OUCH!

I hate when that happens.

"Why Don’t Conservatives Support The Troops?" Asks Imus

Imus comes to the realization that right-wing bloggers won't support the troops if it means making the president look bad. I think they call that "values."



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Honeybees Vanish!

This can't be good.

New York Times article

Gov. auditor says fiscal outlook is 'spiraling out of control'

"The projected fiscal gap is so great that it is unrealistic to expect we will grow our way out of the problem," the GAO wrote.

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War! Huh! Good God Ya'll. What Is It Good For?!

Absolutely nothin'!

British band covers Edwin Starr hit from Viet Nam era.

The Last Days of the American Republic?

Chalmers Johnson, CIA analyst, distinguished scholar, and best-selling author, is interviewed about his new book, Nemesis, about the possible collapse of the US.



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Quotes From Those Who Were There About WTC7
(Note: I stole this from a comment posted by Digger stallion4 at this Digg article.

-Guns & Butter Radio interview - April 27th 2005:
Hosted by Bonnie Falkner
Guest: Indira Singh (Ground Zero Emergency Worker)

Bonnie: How long did you work as an emergency medical technician and exactly what is it that you were doing (at ground zero)?

Indira: ...when I got there we were setting up triage sites (at ground zero), close, very close to the area. The triage site that I was setting up was behind, well, to the east of Building 7 where Building 7 came down...
...we were setting up triages as close to the pile as possible… so what we were doing was setting up different kinds of stations… IV stations, cardiac stations, wound stations, burn stations ...just trying to have an organized space. What happened with that particular triage site is that pretty soon afternoon, after mid-day on 9/11 we had to evacuate that because they told us Building 7 was coming down... I do believe that they brought Building 7 down... By noon or one o'clock they told us we had to move from that triage site up to Pace University a little further away because Building 7 was going to come down or being brought down.

Bonnie: Did they actually use the word "brought down" and who was it that was telling you this?

Indira: The fire department... the fire department and they did use the word "we're going to have to bring it down."

Excerpt from above is heard approximately ten minutes into the interview.
Audio: http://www.gunsandbutter.net/archives.php?si=78

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Former Air Force Special Operations for Search and Rescue, Kevin McPadden

Sep 20, 2006
Pacifica Radio's Guns & Butter
New York Stories: 9/11 First Responders

Audio stream:
http://www.gunsandbutter.net/archives.php?si=142

Show archive page is here:
http://www.gunsandbutter.net/archives.php?page=3

McPadden's speech begins at 46 minutes in

@ 48:14 he makes the following comments about what he witnessed while at Ground Zero on 9/11...

"They said you know you've got to stay behind this line because they're thinking about taking this building down, they're not sure if it's stable or not, so they were holding a line off because they had knowledge that something was gonna happen. Well, they pushed us back a little bit....a couple of minutes later they started coming down....people started coming back out to the street, I watched five New York City buses jam packed with people wanting to do search and rescue head down there towards Building 7 - people walk out into the middle of the street to see these people off, like bon voyage and right then Building 7 came down."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Former NYPD Officer & 9/11 First Responder Craig Bartmer:

"I was real close to Building 7 when it fell down... That didn't sound like just a building falling down to me while I was running away from it. There's a lot of eyewitness testimony down there of hearing explosions. I didn't see any reason for that building to fall down the way it did -- and a lot of guys should be saying the same thing. I don't know what the fear is coming out and talking about it? I don't know -- but it's the truth."

[...]

"I walked around it (Building 7). I saw a hole. I didn't see a hole bad enough to knock a building down, though. Yeah there was definitely fire in the building, but I didn't hear any... I didn't hear any creaking, or... I didn't hear any indication that it was going to come down. And all of a sudden the radios exploded and everyone started screaming 'get away, get away, get away from it!'... It was at that moment... I looked up, and it was nothing I would ever imagine seeing in my life. The thing started pealing in on itself... Somebody grabbed my shoulder and I started running, and the shit's hitting the ground behind me, and the whole time you're hearing "boom, boom, boom, boom, boom." I think I know an explosion when I hear it... Yeah it had some damage to it, but nothing like what they're saying... Nothing to account for what we saw... I am shocked at the story we've heard about it to be quite honest."

Speaking Out: An interview with Craig Bartmer:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2283625397351664218&q

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Reporter Al Jones: "People started to run away from the scene [WTC7] and I turned in time to see what looked like a skyscraper implosion -- looked like it had been done by a demolition crew -- the whole thing just collapsing down on itself and another big huge plume of gray and white smoke shooting up into the air and then more of the smoke billowing up the street here... so that’s number one, number two, and now number seven that have come down from this explosion."

Live 9-11 Report from 1010 WINS NYC News Radio, presented in the documentary "911 Eyewitness" (Forward to 28:25)
Video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=65460757734339444&q

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Emergency worker: "We were watching the building [WTC7] actually ‘cause it was on fire… the bottom floors of the building were on fire and… we heard this sound that sounded like a clap of thunder… turned around -- we were shocked to see that the building was ah well it looked like there was a shockwave ripping through the building and the windows all busted out… it was horrifying… about a second later the bottom floor caved out and the building followed after that… we saw the building crash down all the way to the ground… we were in shock."

Live 9-11 Report from 1010 WINS NYC News Radio, presented in the documentary "911 Eyewitness" (Forward to 31:30)
Video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=65460757734339444&q

Gladys Hardy on The Ellen DeGeneres Show

Laughed until tears came!

BBC Video Footage Found Announcing WTC7 Collapse Over 20 Minutes Before It Happened

At about 15 minutes into the video, you can see building 7 over the reporter's shoulder as she reports that it has already collapsed. This video was temporarily on Google video but was quickly removed. This is not really a smoking gun, but it is an interesting piece of the puzzle and raises some interesting questions.

See the video here.

"Oh, God! My eyes are burning!"

The Problem With Schools is.... Schools.

A great speech by John Taylor Gatto, accepting a Teacher of the Year award, on the fundamental problems with schools and why tinkering will not make them better.
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Getting Rid Of Trash With Star Trek Like Method

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And more

Who would you vote for in 2008?

Skinning Muskrats & Huge Tiaras

Pageantry abounds

Enjoying her crown

Bush is Over (If You Want It)

bushisover.org
April 28th

Nichols Says McVeigh Had High Level Help and Bombing Was FBI Op

Salt Lake Tribune

Deseret News

Tell Dems to Stop Legitimizing Fox "News"

Sign this petition to let the Nevada Democratic Party you think it's wrong to hold a debate on Fox.

Pre 9/11 TV: Bad Guys Tortured - Post 9/11 TV Good Guys Torture... A LOT!

Call it brainwashing or propagandizing or desensitizing, TV is in cahoots with the government to gain support for torture from the average citizen. The problem with torture is not so much what it does to the victim, it's what we become when we torture. Before 9/11 villains tortured 4 times/yr., now good guys torture 100 times/yr or more.



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Web of Deceit Part 5 The '91 slaughter of the Shiites (1/2)

An important story that provides the needed backdrop for the current mess in Iraq. The Web of Deceit video is in 8 parts on YouTube.

Ron Paul Blasts the Federal Reserve

We were warned by the founding fathers against letting banks control the money supply and yet we let the Federal Reserve Bank be created. We need to nationalize the Federal Reserve and stop borrowing money from the mis-named "Fed."

Illusions of Security: Global Surveillance and Democracy (A new book)

Canadian human rights attorney and author Maureen Webb discusses the comprehensive scope of government surveillance, and finds that the use of sophisticated methods to search for terrorists is not identifying the right suspects. A new book finds that the use of sophisticated methods to search for terrorists is not identifying the right suspects.



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Mission Accomplished: New Law Effectively Steals Iraqi Oil

The new law privatizes Iraq's oil industry and puts oil industry executives on the new oil board which means they'll be approving their own outrageously profitable oil deals.

Additional links I got from bobzibub at Digg
The Yemen Observer or Global Research
The arab news
Today's zaman (Turkey)
Daily Times (Pakistan)

read more digg story Watch/Read at Democracy Now!

Can GIs Stop Iraq War Like They Did In Viet Nam? FTA!

Trailer for the new documentary called, "Sir! No Sir!" A timely retelling of the story of the revolt within the military against the Viet Nam war.



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National Action Against Obesity

One woman's quest to remove 'fake food' from the food supply and junk food from the schools. She views it as abuse of our children to feed them this crap, and I agree. Behavioral problems have been linked to poor nutrition in schools and prisons, so if we can alleviate these problems by simply feeding people whole real foods, it's a crime not to.



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'Vulture Fund' threat to Third World debt relief - Bush can stop it but probably won't

These "vultures' sweep in and buy debt from the lending countries at pennies on the dollar and then squeeze poor countries for the full amount of the debt plus interest and penalties! Some have made big donations to Bush so he won't touch them. Write your representatives, please.



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The 9/11 Solution - BrassCheck TV

Watch the official story being seeded in the minutes and hours after the attacks.
Watch video

"Diplomacy and Empire" Speech by Chas. Freeman

FTA: "Appealing as explosions and the havoc of war may be to those who have experienced them only vicariously rather than in person, military success is not measured in battle damage but in political results. These must be secured by diplomacy. The common view... that diplomacy halts when war begins is thus worse than wrong; it is catastrophic."



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The World Can Halt Bush’s Crimes By Dumping the Dollar

Paul Craig Robert's take on Putin's comments, what inspired them and what the rest of the world should be doing right now to stand up to Bush and his war machine.Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.



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Victory Is Not an Option - Gen. William Odom

William Odom, a retired Army lieutenant general, was head of Army intelligence and director of the National Security Agency under Ronald Reagan. I his latest piece opposing the war, he dismantles the arguments of those supporting the war in Iraq and explains why the war can't work. He is a conservative hawk with credentials and he should be heeded.



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Ex-Rice Aide Says "Memory Lapse" on Iran "Quite Curious"

Ex-Rice aid, Flynt Leverett, has serious doubts about Condi's claim she can't remember the fax that was all over the NSC and the State Dept., all the way up to Colin Powell. Leverett tried to include references to the fax in NYT Op-ed piece but was heavily redacted by the White House.



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The Homocysteine Debate

Dr. Kilmer McCully spent much of his career researching the causes of heart disease and disproving the cholesterol theory. Two recent studies purported to show that B vitamins cannot lower Homocysteine levels, as McCully's work has shown. Were these studies an attempt by drug co's to support some future Homocysteine lowering drug?



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Low Cholesterol Linked to Dementia

From the article: "Very few of the participants in this study were receiving cholesterol lowering treatment at the time the decline in cholesterol was observed, so medication was not responsible for this," Dr. Stewart explained. One can assume that the use of statins in such people might have hasten the process.My comments: Personally, I've come to the conclusion that what we've been told about cholesterol for the past 50 years is bunk. Why would our bodies produce a substance that's bad for us. We're beginning to learn that cholesterol is perhaps the most important biochemical in our bodies.



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Clean Electricity From Mixing Sea and River Water Where Rivers Meet Ocean.

Hidden from sight underwater, these devices can continually produce electricity regardless of the weather with no harm to the environment or consumption of resources.



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Cheering Movers and Art Student Spies: Was Israel Tracking 9/11 Hijackers?

Democracy Now reports on a recent article in Counter Punch newsletter by freelance journalist Christopher Ketcham in a roundtable discussion with 2 other journalists who have tracked these stories.



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From the Wonderful Folks Who Brought You Iraq: Nuking Iran

Another excellent article from Vanity Fair. This one by Craig Unger on the neocon "crazies" trying to convince Bush to attack Iran. Quote from Conservative Grover Norquist: [his advisors] "are effectively saying, 'Invade Iran. Then everyone will see how smart we are.'" Who will step up to stop these madmen? Please pressure your representatives, NOW! And join any protests you can.



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"You and I are not in the Big Club"

George Carlin has always been funny. In this piece, he is dead on! Who owns you?



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Found Not Guilty On All Charges, Now In His 4th Year in Jail. Why?

Palestinian Professor Sami Al-Arian has been in prison for the past four years. He was found not guilty over a year ago of 17 charges against him yet he remains in jail and the US government seems unwilling to release him. Can a Palestinian support his own people without the US gov't calling him a terrorist? The jury said the US had no evidence.Hear him in his first televised interview since his imprisonment.



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Lack of Aid to Iraqis Fueling Insurgency. Only .01% of Funds Go To Relief.

Between the cold, hunger, danger and 75% unemployment in Iraq, young men join militias simply out of basic survival. Millions of others have fled their country completely and are struggling to survive as refugees in Jordan and other countries. They're so "liberated" they don't even have a country! That is Bush's legacy.

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Brzezinski Blasts Bush Admin to Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Brzezinski savaged Bush admin in front of Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday & warned that Bush admin might use false pretext for war with Iran, such as a terror attack on US soil blamed on Iran. The MSNBC article paraphrased Brzezinski's actual quote and left out the "US soil" part. But at least they covered it. Most US media ignored it.

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AOL SABOTAGES SMALL NON PROFIT 501c3 ORGANIZATION

From: Joyce Sica and Uptown Concerts Inc.
uptownconcerts@gmail.com mailto:joycersica@yahoo.com
410-922-5210

As many of you know I, Joyce Sica, run a non-profit, 501c3 organization, Uptown Concerts Inc. Uptown Concerts is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of American and world Folk Music.

For the past thirteen (13) years we have been a paying customer of AOL for our on line and email service. For more then ten (10) years we have used bulk emails to notify the press and our patrons of current and upcoming events. Our patron list consists of people that have signed up at concerts to receive our information or email me to be put on our list. Our list goes out blind and is sent thru Uptown Concerts. To be removed from our list a simple 'please remove' in the subject line does the trick. For addresses that bounce back we attempt to reach each address individually to notify the receipent of the problem. If the address continues to bounce back and we don't hear from the person, that address is removed from the list.

Thru all these years AOL understood our purpose and allowed us to send bulk mail thru the screen name mailto:uptownconcerts@aol.com.(My personal screen name was joycesica@aol.com). Now, since they are 'free' they have decided we are spam. I signed up again as a paying customer (since they won't even speak to you if your not a paying customer) and I was assured I could continue as before. Not so. I was sending, to our press contacts, updated information for March 2007 on the evening for January 31, 2007 when AOL not only knocked me off line but TERMINATED my account. Not just my Uptown Concerts account, my personal account as well. They told me I had no recourse, my business was not welcome and my contact lists had all been wiped out.

I asked how can you do this, it's not spam when the folks receiving the information have requested it. My personal address book has the email addresses of all my friends, family, grandchildren, artists, agents, associates and doctors. That my husband, Tony, is very ill and under the watch of doctors at John's Hopkins, Bayview and The National Institute of Health. They have cut me off from my world of contacts in a single stroke. His illness is so rare that Hopkins and NIH request his brain for autopsy upon his death. I was on the phone with AOL for hours. Every person I spoke with gave me another phone number to call. All in all over seven (7) different phone numbers. One person even told me to fax a letter to the Community Action Team at 1-904-232-8942. That number is no longer in service. When I called the appeals department they told me that number was closed and they do not have any fax numbers. One person sad to me. "...how could people get their work done with faxes coming in all the time."
I pleaded with them...."all my contacts for over 13 years are in my address books on AOL. People will be emailing me and not be able to find me. I have musicians coming into the country from Ireland, Scotland, Canada and email is how we communicate. All their contact information is in my AOL address books. Can't you even set it up so they can be told to email me at a different address like gmail or yahoo?" I received a FLAT NO. I was treated like a criminal.(I know I shouldn't write this but I've never received so much as a speeding ticket.) I went on begging, pleading, I did nothing wrong. All the real spam mail they have allowed thru to my screen names over the years that I've reported as spam never gets stopped...........emails selling drugs, wanting to enlarge my male personal parts, wanting to start a business with me in some foreign country. That trash does not get stopped. But a small innocent, non-profit 501c3 organization, an affiliate with the North American Folk Music and Dance Association get ALIENATED! Don't you all feel safer now?

No matter how many times I explained these email are NOT SPAM when folks have asked to receive the information. A couple of the addresses sent back to me by their POSTMASTER as spam are not even in any of our email lists. I asked them how this could happen and all I got was the run around to different phone numbers. I explained how they were putting our non-profit organization in GREAT JEOPARDY and they couldn't care less. Here's the best part......if I were not an AOL customer (a loyal paying customer for at least 13 years) I could contact AOL's postmaster as a non-profit organization and have them assists me getting bulk mail delivered to AOL members on our bulk list.

My phone has been ringing off the hook today with people trying to email me without success.
Uptown Concerts is an all volunteer non-profit organization. We have brought much enjoyments to the people of the Baltimore/DC area for many many years. I receive many (used to) many email daily from folks telling me how much they love the performances. What this little organization means to their enjoyment and quality of life. How much peace and happiness the music brings them

It will take years and still I won't ever be able to regain all the contacts and email addresses that I have lost.

I was also told to write to
AOL
Terms of Service
The Community Action Team
America on Line
ATTN: CAT
22265 Pacific Blvd.

To this I ask of you, please take a few minutes of your time to send a note to AOL telling them what you think about this problem. At least this list was saved somewhere other then AOHell.
Also if any of you have a blog, please put this on the blog. Feel free to contact me for more information..

Thank you. js