A Benefit and a Painting for Cedric Curtis

In a continuing effort to stray from stories of the world going to heck in a hecktocopter, I will make an unprecedented second straight personal post.

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A couple of weeks ago, I got a call from Cedrick Curtis, asking if I could return a preamp I'd borrowed from him.

"How's things?" I asked.

"Oh, "he said, "pretty good, only I'm having this problem with my hair falling out."

"Ha!" I said, and then turning it into a joke, as I tend to do with everyting, "...as long as it doesn't have to do with chemotherapy, I guess it's ok."

"As a matter of fact, it is chemotherapy..."

Cedric Curtis is a heck of a guitar player. He's also a heck of a nice guy. He also has breast cancer.

Turns out his dad also had it, but never mentioned it to him. "Just had a little cyst removed, that's all..." he told Ceddy.

Being a musician, he has no health insurance, so a bunch of his friends have organized a benefit for him.

I got a flyer in the email last week about the upcoming benefit. It's to be at an outrageously opulent castle that a famous vintner built just south of Calistoga. Four bands are listed to play, but I suspect every musician in Napa County will be there. I hope there will also be some rich people (usually, the local set of muscians and set of rich people do not intersect) so some money will be raised. I noticed in the flyer that there would be a benefit auction. Ah ha! A chance to prod myself into painting! As luck would have it, my schedule was open the last few days, with only one gig in Napa on Thursday night.

So the last few days I whipped out a painting for the silent benefit auction. Wednesday, I searched through my voluminous archives for a shot of Ced playing his favorite Strat at a gig, found one, and took a digital photo of it. He was kinda small, in the background, but it was good enough. Put it into Photoshop, whiped out the background, gridded it, and drew it onto a canvas I had lying around.

Thursday, I inked it in with a waterproof ink pen. Looked pretty good. Then I went off to Napa to play at Kelley's No Bad Days Cafe with Tom Overton. At the end of the gig, my friend Keith Borges walked in with his brother, Daryll. Daryll and Ced and I had been in a band in the summer of 1995. Daryll had left at the end of the summer for Nashville, and after a year or two (and a close call from a tornado) hightailed it back west to Las Vegas, where he's been working in bands in casinos ever since. I told Keith about Ced and the benefit as soon as I heard. He called Daryll, and Daryll flew in just for the benefit.

Back to Petaluma, to work. I painted in the drawing until about 3:30am. Here's what it looked like at that point:


I actually considered leaving it like that. It had a nice, unfinished but elegant kinda look. But, no, I had another day to work on it...

About half way between Napa and Petaluma, I realized I'd left my camera at Kelley's in Napa. I'd planned to stop by Cedric's frame shop in Napa and pick up a ticket to the benefit. So, Wednesday afternoon after getting the camera I hung out with Ced and his partner Marie and their amazingly cat-sized dog for a couple of hours, until Robbie, the lady who was doing the logistics and catalogue for the silent auction, arrived. She said I could email her the info about the painting and then just bring it to the benefit. Good, since I didn't bring it with me to Napa...and I wanted to work on it more. Ced and Marie insisted on giving me a ticket. Ok. I'd make it up to them with my painting. I hoped. I told them I was making one, but didn't say what it was. A surprise.

Back in Petaluma, I spent hours looking for a background. Again, back to the archives. Found a nice digital photo of some spectacular clouds over Mt. Veeder. A warm, subdued look seemed to be a good goal to work towards. Loaded the photo into Photoshop and rotated the color hue around until the sky turned a nice brown. Copied it into a new layer of the Ced photo. Enlarged it to fit and slid it around until it looked good.

Painting. I'm always surprised at how much fun this part is. Painted in the background. After I painted behind Cedric's head the shape of it no longer looked right, so I checked back to the original photo and got things looking correct. Redid the clouds around the head. Put on my signature. Painted the edges of the canvasboard. Coated it with gloss medium. Noticed it was 3:30am again! Funny how that time keeps coming up. Remembered I was supposed to send a short bio, description of the painting, and price to Robbie. Got it sent just before 4am. Here's what it looks like now:


Got up today and realized I'd not quite sent Robbie the correct info, and so sent the correct info.

The benefit is tonight. I'll take the painting straight to the castle. Hope it raises some money. Maybe I'll get to play some music. I'm sure it will be an unforgettable experience. I'll bring my camera and my earplugs.

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The next day:
Last night was certainly memorable. Nearly every musician in Napa county (and many from elsewhere) was there. Earplugs were indeed needed, almost constantly. I brought my sketch pad and pens, in case a situation developed where I could do portraits, but it didn't happen.

Keith and Daryll showed, and Keith brought his sister Tammy, who lives in Oakland. Daryll hitched a ride with Kellie, the MC for the evening, who has a local radio program called Kellie in the Morning. I took lots of photos, of the crowd, of people I knew, and of the castle itself, which is quite a place. Nearly everyone seemed to be running into a friends they hadn't seen in years, even decades.

All the bands were very good, and Cedric sat in and played guitar with each of them. At the end of the evening there was a small jam, and Daryll got to play drums. I was hoping to play the keyboard that had been set up all evening, but someone had dismantled it and it lay, useless, on a table off to the side. So much for my musical contribution.

As for my artistic contribution, I fear the painting was too good. No one would bid on it. Ced and Marie were totally blown away by it, and immediately wanted to buy it themselves. "No, you can't do that!" I said. "That would defeat the whole purpose!" The minimum bid was marked down, down, down, throughout the evening, but no one bit. Perhaps it's for the best. I'll just give it to Ced and Marie.

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Meeting a Hero

me and Martin Mull

Here's something different—a personal post.

I've sometimes been asked, usually in some internet or email questionaire, to list my "heroes." My personal definition of "hero" has always been someone who does something extraordinary, out of the line of duty, something exemplary, but I never actually knew anyone who did such things, other than my parents, and that's not really what such a questionaire is usually looking for.

It occurs to me that there is a guy who might qualify as a different kind of hero, just from the influence his work has had on me. This is a guy who wrote songs that I dearly loved, the kind of songs that I'd hear and think, hey, that's the kind of song I'd like to write! And, coincidentally, this guy is also a terrific visual artist, if by terrific one means someone with high technical skill and the ability and imagination to create striking and original images, and, what's just as important to me, ones I like. And two things I've been interested in all my life are music and art.

When I mention this guy to most people, the reaction I get is, Oh, you mean that guy who played the talk show host on Fernwood 2nite? Or, you mean Rosanne's boss? Well, yeah, I mean that guy, but not because of his acting, which is all most people are aware of.

I got a chance to meet that guy last night, when my friend Gordon Lustig invited me to join him and his brothers on a trip to Cobb's Comedy Club in San Francisco to see a Fernwood 2Nite reunion with the men who played the host and his sidekick on the show, Martin Mull and Fred Willard. I found the reunion show hilarious and even charming. Seeing that I'd brought my camera (despite numerous posted warnings against using recording devices or cameras) one of Gordon's brothers asked the bouncer if we could take some photos of Martin and Fred, and he went upstairs and asked them. He returned in a while and said, Martin will be down in a bit, if you want to wait.

We waited, as did a few other folks. When he appeared he seemed genuinely touched, and a bit shocked, that 30 after the reason for the event, Fernwood 2-Nite, people would want to meet him. He eagerly posed with us for photos, and chatted a bit. I told him that I played in a band, California Zephyr, whose older members told tales of playing a show in some midwest dive where Mull was the opening act. I didn't mention that I always cite his music, with that of Randy Newman and Neil Young, as a major influence on me. I used to play his first album over and over, and play along with it on my guitar, which I was just learning how to play. His tunes are very sophisticated, with tricky progressions, in a wide range of styles. And the lyrics are very clever and sly.

I could argue that I developed what passes for my style by playing along with that record.

I asked Gordon to take that photo of Martin and me. Bonnie saw it and said, Oh, don't you look proud! I guess so.

Unions are So Passé—So Unneccessary, So Last Century...

Emptywheel at Firedoglake:

This Miracle Brought to You by America’s Unions

Friday January 16, 2009 5:34 am

They're calling it a miracle--the successful landing of a US Airways jet in the Hudson and subsequent rescue of all 155 passengers. They're detailing the heroism of all involved, starting with the pilot and including cabin crew, ferry crews, and first responders. What they're not telling you is that just about every single one of these heros is a union member.

There's the pilot:

What might have been a catastrophe in New York — one that evoked the feel if not the scale of the Sept. 11 attack — was averted by a pilot’s quick thinking and deft maneuvers,

[snip]

On board, the pilot, Chesley B. Sullenberger III, 57, unable to get back to La Guardia, had made a command decision to avoid densely populated areas and try for the Hudson,

[snip]

When all were out, the pilot walked up and down the aisle twice to make sure the plane was empty, officials said.

Sullenberger is a former national committee member and the former safety chairman for the Airline Pilots Association and now represented by US Airline Pilots Association. He--and his union--have fought to ensure pilots get the kind of safety training to pull off what he did yesterday.

Then there are the flight attendants:

One passenger, Elizabeth McHugh, 64, of Charlotte, seated on the aisle near the rear, said flight attendants shouted more instructions: feet flat on the floor, heads down, cover your heads.

They are members of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. Yesterday's accident should remind all of us that flight attendants are first and foremost safety professionals--they should not be treated like cocktail waitresses.

There are the air traffic controllers:

The pilot radioed air traffic controllers on Long Island that his plane had sustained a “double bird strike.”

They're represented by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. Someday, they'll rename National Airport for the work these men and women do to keep us safe in the air.

There are the ferry crews:

As the first ferry nudged up alongside, witnesses said, some passengers were able to leap onto the decks. Others were helped aboard by ferry crews.

They're represented by the Seafarers International Union. They provide safety training to their members so they're prepared for events like yesterday's accident.

There are the cops and firemen:

Helicopters brought wet-suited police divers, who dropped into the water to help with the rescues.

They're represented by the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association and the Uniformed Firefighters Association and Uniformed Fire Officers Association (IAFF locals).They're the men and women who performed so heroically on 9/11--and they've been fighting to make sure first responders get the equipment to do this kind of thing.

Bob Corker and Richard Shelby like to claim that union labor is a failed business model.

But I haven't heard much about Bob Corker and Richard Shelby saving 155 people's lives.

Labor going for Single Payer Health Plan

LaborNotes.org:

Labor activists from 31 states gathered in St. Louis last weekend, solidifying their strategies to push "Medicare for all" - and to oppose the half-hearted health care plans circulating in Washington.

[. . .]

Indeed, single payer could pull the U.S. economy out of its quagmire by injecting $317 billion in public and private funds into the economy and creating 2.6 million new jobs, according to the CNA's research arm.

A study the union previewed at the St. Louis conference said the spending would pump $100 billion in wages into the economy and create almost as many jobs as the economy lost last year.

Catherine isn't impressed

Catherine Austin Fitts:

Money R’ Us: We Break It, We Fix It

Catherine and News & Commentary, January 15, 2009 at 1:01 pm

Larry Summers, engineer of the housing bubble and gold price suppression, is returning to power on Monday. Ditto, the folks who lost $3.3 trillion at the Pentagon.

Now Paul Volcker, the leader of the new Administration’s economic recovery team, is popping out a plan to redo our financial system. Turns out the “solution” to what ails us is to give vastly increased powers to the very parties who perpetuated the problems. As Bill King says, “You just could not make this stuff up.”

Volcker Presents Plan to Alter Global Financial System
Washington Post (15 Jan 2009)

Volcker’s Recommendations to Improve the Global Financial System
Group of Thirty: Financial Reform

Paul Volcker’s Wikipedia Bio
wikipedia.org

Paul Volcker’s Resume
Financial Economics Today

Someone in Obama's circle: please tell him what's going on in Iran. Really

Because he's starting to sound a great deal less smart than he used to. There's no doubt Obama's a very informed constitutional scholar. There is considerable doubt that he knows what he's talking about concerning Iran.

Comment posted by Don Bacon at January 16, 2009 12:28 AM on Tiny Revolution:

Mar 2, 2007. . .Obama: The world must work to stop Iran’s uranium enrichment program and prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons

National Intelligence Estimate, Dec 4, 2007 . . .. We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program

IAEA Report, May 26, 2008: "The Agency has been able to continue to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran."

July 25, 2008 . .Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, nearing the end of a fast-paced international campaign trip, warned Iran today, "don't wait for the next president" to take office before yielding to Western demands to dismantle its nuclear weapons program. . .Iran poses "an extraordinarily grave situation." He said the world must send "a clear message to Iran to end its illicit nuclear program."

NPT: "Nothing in this Treaty shall be interpreted as affecting the inalienable right of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination and in conformity with articles I and II of this Treaty."

Sep 6, 2008 ...Iran is a “major threat” and it would be “unacceptable” for the rogue nation to develop a nuclear weapon, Barack Obama said

IAEA Report, September 15, 2008: "The Agency has been able to continue to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran. Iran has provided the Agency with access to declared nuclear material and has provided the required nuclear material accounting reports in connection with declared nuclear material and activities."

Oct 2, 2008 . . .Obama: "The American people weren't just failed by a President - they were failed by much of Washington. By a media that too often reported spin instead of facts. . .I will always tell the American people the truth."

Nov 7, 2008 ... U.S. President-elect Barack Obama said in Chicago on Friday that Iran's development of nuclear weapons is unacceptable.

IAEA Report on Iran, Nov 19, 2008 -- "The Agency has been able to continue to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran. Iran has provided the Agency with access to declared nuclear material and has provided the required nuclear material accounting reports in connection with declared nuclear material and activities."

Dec 7, 2008 . . .Obama: "We need to ratchet up tough but direct diplomacy with Iran, making very clear to them that their development of nuclear weapons would be unacceptable"

Jan 11, 2009 . . .Obama: "[Iran is] pursuing a nuclear weapon that could potentially trigger a nuclear arms race."

Jon Can't Wait Until Ms. Rice Is Off His TV

Jonathan Schwarz at Tiny Revolution:

Here's Ms. Rice, delivering more standard embarrassing crap from the foreign policy crap factory:

[T]he flaws and disappointing actions within the UN are rooted in its potential to serve as an engine for progress....It is why efforts to pass Security Council resolutions on abuses in places from Zimbabwe to Burma occasion such fierce debate, and don't always succeed. It is also why many try to use the UN to willfully and unfairly condemn our ally Israel. When effective and principled UN action is blocked, our frustration naturally grows, but that should only cause us to redouble our efforts to ensure that the United Nations lives up to its founding principles.

As in the past, there will be occasions in the future when deadlocks cannot be broken, and the United States and its partners and allies will nonetheless have to act.

That sounds exactly like Condoleezza Rice. But in fact it's Susan Rice, in her confirmation hearing to be the new U.S. Ambassador to the UN.

As I've said before: I'd long believed that black women named Rice who are willing to be appalling hacks to rise to the top of the foreign policy establishment are a precious national resource. However, I thought we faced serious supply constraints. Clearly I was wrong.

—Jonathan Schwarz

Educating Thomas Friedman

Jonathan Schwarz:

As Glenn Greenwald points out, Thomas Friedman endorsed terrorism yesterday in his New York Times column:

Israel’s counterstrategy [in 2006] was to use its Air Force to pummel Hezbollah and, while not directly targeting the Lebanese civilians with whom Hezbollah was intertwined, to inflict substantial property damage and collateral casualties on Lebanon at large. It was not pretty, but it was logical. Israel basically said that when dealing with a nonstate actor, Hezbollah, nested among civilians, the only long-term source of deterrence was to exact enough pain on the civilians — the families and employers of the militants — to restrain Hezbollah in the future...

In Gaza, I still can’t tell if Israel is trying to eradicate Hamas or trying to educate Hamas, by inflicting a heavy death toll on Hamas militants and heavy pain on the Gaza population...If it is out to educate Hamas, Israel may have achieved its aims.

That's an interesting theory about using massive force to "educate" people. I wonder how well it worked on Thomas Friedman himself after the 9/11 attacks? His immediate reaction to the "heavy pain" inflicted on New York City's population was to try to restrain America's nationalistic right wing, right?

Tim Russert Show, CNBC
October 13, 2001

THOMAS FRIEDMAN: So it's time we got tough. It's time that we looked people in the eye. It's time that the terrorists were the ones who are always afraid, always looking over their shoulder, and to create that, you do have to fight a different kind of war. I was a critic of Rumsfeld before, but there's one thing...that I do like about Rumsfeld. He's just a little bit crazy, OK? He's just a little bit crazy, and in this kind of war, they always count on being able to out-crazy us.

Huh. Well, I'm sure it will work differently on the filthy wogs, given that they're subhuman.

—Jonathan Schwarz

Remember that story about Canada and the Queen's Representative?

Remember this one—"Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday that Canada's governor general has allowed him to suspend Parliament, postponing a no-confidence vote from his opponents that he was likely to lose." Canada's Governor General being the Queen of England's representative in Canada?

This is right up the same alley... mindblowing in its implications. Sure, I've read those theories about how AIPAC runs the US congress. But this is so... blatant.....

Jerusalem Post:

Rice did not end up voting for Resolution 1860, thanks to a phone conversation Olmert held with US President George Bush shortly before the vote, the prime minister told a meeting of local authority heads in Ashkelon as part of a visit to the South.

Upon receiving word that the US was planning to vote in favor of the resolution - viewed by Israel as impractical and failing to address its security concerns - Olmert demanded to get Bush on the phone, and refused to back down after being told that the president was delivering a lecture in Philadelphia. Bush interrupted his lecture to answer Olmert's call, the premier said.

America could not vote in favor of such a resolution, Olmert told Bush. Soon afterwards, Rice abstained when votes were counted at the UN.

Al Jazeera:

A Separate and More Dangerous Reality

from false dichotomy by charles davis (via Tiny Revolution)

An inconvenient truth

President-elect Barack Obama in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos:

Iran is going to be one of our biggest challenges and as I said during the campaign we have a situation in which not only is Iran exporting terrorism through Hamas, through Hezbollah but they are pursuing a nuclear weapon that could potentially trigger a nuclear arms race.

The 2007 National Intelligence Estimate on Iran (pdf), the consensus opinion of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies:

We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program.

He's Dead, Jim

Elaine and Catherine and why war is big money

I collect all these odd articles from around the net, and certain folk have become favorites sources of mine, although they normally inhabit separate little corners of the internet. It is therefore nice when one of them mentions another of them.

Elaine Meinel Supkis:

Catherine Austin Fitts doesn’t concentrate on foreign news to the degree that I do this but her coverage of the US perspective of this Great Unwinding is full of rich details and tying together important matters and this article is a typical example: the mess in the Pentagon is very much one of the root causes of not only our economic collapse but the collapse of our imperial powers. Obama just made the #2 man in the Pentagon, a lobbyist who pushed for more and more spending. This is a clear sign that the Pentagon Milch Cow will continue to eat up most of our tax dollars and give us red blood and red ink aplenty.

I keep pointing out that the ‘mistakes’ and ‘glitches’ in systems are deliberately encouraged, widened and exploited. When people find holes in the walls leading to the Cave of Wealth and Death, they get out pick axes and open them wider. In the case of the Pentagon, the concept of a Cave where there is vast wealth but also death, is obvious! For, the only way to make real big money is to start bigger wars! And if there is infinite money, there will be infinite wars.

A great example is WWI: all the major empires fighting that stalemate war had an outside source of funding. The brand new Federal Reserve is a private bank. European bankers helped engineer its creation. Working with the US branches of European banks, they were able to funnel epic amounts of money.

As millions of European soldiers died hideous deaths in massive trench warfare, the money paying for that butchery flowed like a gushing river, from America. No one wanted to surrender or negotiate because no one had to raise taxes to keep fighting. They all merrily collected IOUs to American banks. This caused the Great Depression when none of them could even pay back the interest owed on these loans.

The Pentagon has figured out how to suck down infinite sums without infinite soldiers dying. By killing mostly civilians in small wars across the globe, the money lending to the Pentagon can flow effortlessly without citizens even noticing this since none of this appears to be paid for via tax collections. I wish to thank Catherine, by the way, for detailing the process by which these accounting methods used by our government, work. We can easily fix this and it is impossible to fix this since this is how so many people who bribe Congress and the President get their wealth! Just like the noxious cycle of voting for billions of dollars for Israel feeds corruption as Israel uses some of this money to funnel it back to Congress again.

The Afghan Scam: The Untold Story of Why the US Is Bound to Fail in Afghanistan

Sunday 11 January 2009

by: Ann Jones, TomDispatch.com

The first of 20,000 to 30,000 additional U.S. troops are scheduled to arrive in Afghanistan next month to re-win the war George W. Bush neglected to finish in his eagerness to start another one. However, "winning" the military campaign against the Taliban is the lesser half of the story.

Going into Afghanistan, the Bush administration called for a political campaign to reconstruct the country and thereby establish the authority of a stable, democratic Afghan central government. It was understood that the two campaigns - military and political/economic - had to go forward together; the success of each depended on the other. But the vision of a reconstructed, peaceful, stable, democratically governed Afghanistan faded fast. Most Afghans now believe that it was nothing but a cover story for the Bush administration's real goal - to set up permanent bases in Afghanistan and occupy the country forever.

[. . .]

The rest of this story is required reading.

Russ Baker's book on Bushes affirms every conspiracy you've ever heard of

Baker's biggest revelation: the American public’s increasingly tenuous hold upon the levers of its own democracy.

the book: Family of Secrets

the end of the review at http://www.religiondispatches.org:

Here are some of the major revelations of the book:

*George H. W. (“Poppy”) Bush, and many of his closest associates throughout his adult life were deeply and secretly enmeshed in covert intelligence activities. He has gone to great lengths to conceal many of his activities, no matter how mundane, and engaged in overt acts of misdirection. Bush’s extensive intelligence ties prior to his becoming CIA Director in the Ford administration, and going back to World War II, have not been previously reported. Baker calls this Bush’s “double life.”

*Poppy Bush was deeply involved with an array of CIA covert operators, Bay of Pigs veterans and rightwing Texas oil industry characters linked to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Baker shows that Bush was actually in Dallas on November 21, 1963 and was probably there on the day of the assassination as well. Baker draws no particular conclusions from the fact, except to document, describe and underscore the great lengths he went to conceal the fact.

*Baker asserts that, much to his own surprise, Richard Nixon while no innocent, was not the instigator of the Watergate crimes and the cover-up, but appears to have been set-up. What’s more, some of the seeming good guys, were not, and much of what seemed to be, was not as it seemed. Among those he implicates in the set-up are Poppy Bush and perhaps most remarkably, John Dean, the former White House counsel who became best known as the key whistleblower.

*In a related point, Baker notes that Nixon suspected the CIA of infiltrating his White House staff. Nixon recognized the Watergate burglars from his own days supervising covert operations as Vice President in the Eisenhower administration, and knew that their bosses were seasoned CIA hardliners with ties to the Bay of Pigs invasion and events linked to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Nixon battled the CIA for files on what he called the “Bay of Pigs thing,” but never could get access to them. (To borrow from Woody Allen, just because Nixon was paranoid, doesn’t mean they were not out to get him.)

*Baker questions the integrity and independence of famed Watergate reporter Bob Woodward of the Washington Post who he reports had been recommended for his job by senior Nixon White House officials who had known him when he worked in Naval intelligence prior to his becoming a reporter. In that capacity, which Woodward denies he held, he was a frequent visitor to the White House.

*Baker details the Bush family’s personal, political and business connections to the Saudi royal family; and to apparent international slush funds and money laundering schemes. Much of this is told in such a matter of fact fashion that it is easy to lose sight of the significance of many of the individual facts.

Regarding George W. Bush, in addition to the manufacture of the legend his conversion story (see main story) the book covers familiar turf regarding how strings were pulled to get George W. Bush into the “Champagne Unit” of the Texas Air National Guard in order to avoid military service that might send him to Vietnam; how he failed to fulfill that service; and how his failure was systematically covered-up and politically defused. Also covered are the allegations of how W. was an abuser of illegal drugs in addition to his apparently drinking problems as a young man.

One important story from W.’s past that has long been rumored is confirmed in this book. It is a story that perhaps as much as his going AWOL from the National Guard and orchestrating a cover-up could have derailed his political career.

And that story is the illegal abortion he obtained for a girlfriend in Texas before Roe v. Wade. This is substantiated in part by four reporters whose stories were not published, but who shared their “experiences and detailed source notes” and even tapes with him. Two Bush pals took charge of arranging the abortion go to the hospital and who went to the hospital to inform her that he would not see her again. All of the names are named. Certainly as an candidate who was seeking to appeal to conservative evangelical, anti-abortion constituencies, this would have been a high hurdle to overcome.

“As president,” Baker concludes, “Bush promulgated tough new policies that withheld U.S. funds not only to programs and countries that permitted abortions, but even to those that advocated contraception as opposed to abstinence. Moreover, his appointments to the Supreme Court put the panel on the verge of reversing Roe v. Wade. Like his insistence on long prison sentences for first time drug offenders and his support for military action, his own behavior in regard to sexual responsibility and abortion could be considered relevant *and revealing.” Such journalistic understatement is typical of Baker’s narrative, even while reporting potentially politically explosive material.

Perhaps the revelation that would be most difficult for readers will not be anything about the Bush family, or Watergate or the Kennedy assassination, or any of the figures in this nearly 500 page book and 1000-plus footnotes. “These revelations about the Bushes,” Baker writes, “lead in turn to an even more disturbing truth about the country itself. It’s not just that such a clan could occupy the presidency or vice presidency for twenty of the past twenty-eight years and remain essentially unknown. It’s that the methods of stealth and manipulation that powered their rise reflect a deeper ill: the American public’s increasingly tenuous hold upon the levers of its own democracy.”

Avi Shlaim has changed his mind over the years

Guardian.co.uk:

How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe

Oxford professor of international relations Avi Shlaim served in the Israeli army and has never questioned the state's legitimacy. But its merciless assault on Gaza has led him to devastating conclusions.

[. . .]

Whoops! Sorry about blowing up that school full of children..

news.antiwar.com:

UN: Israel Admits Claims About Attacked School Baseless

International Outrage Can Safely Resume as Israel Backs off Allegation Posted January 7, 2009

UN Relief and Works Agency spokesman Chris Gunness reported this evening that the Israeli army is privately briefing diplomats on the fact that its previous claims about their attack on a UN-run girls’ school in the Gaza Strip, which caused over 100 civilian casualties, were baseless.

The attack occurred yesterday, when Israeli mortars deliberately fired three shells at the school, which was filled with hundreds of displaced civilians at the time, killing at least 46 and wounding 55 others. As international outrage began to well over the enormous civilian toll of the attack, Israel declared the killings “according to procedures” and claimed Hamas had fired rockets from the school’s courtyard, making the attack on hundreds of innocent civilians self-defense.

Much was made of the claim, including reports that Israel was mulling filing a formal complaint to the United Nations about Hamas’ use of the facility. But as the United Nations poked holes in the official story, Israel is now backing off those claims.

And while Israel had previously claimed to have had proof to back up its story, Gunness says the military is now conceding that the mortar fire they previously claimed came from the school came from elsewhere in the refugee camp. Though Israel is trying to keep its admission of guilt relatively quiet (far more quiet than its allegations that the killings were justified) it will doubtless pay a further price in the court of international public opinion for having once again deliberately targeted a building full of innocent civilians.

Gupta a Disaster waiting to happen

So says the progressive legit group, Physicians for a National Health Program:

Dear PNHP members and friends,

The report this week that President-elect Obama is considering Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, for the position of U.S. surgeon general is deeply troubling.

Among our concerns are these:

1. He has very little background in public health, preventive medicine or administration.

2. He has openly opposed progressive health reform, going so far as to cite false information to denigrate single payer (e.g. in his error-laden attack on Michael Moore's film "Sicko") and parroting the health insurance lobby's distortions of single payer.

3. As a media figure, he has been disturbingly cozy with Big Pharma. He co-hosts Turner Private Networks' monthly show "Accent Health," which airs in doctors' offices around the country and which serves as a major conduit for targeted ads from the drug companies. Another example: In 2003, despite mounting evidence to the contrary, he publicly downplayed concerns about the dangers of Vioxx. It was removed from the market a year later by its manufacturer, Merck.

4. In the 2008 election campaign, his reporting on John McCain's health proposals was misleading and implicitly positive, giving undeserved credence to McCain's claims that buying private health insurance on the open market is a financially viable option for most Americans.

We urge you to write to President-elect Obama and express your opposition to Gupta's possible nomination, and to urge Obama to nominate a more acceptable candidate for this critically important post. You can do so by clicking here: http://change.gov/page/s/healthcare.

Sincerely yours,


Quentin D. Young, M.D.
National Coordinator



Physicians for a National Health Program
29 E Madison Suite 602, Chicago, IL 60602
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Myopia—sunlight exposure connection found, says Australian scientist

Physorg.com:

Sunlight could stop short-sightedness

January 6th, 2009 in Medicine & Health / Research

A spreading pandemic of myopia among the world’s urban children may be avoided if children spend at least two to three hours each day outdoors.

Australian scientists from The Vision Centre say there is persuasive evidence that increased exposure to daylight can prevent the permanent short-sightedness and eye damage which now afflicts up to 80-90 per cent of children in cities in East Asia such as Singapore and Hong Kong.

The finding demolishes long-held beliefs that short sight is due mainly to reading, and overuse of TVs and computers by youngsters, or is primarily linked to genetic factors. Myopia affects over 1.6 billion people worldwide, is spreading rapidly among city populations and, in its most severe form, can cause blindness by middle-age.

“The prevalence of myopia in the Australian population is dramatically lower than in other urban societies round the world - yet we do just as much reading and computer work,” says Professor Ian Morgan of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Vision Science (The Vision Centre) and Australian National University.

The team’s conclusions are borne out by new research in Singapore and the United States, which has reached similar conclusions.

“Looking at children of Chinese origin, we found only 3 per cent of those in Sydney suffered from myopia, compared with 30 per cent in Singapore, where there is an epidemic. Yet, if anything, the children of Chinese origin in Sydney read more than those in Singapore. This clearly suggests that myopia was triggered by something in the environment, rather than the genes. The critical factor seemed to be the fact that the children in Singapore spent much less time outdoors.”

Comparing myopia levels among people of Indian origin, the team noted 5 per cent short-sightedness among rural Indians, 10 per cent among city Indians - and 65 per cent among Indians living in Singapore.

“We’re seeing large increases in myopia among children in urban societies all around the world - and the outstanding common factor may be less and less time spent outdoors.

“Humans are naturally slightly long-sighted. We see that in rural populations all round the world. But when you start intensive schooling, and spend little or no time outdoors, you get this dramatic rise in myopia. In some East Asian cities 80-90 per cent of children are affected - and governments and the World Health Organisation are very worried about it.”

“The idea that ‘reading makes you short-sighted’ has been popular for a couple of hundred years. But recent data shows that the time spent indoors is a more important factor. Children who read a lot, but still go outdoors, have far less myopia.”

Professor Morgan explained that myopia is essentially an eye that has grown too long, and once it is too long, you can’t shorten it again: “So you have to stop it happening in the first place.

“Our hypothesis is that the light intensity experienced outdoors - which can be hundreds of times brighter than indoor light - causes a release of dopamine, which is known to block the growth of the eyeball. This prevents it taking on the distorted shape found in myopic people. We are now testing this idea.”

Professor Morgan explained that one of the potential problems with using increased time outdoors to prevent myopia is the potential for increasing skin cancers and for causing eye damage later in life.

“Our hypothesis is that the protective effect is based on visible light, acting through the eye. We will be testing this over the next few months and the next stage will be a randomised clinical trial.”

If proven correct, then the prevention of myopia through increased time outdoors will be compatible with "Sun Smart" practices.

The research is being carried out through the ARC Centre of Excellence in Vision Science, the Australian National University and Sydney University, with support from the Australian Research Council, and the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Provided by ARC Centre of Excellence in Vision Science

Part time clerical job offer gets over 400 resumés in 5 hours

The Ad:

Small, prestigious downtown Denver litigation firm seeks part-time file clerk/general office/receptionist, 20-30 hours per week.
Must be well organized, mature, familiar with MSOffice, flexible and self-confident. Relaxed but intense working environment, where a sense of humor and adaptability are necessities.

Salary on hourly basis, commensurate with experience and tasks assumed. Bus pass or parking provided.

The Story:

[. . .]

During the last economic downturn, we were shocked when we received over 200 resumes in a week for this position.

Things are much worse now.

I posted the ad at 10:15 mountain time.

By 10:45 we had 75 resumes.

By noon there were over 100.

When I left work at 2:00, the count was at 350. I checked my e-mail when I got home, and more than 60 additional resumes had come in — over 400 resumes in less than 5 hours. My co-worker thinks we'll get 1,000 by the end of the week.

[. . .]

Israel follows US lead—planting blog comment propaganda

Remember when the US military got a lot of negative publicity for "planting" favorable stories in US media and blog sites? I recall another story about military "bloggers" planting positive comments about the Iraq War in blogs, but can't seem to find it online...

Gaza: Foreign Ministry Media Manipulation

Jan 5th, 2009 by Richard Silverstein | 0

The hasbara brigade strikes again! You always hear about Israeli attempts at media manipulation. Everyone knows it’s going on but usually the process happens through dedicated volunteers like those involved with Giyus. Now, we know that the Israeli foreign ministry itself is orchestrating propaganda efforts designed to fill news websites with pro-Israel arguments and information.

A friend has received the following e mail which documents both the efforts and the agency that originated them. The solicitation to become a propagandist also includes a list of media links which the ministry would like flooded with pro-Israel comments:

Dear friends,

We hold the military supremacy, yet fail the battle over the international media. We need to buy time for the IDF to succeed, and the least we can do is spare some (additional) minutes on the net. The ministry of foreign affairs is putting great efforts in balancing the media, but we all know it’s a battle of numbers. The more we post, blog, talkback, vote - the more likely we gain positive sentiment.

I was asked by the ministry of foreign affairs to arrange a network of volunteers, who are willing to contribute to this effort. If you’re up to it you will receive a daily messages & media package as well as targets.

If you wish to participate, please respond to this email.

My friend did so and received this official communique from the ministry with talking points about Operation Solid Lead which s/he was to use in her/his propaganda efforts. Here are the links s/he was asked to respond to:

English

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/04/israel-history-comment-peter-beaumont

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article5446519.ece

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2158709/posts

http://www.ireport.com/ir-topic-stories.jspa?topicId=169745 (comment on Anti-Israeli posts, post your own)

http://palestinian.ning.com/profiles/blogs/ilan-pappe-israels-righteous

http://www.nowpublic.com/world/depleted-uranium-found-gaza-victims(disinformation)

Spanish

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/ataque-brutal-y-sangriento-de-israel-contra-la-franja-de-gaza/3276528285/?icid=VIDURVENT06

Dutch

http://www.telegraaf.nl/buitenland/2925927/__Chaos_in_ziekenhuizen__.html

http://www.telegraaf.nl/buitenland/2923318/__Veel_burgerdoden_in_Gaza__.html

Material to use

http://www.bicom.org.uk/

Video - Israel history in 10 minutes -http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/middleeast/What_Really_Happened_in_the_Middle_East.asp

Amid Gaza violence, Israeli and Palestinian doctors save baby’s life -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjqm5tzIwIQ

– CNN’s Amanpour interviews Tzipi Livni - http://switch3.castup.net/cunet/gm.asp?ClipMediaID=3244332&ak=null

Military incursion should be seen as part of War on Terror,http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5447575.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797093

Blog from Southern Israel, Morit Rozen - http://soundsofwar.wordpress.com/

If you visit any of those articles you will identify the hasbaraniks easily through the pseudo-polite style they adopt and the programed arguments they advance.

Remember when the defense department was paying public relations companies to insert articles praising the Iraq war in U.S. newspapers? There rightly was a media uproar about the manipulation. We’ll see whether the same happens over this.

I just hope the foreign ministry doesn’t get a pass on this one. They view this as maximizing their efforts to “explain” Israel’s position in the world media. I view it as a cynical attempt to flood the web and news media with favorable flackery in a vain attempt to tilt the war effort favorably toward Israel. Not only does it do Israel a disservice, it stains every legitimate effort that the ministry might make to explain Israel to the world, since no one will believe a word it says knowing it engages in such outright propaganda efforts.

Not to mention that this is such cheap pennyante s(^t. What do they gain by this? How effective can it be and how many can be convinced? By the way, I’ve even noticed the hasbaraniks here in this blog. You can tell them a mile away because they’ve never published a comment before yet write something like: “I’ve enjoyed your blog for a long time, but anyone with a brain in their head knows that Hamas is out to destroy Israel blah, blah blah.” Pretty formulaic stuff. Also, you can Google a few phrases of the comment and if you find it appears elsewhere on the web you know you either have a hasbaranik or someone who has repetition compulsion.

In the meantime, over 500 Gazans are dead. An entire family of seven killed in their home. Claims are flying that Israel is using depleted uranium, cluster bombs and white phosphorus munitions. But thank God, hasbara never sleeps.

George Galloway explains what's happening in Gaza

To a pretty reporter for Russia Today...

Catherine Austin Fitts puts Madoff in Perspective

Putting Madoff in Perspective

Catherine, Daily Musings and News & Commentary,

December 31, 2008 at 10:12 am

These days I am wondering if Madoff’s biggest problem is that he stole from the rich. Feels to me like when you steal from ordinary people, particularly when it makes the rich much richer, it is called “policy” rather than “ponzi.”

For example, let’s review actions of the NY Fed and its member banks, such as JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Citibank. The NY Fed serves as the depository for the US government. The US government has refused to comply with the laws regarding financial management and is missing over $4 trillion (or $14,000 per American.) Whatever money is missing would have to leave through the accounts managed by the government’s depository.

These member banks are also at the heart of the gold suppression scheme documented by GATA.org . They are leaders in the derivatives and mortgage markets and - I believe — related collateral fraud. They were present in the pump and dump of the Internet stocks, the telecom stocks and/or the Enron fraud.

Clearly, they have not prevented the problems with naked short selling or stopped the $1 trillion annual money laundering in the US financial system. And, yet, the media would have us believe that Bernard Madoff is the scandal du jour because he produced above market returns for wealthy clients until it turned out that $50 billion was gone. We are told that rich people lost money. We don’t know who got it. After all it could have been richer people who have exhausted opportunities to steal from ordinary people.

We are told that the moral of the story is that we need more regulation. Which means we give more power to the private and public institutions that are operated, staffed and financed by these bankers and which used existing enforcement to create rather than prevent these problems. Does that sound like a good idea to you?

I say the moral of the story is that we need to find out where the $4 trillion and the $50 billion is and get it back. Crime that pays is crime that stays.

Stiimulus predicton: Roads-Yep, Rails-Nope

Bloomberg:

Rail Takes Back Seat as States Target Obama Stimulus for Roads
By Heidi Przybyla

Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Missouri’s plan to spend $750 million in federal money on highways and nothing on mass transit in St. Louis doesn’t square with President-elect Barack Obama’s vision for a revolutionary re-engineering of the nation’s infrastructure.

Utah would pour 87 percent of the funds it may receive in a new economic stimulus bill into new road capacity. Arizona would spend $869 million of its $1.2 billion wish list on highways.

While many states are keeping their project lists secret, plans that have surfaced show why environmentalists and some development experts say much of the stimulus spending may promote urban sprawl while scrimping on more green-friendly rail and mass transit.

“It’s a lot of more of the same,” said Robert Puentes, a metropolitan growth and development expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington who is tracking the legislation. “You build a lot of new highways, continue to decentralize” urban and suburban communities and “pull resources away from transit.”