Life in OUR America, Volume 2, The Livyjr Files Options

[jeffmoskin]

Aaahhh, yes, obesity!

That most quintessential American "condition" these days!

I think it's what comes of having three or four thousand channels of REALITY TELEVISION to watch on your 35,000 square foot, rear-projection, digitally-enhanced, high definition TV, instead of living a reality life, or maybe up here in the corrupt EMPIRE STATE, obesity comes from sitting on your dead *** all day long scratching off "SCRATCH OFFS" from George Pataki's NEW YORK STATE LOTTERY, instead of engaging in some honest work and exercise, but what the hey, it's for "ED-JU-MA-CA-TION", they say, and that can't be bad, can it?

Back around the time of WWII, the average farm worker expended about 5,500 calories a day. There used to be something called the "Hickock Index." It was the average belt size worn by men (made by Hickock, natch) and it was about 32.

I wonder what it is today?

Forty what???

[Livyjr]

Back around the time of WWII, the average farm worker expended about 5,500 calories a day.

There used to be something called the "Hickock Index."

It was the average belt size worn by men (made by Hickock, natch) and it was about 32.

I wonder what it is today?

Forty what???

And I wonder myself, jeffmoskin!

People are getting very large these days, and young people, to boot!

I was getting my hair cut recently, and a young man who was waiting in line was talking about having had one of these operations, after weighing something like 400 pounds!

Incredible!

And being trained as a public health professional, I have to wonder just how much things like what are talked about in this next article have to do with this sea change in what human beings are beginning to look like anymore, especially this obesity thing that we witness and hear about so much anymore, especially among children?

"Administration kept mum about unapproved modified corn sold"

Tue Mar 22, 6:25 PM ET

By Seth Borenstein, Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - The federal government kept it secret for three months that genetically modified corn seed was sold accidentally to some U.S. farms for four years and may have gotten into the American food supply.

The accidental use of unapproved seed became public when the scientific journal Nature published a story about it Tuesday.

The corn seed was probably safe.

America's food supply and plant and animal stocks weren't harmed and remain safe to eat, according to officials of the seed company and the federal government.

But the government's secrecy about the mistake - one affecting the public food supply - raises serious concerns, according to independent experts.

Spokesmen for the Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency said there was no need to notify the public because the government had determined that Bt 10 was safe.

In addition, the USDA is investigating the whole incident involving the seed company, which faces up to $500,000 in fines, Agriculture Department spokesman Jim Rogers said.

"We're gathering evidence that we may need in front of a judge," Rogers said.

"If there was a health risk, you would have heard about it and there would have been a recall."

Syngenta, a Swiss-based company, distributed the unapproved genetically altered corn seed, called Bt 10.

It mixed the Bt 10 with a near-identical and approved corn seed called Bt 11, company officials said Tuesday afternoon in a hastily called news conference.

The Bt 10 was modified with a gene from the pesticide-like bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis.

"Most of the corn is used for industrial and animal use," Syngenta spokeswoman Sarah Hull said.

"It may have gotten into the food supply, but regardless, the proteins are deemed safe and there's no food concern."

Remaining seeds have been destroyed or isolated, Hull said.

The unapproved seeds grew into 37,000 U.S. acres of corn over four years.

That involves one-one-hundredth of 1 percent of the corn acreage in America, Hull said.

Sygenta's U.S. headquarters is in Greensboro, N.C.

It runs its seed operation out of Golden Valley, Minn.

"I personally don't see it would be a major issue," said Kendall Lamkey, the head of Iowa State University's plant-breeding center.

But the way the federal government kept the mistake secret is alarming, Lamkey said, and may undermine public confidence in the growing field of genetically modified crops.

"The whole GMO (genetically modified organism) controversy surrounds a lack of transparency on both (the part of) the companies and regulatory agencies," said Lamkey, who served on a National Academy of Sciences panel in 2002 on the environmental impact of genetically modified crops.

"There's too much secrecy."

In mid-December, Syngenta told the EPA, the Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration about the mistake, Hull said.

EPA scientists reviewed seven packets of information from Syngenta from Jan. 7 to March 10, and "as more data came in, the confidence of our scientific determination (of no risk) increased," EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman said in an e-mail.

"Had there been a human health concern, we would have alerted the public immediately."

That's not acceptable, said Sheldon Krimsky, a Tufts University environmental-policy professor who's a longtime foe of genetically modified crops.

"They have both a moral and legal obligation to reveal violations," Krimsky said.

"This is a government that's operating in a stealth manner that wants to keep bad news from the public."

end quotes

Sound like we have yet another candidate for a "psychiatric takedown" on hand, here, to eliminate him as a witness ON OUR behalf!

BAD NEWS getting out to the PUBLIC?

BAD FOR BUSINESS!

Can't have that!

AND SO!

The expert witnesses ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE just have to go!

Thus, the "PSYCHIATRIC TAKEDOWN", in all of its perverted glory!

http://www.ccemt.org/forumviewmessage.cfm?...cussionnbr=4725

(if you try this link, and get an error message in the main part of the ceemt screen, just look to your left and go down to "forums", and when you click on that, and get the next window, scroll down to MISCELLANEOUS, and click on "A case of psychiatric expert witness intimidation", to see one example of how the "expert witness elimination system" actually works, in order to assure that the PEOPLE of OUR America remain UNREPRESENTED in these public health issues involving CORPORATE PROFITS over PUBLIC HEALTH and SAFETY!)

AND .....

IF the seed is really safe for humans, WHY DID THEY DESTROY WHAT WAS LEFT?

IF, it is safe, WHY NOT JUST USE IT, INSTEAD?

ESPECIALLY SINCE THEY ALREADY HAD, and then DEEMED it safe?

SO?

What don't follow here?

What don't "track"?

Besides just about everything we're being told here by the Bush Co.s?

[Livyjr]

I'm still skeptical about a "climate of hatred" explanation. 

It's too glib. 

And it diverts attention from the Shenanigans that the Shrub has his hands in up to his elbows. 

To find ways to prevent this sort of violence, I think we need to look deeper and in more different places.

And I wonder myself, jeffmoskin!

People are getting very large these days, and young people, to boot!

I was getting my hair cut recently, and a young man who was waiting in line was talking about having had one of these operations, after weighing something like 400 pounds!

Incredible!

And being trained as a public health professional, I have to wonder just how much things like what are talked about in this next article have to do with this sea change in what human beings are beginning to look like anymore, especially this obesity thing that we witness and hear about so much anymore, especially among children?

"Administration kept mum about unapproved modified corn sold"

Tue Mar 22, 6:25 PM ET 

By Seth Borenstein, Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - The federal government kept it secret for three months that genetically modified corn seed was sold accidentally to some U.S. farms for four years and may have gotten into the American food supply.

The accidental use of unapproved seed became public when the scientific journal Nature published a story about it Tuesday.

"I personally don't see it would be a major issue," said Kendall Lamkey, the head of Iowa State University's plant-breeding center.

But the way the federal government kept the mistake secret is alarming, Lamkey said, and may undermine public confidence in the growing field of genetically modified crops.

"The whole GMO (genetically modified organism) controversy surrounds a lack of transparency on both (the part of) the companies and regulatory agencies," said Lamkey, who served on a National Academy of Sciences panel in 2002 on the environmental impact of genetically modified crops.

"There's too much secrecy."

That's not acceptable, said Sheldon Krimsky, a Tufts University environmental-policy professor who's a longtime foe of genetically modified crops.

"They have both a moral and legal obligation to reveal violations," Krimsky said.

"This is a government that's operating in a stealth manner that wants to keep bad news from the public."

end quotes

Sound like we have yet another candidate for a "psychiatric takedown" on hand, here, to eliminate him as a witness ON OUR behalf!

BAD NEWS getting out to the PUBLIC?

BAD FOR BUSINESS!

Can't have that!

AND SO!

The expert witnesses ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE just have to go!

Thus, the "PSYCHIATRIC TAKEDOWN", in all of its perverted glory!

http://www.ccemt.org/forumviewmessage.cfm?...cussionnbr=4725

(if you try this link, and get an error message in the main part of the ceemt screen, just look to your left and go down to "forums", and when you click on that, and get the next window, scroll down to MISCELLANEOUS, and click on "A case of psychiatric expert witness intimidation", to see one example of how the "expert witness elimination system" actually works, in order to assure that the PEOPLE of OUR America remain UNREPRESENTED in these public health issues involving CORPORATE PROFITS over PUBLIC HEALTH and SAFETY!)

AND .....

SHENANIGAN:

a) a devious trick used especially for an underhand purpose;

b) tricky or questionable practices or conduct; or

c) high-spirited or mischievous activity!

In a post above, Istoodforu spoke about Bush Co.'s SHENANIGANS, and when I first read that, I took the meaning of "shenanigans" in the CONTEXT of the third definition above, as if Bush Co. was going out with Dick Cheney while wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with "I'M WITH STUPID!", or maybe giving Dick Cheney a "HOT-FOOT" while Dick Cheney was holding one of his now-famous "TAY-RISTS LUV JOHN KERRY" press conferences, or hanging a "KICK ME" sign on the back of Donald Rumsfeld, or "SHORT-SHEETING" Condo Rice's bed on Air Force I!

And I thought to myself, "IF ONLY that is all it was with this Bush Co.", then I probably would not even bother to come in here and make a single post, and there really would not be much need to do so!

I certainly don't have either the time or the inclination to engage in what Istoodforu calls "Bush-bashing", as what purpose does that serve?

Certainly if I were a stand-up comic, or some kind of lampoonist-for-hire, perhaps I would see a "GIG" here with respect to the foibles of George W. Bush, BUT I AM NOT!

I am not a stand-up comic, and I am not a lampoonist-for-hire, either!

I am an older, disabled American citizen who occupies what is known as the "LAST CLASS" here in OUR America, or the "OUTCAST CLASS", and I wonder at that, to be truthful, especially when I read stories like this "CORN" one above, where once again, what the Bush Co.'s are saying sounds so very questionable, like with Iraq, and well, Social Security, and, like everything this administration seems to put its hands on!

It all just seems to turn murky, and starts to stink to high heaven, to boot, when the fabulous Bush Co.'s "come to town" and get near seemingly anything at all that had any integrity whatsoever associated with it BEFORE the entrance of the fabulous Bush Co.s, LIKE OUR GOVERNMENT!

Like the Italian "NEGOTIATOR" over there in Iraq!

Who shot him, Condo?

Why the need for secrecy here?

Just a little SHENANIGAN there, among the BOYS?

Kids will be kids?

And what about OUR rights, OR DON'T WE REALLY HAVE ANY, if those rights INTERFERE with corporate profits?

And this, of course, brings us right on back to what Istoodforu said about Bush Co.'s SHENANIGANS, above here, and it casts it into the more likely proper LIGHT of definitions (a) and (b) above, which is a devious trick used especially for an underhand purpose; or, tricky or questionable practices or conduct, which seems to cover the gamut here, and so ......

IF this article above on the alleged "CORN SEED COVER-UP" accurately reflects WHAT I THINK are REAL Bush Co. SHENANIGANS, how I have DIVERTED ATTENTION AWAY FROM THE SHENANIGAN, by talking in a different post about the atmosphere or climate of HATRED that I am experiencing here in OUR America, SINCE the Bush Co. first TOOK POWER in 2000!

IF I talk about all the outright lying and deception that seems to be the very HALLMARK of this administration, HOW am I diverting attention AWAY FROM Bush Co.'s alleged SHENANIGANS, where the lying and deception could properly be termed a devious trick used especially for an underhand purpose; or, tricky or questionable practices or conduct?

HOW?

Istoodforu, I must admit, you have handed me a real CONUNDRUM here, and you have me stumped!

SO!

Apparently, you have won!

SO!

How about that?

Looks like I got beat here, and I don't even know how it happened!

WOW!

Just like that, too!

And by a shenanigan, of all things!

[Livyjr]

Normally, I try and stay away from stories of personal "tragedy", and the one that comes to mind immediately is this continuing "saga" of Terry Schiavo, where George W. Bush and of all people, Tom "THE ETHICS-CHALLENGED REPUBLICAN MAN" Delay have now involved themselves, because I believe that personal tragedy is just that, personal!

And since I am not a politician out cadging for money, and pandering, and doing the other assorted low things that politicians are wont to do in their quest for ever more money, I have no need to EXPLOIT these human dramas for my own "ENDS", such as Bush Co. and Tom Delay appear to be doing here in this case of Terry Schiavo!

And speaking of Terry Schiavo, now another Bush is stepping in to the LIMELIGHT here, TO TAKE CUSTODY OF HER, of all things, and this story is on its way to being more and more bizarre, when what should have been afforded to the family was PRIVACY:

"Gov. Bush seeks to take custody of Schiavo"

By JILL BARTON, Associated Press
Last updated: 7:06 p.m., Wednesday, March 23, 2005

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. -- Terri Schiavo's parents saw their options vanish one by one Wednesday as a federal appeals court refused to reinsert her feeding tube and the Florida Legislature decided not to intervene in the epic struggle.

Refusing to give up, Gov. Jeb Bush sought court permission to take custody of Schiavo.

The desperate flurry of activity came as President Bush suggested that Congress and the White House had done all they could to keep the severely brain-damaged woman alive.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Schiavo had gone five full days without food or water; doctors have said she could survive one to two weeks.

Supporters of Schiavo's parents grew increasingly dismayed, and 10 protesters were arrested outside her hospice for trying to bring her water.

"When I close my eyes at night, all I can see is Terri's face in front of me, dying, starving to death," Mary Schindler said outside the Pinellas Park hospice.

"Please, someone out there, stop this cruelty."

"Stop the insanity."

"Please let my daughter live."

The Schindlers have vowed to take their fight to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to get involved previously.

Schiavo's tube was pulled Friday afternoon with a Florida judge's approval.

By late Tuesday, her eyes were sunken and her skin, lips and tongue were parched, said Barbara Weller, an attorney for the Schindlers.

Schiavo suffered brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped briefly from a chemical imbalance believed to have been brought on by an eating disorder.

Court-appointed doctors say she is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery.

Her parents argue that she could get better and that she would never have wanted to be cut off from food and water.

Schiavo's husband, Michael Schiavo, has argued that his wife told him she would not want to be kept alive artificially, and a state judge has repeatedly ruled in his favor.

The battle played out on several fronts Wednesday.

A three-judge panel from the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the family early Wednesday, and hours later the full court refused to reconsider in a 10-2 vote.

Jeb Bush and the state's social services agency filed a petition in state court to take custody of Schiavo and, presumably, reconnect her feeding tube.

It cites new allegations of neglect and challenges Schiavo's diagnosis as being in a persistent vegetative state.

The request is based on the opinion of a neurologist working for the state who observed Schiavo at her bedside but did not conduct an examination of her.

The Florida Legislature also jumped back into the fray, but senators rejected a bill that would have prohibited patients like Schiavo from being denied food and water if they did not express their wishes in writing.

The measure was rejected 21-18.

The Legislature stepped in before, in 2003, and Schiavo's feeding tube was reinserted.

But "Terri's Law" was later struck down by the state Supreme Court as an unconstitutional attempt to interfere in the courts.

The Senate vote Wednesday came after a bitter debate, with Terri Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler, watching from the gallery above the floor.

He covered his eyes with his hands and lowered his head during the debate.

"I'm here pleading for mercy."

"Have mercy on Theresa Marie Schiavo," said bill sponsor Sen. Dan Webster, a Republican.

But Senate Democratic Leader Les Miller warned:

"By the time the ink is dry on the governor's signature, it will be declared unconstitutional, just like it was before."

A lawyer for Michael Schiavo said he was pleased by what happened in the appeals court.

But he was bothered that the governor was attempting to intervene again.

"They have no more power than you or I or a person walking down the street to say we have the right to take Terri Schiavo," attorney George Felos said.

Meanwhile, President Bush suggested that he and Congress had done their best to help the parents prolong Schiavo's life, and the White House said it had no further legal options.

"I believe that in a case such as this, the legislative branch, the executive branch, ought to err on the side of life, which we have," the president said.

"Now we'll watch the courts make their decisions."

Federal courts were given jurisdiction to review Schiavo's case after Republicans in Congress pushed through unprecedented emergency legislation over the weekend aimed at prolonging Schiavo's life.

But federal courts at two levels rebuffed the family.

"There is no denying the absolute tragedy that has befallen Mrs. Schiavo," Judges Ed Carnes and Frank M. Hull said in the 2-1 decision by the 11th circuit panel.

"We all have our own family, our own loved ones, and our own children."

"However, we are called upon to make a collective, objective decision."

Dissenting Judge Charles R. Wilson said Schiavo's "imminent" death would end the case before it could be fully considered.

"I fail to see any harm in reinserting the feeding tube," he wrote.

[Livyjr]

And speaking of Terry Schiavo, now another Bush is stepping in to the LIMELIGHT here, TO TAKE CUSTODY OF HER, of all things, and this story is on its way to being more and more bizarre, when what should have been afforded to the family was PRIVACY:

"Gov. Bush seeks to take custody of Schiavo" 
 
By JILL BARTON, Associated Press
Last updated: 7:06 p.m., Wednesday, March 23, 2005

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. -- Terri Schiavo's parents saw their options vanish one by one Wednesday as a federal appeals court refused to reinsert her feeding tube and the Florida Legislature decided not to intervene in the epic struggle.

Refusing to give up, Gov. Jeb Bush sought court permission to take custody of Schiavo.

Jeb Bush and the state's social services agency filed a petition in state court to take custody of Schiavo and, presumably, reconnect her feeding tube.

It cites new allegations of neglect and challenges Schiavo's diagnosis as being in a persistent vegetative state.

The request is based on the opinion of a neurologist working for the state who observed Schiavo at her bedside but did not conduct an examination of her.

SO!

Does everyone follow this latest twist, or turn, to this story?

Refusing to give up, Gov. Jeb Bush sought court permission to take custody of Schiavo, so, Jeb Bush and the state's social services agency filed a petition in state court to take custody of Schiavo and, presumably, reconnect her feeding tube; and the JEBULON BUSH petition cites new allegations of neglect and challenges Schiavo's diagnosis as being in a persistent vegetative state, BASED on the opinion of a neurologist working for the state who observed Schiavo at her bedside but did not conduct an examination of her.

SO?

IF this doctor DID NOT conduct an examination of Terry Schiavo, what can his opinion be based on?

And IF this doctor did not conduct any examination of Terry Schiavo, then isn't the JEBULON BUSH petition just an EMPTY DOCUMENT not worth the paper that it is written on?

A FRIVOLOUS LAWSUIT, in fact?

[Livyjr]

SO!

Does everyone follow this latest twist, or turn, to this story?

Refusing to give up, Gov. Jeb Bush sought court permission to take custody of Schiavo, so, Jeb Bush and the state's social services agency filed a petition in state court to take custody of Schiavo and, presumably, reconnect her feeding tube; and the JEBULON BUSH petition cites new allegations of neglect and challenges Schiavo's diagnosis as being in a persistent vegetative state, BASED on the opinion of a neurologist working for the state who observed Schiavo at her bedside but did not conduct an examination of her.

SO?

IF this doctor DID NOT conduct an examination of Terry Schiavo, what can his opinion be based on?

And IF this doctor did not conduct any examination of Terry Schiavo, then isn't the JEBULON BUSH petition just an EMPTY DOCUMENT not worth the paper that it is written on?

A FRIVOLOUS LAWSUIT, in fact?

And now we have the BUSH BASE weighing in here on this Terry Schiavo matter, BUT WAIT ....

YES!

It looks like the BASE just might be against the fabulous Bush Co's in this one and HOORAY for them if that is the case, which it sure looks like it is from where I am sitting here!

"Poll: Evangelicals oppose gov't on Schiavo"

Associated Press
Last updated: 6:47 p.m., Wednesday, March 23, 2005

More than two-thirds of people who describe themselves as evangelicals and conservatives disapprove of the intervention by Congress and President Bush in the case of the Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged woman at the center of a national debate.

A CBS News poll found that four of five people polled opposed federal intervention, with levels of disapproval among key groups supporting the GOP almost that high.

Bush's overall approval was at 43 percent, down from 49 percent last month.

Over the weekend, Republicans in Congress pushed through emergency legislation aimed at prolonging Schiavo's life by allowing the case to be reviewed by federal courts.

That bill was signed by the president early Monday.

Most Americans say they feel sympathy for family members on both sides of the dispute over the 41-year-old Schiavo, according to a CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll.

More than eight in 10 in that poll said they feel sympathy for Bob and Mary Schindler, parents of Schiavo, who want to keep her alive.

And seven in 10 said they're sympathetic for Michael Schiavo, the husband of Schiavo who says she should be allowed to die.

The CBS News poll of 737 adults was taken Monday and Tuesday and the CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll of 620 adults was taken Tuesday.

Both have margins of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

------

On the Net:

CBS: http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/opinion/main215.shtml

CNN: http://www.cnn.com

[Livyjr]

SHENANIGAN:

a) a devious trick used especially for an underhand purpose;

tricky or questionable practices or conduct; or

c) high-spirited or mischievous activity!

In a post above, Istoodforu spoke about Bush Co.'s SHENANIGANS, and when I first read that, I took the meaning of "shenanigans" in the CONTEXT of the third definition above, as if Bush Co. was going out with Dick Cheney while wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with "I'M WITH STUPID!", or maybe giving Dick Cheney a "HOT-FOOT" while Dick Cheney was holding one of his now-famous "TAY-RISTS LUV JOHN KERRY" press conferences, or hanging a "KICK ME" sign on the back of Donald Rumsfeld, or "SHORT-SHEETING" Condo Rice's bed on Air Force I!

And I thought to myself, "IF ONLY that is all it was with this Bush Co.", then I probably would not even bother to come in here and make a single post, and there really would not be much need to do so!

I certainly don't have either the time or the inclination to engage in what Istoodforu calls "Bush-bashing", as what purpose does that serve?

Certainly if I were a stand-up comic, or some kind of lampoonist-for-hire, perhaps I would see a "GIG" here with respect to the foibles of George W. Bush, BUT I AM NOT!

I am not a stand-up comic, and I am not a lampoonist-for-hire, either!

I am an older, disabled American citizen who occupies what is known as the "LAST CLASS" here in OUR America, or the "OUTCAST CLASS", and I wonder at that, to be truthful, especially when I read stories like this "CORN" one above, where once again, what the Bush Co.'s are saying sounds so very questionable, like with Iraq, and well, Social Security, and, like everything this administration seems to put its hands on!

It all just seems to turn murky, and starts to stink to high heaven, to boot, when the fabulous Bush Co.'s "come to town" and get near seemingly anything at all that had any integrity whatsoever associated with it BEFORE the entrance of the fabulous Bush Co.s, LIKE OUR GOVERNMENT!

Like the Italian "NEGOTIATOR" over there in Iraq!

Who shot him, Condo?

Why the need for secrecy here?

Just a little SHENANIGAN there, among the BOYS?

Kids will be kids?

And speaking of Bush Co. SHENANIGANS, looks like the United States Army is now suffering a drop in enlistments BECAUSE ....

Because Bush Co. thought WE WERE ALL STUPID AS A BOX OF ROCKS when it pulled its IRAQ SHENANIGAN on us two years ago, with its deceptions about Saddam Hussein and the non-esistent WMD's serving as a basis for what really appears to have been a military adventure on the part of the Bush Co.'s, USING OUR AMERICAN MILITARY, to steal Iraq's oil resources as their own!

"Army likely won't meet recruiting goals"

By ROBERT BURNS, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:47 p.m., Wednesday, March 23, 2005

WASHINGTON -- The Army expects to miss its recruiting goals this month and next and is working on a revised sales pitch appealing to the patriotism of parents, Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey said Wednesday.

Whether that boosts enlistment numbers or not, Harvey said he sees no chance of a military draft.

"The `D' word is the farthest thing from my mind," the former defense company executive told a Pentagon news conference, his first since becoming the Army's top civilian official last November.

Because of the military manpower strains caused by simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, some in Congress have raised the possibility of re-instituting the draft, although there is a strong consensus against it among Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the military chiefs.

This is the first time the United States has been in a sustained period of combat since the all-volunteer force was introduced in 1973.

The Air Force and Navy, which have relatively smaller roles in Iraq and Afghanistan, have no recruiting problems, but the Army and Marines are hard pressed.

The Army missed its recruiting goal for February by 27 percent, and that was the first time it had missed a monthly goal since May 2000.

The last time it missed its full-year goal was 1999.

As of Feb. 28, the regular Army was 6 percent below the number of recruits it had expected to sign up at that point in the recruiting year, the Army Reserve was 10 percent off and the Army National Guard was 25 percent off.

The Army is forecasting that all three elements -- active, Guard and Reserve -- will fall short of their targets for March and April.

That means they will have to make up the lost ground this summer -- traditionally the best recruiting season -- in order to meet their full-year goals.

"I'm clearly not going to give up," Harvey said.

"At this stage we still have six months to go" before the recruiting year ends Sept. 30.

"I've challenged our human resource people to get as innovative as they can."

"And even as we speak we've got a number of new ideas."

One of those new approaches is designed to persuade more parents to steer their children to the Army.

"We're going to appeal to patriotism," he said.

That might be done through a new advertising campaign, he said.

He also is encouraging more members of Congress as well as senior Army leaders and Army boosters to spend time in local communities touting the benefits of military service.

The Army also has increased the number of recruiters on the street by 33 percent and is offering bigger signup bonuses.

Last week the Army announced that the National Guard and Reserve were raising the maximum age for recruits from 34 to 39 in order to expand the pool of potential enlistees.

The regular Army could not raise the maximum age without congressional approval.

In a related matter, the Army said more people in the Individual Ready Reserve -- those no longer in uniform and not obligated to train -- are going to be hearing from the Army in the weeks ahead.

The Army has revised upward the number of IRR soldiers it plans to put on active duty, from the 4,402 announced last summer to 4,653.

Of those given mobilization orders so far, 370 have failed to report for duty, according to Lt. Col. Pamela Hart, an Army spokeswoman.

An additional 2,229 have asked for delays in their reporting dates or for exemptions.

Harvey also disclosed that the Army is "looking at" changing its policy on having more than one sibling in a combat zone at the same time.

He did not say how the policy might be altered, and he declined to say more about the subject, other than to indicate that it came up when he visited the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where wounded U.S. troops are treated.

The current policy is that if one of two siblings in a combat zone is killed, the Army will consider removing the remaining one from the combat zone if the surviving soldier or his parents request it, according to spokeswoman Hart.

She said she was not aware of any planned change.

Lt. Col. Tom Collins, spokesman for Harvey, said later that Harvey was in the early stages of thinking through the whole issue and that no proposed changes had been developed yet.

[jeffmoskin]

"Gov. Bush seeks to take custody of Schiavo"

Bingo. Now I see what this is all about - - -

JEB BUSH

The man needs some face time on TV (coming to a big screen near you) so he can get the recognition he will need to perpetuate the Bush Dynasty

[Livyjr]

Bingo!

Now I see what this is all about - - -

JEB BUSH

The man needs some face time on TV (coming to a big screen near you) so he can get the recognition he will need to perpetuate the Bush Dynasty

Boy, you're reading someone's mind here, jeffmoskin!

And that is the term these days, isn't it: FACE TIME!

Now we need to start learning, and remembering, of course, what yet another Bush looks like, so that we can start getting into OUR heads that this is what OUR next president is going to look like, which is America's JEB!

And as to Bush's, I got to thinking this morning that George W. Bush should be the very first in OUR America to show HIS PATRIOTISM in accordance with this new ARMY advertising campaign that intends to exploit the patriotism of America's parents, BY PUTTING ONE BUSH DAUGHTER RIGHT INTO THE MARINES, AND THE OTHER INTO THE ARMY!

Think what an example for all of America Bush Co. would make by doing that!

Get other parents out there to thinking, "Why, if that is good enough for OUR George, well, by dang, it just might be good enough for me, too"!

In fact, every supporter of this Bush Co. HOLY WAR in OUR Congress who has military age children should join George W. Bush in setting a positive example, perhaps their first ever, by sticking their children into either the Marines, if the Marines would have them, or into the Army, if only as cannon fodder, which someone has to be if there ever is to be a proper war made out of things by those who make their money off of war, and the more, the better!

And when their children are all safely in uniform, then, well, America's parents should think of following suit, but only after the Bush daughters and the children of all these politicians in OUR Congress are safely ensconced right up there in the harmest of harm's way in Iraq, or whereever else the Bush Co. is out bringing death and destruction in the name of his god, and the REPUBLICAN PARTY OF ALL AMERICA, and those corporate entities in America and the world who make real big bucks off of war, and so support George W. Bush waging it on behalf of their personal wallets!

They lead, by having their children always in harm's way, and perhaps, just perhaps, we will follow!

So long as these politicians pledge us to always have their own children on line where those who are the first to die always end up standing!

[Livyjr]

And speaking of Iraq, and "harm's way" for the children of ordinary Americans, BUT NOT BUSH CHILDREN, what is the latest from over there, anyway, besides more death and destruction in the name of George W. Bush's blood-loving and craving god, and OIL, of course, possession of, but not pumping of, so as to send the cost of a barrel of crude above the $100 mark!

Dick Cheney needs the money, after all, and we, the American people, have a God-given obligation to see that he has it, right there in his own pocket, where he wants it!

And so, we have war to make it be so!

Middle East - AP

"Insurgents Target Iraqi and U.S. Forces"

30 minutes ago

By EDWARD HARRIS, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents kept up their campaign Thursday against Iraqi security forces and U.S. troops, targeting Americans with roadside bombs in the north and attacking Iraq's nascent army in the capital.

Two separate explosives planted in the streets of the northern city of Mosul detonated near U.S. patrols, according to witnesses, who said they didn't believe there were any casualties.

One blast near a Mosul school caused panicked children to pile out of the building, said Khairy Ilham, a shopkeeper who witnessed the blast.

The U.S. military wasn't immediately available for comment.

In Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on a two-ton army truck transporting Iraqi soldiers in an eastern neighborhood.

The truck overturned, injuring 12 troop members, police Maj. Mousa Hussein said.

As Iraq's post-election political process unfurls, the top U.N. envoy in Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, sat down with a group of leading Sunni religious leaders Thursday in a Baghdad mosque.

In the meeting with the Association of Muslim Scholars, Qazi "stressed the importance of ensuring that all components of Iraqi society are adequately represented in the constitutional making process," a U.N. statement said.

Shiite Muslim and ethnic Kurdish parties, expected to announce within days the top leadership of their promised coalition government, say they're considering involving the Sunnis beyond even just the eventual writing of Iraq's constitution.

The Sunnis, from whose ranks many insurgent fighters are believed drawn, largely stayed away from Iraq's historic Jan. 30 elections.

Kurdish and Shiite negotiators say they're discussing handing a Sunni Arab the defense minister's post in an effort to include them in the process.

Shiite and Kurdish negotiators were expected to continue discussions Thursday in the capital, Baghdad.

Kurds are thought to number between 15 percent to 20 percent of Iraq's 26 million people, with Sunni Arabs making up about the same number.

Shiite Arabs make up 60 percent of the population.

In the southern city of Basra, over 200 protesters demanded an individual from their petroleum-rich region be named head of the oil ministry — and some demonstrators threatened to strike if their demands aren't met.

The provincial governor, Mohammed al-Waeliz, expressed solidarity with the demonstrators.

The Iraqi government said Wednesday that U.S. and Iraqi forces killed 85 militants at a suspected training camp along the marshy shores of a remote lake, one of the highest guerrilla death tolls of the two-year insurgency, officials said.

The U.S. military declined Wednesday to confirm the Iraqi government's death toll of 85 militants, however, and the death toll couldn't be independently verified.

The raid at Lake Tharthar in central Iraq turned up booby-trapped cars, suicide-bomber vests, weapons and training documents, Iraqi Maj. Gen. Rashid Feleih told state television on Wednesday.

He said the insurgents included Iraqis, Filipinos, Algerians, Moroccans, Afghans and Arabs from neighboring countries, and added that local residents told troops of the camp.

"What's really remarkable is that the citizens this time really took the initiative to provide us with very good information," Feleih said Wednesday.

In three days, troops have killed at least 128 insurgents nationwide, according to Iraqi and U.S. officials' accounts.

Iraqi authorities credited recent successes against insurgents to a torrent of intelligence from citizens heartened by the Jan. 30 elections and emboldened by film footage aired on state television that shows captured insurgents confessing their roles in attacks.

"Before, the people had a neutral stance toward this issue," said Sabah Kadhim, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry.

"Now, they have turned against the terrorists."

[Livyjr]

And speaking of Iraq, and "harm's way" for the children of ordinary Americans, BUT NOT BUSH CHILDREN, what is the latest from over there, anyway, besides more death and destruction in the name of George W. Bush's blood-loving and craving god, and OIL, of course, possession of, but not pumping of, so as to send the cost of a barrel of crude above the $100 mark!

Dick Cheney needs the money, after all, and we, the American people, have a God-given obligation to see that he has it, right there in his own pocket, where he wants it!

And so, we have war to make it be so!
 
Middle East - AP

"Insurgents Target Iraqi and U.S. Forces"

30 minutes ago 

By EDWARD HARRIS, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents kept up their campaign Thursday against Iraqi security forces and U.S. troops, targeting Americans with roadside bombs in the north and attacking Iraq's nascent army in the capital.

Two separate explosives planted in the streets of the northern city of Mosul detonated near U.S. patrols, according to witnesses, who said they didn't believe there were any casualties.

One blast near a Mosul school caused panicked children to pile out of the building, said Khairy Ilham, a shopkeeper who witnessed the blast.

The U.S. military wasn't immediately available for comment.

And here is yet another view of the Iraq situation and the sort of "peace" that George W. Bush has brought into their lives, with HIS HOLY WAR, through the eyes of an Iraqi, or several of them, perhaps:

Mideast - AFP

"Terror-stricken Iraqi villagers wonder will bloodshed end"

33 minutes ago

TAJI, Iraq (AFP) - Four leaders from villages near the US military base in Taji, 15 kilometres north of Baghdad, met a US captain and begged him to seal off their communities with concrete blast walls and barbed wire.

The worried men wanted their homes turned into enclaves resembling the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, home to the Iraqi government and the US embassy.

This sleepy green farmland heading north from the capital is a terrain of bombings, kidnappings and rebel checkpoints.

On this treacherous roadway stands Taji and its cavernous Saddam Hussein era military base that has been converted into a major US airfield and training centre for the Iraqi army, hosting more than 8,000 US soldiers and contractors.

Taji's surrounding villages are home to army veterans, many of whom pride themselves on being Baath loyalists.

Some villages mix Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds and have broken with former regime elements involved in the insurgency.

Despite the area's paranoia about attacks, violence has actually gone down around Taji since landmark elections two months ago.

The dip has nourished the belief among American commanders and locals that this is a pivotal moment where the insurgency might be beaten.

However, it is still too soon to tell.

In their meeting with the US captain, the community leaders, who did not want their names or villages identified, asked the Americans to dynamite the road from the former rebel bastion of Fallujah to the west, down which insurgents travel to Taji.

The stunned American officer promised to get back to them.

All of the men looked exhausted from years of hard-living in the Iraqi military before retiring to what was supposed to be a pastoral village life.

One of them cannot leave his community without bodyguards or risk being gunned down.

He received a fresh death threat dropped off in a letter on his doorstep last week.

American hopes for improving the Taji area are tied to the 307th battalion of the Iraqi national guard.

On cracked tarmac covered with coiled barbed wire, dried weeds and rocks, the Iraqi soldiers run war games from dawn till late into the night.

Two soldiers have crude green ink tattoos of anchors that they say represent their muscles.

A tattoo in an anemic Arabic scrawl says "I love my mother".

US army Captain Dan Getchell, a 27-year-old from Vale, Oregon, is the chief advisor for this 889-man battalion.

Getchell trained in 2003 and early 2004 the nucleus of the current Iraqi army battalion that was put in charge of Baghdad's dangerous Haifa Street last month.

But his new group is sorely lacking.

Getchell believes it will take at least a year to train them.

"They don't have accountability for property or personnel..."

"It's a societal norm not for them to have accountability."

At least 78 men are absent without leave.

Despite US efforts over the last year to stand up a strong army -- judging by Taji --- some battalions have yet to be whipped into shape.

Aware of the problems, the US army decided in January to send more soldiers to instruct Iraqi troops.

For the 307th battalion, the Pentagon decision means it now has 60 advisors, compared to only 10 just one month ago.

Before last month, Getchell says the battalion was neglected and not a priority.

"They are not a terrific example of what has been done at all," he says, about past American training efforts here.

"They (the US trainers) didn't care about the people, the progress."

The 307th's commander Lieutenant Colonel Saleh Ghadah Khadim has welcomed the new American leadership.

He was just appointed to his job on December 27.

"The soldiers had poor morale."

"They didn't have the ability to fight."

"Now they're 80 percent ready," he says, in an assessment far more rosy than Getchell's.

But there is still plenty to be grim about.

Khadim says his battalion may have been infiltrated by insurgents, with seven of his soldiers kidnapped last month when they went on vacation.

Since January, 10 of his men have been killed.

Another 42 battalion soldiers have been killed in the last two years.

Still he says if the Americans give him heavy weapons he could beat the insurgents.

The best hope in what is a slow and plodding war are young men like Staff Sergeant Seif, a Sunni Muslim, who joined the battalion at its inception late 2003.

He has weathered a suicide bombing that killed two fellow soldiers and watched bullets strike down two American soldiers.

Seif, a scrawny 21-year-old with a touch of grey in his hair, has been told to quit the ING three times by insurgents who visited his home village.

"It makes me work harder," he says.

[Livyjr]

And here is yet another view of the Iraq situation and the sort of "peace" that George W. Bush has brought into their lives, with HIS HOLY WAR, through the eyes of an Iraqi, or several of them, perhaps:

Mideast - AFP

"Terror-stricken Iraqi villagers wonder will bloodshed end"

TAJI, Iraq (AFP) - Four leaders from villages near the US military base in Taji, 15 kilometres north of Baghdad, met a US captain and begged him to seal off their communities with concrete blast walls and barbed wire.

The worried men wanted their homes turned into enclaves resembling the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, home to the Iraqi government and the US embassy.

This sleepy green farmland heading north from the capital is a terrain of bombings, kidnappings and rebel checkpoints.

All of the men looked exhausted from years of hard-living in the Iraqi military before retiring to what was supposed to be a pastoral village life.

One of them cannot leave his community without bodyguards or risk being gunned down.

He received a fresh death threat dropped off in a letter on his doorstep last week.

And against this "backdrop", let's take a hop over to Jolly Olde and see what's happening with the "GREAT APPEASER", the Nevill Chamberlain of OUR times, Mr. Tony "DAPPER MAN" Blair:

Mideast - AFP

"Pre-election Blair hit anew over Iraq war's legality and planning"

1 hour, 12 minutes ago

LONDON (AFP) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government was challenged anew over whether the Iraq invasion was legal and how well it planned for the aftermath, just weeks before general elections.

The challenge came from publication of a resignation letter from an adviser who called the war "illegal" and a parliamentary panel's report that found the US-led coalition had failed to prepare enough for the ensuing insurgency.

The developments added to the pressure on a government which has lost popularity over its decision to join the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, though analysts still predict it will win elections expected May 5.

The government's opposition seized on the resignation letter from the Foreign Office's former deputy legal adviser Elizabeth Wilsmhurst, who reportedly said the war amounted to an "unlawful use of force" and a "crime of aggression."

The BBC News website said Wilmshurst made the claim in her letter dated March 18, 2003, part of which was obtained by the broadcaster under the new Freedom of Information Act.

She was also quoted as saying: "Nor can I agree with such action in circumstances which are so detrimental to the international order and the rule of law."

However, private television Channel 4, without giving a source, said a missing part of the letter also shows how Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith had considered the war illegal before changing his mind at the last minute.

The Foreign Office said the missing part of the letter was covered by exemptions relating to the professional privilege applying to a law officer in the formulation of government policy.

A spokesperson for the attorney general told the BBC that he had made it "very clear" that the view set out in his parliamentary answer of March 17, 2003 was his "own genuinely held independent view, that military action in Iraq was lawful."

However, Dominic Grieve, the main opposition Conservative party's legal expert, urged the government to "come clean" about the full legal advice it received from Lord Goldsmith in the runup to the invasion.

It is "quite clear the attorney general changed his mind," Grieve told BBC radio.

"Initially the war was illegal without a further UN resolution."

"Then he seems to have taken an equivocal view where he said it might be legal but he was concerned there was a legal challenge," Grieve said.

"Then finally he appears to have told the cabinet immediately before the war (on March 17) he was quite satisfied that the legal basis was established," he said.

What is troublesome, he said, is that the changes occurred while Prime Minister Tony Blair himself was making his own "selective" case for war, in part over claims Saddam Hussein was harboring weapons of mass destruction.

Meanwhile, the House of Commons defense committee said in a report that "a series of mistakes and misjudgements" occurred during the initial stages of the campaign and not enough importance was attached to boosting Iraq's own police force.

"Only belatedly did the coalition begin building the Iraqi security forces," it said.

British troops would likely have to stay until after 2006 because of the state of Iraq's own security forces, it said.

[Livyjr]

And against this "backdrop", let's take a hop over to Jolly Olde and see what's happening with the "GREAT APPEASER", the Nevill Chamberlain of OUR times, Mr. Tony "DAPPER MAN" Blair:

Mideast - AFP
 
"Pre-election Blair hit anew over Iraq war's legality and planning"

LONDON (AFP) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government was challenged anew over whether the Iraq invasion was legal and how well it planned for the aftermath, just weeks before general elections.

The challenge came from publication of a resignation letter from an adviser who called the war "illegal" and a parliamentary panel's report that found the US-led coalition had failed to prepare enough for the ensuing insurgency.

The developments added to the pressure on a government which has lost popularity over its decision to join the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, though analysts still predict it will win elections expected May 5.

The government's opposition seized on the resignation letter from the Foreign Office's former deputy legal adviser Elizabeth Wilsmhurst, who reportedly said the war amounted to an "unlawful use of force" and a "crime of aggression."

The BBC News website said Wilmshurst made the claim in her letter dated March 18, 2003, part of which was obtained by the broadcaster under the new Freedom of Information Act.

She was also quoted as saying: "Nor can I agree with such action in circumstances which are so detrimental to the international order and the rule of law."

And while that is all happening over there in Jolly Olde, what about Lebanon, which just might be high up on the list of targets that the Bush Co.'s will wage aggressive war against next, in their campaign to dominate everything that ever was, is, or will be:

Mideast - AFP

"Lebanese president mulls broader probe into Hariri killing"

1 hour, 18 minutes ago

BEIRUT (AFP) - Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said he was considering an appeal to international and Arab bodies to determine who was behind the February 14 assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

"I am determined to employ all efforts, use all means and to rely on all international and Arab bodies to get at the truth," Lahoud said in a statement.

He said he was prepared to "severely punish all perpetrators, managers, partners, accomplices and those who have been incompetent."

The anti-Syrian Lebanese opposition and the Hariri family have been demanding an international commission of inquiry into the assassination and have rejected an Arab-led investigation.

Despite denials by authorities here and in Damascus, the Lebanese opposition has accused Lebanese and Syrian security agents in the assassination.

The Lebanese judge who had been charged with carrying out a probe, Michel Abou Arraj, stepped down Wednesday, citing a heavy workload at Beirut's criminal court.

A United Nations factfinding team, made up of Irish, Egyptian, Moroccan and Swiss investigators, has in addition completed a mission here and reported to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Annan said Wednesday he would release the report "within the next few days" but added that "a more comprehensive investigation may well also be necessary."

end quote

Lahoud says he is going to "severely punish" all those who have been "incompetent"?

Is he threatening to severely punish George W. Bush, then?

A sign of "DISRESPECT", here, for the Ruler of the SUN, MOON and STARS and all in between?

Will that apparent threat to George W. Bush to severely punish him for being "incompetent" then be OUR next pretext to wage aggressive war on yet another Middle Eastern nation, in the name of America's economy?

Stay tuned!

Developments as they happen!

Live!

Late-breaking!

LIFE!

In OUR America!

[jeffmoskin]

Lahoud says he is going to "severely punish" all those who have been "incompetent"?

Is he threatening to severely punish George W. Bush, then?

A sign of "DISRESPECT", here, for the Ruler of the SUN, MOON and STARS and all in between?

Will that apparent threat to George W. Bush to severely punish him for being "incompetent" then be OUR next pretext to wage aggressive war on yet another Middle Eastern nation, in the name of America's economy?

Stay tuned!

Developments as they happen!

Live!

Late-breaking!

LIFE!

In OUR America!

Hmmm.

Punish the incompetent.

I like the concept.

Let's see how it works in Crawford, TX

[Livyjr]

And since we are flying all around the world in here this morning, well, why not check in on what's going on over there in "PUTIN LAND", as the former "EVIL EMPIRE" of Ronald Raygun days is now known as, and from here, it looks like SCANDAL!

Oh, no!

Somebody, call in the SECRET POLICE, quickly!

Russian national honor is at stake here, and seriously so, from what I can see of this developing "MESS" over there!

Which raises the question of whether Connie "CON JOB" Rice should now make an appearance over there, or maybe Helsinki, or some neutral ground such as that, to DEMAND a full accounting as to exactly WHAT is really going on over there in Bush Co. buddy Putin's "Land of the less-than-free", with this MORAL CRISIS which will surely have to be a threat to OUR own national security over here through the feared DOMINO EFFECT if it is not put down, and put down hard at that, preferably by a massive dose of Bush Co. SHOCK AND AWE, immediately, if not sooner!

Entertainment - Reuters

"Scandal Rocks Bolshoi's First New Opera in 30 Years"

Wed Mar 23,11:28 AM ET

By Olga Petrova and Sonia Oxley

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The stage is set for the opening of the Bolshoi theater's first new opera for 30 years on Wednesday, but Russian critics are branding it pornographic and conservatives want it banned before the curtain even goes up.

The scandal over "Rosenthal's Children" has nothing to do with its content since critics had not even read the text before they condemned it, but everything to do with the libretto's author Vladimir Sorokin and his past.

Sorokin provoked outrage with his 1999 novel "Blue Lard" because of a sex scene involving clones of Soviet leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Josef Stalin.

While the opera has no link to the book, some say none of his work is fit for the historic Bolshoi.

The opera does feature more clones as it tells the story of a scientist who creates genetic copies of composers Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Verdi and Mozart who hang out with tramps and prostitutes.

"It is offensive."

"Five great composers are presented as tramps ... they play music in underground passageways ... they drink vodka."

"The 16-year-old Mozart is befriending prostitutes," Russian parliamentarian Sergei Neverov told Reuters.

"The Bolshoi theater is a symbol of Russia -- these symbols of Russia should not be defiled by such productions."

Neverov has urged Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov to ban the opera, drawing wrath from the theater's management, who compared his appeal to Soviet-era cultural suppression.

"This is called censorship and, by law, censorship has been abolished," said Anatoly Iksanov, head of the Bolshoi.

Sorokin said the work had come under fire because of his past, including a failed attempt to sue him on pornography charges over "Blue Lard."

"In Russia there are forces that want to return to the past ... where culture was like a castrated cat," he said.

Russia is already under scrutiny for what Western critics describe as President Vladimir Putin's increasingly autocratic rule, including concerns over media censorship.

MORAL CRISIS

Neverov said staging Sorokin's work at the state-funded Bolshoi amounted to an "aesthetic and moral crisis," a view endorsed by the dozens of protesters who have picketed the columned entrance to the theater this month.

"Protect Russia's main stage from pornography!" demand the banners carried by a pro-Putin youth group, Walking Together, which three years ago encouraged its members to throw Sorokin's book down a giant toilet set up on a Moscow street.

"It doesn't matter what the opera is about."

"There are lots of clubs where he could put it on, just not in the Bolshoi," said protester Mikhail Nasayedov.

Sorokin says the opera is not violent, pornographic or even erotic and was generally well-received at dress rehearsals.

"It is an ironic and sad story in which there are some metaphors of our Russian life," he said at his sparse Moscow apartment, where his dog Savva barely left his side.

The composer, Leonid Desyatnikov, chose Sorokin to write the libretto and agreed there was nothing offensive in the work.

The Bolshoi is in the midst of a three-year renovation project to install modern stage technology and repair run-down backstage areas.

Sorokin believes the multi-million-dollar facelift could be used as a tool to oust the opera from the theater, since there were no legal grounds for banning it.

"What could they do?"

"Send in troops, send in the police?"

"It is ... not possible."

"But they could withhold money for the restoration," he said.

end quotes

"What could they do?"

"Send in troops, send in the police?"

"It is ... not possible?"

I'm not so sure of that, myself, that it is "not possible"!

Never underestimate what George W. Bush might do if his sensibilities are irritated is my advice to you, Mr. Sorokin!

[Livyjr]

Hmmm.

Punish the incompetent.

I like the concept.

Let's see how it works in Crawford, TX

Uh, uh, uh, jeffmoskin!

Watch your thoughts here!

I hear George W. Bush now has in place a QUA-TRILLION DOLLAR sensor system that will let him personally know what exactly you are thinking everytime the word "CRAWFORD, TEXAS" comes to your mind, and that he is now keeping a list, and he is checking it twice, in fact, in order to know who is naughty, which just might be you, jeffmoskin, shame, shame, versus those who are "NICE", or at least know how to "MAKE NICE" by sending George W. Bush and the REPUBLICAN PARTY OF AMERICA AND THE WORLD AND MARS, TOO, LOTS AND LOTS of "GEETUS" amd "MOOLAH" to keep them safe, for the moment, anyway, from the WRATH OF GEORGE!

And if that Lahoud fellow over there in Lebanon knows what's good for him, he too better watch out with his own thoughts about punishing anyone for incompetence, lest they be one of George's own!

Elsewise, he just might find a cruise missle with a NU-CLAR warhead aimed right at the bridge of his nose, or maybe his temple, depending upon the particular message the Bush Co.'s want to send to everyone else in the candid world, LIKE THE ITALIANS, that particular day!

Which reminds me, WHEN ARE WE EVER GOING TO HEAR ANYMORE about that Italian guy who got popped in the head over there in Iraq by one of George's so many days ago, now, right after he secured the release of that Italian woman from the TAY-RISTS who so plague the otherwise PERFECT world of George W. Bush and HIS!

Now that guy, the American shooter, he was not incompetent at all, pulling off that shot, right into that Italian guy's temple like that!

BANG!

No more negotiating with TAY-RISTS for that Italian boy, at least not with that head, anyway!

AND WHO WILL BE NEXT?

ONLY GOD and George W. Bush know that answer for sure!

And maybe Tony Blair, from time to time, of course, 'cause he is their buddy, and well, it's just not good for buddies to keep secrets from each other, now is it?

[Abu Beacon]

[quote=Livyjr,Mar 23 2005, 08:24 AM]
Last year, I had some similar kinds of problems, and so, I called Gateway, and their technicians are in India, too.

They were polite, and helpful, and thanks to them, I did get the computer up and running, again.

And I have to say, Mr. A.B., that I am of mixed emotions about all of this stuff, since money spent locally stays local, while money sent to another place is gone; what I call the Hoover vacuum cleaner effect!

Those tech centers in India are the Hoover vacuum cleaner, and the hose is over here, in OUR pockets.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, I agree, they are polite, very polite, and helpful.

Why should they not be.

They are gainfully employed, making decent money, and have steady jobs.

I have no quarrel whatsoever with the people in India.

My problem is with the people in the U.S.A.

Specifically, those who have shipped the jobs overseas.

To be honest, I do not even blame the companies that do this, nor do I point fingers at the CEO's or whoever makes the final decision to close up facilities here in OUR AMERICA and hand the jobs over to people in THEiR INDIA.

Or THEIR KOREA, or THEIR MEXICO, or THEIR HONDURAS, or THEIR CHINA

Or THEIR ANYWHERE!!

Each company that ship American jobs overseas now has a built in excuse.

" I was forced to do it because my competitor has already done it and if I don't, my costs will be higher than theirs and I'll be forced out of business. "

What is our future if we cannot compete with the rest of the world?

Are we destined to change places with them?

In that case we will be part of the 3rd world.

We will have COMPLETELY ELIMINATED THE MIDDLE CLASS.

Perhaps that is the plan.

To shift gears here and move on to a related but different subject.

Last night on the Lou Dobbs program, there were clips of a manager of a huge agricultural company.

He was complaining about some of our citizens who on their own have been patrolling the Mexican border in order to keep illegal immigrants from sneaking in.

He said we absolutely need that cheap labor to pick the crops.

He also said our government knows that Mexican illegal cheap labor sneaks across the border but looks the other way because thay are badly needed.

So, I wondered if it were not possible to use many of the people who are on welfare or compensation of some sort and who just say they cannot find any work and give them a choice.

Work in the fields or lose your welfare.

If they are physically able to do so.

One final thought.

If Bushco is so in favor of having " guest workers " take away American jobs, why was Walmart just fined $ 13 million for going along with that and hiring illegal immigrants ( I cannot use the term " guest workers twice in one day because it is too nauseating ) to do janitorial work?

Perhaps someone can enlighten me on this seemingly inconsistent action.

A.B.

[jeffmoskin]

To be honest, I do not even blame the companies that do this, nor do I point fingers at the CEO's or whoever makes the final decision to close up facilities here in OUR AMERICA and hand the jobs over to people in THEiR INDIA.

Well, I do.

Actually, I blame OUR government for letting them.

If we had a REAL democracy, with REAL public servants instead of Corporate Toadies, OUR Congress and OUR President would say to the mega-corporations:

Look, America is a great country to have a business in, but it takes a lot of money to keep it going and to provide for those people in our community who can't quite make it, even though they work three jobs.

YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO PAY YOUR FAIR SHARE.

THAT WILL MEAN:

HIGHER CORPORATION TAXES (AND LOWER PROFITS)

HIGHER TAXES ON PAY OVER ONE MILLION DOLLARS.

IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, LEAVE.

Does OUR Congress and OUR President say these things?

[jeffmoskin]

A few days ago, you were asking about the "center shot" to the temple of Dr. Nicola Calipari who was escorting the freed Italian hostage—Il Manifesto journalist Giuliana Sgrena—to Baghdad International Airport. And you were also ragging on Chuck Schumer as being just another corrupt politician.


I found this:


Italian agent Calipari: A target of opportunity for US assassins
Not the first Italian target of US covert 'silencers'

By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Repor...2205madsen.html


March 22, 2005—High-level European intelligence sources report that the 51-year old slain Italian SISMI military intelligence agent, Dr. Nicola Calipari, killed by U.S. sharpshooters while accompanying the freed Italian hostage—Il Manifesto journalist Giuliana Sgrena—to Baghdad International Airport, was a prized target of opportunity for American assassins because of his knowledge about past Republican White House ties to Saddam Hussein's nuclear program.

Calipari was also reportedly privy to information about illegal U.S. covert operations in Iraq from his sources within the bloc of Iraqi resistance fighters led by former Republican Guards. Moreover, European intelligence sources report that Calipari was not the first Italian intelligence agent with expertise on Iraq to be killed by U.S. covert "wet affairs" operatives.

In 1989, the former Italian military attaché in Baghdad, Air Force Colonel Giuseppe Schiavo, was found shot to death in his home in Turin. Police ruled the death a suicide, however, Schiavo's diplomatic and military colleagues in Baghdad claim that Colonel Schiavo had stumbled across critical evidence of a complicated scheme by the George H. W. Bush administration, the CIA, Italian businessmen and government officials, U.S. auditors, Iraqi diplomats, spies, and central bankers, British and Italian intelligence agents, and Saudi bankrollers to finance Saddam Hussein's NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) weapons program through U.S.-government-backed credits provided by Atlanta's Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL). Schiavo was killed before Italian magistrates could question him about his knowledge of the Iraqi weapons affair. One colleague of Schiavo in Baghdad called him a professional and not someone who would kill himself. "He was taken out because of what he knew," claimed the colleague.

According to Money Laundering Alert, shortly after September 11, FBI agents visited the Drawing Center, a New York City art museum, to examine diagrams drawn by artist Mark Lombardi that visually represented the complex connections of BNL to the George H. W. Bush administration. In 2000, Lombardi, 48, allegedly committed suicide. The FBI's interest in Lombardi's drawings was part of its investigation of the September 11 "al Qaeda" terrorist attacks on the United States.

Schiavo and Calipari were both experienced Iraq intelligence assets. But they both knew that the George H. W. Bush administration was heavily involved in propping up Saddam Hussein's government with intelligence, components for poison gas such as that used by Saddam against Kurds in Halabja, anthrax and other bio-toxins, and nuclear weapons production components such as krytrons and centrifuges. U.S. government-backed BNL loans were also used by Iran to procure military weapons and nuclear components.

In addition, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Time, and the Sunday Times of London reported that Saudi Arabia funded nuclear weapons programs in Pakistan and Iraq in order to develop its own nuclear capability. Saudi funding involved Houston money tranches and accounts linked to banks and offshore entities controlled by George H. W. Bush and his closest business partners. Pakistan's nuclear bomb father, A. Q. Khan, maintained close relations with Saudi Arabia and Time reported that Khan sold nuclear weapons equipment, including uranium enrichment cylinders, to Saudi Arabia.

Part of BNL's loan guarantees for Iraq's nuclear program, some $720 million out of a total loan package of $2.6 billion, were backed by the U.S. Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) and laundered through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to congressional investigators, much of the remainder of BNL's loans to Saddam were backed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the US Export-Import Bank's Foreign Credit Insurance Association. The BNL credits were masked as being for generic "raw materials" and "heavy equipment."

Christopher Drogoul, the BNL Atlanta manager who was later jailed for bank fraud, claimed in congressional testimony that the U.S., British, and Italian financing and arming of Saddam Hussein involved companies like Matrix Churchill (UK), Bechtel (US). Kissinger Associates (US)—Henry Kissinger was also a member of BNL's international advisory board—Hewlett Packard (US), XYZ Options (owner of CarbiTech) (US), and Lummus Crest (US).

Additional congressional testimony indicated other U.S. companies involved in exporting "dual use" civilian/military goods to Iraq included Bell Helicopters, Lockheed, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Perkin Elmer, Rockwell International Collins, United Technologies, Scientific Atlanta, Swissco Management Group/Westfield Holdings of Miami Lakes, Florida; Tektronix, Teledyne Wah Chang, and Union Carbide,

The testimonies of Secretary of State James A. Baker III and Agriculture Secretary Clayton Yeutter were sought by Democratic congressional committees, including Rep. Henry Gonzalez's House Banking Committee. Attorney General Richard Thornburgh, as did his successor William Barr, constantly blocked Gonzalez's committee's investigation of the senior Bush's financing of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program.

In late 1989, after a State Department memo and a CIA report warned Baker that Saddam was using U.S. commodity credits to purchase nuclear, biological, and chemical materials, Baker urged Yeutter to approve additional loan guarantees for Iraq.

On October 27, 1992, Gonzalez reported that the Agriculture Department had spent the entire previous weekend shredding documents pertaining to the BNL-Iraq loans. When the Republicans took over the Congress in 1995, the investigations of BNL, the first Bush administration, and Saddam Hussein were quickly dropped.

However, Attorney General Janet Reno appointed John Hogan, a Miami prosecutor, to examine whether Bush administration officials and U.S. companies profited from arming Saddam with WMD and other arms. Hogan's report, issued in 1995, was nothing more than a whitewash of the Bush Sr. administration and "Iraqgate."

It was later reported by The American Spectator that from 1990 to 1992, Hillary Rodham Clinton served on the board of Lafarge Corporation, the U.S. subsidiary of French consortium Lafarge SA. Lafarge was reportedly involved in shipping arms components to Iraq via the BNL-financed conduit.

During 1992, Senator Al Gore, the then-Democratic vice presidential candidate, was warned off by senior Clinton campaign advisers, including George Stephanopoulos, from investigating BNL or bringing it up as a campaign issue.

In exasperation, Rep. Gonzalez, in an October 16, 1990 hearing on BNL, sharply criticized George Bush Sr. for his intransigence, "My contention is that the president is, and has continued to act, extra-unconstitutionally, and certainly in violation of the very statutes that the Congress has passed as early as 1974."

Then-Rep. Charles Schumer of New York, a member of Gonzalez's committee said of the BNL scandal, "From where we stand today, a nation with over 200,000 of its soldiers standing toe-to-toe with the bloodthirsty Iraqi war machine, and with thousands of its citizens held hostage by a ruthless dictator, these eight years of US largesse are shocking, almost incomprehensible. In effect, we've doled out billions of dollars of free money, which enabled Saddam Hussein to build the powerful nation that confronts us today. And all this could have been accomplished much more easily. The US government should simply have asked Saddam Hussein what weapons he wanted, ordered them from a manufacturer, paid the bill, and shipped them, postage paid, to Iraq. If the US is going to act stupidly, they at least ought to do it simply."


How many times is the name George H W Bush mentioned?

And maybe Schumer isn't as bad as you think. Or maybe he used to be better than he now is. I dunno.

[Livyjr]

Last year, I had some similar kinds of problems, and so, I called Gateway, and their technicians are in India, too.

They were polite, and helpful, and thanks to them, I did get the computer up and running, again.

And I have to say, Mr. A.B., that I am of mixed emotions about all of this stuff, since money spent locally stays local, while money sent to another place is gone; what I call the Hoover vacuum cleaner effect!

Those tech centers in India are the Hoover vacuum cleaner, and the hose is over here, in OUR pockets.

Yes, I agree, they are polite, very polite, and helpful.

Why should they not be.

They are gainfully employed, making decent money, and have steady jobs.

I have no quarrel whatsoever with the people in India.

My problem is with the people in the U.S.A.

Specifically, those who have shipped the jobs overseas.

A.B.

And you are as thought provoking as ever, here, Mr. A.B., which is what this thread should always be all about - PROVOKING PEOPLE TO STOP AND CONSIDER, ON A DAILY BASIS, JUST WHAT ELSE MIGHT BE GOING ON HERE IN OUR AMERICA, BESIDES OUR OWN LIVES!

Responding to your first point, or what I will make your first point, anyway, that being the destruction of what is called a "MIDDLE CLASS" over here, I would say "YES", of course!

Some years ago, now, before I knew how to use the computer to communicate, I would scan the newspapers and clip articles of interest, and one of those from the business pages discussed and essentially confirmed that exact point, the need to reduce the economic standards and living conditions of the American people BEFORE it will ever be really economical again to do any real manufacturing business, OVER HERE, and it is a simple matter of mathematics!

We cost too much over here, and so, business is going to where labor is cheaper, simple as that!

THEN ....

What will happen is that poverty will set in over here, and a generation will arise that is hungry and so, this continent will see some business come back, BUT ....

By then, this place will be just as "MEXICO" as Mexico south of the Texas border is, with environmental regulations long since gone right out the window, along with all the "machinery of government" to enforce those regulations, or labor regulations, or fair wage regulations!

And by then, We'll be more "MEXICO" than Mexico ever thought of being, is my guess.

It'll be back to the textile mill days of my youth when women in the sewing shops and mills were exploited, and essentially were without representation and rights, and this fifty years OR MORE since Teddy Roosevelt became a Hero to the common folks of New York State by stepping in on behalf of those women killed in the Shirtwaist Fire in New York City!

And I would say it was exactly by plan, Mr. A.B.!

After all, with respect to organized business, when is anything ever not to plan?

And that point was made very clear to me at least right there in the business pages of the local newspaper!

And so, I have been watching it happen for several years now, and one local company up here simply folded up overnight and went to Mexico, putting a number of people in the area out of work, many of whom had worked for that company since getting out of high school more than twenty or thirty years earlier.

And these contacts with these tech people in India only serve to further confirm the exodus!

And so, Mr. A.B., we begin the backslide, is what I think, and for me, that actually began quite some time ago, with respect to my own living conditions, and so, at least I will be used to a low standard of living, when a low standard of living becomes a more universal "condition" than it is right now, here in OUR America!

Growth follows money after all, and recession is the other end of that process, where the money leaves from, which is HERE!

As for yourself, having experienced the deprivations of life during the Great Depression, you too know that a human being with a dry shelter can be quite happy with very little materially, and so, you will likely not see much change!

As for those in this "MIDDLE CLASS"?

Well, that will be interesting, won't it!

Will the experience of the Great Depression be any guide?

Stay tuned, as that is most definitely a question for OUR times, here in OUR America!