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Elvin Bishop and Ronnie Baker Brooks

Ronnie Baker Brooks is the son of Lonnie Brooks. If you ever get the chance to see him…..do. He’s a great talent.

H.R.4232 would prohibit further use of Defense Department funds to deploy United States Armed Forces to Iraq. Funds could still be used to provide for:

The safe and orderly withdrawal of all troops;
Consultations with other governments, NATO and the UN regarding international forces;
Financial assistance and equipment to either Iraqi security forces and/or international forces.

In addition, the bill would not prohibit or restrict non-defense funding to carry out reconstruction in Iraq.

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The Democrats’ return to power is increasing pressure on House Republican leaders to accept a limited expansion of offshore oil and gas drilling.
Supporters of such exploration say the next Congress, with Democrats in control come January, probably will not tamper with the long’standing drilling bans that have protected most coastal waters for a quarter-century.
A stubborn standoff has festered for months between the House and Senate over developing more of the oil and gas resources in the Outer Continental Shelf. The dispute is expected to be an issue in the final days of the Republican-run Congress this week when lawmakers meet in a lame-duck session.
The proposal is of great importance to Louisiana and three other Gulf Coast states. They stand to reap hundreds of millions of dollars under changes to the way the government shares royalties from oil and gas taken from the Gulf of Mexico…

…Louisiana expects eventually to get an annual flow of more than $650 million a year, compared with about $32 million now from production in state-controlled waters, according to the state’s congressional delegation.
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., says the additional money is needed to restore the Gulf Coast. Its barrier islands, wetlands and levees were ravaged by storms, including Hurricane Katrina.
“This is to provide a reliable stream of revenue so that the Gulf Coast states can secure an independent source of revenue to build these levees and restore this coastline,” she said in an interview.

full article

Ruin the coast to have money to save the coast?
I have a problem with this from Landrieu.
Oh! You too?

The world’s coral reefs are in serious jeopardy, as a result of a wide and increasing array of threats. In response to this growing environmental crisis the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force (CRTF) was established, and released the National Action Plan for Coral Reef Conservation, the first comprehensive U.S. strategy to conserve coral reefs. The first of 13 goals outlined in the plan call for mapping of U.S. coral reefs.

An example of a seafloor map made from multibeam echosounder data. The data illustrated here were collected by the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center at Kure Atoll in July 2006, and are overlain on satellite imagery of the atoll. The multibeam data are color-coded by depth (reds are shallow, blue colored areas are deeper) and clearly illustrate the spur-and-groove morphology often found in coral reef ecosystems. [Image courtesy of NOAA, Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center].

The deep stony coral reef off the island of Maui, which may be the deepest known reef in the US. [Image courtesy of Tony Montgomery, HI Division of Aquatic Resources].

Photographs, Haleakala National Park, Maui…just because

U.S. Coral Reef Task Force" rel="tag">

Stunning pictures:

MSNBC

Associated Press

Time.com

BBC

Political Wire has this email from Russ Feingold:

On Sunday, November 12th in Racine, I will hold my 1000th Listening Session with the people of Wisconsin. Before reaching that milestone, I want you to know that I’ve decided to continue my role as Wisconsin’s Junior Senator in the U.S. Senate and not to seek the Democratic nomination for President in 2008.

Yet, while I’ve certainly enjoyed the repeated comments or buttons saying, “Run Russ Run”, or “Russ in ‘08“, I often felt that if a piece of Wisconsin swiss cheese had taken the same positions I’ve taken, it would have elicited the same standing ovations. This is because the hunger for progressive change we feel is obviously not about me but about the desire for a genuinely different Democratic Party that is ready to begin to reverse the 25 years of growing extremism we have endured.

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Haggard

Move on Up
Curtis Mayfield

I thought we should have Sunday services today….. I, for one, am feeling very thankful that Americans stepped up to the plate this week to show the world we do not support George W’s failed policies. We do not support torture, we do not support the war in Iraq, we do not support his stomping of our constitution and raping of our civil liberties. It’s a new day. The nightmare is over. And the future looks brighter than it did last week. And I am humbled by the gargantuan efforts on the part of Americans to bring this change about.

Can I get an Amen?

Chris Matthews interviews Jack Murtha. Murtha again states, just because Bush says something is true, doesn’t make it true. Jack is running for majority leader.