss this one.

What do they get right?

I'd love to know.

Link:  http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/us-intelligence-on-arab-827363.html

Quote of the day

"Believe in yourself and believe in love.  Love something.  We've got to learn to love something deeply."  --Andrew Wyeth, quoted in the book "Wisdom" by Andrew Zuckerman.

(Go, get this book.  It's inexpensive but good.)

Have a great weekend, y'all.

Quote of the day--on war--and peace

"Can anything be stupider than that a man has the right to kill me because he lives on the other side of a river and his ruler has quarrel with mine, though I have not quarreled with him?"  --Blaise Pascal  (French Mathematician, Philosopher and Physicist, 1623-1662)

Someone locally needs to do this to David Glass

It seems Dan Snyder, the owner of the Washington Redskins, is mighty upset with a local writer--Dave McKenna of the Washington City Paper-- for a tough article written last November which rather savaged Mr. Snyder's leadership of the team.  Now, Mr. Snyder is so upset, he's trying to get the reporter fired or sue the paper:

The City Paper published McKenna's "Cranky Redskins Fans Guide to Dan Snyder" in November. It was an encyclopedic A-Z look at Snyder's "many failings" and featured a picture of him with penciled on devil horns and goatee. McKenna chronicled most of Snyder's missteps, most of which already were on the public record. This piece wasn't reporting as much as it was collecting.

What's funny about it, too, besides the article (which, maybe you should check out as it really is good, even if you're not a huge Redskins fan) is that now even more people, exponentially, will be reading this article about Mr. Snyder, since he's going ballistic.

Which brings me to this idea:  wouldn't it be nice if we had a local writer who had as much guts and creativity as this Dave McKenna so they'd take on David Glass and his ownership and "leadership", such as it is, of our Kansas City Royals. 

Wouldn't that be nice?

I mean, the guy--Mr. Glass--is ranked as the third worst owner in Major League Baseball by Sports illustrated.  (Again, see link below).  From their article:

During Glass' 16 years, the Royals have averaged 96 losses. More than that, the former Wal-Mart exec is viewed by many as a stoolpigeon for Major League Baseball, open to suggestions from the league office as to how much to bid for free agents and, most prominently, being one of the loudest voices in opposing the players' union during the 1994 strike. In the meantime, he has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the revenue-sharing system, yet hasn't spent much of those funds in the free-agent market. That could turn around this year, with a franchise record $70.5 million payroll. Still, while the Royals probably won't lose 100 games for the fifth time under Glass, they likely won't break their 24-year playoff drought, either.

The Royals, under his ownership, have done zero when it comes to even getting remotely close to a penant race at the end of the season.  I've written here before how he seems to run it like the company he comes from--Wal-Mart--in that he sucks all the profit out but only wants to operate it on a "lowest cost" basis, with little desire for or emphasis on winning.

Add to it that Mr. Glass puts a gun to the city's head for millions of dollars in tax money so we can fix up his stadium so he can make even more money and it just makes for a really bitter taste in one's mouth.

And think about it, besides maybe pushing the team's owners to do and be better, it'd be a great read, it'd be fun, it would likely do great things for readership down at the Star--and God knows they need that desperately--and finally, if it didn't get the Royals to improve, at least we could have some fun with it until, one day, God willing, the team improves.  It's a total win, all around.

Sure, it's freezing cold and bitter out now but Springtime and baseball are right around the corner.

I'm convinced there are far too many Royals fans--and taxpayers--who think like I do, that Mr. Glass has gotten off far too easily on all this for far too long.

Please, Kansas City Star, get someone on this as soon as possible.  If we can't have a better team, at least give us a good belly laugh.  If we can't have the entertainment we want out at the ballpark, give it to us in our newspaper.  It's a distant second but we'll take it.

Links:  http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Dan-Snyder-is-trying-to-get-a-newspaper-reporter?urn=nfl-315778
http://mirror.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/40063/the-cranky-redskins-fans-guide-to-dan-snyder.html
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/05/08/mlb.owners/index.html

Quote of the day--on the planet

"We're in a giant car, heading towards a brick wall and everyone's arguing over where they're going to sit."
--David Suzuki, Canadian environmentalist, scientist and broadcaster, b. 1936

Reminds me of the people denying climate change---or global warming or whatever they want to call it--like how we live on this planet is sustainable.

Puh--leeze.

Quote of the day--on peace

‎"The earth is too small a star and we too brief a visitor upon it for anything to matter more than the struggle for peace."   --Coleman MacCar

Huh. Democracy breaking out in the Middle East. Imagine that

First it was Yemen.

Then it was Syria.

Next up was Egypt, of course, against Hosni Mubarak.

Now it's Jordan, whose King Jordan just let go his cabinet.

Democracy seemingly breaking out in all these places in the Middle East and it wasn't because the US attacked them, blew them up and tried to "give them" Democracy.

More than 4,300 American soldiers gave their lives so we could spread Democracy in Iraq.  We've committed the nation to, it's been estimated, 3 trillion dollars and now a huge debt burden.

But maybe, just maybe--and this is entirely possible--Democracy would have broken out in Iraq without the debacle the George W. Bush/Dick Cheney/Donald Rumsfeld/Paul Wolfowitz/Condoleeza Rice group selectively took us into.

Iraq has had an undercurrent of protests during and after Saddam Hussein's reign.  With the current examples of citizens rebelling against their governments, it is entirely possible to the point of likely that the Iraqis could and would have brought down their own government.

Sure, it's second-guessing and arm chair quarterbacking but it is an entirely possible scenario.

It is yet further proof I believe, if even in retrospect, that we just shouldn't have attacked Iraq, all those years ago.  (And for clarification, I protested the Iraq War before it took place.)

Links:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ml_jordan_cabinet;_ylt=AjOSiPYSSaj9bz2VwIGwfkHuOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTJ2Y3Y0NXQ0BGFzc2V0Ay9zL2FwL21sX2pvcmRhbl9jYWJpbmV0BGNjb2RlA21wX2VjXzhfMTAEY3BvcwMyBHBvcwMyBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDam9yZGFuc2tpbmdm

http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2011/01/28/if-egypt-falls-syria-must-follow/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/27/yemen-protesters-demand-change-government

Observation

Kansas City, Missouri, if we re-elect Mayor Mark Funkhouser.

Just sayin'.


Keep warm, safe and dry today, folks!

Quote of the day--on survival

“Human diversity makes tolerance more than a virtue; it makes it a requirement for survival.”   --Rene Dubois