Friday, March 31, 2006

Downtown Blanding, Utah

I just found out that dogs aren't allowed into the lower Kane Canyon down to the San Juan River, nor into Slickhorn Canyon. So.... I'm going to change my hiking plans and explore Dark Canyon Wilderness instead. This will be my first time into the Dark Canyon. I'll enter in upper Woodenshoe Canyon, continue to where it runs into Dark Canyon, explore the lower Dark Canyon and tributaries maybe as far as the Colorado River, before returning via Peavine Canyon. Should be enough to occupy seven days... Posted by Picasa

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Southeast Utah

I'm on my way to SE Utah to hike canyons for a week with Sam the Wolfdog. Just Sam and I alone for seven days on the trails looking for Anasazi ruins. We'll hike into Grand Gulch Primitive area from Bullet Canyon, turn left down Kane to the San Juan River, then emerge to Cedar Mesa via Slickhorn Canyon. I love solitude and I haven't had a chance to get out by myself alone recently.

This will be my third time hiking the canyons of this region of Utah. In 1999 Sam and I hiked from Todie Canyon, up Kane Canyon and then down canyon well past Pollie's Pasture before emerging on Cedar Mesa via Bullet Canyon. I returned the next year with my daughter Natalie to explore Fish, Owl and Road Canyons.

Sam the Wolfdog is more than nine years old now and doesn't move as quickly or agilely. We'll take it slow and soak in the sunshine and marvel once again at the cliff dwellings abandoned more than 700 years ago...

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Big Oil's Big Windfall - New York Times

Without comment: Big Oil's Big Windfall: "According to a detailed account in Monday's Times by Edmund L. Andrews, oil companies stand to gain a minimum of $7 billion and as much as $28 billion over the next five years under an obscure provision in last year's giant energy bill that allows companies to avoid paying royalties on oil and gas produced in the Gulf of Mexico.

The provision received almost no Congressional debate, in part because Congress was lazy and in part because the provision was misleadingly advertised as cost-free. The giveaway also seemed a natural sequel to a measure passed in 1995 to provide royalty relief. But that measure came at a time when oil prices, and new investment in oil and gas exploration, had declined. It also included an important safety valve: in any year when oil prices exceeded a threshold, about $34 a barrel, companies would have to resume paying royalties."

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Monday, March 27, 2006

Turn Off Your Television

You May be Brainwashed by Corporate Media if You: ... believe the 5 corporations who own almost all of the media in the U.S. are liberal.

onegoodmove: Bye Bye Birdie

Quail hunting Dick Cheney style. Nate Corddry shows you how it's done. onegoodmove: Bye Bye Birdie

Rampart Range Road Run

From Saturday's run twelve miles up Rampart Range Road, cross over above Williams Canyon by trail to the Waldo Canyon Trail, then back to Manitou Springs, CO via the Ute Trail--total running time: 3 hours, 25 minutes.

From left to right: Rick Hessek, Matt Von Thun, Matt Carpenter, Paul DeWitt.

Six miles up the road we passed the Shooting Range--a pigpen that defies cleanup efforts, highlighted in today's Colorado Springs Gazette. Posted by Picasa

FBI Keeps Watch on Activists

Looks like we're going back to Edgar Hoover's FBI: FBI Keeps Watch on Activists: "The FBI, while waging a highly publicized war against terrorism, has spent resources gathering information on antiwar and environmental protesters and on activists who feed vegetarian meals to the homeless, the agency's internal memos show."

And see this from Alternet.

Bill Arkin the "liberal blogger" from the WaPost thinks the 902nd Military Intelligence Group is spying on anti-war activists groups--authorized by the Senate two years ago.

Michael Brown takes on Colbert

The truly serious appear on 'The Colbert Report': FEMA director Michael Brown is going on 'The Colbert Report.'

DenverPost.com - Linkletter remains a kidder at heart

Dick Kreck's column from this morning: Nonagenarians say the darnedest things! : "Art Linkletter? Dead, isn't he? Nope, the man who began his radio career in 1933 and made interviewing children a TV sensation in the 1950s and '60s, is very much alive, and lively.

Linkletter, who turns 94 on July 17, won three Emmys, wrote two best sellers, 'Kids Say the Darndest Things' and 'Old Age Is Not for Sissies,' and now spends his days giving talks on cruise ships like the new Queen Mary 2, which is where Denver talk-show host Pierre Wolfe caught up with him for his Internet radio show, 'America's Dining and Travel Guide.'"

Neil Bush's "investors" revealed

We recently learned that Barbara Bush had earmarked her contributions to Katrina victims to Neil Bush's software company. Now the rest of the story, and here. What a wonderful family.

3 Years

Flash slideshow of 3 Years of war. It will break your heart.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Atheist's Creed

As an atheist you have a number of rights and responsibilities. These include (but are not limited to):

1. Have no gods.
2. Don't worship stuff.
3. Be polite.
4. Take a day off once in a while.
5. Be nice to folks.
6. Don't kill people.
7. Don't fool around on your significant other.
8. Don't steal stuff.
9. Don't lie about stuff.
10. Don't be greedy.

Remember, theists will condemn you for living by this code because you are doing it of your own free will instead of because you're afraid that if you don't a supreme being will set you on fire.

TIME.com: Polar Ice Caps Are Melting Faster Than Ever...

TIME.com: Polar Ice Caps Are Melting Faster Than Ever... More And More Land Is Being Devastated By Drought... Rising Waters Are Drowning Low-Lying Communities... By Any Measure, Earth Is At ... The Tipping Point -- Apr. 03, 2006 -- Page 1

Exxon Secrets

I'm listening to last Friday's Podcast of Democracy Now! about how Exxon-Mobil through their proxy Public Interest Watch (they receive their funding almost exclusively through Exxon) and with complicity from the Bush administration pushed the IRS to audit Greenpeace through false claims of money laundering. Greenpeace came out of the audit with flying colors. Exxon Mobil is upset because of the Greenpeace web site Exxon Secrets that catalogues how Exxon-Mobil is seeking to obscure and confuse the public with regard to Global Warming. Link to the article on Democracy Now.

Some years from now when the entire world is mobilized to address the consequences of Global Warming we will look back and ask "Why did we wait so long?" It won't be enough to say "because Exxon and the Bush Administration obscured the facts." We ourselves will be to blame for not informing ourselves and for not paying attention. This both angers me and makes me sad.

Republican Statements When Clinton Went to War

"'Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is.' --Governor George W. Bush (R-TX)"
More Republican Statements When Clinton Went to War:

Case for impeachment on yesterday's front page of WaPost

Court Case Challenges Power of President

Saturday, March 25, 2006

"Worse than a Fool"

James Wolcott: "Worse than a Fool": "'Richard Rainwater doesn't want to sound like a kook,' began a profile of the super investor in Fortune magazine" ... "'But he's about as worried as a happily married guy with more than $2 billion and a home in Pebble Beach can get. Americans are 'in the kind of trouble people shouldn't find themselves in,' he says. He's just wary about being the one to sound the alarm."

panopticist: Richard Dawkins meets our own Ted Haggard

Richard Dawkins meets Ted Haggard of New Life Church, Colorado Springs: "In the seven-and-a-half minute clip linked through the image below, Dawkins visits Colorado Springs to attend a sermon by an influential but proudly ignorant pastor. In a conversation with Dawkins after the sermon, the pastor likens the event to a rock concert. Dawkins suggests that it was more akin to a Nuremberg rally—a comparison that the pastor appears to be too uneducated and ignorant to be offended by."

Battle for Baghdad 'has already started'

The Independent: Battle for Baghdad 'has already started': "Many Iraqi leaders now believe that civil war is inevitable but it will be confined, at least at first, to the capital and surrounding provinces where the population is mixed. 'The real battle will be the battle for Baghdad where the Shia have increasing control,' said one senior official who did not want his name published. 'The army will disintegrate in the first moments of the war because the soldiers are loyal to the Shia, Sunni or Kurdish communities and not to the government.' He expected the Americans to stay largely on the sidelines."

TomDispatch: Chalmers Johnson on Our Fading Republic

MUST READ: Tomdispatch Interview with Chalmers Johnson (Part 2): What Ever Happened to Congress?

Friday, March 24, 2006

Dvorak Uncensored » 60-Percent of VIsta Needs to be Re-Written???!!

Microsoft Trainwreck: Dvorak Uncensored » 60-Percent of VIsta Needs to be Re-Written???!! Get Openoffice.org...

Koch Industries

Thursday morning running with my CRUD club I learned to my surprise from Eric that Georgia Pacific, the conglomerate forestry/lumber company had been bought lock stock and barrel by Koch Industries, the largest PRIVATELY held corporation in the WORLD, for some $21 Billion. Koch Industries, an $80B company is spending their windfall oil profits to diversify and take formerly public companies TOTALLY private. My running friend Eric recounted how his brother, who works for Georgia Pacific, told of how one man, one owner at Koch has dispersed the Board of Directors for GA-Pacific and is now calling all the shots with no dissension or alternative viewpoints. Imagine--a $21 Billion dollar company under one man who had no prior lumber experience. Reminds me of Stalinist times. Is this where GWB's America is taking us? Concentration of wealth, control by an oligarchy, an oligarchy of permanent landed gentry, destruction of the middle class??



Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia has this: Koch Industries:

"Koch was charged with 97 counts of covering up evidence in the case of a benzene spill in Corpus Christi, Texas. The government sought fines as high as $350 million. Four of its employees were also charged with criminal offenses in the case, facing up to 35 years in prison. In 2000, the Justice Department reduced the number of counts from 97 to 11 to nine to seven. Just before the case went to trial - only three months after the Bush administration took office - the Justice Department dropped the remaining seven counts and settled the case for $20 million."

A Bully Gets Bullied: Why Rush Limbaugh Never Became the Next Oprah

FLASHBACK: LIMBAUGH MEETS ACTUAL AMERICANS
Watch Rush get his fat ass handed to him in a 1990 guest hosting stint on Pat Sajak's old show. Always fun to watch what happens when real Americans get a hold of these freaks: Video

Thursday, March 23, 2006

If America Left Iraq

Nir Nosen on the case for cutting and running. We need to start asking this question loudly. This head in the sand stance of our bubble boy president is just not making it...

Environmentalists decry Korean sea wall | csmonitor.com

This environmental nightmare was dead in its tracks in 2003 when I lived in Korea. The Australians were of course up in arms when they learned that some 500,000 migratory birds who stopped off in the tidal flats on the way to their country were dieing in droves as a result of this ill-planned endeavor. I was surprised to find this item today in the news stating that they are back on track with the project. They are not only on track to destroy some 500,000 bird's habitat, but they are destroying a way of life for the local Koreans who lived off the tidal flats for generations, and for what?? Not to reclaim land for rice growing as was originally claimed--NO!! to build a 540 hole golf course and industrial parks. Where are the customers for these industrial parks going to come from?? Unknown. Korea -- wake up and take claim to your environmental heritage!! Environmentalists decry Korean sea wall | csmonitor.com

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Tomdispatch Interview: Chalmers Johnson on Our Military Empire

I can't wait for Part II: Chalmers Johnson on Our Military Empire

The Blog | Jane Smiley: Notes for Converts | The Huffington Post

This one hits all the points and very eloquently as only Jane Smiley can: Jane Smiley: Notes for Converts:

"Bruce Bartlett, The Cato Institute, Andrew Sullivan, George Packer, William F. Buckley, Sandra Day O'Connor, Republican voters in Indiana and all the rest of you newly-minted dissenters from Bush's faith-based reality seem, right now, to be glorying in your outrage, which is always a pleasure and feels, at the time, as if it is having an effect, but those of us who have been anti-Bush from day 1 (defined as the day after the stolen 2000 election) have a few pointers for you that should make your transition more realistic.

1. Bush doesn't know you disagree with him. Nothing about you makes you of interest to George W. Bush once you no longer agree with and support him. No degree of relationship (father, mother, etc.), no longstanding friendly intercourse (Jack Abramoff), no degree of expertise (Brent Scowcroft), no essential importance (Tony Blair, American voters) makes any difference. There is nothing you have to
offer that makes Bush want to know you once you have come to disagree with him. Your opinions and feelings now exist in a world entirely external to the mind of George W. Bush. You are now just one of those 'polls' that he pays no attention to. When you were on his side, you thought that showed 'integrity' on his part. It doesn't. It shows an absolute inability to learn from experience."

McCain's view of Tal Afar compared to Bush...

Two different views on Tal Afar from The Blue Voice.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Group Backs Grizzlies on Endangered List - New York Times

Bush Administration = BAD, BAD, BAD for habitat and the environment. More evidence: Group Backs Grizzlies on Endangered List - New York Times: "More than 250 scientists and researchers have signed a letter protesting a federal proposal to no longer protect grizzly bears in the Yellowstone area under the Endangered Species Act.

The letter dated Monday was addressed to Chris Servheen, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's grizzly bear recovery coordinator. Servheen has said he expects a final decision on the proposal by year's end or early next year.

Among those signing the letter were primatologist Jane Goodall and bear researchers Chuck Jonkel and John Craighead Sr."

"Top Ten Catastrophes of the Third Year of American Iraq"

Juan Cole has the "Top Ten Catastrophes of the Third Year of American Iraq"

Why Poor Countries Are Poor

Reason: Why Poor Countries Are Poor: The clues lie on a bumpy road leading to the world’s worst library.

AlterNet: Lapham's Case for Impeachment

Lewis Lapham explains his article "Impeach Him" from the March issue of Harper's Magazine.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Winter Trail Running in Colorado

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Velvet Revolution Ad in WA Post

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How to spot a baby conservative

How to spot a baby conservative: "Remember the whiny, insecure kid in nursery school, the one who always thought everyone was out to get him, and was always running to the teacher with complaints? Chances are he grew up to be a conservative.

At least, he did if he was one of 95 kids from the Berkeley area that social scientists have been tracking for the last 20 years. The confident, resilient, self-reliant kids mostly grew up to be liberals."

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Aitutaki - The Blue Lagoon, Cook Islands, South Pacific

Listening to WHYY's Radio Times via podcast and an interview of a travel writer he lauds Aitutaki as an ideal island to visit. Like Tahiti used to be...

Nir Rosen: On The Ground in Iraq

You'll hear a lot of propaganda from Republican bloggers who hang out in Kurdistan. This guy speaks Arabic and is not "embedded". He is out and about and talking to the Iraqi people: Nir Rosen: On The Ground in Iraq

Looser Emission Rules Rejected

Some good news for clean air and public health. The Bushevic-stacked EPA gets its come-uppance for a flawed policy. The ruling, written by Judge Judith Rogers was scathing:

"EPA's approach would ostensibly require that the definition of 'modification' include a phrase such as 'regardless of size, cost, frequency, effect,' or other distinguishing characteristic," Rogers wrote. "Only in a Humpty Dumpty world would Congress be required to use superfluous words while an agency could ignore an expansive word that Congress did use. We decline to adopt such a world-view."

Looser Emission Rules Rejected

Friday, March 17, 2006

Slot Machines or Election Machines: which has better security?

How to steal an election. Washington Post has this: Thanks to Brad BlogPosted by Picasa

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Crooks and Liars

Repubican strategist uses the word "incompetent" and Chris Matthews alludes to his drinking problem. Bad news for Bush: Crooks and Liars

Crooks and Liars

Republican strategist uses the word "incompetent" and Chris Matthews brings up Bush's drinking problem. It's all downhill from here...
Crooks and Liars

NPR : Fun with DNA

NPR : Fun with DNA: "Imagine a yellow smiley face. Now imagine 50 billion smiley faces floating in a single drop of water. That's what scientists have made using a new technique for building super-tiny shapes using the familiar double helix of DNA."

Dvorak Uncensored » World’s Biggest City: Chongqing — Growing Faster than Shanghai. 31 Million People and Counting

9 of the top 10 polluted cities are in China: World’s Biggest City: Chongqing — Growing Faster than Shanghai

Molecular Expressions: Science, Optics and You - Secret Worlds: The Universe Within - Interactive Java Tutorial

Molecular Expressions: Science, Optics and You - Secret Worlds: The Universe Within - Interactive Java Tutorial: "View the Milky Way at 10 million light years from the Earth. Then move through space towards the Earth in successive orders of magnitude until you reach a tall oak tree just outside the buildings of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida. After that, begin to move from the actual size of a leaf into a microscopic world that reveals leaf cell walls, the cell nucleus, chromatin, DNA and finally, into the subatomic universe of electrons and protons."

Epitonic Radio - Epitonic.com: Hi Quality Free and Legal MP3 Music

Epitonic Radio - Epitonic.com: "Epitonic Radio select the number of songs you want to hear and the styles you want them to be, then click 'Play Epitonic Radio.' We'll launch a big old stream in your preferred player, offering you endless Epitonic listening enjoyment."

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

An ethical diet: The joy of being vegan

Its followers claim they look and feel healthier than ever - and have a clear conscience too. Martin Hickman examines the arguments for taking up a meat-free diet in the Independent Online Edition: "Wendy Higgins is pleased that her beliefs, her most passionate beliefs, are ridiculed by comedians. At least the gibes about vegans are evidence that vegetarians are now so numerous that they represent a substantial part of the audience."

Independent Online> An ethical diet: The joy of being vegan

The vegan diet makes rapid gains in popularity: "Its followers claim they look and feel healthier than ever - and have a clear conscience too. Martin Hickman examines the arguments for taking up a meat-free diet"

Monday, March 13, 2006

Senate Again Considers Disastrous Arctic Drilling Plan

Call your Senator now to urge them to vote no on a budget resolution sneaking in drilling in the ANWR. It may come up as early as Thursday this week.
NRDC Action Fund - Fighting in Congress for our Environment: "President Bush’s plan to drill the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was defeated last year thanks to an outcry from millions of environmental activists like you. Now, the Senate leadership is again poised to pass a budget bill that would doom the Refuge to drilling and industrialization. Instead of having a full and open debate -- and vote -- on the fate of the Arctic Refuge, they are trying to sneak it in to the federal budget. On March 9, the Senate Budget Committee passed a budget resolution that includes a provision designed exclusively to allow drilling in the Arctic Refuge. "

After initially underestimating the size of an oil spill onto the tundra in Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay, BP has reported that the spill is “the largest ever on the North Slope.” Meanwhile, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) continues to push for Arctic Refuge drilling.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

The Man Carved into a root

Theresa Taylor, caretaker at Barr Camp, told me of this carved man in a root just above the arch on the Barr Trail. In probably over a hundred times up this trail I have never noticed it. Posted by Picasa

Monte's Rockpile

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SB at Barr Camp

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Pikes Peak near "the bridge" about a mile before Barr Camp

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Pikes Peak near the 7.8 mile to go sign on the Barr Trail

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Elephant Rock Approach

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Elephant Rock looking downhill

As I barreled down the mountain last Sunday I realize now that I was out of control and when I came to this outcropping I was unable to jog left as the trail dictated, instead slamming my right shoulder into the "elephant tusk", which spun me around and down unceremoniously onto the Pikes Peak granite gravel. Posted by Picasa

Elephant Rock

Revisiting the scene of my bloody crash of a week ago, when I slammed my right shoulder into this rock outcropping while flying down the Barr Trail, resulting in a trip to the Ft Carson ER and 23 stitches to my knee. Posted by Picasa

A Village Waiting for Rape and Murder - New York Times

Nicholas Kristoff in today's NYT: A Village Waiting for Rape and Murder: "Politely but insistently, the people in this town explained that they were about to be massacred.

'The janjaweed militias have already destroyed all the villages east of Koloy,' Adam Omar, a local sheik, explained somberly. 'Any moment, they will attack us here."


Romeo Dallaire, the Canadian General in charge of UN Forces during the Rwanda genocide, is interviewed by Nicholas Kristoff on Darfur.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

John Burns, Back from Baghdad: U.S. Effort In Iraq Will Likely Fail

U.S. Effort In Iraq Will Likely Fail: "A day after returning to the U.S., after another long term as bureau chief in Baghdad, John Burns of The New York Times said on Bill Maher's Friday night HBO program that he now feels, for the first time, that the American effort in Iraq will likely 'fail.'

Asked if a civil war was developing there, Burns said, 'It's always been a civil war,' adding that it's just a matter of extent. He said the current U.S. leaders there--military and diplomatic--were doing there best but sectarian differences would 'probably' doom the enterprise. "

SimFaux: An Interactive Faux News Simulation by Don Hopkins, written in OpenLaszlo

Pretty hilarious. Be sure and play with it. You can change the actors and add faux screens: SimFaux: An Interactive Faux News Simulation

AlterNet: The Coming Resource Wars

Our closest ally has sounded the clarion call. Global Warming will usher in an era of violent conflict over energy, water and arable land.

The Coming Resource Wars:

"It's official: the era of resource wars is upon us. In a major London address, British Defense Secretary John Reid warned that global climate change and dwindling natural resources are combining to increase the likelihood of violent conflict over land, water and energy. Climate change, he indicated, 'will make scarce resources, clean water, viable agricultural land even scarcer' -- and this will 'make the emergence of violent conflict more rather than less likely.'"

The Case for Impeaching GWB

From discussion to action -- Michael Ratner and his fellow lawyers have drafted a call to impeach President Bush. You can order their book on this web site: Articles of Impeachment Against George W. Bush

Alternet has the "Reader's Digest" version. Posted by Picasa

Friday, March 10, 2006

Think Progress » Friday Night Surprise: White House Aide Caught In Shoplifting Scheme

Just another of this secretive administration's attempts to slip bad news out of the news cycle (release it Friday night) Lies, lies, lies: Think Progress » Friday Night Surprise: White House Aide Caught In Shoplifting Scheme

Cheney is a PKer!

London Review of Books | Thomas Jones : Short Cuts:

"News travels fast on the internet, and not always along the most predictable channels. Urban Dead is a sadly compulsive and hugely popular text-based MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) in which human and zombie characters battle for control of a post-apocalyptic virtual city. The general idea is that people are meant to kill zombies and zombies are meant to kill people, but there are players who think it’s more fun to attack their own kind. People who kill people are known as PKers. You can pick up objects of varying degrees of usefulness: baseball bats, bottles of beer, fire axes, first-aid kits, mobile phones, pistols, shotguns, spray cans etc. If you have a spray can, you can paint graffiti on the walls of buildings. A few weeks ago, messages started to appear informing players that ‘Dick Cheney is a PKer!’"

PAPA'S GOT A BRAND NEW BAGHDAD

This one is rich:
Papa's got a brand new Bag, Dad

Climate Change

Elizabeth Kolbert is traveling the country to talk about her new book: “Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change” that grew out of her three part series, "The Climate of Man" in New Yorker magazine. Go to the New Yorker Calendar of Events to find out if she will speak in your city. Don't miss it.

Update: The Grist's Denis Hayes reviews it: Field Trip: Elizabeth Kolbert's Field Notes From a Catastrophe gives climate change a human face

Thursday, March 09, 2006

John Pilger | The Secret War

John Pilger | The Secret War: " In East Timor, I found a country littered with graves, their black crosses crowding the eye: crosses on peaks, crosses in tiers on the hillsides, crosses beside the road. They announced the murder of entire communities, from babies to the elderly. In 2000, when the East Timorese, displaying a collective act of courage with few historical parallels, finally won their freedom, the United Nations set up a truth commission; on 24 January, its 2,500 pages were published. I have never read anything like it. Using mostly official documents, it recounts in painful detail the entire disgrace of East Timor's blood sacrifice. It says that 180,000 East Timorese were killed by Indonesian troops or died from enforced starvation. It describes the 'primary roles' in this carnage of the governments of the United States, Britain and Australia. America's 'political and military support were fundamental' in crimes that ranged from 'mass executions to forced resettlements, sexual and other horrific forms of torture as well as abuse against children.' Britain, a co-conspirator in the invasion, was the main arms supplier. If you want to see through the smokescreen currently around Iraq, and understand true terrorism, read this document."

Powell's Books - PowellsBooks.Blog

Portland Oregon's famous mega used book store has a Blog.

Neocon Allies Desert Bush

Scales are falling from the eyes of people who can think.

From Independent Online Edition.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Tom Tomorrow's "This Modern World"

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EPA under Bush wants to dismantle Toxic Release Inventory

I just sent in my annual $25 check to "The Waterkeeper Alliance" They report in their Winter issue of Waterkeeper: "TOXIC RELEASE INVENTORY: EPA recently announced plans to dismantle the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), our nation’s premier tool for notifying the public out about toxic pollution releases. The TRI program tracks the amount of toxic chemicals released into the air, land and water by 24,000 U.S. industrial facilities. The information enables citizens to understand the risks to their communities and press companies to reduce their pollution. But EPA is placing corporations ahead of community safety with enormous rollbacks in TRI reporting.
"

Monday, March 06, 2006

AlterNet: Impeaching George W. Bush

Impeach him:

"Since September 11th, 2001, there has been no shortage of news regarding this administration’s involvement in torture, lies, secrecy and obstruction of the law. Yet, there has been little discussion in the mainstream media of holding those in power accountable for the actions so diligently catalogued by the press. It is a conspicuous vacuum that helps to explain why calls for impeachment are rapidly gaining currency."

Sunday, March 05, 2006

23 Stitches

I took a fall coming down the Barr Trail just above "No-Name Creek". Just over three miles up the trail there is a prominent rock formation we call "Elephant Rock" because it is shaped like an Elephant complete with tusk. After running as high as the Bottomless Pit sign this morning, about 7.5 miles up the trail, I barreled back down the mountain only to lose my footing at Elephant Rock. Sailing through the air with the greatest of ease I slammed my shoulder into the rock before careening down on the Pikes Peak granite gravel, opening two wide fissures in my knee. I sat there for a couple minutes in shock before I looked at the damage. Wow! There was quite a gap opening in my knee. Might as well run down the mountain--better than waiting for the helicopter. After four hours in the ER at Fort Carson under the care of a very competent SF Medic I was on my way home, complete with splint and 23 sutures. Posted by Picasa

Saturday, March 04, 2006

The CIA's 'Black Sites'

What are we going to do with the secret prisoners who cannot be tried in our courts? Better question: How are we going to maintain our reputation in the world politic?
Liberty Beat by Nat Hentoff:

"These 'black sites'—as they are called in CIA, White House, and Justice Department files— escaped attempted congressional oversight until December 2005. But in the National Defense Authorization Act, the Senate finally called for regular reports on where those prisons are, what plans there are for the ultimate release of their prisoners, and 'a description of the interrogation procedures used.' Ted Kennedy and John Kerry introduced the resolution."

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Jane Mayer: The Memo

Must read from this week's New Yorker: Jane Mayer: The Memo:

"Back in Haynes's office, on the third floor of the Pentagon, there was a stack of papers chronicling a private battle that Mora had waged against Haynes and other top Administration officials, challenging their tactics in fighting terrorism. Some of the documents are classified and, despite repeated requests from members of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee, have not been released. One document, which is marked 'secret' but is not classified, is a twenty-two-page memo written by Mora. It shows that three years ago Mora tried to halt what he saw as a disastrous and unlawful policy of authorizing cruelty toward terror suspects."