No bailout, yet, but look how the Representatives voted

My Democratic Representative (Capuano) voted YES, and if I still lived in Mpls my Rep. would be Ellison, who also voted YES. It looks, w/ the exception maybe of Jeff, like yours did too. Did he or she? From AP: "Voting yes were 140 Democrats and 65 Republicans. Voting no were 95 Democrats and 133 Republicans." What the fuck is going on?

MASSACHUSETTS -- Democrats: Capuano, yes; Delahunt, no; Frank, yes; Lynch, no; Markey, yes; McGovern, yes; Neal, yes; Olver, yes; Tierney, no; Tsongas, yes.

. . .

MINNESOTA -- Democrats: Ellison, yes; McCollum, yes; Oberstar, yes; Peterson, no; Walz, no. Republicans: Bachmann, no; Kline, yes; Ramstad, no.

. . .

OREGON -- Democrats: Blumenauer, no; DeFazio, no; Hooley, yes; Wu, no. Republicans: Walden, yes.

. . .

PENNSYLVANIA -- Democrats: Altmire, no; Brady, yes; Carney, no; Doyle, yes; Fattah, yes; Holden, no; Kanjorski, yes; Murphy, P., yes; Murtha, yes; Schwartz, yes; Sestak, yes. Republicans: Dent, no; English, no; Gerlach, no; Murphy, T., no; Peterson, yes; Pitts, no; Platts, no; Shuster, no.

. . .

WISCONSIN -- Democrats: Baldwin, yes; Kagen, no; Kind, yes; Moore, yes; Obey, yes. Republicans: Petri, no; Ryan, yes; Sensenbrenner, no.

More at Washington Post.

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NEW YACHT

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First Dude

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Last night's debate lacking?

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Amid economic meltdown, Washington plans permanent Army deployment in U.S.

From Army Times article. Sounds like the Army will be following the examples of Iraq and the RNC roundup:

It is not the first time an active-duty unit has been tapped to help at home. In August 2005, for example, when Hurricane Katrina unleashed hell in Mississippi and Louisiana, several active-duty units were pulled from various posts and mobilized to those areas.

But this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.

...

They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control ...

...

The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use “the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.

“It’s a new modular package of nonlethal capabilities that they’re fielding. They’ve been using pieces of it in Iraq, but this is the first time that these modules were consolidated and this package fielded, and because of this mission we’re undertaking we were the first to get it.”

The package includes equipment to stand up a hasty road block; spike strips for slowing, stopping or controlling traffic; shields and batons; and, beanbag bullets.

...

“I can’t think of a more noble mission than this,” said Cloutier, who took command in July. “We’ve been all over the world during this time of conflict, but now our mission is to take care of citizens at home ... and depending on where an event occurred, you’re going home to take care of your home town, your loved ones.”

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What a three-way debate would look like

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palin rape kit

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THE NINE PRINCIPLES OF AIDS WOLF

1. Maintain a Daily Ritual. Music is like breathing, eating, sleeping, pissing, and, with any luck, fucking. Music must be a physical need and a mental compulsion.

2. Live Aesthetic Immersion. There is no reason a sonic composition cannot be inspired by or contribute to a drawing, a tasty curry, or one's choice of socks.

3. When in Doubt, Bum Them Out. If you can't convert 'em, make 'em run crying and holding their ears.

4. Get in the Van.

5. Seek Strength through Strength. Gear's gotta be carried, sleep must be forsaken, and tours have to be survived.

6. Join the Family. Camaraderie with other bands is not only inspiring but also serves as a vital metrics by which to measure one's own perceived worth.

7. Allow for Sonic Fields of Nothing. The use of negative space in music creates new dynamics, abstracts the obvious, and challenges both the creator and the audience.

8. Lift Anchor and Set Sail. De-anchoring compositions by dispensing with a bass guitar allows AIDS Wolf to make rhythm the central feature of its performances.

9. Become the Weird Punks. Remember when punk was weird and when weird was punk? Destroy genre straight jackets and move out of the comfortable.

Now that you have committed these principles to memory, we encourage further study through “Cities Of Glass”, the second album from AIDS Wolf. Once immersed in these tenets, you can be assured of finding failure and misery as you bring them with you into the wider world.

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palin lipstick

from "My Gal" in the New Yorker

So, when Barack Obama says he will put some lipstick on my pig, I am, like, Are you calling me a pig? If so, thanks! Pigs are the most non-Élite of all barnyard animals. And also, if you put lipstick on my pig, do you know what the difference will be between that pig and a pit bull? I’ll tell you: a pit bull can easily kill a pig. And, as the pig dies, guess what the Hockey Mom is doing? Going to her car, putting on more lipstick, so that, upon returning, finding that pig dead, she once again looks identical to that pit bull, which, staying on mission, the two of them step over the dead pig, looking exactly like twins, except the pit bull is scratching his lower ass with one frantic leg, whereas the Hockey Mom is carrying an extra hockey stick in case Todd breaks his again. But both are going, like, Ha ha, where’s that dumb pig now? Dead, that’s who, and also: not a smidge of lipstick.

(the 'lipstick on a pig' line in question:

)

and matt damon on sarah palin: 

"it's like a really bad disney movie. you know, the hockey mom... 'oh, i'm just a hockey mom from alaska!' and she's the president and it's like she's facing down vladimir putin and she's using the folksy stuff she's learned in the hockey rink, and it's absurd."

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Bolivia, S. America updates.

Not sure if you know of these recent developments:

Chavez says he's uncovered U.S.-backed plot to assassinate him.

12-nation* Union of South American Countries votes to support Bolivian Pres. Evo Morales' federal gov't. *Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela

15-30 Morales supporters killed by troops of US-backed Bolivian governors' opposition.

Morales expels U.S. ambassador citing U.S. support of opposition governors. U.S. reciprocates, calls Morales' move "grave error" and charges against U.S. ambassador "baseless."

U.S. arranges evacuation of U.S. citizens from Bolivia including Peace Corps.

White House places Bolivia (and Burma and Venezuela) on list of states that have "failed demonstrably to meet their counter-narcotics obligations." Asst. Sec. of State David Johnson: "This is the first year that the [U.S.] president has determined that Bolivia has failed demonstrably. This was not a hasty decision. . . . President Morales continues to support the expansion of LICIT cocoa leaf production, despite the fact that current LEGAL cultivation far exceeds the demand for current consumption."

So Bolivia is guilty of legally harvesting its cocoa.
Enter the War on Drugs, I presume.

More background here:



and at The Real News stories on Bolivia.

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Georgian propaganda

These ads and others paid for by the Georgian gov't have been appearing in the Washington Post and in the Wall Street Journal. See the website devoted to supporting Georgia for more ads, anti-Russian sentiment, and other propaganda..

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Warning: Nader/Gonzalez on 45 state ballots. . .

. . . and are write-in candidates in TX, GA, NC, and IN. (Probably no votes in OK will be counted for Nader because OK does not allow write-in candidates. Democracy?) This means Nader is on more state ballots than in 2004 (34) or 2000 (43). He is polling at up to 10% in Michigan.

See clips from Nader's rally at Orchestra Hall during the RNC, including Jesse Ventura's take on why the media won't report on the campaign:

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Rich article

"In other words, McCain’s hasty vetting of Palin was all too reminiscent of his grave dereliction of due diligence on the war. He has been no less hasty in implying that we might somehow ride to the military rescue of Georgia (“Today, we are all Georgians”) or in reaffirming as late as December 2007 that the crumbling anti-democratic regime of Pervez Musharraf deserved “the benefit of the doubt” even as it was enabling the resurgence of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. McCain’s blanket endorsement of Bush administration policy in Pakistan could have consequences for years to come."

full text here

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McCain's 2008 RNC "Americans Fight Country" speech

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Sen. Fred Thompson's RNC Speech -- word frequency

... mccain should be president ... because of his character ... because he was a prisoner of war ...

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At RNC, Bolton hints at/gives license to Israeli strike against Iran

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"Criminal anarchists" arrested or detained in St. Paul

Free Speech Radio News audio report on Amy Goodman's illegal arrest, and detention of protesters on verge of RNC. The "criminal anarchists" are I Witness video team members whose goal is to capture police excessive force/brutality on video. Also targeted is the mysterious "RNC Welcoming Committee."

Watch how the local corporate news handles the story. The "anarchists' literature is apolicital and only tells them how to commit violence." Notice the preemptive action taken by police, plus the assumptions/ propaganda about the intentions of the "criminals" police release to the press.

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