Will Eliot Spitzer, despite the fact that he is presently serving as New York State Attorney General, say or do anything for political purposes to fuel his own political ambitions at the cost of the Integrity of the New York State Department of Law, which Department he is the HEAD ATTORNEY of?

And if the HEAD ATTORNEY of the New York State Department of Law is alleged to be OUT THERE ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL playing fast and loose with the facts and the truth, WHAT ABOUT THE EXAMPLE THIS ALLEGED CONDUCT would have on the attorneys working under him, there at the New York State Department of Law?

Stay tuned!

"Debate surfaces after King's exit - Attorney general says next SUNY chancellor should be an academic"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press
First published: Friday, April 8, 2005

ALBANY -- Robert King, a politician turned chancellor of the State University of New York, cemented the political favor of key constituencies in his five years in office.

Now, just days after he resigned, critics say the politics yielded only stagnation at SUNY and higher costs for students.

They are calling for a change in the way the nation's largest public university system is run.

Joining them is the front-runner for next year's race for governor.

"The chancellor of the SUNY system should be an academic who understands how to build the system into the pre-eminent public university system in the nation," state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said.

"If you compare SUNY to the California system, or some of the other state states (such as) North Carolina, we do not generate as many jobs, as many patents."

"We do not keep as many graduates here, we do not have campuses ranked in the top tier in their particular fields of expertise as we should," Spitzer said.

"I think we should be the best."

"And given the amount of money we're spending, and given how important a role SUNY had and should have in our economic development, we're not accomplishing what we should."

SUNY spokesman David Henahan disagreed.

SUNY is 14th nationally in patents among public and private universities, Henahan said, and the major measures of success -- enrollment, minority enrollment, philanthropy, the quality of incoming students -- are all at record levels.

"This sounds more like political campaigning, rather than any real attempt to understand how great SUNY is," Henahan said.

end quotes

And here, I have to agree with the SUNY spokesperson!

And if there was any validity whatsoever to what Spitzer was saying here, why didn't we hear it a whole lot earlier than now?

Why has Spitzer been silent for so long, if he has so much alleged "evidence" to support his "contentions", above here, OR CAN'T THEY BE SUPPORTED?

Are they distortions, Eliot, those statements you are making above here for obvious political purposes unrelated to your duties as New York State Attorney General?

Or are they outright fabrications, perhaps, to gull the ignorant, and fool the blind?

Aren't you directly responsible to the PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK to keep alleged incompetence and alleged wrong-doing OUT OF our SUNY system management?

SO?

Que pasa, Eliot?

And so go the days of OUR lives, in here, and out "there", as well, in the "non-virtual" world that we all inhabit from time to time, when we are not in here being "virtual", I suppose.

I'm up here in the north, and the days are finally getting nice, which is to say warm, and so, a lot of people are getting outside to do the necessaries, if they are going to have a garden, or whatever, and I know that I am spending as much time as possible outside, just because the air smells so sweet in the spring, and that alone makes it great to be alive to experience that.

The birds are singing as well, and I notice that they are already involved in setting up "housekeeping" for another season, building their nests, and getting ready to raise the next generation of birds, and so, life goes on.

And us with it!

Whither shall that be?

Whoever really knows!

SO!

Stay tuned, and maybe we'll find out, as it happens!

Life, in OUR America!

Jeffmoskin to earth - come in, please.

Well, jeffmoskin, you sure have been missed, and that's a fact!

Your etherial presence back here is welcomed!

And it is good to have jeffmoskin back, with his own occasional wit and wisdom in here, which tends to open up the viewpoints available in here for your viewing consideration, and/or pleasure!

jeffmoskin represents what could be called a western suburban viewpoint of a person born and educated in the cosmopolitan eastern city of New York, while I am and remain a "rural" person, and so, in many ways, while jeffmoskin and I should be "point/counter-point" on issues, more often that not, we are actually quite close, and yet we are coasts apart, and our life-styles are likely day and night as well, as winter up here totally dominates me, and what I am able to do, while jeffmoskin lives in relatively sunny climes, and GOD bless jeffmoskin for that!

jeffmoskin is someone who comes across to me as "indomitable", and I am heartened by that, actually, as jeffmoskin is some few years older than I , and so is an example to me that one can survive further and further into one's life with spirit not only intact, but raised on a daily basis, as well.

Me, I think we need those kinds of examples in our lives, and so, we should be thankful when there is someone older about, who is full of spirit, and who, to our own value systems, is using that energy in what we think is a positive, productive way, the highest of which is to cause others to think, in my estimation, anyway, and that is a function that jeffmoskin serves in here very well, as does Mr. A.B., and that is to keep this thread what I will call "honest", or representative of a central viewpoint that is always arrived at through application of logic to facts and evidence, as opposed to appeal to prejudices and emotions!

Thanks to jeffmoskin and Mr. A.B., and all of you others who stop by here, for a glimpse from time to time at Life in OUR America, this thread has survived to carry over into a second volume, and that is something that causes me to ever strive for a "quality", or "level" of discussion that will have jeffmoskin coming back from time to time, to keep us appraised of his own views on matters of importance to us all, here in OUR America, OR ARE THEY, REALLY?

And without the east coast-west coast views existing side-by-side in here, we will never know, will we!

So!

DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL!

AND ....

Stay tuned for further discussion on life in OUR America!

Live, late-braking, from all points on the compass, from all places in the world!

AT YOUR FINGERTIPS, to boot!

And in technicolor, so ....

How about that!

Can your television boast the same?

Are the REPUBLICANS really going through a MELT-DOWN, here in OUR America?

Is NATURE stepping in here, on OUR behalf, to re-balance the scales, returning integrity and sanity TO US in equal measure to their opposites as are embodied in the person of TEXAS TOMMY Delay and HIS?

Stay tuned!

News follows, right now, on that particular matter:

News

"Answer ethics questions, Santorum tells DeLay - Majority leader's travel, campaign finances at issue""

The Associated Press
Updated: 3:44 p.m. ET April 10, 2005

WASHINGTON - The No. 3 Republican in the Senate said Sunday that embattled House Majority Leader Tom DeLay needs to answer questions about his ethics and “let the people then judge for themselves.”

Sen. Rick Santorum’s comments seem to reflect the nervousness among congressional Republicans about the fallout from the increased scrutiny into DeLay’s way of doing business.

One of DeLay’s GOP colleagues in the House called him an “absolute embarrassment” and doubled DeLay would last as majority leader.

DeLay, R-Texas, has been dogged in recent months by reports of possible ethics violations.

There have been questions about his overseas travel, campaign payments to family members and his connections to lobbyists who are under investigation.

“I think he has to come forward and lay out what he did and why he did it and let the people then judge for themselves,” said Santorum, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.

“But from everything I’ve heard, again, from the comments and responding to those, is everything he’s done was according to the law,” Santorum told ABC’s “This Week.”

“Now you may not like some of the things he’s done,” Santorum said.

“That’s for the people of his district to decide, whether they want to approve that kind of behavior or not.”

DeLay’s spokesman, Dan Allen, told The Associated Press on Sunday that the congressman “looks forward to the opportunity of sitting down with the ethics committee chairman and ranking member to get the facts out and to dispel the fiction and innuendo that’s being launched at him by House Democrats and their liberal allies.”

The majority leader was admonished three times last year by that committee.

The committee has been in limbo since March, when its five Democrats balked at adopting Republican-developed rules.

At a town hall meeting Saturday in Greenwich, Conn., GOP Rep. Christopher Shays told constituents that he did not think DeLay “is going to survive.”

'An absolute embarrassment'

Shays, a moderate who has irked Republicans by bucking party leaders on some prominent issues, described DeLay “as an absolute embarrassment to me and to the Republican Party,” according to the account Sunday in The Advocate of Stamford.

In November, Shays protested a party rule change that would allow DeLay to retain his leadership position even if he was indicted in an ongoing Texas campaign finance investigation.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said last week that the controversy was distracting DeLay from dealing with more pressing problems before Congress.

Santorum, however, said DeLay is “very effective in leading the House” and that “to date, has not been compromised.”

A senior Democratic senator, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, had this advice for the Republicans who control both the House and Senate:

“Be careful about how closely you embrace Mr. DeLay.”

Dodd cited the new rules for the ethics committee that House Republicans rammed through in the wake of DeLay’s difficulties.

Those rules require a bipartisan vote before an investigation can be launched.

DeLay’s office also helped mount a counterattack last fall against Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., who was the ethics committee chairman when it came down against DeLay.

“Unfortunately, in his particular case, there’s a process that he’s tried to change so they could actually reach a determination as to whether or not he’s innocent or guilty of the things he’s been charged with,” Dodd said.

“But this is not going to go away.”

DeLay “becomes the poster child for a lot of the things the Democrats think are wrong about Republican leadership."

"As long as he’s there, he’s going to become a pretty good target,” Dodd said on ABC.

DeLay, who took center stage in passing legislation designed to keep alive Terri Schiavo, also has found that President Bush and congressional colleagues are distancing themselves from his comments, after her death, about the judges involved in her case.

“The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior,” DeLay said, raising the prospect of impeaching members of a separate and independent branch of government.

Later, he complained of “an arrogant and out of control judiciary that thumbs its nose at Congress and the president.”

Bush, declining to endorse DeLay’s comments, said Friday that he supports “an independent judiciary.”

He added, “I believe in proper checks and balances.”

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee said last week that the judges “handled it in a fair and independent way,” although he had hoped for a different result.

Democrats have said DeLay’s remarks were tantamount to inciting violence against judges.

And here is a possible "ray of hope" for sanity returning to the HALLS of OUR Congress, where we have a REPUBLICAN actually speaking out in public against this RAMPANT creeping crawling TOMMY-ism that threatens to overun and engulf all of OUR public institutions, here in OUR America, and render them corrupt, at a touch:

Politics - U. S. Congress

"Shays: DeLay Should Quit As House Leader"

26 minutes ago

By LOU KESTEN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Private GOP tensions over Tom DeLay's ethics controversy spilled into public Sunday, as a Senate leader called on DeLay to explain his actions and one House Republican demanded the majority leader's resignation.

"Tom's conduct is hurting the Republican Party, is hurting this Republican majority and it is hurting any Republican who is up for re-election," Rep. Chris Shays, R-Conn., told The Associated Press in an interview, calling for DeLay to step down as majority leader.

DeLay, R-Texas, who was admonished by the House ethics committee last year, has been dogged in recent months by new reports about his overseas travel funded by special interests, campaign payments to family members and connections to a lobbyist who is under criminal investigation.

A moderate Republican from Connecticut who has battled with his party's leadership on a number of issues, Shays said efforts by the House GOP members to change ethics rules to protect DeLay only make the party look bad.

"My party is going to have to decide whether we are going to continue to make excuses for Tom to the detriment of Republicans seeking election," Shays said.

DeLay's spokesman, Dan Allen, told AP that the congressman "looks forward to the opportunity of sitting down with the ethics committee chairman and ranking member to get the facts out and to dispel the fiction and innuendo that's being launched at him by House Democrats and their liberal allies."

Responding specifically to Shays' remarks later, Allen added that DeLay's "effective leadership has helped to build and maintain the Republican majority in the House and that's exactly why liberal groups funded by George Soros have set their sights on him."

The majority leader was admonished three times last year by that committee.

The committee has been in limbo since March, when its five Democrats balked at adopting Republican-developed rules.

Associated Press Writers Lolita C. Baldor and Suzanne Gamboa contributed to this report.

And speaking of the spectre of rampant creeping crawling tommy-ISM that theatens to engulf this nation of ours, we have:

Top Stories - Chicago Tribune

"The business of influence in Washington"

Sun Apr 10, 9:40 AM ET

By Michael Tackett Tribune senior correspondent

Say this for him, Charles Jarvis doesn't think small.

Jarvis is chairman of the United Seniors Association, an organization he markets as the small but scrappy conservative alternative to the venerable AARP.

Brash and blunt, Jarvis has taken on a high profile in the capital this year--on television, in print and on the Internet--as he savages AARP for its opposition to President Bush's plan for private accounts within Social Security.

But the story of his fight with the nation's best-known seniors group is hardly one of David versus Goliath.

The group is also known as USA Next and is funded primarily with millions of dollars from pharmaceutical and energy companies, among others.

Like hundreds of tax-exempt organizations on the political left and right that flourish in Washington, USA Next is not required to disclose its donors or contractors.

And the money involved is sizable, $28 million in 2004, according to Jarvis' estimates.

Records obtained by Public Citizen show that PhRMA, the trade association for major U.S. drug companies, has in past years been a large donor, along with drug giant Pfizer Inc.

USA Next's powerful connections, however, extend beyond contributors.

In fiscal year 2003, other records show, USA Next mistakenly filed with the IRS a list of its top five contractors.

The top contractor for that tax year, earning more than $1.3 million, was a firm whose founder is also a principal in another firm with strong ties to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas).

And United Seniors has packed its board with prominent Republican consultants over the years.

Board members include Jack Abramoff, a lobbyist under investigation by the Justice Department and Congress who also has links to DeLay.

An examination of USA Next based on its tax filings, other records, government investigative reports and interviews provides a window to how Washington's vast and largely unregulated influence industry works.

Special interests can use groups like USA Next as proxies to wage public campaigns with which they would not want to be directly associated.

USA Next also has launched issue campaigns in congressional races across the country, stopping short of literally backing a candidate but leaving no doubt about which candidate it supports.

In IRS filings, United Seniors says its mission is "public awareness" and "public advocacy" and that it distributes "millions of copies of newsletters to senior citizens that will directly affect their lives."

It is clear that the group is doing much more, though there is almost never a straight line between a donation by an interested party to a lobbyist or group and a specific legislative act.

United Seniors, the name by which USA Next is formally incorporated in Virginia, was started in 1991 by Richard Viguerie, a longtime conservative and direct-mail specialist.

Like United Seniors, groups from local PTAs to the National Rifle Association enjoy tax-preferred status under section 501©(4) of the Internal Revenue Code.

They are loosely regulated, and the Internal Revenue Service does limited monitoring of them.

In its first 10 years, United Seniors was a modest force at most, taking in $8 million to $11 million and spending nearly 50 percent of contributions on fundraising.

It relied heavily on direct-mail solicitation of members and whatever larger donations it could attract, and it operated for most of its existence at a deficit.

Jarvis took USA Next to a different level when he assumed control in 2001.

The board was stocked with influential Republican lobbyists and consultants with strong ties to the GOP congressional leadership and the White House.

A former aide to Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) who also served in the Reagan and Bush administrations, Jarvis was well-positioned for his organization to benefit from Republican control in Washington.

He changed the business model, relying almost exclusively on deep-pocketed donors with big stakes in legislation.

From a financial perspective, the result was outstanding.

In fiscal year 2003, the group raised more than $25 million and spent only $770,000 on fundraising.

In fiscal year 2001, records show, PhRMA gave United Seniors $1.5 million, 100 times the amount it had given the previous year.

Pfizer gave $25,000 in each of those two years.

PhRMA does not dispute the accuracy of the records.

In the next two years, just as Congress and the White House worked out details for a prescription drug benefit for Medicare, United Seniors received $24.8 million from a single source, records show.

A redacted copy of the tax filing obscures the name of the donor, other than the first letter, "P," in 2003.

A $20.1 million donation was reported in 2002 from a single source, but that donor's name is completely blacked out.

Asked whether PhRMA was the donor, Ken Johnson, a spokesman for the trade group, said, "I'm not confirming it or denying it."

For his part, Jarvis simply said:

"It is up to our donors whether they want to reveal gifts."

They don't.

Now the group has clawed its way into the Social Security debate with AARP as the primary adversary.

To make its case, Jarvis has adopted the scorching tactics of negative campaign advertising and employed some of the best practitioners of political dark arts to do it.

His group has benefited from donations and consultant work from operatives and donors associated with the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign against Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

"I'm trying to kill, destroy the bad public policy of AARP," Jarvis said.

AARP, the best-known and most influential organization for Americans over 50, takes in more than $770 million a year.

"The AARP is an army," Jarvis said.

"We are more like Special Forces."

United Seniors has shown lethal capacity.

But its most notorious effort--an ad that showed two photos, one of two men kissing and the other of a soldier, with the not-so-subtle message that AARP supported the gay couple and not the soldier--may also be one that costs it dearly.

The couple in the photo recently sued USA Next and a subcontractor for $25 million, alleging defamation.

Jarvis said his only regret is that his subcontractor didn't get a proper commercial release of the couple's photo.

And PhRMA, prodded by a strongly worded letter from Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who is openly gay, condemned the ad as well.

"PhRMA and its member companies are absolutely opposed to discrimination and appeals to prejudice based on sexual orientation," Johnson, the spokesman said.

Organizations like USA Next often operate as part of a loosely connected web of interests among Congress, the executive branch, special interests and organizations set up to tap into the capital's financial honey pot.

Despite highly publicized efforts at campaign finance reform, the unelected permanent class of lobbyists, consultants and strategists nearly always seems to find an outlet for money designed to buy results.

Many media appearances

If getting attention is a marker of success, Jarvis has flourished, with dozens of media appearances, from "The Today Show" to "The O'Reilly Factor," where he has framed the us-against-them debate with AARP.

The opportunity for a high-profile fight came with AARP's opposition to private accounts for Social Security, the centerpiece of Bush's plan to overhaul the nation's best-known entitlement program.

The rapid rise of the fortunes of United Seniors no doubt is the result of a confluence of events, perhaps the most important of which was the election of Bush.

United Seniors' philosophy hews closely to that of the Republican Party, and those industries that are contributing to the group also have major policy considerations before the administration and Congress.

For Jarvis, it is a convenient convergence.

"I'm very aggressively pro-free-market solutions," he said in an interview at the group's office just off Capitol Hill.

"I am very aggressively finding people who agreed with our rock 'n' roll free-market approach."

Jarvis has grand ambitions for USA Next.

Like other conservative or liberal tax organizations, the group is part of a semipermanent structure in the capital that clearly influences national policy.

And it does so with the sanction of the tax code.

"It's one of those historical accidents," said Marion Fremont-Smith, an expert on tax-exempt organizations who teaches at Harvard University.

"Most of these organizations have been protected by congressmen so there is very little push to do anything about them," she said.

"For the run of the mill [groups], they have not been threats in terms of money or power."

"They work on local issues like the local civic association."

"But this is something entirely new, and it came about probably through the campaign reform legislation, which led people to search for another way."

"And usually when you get something like that and get big money coming in, Congress will take another look."

Jarvis said United Seniors initially brought him in as a consultant.

His pitch: United Seniors needed to broaden its appeal, become a multigenerational organization.

He said he went into a meeting with the board of directors in December 2000 and came away with a job that pays him more than $270,000 a year.

He had solid Washington credentials.

In addition to his government experience, he worked in the D.C. governmental affairs office of Waste Management.

Then he worked for the conservative evangelical media empire of James Dobson's Focus on the Family.

Members of the board of United Seniors, most of them anyway, came away impressed.

"After Bush was elected, there were several key things we needed to be leaders in," Jarvis said.

The group branched out into tax cuts, energy and health savings accounts, and it took on a far more aggressive posture supporting private accounts in Social Security.

Among those board members who hired Jarvis was Abramoff, the lobbyist under investigation for his multimillion-dollar contract with several Indian tribes, an inquiry that also involves his relationship with DeLay.

Though Abramoff's time on the board coincides with the explosive growth in revenue for United Seniors, Jarvis said he barely knows Abramoff and that Abramoff played little role in the organization's success.

A spokesman for Abramoff's law firm said "he performed all duties expected of him as a board member" and did not "facilitate funding" for United Seniors or "issue consulting agreements to any of his clients or business associates."

"He was leaving the board when I came over," Jarvis said.

(Their tenure overlapped by nearly 18 months, records indicate.)

"To be honest, he was not active."

Jarvis said the sudden success of the organization is attributable to his own business practices.

"I said to everybody, `I want us to create a model of excellence that everyone in the private sector and the non-profit sector can see as the best financial management in the country, the best marketing, the best customer relations.'"

During his first three years, the organization operated at a deficit.

In 2004, Jarvis said the organization would report that it is in the black and has taken in more than $28 million.

"We focus on people who have networks, and networks of networks," he said.

That network includes people who also do business for USA Next.

Typically, a 501©(4) organization doesn't have to disclose whom it pays as contractors.

But in the form United Seniors inadvertently filed in 2003, it listed the five top contractors.

Listed first was Advocacy Technologies, a Washington company that was paid $1.3 million for media placements.

Michael Mihalke, founder of Advocacy Technologies, declined to reveal his clients.

Mihalke is also listed as a principal in the strategic communications firm Alexander Strategy Group, whose lead partner is Edwin Buckham, a former DeLay chief of staff who is also connected with Abramoff.

In an e-mail, Mihalke said that "neither ASG, nor any of its principals or employees, has ever had any ownership interest in Advocacy Technologies."

Buckham could not be reached.

The Alexander group also lists PhRMA as a client on its Web site.

Only general disclosures

Federal tax law requires organizations like United Seniors to only generally detail how they spend their money.

In 2002 and 2003, the group said it spent more than $20 million annually on TV and radio advertising.

Many of those ads aired in congressional districts with highly competitive races, including contests in Illinois.

United Seniors spent more than $100,000 on issue ads in the suburban race between Democrat Melissa Bean and then-incumbent Republican congressman Phil Crane.

While the ads did not specifically endorse Crane, who lost, they were strongly positive toward Crane's position on issues.

During the 1990s, the United Seniors Association weighed in on seniors issues, especially possible "raids" on the Medicare and Social Security trust funds.

"We worked on Social Security issues, seniors issues from a conservative perspective," said Craig Shirley, a consultant who was on the board of directors and left after Jarvis asked him to do some contract work for the group.

Shirley said the board hired Jarvis because he seemed to have a plan to make it "bigger, more aggressive."

"He's a creative, talented guy."

"I had known him for a long time."

"His references were outstanding."

Not everyone was thrilled.

Tony Fabrizio, a GOP pollster and former board member, said, "I wasn't particularly enamored with the individual they had come up with."

"I thought he would take the organization in a different direction . . . no hard feelings."

----------

mtackett@tribune.com

And this was overheard on the internet, about why we have an oil shortage in this nation, today:

A lot of folks can't understand

how we came to have

an oil shortage here in our country.

~~~

Well, there's a very simple answer.

~~~

Nobody bothered to check the oil.

~~~

We just didn't know we were getting low.

~~~

The reason for that is purely geographical.

~~~

Our OIL is located in

~~~

Alaska

~~~

California

~~~

Oklahoma

and

TEXAS

~~~

~~~

Our

DIPSTICKS

are located in

Washington DC

With an emphasis on the


DIP

Well, jeffmoskin!

Hello!

Long time no see, here!

You had us worried, you know!

We were searching around GITMO and abu Ghraib to see if maybe Donald's "HARD BOYS" had caught you, and were torturing you into silence, while they took their sick pleasure from you, and when we couldn't find you in either of those places, we thought that maybe some of "CON JOB" Connie Rice's THUGS might have caught up with you instead, wrestling you to the ground, while making sure to muzzle you, lest some bewildered South Korean hear your pleas for aid and assistance in having your own right to free speech equal to that of a REPUBLICAN, or one of their many "FAT CAT" financial supporters, through one of "TWO-GUN TEXAS TOMMY" Delay's various and sundry PAC's!

But once again, jeffmoskin, you have proved yourself superior to the forces of the creeping crawling RED TIDE of RAMPANT TOMMY-ISM that are trying to take over and corrupt every possible thing there is to corrupt, here in OUR AMERICA, and in the candid world as well, and you still endure, in both wit and spirit, for which the founders and sponsors of this thread, and all their families and friends, and well, truth be told, all the candid world, as well, are eternally grateful!

SO!

Let's hear it, America, and the candid world, too!

SALUTE, and WELL DONE, jeffmoskin!

And returning to other matters of importance, here in OUR America, now that we know our west-coast expositor, jeffmoskin, is safe and sound, and has not been eaten by a coyote, or errant mountain lion looking for an easy meal rampaging on the streets of sunny Los Angeles, KAH-lee-FAWN-ia (editor's note: PARDON the east-coast accent, here, I'm still trying to master the tricky vowels, here), let's take a look at what is going on in the "Windy City" of Chicago, Illinois, while George W. Bush is transporting BILLIONS of OUR tax dollars over to HIS client/puppet state of Iraq, to turn it into an earthly paradise, and hunting camp, for Dick Cheney, and HIS:

U.S. National - AP

"Budget Gap Threatens Chicago Transit"

Mon Apr 11, 3:20 AM ET

By MIKE COLIAS, Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO - They're as ubiquitous here as skyscrapers and hot dog joints: the elevated trains that screech and rumble along century-old tracks through downtown and the city's far-flung neighborhoods, taking workers to their jobs and tourists to Wrigley Field.

But a $55 million budget gap has turned the Chicago Transit Authority's fabled "L" system and its fleet of 2,000 buses into an "endangered species," the authority claims.

Officials at the nation's second-largest transit system say they will have to eliminate routes, raise fares or both unless the Legislature provides more money.

In signs and recorded announcements on trains and buses, they are urging their 1.5 million daily riders to "Prevent service cuts."

"Voice your support."

Across the nation, big-city transit agencies have been facing similar challenges. Systems in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., have recently raised fares, cut service or sought more state funding as budget deficits have grown.

One reason is that sales tax revenues — which help fund many systems, including Chicago's — have dwindled in recent years as the economy slowed, according to Rose Sheridan, spokeswoman for the American Public Transportation Association.

And states are less willing to earmark more money for public transit as they face their own budget problems. Illinois' projected deficit for 2006 exceeds $1 billion.

Without more public funding, many transit agencies have few options but to increase fares or cut services, said Alan Horowitz, a transportation engineer and urban planner at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

"A lot of people think these transit agencies are bloated, but as a whole they are used to doing a lot with very little," he said.

One of the city's proposals is to increase fares from $1.75 to $2.50, which would make its 1.5 million daily riders pay the highest base fare of any large transit system in the nation.

Other proposals would end overnight train service, stranding people like night shift janitor Otis Kensey, who leaves his shift at a manufacturer north of Chicago just in time to catch a 1:06 a.m. train to his South Side home.

"If they cut off the Red Line at 1 a.m., I'm stuck," Kensey said.

At a transit board hearing last week, dozens of upset riders said authority executives should cut their own pay or find ways to trim administrative costs rather than hitting the riders with service cuts and higher fares.

The board is scheduled to adopt a worst-case plan at its meeting Wednesday.

Its apocalyptic warnings might not stir much sympathy in the state capital, though.

"The CTA can't just turn to Springfield and say, 'Find us X amount of dollars or we're going to make draconian cuts,'" said Republican state Rep. Brent Hassert, who represents the Chicago suburb of Romeoville.

Lawmakers in other states have responded differently.

Pennsylvania legislators recently voted to divert $68 million in federal highway money to fund cash-strapped transit systems in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

New York's state budget funnels more sales tax dollars to subways and buses.

Chicago Transit Authority Chairwoman Carole Brown says Chicago gets shortchanged by a funding formula that divides sales tax revenue among it and the suburban rail and bus systems.

As suburban populations have boomed, the authority's share of the region's transit tax dollars has dropped from 71 percent in 1980 to 59 percent last year.

Adding to its troubles, the agency is taking heat for a series of missteps in planning the largest capital project in its history: a $530 million upgrade of the Brown Line, a heavily traveled route connecting the city's downtown "Loop" business district to the Northwest Side.

Transit officials in January said they would have to close some stations along the line for a year or more during construction, backtracking on a promise to leave them open.

Businesses and community groups have criticized the reversal, while some transit planners and civic leaders are questioning the project's merits altogether.

Others have said the authority should borrow from its capital budget to help fill its operating shortfall.

Brown calls that bad fiscal policy.

She says the suggestion to scrap the upgrade of the 100-year-old line is symptomatic of the shortsighted view of mass-transit spending nationally.

"Transit agencies all around the country are faced with these same issues," Brown said.

"The problem is simple."

"It's a lack of investment in public transit."
___

On the Net:

Chicago Transit: http://www.transitchicago.com

American Public Transportation Association: http://www.apta.com

end quotes

SO!

Maybe when the Bush Co. is done making his client/puppet state of Iraq into a "heaven on earth" for Dick Cheney, he'll wake up (fat chance, that, actually) and remember that he is really the president of America, and NOT the GRAND POOBAH and LORD PROTECTOR of Mesopotamia, and maybe he'll do some re-building here, too!

BUT .....

In the meantime, we have to be broken as a nation, too, and so .....

Learn to walk, folks, for it is OUR future, thanks to George W. Bush, and HIS, who get to "ride in style", AT OUR EXPENSE!

Using my fingers to count, I have figured out that I have lived through 21 different presidential administrations.

There haven't been 21 different presidents because, obviously, some of these
" chief executives " have managed to keep their job for a second term.

But, 21 administrations is still quite a few.

In all of these, ( some of them I was too young to take note of what was happening, of course ) there were ups and downs, good times and bad, criticisms and approval, just the regular ebb and flow of life and of politics here in OUR AMERICA.

I have been trying to figure out what seems to be so different in Our America these days. To be exact, ever since 911.

I know, now, that, at least to me, it is not because of any deep worries of terrorism, or of being afraid to be out in crowds or anything like that.

What is different to me is the constant uneasy feeling I have about what our federal government is going to do next.

That is true. I do have a feeling that never leaves me that George Bush and Co. is going to pull off something that will bring America down a little lower.

I may not be personally involved or personally hurt by this but my country will be.

Never before have I felt that someone in Washington, with the full knowledge and permission of the president is going to create yet another crisis.

And I wonder, if the day comes when our country may be down, is there going to be any country in the world with the desire AND the ability to give us a helping hand?

Yes, I do wonder about that.

A.B.

I just made a post, Mr. A.B., over in the JUDICIAL thread that I am working on, on the subject of JUDICIAL ACTIVISM, here in OUR America, and what it really looks like, "in the flesh", so to speak, and my example was JUDICIAL LANGUAGE from a Federal District Court Judge down there in Houston, Texas, in 2003, that makes it plain as day that what is alleged to be OUR government is in fact a great big liar!

Yes, a liar, right on up into its highest reaches!

And that is not my opinion, that is a FEDERAL ACTIVIST JUDGE'S OPINION, and so, it is no wonder that George W. Bush and TWO-GUN TEXAS TOMMY Delay HATE JUDICIAL ACTIVIST JUDGES SO, because these kinds of judges expose the truth that underlies what you are saying, right above here, about this "uneasiness" that you have about this present ADMINISTRATION of ours, which is the worst that I have ever experienced in my life as an American, which, while not as long as yours, still has within it direct experience of presidents on back to Dwight David Eisenhower, who still serves as a kind of example of quiet leadership to me, and standing up against injustice, as well.

To me, George W. Bush is exactly opposite to Eisenhower in that one regard - George W. Bush just seems to be the CHAMPION of injustice, to me, and that is quite disturbing, actually, since injustice is the father and mother both of tyranny and despotism, and we do not need either of those, here in OUR America.

Not by a long shot, and yet, that is all George W. Bush has to offer us!

HIS WAY or the HIGHWAY!

And his way to me is the road to HELL, and so, life is interesting, is it not, here in OUR America, these days?

SO, folks, stay tuned!

AND ....

IF you want to read more about the subject of JUDICIAL ACTIVISM here in OUR America, and what it might mean to you, well, then, just cruise on over to the JUDICIAL part of the Forum, and read what Federal Court Judge Lynn N. Hughes had to say about OUR government lying through its teeth in a Federal Criminal trial down there in George W. Bush's HOME STATE of TEXAS!

Makes for quite interesting reading, indeed!

And it is very educational, to boot.

And when you read that decision, you'll know why George W. Bush and TWO-GUN TEXAS TOMMY are literally foaming at the mouth in rage over ACTIVIST JUDGES, here in OUR America!

And here, America, and the world as well, I am just now returning from the JUDICIAL FORUM, where I have been updating my thread over there on a perceived attack, or assault, more likely, on OUR right to dissent in the County of Rensselaer in the State of New York.

My latest series of posts over there have to deal with a very public message that was released by the President of the County of Albany, State of New York Bar Association in March of 2003, where the President of the Albany County Bar Association stated that in Albany County, State of New York, the home of the State's government, lawyers there "don't deal in fairness, we deal in legal results, without regard to ethics."

As I think on those words, in the direct context of where I live in OUR America, which is here, where those words were spoken, and where those words have a very dramatic impact on my life as an American citizen, this through this complete and total lack of ethics the Albany County Bar Association President was advertising, very openly and publicly, in March of 2003, that translates in reality to everything being corrupt, which is something that I have been actively involved in fighting as a citizen, since I returned to here from Viet Nam in 1970, I realize just how false everything here in this part of OUR America has become in that space of time since I did return here, from Viet Nam!

The lawyers do their BID-NESS, OPENLY and PUBLICLY, without regard to ethics, here where I am in OUR America, and they openly crow about that, in front of us, in OUR own town meetings, in OUR own town halls!

"You can't stop us!"

"You don't like what we're doing file an Article 78!"

Knowing that we can't!

SO!

Knowing that we won't, because we have been deprived of OUR expert witness by a blatantly illegal "device" called a PSYCHIATRIC TAKE-DOWN, where the state simply has one of its doctors file a psychiatric arrest warrant to remove the expert witness to a secure mental health facility, if the expert witness attempts to give testimony of corruption in a court of law in the state of New York.

And that story can now be told, thanks to the miracle of this internet, and this FORUM, itself, which is heaven-sent, to me!

And thank you, America, and the candid world, for listening, to this old man, out here in this world of OURS, alone!

And speaking of that sense of the "falseness" of things, here in OUR America, anymore, due to what I think is a break-down of ethics at the highest levels of OUR society, this following story is part of what stirs that "reaction", and reaction it is, "stimulus" received from the "environment", and so "reaction", which then registers on the mind as an "event", for further study!

Business - AP

"LexisNexis: Files May Have Been Breached"

24 minutes ago

By JANE WARDELL, AP Business Writer

LONDON - Criminals may have breached computer files containing the personal information of 310,000 people, a tenfold increase over a previous estimate of how much data was stolen from information broker LexisNexis, the company's parent said Tuesday.

Last month, London-based publisher and data broker Reed Elsevier Group PLC said criminals may have accessed personal details of 32,000 people via a breach of its recently acquired Seisint unit, part of Dayton, Ohio-based LexisNexis.

LexisNexis is a Reed subsidiary.

Reed said it identified 59 instances since January 2003 in which identifying information such as Social Security numbers or driver's license numbers may have been fraudulently acquired on thousands of people.

Information accessed included names, addresses, Social Security and driver license numbers, but not credit history, medical records or financial information, the company said.

Reed spokesman Patrick Kerr said that the first batch of breaches was uncovered by Reed during a review and integration of Seisint's systems shortly after it purchased the Boca Raton, Fla.-based unit for $775 million in August.

Seisint provides data for Matrix, a crime and terrorism database funded by the U.S. government, which has raised concerns among civil liberties groups.

The Matrix database was not involved in the breach, the company has said.

Seisint's databases store millions of personal records including individuals' addresses and Social Security numbers.

Customers include police and legal professionals and public and private sector organizations.

The company said the 59 identified instances of fraudulently obtained information — 57 at Seisint and two in other LexisNexis units — are largely related to the improper use of IDs and passwords belonging to legitimate customers.

It stressed that neither LexisNexis nor the Seisint technology infrastructure was breached by hackers.

Kerr said the company has since ensured that the system is watertight by improving login systems and security checks.

He said only 2 percent of the 32,000 people it notified about the possible theft of their personal information in March have contacted LexisNexis to accept its offer of free credit reports and credit monitoring, and none has so far advised LexisNexis that they have experienced any form of identity theft.

However, LexisNexis Chief Executive Kurt Sanford said Tuesday that of the 32,000 who were notified, law enforcement officials have identified 10 who investigators believe may have been victims of identity theft.

He said it is unclear whether those possible thefts are related to the breach at LexisNexis.

Investigators said only three of those people appeared to have been the victims of financial fraud, Sanford said.

The breach is being investigated by the FBI's cyber-crime squad in Cincinnati.

FBI spokesman Mike Brooks would say only that the agency is pursuing leads.

Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., who has introduced legislation designed to increase protections of consumer data, said LexisNexis turned a blind eye to customer protection.

But Sanford said LexisNexis had initiated the review and notified potential victims.

"We're going to fix this," he said.

"The congressman's statement overreaches and mischaracterizes the situation."

Reed Elsevier played down the effect of the breach on its profits, reaffirming its target of higher earnings and at least 5 percent growth in revenues excluding acquisitions.

The breach at Seisint is the second of its kind at a major information provider in recent months.

Rival data broker ChoicePoint Inc. announced last month that the personal information of 145,000 Americans may have been compromised in a breach in which thieves posing as small business customers gained access to its database.

In the ChoicePoint scam, at least 750 people were defrauded, authorities say.

The case fueled consumer advocates' calls for federal oversight of the loosely regulated data-brokering business, and Capitol Hill hearings on the topic were held last month and are continuing this week.

Reed Elsevier specializes in the education, legal and science sectors, publishing more than 10,000 journals, books and compact discs, as well as almost 3,000 Web sites and portals.

It also organizes 430 trade exhibitions.

The LexisNexis division specializes in legal and business information.

Yesterday morning, or sometime yesterday, anyway, while listening to the radio news, I heard the voice of what was purported to be Donald Rumsfeld, "COSMIC DONALD" of abu Ghraib fame, tell all the candid world listening at that time that the United States has no "EXIT STRATEGY" for Iraq.

Now, I don't know again why exactly that qualifies as "news", as this admission by "COSMIC DONALD" is really something that most Americans have known for about two years now, since the Bush Co.'s started "rattling" their SABRES in the first place, without a further thought in their alleged empty heads as to what a SABRE really was, and what "rattling" one around in plain view as they were doing really meant in the world at large, BUT ANYWAY ...

Now the admission has been made in public, and so, let's see where we are in Iraq, as of this time, or actually, as of yesterday, close of business, and let's start here with the "HORSE'S MOUTH", himself, "COSMIC DONALD" Rumsfeld, coming to us, mostly live, I guess you would say, from the "HEART" of Dick Cheney's NEW EMPIRE of Iraq:

International News

"Rumsfeld makes surprise visit to Baghdad - Defense secretary warns against political ‘turbulence’"

Muhannad Fala'ah / Getty Images

Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari speaks to the media during a press conference with U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld Tuesday in Baghdad, Iraq.

The Associated Press
Updated: 9:44 a.m. ET April 12, 2005

BAGHDAD - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, on another quick visit to Iraq, pressed the country's new leaders Tuesday to avoid delays in developing a constitutional government and defeating the insurgency.

"Anything that would delay that or disrupt that as a result of turbulence or incompetence or corruption in government would be unfortunate," Rumsfeld said before he began a round of talks with Iraqi leaders.

The newly designated prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, told reporters after meeting Rumsfeld at his official residence that he realized the risk of setbacks in the political process.

Prime minister acknowledges ‘challenges’

"I don't deny there are challenges, but I am sure we are going to form very good ministries," he said in English.

He predicted that the government bureaucracy would be staffed by "good technocrats" from a variety of backgrounds.

Rumsfeld met separately with Interim President Jalal Talabani, the Kurdish former rebel leader.

Leaders of Iraq's persistent insurgency also made a statement Tuesday, ambushing a convoy carrying Iraq’s deputy interior minister.

Deputy Interior Minister Gen. Tariq al-Baldawi escaped unhurt after gunmen in two cars opened fire on his convoy in Baghdad’s western Adel neighborhood, but a bodyguard was killed and al-Baldawi’s son and two other people were wounded, an official in the ministry said.

In other violence, five Iraqi civilians were killed and four others wounded in a suicide bombing in Mosul, and seven Iraqis — two of them police officers — were wounded in attacks in Kirkuk.

In a joint appearance before reporters after their meeting, Rumsfeld and Talabani struggled to make themselves understood to a mixed Iraqi-American press corps.

At one point Talabani translated for Rumsfeld as the defense secretary fielded a question from an Iraqi speaking in Arabic.

After hearing Talabani's version of the question, Rumsfeld accused the reporter of phrasing it inaccurately, and the garbled exchange ended abruptly as another Iraqi posed another question.

Speaking in English, Talabani said he had assured Rumsfeld that Iraq's interim leaders will work together.

Cabinet selection nearing conclusion

"We are planning to have the (permanent) government as soon as possible, but you know this is the beginning of democratization in Iraq," Talabani said, adding that he expects the government to complete its selection of Cabinet ministers before the end of this week.

The next major goal is to have a new constitution written by August and ratified by a national vote in October.

Rumsfeld also held a closed meeting with Gen. George Casey and Lt. Gen. John Vines, the top two American commanders in Iraq.

In a brief interview with reporters later, Casey said he was encouraged that the long and difficult process of training and equipping Iraqi security forces was gaining ground.

"We're getting better and more efficient at it," he said.

The Iraqis, in turn, have gained a new measure of confidence since the Jan. 30 elections.

"Iraqi security forces are operating more aggressively" against the insurgents, Casey said.

Rumsfeld also gave a pep talk to a few hundred soldiers at Camp Liberty, headquarters of the 3rd Infantry Division.

He also pinned Bronze Star medals and Purple Heart awards on several soldiers and participated in a mass re-enlistment ceremony for about 100 soldiers gathered in a mess hall.

‘A critically important role’

"The role you're playing is a critically important role in the global war on terrorism" he told them.

Rumsfeld arrived in the Iraqi capital before sunrise aboard an Air Force C-17 cargo plane for his second visit in three months.

It was his ninth visit since the war began in March 2003.

The frequency of his visits in recent months reflected a desire to push the political and military momentum that Rumsfeld believes has been growing since the Jan. 30 elections for a national assembly.

En route from Washington, Rumsfeld told reporters he would press the new Iraqi leadership to avoid delays on either the political or security front at a time when U.S. troops are still being killed or wounded and billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars are being invested in rebuilding the country.

"It's important that the new government be attentive to the competence of the people in the ministries and that they avoid unnecessary turbulence," Rumsfeld said.

Some in the Bush administration are concerned that factional maneuvering during the formation of the transitional government could undermine the counterinsurgency effort that is a key to eventually pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq.

And for a second view of "COSMIC DONALD'S" admission that the Bush Co.'s have no EXIT STRATEGY to get OUR troops out of Iraq, let's go here:

International News

"Iraqis get an earful from Rumsfeld - Defense chief tells officials to speed up formation of government"

Sasa Kralj / AP

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld speaks during a press conference with Kurdish Democratic Party leader Massoud Barzani after their meeting in Salahedin, near Irbil, Iraq on Tuesday. Rumsfeld made a surprise visit to Iraq Tuesday, urging the country's new leaders to stay on track in forming a new government.

By Charles Sabine, Correspondent
NBC News
Updated: 1:17 p.m. ET April 12, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise visit to Iraq on Tuesday.

NBC News’ Charles Sabine reports from Baghdad on the message Rumsfeld brought to Iraqi leaders, mainly stressing the need to quickly establish a new government.

What was Secretary Rumsfeld’s main message?

Rumsfeld’s message was made extremely loudly and clearly in his indomitable style when he told the interim Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari about Washington’s frustration with the fact that 10 weeks after the historic elections here in Iraq, the government has still yet to be formed.

The defense secretary made the Iraqi officials fully aware of his belief that this delay is having damaging effects on Iraq’s future.

It not only undermines the faith of the Iraqi people in democracy.

But, every day the formation of the government is delayed is yet another day that U.S. troops are going to have to remain in this country.

In addition, the power vacuum only feeds the insurgency that is making the daily lives of regular Iraqis so miserable.

There were numerous vivid illustrations that the insurgency is still alive on Tuesday.

As Rumsfeld was meeting with both Iraqi politicians and later with U.S. military commanders there was an incident in Mosul, to the north of Baghdad, where five civilians were killed after a car bomb attack on a U.S. convoy there.

With violence continuing, how was Rumsfeld’s message regarding political expediency and need to be vigilant against corruption taken?

The defense secretary was assured by the fledgling political leaders that they are doing everything that they can to move this process along.

The Iraqis say that they understand the concerns of the Washington administration.

They also said that they do not intend to put off the creation of a constitution here until the middle of August.

Although, they do have a legal window of opportunity that would allow them a delay of six months, they understand the message from Rumsfeld and the U.S. administration is that they should not use that six-month delay.

They say that they will be doing everything they can in the coming days to create the government so that they can put the constitution into place.

Do the Iraqis have a timeline for when they plan to have the government in place?

The Iraqis have said that they will have a government in place within two weeks.

The key issues that are still outstanding are the defense and oil ministries.

They say that they will have those two powerful ministers appointed within the next 10 to 14 days.

By that time the government should be fully in place and it can start working on the constitution.

Did Rumsfeld hear of any positive developments?

The Iraqis also pointed out that they believe that there are successes now to be reported from coalition troops — the Iraqi and U.S. forces — and that it is not all bad news here.

This is the same message that Rumsfeld got from American military commanders.

There is now a growing belief among the coalition forces that they are turning the tide against the insurgency and making more effective arrests.

There was an example of that on Tuesday.

Security forces announced that they captured a former senior Baath member and colleague of Saddam Hussein’s who is believed to be an active supporter of the terrorism that has been de-stabilizing the rebuilding and security of Iraq.

They arrested a man named Fadhil Ibrahim Mahmud al-Mashadani who was the leader of the military bureau in Baghdad during the Saddam regime.

He was apparently apprehended by security forces in an operation in a farmhouse northeast of Baghdad.

This is just the latest in a series of proactive sweeps by coalition forces, both American and Iraqi, and successes that they believe are showing that they are now starting to win this battle.

But, there is clearly a long way to go.

Rumsfeld has made comments that he intends to continue to reduce U.S. troop numbers in Iraq, as well as reduce the length of tours for soldiers.

What has been the response from troops on the ground?

That was another key positive point for Secretary Rumsfeld today — the issue of reducing troops numbers.

On the plane over to Iraq, he told reporters that he did not intend to have U.S. troops in Iraq indefinitely.

He said that plans are now being considered to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq from its current level of approximately 140,000.

The U.S. soldiers that we have spoken have also been particularly encouraged by the news that in addition to reducing troop numbers, the length of their tours may also be reduced from the current period of about one year, down to six months.

Many of the troops we have spoken to say that a reduction in the length of tours would provide a real morale boast, particularly since many say they reach a point of burnout around six months into their tours, especially in the difficult summer months.

Charles Sabine is an NBC News' Correspondent on assignment in Baghdad.

end quotes

Ah, yes, the "light at the end of the tunnel" theory!

I remember it well from my own days as an infantryman in Viet Nam!

"We have them insurgents right where we want them, and there's a light at the end of the tunnel, because of that!'

Except it was really just another muzzle flash, signifying "INCOMING" coming at us, since the insurgents really had us where they wanted us, which was pinned down by incompetent leadership in Washington, D.C., in yet another "war on TAY-RAH" that the fools down there inhabiting that pestilential place just did not understand, in their OVERWEANING ARROGANCE at their own alleged POWER, down here on this earth of OURS.

And here I must wonder at what kinds of threats "COSMIC DONALD" made to these Iraqis to have them "speed up" the process over there, for the Bush Co.'s, who have no ideas whatsoever, themselves, on seemingly much of anything, except where the money is, anyway, and how to get that money diverted over to their pockets, er, PAC's, and the pockets of their "FAT CAT" supporters and friends in the Security BID-NESS, among others!

Is "COSMIC DONALD" going to have these Iraqis stripped down, made naked, and piled in a pyramid if they don't "perform" as the Bush Co.'s want?

Stay tuned!

We shall soon find out!

And what about the Iraqis, themselves?

How do they view all this "POSTURING" by the fabulous Bush Co.'s?

Let's look and see:

Middle East - AP

"Iraqis Increase Calls for U.S. to Leave"

12 April 2005

By TRACI CARL, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqis are increasingly calling on U.S. forces to leave their troubled nation, emboldened by a newly elected parliament and the growing presence of their blue-uniformed police forces — even though the new Iraqi leaders say it's too early to talk about a U.S. pullout.

The calls gained momentum when Shiite and Sunni religious clerics called for protests to mark the two-year anniversary of Baghdad's fall, prompting four days of demonstrations across the country.

Tens of thousands of mostly Shiite protesters, largely followers of militant cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, filled central Baghdad's streets Saturday, holding the largest anti-American protest since the invasion.

Demonstrations have continued, all echoing the same demand:

It's time for U.S. troops to leave.

Still, some Iraqis say it's too early for the Americans to leave because Iraqi forces aren't ready for the daily attacks that have killed thousands in the past two years of the insurgency.

"If the Americans leave Iraq now, the political forces will fight each other in order to get power and the victims will be the Iraqi people," said Rashid Abass, a 61-year-old waiter.

Even the influential Association of Muslim Scholars, which has been accused of ties to insurgents, has called for a timetable for a U.S. withdrawal, not an immediate exit.

But the protests reflect a growing impatience with American troops, viewed here both as protectors and antagonizers.

Insurgents fueling the conflict direct their rage at U.S. troops and Iraqis seen as cooperating with them.

That, in part, has delayed any talk of a pullout, with U.S. leaders saying they will only leave when the Iraqi government asks them to go.

On Sunday, protesters shouted anti-American slogans in Duluiyah, 45 miles north of the capital.

A day later, a similar demonstration was held in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.

On Tuesday, in the troubled city of Samarra, tribal, city and religious leaders gathered along with students in the shadow of a spiral minaret, throwing rocks at U.S. tanks and shouting for the Americans to leave.

"The Iraqis will fight until they force (the Americans) to leave and let us live in peace and security," Hassan Neama, 33, said Tuesday in Baghdad.

"They are the source of all of Iraq's problems."

"We consider the Americans our enemy, not our savior from the Saddam Hussein regime."

Some Iraqis argue the country is ready to take care of itself — after the Jan. 30 elections, the first free vote in 50 years, and last week's naming of an interim prime minister, Shiite Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

"The American troops should leave our country because there is an elected government in Iraq now."

"If they stay longer, things won't get any better," said Abdul Rahman Hatam, a 21-year-old cook in Baghdad.

"We, as Arabs, don't accept any foreigner controlling our country."

Iraq's new leaders, however, have cautioned against a pullout, saying they need more time to train Iraqi police and soldiers whose ranks are growing each day.

The country is also still at least eight months away from electing a permanent government.

New lawmakers must first write a permanent constitution by Aug. 15, and the document must be approved during a referendum in October.

In an interview with CNN's "Late Edition" on Sunday, new interim President Jalal Talabani said he didn't agree with the protests, arguing that U.S. forces were needed in Iraq until the country can rebuild its security forces — something he said could take two years.

In a surprise visit to Iraq on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld didn't address the topic of a U.S. withdrawal.

But he called on the country's new leaders to avoid delays in drafting a permanent constitution and building a strong police and army — a reminder the United States doesn't plan to stay forever.

"Anything that would delay that or disrupt that as a result of turbulence or incompetence or corruption in government would be unfortunate," Rumsfeld said.

President Bush has refused to set a timetable for withdrawal — even though more than a dozen countries have already pulled out of Iraq and several more are considering leaving the U.S.-led coalition.

Speaking to soldiers Tuesday at Fort Hood, Texas, Bush said U.S. troops would come home only once Iraqis are able to control their country.

"Iraqis want to be led by their own countrymen," Bush said.

"We'll help them achieve that objective."

"And then our troops can come home with the honor they deserve."

On Tuesday, Polish Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski said his country — the United States' fourth-largest coalition partner — wants to leave the country in the first few weeks of 2006, after the U.N. mandate on the multinational force in Iraq expires.

I live out in the country, myself, so that when I'm not "in here", I am generally outside, breathing country air, and hearing country silence, and generally, just enjoying life, or trying to, anyway, which is an exercise in positive thinking, at all times, for me, anyway, who suffered a wound to the back of the head in March of 1989 that has left me in a disabled state, all these years later, as I near 60 years of age!

I have a creek that flows through where I am, and I have been by that water since I was 3 years old!

I go down by that water, and stand there, and listen to it flow, all the different sounds that it makes on its journey to the sea, down past New York City, and then brushing up against the Cliffs of Mohr, in Ireland, across the wide Atlantic!

That same water!

From that one small creek!

Sometimes, I take the digital movie camera and film the flow of the water, the currents, the ripples, and when you watch it back, through a VCR, on television, the patterns are incredible to watch!

Water "co-operates" with itself in order to be able to flow downhill, and when you watch it flow, especially magnified by the camera, you can see that "co-operation" as it happens; water approaches an "obstacle", say a rock sticking up through the water's surface, and before it gets there, the water "splits" and simply flows around the "obstacle", paying it no heed whatsoever, as it flows to the sea!

It's interesting that this particular water actually rises not far from me, and so, I am seeing this water on its way to the sea, AT THE PLACE OF ITS OWN ORIGINS, and after all these years, that somehow remains a very spiritual thing for me, to be down by this water, watching it flow!

This water comes from what are called a series of "Rosary Bead" ponds, which are a series of seeps and springs in a chain of ponds just over beyond me that create the creek!

Where the creek flows by me, it is down in a quite rocky gorge, and it is flowing NORTH!

Just to the west, as the crow flies, anyway, is the Hudson River, where this water flowing north, by me, is heading, AND .....

The Hudson is flowing south!

In fact, just to get about seven or so miles to the west from where it rises, my creek goes all over the place, literally, flowing north from its source so that it can flow south to the sea!

SO!

Talk about determination!

Or wanderlust, maybe!

Whatever, for me, there is a lot of power that comes to me from that water, and on days such as we have been having up here, lately, where we are under the influence of a dry air mass sitting up in Canada, to the north, again, from where I am, we have had incredibly clear blue skies to the north, that are a cobalt blue in color.

What days to be alive!

But then, everyday is, and so ....

And for those who are stopping by here, on your way to whereever, and whatever, GOOD MORNING!

Another nice day brewing, or blooming up here where I am, thanks to that dry, cool Canadian air mass that is hanging over where I am, essentially keeping us cloud-free right here, for one more day.

It sure does beat one of those soggy, wet, dripping HOT MASSES of "air" that drift up this way from time to time from down there in that small stretch of country between north-east Virginia, and southern Maryland, the "District of Columbia", I think it is called, where for some kind of scientific or meteorological reasons, there is a source there, in that one small place, of some really foul air!

Somehow, I guess, Canadian air is just simpler air, more conservative air, perhaps, if that can be said about air, and certainly, the Candian air has associated with it a lot more sunshine than that "District of Columbia" air does, and so, being kind of simple and conservative myself, I just somehow like that Candian air, especially this time of the year, when it is spring, and it is time to get up and get moving, as winter is already on its way, one more time, and so, it is good to get oneself prepared, while there is still time for doing so.

As for me, I have some "help" these days from a younger person with nice manners coupled with a real old-fashioned "work ethic", and so, I have to be away from this computer keyboard to do some "side-walk superintending", while this young person does the work!

SO!

Modified hours, perhaps, here in Life in OUR America!

BUT ...

That IS life, is it not?

There is what we would like to do, and then, there is what we MUST do, instead, and will the TWAIN ever meet?

The eternal question, I guess, for many of us, here in OUR America, and in the world, as well!

And there is the way WE would have things be in the world, and then, there is the way they are!

And will those TWAIN ever meet as well?

A question for the moment, here in OUR America!

Stay tuned, for God willing, I will be back, and the world will hopefully still be here, George W. Bush hopefully having resisted for a few more moments from blowing it up and making a charred cinder out of it, just to see what one of those NU-CLAR bombs really looks like when it goes off in some enemy city, like Toronto, Canada, or Paris, France, or Rome, Italy, where, interestingly, we hear absolutely no more muttering whatsoever about that Calipari fellow who got shot in the temple over there in Iraq by one of George W. Bush's "sharpshooters" because he negotiated with TAY-RISTS one time too many, when he got that Italian journalist freed from captivity over there, so many long weeks ago, now, that we all have just forgotton that it ever happened in the first place!

And so it goes ........

Good luck in your endeavor, Livyjr. We will hold down the thread for you.

Doing copper work, today, or superintending, anyway, while the young person does most of the real work, and so, is learning to bend copper the only way it really can be learned, which is to bend copper, and not be afraid to make a mistake, and then admit the mistake, study the mistake, and then learn not to do it again.

My philosophy is take a small place to start something new, like putting a standing-seam copper roof on a house, and just practice there, where the mistake would be small, if you made one, and so easily corrected.

The big thing with me is the aesthetics.

I can't always figure what things will necessarily look like in real life, and so, I don't always at first come up with the most aesthetically-pleasing "treatment", and here I am talking about gable ends, and the treatment of fascia boards, where the two join.

On mine, I am cladding that all with copper, and so, the trick has been to figure out how to do it with interlocking seams that preclude the possibility of having any cracks or places for the wind to drive the rain in, or the wind to get a grip, to tear the roof or cladding off.

It's nice to see a young person take an interest in this kind of work, and an interest is really what is required when working with copper and standing seam roofs, where exactness is a necessity, and thus, diligence and attention to detail are necessary skills in the one doing the actual work.

And when you step back at the end of the day and survey your work, what a sight, especially when the copper is new, and thus, is mirror bright!

A new copper roof is just like a mirror when you are putting up the pans!

As you are rolling the seams, you can see the sky, and all the clouds in it, reflected right in front of you in the copper.

To me, copper is a living breathing thing, even though technically, it is a metal.

Actually, copper is an element, and one of its many properties IS serving as a type of metal, but it is what you can create with copper, and almost no other, that gives copper its "life", to me, at least!

And so .....

As someone said some other place, LIFE IS GOOD!

And AMEN to that, say I!

Well, one more heavenly day on tap for us, at least where I am in America, and the world, so how about that.

I'm out there trying to make the most of this warm, dry weather, by getting a copper roof on my house, and so, most of my energy these days is going into keeping that project rolling along, especially as I have a helper, who is really doing most of the work for me, since being up on a roof requires someone more spry than I am, but I can superintend like one son of a gun, and so, that's what I am doing, and as stated before, the young person is learning quite a skill, although in this day and age of cheap-built "quickie" houses in subdivisions, it's hard to tell where else this young person might ever use this skill, BUT THAT IS IMMATERIAL, is what I tell him.

When you learn a skill, any skill, you become "skillful", and that is a function of the mind!

When you become "skillful", you mind has grown, and that is something of great benefit in life, whether you ever use the skill itself ever again.

Yesterday, we were talking, this young person and I, about how the skill required to put a standing seam copper roof in place intimidates people, and what a statement that is, that someone would let the intimidation of what they don't know keep them from learning that thing!

"Oh, that's so hard; I know I wouldn't be able to do it", and so, they can't.

A self-fulfilling prophesy!

SO!

Should everyone then have to know how to put up a copper roof?

Absolutely not!

I personally don't care if there are a million of them in my area, or just mine, and that is not the point at all!

The point is stretching the limits of your abilities whenever an opportunity presents itself to do so, or that is my philosophy anyway!

This young person that I am talking about in here does not have other pressing business right now, and so, is faced with an opportunity that he can partake of, or pass by, his choice!

Since he has chosen to partake, then it behooves me to be the best "teacher" of the skill that I know how, and so, we move along together towards the "SHINING CITY", as I see it.

And it is the journey, and not the destination, that is to me important!

And so ......

Hey, good work, Livy jr.

You teach a young person a skill, and you also teach a person to grow.

Now that is something to be proud of.

You also get a new copper roof on your house.

Not a bad thing at all.

A.B.

I'll tell you, A.B., when copper is new, i.e., shiny, it is something to see in the bright sunlight, which is one of the reasons that I went with copper, to be truthful.

The main thing, is, however, the sheer durability of copper over any other material that I can think of, plus what I think is a very healthful effect from all the copper surrounding you, overhead!

People say I must be a millionaire to have a copper roof, and it's not that way at all!

At least it's not, IF, you understand HOW it is not that way, and that is in the thought and labor side of the equation!

If you can provide that side of the equation, yourself, your mind directing your labor, then you don't have to be a millionaire at all, to have anything, and especially a copper roof, which is an act of personal expression to me, in the making of it.

The roof system is to me a blank pallet to work the art of copper upon, and that is what we are doing, adding details here and there to give some context to the various roof lines, such as the fascias, and gable ends!

The material itself is reasonable, to me, anyway, and I buy it by the square foot, at so much per pound, that day, as copper is a commodity, and as such, its price fluctuates, up and down, although now I believe it is up!

No matter, right now, at least, for I had bought ahead, some time ago, when I had some money to do so with.

I'm sheathing my house, Mr. A.B., like an old-time fishing boat would be all wrapped in metal, and for the same reasons - to defeat the efforts of wind-driven rain to find a crack to enter, to get at the vulnerable wood inside.

And to be truthful, I don't know how you can afford to not do that, when you know the wind is coming, and the rain real hard as well!

It's like God is telling me, "REMEMBER NOAH!", and so, I am heeding his word on that possibility.

And if it never happens, that's okay, too, because my main goal and objective is to work down from the highest roof, where we are finishing up now, and just keep coppering a continuous path for water to flow, right on down and off the lowest roof, and out away from the foundation wall, where the grade just naturally will carry it away, or at least, it always has before.

If you observe water, and then you enhance its natural flow, your work ever after will be easier for that.

If you fight water, well, now, that's quite a fight!

Quite a fight, indeed!

For water never quits!

Me?

I'll just go with enhancing the flow!

Enhancing the flow!

And what a mistaken phrase that can be, at times, as this next story clearly demonstrates!

Business - AP

"Wall St. Suffers Worst Day in Two Years"

13 minutes ago

By MICHAEL J. MARTINEZ, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK - Wall Street suffered its worst single day in nearly two years Friday, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling 191 points for its third straight triple-digit loss.

Deepening concerns over economic growth and higher prices led to the worst week of trading since August.

An already uneasy market began the biggest one-day selloff since May 19, 2003, after the Federal Reserve reported drops in manufacturing and other industrial production, and a Labor Department report showed higher oil costs driving up import prices.

The selloff was bolstered by lower-than-expected profits from IBM Corp., which led to fears that technology spending would be substantially worse than expected this year.

Strong earnings from General Electric Co. and Citigroup Inc. were overlooked, but analysts said earnings would nonetheless be a key factor in overcoming the recent slump.

"Earnings are really the only hope for this market," said Brian Pears, head equity trader at Victory Capital Management in Cleveland.

"If, on the whole, earnings can go up, then we might be able to overcome oil and inflation and all the other things."

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow fell 191.24, or 1.86 percent, to 10,087.51, after falling 125 points Thursday and 104 points Wednesday.

It was the Dow's lowest close since Nov. 2.

Broader stock indicators also lost considerable ground.

The Nasdaq composite index dropped 38.56, or 1.98 percent, to 1,908.15 for its worst showing since Oct. 25.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 19.43, or 1.67 percent, at 1,142.62, its lowest level since Nov. 3.

All three indexes set five-month lows for the second straight session, prompted by disappointing earnings in the tech sector and questions about slowing economic growth.

With Friday's losses, it was the first time the Dow lost 100 points three sessions in a row since late January 2003.

For the week, the Dow lost 3.57 percent, the S&P 500 was down 3.27 percent, and the Nasdaq tumbled 4.56 percent.

The major indexes are also at their lowest points of 2005, with the Nasdaq down 12.29 percent, the Dow falling 6.45 percent and the S&P having lost 5.72 percent.

Bond investors were pleased with Friday's results, however, as the bond market continued to rally.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.24 percent from 4.34 percent late Thursday.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices moved higher.

Crude oil prices were lower and continued a two-week downtrend, with a barrel of light crude settling at $50.49, down 64 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The recent drop in crude futures notwithstanding, higher oil prices are to blame for the jump in import prices, the Labor Department said.

Import costs rose 1.8 percent in March, but even without oil, prices rose 0.3 percent, more than the 0.2 percent rise economists had expected.

"There's a lot of evidence that when we have oil averaging $53 or $54 per barrel, that's inflationary, and we got a whiff of that today in the import prices," said Peter Cardillo, chief strategist and senior vice president with S.W. Bach & Co.

"It doesn't help that we're starting to see the economy enter a slowing mode heading into the second quarter here."

Investors looking at the Fed's industrial output report also questioned whether higher energy and materials costs were affecting manufacturing growth as well.

Overall industrial production rose 0.3 percent in March, up from 0.2 percent in February, but the increase came only from utility production due to a colder-than-average month, and manufacturing and other industrial sectors showed losses for the first time in six months.

IBM said an inability to close deals before the end of the quarter, combined with higher pension costs, dragged on its earnings.

The technology company, which missed Wall Street forecasts by 6 cents per share, hinted at a major restructuring this year.

IBM tumbled $6.94, or 8.3 percent to $76.60, and was the biggest loser on the Dow.

General Electric rose 25 cents to $35.75 after the industrial and media conglomerate reported a 25 percent jump in first-quarter profits, with nine of the company's 11 disparate divisions reporting double-digit growth.

The company's forecasts for the second quarter and full year were in line with Wall Street's estimates.

Citigroup beat Wall Street's expectations for its quarterly profits by 2 cents per share, with profits rising a modest 3 percent year-over-year.

The financial company also said its board had authorized the repurchase of an additional $15 billion in stock.

Citigroup added 35 cents to $45.75.

The lagging pharmaceutical sector saw new life after Genentech Inc. reported strong results from trials of its Avastin drug in breast cancer patients, and Ely Lilly & Co. received a favorable patent ruling on its best-selling anti-psychotic drug Zyprexa.

Genentech surged $10.72, or 18.3 percent, to $69.35, while Lilly climbed $2.91 to $58.07.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by more than 4 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 2.18 billion shares, compared with 1.9 billion on Thursday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies was down 11.16, or 1.89 percent, at 580.78.

The Russell lost 4.91 percent this week and is down 10.86 percent for the year.

Thursday's losses in U.S. markets had a ripple effect overseas, as the Nikkei stock average fell 1.66 percent.

In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 closed down 1.09 percent, France's CAC-40 lost 1.92 percent for the session, and Germany's DAX index tumbled 2.04 percent.
___

On the Net:

New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com

Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

Wall Street PROJECTIONS!

What in the HELL is a Wall Street PREDICTION, and after all the Enrons, and the Fannie Mae crap going on now, where companies apparently and allegedly cook their books to make the "Wall Street PREDICTIONS", why would anyone in America, or the World, for that matter, believe a single word that comes out of that place, now, with regard to PREDICTIONS of what a certain company is going to be doing at any given time in the future?

And now, all the incompetence is starting to catch up with us, is what I think, and we teeter, on an edge now, that is caused by who even knows anymore, but certainly, the rising price of oil may just have been the final straw to break the back of this HOUSE OF CARDS that is Wall Street!

Should never buy into a lie, is what I was always taught, and on those few occasions where I did see someone try to buy into something that most definitely was a lie, they always ended up the loser for it, and so, maybe that is what is going to happen here, with anyone who has bought into the lies of Wall Street PREDICTIONS!

BUT .....

We'll all have to stay tuned to see on that one, and so ....

This story to be continued, as time passes, one way, or the other!

And here's a branch of that story, right now, in fact!

Top Stories - The Christian Science Monitor

"Gains in Iraq, but no 'tipping point'"

Fri Apr 15, 4:00 AM ET

Despite recent bombings and a kidnapping, insurgent attacks are down as are numbers of US troops wounded.

By Peter Grier and Faye Bowers, Staff writers of The Christian Science Monitor

WASHINGTON - For US forces in Iraq, the good news is that they appear to be making progress in their battle against an entrenched insurgency.

The bad news is that the insurgents are far from defeated - and it will be some time before Iraqi government forces can fight the rebels on their own.

It's true, as President Bush noted in a speech this week, that the new Iraqi government's own security forces now outnumber in-country US troops.

But experts note that the majority of these are police and lightly armed security guards, and are not really comparable to US military personnel.

Thus the bottom line is that large numbers of US troops will remain in Iraq for the foreseeable future, though the total may be reduced somewhat over the coming months.

When it comes to the Iraqi security situation "we still have no tipping point, and we face at least a tipping year," writes Anthony H. Cordesman, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in a new assessment of the situation.

The most recent news from Iraq has been tragically reminiscent of the bad days prior to the January Iraqi election.

Twin suicide car bombs killed at least 15 people during Baghdad's morning rush hour on Thursday.

US forces said that two other bombs were found in the area and detonated safely by ordnance experts.

These attacks followed a spate of car bombs and suicide attacks that occurred throughout the country on Wednesday.

And an American contractor kidnapped earlier this week appeared in a videotape released by his captors, looking pale and frightened and pleading for his life.

It's possible that these attacks represent a new insurgent offensive.

US officials were particularly worried about the degree of sophistication shown by an attack on the Abu Ghraib prison earlier this month, in which a large group of 60 fighters detonated car bombs and fired rockets and mortars before US forces beat them back after an intense firefight.

Fewer attacks and US wounded

It's also possible they are just a blip.

Since the election in January, overall insurgent attacks have dropped by about one-fifth, according to the US military.

US fatalities due to insurgent action dropped to 36 in March, the lowest such monthly total in over a year.

The number of wounded US troops has experienced a similar decline, according to a database kept by Michael O'Hanlon, a military expert at the Brookings Institution.

"The trend lines are better for the first time in a year," says O'Hanlon.

The bulk of the insurgents are probably Sunni Iraqis who feel they face a loss of position within their country following the overthrow of their patron, Saddam Hussein.

But some are Islamist foreign fighters such as the Al Qaeda associate Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

There are indications that in recent weeks these Islamists have represented a larger percentage of the insurgents captured or killed by US forces, says a retired general who asked that his name not be used due to continued ties with the Pentagon.

This could mean that the native Iraqi portion of the insurgency is shrinking.

It could mean that the Islamists are being driven to action due to increasing desperation.

Either way, "if the numbers are correct and there are fewer Iraqis involved, this bodes well," says the retired general.

At the same time, the number of Iraqi security troops is growing.

In a speech at a Texas military base on Tuesday, President Bush noted that more than 150,000 Iraqi forces have been trained and equipped.

"Iraqi security forces are becoming more self-reliant and taking on greater responsibilities."

"And that means that America and its coalition partners are increasingly playing more of a supporting role," said Bush.

Gauging Iraqi security forces

While it is true that some 150,000 Iraqis have participated in training of some sort, it is misleading to use that number as an overall gauge of Iraqi strength, say experts.

"Such head counts say nothing about combat power, and are meaningless in terms of comparisons to US troops numbers," writes Anthony Cordesman of CSIS in his new assessment.

Of the 150,000 total, some 85,000 are Ministry of Interior police, not military forces, notes Mr. Cordesman.

Some 30,000 of these may actually still be awaiting training.

About 67,000 of the Iraqi troops are indeed military.

But most of these are lightly equipped and trained to accomplish only limited missions.

Only one operational battalion has anything like the heavy armor used by US forces.

"If one is counting manpower with some comparability to US forces the total is ... probably well below 20,000," Cordesman concludes.

The good news is that US and Iraqi leaders are now mounting a serious effort to construct the mix of forces they need to get a handle on the country's security problem, according to Cordesman.

It will simply take time to get those forces up and running.

By late 2005 or early 2006, if Iraq's political situation continues to develop along a generally positive path, the nation might be able to begin fighting its battles largely on its own.

"The US wants to leave with the perception, and ideally the reality, that Iraq is in good shape and on the right path," says Brookings Institution security specialist Daniel Byman.

Not since the CIA toppled Allende. Had to hold down the price of copper. After all, we needed a source for pennies that cost less than one cent.

And today, people won't even bother to bend down to pick up a penny, so I guess they are worth nothing at all, anymore, and that sure is a sign of something or other, if you think on it long enough!

And Chinese demand for copper these days has, or had it, anyway, right through the roof, and that makes it beyond my means, so, life will be interesting this summer, when my stockpile dwindles to the point of needing replenishment to finish my own job!

And here, I am just coming in, after being outside all afternoon, on another glorious day up here in the north-east, where we are under the influence of some nice dry air right now, which is a real blessing for me right now, with my roofing job going on as it is.

I've still got my JUDICIAL thread going, and so, I spend some time over there, up-dating the matter, and then, I stop by "A.B.'s Corner", and well, to tell the truth, I dwaddle over there, so there, it is said!

Mr. A.B. has a big porch on his place over there, and some real nice rockers and gliders, and now, he's got coffee going, and ice cream, and whoever really knows, which is why I like to stop by over there, just to see what is happening at that moment.

And then there is Mr. A.B.'s "Religion and Politics" thead, and so .....

I'm wandering back and forth, and hence my absence at times in here, these days.

And it really is so nice being outside, up on a roof as I am, sitting under the open sky, feeling the sun, and listening to the birds, and the sound of the wind in the tree tops all around me, where I am sitting.

Never is heard a discouraging word, and the sky is not cloudy all day!

And that just is not a bad way to go, at all!

When it's nice outside like it has been these days, I like to forget that a lot of things are going on, here in OUR America, that might or might not affect us, and OUR LIBERTY, and when I don't have to go out at all, well, it's heavenly, to be truthful!

BUT ...

No man is an island, they say, and certainly, I am not one, and so, this thread exists, to talk about life in OUR America, off my property lines, as that LIFE threatens to cross my property lines, to affect me, right in my own home, which should be a kind of sacred ground, in a sense, the home of an American citizen, any one of us of us, in here, and out there, as well, and by INTRUSIVE THINGS coming into OUR homes, here in OUR America, I mean politics, as it affects things like the availability of JUSTICE, here in OUR America, and the ECONOMY, and the environment, and whatever else catches my attention at any given moment, like Iraq, which I believe is having a very deleterious impact on the quality of OUR life, right here in OUR America, without OUR INFORMED CONSENT having ever been given for that misbegotten military adventure to sieze Iraq's oil fileds under the guise of spreading "democracy" through the world, as well as ending corruption!

And with respect to "my position", here, I think this next story shows very well what I am talking about, when I speak of a deleterious impact on the quality of OUR lives, here in OUR America:

Business - AP

"Finance Officials Try to Calm Markets"

40 minutes ago

By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON - Amid fresh jitters from Wall Street, finance officials from the world's industrial powers said Saturday surging oil prices could crimp the economy and they pledged to limit the fallout.

An intense discussion of the energy situation dominated the meeting attended by representatives from the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada.

"Higher oil prices are a headwind" and the global economic expansion "is less balanced than before," the finance officials said in a joint statement.

They urged producers to increase energy supplies and said countries should conserve more.

The Group of Seven countries endorsed more timely and accurate information about the oil market, which officials said could help control price fluctuations and make companies more willing to expand production.

The statement underscored finance officials' resolve to deal with the energy situation and reassure financial markets that the G-7 is on top of the matter.

The private talks a few blocks from the White House followed Wall Street's worst session in nearly two years.

The Dow Jones industrials plunged 191 points on Friday as investors worried about high oil prices and the strength of U.S. economic activity.

In addition to the G-7 discussions, the 184-nation International Monetary Fund and World Bank were holding meetings this weekend.

IMF members were to hear from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the need for rich countries to give more aid to poor nations.

That approach fits into Annan's efforts to overhaul U.N. operations.

Under tight security, several hundred people pressed for greater debt relief for impoverished countries and voiced opposition to the selection of Paul Wolfowitz, deputy defense secretary and an architect of the Iraq war, to run the World Bank.

He starts on June 1.

The G-7 statement endorsed the goal of fully canceling debt for such countries.

But officials have yet to resolve differences between competing plans from the United States and Britain.

"Once more the G-7 have chosen delay," said Jonathan Hepburn, policy adviser for Oxfam International, a supporter of expanded debt relief.

The Bush administration also used the G-7 meeting as an opportunity to pressure China to overhaul its currency system.

The finance officials advocated "flexibility in exchange rates" — the phrase they have used before to prod China.

The United States wants China to stop directly linking the yuan to the dollar.

Treasury Secretary John Snow said it was now time to act.

"The next step is to do it," he said, rejecting claims by Beijing that it is not ready for the switch.

The administration has come under fire from members of Congress and U.S. manufacturers to take a tough line against China.

Critics contend China's currency system hurts U.S. exports and has contributed to the loss of millions of jobs in American factories.

France's finance minister, Thierry Breton, said that in the G-7 group's discussion, "it was clear that the yuan is undervalued and there was a consensus that China has to address this."

Chinese finance officials accepted invitations to attend the two previous G-7 meetings.

But they skipped this session, an apparent signal they did not want to be lobbied more intensely on the currency issue.

Energy prices were a concern at the last G-7 meeting in February and the one before that, but little action has resulted.

Snow acknowledged that G-7 statement itself "won't do much about the fundamentals for demand and supply of oil."

But he said the statement should signal to the financial community that "the G-7 is monitoring the situation."

In the United States, oil prices surged to an all-time high of $57.27 a barrel at the beginning of April.

They hovered above $50 on Friday.

"These energy prices are too high."

"... They call out for action," Snow said.

Snow urged Congress to pass President Bush's stalled energy bill, which would open an Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil exploration.

Bush used his Saturday radio address to make the same point, saying U.S. families and small businesses are feeling the pinch from rising gasoline prices.

"Oil prices pose the biggest growth risk at the moment," said Germany's finance minister, Hans Eichel.

"Prices are high and volatile" which produces "an element of insecurity."

For now, energy prices are expected to slow economic growth modestly this year in the United States and elsewhere.

"The outlook continues to point to solid growth for 2005," the finance officials said in their statement.

Still, they stressed the need for the United States to address its surging budget deficit and for Europe and Japan to deal with workplace barriers that are restricting economic growth.

"Vigorous action is needed to address global imbalances and foster growth," they said.
___

On the Net:

International Monetary Fund: http://www.imf.org

World Bank: http://www.worldbank.org

SO!

The "big bottom" boys are all together in a room somewhere down there in George W. Bush's city of Washington, D$C$ to have some "confab" and "chin wag" about the obvious fact that surging oil prices ARE crimping the economy, and so, we should all feel comforted somehow by that, which I don't, BECAUSE ...

Because these are the same "fat-bottomed" boys who have gotten us into the "FIX" in the first place, and so, why should we believe in them, or listen to them, especially as they do not in any way represent us, or OUR interests, as American citizens, here in OUR America.

The "big-bottom" boys thought the "GRAVY TRAIN" was going to go on forever, or at least until long after they had gotten what they wanted from it, and had retired, in luxury, and style, and maybe, just maybe, they have gotten "hoist by their own petard", here, with these surging oil prices THAT THEY, by their very policies, have caused to happen!

WHICH IS WHY THEY NOW HAVE NO SOLUTIONS, for outside of a major re-structuring of world economies right now, there is no solution.

This, folks, is the other end, one more time, of that childrens' story about a goose who laid golden eggs, and it's not a fairy story at all!

It is real!

And we are there, as it unfolds before OUR very eyes!

SO!

Did you ever think it, would be one question on my mind, anyway!

As for me, I think it would be, did I hope it, instead, that common sense would prevail, and yes, I must admit that I did hope that somehow reason and common sense would prevail, but now, I believe my hope was misplaced, and so .....

Prepare for the lean times, folks, for they are on their way, is my persistent thought of the moment!

Can they be averted?

A difficult call, at this stage of the game!

BUT .....

We will see!

SO!

Stay tuned for further developments, as they happen!

Live, late-breaking!

Life, in OUR America!

Incredible as it might seem, higher oil prices might have a POSITIVE effect on the stock market. After all, it is always the INFLOW of cash chasing that supply of stocks that drives up the prices. In the 90s, it was the baby boomers putting money into their 401k retirement plans. Now that they are tapped out, the market has no upward pressure.

High oil prices mean high profits for our GOOD FRIENDS, the SAUDIS. It costs them $1.00 a barrel to pump the stuff. All the rest is profit, and they have to DO SOMETHING with it.

Generally, they buy stocks. Hence, upward pressure.

Every $1.00 per barrel increase in the price of crude ends up costing American motorists 5 BILLION dollars per year.

Lemmeseenow...

Oil prices are about $20 over last year, so there will be a "tax" on all motorists of $100 Billion which will go into the market, which is valued at about $5 Trillion (5,000 Billion)

Well, I guess it's a small upward pressure. But then don't forget the Chinese who are plowing all the money we spend on DVD players into Treasury bonds (which crowds out American investors and makes stocks look more appealing).

I guess we'll have to wait and see.

And as always, some very interesting analysis here, jeffmoskin!

Thought-provoking, as it should be.

And your final thought is one I share with you, that we will just have to wait and see!

And I don't think this is going to be at all "national" in uniform effect, jeffmoskin, these economic woes, if and when they come!

I think depending on the area of the United States that you are in, what any of us perceives as actual change is going to be highly variable for some time yet to come, a year, maybe, although here, most of us are really waiting to see what will be transpiring in just the next couple of months, if oil prices do stay high, and interest rates keep jogging on upwards.

Me, I've gone into watch-and-wait mode, myself, with no plans at all to do anything, or spend anything, or commit to anything financial, on the horizon, especially if it involves something that burns gasoline!

Simplify!

If I'm wrong, oh well!

I can always get fat next week, but right now?

Simplify, simplify, simplify!

And stay tuned, of course, for further developments, as they happen!

LIVE!

Here in OUR America!

And here is one more look at the "economic picture", here in OUR America, while we are on that topic:

Business - AP

"Investor Fears Move From Rates to Profits"

34 minutes ago

By MEG RICHARDS, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK - In the span of only a few days, Wall Street went from worrying about accelerating inflation and higher interest rates to fretting over deteriorating profits and the specter of a possible economic slowdown.

The resulting gyrations in stocks have puzzled even some professional investors.

They also have many analysts predicting a shift in investing trends, away from commodity-driven issues toward less-loved areas of the market, such as health care and consumer staples — the least-damaged sectors over the last week.

"The shift from a cyclical, almost inflation-driven mindset to one that is defensive with slower growth has put the commodity producers in the leadership role to the downside," said Ned Riley, chief investment officer of Riley Asset Management in Boston.

"That masks the fact that the companies with more stable growth, that are less dependent on price increases, are going to eventually be the market's new leadership."

In an otherwise excruciating week for stocks, the exchange-traded fund that tracks the health care issues of the Standard & Poor's 500 posted a 1.18 percent gain, the only sector to show a positive return.

Overall, the index shed 3.27 percent for the week, and is now down 5.72 percent for the year.

The week's worst-performing sectors were energy and materials, which sank 6.93 percent and 8.3 percent, respectively.

At the root of at least some of the market's anxiety is the thought of less-robust growth in consumer spending, illustrated by disappointing retail sales for March.

This was partly chalked up to higher fuel costs.

But even the sagging price of oil, now trading at a two-month low, failed to reassure investors, who remained firmly focused on their fears of slower growth for the rest of 2005.

It's not surprising investors have turned defensive, said Joseph V. Battipaglia, chief investment officer at Ryan Beck & Co.

They have so many unanswered questions.

How aggressive will the Federal Reserve be as it tightens interest rates?

What impact will rates have on the economy?

How will energy costs affect consumers?

What does the corporate profit picture hold?

"And now they're believing that we are entering a period of economic slowdown."

"This is where it gets difficult," Battipaglia said.

"No one would argue the economy is simmering down."

"But how far down it simmers is the major question."

In 2004, the second year of the recovery following the bear market, investors benefited from a 4 percent rate of growth in gross domestic product; this year most think it will be about 3 percent.

But while the pace of economic growth is slowing, there are still good fundamental underpinnings, including relatively high levels of employment and continued wage gains.

"I think the economy is on solid footing and we're in the middle innings of an expansion and we have a way to go," Battipaglia said.

"The message for small investors is, don't make changes to your portfolio allocation because the momentum of the moment is putting you out of favor."

The market may be overreacting to the prospect of slower growth in consumer spending, analysts said.

Consumers, whose spending accounts for 70 percent of the economy, barely blinked during the recession; car sales and home sales were strong, and remain so.

It's probably not realistic to expect that pace to increase.

Interest rates also remain favorable.

Short-term rates currently stand at 2.75 percent, and the Fed is expected to proceed with incremental 0.25 percentage point hikes.

And receding inflation concerns sent mortgage rates down for a second straight week.

And yet, a confluence of events raised the alarm this past week, denting investor confidence.

Far from comforting the market, the break in oil prices ignited worries about an economic slowdown.

A number of companies reported disappointing earnings results and issued cautious outlooks, causing analysts to trim their forecasts and reconsider the prospects for the rest of the year.

Among companies offering gloomy outlooks were automakers Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp., which face swelling health care costs, rising competition and sinking debt ratings.

Their shares struck 10-year lows this past week.

Against this backdrop, investors are extraordinarily sensitive to even hints of bad news, and in their nervousness, quick to collect profits, particularly in cases where valuations have been stretched.

Apple Computer Inc. reported strong earnings thanks to the success of its iPod music player, but was punished because of doubts about whether it could come up with another blockbuster.

It's clear investors are looking for alternatives, but it's difficult to find opportunities in a sea of downward-pointing red arrows.

For now, volatility is to be expected as large market players — hedge funds and options traders — scramble to cover the hefty bets they made on commodities.

As much as anyone, Riley said, "they've been whipsawed and are confused," forced to change their strategy sooner than they anticipated.

For his part, he sees the current declines as a buying opportunity.

"Finally, my reasons to buy this market have started to materialize," he said.

"Falling oil prices, falling commodity prices, interest rates that don't exceed the high of last year and that have subsided, and a Federal Reserve that may have realized that a moderate pace of tightening is better than trying to shock the market."

"I don't think this is the end of the cycle."

"It's an extended breather, one that gets people psychologically down, and from that point we'll get the rally," said Riley.

"You gotta buy when nobody wants 'em."

end quotes

There's some horse traders out in Wyoming who can make real big money selling horses that nobody who knows horses wants, to damn fools who don't know nothing about horses at all, but think that because of the high price asked, the horse must be better than everybody else has, and so they buy it, and then find out that it was laying down all the time they were looking at it, NOT because it was conserving its energy for race day as the horse salesman said, but because it don't have any legs on which to even walk, let alone run an inch!

And maybe that's really what these Wall Street boys down there in the heavily-fortified FORTRESS CITY of New York need, is some of the Wyoming Horse Traders to come in there, and "kick" up the BID-NESS a little for them, to get this American economy rolling full steam here, just as George W. Bush keeps on telling us that it is doing, even as his own financial boys are telling us it is not!

Crazy stuff, this, and here we are, with a bird's eye view, watching it happen!

Boy, this technology stuff sure is something!

And how about that?

And GOOD MORNING, America, how are you?

Well, I hope!

As for me, it is the start of another beautiful day, here in OUR America, and so, I am off to be outside, to get some "chores" done, and so, with God's grace, I will be back this afternoon, to see what is up out there in the world, which is certainly not the stock market, nor OUR hopes as American citizens, and that is probably why I am looking forward to being outside for a while, just to get away from what is going on in the world, and OUR America these days, at the hands of a crowd of people down there in Washington, D.C., who I don't think could mow a lawn between the lot of them, let alone govern a nation such as OURS is.

The LONG HARD RIDE!

SO!

Stay tuned!

Where will George W. Bush lead us to?

Who on earth even knows, for George W. Bush doesn't, and it all goes right on downhill from there, in my estimation, anyway!

See you all later!

Enjoy your day!

Breathe in some of that nice fresh spring air, and just say, "AAAHHHH", for how good it makes you feel, and who knows what will happen after that, which really does not matter, since you will be feeling so good, that you will be able to handle anything and everything that comes along after that moment!

Livyjr, I assume the question " Where will George W. Bush lead us to? is a rhetorical question.

Because, as you say, nobody knows, not even G.W.B.

The bigger question, in my mind, is " Why does anybody follow him? "

A.B.

Unfortunately, Imperial Caesar will lead us into Syria, then Saudi Arabia.

It's all about oil.

And empire.

And there is a question that continues to tear OUR America into factions, that one of why anyone at all anymore still believes a single word George W. Bush and his have to say, about anything.

Some of the people in OUR America feel that it is alright to have as president a man who is not doing any worse than anyone else could do the job, while some of us want someone who should have been able to do the job, better than anyone else in OUR America.

And there the twain are!

Geese never follow a leader that does not know where he is going, or at least geese who survive the journey south don't anyway, and that seems to be something left to us humans, exclusively, to follow a leader who hasn't the slightest idea of where he is, let alone where anything is going, like the fate of OUR nation!

"Oh Livyjr, get off George W. Bush's case for once here, will you, he's not doing any worse than anyone else could do, you know!"

AND yes, actually, I do!

And POWER, jeffmoskin!

It's about power, too, but then, they all are about the same, aren't they?

Power, oil, and empire?

And speaking of "TWO-GUN TEXAS TOMMY" DeLay, what's the latest from him?

Let's look and see:

Top Stories - Reuters

"Senior Republican Says DeLay Won't Quit as Leader"

Sun Apr 17, 3:14 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior House Republican said on Sunday he thought embattled Majority Leader Tom DeLay would stay on in his post despite the cloud of ethical allegations swirling around him.

"Tom DeLay will stay as leader," said Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the No. 3 Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives.

"Tom DeLay is not going to run away from a fight," he told NBC's "Meet the Press."

DeLay was admonished by the House ethics committee last year on three separate matters involving what critics said were strong-armed political tactics.

In recent weeks more allegations have arisen over ties to lobbyists, foreign trips funded by outside groups, and payment of salaries to DeLay's wife and daughter.

Two House Republicans have suggested DeLay should step aside, while some other Republicans, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, say he needs to explain his actions to the country.

DeLay has denied any wrongdoing.

He showed a typically combative streak over the weekend when he talked about the allegations against him and then referred to Sarah Brady, the wife of the former White House press secretary Jim Brady, who was shot in the assassination attempt against former President Ronald Reagan.

"Sarah Brady said that when a man's in trouble or in a good fight you want all your friends around them, preferably armed," DeLay said in a speech to the National Rifle Association.

"So I feel really good."

One House Democrat said while he agreed DeLay might not be about to quit, Republicans were unlikely to want him to continue as their leader in the 2006 congressional elections.

"My guess is that he will not quit soon and that I do not think he will be a candidate for leader in the next Congress."

"I think that too many Republicans will decide that this is a problem in marginal districts," Rep. Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, said on "Meet the Press."

Blunt meanwhile rejected suggestions that DeLay should hold a news conference or go on television to answer allegations of ethical misconduct.

"My impression is he has not done anything wrong," Blunt said, adding that the ethics committee was "the best place for him to make that case."

DeLay has said he is eager to appear before the House ethics panel to answer questions.

But Democrats, in protest, have not allowed the panel to organize since Republicans voted to change its rules in a way Democrats claim would weaken the committee's ability to investigate lawmakers.

I think we need to put ethics back into Congress...

Without Delay.

Good one, jeff!

Hi, amy!

And welcome!

Nice of you to put in your two cents, here!

Where, oh, where, have ethics gone in OUR America?

Or were they ever here in the first place?

I think about that a lot, as it really is a "human condition" kind of question that affects the lives of each and every one of us, not only in OUR America, but in the whole world as well, since we all are inter-connected, as George W. Bush's INVASION of Iraq makes vividly clear to me, at least, as if I needed that reminder after suffering two head wounds in Viet Nam, "interconnecting" with those folks over there and the deadly RPG-7, back in 1969!

I'm reading a book right now about the American Revolution, which cites heavily from the various "founders", including John Adams, and Abigail, of course, and Thomas Jefferson, and I would say from that study alone that "ethical" government was very much on the minds of the "founders" of this nation at the time of the Revolution, so, where have we lost it, then, that spirit that existed at the time of this nation's founding?

At the time of the American Revolution, which was really a last choice in the minds of many at that time, one of the real "roadblocks" to "reconciliation", at least as I understand it, not having actually been there to experience it directly myself, was the sheer corruption of the English government of that time.

In fact, if you study back to the English Rebellion, or whatever it really was, of a hundred or so years before, when the English themselves pulled down their own king, and took off his head, corruption in English government was already rampant and a causative factor in that occurrence, so that by 1775, there was indeed little hope left, if any, that if America reconciled with England, instead of decalring independence, that the corruption underlying the "troubles" would go away!

SO!

We tossed out a foreign despot!

And now where are we?

Got a bunch of local ones, instead!

SO?

How about that for "evolution", will you?

We've "evolved" ourselves right back into the "primal ooze" from whence we emerged as a nation, some two hundred and more years ago, and "natural selection" has given us "TWO-GUN TEXAS TOMMY" Delay as OUR highest and best in OUR congress!

Is God playing tricks on us here?

Is this a "cosmic joke"?

Is the "coyote" gone wild, "trickstering" all over the place with wild abandon?

OR ...

Is this for real?

Questions for OUR times!

LIVE!

Here in OUR America!

Stay tuned!

The "ROUND TABLE" is in place, and the discussions have begun!

Developments as they happen, and no, you don't have to watch a small pipe to see if smoke is issuing out, for OUR deliberations in here are quite open, public and transparent, as is befitting a democracy, where we would all by personal choice, wish to reside, IF ONLY WE HAD ONE!

Hence this forum, hence this thread!

And have a nice day, besides!

As for me, I'm going up on the "roof", and if I don't fall right on down on my head, like "NEWTON'S APPLE", well, I'll see you all in a bit!

And I look forward to the occasion!

amy, jeffmoskin, Mr. A.B., well said all!

to be continued ........

And here it is, the end of another day, and I am just now sliding in the door, here, to leave a word or two behind, before another day departs us all.

Another beautiful day up here, where I am, and I do not want to waste that day by thinking on anything else, to be truthful.

What a blessing this weather has been, and what a surprise, to have this many cloudless days in a row, and relatively still, as well.

I'm trying to get outside, myself, and get my old bones moving around, a little more each day, which is how I have to do things, by easing into them, little by little.

I've been "superintending" my copper job, as I have been saying, and my method of superintending is to get myself right out of sight after giving out instructions, and let the person have some peace to do the work in!

I know I hate to have someone hovering around when I am trying to focus on a task which must be done, and so, I don't do that to another, and that seems to work out alright, for me, anyway, as the work is getting done, and the person doing it is at his ease, which you have to be when doing that type of work!

Detail work, that is!

Things that fit exactly, and look to the eye afterwards as if they do!

We were standing on the ground looking up at a newly finished corner of a fascia cover and the gable end cover, and even from that distance, or more likely, especially at that distance, you could see how nice and square that corner really was.

I was thinking today that God must like to do some metal work himself, elsewise, why would we have copper?

O that all superintendants might have learned from you, Livyjr.

I truly believe, and I also I am fairly sure that I have made this known in more than one post on this forum, that ethics here in the U.S. have been declining for some time, BUT they took a huge downward movement during the Nixon administration.

That is the impression I have had for a long time.

It was probably inevitable since his ethics, his credibility, and his morals were so far off the mark where most people thought a presidents ethics ought to be.

It's just the same as in a big company.

When people know that the top man is a crook, it's easier for them to be the same way.

BTW ----- Columnist Bob Herbert of the N.Y. Times had a great article on FDR today. I posted it on the " George Bush Vs. Franklin D. Roosevelt " thread.

You might want to read it.

A president the people could look up to and respect.

A.B.

I did read it. One of his best.