GDP

The GDP has been fussed with over the years to reflect a more positive outlook. If you go back to how it was figured in 1980 you get a very different picture of the Bush years and even of the Clinton years. Those years weren't quite so overheated for most of us. The Bush years look like 8 years of recession.
I had written before about how the figures we were being given did not look right and had posited some of my own. I have now found a site, Shadow Government Statistics, that does this for me. Only some is available without subscription. But enough for me to see the depth of the lies.

Approval Ratings--Public vs McCain

Gotta Love It

From Richie Havens Web site.

Nice Obama Radio Ad

Click To Play

All totally True.

Veep

I do not want Evan Bayh to be the next VP. He was too much of a cheerleader for the Iraq war. Also if he is VP, his seat will be filled by a Repub Gov with a right wing Repub. We cannot afford to lose a senator. I still hold out hope for Wes Clark, even though he says he is scheduled to be at a dinner in Milan on the 27th. I have signed up to be notified by email, so I will post when I hear. I signed up for a CA seat for Obama's speech on 28th. But I am not holding my breath. I just thought since I was in Colorado it would be nice. I got to hear JFK at the UC Berkeley stadium ever so many years ago.
Update:
I think that the argument against Bayh would also hold against any other senator. You want/need to keep strong figures like Dodd and Biden in the Senate. So a Governor: Some say it would be someone who is already on the convention schedule. Others say that being on the schedule eliminates these potential veeps. So maybe Wm's choice, Bill Richardson, hits the top of the list.

Wag the Dog in Georgia

The Swiftboating of Obama will be built around the Georgia crisis. This is why the attack on South Ossetia by the Georgians and the prompt response by the Russians had to happen in August. Saakashvili may have been assured by Scheunemann that the US would have his back in his surprise attempt to take back his wayward province. But whatever, the whole incident provided some nice propaganda about the fierceness of the Russian Bear toward our allies who were providing troops in Iraq and provided a perfect opportunity for John McCain to continue his saber waving at Russia.
The whole point is to provide an opportunity to go back to cold war posturing against Russia. Russia has good income right now from oil and gas and has had an opportunity to rebuild its infrastructure--read military. The Russian people are behind Medvedev and Putin and are fierce in defense of their homeland.
This strategy has been set up by the McCain organization with the call for Russia to be out of the G8 in order to have a separate organization made up of cooperating democracies to oppose non-democratic regimes.
Bush was not in on the scam which is why his first response was mild. He could always be counted on also to stay on vacation. Bush has since toughened up his response, but has also been clear that there would be no US military response.
Saakashvili has however referred to the humanitarian medical response that the US is sending to Georgia as military help. Stating that the he was pleased that the airport would be secured!
John McCain will be painted as our savior against the Russian Bear which would destroy our allies. Obama will be painted as a weak appeaser who would not protect us. Lots of lies about Russian atrocities will be promoted and the fact of the initial Georgian aggression will be conveniently eliminated.
Robert Scheer in Truthdig gives some background on how this was engineered. Lots of patsies to provide a new larger war posture for McCain.

In 2005, while registered as a paid lobbyist for Georgia, Scheunemann worked with McCain to draft a congressional resolution pushing for Georgia’s membership in NATO. A year later, while still on the Georgian payroll, Scheunemann accompanied McCain on a trip to that country, where they met with Saakashvili and supported his bellicose views toward Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Scheunemann is at the center of the neoconservative cabal that has come to dominate the Republican candidate’s foreign policy stance in a replay of the run-up to the war against Iraq. These folks are always looking for a foreign enemy on which to base a new Cold War, and with the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime, it was Putin’s Russia that came increasingly to fit the bill.

Negative Publicity

When he was asked how those who violated civil service laws would be punished, Michael Mukasey stated that the "negative publicity" they have received would be enough and that there would be no other punishment. He explained that just because his predecessors in the Justice Department were breaking the law with their hiring processes doesn’t mean anyone should be held accountable: "not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime."
Excuse me, isn't a violation of the law a definition of crime. (Unlawful activity--free online dictionary)
This is how the Bush administration views violations of the law that they commit---not really crimes.
If you can get away with it, it is not really a crime.

Human Life Amendment

Watch out for the Human Life Amendment on the ballot in many states this November. It defines constitutional humanity as beginning at the moment of conception and would effectively outlaw many kinds of birth control such as the pill and IUD's. This would render moot the current administrative push to give all health care workers the right to refuse to administer or dispense any medication that runs counter to their religious belief, thereby throwing road blocks in the ability of women to gain access to morning after pills and by extension most forms of contraception. Anti-abortion forces are anti-contraception, because of the thought that some forms of contraception might prevent the attachment of a fertilized egg.
This is why John McCain hemmed and hawed at the question of whether he would support health insurance coverage of contraception, since all cover Viagra, but not all cover contraception. He did not answer the question. He said he would have to see where he stood on that.
Remember the orphanages of Romania. They were the consequences of a regime that outlawed abortion and contraception.

Embrace

New hard-hitting TV ad. Try it on for size.

All You Need to Know to Run a Political Campaign

Why Voters Say they Don't Really Know Barack Obama (and Why They Don't Really Know Much about John McCain, Either)

Solving the Afghan Problem

According to the military a "surge" of just more troops in Afghanistan is not going to help. One big problem is the porous Pakistan border.

But a different type of surge is needed in Afghanistan, said Gen. David McKiernan, the top NATO commander there.

"There is no magic number of soldiers that are needed on the ground to win this campaign," McKiernan said. "What we need is security of the people. We need governance. We need reconstruction and development."

"Reconstruction and development" when have we heard this before. After the Russians pulled out, defeated by the US backed insurgents, the US just left Afghanistan to rot and gave no help to rebuild the country, leaving it ripe for the Taliban. Reconstruction and help with development would have helped Afghanistan develop into a decent country rather than degenerate into a fundamentalist Muslim state.

Another challenge is Afghanistan's unchecked drug trade, which reportedly is financing the violence.

"Ninety percent of the world's opium comes from Afghanistan, and much of that money ends up in the hands of warlords and other militants," Curtis said.

McKiernan said, "There is a clear linkage between 'narco' trafficking and financing of the insurgency."

Farmers had quit growing poppies when the Taliban made them quit. But with no Taliban they reverted to poppies as the best cash crop they had. One way to influence the financing of the militants is to subsidize the farmers to grow other crops. Even if it cost a few million, it would be cheaper than military action.

Source article here on CNN.

Thanks for the Jam

A jar of jam of unknown origin was found in the frig this evening as Wm was fixing his own dessert of peanut butter and jam on the remains of the Truckee Sourdough. (The dinner of eggplant casserole and assorted greens in southern style pot likker with bread for dipping not having been quite enough.) I finally deduced that some visitors from Colorado must have left it in the frig after their visit in June. So, thanks for the jam.

American Marten

Probably the animal I saw in the woods yesterday was an American Marten--another member of the weasel family. Cute--although I just saw it stretched out running.

Gold Lake

We took the PW up to Gold Lake for a few days. It was cool and breezy and nice to just sit next to the water. The last day I saw a couple of deer on the hillside, a doe and a 3 point buck with soft velvet antlers. Just as we were getting ready to leave I saw a reddish brown weasel looking animal about twice the size of a cat running fast across the road from the lake side to the hillside. The only animal that fits the description is a Pacific Fisher, very shy and seldom seen.



Is that William or some ghostly apparition?

Failed State?

The German newspaper Die Tageszeitung a few days ago called Belgium the "most successful 'failed state' of all time."

With Flemish nationalism on the rise, Belgium teeters on the edge

Obama/Reagan

Just saw this and couldn't resist for independents who loved Reagan.



Not an official campaign ad, just something made up on You Tube.

Jellyfish for Dinner

There is a plague of jellyfish, for lots of reasons, most having to do with man. So we need to learn to eat jellyfish. The Chinese do.

Granola

Wm has been eating granola for breakfast a lot, so I thought I would break out the old recipe for

Homemade Granola
1 lg box oats
2 cups unsweetened coconut
1 jar wheat germ
2 cups soy flour
2 cups milk powder
2 cups ground/chopped nuts
2 cups sesame seeds
2 cups sunflower seeds
4 cups honey mixed with 1 cup of oil
Mix all together and toast in large pan in 350 degree oven about 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Stir to prevent scorching. Store in airtight containers.

I started making this back when we lived in Groveland at White's Gulch before we moved to Cherry Lake. I remember I had made Valerie a bowl of hot cereal out of it, to make it softer, and as she was eating it she commented, "coconut." I was rather startled that she, at about 18 months, could recognize the taste of coconut in her cereal. I remember I just told her, "yes, Valerie the cereal has coconut in it."

As the youngest grand baby approaches two I find myself thinking back to Valerie and Jon at two or so. Fond reminiscences.

Bogus Anthrax Investigation

There are so many things that smell about this investigation, it is hard to know where to begin.
1. Cheney and others were taking Cipro prior to the attacks and others were told to take Cipro prior to any mailings.
2. Anthrax was subsequently mailed mostly to "liberal" news sources and Democratic members of Congress who were blocking/slowing progress of the US Patriot Act.
3. Immediate leakage of the idea (McCain on Letterman) that the source of the anthrax was probably Iraq.
4. Subsequent leaking of information to ABC that the anthrax had bentonite in it making it surely from Iraq by four lying sources. The anthrax had no bentonite and no tests ever indicated that it did.
5. After the anthrax was determined to have come from a US source, our weapons lab, years were spent on potential suspect Hatfill who was recently given >$5 million for the harassment.
6. An employee of the weapons lab commits suicide.
7. A therapist/counselor comes forward loudly and vocally with wild accusations against the deceased, that he had been horribly mentally unstable with the intent to murder others since 2000.
8. The friends and co-workers of the deceased claim they had no problems with him at work, that he was a devout church goer and volunteer for the Red Cross who had become depressed with what he felt was harassment by the FBI.
9. Other scientists have said that as a specialist in vaccines the deceased did not have the skills to make weaponized aerosol anthrax.
10. The head of the lab says that this cannot be the end of the investigation, that there are too many more questions.
11. Why was an unstable person allowed to keep a high security clearance?
12. Who leaked untrue information to ABC?
13. Where did John McCain get his information?
14. Why was Cheney taking Cipro?
15. The FBI plans to close its investigation within days.

Gas Prices

What are your feelings on gas prices? I am somewhat irritated and am not driving as much. I try to consolidate my trips and walk to the store more. I am irritated that I cannot fill my tank using the debit card anymore as the $50 limit only fills it 3/4 full.
I am more irritated at the odd circumstances I read, about why the price of oil has climbed so much and why oil company profits are up so much.
I read about peak oil and supply and demand and think OK, but why did the price increase so fast?
I read speculation about speculators and also that an amendment to restrict oil speculation is filibustered down in the Senate by guess who and I think "hmm."
I read that the price of oil will go down immediately if only oil companies are allowed to drill in sensitive places such as offshore and ANWR. Is it just like sticking a straw in and sucking oil out?
I read that the professional filibusters in the Senate are now filibustering ALL bills until they are allowed to have a bill for more offshore drilling.
I read that oil companies donated >$1 million to McCain after he came out in favor of offshore drilling.
I read that offshore drilling is perfectly safe now and that no oil was spilled with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Then I read just the opposite--with numbers and pictures.
I read that offshore drilling would have no effect for 10 years and then would effect the price of gas by only pennies.
I read that the special ships that do offshore drilling are booked up for five years.
I read that US oil companies have lots of rights to drill in many offshore locations that they are not utilizing right now.
I also read that US oil companies have not built any new refineries in about 30 years and that the current refineries are running at about 85% of capacity, down from last year.
I also read that we export about 10% of our domestic production of oil and oil products. What?
I also read that the right to offshore drilling and the leasing of these areas would just be added to oil companies books as production reserve to increase the value of their stock!

I think I am beginning to understand the reasons for the price and profit increase. Just count us all as contributors to the largess of modern day oil barons.

Update: House Republicans are now staging a sit-in on the House floor to be allowed to have a bill for offshore oil drilling.