Just facts and all the facts!

After a few days of brutality in the media, Shirley Sherrod has made the truth known.

A little recap. Two days ago, Conservative Commentator Andrew Breitbart released a video clip of Shirley Sherrod, a USDA agent in charge of rural development in Georgia, saying that she would not help a poor white farmer. This is what was said in the clip of a larger speech that was delivered March 27 as it was posted on Fox News:

You know, the first time I was faced with helping a white farmer save his farm. He took a long time talking but he was trying to show me he was superior to me. I know what he was doing. But he had come to me for help. What he didn't know, while he was taking all that time trying to show me he was superior to me, was I was trying to decide just how much help I was going to give him.

I was struggling with the fact that so many black people had lost their farmland. And here I was faced with having to help a white person save their land, so I didn't give him the full force of what I could do.

So I took him to a white lawyer that had attended some of the training that we had provided because Chapter 12 bankruptcy had just been enacted for the family farm. So I figured if I take him to one of them, that his own kind would take care of him.

It was big news after that! Everyone ran with the story. But there were those who did dig deeper. Unfortunately, many did not. The Department of Agriculture was one and the NAACP was another.

The Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said in response to the tape:

There is zero tolerance for discrimination at USDA, and I strongly condemn any act of discrimination against any person... We have been working hard through the past 18 months to reverse the checkered civil rights history at the department and take the issue of fairness and equality very seriously.

The NAACP stated

Racism is about the abuse of power. Ms. Sherrod had it in her position at USDA. According to her remarks, she mistreated a white farmer in need of assistance because of his race. We are appalled by her actions, just as we are with abuses of power against farmers of color and female farmers. Her actions were shameful. While she went on to explain in the story that she ultimately realized her mistake, as well as the common predicament of working people of all races, she gave no indication she had attempted to right the wrong she had done to this man.

All to make sure that we all knew they were against the actions of this Georgia woman. Tuesday, she was called three times by Secretary Vilsack asking for her resignation. While she was on the road form West Point, Georgia, she was told by the White House to resign. It was said that they wanted her to resign before Glenn Beck aired later that day. The White House has denied that they had anything to do with pressuring her to resign.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch - er, farm that is - the Spooner Family were willing to tell everyone that would listen that Shirley Sherrod was a great lady. She had helped them keep their farm decades ago and were still friends with her.

So, when I was watching The O'Reilly Factor last night, after the statements, the resignation and the Spooner Family's take on the past, why did Bill O'Reilly not mention the Spooners? He went with the clip as it was. He did not take a deeper look into it as he claims to do. Guess he only does that when it's white men and/or Republicans. Later, he argued that the lack of Black Panther coverage on the other networks meant they had less journalistic integrity. Apparently, they all have blinders on just not for the same stories.

But regardless of how hypocritical Bill O'Reily is, the clip in its entirety and the full context of her remarks have been released.

...if I take him to one of them, that his own kind would take care of him ... but that lawyer failed to help ... I did not discriminate against [the farmer]. And, in fact, I went all out to frantically look for a lawyer at the last minute because the first lawyer we went to was not doing anything to really help him. In fact, that lawyer suggested they should just let the farm go. The second attorney [was able to help the farmer] file Chapter 11 bankruptcy to help the family stay on the farm.

Working with him made me see that it's really about those who have versus those who haven't. They could be black, they could be white, they could be Hispanic. And it made me realize then that I needed to help poor people - those who don't have access the way others have.

The full video is now up for viewing on the NAACP's website.



The NAACP retracted their previous statement and has stated

With regard to the initial media coverage of the resignation of USDA Official Shirley Sherrod, we have come to the conclusion we were snookered by Fox News and Tea Party Activist Andrew Breitbart into believing she had harmed white farmers because of racial bias ... Having reviewed the full tape, spoken to Ms. Sherrod, and most importantly heard the testimony of the white farmers mentioned in this story, we now believe the organization that edited the documents did so with the intention of deceiving millions of Americans.

After the uproar regarding Ms. Sherrod's resignation, Tom Vilsack released a statement on the night of July 20, 2010 saying that the Department will "conduct a thorough review and consider additional facts".

Ms. Sherrod asserts that the NAACP was “the reason why this happened.” They got into a fight with the Tea Party, and all of this came out as a result of that.”She adds that "she might not want her job back if it's offered ... because of all the publicity surrounding what happened … how would I be treated once I'm back there? I just don't know ... I would have to be reassured on that."

On July 21, 2010, Fox News rejected any claims that they helped inflame the situation with a statement saying

[the network] did not make any mention of this story yesterday on the air until after Shirley Sherrod had already lost her job after Secretary Vilsack had already drawn his own conclusions — conclusions that the president apparently agreed with.

Later, the White House sought for an official review of the case. Tom Vilsack, meanwhile, sent an e-mail regarding the issue that states "I am of course willing and will conduct a thorough review and consider additional facts to ensure to the American people we are providing services in a fair and equitable manner."

Ms. Sherrod was at the CNN Center, watching live, when Robert Gibbs extended an apology to her. There, she stated that she had accepted the apology and welcomed the review although she felt that this experience was "bittersweet".

House Minority Leader John Boehner, a Republican, criticized Andrew Breitbart's airing of only a small portion of the video. He said, "It’s unfortunate that whoever laid this out there didn’t lay out the whole story, as opposed to a part of it... They only put a little piece of the story out there and people make judgments and they rush and they make bad decisions."

Last night, in an interview with CNN's Larry King, Andrew Breitbart responded to questions regarding his intentions of releasing the video saying that:

This was not about Shirley Sherrod. It's about me. This was about the NAACP attacking the Larry King Live show and this [the video of Ms. Sherrod] is showing racism at an NAACP event. I did not ask for Shirley Sherrod to be fired. I did not ask for any repercussions for Shirley Sherrod. They were the ones that took the initiative to get rid of her. I – I do not – I think she should have the right to defend herself. [R]acism is used by the left and the Democratic Party to shut up opposition [a]nd [by releasing the Sherrod video] I am showing you that people who live in glass houses should not be throwing stones.

Yeah... well, Fox News is not retracting the previous articles as good journalists do. They just do their spinning and leave things out there in the collective memory and internet so we can all stumble across it. I thought Fox News could sink no lower.

Last night on CNN, Anderson Cooper managed to dig into it and even put NAACP on the spot for their actions. ABC also gets a mention for taking the time to do research before making snap judgements. Guess I know where the real journalists are.

PCNAA is censorship & fascist

Been gone long time. Who cares?

I am a little fired up today. And it's not because of the Oil Spill in the Gulf. After 8 weeks and only some progress being made while BP looks worse than some of the sea turtles they've killed.... there's not much I can do to upstage Heyward and Svanberg. They're doing just fine making things worse on their own!

No, I want to blog about something that everyone - EVERYONE - needs to pay attention to. Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Conn) has introduced legislation that would give the President the power to shut down parts of the internet in so-called emergency situations.

This bill, S.3480, would "amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and other laws to enhance the security and resiliency of the cyber and communications infrastructure of the United States." This bill has currently been referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Ostensibly, the bill would be for stopping cyber attacks on important and vital government infrastructure. Watch Transformers. Ya know, the part where they're like "shut it down!" and they unplug a server (which makes me laugh... like it would be so easily available and easy to do...) and they all scramble because of DoD information that the Decepticons could get? That may be the situation that is forseen by this bill.

But the reality is, it would probably be used to shut down people who are talking about things the government doesn't like. So this slippery slop brings me to the most cherished piece of government documents: The 1st amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

I consider what I do in the blogosphere to be amateur journalism. I consider what many of my friends who write about conspiracies, vast or otherwise, ludicrous or otherwise, to be amateur journalists. In other words, we study, research and analyze subjects, events, ideas and people but we don't get paid what Anderson Cooper gets paid. We get paid nothing.

I as a Libertarian, find myself at odds often with both parties. So I don't get much love. The government would probably find me dangerous if I owned more guns. But there are always individuals and then there are groups whom the government can deem threats to national security. And for some businesses that require the internet to conduct business, this could be used to destroy them.

So read the bill and decide for yourself in good amateur journalist fashion whether this bill is constitutional or not. Then write someone on the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Here's a list of all of them.

• Joe Lieberman, Connecticut, Chairman
• Carl Levin, Michigan
• Daniel Akaka, Hawaii
• Thomas R. Carper, Delaware
• Mark Pryor, Arkansas
• Mary Landrieu, Louisiana
• Claire McCaskill, Missouri
• Jon Tester, Montana
• Roland Burris, Illinois
• Ted Kaufman, Delaware
• Susan Collins, Maine, Ranking Member
• Tom Coburn, Oklahoma
• Scott Brown, Massachusetts
• John McCain, Arizona
• George Voinovich, Ohio
• John Ensign, Nevada
• Lindsey Graham, South Carolina

If it does pass through committee, then write your own senator.

Where the hell have I been??!??

If you read this and were annoyed that I stopped blogging, I apologize. Several things happened and I shall break them down as succintly as possible:

1. FINALS! Yes, there was finals and I was stressed beyond all measure. But I got out with an A, 2 B's and a C. I call that a good semester. I can do better, however.

2. I had things to worry about like the holidays.

3. I worked a ton during the break.

4. I really didn't care but I did remember. I cannot use the lame excuse of forgetting.

5. I rediscovered my love for all things Galactica, Firefly and Science Fiction novels in general.

So as you can see, I just wasn't ready for running a blog of this nature. Speaking of "nature", I want to add that nature is fucking cold right now. It's like 10 and were happy for 10 here in Minnesota.

Besides that, I want to ask what is the nature of this site? I must reiterate that I basically posted a mission statement right at the top of this page. See it up there? I will, however, restate it now in a different form. I will try, to the best of my ability, to distill local, state, national and international politics, economics and downright newsiness for you my loyal reader (as in there is 1 of you). I aim to add my own opinion (when I feel warranted) and to analyze pertinent facts and events surrounding a particular story, developing or otherwise. I will not let my own political bias hinder my ability to attack those who need attacking, i.e. politicos who just plain screw up. Or CNN or Fox for being media... well, the media. The media just sucks anyways...

I'll admit that I have a healthy fascination for the weather (and weather reporting... there's some real comedy in that, let me tell ya), spies, International bodies like the United Nations, Anderson Cooper, weird crimes, idiocyncrasies that bother me, stupid politicians and history. I like to ground each entry in "back in the day" sections. I feel knowing what others were experiencing on this day in yoner year (oh, alliteration...) is helpful and also reminds us that others trod this grund before. Sometimes there are startling acheivements, disasters, battles or just plain oddness. I like the oddness.

There are some bits of news I failed to make any comment over the intervening 43 days. This was an oversight on my part. Here is a list of news items I failed to make a comment on and may try to make up for my apathy/lack of time:

1. Saddam Hussein was executed. The Iraqi government hung the former dictator in a fashion unbecoming to most western nations. His corpse was danced about by Shiites celebrating his recent demise. On Fox, a particularly amusing graphic was displayed showing his corpse. On the left side of the screen was Saddam "Alive", and on the right, his "dead" body. I couldn't help but be befuddled and amused by this. It reminded a friend of a moment in a film when someone was sorting dead rats and saying "alive"... "dead". We believe it was Transylvania 65000.

2. Gerald Ford died. He was never elected President, but nevertheless, led our country througho ne of its darkest periods. He also open the military academies to women. And pardoned Nixon. The flags will remain at half mast for another week or so. (Yes, I said half mast not half staff...)

3. Barbara Boxer v. Condoleeza Rice. What?

4. Donald Trump v. Condoleeza Rice. Double What?

5. Trump v. Rosie. eh....

6. The Next Harry Potter will be "The Deadly Hallows". That's hallows like hallowed ground, hallowed be his name and hallowe'en.

7. Pinochet, Chilean dictator, died at age 91. No one cared and it only rated below Harry Potter and The Don.

8. Tim Johnson, a US senator, was hospitalized with a mild stroke. Before he was even evaluated, US news outlets were already discussing the possible return of power to Republican hands. They weren't even waiting to see if he died.

9. Ex Russian Spy turned British citizen and author (and Muslim), Alexander Litvinenko, was finally covered in depth by 60 Minutes. About bloody Time!

10. Denver shut down for snow: $Billions. Holiday travellers stranded in terminals on stiff, smelly cots: ^#$^ %&#!!!! Laughing at my sister for moving there and claiming they hardely get any snow there: Priceless.

Back in the year 1265, The English parliament convened at the Palace of Westminster for the first time.

In 1892, the first game of basketball was played at a YMCA in Springfield Massachussetts.

And the Nazis, in 1942, agreed on the "final solution" to the European Jewry. The result was the holocaust the significant impact on world politics, culture and geography.

That's it from my end.

300,000,000?

Oh God! I have not posted in twelve days. Truth be told, I didn't think there was anything wirth posting. The news blows! The only thing the news outlets want to talk about is the elections, the Foley fallout... and North Korea.

But one thing that has caught my attention - maybe for its silliness - we acheived (allegedly) 300,000,000 Americans as of today at 7.46 Eastern Time. I want to know who that person is! Is it an immigrant or a newborn child?

(Picture of the always handsome Anderson Cooper during his "300,000,000 Melting pot or Meltdown" edition of AC360 is from All Things Anderson. I myself love his expression in this particular screencap. Its kind of like he's aware that this is as schticky as I feel it is)

Seriously though, why are we sweating over our population rising to 300,000,000? Journalists have been doing stories on commute time, housing costs, animal habitats, etc... There have been stories that talk about poverty, jobs and food shortages. I ind the last incredibly interesting since we A) export much of our excess food and B) we pay farmers to grow less. So, that story is conjecture at best.

Poverty: Trying to get rid of poverty in a country where even if you have $5 in your pocket makes you better off than like 80% of the world is really pretty shallow. We are one of the wealthiest nations in the world and poverty is not a new problem. It should not take a milestone to initiate solutions for poverty but hey if it does, good. Really don't think so.

Now, employment is another thing. From what I know of economics, the market will grow to embrace the population. For as big as the economy is, jobs will be created because of the growth in demographics. I'm not sure how to explain it but it made sense in microeconomics class.

I want to bring up one last thing before moving on to other sundry items. We rank as the third largest country in world in terms of population. I decided to actually look at the current populations of the other two. Now everyone pretty much knows China is the most populous. They were at 400,000,000 back in the late 19th century. Currently, China's population is 1,313,313,317 which amounts to 20.28% of the world's population. India is the second most populaous country with over a billion people as well and almost as many languages. They are currently listed as having 1,100,000,000 people but I'm sure its more already. In fact, according to population clock, 42,434 people are added to the population every day. Odds are that India will likely overtake China in numbers because it doesn't have the one child per household rule. not to mention, in India, it is important to have lots of children.

I find it interesting that their forms of government are exactly opposite. China's is an open economy, communist government. India is a secular Democracy. It has recently (like in the last two decades) opened its economy and privatized enterprises.

Well, after looking at the 1 billion plus nations, its put our paltry 300,000,000 into perspective. This is 4.58% of the world's people. I also did a little math and discovered that we add 7,854 (and some extra and slightly disturbing decimal points) people a day. So, we are never going to catch up with India. With all the scary problems with people growth, who'd want to?

CNN's article on our impending doom.

Next on my issues is the Earthquake in Hawaii. This 6.7 magnitude earthquake is being treated as like a non-story. No one seems to care. To get any news on the earthquake on CNN, I have to dig through the US section page, go to the west part and there is only one article about damage to historic home. The lead article on that page was a woman who put her newborn child in trash bag (She got 5 years in prison, just so ya know). Really, why are we not caring about this? Hawaii is insulated being well, ISLANDS, and getting in and out of there isn't the easiest thing. Hmmm.... Maybe it should have been caused by a plane crashing into an obscure condo....

I have to say this right now: I'm sick of the elections. First time I've ever said that. I'm a news junkie and I love politics. I also love election night. I usually sit watching CNN consuming every last bit of political news-juiciness. I've chewed off my nails for the last three in row because the tension - the heightened suspense - is so thrilling. But this year, I just want it over. However, the graphics and political cartoons are worth perusing. I won't hide the fact that I lean left. That doesn't mean I can never be right. I'm closer to being an independent voter who is left of center. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

Fox labels Foley Democrat by "mistake"... right.....

Yeah, I realize the Daily Show covered this one, along with everyone else, but I had to post about it, too. I read about it on Wonkette yesterday. To be honest, I am not surprised. The fact that it

happened on the O'Reilly Show, really not surprised. For someone who claims its a No-Spin Zone, he sure as hell does a ton of spinning. Not to mention shouting matches that leave me one or both several things: a) angry, b)bewildered, c) confused, d)dumbfounded, e) exacerbated f) frustrated g) galled h)hysterical i) inflamed j) jaundiced k) kvetching l) livid m) malcontented n) nonplussed o) offended p) perturbed q) quesrulous r) raging s) splenetic t) troubled u) upset v) vexed w) withered x) xerotic (look it up) y) yarling and z) zealous.

Here's a link so you can actually view said "mistake". I watched Anderson Cooper 360 last night, though I also watched The Towering Inferno right before. The Towering Inferno made me feel better, if that means anything to you. At least I got to look at a younger (near 50) Paul Newman (like his age even matters, he's still gorgeous!) and Steve McQueen in one of his last major roles before his death (my Mom adored him and even had a crush on my Dad when they first met because she thought he looked a little like him and was a Macinist Mate like McQueen's character in The Sand Pebbles - a great movie with Mako back in the day...). I then watched the replay of 360 and there were more gorillas! Yay for Anderson and gorillas. Cuteness and adorkability aside, he's living out a dream of mine. I've always wanted to see gorillas. Even the one checking out his ass would have been fine to me. I wouldn't care if a gorilla did that.

Anyways, my real beef though is the feedback. Are people honestly unhappy about this? What, you think the government is seriously working on this? If they were, wouold we really have Bono running around talking about debt relief?

The blog over at 360 makes the point (actually, Anderson did and I don't know if it might be because of Final Jeopardy question he got wrong...) about how our hi-tech life is basically bankrupting the Congolese people. How? We need a particular mineral called coltan which is a black, graphite looking substance primarily made up of Niobium and Tantalum. The name is, in fact, a contraction of Columbite and tantalite. It is used to make tiny little electronic parts in cell phones, laptops and PDAs. Think of a mobile tech device and it likely has it. It is found mostly in the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. For those of you who are unfamiliar with geography, it was once known as Zaire. Its in AFRICA. That's South of Europe in the eastern hemisphere. It was once colonized Belgium (called the Belgian Congo) and was brutally impovershed, oppressed and enslaved by King Leopold in his quest to have empire. The legacy continues. Coltan mines are valuable and therefore, roving militias fight for control of these mines and the revenues they bring. They pillage, burglarize and rape the people and little to nothing is done to stop conditions there.

Thats basically (really basic) problem. There are indeed far deeper issues and problems facing DR Congo not to mention, many central African nations. But what I don't understand is why aren't we talking about this? We could protest aratheid but not the massive humanitarian problems in Afrcia? Is it because we can't be bothered to think our cell phones are causing harm to others? Blackberry-addicted Anderson Cooper seems to be well aware. And I'm not holding him up asa model of who to emulate but keep in mind, he's a techy guy. He likes his mobile devices just as much as the next 30-something male professional.

Yeah... Go Coop...

Back on this day in good ol' 1969, Monty Python's Flyg Circus went on the air. It really was something completely different. Ironically, the following year, PBS became a real station. Imagine that!

In 1986, we found out what we pretty much knew: Israel has nukes.

And in 1991, Linux vers. 0.02 was released. This was the first official release of the kernal and after that, my PC would never be the same. Really, its not. You should try linux.

(Screencap coutesy of Anderson and the gorilla (who was a girl, too) came from All Things Anderson cuz they're so cool)

(BTW, if I was going to show a screen cap pf Fox, whom I loathe, then I had to show CNN, a channel I love. You can see the bias wrtten all over this post in several layers...just letting ya know!)

I got my wish: Anderson and George on screen together!!!!

I should have blown up in a fiery ball of .... no clue what to put there. But, gratification is mine! (BTW, screencap from All Things Anderson. .. he looks just like how I feel: numb, silenced, weak... maybe not weak.... whatever.... Thanks ATA! When I can find a screen cap from the interview, I'll post that.)

A little while back, CNN advertised that Anderson Cooper would chat with George Clooney about Darfur. Clooney travelled there earlier this year with his father, Nick. I saw denied the happiness of seeing them together (CNN lied!!! John Roberts interviewed him instead as Coop was in Afghanistan... I think) The Clooneys saw the state the the beliguered war and genocide ravaged country is in. Its heartwrenching. In fact, this week, Anderon Cooper and his motley crew of journalists will be reporting on the state of things in Africa. If you aren't aware of things in Africa, their bad. For several years there's been a bloody conflict there involving something like eight nations. We've heard precious little because the world does not care about a world war in Africa. All anyone cares about is the natural resources that remain to be pillaged from these impovershed lands such as gold in the Congo which we need for our precious computers. Its difficult to fully comrehend the suffering on such a massive scale and the fact that is largely ignored should stir some serious emotions.

They have in people such as George Clooney who spoke about this at the UN last month. For the 360 staff, they are doing their part as journaists to shed some light on the subject. They will stay there for the remainder of the week and hopefully, something will come of it. Maybe a serious project to build some god damned roads will start to take shape. Maybe the pharmaceuticals will finally send vaccines and medications to countries that need them so badly. Maybe the UN will write some stronger fucking language so that Resolution 1706 isn't just toilet paper (likely Scott's brand at that). Maybe the world will wake up and see that Africa is miserable and forgotten. Maybe...

When Cooper asked Clooney (love that bit) if he was optimistic, he said no. How could he be? What evidence is there that it will get any better? I have to agree. I want to weep... but unfortunately, the air raid sirens are sounding here. So, I have to flee for my own safety.

Pray for the Amish in Lancaster County. Pray for Africa. Pray for me!!!!

The Reaction to Bill Clinton: Retorts and...Socks?

Let me preface this post with a comment: I rant at times. Sometimes for great length. I did not go too long in this post. I started out nice and calm but as I wrote more and more, I began to seethe till finally, I exploded in a torrent of anger and insanity focused on the actions of my government. I do not apologize because I'm exercising my first amendment right to free speech. I honestly don't think its that bad but... whatever.

**********************************************************************

I did say I'd find the links to the video of the interview. They are in fact on YouTube. Its in three parts and can be found at these links: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Onwards to the reaction to Clinton.

I know my appreciation for CNN knows no bounds. I can't help it. It was ingrained in me as a child because my parents loved the news and it was the only 24 hour news network there was. They invented the damned thing. I also loved that James Earl Jones ident that you never hear anymore. The only other channel we watched as much was the Weather Channel! Well, in the last 24 hours or so (except for some of 360 last night), I've watched the "others". I wanted to see how Fox and not to mention MSNBC, ABC, and CBS would cover the Clinton interview. I know what Coop said about it last night and that was good enough for me as far as CNN was concerned. I loved it on 360 last night when they revealed this regarding Clinton: "Spokesman Tony Snow, a former FOX News commentator quipped, 'He retorts, you decide.'" Excellant! A "Rush" transcript of 360 can be read here. To Anderson Cooper's credit, he reported the news with nothing in the way of opinion and interviewed numerous people from different schools of thought. That's why I love Anderson!

Earlier in the day, I watched Good Morning America. Diane Sawyer had Bill O'Reilly on to discuss the recently broadcast Bill Clinton interview we all love to analyze to death. He was milder than he normally is. I can only guess it was because it wasn't his show, he wasn't in charge and its Dame Diane Sawyer, a real Lady of Journalism. He said that Clinton as well as many in the current administration such as the hated 4: Bush, Cheney, Rice and Rumsfeld. Not to bring me back to Cooper but it reminded me of the spinning going on a year ago about Katrina. Mary Landrieu said people were frustrated. People aren't frustrated! People are dying!!! Those people are our servicmen and women! Whatever...

I watched Keith Olbermann and his Countdown over on MSNBC. I like Olbermann and I wish he wasn't on MSNBC which I forget about half the time because its on channel 70 and all the other news channels are clustered together in the 30's. "The Dirty Thirties!" ...Anyway. Olbermann devoted quite a large chunk of his show to an editorial. He pointed out that Clinton's "tear" during the interivew on Fox opened up a lot of doors, not to mention windows, doggie doors, escape hatches and bunker seals to run around and scream at the current administration for their ineptitude and inane stupidity. He also claimed that it was a wake-up call to the media as a whole. That they need no longer swig from the bottle of booze known as Stooge. They could now start ripping down the sets that Bush and his administration built. Olbermann went for quite some time on his own "tear" toward Bush and his administration. So much so I almost jumped up and applauded. I didn't but I shed a tear or ten. Its nice to see the press finally get a spine back. His editorial can (and should) be read here.

This morning on MSNBC, they were still going on about this interview but now they were splitting hairs. An anchorwoman on MSNBC was discussing with two men about Clinton showing a little leg. Apparently, his socks were too low and his pants were too high. Couldn't someone tell him "to pull down his pants?" Oh yeah, that was brilliant! I was astounded that they would devote any more time than 10 seconds mentioning Clinton's wardrobe malfunction.

Ok... things are getting absurd. Maybe they were to begin with. Now, there is talk of pre-planning (isn't planning already pre-whatever? That's like pre-early. "I wanted to beat you here so I got here pre-early") on both sides. Did Wallace plan on brow-beating Clinton to deflect criticsm of Murdoch getting cozy with Clinton and his initiatives? Did Clinton plan on ripping Wallace a new asshole on the GOP leaning Fox news? One may believe that both are correct statements. Fox did need to make an effort to offset the potentially troubling coupling. Dems need help for the election in 5-6 weeks. Leaking parts of the National Intelligence Estimate isn't enough. (Which if you don't know about that, lord, help you!)

Was Wallace even smirking? His colleagues all jokingly told him "just don't smirk!" And Clinton's finger wagging... well, the last time he did that was in fact when he told us he didn't have sexual relations with Monica.

Take this how you want to. There's spinning on either side. Case in point: Condalezza Rice has come out today to talk about Clinton's claims that the Bush administration was asleep at the wheel its first 8 months. "The notion somehow for eight months the Bush administration sat there and didn't do that is just flatly false - and I think the 9/11 commission understood that," she said in interview with many staff members of the New York Post. She also mentioned "we were not left a comprehensive strategy to fight al-Qaida" contradictory to Clinton's assertion that he did. The same article ends with Hillary, always defending her husband, saying "I just think that my husband did a great job in demonstrating that Democrats are not going to take this." And, in fact, it is likely they won't take any of this anymore.

But before I declare the Democrats awake and out of torpor, I must briefly mention that many of these people went along with every brazen and emboldened thing Bush could think up to ruin this country. Why? Fear be damned, its politics! The Politics of Fear, in fact, a strategy most usefully employed by lords and kings in the feudal era. That was when "Might makes Right" was the slogan of the day. The Bush administration continues to use fear as a political tool to keep the left doing their bidding, the media reporting what he says they can and the American people as a whole sweating and re-electing. He keeps us scared for his own ends. And we are turning into the country we swore we never would, that we wouldn't be terrorized by terrorists. But we are! We are scared because of our privacy isn't, our rights are infringed, we can't bring liquids on airplanes, there's anthrax in the air and e. coli on our spinach (Ok, the last one isn't related but whatever...). They keep asking if Americans feel safer now and the answer is no!!! How could we be? And how can we feel safer with a government that reveals nothing? Even if al-Quada didn't exist, I'd still be scared becuase my government is frightening!!!

So, our government still runs on the medieval idea of whomever has the ability to kill more must be the best. In a WWE smackdown, sure! But this is Global Politics and we are a democracy. Conflict should never be settled with bombs and bullets but debate and discourse. I'm hoping Bill Clinton opened the flood gates for the Democratic Party. I hope they launch into scathing attacks of not only the failings of the current administration but also the lies, the deception and the stupid strategies employed by nitwits who can't win either war we're in. I hope...

And if I sounded crazed and Clinton looked crazed its because we are. Fox did itself a disservice by advertising the crazed Clinton. Anyone would be crazed at this day and year for all the shit we see happening. I feel as though I'm living in Nazi Germany before the war: I'm watching the beacon on the hill become the cesspool in the sewer. And I just can't take it anymore!!!!!

There are too many things to bitch about. I'm done. There is nothing else to say. Whatever...

The Devil you say!

Yesterday, at the United Nations, Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, spoeke out against the United States and its hegemonic political policies. In fact, here is the juicy bits where Chavez refered to President George W. Bush as the devil.

I think that the first people who should read this book are our brothers and sisters in the United States, because their threat is right in their own house.

"The devil is right at home. The devil, the devil himself, is right in the house.

"And the devil came here yesterday. Yesterday the devil came here. Right here." [crosses himself] "And it smells of sulfur still today."

"Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the devil, came here, talking as if he owned the world. Truly. As the owner of the world."

A transcript of the speech can be found on this site. Want to watch it?

The book he refers to is Noam Chomsky's book Hegemony or Survival: The Imperialist Strategy of the United States which has jumped to the top of Amazon's sales rankings after being somewhere in the very obscure. He encouraged Americans to read it and evidently, they are taking him up on it.

Also, Anderson Cooper interviewed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his show last night. Cooper only got 20 minutes with the leader so there wasn't time to get into the most meaty questions such Iran's plans for world domination and the spread of Islam. He did however ask him if the President does indeed believe the holocaust did not occur. Ahmadinejad circtitiously answered the question with evasion and repetition. He did make sure that we know that the Iranian people love Americans and peace. At one point he accused Cooper of asking him similar questions and that his questions were given to him. Anderson Cooper retorted that they were his and we have free press in this country unlike Iran. In defense of Anderson, what could he do? Ahmadinejad never came out and answered a question and Cooper wanted --WANTED -- those answers so he fought for them but eventually moved on.

Which is what I'm doing now. The military coup in Thailand was apparently a bloodless coup. However, the political machinations of the country such as the ability to speak out and assemble have been banned. Radio and Television operatrions are under the control of the military. Ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is in London after arriveing there from New York. He was in the US for the opening if the 61st General Assembly of the United Nations. Four of the Prime Ministe's government are being detained by the militray which has declared martial law. The man in charge now is General Sonthi Boonyaratglin who has stated that he intends to return Thailand to Democracy as soon as possible. The King evidently approves of the coup and its likely it wouldn't have occured if he hadn't given prior blessings. Lukman B. Lima, exiled leader of Muslim rebels, hailed the coup d'etat as a move in the right direction. The Army Cheif is a Muslim and could help end the conflict between the Buddhist and Muslim factions within Thailand.

The woman who stole the baby in Missouri is allegedly Shannon Torrez. She claims to have miscarried a baby the morning of the abduction. She arrived at her hearing today and kept her head down. The hearing lasted about 20 minutes and the woman never spoke above a whisper. She was seen to be wiping tears away. One can only wonder what is going through her mind during this time. As for the baby, she has been returned to her mother and father. The baby was spotted by Torrez' sister-in-law when they went to take the baby to the doctor. She noticed makeup and the baby's forehead that was no doubt there ot cover the baby's distintive and well pubilcized birth mark. After rubbing it off, she confronted Torrez and then took the baby and handed her over to authorities. Good on ya, lady!

One last comment regarding Bill O'Reilly whom I don't hate because he's fiercely conservative. In fact, I don't hate him. My serious issues with O'Reilly are his tendency to believe he knows everything and his desire to try and convict people on his show despite his being ill qualified for both. My other large problem with the talking head is his propensity to yell down others and disrespect those of different opinions. Unless you're a conservative lapdog (or as they were called back in the early 90's, populist) or Ann Coulter, you're going to crucified if you go on his show. To add to my list of peeves against the "No Spin" guy is his apparent gloating about being on al-Qaeda's death list while being interviewed by Barbara Walters for ABC's 20/20. "With the controversy comes death threats on a daily basis," O'Reilly said on Wednesday night's show. "Not only from kooks. But the FBI came in and warned me and a few other people at Fox News that al Qaeda had us on a death list. That's a little disconcerting." But who goes about telling people about that? Apparently, O'Reilly who lives on the edge, keeping alive by doing whatever it is he does.... On RADAR online, people at FOX and the FBI both denied the claim. An angent for the FBI even went so far as to say "I'm not aware of any FBI agents warning anyone at Fox News of their presence on any list....For that matter, I'm not aware of any al-Qaeda hit list targeting journalists. Agents from the D.C. field office, FBI headquarters, and an agent from the kidnapping unit went to Fox's offices in New York last month to advise them specifically on the Gaza kidnapping [of Fox employees Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig]. But they only talked to management, they didn't talk to any individual journalists".

Anderson Cooper + George Clooney = Explosion of a female news junkie

When turning on CNN this morning, I was impressed by the fact that it must be a slow news day. They aren't reporting about a lot of different things. They did another installment of Genius Reports. These are items about genius that are supposed to entice us to watch Neurologist and CNN medical contributor, Sanjay Gupta, and his special report this Sunday on Geniuses. All this does is make me depressed. I'm a smart gal but I never got the opportunity to learn in a way that suited my abilities better. I slugged it out for years in relative misery.

But beyond my own self-disparaging, CNN is just not doing a great job today. They did a report on NASA unfurling the solar array for the International Space station. However, it was slowed down by a computer glitch. First bolts, now glitches. NASA can't expect to have a robust recruiting program.

The Montreal shooter was named Kimveer Gill. He was also known as the Angel of Death. He was a 25-year-old from the Montreal suburb. Laval. He fit the dark, sulky loner type that is often the perpetrator of sucha cts at schools like the Colmubine massacre. He even wore atrench coat and dark clothes. The gunmen hated authority figures and "jocks".

Like Lysistrata, Women are forgoing sex to protest violence. In the classic Greek play by Aristophanes, the women of Athens withhold sexual acts from their men until they end their war. Women in cities in present day Columbia that are the wives and girlfriends of gang members are holding a "Strike of Crossed Legs". Go Girls! The mayor of one of the most violent cities, Pereira, also backed the strike. The women are asking themen to disarman dforgo gang violence.

Claudia Mitchell, ex-Marine and Motorcycle rider, received a bionic arm recently. She and Jessie Sullivan, the first recepient of such an appendage, showed off the devices at a press conference in Washington, D.C. today. Mitchell lost hers in motorcycle accident two years ago and Sullivan lost both arms in an indrustrial accident. The two can move their respective arms with a though since nerves in the brain are connected to electronics that mobilize the bionic arms.

Now, I will explain my headline. Anderson Cooper, CNN's hot prematurely grey news anchor will have actor/director George Clooney on his show 360 tonight. Clooney will be discussing the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan after speaking at theUN on the subject. These two men are at the top of my list of suave, sexy, intelligent men. I will be watching every second of this program, trying not to drool.