Who Says You Can't Teach Government Dogs New Tricks

Without a doubt so far Hurricane Gustav has been merciful. Things aren't perfect but it seems that everyone learned something from Katrina and Rita.

The Times Picayune is reporting:

"BATON ROUGE - Hurricane Gustav so far is costing the government about $65 million, but the total impact is yet unknown as officials plan for rescue and response missions, state and federal officials said Monday afternoon.

Gov. Bobby Jindal said the figure is a rough estimate of the cost of evacuation, preparation and response measures taken by public agencies at this point. Private losses for residents and businesses are not included.

Michael Hall, FEMA's federal coordinating officer for Gustav, said the federal government will be responsible for a large share of the expense.

He pledged that state and local governments will recover their costs through FEMA without the burdensome bureaucratic red tape and run-around that bogged down the recovery from Hurricane Katrina three years ago.

'We're not going to have a bureaucracy this time,' Hall said. 'It's as different as day and night. That's where a lot of us have learned our lesson.'"

Abbreviated Schedule for GOP Convention

The following is courtesy of the Washington Post:

Organizers of the Republican National Convention canceled all speeches and program activities for today, except official business that must be conducted under party rules. The session is expected to begin about 3:30 p.m. Eastern time, with officials taking the following actions:

· Constitute the convention.

· Secure the report of the credentials committee.

· Adopt rules for the convention.

· Elect officers for the convention.

· Adopt the party platform.

Officials will gavel the session closed about 6:30 p.m

Remembering Stephanie Tubbs Jones

Today, as Senator Barack Obama was preparing to introduce his new running mate, Senator Joe Biden he took a moment to remember Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, who is being funeralized today.

Thank you Senator Obama for honoring a woman who kept her head when virtually all around her
lost theirs.


WIMN's Voices: A Group Blog on Women, Media, AND… » Blog Archive »

To the New York Times, Tubbs Jones' death less newsworthy than
where an elephant, or Tori Spelling's mom, lives

By Kristen Harbeson

Here is what the New York Times wants me to know about what is going on in my country on August 21, 2008:

1) Millionaires in Los Angeles are giving up mansions to live in condos. This story is accompanied by a picture of Candy Spelling, the smiling widow of Aaron Spelling and mother of actress Tori.

2) The scientists involved with pinning the anthrax investigation on Bruce Ivans three weeks ago continue to congratulate themselves on their sharp investigative skills.

3) Vermont wants to capitalize on their groundwater, and some people are worried about whether they will be able to flush their toilets.

4) An elephant in Dallas isn't going to go anywhere.

If I didn't know better, I would think it was a slow news day.

Fifteen stories below the "Distraught Elephant to Remain in Dallas" story, in the second to last article of the National News headlines, I could almost miss the fact that Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a fifth-term elected member of the United States House of Representatives, has died.

Tubbs Jones, a distinguished Congresswoman, the first African-American woman to represent Ohio in Congress, the first African-American woman to sit on the extremely powerful House Ways and Means Committee, a champion for the urban poor, for women's rights and for social justice, a woman of grace, dignity, intelligence and power, died unexpectedly at the age of 58. This article about the death of a path-breaking elected official sits fifteen stories below "news" of an elephant whose situation will remain exactly the same.

I would have missed it completely if I hadn't known that the newspaper had to report this sad development somewhere. Perhaps, though, the Times was just being ironic by placing the story about her death directly above the "Names of the Dead," since Tubbs Jones was outspoken and unflinching in her opposition to the Iraq war from the very beginning, and voted against it consistently — one of the very few who did.

Not only did the Times not consider Tubbs Jones' death to be as newsworthy as an elephant's housing situation, the loss of this trailblazing American leader wasn't deemed important enough to merit a breaking news alert in my e-mail… unlike Michael Phelps' gold medals or Tiger Woods' knee surgery, both of which the Times made sure to inform me about via Because clearly, Phelps' medals and Woods' knees have a profound effect on public policy for the urban poor and disenfranchised. (No, wait…)

It says something when ironic humor is the only possible alternate explanation for the placement for this story beyond inherent racism and/or sexism.

The New York Times should be ashamed of itself.

Guest Blogger Kristen Harbeson works in historic preservation - a cause championed by Stephanie Tubbs Jones. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland

NARAL Pro-Choice's Statement on the Selection of Joe Biden

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 23, 2008

Statement from NARAL Pro-Choice America on Sen. Barack Obama's Vice-Presidential Selection

Washington, D.C. Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, issued the following statement in response to Sen. Barack Obama's selection of Sen. Joe Biden as his vice-presidential running mate.

"Sen. Biden has consistently expressed support for a woman's right to choose. While we have not agreed with him on every vote, we have a longstanding relationship with Sen. Biden that is open, positive, and constructive, and we are confident this will continue in a new administration under Sen. Obama's pro-choice leadership.

"Most notably, Sen. Biden has a strong record of opposing judicial nominees with hostile anti-choice records. He voted against George W. Bush's two anti-choice nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court, John Roberts and Samuel Alito, and he opposed anti-choice Justice Clarence Thomas' nomination to the Court as well as multiple anti-choice nominees to lower federal courts.

"In addition, Sen. Biden has a strong record in opposition to anti-choice clinic violence and voted to hold anti-choice extremists convicted of violent attacks against doctors and patients at women's reproductive-health centers accountable for their criminal actions.

"Sen. Biden, who is a cosponsor of the landmark Prevention First Act, also has joined us in supporting commonsense efforts to prevent unintended pregnancy by improving women's access to birth control, ensuring teens receive accurate sex education, and supporting family-planning programs."

NARAL Pro-Choice America, which tracks all choice-related votes in Congress, classifies Sen. Biden's record as mixed choice.

http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/

Olympic Corporate Sponsors With Their Heads in the Sand

excerpt:
Olympic Sponsors Ignore China's Rights Violations on Yahoo! News

by Alison Raphael, OneWorld US

Tue Aug 19, 3:19 PM ET

WASHINGTON, Aug 19 (OneWorld) - A leading U.S. human rights group blasted Olympic corporate sponsors such as McDonald's, Panasonic, and Coca-Cola yesterday for disregarding human rights abuses in host country China.

"The Olympic sponsors claim to be good corporate citizens," said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch (HRW). "But as they enjoy the Games from the comfort of their seats at the Olympic stadium, they should reflect on their failure to speak up for the Chinese citizens who built the stadium and their hotels, clean their hotel rooms, serve their meals or, in the case of Chinese journalists, try to bring them their news."

The statement refers to the oppressive conditions imposed on workers brought in from poor areas of China to build the stadiums; families uprooted from Beijing to make room for the Olympic facilities; 'undesirables' forcibly removed from the city; and pressure on the Chinese media to remain mute about protests and abuse, as well as detentions and beatings of both protestors and journalists.

Despite their public pledges of "social responsibility," most of the corporations reached by HRW refused to accept any responsibility for speaking out on human rights

Before You Watch the Political Conventions

arm yourself against manipulation.

Watch this video:

Free for All


And for extra protection watch:

Orwell Rolls in His Grave

And then consider the following message from investigative journalist Greg Palast.
So much is at stake.

Thanks

Obama Doesn't Sweat. He should.

by Greg Palast

In swing-state Colorado, the Republican Secretary of State conducted the biggest purge of voters in history, dumping a fifth of all registrations. Guess their color.

In swing-state Florida, the state is refusing to accept about 85,000 new registrations from voter drives - overwhelming Black voters.

In swing state New Mexico, HALF of the Democrats of Mora, a dirt poor and overwhelmingly Hispanic county, found their registrations disappeared this year, courtesy of a Republican voting contractor.

In swing states Ohio and Nevada, new federal law is knocking out tens of thousands of voters who lost their homes to foreclosure.

My investigations partner spoke directly to Barack Obama about it. (When your partner is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., candidates take your phone call.) The cool, cool Senator Obama told Kennedy he was "concerned" about the integrity of the vote in the Southwest in particular.

He's concerned. I'm sweating.

It's time SOMEBODY raised the alarm about these missing voters; not to save Obama's candidacy – journalists should stay the heck away from partisan endorsements - but raise the alarm to save our sick democracy.

And that somebody is YOU. Joining with US, the Palast investigative team. Here's how:

We have been offered an astonishing opportunity to place the Kennedy-Palast investigative findings on a national, prime-time, major-network television broadcast. Plus, separately, we have an extraordinary offer to create a series of reports for national network radio.

But guess what? The networks will NOT PAY for our public service reports. We have to raise the start-up funds in the next two weeks to film it, record it and get it on the airwaves.

WE need YOU to fund the reports, DISSEMINATE the findings as we post the print, audio and video on the web– and ACT on it.

So, for only the second time this year, I am asking each one of you to make a tax deductible donation to the non-profit, non-partisan Palast Investigative Fund of $500, $150 or $100.

Progressives have complained for years of no opportunity to get the hard, cold sweaty truth on the air. Well, put your money where your heart and soul is.

Donate at least $500, I'll send you every book I've written and every film, signed. Send $150 and I'll send you as a gift, a copy of John Ennis' film Free For All, Armed Madhouse, The Election Files and a copy of Live from the Armed Madhouse all signed.

Donate $100, and I’ll send you 3 copies, one signed to you, of "The Elections Files," (Watch the trailer here) the best of our BBC/Democracy Now films – including special never-broadcast interviews with Kennedy(Watch a clip) and fired prosecutor David Iglesias (Watch a clip).

I know you’re ponying up for your favorite candidates. But what’s the point of winning folks' votes IF NO ONE COUNTS THEM?

Please make your donation – today. No corporation, no big foundation, is going to take on this emergency in our democracy. The election’s about to be stolen – for a third time. SO WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

Donate today (for $1,000 minimum, we’ll list you as a Producer of our next DVD, in gratitude). Why? Because the only way to get the vote-chewing cockroaches out of the voting machinery is to turn on the lights – tell the truth on them. On prime time.

After our team busted the story of Katherine Harris' attack on innocent Black voters as "felons," the NAACP sued and won back their rights. The truth CAN make the difference. Yes, we can. Indeed, we HAVE.

Think all votes should be counted in America? Then YOU stand up and be counted. Don’t expect networks or commercial sponsors to pay for your democracy. Feed the truth, donate $100 right now and pass on a copy of the Elections Files to your dippy cousin who thinks Kerry lost fair and square.

Donations from our prior and only request already paid for some of our filming in the Southwest. Don't let this story be swept under the border.

If you want more information, go to GregPalast.com, or write me directly at GregPalast.com – and hit the button, "contact Greg."

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

Greg Palast is a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow for Investigative Reporting at the Nation Institute, New York. Read and view his investigations for BBC Television at www.GregPalast.com.

AntiVirus Software on A Voting Machine?

cartoon republished with permission of xkcd.com under a creative commons license

Permanent link to this comic: http://xkcd.com/463/

I never really thought about whether voting machines needed anti-virus software until blogger and security expert, Bruce Schneier pointed out the accuracy of the cartoon above in a post.

Why would a voting machine need anti-virus software? After all it's not like it will be sending and receiving email, browsing the internet or downloading games. A voting machine can't be remotely accessed, can it?

Hmm!

All I can say is if they have to remove the McAfee Anti-virus software from the voting machines I wish them lots of luck. I once decided to switch from McAfee Anti-virus to another company's software and it was a nightmare trying to remove the McAfee software.

Musharraf Resigns

Oh if we could have only been so lucky!


Reuters is reporting:

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf quit office on Monday to avoid impeachment charges, nearly nine years after the key U.S. ally in its campaign against terrorism took power in a coup.

Speculation the former army chief would resign had mounted since the fractious coalition government, led by the party of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, said this month it planned to impeach him.

Pakistan's Musharraf resigns

Will Blackwater Finally Be Brought to Justice?

Maybe, Maybe Not.  However,  according to a report in Sunday's Washington Post, the prospects are finally looking better that the Blackwater Worldwide employees involved in the 2007 shooting of Iraqi civilians in Nisoor square will finally be held accountable. 


Justice Dept. Moves Toward Charges Against Contractors in Iraq Shooting
- washingtonpost.com

Federal prosecutors have sent target letters to six Blackwater Worldwide security guards involved in a September shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, indicating a high likelihood the Justice Department will seek to indict at least some of the men, according to three sources close to the case

The sources said that any charges against the guards would likely be brought under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which has previously been used to prosecute only the cases referred to the Justice Department by the Defense Department for crimes committed by military personnel and contractors overseas. Legal experts have questioned whether contractors working for the State Department can be prosecuted under its provisions.

The sources cautioned that prosecutors are still weighing evidence gathered in a 10-month investigation that began shortly after the shootings.

Related posts:

Contract Justice by Jeremy Scahill for The Nation

Report Closely Examines The Expanded Use of Private Contractors in Iraq

Blackwater By Any Other Name

And the River Still Flows

The river of money following from "K" Street lobbyists to Capitol Hill that is.

excerpt from 

Mark Warner biggest recipient of lobbyist dough,

new disclosures show (so far)

Real Time Investigations with Bill Allison and Anupama Narayanswamy
— A Project of Sunlight Foundation

Posted by Anupama, August 14th, 2008 

Mark Warner, who's running for Virginia's open seat to the U.S. Senate and will serve as the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, has received more than $206,000 from lobbyists since the beginning of the year, a Real Time Investigations analysis of recently released disclosure records show.

That makes Warner the top recipient of money contributed directly by lobbyists to congressional campaigns in 2008. Overall, Warner, the former Virginia governor who is seeking the seat now held by retiring Republican Sen. John Warner, has raised $18 million since he announced his candidacy in September 2007, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Real Time is releasing a list of the 20 congressional campaigns that have gotten the most contributions from individual lobbyists and a spreadsheet with all individual contributions from lobbyists to federal candidates in the first six months of 2008. Close on the heels of Warner's $206,000 are Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and John Sununu, R-N.H.

In all, the new disclosures, required by the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (HLOGA), reveal that federally registered lobbyists have given federal candidates more than $10 million since the beginning of this year. That figure does not include the money contributed to candidates by political action committees (PACs) associated with or directed by lobbyists. It is based on available records released by the Senate Office of Public Records (SOPR) as of Aug. 8.

Hunger in Focus

excerpt from
 Hunger Hits America's Bread Basket on Yahoo! News

by Viji Sundaram and Ketaki Gokhale, New America Media

Mon Aug 11, 6:03 PM ET

MENDOTA, California, Aug 11 (New America Media) - Early each morning these days, the manager of Mendota Food Center on Derrick Avenue in this small community west of Fresno, boxes his aging produce, which he would normally throw away, and leaves it at the back of his store.

Within an hour, the boxes are all gone.

"It shows there's hunger in Mendota, and people will take anything," said Mayor Robert Silva, who manages the grocery store. Some other grocery stores are doing likewise, he said.

Mendota, whose population of 9,000 is 95-percent Hispanic, looks today like a small dilapidated town in a developing nation and not part of "America's bread basket." The economic downturn, state-enforced water rationing, poor rains, and unemployment have all come to a head here. Now, hunger is sweeping through the community.

Many farmers have been forced to cut back on planting. Some have even walked away from the field crops they had planted.

"Some people are abandoning their fields; they just don't water them," said Ryan Jacobsen, executive director of Fresno County Farm Bureau.

According to a study commissioned by the San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority, water cuts could result in an $84.6-million economic loss for the region. Experts are predicting a $33.9-million loss in farm income and a loss of more than 700 jobs.

Wal-Mart Discouraging Employees From Voting For Obama

This is potentially illegal, and there's a petition to demand an investigation of Wal-Mart.

I just asked the Federal Election Commission to immediately investigate this story.  No one should be told by their boss how to vote. 

Please join me.

http://action.americanrightsatwork.org/campaign/FEC_WalMart

# # # # #

excerpt:
Wal-Mart warns managers about labor bill | Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Friday it has warned U.S. store managers in recent weeks about the possible consequences of a labor-friendly bill backed by Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama that would make it easier for workers to form unions.

But the retailer, which has kept its U.S. stores free of unions, stressed it was not telling employees how to vote.

The Wall Street Journal reported that about a dozen employees who attended meetings in seven states said executives had told them that unionization could force Wal-Mart to cut jobs as labor costs rise, and that employees would have to pay hefty union dues and get nothing in return.

The Journal said Wal-Mart human-resources managers who run the meetings do not specifically tell attendees how to vote in November's presidential election, but they make it clear that voting for Obama would be tantamount to inviting unions in.