Diana Krallat the Clinton Global Initiative
Exactly Like You, Let’s Face the Music

Apparently America is hungry for more Anna Nicole Smith news. The ratings prove it. CNN went virtually Anna Nicole Smith free on Wednesday while MSNBC went ALL Anna Nicole Smith. The results has MSNBC mop the floor with CNN and FOX. The 25-54 ratings are here. You can see more ratings for the news channels at http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/

H/T Joe for this post!

Ok, I have to confess. I watched some of this on Court TV this week. Maybe because it was happening right up the road…..maybe because I know how bizarre the Florida court system can be……maybe because I wanted to see the parties involved…….. I can’t explain it. But I confess…….I did tune in to the court proceedings off and on throughout the week. So shoot me…… I might add……even Keith Olbermann covered this story! What’s up with that????

Children are called the future of an adult world
They are born with spirits so innocent
Til we teach them how to hate
Add to the world’s confusion
We teach our kids rules
That we don’t adhere to ourselves
Right or wrong
What example can they take
The people we learn from
Forge the ideas we become

Janet Jackson - Livin’ in a world (they didn’t make)

The story below is not surprising. It’s a brave new hate-filled world out there. America’s rightwing must be smiling.

From The Detroit News - DetNews.com:

Family: Elderly Detroit man dying after hate crime

DETROIT – A 72-year-old Detroit man attacked outside his apartment building 10 days ago and left paralyzed from the neck down is clinging to life at an area hospital in what his family has called a hate crime.

Andrew Anthos was on a city bus on his way home to the Windsor Tower apartments on Antietam in Detroit around 7 p.m. Feb. 13 when a man approached him and asked him if he was gay, Anthos’ family said he told police before he slipped into a coma. The man, who continued to harass Anthos and called him derogatory names, followed Anthos off the bus at the stop in front of his building and attacked him with a metal pipe, striking him from behind, police said. The attacker left him on the snowy sidewalk.

Anthos was taken to Detroit Receiving Hospital, where doctors performed emergency spinal surgery but were unable to reverse the paralysis. He is now in a coma and not expected to live past the weekend, his family said.

“There’s nothing else they can do but keep him comfortable,” said his niece, Athena Fedenis, 45. “He wasn’t robbed. It strictly was a hate crime. This monster gave Andrew a slow, painful death.”

Detroit Police Sgt. Ryan Lovier said police are investigating whether the attack was a hate crime. His family said Anthos, who turned 72 on Monday, is gay.

So far no witnesses have come forward, and police have only a vague description of the attacker Anthos was able to give before falling into the coma. Lovier said he hopes someone from the bus saw something and will notify police.

“We’re trying to figure out what bus he was on and if the bus driver or anyone else saw anything,” he said.

Fedenis said the family believes somebody must have seen something — either on the bus or in front of the apartment building — and hopes they step forward.

“Our family is just sick. We can’t understand why someone would do something like this,” she said.

Police are asking anyone with information on the attack to call investigators at (313) 596-1140

My boyfriend listens to the Young Turks on his way to work. When he got to work today, he rushed this email to me. How about this shit!!! I’ve got to look for some verification on these points.

According to the young turks.

Lieberman is crying to Reid and the dems, says he gets upset when he attends the dem caucaus and they speak of iraq changing the plans etc, so he writes letter to reid saying he is upset and would rather turn republican, so reid caves and now requires the dems in their caucaus not to speak of iraq, but rather have to have a seperate meeting(more wasted time) to discuss without the Liarboy involved.

point 2, Bush says he wants to appoint a bi-partisen committee to discuss all these issues etc(forget which one specifically now) and reid responds to him and says no way the bi-partisen part is already in place and called CONGRESS!, Liarboy responds in another letter to reid saying/crying he is upset with that comment and may go republican again reid relents!

point 3 officials from israel in their paper state that the u.s.(rice) is strong arming them NOT to enter into peace-talks with syria!

point 4 welcome to the 4th reich!!!

UPDATE: Here it is…….

So far, Lieberman is using his clout mostly in ways that discomfit his fellow Democrats, while his relationship with Republicans has involved more collaboration than coercion. When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Bush’s State of the Union proposal for a bipartisan terrorism panel was redundant, Lieberman, who supported the idea, privately sent Reid a letter saying he was “upset.” Within days, Reid backed down and negotiated the panel’s makeup with the White House. And last month, after Lieberman told Reid he had stopped attending the weekly Democratic lunch because he didn’t feel comfortable discussing Iraq there, Reid offered to hold those discussions at another time. Lieberman has started attending again.

Read more at Time

Wait a minute…..I thought they DIDN’T get any Al Qaeda officials as they first stated?

WASHINGTON: The American military quietly waged a campaign from Ethiopia last month to capture or kill top leaders of Al Qaeda in the Horn of Africa, including the use of an airstrip in eastern Ethiopia to mount airstrikes against Islamic militants in neighboring Somalia, according to American officials.

The close and largely clandestine relationship with Ethiopia also included significant sharing of intelligence on the Islamic militants’ positions and information from American spy satellites with the Ethiopian military. Members of a secret American Special Operations unit, Task Force 88, were deployed in Ethiopia and Kenya, and ventured into Somalia, the officials said.

The counterterrorism effort was described by American officials as a qualified success that disrupted terrorist networks in Somalia, led to the death or capture of several Islamic militants and involved a collaborative relationship with Ethiopia that had been developing for years.

Read more here

The beast rarely leaves the confines of his lair. But when he does… look out!

    (Kudos to MSNBC.com for creating this fitting image)

Is there any country left we can alienate? How about Canada? Aren’t they about to erect their very own border fence yet? Who would blame them? The United States has an idiot and a madman running the show!

“…China’s continued fast-paced military buildup are less constructive and are not consistent with China’s stated goal of a peaceful rise.”

Isn’t the United States a peaceful/peace-loving country? Don’t we spend more on military buildup than anyone else? Don’t we allow our vets to go nearly unclothed, hungry and cold, into the streets just so more money can stay in our military budget? Don’t we nickel & dime America’s middle class and poor right out of maintaining basic necessities, like adequate health care, just to boast the world’s finest military?

It takes really huge balls to stand in front of a knowing crowd and make such statements!

From MSNBC.com:

Cheney rips China’s anti’satellite weapons test

SYDNEY, Australia - China’s recent anti’satellite weapons test and its continued military buildup are “not consistent” with its stated aim of a peaceful rise as a global power, Vice President Dick Cheney said Friday.

In a speech in Sydney, Cheney also expressed wariness about North Korea’s commitment to a landmark deal on ending its nuclear programs.

As anti-war demonstrators clashed with police outside the hotel where Cheney was speaking, the vice president also expressed gratitude to Australia for sending troops to the Iraq war, which he said must be won or terrorists would be emboldened worldwide.

Cheney praised China for playing an “especially important” role in the negotiations that resulted in the North Korea deal, under which the North is to seal its main nuclear reactor and allow international inspections in exchange for fuel oil.

“Other actions by the Chinese government send a different message,” Cheney told the Australian-American Leadership Dialogue, a private organization that promotes ties between the two countries.

“Last month’s anti’satellite test, China’s continued fast-paced military buildup are less constructive and are not consistent with China’s stated goal of a peaceful rise,” he said.

I hate this fucker. Now he’s threatening to switch parties? If you do something I don’t like I’ll switch parties. Fuck you Lieberman. Why don’t you sit your sorry ass on the other side of the aisle where you belong? And while we’re at it, how about we take his committee chairmanship away from him, since he’s NOT a democrat???? And to think we could of had Ned Lamont……. thanks so very much Connecticut!

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Senator Joseph Lieberman, snubbed by fellow Democrats over Iraq, said Thursday he has no plans to switch parties, but hinted at bolting if Democrats oppose funding for the war.

“I have no desire to change parties,” Lieberman told The Politico, a Washington publication specializing in politics.

“If that ever happens, it is because I feel the majority of Democrats have gone in a direction that I don’t feel comfortable with.”

Connecticut voters re-elected Lieberman in November as an independent after Democrats denied him endorsement over his support for the Iraq war.

Nonetheless, he caucuses with Democrats holding a razor-thin 51-49 Senate majority.

He supports President George W. Bush’s deployment of 21,500 new soldiers to Iraq, and suggested that an upcoming showdown over war funding could chase him to the Republican side of the the aisle.

“I hope we don’t get to that point,” Lieberman told The Politico. “That’s about all I will say on it today. That would hurt.”

Read more at YahooNews

Isn’t that nice….. along with Russia and China, we don’t want to sign. Australia, India, Pakistan and Israel did not attend and therefore, also did not sign. Japan, Poland and Romania did not approve the final resolution. (Which is non-binding) So basically, the countries that have cluster bombs, don’t sign the thing. Who DID sign the resolution? This world is fucked up. And we fucked it up with our obsession of building a military arsenal to top all arsenals. Did we think the world was going to sit back and say…oh ok Big Boy……you do anything you want. We won’t try and defend ourselves against you.

OSLO, Norway (AP) - A declaration calling for a 2008 treaty banning cluster bombs was adopted Friday by 46 out of 49 nations attending a conference in Oslo, officials for the Norwegian government and two non-governmental groups said.

Norway’s deputy foreign minister Raymond Johansen said Poland, Romania and Japan did not approve the final declaration. Officials for Human Rights Watch and the Cluster Munition Coalition also said those three countries dissented.

The gathering was snubbed by some key arms makers - including the U.S., Russia, Israel and China - but organizers said other nations needed to forge ahead regardless to avoid a potential humanitarian disaster posed by unexploded cluster munitions.

A declaration presented on the last day of the meeting urged nations to “conclude by 2008 a legally binding international instrument” to ban cluster bombs.

The treaty would “prohibit the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of those cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians,” the declaration said.

Cluster bomblets are packed by the hundreds into artillery shells, bombs or missiles, which scatter them over vast areas, with some failing to explode immediately. The unexploded bomblets can then lie dormant for years after conflicts end until they are disturbed, often by civilians.

As many as 60 percent of the victims in Southeast Asia are children, the Cluster Munition Coalition said. The weapons have recently been used Iraq, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Lebanon, it said. The U.N. estimated that Israel dropped as many as 4 million bomblets in southern Lebanon during last year’s war with Hezbollah, with as many 40 percent failing to explode on impact.

Children can be attracted to the unexploded weapons by their small size, shape and bright colors, activists say.

Friday’s declaration urged countries to take steps at a national level before the treaty takes effect. Norway has already done so, while Austria announced a moratorium on cluster bombs at the start of the conference.

“It is nonbinding. It is not a legal document. But it is a statement of political will,” Steve Goose of Human Rights Watch said of the declaration.

Read more here

Why is this ok? Why are we so very worried about Iran, who doesn’t even have nuclear capabilities and is not likely to have nuclear weapons for atleast 5 years, but we’re not worried about Pakistan, who already has them? What if something happens to Musharraf? Then what?

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan test-fired a nuclear-capable, surface-to’surface ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 km (1,250 miles) on Friday, a military official said.

The test of the Hatf VI (Shaheen II) missile was successful, he said.

“It can carry all types of warheads including nuclear,” the official said.

The Hatf VI is a two’stage solid fuel missile which can carry nuclear and conventional warheads with high accuracy. An advanced version has a potential range of 2,500 km (1,560 miles).

Source:Reuters

I watched this film tonight. I can honestly say, for the first time in my life, I’m ashamed to be an American after viewing this. And not just because it happened, but because it came from the top. Because of the pain and suffering we have caused so many innocent people. Because our congress, after this happened, passed the Military Commissions Act. Because we’ve told the world it’s ok to torture and the Geneva Convention doesn’t apply to our war on terror. Because our former Secretary of Defense gave the go ahead to torture. Because he is such a disgrace to the human race. Because the lower ranking soldiers went to jail and the architect of this torture was given a medal. Because we are no longer the world’s leader in human rights issues, but a country who abuses them. Because we have allowed this administration to take us down this oh so dark road. Shameful…..shameful…..shameful!!! If you get the chance, view this film.

Ghosts of Abu Ghraib,” a new HBO documentary produced and directed by Rory Kennedy, daringly approaches a scandal that hardly anyone wants to see reexamined — least of all, one can safely assume, the Bush administration and the Pentagon.

The reason is not just that what happened at Abu Ghraib is, to understate in the extreme, unpleasant. The documentary says it’s also because this breakdown was not so much nervous as inevitable — and not so spontaneous, having been sanctioned by the top brass, including former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Skillfully and sparingly told without a narrator, with only occasional on’screen captions to help the narrative along, the film brings to life a sadly shameful moment in recent American history and does it without histrionics. But Kennedy (youngest of Bobby Kennedy’s offspring) might have erred at the outset of her film by inadequately establishing the national mood that helped make Abu Ghraib possible: the understandable sense of shock, outrage and violation we all felt after the insane 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The visual reminders of those attacks consist of photographs and footage that show only physical destruction, the ghostly and ghastly remains of buildings. There doesn’t appear to be a dead body in sight, almost as if the atrocities committed were extreme examples of architectural criticism. That weakens Kennedy’s case. The photos she shows from Abu Ghraib are very explicit and, unlike the versions shown in newspapers and on television in 2004 when the story broke, uncensored.

Read more here and here.

H/T Bat for sending me the articles!