Emmylou Harris and Johnny Cash - “Where the Soul Never Dies”

This weekend was the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival up in San Francisco. Here’s the NPR story. And here’s this year’s line-up. One of the headliners this year was Emmylou Harris.

The Columbus Day regatta is one heck of a party, to be sure. We didn’t go this year….. but several friends came back to the marina tonight who had gone. It’s a great time, but there are alot of idiots on the water this weekend. Alot of arrests. I’m sorry to hear this happened. Very sad.

Two boats collided during South Florida’s annual Columbus Day regatta, killing one person, seriously or critically injuring seven and leaving one man missing, authorities said Sunday.

A boat with at least eight people aboard was being towed by another boat Saturday night near the Rickenbacker Causeway between Miami and Key Biscayne when it was struck by a third vessel that apparently came from behind, said Jorge Pino, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

A young adult male was missing, and authorities were searching for him, Pino said. It was unclear which boat he was on.

Another vessel being towed behind the boat that was struck escaped harm, Pino said.

Full article at Forbes

My first thought when reading this was……oh, are they getting water and food from Haliburton?

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Hundreds of Iraqi policemen fell sick from poisoning Sunday at a base in southern Iraq after the evening meal breaking their daily Ramadan fast, and officials said they were investigating whether the poisoning was intentional.

An official with the Environment Ministry said 11 policemen had died. However, the governor of Wasit province — where the poisoning took place — denied any deaths, though he said some of the victims were in critical condition. There was no immediate explanation for the contradictory reports.

Some of the policemen began bleeding from the ears and nose after the meal, said Jassim al-Atwan, an inspector for the Environment Ministry, who was serving as a liaison in the investigation between the Health Ministry and the base, located in the town of Numaniyah.

Read full article at CNN

Interesting article. It not only made me smile but also infuriated me.

Moms and GOP - no longer happy together

LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer

NEW ALBANY, Ind. - After winning over moms in back-to-back elections, Republicans have lost their advantage among married women with children this year.

The Republican Party has seen the support of people like Jeannette Hopkins evaporate.

A 30-year-old married mother of two and a Republican, Hopkins voted for
President Bush in 2004. But she says she probably will support the Democrat in her congressional district this fall “because of the way that everything’s been handled” with the GOP in charge of Congress and Bush in the White House.

“We’re in a really scary place right now,” Hopkins said recently. She vented about what she called the gone-on-too-long
Iraq war, a sluggish economy, the bungled Hurricane Katrina response and a continuing terrorism threat.

She blamed Republicans as she hustled down an alley to the office she manages in this Louisville, Ky., suburb.

Votes like hers could decide which party controls the House and Senate after the Nov. 7 vote.

link

“…says she probably will support the Democrat in her congressional district…” Jeannette, it’s good to know you finally (probably) have opened your eyes. Question is, why in the hell did you chose to keep them shut in 2004? Plenty of this shit was taking place then lady!

Whether it be unabashed racial slurring or illegally gaining financially from the office you hold, George Allen is proving himself a typical Republican. The GOP and the Christian-Right must be proud!

AP: Allen didn’t disclose stock options

SHARON THEIMER and BOB LEWIS, Associated Press Writers

RICHMOND, Va. - For the past five years, Sen. George Allen has failed to tell Congress about stock options he got for his work as a director of a high-tech company. The Virginia Republican also asked the Army to help another business that gave him similar options.

Congressional rules require senators to disclose to the Senate all deferred compensation, such as stock options. The rules also urge senators to avoid taking any official action that could benefit them financially or appear to do so.

Those requirements exist so the public can police lawmakers for possible conflicts of interest, especially involving companies with government business that lawmakers can influence.

Allen’s stock options date to the period from January 1998 to January 2001 when Allen was between political jobs and had plunged into the corporate world.

An Associated Press review of Allen’s financial dealings from that era found that the senator:

* Did not have to look far to find corporate suitors, joining three Virginia high-tech companies he assisted as governor. Allen served on boards of directors for Xybernaut and Commonwealth Biotechnologies and advised a third company called Com-Net Ericsson, all government contractors.

* Twice failed to promptly alert the Securities and Exchange Commission of insider stock transactions as a Xybernaut and Commonwealth director. The SEC requires timely notification and can fine those who file late.

* Kept stock options provided to him for serving as a director of Xybernaut and Commonwealth, but steered other compensation from his board service to his law firm.

link

Yes, 2006 and 2008 are shaping up to be wonderful years for Allen.

(Yikes!)

Unexploded Israeli bombs and devices dropped during Israel’s war on Hezbollah have killed 21 and injured more than 100 Lebanese civilians.

The unexploded bombs, mostly sub munitions, landed indiscriminately in civilian areas, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Sunday.

The OCHA said it had recorded 608 areas where cluster munitions landed, “with more locations being identified every day”.

UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland in August said it was “completely immoral … that 90 per cent of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict when it was clear a UN resolution was about to bring about a ceasefire”.

Lebanese police said that 21 people had been killed by the bomblets, including 16 civilians and five army bomb-disposal experts, since the 34-day conflict ended on August 14.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said the Israeli army fired at least 1.2 million rockets into Lebanon during the conflict.

The cluster bombs used by Israel contain hundreds of bomblets which are dispersed over a large area. Those that do not explode on impact turn into lethal anti-personnel mines.

Cluster munitions are controversial, as human-rights groups say they cause indiscriminate civilian casualties over large areas.

continue reading

If you have an unnatural tendency to be sexually attracted to young children, you would be labled a pedophile, right? And if you knew that someone in your employee was a pedophile and did nothing to stop it, you would be labeled a pedophile-enabler, correct? What if someone even higher up in the organization became aware that, not only did he have a pedophile working/lurking in the ranks but also had a pedophile-enabler in place, and he chose also not to do anything about it? Would he be called a pedophile-enabler-enabler?

This are but just a few questions that came to mind when I read the following (hypocritical) news item:

Bush pledges to work for school safety

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Saturday lamented recent “shocking acts of violence” in schools, and promised his administration will do what it can to keep centers of learning safe for students.

The White House is convening a conference on school safety Tuesday. Federal officials, school workers, parents, law enforcement officials and other experts are to gather in Chevy Chase, Md., a Washington suburb noted for exceptional schools.

The conference is being hosted by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Education Secretary
Margaret Spellings. Bush and his wife, Laura, are expected to attend part of it.

“Our goal is clear: Children and teachers should never fear for their safety when they enter a classroom,” the president said in his weekly radio address.

link

“Children… should never fear for their safety…” Well, as far as schools are concerned anyways. But fill these schools with IM-enabled computers and LOOK OUT!

Culture of Corruption, full’steam ahead!

Many outraged Americans, whether Republican or Democrat, called for Hastert’s resignation this past week. I myself was very pleased he decided to stay put. If he had stepped down Karl Rove would have had this whole mess swept under the rug in two, three days tops. And with Bush insisting Hastert stay where he’s at is, well, that’s icing for the cake!

Dems: Hastert hurts GOP

BY KENNETH R. BAZINET
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON - House Speaker Dennis Hastert appears to have survived the smutty e-mail scandal that threatened the Republican’s hold on the job - and Democrats are delighted.

Hastert’s status was endangered by allegations that (he) had ignored warnings about ex-Rep. Mark Foley’s sleazy habit of sending sexually charged e-mails to congressional pages.

A supportive phone call from President Bush last week appeared to signal that Hastert’s crisis was over, barring another GOP lawmaker getting implicated in the page scandal.

Republicans may have been relieved, but so were Dems.

“Bad decision for the Republicans, but it’s great news for the Democrats,” pollster Doug Schoen insisted of Hastert’s decision to remain House speaker.

Many Democrats believed their party was going to take control of the House even before Foley’s follies forced his resignation. Having Hastert remain in the job may be a reminder to voters that the GOP is knee-deep in a tawdry scandal.

Foley’s behavior has also allowed Democrats to resurrect their “culture of corruption” slogan, which was first affixed to Republican lawmakers tied to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

link

Beam me up Scotty!

A model of the Starship Enterprise has sold for $576,000 (£308,000) at an auction of memorabilia from 40 years of the science fiction television series.
Before the sale, Christie’s auction house in New York estimated the model would sell for about $30,000 (£16,000).

The 78-inch-long (198cm) miniature of the Enterprise-D, used in the title sequences of Star Trek: The Next Generation, made its TV debut in 1987.

More than 1,000 Star Trek items were sold over three days at the auction.

Built by Industrial Light and Magic, the model was first used in the 1987 Star Trek episode Encounter at Farpoint, and also appeared in the film Star Trek Generations.

Full article at BBCNews

Why O why O why O can’t they just admit they fucked up and get us out of there? How many more have to die and be maimed before we get them out? How fucked up do things have to get before Bush admits Rumsfeld is an incompetent? The troops are questioning why they’re there. Americans are questioning why we’re there. Iraqi’s want us to leave, and they think it’s okie dokie to kill American troops. Yet, we’re still there……….

By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 8, 2006; Page A01

The number of U.S troops wounded in Iraq has surged to its highest monthly level in nearly two years as American GIs fight block-by-block in Baghdad to try to check a spiral of sectarian violence that U.S. commanders warn could lead to civil war.

Last month, 776 U.S. troops were wounded in action in Iraq, the highest number since the military assault to retake the insurgent-held city of Fallujah in November 2004, according to Defense Department data. It was the fourth-highest monthly total since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

The sharp increase in American wounded — with nearly 300 more in the first week of October — is a grim measure of the degree to which the U.S. military has been thrust into the lead of the effort to stave off full’scale civil war in Iraq, military officials and experts say. Beyond Baghdad, Marines battling Sunni insurgents in Iraq’s western province of Anbar last month also suffered their highest number of wounded in action since late 2004.

Read more at the Washington Post