Democrats are acting cowardly

The Democrats need to stand up to Bush and the Republicans in Congress. If Bush vetos all the government spending bills and thereby shuts the government down, it is his fault. If the Republicans in the Senate threaten to filibuster bills, they should be forced to stand up 24/7 until they fall over rather than calling for a cloture vote in a few hours. The Democrats are giving the Republicans power. They need to stand up and stomp down.

Great Diary

Democrats as battered spouses is a great diary explaining much of the Republican right wing vs Democrat political dynamic.

Walk Score

A walkability index is available here at Walk Score. I tried my house and got a 57/100. Not too bad. House in Texas got a 2/100. Kind of a no brainer but fun.

Bush Economics

Bush economics: 'Only the little people pay taxes' True article.

Six Months Again

How often has Michael O'Hanlon (he of the recent NYT oped) called for another six months to show progress in Iraq. August '07. March '07. March '06. Just about as bad as Thomas Friedman, who has called for another 6 months every 6 months for the last 2 1/2 years.

Scientists reveal secret of levitation

British scientists say they can reverse the Casimir force to cause an object to repel rather than attract another in a vacuum. Although this discovery only applies to nano objects, it has huge implications for an increase in efficiency in all sorts of mechanical objects. Read article here. Beat you to a science story, Richard.

Bad Beans

U.S. issues new botulism warning for green beans It's summer. Just buy fresh.

Fake Al Qaeda

I just read about IntelCenter a U.S. based private intelligence organization that "monitors terrorist activity". This private security company consists of mostly ex-CIA agents who are supposed to gather and review terrorist videos. Increasing evidence is that they doctor videos and release them when it is most valuable for the administration. Nice.

Try again on recession

This cartoon goes along with what I have said here. first item posted on 7/26/07
Try this story if you want your teeth rattled.

Republican values

Nice Republican Values video. View it here.

And so it begins

Bush issues executive order blocking property of persons said to be interfering in the democracy of Lebanon. Lebanon today, tomorrow? And who are these certain people? Are they American citizens? Will they have any habeas corpus rights? Remember the poem:

First They Came for the Jews

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemöller

CA decertifies voting machines

CA state secretary of state de-certified Diebold, Hart InterCivic and Sequoia voting machines. Nice especially since Nevada County just bought in June a bunch of Hart InterCivics on the recommendation of a punk Registrar who was fired in April. Thankfully the normal Nevada County voting method of scanned paper ballots is a secure method. Of course like a large % of Nevada County voters, we vote absentee.

Rethuglican Strategy for "08

Although Hillary is not my candidate, the Republican's are working hard at promoting her as the opposition candidate. The idea is that once she has the nomination, they work to totally demolish her in order to discourage Democrats from voting. Truthfully we have known that Hillary was the Republican's dream candidate for a long time. Just because you know what they are going to do does not mean that their strategy may not be effective. I am looking at the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries where my man Edwards has the lead and hoping that he gets enough of a bounce to pull this off. My ticket is Edwards/Obama. The Repubs would have a much harder time with this ticket. It does not fit with their plans.

Warning Notices

In California we have the choice to go to restaurants that have health department warnings. We are warned by red, yellow, or green placards in the window. I think we should have the same choice for bridges we travel over. If a bridge is a safety hazard, it could have a colored warning sign. Also Google maps would let you know if your proposed route had a bridge with a safety hazard. This would give you a choice of routes.
It's not as if we have not been warned about our crumbling infrastructure. The 1.6 trillion needed to fix bridges, roads, steam pipes, electrical grids, etc. years ago, has been spent on tax cuts. Since we do not seem to have the political will to fix our system, it has been proposed that we just sell these expensive roads and bridges to private enterprise. Corporations will fix them up and charge us user fees. Privatizing will also involve liability limits. So you will be able to go from here to there, if you can afford it. Here goes Eisenhower's vision of a great federal interstate system. Sold to the highest bidder to become a road for the wealthy. A ribbon of gold across the nation. another note
Update: Many bits of our infrastructure, toll roads etc., have been purchased---by foreign companies!

Lake Valley

We went kayaking on Lake Valley Reservoir today. There was another couple that took off quite a bit ahead of us, but we are fast paddlers. We passed them and got to our favorite take out ahead of them.

We got a call from Val while we were there. We never used to have cell coverage here, but today we had 3 bars. All are well in Texas. Val says she is going to have to explore some child care for the baby after school starts and Jaz and Robert go back to school. She has some new stuff to sell to her customers and needs to be able to call them. She was thinking nanny, but the baby is almost 2 and a big boy so I suggested that she look at a nice daycare. I think he would enjoy other children to play with.

These are phone pictures. I sent them to Val's cell and finally have the set up to import them to the laptop. The new apple came today. We have some time to learn how to work it and load up all our programs. Time is getting short. Counting down to departure day.

Favorite Cartoonist

Tom Tomorrow is one of my favorite cartoonists. See his latest here.

Omerta

Omertà (or a code of silence) has become the final bond holding the Bush administration together. Honesty is dishonorable; silence is manly; penitence is weakness. Loyalty trumps law. Protecting higher-ups is patriotism. Stonewalling is idealism. Telling the truth is informing. Cooperation with investigators is cowardice; breaking the code is betrayal. Once the code is shattered, however, no one can be trusted and the entire edifice crumbles.

Sidney Blumenthal spells out why Alberto must stay and all Bush staff will use executive privilege.

US Climate Action Report

The US Climate Action Report was released to no fan fare on Friday the 27th in an attempt to bury the bad news. This was a successful ploy as it has gotten no press. The news was of course bad which was why it was buried. read more

Travel plans

Spent much of the day on travel planning. We have weeks 4-16 to fill up. Plan to join the Boulder Bakers on trip to Greece week 4 and may stay on for week 5. Wm wanted to go to Croatia for week 5, but visa requirements are lengthly. Don't know why? Weeks 6-10 will be in Italy. Weeks 11-13 in Spain. Got a timeshare trade for Macdonald Dona Lola Resort near Malaga for week 12 and put in a request for a resort near Barcelona for week 11. Portugal was a thought, but it requires a visa. Weeks 14-16 will be in France, with week 16 in Paris at a hotel run by some Sacramento expats. Rolled over our Puerto Vallarta timeshare weeks to start the build up of weeks for '09, seven weeks now in '08. Still more to plan, but we also plan to do some traveling without plans. See how that goes.

Bits of the day

Fox News corp wins in a Florida court on the grounds that it is their 1st amendment right to lie and distort the news. Fair and Balanced news is rated #2 as a conservative web site.
Pres wants revision to NSA wiretapping and eavesdropping to drop all requirements for FISA court review. He wants it done right now and have AG in permanent charge of the program. Dems say "when pigs fly."