Just in case you wondered if our govt is doing anything worthwhile -
AS MAJOR WINTER STORM APPROACHES, FEMA URGES RESIDENTS TO BE PREPARED
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Thanks, Guv
politics, hypocrisy and meanness in public affairs, alligators, anti-empire-ism, occasional personal stuff
TURNER: Today, in 2001, it feels more like 1811 in the state of Ohio under a governor who just does not get it. I want to read some of [Kasich's] quotes. He said, ‘I don’t look at things from that standpoint. It’s not the way I look at things. I want the best possible team I can get and hopefully we will be in a position that we are fully diverse as we go forward.” As we go forward, as we go along, by and by, someday. I remember Martin Luther King saying so eloquently that wait almost always means never. Through his actions and deeds, Governor Kasich has declared that Ohio is open for business, but if you are African-American you need not apply. If you are hispanic, you need not apply. If you are Asian-Indian, you need not apply. And Oh My God I have a few women but we don’t need many more, so for women, you need not apply.
And then to have the pure unadulterated gall to say that he can’t find anyone. In that same caucus meeting when I said to the governor “if you need help, we can help you” and he said, and I quote, “I don’t need your people.” Now as an African-American, I was kind of perplexed about “I don’t need your people.” I wasn’t quite sure whether or not he was referring to my ethnic group people or my people as in the 350,000 constituents I serve in this state that represent all ethnic groups, all religious groups. I didn’t understand what “I’m not going to hire your people” means.
The Battle for Idol by Richard Rushfield An exclusive excerpt featured in Newsweek this week from American Idol: The Untold Story reveals the power struggle that pitted the almighty Simon Cowell against his longtime partner, Simon Fuller. Richard Rushfield discussed Cowell's Idol journey with him, as well as show insiders. |
Having defined the problem, Eisenhower then advanced a striking solution: ultimate responsibility for democracy’s defense, he insisted, necessarily rested with the people themselves. Rather than according Washington deference, American citizens needed to exercise strict oversight. Counting on the national-security state to police itself—on members of Congress to set aside parochial concerns, corporate chieftains to put patriotism above profit, and military leaders to hew to the ethic of their profession—wouldn’t do the trick. “Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”***
The darkness is with me nearly every time I wake up. I feel like a grime is covering me. I feel like I'm trapped in a contanimated body that no amount of washing will clean. Whenever I think about what happened I feel manic and itchy and can't concentrate on anything else. It manifests itself in hours of eating or staying up for days at a time or sleeping for sixteen hours straight or week long programming binges or constantly going to the gym. I'm exhausted from feeling like this every hour of every day.[from The Daily Dish]
Empire of Bases 2.0 Does the Pentagon Really Have 1,180 Foreign Bases? By Nick TurseThe man who wrote the definitive book on it didn’t know for sure. The Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist didn’t even come close. Yours truly has written numerous articles on U.S. military bases and even part of a book on the subject, but failed like the rest.
The United States has 460 bases overseas! It has 507 permanent bases! What is the U.S doing with more than 560 foreign bases? Why does it have 662 bases abroad? Does the United States really have more than 1,000 military bases across the globe?
In a world of statistics and precision, a world in which “accountability” is now a Washington buzzword, a world where all information is available at the click of a mouse, there’s one number no American knows. Not the president. Not the Pentagon. Not the experts. No one.
I am standing in the aisle at Costco when I found out my Congresswomen, Gabrielle Giffords, has been shot dead up on the north side.
While I’m scrambling with my phone, two couples in front of me are talking about it and suddenly I hear one of the women say, “Well, that’s to be expected when you’re so liberal.”
And the other woman says, “Ohh, so we get to appoint a Republican?”
I did not trust myself to speak. I’m a Soldier. Please remind me what country I am fighting for? At least seven people are dead. She happens to be the only member of Congress married to an active duty military — he’s a Navy officer serving as an astronaut.