Amazon Rainforest 'could become a desert,' accelerating global warming

"As we report today on pages 28 and 29, the Amazon now appears to be entering its second successive year of drought, raising the possibility that it could start dying next year. The immense forest contains 90 billion tons of carbon, enough in itself to increase the rate of global warming by 50 per cent. Dr Nepstead expects "mega-fires" rapidly to sweep across the drying jungle. With the trees gone, the soil will bake in the sun and the rainforest could become desert."

The picture was found at the World Wildlife Fund site and attributed to Edward Parker

Proud Mary

Convincing evidence That the Pictures from Qana Were Staged

While it doesn't really change the horrific nature of the tragedy, it weakens its cause when evidence like this sufaces. This, however, pales in comparison to what I would imagine Fox News would have done, given the same opportunity.

Hate Attacks Against LGBT Communities on the Rise

"...in the course of two months, there have been at least six vicious attacks on the LGBT community, and the media is silent. And Congress, well, they were pushing for an amendment to deny equal rights to same-sex couples. Their focus was “protecting the sanctity of marriage.” They’re more concerned with protecting an institution, an abstract concept, than protecting people."

I think 'LGBT' stands for: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Israel Strikes the Sleeping Village of Qana, Lebanon: At Least 54 killed, 34 of them, Children

Riverbend notes, "And the world wonders how ‘terrorists’ are created! A 15-year-old Lebanese girl lost five of her siblings and her parents and home in the Qana bombing… Ehud Olmert might as well kill her now because if he thinks she’s going to grow up with anything but hate in her heart towards him and everything he represents, then he’s delusional."

Juan Cole writes "The Israelis say they had pamphleted the region demanding that all civilians leave, and high Israeli officials have openly said that anyone who remains is fair game (low civilianity index, and maybe low humanianity index, too). The Israelis don't say, however, how desperately poor hardscrabble farmers including the aged and infirm and children are supposed to travel to Beirut over the roads and bridges that the Israelis have bombed out, and on what they are supposed to live when they get there."

Issandr el Amrani links to pictures of the recent Qana massacre.

80% of Joe Lieberman's Contributions Come From Out of State

Chicago City Council Passes Law Forcing Big Retailers (i.e. Walmart) to Pay a Living Wage

"The measure requires mega-retailers with over $1 billion in annual sales and stores of at least 90,000 square feet to pay workers at least $10 an hour in wages plus $3 in fringe benefits by mid-2010. The current minimum wage in Illinois is $6.50 an hour and the federal minimum is $5.15."

Music to my aching spirit. Yahooooo!!!! Finally some good news. Power to the people!!

Clinton and the DLC Are Campaigning 'Big-Time' for Lieberman

"His campaign is currently producing a TV commercial from video shot at yesterday's rally with Bill Clinton but his campaign has pulled back on TV ads this week.
"We're going to have money on TV but we're also going to have money in other areas of voter contact, including door to door canvassing and turning people out to vote," says Sean Smith, Lieberman Campaign Manager.

The increase in staff is very noticeable at Lieberman's Rocky Hill headquarters. Lieberman now has twice as many paid campaign staff as Ned Lamont."

I'm miffed and disheartened. Even Barbara Boxer is hitting the pavement for this creep. They all look stupid. Call all your friends and family in Conneticut and inspire them to vote for Lamont. So far, my blog-o-surf has only found one credible rumor as to why: a quid pro quo that if Dems campaign for this heartless, evil puppet, he will promise to not run as an Independent. I wouldn't trust his word anymore than W's. What a sad state of affairs. Career Dems/politicians for themselves and no one else. I'm sick of this crap.

Soldier Serving in Afghanistan Got Snubbed by Lieberman and then interrogated After Voicing Concerns Regarding Substandard Equipment

"As some readers may have heard, in January my battalion was issued substandard equipment for our deployment to Afghanistan. Originally, we were issued M-16s rather than M-4 carbines, rifles with shorter barrels and collapsible butt stocks. As a politically active member of the battalion, I began to get in touch with Representative DeLauro and Representative Simmons, who both responded quickly and enthusiastically. Senator Dodd also responded quickly and gave me prompts on how to further validate my request for weapons.However, I did not receive a response from Senator Lieberman's office. I continued to leave messages for both him and his military aide, now senior counselor, Fred Downey, who represented Sen. Lieberman at the Battalion's send off ceremony on Jan. 4. After several messages, I finally received a return phone call.

However, I was not met with the same enthusiasms expressed by other legislators; I was immediately confronted with an inquisition that seemed to have the purpose of dispelling the belief that the battalion was ill equipped. Rather than listen to our specific concerns, the "benefits" of the M16 were highlighted and the advantages of the M4 were downplayed."

Interesting.....: Bush Supporters Come Out Against Condi

"The conservatives, who include Newt Gingrich, Richard Perle and leading current and former members of the Pentagon and National Security Council, have urged the president to transfer Miss Rice out of the State Department and to an advisory role. They said Miss Rice, stemming from her lack of understanding of the Middle East, has misled the president on Iran and the Arab-Israeli conflict. "

Air Force to Cut 8000 Officers by 2007?

"ARLINGTON, Va. — The Air Force unveiled the much-anticipated details of the fiscal 2007 portion of its multiyear “force-shaping” plan Wednesday, announcing that 8,000 officers, mostly those in midgrades, must be eliminated from the roster by Sept. 29, 2007."

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate "could kill Bush"

"Campaigning on the rights of young people at the Earth Dialogues forum, being held in Brisbane, Ms Williams spoke passionately about the deaths of innocent children during wartime, particularly in the Middle East, and lambasted Mr Bush.
"I have a very hard time with this word 'non-violence', because I don't believe that I am non-violent," said Ms Williams, 64.
"Right now, I would love to kill George Bush." Her young audience at the Brisbane City Hall clapped and cheered.
"I don't know how I ever got a Nobel Peace Prize, because when I see children die the anger in me is just beyond belief. It's our duty as human beings, whatever age we are, to become the protectors of human life." "

An Interesting Flower Blooms in Indonesia After 15 years of Dormancy

Its known as a 'corpse flower' because is smells like carrion(i.e. smells like rotting meat) which attracts many insects.

Sen. Inhofe Compares People Who Believe in Global Warming to 'The Third Reich.'

"In an interview, he heaped criticism on what he saw as the strategy used by those on the other side of the debate and offered a historical comparison.

“It kind of reminds . . . I could use the Third Reich, the big lie,” Inhofe said.

“The big lie,” is a propaganda technique Adolf Hitler attributed to Jews in his book Mein Kampf. It involves telling lies “so colossal” that no one would believe “others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.”

The Diebold Bombshell

"Diebold spokesman David Bear admitted to the New York Times that the back door was inserted intentionally so that election officials would be able to update their systems easily. Bear justified Diebold's actions by saying, "For there to be a problem here, you're basically assuming a premise where you have some evil and nefarious election officials who would sneak in and introduce a piece of software... I don't believe these evil elections people exist."

Air Marshalls: "Innocent People are Placed on 'Watch Lists' to Meet Quotas"

"The air marshals, whose identities are being concealed, told 7NEWS that they're required to submit at least one report a month. If they don't, there's no raise, no bonus, no awards and no special assignments.

"Innocent passengers are being entered into an international intelligence database as suspicious persons, acting in a suspicious manner on an aircraft ... and they did nothing wrong," said one federal air marshal"

Tim Russert Finally Packs a Wallop

Must see video of Russert's interview with Josh Bolton. He hammers Bolton on Tony Snow's comment that 'stem cell research is equivalent to murder." Beautifully exposes the spin in this debate and the fact that the ethics of this issue have not been researched by W's administration. It goes without saying that this is far too complex a problem for W and, as usual, he is over his head in complexity and sadly, adversely affecting the lives of millions, determined to keep us in the Stone Age, with him.

Kremlin Snubs W's Oil Company Pals, in Favor of Norwegian Firms

"President Vladimir Putin is set to keep US oil companies out of a lucrative gas field in the latest sign of the deteriorating relationship between Moscow and Washington."

William F. Buckley: Bush Not A True Conservative

"If you had a European prime minister who experienced what we've experienced it would be expected that he would retire or resign," Buckley says. "



Charles Barkley on his ex-party: "Barkley told a local reporter, "I was a Republican - until they lost their minds."

And Now, compliments of W.........Turkey Threatens to Invade Iraq!!!!

"So we've got Israel attacking Lebanon. Israel attacking Palestine. Hezbollah attacking Israel. Palestinians attacking Israel. Israel threatening to attack Syria and Iran. Iran meddling in Iraq. The US meddling in Iraq. Lots of terrorists and insurgents targetting the US. The US threatening Iran. Sunnis attacking Shiites. Shiites attacking Sunnis. The US and NATO fighting a resurgant Taliban in Afghanistan. Kurds attacking Turks.

And now, as predicted back when this whole mess was brewing, Turkey threatens to invade Iraq. "

Elizabeth Smart Basically Tells Nancy Grace to Drop the Marketing Ploys and Address the Issue: Pass this Sex Offenders Bill Now

""It [the kidnapping] did happen, and I don't want it to happen to anyone else," the 18-year-old said. "This bill should go through without a thought."

The proposed bill would make it a crime for sex offenders not to register with their state and would require states to share information when an offender moved to a new state. "link

Bush's Embarrassing World Tour by Arianna Huffington

"He was equally inept during his press conference with German chancellor Angela Merkel earlier in the week. Israel was bombing Lebanon, India had been hit by terrorists, Iraq was exploding, North Korea had fired its nukes, and Iran was rushing to join the nuclear club -- but the topic that most seemed to engage the leader of the free world during the press conference was the wild boar barbecue scheduled for later that night in the small German town of Trinwillershagen. "

and then.....

"Bush said he had talked to Putin "about my desire to promote institutional change in parts of the world like Iraq where there's a free press and free religion, and I told him that a lot of people in our country would hope that Russia would do the same thing."

To which Putin replied: "We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy as they have in Iraq, I will tell you quite honestly.""

and for the grand finale, speaking to Blair with his mouth full of food:......

"Mr Bush was caught saying that a key to defusing the Middle East crisis was for "Hizbollah to stop doing this s**t". "What they need to do is get Syria to get Hizbollah to stop doing this s**t, and it’s over," Bush told British Prime Minister Tony Blair at a leaders’ lunch at the Group of Eight industrial countries gathering here. The President was on camera but apparently unaware that his words were being captured by a microphone." Link to video

"

Get Me Out of Here

"It was supposed to be a light-hearted photo opportunity showing the gentle side of the world's most powerful man.
Unfortunately, nobody told the baby. "

The last post inspired me to post the following Pics:

Lieberman's 'Judas Kiss' Could Seal His Fate

"The embrace was between George Bush and the state's junior senator, Joe Lieberman. A better name for it would be the kiss of Judas - or the kiss of death. "

w's CLAIM THAT TAX CUTS PAY FOR THEMSELVES REFUTED BY ADMINISTRATION’S OWN ANALYSIS

"Now a Department of Treasury analysis presented in the Mid-Session Review itself confirms what outside experts have consistently said — tax cuts do not come remotely close to paying for themselves"

College Just Got Costlier

"On July 1, interest rates on student loans experienced the greatest jump in history, with the variable rate on common Stafford loans shooting up almost two percent for students and graduates. The rate hike comes as a result of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, which was signed into law by President Bush on Feb. 8, 2006"

Marines Continue to Enhance Their Negative Stereotypes: Rape and Entertainment

""Hadji Girl" is a videotaped song about killing Iraqis written and performed by U.S. Marine Corporal Joshua Belile while he was at the Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq."
What is even more disturbing than the lyrics, is that the audience(Marines) laughs and seems to love the message. Seeing this leaves you sickened.

During mid-June, I left for work in a rural setting. A few days prior, I noticed it was harder and harder to post on this site. I decided to give it a break. Now, I have a 26600 kb connection and this makes the situation even more difficult. I will be back by the 3rd week in July and, if the 'Blogger' problem is resolved, I'll resume a post here and there.